Duskruin Arena/saved posts
March 2015
Topic: Duskruin Arena
Message #: 11
Author: GS4-WYROM
Date: 2/27/2015
Subject: Options to buy more
The arena is PvE. So you fight through a progression of creatures and deal with random hazards!
I had hoped to get info tonight, but I'll try for tomorrow.
~Wyrom, APM
Topic: Duskruin Arena
Message #: 20
Author: GS4-WYROM
Date: 2/28/2015
Subject: Duskruin Arena - A Primer
Creatures scale to level, yes. Creatures are "tough" though, and have hit points depending on scale grouping.
~Wyrom, APM
Topic: Duskruin Arena
Message #: 125
Author: GS4-WYROM
Date: 3/7/2015
Subject: Duskruin Arena Testing
>>Btw, Wyrom, will there be the possibility of teams fighting team foes or is this purely solo???
Just solo. Maybe down the road. But not for the initial release.
~Wyrom, APM
Topic: Duskruin Arena
Message #: 141
Author: GS4-WYROM
Date: 3/8/2015
Subject: spell restrictions?
>>The creatures in the arena are typically much higher level than you (10+) so that limits the effectiveness of some spells.
Capped people will see the highest leveled creatures. It scales downward for lowbies (but everything is technically either like level or a bit higher).
>>Do demons and animates follow in?
No. No companions of any sort can go inside.
~Wyrom, APM
Topic: Duskruin Arena
Message #: 212
Author: GS4-WYROM
Date: 3/20/2015
Subject: Quick suggestion.
>>Thus far I LOVE the arena but would it be possibly to add a visible timer in when we're fighting? I'd like to get a general sense of how long I've been in there if I need to eat herbs and stuff.
There is a 30 second warning that is now in bold. I'm a little leery on adding anything more due to how the arena works.
~Wyrom, APM
Topic: Duskruin Arena
Message #: 274
Author: GS4-WYROM
Date: 3/21/2015
Subject: Question - crits in the arena
The crits/bleeding out feature is intended. That's why it says they may feign death. You can still crit them, but it takes a massive amount of damage. It's one of the few ways I could ensure the battles be challenging.
~Wyrom, APM
Topic: Duskruin Arena
Message #: 297
Author: GS4-WYROM
Date: 3/22/2015
Subject: Arrows
>>Anyway, just bringing it to your attention. I've just now finally gotten to tinker around in here, so I don't have much else to add at this point. Overall, this is very fun and exciting. I'm enjoying it all, thank you.
Sadly it's intentional for the creature to be pulled away.
~Wyrom, APM
Topic: Duskruin Arena
Message #: 349
Author: GS4-WYROM
Date: 3/24/2015
Subject: Duskruin Feedback
Since the area is shut down for the night, I wanted to take a moment to address some feedback I've been hearing in various areas.
>>Re: Difficulty
I understand that difficulty isn't the same between all professions and levels. It's one of the hardest parts of balancing something like this and the Necropolis from EG. This was one of my biggest motivators to make bloodscrip a physical item so you weren't locked into using a single type of character.
The reason you can lop off the creatures head over and over is just a lack of control over the damage system and how I've turned off crits. Yes, I know you can still crit things, there are certain quirks to the system. But this is an attempt to level the playing field.
>>Re: Progression of creatures
I struggled with how to handle the matches for this event. It's probably the biggest reason for the delay in release. The original code was a one-on-one match against a VERY hard champion. You had up to 5 minutes to defeat it. You earned "crowd favor" points for doing feats in the arena. Don't think to yourself, "Oh that sounds so cool!" It was a guess the verb game through a rotating stock of verbs every 3 seconds, and spamming every single one of them caused you to lose points. There were subtle cues on which to use, via SENSE. It's something I hope to get back in after I can work out the horrible kinks. This would allow there to be SOMETHING else to do while you are in the arena. But doing this will also mean the time bonus will be changed dramatically and the bloodscrip earned will need to be re-calculated. I'm pretty proud of that formula I made. I read someone mentioned it "isn't good business" but actually it's the delicate weight of time and money. You can earn more by spending more time in the arena. Since both are a commodity, those that have more time than money can still maximize their profits.
>>Re: Different matches
If you look at the artwork, you'll see it's called Duskruin Arena: Bloodgames. That's because I do hope to revisit other types of matches. We came up with 3 forms of the event. One match scenario where you fight many creatures was definitely something I'd hope to do, and challenge players against each other for high scores. Not PvP, just a scoreboard. I talked about that in Platinum a little. I wanted it functional for this portion of the event, but no dice there.
Having multiple creatures and multiple characters in the arena at a time is just something I don't think I can work in without completely redoing all the mechanics. And I don't see that happening this time. Sorry on that!
But I missed 3 deadlines for Duskruin, and continually second guessing the mechanics were something I had to stop. And I always knew we'd have another form of the event, so I saved the idea for that.
'>>Closing notes
So I kind of explained a lot of the inside details on everything. If and when we change the arena mechanics, it would be on a reboot, not in the middle of the run. The competition form of the event (scoreboard) won't really be much different than what you're seeing now, just another set of arenas you can enter for a different challenge. We'd likely keep both forms (the one you're seeing now and a new secondary challenge) out for you to enjoy, you just pick which you'd like.
I don't foresee the second form of this event happening anytime soon. But giving mini challenges during the arena matches is something I hope to address in April.
~Wyrom, APM
Topic: Duskruin Arena
Message #: 352
Author: GS4-WYROM
Date: 3/24/2015
Subject: Duskruin Feedback
>>Not sure what I would change, but in my opinion the traps need to be toned way down.
Yeah, and the mini challenges will be a way to do that. But as it stands now, it's intended to go off the wall crazy toward the end because it's the risk of trying to maximize bloodscrip. I hope Roblar doesn't mind me talking about it, but his top score in Prime of 224 was an insane battle. He waited to the 30 second limit and got disabled pretty badly. I was thinking he was done for due to being RT locked. And literally, with less than 3 seconds before he lost, he berserks and wins. To score a perfect 225, you'd have to do that EVERY time at the end of each round, which I don't think is very feasible. And for that reason I think 224 will likely go untouched with the current setup.
~Wyrom, APM
Topic: Duskruin Arena
Message #: 447
Author: GS4-WYROM
Date: 3/29/2015
Subject: Duskruin Feedback
I just rolled an update into the live instances that will help speed up the intro. If you've got the Duskruin Arena Hero, Heroine, or Champion title displaying, it will skip the introduction and jump right into combat within about 3 - 6 seconds! No more waiting out the whole minute intro after winning a match.
~Wyrom, APM
Topic: Duskruin Arena
Message #: 479
Author: GS4-WYROM
Date: 3/31/2015
Subject: Critical Feedback Needed
After watching over hundred matches the last couple of days, and hearing a lot of the concerns for the arena comparing to the sewers... I'm thinking of moving away entirely from the current setup for the arena matches. While the math works, it's still too slow, and the herb munching was never an intended feat.
My goal is to change the arena to be a kill count match. You keep going until the time limit is up, you die, or you surrender. The time would be drastically reduced to 5 minute matches. I'll also look into ways to offer mini challenges during the matches to aid people who want to avoid hazards.
What I want to know from all of you is, would you welcome this change?
~Wyrom, APM