Update Notes - Feb. 17th, 2013

[Phantom Lamb]

- Creature strength adjusted for Shar's Abaddon, Argyle Keep, and Ixis Island (careful, CR increase here!)

- Banners placed in many new areas - go explore!

- Loot added in many spots where it was missing previously - explore some more!

- Adventurer supply store in Exigo for potions, bandages, arrows and the like

- Summon I - IX strength increased; undead summon strength decreased, but survivability increased

- Magic item drops available in most areas now - explore even more!

[Mournas]

- Creature strength adjusted for Shar's Abaddon, Argyle Keep, and Ixis Island (careful, CR increase here!)

- Banners placed in many new areas - go explore!

- Loot added in many spots where it was missing previously - explore some more!

- Summon I - IX strength increased; undead summon strength decreased, but survivability increased

- Magic item drops available in most areas now - explore even more!

Uhm ... Sexy!

[Lugwy]

*party horns and confetti*

[Seheren]

Can't speak for all alignments but it seems the ones changed are much better. I think many of the lower levels may have been missed, but I know there are A LOT of summons these days.

Might I suggest to help these summons the durations be increased to 1min/2 level or 1min/level? Even at the current strength ((of the ones I've seen)) that shouldn't be a serious balance issue. The level 9 summon for LE is still no Death Knight, so 1 min/level ((2 level)) seems appropriate. That would allow those who do not wish to use undead a more valid option for summons.

[Yevelian]

By chance has the banner drop of spot for Eboncoin been added back in yet?

[Phantom Lamb]

I didn't even know it was missing! Where should it go now?

[Yevelian]

Yes, Eboncoin faction hasn't been able to deliver banner drops since the Sundering. I'm guessing in/around Jimmy's would be a logical place, but that's a decision for staff. We still technically control the Aquor caves too, so maybe there?

[Phantom Lamb]

Where is your headquarters currently? Where are your faction stores?

[Catastrophe]

Might be better to not put the flags in the City though since not everyone will have passes to get there.

[Yevelian]

Well stores are in the city. I recommend the caves beneath Aqour.

[thaelis]

Argyle chapel seems to have been toned down a bit which I like. No more getting hit by 4 dispels per round. The dispellers are still there but at least the whites don't dispel now.

Also to note is that loot is dropping, even a minor magic item so far!

[gbbishop]

seems to me some CRs still need tweaking.

[White]Glow spider (ixis) = [white]Bloodmaim ambusher(mossdale)

The Lizards in the temple are cool shaman's are way cooler now. The [Black]Deadeye somethings, were a bit lackluster. They still hit often but only give uber low reward.

The dartblower group is now WAY heavy. With the confusion darts and a sneak that saps str. Maybe better to have one or the other in an encounter both seemed slightly overwhelming. Also too many stab happy bloodtooth? It is harder to get to the temple than fight in the temple.

Goblins in the hills felt more... grindy. I felt the xp was a little low. But then again i think the challenge was less. So perhaps that is cool.

Also didn't like hearing about Imp. disarming MOBs. Specially since the items seem to be disappearing. IMHO no Disarm for MOB, maybe for a boss but even then I think it should be rare and the weapon should be recoverable.

[ManUtd4Ever]

I think it should be rare and the weapon should be recoverable.

Here.. here. Recoverability of an enchanted weapon (any weapon) is encouraged. I don't mind the tactical setback of being disarmed. I just want to be able to recover my enchanted weapon once the melee is over.

Cheers!

[Doubtful]

A few seconds of searching would have revealed that we don't tend to use disarm for NPCs due to the buggy destruction of weapons. From there it's simple enough to realise the inclusion of disarm is likely an oversight or simple forgetfulness, something a simple bug report or polite post would fix.

Expect it to be removed and in the mean time don't go to the Whurest dungeon.

[Phantom Lamb]

Yes, please note:
NO CHANGES have been made to Whurest or Bloodmaim areas yet. Some of the things you've highlighted above will be adjusted once I get there. Only so many hours in the day! So while they've remained the same, other areas' critters have caught up in CR but will probably be much, much easier. In the near future, expect both Bloodmaim and Whurest to cover CR range 19-20ish, and their actual difficulty will scale like the rest of the server accordingly.

Essentially, we're trying to find the right balance between PNP CR and MMO CR. We'd love a PNP world, but in a video game, making a direct translation is not easy. In PNP, you might gain a full level by going through one dungeon linearly, hitting six to ten encounters along the way. The same can't be said for Sundren. So, the actual difficulty of critters is being lowered, since killing more of them is necessary. There's other good reasons too - in GBX's words, the goal of regular encounters design is not to kill someone!

I'll take a look into the dart blowers. If they are white, they shouldn't be blowing confusion darts!