Gates of Arimyth
http://forum.arimyth.com/

CTA (not the weapon)
http://forum.arimyth.com/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=7682
Page 1 of 1

Author:  kramuti [ Fri Apr 25, 2014 9:45 am ]
Post subject:  CTA (not the weapon)

If you want something done, and can actually help do something other than cheerlead/demand/whine/bemoan then this is a call to arms.

Over the past several months since folks have been talked several times of wanting to revive things. There main issue is the goal of a possible patch. To both keep/bring vets back, and to bring new faces, people are 'reachin fo da mun' with no way to get there.

The main things that will have to be done to get a patch are 1) setting down specific goals 2) get people to commit 3) getting word out, creating vids, etc once goals are getting close.

Adressing these broadly in order:

1) The main consensus is that we can't just do a rebalancing. Though some of this is needed, it can't be the motivation if we are to reach that goal. New areas/challenges need to be made. Doing both of these is very time consuming.

There are a lot of things from Mrawkrad's work that people seemed to like. There are a few things people were unsure of. This needs to be figured out. Can/should we just expand on what he did (it would be a shame to throw it all away imo), or do we need to begin from scratch with specific things in mind?

2) A few people have indicated that they can bring something to the fore, including map editing. I am not sure whether or not they said they can also do completely new monsters (so probably stuck with models/anims we have). Some can do text editing. (I can do quite a bit, but there are those that are more knoweldgeable about internal mechanics, etc...i can't give you the mun).

3) Making vids and getting links to still living D2 forums+modern social media sites is probably the best approach. I don't think this push should be done too early. As we have experienced every patch since Soulmancer put up the gloves, shit happens. Do not expect this patch to be done overnight. No modders left to my knowledge are young chaps that can commit an infinite amount of time in a finite number of days.

My schedule will begin to lighten for the next month or so, I can actually do something with modding. I can't do it all. I am decent at textfile editing, but here are others that are more knowledgeable.

If you want changes to be made, then it needs to be specific, well thought out, actually doable, and agreeable. 'it's broke, fix it'. won't get you squat. Look back at previous patches and see what made it in vs who actually posted detailed lists. It is basically what I am willing to do again. This time should hopefully be easier than last in that regard due to Brevan's behind the scenes stuff from last time (i can't reemphasize enough what he did)

Maybe I shouldn't close with this but here it is.

As low as the daily population has gotten, Duff still competely rebooted the forums after a hardware? failure. Hell that should be rewarded in and of itself. (Did anybody sign him up for a pie of the month club?)

Those that get stuck in a game for a week are (rightly) a bit miffed. They should also have some respect for the man that provides everything that you see here, and spent hours he probably didn't have to reboot the whole fucking forum. Be polite, POST IN THE THREAD IS MADE FOR EXACTLY THIS. Be a little patient. If it doesn't get resolved, send him a pm. he will do it when he sees it.

It has been pointed out that I was probably the turd being shat when asked when the reset was. Ya I was. It's also pretty bad to come in essentially cold demand that the people who are left to clean up the shit around you and possibly mod cater to your whims.

I visit pretty often and at least try keep spam from overriding us. It isn't much, but wth. Trolls have their uses, if you feed them right.

Author:  Angel [ Fri May 23, 2014 8:41 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: CTA (not the weapon)

The people capable of adjusting the mod simply don't have the time or the ambition to do it, and even if they are slowly working towards it, the vast majority of the core players who once played are long gone. Melee has been dead for years and years, and many players bore with the spectrum of viable characters being so thin. But you have nerds who will sit there for days and try and combat the fact that melees are indeed viable, the last little rendition of this was some moron posting him 'soloing' hell meph with an absurd amount of juvs and 20 minutes later the boss was dead. This was in top tier gear, where as at the time poison zons could kill meph in 10 seconds flat.

The mod didn't need new content, it didn't need people to make new zones and new skills and new items, it needed more than half of it's viable characters to come back into the realm of being viable once more. This required minor adjustments and never got done. Over the decent amount of patches after melees were essentially made useless(but iirc blue defended to his dying breath they were still viable), they were slowly pushed in the right direction, but never enough that they'd be a viable choice in a party. And this was/is the problem with the mod. It's not for lack of patches, there were plenty of patches, but no one ever adjusted it properly to make them even pseudo-viable.

Even the latest patch that was under testing failed to bring them close to casters, but it was the step in the right direction, but most players aren't going to keep coming back every few years to see the same failure to update over and over. Giving melees more HP hardly helps the problem, the amp values weren't adjusted enough, and crushing blow is still absurdly lacking. Even item design is poorly thought out. You have to wear gores on a melee, there is no other option because nothing comes close to the stats even if you sans the amp and have an amp from another source. There are an infinite amount of useless uniques and sets in the game, adjust them opposed to adding new ones.

I would gladly adjust every item in the game to make it less full of trash that has no place in the game if I had any idea how to, but alas I don't.

Author:  kramuti [ Mon May 26, 2014 12:31 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: CTA (not the weapon)

This is where things become problematic every time. The definition of viable is different to different people for a number of reasons. This also comes into direct conflict with people wanting things more challenging. This is not to argue the point about which archtype is stronger. People have long been very wary of the strength of crushing blow+amp when you have high lifeleech behind it. 1.3a hit all melee with the nerfbat. Consequent ones have all nerfed ranged op builds (that are arguably still op), and given strength back to melees. Maybe it's still not enough.

