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Raidou

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  1. Raidou

    3.1.4 - NIGHTMARE

    By Raidou,


    Patch Notes
    Hello fellow Aincrad Residents, back around again to approach a new form of 'raid' content. These will take the shape of NIGHTMARE. Now you may wondering what that is, allow me to explain. NIGHTMARE are old floor bosses repurposed to create very hard content for players to really feel in danger. This is an answer to a lot of the community not wanting real difficulty in standard content, but inversely a desire for actual danger by some. Instead of global changes that effect all players, by creating these special raids for the minority we can have the best of both worlds!
    <<NIGHTMARE>>
    Rules:
    CS/CSA cannot be used Party Limit: 6 Completion Rewards are awarded (EA.) Raid Consumable Restrictions They are ran by a member of staff Only one can be active at any given time Posting Deadlines are 7 days but rounds can be completed sooner then this. If there is frequently a single player holding up the deadline, there is a possibility this deadline will be shortened by the staff member hosting the NIGHTMARE Should be pretty standard fare for anyone who has participated in a floor boss raid before, however these have been designed to 'kill you fairly'. The mechanics involved will have a very real chance to result in the death of a character, so keep this in mind when choosing to participate in one. Without further ado, the first of many old foes ready to take your life: <<Covam, Furnace of Stylahm>>
  2. Raidou
    Oh boy, here comes another big boy hot out of the presses. Staff has been hard at work on some big doozies and I'm here bringing it out full swing. Without further of due:
    Guild Rework:
    The main focus of this change is to make the system a more active part of the game and allow players who are not intending to make a 'non combat capable' character able to interact or benefit further from the system. Maybe its a book club, or a small conglomerate of farmers? This will allow narrative only characters to really dig into guilds and form a fun community for their characters. The changes to the system include:
    1. Guild Tokens, a new currency that can be sent directly to the guild treasurer when a thread is closed or kept. If they are collected on your character they cannot be traded, which we will be monitoring all transactions and expect proper behavior in their transfer (Only to the banker once awarded). Failure to follow the rules will result in all tokens being revoked and any new tokens from being rewarded. These tokens are bound to the guild they are earned, the moment the character leaves the associated guild they must be returned to the banker who will then send them to that guilds associated Guild Treasurer.
    Guild Tokens are earned upon thread completion based on the amount of guild members present. Guild Tokens can be purchased for 1m col a pop, but its much more difficult then simply writing with other members of your guild. 2. Guild Shop, a place to spend guild tokens on guild exclusive rewards. These rewards should not be overbearing and are not combat centric, but should be small boons to add a 'cool thing' you can do as a result of your guild association. It is accessible [Here]
    3. Guild Buildings/Territory, existing rooms have been reworked into buildings as well as incorporating new additions to those. This also removes the current 'type' associated with guilds and making them more general, while also allowing growth. This allows a guild to purchase locations on the floor they exist on for a token cost, or alternatively on other floors for a small surcharge. Existing rooms from the prior system will be offered an exchange in guild tokens to allow for a confident migration into the new system. This is done through Guild Evaluations [Here]
    4. Guild Ranks, a way for guilds to 'level' and gain new access to new fixtures/buildings. This rank must be maintained through the use of guild tokens. These ranks increase/decrease based on maintenance of the guild.
    5. Guild Maintenance, Every 3 months a guild must contribute a scaling amount (based on member count) of tokens to maintain their current rank & improve their rank. Failure to due so can result in the guild losing one of its accumulated ranks and potentially access to some of its unlocked buildings. This 3 month period is known as 'evaluation periods'
    6. Guild Quests, custom and approved guild quests created by Guild Officers that can be run once per evaluation period per quest. The experience reward allotted can only be earned once regardless like standard material, but standard rewards can be reobtained. These are intended as 'initiation rituals or training programs' for the guild.
    For a deeper in depth breakdown then this tldr check [Here]
    Scents Adjustment:
    This quest has some very powerful, almost mandatory buffs for accessing the frontlines. And it is extremely simple for a player to get to 'frontline' ready status through the use of existing material, expected participation around Level 33/Paragon 10. Which equates to about 79000 experience, which isn't a whole lot. We have found that most players approach when it comes to this quest chain is either: A. avoid it entirely (mainly due to how quickly it out scales them) or B. get hand held through the quest because they don't have the mechanical support [SP/Enhancements] to do it on their own or with another person around their level. Both of these problems we hope to address.
    Given the status of the quest, the requirements it imposes and how it functions it is of our opinion that it works very well as the 'end of' the tutorial chain. The new tutorial chain would now look like this, and includes expected level after their completion:
    <<First Lessons>> teaches players about gathering/questing mechanics | Level Expectation: 3 [1100/1500] <<Earning a living>> reinforces gathering/questing mechanics and teaches crafting mechanics | Level Expectation: 4 [1700/2000] <<Challenge of Olympus>> introduces solo only questing and self driven narrative | Level Expectation: 6 [2500/3000] <<Feeding the Enemy>> explains natural rolls, and post cooldowns | Level Expectation: 7 [3100/3500] <<Training your Friend>> cements the above lessons | Level Expectation: 8 [3700/4000] <<The Traveler>> is intended to be the first encounter with environmental effects | Level Expectation: 10 [4500/5000] <<The Gemini>> teaches mechanical scaling and difficult boss encounters | Level Expectation: 13 [6300/7400] <<Scents of the Wild>> reinforces difficult boss encounters and is a crash course in 'Raid-Like' abilities/mechanics | Level Expectation: 25 [27160/27500] Of course any part of this tutorial chain is optional, but it is what we've seen reflected on site quite often. With Scents being able to get a player to roughly around 25, this should allow enough wiggle room for longer page counts and gear grinding to bridge the remaining 50k or so EXP missing to become 'Raid Ready'. Here was the different breakpoints we used as a medium to adjust Scent's quest scaling for each part. This assumes a T2/T3 player would not attempt to obtain any unique enhancements/demonic equipment prior to T4:
    1. Kumatetsu: Level: 13 [6800/7400] | Tier 2 | SP: 7/65 | HP: 260 | Skills: Weapon Skill R5, Ferocity, Precision, Stamina, Light Armor R3, Meticulous | Equipment: T2 Perfect Weapon (Damage 3), T2 Perfect Armor (Evasion 2, Mitigation 1), Tierless Perfect Trinket (Accuracy 3)
    Player Stats |  HP: 260 | DMG: 1 + 7 [Skill] + 2 [Ferocity] + 1 [Meticulous] + 6 [Enhancement] + 5 [Consumable] = 22 | MIT: 18 + 12 (6x1x2) - 10 [Protein] = 20 | EVA: 2 [Enhancement] + 2 [Consumable] = 4 | ACC: 1 [Skill] + 3 [Enhancement] + 2 [Consumable] = 6 1000 + (150*20 = 3000 / 10 = [300 x 2] = 600 x .7 = 420 ) = 1420 EXP gained  2. The Leech Lich: Level: 14 [8220/8600] | Tier 2 | SP: 4/70 | HP: 280 | Skills: Weapon Skill R5, Ferocity, Precision, Stamina, Light Armor R4, Meticulous | Equipment: T2 Perfect Weapon (Damage 3), T2 Perfect Armor (Evasion 2, Mitigation 1), Tierless Perfect Trinket (Accuracy 3)
    Player Stats | HP: 280 | DMG: 1 + 7 [Skill] + 2 [Ferocity] + 1 [Meticulous] + 6 [Enhancement] + 5 [Consumable] = 22 | MIT: 24 + 12 (6x1x2) - 10 [Protein] = 26 | EVA: 2 [Enhancement] + 2 [Consumable] = 4 | ACC: 1 [Skill] + 3 [Enhancement] + 2 [Consumable] = 6 1000 + (150*20 = 3000 / 10 = [300 x 2] = 600 x .7 = 420 ) = 1420 EXP gained  3. Mōretsuna: Level: 15 [9640/9800] | Tier 2 | SP: 1/75 | HP: 300 | Skills: Weapon Skill R5, Ferocity, Precision, Stamina, Light Armor R5, Meticulous | Equipment: T2 Perfect Weapon (Damage 3), T2 Perfect Armor (Evasion 2, Mitigation 1), Tierless Perfect Trinket (Accuracy 3)
    Player Stats | HP: 300 | DMG: 1 + 7 [Skill] + 2 [Ferocity] + 1 [Meticulous] + 6 [Enhancement] + 5 [Consumable] = 22 | MIT: 30 + 12 (6x1x2) - 10 [Protein] = 32 | EVA: 2 [Enhancement] + 2 [Consumable] = 4 | ACC: 1 [Skill] + 3 [Enhancement] + 2 [Consumable] = 6 2000 + (150*20 = 3000 / 10 = [300 x 2] = 600 x .7 = 420 ) = 2420 EXP gained  4. Colossus: Level: 16 [12060/12200] | Tier 2 | SP: 6/80 | HP: 320 + (10x2) [Skill] | Skills: Weapon Skill R5, Ferocity, Precision, Stamina, Light Armor R5, Meticulous, Resolve | Equipment: T2 Perfect Weapon (Damage 3), T2 Perfect Armor (Evasion 2, Mitigation 1), Tierless Perfect Trinket (Loot Dice 3)
    Player Stats | HP: 340 | DMG: 1 + 7 [Skill] + 2 [Ferocity] + 1 [Meticulous] + 6 [Enhancement] + 5 [Consumable] = 22 | MIT: 30 + 12 (6x1x2) - 10 [Protein] = 32 | EVA: 2 [Enhancement] + 2 [Consumable] = 4 | ACC: 2 [Skill] + 2 [Consumable] = 4 | LD: 3 [Enhancement] + 3 [Consumable] = 6 2500 + (150*20 = 3000 / 10 = [300 x 2] = 600 x .7 = 420 ) = 2920 EXP gained  5. Suterusu: Level: 19 [14980/15800] | Tier 2 | SP: 11/95 | HP: 380 + (10x2) [Skill] | Skills: Weapon Skill R5, Ferocity, Precision, Stamina, Light Armor R5, Meticulous, Resolve, Combat Shift (AoE) | Equipment: T2 Perfect Weapon (Damage 3), T2 Perfect Armor (Evasion 2, Mitigation 1), Tierless Perfect Trinket (Accuracy 3)
    Player Stats | HP: 400 | DMG: 1 + 7 [Skill] + 2 [Ferocity] + 1 [Meticulous] + 6 [Enhancement] + 5 [Consumable] = 22 | MIT: 30 + 12 (6x1x2) - 10 [Protein] = 32 | EVA: 2 [Enhancement] + 2 [Consumable] = 4 | ACC: 2 [Skill] + 3 [Enhancement] + 2 [Consumable] = 7 2500 + (150*20 = 3000 / 10 = [300 x 2] = 600 x .7 = 420 ) = 2920 EXP gained  6. Taneuma: Level: 21 [17900/19100] | Tier 3 | SP: 8/105 | HP: 420 + (10x3) [Skill] | Skills: Weapon Skill R5, Ferocity, Precision, Stamina, Light Armor R5, Meticulous, Resolve, Combat Shift (AoE), Combat Mastery: DMG R3 | Equipment: T3 Perfect Weapon (Bleed 1, Accuracy 2), T3 Perfect Armor (Mitigation 1, Recovery 2), Tierless Perfect Trinket (Accuracy 1, Evasion 2)
    Player Stats | HP: 450 | DMG: 1 + 7 [Skill] + 2 [Ferocity] + 1 [Meticulous] + 9 [Enhancement] + 5 [Consumable] = 25 | MIT: 30 + 18 (6x1x3) - 10 [Protein] = 38 | EVA: 2 [Enhancement] + 2 [Consumable] = 4 | ACC: 2 [Skill] + 3 [Enhancement] + 2 [Consumable] = 7 | Bleed: 36/2 (12x3) | Recovery: 6 (2x3) 3000 + (150*20 = 3000 / 10 = [300 x 3] = 900 x .7 = 630 ) = 3630 EXP gained  7. Mother Nature: Level: 23 [21530/23300] | Tier 3 | SP: 8/115 | HP: 460 + (10x3) [Skill] | Skills: Weapon Skill R5, Ferocity, Precision, Stamina, Light Armor R5, Meticulous, Resolve, Combat Shift (AoE), Combat Mastery: DMG R3, Charge | Equipment: T3 Perfect Weapon (Bleed 1, Accuracy 2), T3 Perfect Armor (Mitigation 1, Recovery 2), Tierless Perfect Trinket (Accuracy 1, Evasion 2)
    Player Stats | HP: 490 | DMG: 1 + 7 [Skill] + 2 [Ferocity] + 1 [Meticulous] + 9 [Enhancement] + 5 [Consumable] + {3/Charge} = 25{28} | MIT: 30 + 18 (6x1x3) - 10 [Protein] = 38 | EVA: 2 [Enhancement] + 2 [Consumable] = 4 | ACC: 2 [Skill] + 3 [Enhancement] + 2 [Consumable] = 7 | Bleed: 36/2 (12x3) | Recovery: 6 (2x3) 5000 + (150*20 = 3000 / 10 = [300 x 3] = 900 x .7 = 630 ) = 5630 EXP gained 
    As a result of the above calculations, the following adjustments will be made to each of the effected bosses:

