New Top 50′s and Quest Prestige

I added some new top 50 lists yesterday. One for each stat and one for each skill.

I also added a concept of Quest Prestige (QP). You can find these QP lists at the top of the Top 50′s page. QP is accumulated via your rankings on the top 50s. The points accumulate as follows:

1st – 100 QP
2nd – 85 QP
3rd – 70 QP
4th through 50th – (51 minus rank) QP. So 47 for 4th, and 11 for 40th, and 1 for 50th.
(Points are 10x for the top-levels list)

QP will mark the top players and, as I hoped, accumulated massively for the top players (Fing, Gray_Wolf, Bronse).

We also added a new concept of an account with more than one character in it.  These accounts are based on your email address. And since they are based on email address, you need to know what email address you created each character with. Look for that to be added to your detailed stats. Also, since this is a new concept, it would be fair to allow certain alts to be transfered onto an existing account if it made sense.

QP accumulation across alternate characters will certainly be a point of interest for top players. choosing alts wisely will be key to maximal all-time QP. For example, shadowjoe has more than one significant character, putting him third in all-time QP, ahead of Bronse who has one huge character, but no alts. I especially like the way this encourages top players to make alts, adding churn to the AH from proven intelligent players.

But this is just meta — no in-game changes here. We obviously have to do a lot more than QP to get the AH back to life and players playing.

Cycles

Been a long while since I posted here. This blog was intended to capture all waxing and waning of Quest development. I sure dropped that ball there, eh? Better late than never so I offer some thoughts below.

I’ve had some time to consider the most pressing addition needed to Quest (in my mind at least) and spec’d out the job at an 18 hour programming job. Not terribly difficult, but 18 hours of pure programming time is a hard thing to find these days… perhaps the end of the football season will open new doors for Quest.

There are relatively few bugs haunting the game, but the technology is woefully outdated. I think it would be difficult to recruit an eager young programmer to contribute to the project. VB6 is valuable programming experience, despite its essential lack of object orientation, the sheer volume of code we have is full of tricks of the trade for aspiring programmers. Plus VB6 programmers are always in demand somewhere, too many systems in the Real World are still running on excel and access’s VBA underpinnings… I should know, I put some of them there. For example, the trading floor of The biggest bank in Canada (y’know, the one that didn’t go under or need bailout cash).

Anyways, I digress. Help would be nice, but not required. What is required is some waxing, and I’m getting the vibe…

Firebolt 0… Firebolt 1… Firebolt ∞…

Before 5.15, the mages of Quest all got a new spell every 5 level. Fighters with weapon skills would get a new technique every 5 levels as well. Say goodbye to that! Instead, each spell gets stronger with the number of skill points you invest in its supporting tree. This is intuitive, doesn’t require constant updatting of your quickbar, and profoundly shortens the spell book.

Fighters will experience no change to the style of their attacks: +% damage. Mages however have undergone a bit of a rework for their spells. The primary idea is that for each skill point invested your spell will grow:

• +MP cost
• + damage. For fire, each skill point gives +3 damage.
• + damage from your INT. Like before, each skill point invested increases the controbution to damage from your INT.

It is clear how much the technique grows with each skill point because we have added more information to the display of a technique on the quickbar edit menu, and when you right-click a spell or technique already on the quickbar.

Class-based vs Point-based Character Building Systems in RPGs

Interesting discussion of class-based and point-based character building systems in this Table-Top Discussion.

I think the one thing he alludes to but isn’t explicit about is how “templates” are truly “roles” the character can play. Classes are a direct acknowledgement of specific roles. By definition they define the synergies between attacks, spells, buffs, actions, even equipment in advance. This can be dynamic or restricting depending on how you do it.

I think to turn “templates” into an actionable idea for Quest is to have readily available templates prepared as more complexity emerges. The templates can include stat and skill choices as well as prefered equipment, attack choices and fight styles.

Jewels, Psychology, Rarity

The jeweling system lagged way behind the rest of the item system with archaic costs of half a million gold to siphon and another half-million to forge that jewel. Not cool. So here is a discussion about how to keep jewels up to date with relevant changes, and while we we are at it, a bit of rethinking about what we want jewels to do.

