Idea Rush!!!!

Introduction
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First of all I'd like to say that I think the real star of this game is in the skill and gem systems. They allow for all kinds of depth and complexity. The ideas I'm presenting will hopefully broaden the scope of what kind of gameplay is being considered for implementation. All numbers I use in my descriptions are only examples and by no means what I would actually expect them to be implemented as (Jeff would obviously know best). But hopefully this mess of ideas, if nothing else, can act as a jumping board or as inspiration to help the game grow in new directions.





Stances
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Right now there are two "stances" in battle. There is auto-attack and auto-shoot. The rules for stances is that only one may be active at a time. First of all I propose adding a third general stance called "Defend." It's self explanatory, I think, and the mitigation degree can be adjusted to not make damage irrelevant while Defending, but enough to make the stance helpful.

The other idea I had with Stances is adding a monk class that learns a new stance every 10 levels.

Example Monk Stance: Praying Mantis - while in this stance, you neither attack nor defend but once a certain amount of damage has been sustained, the monk automatically unleashes a special attack that would be immune to block/parry/counterattacks.

Second Example Monk Stance: Crouching Tiger - while in this stance, the monk is invulnerable, however both his energy and mana drain very quickly. When his energy and mana are depleted, the monk exits the stance.

Monk stances can have energy/mana costs, cool times, or other prerequisites to use in order to make them interesting and tactical.

Of course, different stances could be implemented for many classes to give them more diversity and flavor.




Resistance Skill Set
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This set of skills gains xp by being MISSED in combat (must have AT remaining).

VS Crushing - Each level in this skill will increase your mitigation of crushing (including staff) attacks by 0.3%

VS Piercing - Each level in this skill will increase your mitigation of piercing (including arrow) attacks by 0.3%

VS Slashing - Each level in this skill will increase your mitigation of slashing (including whip) attacks by 0.3%

VS Fear - Each level in this skill will increase your chances of being unaffected by fear by 0.5%

VS Illusion - Each level in this skill will increase your chances of being unaffected by illusions by 0.5%

VS Confusion - Each level in this skill will increase your chances of being unaffected by confusion by 0.5%

VS Paralysis - Each level in this skill will increase your chances of being unaffected by paralysis by 0.5%

There is plenty of room for all kinds of resistances depending upon how many different facets of attack you want to add to the game.

New Beast Mastery Skills
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Tier 1 (LV20+)
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Beastial Instincts - Each level in this skill will increase the number of skills you may gain in the following Instinct skills, for instance if your Beastial Instincts skill level is 3, then the total combined level you can gain in the following three skills may not exceed 3. A whip (or two, if deemed necessary), must be equipped for any of Instinct skills to have effect.

Constance of the Ox - Some kind of HP/Energy related skill.

Vigilance of the Hawk - Some kind of accuracy related skill.

Mentality of the Wolf - Some kind of group bonus skill.

Tier 2 (LV40+)
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Feral Instincts - Same as Beastial Instincts, but different tier and applying to different tier skills below.

Patience of the Crocodile - Deal no damage for a number of turns, but have the hits adding up on a side calculation. After a certain number of turns all of the damage is then dealt in one great strike. Each level in this skill gives x% bonus damage to that strike.

Tenacity of the Wolverine (PK/PKK) - Escape reduction skill.

Heart of the Lion - Each level in this skill increases your chances of being unaffected by fear by 0.5%. Note: stacks with VS Fear skill, potentially giving a Beast Master 100% fear resistance when both reach level 100.

Tier 3 (LV60+)
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Primal Instincts - Same as Beastial Instincts, but different tier and applying to different tier skills below.

Vicissitude of the Dragon - Unknown yet.

Passion of the Phoenix - Unknown yet.

New Weaponry Skills
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Critical Revenge - Each level in this skill will increase your chances of counterattacking a critical hit with a critical hit of your own by 0.4%

Miscellaneous Skills
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Courage - Every level in this skill will increase your chance by 1% that your HP can be reduced no lower than 1 unless you are hit by magic or a critical attack.

