Asherons Call: More on Creature Balancing from Orion

[i]What are we rebalancing?

Creature Defenses (Melee, Missile and Magic Defense) These are going up or down as needed to fit in with the new level schemes and expected player skills, skill sets, equipment, and spell access a for the given level breaks. A statement that the most affected skill across the board is Missile Defense does not mean that it is the only skill being touched.

Creature Offenses (Melee, Missile, and Magic Skills) These are going up or down as needed to fit with the new level schemes and expected player skills, skill sets, equipment and spell access for the given level breaks. A statement that many creatures will see an increase in their melee skill so as to make melee defense more worthwhile, or that magic skills will drop to give legitimacy to magic defense are equally valid statements.

Creature Abilities (Shield Hollow, Resistances, Spells) These are being removed, tweaked or otherwise adjusted to bring creatures more in-line with the level breaks where they are located. A statement saying that there will be more uniform use of spell levels in a given level break area is as valid as saying that some creatures may lose their shield hollow while seeing an increase in either damage or skill, or both.

Creature Level and Experience (Self-Explanatory) These are being adjusted to better show difficulty of the creature and risk vs. reward of the creature. If a creature is meant for a group of characters to fight (VoD) there may be an increased experience value. If the creatures cast spells there may be an increased experience value. If the creatures are hollow, there may be an increased experience value. There are several hundred more statements that can be valid along these lines of thinking. Level will be moved down in nearly all cases to reflect the relative difficulty that the creature now represents. The level difference is going to be great enough, we believe, that it will still allow characters to hunt the creature for experience that is relevant to their level and their skills, skill set, equipment and spell access.

Goals (In no particular order):

Provide landscape hunting that is engaging fun and dangerous.

Provide players that wish to solo a more easily understood level ranking systems.

Provide non-uber template players with the same ability to level as those that took the quicker path to power.

Provide the ability to players to earn greater rewards through grouping with one another to tackle content that is slightly more advanced than they are with a better risk vs. reward ratio.

Achieve a modicum of balance between the different character types whil adhering to the ideals that Asheron's Call has become known. (Soloable content, with some content that is geared toward eaither Archers/Melees/Mages.)

Explain why this has happened.

As you can see we have very lofty goals. Will we achieve them. I truly hope so. There are some creatures that are in their final states now. Not all of them mind you and even some of the new ones are getting tweaked to make more sense.

Hope that answers your question mostdeadly, and several others that people might have.

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