Unannounced fixes

[Magi]

Everyone's happy when Splork posts his updates, so I thought I'd add a few that weren't mentioned on the crier yet.

1) XP caps: Raised! ... for 9x40s. The numbers 8 and 9 million have been mentioned. At my current level, my cap decreased from 5 mil to 4.1 mil.

2) Gold: After all the complaints about how the only way to get leveling gold is to solo, the imms have finally taken action. Every mob hit by stryx or myself that had more than 12k gold has been reduced to 2000 or less. That includes a few mobs formerly worth 100k+. A few areas were spared, probably because no druid had hit them in the last three weeks. The area most affected was the SS Mansion. Mansion has at most 1/6 the gold it enjoyed as recently as noon today. No more slaughtering lords and nobles to get rich.

3) XP: Hurray for (eventually) heightened caps! Don't worry about ever needing them. The xp given by lyme-style 'splorkables' dropped by approximately 2/3rds. If you're a thief, it's a good time to start a new char. I've not yet found any type of mobs (like those nasty casters) who have increased xp as a result of the xp revamp.


4.) EQ: For those of you who haven't rejoined us since Sloth III, almost all newbie eq has been significantly nerfed. The difficult, group/forge eq is largely unaffected. This is probably a good thing because it gives us a natural growth channel as we level, rather than the old 1x40 warrior primes with -11 ironed, who don't change eq ever again until avatar.

5.) Moon aura: Of limited interest to most, the cost to cast moon aura was increased by about 150 mana, so that it now costs ~250 at night, and 350+ during the daytime for the average 10+ person group. I have not tested it with small groups.

6.) Wiedzmin ring: The forge now requires simurgh's presence. I understand this was probably true during the final year(s) of sloth, so not news to some.

7.) Warcry loads on eratikus. The fact that this is now a level 39 warrior skill was probably posted previously.

8.) Restoration: Cleric prime only spell Restoration has been increased, and is +200 hp instead of the former +180.

[SPECULATION, BELOW]

9.) Pop rates: [speculation] These [i:1z26qbn1]seem[/i:1z26qbn1] to have been lowered across the board. I guess cycling eq keeps us from getting bored.

10.) Lost concentration [speculation] [i:1z26qbn1]may[/i:1z26qbn1] have been slightly increased across the board. It is currently far higher than 5%, NOT counting disruption for front line/tank/solo chars.[/i]

[*Splork*]

Everyone's happy when Splork posts his updates, so I thought I'd add a few that weren't mentioned on the crier yet.

1) XP caps: Raised! ... for 9x40s. The numbers 8 and 9 million have been mentioned. At my current level, my cap decreased from 5 mil to 4.1 mil.
*** Exp caps are finally in. They go by total levels of a character. A few player caps may have lowered for their current level, some may have raised. The end result is almost 4 mil more.

2) Gold: After all the complaints about how the only way to get leveling gold is to solo, the imms have finally taken action. Every mob hit by stryx or myself that had more than 12k gold has been reduced to 2000 or less. That includes a few mobs formerly worth 100k+. A few areas were spared, probably because no druid had hit them in the last three weeks. The area most affected was the SS Mansion. Mansion has at most 1/6 the gold it enjoyed as recently as noon today. No more slaughtering lords and nobles to get rich.

*** After checking playerstats and seeing one player make 27 million coins in one area and plenty other players raking in gold from this same area, I took action and lowered it. Any player or players who feel an area that gives great exp and insanely overbloated gold wont ruin the game just cares about cheating the system and doesnt care about the game they play at all or what it takes to maintain it. One player made more gold in basically one area then the next 15 players made in the entire game, this was a no brainer.

3) XP: Hurray for (eventually) heightened caps! Don't worry about ever needing them. The xp given by lyme-style 'splorkables' dropped by approximately 2/3rds. If you're a thief, it's a good time to start a new char. I've not yet found any type of mobs (like those nasty casters) who have increased xp as a result of the xp revamp.

** A new exp calculation has been in affect since the beginning of this version of sloth. Players are leveling faster than they had in the previous version. One set of mobs is where Magi noticed this change, are the ryukyu in temple ruins. After checking his logs just now, he commented in either channel talk or grouptalk about how these mobs are still incredible exp, even with 1/3 the exp being taken away. Hrpmh, hard to figure out why he is complaining. Commenting on thief solo exp or small group exp is pure silly. It will still be better than most other primes, well except for the struggling druids.


4.) EQ: For those of you who haven't rejoined us since Sloth III, almost all newbie eq has been significantly nerfed. The difficult, group/forge eq is largely unaffected. This is probably a good thing because it gives us a natural growth channel as we level, rather than the old 1x40 warrior primes with -11 ironed, who don't change eq ever again until avatar.