True Benefits

We want jewels to destroy items, unclogging the item system’s eventual oversupply. This was a much bigger problem in previous versions, but a real risk in the long run for this item system too. When the supply of items becomes so inflated that the demand is oversupplied prices will falls. Basic economics there. So in this situation, an individual player will see the miserable gold income from selling the item, and SIPHON it instead. Siphoning is now a 100% chance of success and a way smaller cost. The 100% success and smaller cost help siphoning adjust to its new (similar to before) role.

Obviously we want jewels to make items better, too. But we don’t want to disturb the balance of items without making the player risk something. Something more than the relatively cheap jewels and the relatively cheap costs of siphoning and smithing. So we can:

1. Raise the costs of siphoning and smithing well above the trivial costs 5.14 introduces.
2. Plummet the supply of jewels. (This, along with #4 is Lineage 2′s solution)
3. Risk item loss.
4. Risk loss of all previous jewels on the item.

Analysing options for balancing risk/reward/cost

#1, Raising the cost of siphoning and smithing makes jeweling a monstrous gold sink instead of it’s above-stated benefit of market regulation. Even with level-based costs (higher itemLvlRqr –> more gold cost) smithing costs have to be out of reach for most if gold is the only cost. If the gold cost isn’t absurdly high, then everyone will be jeweling things willy-nilly! The balance of the game would have to adjust to phat jeweled equipment. I don’t care for either consequence. Only-gold isn’t a good cost.

#2, where we make jewels very rare, is viable. I’d rather not do it though. It doesn’t drain big gold or items from the system. No market regulatory functions. It does create wealth for those with high mining skill though, and that would be a nice effect.

#3 kinda sucks: only people with backup items should jewel items. HOWEVER, since the item revamp with the Auction House, high supply of commons, and new low smithing costs, backups should be easier to obtain, even if they aren’t up to snuff. This isn’t the end of the world for a cost, and gives us that market regulatory effect.

#4 A very very small risk: just the jewel and a lil gold. Small risks have small rewards. Not a bad system, but less market regulatory effect (only removes items on siphoning, no removal on smithing). This could work. It is different, but could work.

The new jewels

old = + 8% mods, 95% success. 500k cost. (the mods were fixed, but +8% is a close estimate if you were lvl 500 and mining similar jewels to the level of mob you could fight)

new = +60% mods, 75% success, (level *1k) cost.

More on the by-the-numbers differences in a bit. But first…

The Psychological Tweak

Jewels with a lower success rate are better psychologically. Now we don’t tease players with near-perfect rates: “95%?! Its a sure thing!” is much different than “75%?… (pause)… But this is my best hat…” When 1/4 attempts fail you think twice. It gets you thinking more towards the real consequences of jewels. The other side of this coin is also true: MOD BOOSTS are WAY bigger! It is like adding 6+ old jewels and a VERY tempting return.

By-the-numbers and Jewel Rarity

In terms of raw risk/return ratio, a super jewel is better than an old jewel. A rare jewel roughly the same. A legendary jewel is leaps better. But this doesn’t mean uncommon and common jewels are useless… it just means you are likely to use them on uncommon and common items. They will be particularly useful on items you are just waiting for a more rare version of.

Equipment slot difference

Before you could not apply jewels to accessory armor or jewelry. This is so we adequately balance risk/reward for the gains. It is a hard thing to pin down. Weapons contribute approximately 35% of the overall mods of a full equipment set, thus they are more valuable. So instead of risking it for the jewel’s effect, obviously you’d rather put it on your bracers. So for the risk/reward to be sensible, mods for a jewel change depending on where you put it. Weapons give the biggest return, but in turn you risk potentially your biggest asset. Its not perfect, but it does better address the issue than anything prior.

So go mine, go siphon those leftover rares, and give jeweling a shot!

Five New Skills for v5.14

The default fighters takes his weapon skill, pumps it every five levels, and invests in holy for maximal leveling. However, as the expense of potions goes down (as it does in 5.14), and the value of other skills begins to rival the ‘default’ view, there may be more interesting fighter builds emerge.

Thats what new skills are about. So as the title suggests, we’ll break down these five new skills and see where they fit.

