Warcamp/Society Updates

[Stunseed]

The following updates have been made to warcamp/society systems:

-The ability to leave a warcamp simply by logging off and then back on immediately has been curtailed. Players who die all alone in a warcamp will be ejected by the Grimswarm via an alternate method.

-Generation rates inside the warcamps have been slightly lower. They will continue to be monitored and adjusted, as necessary.

-The regeneration rate of destroyed warcamps has been significantly lowered, particularly in Platinum.

-Grimswarm population growth rates and maximum population sizes have been halved (Platinum only). Any warcamps currently above the new maximum population will remain at their current levels until they are culled down to the new maximum level.

-The perception level of the Grimswarm guards has been lowered.

-The frequency with which the Grimswarm cast Major Ewave has been lowered. In addition, only elementally aligned Grimswarm will be able to cast Major Ewave.

-The overall abilities of the Grimswarm creatures have been readjusted somewhat, with the non-casting Grimswarm creatures in particular gaining a new ability and damage/stun resistance.

-The use of mass effect spells in a warcamp now carries the chance of causing a bad magical interaction with the mystical shrouds that surround and permeate each Grimswarm warcamp. The chance of a bad interaction occuring is particularly high near the entrance of a warcamp, with the chance diminishing further into the warcamp. Repeated use of mass effect spells within a short time frame increases the chance of a bad interaction occurring. Particularly powerful mass effect spells (such as Mass Ewave, Nature's Fury, Song of Disruption, Implosion, and such) are particularly susceptible to causing bad interactions.

As noted above, generation rates have been adjusted to partially compensate for the new risk to mass spell usage, and will be closely monitored and further adjusted if need be.

-The RT cost for using the Sigil of Location has been reduced from 8 seconds to 3 seconds. The sigil will now also note whether or not a warcamp is in the general vicinity.

-The chalkboard of reported warcamp locations will now also display the room name that the warcamp has been spotted in.

-A number of other bugs with warcamp/new society have been fixed, including the ability to use Ewave to locate warcamps, the ability to cause warcamp population reduction by simply leaving and coming back repeatedly, extremely high/low rescued NPC levels, the mix-up between heads and other items in the item retrieval tasks, and other minor issues.

Coase

This message was originally posted in Organizations and Societies, The Guardians of Sunfist. To discuss the above follow the link below.

