Devblog: New Combat Mechanics 2017-10-12 16:00 - [Flatops]

What's Going On With AP and MP Removal?

First of all, Hypermovement, Hyperaction, removal percentages, and resistance to AP and MP loss are all disappearing. Actually, all these characteristics are being merged into a single one: Force of Will (provisional name). Force of Will quite simply allows you to increase your chances of removing AP or MP from your target, and in return, to reduce the risk of you losing any.

This is the new AP or MP removal formula:

• Value to be removed = (removal value) * 0.5 * (Force of Will factor)
• Force of Will factor = 1 + (caster's Force of Will / 100) - (target's Force of Will / 100)
• The Force of Will factor can be between 0 and 2

If this value to be removed is not a round number (e.g. 2.34 AP to be removed), the following rule is applied:

• 34% chance of removing 3 AP
• 66% chance of removing 2 AP

Once the AP have been lost, the target gains Force of Will relative to the AP lost.

• Per AP actually lost = 10 Force of Will gained
• The amount of Force of Will gained is lost at the end of the target's turn

This means that when the caster's and the target's Force of Will is equal, the caster will remove 50% of the removal value. Having 100 additional Force of Will will ensure the caster a complete removal. Having 100 less Force of Will will result in no removal.

It should be noted that bosses will now have their own mechanic: every 15 removals suffered, the boss will become immune to removals for 1 turn. So, you'll need to make sure you're properly organized to weaken the boss at the right time!
 

What Possibilities Does the New System Unlock?

This new system of AP and MP removal has been designed in such a way as to be applied throughout the game. Overall, removals will have a greater impact while being clearer: now there's only a single characteristic that influences them, namely Force of Will. Consequently, many strategic combat elements will need to change.

In both PVP and PVM, the system will be more reliable and will allow for real micro-decisions with a greater impact in combat. Since the target's Force of Will increases after each removal, it is more difficult to remove both AP and MP from the target during the same turn. Moreover, the target will have greater Force of Will during their next game turn, so more powerful removals.

All this has allowed us to bring about another major change: collisions.

New Collisions

Each collision now makes the target(s) lose 1 AP! Therefore, if target A is pushed back against target B, the latter will also lose 1 AP. This effect occurs after any collision, regardless of how many cells are traveled.

Collisions are caused by pushback effects. However, other forms of "slide" movement (e.g. attraction, moving closer to or further away from the target) never cause a collision.

In this context, all (or nearly all) in-game pushback spells gain the possibility of removing 1 AP. Fear not, Masqueraider friends: There have been several adjustments made to the class so that its members won't be left at a disadvantage in their Air-style gameplay. For example, their collision spells won't remove AP from their double, and vice versa.
 

Low-Level Healing

This is a change we had wanted to make for a long time. While reviewing the game's basics in Incarnam and Astrub, we realized that low-level healing spells were very weak, and the number of health points regenerated was too low relative to players' maximum health points, especially when taking damage inflicted by monsters into account.

Since the values were far too low for healing class beginners, we have multiplied their healing basis by four: the difference will barely be noticeable at high levels, but a new player will heal themself up to four times as quickly!

That should be enough to make anyone want to (re)discover the game as a healer!

Moreover, we've standardized how sidekick healing is handled. Their spells will have the same healing value as a normal class, but their abilities will provide an additional bonus of 30% to heals performed, so that they remain competitive.

Minor Adjustments to the Classes

In conclusion, alongside all these changes, certain adjustments have been made to all the classes. You'll find more details in the changelog.

All these global modifications will allow the class balancing process to continue. Not everything's quite perfect just for the moment, but we have been able to make a certain number of improvements. Class balancing is our underlying theme, and we'll be coming back to it in the future.