Nerve staff/saved posts

Category: Paid Events: Adventures, Quests, and SimuCoins
Topic: Duskruin Arena
Message #: 27
Author: GS4-REIDYN
Date: 03/01/2015
Subject: Introducing: Nerve Staves

I'm pleased to announce the upcoming release of a new runestaff script at Duskruin Arena! As it is a new script and its debut venue will operate without live merchant interaction, I thought it best to lay things out so that people could make an informed decision with their hard earned bloodscrip.

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Some of you may be familiar with example of my other work, specifically Veola's and Voln Armor. This isn't anything like that, except for the fact that the script does a lot and is pretty complicated. What I'm saying is, go get a snack and maybe something to drink, because this is going to be long. I'll wait.... Okay!

The functionality of the script can be broken down into three basic categories: AFFINITY, BACKLASH, and FLARES. This is also a tiered script with 4 Tier levels including off-the-shelf(OTS), with additional benefits provided at each tier.

AFFINITY: A custom sort of attunement and bonding that effects the benefits and penalties conferred by the runestaff. The first successful hit* against a like level foe* while wielding the runestaff will result in the staff 'attuning' to the wielder. For lack of a better term, that person is then the owner of the runestaff.

Once the runestaff has attuned, Affinity points begin to accrue when further successful hits against like level foes are landed while wielding the runestaff, where one hit equals one point. There are five ranks in total: (Analyze messaging is in parenthesis.)

-- Level 1: 1-199 points

-- Level 2: 200-999 points

-- Level 3: 1000-2999 points

-- Level 4: 3000-9999 points

-- Level 5: 10000 points

Affinity can be worked off, and works in essentially the exact same way as gaining it does only in reverse. If a successful hit is landed against a like level foe by anyone other than the current owner then an Affinity point will be lost instead of gained. Affinity would only begin to accrue again once all the Affinity for the previous owner had been worked off. It is not meant to be easy, but absolutely possible if some one wants to badly enough.

BACKLASH: Until such a time that a full Affinity is shared between a runestaff and its owner, there will exist a small chance for backlashes to occur. As Affinity levels are gained the likelihood of these backlashes occurring decreases until being eliminated completely at full Affinity. The Backlash timer fires every 1 1/2 minutes while the runestaff is held. The base chance for a Backlash to occur is 4% at Affinity level 1 and decreases 1% per Affinity level gained.

Fine Print: Backlashes are much more likely to occur when the runestaff if being wielded by someone other than its current owner.

There are three distinct types of Backlashes that can occur:

-- Pain: 5-10 second stun
Several thin, fibrous red filaments erupt from your <runestaff> and bore viciously into your wrist and palm. Instantly, each nerve and fiber within your being is alight with incandescent pain. Moments stretch into eternity, until a final wave of unbearable suffering crashes over you and leaves you reeling and stunned!

-- Shock: Nervous System Damage
Several thin, fibrous white filaments erupt from your <runestaff> and bore viciously into your wrist and palm. A subtle, almost electric, force ripples through you, the current awakening a vague tingling within. Building rapidly, the faint tingling gives way to intense, wracking convulsions that subside only after the build up is released in a jarring explosion within your very nervous system.

-- Paralyze: 5-10 second immobilization
Several thin, fibrous black filaments erupt from your <runestaff> and bore viciously into your wrist and palm. In response, a powerful discordance emerges from somewhere deep within your core and permeates every cell. Suddenly a stranger to your own body, you are quickly overwhelmed and are rendered unable to move!

FLARES: Two basic flare types, one the 'baseline' defensive flare available on Tier 1(OTS) runestaffs, and the second an offensive flare that is only available on Tier 2 and above runestaffs that share a full Affinity with their wielder.

-- Muscle Memory Flare: Grants a brief Combat Maneuver ranks enhancive benefit. Baseline chance for flare to trigger is 20%, with each unlocked Tier providing an additional 5%. Baseline benefit is +5 CM Ranks at Affinity level 1, +6 at Affinity level 2, +7 at Affinity level 3, +8 at Affinity level 4, and +10 at Affinity level 5.

-- Misery Unleashed Flare: Offensive flare that essentially redirects the Backlash effects towards foes. The standard flare rate formula is used to determine if a flare will occur, and then a second roll is used to determine which flare effect will be used with some flares being more likely to occur.

-- -- Pain 70% | Random Impact Criticals
Several thin, fibrous red filaments erupt from your <runestaff> and swirl around each other in a chaotic dance. Straining to reach a <critter>, they unleash a wave unmitigated pain upon the object of their wrath.

-- -- Paralyze 20% | 6-12 seconds RT
Several thin, fibrous black filaments erupt from your <runestaff> and swirl around each other in a chaotic dance. Straining to reach a <critter>, they unleash an overpowering cacophony of sensation upon the object of their wrath and render <it> unable to move!