Bulwark of Desperation - Every level in this skill will increase your AC by 0.1 * your player level while your current HP is 10% or less of your total HP.

xxx of Desperation - Same concept as above but use whatever bonus you think is appropriate.

Bravado of the Healthy - Every level in this skill will increase your attack by x * your player level while your current HP is full.

xxx of the Healthy - Same concept as above but use whatever bonus you think is appropriate.

xxx of the Vigorous - Same concept as above except it applies when Energy is full.

xxx of the Abstinent - Same concept as above except it applies when Mana is full.


Status Effect Gems
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Delusions of Grandeur - (PvP)(illusion status) - Make opponent's HP bar always appear full to them.

Treasure Trick - (PvP)(illusion status) - Make opponents screen fill with pop ups of treasure chests (sometimes covering gem slots), which add gold to his total when clicked, but its a false reading (acts as a distraction to anyone not familiar with the deception of the spell)


Gem Manipulating Gems
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Pressure Gems - (PvP, PK, PKK) - these gems knock a random gem out of an opponent's action slots and back into their pouch

Lure Gems (Black, Blue, White, Green, Red, Gray) - when used replaces the lure gem with a random gem of its color from your pouch

Gem Heist - (PK/PKK) - Cost: Consumes the Gem Heist Gem - steals a gem from opponent's pouch and places it into your own (you must have an open slot in your pouch or the Gem Heist will be lost
anyway)

Throwing Gems (Gray 5/25)
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A small weapon materializes in your hand to be thrown at the enemy.
Cost: 0
Level 5 version is single use
Level 25 version has Delay:20.0

Rock/Sledge Toss - Deals crushing damage equal to your Crushing or Archery skill level (whichever is lower)
Stiletto/Lance Toss - Deals piercing damage equal to your Piercing or Archery skill level (whichever is lower)
Hatchet/Chakram Toss - Deals slashing damage equal to your Slashing or Archery skill level (whichever is lower)

Damage dealt is affected by bonuses provided by Crushing, Piercing, Slashing Specialty respectively.



Miscellaneous Gems
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Panacea (white) - Cure all status effects.

Arms to Doves (White) - Disables Auto-Attack/Auto-Shoot for all combatants for x amount of ticks. Gems may be used as normal.

Vitae Inversion (Black) - Switch current HP% with enemy, but only if they are within 10% of each other.

Berserk (Red) - Cost: all energy - unable to use any further gems for the rest of the battle and auto-attack/auto-shoot cannot be deactivated once Berserk is activated, increases melee/ranged damage and attack speed.

Dispel Illusion (Red) - Negates opponent illusion in play.

Doppleganger (Blue/Illusion) - Cost 50% total hp and x mana - creates a double of yourself in combat which will act as a decoy, your attacks and spell use will be divided between yourself and the double to further confuse your opponent. The doppleganger has an amount of hp equal to half of your total HP and will disappear if defeated.

Counterspell (Blue) - Negates the next spell cast by target opponent.

Aura Kill (Gray)(PvP, PK, PKK) - All auras in play are returned to their caster's pouches.

Dust to Dust (Gray)(PvP, PK, PKK) - All gems in play are returned to their caster's pouches.

Yay for constructive criticism!

Stances: Yes, something to do besides attack and... attack. I don't know about going so far as monk-style stances, but how about a defensive stance that reduces damage taken, and allows you to regenerate mana and energy a lot faster in combat. In other words, a stance for spellcasters, since it's so easy to blow through an entire mana bar to do 10% of a mob's damage, as it stands now.

Beast Mastery stuff : A little over the top, I'd say, but the beast master playstyle could use some buffs or variety, at the least. Just remember that most ideas are ALWAYS going to sound good to the player, because who doesn't want more power? A lot of these sound a little unbalancing, unless similar counterparts were made for the other playstyles (Melee, magic, archery).

