Shattered Kingdoms

Where I don't know the areas well enough to notice changes, I'm likely not going to be very vocal in this myself. However I'm wondering if it would help players by drawing attention to the either all or sampled fixed areas so they can consider them as the changes are made?

However, that said if you've completed a third of the game, without anyone noticing the changes then perhaps the fixes are so sublte that players wouldn't notice them anyway.

Actually, that's because people don't look for changes for no reason. IDing every single item that is sold in an area, or that spawns on NPCs in an area is time-consuming and mind-numbingly boring, but certainly worth the effort: Doing so again for no reason is just masochostic or OCD. I remember a while back that some IMMs changed an area and put in some extremely overpowered items, and then concluded that because no one abused them that people just weren't paying enough attention to areas. In truth, it's just because people don't go around checking areas they've already explored, because that's generally a waste of time.

First step, area compliance with code updates. This could be a wide variety of things and due to a handful of reasons. The ones I named firstly, but also tweaks to area ranges, new items added without checking if they would follow the builder guidelines, and other reasons I won't bore you with. This doesn't really affect scripts, although I'd love to eventually try to bring scripts into line and find a way to set some more rigid guidelines on them. A large number of the changes won't even be noticeable. There's a few tweaks that have had me reducing the number of enchants on items, in particular those with mana bonuses.

Second step is adding AR to existing items in places that it makes sense. I'll also take a look at the variety of the existing enchantments on items and try to add and alter in places that makes sense. This is a step that I see as more of a benefit than the first step, which does kind of feel nerf-y. At the same time I'll be evaluating a few other things with NPCs, but not likely any grand changes on a massive scale.

Third step is kind of a surprise and not fully fleshed out yet. I foresee this change coming on the heels of or only barely preceding some of the updates Dulrik has planned. It will probably be based on that and while I consider it neither a nerf nor a buff, it might make things more interesting.

I don't intend to alter scripts in this plan, but I can't say that I won't hit some along the way. I really don't intend for the result to be noticeable by anyone really, but I'm sure there will be ways to tell. The hardest part is the first step and its taken me about a month to get this far. I'm sure I'll make quicker progress now that I've gotten through some of the harder areas. I'm certainly open to suggestions and won't only be working on this project to the exclusion of other irons in the fire. I also want to keep working on the coliseum and making it a great place to learn to use your tictacs in various ways or see how someone else uses theirs.

I would guess Edoras rates very low on the Explorer Quotient of the Bartle's Test. Explorers will be happy at the prospect of getting a chance to discover something new and even enjoy the challenge of ferreting out the changes. I think part of the reason Achernar is even announcing that he's making changes is to excite the Explorer types. That Edoras sees it as mind numbingly boring just shows he's a different type of player. So Edoras, instead of denigrating this, just find yourself an explorer who will enjoy doing the "work" for you.

It probably would give those who would bother making a lists of ingame items something to do..

Not sure if anyone has successfully done that. It isn't possible to remember eeeeverything..xD

Thanks for the specifics, Achernar. When you say "Adding AR to existing items" do you mean the AP enchant? As far as enchants go, are you considering altering any saves (will/fort/reflex) on existing armor? That's a pretty big balance issue in SK at the moment, as armor/jewelry which comes with innate saves is infinitely more beneficial than armor which doesn't.



I wasn't intending to come off abrasive. I expressed gratitude on letting us know that changes are happening, and requested some more specifics. I love identifying items and finding things out, especially if they are beneficial to my character or his allies, but there can be many areas of SK with dozens of items and the prospect of identifying all items in an area for a second time with a strong possibility of finding out nothing new doesn't seem that enticing to me, nor can I imagine many players for whom it would be exciting.

Looking back at my wording, I can see how what I said could be taken as passive-aggressive, but I was not expressing annoyance at the changes because a lot of areas really took a hit from the enchant changes and could stand to be reworked. Instead, I was trying to convince Achernar to be a bit more specific so that myself and anyone else who might be affected will have a clearer idea of what to look for instead of rooting around in hundreds of miscellaneous identifies wondering if we'll see something new. I think my first post, which you took out of context, aptly describes that.



Again, I'm glad for the rework, but my point was more that people who enjoy exploring (myself included) like it because it gives them a sense of accomplishment, and that sense of accomplishment is taken away when everything they've learned changes, because it invalidates all of their exploring. Changes certainly need to happen, and I'm not complaining about them. I'm just trying to make the game more fun for everyone by asking Achernar for helpful information.

I will be taking into account the changes to enchant. I consider this to be the second step after main area compliance. I want to look at overall categories of innate saves and try to balance things out. I think its acceptable to adjust some things from MP to AP as well as make sure there are plenty of slight and moderate saves on gear for fort/will/reflex. I'll probably try to tone down some of the categories that seem too prevalent and increase the ones that seem lacking. I will aim for a balanced curve in each category for mostly moderate saves with fewer in the slight and greater range. I'll definitely attempt to have an even amount from each of the possible innate saves. Right now there's a few categories that seem heavy and a few that seem light. I'm not sure how involved or complex I'll make this effort, but I certainly hope to mix things up in general. I don't intend to make the entire game over from scratch, but I also want to see a larger amount of useful saves in gear that doesn't get much use currently.

I PM'd you a gigantic list of suggested post-enchant EQ changes, specifically where to add some innate AP and SPD endowments, and how to adjust existing sets of EQ.