AC2:Announcements - 2005/03 - Alliance in Arms
Letter to the Players
Original Link (now dead) - http://forums.ac2.turbinegames.com/showthread.php?t=13561
March Update Details
The March Update
Because Legions will be shipping a little later than we had originally expected, we will be doing an interim update in late March. This update won’t have any epic quests in it, but it will have:
- Dozens of new “quick quests.” These quests are scattered in towns across all three continents. These provide quick, directed content for those who have limited play time (nearly all these quests are solo quests that take less than an hour to complete). They also make the towns of AC2 a bit more interesting to visit.
- The new Pet Commands Panel. This is a GUI window that appears whenever you have pets active. It allows you to set the AI mode for each pet. These new modes let you to tune exactly how you want each pet to behave. The modes are:
- Aggressive: An aggressive pet will attack any monster that it sees. This is the default mode for turrets, as well as some loot-generated pets, like the Sangog Brothers.
- Opportunistic: An opportunistic pet will attack any monster that it sees, preferring weaker targets over stronger ones.
- Courageous: A courageous pet will attack any monster that it sees, preferring stronger targets over weaker ones.
- Protective: A protective pet will only respond to foes that threaten its master.
- Cooperative: A cooperative pet will attack targets that its master attacks, but will also freely defend itself.
- Assisting: An assisting pet will attack targets that its master attacks, and will respond to foes that threaten its master.
- Defensive: A defensive pet will defend against threats to itself or to its master.
- Supporting: A supporting pet will only attack targets that its master attacks first. This is the default for most class-based pets, like lashers, sand fiends, and shreths.
- Idle: An idle pet will not get involved in any combat. This is the default for the Invoker’s Spirit pets.
The pet panel also has Quick Command Buttons that let you order your pets to attack, return, heal you, or buff you (if the pet has those abilities). These buttons override the pet’s mode AI, so you can always quickly get control of your pet no matter what situation arises.
In addition, the pet UI allows you to more easily name your pets.
Letter to the Players 2
Original Link (now dead) - http://forums.ac2.turbinegames.com/showthread.php?t=13362
Legions Letter #2: Crafting Changes
Welcome to Legions Letter #2: Crafting Changes. We were going to talk about the other Empyrean classes first, but we decided to jump ahead to the crafting changes, because we are providing these early, in the March update, along with some other content and features. (You can read about the other March update content here)
Crafting Changes for AC2: Legions
During the development of AC2: Legions, we’ve addressed many aspects of game play. Most of these are related to the hero levels of play, but some of the changes permeate all levels. The changes to crafting are a good example. We have decided to back-port the AC2: Legions Crafting changes into the March update, so you will receive these changes even before the expansion ships.
Durability… no more
As I mentioned months ago, we were planning to address the “durability issue” in Legions. Players feel that any weapon with durability is vastly inferior to a permanent weapon. Since not every item in the game has durability, crafted items are automatically treated as second-tier items.
Our original plan was to add an Item Repair system. This would allow crafters to repair weapons and armor for other players. After the item was repaired, it would be forever attuned to the owner – that way, crafted items could not be handed down to other players. However, after we implemented this system and played with it, we found it was too bulky, and not fun enough.
So we went back to the drawing board, and took another look at what we were trying to accomplish, and the best way to get there. Our objectives were:
- give crafted items a sense of permanence
- keep crafted items from being handed down forever, so that crafters have a steady flow of customers
- give crafters a new mechanism with which to interact with other players
So what is the easiest way to make crafted items have a sense of permanence? We simply removed Durability from all crafted weapons and armor. (Crafted tools still have durability, however.) This solves the problem in the method that most players prefer.
And to keep crafted items from being handed down forever, they are now Bind On First Use. When someone uses a crafted weapon or armor into battle, the weapon becomes linked to that player forever. They can still mule the weapon if they want – it isn’t attuned to them. But it can never be wielded by anybody except the first user.
The Bind-On-First-Use system has various safety checks built in. When you equip an item that will become bound when you use it, a warning message is displayed so that you know what’s happening. And an item that’s already been bound has another warning message in examination. Items that are Bind-On-First-Use but have not yet bound will have their names appear in green. Bind-On-First-Use items can be sold in shops until they become bound to a player, after which they will not be accepted by the vendor.
So what does this mean to you?
- All crafted weapons and armor will become Bind-On-First-Use. The next time someone uses that item in combat, the item will be bound to that person forever.
- All crafted weapons and armor will become durability-free. Crafted tools will still have durability, as will yellow-text Incomparable treasure items.
- Treasure items that have been spellbound will also become durability-free. They will be Bind-On-First-Use as well, so that only one owner will ever be able to use the item. These items will bind to the next person who uses them in battle. This will be applied retroactively to all existing spellbound items, as well as to new spellbound items.
We also added some brand new game systems that give crafters new roles in the economy. These new features revolve around a new type of item called Lodestones.
Lodestones
A strange new type of stone has started popping up in the most unusual places. Miners occasionally find them as they are working a mine, and hunters also find them on the corpses of their enemies. Dubbed “lodestones,” these are special magical spheres that contain ancient energies. The Shaper’s Guild has been instrumental in helping to find several different uses for these strange objects.
How Lodestones are Found
Miners have a small percentage chance of finding a lodestone each time they mine. Monster corpses, too, can have Lodestones on them, as long as the monster is no more than one level lower than the player's level. (This keeps high-level players from farming low-level monsters for lodestones.)