    Kumatetsu | HP: 1200/1200 | DMG: 155 | MIT: 50 | ACC: 1 | EVA: 2
    Dodge and Parry | On a player's natural attack roll of 10, the attack will miss <<Kumatetsu>>. Instead <<Kumatetsu>> will gain a +2 Accuracy for his next attack. This buff will expire after the attack has been resolved. Beast Form | When <<Kumatetsu>> is reduced to 600 (or lower) health, he will transform and turn into a bulked-up creature, increasing his damage to 170, but also reducing his ACC by 1 and MIT to 25.  The Leech Lich | HP: 1300/1300 | DMG: 100 | MIT: 55 | ACC: 2
    Leech | Four <<Stygian Warriors>> spawn with the boss when it is engaged in combat. <<The Leech Lich>> will consume up to two creatures per turn as a Free Action and will do so whenever it can. If it consumes the creature, it gains +25 Mitigation, +50 Base Health, +25 Damage for the rest of the battle, and restores +100 HP after the other effects have taken place. If it lands a hit on the player, <<The Leech Lich>> will heal a third of the final damage it dealt to the player (rounded up). At the start of every other turn (starting on the second turn), two more <<Stygian Warriors>> will spawn, but there will always be a maximum of four <<Stygian Warriors>> at any given time. Protected | <<The Leech Lich>> cannot be attacked until the all active <<Stygian Warriors>> are defeated or devoured by <<The Leech Lich>>. After the original 4 die, <<The Leech Lich>> is no longer protected. Undead | Fallen damage has no effect on <<The Leech Lich>>, but Holy damage deals +25 final damage when the enhancement procs.
    Mōretsuna | HP: 1350/1350 | DMG: 165 | MIT: 60 | ACC: 2 | EVA: 1
    Drown | On a CD of 10+, <<Mōretsuna>> will attempt to drag down the player instead of attacking. The player, on their next turn, will need to make a separate LD roll (as a free action) of 10+ to resist being dragged down. If the player fails, they lose their current turn and are dunked deep into the water, where they take 150 unmitigatable damage. The damage repeats at the start of the player's turn until they spend a post action to return to the boat. Splash | On an attack roll of a natural 9-10, along with its basic attack, <<Mōretsuna>> will splash water onto the player, bringing them to their knees and stunning them their next turn. Struggle | On an attack roll of natural 1, <<Mōretsuna>> will flail and automatically hit each player for 50 unmitigable damage, but also deals 50 unmitigated damage to itself.
    Colossus | HP: 1400/1400 | MIT: 75 | EVA: -2
    Weak Points | Weak points can be found on both hands, chest, and head. These can only be attacked up to three times each before the weak point is gone, and you have to move onto the next one. If you miss attacking it, it will not count as using one of the three chances. [Note: To climb to a weak point, you must spend 2 Posts climbing to it, and this goes for every weak point.] Oblivious | Since the boss is so large and you have to hold on and climb, players have no way to get space to <<Charge>> for extra damage.  Hiding, the Surprise Attack mods and the Tracking mod similarly have no effect on the creature. Shake | This boss does not attack directly. Instead, every three rotations after the boss is found, <<Colossus>> will try to "shake" the player(s) off of its body. Players have to grip onto the creature, rolling an LD as a Post Action to see how strong their grip is on the creature. The next post, <<Colossus>> will roll his own LD. If his LD is greater than the player, the player is thrown off, dealing 100 Unmitigatable damage to the player. They will then have to restart their climb to the next Weak Point. [Note: LD equipment and consumables can come into effect when rolling, The only +LD skills that apply are Nimble and Unhindered] Suterusu | HP: 1300/1300 | DMG: 125 | MIT: 55 | ACC: 2 | EVA: 3
    That's Cute, Human | Debuff effects last half their normal duration. Stealth | Every three rounds, <<Suterusu>> will enter stealth as a free action following its attack. Using its LD, with +3 stealth rating. If the players are unable to keep track of <<Suterusu>>, it will leap from stealth on the following turn and attack, gaining a +25 damage for the attack. Also, if a 9-10 is rolled, it gains a Partial Phase, bypassing 25% Mitigation. Cunning Dodge | On a player's natural attack roll of 9, it is not guaranteed as a hit, and is still affected by Evasion and Accuracy.  If the attack included the Focus attribute, this effect ignores critical rolls on a natural 8 instead. Unsteady Ground | This fight takes place on treacherous terrain with many large stones, broken statues and fallen trees scattered, giving a -1 Accuracy to every player due to the area where they are fighting. Survival Negates this effect.
    Taneuma | HP: 1500/1500 | DMG: 125 | MIT: 50 | ACC: 2 | EVA: 2
    Grounded | <<Taneuma>> will not lose a post action when inflicted with Paralyze/Stunned/Paralytic Envenom. Instead <<Taneuma>> loses -1 ACC during its next attack. This effect does not stack Static Aura | When a player rolls a natural attack roll of 9-10, <<Taneuma>> will send out an electric shock, causing Paralysis to the player after their attack has landed. Conductive | If <<Taneuma>> rolls a natural attack roll of 9-10 and rolls a 6+ on the CD, it will knock the player with the highest hate into water, then cause a electric shock that deals 100 Unmitigated damage. Now a Party Limit of 2 to match the rest of the chain!
    Mother Nature | HP: 1550/1550 | DMG: 125 | MIT: 100 | ACC: 3 | EVA: 3
    Nature’s Strangle | Throughout the fight, players will have to deal with vine and roots attempting to pin them down. Whenever the player rolls below CD 3 on their attack they are rooted in place after their attack, Their next Post Action must be sacrificed to break free. Nature’s Resilience | Mother Nature is resistant to all debuffs and disabling effects, including stun. Status effect durations are halved (rounded down to a minimum of 0 turns). Damage from damage-over-time ailments are also halved, as well as lasting half as long (round down). The Burn enhancement, however, deals double damage and lasts twice the normal duration. Rage Rooted | When Mother Nature is inflicted with Burn, she will gain phase. Blighted Poison | On MD 9-10, Mother Nature will inflict the players with a mixture of poison and decay. Players will suffer from T2 Blight for two turns. Shift (Refund) Rework:
    This one is rather small but in our opinion equally massive. It has come to our attention despite original intention that shifts were being refunded, which this wasn't the original attention. So we've decided to make this official with the following RAW:
    Shifts are now bound to the weapon type they are taken on, much in the vein of Ferocity/Focus. Any given weapon skill can only own one Shift, just like the mods outlined prior. Players can refund shifts if they refund the ENTIRE skill they are attached to. Meaning if you want to remove TECH Shift from Straight Sword, the entirety of R5 Straight Sword must be reset including Mods/Addons As a result of the above, Shifts can now be obtained multiple times to add further value to owning an entire second weapon skill. It will now be possible to have AOE Shift on Katana and TECH shift on MA. CSA are bound to a specific shift on creation, so that shift must be active to use one. In addition this makes Quick Change just a little better Tierless Clarification:
    Only consumables could be tierless, despite some permanent gear also falling under the 'does not scale' clause. It seemed like semantics and unequal footing for crafters. An cook could make 30 evasion 2 foods that anyone could use, but a tailor could not do the same with evasion 2 light armor. As a result of this we've decided to move forward with the change to RAW:
    Original |
    Consumable items that do not scale with item tier are considered tierless and can be used by players of all tiers. 
    New | 
    Consumable and Equipment items that do not scale with item tier may be considered tierless and can be used by players of all tiers. Note that both items may only be indicated as tierless upon item evaluation, and will be valued as Tier 1 items upon a junksale.
    With the above adjustment, not only do we have rules in place to make permanent crafting easier and more worthwhile, but in addition we now have a way for these items to be scrapped officially. 
    Housing Restriction Clarification:
    There was an unintended 'loophole' where a player could theoretically own multiple houses, a minor errata to confirm that this was never intended and is no longer possible.
    Home Purchasing Rules:
    Player homes cannot be purchased on Floors 1-10 (restrictions vary with donation rewards). Player applying to purchase a home must be at least level 10 (these restrictions do not apply to donation rewards). Each Player may only own one home at a time. To purchase another, they must either liquidate their previous home for col or use it as equity to fund the new property.
  3. Raidou

