February 2012 Weapon Changes/Option 1 Dev Comments
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February 2012 Weapon Changes |
Overview
Official Thread
Comments listed below are developer responses on the Option 1 thread, some may pertain to other options. Off topic, or duplicate answers will be omitted. Please direct all questions or comments to the official thread.
Developer Responses
Will each option require new weapons?
Original Post:
Posted by DuckyTheQuack
Nope don't see it happening, We are getting new tier of Weapons like it or not. Do work.
Option #2 does not involve upgraded weapons in loot. They will remain as they do now.
Sev~
Why is the weapons system being changed?
Original Post:
Posted by Televangelist
Is there any reason you have to require us all to get new weapons?
Why not simply apply simple multipliers to get damage where you want it -- for example, all current staff damage multiplied by 2x or 2.5x or whatever you think is right in order to make it line up with where it "should" be?
For most of us, it will be a long, looooooooong time before we feel "done" with our weapons. And PvP damage feels just about right at the moment.
Why fix something that isn't broken (the weapons loot economy), when you can just add in some magic multipliers to fix that part?
I like most all of what you're proposing, but the "Surprise! All the weapons you've been chasing for the last couple of years are now also-ran" part really saps my enthusiasm for this.
I wanted to address this.
The dev team is totally okay with new loot that supplants and overshadows old loot. Regardless of what happens in February, the basic argument of "Don't make us replace our gear" isn't going to sway us in the long term. This is an MMO, eventually there will be a new loot tier and new content to play the drops that loot and new content to play that is balanced for that loot. We don't want to fool anyone into thinking we are tentative about implementing a new loot tier... *if* it's the right time for a new loot tier.
That said:
Looking at the numbers, the low damage on staff and dagger and the fact they are mutated and thus have to be versioned on makes plans to update the weapons very very difficult to balance. In essence because of the expanded range of damage there would end up being an additional random element to expanding loot effectiveness for these weapons. This is why we were not planning on doing that.
Sev~
What are the strengths of Option 1?
Original Post
Posted by Xstar51
K. I don't like this overall, unless dual weilding is a definite go. Because it would be pretty cool to hold an axe and a sword.
I still think there should be a skill check for each skill, in addition to having one handed or two handed combat trained. Like a skill tree or something.
The strength of this option is that in the end you will see a lot more diversity in melee in terms of the weapons they use.
With Option #2 if you want to do decent damage you are shoehorned into Sword, or maybe Mace/Unarmed/Axe.
With this option there are a lot of melee concepts that will still rock. You can, for example, make a rocking Heavy Weapon two dagger fighter that would be gimped in the Option #2. You can also make a pretty good Finesse Weapon - Two Weapon dagger fighter with Sneak Attack and Deception.
Neither of these concept will work with Option #2. It's more familiar, but a bunch of weapons are essentially junk. We strongly suspect that without the racial skill system to artificially prop them up Staff and Dagger will just fall off the map. It's a shame since dagger fighters are a pretty cool staple of fantasy lore and action.
Sev~
Will current racial augmentations be removed?
Original Post:
Posted by Xstar51
I like the idea of the damage aug to define each race. I would go even further and define each race by adding a bonus aug, like +3 damage reduction to undead, or +3 damage rating to shadows. This would give more flavor to each race, and allow us players to feel like there is a big different in each race.
The current racial bonus augs will remain in either system.
Sev~
Will we be able to play right away without new weapons?
Original Post
Posted by silvurhawke
What about 12 years worth of maces I already have? Do they turn into light weapons or heavy weapons? And what about my quest weapons. And what about my epic mace cantrips? They turn into light weapons.
Mace gets bent over here.
Yes, this is our essential loot dilemma, and the reason for some of these seemingly harsh changes to weapons.
One thing we didn't mention with this option is we wanted to add a vendor that gave out attuned and bonded temporary weapons of the appropriate grade to players. This weapon would last a month so on patch day everyone could go out hunting with their new weapon skills. It was one way we were discussing getting everyone playing within 5 minutes of logging in.
And putting in a way to spend XP without hitting the up skill button 50 billion times.
Sev~
Why do Mace spells get changed to Finesse instead of Heavy?
Original Post
Posted by silvurhawke
It doesn't increase either. Axe (same original cost) does.
Because in reality mace is a "heavy" weapon. Because it is a classic 6 credit skill just like axe. Why does axe go heavy and mace not? The devs borked mace by making a gearknight racial and now long time players have to suffer? My macer is a brute. Mace is a brutes weapon and not a finess weapon. It is used for caving in skulls and breastplates
Keep in mind that's just how the Mace spells would convert. Maces themselves would drop with Heavy, Light and Finesse options.
We could just as easily convert Mace to heavy if the player base seemed to go that way. We just didn't want to screw up Gearknights that still wanted Mace as a backup weapon.
Sev~
Why is Staff a Finesse Weapon?
Original Post
Posted by Sollielle
I still don't get why you would put Staff with finesse weapons. The skill set for Staff is currently str/coord. My character is developed with this in mind. I have no problem with finesse weapons, or the quick/coord combo, but don't change the base skills of established weapons. Introduce new weapons for this skill set, but please don't change the way existing weapon skills are calculated....
[ Response]
We want a good range of skill distribution, and figured it would be easiest for Staff to configure around the change since we don't see many Staff fighters that have configured a suit around that style.
As a Staff fighter you would pick up the Light Weapons skill and do Str/Coord. You could also go with a Heavy Weapons staff fighter and be as good as Sword and also use Str/Coord.
We are just trying to get loot items to convert to a wider range of skills so everything isn't Heavy Weapons except dagger.
Sev~
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