[Durzo]

Bonjour good folks,

How goes it?

Just a few suggestions here for ye olde PvM.

I suppose currently there exists a fairly large PvP scene on IN; which I'm all for (once I get back into the swing of things and start practising my PvP again), however, I quite enjoy PvM and all of the things it brings. Though I feel there could be a few things that come into play (and believe me I know some of these things would be fairly large undertakings for the scripters here) to make this a bit more fun.

I'm not entirely sure what the stance is on having a comprehensive system of uniques/artifacts that will drop with a very low % chance on all monsters, but I feel that it could add much more of an incentive for people to hunt monsters, to form massive groups to go and kill very highly rated monsters; for the chance of 'Greater Artifacts' or some such. I would propose there being 3-6 tiers of uniques/artifacts to keep it interesting, with the highest level having a small number (4 or so) of possible uniques/artifacts which would probably be non-weapon based so as not to have some ridiculously overpowered weapon (though if their were a lot of arti/uni weapons that added stats boosts, it might be able to level out the playing field if it came to melee etc). I know Silver weapons exist; but frankly I get a little dismayed knowing that there aren’t too many ‘drops’ to look forward to. I know this is the nature of IN, the hard grind (mostly for crafters) to the top – but I feel that my proposition below is something that could add a great amount of diversity and excitement in the world.

My proposal would be thus:

All of the various monsters around the land would be defined by level. The creatures could be ranked somewhat like this, with all various levels marked by example creatures and the corresponding unique levels that they could drop.

• Level 0: Mongbat -- No chance of uni/arti drop
  Level 1: Zombie -- Level 1 uni/arti drop
  Level 2: Ettin -- Level 2 uni/arti drop
  Level 3: Ettin Lord -- Level 3 uni/arti drop
  Level 4: Drake -- Level 3 or 4 uni/arti drop
  Level 5: Dragon -- Level 4 or 5 uni/arti drop
  Level 6: Balron -- Level 4, 5 or 6 uni/arti drop
  Level 7: Ancient Wyrm -- Level 5 or 6 uni/arti drop
  Level 8+ (I'd say 10-12 levels max on creatures -- most of these would have to be newly created monsters which really take a team of 10+ people to defeat, the only difference here being that there will be a very slightly higher % chance of these monsters dropping a unique)
  

Unique/Artifact Ideas:
If they were to drop, what would they be? I think a lot of imagination (ha) could go into the creation of these and the various benefits they would have for players, both in a PvP/PvM context. I imagine lower ranking uniques might be armour/weapons that add small stats boosts, or some kind of additional benefit that you can’t get off anything else. More highly levelled uni/artis perhaps could be items of jewellery that provide HP/Mana regen properties. There could be a push towards newer creature creations that are of a certain ‘type’. E.g. Lizard/Serpent/Dragon but different; each of these classes could have a set of unique weapons, levels 1-6 that provide a higher amount of damage inflicted on these creature types. Much like we have with certain craftables already.

Some examples I have off hand:

• Element based weapons/armour: You could go to town with this and have a whole set of fire/water/earth/lightning weapons/armour. Where weapons have a 1/x chance of dealing additional elemental damage when striking. The armours could perhaps give resistances to elements (if possible).
  
  E.g. ‘Kryss of Lightning’ – a faster, specially coloured (but lower damage) kryss that has a 1/40 chance of striking down with a bolt of lightning, dealing additional damage to a foe. I know this is predominantly an effect that can be scripted, rather than it actually casting lightning.
  
  Special staves; perhaps staves with charges (like wands) but with the ability to be reloaded. These would be highly damaging weapons that would encourage a mix of melee/magic outside of the normal style. (I can see these being overpowered if not set appropriately) – it could encourage RP as well. More mage guilds etc.
  
  E.g. Ancient Fossilised Staff, +5% to magic, +10 to intelligence, 15 charges energy bolt (re-loadable with charges of energy bolt – perhaps 5 scrolls counts as one recharge for a staff?)
  