    [3.1.3.3] Platinum Shop

    By Raidou,


    Patch Notes
    A smaller release today in the form of a new shop, working both as a way to remove exclusivity on past items that still see some use today as well as adding a much needed col sink into the system. Some items have been reworked to better fit the system and keep balance in check, it will be assumed at any existing items matching these will likely see similar errata.
    Platinum is purchased using the store at an exchange rate, 1m col per platinum and sold back to the store for 950k col per platinum (to prevent flip flopping back and forth)
    Check out the store HERE
  4. Raidou

    Stealth Rework (3.1.3.2)

    By Raidou,


    Patch Notes
    Hello Fellow Aincradians, Your textbook wackjob back around again to introduce something we've been working on for a bit now. Up until this point, Stealth has felt like a lot of mechanical legwork and a huge amount of SP to use for something that was less reliable and functionally equal to charge. This felt a little obtuse and our goals were to make stealth more readily usable. So we've attacked this problem on a few different fronts:
    New Standard Post Actions:
    Now anyone and everyone 'can' stealth or detect someone in stealth. Creatures and Players have eyes, and anyone can crouch. The following will be added to Standard Post Actions:

    Entering Stealth (Roll LD + Stealth Rating)
    Active Stealth Detection (Roll LD + Stealth Detection)

    You might ask, what is the point of stealth/hiding with this change? Well, without those skills your LD modifier is +0. So you can do it, but you wont be very good. Keep in mind that armor penalties from armor skills still apply.

