We're driving 60 miles an hour

As promised in the MotD, here's a slightly more in-depth discussion regarding the new speed change.

Before this update, entities gained an additional attack at certain speed "breakpoints" (388 speed, 412 speed, etc.) At higher speed values, these breakpoints were absolute - you either had enough speed or you didn't. There was no difference between, say, 320 or 381 speed in terms of attacks; the extra speed points were "wasted".

Now, however, every speed point contributes slightly to your attack frequency. The base underlying "breakpoints" remain similar (for example, about 490 speed will net you about 12 base attacks, just as before). However, that number of attacks is no longer set in stone. For example, at 400 speed, you will usually perform from 10-11 base attacks, with more 11-attacks than 10-attacks. As your speed increases beyond 400, your 10-attack rounds will decrease and your 11-attack rounds will increase, slowly increasing your average. By the time you hit about 440 speed, 10-attack rounds will be rarely seen, 11-attacks will be much more common, and you will start to see 12-attack rounds beginning to pop up. As you approach 500 speed, you'll be doing 12-attack rounds more often than 11-attack rounds... and so on.

The net result is that speed is no longer a game of "hitting that breakpoint", but a stat that scales just as the other stats do. This should make gearing for speed a bit less restrictive, as you won't have the "I can't take off my speed wristband because it will drop me below a breakpoint" problem anymore. If you were previously right on a breakpoint and had more than 300 speed, you may notice a slight decrease (half an attack, or slightly more at very high speeds as those breakpoints were shifted up a few points).

This change was implemented and tested with crafted gear in mind. If things work out as I hope (with balance remaining fair and the restrictiveness of speed easing up a little), I may be able to leave speed gear at its current levels rather than tweaking it as mentioned on the Nodeka 411 discussions. (I have some ideas in store for the attributes that are just slightly undervalued at the moment by many classes, such as hit and dexterity.)

And, in the meantime, the wood-based crafting fix should open up more crafted gear possibilities for you in certain slots (such as caster/finesse weapons). I pushed this particular fix up the timeline because of a serious bug which was brought to my attention by Iron (with a wonderfully descriptive, analytical e-mail, I might add - makes bugzapping so much easier, thank you!). In fixing that bug, I had to rewrite some of the same AI that was causing the wood-based crafting anomaly, so I mashed the bugs together and made an update stew. Now, I need to step away from this little distraction and get back to the Fields of Guidance. =) Thanks for playing, and thanks for your patience - great things are coming, folks!

Everything old is new again

Busy busy busy! Still hacking away at that Fields of Guidance update; it should be pretty soon now. =) There were a lot of underlying issues I had to poke at, and even tasks that sound simple (such as writing the quest text) present some surprising challenges.

In the meantime, I've addressed a few of the current discussions over at Nodeka411, so if you're feeling a little information-starved, mosey on over to these threads:

http://www.nodeka411.net/forum/showthread.php?t=423
http://www.nodeka411.net/forum/showthread.php?t=433

In the not too distant future

Here's a little what's-happenin' update, by request, along with some extra babble (no cost!).

Last weekend's life nova + wild calling + convocation's mark update marked the end of a pretty good run of class adjustments and additions. I'm not done updating base classes yet, but class-based work is on very temporary pause, probably until the end of the month or so.

Touching on the updates briefly - the new daja spells (life nova and unearthly rapture) are pretty spectacular in potential. It took a fair amount of time to get the rapture working right, as it's a pretty unique effect. :) Both abilities reach their fullest potential when used on an overwhelmed target; whereas the rapture is the sicker effect with the longer prevention, the nova is somewhat more utilitarian, as it has a short prevention and can even be used as a running tool (even a single target struck will give the target at least some percentage of holy light attack). Both are useful for granting the daja some breathing room in reviving an overwhelmed ally.

Wild calling and the convocation's mark are pretty unique. Wild calling basically grants the druid access to a variety of targetable buffs, including faerie fire, lateral deterrence, or delayed-action healing bursts... but never more than one at a time. The druid must commit to a specific council when acquiring the convocation's mark, and that decision governs which effect the wild calling provides until the mark fades.

The weeks before that update were pretty intense in terms of adding "shine" to classes that needed it; while the task isn't quite done yet, my focus will be changing for the next few weeks. I'll be working primarily on content updates, in this order: Fields of Guidance revamp, cleanup in Mejath, Invasion additions, finishing the Hallowed Scar, improving the Trials of Karmova, adding the Vl'lakian Ramparts group dungeon, adding more Ruushi functionality tied to Invasion damage levels (gambling?), and finally some crafting system updates.

That's a lot of work, yeah. :) I'm pretty far along in the Fields revamp; I think you should see that coming out in a few days or so. This past week has been spent primarily on designing and implementing that revamp, while adding a few specific features to the mob AI system to support some of my plans for the above. The updates beyond Mejath might fluctuate slightly in order; some will require substantial amounts of time to fine-tune (Scar, Ramparts, crafting) whereas the others are a bit easier to work with (Trials, Invasion), and I might push up the easier stuff if updates become too sparse, just to keep everyone happy with shiny new toys. A lot of the development will be concurrent as well, since so much of it is linked (the Trials affect the Scar, new rewards will be available from Scar/Ramparts which are used in the crafting system, etc.)

The Fields and Mejath are definitely first in line, though. We now have both a sidebar icon and in-forum banners on zuggsoft.com, as well as an icon in new Cmud/Zmud installations; we're also making some impressive work climbing the mud site rankings (keep up the voting at nodeka.com; you're all making a big difference and we appreciate it a ton!). Because of this, our newbie experience is at the top of my plate right now. :)

So that covers the past week and the next few weeks, at least. As always, I'm happy to address any questions or concerns you may have, and thank you for your patience, active voting, and support in helping to bring out the excellence in Nodeka!