The nature of these new skills emphasize two of the key mechanics going on in every battle… Dodging and critting. Focus helps hit, then once you pass a threshold of hitting, it starts helping to crit. Same goes for Defense. It helps to avoid crits, then after a certain threshold, it starts to help dodging.

The threshold is when your FOC is equal to your opponents DEF (or vice versa for dodging). Hopefully a discussion of each skill will clear up the details.

DEFENSIVE SKILLS
new skill #1, AVOID CRITS: +2 to DEF on crit rolls. Avoid crit might be useful to very low def characters. If you aren’t investing in DEF at all and monsters are high in FOC you’ll be critted everytime! 2def/lvl gives dismal DEF an option to survive… When 2x crits come into the game, taking 2x Crits every hit cannot happen regardless of your armor, its gonna hurt just too much.

new skill #2, QUICK FEET: +1.5DEF on dodge rolls is awful useful when you are a massive DEF build and want to push that dodge towards the 75% max consistently. Top-notch tanks will covet this. Very power-build skill…

new skill #3, THICK SKIN: +2 Armor power. If you keep this skill at pace with your level, it is like having a 7th accessory slot with a SUPER accessory in it. Useful for everyone. Perhaps most useful for those with low armor to begin with, or power-building for Über tanking.

OFFENSIVE SKILLS
new skill #4, PRECISION: +1.5FOC to crit rolls will allow power FOC’s to push into 100% crit range… after 100% crit, “CRIT 2X!’s” will start happening… Again, power build skill.

new skill #5, CONTACT: +2FOC to hit rolls will allow zero FOC charcters to exist. Complimenting a brute-ish or traveller-ish build, this makes either one more viable. If you have no aspirations to get criticals (Hell, you are probably so strong you regular hit is LIKE a critical!) and JUST NEED TO MAKE CONTACT, invest here.

Final Thoughts

It is tough to choose how to build your character, and certain skills will prove superior to other. Time and experience is the only way to tell what builds comes out on top. There will be many solid builds with different characteristics. New skills add more depth to Quest’s character builds and that is nothing but good.

All existing characters will have their skill points reset when 5.14 is released. Skill resets after will continue to be available from the witch for 5 million gold after that.

v5.13b, Nerfing Sucks

Nerfing sucks. Nerfing sucks. Nerfing sucks.

one more time. Nerfing sucks.

Really, it sucks. It moves players back. Going back sucks. Its like losing the savepoint of your favorite console game. That sucks. It sucks for the devs because it is usually a burning imbalance that has to happen but the expectation of most MMOs communities is that the devs find a way to boost every other aspect of the game instead of nerf that one critical aspect. In fact, the first postion can usually be achieved. WoW is quite impressive with its lack of nerfs. However, other games lack the thousands of testers, and broad development teams of full time employees to implement the variety of changes!

So when a nerf does come (even WoW does it), I think it is important to be clear WHERE and WHY the wipe HAS to happen… Here goes…

Wiping Saves Items

Yup. Quest’s brand new item system was meticulously balanced with a certain player to monster level ratio. If the ratio strays too far from 0.75 monster levels for every 1 player level then things start falling apart:

• the exp curve explodes. Leveling happens too quickly and reduces quality drops as players breeze by item choices.
• Fast paced leveling means item turnover gets extreme: common and uncommons become the norm.
• High level players, instead of breaking new ground and getting the biggest challenges, are -accellerated- as they easily find high-level-required gear! This point isn’t simple, but very important.

Mario Kart

Have you ever played Mario Kart? Racing around in the 2nd lap you blew a tire, fell of 3 bridges, and find youself in last. *sigh*. But Mario Kart you never feel out of the race, do you? You JUST KNOW you are getting a juicy Lightning Bolt or Trifecta-of-Red-Shells. WATCH OUT BOWSER, HERE I COME.

Similarily, when you are dominating out in first place, what’s it gonna be? Banana peel? Single Mushroom? Whoopdee. You’re winning already, you don’t need those fancy items and you know it. Show those tight driving skills and stay in first despite your competition’s better items.