    Stealth still has the following conditionals:
    - Can still be targeted/hit by AOE, as these do not need a direct target
    - If the target with the highest hate is in stealth, and the mob cannot use an AOE easily it will instead target the next highest hate.
    - Cannot be targeted directly by single target effects.
    Vanish Rework
    Given how obtuse it felt, stealth is never used more then once in longer fights because its too hard to pull off at best and a wasted turn at worst. This change makes stealth much more readily available to those that actually invest into it fully.
    Old Version
    [Rank 4 Hiding Mod] Vanish
    Cost: 6 SP
    Active: Post/Free Action
    Energy Cost: 5 EN
    Cooldown: 3 Turns
    Effect: Allows the use of a post action to re-enter stealth while in combat. Should the player with this mod get a killing blow on an enemy (from any damage sources owned by the player, including DoTs, Thorns, etc.), Vanish may be activated as a free action on their next turn if it is off cooldown. Vanish's cooldown starts upon exiting stealth.
    Description: After having used stealth skills for some time, you have become silent, and now can move so silently that enemies can lose perception of you.
    New Version
    [Rank 4 Hiding Mod] Vanish
    Cost: 6 SP
    Active: Post/Free Action
    Energy Cost: 5 EN
    Cooldown: 3 Turns
    Effect: Allows the user to make an attempt to enter stealth as a free action instead of a post action. if successful, the user is now concealed.
    Description: After having used stealth skills for some time, you have become silent, and now can move so silently that enemies can lose perception of you.
    With this change, Vanish now effectively works like charge but better. A fair trade off for the extra slot cost and SP allocation. Its a little less reliable but not exceedingly so now.
    Stealth Maintenance Rework:
    Moving on to the pain in the butt it was to keep stealth active, far too often it seemed that players would succeed on the first attempt and then botch this roll. Which is an unfun waste of a turn, and adds a lot of extra book keeping for no reward.
    From this point forward the following has been changed:
    - Maintaining stealth no longer requires a roll unless a post action is performed.
    - When attacking, stealth will immediately be broken after the attack is made.
    - Otherwise, when performing a post action (First Aid, Leadership, Purify etc.) you will need to make a maintenance stealth roll to maintain stealth.
    This will hopefully this will erase the constant problem of entering stealth as a post/free action -> Getting to your next turn -> Failing the roll and dropping out of stealth and getting no benefit.
    Stealth Detection Rework:
    We've found that stealth is either really really good, or really bad. This is because most mobs have a flat Stealth Detection of 9 in most cases, which encourages a fire and forget mentality. We want Stealth to be a build choice, not a free take for an unreliable source of extra damage. In the coming days, some our more ruthless enemies will see a change in their effective detection ratings to offset the positive changes above. This will make it harder to just 'splash' stealth for free, while making true stealth based characters much better at it. Likewise in addition to the standard post action changes above, if a player is the only available target (solo party) and the entity cannot target them, it can use its post action to attempt to detect them like a player would.
    Over the coming days, MOBS with an accuracy will see an equal amount of detection added to them. Likewise, MOBS that have evasion and utilize stealth mechanics will see their Stealth Rating adjusted accordingly.
    Quick Change Rework:
    Wow how does this relate to stealth? Well, we don't want to harm existing QC builds that utilize stealth and we find that by making these changes to vanish we very well could. So we intend to transition Quick Change to allow them still to be used on the same turn, while also making Quick Change more effective in other areas. This is done by changing the type of free action QC is, it now competes with [Switch] which makes narrative sense (Your distracted with your menus)
    ► Quick Change
    Cost: 8 SP
    Active: Free Action (System)
    Cooldown: 3 Turns
    Effect: Allows the user to instantly equip, unequip, or swap any equipment in their battle-ready inventory.  All active and temporary buffs and conditions granted to the player by the unequipped item are immediately lost, unless the new item carries the same enhancement (e.g. Keen, Heavy Momentum, Risky, etc.)  
    Description: You’ve become acquainted with your equipment and have learned to navigate through your battle-ready inventory with great ease.
    New Enhancements:
    Now to the specialization, all the above changes set up for making stealth easier in some areas and harder in others. This is the final nail in the hybrid coffin, making Stealth more of a niche choice if you want perfect uptime. By introducing some previous quest/event item effects as a standard enhancement:
    ► Sneaky
    Cost: 1 Slot
    Cap: 3 Slot
    Effect: Gain +(1 per slot) Stealth Rating
    Applicable to: Trinkets, Jewelry
    ► Insightful
    Cost: 1 Slot
    Cap: 3 Slot
    Effect: Gain +(1 per slot) Stealth Detection
    Applicable to: Trinkets, Jewelry
    Now we have an answer to stealthing mobs, and now when a player wants to be the best at stealth, they need to invest some gear into it as well. 
  5. Raidou
    Back around for another round, we'd like to inform you all of recent patches released in one dedicated place! Without too much time lets get down to business:
    Field Bosses:
    Inanos, The Aether Wurm [F26 Field Boss]
    T4 Danger noodle, with the atom bomb teeth
    Drops: Iridescent Tooth (T4/Reusable/Consumable) | Usable as free action once per combat after you apply a stack of Envenom. This item consumes all of your stacks of Envenom on the target dealing unmitigated damage equal to the damage those stacks would have dealt over their entire remaining durations.
    Shar, Prismatic Elemental [F27 Field Boss]
    T4 walking DoT bomb, made out of a fountain of elements? Caution: May or may not explode.
    Drops: Prismatic Orb (T4/Reusable/Consumable): As a free action once per combat, apply a single stack of a T4 status effect of your choosing from the following list to a single target: Frostbite, Envenom, Bleed, Blight, Burn
    Midnight Ripper [F28 Field Boss]
    T4 jack the ripper meets texas chainsaw massacre. Pretty hard to enjoy thanksgiving with this guy running around. Stay inside come midnight!
    Drops: Meathook (T4/Reusable) | As a free action once per combat, apply a single stack of [Shatter] to one target of your choosing (No roll required). 
    DoT Build QoL:
    <<Soundtrack>> | A once per combat reusable Debuff Song, to help alleviate the resource demand of being a DoT build (looking at you incarcerate). Crafted from 10 identical debuff songs + 1 demonic shard and each one takes up a battle ready inventory slot. They are made much like the Cooking Professions Feasts! You may still need a handful of incarcerates in a longer fight, or just fill your inventory with these things and you might have enough.
    Catalyst Enhancement (Performer/Debuff Song) | A masterpiece/instant required enhancement, Costs 3 slots and caps at 1. When a DoT would be refreshed, you can use this and deal all the damage of the DoT that would have happened over its remaining duration. Pretty neat, especially when you and a buddy are both rocking Burn 2
    Perpetuate Rework | We found that after Incarcerate and Perpetuate were changed, they no longer needed to be exclusive. But we realized that DoT really was under performing due to incarcerations changes, so we made them just a little better. Perpetuate will now refresh damaging DoT effects in addition to disables, returning it to its roots in a somewhat manageable way.
    Unhindered:
    A new 'armor' skill for those that love to run around butt naked. For real though, we found that there were some players especially lower level players who avoided taking armor skills because they either couldn't afford to or it isn't practical at this time. This skill bars the purchase and activation of Armor Skills/Mods/Addons but in exchange allows you to access some of the mods normal utility benefits by wearing at least 1 accessory. Which most do, right?
  6. Raidou
    Oh boy, here we go with addressing the elephant in the room. Given the state these enhancements are in, we have noticed there's a tendency to gravitate to them exclusively. This is due to the fact that Fallen and/or Holy are considerably overtuned in comparison to other options. We’d like to encourage build diversity and instead of making the call and changing something that very well be essential to existing builds, we’d like to understand and accept what the community believes we should do to rectify this issue.
    Here is a conjoined expectation of what Holy & Fallen is capable of (Assuming 100% hit rate, and buffs, Sword Art Multiplier [x18] as an average): 
    Player 1 | Damage: 28 | FLN: 16 | HLY: 16 | ACC 5
    Player 2 | Damage: 28 | FLN: 16 | HLY: 16 | ACC 5
    Player 3 | Damage: 28 | FLN: 16 | HLY: 16 | ACC 5
    Player 4 | Damage: 28 | FLN: 16 | HLY: 16 | ACC 5
    Player 5 | Damage: 28 | FLN: 16 | HLY: 16 | ACC 5
    Player 6 | Damage: 28 | FLN: 16 | HLY: 16 | ACC 5
    28 x 18 = 504 x 6 players = 3024 Damage before MIT (This is our standard raw)
    Now let's assume that each player has a 50% chance to activate one or the other. (Range 6-10)
    That leaves us with 16 x 18 = 288 x 3 players = 864 Damage before MIT (Our Holy + Fallen Raw)
    3024 + 864 = 3888 Total Damage before MIT
    Now let's look at less desired damage enhancement types using the same numbers:
    Player 1 | Damage: 28 | BLD: 48 | BRN: 56/2 | BLI: 32/2 | FB: 40/2
    Player 2 | Damage: 28 | BLD: 48 | BRN: 56/2 | BLI: 32/2 | FB: 40/2
    Player 3 | Damage: 28 | BLD: 48 | BRN: 56/2 | BLI: 32/2 | FB: 40/2
    Player 4 | Damage: 28 | BLD: 48 | BRN: 56/2 | BLI: 32/2 | FB: 40/2
    Player 5 | Damage: 28 | BLD: 48 | BRN: 56/2 | BLI: 32/2 | FB: 40/2
    Player 6 | Damage: 28 | BLD: 48 | BRN: 56/2 | BLI: 32/2 | FB: 40/2
    28 x 18 = 504 x 6 players = 3024 Damage before MIT (Again our standard raw)