A guide to wicked fidelity

Here's a quick guide to the usage of wicked fidelity, for those of you who might not have gleaned all of its quirks and advantages (understandable, given its charge-based nature and prevention).

Each enhanced relic (katar, lance, falx) has its own base lifetime when created (which increases with mastery in wicked fidelity). Thus, if weapon duration is a concern, it is in your best interest to transform your base weapon near the end of its lifetime. For example, if your Lorhu's claymore lasts 12 minutes, you can get maximum usage out of it by holding on and converting it in the 10th or 11th minute; then you'll have a spite-forged falx (which is directly superior to a claymore) for the next 7 minutes (or whatever your personal duration may be).

Enhanced relics derive their stats directly from the base weapon you are transmuting. The better your ataghan/gate-staff/claymore is, the better your enhanced relic will be. The relic's stats are improved from the base stats as well (and the special hidden effect is then added), so a relic will always be superior to its base weapon. (The amount of improvement gained from transformation can also be separately increased with intellect and mastery in wicked fidelity.)

The katar of sublime cruelty's special ability (critical strikes) is dexterity-based. Your dexterity must exceed your victim's agility for the effect to occur at all; if it does, then the critical strikes grow much, much stronger with increasing dexterity.

The compelled shadow lance's special ability is straightforward - resistance and invulnerability bypass. It's one of the only ways in Nodeka to counter invulnerabilities and resistances.

The spite-forged falx's special ability is based directly on current health. If your victim has more health than you, the falx will enhance its damage proportionally to the difference (up to a certain limit). The effect can be quite potent, making the falx great for fighting larger mobs or in any PvP battle where you are taking a lot of damage or fighting larger players. The falx does receive a slight penalty when striking victims with less life than you, but the penalty's cap is extremely low.

Take a number!

I've spent the past week's development time writing and refining a single block of Scar AI code, about 1000 lines in total. In terms of quantity, that's mighty slow work. In terms of functionality, however, it's vital stuff which will make the event run much more smoothly.

The Invasion (that one-weekend diversion) ended up being a valuable lesson in many respects, especially in terms of designing an interface (through mobs such as Christof and Vai-shan) that's efficient and easy to use. (Remember the first few days when Vai-shan would constantly cancel the reward process mid-speech?) A lot of these lessons learned contributed quite a deal to the Scar redesign; these 1000 lines are part of that.

I'll try to have a class update for you (most likely one of: valkyrie, monk, druid, or witch) early next week, probably Monday, just so y'all don't feel too neglected while I pour all of my time into Scar code.

Hey yey yey, what's going on

This is what my upcoming development plan looks like as of 7/10:

- priority 1: Finish the Scar
- priority 2: update the newbie experience
- priority 2a: more class design as August approaches
- priority 3: additions to the Invasion, and a new Vl'lak-related group dungeon

Priority 1 is obvious. Priority 2 has always been on the backburner, but I'm pushing it up the list since we are currently exploring some active advertising avenues to open our doors to new players.

Priority 2a is a constant one, of course, but I intend to work on it a little less until the Scar is released, and a little more afterwards (concurrently with newbie improvements).

Priority 3 is a combination of things: some new ideas I have for improving the Ruushi Invasion, as well as a sort of offshoot/replacement of the Twisted Divide. All of the structural work that I've implemented for the Invasion and Scar gives me a lot more options in terms of group dungeon design, and so I'm cannibalizing a lot of the Divide's old design work and molding something new from it which extends the Invasion story a little further. The Twisted Divide itself will be redesigned farther down the road, once I've had a chance to implement the Vl'lak-related dungeon to see what works well and what doesn't.

Failure to Launch

Failures are part and parcel of design sometimes. Change and new features are always exciting in the short term, but ensuring that these implementations are done correctly makes a huge positive difference in the long term. It sound like hokey folk wisdom, but it really is true.

Unfortunately, being picky about implementation sometimes results in weeks like this past one. Over the past few days, in between settling down from the end of vacation and handling basic administrative Nodeka stuff, I've managed to:

- overhaul valkyrie songs to a group role, add a new song, improve their pet

- implement the trickiest AI section of the mission structure for the Scar

Pretty good deal, and all according to my previously drawn designs. Problem is, I didn't like either of them, and so neither went live.

My problem with the song implementation was part aesthetic and part mechanical. I designed them to be strong and useful while avoiding the obvious pitfalls (example: look, rite of virility for our whole group, now we can pile onto one helpless chump and flank him before he can withdraw). Problem is, in play, the songs felt clunky and a bit contrived, and they all felt very similar to each other as well.

The Scar mission AI was a different beast. It worked, but in testing I didn't like the balance at all. Limitations in my design were making it too easy to get really great rewards without having to participate in much player combat participation at all, once a smart player figured out the system's underlying mechanics. The mechanics are invisible, as with the invasion (and much more complex than the invasion's as well), but even if they worked for now as a "new feature", I didn't want to put them out unless they were really correct for the long term.

Thus, both got the DELETE button treatment, figuratively. In the short term, that sucks - I'm stuck with a small body of work that I don't want to put live, and you're stuck without the immediate updates. In the long term, however, it's excellent news. The experience exposed a number of flaws with my valkyrie song design which will allow me to rewrite them to be much more elegant and rewarding in the end; similarly, I managed to pinpoint a precise set of issues with the Scar design which will allow me to reshape it to fit the area's goals (promote competition, pk activity, and sneakiness in a way which is accessible to players of all sizes) better.