http://www.play.net/forums/messages.asp?forum=102&category=20&topic=10&message=1306


~~~~~Enjoy.

[Drevihyin]

A wave of dark ethereal ripples moves outward from you.
A Grimswarm orc elementalist is buffeted by the dark ethereal waves and is knocked to the ground.

A sudden burst of energy leaps from the mystical shroud surrounding this area and strikes you right in the eyes!

You are disoriented and stunned!
Roundtime: 24 sec.




The air around you suddenly crackles to life with a surge of energy!

You shudder as the energy passes through you!
... 10 points of damage!
Visible wisps of electricity shoot up right leg. Youch!
You are stunned for 1 round!
A Grimswarm orc marauder shudders as the energy passes through him!
... 5 points of damage!
Light shock to right leg. That stings!
A Grimswarm orc soldier shudders as the energy passes through him!
... 10 points of damage!
Light shock to right arm. That stings!
A Grimswarm orc warrior shudders as the energy passes through him!
... 5 points of damage!
Light shock to abdomen. That stings!
A Grimswarm orc fighter shudders as the energy passes through him!
... 5 points of damage!
Light shock to back. That stings!
Sing Roundtime 3 Seconds.


Like the grimswarm needed anymore advantage.

Drevihyin

[The Ponzzz]

I been doing some testing. It's a bit crazier now! Ruby amulets just aren't working out anymore for help with squares around.

Though most the changes are great.

[Drevihyin]

Some more of the shroud effects:

ou trace a simple rune while intoning the mystical phrase for Elemental Wave...
Your spell is ready.
You gesture at a Grimswarm orc guard.
A wave of dark ethereal ripples moves outward from you.
A Grimswarm orc sniper is buffeted by the dark ethereal waves and is knocked to the ground.
A Grimswarm orc guard is buffeted by the dark ethereal waves and is knocked to the ground.

The mystical shroud surrounding this area suddenly warps around you! You feel the magic alien to you slipping away...

The light blue glow leaves you.
The dim aura fades from around you.
The glowing specks of energy surrounding you suddenly shoot off in all directions, then quickly fade away.
You feel your extra strength departing.
Cast Roundtime 3 Second

I dont know about great but it will seriously change tactics in those camps.

Drevihyin

[Rimalon]

I absolutely get my ass handed to me, solo-ing. The spell-ignoring Grimswarm attack is bad enough. E-waving is pointless, because I can't follow it up with Cone or a Ball spell, else I risk getting damaged/dispelled/mana drained/ or stunned for a minute.

Rapidfiring 906 or 510 seems to be my only option, but eh. That's just terrible that it has to be that way. I'd imagine the other Pures are in even WORSE shape.

There has to be some sort of timer between casts of "mass-effect" spells that, once discovered, should make things a bit easier. But hell if I'm dying four more times to find out.

Consider pures=nerfed. We'll see how grouping goes, but I can't imagine it'll go any better, really.

[gtakito]

Being able to mass spell kill large Grimswarm hordes and fry quick was pretty much the most appealing factor to joining Sunfist wasn't it? So now the crappiest society is even worse. Also mystical shroud seems like an even stupider idea than spellburst.

[Stretch]

It was fairly absurd that (if you knew what you were doing), it was an automatic fry in 30 seconds with about a 2% risk of death.

On the other hand, the magic-bypassing attack seems like overkill to me. Pures are likely to get wtfpwned by cheapshots and other maneuvers; with the mass spell effect spell nerf, the death rate probably already would have gone up.

Guess pures are going to have to pick and choose targets now instead of spamming 518/635/1030/435/710/720, and squares are in the exact same situation as before. Take that, game balance.

On a side note, awesome change for Sigil of Location.

[Fallen]

Squares can no longer use 710 and 720 imbeds to solo camps, nor can they use knockdown spell imbeds to help with crowd control without significant risk. Basically, this removed the ability for both classes to effectively solo camps.

Overall, I suppose it was a needed change. There was next to no risk of death with a group of a swinger and a sorcerer. However, Open Maelstrom and Open Implosion have gone back to being useless.

[g++]

Being able to mass spell kill large Grimswarm hordes and fry quick was pretty much the most appealing factor to joining Sunfist wasn't it? So now the crappiest society is even worse. Also mystical shroud seems like an even stupider idea than spellburst.

:yeahthat:

