Featured Questions #2

As promised, another round of player-submitted featured questions.

If you have any questions you'd like to see answered, don't forget to submit them via comments below or via e-mail!

Featured Questions #2:

Why does upgrading cipher: cyclopean riddle from tier 1 to tier 2 use more inscriptions slots and not over write the tier 1 slot?

Upgrading a cipher from tier x to tier (x+1) does overwrite the previous slot. For example, advancing your cyclopean riddle to tier 2 from tier 1 will display:

cipher: cyclopean riddle -+- tier 2

in your inscription list, and the tier 1 version will disappear.

As mentioned in 'help inscription points', ciphers cost 1 inscription point per tier. Thus, holding a tier 1 cyclopean cipher costs 1 inscription point; tier 2 will cost you 2; and so on. The cost increase is linear, not cumulative.

Higher tiers obviously need to cost more slots than lower tiers; otherwise, there's little point to the tier system at all, and ciphers would all be balanced around the assumption that they were max-tiered.

Inscription points are obviously in short demand, and are designed to be that way up to a point - it's a system in which you need to choose a unique talent configuration for your character, not one in which you "get big and buy everything". Gear will soon be introduced which increases the owner's inscription capacity, which will add to the inscription options available for those who wish to invest in it. (The first set of this gear will be Invasion-reward oriented.)

Some subclasses just seem fairly outdated these days, do you have any plans on revisiting those soon?

Absolutely, I have a lot of subclass spells and skills sketched out which only need to be implemented and tested. My focus right now is on content + newbie experience + pvp, though, as I feel those need to be developed first.

Consider an item with the attribute of speed, can a minor major and divine inspiration be fixated on speed and the final product be greater than 3 times the speed of the base creation?

Inspirations are general boosts to the power level of an item. Each inspiration adds to the crafted item's potential in a couple of ways, but the overall result is an even power increase. There's no fixation on a single stat.

Featured Questions #1

And here we go! As promised, I will be selecting some interesting player-submitted questions regarding Nodeka and answering them for you in this regularly updated article. For now, we'll say that Featured Questions will run every other Tuesday, and I'll modify that in the future if necessary =).

If you have any questions you'd like to see answered in upcoming articles, please don't hesitate to ask (either in the comments section of this blog, or via e-mail). The questions below are quoted as submitted, edited slightly for grammar and spelling.

This week's Featured Questions:

What does Difficult To Hit actually do?

Difficult to hit is a simple, strong mechanic. Whenever it triggers, it reduces the hit bonus of the attacker by a certain amount, making you... difficult to hit. =)

- Crafted items level
What/how does the item level outcome work? Is it better to use Tier 3 materials for the primary component and Tier 1 components for the secondary, rather than using Tier 1 materials for the primary and Tier 3 for the secondary?

This is correct. Crafted items have a primary component and a secondary component; these classifications correspond to the material which you need more and less of respectively. While both components contribute to the power level of the crafted item, the primary component has a greater influence.

- What abilities do gemstones have besides the only one truly verified (Transform one bonus to another)? (Example: increase chance of inspirations, add levels, something else ) ?

- Does using multiple gemstones of the same type do anything for the crafted item?

- Is there a system to gemstones that can be 'figured out', like there is with components and bonuses using the (quest action, crafting) list?

The set of currently available gemstones can be divided into several different categories, each of which increases the power of (or transforms) the resulting crafted item in various ways. While every gemstone has the potential to improve the craft on its own, the greatest benefits can only be attained through combining certain gemstone categories together.

Using multiple gemstones of the same name does not *currently* do anything to improve the craft.

There is, of course, a system that can be figured out, as with any of Nodeka's various mechanics. The crafting system, as a whole, has only two elements of randomness to it - the chance to gain a tech when crafting with a new material, and the chance for an inspiration. No other aspects of crafting utilize random rolls of any kind.

Sumer Is Icumen In

... and it brings with it good tidings and mad updates. =)

Things have been hectic recently, but my vacation officially starts next week, and with it comes the next towering wave of major updates (finally!) and some new tidbits to chew on. In addition to new online content, I'll be moving forward with an idea that's been kicking around for a while - a "featured question" article (probably every two weeks or so) in which I'll select and answer one burning player-provided question regarding Nodeka and its mechanics.

My apologies for the recent real-life-imposed break; thankfully, it's summertime, so bring on the parties! (Someone in Ruushi needs to invent the hot dog.)

It's alive

Krijjkar now resides in a cozy corner next to Commandant Vai-shan, and he's willing to sell you the first wave of inscriptions in exchange for Ruushi faction. =)

Keep in mind that the list is far from complete - I will be adding more inscriptions to his list in the near future. (I have a few other things to work on first - a feature for demigods, Fields of Guidance, and the remaining Invasion rewards - but they're coming.) So make sure you read up on the helpfiles and think twice before buying an inscription, if you can't spare the sun stones to respec!

If you have any questions about the system, feel free to ask in the comments section of this entry. =) Thanks, folks!

Incoming

The first Krijjkar setup (19 inscriptions to start, with more coming soon to fill out the gaps) is ready to go live. The reboot will probably be later today sometime - I do want to write the helpfiles before I make it live, since purchasing an inscription is a bit of a commitment. And as much as I'd like to start on those helpfiles this very minute, my body is insisting on scrounging up a bit of sleep first. =)

'Cause that's my fun day

Krijjkar should be showing his face in Ruushi sometime on Monday, with the first set of inscriptions purchasable with Ruushi faction. He's coded and working locally; I just want to scratch up a few more hours to make absolutely sure each inscription works correctly and to tweak the numbers and costs a bit.

The first set of rewards will be incomplete (I have more inscriptions to add for the classes with less than others, and accolades and schematics will be added after the fact), but I just wanted to get it up so you can start playing around with it. =)

Gonna bosh'n nosh

The revamped Invasion, as most of you know, is now live and on its automatic cycle now. It's much more polished than the previous Invasion event; there's more variety, it's a bit more dangerous, and it's much more rewarding in the long run. It's also far, far more intelligent in scaling itself correctly for different quantities of defenders. =)

I could spend pages talking about it and giving you tips and hints... but I've already done that. Just type help ruushi invasion while you're in-game, and check out the tree of related helpfiles - there's a wealth of information and clues in there regarding the event.

Iron also has written up a great guide with his own personal observations, strategies, and guesses over at this thread on Nodeka 411 - check it out!

The event's been in test mode on live for the past four days, and after a lot of tweaking, I feel like it's pretty well-balanced overall, enough that I'm slowing down on the balance adjustments and picking up the next phase - finally whipping up the special rewards that the Invasion will offer for the most dedicated defenders of Ruushi. =)