Elastic Bands

The above effect is most commonly refered to “elastic banding.” Slingshot the weakest forward and offer resistance to those trying to stretch a first place lead. How WoW accomplishes elastic banding is a system they call the “rest” system. Google away. Got it? Pretty cool. Now how Quest accomplishes elastic banding is through availability of items. If you are on the bleeding edge out trailblazing with the big boys: you have a VERY hard time getting your hands on the maximum equipment you could possibly use. The level requirements seem to keep comming in well below your level, 10, 20%. Celebrate it. It means you are winning: your stat builds show insight into your character, your skill build is complimentry and precise, your boss beats are sooner, you are a natural Auction House Tycoon, your in-battle tactics are unmatched. Serious grats, you have insight into Quest and the balls to show it.

On the inverse side, if you’re past the first lap (levels 1-50), but defintely behind: the Auction House is your starting place for higher-level equipment. You can fly through the levels with your superior equipment, resell it for about what you bought it for, and repeat. Your wealth and level skyrockets on the coattails of the trailblazers’: their excellent items, when sold on the Auction House, create a well travelled path for you to follow as you craft a path of your own at the same time.

Feb 2009 Wipe, items, items, items!!

This wipe is for weapons and armor. We wanted more control over the amount of damage weapons do as players level up, so we did the neccessary tweak. While we were at it, we added some critical enchancements to the item system like level requirements, changing item rarity, added over 60 new items for the rings, amulet, shoulders and bracers slots!

So all these changes are very organic, very normal RPG elements that Quest can use without explaining too much. Login and check em out, I think you will instantly “get” it!

New rarity-levels means new odds on finding all those juicy new items:
*Commons 1/100
*Uncommons 1/350
*Rares 1/1500
*Supers 1/4000
*Legendary 1/30000

Pretty great numbers. As you level you will find items with higher requirements that have higher power (duh). Whats new about this is that a COMMON sword with level200 required might be better than a SUPER of level 120 required! So for us to be able to find better and better equipment we don’t need to have STUPIDLY rare items like the old 1/500k supers, we can have rarity and level requirements take care of it!

Auction House

The auction house is the new armory. You can sort by item type, level requirements, rarity, BUYNOW price, MINIMUM BID, anything really.

The huge upgrade will HOPEFULLY encourage players to trade more. I really don’t know if the way items changed will help or hurt trade. I don’t know. I do know that the auction house won’t go stale. It might go empty (hopefully not!) but the limited durations of auctions certainly stops people using the Auction house for storage instead of honest transactions.

Wiping

I know some people will not be pleased with a wipe. I won’t name names but I know some people plan to quit. I understand that, and wish them happy gaming wherever they go. Moreover, I know wipes always bring people out of the woodwork so I look forward to seeing old friends and the RABID competition that always follows a wipe. PLEASE SLEEP, PEOPLE! DO NOT SKIP SCHOOL OR WORK!

Stats, Damage, Defense and Killing the One-Damage Phenomenon

Warning!! This post is a DRAFT. It was intended to be published pre-5.8, but obviously was not! I try to talk about the DEF changes but after re-reading the thread there are leaps of logic that don’t get fully justified. If there is specific interest on the forums (or here in the comments sections) I’ll elaborate some more of the theory. Sorry for the mess! (Expect more refined posts on future topics )

Another DEF-rework in Quest? Yes. We’ve learned so much from changing things around in the past and we can make new changes that reflect that learning!

This post is theory-heavy, and not all things are fully discussed. If you don’t agree with some of the assumptions, definitely leave a comment and I can clarify. We’ll improve this even more if you bring up issues here or on the forums.

Armor v Absolute Damage Reduction
In Quest, your equipment reduces damage by a %, we call that the Armor%. To figure out your Armor%, sum up your Chestpiece, leggings, gloves, boots, hat, shoulders, and bracers to get the Armor # you currently have. divide by 10 to get your Armor%. An Armor% of 30% would reduce an attack of 200 down to 140.  Simple stuff.

Absolute reduction (affected solely by your DEF stat) reduces damage by the total number of DEF points you have. So with 30DEF you have 30 “absolute damage reduction” and an attack of 200 is reduced to 170. Basic subtraction.

