tarashon wrote:A:
Are we indirectly basically making a server more or less "pushing" all nonecasters into roguebuilds for UMD..
Yes. It's not just Flame Weapon/Darkfire, Keen Edge, and GMW either. It's also things like Freedom of Movement and Death Ward scrolls to prevent effectively instant death and actual instant death. It's Heal scrolls for effectively unlimited healing (I'm planning on taking Scribe Scroll on my Cleric and making my Weapon Master dozens of Heal scrolls which only cost 1650g and 66 XP each, 2 more levels!). It's Spell Breach (Lesser and Greater) scrolls to be able to remove things like Elemental Shield/Mestil's Acid Sheath from enemy casters. Ditto Improved Invisibility for 50% concealment. Ditto Greater Restoration to remove any and all negative effects. Ditto probably several other examples I'm not thinking of off-hand.
tarashon wrote:B:
Are we indirectly creating a server thathave 2 type of "player ballances", namely those with or without Alts...
Yes. Creating those scrolls I mentioned is not only slightly cheaper than buying them...but right now there's only one scroll of each type per reset. Which means the only way to "stock up" and be able to consistently use them is to make an alt.
And, of course, some of those scrolls (like Heal) cannot be bought at all currently.
tarashon wrote:Infact we strife for a setting that to some degree atleast softens up the cap between casual players and "powerbuilders"...
Which is what I hope to see. Right now I'm able to get through a lot of areas but I find myself wondering how in the world someone not as good at the game is going to make it through many of these areas. They'll have a worse character build, won't be using consumables as effectively (or at all), won't know how to abuse the current forge system (which is theoretically getting changed), won't have stockpiles of scrolls, and on top of all of that will play worse (worse positioning, not as good as target priority, etc).
That's a really, really huge gap right there.
tarashon wrote:So fire away with suggestions and preferably some attempt to see things in a greater scale than the mere benefits in terms of bonusses for a given class/character but rather the overall ballance between casters, none casters or dual builds.
Remove crafting wands/scrolls/potions.
Remove every scroll except Resurrection (no one is going to use Raise Dead with the current death system).
Remove most non-healing potions (which includes things like Ability Boosts and Bless/Aid) except for things like Lesser Restoration/Antidote/Remove Disease.
Make a special scroll shop for Wizards only that has Wizard scrolls available to purchase for the sole sake of the Wizard learning the spell. Remove any Wizard scrolls in their inventory when they leave the shop (and when they log onto the server if they try to "cheat" by logging off) -- the shop is solely for the Wizards learning.
If there's a spell you expect people to need versus a certain enemy in a solo or small group zone (like an enemy mage with Elemental Shield/Mestil's Acid Sheath) you can add a wand or scrolls that are usable by all characters...but you get to determine the price.
Add more potions of stuff like Death Ward and Freedom of Movement and make them available (or, alternatively, don't include enemies that require those except in zones designed for groups where you can expect someone to be buffing everyone with that spell).
Make healing more available -- right now you can basically best case make just under one good healing potion per hour (you need 6 cherries and you can get 5 per hour) or just over one mediocre healing potion per hour (you need 4 cherries and you can get 5 per hour). Below that you have...Cure Critical Wounds for 25 HP each.
Clerics provide GMW, Darkfire, Bless, Aid, Prayer, Spell Resistance, ability boosts, etc for buffs.
Mages provide GMW, Flame Weapon, Keen, Improved Invisibility, Mind Blank, Ability Boosts, and (Mass) Haste for buffs.
Bards provide GMW, Keen, Imp Invis, (Mass) Haste, Ability Boosts, and Bard Song for buffs.
Etc.
Groups still get many bonuses, groups still have people better at various roles (like the mage AoEs, the rogue rips apart single targets, the fighter tanks and soaks up damage), casters have more unique buffs overall, but the solo player isn't in quite as bad of a position.
