Chat: Scape

First topic message reminder :

I'm still around a mates and her Internet has just been cut off... So we can't discuss this in game until tonight/tomorrow.

Redid skills section in light of our discussion.

Quicklink: Scape

Hmm...

I do rather like the whole events XP thing. Definitely have that.

I think I'm unsure exactly what a "mob" is in this context. Knowing that may help a little.

Perhaps we need to be more certain about how combat works in Scape before we can fully have this debate. We've criticised RuneScape in the past for being too much about what equipment you have, so when you say stats from equipment don't seem to be affected, I fear we're going down that road - but then I'm not 100% certain how active the player has to be when fighting in Scape (or indeed in Guild Wars), and my point could be voided by such information.

Using a RuneScape example, I'd be rather upset if say, training my combat stats beyond what they are now didn't help me kill Frost Dragons any quicker. It would be frustrating and I might not bother training further, as a major incentive to do so would've been taken away. Then again, if I don't want to run around one-hitting everything, I just don't fight things that I can one-hit. And that's fine, most things I can kill like that aren't worth killing anyway.
Is there some fundamental difference between Runescape Guild Wars that makes the system work?

"Mob" is an combatable NPC (like a giant rat); NPC referring to actual "characters".

Guild Wars uses a hack-n-slash/bulletstorm combat system.

From what I can tell, melee attacks hit everything in the weapon's cleave. Bows and rifles seem to be skill shots, and can miss if you dodge; while magic "attacks" vary. The staff on a necromancer fires pass-through skillshots (hit everything in a lane, but don't home at all); whereas the staff on a guardian is guaranteed to his their target. This is the "right click" portion of Guild Wars (aka, basic attacks). The basic attack can have other effects; the sword on the Guardian grants "block" every third attack, which entirely mitigates the next damage you take.

Then, every weapon features abilities (and most mobs have some too). Abilities vary. Drakes in Guild Wars "channel" for 3 seconds, and then breathe fire in a cone in front of them for 1 second and deals loads of damage: while channelling, the drake cannot move and you can disrupt him with a disruption ability (like a knockback).

In Guild Wars, a frost dragon doesn't feature three types of homing attacks that deal different types of damage. He would have a single basic attack (possibly every third attack engulfs you in fire, dealing magic damage over time): his other abilities would likely be dodgeable/avoidable.

Ooh, another thing that's very different in Guild Wars: every player that participates in a kill will have their own drop table, and other players have no access to your loot and vice versa. It's possible for some of you to get loot and others not. Resources are the same. You find a copper vein and mine it, the vein will become empty for you but other players can come along and mine it too. This means working together does not hinder each other.

Well the whole thing does make more sense now, no doubt. I can sort of see why you want the system to keep combat more interesting, but I feel the whole hack-n-slash system would keep it engaging anyway. Besides, I'd still prefer to just tempt players to seek more exciting combat for better rewards - surely from a coding perspective that saves you having to make this whole "modding" system too (I have no idea how hard it would actually be, by the way)

Is there any way to play Guild Wars for free? I'd like to experience some of what you've described first hand.

There's probably a referral system that gives people a 10 day free trial, I'll look. Note that it's a a one-time-purchase game: there's no subscription.

I'd still like to be classless in Scape.

More "intense" combat is more rewarding. Bosses typically feature much more abilities, use them more frequently, have the logic to dodge your abilities, etc. You don't kill dragons because in RuneScape because they're exciting: you kill them for their unique loot.

Edit: No, there doesn't appear to be a free trial.

just have to jump right in here when we're talking Guild Wars 2, I play it too so I find this rather amazing, I still need to read the other 32-pages of this idea so bare with me.

Its unique of Guild Wars 2 to make every weapon-type have their own unique abilities. That would be nice to have, still I have much to catch up to here to really know what we have. I support it anyway!

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I've been studying *shrugs*

Slayer Noir wrote:-Settlers
Though rare, there are a handful of settlements - villages
and towns made almost entirely out of risewood - drifting around the
Cloud Sea. Such an existence is full of danger and should have some sort
of reward to it - a resource of some kind - that attracts people to it.