    Now we calculate assuming at least 1 player in 4 hits the activation range to apply their DoTs (30%). All other actions would simply refresh them. We will even be including Incarceration, which although resource hungry would be considered a buff for this calculation
    96 (BLD) + 112 (BRN) + 64 (BLI) + 80 (FB) = 352 Unmitigated Damage
    3024 + 352 = 3376 Total Damage before MIT
    Now, instead of using an enemy with 0 MIT. Lets see how much Mitigation an enemy would have to have before DoT is at least comparable.
    100 Enemy Mitigation:
    {Fallen/Holy} 3888 - 600 [100 x 6 players] = 3288 Damage after MIT
    {DoT} 3024 - 600 [100 x 6 players] = 2424 + 352 = 2776 Damage after MIT
    Nope, still a huge disparity. How about 200 Enemy Mitigation?
    200 Enemy Mitigation:
    {Fallen/Holy} 3888 - 1200 [200 x 6 players] = 2688 Damage after MIT
    {DoT} 3024 - 1200 [200 x 6 players] = 1824 + 352 = 2176 Damage after MIT
    Ok, clearly they are just going to decrease at the same rate. So how much Mitigation would an enemy have to have before DoT stands a chance? Well that answer is simple, it has to have so much mitigation that the number exceeds the standard raw and actually effects Holy/Fallen. So in this case we would take the difference between Holy and Fallen + Standard Raw. Which uses the following calculations
    864 - 352 = 512 / 6 [per player] = 85.33 Mitigation per player
    Now we take our standard
    3024 / 6 [per player] = 504 Mitigation per player
    So add them together and we end up with:
    504+85.33 = 589.33 Mitigation per player. That's a ton, now let's check it to make sure it is what is required. We will use a rounded 590 Mitigation per player
    590 Enemy Mitigation:
    {Fallen/Holy} 3888 - 3540 [590 x 6 players] = 348 Damage after MIT
    {DoT} 3024 - 3540 [590 x 6 players] = 6 [Minimum Damage x 6 players] + 352 = 358 Damage after MIT
    So to actually compare to Fallen/Holy, enemies must have at least 590 Mitigation for DoT to be equally effective with an incarcerations active. This will only scale massively once we use higher multipliers [x21 ST-B] for example.
    Assuming your following along and have read and understand the above, here is our reasoning for the above options.
    Option 1: 
    Reducing Fallen/Holy Damage to half its current values will reduce the effective difference between them by a drastic margin.
    864 - 352 = 512 Damage difference
    To
    432 - 352 = 80 Damage difference
    Which lowers the Enemy mitigation requirement to:
    512 / 6 [per player] = 85.33 Additional Enemy Mitigation
    80 / 6 [per player] = 13.33 Additional Enemy Mitigation
    This option at least lowers the scale difference but is not a perfect solution. 
    Option 2:
    Make Fallen/Holy Exclusive will also halve its current values, but will also improve build diversity by opening 2 slots. For the cost of reducing effective activation ranges. So using the above examples and using Holy (Given its lower activation range):
    Player 1 | Damage: 28 | HLY: 16 | ACC 5
    Player 2 | Damage: 28 | HLY: 16 | ACC 5
    Player 3 | Damage: 28 | HLY: 16 | ACC 5
    Player 4 | Damage: 28 | HLY: 16 | ACC 5
    Player 5 | Damage: 28 | HLY: 16 | ACC 5
    Player 6 | Damage: 28 | HLY: 16 | ACC 5
    At a 20% activation range, that leaves us with approximately 1 activation in 5 players. Which makes the number look like:
    16 x 18 = 288 Damage before MIT
    As compared to the prior 352 Damage after MIT from DoT? But doesn’t that mean that DoT would be better? Not entirely, because again, there are now two free slots on the weapons of every member of the party listed above. That damage difference would be easily made up with nearly any other option that could be placed on a weapon.
    Option 3:
    Increase both other existing unique enhancements (BRN, BLD, HM, Freeze, FB, etc.) & Enemy MIT. One of the available options we have is closing the gap between Holy/Fallen and DoTs through increasing DoT damage.
    All we need is this number: 
    864 - 352 = 512 Damage difference
    512 / 4 [DoTs activated] = 128 per DoT / Incarceration Bonus (x2) = 64 per DoT
    So we have to bump up each DoT around this margin, AND improve enemy mitigation to put more stress to force the gap to close. See Examples above but using higher DoT numbers and it will become clear. Higher DoT damage means the mitigation will not be as high to force standard raw to become 0 and begin to affect Holy/Fallen enough to shorten the gap. But it will still need to be massive.
    Option 4:
    Institute two new enhancement/effects: Fallen Immunity & Holy Immunity our least favorite option, but is an option nonetheless. It would allow us to tune enemies in such a way that both Holy and Fallen wouldn’t be as effective by reducing their activation ranges through immunity. This would be applied quite readily and wholeheartedly to existing creatures. Much in the vein of Eladriel the Corrupt the <<Floor 13 Field Boss>> who has the following ability:
    Fallen From Grace | Eladriel is immune to Fallen Damage, but takes double Holy Damage (T1 Holy gives +4 base DMG per slot, T2 Holy gives +8 per slot).
    Feel free to respond to this poll, but we would like examples and evidence to support claims made. This is a tough cookie to crack but must be cracked as to rectify build diversity.
     
    The Monkey Wrench,
    Raidou
     
  7. Raidou
    As a result of our recent changes within the 3.1.2.5 New Mechanic Systems Release/Rework Patch, up until August 31, 2024 GMT all players will enjoy the following benefits:
    1. Refunding Weapon Skills and their respective mods/addons will not incur a col cost or count toward your normal 50 SP per month limit. This is to allow players to make a swap to one of the new weapon types if they choose to. These refunds are undergone in the same skill refund evaluation process otherwise.
    2. A player may re-evaluate an existing item into one of the new or altered Item Types (Rapier, Throwing Weapons, Projectile Weapons) with no additional item requirement and at no additional cost. This re-evaluation can only be done once per item, and only the following attributes will change: Item Type, Name, Description. The other attributes (ID, Tier, Enhancements) will remain unchanged when using this evaluation process. To re-evaluate an item in this way, please use your personal evaluation thread on the evaluations board in the same way you would a newly crafted item.
    A small QoL period as to allow a bit more freedom of choice, a countdown to when this event will end has been created for simplicity.
     
    Happy Trails Aincradian Rabble,
    Danger Noodle Slapper, Raidou
  8. Raidou
    Hello All, Its that time again for some QoL improvements. This time we are releasing something new and adjusting existing mechanics to link them in consistency. First off the frying pan....
    Some keywords have been made for the sake of clarity:
    [True Level] = Player's Level + Player's Paragon Level (at the start of the thread)
    [True Tier] = [True Level] / 10, Rounded Up
    These should look familiar to you, given these are the same numbers used to calculate experience earned at the end of a thread. These values do not change regardless of what conditions a system may imply and are still used at all times for determining experience gains. If you are using a system that may alter the level you use for stats, please record these in your initial post of the thread along your stat block to help staff.
    As well as a couple of changes to weapon skills (Red for Change, Green for New additions):
    ►<<Weapon Type>> Skill
    5 Ranks
    Passive
    Effect: At Rank 1, gain +3 DMG. At Ranks 2-5, +1 per rank (max of +7 DMG for R5 Weapon Skill). At Rank 5, unlock the ability to specialize in a Combat Shift.
    Weapon Types:
    Dagger
    Rapier
    Straight Swords
    Curved Swords
    Polearms
    Hammers
    Axes
    Whip
    Claws
    Thrown Weapons
    Projectile Weapons
    Katana*
    Martial Arts**
     
    Tier Lock System Rework:
    This mechanic serves a purpose, but that doesn't make it any less of a headache when used frequently in the same thread. As a result, we are making the following adjustments as both a benefit and a small nerf while also converting it into a full fledged system:
    1. A Tier Lock is now declared at the beginning a thread using the [Tier Lock] tag within that participant's first post, and once declared cannot be reversed within the duration of that thread. This can be done on a per participant basis unless the intention is to hunt a field boss or using the new Assist system.
    2. A Tier Lock must be imposed upon all participants to allow a field boss to spawn, and the tier lock imposed must be equal to or lower then the lowest intended field boss target or that field boss will not spawn if you do not match its tier.
    3. A Tier Lock can now be used to reduce your Current Level in addition to your Tier, reducing your loot minimums to match as well as changing the items dropped by creatures to the proper tier of the newly Tier Locked Tier/Level
    4. A participants Skills/Addons/Enhancements that scale with tier are adjusted according to your newly defined tier within the system. (The player's available SP for their skills are not affected.)
    Now we know that it does make fighting back to back Field Bosses with varied tier a bit more difficult, but inversely it allows for a more fluid use of the mechanic to the players benefit and makes evaluating threads that contain it much easier.
     