I will remind you that some of this has to do with a few unintended consequences of fixing a ton of broken skills, and giving structural changes so that any future stuff can be done with less chance of mistakes. Granted, I know that this is some of the point that you are making.

As far as changing items, skills, etc. You don't have to change them. Give me a list. If it is well received, items can be changed pretty quickly. You need to give things that are actually possible (know the rules of how many stats can be on what, etc). but other than that...give me something to work with.

If you look back at what folks like Mrawskrad, Abominae, Asteroth, and others have done in the past, you will notice a trend in how much consideration is taken into those lists (aka a lot).

I have never been one to come up with these lists simply because I have never played enough to argue in detail about wholesale changelists. I am more than happy to implement what folks want to see done. Seeing as how nobody has brought specifics, I haven't done much besides talk to one person map implementation in a broad fashion, and getting a possible return of a modder to continue/help with a patch.

Author:  Ensley03 [ Tue May 27, 2014 7:41 am ]
Post subject:  Re: CTA (not the weapon)

I have a lot of time that could be spent helping but I was told that since I'm a nobody I'm not allowed to host a server or help do anything.

Author:  Angel [ Tue May 27, 2014 9:09 am ]
Post subject:  Re: CTA (not the weapon)

Casters have been running rampant for patches and patches. I'd rather see a patch where melees were a little too strong than deal with another 2 patches where they're just barely viable(you know, ~4 years).

As for items, they need to be specialized, there are so many worthless items that have absolutely no point in being in the game other than to be drop fodder to make finding decent items easier.

Author:  kramuti [ Tue May 27, 2014 11:15 am ]
Post subject:  Re: CTA (not the weapon)

Ensely, you suggestions are/havebeen/will be taken into consideration. Just because folks were a lil leary of new server hosts doesn't mean that you are just some random toon.

As I have now said a number of times, present wanted changes in an organized fashion. Make lists, give reasoning why X is so wtfbroken it should be caged and thrown to the bottom of the river. Otherwise, we will continue to walk in circles.

Author:  Angel [ Tue May 27, 2014 8:40 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: CTA (not the weapon)

Let's take a quick look at some of the glorious shields offered in this game, let's start with a decent shield that is just a breadth away from being a viable choice to use under most circumstances:

+25% Increased Chance of Blocking -- Decent defensive statistic
+1 to Paladin Skill Levels -- Always a welcome stat for any paladin build, it works for casters it works for melees.
Damage Reduced by 5 -- By far one of the best stats on the entire item, mdr/pdr wouldn't look like much to many people who play but with a decent amount stacked it turns squishies into invincible characters.
Magic Damage Reduced by 5 ^^
+3 to Light Radius -- Pointless filler.
+80-100% Enhanced Defense -- Why do people wear shields? Either for +skills, which this is outclassed by crafts/rares, or for defensive measures. The mdr/pdr is nice, this stat adds a pointless amount of defense that it's trivial. Add a flat amount or remove it all together.
+25% Faster Block Rate -- Pointless stat for paladins
Resist All +20% -- Res is always warranted, the problems with most uniques is they offer to little and are fucked because they have only a single socket. Basically, add more resist or add more sockets.
+20 Defense -- Pointless amount of defense.
+15-20 to Durability -- Pointless filler.

All in all, it's not a bad item, but it's not a good item. These aren't really the items I have beefs with, but in a perfect world I'd adjust it to this:
+1 paladin
+1 combat
+20 all res
+100 defense
+10 pdr/mdr
3 sockets

+1 pally +1 combat and the obvious choice at decent res pickups cater to both melee paladins and caster paladins, and it can actually compete against basic spirit/rhyme crafts in terms of defenses.

Let's move on to a shield that actually has no purpose whatsoever for being in the game, at all. And there are a LOT of these items.

+10 to Mana After Each Kill
10% Mana Stolen per Hit
+25% Faster Cast Rate
Resist All 20%
+50% Enhanced Defense
+20 Defense

+20% Increased Chance of Blocking
+20% Faster Block Rate
+2 to Light Radius
Ignore Target Defense

This thing has melee, caster, combined, and useless mods all over it.

Like seriously, what caster that is utilizing FCR is going to want manaleech on hit? What caster isn't going to wear some form of +skills? What moron, on either end of the spectrum, isn't going to want to slot MDR/PDR in their shield. Who is going to use this item other than the poor fuck who just started and has no idea how to play. Items can be broad, but not this broad, it offers nothing to the game other than a drop you go - well dont pick that piece of shit up. How do you fix it? Well it's simple, remove ITD, add a 2-3 socket mod. Remove mana stolen on hit, add +1 skills, and just like that you have a unique that can compete with crafts. If you wanted to be extra generous you could remove ED or defense and add mdr/pdr.

The list goes on and on, and it's especially bad for weapons, which almost every single one has limited to no use. And it's not even because the stats are atrocious, some of them would be decent, if you could use them 10 levels earlier. Weapons need to have decent damage levels that they can compete with crafts, they need to have appropriate sockets so that they can even come close, and they should have specialization built into them. Why am I using a bloodletter over a craft which can do more damage? Well massive lifesteal or +skills.

And I would gladly go over every single item, but what's the point? Is someone actually going to code them in to how I suggest they're fixed? Are people going to agree with me? I'd rather not waste hours upon hours of thinking and rewriting to have it go to waste.

Page 1 of 1 All times are UTC - 5 hours
Powered by phpBB © 2000, 2002, 2005, 2007 phpBB Group
http://www.phpbb.com/