Upcoming changes to skills and character models & new abilities

[Zwiebelchen]

1H zerker is meant to be exactly as viable as a tank as crusader and monk (That's a lot of 'as').

There's is no such thing as an "off tank" in Gaias. Simply because "off xxx" roles tend to suck (as in: are either OP as fuck or are worthless), so I avoid them whenever possible. If anything, a 2H berserker may count as an off-tank, but itemization and balancing adjustments are more and more trying to combat that (hence why I added the 20% absorb on shields and why berserker specific armors have a lot less armor on them).

My design goal was to have 3 classes capable of tanking (crus, monk, zerker) and 3 classes capable of healing. The latter is still lacking, as currently only druid and cleric can heal. I'm currently thinking about adding a healing spec to the bard aswell, but that would require a lot of new skills to be added. And I want everything to be fair game and not have a class that has significantly more skills than others - so it will probably take several more updates for bards to accumulate enough skills to be viable healers.

The reason why I want 3 classes each to fullfill a healing or tank role is that pretty much all the content is balanced around 4-5 players. I want each game session to have an available healing and tank role, no matter who you play with without forcing players to load twinks all the time.

That's why I'm also thinking about making respeccing easier, by removing the cost of abilities and the skill reset (or make all abilities 'learn by scroll', to allow players to re-learn them for free once acquired). The current system, with absurdly high ability costs is way too restrictive, imho.

 

[BoxOfFaith]

That's why I'm also thinking about making respeccing easier, by removing the cost of abilities and the skill reset (or make all abilities 'learn by scroll', to allow players to re-learn them for free once acquired). The current system, with absurdly high ability costs is way too restrictive, imho.

I agree with this to an extent. Right now we don't really have enough abilities to need to decide how we want to 'spec'. Even with these upcoming skills I don't think its necessarily going to cause us to leave behind anything too important. Though if we do get to a point where we NEED to get rid of 2h abilities to be a viable 1h zerk tank in situations, then yeah respeccing is too harsh.

On the topic of 1h-Zerk tanks.. I actually think they're very good. This is mostly specing into the talent tree that provides +15% damage with 1h weapons, but still. Even using a 2h I find the talent that removes the Berserker Rage malus is extremely helpful even when not main tanking and using a 2h, so I just put the last point into the 1h damage boost as none of the other trees have a very good second talent worth getting.

Though Im never one to be too concerned with the "Meta" game. Are 1h zerkers the most EFFICIENT use of a player spot? Probably not, but they are viable and do quite a good job tanking our current content. So just because its not the BEST, doesn't mean it shouldn't exist. Nor do I think it specifically needs changed as it actually does work quite well as is.

 

[doubtful]

i simply dont get why you have to stick with a certain class for tank role etc. if its possible make druid tank. im ok with it.

 

[Zwiebelchen]

Texture swapping and hair color selection has been implemented into the game now.

Here's some ingame screenshots ...

 

[Ihazdialup]

hnng

 

[doubtful]

since you include hair color i hope u have the *must colors* which are, black/brown, blonde, ginger and white then colors such as green, pink etc.....

 

[marb]

1H zerker is meant to be exactly as viable as a tank as crusader and monk

I think this is what I was looking for. In terms of EHP, yes. But maybe I should rephrase what I said at the start. 1h zerk loses DPS when he loses aggro, compared to the other 2 tank classes, which is kinda meh. I don't know if that is intended, or just something that isn't very well thought of at the moment.

 

[Zwiebelchen]

I think this is what I was looking for. In terms of EHP, yes. But maybe I should rephrase what I said at the start. 1h zerk loses DPS when he loses aggro, compared to the other 2 tank classes, which is kinda meh. I don't know if that is intended, or just something that isn't very well thought of at the moment.

All classes have their specific strengths and weaknesses. Crusaders have an edge in multi-target tanking, monks deal significant spell damage, Zerker tanks deal a lot more "white" damage than any other tank class and have demo shout to debuff enemies, but their main threat generating attack is a reactive skill, so they need a disciplined group in order to work. Sounds balanced to me.

since you include hair color i hope u have the *must colors* which are, black/brown, blonde, ginger and white then colors such as green, pink etc.....

All player colors will be available, so, yeah, blonde (yellow), ginger (orange) and white (grey) are available. Black is a little bit of a problem, as there is no black team color, just dark grey.

But I think players will also like the other colors. I've found that especially light blue, dark green and red look surprisingly good on all models aswell. Even purple looks decent. Teal and pink gave me cancer, though.

 

[Zwiebelchen]

Just compared textures of 256x256 resolution (40kb per texture, right picture) and 128x128 resolution (20kb per texture, left picture).

What do you think? Is the increased texture resolution worth the increased filesize?

 

[Hawajska]

worth it.


any chance to make ground more stable?
there is so many "ups" and "downs" hard to play in 3D if someone wish ;p

 

[BoxOfFaith]

Naw they look pretty much identical. I'd imagine at the birds eye view it'd be even less noticeble so I wouldn't bother with the bigger file sizes.

 

[Zwiebelchen]

Added paletted mode @ 64 colors to the comparison:

Left: 20kb
middle: 40kb
right: 30kb

Paletted mode (right) looks slightly sharper than hires jpeg compression (center), but at reduced color depth (you'll notice the difference at the skin areas).

 

[Ihazdialup]

I mean they look better, not not worth the extra space, and like what Box was saying, in 3d view and from the camera zoom they will all basically look the same

 

[satoshikid]

I have to agree with the recent sentiments: as long as the textures are of decent quality, it shouldn't matter much as we're not looking at our characters at point blank range.

