Dev Spotlight: Revenge System, Class Quest Changes, Soulshots, Clan Rep and much other changes.

[San0]

This topic will cover a lot of different subjects. Most of them are small changes or adjustments made in order to keep this new files more old-school pulling back some changes ncsoft made that were not fitting the vision we have for our servers.

Because most of them are not a big change and more of an adjustment or a system replacement, i do not think most of them should be in their own separate topic, and rather have them all grouped up in one.

Lets get to it.

 

 

Revenge system.

With the new files a new system came up called Revenge System.

This system consists in basically, if someone kills you, for some time, you have the option to know roughly where that person is via an indicator on the map. It would then give you an option to teleport to that place to take your revenge on your killer.
Another part of it we did not like was the fact it was working for both PVP and PK, tho we like the idea of something like this for PK, having it also working for PVP would create other problems as, for example, 2 sides fighting for control of a spot, I can track the last guy who killed me from last fight and know roughly where they are, revealing their regroup spot or attack strategy without any effort. 
As we had some dislikes with how the full thing worked, we had to make some changes.
- Teleport option was removed.
- PVP kill tracking was removed.
- Duration till when you can track was reduced.
- You can now only track a player who killed you in PK.
- You can only track this player while it still has karma.

 

 

Clan Reputation.

In our older files we had an issue with Clan Rep that it was not possible to be fixed due to client limitations. That issue was, in a situation where a character would level twice in one go, (for example char is lvl 29 - 99%, kills a boss and goes lvl 31), the game was not able to recognize that 2 instances of levelling up happened together in that one action, and would give CRP as if it was 1 instance of levelling up.
On the new files it was finally possible for us to fix that issue so even if multiple level ups happen at same time for some reason, game will award the correct amount of CRPs.

 

 

(L2) Coin Shop.

ITEMS ON THE PRINT ARE FOR THE TEST SERVER AND NOT REPRESENTING WHAT WILL BE ON LIVE SERVER OBVIOUSLY!!!

This client  adds a new shop interface that a lot of you may already know and be familiar with. We will be using this piece of interface tech, but in a different way, in a more classic club way.
This shop will be used as a kind of replacement for our custom NPCs such as Nostalgia, event traders, other custom traders etc.
So for example instead of having to go to Nostalgia to find the right option to buy a premium account or a hat or an agathion, you can just open the shop interface, chose the right TAB, and buy it from there.
This also facilitates in the event creation, as we do now need to create a new NPC, code it, place it, change HTMLs, change files etc every time we need to make a new event.
There will be also other options in there to make it easier for new players to get some bonuses or rewards, as they will be presented with the shop naturally and see they have some goodies for them there.
We also implemented some changes to make it so most of the items that would have any type of impact in a fight, can only be purchased in town. For example, Premium account can be bought anywhere, but in the existence of buff scrolls or res scrolls or something, these ones can only be bought in peace zone.

 

 

Slaying Events.

This is the system we created to zones like for example the Lilith and Anakim fields, where something would trigger after X mobs were killed. Problem with this system, is that once again due to client limitation we were not able to make different monsters give different count, and as so every mob killed in the zone would give same points.
Now imagine we would want to add some event, with a system like this, in a place like for example Primeval Island, we would then have a T REX giving the same count as a deinonychus.
In the new client we were finally technically allowed to improve on this system giving it more options for us to work with, and one of this options is the fact we can now give different values to different monsters, so to pick up back from the previous example, we would now be able to make the deinonychus count 1 and the T REX count like 100.

 

 

EXP death penalty system.

On the old client it was a technical mess to create all these different variations of exp loss, we had to go through mobs, bosses, zones, territories, events, situations, actions, players etc etc etc to set up all the different types of exp loss that should exist.
With the new files we created the option that with a very simple "change the numbers in line" we can easily adjust and change everything related to exp loss on the go, for example, want to give an event weekend of no exp loss?, just change the number and good to go, while on older files we would have to most likely make or change old skills/items to add to chars to make them not lose exp on death and at the end of event go again and remove these skills/items.

With this new system we can now specify what the death penalty should be in an easy way for every situation. 

To compare.

OLD CLIENT OPTIONS:

- Event/pvp zone death (didnt always worked well due to limitations)
- World death
- Boss death
- Siege death

Everything else outside of this options had to be done in weird "manual" ways.

NEW CLIENT OPTIONS:

- Siege death
- Boss death
- Guard death
- Event death
- PVP zone death
- PVP death
- PK death
- World death

With more options we can better adjust for separated situations easily, without major changes.

 

Vitality and Sayha Systems.

Removed. not much more to say here.

