Duskruin/saved posts May 2015
General Information
Topic: Duskruin Arena
Message #: 614
Author: GS4-WYROM
Date: 4/27/2015
Subject: Arena and Ratacombs Updates
I'm excited to say I've spent the remaining amount of my sanity on some Duskruin Arena updates! HOORAY!
Just kidding, I never had sanity.
The arena matches are much more action packed now. No more herb munching and waiting an obnoxiously long time to maximize your bloodscrip. Matches will be roughly 6 to 7 minutes long where you face 25 creatures one-on-one. Every 5 matches you'll face a champion similar to the champions in the previous version of the arena. There are over 20 new creatures in the arena to face. Most creatures can perish to a critical blow, outside the champions. You earn bloodscrip for each creature you kill. You also earn a bonus if you defeat all 25 creatures in the time limit. Dying no longer incurs a bloodscrip penalty, but surrendering still does.
I've also introduced new hazards. I removed the darts, arrows, spiked ball-and-chain, and boulders. Hazards can now be avoided in a small mini-game during arena matches. I will leave it to you to figure it out. It's not terribly hard, and the term "mini-game" probably is an exaggeration of what it is. But it adds flavor. Hazards are a little more deadly though.
You can now earn a time bonus too that works in a more favorable way. The quicker you make it through, the higher the bonus. You can earn a max of 225 bloodscrip plus the time bonus.
The Ratacombs have also had a minor update. It seems more wildlife has escaped into the sewers, as well as some other sort of rats. So you may find something different this time around. There are also some minor obstacles in the sewers when you SEARCH to add some flavor.
We'll be relaunching this Friday and staying open for a week.
~Wyrom, APM
Topic: Duskruin Arena
Message #: 736
Author: GS4-WYROM
Date: 5/3/2015
Subject: More Updates
Okay, based on feedback I made some updates. Also, due to the quantity vs quality argument, I've made changes to loot in the Ratacombs.
Arena
- Creatures that are bound should stop causing the hazards.
- RT locked creatures will still be able to fire off the hazards.
- Extra death messaging with no deeds is resolved (you weren't dying more, it was just being silly).
- Matches are roughly 8 minutes, not 6. This hasn't changed, but the intro messaging reflects this.
- If a GameHost or GameMaster enters your arena, it will pause the match briefly (not the creature), but they need to leave, and you need to ASSIST or REPORT when you're done.
Ratacombs
- >The sewage sweeper doesn't strike much at all anymore. It should be a rare occurrence. And it doesn't ever take you to the starting spot. This NEVER uses up a search attempt. Just because I said rare doesn't mean it can't strike twice in a trip. It can happen, but not that often. This is a 1% chance now.
- I've decreased the number of loot you can find in a single trip into the Ratacombs and stabilized the loot to not be so random. Loot drops at a rate of 10% of all searches. As an FYI, this is now better than anything you experienced on opening night last time. Loot is still random though, like a slot machine (this is the nature of GS). There will still be times you don't win great things, but you have better chances at a jackpot find now.
~Wyrom, APM
Topic: Duskruin Arena
Message #: 1074
Author: GS4-WYROM
Date: 5/14/2015
Subject: Future of Bloodscrip
I've done a lot of thinking on this subject. I think there are two directions to go in at this point. And I think the better path is to adjust pricing going forward. Inventory won't see a massive jump. But we'll be giving a number of items a little bump in how much they cost.
The arena itself needs a few updates, but nothing extreme. I need to make it so the figurative 250 is possible to achieve. The sewers I think we're going to bump up. Now that the loot is more stabilized but harder to find, I think the next best thing is to increase the number of bloodscrip you can find there to be more on track with what you can earn on the low end of the arena (somewhere around 125 to 150).
I also need to see if there is anything I can do about the lag/freezing. The major culprit is rapid fire and implosion though.
Overall I feel this is the best decision to make for the inventory at Duskruin. In the future, we may offer raffles that cost bloodscrip to be able to win neat things. We also may have merchants work in the village that charge bloodscrip for their services. But this would be during special events, and not part of the general opening. I also have another game we'll introduce this year to Bloodriven Village. When it comes to high end loot for sale, we'll not be making any sort of auction, raffle, entry cost, bloodscrip on hand, etc. It will be in the shops and be a first come, first serve. The prices will be steep, and we'll make sure we offer a good spread of new inventory.
Like last time, your slips and tokens will be good for future runs of Duskruin. Right now, we're scheduled to close 5/15 at 9pm ET. We're still a long ways off from hitting our second goal on Facebook, and a huge ways off from the Twitter goal. But maybe we'll hit it and stay open for the weekend! Up to you guys!
Next run of Duskruin will likely be in the summer.
