Ok version 2.40 has been live for a while now, and everyone's had some time to play with it and get a feel for the formulas. I'm now going to take user feedback and tweak them so they're more in line with where they should be. These will go live with 2.41 2.42.

If you have any thoughts/comments on adjustments please post here.

So far this is what is on the list.



Dual Wield
Miss chance for your second weapon will be going up. Think about this IRL. If you're a right handed person and you're dual wielding...you're going to have a harder time connecting the blow with your left hand (offhand) than your right hand (main hand).

This is a largely dexterous skill being able to juggle two weapons, so I'll be putting in a slightly higher miss chance if armor weight is too high.

Dodge
Dodge chances for various classes will be tweaked. Additionally, I'll finally be putting in armor weight adjustment. If you're wearing heavy armor...you'll dodge worse than if you're wearing lighter armor (total weight). I'll also be putting information into score detailing your armor weight, and the highest category of armor you're wearing (cloth, leather, chain, plate), and any dodge reduction.


Berserk
Right now berserk just does 1.5 dmg of the weapon, not the damage bonus (ie: attack power based base damage). I might consider having berserk affect some of the damage bonus...not sure how much yet though.

Fighters/Berserkers
I think I'll give these two classes a slightly lower miss chance since they're the biggest tanks.



Now for you guys: How is the miss rate vs monsters? How about the miss rate of monsters vs you? Damage absorb? Dodge/block etc chances? Armor> Feel free to look at the code, most of it's in combatSystem.cpp http://svn.rohonline.net/roh/RealmsCode/combatSystem.cpp

If you have any other thoughts please post them here, or forever hold your peace :P




Future Changes that won't be considered now: We'll be changing the aggro system to a 'hatred' system for 2.50 or 2.60. This will make the monster attack the person he hates the most, and not the last person to hit him. This is a significant rewrite and won't be considered for 2.40.

Rangers
Right now, rangers >> rogues. In order to balance this out a little, I think I'm going to slightly drop damage on dual wield for rangers, or give a bonus to rogues on duel wield, and then add in a missile damage bonus for rangers, to entice them to use ranged weapons more often, like a ranger would.

Don't forget disarm! Since I don't read code, we'll see how things are with dodge/parry also. As for now I don't dodge or parry as I used to. We'll see how the coming changes are.

Duo

As for getting hit - it seems to happen a little too often. It's expected against mobs that are similar level, of course, but a decrease in getting hit against mobs that are much lower would be nice.

Rangers should not have as much penalty for dual-wield connecting as other classes. They tend to be good with bows, yes, but the dual-wield is one of the pinnacle abilities of the ranger class. Damage, however..well that can be reduced..but I wouldn't reduce their chances to hit anymore than it is now with the 2nd weapon.

If anything, make their dex bonus apply towards hitting with the 2nd weapon somehow or something.

Ocelot wrote:

If anything, make their dex bonus apply towards hitting with the 2nd weapon somehow or something.

Nah, it's just be their total dex, not dex bonus. =P

I'm just curious on how the new changes affect pet thac0. Since my cleric is an Aramon the pets are primarily melee. Most of my pets that I animate are very low level - ie. I needle them. So when I am fighting a mob which is 2-3 levels lower than me my pet still seems to be useless. Most of the pets attacks are either dodged or partial blocks.

I was wondering if these pets could be revamped. Maybe increase their actual level and keep all stats and hp the same. So that they are relevant in my fight.

Also, Aramon pets are really lacking in the coolness department. Other classes can control their pets casting and things. It would be cool if we could control our pets fighting abilities, such as bash, bite, and circle.

Couple things:

1) I agree with Monster's first post: pet level didn't matter much before, but under 2.4 having a pet much lower level than you makes it quite ineffective. However, I disagree with allowing players to be able to control pet circling and other stunning skills. That's too powerful.

2) Since rogues are somewhat weak compared to rangers (lower HP/MP, worse healing), I propose giving them an ambush multiplier that increases with level, much like backstab multiplier increases. Rangers would not get this multiplier increase because they are a hybrid class, and train in some magic as well as bows.