    The Storyteller System:
    This is a bit of an interesting introduction, the short version is that this system allows a writer to take on the role of third person [Storyteller] for a thread, instead of writing as your character. This basically allows you to control the other aspects of thread making (Monster Spawns, The weather, the time of day, etc.) as well as you control the conversations for NPC's present within the quest/thread, and can make up your own as you write. Pretty neat right?
    Below is the method to start using the system:
    1. You create a thread and label the title with any of these tags ([ST] or [Storyteller])
    2. On your first post you write out some version of '<<Storyteller System in effect, Acting as Storyteller>>' to let PST know who is using the system. and begin writing the scene.
    3. Include your [True Level] and your [True Tier], but you do not need to include your stat lock as a result.
    Simple enough, but now lets get down to brass tacks and the more minute rules regarding using the system.

    Rules on this system actually works at a deeper level:
    1. The Storyteller must start the thread, even if they are not the party leader. This is for the sake of clarity and so the Storyteller can set the scene.
    2. There can only be 1 active storyteller in a thread at a given time, and this is determined on the first post. Likewise, the topic must include the [Storyteller] Tag to alert PST to the fact the system is being used.
    3. This system cannot be used to write for yourself, as a way to generate extra experience for your other characters (I.E. Alts) and doing so will be considered abuse, subject to normal penalties.
    4. The Storyteller's character is not actually 'present' in the thread and cannot hold a conversation or participate mechanically in any way. This extends to being not considered as part of the player count maximum for determining quest restrictions and they are not an applicable target in combat
    5. The storyteller does not require a stat block, but within their first post their current tier/level must be stated for determining experience rewards on thread closure.
    6. You will not receive any quest completion rewards, rewards/drops from field bosses, loot drops from hostile mobs or col from thread closure. You will only receive experience based on the word count of the thread.
    7. This system can be used even on normally solo only quests (Gemini, Challenge of Olympus, etc.) as a way to allow for a more diverse narrative and easier option.
    8. The Storyteller controls the NPC/Hostile Mobs/Quest Targets/Environment/and General Flow of the thread. This includes material spawns, chest spawns, dungeon spawns, locale information, time of day etc.
    9. Material/Chest/Dungeon spawned by the Storyteller must still follow normal mechanics. (I.E. the Storyteller spawns a herb patch, then players must still roll successful gathering attempts to yield anything)
    10. Spawned Mobs must be agreed upon by all participants. In the event of a disagreement, it is a Storyteller's responsibility to curate the stat blocks in a way that is favorable to the party.
    11. This cannot be abused, and if staff determine that the system was abused (Player Griefing, Mechanic Exploitation) then the acting 'Storyteller' will be barred from utilizing the system in its entirety until an appeal has been made. If a character is lost in a way that is determined by staff to be predatory, then it is likely that the thread will be considered 'non-canon' and the character in question may be 'revived'
    Next up is going to be the sister system known as....
     
    The Assist System:
    This system allows you to level match to a lower level player, provided that there is a level difference of 5 or more between you. When doing so, both you and the other player will enjoy an experience bonus. This system was designed to allow more players to play together on equal footing without one feeling as though they are being carried.
    That's the general description, now lets get in the deeper end:
    First lets name the two types of participants in the system for clarity
    [Assisted] = The lowest level player within the thread that is being level/tier/paragon matched to.
    [Assisting]  = A player who is choosing to match their level/tier/paragon to the [Assisted] player.
    With the above descriptions in mind, rules and examples below:
    1. The [Assisting] player(s) are considered "Tier Locked" to [Assisted] player's tier and their level reduced to [Assisted] player's level.
    2. All participants in the system enjoy a +5% experience reward bonus for each [Assisting] player.
    3. When this system is activated, all other eligible participants must join as an [Assisting] Player to continue in the thread. This is to prevent an exploit. Two higher level players join a low level player, and only one becomes an [Assisting] thereby gaining the experience bonus. The other remains at high level and goes ham).
    Examples:
    Kirito | Level 33, Paragon 58, Tier 4, True Tier 10
    Lisbeth | Level 7, Paragon 0, Tier 1, True Tier 1
    Asuna | Level 33, Paragon 42, Tier 4, True Tier 8
    Kirito chooses to use the Assist System, becoming the [Assisting] player and designating Lisbeth as the [Assisted]. The new stat blocks look like this.
    Kirito | Level 7, Paragon 0, Tier 4, True Tier 10 [Assisting]
    Lisbeth | Level 7, Paragon 0, Tier 1, True Tier 1 [Assisted]
    Asuna | Level 33, Paragon 42, Tier 4, True Tier 8
    Experience Bonus: +5%
    Asuna must join in given that the system has been activated as an [Assisting], matching her stats to Lisbeth as well. This adds an additional +5% experience gain bonus (for each [Assisting] player). So finalizing it looks like this:
    Kirito | Level 7, Paragon 0, Tier 4, True Tier 10 [Assisting]
    Lisbeth | Level 7, Paragon 0, Tier 1, True Tier 1 [Assisted]
    Asuna | Level 7, Paragon 0, Tier 4, True Tier 8 [Assisting]
    Experience Bonus: +10%
     
    And that's all folks
    Truly Yours,
    Trash Panda Raidou
  9. Raidou

    Armor Skill Rework (3.1.2.4)

    By Raidou,


    Patch Notes
    Overview:
    Hello Incarcerated Citizen's of Aincrad,
    Time to address one of the elephants in the room: Armor Skills. There has been noticed a small amount of confusion but a drastic amount of inconsistency across the board in regards to these passives. It has lead to a 'meta' in the shape of light armor and it discourages variety. This patch aims to rectify this.
    Original Skills:
    Originally our Armor skills looked like this:
    Change Reasoning:
    Now first lets look at the worst offender in overtuning, Light Armor by comparing the other two skills:
    Cloth Armor | Can Benefit from 3 Evasion (Via Enhancements) and 1 Mitigation (Via Enhancements). This tunes its Defensive Enhancement Limit to 4
    Light Armor | Can Benefit from 3 Evasion (Via Enhancements) and 2 Mitigation (Via Enhancements). This tunes its Defensive Enhancement Limit to 5
    Heavy Armor | Can Benefit from 1 Evasion (Via Enhancements) and 3 Mitigation (Via Enhancements). This tunes its Defensive Enhancement Limit to 4

    One of these numbers is not like the others. A simple solution is to bring Light Armor in line with the other two, but to define it differently. Given 3/1 and 1/3 on Cloth and Heavy respectively, it only makes sense that Light Armor become a 2/2 so the scale looks like this:

    Cloth | 3/1
    Light | 2/2
    Heavy | 1/3

    1,2,3 and 3,2,1 Nice even and balanced.
    Then we look to ranks, which are inconsistent across the ranks. Using Cloth Armor as an Example:

    Rank 1: 5 MIT +5
    Rank 2: 8 MIT +3?
    Rank 3: 12 MIT +4?
    Rank 4: 15 MIT +3?
    Rank 5: 20 MIT +5 again?
    This inconsistency can lead to confusion as to what each rank provides. As a result each will be retuned to follow the following formula:

    Cloth Armor | +4 Mitigation per Rank
    Light Armor | +6 Mitigation per Rank
    Heavy Armor | +8 Mitigation per Rank
    But hold on, wouldn't that add up to 40 from Heavy?
    Answer is yes, it sure would. This is because the difference between Cloth & Light both at rank 5 was +10 Mitigation, yet for some strange reason the difference between Light & Heavy was only +5 Mitigation. Strange and inconsistent. So we will be rectifying that as well.
    Final Changes:
    ► Cloth Armor
    5 Ranks
    Passive
    Effect: Gain Mitigation based on your rank in Cloth armor. You can only benefit from one armor skill at a time (the respective armor type must be equipped). Your mitigation is capped at 1 equipment slots.
    Rank 1: 4 MIT
    Rank 2: 8 MIT
    Rank 3: 12 MIT
    Rank 4: 16 MIT
    Rank 5: 20 MIT
     
    ► Light Armor
    5 Ranks
    Passive
    Effect: Gain Mitigation based on your rank in Light Armor. You can only benefit from one armor skill at a time (the respective armor type must be equipped). Your mitigation is capped at 2 enhancement slots and Your Evasion is capped at 2 enhancement slots.
    Rank 1: 6 MIT
    Rank 2: 12 MIT (-1 to Stealth Rating)
    Rank 3: 18 MIT
    Rank 4: 24 MIT (-1 to Stealth Rating for -2 total)
    Rank 5: 30 MIT
    Description: You have become proficient in Light Armor with leather or scale armor and few metal plates, allowing you protection as well as some maneuverability.
     