~Wyrom, APM
Topic: Duskruin Arena
Message #: 1076
Author: GS4-WYROM
Date: 5/15/2015
Subject: Future of Bloodscrip
Just a quick note. Don't fear or panic about any price increase. We just need to evaluate the costs to make sure they are in a good zone with the player economy. I know that many of you who were getting 240+ bloodscrip were using spell items, enhancives, and pulling out all the stops. We're not taking that away. It might end up being we don't adjust much, if anything. But we definitely need to make sure things are okay at the rate bloodscrip can be earned.
~Wyrom, APM
Topic: Duskruin Arena
Message #: 1121
Author: GS4-WYROM
Date: 5/16/2015
Subject: Bloodscrips
After spending a good chunk of my Saturday reviewing some data I pulled over the course of the last 2 weeks, I don't think we'll be adjusting prices of anything currently in the stores. Most people scoring high are specced to score high. I saw many people uses a lot of magic items as well, which is good.
So what you will see next time is the arena mechanics is trying to introduce something more to the mini game. I'm probably going to make the mini game play a bigger role in how you can score closer to 250, instead of it being all about steamrolling. I think that will be my last attempt to perfect it.
I think the Ratacombs will see a small boost to how many bloodscrip you can earn, but lessen the chances of a rat. The loot is pretty stabilized now.
For the limited release items. There are a couple options we can do. I'll discuss this closer to the reboot though.
~Wyrom, APM
Arena
Topic: Duskruin Arena
Message #: [1]
Author: GS4-WYROM
Date: 4/28/2015
Subject: Arena and Ratacombs Updates
>>Do the traps still get progressively more challenging later in the match? Or are they the same level of mini-game 'skill' throughout?
You get a 30 second leeway where they are VERY slow. After that, it's random throughout to when they can fire. You can prevent them 2 different ways. Through the mini-game or by simply disabling the creature. I don't want to give too much about the mini-game away just yet.
>>Any teasers on the new limited item, or any new items?
Yes new items. I'll tease after we set the shops back up.
~Wyrom, APM
Topic: Duskruin Arena
Message #: 638
Author: GS4-WYROM
Date: 4/30/2015
Subject: Deeds
One thing I changed this time is the need for deeds. You lost deeds in the arena, but you incurred no penalty if you had none. If you have no deeds, your death will be treated like a normal death, and you'll drop all your spells. Stock up, or Lorminstra awaits!
~Wyrom, APM
Topic: Duskruin Arena
Message #: 647
Author: GS4-WYROM
Date: 5/1/2015
Subject: Projectiles (Ammo and Thrown Weapons)
I updated the arena mechanics to discard lodged arrows and thrown weapons before the creatures are pulled from the arena. They will be dropped to the ground where you stand. Make sure to grab them before you're moved or you die!
~Wyrom, APM
Topic: Duskruin Arena
Message #: 684
Author: GS4-WYROM
Date: 5/1/2015
Subject: Traps
>>If there's a mini-game or some methodology to avoiding the traps, there needs to be a hint or some sort of indicator that I can avoid it. I've tried Duskruin twice tonight and each time I'm mowing through opponents only to be randomly insta-gibbed by being pushed onto a pike. No messaging indicating I'm near a pike or being pushed toward a pike or pike-adjacent. Just "Wham, you're dead, go home."
It says it in the intro. But you have to think about it. If you need to see the intro again, TITLE CLEAR [title] so you can see it. Or set your prename titles.
~Wyrom, APM
Topic: Duskruin Arena
Message #: 781
Author: GS4-WYROM
Date: 5/4/2015
Subject: More Updates
Added some safeguards for characters level 10 and below so creatures don't have an overwhelming number of health. Some creatures do have higher attack strengths though.
Fixed a typo in the intro.
Gave the ability for creatures to spawn with more mana.
~Wyrom, APM
Topic: Duskruin Arena
Message #: 818
Author: GS4-WYROM
Date: 5/5/2015
Subject: Hazards in the Arena
I've added one more sanity check where creatures won't fire off a hazard as soon as they enter the arena.
~Wyrom, APM
Topic: Duskruin Arena
Message #: 913
Author: GS4-WYROM
Date: 5/9/2015
Subject: Max Bloodscrip Achievable in the Arena
It appears that right now, the max you can gain is 243. You could, technically, get to 245 with some extreme luck. When testing this, we can get to 250 when we are in GM mode, which is the figurative cap. However, getting 225+ bloodscrip regularly is not intended.
On the next reboot, the bloodscrips you can earn will be a little more tightly defined into a normal distribution, where earning closer to the max should be a σ of 3.
~Wyrom, APM
Topic: Duskruin Arena
Message #: 1002
Author: GS4-WYROM
Date: 5/11/2015
Subject: What is going on here?
Traps intentionally take you out of hiding. That's working as intended. The hazards have been toned down way lower than I would have liked. So while I can understand the frustration if you can't figure out the mini-game puzzle, it's really easy to avoid now.
