Hello everyone,
It’s Friday again and you know what that means… time for another PTR build! This is my first week working in the office, and I have to say my productivity has gone through the roof without the distractions of home.
What has changed?
- PTR Commands:
- /mastery to set any mastery to any level
- /magic to set any magic to any level
- /nourishment to set nourishment
- /hp to set health
- /resource to set current resource (aliases: /rage, /mana, /focus)
- /supporter to toggle supporter status
- /vocation to switch between vocations when out of combat
- GM Commands:
- /invincible toggles invincibility
- /infiniteattack toggles infinite attack power
- /monsterignore toggles monsters ignoring you
- /godmode toggles all three
- Maths:
- Equipment stats generation algorithm modified for 5 level increments
- Monster stats generation reworked for balance
- Monsters under level 5 significantly weakened
- Monster experience algorithmically generated based on n kills required relative to level progression
- Mage and Shaman vocation spirit adjusted to provide suitable mana recharge rate
- Shields provide 10% block chance
- Fixes:
- Player movement speed correctly processed by server (fixes walking “lags”)
- UI:
- Experience is now displayed with commas separating large numbers
- Mastery and Magic experience bars now work
- Crit chance added to vocation and equipment stats tabs
- Crit damage added to vocation stats tab
- Target level is now displayed on the target status button
- <= 5 levels above player level = green
- <= 10 levels above player level = yellow
- > 10 levels above player level = red
- Core Engine:
- Re-implemented vocation experience points
- Mastery and Magic integrated into combat damage system
- Mastery and Magic training implemented into auto-attack systems
- Linked to equipped weapon mastery / magic
- Shielding handled uniquely, requires an equipped shield (equipment generation now gives Knights shields)
- Implemented vocation leveling up
- Implemented experience loss on death
- Implemented vocation leveling down
- Chat netcode completely rewritten, can send any text to client in any colour easily
- In preparation for NPCs being able to speak as players do
- “rising text” code totally rewritten, can send any text to client in any colour easily
- Vocation switching
- Overhaul of back-end player appearance code
- Each player vocation now has it’s own unique appearance that is persisted
- Switching vocation switches appearance
- Switching vocation recalculates equipment stats
- Switching vocation switches core resource as appropriate
- Resource mechanics
- Mana now passively regenerates as per total spirit
- Rage is now generated on auto attack
- 10 rage for a damaging hit
- 5 rage for a blocked or missed hit
- 10 rage for blocking an incoming hit
- Focus is now generated on auto attack
- 1 focus per shot fired
- Rage and Focus degen slowly when out of combat
- Scripting:
- Ember Guards heal to full when they return to guard duty
- Many PTR commands now broadcast rising text to indicate to others around you what is changing
- NPCs:
- Added Butterflies (bug: They should be level 1)
- Added Rats (bug: They should be level 5)
What to test?
TLDR; all of it!
With this update all of the core combat mechanics are in play. You can level up and down, train masteries in combat, generate resource, and summon NPCs to fight at any level with any gear and any mastery / magic stats. This is it guys, this is where I need you log into the PTR and really have a serious go at testing the balance of the core experience.
EXP rewards from Monsters are generated based on # of monsters you would be required to kill at a given level to progress to the next level. To generate these figures I worked backwards from the general statistical foundation of the live game, so the exp rewards should feel “right” for every level relative to danger / effort.
This is kind of a huge amount of changes, there is a lot here to digest and play with so, take your time, play around, try the new commands… we really want to determine if all of these foundational systems are playing well together mathmatically – the core game might look the same, but by golly does it feel different.
Every number, every interaction, every reward and progression mechanic is drastically different from live. Every point put into a stat directly affects an equation with a 1:1 ratio, so if you have 100 sword mastery that is 100 extra damage you are dealing on hit, if you have 100 shielding that is a 100 damage reduction! Each point of stamina is 1 health, etc.
It is late and I need to get home, I have inevitably missed some changes here due to fatigue but hopefully I have conveyed enough information that you guys can go nuts with the changes and really put the maths here to the test. I know it is fun to set your level to 250 and summon level 250 mobs and just be strong, but that is kind of missing the point 😛
Next week I am going to start playing with some NPC scripting, then after that we are on to adding in the core systems that will make this game fun. Cast timers, interrupts, stuns, buffs, debuffs, AOE warning markers, dual wielding, damage over time effects… it is time to really turn this game into a totally new experience.
Fhox
Edit: PTR Build 20 Released
- Fixed various chat related crashes
- Fixed crash on viewing player target
- Broadcast creature vocation changes to everyone in Local