[crossfire] Balance changes

[Anton Oussik]

On 03/01/2008, Mark Wedel <mwedel at sonic.net> wrote:
> Anton Oussik wrote:
> > On 31/12/2007, Mark Wedel <mwedel at sonic.net> wrote:
> >
> >> 2) Since the rebalance here includes scaling things up to level 100, it strikes
> >> me we can not give out new spells every level.  Maybe every 5 or so, so at level
> >> 5 you get a small exploding ball and small bolt spell (maybe not at exactly same
> >> level, who knows)
> >
> > Sure you can. Make old spells have old strength until player learns
> > new level of the spell. i.e. to cast lelvel 2 bullet you need to find
> > and learn a level 2 book, and until then you will cast a level 1
> > bullet. This also allows to fine-tune each spell for each level,
> > however you would want higher level versions to replace lower level
> > versions, to keep the spells list from getting too large.
>
>   But I'm not sure if there is much point to that.  If there are sufficient
> different spells to cover all the levels, that is fine.
>
>   But having a level 1 bullet, and level 2 bullet, etc, in which the spells are
> really the same except for a minor damage variation seems a bit excessive.  The
> damage variation can be handled by increase in the caster level itself - a new
> spell at every level isn't needed.  Sure, it puts more spells out there, but if
> they are really the same spell, they are not different spells.
>
>   And as a player, I'm not sure if i would like that idea either - having to
> upgrade all the spells each time you gain a level would seem more annoying than
> fun if all the difference is something minor.  In fact, it would likely create
> even more spell book hunting as your try to find spellbooks of not only
> appropriate spell, but also of appropriate level.
>
>   You also get weird issues with death.  Imagine my character has 'upgraded' all
> his spells to be his current casting level.  He dies, and loses a level in that
> skill - now he has a bunch of spells he can't cast.

Yes, fair enough. Some spells today are already improvements of older
versions though, e.g. the snowstorms, so you already have a bit of
chasing "higher version" of a spell around. Perhaps it is a question
of striking the right balance between having too many similar spells
of different levels and too few spells to encourage progressing.

> >> Item creation classes - if someone wants to play a blacksmith and make weapons
> >> all day, who am I to say no?  But with other balance changes, we can know how
> >> this works - that blacksmith needs raw ore, and the facilities and time.  Maybe
> >> there is a mine near by he can go to get the ore - but if it takes 5 minutes
> >> realtime for him to get a load of stuff, that help factor out exp gain.
> >> Likewise, if he gets 50 exp for making a sword, it means he has to make a lot of
> >> swords to gain a level, and if an actual time delay is put in there (lets say it
> >> takes 10 seconds realtime to make a sword), it probably means that such a
> >> character will not gain levels any faster than any other class, so IMO would be
> >> considered in balance.  The only issue here is that I think such long time (10
> >> second) actions need to be interruptible - in a sense, it is almost like the run
> >> on stuff - the character keeps making the sword unless he chooses to do
> >> something else.  And there is some chance at failure - a first level blacksmith
> >> maybe only has a 50% chance to successfully make a sword for example.
> >>
> >>   I think clerics/priests are basically OK.  Any other thoughts out there?
> >
> > Do what is already done for mages - make alchemy-like things use mana.
> > It means the blacksmith will need rest sooner or later. If using
> > actual mana is too unrealistic to drain by alchemy (as not strictly
> > magical), perhaps a new type of fatigue could be introduced... However
> > using mana would be easier for the players IMO.
>
>   But using mana doesn't really work for non spell skills.  A person doing
> smithery gets no increase from mana for smithery skill, which basically limits
> the ability to do smithery a great deal.

Having the action take a long time would just be perceived as lag, and
so should be avoided if at all possible.

Multi-stage item creation could easily be scripted and may get tedious
unless exp and possibly money award is sufficient.

Adopting a similar system to the one used by rods now to prevent
overuse may be most appropriate.