Featured Questions #9

Will players ever get the option to choose which statistical gain they receive, via success in pvp combat?
I do not intend to implement this, no. PvP gains are balanced around a random distribution of mastery gains, not around a player pumping all of their gains into the single "strongest" mastery. I find the minor "lottery" aspect to be more interesting, as well.

Are you happy with the current state of gem acquisition?
Fairly so. There will be more gem sources as time goes on and more reward systems are implemented, but strong gems are intended to be an uncommon bonus, not the standard for every crafted item slot. In addition, weaker/less desirable gems (such as many "transmuters") will find their niche via schematics (which will be introduced in the spoils of war system). =)

What do you think about extending the 75 days to 90 days on crafts?
This is my current plan for crafted gear:
- "Refreshing" a temp item with an infuscated marble will reduce its max lifetime by 20% each time. (Thus, the first stone will refresh 80% of its lifetime; the second stone will refresh 60%; and so on.)
- Crafted gear will have their base lifetimes increased from 75 days to 90 days.
- More sources of crafting materials and gems will be available, to make gear easier to craft.

Crafted gear was never meant to be "permanent" to the extent that has been realized through infuscated marbles (an interaction which was unintended but kept in-game after going through much feedback); this power swing is exacerbated by the fact that keeping a strong piece alive has the side-effect of making it even more powerful (via the marble's uniqueness stat bonuses). However, I do realize that it can take an inordinate amount of effort to gather the materials necessary to upkeep multiple crafted slots. I'd like to move crafted items back toward their intended functionality (where replacing a crafted item eventually becomes necessary), without inflicting undue hardship upon those players who would rather upkeep their gear with stones for as long as possible. (Note that given the 75-90 day increase, for the first two marbles used, a player will get nearly the same amount of bonus duration as they do now even with the 20% loss taken into account - just over 7 months of added lifetime.) I plan on implementing this just before spoils of war is released (since new, stronger crafting materials will become available at that time); discussion is, as always, welcome. =)

What's this command about: reattune ?
Many future rewards will be "attuned" to the specific player who earned it (analogous to the "bound to player" system found in some other loot-oriented multiplayer games). An item may only be worn/read by the player to whom it is attuned. This allows me to implement strong, worthwhile quest/event rewards without worrying about inappropriate stacking, and to focus more on permanent item rewards (instead of temporary items) without worrying about flooding the market and item devaluation.

The reattune command will allow players to change the attunement on an item attuned to another player, thereby taking "ownership" of it. This costs a number of sun stones specific to the given item (of course, many attuned items will not be reattunable).

Is every craft with at least two stats balance-able?
The distribution of stats across an item is determined by the type of material used to construct it. As a fictional example, a piece of constitution/speed chest armor crafted from metal and leather might have more points in constitution than in speed, whereas a constitution/speed tunic crafted from leather and cloth might grant more speed than constitution.

Someone recently asked, "accolades give me a chance for better rewards, right?" How is the faction reward computed? What determines if I get faction under the heroism rune?
Ruushi accolades provide several benefits:
- Slightly lowers the cost of obtaining a requisition for Ruushi-forged gear.
- Certain accolade levels allow the player to purchase requisitions for new equipment slots.
- In the upcoming spoils of war system, each successive accolade increases the quality of the spoils received after each invasion.

For visit + xt "Empowered: visit a groupmate in a no-portal room." what is the span[definition] of 'groupmate'?
'Groupmate' refers to someone in your group (via the 'group' command).

To follow up on what Magrath said, has there been a change to the way gems are given out for turning in 50 jewel frags? I have also noticed a drop off in the number of gems from salvage.
This question is a fairly common one. The last time I touched the salvage drop code was in 2008; the system's been stable for a long time, and I haven't needed to change anything since then. (I'll need to make some changes for the spoils of war feature, but those haven't been pushed live yet.) Therefore, no - any changes in drop rates/gem returns are due solely to randomness or changes in player behavior (e.g., converting more or less jewel fragments at a time).

Which stats or other stuff affects the damage decaying touch deals?
Learn curve and wisdom (as well as +damage). This is shown in the decaying touch helpfile; however, I'm guessing the reason this question was asked is that word completion defaults to "help affect: decaying touch" before "help decaying touch". Thus, typing "help deca tou" will display the helpfile for the affect: rather than the skill's helpfile, because both helpfiles match the input and the former appears first in the (alphabetically sorted) helpfile list.

In order to view the helpfile for the skill, the player needs to type "help decaying touch" in full (since word completion only kicks in if there's no 'perfect' match). I've noticed this behavior while looking up helpfiles for several other abilities as well. I'll look at making the behavior more intuitive in the future (perhaps by prioritizing matches with the same number of words first).

In what ways, if any, does the strength stat affect devil siphon's or elemental malediction's damage?
The power of devil's siphon, per its helpfile, is based on willpower and wisdom; elemental malediction is based on intellect and wisdom. Strength will not have a direct effect on either spell; however, strength does provide +damage, which will increase the damage of both spells.

The damage of basically any attack is increased by +damage, be it from a skill, spell, or natural attack. This is part of what makes +damage so desirable. Note that I've been tending to reduce the contribution of +damage in many of the recent abilities I've been creating (thus making the relevant stats far more important to the ability's effectiveness).

At what %age, if any, does practicing dodge or parry cap in effectiveness?
There is no hard cap to dodge or parry; every mastery point beyond 100% increases their effectiveness to some degree.

