Balance Team Meeting: Mondays @ 6PM CST

[Kainzo]

@Balance Team
it is important that you come or review the notes of the meeting.

ts.hc.to >> Meeting Channel

Thanks!

 

[Irishman81]

@Balance Team
it is important that you come or review the notes of the meeting.

ts.hc.to >> Meeting Channel

Thanks!

Sounds good

 

[LordZelkova]

Will keep that time slot open!

 

[WitchOnaRampage]

@Balance Team
it is important that you come or review the notes of the meeting.

ts.hc.to >> Meeting Channel

Thanks!

So these are weekly, at least intially?

Lots of things on the table atm, but after a month or two things might slow down enough to go back to fortnightly, perhaps?

Looking foward to it

 

[WitchOnaRampage]

So, first meeting is in about 23 hours from now, yes?

 

[Irishman81]

http://herocraftonline.com/main/threads/draft-for-balance-changes.58256/
Just read these over to get everyone thinking

 

[look_out]

Wont be able to make it to this meeting. Work from 3 to 9 pm EST on monday

 

[LordZelkova]

Gonna be a bit late, gotta eat dinner and will probably be only listening tonight (Or using text).

 

[0xNaomi]

Recording of meeting from 9/28/15: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B82Pc4IaBELRVFQwTnRMYTdrSkE/view?usp=sharing
Rougly 3 hrs of words being thrown around, be careful if you dare try to listen.

 

[WitchOnaRampage]

Balance Meeting reminder - in 1.5 hours, yes?

 

[look_out]

Won't be able to make it at work

 

[LordZelkova]

Won't be there.
Have to cook dinner for family tonight. Sorry :/
I'll read the notes and try and be useful based on them.

 

[WitchOnaRampage]

Some meeting notes:

New Dungeons:

• currently aiming for Dungeons to be testable on Test on Wednesday and launched on live on Friday, subject to progress
• FEEDBACK IS NEEDED! both on Test and also most importantly in the first few days of play on live
• the dungeons are connected to each other and are independent of Survival map - in effect, they're a mini-Adventure map - they'll have some custom items but not as many as are planned for the full Adventure map
• intention is to

• 1. provide a more fulfilling, interesting and extended leveling experience
  2. provide an extended tutorial experience as players explore the new skills they gain in each tier of dungeon in the next tier dungeon
  3. provide a faster early leveling experience to 40 with greater challenge from then on
  4. gets players out and about and interacting with other players, other environments on the server
  5. allows players to level faster in a less camped environment - ie will be sharing dungeons with similar levels

• 6 tiers of dungeons, more than one dungeon at each tier except the first
• each tier is for 10 class levels, with exp curve being pretty much linear to level 45 then curving sharply up from 45 to 60
• ie Tier 1 dungeon = levels 1 to 9, pvp off, doable by complete beginners, can be completed within 30 minutes, provides some gear drops, puzzles etc
• Tier 2 dungeons = levels 10 to 19, pvp on, 2 dungeons available at this tier, mobs increasing in difficulty, will likely take more like 1 to 2 hours to complete
• goal is for a class to be levelable in approximately one week with no boosts
• lower Tier dungeons will have Minions, mid-level have Elites, and higher will have Bosses (Bosses will drop fragments every time which can be turned in for loot)
• lower Tier dungeons will doable by solo players, higher Tier (ie 7 to 9) will need a full group to tackle them
• one dungeon alone has 175 spawners
• changes to mob abilities and custom item drops are via repos, so they can be adjusted easily in response to player feedback, balance needs etc
• when the change comes, existing player levels up to 45 will likely scale up, whereas higher levels will drop somewhat ie previous 60 will likely be 45 to 50 so players will need to prove themselves in the higher dungeons to regain max level
• WitchOnaRampage to start adding info on dungeon lore, mobs etc to the wiki.

Towns:

• Separate notes - yet to come + thread by WitchOnaRampage

Quake skills:

• use block throw mechanics
• looking for suggestions for status effects and ailments (ie slow/blind/silence)
• draft skills: Quake for Dragoon; DivineRuination and GreatChasm for 2 Legendary classes, and SeismicAssault for Druid

Class balancing discussion:

• @Irishman81 has notes
• see @0xNaomi 's thread on repositioning ultimate skills.

Events discussion:

• next Tourney scheduled for 7th (this week?) - details to be determined @TimForReal @Xanipher more info?
• length of bouts will be managed, for example, if bout still in progress after 10 minutes, lava will start pouring from ceiling, at 15 minutes winning team will be determined as the one with most survivors
• suggestions that FFAs are fun and easy, spleef always popular - with No Cheat turned off for the duration of spleef events
• discussion of event arena again being on a separate world, with supplied items only

Vendors and Legendary weapons:

• some OP weapon attributes to be scaled back
• prices to be adjusted

 

[Irishman81]

Won't be able to make it tonight, heading out for my birthday. Let me know if you guys need help with anything.

 

[WitchOnaRampage]

Yup, Balance meeting in just over 1.5 hours.

Balance Team experience and thoughts on the new Dungeons is needed, please.

(Not sure how I'll be for the meeting - my internet connection is dodgy atm - I'll be giving it a go.)

 

[WitchOnaRampage]

Won't be able to make it tonight, heading out for my birthday. Let me know if you guys need help with anything.

Happy Birthday, Irish!

 

[MunchlaxHero]

Yup, Balance meeting in just over 1.5 hours.

Balance Team experience and thoughts on the new Dungeons is needed, please.

(Not sure how I'll be for the meeting - my internet connection is dodgy atm - I'll be giving it a go.)

My internet has been slow all day, called the provider and everything, not able to connect to minecraft or ts3.