  HP/Mana regeneration items. These would be suited for level 5-6 I would say with a maximum of 1-2 of either type (e.g. 1 mana & 1 hp only, or 2 mana, or 2 hp). The regen level would not be massive, but it would definitely be beneficial. If PvP’ers were brave enough to equip something so rare in a fight, then it’d really add some interest in that sphere too.
  
  E.g. Ring of Life: A ring that when equipped will add +2 to strength, and +10 to max hp, with a regeneration rate of 2hp every 5 seconds.
  
  I also think it might be possible that, on level 9-10 monsters only that there will be a 1/2500 chance (maybe more) that something like a rare dye tubs could drop. Or for a lesser 1/x chance, custom skill books (perhaps random skills). Maybe directions to a rare mount location, or whatever can be thought of!
  

Though I’ve listed mainly weapons/armour/combat items – there could be many more items that would serve a non-combat purpose. (Things to boost crafting skills while equipped?) This could also lead to a craft overhaul, new craftables only reachable with 110+ skill, with a diverse number of options. This could lead to greater competition between the craft guilds. These would have to be insanely rare; and be able to give an edge to any of the crafters world wide who want to be legendarily renowned. To add to this; perhaps there could be a set of staves that are only available with 120% carp/120% tink, so the person in question would have to acquire 3-4 of these ‘craft boosters’ in order to start making these.

All in all, if the % remains low enough, the market/world will not become too saturated, and if the diversity of items was great enough this would diminish even further.

Second proposal:
A level system for players!

Whereby, experience points are gained in a similar vein to fame/karma, and players level up for some form of benefit, (e.g. +1% to a few combat skills with a max of 15 total say? Or even boosting the stat cap to a max of 15-20) Obviously the harder (or higher level) creature that is killed provides higher exp points.

E.g. Level 0 = 2 points, Level 1 = 4 points, with level 10 providing around 200-250 points.

Proposed level up times could be: From level 0 to 1 = 500 points, then 1000 points, 1500, 3000, 5000, 10000 etc.

This could also lead to a certain small zone being designated where uni/arti drops are more common (not by much). This would mean there would be an uprising in PK guilds/Anti-PK guilds and give them a real reason to jostle for position. To prevent the other guilds from getting superior equipment, or even to ambush them on a hunting trip in the off-chance they have found unis.

Third Proposal:
Familiars/War Beasts for hunting/PvPing

Custom creatures that can level up (and not just with the basic skills they have already) and aid in PvM/PvP might add a fair flavour to the shard. I’m not talking about simply training a dragon and making it mighty (although this can work!). I’m talking about a set of creatures which start as level 1, and have various different abilities (I wasn’t going for a Pokemon allusion here…but eh), highly skilled melee/hand-to-hand or mages, or a mix of the two, or ‘bombers’, casting explode or using powerful explosion pots, poisoners, the list goes on…

My proposal is that these are buyable from stones, and trainable in a different way than normal creatures. I.e. they could level up in the same manner as players could (as per my other proposal), you could select which skills they could have, which would affect the uses they have in various hunting. I’d say if the idea of ‘familiar’ was introduced, the stats and skills (irrespective of the form they take) would all be balanced at level 1 with the trainer having the option to send them down a various route of training. More-so, I think that people could only ever buy one. With the ability to resurrect the creature at a specially set up ‘vet’ for a high cost. Perhaps the creature would shrink and automatically go to your pack when it dies, or is ‘tele’d’ away and you can get it back from the vet. The higher level the creature is, the more it would cost to get back and so forth.

Just some ideas I’m throwing around; I realise that this would be a huge project, but for me, these are a few things which would really mix things up and make Imagine Nation an even better place than it already is. In my head great measures would have to be taken to have everything perfectly balanced.

Cheers guys & please feel free to discuss/disagree/input whatever you like towards this.

- Durzo

[BenSa]

tumb up for this, right now there is only shitty drop on the server.. Vanq is to easy to get and so on ... but that high levels monsters here we got how much does they realy give? do u get + on to hunt one of those down ? i dont think so , cos u use alot of manas and scrolls and so on ... take that *10 and u lose alot of cash in that group. I mean those high level monster need to drop more gold or more Uniq shit if it will be worth to kill it even .