    ► Heavy Armor
    5 Ranks
    Passive
    Effect: Gain Mitigation based on your rank in Heavy armor. You can only benefit from one armor skill at a time (the respective armor type must be equipped). Your evasion is capped at 1 enhancement slot and you take -1 to Stealth Rating per rank.
    Rank 1: 8 MIT
    Rank 2: 16 MIT
    Rank 3: 24 MIT
    Rank 4: 32 MIT
    Rank 5: 40 MIT
    Description: You have become proficient in plated armor of metal and chain, acting as a wearable shield.
  10. Raidou
    Overview:
    Given the state that support archetypes are currently in (we know, staff as a whole is trying to find a good way to approach the problem) we've discovered that most supports have little to use their post actions on. We'd like to address that by looking to one of their only non-heal based post actions (action economy is everything, and we want players to spend it in a meaningful way.)
    Likewise, we'd also like to address the difficulty of obtaining equipment. As it sits we feel as though our current avenues for gearing and preparing a 'frontline ready' character is a little too pigeon holed, gatekept and otherwise a chore. A small removal of recurrence on NT should help alleviate the crawl and allow for more explosive growth. Something for your time and effort.
    Leadership Breakdown:
    These are all the respective changes to Leadership that are current as of this patch:
    [Rank 1 Leadership Art] Elusive
    Active: Post Action
    Energy cost: 4 EN
    Cooldown: 2 Turns.
    Effect: Increase the Evasion of all players in your party by 1 for a single turn, while decreasing your own by 1.
    Description: The user raises their weapon/fist into the air, with each player in the party glowing a soft blue glow for a few seconds.
     
    [Rank 2 Leadership Art] Rally
    Active: Post Action
    Energy cost: 6 EN
    Cooldown: 2 Turns.
    Effect: Increase the Accuracy of all players in your party by 1 for a single turn, while decreasing your own by 1 for your next attack.
    Description: The user raises their weapon/fist into the air, with each player in the party glowing a soft violet glow for a few seconds.
     
    [Rank 3 Leadership Art] Steadfast
    Active: Post Action
    Energy cost: 8 EN
    Cooldown: 3 Turns
    Effect:  Status Effects that would be applied to the party for the next two turns would instead be applied to the user instead (normal rules for how status effects refresh instead of stacking apply).
    Description: The user raises their weapon/fist into the air, with each player in the party glowing a soft silver glow for a few seconds.
     
    [Rank 4 Leadership Art] Inspiring Speech
    Active: Post Action
    Energy cost: 8 EN
    Cooldown: 3 Turns
    Effect: Decreases all currently active sword art cooldowns of all other party members by one. The user cannot regain any energy until the start of their next turn.
    Description: The user raises their weapon/fist into the air, with each player in the party glowing a soft red glow for a few seconds.
     
    [Rank 5 Leadership Art] Press the Attack
    Active: Post Action
    Energy cost: 10 EN
    Cooldown: 3 Turns
    Effect: Increase the Damage of all other party members by +(Target's Tier) base damage for a single turn. The user’s base damage for their next attack is decreased by the total increased base damage for their next attack.
    Description: The user raises their weapon/fist into the air, with each player in the party glowing a soft iridescent glow for a few seconds.
    NT Breakdown:
    As of this patch, repeating Nature's Treasure no longer requires the spawning of mobs with defined/set stat blocks or mechanics. However, the quest must still be completed the first time correctly to be eligible to use loot minimum mobs during a Nature's Treasure.
  11. Raidou

    Floor 27 Boss Fight (Post Completion)

    By Raidou,


    Community Feedback
    Now that all is said and done, we'd like to plug the community and see how the material was received. This is an attempt to cater future content to the desires of the community. Below is the outline of the design process behind Wushen and the Ronbaru Roundtable companion event.
    Wushen:
    Too big to hurt, he was supposed to embody the idea of facing a titanic monster that easily dwarfed the players involved. Based around the Wuxing cycle, he was the embodiment of a Boss that had access to Incarcerate/Trickster builds and was really DoT heavy.

    Phase 1:
    Does low damage, attacks available energy instead.
         This is why the fight seemed so long, as to add more value in enhancements/consumables/skills that were not present (Recovery, Vitality, Meditation)
    Drains hatred, to require more investment and activity from tanks.
         This was to encourage the use of all available hatred generation tools and make off tanking or DPS-Tanking much harder
    Targets Mass Heal crystals, to discourage their usage over true Support/Healers.
         This was to discourage the past excessive utilizations of these consumables and allow for Supports to feel useful
    Status effects that were unused had a function (Stun, Paralyze, Delay, etc.).
         This was to enable what was previously irrelevant in the fight to have a use case.
    No real danger of dying, unless hatred was not held and healers did not heal.
    Phase 2:
    Does moderate damage, which lessen as long as heads are controlled.
         This was to allow for the aura of danger, and allow DPS to play a pivotal role besides killing the big guy.
    Created a barrier to prevent direct damage against the boss. LD usage removes it. 
         This allowed a use case for Searching/Nimble/Dismantle/Reveal in a way that was useful but not required. Giving a use case of these skills in the boss fight.
    Spawns were drawing from the Bosses available HP pool, as to add value to killing multiple waves of enemies.
         This shows that a boss cannot produce a limitless amount of resources, and was a narrative way to explain that they were a part of him.
    Status effects would propagate to the heads if applied directly to Wushen, Save Disables (Burn, Delay, Freeze, etc.)
         In the past, DoTs on the boss were not as effective as they could be. Given the design, Wushen was aligned to elements so elements would be his Achilles heel. 
    Hatred was only utilized on Wushen to ease up tracking and demand from already strained tanks.
         Reduced clutter, and makes it to where tanks only had to focus on the big guy. The adds would follow suit.
    Only real danger was if a head critically hit multiple times.
    Ronbaru Roundtable:
    The companion event, where narrative could directly influence the boss fight. This included triggering head critical attacks or weakening some of Wushen's phase 2 effects. A way for lower level players to participate in one of the sites biggest events for lack of a better word. The narrative between this event and Wushen's fight were intrinsically tied together.
     