Now put them back to back. Apply armor% first, then subtract your absolute damage reduction. An Attack of 200 gets reduced by 30% is 140. then subtract 30 to get the final damage of 110. Great.

This Armor% reduction followed by Absolute damage reduction formula is excellent… But I want to point out some things we’ve observed as a result of using it in Quest, and talk about things we can’t do if we keep the Absolute damage reduction.

The Perfect Storm
1. DEFmods are allowed to be unlimited.
2. Players must max-out STR or INT to be able to break the one-damage barrier in PvP against max-DEF players.
3. lower-level monsters yield too much EXP in relation to their difficulty. (A colour coded system of reducing exp for weaker monsters (as found in most MMO’s) would work here.)
4. level-disparity favours DEF builds, punishes non-STR builds harshly (inherent in the system of absolute reduction… unless we de-linerize gains but lets not go there).

Theory –> Reality
Okay, so the absolute damage reduction ‘experiment’ has some untended consequences that didn’t play out in theory, but are very real in Quest. Most notably the demonstrable advantage of DEF-builds, and the forced investment of STR/INT to avoid being forced into a 1-damage pigeonhole. What to do about it? Fix enough of the 4 issues, or try something new?

What we want from a DEF formula
Quest’s development of the absolute damage reduction was sort of haphazard. We wanted a great formula, and in theory absolute damage reduction is up there in coolness. It has lots of armor-piercing and DEF-piercing options went unexplored in quest because if basic attack isn’t ‘working’ then those options are just a cover-up of that flaw. In my opinion, something new is the way to go.

Doing something new requires us to look to the long-term goals of Quest. We can use our long-term goals to help guide or short term focus on DEF… Long term goals: Longer, more strategic battles (boss fights being one of those types of more strategic fights); More cool spells and more cool attacks; Options to build a successful character in many different ways… And of course we want to maintain balance throughout. So looking at game mechanics that enable these types of fights seems like the right place to start hunting for a new DEF formula.

Finding the mechanics…

Quick attack, “wind up”s, desperate lunges, dodge, parry, elemental damage types, shield spells, stances, long-cast spells, short-cast spells, instant cast spells, etc, etc… the list goes on. These are cool mechanics that together form awsome battles. One group in particular is entirely cut off to an absolute DEF formula: quick attacks / slow but strong attacks / casting / channelling. All time-based mechanics are impossible to balance in an absolute DEF situation. Let me explain..
Here’s a quick example of why we need to move away from absolute damage add more variety/options: A quick attack takes, lets say 1.5sec. A regular attack takes 3seconds. Quick should do 1/2 the damage, right? Let hastily try that out with an absolute DEF formula (beware, numbers ahead):
Lets say Weapon% and Armor% cancel each other out.
RegularDmg = 200
TargetAbsoluteDEF = 100
result: Target takes 100dmg.

QuickAttackDmg = 200/2 = 100.
targetAbsoluteDEF is still 100.
result: target takes 0 damage.

Yikes.

Time-based vs Turn-based

Quest has always been turn-based. Your turn. My Turn. Repeat.

However, many of the mechanics above need a different paradigm. Well why do we have to move away from turn based? Well we don’t… but the above situation forces some messy assumption-based balancing for any spell that does not follow the “norm” curve. Fire=Water=Earth… for that reason. We can mix those up by two new variables (cast time, damage) if we move to time-based. Much nicer.

Weren’t we already time-based?
Yes, sort of. But all attacks always took the same amount of time to use. Drinking a potion takes the same amount of time as changing the planet’s clouds into blood-red behmouths that rain rain tears of apocalyptic fire… really? casting spells to end the world can happen in the same time it takes to take a sip of your favorite flask? We can do better.

DEF stat
Okay, we’re time based, with no absolute DEF. So what does DEF do?
Def still reduced damage, but in a new way. Def increases your chance to dodge, parry, and avoid critical hits. Also, DEF can contribute a small boost to your armor %… obviously we know the dangers of locking in a % reduction ( remember the two stat, 95% armor days? “Are you a STR/HP or an HP/STR?”) so your boost in armor and dodge are relative to your opponent… enter FOCUS.