 

 

Automacros.

Removed.

 

 

Autofarm.

Removed. Kinda. It will not be available for players to use, but instead of removing completely this one we are breaking it into pieces, so we can use the options for some other stuff, and still use this internally when we need to test something.
Instead of a full auto farm system, we breaking it into farm, item usage, auto action, auto buff, auto skill, auto potions, auto pick up etc.
We don't plan on having it as a auto farm tool on the live server for the players, but its something we can use on tests and it has some technical functionalities that might be usable in the future for something else, like events, new features, etc.

 

Runes.

This client has its own new rune system but its a bit more straight forward and without so much player choice or options, as so, we removed this new rune system and will be using the old one.

 

 

Shots.

Another thing that changed in this new client, was the introduction of the "one size fits all" for shots.
You would have one type of soulshot that would be use for all grades of weapons.
It is in our vision and understanding, that the different grade of soulshots are a intricate part of the lineage 2 economy, and even bigger impact on a new server. (and because crafters need to feed their families)
For this reason, we removed this one soulshot for everything stuff and brought back the old soulshot system of NG/D/C/B/A/S+++++

 

 

Lifestones.

This new client also brings a new system for lifestones, but they give only stats and some extras like shot power. We do not think this to be more interesting then the old system where a player might have the chance of getting some active or passive skill that might be a big improvement or change their chances on a fight, for this reason we are keeping the weapon lifestones as the old ones.
As for armors, this client also brings armor lifestones, and its something we are considering maybe for a later phase, as a extra progression option.

 

 

Lair of Antharas.

In this new client LoA has became a weird place with teleports and rocks blocking roads etc, we have removed all of it to emulate the old LoA

 

Dragon Valley and Tower on insolence.

On this one we had to get a bit creative.
What happened was, because this client was an update in a time when the game was mostly late game, to not add new zones, the Dragon Valley and ToI were revamped into high level zones. So far so good, nice, we have new high level zones. Problem is, if to make it look and feel like a classic server, you need to have Dragon Valley and ToI on the appropriate level because they are major progressions and grinding spots. Sooooooooo what to do?
Option 1 - We could have just simply turned this new high level zones into the old zones, change all mobs, all drops and all the stuff and later when its time to get new high lvl zones change it back.
Option 2 - We could have left them as high lvl zones to not change much and not break anything and just make a new place for people to level on those levels and farm all the mats they could get from these places etc.
Well. we kinda did both without touching none.
So Dragon valley and ToI will be in their original state for this client, with all the settings as they should be, all fixed loot, all fixed features etc. and we leave it there for now.
At the same time, we brought the old Dragon Valley and ToI on their old school original levels and settings.
At server start, we will have the old-school original ones on their old-school original settings.
When the time comes where we will decide its time to revamp these ones, players will have the option to pick if you want to go the low level ones.
So for example, if we are 4 years into the servers and the Dragon Valley zone is now the high lvl zone, but you still need to go farm those pieces or mats or quest that used to be from the low level mobs, you can still go there and nothing is changed.
This is not a personal instance zone, this is a global zone that everyone can enter at any time without restrictions, and farm, PVP, PK normally as any other zone on the map, its just a way to keep "balance" on progression for everyone, without having to mess up the late game for who is there, at the same time, this will reduce MASSIVELY update and patches creations and release times because we do not have to go and remake full zones when its time for a change, because the change is already there waiting for us, and we do not have to use time figuring out what to do for those levels brackets and where to put the materials and quest items that were dropping from those zones before.

 

 

Zones Skills Passive/Active.

In the older files, to have region buffs like for example the buff in Varka/Ketra, the system was made in a non optimal way, again due to technical limitations on the client. It was basically from time to time checking if a player is in specific zone and it would give specific passive skill for some time, and keep rechecking it. 
In the new client we have a tool to expand on this system to make it work better and lighter, and even give buffs, active skills or passive skills to characters in specific locations.

OLD SYSTEM:
- Gives passive
- If give buff instead, you can leave the zone and buff wil stay.

NEW SYSTEM:
- Gives passive
- Gives active
- Can give buff because it properly checks and if player leaves zone it removes this specific buffs and skills from this specific zone.

 

Premium account.

All chars on account will get Passive skill for a PA duration which lets us change Premium account bonuses easier and for example have Double PA bonus for weekends.

 

Karma multiplier.

Something that shocked us a bit was HOW HARD it was to clean karma by monster killing on these new files when you have a low rate server, and remove all the extra bonuses and extra fluff. For this reason we are creating our own system where we can easily specify and add or remove multipliers to allow us to have a better control on how hard or easy it is to clear karma per monster/exp value.

