Can someone explain how this works?I did write on my blade but it just added a line at the end of the description, the actual title did not change of the item. Oh... and I got a kill bonus, it's pretty cool with the message you get...Thanks, and great work everyone!Merlin34
Yeah, it's supposed to be stronger on scaling. There was nothing 'taken away' from anyone in this update - which was a major focus. It's all balanced and fair upgrades where upgrades were warranted. Scaling direct damage spells was a significant part of this effort, and Orth and co. busted their behind to code it all. I wouldn't be surprised if there are minor bugs here and there - so bear with the team on getting initial fixes in. It's a LOT of changes. Heck, during my testing this weekend I found two ramps in the Deep that just left you plain stuck on a ledge. When you add 50 areas, you miss a ramp here and there. When you change or add 50 spells... the same is bound to happen. I'd put this in the bug reports for Orth because I know he's planning on an evaluation this week for initial and obvious fixes. And I encourage everyone to be trying out all the new spells and spell changes to get a thorough report on any bugs.Anyhow - I mainly point this out to stress the idea that all changes were entirely positive, and in areas where we felt some love was needed. For spells, the goals were to 1) Scale direct damage so it became viable/ effective throughout all levels, 2) Give every spell school a viable track with spells equivalent to other upper level mainstays (i.e. - take existing Divination, Conjuration, etc spells and make them potentially as useful as the big guns like wail or thunderclap), and 3) Make caster-specific builds more possible for classes that have traditionally become melee-casters. For classes, it should be fairly obvious. Pure class investment should be rewarded, and now it is in many cases. If you look at things like the scaling on barbarian rage duration - you see the urge for class investment, especially with the new changes. Classes that are traditionally a bit weak when not mixed with other stronger multiclasses have been given major love, and love that makes you actually want to stay the course on something like a pure ranger. And - every class out there has gotten something pretty much. So everyone should be smiling, even the ones that already had mechanical advantage. A lot of thought went into this, and my hair has been seriously blown back. When a guy like Orth comes and asks 'If you had my help, what would you like to see change?', and then you get Pan, Dorg, and OneST8 looking at everyone's suggestions and coming up with really smart solutions - it's a really neat scenario. For me, balancing is contained to altering baseline stuff in the toolset. And it's frustrating to sit there and not be capable of fixing the core issues, and instead changing creatures and items again and again and again. If anything, the major thing I've come to realize is how good Layo's MMO team really is - since I've not ever had the opportunity to work with most of them. What I've taken away from this is a lot of faith in what must be happening on the MMO. Which is cool. Alrighty. Enough of the feel good. Heh.
Whose the dude in the snazzy graphic, Eon?
Looks good. Though I am curious about the reason behind the damage increase for the spells. People have been wanting damage increased for the spells since I first got here (and firebrand did 15d6 per lvl at that time).I know the constant nerfing was a gradual process to get the spells to fit into the low magic world that Layonara is. Most of the spells, if not all, were default when I started playing.
Thanks again folks. Just curious, will LORE get an update as well?