Do the effects of circle of bane stack?
Nope; circle of bane puts the victim in a 'baned' state, which causes it to suffer more damage and strike with decreased accuracy. Doing this multiple times does not multiply its effect, as the victim is already 'baned'.

Cipher question - Is the health spoken of in the helpfile of ogrish malison based on dynamic real-time values?
Yes. Ogrish malison's improvement versus 'more powerful' opponents is based on a flat comparison of current hp values (not percentages, but flat hp amounts).

About the update on 7/30/10, are the rune-eq presently available to players?
Not yet. The code is present (I could create runed gear on the fly without a reboot, if I so choose,
and it would function correctly), but the actual items aren't in-game yet. One of the potential rewards obtainable via the upcoming spoils of war system are schematics which will allow you to create runed gear.

Ranks to exclude those with the bot lag affect please?
Not a bad idea. I'll look into this.

Combat choice's tactics options seems to dwarf decree of innocence, at least as far as the actual buff goes. Actual % of lat det, prevention, everything.
Decree of innocence (in addition to its restorative effect) grants lateral deterrence to the paladin's entire group, whereas nojohr's combat choice is a self-buff only. Decree of innocence is also much more dynamically accessible (as a nojohr running with the 'power' choice will not be able to switch to 'tactics' for the lateral deterrence until the buff fades). A stronger decree via inscriptions is a possibility, though. =)

hey i have a question, doesn't really pertain to this blog, but idk where else to post lol, but what's the damage increase rate on hurricane kick for +100% mastery?
It absolutely pertains to this blog - that's what the Featured Questions column is for. =) I tend not to give out actual formulas for several reasons (I don't want to start a bad precedent). I can say that the damage return is pretty decent, in addition to the other benefits (increased accuracy and an increasing chance to bypass parry/dodge). I spend a good deal of time making passes through Nodeka's ability system, trying to ensure that each ability's mastery bonus is significant and justifiable (see the previous blog entry's notes on the static charge/devil's siphon update).

Game updates: 3/28 - 4/5

Getting back into the swing of things - here's some discussion on the updates I've managed to eke out this past month, between work on the spoils system. =)

Static charge is now free, and may replenish mana/spirit.
Devil's siphon gains power versus heavily damaged targets.

There are a number of abilities which, in their current form, are very similar to each other. These abilities have a tendency to obsolete one another (lagged abilities such as static charge vs. elemental malediction), or to mirror each other with no variation or incentive for strategic use (e.g., kick, striking fist, and ashi barai kick). As as additional undesirable side effect, the lagless abilities and the inferior lagged abilities tend to be extremely poor choices for advancement beyond 100% mastery.

By differentiating these abilities in subtle ways, I can diversify their mastery benefits (making the comparison more than a numerical scaling comparison) while introducing the possibility of strategic use for some of the plain lagless 'strikes'. There are three ways I can do this: 1) introducing additional base functionality, as in the case of static charge; 2) granting additional functionality with mastery beyond 100%; and 3) through the use of inscriptions (as in the case of oblique pattern - tih).

Some abilities which were hard-capped on damage will now improve at diminishing rates instead.

Some of the more statistically inclined scripters among you have already noticed that certain abilities seem to stop scaling completely after a certain point. In addition, these "hard caps" tend to be coded into older abilities, and so they tend to cap extremely early (as the average power level of a character is much higher than it was 10 years ago). I will slowly be working on addressing these hard caps over time (the process will be slow, as a significant amount of balancing is required).

Nojohr's combat choice has been redesigned.
Nojohr's lightning choice has been redesigned.

The nojohr 'choice' abilities were used, 99.99% of the time, as simple +dam and +spe buffs. The other two choices on each ability were generally ignored due to the fact that they served similar functionality to the +dam and +spe aspects, but with poorer bonuses. I've reduced these abilities to only two choices each, but with a stronger differentiation between functionalities (pure damage output versus speed and lateral defense for the combat choice, and a defensive boost to counteract the nojohr's fusing penalty versus a situational attack for the lightning choice). The benefit to nojohrs is twofold: more diversity in combat options as well as new avenues for mastery improvement (as the new versions improve beyond 100%)

The lightning choice drains over time normally, but it increases in power instead while the nojohr has the galvanize effect up. Galvanize uptime can of course be maximized by simply keeping it charged constantly (and never discharging it with a war-strike or cleave); less obviously, a nojohr can maintain a good galvanize uptime by discharging it near the end of its 10-second duration (instead of using war-strike/cleave immediately after the galvanize).

Instrumentation of riposte improves beyond 100% mastery.

I've always liked riposte as a unique, flavorful nojohr ability. The new mastery benefit for instrumentation of riposte not only improves the base ability slightly, but it also grants a lesser riposte buff whenever the nojohr has a gambit active (currently, gambit of the warring shield or aulora's gambit). The warring shield is obviously the more popular, powerful gambit on its own merits; however, aulora's gambit has a much longer duration, and can thus maintain a higher riposte uptime.

Connection issues

Nodeka is temporarily inaccessible due to connection issues beyond our control - we'll have this ironed out as soon as possible. I'll keep you posted if further issues develop.

Update: It appears to be an ISP network issue; we don't yet have a timeline for resolution but we'll keep you posted.

Update 2: The issue has been resolved; you should be able to connect to Nodeka normally.