My favorite changes:
a) Weapon code change. Now it's far easier to level. Before this I couldn't even dream of hitting master before 100 hours, and grand master before 250 hours.
b)
c) Prone system. I know I fought hard for this, at least I'd like to think I did, because being bashed set players into a resting position where they took more damage. It really took a lot of strategy out of fights when hellions (which I was playing at the time) could order their dominated NPC to bash a pc and then follow it up with a cleave. It was nearly always fatal, and even if they didn't die from the initial cleave, they were probably dead within the 3 round time limit due to the increased damage they took. It made bash far less powerful than it was.
d) Mercenary. This class was at one point broken as all hell. At one point they had both specialize *and* berserk.
e) Spirit aura. Was too absurd at the weapon code change. I can still remember shamans whining about the class becoming worthless when it was initially wimped. I think protection and sanctuary can be thrown in here as well, because if I recall they were equally as overpowered.
f) Stance. Even though I don't think it's been fully hammered out, it definitely changes tactics.
g) Paladin/hellion packages. Paladins didn't get dodge, hellions didn't get parry. Combat casting is great. Call armor is ridiculous. The changes to bolt of glory were welcome
h) More damage types. I played before this change, and the increase in damage types made for more and varied tactics in gameplay, but I feel that something is missing, which I'll touch down in my proposed changes.
Worst changes:
a) Religion specific spells. First, I actually support this idea, but it just came out as bumbled. Priests in SK are not the same class as clerics in D&D. Some priests in SK can wear heavy armor due to religion, but this "bonus" doesn't even end up being a bonus since they have to fight against mercenaries, barbarians, paladins and hellions to get that heavy armor in the first place. At least if they want to be pimped out in adamantite plate. They also suffer the loss of remove compulsion, and get weaker religious spells, except in the case of the Dulrik religion. SK priests are not like D&D clerics where they can run around in heavy armor, melee like an idiot, and cast all sorts of spells that summon raptor jesus (as jerin puts it) and crazy other enhancements. They don't even come close. Heavy armor isn't a bonus for a priest, because they are first and foremost spellcasters, and never should be in the front due to the fact that they get no more than 2 attacks, don't get enhanced damage, lack the dodge skill, and don't have combat casting. As it stands, magical vestments, remove compulsion, and whatever religious spell a cloth priest get far, far, far outweigh any suggested bonus that heavy armor might be to a priest.
b) "Sacred" loot. In my opinion, this just encourages players to spam die because of easily available armor that is scripted with bonuses. It also crumbles which can wipe away hours of enchanting. That is BS.
c) CRS. I know I tried it out in the early days, but it just wasn't worth it then, and it still isn't worth it now. This sort of gameplay is best left to games like Halo and Call of Duty multiplayer. Some cabals have better advantages at defense than others, and it has only encouraged offline jacking of relics. It does the exact opposite of what it is intended to do. Nobody wants to be bothered with it, or really bother with it. It's just been a drag on the whole game ever since it was introduced.
d) Art. Some people are going to swear by this, but I think it just really put a strain on classes such as hellion, lowered the amount of hps a sorcerer could get to make them more viable in PvP. Even worse the high end players just enchanted higher to negate the bonus of art, completely robbing it of any benefit. Before the change I ran around with +15 in saves, and ignored the effects of 95% of spells cast at me. Now I run closer to 30. A good idea, but spellcasters were given such copious amounts of points they could place in this stat that it ultimately hurt the game and classes. Personally I feel that all classes should have their maximum art values cut in half and those points placed in other areas. Giving classes such as mercenaries and swashbucklers art trains is laughable at best. I really haven't seen any other game I've played where enhanced spellcasting was given such a ridiculously high bonus.