The quality level of the lodestone you find will be based on your player level:
Code:
| Player Level | Condition of lodestone |
|---|---|
| 15-29 | Crumbling |
| 30-44 | Brittle |
| 45-59 | Rough |
| 60-74 | Smooth |
| 75+ | Shining |
The quality of the lodestone determines how potent it is. But what do they actually do? That depends on what Type they are. They come in five types: Rusty, Clouded, Translucent, Marbled, and Mossy. So a level 30 player might find a Brittle Marbled Lodestone, or perhaps a Brittle Rusty Lodestone. A level 60 player might find a Smooth Translucent Lodestone or a Smooth Mossy Lodestone. When taken off of monster corpses, any of the five types can be found on any type of monster. While mining, only one type of lodestone can be found from each type of mine. Iron mines only ever yield Rusty Lodestones, Silver mines only yield Clouded Lodestones, Wood mines yield Mossy, Stone yields Marbled, and Crystal yields Translucent Lodestones.
The simplest use of the lodestone is to create a Delving Stone.
Delving Stones
Each of the five mining skills will have a new recipe which takes a lodestone as its only ingredient. The recipe always succeeds (there is no chance for failure). The result is a Delving Stone. These powerful stones will summon a mine right in front of the user. The mine will have the usual three uses. The quality of the lodestone will determine how many times the crafted Delving Stone can be used to summon a mine. The type of the lodestone determines the type of mine that is created.
Code:
| Lodestone Type | Mine Type |
|---|---|
| Rusty | Iron Mine |
| Clouded | Silver |
| Mossy | Wood |
| Marbled | Stone |
| Translucent | Crystal |
Harmonic Stones
Spellbinders will have a different recipe for Lodestones. They can turn a Lodestone into a Harmonic Stone. A Harmonic Stone can be used on any crafted weapon to turn it into a Harmonic Weapon (see below). The recipes for Harmonic Stones require purchased trait, like Coal, but no mined or butchered trait. The recipes are not automatically successful – they can fail. The quality of the lodestone determines the difficulty of the crafting process – higher-quality lodestones are more difficult to turn into Harmonic Stones. Upon success, these recipes grant Craft Experience to the crafter.
Harmonic Stones have a level requirement based on their quality.
Code:
| Lodestone Quality | Harmonic Stone Level Range |
|---|---|
| Crumbling | 15-24 |
| Brittle | 25-39 |
| Rough | 40-54 |
| Smooth | 55-69 |
| Shining | 70+ |
The type of the Lodestone determines the Damage type of the Harmonic Stone:
Code:
| Lodestone Type | Harmonic Stone Type |
|---|---|
| Rusty | Decay Harmonic Stone |
| Clouded | Arcane Harmonic Stone |
| Translucent | Neutral Harmonic Stone |
| Marbled | Martial Harmonic Stone |
| Mossy | Nature Harmonic Stone |
A Harmonic Stone can be used by a player of the appropriate level to turn their crafted weapon into a Harmonic Weapon. Let’s talk about Harmonic Weapons.
Harmonic Weapons
All monsters have been assigned a category: Decay (evil or undead), Arcane (magical or made of energy), Martial (tool using races), or Nature (plants or animals). Harmonic Weapons are attuned to one of these types of monster, and do more damage against them.
At first, the extra damage is very small, but through repeated use against the appropriate type of monster, the Harmonic Weapon will “learn” to do more damage against its particular type of foe. After a week or so of play, you could train a Harmonic Weapon to do an extra 10% damage against its foe type. Further gains are possible if you keep using the weapon –up to a maximum of 40% bonus damage – but it takes longer and longer to train the weapon as it reaches the higher percentages, so actually reaching the 40% cap would take many months of play.
You may have noticed that Translucent Lodestones make Neutral Harmonic Stones. These stones are not attuned to any one particular damage type – they can learn to do more damage to ANY type of monster. However, they learn at a much slower rate, and they are capped at 20% extra damage for any particular type of monster.
Only crafted weapons can be made into Harmonic Weapons.
Although this system only applies to weapons right now, we will be adding Harmonic Armor at a later date.
So How Does This Harmonic Weapon Stuff All Fit Together?
Here’s an example of how Harmonic Stones get used. Let’s imagine Bob, a level 50 warrior, has a nice crafted sword. He decides he wants his sword to do more damage to Decay creatures, so he seeks out a Rusty Lodestone of his level. For his level, he would need a Rough stone. He could find it on a monster, but he’s a busy guy, so he goes and buys it at a consignment vendor. Next, he finds a crafter who turns his Rough Rusty Lodestone into a Stone Harmonized to Decay, and he uses this stone on his weapon. Ta da! His weapon has become Harmonic, and has the capacity to deal more damage to Decay creatures through use.
Lodestones as Devices of Knowledge
Lodestones are not simply energy, they are encapsulated knowledge as well. There is a process where weaponcrafters, armorcrafters, and toolmakers can unlock this knowledge and combine it with their own knowledge to create intricate symbols of their craft. These devices are prized by many, crafters and non-crafters alike. Like Harmonic Stones, the recipes to create Devices can fail, but they grant Craft Experience upon success. Since these recipes are bestowed by quests in the March update, we won’t go into too much detail here. Suffice it to say that Lodestones have many uses, and there will doubtless be even more in the future.
Trait Mines
There’s a new way to get trait. The Guild of Shapers have uncovered massive underground resource caches. However, accessing these caches is difficult and dangerous. There are keys which will grant you and your fellowship temporary access to one of these underground mazes chock full of trait mines. But due to the instabilities of these caches, you and your fellowship will only be able to stay in the cache for a few minutes. Work with your friends to mine as much trait as you can in the time allotted. When the time runs out, you will be teleported back out of the dungeon.
There are five caches on each of the three continents (one cache per type of trait per continent). You can enter each dungeon only once per week. The keys for these caches can be a bit tricky to find – you will have to figure that out for yourselves!
The trait caches are intended to be a fun additional way to get trait. We don’t expect them to replace traditional mining – just to augment it.