5.) Moon aura: Of limited interest to most, the cost to cast moon aura was increased by about 150 mana, so that it now costs ~250 at night, and 350+ during the daytime for the average 10+ person group. I have not tested it with small groups.

*** We have not intentionally increased mana cost for this spell. So if someone had just added it to bugs or asked me about it, I probably would of looked.

6.) Wiedzmin ring: The forge now requires simurgh's presence. I understand this was probably true during the final year(s) of sloth, so not news to some.

7.) Warcry loads on eratikus. The fact that this is now a level 39 warrior skill was probably posted previously.

** Already posted

8.) Restoration: Cleric prime only spell Restoration has been increased, and is +200 hp instead of the former +180.

** Actually was no change here
[SPECULATION, BELOW]

9.) Pop rates: [speculation] These seem to have been lowered across the board. I guess cycling eq keeps us from getting bored.

*** We didnt even have time to create new eq or move eq around for the new version, so this is just plain stupid.

10.) Lost concentration [speculation] may have been slightly increased across the board. It is currently far higher than 5%, NOT counting disruption for front line/tank/solo chars.[/i]

** lost concentration has not been touched, shadis has already proven that through his 2000 tracked spells. We added a new disturbance and that was it, I actually do believe being in the front row affects one or the other of these, I cant remember though.



Enjoy,
Splork

[Magi]

** One player made more gold in basically one area then the next 15 players made in the entire game, this was a no brainer.

> We won't mention that said player logged about 40 hours running nonstop coins to achieve this feat. That would be telling! The 'next 15 players' were most likely afk or in the large gold-less groups. I know i'm in that list, and I was cycling eq constantly for the last two weeks. The massive gold reduction was not limited to one area.

--It does not matter, again, if you fail to see how this gross amount of coins from one easily ran area disturbes the entire economy we are trying to build for sloth, there is no sense in continuing the conversation.
The player takes no damage and does the run in less then 10 minutes, it was obnoxious, nobody knows this better than you.


** A new exp calculation has been in affect since the beginning of this version of sloth. Players are leveling faster than they had in the previous version.

> Due entirely to heightened playtime. Kudos to the admins. Xp/hour is dramatically lower at all levels.


-- Sorry but the players in today's era no more or no less than those of sloth 3. We had just as many people logging just as many hours then.
One set of mobs is where Magi noticed this change, are the ryukyu in temple ruins. After checking his logs just now, he commented in either channel talk or grouptalk about how these mobs are still incredible exp, even with 1/3 the exp being taken away. Hrpmh, hard to figure out why he is complaining.

> My comments had a negative bias, because most of the unmentioned changes were of a negative nature. I did not consider my statement of facts about the mud as a complaint. Also, if you're going to quote my private conversations in groups you were not a part of, please don't misquote me. I said 'decent' not incredible.
-- actually, i will look and quote because im sure you were still quite happy with the exp.

**Commenting on thief solo exp or small group exp is pure silly. It will still be better than most other primes, well except for the struggling druids.

> I'm just pointing out to our would-be stabbers that lyme-style stab/blast type mobs have suffered a 50% xp hit. Anyone who plans to stab their way to 9x40 needs to rethink that strategy. That is a very, very valid concern to all our many thief primes.

-- Actually, lyme in general has been reduced so that it is more in line with the rest of the game. It very well may be a 50% reduction on all lyme mobs, not just stab mobs. Im not really sure what the final percentage it was. We are not opening up lyme to have the entire mud leave 200+ other areas alone. It had to be brought down to the level of the rest of the mud.

*** We have not intentionally increased mana cost for this spell. So if someone had just added it to bugs or asked me about it, I probably would of looked.

> Lost concentration on moon aura takes 60 mana, where it previous took 2. (Yes, I lost conc three times in a row at 95%, or I wouldn't have noticed). Since the spell has obviously been messed with it isn't surprising that I'd blame said 'messing' on what seems to be dramatically increased costs. In my (unlogged) recollections, the spell cost 120 + a few mana per groupie at night, and 200 + a little mana per groupie during the day.

8.) Restoration: Cleric prime only spell Restoration has been increased, and is +200 hp instead of the former +180.

** Actually was no change here

> Actually, there was. Quick, nerf the clerics. Just because you didn't do it doesn't mean that nothing changed. Restoration is definately better as a prime only spell.

-- its always been better as a prime spell, the code has not changed from s3, sorry.

*** We didnt even have time to create new eq or move eq around for the new version, so this is just plain stupid.

> I'm not the only player who remembers an immort publicly making this comment about lowered pop rates. But! it could have been Juggleblood, the minister of misinformation.

-- think as you may, you do not know more about the changes to this game then I do. Pop rates have not been lowered, if i had time or help we would increase them. Just as ive been adding plenty of positive stuff to the mud since its been brought back up.