    Conclusion:
    Wushen and Ronbaru Roundtable required players to think instead of just roll dice. Moving forward this will be the design goal in mind. Less of a massive amount of hitpoints or mitigation, but mechanics and narrative that must be worked around and understood to find the weakpoint. It is our belief that although mechanics are important, they should be enforcing the idea of narrative first and foremost. Moreover, all the mechanical nuances and items that go unnoticed or are considered 'subpar' to a current meta will be looked at and addressed. We want to encourage diversity and forethought into a boss raid. Its the sites hardest content, and it should require all the site has to offer to succeed.
    Voting in the poll above, which will not be anonymous, is an agreement to explain the details of your decision. Constructive feedback is key to plans moving forward. Each of you have direct involvement in the route we choose to take moving forward.
    ~ Truly Your Resident Evil
    Raidou Kuzunoha
  12. Raidou

    Floor 26 Boss Fight Rewards

    By Raidou,


    3.1
    For those of you involved in the floor 26 boss raid and received a <<Fate's Armament>> from Gabrandr's defeat, there has a number of questions regarding these items. Staff is making this announcement as an aim to rectify this. Anyone who possessed this item and participated in the companion event "Defying Destiny" is eligible to submit the vanity weapon to their evals. The item will become a T4 Demonic Quality Weapon, type being whatever the player so chooses and the name and description can be defined by the player. In addition the enhancements present on the item will be of the players choosing:
    1 Unique Enhancement (Excluding Cursed) 3 Standard Enhancements Please before submitting the item, make sure that the character in question participated and received rewards for 'Defying Destiny' in addition to the Floor Boss fight for floor 26. Only characters that received thread closure rewards from the companion event will be eligible to upgrade the item this way.
    Your resident weirdo,
    Raidou
  13. Raidou

    Appraiser Q.O.L (3.1.2.2)

    By Raidou,


    Patch Notes
    We’ve heard the outcries! It seems the community has some issues with Appraisers, being the most difficult and least rewarding profession we have available. Staff would like to change that. As such we have come up with the following alterations to try and turn this profession into a more rewarding experience.
    #1 - Fusions
    Appraisers are now able to fuse unidentified items just like any other profession. Appraisers can only fuse unidentified items of the same item type using the following table to create higher quality items of the same type:
    2 Uncommon unidentified items = 1 Rare unidentified item 2  Rare unidentified items = 1 Perfect unidentified item 2 Perfect/Demonic unidentified Items = 1 Perfect unidentified item 2 Perfect/Demonic unidentified items + 1 Demonic Shard = 1 Demonic unidentified item This means an appraiser can take two uncommon unidentified consumables, and combine them up to a rare unidentified consumable before having to roll! Hopefully this will aid in reducing the sheer amount of rolls the profession has to do.
    #2 - Less RNG/Reduce shop clutter
    Appraisers are the one major source of Unique enhancements. Likewise, all characters need these things and as such it's a painstaking process. No more will an appraiser be stuck with 16 instances of paralyze immunity that no one wants, using the following system:
    An Appraiser can take an item with a unique enhancement(s) and convert it into one Mystic Essence per unique enhancement that was on the item, these essence maintain the ID of the item broken down (if more then slot was present these use duplicate roll ID’s akin to Alchemist/Cooking Professions. I.E. #123456-1, #123456-2). Only items that were identified with the Appraiser’s identification mechanic are eligible for this mechanic. This process does not use up any of the Appraiser’s daily identification attempts, but does destroy the item in the process. Once an Appraiser has 3 Mystic Essences saved up, which are kept within their shop and maintain the ID’s from the deconstruction of Uniquely enhanced items, they can use the 3 Mystic Essences to forgo rolling for a single slot on the item and instead select one unique enhancement of their choice for that slot when identifying ANY item type of ANY quality.  Mystic Essence can only ever be used on a single slot of the item, but it will at least weaken the strain of RNG on Appraisers as a whole. Goof hiding in a barrel,
    Raidou
  14. Raidou

    Custom Skills (3.1.2.1)

    By Raidou,


    Patch Notes
    Custom Skills:
    Thats right! We’re trying this again. So how are they different this time?
    They cannot be used in Raid Bosses
    They cannot be used in any Site Wide events
    When submitted, they enter a waiting list for when they will be evaluated (1 every 30 days). At which time, the one that is currently being evaluated will be reached by a member of staff to create a discord ticket. This area is to discuss and help balance the skill to an acceptable level.
    Before a player with a custom skill joins a thread, they must have TOTAL AGREEMENT from all participants in the thread they are joining. If even one player does not want them used, they do not function (these things can be considered god modding otherwise.)
    Reasons for the above caveats:
    #1
    Bosses are difficult, Floor Bosses are difficult-er. Given the sheer amount of players present, even the slightest bit of bad numbers create a huge amount of work for all involved (Players & Staff). Couple this with the fact that these can cause contention, they will be blanket banned from these in entirety.
    #2
    Events are for the community, not for the individual player. It would be a nightmare to try to logistically get every writer to agree to them. The solution is simple, assume that no one agrees and move on. Some events also can give unique rewards, and there could be some that believe that the custom aided in efforts to obtain these rewards. Although they are balanced around the 10 SP cost, we’d like to avoid this. No Customs in Events, self run or otherwise.
    #3
    The last time these existed, we had a massive showing of them popping up everywhere. These things flooded the Approval section, commandeered general/systems chat. This is something we’d like to avoid, as it was harmful to more relevant discussions in these areas. Likewise, the sheer strain they put on staff, it turned into a madhouse. Each one has to be carefully checked for loop holes, and checked for strength against the 10 SP cost. This takes time, and 30 days should be more than enough.
    #4
    Although small, these can provide an edge that wasn’t present before. Custom skills cannot be harmful to other players' experiences on site. To make this the case our solution is to allow them to be a choice if they can be used (much in the vein of killing/shoving another player.) Some writers want difficulty, or want a vanilla experience and this will allow them to do so without fear of a custom skill changing this.
     
    So what's the process?
    The character must have a Paragon Level of 50+
    First Submit the skill for evaluation using your personal evaluation topic (in #approvals) much like crafting, Only the name of the skill is required. It will be added to the list kept here. This list is the waiting list using the timestamp as your place in line. Each writer is allowed one character in the waiting list at any given time, further additions will be barred.
    WARNING: If a person in line hassles a member of staff in any way due to the process or how long it takes, they will be moved to the END of the waiting list. CS are not the staff’s current focus and cannot afford the stress of having them being blasted on any channel.
    Once the skill is next up in the waiting list, a member of staff will approach you and have you create a discord ticket. This is the place where the skills function can be discussed in an open way. All members of staff are welcome to chime in their thoughts, or disagreements. This is where the player can broadcast their idea, not in the general channels of the discord (Including but not limited to General/Frontlines/Systems).
    WARNING: This is meant to be a hassle free experience, for both the player involved and the staff responsible for them. There will be no arguments, and should the conversation transition to an argument the responsibility falls on the player. Staff’s main goal is to allow these to be a ‘fun’ addition to a player, not an overwhelming power gain in the vein of Uniques past.
    After all is said and done, staff has helped you create something ‘fun’ and interesting as an addition to your character. A member of staff will take the design and put it up for all to see, once this point is reached it can be included in your character.
    When you submit a custom skill for approval, this means you have agreed and read all of the above. We expect a veteran player who has reached the criteria to fully understand the procedure and stipulations.
    F.A.Q
    Wont this make the game too easy/unbalanced?: Not really, given that the characters that can submit a custom skill are level 82. This means the character has obtained 359700 EXP. For context that is 72 times the exp reward for the hardest fights in the game. 
    Staff assumes at this point, the character in question has completed most if not all quests in the current game. The small impact these give, either through speed or item drops to be minimal at best. From our point of view, the level 82 character wouldn’t have an issue regardless. With or without a custom skill.
     
    I have a complaint, that’s not fair/balanced: Again, given the above a level 82+ character isn’t going to have trouble in standard content. We will not consider complaints regarding how a character at this mechanical power saved a single post or earned another 1000 col from a kill as a result of a custom skill. This is because, it's likely that the 1000 col is tiny by comparison to the col they have stuffed in their wallet. Don’t worry, you’ll end up getting one too.
     
    Their Custom Skill is better than mine: The responsibility for design comes from the player, our job is to weigh the effect and decide if it is worth 10 SP or not. In the event that a player's custom seems weaker than others, the primary responsibility falls on the player's initial design. Not Staff.
     
    What if mine ends up being too strong?: Staff reserves the right to change or alter any Custom Skill to match it to its 10 SP cost. If at any point balance changes or loopholes in its operation are found that allow it to exceed this consistent 10 SP cost, it will be re-evaluated. Until this time, the skill will become inactive and expected to be resubmitted using the above procedure.
     
    What if I make one, and don't like it?: A custom skill can be refunded like any other using its 10 SP cost. However, in the event of trying to create a new one the player must follow the procedure above and will be placed into the waiting list as if this was their first submission.
    Yours Truly,
    Residential Spreadsheet Warlock, Community Idiot Raidou
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