Update Info!

[Sarai and Samiel]

Alright! Here I am, to keep everyone posted on the updates!

This thread will remain here to notify players of the VGF RPG of overall updates to the RPG, so that people will be aware as soon as important things change. This post will be getting longer as time goes by, so please stay current on what's appeared here!

-Selene

Recent updates:

7/5/06: Finally finished stuff on the job rework. That's right, job rework. The order I entered them in was hell on changing things for item and spell permissions, and I therefore re-entered the jobs into the system. Doesn't seem to have much effect to anyone else other than that we had some downtime, but believe me, it's made my job of adding content much easier and faster.

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6/21/06: Jeorb update! All the jobs now exist (though they're mostly rather lacking in stat allocations, requirements, and munny earnings- that's intentional, I'm not sure yet what will be balanced at later levels) and can be viewed... sort of. No pics or anything yet, but at least they're all there... right?

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6/20/06: Revamped bots. AGAIN. Added the next tier of armor. Tweaked some of the armor/weapons class requirements.

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6/9/06: Added stat modifications for the new jobs. Go ahead and have a look! Also, there are more specific and extended job requirements for weapon use. Expect a few more updates in that regard soon, as I haven't completed decisions regarding the Conjurer job tree.

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6/8/06: I've added what basically amount to previews of the level 50-100 classes. They're not given stat bonuses, munny, or precise levels yet, but they will soon. Each will have different advancements, in terms of stats. There are more variations of class now, too, so be sure to have a look at all of them once I get everything up for them!

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6/5/06: Made some alterations to the spell list, and removed unattained spells. Adjusted spell power to cover power issues, more adjustments to spells may be in the works.

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5/10/06: Alterations and additions to the bot roster have been made, things should balance more smoothly in the later levels now. There's also been a little retooling of some of the class items, and additions in Level Up items. More class items will come soon, as will more classes.

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5/8/06: Next 'grade' of armor and weapons has been added in, the 'grade' after will soon follow. I've almost finished reworking the complete job trees, and will be adding those as appropriate. Some work being done on bots; expect a minor overhaul on the higher-level (16+) bots soon, as well as more bots added in.

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3/31/06: Capability of higher-grade spells that are currently accessible has been revamped to a point.

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3/14/06: Added new help files for Equipment and Potions.

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3/12/06: Bots added up to AI bot level 22, and Vortex, Loki, Genocide, Lasher, and Vulcan have been brought in line with other bots of comparable stats/level/whatever. Small adjustment for them. I am also eliminating the old level 0 bots as useless, and shifting the levels of all bots down by one to help even out experience gains.

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2/27/06: Alright! I've rebalanced ALL the AI bots, to bring them in line with the changes made to characters, equipment, classes, et cetera. Major overhaul here, so... please test out, and give feedback in appropriate (other) places on specific bot issues.

Also: New help files up! Help files are now up on the RPG Control Panel, and on Jobs!

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2/26/06: Hmm. Bit of a gaposis there. Anyhoo, next update is in: the 2nd-rank jobs have been set up. They may change, but I've given them initial values that I feel are fair and balanced.

Furthermore, I've changed the Crock Staff and Fayth Robe. The Staff now fills the empty slot for a very low-level magic-user's weapon, and the Fayth Robe was a bit too much like the Veil Robes previously- it's now more distinct.

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2/24/06: Shane updated the bank- interest is now at 8%.

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2/23/06: Rings are now up and up-to-date. Slightly lazy day, partly due to the daytime nonfunctioning of the site from server crashage. Whee.

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2/22/06: Lazy day. Only update is that Level items have been extended out to Level 24. Yay?

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2/21/06: The six base jobs have been altered, hopefully to their final forms. Feel free to register complaints in the balance issues thread, but as far as I am concerned, all should be even regarding them.

All extraneous items have finally been eliminated from all functional shops and stores.

More bots are in progress, both already up and en route.

New items in! The amulet list has been extended out to Level 27! Buy buy buy! ^_^

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2/19/06: Shane has altered the hospital so that there will be a nominal but not excessive fee.

Weapons and armor for levels 15-25 have been installed.

In honor of President's Day Weekend, Munny is temporarily renamed Dead Presidents.

The AI Battle Bots have now been numbered according to level. They will not neccessarily be in level order, so it will now be clear what level each bot is. Please be aware that this is not always the level you should be while fighting the Bot in question.

Summons are now functional! Having determined the manner of effect of summons, they have now been instated to actually work, and hopefully the Fayth tree will be more or less on par with the other trees for job effectiveness. Only the first three summons are functional right now, but that should be more than enough for a while.

The synthesis shop has been slightly rebalanced and greatly extended. It probably will not be extended much farther anytime within the foreseeable future. There are now vastly more options available for syntheses.

Work on the RPG help files has now begun! Stats explanation is up. Cash explanation is up.

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2/18/06: Battle Bots have been added up to level 9, and the levels of bots from 3+ have been adjusted to take into account character growth rates.

Weapons and armor from levels 8-15 have been added, and some from 15-25.