~Wyrom, APM
Topic: Duskruin Arena
Message #: 1182
Author: GS4-WYROM
Date: 5/20/2015
Subject: Don't bother with Arena for a low level caster (10 or so) - Scaling it terrible
Lots of assumptions and anecdotal information being thrown around here. So guess it's time to squash that. Characters under level 25 actually had a lot easier of a time in the arena. Champions spawned by characters 25 and under had 1/3rd the amount of blood as a capped character. Characters level 10 or under always got an extra bonus of making every creature that spawned in the arena with 100 less blood (that's on top of that 1/3rd for champions).
Creature level is always determined by progression in the arena, but the first 5 rounds creatures are between -3 to 1 level higher than the player. It slowly scales up until the last 5 rounds, where it's between 5 and 10 levels.
Earning 200 bloodscrip means a player managed to kill all 25 creatures. Anyone scoring 192, managed to kill 24. Each creature was worth 8 bloodscrip. This is changing in the next variation of the arena to add more emphasis on a few different factors of the challenge. The time bonus is going to be greatly reduced, but you'll have chances to earn other bonuses. The cap will still remain 250, but this time it will be achievable. The reason the arena's figurative 250 isn't able to happen is because you're losing on average 35 seconds for creature clean ups and the new creature entering.
I think those that felt underwhelmed because they couldn't complete the arena or struggled with defeating all 25 will feel a little more confident in the next edition.
~Wyrom, APM
Sewers
Topic: Duskruin Arena
Message #: 704
Author: GS4-WYROM
Date: 5/2/2015
Subject: Did loot get turned down to zero?
Just to remove all sorts of anecdotal information.
There is an 8.3% chance to be swept up by sewage upon any given search.
If you're in the proper room with a rat, you have a 25% chance to catch it.
You have a 12.5% chance to find loot in the sewers.
Quality of loot is highly dependent on your level (not experience). A level 5 person can't find a 6x broadsword. The loot generator takes your level and randomizes it to find the level of loot.
Comparing the Ratacombs on opening night last time won't be a good benchmark. Finding good loot should be equivalent to a slot machine. The majority of pulls will be lackluster. That's always been the same.
~Wyrom, APM
Topic: Duskruin Arena
Message #: 729
Author: GS4-WYROM
Date: 5/2/2015
Subject: Did loot get turned down to zero?
>>Out of curiosity, what was the purpose of adding this factor? Does it count against 1 of our 10 searches?
It does not count. Anyone who has gone should be able to confirm that.
>>1) Loot quality at the beginning of the first Duskruin event WAS better.
No. You just had a guarantee to find a rat. The quality has never changed. It cannot change. There are no fundamentals at play here. I did not code the random loot generator. It's the same one you experience in game, every day. But because of the rat guarantee, you were finding loot at a guaranteed level as well, which is hard to explain because you'd have to be able to see it. It's not that you found more or better. But you were finding loot in specific rooms without a doubt.
>>2) Players should NOT expect it to be as good even again.
Again, that's not what you should be taking away from it. Either you had really good luck the first time, or really bad luck right now. I had a test run earlier with only 10 data points, but I was able to confirm people were finding good stuff and within the parameters meant to be.
>>Is a bound critter suppose to be able to push you into a trap? Also, both pushes occurred right after the bind and in quick succession.
Hmm, must be two types of binding mechanics. I'll fix this.
>>Is there a ceiling to this effect, or should I expect in advance when I buy passes that I will never be able to find top tier treasure?
Loot in GS is highly dependent on level.
>>Interestingly enough, with the new swept away mechanic and the drop in loot value... Once you have a rat, the arena is now the better option- as it gives about twice the bloodscrip.
You found the exact same number of bloodscrip in the arena before. It's just quicker now. The arena gives exp (on top of kills), silver, loot, and bloodscrip. It always did. And there was NEVER a drop in loot value. The Ratacombs were NEVER better in bloodscrip value.
>>The math seems wonky.
As a math instructor, I'm not sure I follow.
>>Re: Sewage Sweeper
I'll do something else with this.
~Wyrom, APM
Shops
Topic: Duskruin Arena
Message #: 645
Author: GS4-WYROM
Date: 4/30/2015
Subject: New Items
So we've added a handful of new items.
There are 5 helmets that have resistance and padding in Gamac's Goods.
There are 3 new mannequins in The Mar and Scar with high-end loot. We've readjusted the price on the faenor waraxe as well (lower). All the armors are similar in properties. I'll explain more about the other wares later. There is also an infamous spoon and a butcher knife for sale there too.
We added 2 new X/day items, floating disk and invisibility, but they are 2x/day.
There is a 6x/6x acuity NerveStaff for sale.