-- -- Shock 10% | Electrical Criticals to the dome
Several thin, fibrous white filaments erupt from your <runestaff> and swirl around each other in a chaotic dance. Straining to reach $X1, they unleash a powerful surge of electrical current upon the object of their wrath!

Additionally, fully unlocked (Tier 4) runestaffs gain the benefit of a 1x/day Adrenal Surge(ish) effect. This effect will ease 'popped' muscles, break webs, stuns, and binds, and return you to your feet.

VERBS

-- Clench: Availability = Tier 1
Gripping your <runestaff> firmly in hand, a powerful tingling sensation travels up the length of your arm. At first only mildly painful, the pins and needles penetrate deeper into your flesh, forcing you to summon all your willpower to maintain your hold on the <runestaff>."

-- Touch: Availability = Tier 1
No sooner than your fingers graze the surface of your <runestaff>, is your mind filled with hazy fragments of memory both foreign and familiar. One memory bleeds into the next, boundaries lost and meaningless. Gradually they begin to fade and allow your mind to still.

-- Stare: Availability = Tier 2
Chaos, in the form of swirling red, black, and white motes of light, momentarily occludes your vision. The kaleidoscope of color fades in and out of focus, each hue embodying a raw, primal emotion that evokes a near visceral response, before your vision finally clears.

-- Listen: Availability = Tier 3
Opening yourself to the full force of your <runestaff>, a distant and indecipherable whisper teases the dark corners of your mind. Powerful emotions -- rage, joy, sorrow, and love -- fill your consciousness as you realize you host fragments of a psyche not your own. Felt no less deeply for not being your own, the cacophony of feeling swirls within and rocks you to your core before quietly fading, leaving you your mind as your own once more.

-- Berserk: Availability = Tier 4 | 1x/day Adrenal Surge(ish) ability activator

So that, in a (very, very big) nutshell is it.

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GM Reidyn
Customer Experience Systems

Category: Paid Events: Adventures, Quests, and SimuCoins
Topic: Duskruin Arena
Message #: 33
Author: GS4-REIDYN
Date: 03/01/2015
Subject: Introducing: Nerve Staves

>> One of my frequent complaints has always been the lack of toys available that are specifically geared towards the casting professions. This exactly is the kind of stuff I want to see. ~ JADZIABLUE

Those frequent complaints are exactly why I set out to make a runestaff script in the first place. I'm glad that it is appreciated!

>>I wonder though, what does 10 Ranks of CM do for you defensively? ~ KEITHOBAD

It certainly does more than 0 ranks of Combat Manuevers! It will also stack with other enhancive effects, and unlike a typical enhancive it will never need to be recharged. And for all that it does, it doesn't take up the standard flare slot up. So it can actually support additional flares.

>>Make the defensive flare more rare 45%->15% but make it fully rebuke the cman attack. I can easily see this thing flaring and me still getting owned by whatever square critter just cmaned me. Repeatedly. Like every time. ~ KEITHOBAD

I appreciate your having ideas on how to make improvements, but we're way too late in the game to be making fundamental changes to the underlying mechanics. Really, we're too late in the game to be make changes to the script at all. Whenever a combat related, mechanically beneficial script is created it has to first be approved by the Dev team -- so while the core concept and flavor of the script comes from me, the actually nitty gritty numbers part and balance is settled on by Dev and is out of my hands.

>>Make the defensive flare more rare 45%->15% but make it fully rebuke the cman attack. I can easily see this thing flaring and me still getting owned by whatever square critter just cmaned me. Repeatedly. Like every time. ~ KEITHOBAD

>>Make sure these verbs are flashy from 3rd party perspective. ~ KEITHOBAD

They are not especially flashy because, as you noted, they are very mental/internal. This is a design choice and I'm okay with it.

>>Last one is least likely, but move away from this tier business. ~ KEITHOBAD

There are limits to what we can sell off the shelf. Those limits may change slightly from event to event, and occasionally special permission is granted to exceed lose limitations a little for a specific instance. Most of the time though the limits are the limits. Removing the concept of tiers wouldn't raise the floor of what could be sold in shops. The result of not having tiers would be to just have less cool stuff, full stop.

>>Berserk. So this seems to be the main purpose of this item as far as I can tell. Probably worth getting repeatedly stunned and paralyzed while hunting. BUT... you need to unlock it so... What are the plans for that? I have the FEELING (hope I'm wrong) that it's going to be like voln armor where you can get a tier1 pretty easy but good luck getting it unlocked. ~ KEITHOBAD

Since there are no merchants to unlock things at Duskruin at all, the tiers are being handled a little differently for this release. No waiting on merchants for unlocked goodness!

As a general rule though, I really don't have the final say in how often and in which specific instances tiers can be unlocked. I just come up with the script idea and code it, approvals are out of my hands. Much like how the core script concept is mine, but requires oversight and final approval from Dev, unlocking services for combat related scripts also requires approval from Dev.

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GM Reidyn
Customer Experience Systems