FOC stat
Focus replaces DEX. Focus represents your ability to hit and critical hit your opponents. It can also stifle your opponent’s Armor% bonus. Are you noticing that FOCUS is the opposite of DEFENCE? The reciprocal action is intentional.

Out with the Old… In with the New…
Focus and Defence changes are coded in v5.8.  (Say goodbye to the one-damage phenomenon.)
Time-based Fights are also in v5.8. Little bonuses of going to time-based fights are visible right away. For example, fizzled spells (due to not enough MP) only take 1/3 of the time of a normal attack. Using potions takes longer in-battle (for balance issues). Plenty more benefits to come from the switch to time-based in the future.

I hope I’ve broken down the big picture of why and how these changes are coming into Quest…

Bosses

Bosses are a cool element of all RPGs and Quest has gone way too long without meaningful boss fights. This “bosslessness”, if you will, continued because our battle systems needed an upgrade in three areas: security, mechanics, and formulas. Now that we’ve got the securuty and are moving the other two in  (arguably) the right direction, we can begin to show off some of these upgrades and give some sweet fights in the process. Here are some thoughts and teasers on what bosses will bring to Quest.

A Game Mechanics Showcase
As a dev, I want all the basic mechanics (like “why would I put points in def?”) of the game to be clear for everyone. One of the best ways to get the basics across is isolate them. Show them one at a time. Bosses give us that one-at-a-time showcase for stats, equipment abilities, spells, and other special attacks in a big way. For example, the first batch of bosses show extremes of statical builds: the first boss has maximal defence, but only ONE focus. He can barely hit you at all, but you can barely hit him! Watch out when he connects though… In another fight you will take critical hits almost every time and it will be obvious why. And as you go up in level things will get more complicated.

AI

It is worth investing time in competent AI and novel game mechanics for the sake of that one sweet boss fight. AI gives the monsters smarter tactics than “attack” and.. uh… “attack again”. There will be bosses that you need to dispatch quickly or else they may collect enough energy to cast a devastating spell or buff up into a frenzy of extra damage and critical attacks. Others bosses may be friendly until pushed over the edge… AI makes that possible.

On a similar note, bosses that require two or more people to defeat: AI contributes ideas like who to attack (aggro, and other models of decision) and what attacks to use and which to avoid using.

The Loot
What’s a good boss without phat loot? Bosses will have high-percentage drops. They won’t always drop the item you want, but any item they can drop will have no less than a 10% chance to drop. They will have a specific group of possible items that could drop and I expect those drops to become common knowledge because of the high drop rates.

There is an issue with bosses giving too much loot if you can fight them again and again (you can). One possible system is to have your first-kill on a boss use an excellent drop rate. Then all subsequent kills of that boss give way reduced drop rate. This system was practiced in Diablo II and will work. However, I don’t want to do it because:
1. If the “2nd kill rate” is too high, it will encourage boss-farming by upper-level players and flood the market with high-level boss-drops for cheap.
2. If they “2nd kill rate” is too low, it will be tedious to get the boss-drops you wanted, forcing high levels to do nothing but repetitive killing of the bosses.
3. If two people get in a group to kill the boss, do you give the “1st kill rate” or the “2nd kill rate”?
So, an alternative system: As said before, bosses won’t always drop the item you want, but any item they can drop will have no less than a 10% chance to drop. The catch is, bind-on-pickup equipment drops: if you beat a boss, only you can use that loot to equip, sell, or siphon. Thats it. No player store or trading for bound items. This cuts off flooding, and ’1000 boss kills a day’ farming. If you can beat the boss, you can get the sweet items it drops. Simple as that. (There are issues with low-levels tagging along with high-levels but we’ll cross that bridge when we get there.)

Story
Quest has no quests. Lame. Lets turn that around… I know the RP board on the forums has been extremely active in the past, perhaps our writers could set a framework up? Brainstorm some simple “find and talk to X” and “kill Y Z’s?” that fit within that, and some bosses that go with. Its thin and a little crass to want formulaic quest, buts its a start.

The Top-50
Beating Bosses sooner than expected is an accomplishment worthy of the top 50 lists. Definitely expect to see everyone’s first beat of the boss and their level when they slayed that boss.

Coming soon to a client near you…