Gem ideas: Pretty much all of these are excellent ideas. They'd really expand the current gem system, especially for PvP. The only problem I see is that most people use exclusively healing and recovery gems, given that damage gems are costly, inefficient, and very weak compared to melee/ranged damage. Seriously, I challenge you to find someone who uses an all offense pouch past level 10 (and does better than someone with a healing pouch). Of course, assuming the issues with offensive magic are addressed, being able to mess around with opponents' gems could be a very effective strategy.

Oh, and the Resistance Skills. Wouldn't it make more sense to gain experience when you ARE hit by those abilities? I mean, how are you going to develop a tolerance to crushing attacks by avoiding them? It's repeated exposure to such things that causes a tolerance to develop.
Not to mention that every monster in the game would need to have its attacks classified by slashing/crushing/piercing, if they aren't already.

Good, original ideas, though!

[doug]

lol and i thought i had a lot of spare time

you sat and wrote a whole new type of class stance and stuff

i like the ideas

[doctor-warlord]

well generally it looks like some pretty good ideas though a the throwing gems wepon thing i dont quite get could you explain it some more

[Flashus]

i see you were pretty busy today with no AT left as least i can post my suggestion now

[doug]

you cnat even log in if u wanted to use AT flashus

For Doctorwarlord on Throwing Gems

They are basically a spell, the lowest version of which is single use (meaning it pops back into your pouch as soon as its cast. The higher versions can either be recastable or auto-recastable. The cost is 0 mana 0 energy. The initial inventment of gold to acquire this gem would be high or perhaps it would be a rare drop.

The effect is "A small weapon materializes in your hand and you throw it at your opponent."

The damage it does depends on what type of gem it is (crushing, piercing, or slashing). For example if it is the Rock/Sledge gem, its damage will be based on your Crushing level and your Archery level (since it is a projectile attack), whichever is lower.

Example: My Crushing level is 2 and my Archery level is 2. When I use the Rock gem, it will deal 2 damage.

Example: My Crushing level is 5 and my Archery level is 0. When I use the Rock gem, it will deal 0 damage.

Example: My Crushing level is 7 and my Archery level is 3. When I use the Rock gem, it will deal 3 damage.

[doctor-warlord]

so basically this gem type is primarily for archers from what i read might be interesting to see at least it would make magic more diversed as it would kind make it like each type of character has gems that are more effective to them

[Flashus]

we were chatting at 8:45 this morning my time. before server went down

[Archer of Crosis]

okay so heres a point by point critique of your ideas:

Stances: i really think this wont work with the current graphics jeff is using, I cant see him entertaining this idea, as cool as it may seem.

Resistance set skills: the first 3 are cover in 20 + skills under weaponry. ie piercing spec, slashing spec and crushing spec.

the rest of the skills you mentioned dont seem needed as mobs dont cast any of those spells, if jeff were to switch that, these skills would rock.

Beast mastery skills:

tier 1 = awesome

tier 2 = awesome

tier 3 = not much info there but what if Vicissitude of the Dragon was a skill that could only be utilized if you had a pet dragon equipped and it doubled the min dmg that a dragon could do and halved its delay, that would be cool.

Weaponry skills: i actually like this idea, while there are similar skills , none of them deal a crit hit back. nice

Misc skills: these could all be thrown under 40+ skills in life magic, and they are great ideas.

Status effects: ummm no thanks, no need for this.

Gem manipulating gems: these would be great for PvP but serve no use in regular mob and boss fighting.

Throwing gems: dont really like this idea either, when we cast gems they are basically being throw anyways, so i feel this idea is repetitive.

Misc gems: *sigh have to go through each one*

panacae = yes
Arms to Doves (White) = no
Vitae Inversion (Black) = yes
Berserk (Red)= not bad needs tweeking
Dispel Illusion (Red)= no, enough of status stuff, this game really doesnt need it imo
Doppleganger (Blue/Illusion)= what kind of graphics do you think jeff is using, no.
Counterspell (Blue): yes
Aura Kill (Gray)(PvP, PK, PKK)= yes
Dust to Dust (Gray)(PvP, PK, PKK) = yes

basically i like a lot of your ideas, but i feel that adding status changing effects, gems , etc is pointless and not necessary in this game, why make it more complex than it already is, we already have enough noobs bitching that they don't understand. I for one do not want to be around if status stuff is added, it will be a 24/7 bitchfest from noobs, thereby ruining the game.