I think my kid in solhaven is going to be helping a lot of 100th level sorcerers rediscover COL.

[Fallen]

Hahaha. Well said, G++

[StJimmy]

Now would be a nice time for them to give us a society reset. Just wishful thinking.

[Outdrsyguy1]

Terrible change in my opinion. I've very dissapointed.

[Nilandia]

Well, there went my best chance to help clear out warcamps. Fire spirit was the only way for me to do decent damage in a warcamp without leaving me vulnerable (3 second RT in offensive with bone shatter), wasting tons of mana (10 mana per cast for empathic assault on only one critter, which would give me only 20 or so casts before exhausting my mana pool) or just plinking away with 1101 while the swarm builds up and/or regens to kill me within seconds.

Unless there's another tactic I'm unaware of, warcamps are over for me.

Gretchen

[Suppa Hobbit Mage]

A much needed change. As Vinh said earlier, we'd go in and instafry in 30 seconds. With virtually no chance of death. The only time I got smoked was when I was hit by major ewave.

Don't get me wrong, I liked the 30 second instafrys. But let's face it, that was unbalanced. I won't be able to do anything anytime soon, but I'm assuming "ball" spells are mass effect also, along with cone of lightning?

I just wish they'd make a lvl 100 hunting area in the landing and I'd never have to go to these camps.

[Nilandia]

I won't be able to do anything anytime soon, but I'm assuming "ball" spells are mass effect also, along with cone of lightning?
They are.

Gretchen

[Fallen]

This is a typical problem. They are balacing for the 10% of the population (or so) that can use these tactics to negate any reasonable chance of death. These tactics for a less than capped pure, or MOST DEFINITELY a square using imbeds were nowhere near as safe.

Now they aren't viable at all.

I will find a way to adapt and flourish. I'm capped and I have tons of resources. The poor bastards at level 50? They're boned.

[Belnia]

Okay, as part of the 10% that blew through camps fast, let me just say it's never completely safe. We still managed to die 4-5 times a week. I felt that was fine honestly. A bit safer than OTF or the Bowels, balanced by a distinctive lack of treasure.

I'll probably just go back to tearing up OTF now.

[Danical]

WHAT THE CHRIST?

http://www.pandapaws.org/images/260_saddestpanda.jpg

______________________________

I do think the change was needed. When Bill, Vinh and I go to grimswarm it's pretty laughable. But instead of wtfpwning pures I think it would be better if the spell in question would be cast without any affect a la hindrance until the timer came up.

[Some Rogue]

This is a typical problem. They are balacing for the 10% of the population (or so) that can use these tactics to negate any reasonable chance of death. These tactics for a less than capped pure, or MOST DEFINITELY a square using imbeds were nowhere near as safe.


Really? My level 54 bard had no problem going in, throwing out 1030's til out of mana, and leaving fried.

[SayGoodbye]

This sucks so much. Pretty much the only thing keeping me alive in camps was fury.

I've been on the fence about going back to CoL for awhile but thought I'd stick it out to see if they made any positive changes involving round time and sigil durations. Now I'm positive that I'm switching back

[Suppa Hobbit Mage]

I wouldn't quit just yet. I would expect additional tweaks, at least one more round.

[Danical]

I wouldn't quit just yet. I would expect additional tweaks, at least one more round.

^

The pendulum will swing back.

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Now playing: Daft Punk - Revolution 909 (http://www.foxytunes.com/artist/daft+punk/track/revolution+909)
via FoxyTunes (http://www.foxytunes.com/signatunes/)

[Misun]

This does it for me pretty much. The thrill is gone and not even mastered yet.

[BigWorm]

Glad I didn't join now.

[budartagnan]

I blame this, like most things wrong with Gemstone these days, on Warden's pursuit of balance.

The game will be really well balanced when it's populated like plat...


mumble

[Kull]

Dear lord, whine whine whine... Jeebus people play a square for one time in your life?! IT's like one giant Nerf EVERY FREAKIN' DAY.

They should just change the name warriors into nerfariors.

[SayGoodbye]

Kullysander, you're the last person on these boards that needs to complain about whining. You're the queen of bitching.

And as for not quitting yet, I already did. But I did a reset so if I want to give it a shot again in the future.. it's open to me.