[Raziel_]

I dont like those aos and over artifacts! the idea of elemental items is away from the server proposal.. i'd like to see some decoration or more craftables though, but not elementals... though i'd love the idea of level up so i can get more powerfull that would ruin pvp IMO(though i dont pvp it makes the shard and economy run..)

[Hiraku]

i'm afraid for you man, for the time you wasted writing all that stuff
it won't ever be considered...

i also purposed something like that, so i'll anyway THUMB UP for your idea.

[Habibi Jones]

Yep, things like this get proposed frequently
Items with real advantage need to be added (mana regen) in order promote fighting. People will be all over you if you are wearing an expensive mana regen item.

[Lags]

People like to ***** at the idea of having things like mana regen items because "item based PvP sucks". I think having items that make you more powerful in PvP are actually a good thing because people are going to try to kill you even harder, and if they do, THEY get the cool item and can use it making PvP more exciting. Hell, if you kill someone now what are you going to get? Some cheap armor, a cheap weapon, a couple potions and reagents. Not really worth getting excited over.

Not to mention having rare items that are actually useful in monster loot makes hunting a hell of a lot more interesting.

[Durzo]

I would have imagined some spin on all of this will have been submitted before; I'd just like to use this as a way of trying to see if anything in this vein would be possible or considered.

All of my examples are essentially things off the top of my head which could add some level of dynamic play, or incentive for PvM to be enriched. See, it's one thing for PKers/PvPers to form 5+ gank squads and repeat that ad nauseum, but with what reward? At the most, if a blue knows there is a group of reds around, if he and a friend get the courage to go and face them...as Lags mentioned they are going to be wearing something like old copper, take a minimum amount of pots/scrolls and just see what they can do. While this can be fun, the incentive back and forth won't be as high -- loot is a big thing, it makes the economy turn and keeps PKers happy, more-so if the value of the loot is raised.

With the injection of more magical/prized items into the world I think it would necessitate a change in the style everyone adheres to. If PKs/PvPers wore the best stuff their death would be much worse for them. It would encourage the less experienced players to get out and try to take someone down purely for the reason of loot. It would also make the PKs much more aware of the consequence of their own death. Essentially I think this could lead to some interesting/tense situations.

Raziel, in what way would it ruin PvP? If anything PKs/PvPers would now PvM a lot more in order to keep up with each other, they would constantly be fighting for position. Besides, levelling up would not provide you with an invulnerability -- the same rules would still apply. It's all about a subtle edge, rather than something being over-powered.

At the same time; I'd like this more to be a discussion of what would be feasible rather than what I've stated. I'm merely throwing the ideas out, perhaps through this we could whittle/finely-hone an idea that might more easily be considered.

Not meaning to condemn anything here; it's just a 'blandness' that I see, or that I feel when I am hunting. Knowing that each time, the only thing that is going to drop is gold + gems + scrolls + possible treasure map etc. Then knowing that outside of this is PvP, where-by in the field it depends on how many blues/reds are in one place at one time (for the most part), and who the victors are.

Also, did anyone have any thoughts of monsters/familiars being more involved in a PvM/PvP context? I can see how PK'ers could gank a high level creature at huge personal expense to the owner, but I think things could be put in place to prevent this. For example a creature could have 10 magic reflections on it, so that ganking isn't an option straight away. Again, just throwing little things out there to promote discussion.

[tranith]

+1, got my vote.

but it seems no matter the Suggestions, anything over complicated like this, just gets over looked...

Been here a month and iv only seen a small hand full of suggestions get implemented.

but this is a great idea.
goes with the other thread about monster loots, this one seems to have a bit more thought atleast, or you just copy pasted something from another forum, LMAO either way, i think its a great suggestion.
Get's the ball rolling anyways.

[Azzo]

It takes a while for suggestions to get implemented, I'm pretty sure staff are doing their best to deal with what they can in the time they have.

For what it's worth I suggested something similar to this but not nearly as well detailed, so this gets my wish for inclusion! Something tangible, beyond gold, for a reason to pvm would be nice.