 

[WitchOnaRampage]

Balance Team meeting notes from 12 October 2015:

Professions:

• Possibility that Prof max levels will be dropped so that the leveling max is similar to before @Kainzo?
• Possibility that Crafter will max at 1 ie new players choose a Profession on starting (would need to balance income-earning ability across the Professions if this is the case)
• Possibility of first Profession choice out of Crafter being free
• Slowness of leveling via mining particularly since the recent exp changes - buff ore exp?
• Nerf iron door exp?
• Buff skills use exp? Ensure all classes have some skills that give exp at various levels?
• Rarity of crafter catalysts - only dropping ingame from emerald and diamond ore - increase ingame sources? (balance with drops from voting and loot crates)
• Strengthen the weaker classes ie Runesmith (suggestion to clone recall skill for runestones so they have individual cooldowns, not sharing the same cooldown as at present), Merchant (see following discussion on GM)

Legendary classes:

• Can see the benefits that legendary classes provide to the server and to the game
• Are inhibiting pvp in their current form - many players won't venture out if a Legendary is online - takes 3 players to take one down
• Are an interesting challenge for the individuals who achieve them, but not for players encountering them in their current form
• Asking for reduced power, more interesting and varied skills - such that they have an enticing effect on pvp, rather than the current dampening effect
• Related point - introducing new classes would provide greater interest to long-term players, positive effect on retention/return, increase spice for team fights
• A consideration for introducing new classes - Legendary 6 are set on a player's first log in, so new classes wouldn't be included under this setup

Combat classes/skill balancing:

• Thanks to Zelphril/Natenate for notes

Changes:

• ForceTotem hits all entities in the area (including people in party and out of party)
• Dragoon's LunarLance drains 12.5% of the targets mana, damage is the same.
• Ranger explosive shot now does extra damage when the arrow hits a player directly (75 additional damage)

For consideration regarding Bard:

• Perspective that Bard is why some group fights are taking half an hour
• Discussion re nerfing ManaSong/BattleSong
• Discussion whether manasong should be nerfed for party and/or for self - is balanced for the class, but not for battles - so nerfing for party would improve battles and nerfing for self might also be needed so it can't be overused - but nerfing for self might unbalance the class internally
• Possibility of putting buffs on other classes (for example berserker getting a skill like WarCry that has the same effect as BattleSong)
• Possibility of putting 3 of Bard's key skills under the same cooldown - is this doable?

Warps/Portals:

• Concerns - so many easy ways to get to spawn now (cheap warp for Professions, town spawn, HGs being free) -> less challenge, negative impact on Runestone demand
• Interest in making warp harder again for non-new players ie back to emeralds - but if Professions come in at starter level, won't be able to differentiate between new players/seasoned players
• Herogates are being converted from Bungee to Multiverse (@xexorian)
• Fees returning for HG use - 15 coins per use - free to Tier 5 supporters and higher
• Won't be able to use HGs while combat-tagged (need to verify)
• Portals work to different worlds on same server (ie Citadel, Warshards, Heaven's Gate when it comes in) but commands are needed to transfer to other servers (ie Test, Overflow)

Trade District/Global Market:

Issues:

• Is enlivening the economy, shifting coins and items, benefit play
• Merchant class can't compete
• Player sales not limited by Profession
• TD is comatose

Changes brought in / coming in:

• Taxes on GM sales increased (last week)
• GM listings now expire after 1 week
• GM listings per player now limited to 20 - players will need to consider their listings more carefully
• Mailboxes to be installed at all Graveyards (@xexorian ) - so players can purchase redstone/weaps/armor directly from Merchants (Blackmarket)
• Merchants are exempt from the listings cap

Further ideas:

• Can the sales tax be less for Merchants?
• Items can be blacklisted to what can be sold - is this desirable?
• Move GM out of the spawn area and into the TD to increase TD traffic - some Witchy suggestions on enlivening the TD here
• Reduce the cost of TD shops @Kainzo
• Review the cost of making chest shops

Dungeons / Mobs:

• @xexorian and Kainzo discussed balancing aspects (sorry didn't get details, Xexo please provide if needed)
• Considering disabling some potions for alchemist - ie poison potions - so they can be given to Mythic Mobs

Pet-riding - T10 benefit:

• Concern raised that it negates fall damage and pets have infinite health
• However so does feather falling, and skills such as Grappling hook also provide access to high/low places
• Pets despawn in combat
• Need to look into preventing pets being re-summoned during combat (@0xNaomi ?)

Towns:

• Witch to post meeting notes from last meeting and start discussion thread
• @Kainzo is adjusting town set up cost and taxes - was to come in last Friday but it slipped the net - taxes coming down, set up costs going up.
• Need to announce changes to prepare players

Rare blocks rules:

• Consideration of where glowstone and slimeblocks fit in
• Note: discussion on previous occasions about abolishing the rare blocks concept and considering all block breaking as griefing @TimForReal @xexorian

 

[0xNaomi]

Tags, tags, tags..,.

Runestone/Recall change suggestion

The suggestion itself wasn't listed, so for additional detail: Clone Recall's Runestone functionality into a separate skill. Still give it to everyone, just have Runstones on their own cooldown separate from Recall.

Can Merchants be exempt from the listings cap?

Why am I poked here? Can and I'd bet already are on live now.

Need to look into preventing pets being re-summoned during combat

Working on it.

 

[WitchOnaRampage]

Tags, tags, tags..,.

The suggestion itself wasn't listed, so for additional detail: Clone Recall's Runestone functionality into a separate skill. Still give it to everyone, just have Runstones on their own cooldown separate from Recall.

Why am I poked here? Can and I'd bet already are on live now.

Working on it.

Incorporated into the notes.