~Wyrom, APM
Topic: Duskruin Arena
Message #: 660
Author: GS4-WYROM
Date: 5/1/2015
Subject: New Items
>>Would that spoon happen to be mangled?
:D
>>That 6X/6X Nervestave is going to be very nice for whomever gets it.
It's not limited.
>>Also, are the high end scrolls back, same as last run?
Scrolls are still there.
>>Please tell me one of them has a katana... preferably in a metal I don't own!
Should have spent time suggesting katanas of rare metals instead of calling me a slacker!
>>So when you say new wild life escaped into the sewers do you mean different types of rodents or something completely different? Just curious what I will be adding to my walking zoo this weekend.
Different types of rats. Sewer rats are the most abundant. There are 15 more descriptors and 5 new types of rats.
>>Is this going to be limited like the rot staves?
Right now, there is nothing limited at this event. But there is a high chance we will rotate some gear for next time, so don't count on the same wares after this run.
>>Also, I see one comment about leaving it open for 2 weekends this time, is that real or will it be shorter?
The event will run from 5/1 at (roughly) 9pm until 5/10 at (roughly) 9pm ET.
Some shops MAY be closed on opening night, but we'll make sure they are open by Sunday at the latest.
~Wyrom, APM
Topic: Duskruin Arena
Message #: 677
Author: GS4-WYROM
Date: 5/1/2015
Subject: New Items
>>Some of these items are making us twitch Wyrom!!
Okay, guess it's time to spill the beans.
Gamac's Goods
a bronze enameled greathelm with a white cross-shaped reinforcement - HCP, resistant to lightning, and scripted.
a flame-crowned black rolaren greathelm bearing a cross-shaped red gold frontal reinforcement - HCP, resistant to fire, and scripted.
an etched black rolaren greathelm covered with interlocking hexagonal steel plates - HCP, resistant to crush, and scripted.
an imflass-winged golden rolaren greathelm with a thick ora visor - HCP, resistant to slash, and scripted.
a conical gold-scaled rolaren greathelm with a thick mithril visor - HCP, resistant to puncture, and scripted.
Spellbound
a translucent glass pin - 2x/day Invisibility
an enruned mithril disk pin - 2x/day Floating Disk
The Mar and Scar
a mangled steel spoon - 5 rubs of Heroism
a rusted steel butcher knife - GoryWeapon, +22, 1 point shy of HCW, +3 STR and +2 DEX bonuses.
a hooded shadowy leather cloak - Casts 608 once every 2 hours. Automatically hides 1x/2 hours
a glaes-hafted shimmering ora warmace - +22 HCW, sanctified, GoryWeapon.
a shirt of vruul leather - +17, HCP 3-slot fusion full leathers.
a gold-trimmed silk elven tunic - Over-the-front fully unlocked pirate harness.
a four-in-one imflass chain jazerant - +17, HCP 3-slot fusion augmented chain.
a pouch-lined tanned leather bandolier - Over-the-front fully unlocked pirate harness.
a gold-trimmed blue spidersilk greatcloak - Unlocked ClimateWare (not feature hiding), 25% weight reducing.
a segmented golden golvern lance - 5x, SCW morphs into a cudgel.
a suit of imflass platemail - +17, HCP 3-slot fusion full plate.
a quartered gold and silver tabard - Over-the-front fully unlocked pirate harness.
a matte black waxed canvas cloak lined with deep ahmdir blue linen - Original consolation cloaks (17+ verbs), weighs under 1lb, holds 100lbs.
Other items are the same, but have moved to different mannequins.
Old Farmhouse
a lacquered scrollworked illthorn runestaff - 6x/6x acuity NerveStaff, fully unlocked.
~Wyrom, APM
Topic: Duskruin Arena
Message #: 646
Author: GS4-WYROM
Date: 1/1/2015
Subject: [The Mar and Scar, Pierced] - Types of piercing jewelry
I was able to add hoop, shard, sliver, fang, and hook. Plurals don't work as it's set up right now. Hope you all will enjoy the 5 new nouns though!
~Wyrom, APM
>>They call him Wyrom, not afraid to get dirty; work all day, in game by 5:30; loresongs eloquent, item embellishment, double speed development... ~Silvean
Topic: Duskruin Arena
Message #: 820
Author: GS4-WYROM
Date: 5/5/2015
Subject: New Items For Sale
We've added alchemy/gem jars to the shop list. They are located in Spellbound. The 100 blooscrip jars hold 50, the 250 bloodscrip hold 100.
In Crosswinds and Crosshairs, the crystal-sighted crossbows are tier 1 unlocked, which hold up to 3 bolts at a time. The mechanical arbalests are 5x and tier 2 unlocked, and hold up to 5 bolts at a time. I mistakenly thought they fired all the ammo at once, but they still only fire it one at a time.
Enjoy!
~Wyrom, APM