Proposed:
a) Warlock package. Imbue element. Like enchant weapon, but instead of adding to hit and damage bonuses to a weapon it adds an elemental property like flaming bite, frost strike, shocking bite, etc. I think this would definitely add incentive for some people to play warlocks as they would automatically become one of the greatest allies you could have, and it would take stress off of builders to come up with weapons to exploit weaknesses. As it stands now, players are completely at the mercy of builders to come up with weapons with interesting attributes, and their idea may not always be in line with what a player might prefer. Resist elements changed to be like enchant armor except adds reduction to damage from elemental spells. All spells in the warlock arsenal are changed to ignore magical protection in favor of the new elemental resistances. Resist elements no longer is brewable or comes in the form of magical devices. You want resistance to elements? Buddy up with a warlock. The cling from magma spray can no longer be negated by resist elements, only the damage can be lessened.
b) Ranged combat. Personally I find it to be completely useless. There are some nice perks about it, but it's bland, and can be completely neutered with the defensive stance. As I understand it, it is also currently bugged, and a battle arrow from a longbow and a shortbow do the same damage. There's no incentive to try out a longbow when the shortbow actually gives more attacks at the same damage. Damage should also vary depending on the distance the shooter is from the target. If it's the same room, it should do maximum damage (should technically do the same or more damage than the greataxe). If it's one room away it should do slightly less damage, and so on. Ranged combat used to stop spellcasters from summoning raptor jesus and rampaging on a room. Now there's generally nothing that threatens a spellcaster. They can actually summon raptor jesus and rampage easily through most places. If a spellcaster is wearing a shield, and then sets defensive stance, ranged combat becomes a joke. This is dumb, and needs fixed.
c) Swashbucklers. I consider this class to be the worst of the melee classes. Defensive stance is cool and all, but it is obvious that it wasn't made with swashbucklers in mind. While mercenaries, barbarians, paladins and hellions can get shield block, and use out of shield the swashbuckler doesn't get that same bonus. Defensive stance with a shield is a hell of a lot better than without. They're kind of back where they were before being given finesse. Taunt is now based off of intelligence, as it needs to be concentrated on now, and their defensive abilities aren't up to snuff with other melee classes. In most scenarios the swashbuckler is [REDACTED] poor, even if there is incentive now to roll that deep-elf swashbuckler for the higher int. Still, that swashbuckler isn't going to be any better than any other swashbuckler due to their underperformance in melee combat, the thing they're supposed to excel at. I think an attempt was made to buff trip by lowering the to-hit of flying opponents, which is cool, but melee opponents are going to rip a swashbuckler apart with their superior melee abilities. Fly doesn't even affect the abilities of spellcasters, so trip is still useless against them. The helpfile seems to suggest I could use any sort of takedown method to trip other than a flying tackle which I've always imagined bash being. If I can grapple a flying opponent, then I should be able to bring him down and toss his scrawny [REDACTED] to the ground. At least that's what the helpfile suggests. The helpfile is *wrong.* Taunt loses its effectiveness against opponents who keep int mods around, and can figure out how to disrupt the swashbuckler's concentration. The weaknesses of the class are glaringly obvious, and to borrow a line from pokemon, are SUPER EFFECTIVE. I honestly don't see why anybody bothers with this class other than masochists. I'd suggest adding an ability that allows the swashbuckler to parry incoming missiles. Remember that scene from the end of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon where Li Mu Bai deflects all the needles with his sword? Yeah, that's what swashbucklers should be able to do.
d) Craft skills for mages. Mages should be able to craft their own staves and wands. This is sort of to address the issue of scrolls of 3 finger of death and harm spells floating around. Everybody else has to work for heal potions, word of recall vials and stuff, but these sorts of things can be hoarded by a single player and help that spellcaster summon raptor jesus to win all battles they enter. A warlock for instance can craft a wand of magma spray or cone of cold, whereas a sorcerer could apply their spell set to the task.
e) Reduce the effectiveness of art. Really the art for all classes should be cut in half, and that love sent elsewhere. Spellcasters are the cream of the crop, especially necromancer and sorcerer, and shouldn't have such a god damn easy time steam rolling the mud.
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