Honestly, since the day I joined I regretted it. However I worked with it and liked that it was challenging for my archer. It's just that the more ranks I got the less I felt I was getting from it and wanted to go back to CoL.

I was about 75% sure I was going to do it before the changes. This just gave me the nudge.

[Baelog]

Oh no, so now they nerfed the tactic of camping at the entrance and nuking the ever loving holy hell out of the Grimswarm...so...move further in and nuke them, the "mystical shroud" effect has less chance of popping you the further you are in...have a Wizard cast haste on everyone when mana is running low or a Bard sing Tonis, turtle up, move slower, and wait for people to regroup...sure, it's more of a bitch to go all the way up to the Captive's Hut, or even the Middle of the whole friggin' camp and have to slog back to the entrance in the RT incurred, but of course if you have a Voln member, Cleric or Empath, Wizard, or Bard...you could always insta-transport out...but, it's still a viable option. Christ, they make it a tad harder and everyone immediately wants to jump back into CoL. I'm with the whole thing about waiting. The pendulum will swing back, and the Guardians of Sunfist will get better abilities...like, let's say, more duration on the Sigils?

[Danical]

A Grimswarm orc guard lets loose a roar of alarm at the top of her lungs, no doubt rousing the entire warcamp!
A Grimswarm orc ranger strides in, glowering upon the scene.
A Grimswarm orc skirmisher rushes in!
A Grimswarm orc skirmisher rushes in!
>;armageddon
--- Lich: armageddon active.
[armageddon]>release
[armageddon]>prep 1030
[armageddon]>cast
You don't have a prepared spell to release!
>
You change your tune slightly, adding the element for Song of Sonic Disruption to your song...
Your spellsong is ready.
>
You weave another verse into your harmony.
CS: +522 - TD: +370 + CvA: +8 + d100: +92 == +252
Warding failed!
A Grimswarm orc skirmisher reels under the force of the sonic vibrations!
Sound waves disrupt for 127 damage!
... 105 points of damage!
Spine ripped from the orc skirmisher's body and thrown to the ground.
[You have earned 65 prestige points.]
The orc skirmisher falls to the ground and dies.

CS: +522 - TD: +367 + CvA: +9 + d100: +16 == +180
Warding failed!
A Grimswarm orc skirmisher reels under the force of the sonic vibrations!
Sound waves disrupt for 84 damage!
... 75 points of damage!
The orc skirmisher's neck explodes launching her head into the air.
[You have earned 60 prestige points.]
The orc skirmisher falls to the ground and dies.

CS: +522 - TD: +342 + CvA: +8 + d100: +68 == +256
Warding failed!
A Grimswarm orc ranger reels under the force of the sonic vibrations!
Sound waves disrupt for 129 damage!
... 120 points of damage!
The orc ranger's left leg crumbles briefly and explodes in a shower of gore.
A Grimswarm orc ranger falls to the ground grasping her mangled left leg!
The orc ranger is stunned!

The dull golden nimbus surrounding a Grimswarm orc guard suddenly begins to glow brightly.
CS: +522 - TD: +372 + CvA: +11 + d100: +2 == +163
Warding failed!
A Grimswarm orc guard reels under the force of the sonic vibrations!
Sound waves disrupt for 94 damage!
... 85 points of damage!
The orc guard's shoulder joint explodes, severing weapon arm.
The guard's rune staff falls to the ground.
The orc guard is stunned!


The mystical shroud surrounding the area momentarily distorts before expelling a ripple of energy!

You are struck by the wave!
Spell Elemental Targeting (425) ended. [-50AS, -50ECS]
You feel less confident than before.
A Grimswarm orc ranger is struck by the wave!
A Grimswarm orc ranger loses a thorny barrier.
A hazy film coats a Grimswarm orc ranger.
A Grimswarm orc guard is struck by the wave!
The guiding force leaves a Grimswarm orc guard.
A hazy film coats a Grimswarm orc guard.
Sing Roundtime 3 Seconds.


_____________________________________

LAME.

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Now playing: 04. Shouldn't Be Ashamed (http://www.foxytunes.com/artist/-/track/04.+shouldnt+be+ashamed)
via FoxyTunes (http://www.foxytunes.com/signatunes/)

[Danical]

WHAT THE MOTHER FUCK? LRN2PROGRAM!

>;boom song of sonic disruption
--- Lich: boom active.
>incant song of sonic disruption
You change your tune slightly, adding the element for Song of Sonic Disruption to your song...
Your spellsong is ready.
You weave another verse into your harmony, directing the sound of your voice at a Grimswarm orc ranger.
[B]d100 == 1 FUMBLE!

The air around you suddenly crackles to life with a surge of energy!

You shudder as the energy passes through you!
A swirling sonic barrier partially deflects the onslaught of the shocking attack.
