Shattered Kingdoms

Sorry if this has already been suggested, but I didn't have enough time to read through all 20 pages.



Though this suggestions does not address the lack of active abilities in the swashbuckler skill-set it gives the class a bit more combat viability. It should only improve with successful dual-wield checks and improvement percentage should be very low at best. As far as at what level I think it should be implemented, I was thinking no earlier than veteran; though mentor seems more fitting.

I really don't see how adding cooldowns is necessary to reduce time-sinks. There's nothing wrong with item collection being part of PK - if getting those items is actually challenging, or at least fun. Enchanting and brewing just doesn't fill the bill here. Going shopping is not much better.

I'd agree with Edoras that SK doesn't have to turn into a deep tactical game. But if the route to PK success is tolerating boredom, most people will find other things to do. Do you read a lot of books that are dull for the first 200 pages, because the last 20 will be pretty good?

My biggest suggestion to SK that would shift it in the biggest way from dull time-sink to thoughtful, rewarding work has already been made, and that was to enchant armor, because any other prep work like EQ gathering, scribing and brewing has already been changed to be much more reliable. Enchant armor is also changing this year according to D, so I hope it brightens things up a bit!

Personally, I like enchant the way it is. The only thing I'd really ever want to see changed with it would be the ability to enchant ammunition. Other than that, I've never seen or heard a suggestion to tweaking enchant that I've liked. I know it makes me kinda strange, but I kinda like the grind of enchant.

But on the more on-topic matter of swashbucklers, I'd like to see some advanced "kick" skills implemented. Swashbucklers would be the foremost kickers in the game, but some of those could possibly be extended to other melee classes too. Just have always believed "kick" to be utterly insufficient for the types of foot/leg attacks that could exist.

I still think that swashies need specialized maneuvers that build up a lot of dmg, the maneuvers would be buildup attacks and finishing attacks, that even have status effects.

Swashbucklers are fine. Try playing one and investing the time. Maybe they could use an active skill based around the new disarm code, but other than that..And you can already enchant ammo, unless it isn't applied like +dmg on a symbol..and enchant armor should be left the way it is. Getting a nice piece of EQ should be difficult. If it's going to be made any easier, all magic needs a buff in art/damage. Anyone who spends time enchanting can already negate most if not all magical affects by PCs.

It is impossible to enchant ammunition.

Dual wield should also be renamed "duel wield" just to confuse people.

I'd like to see a superpower skill that can stop or prevent melee fighting.

I think this would be a pretty good addition.

Skill: Thrash blade (mastered)

"The master's sword(s) fickle-flickered in the chaos. The thrash and hum of blades faded and all hands lost their blood thirst."

I'm very late to the game, as usual. Regarding the Finney/Nightwing stuff, when I played Apelila, I spent a large amount of time naked brewing (something to do with cloth priests and fireball). And since Apelila was modest, she wouldn't naked brew in inns where regen rates are far better, but would go to her apartment instead. Brewing for Sithara was always RP-laden. Sure, there was a lot of brewing, singing, dancing, but there was also a lot of RP based around Apelila's "flighty" (as Adara called it) personality. I never viewed it as a time sink because there was RP to be had. While I did do my share of enchanting (my bunny slippers had in the neighborhood of 17 enchants on them), I was far more active naked brewing than enchanting.

On to swashies. As my most recent well-known char was a swashie, I can be said to have experienced the swashie life. I like the fact swashies are the most "automatic" of the classes, because I suck at tactics and everything else in that realm. And I'd want to keep swashies as "automatic" as possible, for my benefit if nothing else. In that vein, my suggestion for improving swashies is two-fold. 1) Let swashies dual wield one-handed crossbows from a distance, using them as designed instead of only being able to dual wield them as clubs. 2) Make a swashie enhanced parry and riposte work well against massive weapons. Mercs and barbs can tear up the front-row-only melee class of swashie since massive weapons are so successful at getting around parry skills.

I'm not exactly the most creative person, so I don't have ideas for new swashie skills. And I don't really think swashies need new skills. Just add another check in the code to check for being a swashie and give a bonus for parrying and riposting all weapons, massive weapons more stridently. And maybe add a swashie check to dodge to make swashies more dodgy, too. I think that would make swashies much more desirable than they are now. And improve their formidibility level. What are they now? "Oh, look! He thinks he's a pirate or somesuch nonsense!"