Healing items have been totally redone, so most of the old items are gone (not many people were using them yet anyways), and a whole new set is in- a set that will help players to take advantage of the potion combination option.

Every class now has Class Items. Brawlers get Power Cards, Wizards get Capes and Cloaks, Pages get Shields, Pickpockets get Gloves, Diviners get Books, and Faith Servants get Hats. These will hopefully help to distinguish members of one class from members of another class.

The Synthesis shop has been redone, and now provides many more options.

Level Ups have been extended to level 16.

The Store has been heavily reduced in the interest of preserving balance.

[Ynot Shane]

I have made a small code modification to the way in which summoners receive experience. Previously, if you had a summon equipped, you received half the experience, and it received half the experience, so levelling up was twice as slow as every other class. Now, you receive normal experience, while your summon still receives the same as it did before.

I have also made a modification that will allow flexibility in the way the hospital works. A nominal fee is now being charged.

[Ynot Shane]

Dropped bank interest to 8%. Still potentially the best/easiest way to make money, though.

[GURU ANT]

Since Shane wouldn't listen:

I did post a topic a while back with some links (MIDI files) to SMRPG music, just thought you may wanna take a look, and possibly add those to the music list in the arena.

[Sarai and Samiel]

Personally, I don't see the point to having any music at all. It restarts every time you refresh the page, and while you're fighting, you're refreshing every something like 3-15 seconds. That's not exactly enough time to give whatever music a good listen, and I, at least, have just wound up getting irritated by hearing the beginning of a familiar tune over and over and over. (I'll still defer to Shane on whatever decision, though.)

[Ynot Shane]

I don't mind having the music, but I don't put any in any battle I have just on the basis of it only plays for a few seconds and then you have to start over.

[Kargath]

Are you going to provide items for evolved classes? I mean, once you get to some of the higher classes you could wield a 'feather of feebleness' and still deal insane damage.

[Sarai and Samiel]

The classes themselves are going to be subject to severe modification. You may notice that my changes to the second-plateau (lv 25) classes involved a heavy stat reduction.

[Ynot Shane]

By bumping their numbers, it's now MUCH easier to gain levels. Don't know whether that was intentional or not.

[Ynot Shane]

Dropping the number of daily bots down to 30 until/unless an alternate suggestion for dealing with the massive level gains is proposed. Perhaps this is the best route to go instead of messing with the bots, though.

[Sarai and Samiel]

Sorry 'bout that. It was basically all I could figure out to handle several problems.

First off, the exp curve was decreasing. By that I mean that the number of exp per battle was dropping as level increased. At the same time as the number of exp per level was increasing. This would have left people around level 25 or 30 taking up to a week and a half to level once, even at max fights/day.

Second off, there were HUGE and inconsistent power gaps between bots of varying levels. This basically meant that people would be stuck fighting the same bot for several levels, then hopping up to the next one, which generates a much less fluid exp curve, as well as making it harder to figure out exactly what your Skill Point assignments were doing to your combat effectiveness.

While I admit I probably could have done a few other things as well, this seemed like the best solution. The only alteration I'm currently considering in that regard is removing the level 0 bots as useless, and shifting all the bots down a level, but I hope to be able to give it a little time first.

[Crazyswordsman]

^Well, there's a HUGE jump between the stats of Level 1 bots and Level 2 bots, and Level 0 bots are basically Level 1 bots. -CSM

[Ynot Shane]

Originally Posted by Selene Starblade

First off, the exp curve was decreasing. By that I mean that the number of exp per battle was dropping as level increased. At the same time as the number of exp per level was increasing. This would have left people around level 25 or 30 taking up to a week and a half to level once, even at max fights/day.

At this point I'm gaining I figure 80% more experience than before (what would have given just shy of 350 is now netting 600). If it had continued as before, it would have probably taken 1-2 days to level up, which I consider acceptable. Definitely not any more than 2 days per level at max fights, at least not for a while. With the changes several people have been doing 2 per day or more, whether they're at level 10 or 20. Even at 30, it's still possible to gain more than 1 per day. 30 may be more user friendly, though.

The only alteration I'm currently considering in that regard is removing the level 0 bots as useless, and shifting all the bots down a level, but I hope to be able to give it a little time first.

Anything that drops experience gains is welcome. Granted, we could make it so people gain 2 per day and not even blink... but the items and everything else would need to get that much further apart.

[Ynot Shane]

Just hit level 30. Items in the level 30-40 range are not an urgent issue but should be considered a priority.

Added a level 23 bot, as Deathkrab (while probably still overpowered) switched to borderline experience gains once I reached level 30.

[Sarai and Samiel]

Already cracking on them.

Also on bots. Things should begin evening out post-29, once I've started really installing stuff.

[Sarai and Samiel]

Next up on the list is a bit of spell rebalancing. If anyone still reads this, if I could get some input on spells and whatnot, I'd appreciate it- but not in this topic. Make it PMs and stuff.

I'd appreciate seeing more of the jobs other than Brawler, Page, and Diviner.

Of course, I'd appreciate seeing more people play....