** lost concentration has not been touched, shadis has already proven that through his 2000 tracked spells. We added a new disturbance and that was it, I actually do believe being in the front row affects one or the other of these, I cant remember though.

> Shadis didn't prove anything with his log -- which if I recall showed around 91% success rate? Kulgan cast tens of thousands of spells, carefully logging in and out of combat on sloth III. If anyone proved anything, it was him. Shadis's reports didn't specify which spell or combat status, front or back row, etc. All of these have been observed to affect lost conc rates. If you set lost conc to a flat 5% (for a 95% spell), I'd be singing your praises for a week.

-- again, I stick by my previous comments

[*Krom*]

As far as "nerfing" of eq goes:
1) you may have noticed the armor class and hitting system is COMPLETELY different than sloth 3. It is a whole new engine, so some equipment was scaled as a result
2) the equipment was scaled to allow you to grow, as Magi mentioned. Its silly that you could get the max ac, regen, or whatever for a slot at very low level and then keep that item for the rest of your career. Now as you get higher levels, you will get better stuff. Also some stuff that was previously the same or not as good as the max for that spot is now actually better than it was.

[*Splork*]

We are doing our best to keep the game balanced for everyone. Since the inception of this new version we have continuously listened to our players, taken their ideas and concerns, and added them to the game. Go through the list of changes we have made in our first two months, 95% of them are positive changes benefiting our players.

I get a little upset, annoyed, and disturbed when all I keep hearing is nerf this, nerf that, when all we are trying to do is keep the game as balanced as we can for all of the players.

Druids are the most powerful class right now, we all know this. Im glad in a way because before we restarted we were concerned about them and we werent sure if they had a place here but they do. Im not going to lie, I keep an eye on the stats and logs of our power players. These are the players that directly show me what needs adjusting or fixing. When I see one player making 27 million coins in a week, I check, see why and how it is being done. Im not going to apologize for maintaining sloth's economy because soon it will probably be gone. Again, 95% of the things I see I do not touch. Magi, stryx and others have also been pointing out bugs and other things that need looking into and I appreciate it.

Listen, Im getting frustrated. Im doing the best I can.
Once in awhile, just please try to look at things through our eyes!
Splork

[Mosaix]

I am impressed for all the bitching going on, to still see those people still logged on and still mudding 30-45 mins later.

This game must be fun!!!

Cheers

[*juggleblood*]

Regarding eq pop rates...

There were a few that got changed unintentionally for the worse, but I've fixed them as I've seen people complaining. I also improved pop rates on newbie eq as I've seen bottlenecks occur. There's no intentional plan to nerf pop rates at all. It was inevitable that people would be bumping into each other trying to get the basic gear when the game restarted.

[Medios]

I wonder why all the concern for druids. They were super powerful from top to bottom on s3 and they remain the same. Bards and Monks were and still are in short supply. The thing is that the mud only really needs one Bard prime. The guy your asking for hymn of an artisan, or charms or to sing seven luck gods while you cycle the rest of your mobs. The guy who sings gods of war in the group where your blasting or shifting and getting the big dmg xp bonuses. The guy who gets to sing dreams of the castle so that everyone else can mem and get their spells up while he watches the group regen. Pretty much the guy who everyone relies on to save the group during a cf, or to relocate to a dead guy so he can raise him.

People want bards, they just don't want to play one.

Bards are garbage and everyone knows it. The instrument slot was a nice addition but I actually lost +2 hit which I really needed(40 prime and I still miss) to gain some measly ac slot on hands. In the end it seems I will gain a few points of ac or a few mana, nothing that will actually change bard in any way.

I got a few questions that I hope anyone can answer.

Currently with all the bard gear I can muster my cry of the avatar is costing 29 mana and hits for just a little more than a fireball. Fireball is level 23 bard and level 15 mage and costs 15 mana. Why would anyone use cry when its area affect(dangerous) and uses almost twice the mana? Why would I use cry when I can wear spelldamage and cast firewind? Why would I use cry when I can no longer use wraithform to push mobs into one room and area them?

A few nights ago Magi asked me to help him with some forges. I am always glad to sing for someone so I went to him then wasted about 30min trying to get hymn of an artisan to stick. 115 mana a shot and the song wasnt working. So I sing it twice then sleep for 7 minutes. Luckily Magi gave me 150k coins for my effort or otherwise all my time is a waste. Why would anyone want to make a char to do all the legwork for the rest of the mud when most of the time we receive nothing more than a thank you? Even if the song would have worked the first time on his 2 mobs that would have taken me a full run of mana.