 

[galactcus]

could you make a camera that looks like the warcraft camera but its closer to the char... so you can see better the details and dont need to change cameras... what do you think?

 

[Ihazdialup]

^that wouldn't be bad, as long as its not the basic camera because I think the distance its at currently is optimal (atleast for me) to get a wide enough view to play effectively and know where mobs but still see enough detail to appreciate the map because the scenery is beautiful

 

[Zwiebelchen]

Adjusting the distance of the non-locked camera doesn't work, as any use of the mouse wheel will always reset the distance to the default. Making the units bigger would be far easier, but that would also require a re-design of basicly all towns and villages.

I wish I'd have the time for that. I would love to re-design mytargas and the villages by using the Sword & Stone modular doodads instead of the dated B²M house models. Would look much better and even save file size.


http://www.hiveworkshop.com/forums/...rrainer-needed-gaias-retaliation-orpg-260263/

 

[sonofjay]

Adjusting the distance of the non-locked camera doesn't work, as any use of the mouse wheel will always reset the distance to the default.

Actually there's a funny use for the mouse wheel.

If you just make a trigger that only set the camera's Angle of attack(periodic timer as event like 0.03) you can use the mouse wheel to zoom in and out. ^^

 

[Zwiebelchen]

Actually there's a funny use for the mouse wheel.

If you just make a trigger that only set the camera's Angle of attack(periodic timer as event like 0.03) you can use the mouse wheel to zoom in and out. ^^

I know that, but then people couldn't change the AoA anymore.

 

[galactcus]

well i think the idea of close camera better than the locked camera... so you can just change the camera for zoom in or zoom off!

 

[GIMLI_2]

well i think the idea of close camera better than the locked camera... so you can just change the camera for zoom in or zoom off!

--->

Adjusting the distance of the non-locked camera doesn't work

 

[Jumbo]

because of the primitive blockiness 3d models of WC3, a sharp texture makes very little noticable difference. I'd say just stick with the low size textures.

 

[Im_Noob]

i try to play with camera but its hard !!

 

[Justanotherorc]

just a hint,
try using second type camera (click the button twice) and zoom out a bit using your keyboard cursors. works pretty good imo

 

[Zwiebelchen]

The 3rd person camera is more of a gimmick than meant to play the game. But what justanotherorc said: second cam mode is actually quite good at certain settings.

 

[Ihazdialup]

Is there any ETA on the hotfix/stat overhaul?

 

[Zwiebelchen]

I'll try to get it done until christmas.

Depending on how fast I can fix the bugs, maybe I can also add a little bit of actual new content as a "christmas present", like a new boss or one of the new abilities.

Also, there's something wicked coming to you guys in the next update, featuring sonofjay.

 

[BoxOfFaith]

Im not sure I'd enjoy just one new boss. I'd kinda prefer all the new content come out at once rather than just sitting at once new boss waiting for it to respawn over and over .

 

[TooMuch]

Thanks for the status update Zwieb. Im sure a lot can't wait. I agree with Box; I rather have all new content boss related come out together, so it can be that more worthwhile.

 

[Zwiebelchen]

Fair enough. The bugfixes are long overdue anyway, so any further delay is probably unwanted. Plus, I think the skill system revamp might actually require some testing with the old content anyway.

 

[Jumbo]

Would be cool with just some small new thing added along with the bugfixes.

 

[marb]

I dont see whats wrong with releasing some of the new content as a "christmas present". At some point in the future everyone will be having all the new content by then and it doesnt matter. In fact releasing partial new content earlier is better as it gives players an insight on what's to come and urges current players to gear up for new bosses. Also, new skills are gonna be pretty unique and require some time to people to adjust their builds or adjust to a slightly different style of gameplay.

 

[Zwiebelchen]

I'll come up with something, depending on how much time I have left by the end of the week. Maybe another merc or a treasure hunt quest.

 

[Jumbo]

Actually I agree with both views on this. Adding small amounts of new content every time is tedious, but adding one new encounter/quest in this specific instance of a christmas version will be perfect. It also means that we can test that encounter and find bugs before everything else is released.

 

[filaretos]

i was thinking (that s always bad). what if a creep was added in myrtagas, that s immovable doesn't attack doesn't die and has the average defense of current bosses, and you can test out the dps you do. i think it would be nice but irrelevant. your thoughts?

 

[Ihazdialup]

Testing dummies are already being added, im 90% sure

 

[marb]

Testing dummies are already being added, im 90% sure

and you can thank me for that.

 

[Ihazdialup]

how close are you getting to the next version?

 

[Zwiebelchen]

I think I can finish it at like 25th or 26th.

 

[sonofjay]

*drum rolls*

Can't wait

 

[Zwiebelchen]

Update tomorrow. Stay tuned.

 

[Ihazdialup]

go go zweib go!

 

[SHBlade]

I'll keep pressing F5.

 

[Im_Noob]

Waiting for Host

 

[Ihazdialup]

okay you said today... how much longer? Im getting really antsy..... sorry =/

 

[PachaXD]

okay you said today... how much longer? Im getting really antsy..... sorry =/

this is getting painfull

 

[Zwiebelchen]

Still have some very minor bugs. But its getting late and i need some sleep. Ill upload tomorrow.

 

[Im_Noob]

Still have some very minor bugs. But its getting late and i need some sleep. Ill upload tomorrow.

dont worry upload what ever u want now its christmas just live it dont spend your time for the game take little break

 

[sonofjay]

No worries, just take your time fixing things. It is better to wait a little bit more than playing a buggy version.

 

[Ihazdialup]

*eye twitches*