The reason I feel the need to add status effects is they are common in RPG's and add a layer of complexity and strategy that "for me" make the game more fun. The existing skill and gem system put together would easily support this extra dimension.

I do like deep, involved, complex systems that can be strategically utilized and to hell with the noobs I guess. I help them with what I feel the need to and then let them sink or swim on their own. I feel no need to stress over them, though. Hopefully Jeff will design a robust ignore feature if it gets as bad as you predict.

The gem system sort of reminds me of Magic: The Gathering, a collectible card game. The gem pouch/draw slot is essentially your card deck. The actions slots are essentially your hand. If any of you have played a game like this you know how deep the strategies can get and all the possible effects that can be utilized on a battlefield. I think it would be a boon to this game if it could expand in this direction.

As far as the graphics of doppleganger - lol - I was thinking it would just make a copy of your player icon and place it in a "party member" location in the battle interface. Nothing more fancy than that. I think that's doable.

[doctor-warlord]

well things can become to complex but some status might be nice like you say forinstance poison paralyze and confusion would be fun too see added as they are status effects

[Archer of Crosis]

Originally Posted by Somneil

The reason I feel the need to add status effects is they are common in RPG's and add a layer of complexity and strategy that "for me" make the game more fun. The existing skill and gem system put together would easily support this extra dimension.

I do like deep, involved, complex systems that can be strategically utilized and to hell with the noobs I guess. I help them with what I feel the need to and then let them sink or swim on their own. I feel no need to stress over them, though. Hopefully Jeff will design a robust ignore feature if it gets as bad as you predict.

The gem system sort of reminds me of Magic: The Gathering, a collectible card game. The gem pouch/draw slot is essentially your card deck. The actions slots are essentially your hand. If any of you have played a game like this you know how deep the strategies can get and all the possible effects that can be utilized on a battlefield. I think it would be a boon to this game if it could expand in this direction.

As far as the graphics of doppleganger - lol - I was thinking it would just make a copy of your player icon and place it in a "party member" location in the battle interface. Nothing more fancy than that. I think that's doable.

I've played Magic the Gathering and enjoy it a lot, but I don't feel that's what jeff intended for this game.
fine i will give you doppleganger.
while jeff is now utilizing poison and flame arrow, status effects which effect the enemies, i still feel that adding status dmg and magic to early levels would be awful. maybe to the higher level mobs and bosses this would be more suited.

i just realized jeff already solved this problem kinda, zone chat only no global chat, but still a robust ignore feature would be grand.

so okie im willing to semi entertain status effecting gems and creature attacks, but only at higher levels, this should eliminate noob bitching , well at least about that anyways lol.

I agree status effects can wait til higher levels. It makes the game deeper for the veterans while letting the noobs ease into it.

And as for throwing gems, I did introduce two concepts to it. Yes, basically it is a damage gem, but the twists are twofold. One - the damage scales as you become stronger. Two - the damage is based on the work you put into skill levels of certain types. Currently no gems have either of these dimensions.

[doctor-warlord]

well i will agree that status change features should wait till either lvl 40 or lvl 60 as that way most will have gathered quite some experience with the game at that point and therefor there shouldnt be any bitching about it but might be few questions to those how know about it

I also think eventually it may be beneficial to add a "Storage Pouch." This extra pouch would be used to store gems that are useful in some situations (such as PvP, PK/PKK) but not in others. That way they wouldn't have to take up space in the "Draw Pouch" or in inventory.

When you wanted to use them in the desired situation you could just swap them into your "Draw Pouch" and head into battle.

[doctor-warlord]

that suggestion is unneeded as there are 3 gem pouches you can unlock meaning you can carry up to 150 gems in total but only have 50 available per fight