Everyone has been telling me I can now charge coins for making charms. On s3 everyone knows I would make charms free of charge and glady accept donations. Now that I am bard prime everyone and their grandma will be asking for charms. I did not know that we have vendor classes on sloth. I can either be a butt about things and charge people or just tell them to bugger off. There is really no way to recover any lost xp or coins that I would lose by spending 10min making charms. It would be hard to come to any kind of agreement, especially when coins are in short supply. If I continue playing Bard am I supposed to log on to spend my time just servicing the needs of the other players? Even on s3 I spent plenty of mana and time raising deads and helping with looted eq and etc. The last thing I need is another laundry list of items that everyone needs that benefit me in no way.

Did I say that bards suck? I have been trying to cycle the bard in towers temple for some boots. I seem to be the only person that cannot actually kill the mob. A level 34 warrior without sanc managed to kill it with ice ray. However with cry of the avatar I run out of mana and he chases me out and regens his hps before I can get enough to kill him. If bards were intended to be maids of sloth and be the weakest class and just do the bidding of others all day then I'm out.

You guys can tell me how powerful Minstrel was on s3 and I can refer you to the time I spent on his eq and on leading and questing. I know this all falls on deaf ears and since there are at most 3 bards I don't see anything improving.

Stryx told me that at least I am leveling Druid now, I can shift and kill stuff. After I almost vomited I decided that a -5 bard with 350 mana should be at least half as powerful as a level 38 form. Then reality set in.

I told Brad I would wait to double 40 to make sure that my mr is still garbage before I pack up.

Go ahead and tell me to make a druid, I dare you.

[*Splork*]

I believe there are plenty of hand items for the bard class that have 2 hit with ac and other stats so Im not entirely sure why you are losing 2 hit?
I happen to like the instrument change and believe it will continue to help with the addition of better eq that before a bard prime could of never worn because they were using that slot for their prime ability.

As for the rest of your post, we realize bards need help but we also realize not all classes solo as well as others. The majority of classes right now are extremely weak and rely on their other classes for help in this area.

The best idea we can come up with right now is allowing the playing of an instrument and casting certain spells or possible singing alongside the instrument for additional bonuses.

We are not going to mimick spells or skills from other classes anymore, so if people have ideas feel free to share them.

Splork

[Thraxas]

you asked for a Bard idea:

how about a bard ac song - sing in group and reduces the whole groups ac by upto 1.0 for an av bard

how about a bard coin song - sings to a mob as he kills it to double its coins (or do we have this already? not sure think I only saw on another mud)
Or as an alternative 'busk' sing to a mob and it starts throwing money at your feet.

how about an enchanted sleep song - sing the mob to sleep in which it constantly loses hp until dead ... the sort of elven enchanted forest or siren type stuff ... just a different way of fighting and aimed at a soloing bard

hmmm last suggestion ... how about a mood enhancing song to cheer everyon up and help stop everyone whinging on gossip about how bad the mud they choose to play is and how things were better in the good old days

[alias]

You could up prime bards natural charisma so it helps their songs more, don't make a prime bard have 13 items to max their charisma...maybe 4-5.

[alias]

[quote="Thraxas":hyhp0m72]you asked for a Bard idea:


hmmm last suggestion ... how about a mood enhancing song to cheer everyone up and help stop everyone whinging on gossip about how bad the mud they choose to play is and how things were better in the good old days[/quote:hyhp0m72]

I sing that song everyday, its just none of you can hear me.

[jezer]

Trying to remain constructive here... Even though it's becoming apparent this sloth is just like the old sloth... just twice as long with most things at half pace. Was this actually the intention? Cause all we have new is extra classes we don't have levels in...

One good idea I think for bards, is to increase there "Charm" factor so that there songs can effect mobs, winning them over to the bards side so they can actually order the charmed mob to assist them in battle.

Same as that necro spell... erm, control undead. Use mob levels and player levels to figure out what can be charmed and what can't. Make it so they can charm multiple small mobs... like walk into a room... sing a song and have 5 goblins suddenly bending to there will.

It should have a decent chance at say lvl 30 prime to walk into Greek forrest, charm the stick thrower and get him to help kill the other maenads in the room. It's not really necro pets or followers... but it's something the magic in a song should be able to achieve.

You get the idea... etc etc

Shut your cake holes about whining on gossip... Bards suck and something needs to be done. Nothing will get done unless we say something... it's called communication.

EDIT: Be nice if the charm song stacked with other bards in groups so they can enchant bigger mobs when together... Maybe a couple of 40 primes could pull off a westwood mob charm... but not so sure about making the mobs "followers"... like they stay in the room etc

As much as I think Minstrel enjoys grouping... and giving more group spells would be nice... at the end of the day, he can't hit crap solo... I think that's his point...

[jezer]

[quote="alias":muo601q1]I sing that song everyday, its just none of you can hear me.[/quote:muo601q1]

Trying wearing more charisma

[*Splork*]

I hate to say this but I am not going to lie, we do not plan on adding followers to any more classes, this included the charm spell.

Splork