 

Olympiad Server - This is a big one.

With the new client there was created a system where Olympiad matches happen in a separated physical server, so if sh1t hits the fan on the game server when you fighting in the Olympiads, you should be safe.
More important then that, this new created system gives us an option to give skills per class and different scripts. What this means is, we now have the set of tools, to try to bring a bit more balance in Olympiad without messing stuff outside in open world.

As and example, lets use overlord.
One of problems people complain about overlords in olympiad is the land rate of most of their seals.
Because most of the seals are a AOE effect that can impact heavily on a mass PVP, by default they have lower land rate then a normal single target debuff. 
If we increase these chances for overlords to have more impact from their seals in olympiad, we would be drastically increasing their power and efficiency in a mass pvp situation.
With this new system we can have the overlord seals being adjusted for olympiads in order to be better, without affecting its power outside of olympiads.

 

 

Dimentional Merchant.

This is basically a HTML you can reach from anywhere in the world on your char, and has a lot of options like blacksmiths and other traders etc...
We scrapped that.
We gonna be using this tool mostly as a Activate Premium Account button, or some events options.

 

 

Catacombs.

New files have multiple catacombs open, but we not sure if we like this. Theres a chance that at some point we might have to open 2 of them if we follow original Lilith and Anakim path, but we are not sure how we feel about having multiple catacombs around the world, we will most likely go with them closed and then work it out from feedback.

 

 

Class Quests. Maybe a hot take?.

This is a funny topic. I think from all the things that people ever asked us to add for COL on Nostalgia, the most common was the marks for the class quests.
I am not sure if there is someone who to this day still enjoys spending  multiple hours going from npc to npc, killing 12 mobs here, 15 mobs there to go back from npc to npc while burning all their adena in teleports, to get to the end and get like yes nice, your class now is called in a different way from before, go back to play.
Personally I cannot make this decision by myself because I like game structure and I like lore, but at the same time, if I put on a scale in one side the love for lore and game structure and on the other the annoyance and time waste of these class quests, im not sure what would come ahead.
On another side, when you start late, you trying to catch up and you remember you need to spend your next day just doing the quests might not be the most interesting feeling in the world.
Putting this all together, the cries from the past about how these quests were boring and take too long, Some of these quests are not balanced because one class needs to talk to 3 npcs while others have to get 50 items from a lizard that doesn't drop it all the time, some of this quests requires a specific quest monster that everyone tries to steal from each other and if you are unlucky "cya nerd, keep camping it", and how much people requested us to add the marks for donation before we added them...
Class quests have been drastically changed.
1st and 2nd class quests no longer exist. you get to the level and you can chose your option.
3rd class quest has been heavily nerfed into the 700 monster killing part only.
We understand most of our community wants a "hardcore" experience, but we do not believe this extra day of gameplay moving around the world talking to NPCs and stones and trees and rabbits, burning tons of adena in teleports is fun for most of you or particularly interesting.

 

 

Enchanting Pity System.

Are you the guy who tried to enchant your weapon 800 times and never went past +5 and kept losing it all including your mind?
Well, you will still gonna be that guy, prolly... But now when you fail your enchants you get some Enhancement Stones, you can use a certain amount of these stones to trade for Enchantment scrolls in Giran, so you can go and keep failing more.

 

 

New Clan Halls.

Outside of Gludio and Dion you will now find a new neighbourhood with new Clan Halls to buy.

 

 

Item announcement.

There is a announcement when some special items drops from monsters/bosses and when some enchants reach certain level on enchanting.

 

 

Group Toggle Skills.

One of the ideas we had for a newbie catch up mechanics, was to have the weapons for newbies to have some sort of rune bonus, so they could have some more power going up.

But in here we got into some issues, one of them was, what runes to put on what weapons? Even if we would just make all the weapons with al the runes available, player could still pick wrong, or not realise something else was better for him and not be able to trade later and be stuck with underpowered options etc.
So, we came up with an idea that was something in the lines of, What if, we could have this rune skills as toggles in the weapons, so the newbie could not only have the chance to try and see what would work better as it could use different ones depending on the situation in front of them, for example, if questing could toggle speed to run faster from npc to npc, while fighting toggle on dps rune, need to rest toggle on some mana regen or hp regen rune. Something that would work like this.

Once again we reached the limitations of the old client and were not able to do something like that and the system was allowing the selection of ALL the options instead of selecting only the ONE toggled option.

In the new client that idea can come to reality, we can now create this Group Toggle where only one of the options can be selected at the time. and can be a big tool not only in this example of the newbies, but also in other future development ideas.