"a resource of some kind" makes me think back to my first post here according to my Guilinor Valhalla-concept having a god-valhalla-light-shining Tree, named Anodos Trees (Anodos = Ascend, going upwards) or literlly making a Cloud Tree, rare to the Cloud Sea settlements. I.e. Nebula Arbor/Tree (Nebula is ofc Latin for Cloud) or Cloud Ores only being able to mine in the Cloud Sea, or am I going to much into my fantasy now?
Or I have missunderstood the Cloud Sea entirely..

While I hadn't planned abilities to be weapon-type specific, I had planned them to be weapon-specific. Now that I've seen it in action, I'm even more fond of the idea. However, being classless, Scape would need another thing to distinguish weapons... otherwise our list of abilities would be tiny.

Dagger abilities for the Mesmer; Off-hand Dagger abilities for the Mesmer; Staff abilities for the Mesmer, etc, for all weapons a Mesmer can wield. Aside from similarities, no other weapon on any other classes can use the abilities. If an Elemental uses a staff, he accesses a different set of abilities. Lacking Mesmer, Elemental, Guardian, etc, we'd need something else.

I was thinking about ways to distinguish weapons and create niches the other day actually. Now seems like a good time to share.

It's quite simple really. All monsters get given types, kinda like pokemon. Up to 3 of them. For example, a demon might be fire and darkness. Certain weapons then deal extra damage against certain types. A "Sword of Light" may hit for double damage on creatures of darkness, for example. There are no complex type match-ups. It's just a case of reading the description on the sword telling you it's good against dark creatures.

One other thing I was thinking was enabling people to wear 2 of the same item (dual wield weapons, 2 necklaces, 2 rings etc) on the condition that they're not the same. That instantly creates more niches for weapons.

Well according to the weapon issue, are there any major/minor gods in Scape, are we having the same gods as during the year Runescape is having now, or are there any new gods that have come and gone during the hundreds of years? If we have gods, i.e. being under the influence of one or another god the weapon's abilities would be different? Where Guild Wars have class-based weapon abilities, The Scape have god-based weapon abilities

So, what have we progressed on?

Nothing much.

A summary of that "not much"

Mainly comparisons between Guild Wars 2 and Scape, as well as what features Guild Wars 2 did and didn't offer that would be nice to implement.

A "pokedex" is something that came up.

Guild Wars 2 was my first MMORPG other the RuneScape, but I felt there was a significant lack of "how to"... aside from innate knowledge of gaming, I didn't really understand how basic features worked. If not for my friends, the entire crafting system would still be entirely alien to me. I hope to at least cater for myself with regards to a tutorial.

I don't know what is Guild Wars 2, so I am clueless....

Guild wars 2 is a game which was released in Aug 28th I think... similar to all mmorpg's (wow etc) on a unique way.

And yes 3mpty.. GW2 lacks tutorial on much, crafting is similar to Wow, Lotro... but its alien to all who haven't played mmorpg's before which has this crafting system... hmm

But things are coming along. I need to update the wikia at some point.

Do we got goblins in scape?

In some form, probably.

Ahh, it's because, I suddenly realized, I am terribly fond of Goblins, and I thought of portraying them in a cool manner, while retaining that charm, to me at least, that RS has given them, tell me 3mpty, would it be too crazy to have something like a goblin city/arena in the sea of clouds?

I hadn't really intended for much to be on the Cloud Sea...

Also, I wouldn't describe goblins as charming...

Weird, there's something about them that I like about them, also, I mean charming as in sympathetic. And, well, why waste such a cool place like the Sea of Clouds by not adding things?

Because it's a sea... of clouds...

Where there is wood that can float on it, c'mon, it'd be a waste of a really cool place

It would ruin what's really cool about it if it was populated. People don't live at sea; beyond boats, that is.

Ok :'(

I'll consider it. There will likely be at least one or two settlements, but they'll more than likely be connected to the shore.

For me, part of the appeal of the ocean (and in this instance, the cloud sea) is that it's vast and empty; and the appearance of civilization overflowing the landspace, but ultimately never leaving it.

Particularly the Cloud Sea though: you can't have too much on it, or people will see it. Above the clouds is suppose to be unknown to the world below.

Wasn't there a station in the middle for that complex method of transportation?