... 2 points of damage!
Light shock to neck. That stings!
A Grimswarm orc ranger shudders as the energy passes through him!
... 10 points of damage!
Light shock to left leg. That stings!
Sing Roundtime 3 Seconds.

__________________________________________

I fucking fumbled AND it's single target not open. Fucking idiots.


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Now playing: 04. Shouldn't Be Ashamed (http://www.foxytunes.com/artist/-/track/04.+shouldnt+be+ashamed)
via FoxyTunes (http://www.foxytunes.com/signatunes/)

[Deathravin]

Beats me, I just know that whenever I'm casting anything other than a self-targeted buff, I use prep 1130, cast at ranger.

I don't trust incant as far as I can throw it.

[Danical]

incant for 1030 is always focused.

[Deathravin]

Aparently, it's not.

Again... The fact it's not 100% is why I use prep & cast.

[Danical]

Aparently, it's not.

Again... The fact it's not 100% is why I use prep & cast.

No, apparently it is. Bard spellsongs are coded slightly differently than normal spells and therefore have a host of oddities associated with them.

If it was open cast you wouldn't have seen this . . .

You change your tune slightly, adding the element for Song of Sonic Disruption to your song...
Your spellsong is ready.
You weave another verse into your harmony, directing the sound of your voice at a Grimswarm orc ranger.

Instead, you would have seen this . . .

You change your tune slightly, adding the element for Song of Sonic Disruption to your song...
Your spellsong is ready.
>
You weave another verse into your harmony.

[Deathravin]

Then why are you bitching?

[g++]

Heh in the course of 3 posts you completely forgot what you were even talking about

[Danical]

Then why are you bitching?

Are you fucking serious?

Jesus christ, read the fucking posts again.

[Lord Nelek]

Coase stated he will be tweaking these changes when he gets home from work.

[Danical]

Yeah, I saw Fallen's post of it.

I imagine he'll change the single/focus problems and downtweak CMan PUREKILL.

[StrayRogue]

Squares can no longer use 710 and 720 imbeds to solo camps, nor can they use knockdown spell imbeds to help with crowd control without significant risk. Basically, this removed the ability for both classes to effectively solo camps.

Overall, I suppose it was a needed change. There was next to no risk of death with a group of a swinger and a sorcerer. However, Open Maelstrom and Open Implosion have gone back to being useless.

Looks like I was partially right then.

Ah well, owned I guess.

[Fallen]

Looks like I was partially right then.

Ah well, owned I guess.

Indeed.

[mgoddess]

Now would be a nice time for them to give us a society reset. Just wishful thinking.

Someone wanna spill the beans on the society reset secret through the Ad. Guild?

[Rimalon]

Ask the Headmaster about society. Costs 500k points.

[Some Rogue]

So I just did my first task since the changes on my low level warrior. I've never had an easier time in the camps heh. Wouldn't mind them staying in.

[mgoddess]

Ask the Headmaster about society. Costs 500k points.

Excellent. Thanks.

[Stretch]

They caved and tweaked down. Never let it be said that whining and moaning doesn't yield results.

The following changes have been made to the warcamp system:

-The Spell Penetration maneuver has been temporarily disabled until it can be adjusted to be less deadly.

-Warcamp creature generation rates have been lessened.

-Ball spells have been removed from the mass effect spell limiter, as have the focused versions of Disruption, Implosion, and Maelstorm.

-Spells cast by Grimswarm creatures no longer count towards the mass effect spell limiter.

-Minor mass effect spells (such as Breeze, Call Wind, Mana Focus, Tremors, Quake, etc.) have had their contribution to the mass effect spell limit significantly lessened. Casting any mass effect spells whatsoever in the first two rooms of a warcamp remains a bad idea, however.

We will continue to monitor the warcamp system and make changes, as necessary.

Coase

This message was originally posted in Organizations and Societies, The Guardians of Sunfist. To discuss the above follow the link below.

[Latrinsorm]

OMG this is what they wanted to have it at all along so they made it much worse at first OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Outdrsyguy1]

wow, i wonder if i can get 11 ranks today before they put the aoe death stuff back in lol

[Methais]

I didn't see 525 on that list.............................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. ........................