05-05-2004, 05:41 AM
Let's talk "What else should get fixed?"
KARIK'S RING / OVERLORD'S HELM : Replaced -MAG attribute with -MANA to improve usability. Previously, Barbarian needed +MAG items to use either of these. That was stupid. Very, very stupid.
GIANT'S KNUCKLE (+60 STR, -30 DEX, uni pic) is a concern from a usability standpoint. -30 DEX = -15% ToHit and a severe blow to blocking. So, I ask (1) would you ever use this? and (2) if not, what curse would suitably offset the large str bonus?
GOLEM : Can give him resists. Yes/no?
CRIMSON: This affix name exists twice. One of the affix names is now "Burgundy." Yay for variety.
UNDOCUMENTED ITEM : I replaced Gladiator's Ring with "Flayed Wirthide," a qlvl 20 unique Robe with the following statistics: -30 DEX, Peril, +100 HPs, +250% AC, Indestructible, Unique Picture. This exists in the current release of HFF. You may have found it. It's bizarre. I once found it from Wirtistopheles himself -- apropos!
AMULET OF WARDING : This item is horrible! Qlvl 20 grants you perfect obsidian, but removes 100 life points. Now, characters that need 40% resistance are low level characters, and they surely don't have the HPs to spare. Rogues, Bards, and Monks certainly not. Warriors would be dropped to some ungodly lowdigit number. Barbarian might survive it, but his natural resistance ensures he'd never be so desperate for resists he'd resort to this item. And on a Mage? Instant lich. WHO designed this thing?!
Concept for a new Amulet of Warding : Mana steal amulet with severe defense penalties. 5% mana steal, -25% to -45% resist all, -25 dex, unique picture. This item finally furnishes the Monk with mana steal, and hasted mana steal for him, Warrior, or Barb. My only concern is whether the allure of mana steal is so great this would become a staple item.
Most monsters gained at least one extra possible dlvl in their appearance range. This adds more possible monster mixes, though not many more. I personally think it makes things at little more interesting. The seed sizes were modified for similar reasons: Bat size was much too small, and Skullwing/Bone Demon size was unreasonably big! This should even things out a bit.
Additionally, damages for Gravedigger (2-12) and Flesh Thing (12-18) are far too low for their area. I'm giving these a bump. (Annoying Flesh Thing sound effect has been removed as well.)
TABLE : Monster Breakup
I made up this table because I was pondering the redundancy of the dungeon. Namely, how many monsters the each area has, and what quantity of those monsters are simply repetitions of other base types (e.g. Fallens and Carvers). Interestingly, while Hive and Crypt have comparatively fewer monsters in total, most of the monster types found therein are not simply repetitions of other critters. Even so, from a gameplay standpoint I find the areas somewhat lacking in variety.
With respect to the Crypt, I'm open to suggestions about improving the monster mixes. There are 16 unused monster slots available, which means I can make up to 16 new monsters without overwriting old ones. So, of course, the question is (1) Should I? and (2) If you think so, what would you like to see? It could be something very simple, like a second type of Biclops, Crypt Demon, whatever; or it could be something with a bit more freshness, like a creature that uses Leoric or Butcher's animations; or more Knights, Snakes, magical attackers; "Shredded" type would be very Crypt-appropriate; whatever.
HIVE CHANGES
I'm removing Hork Spawn, because they're just about as worthless as any monster can get. If pumpkins with teeth weren't crappy monsters as it were, their related soundset bloody sucks. They even /sound/ like pumpkins when you smash 'em. Ugh. CRAP monster. Just CRAP.
I quite hate the Hive. I don't even play it in HF:F. Would anyone like to see it /completely/ revamped? Namely, I think it would benefit if it were made at least as challenging as Hell. A second "Caves"-level difficulty area has never made sense to me. So, options abound here. The monsters could be made more buff individually to be on par with Hell. I'd like that, myself.
Alternatively, as I suggested for Crypt above, Hive could gain a few new monsters -- or replace old, crappy ones. In particular, I very much dislike Stingers and Venom Tails. I consider them about as worthwhile as Hork Spawn. They're not gothic. (But neither is the Hive, really. Hm...)
VISUAL CHANGES :
I'm not satisfied with Tomb Rat's graphic. It's too toonish. Would anyone else prefer Scavenger or Spitter graphics here?
AFFIXES :
-ToHit% affixes are broken. They cause a rollover to values in the range of 65535. In lieu of leaving this be, I think this is a prime opportunity to throw in some fun cursed affixes. BNMs wouldn't suffer from -ToHit affixes, and BNR/Ws won't even use the things, so there's no point in fixing it. Similarly, Fragility and Brittleness don't hinder BNs at all. Thus:
The range on the -Magic and -Mana equipment is extreme, so speak up if it bothers you.
Next, ol' Sierra added a few new affixes for us. Yes, yes, they did. Nobody uses them. No, no, they don't. Because qlvl 1 affixes can't combine with ANYTHING useful! So, here's what I was thinking:
(Who uses Gore and Carnage anyway?)
I considered "of the Ages" effect from "Indestructible" to "Fastblock." For anti-morph purposes, qlvl and base type occurence would not change. (So, it'd still be qlvl 25 and appear on armor, helm, shields, weapons, and staves.) Now, this is a /weird/ change, but I'd justify it on the following grounds: it'd make the enchantment useful to /somebody/, namely the Rogue. She'd no longer be stuck using SS or HD for fastblock, which opens up some interesting potential equipment setups.
Thoughts do me no good in your head. Comment!
-Lemmy
KARIK'S RING / OVERLORD'S HELM : Replaced -MAG attribute with -MANA to improve usability. Previously, Barbarian needed +MAG items to use either of these. That was stupid. Very, very stupid.
GIANT'S KNUCKLE (+60 STR, -30 DEX, uni pic) is a concern from a usability standpoint. -30 DEX = -15% ToHit and a severe blow to blocking. So, I ask (1) would you ever use this? and (2) if not, what curse would suitably offset the large str bonus?
GOLEM : Can give him resists. Yes/no?
CRIMSON: This affix name exists twice. One of the affix names is now "Burgundy." Yay for variety.
UNDOCUMENTED ITEM : I replaced Gladiator's Ring with "Flayed Wirthide," a qlvl 20 unique Robe with the following statistics: -30 DEX, Peril, +100 HPs, +250% AC, Indestructible, Unique Picture. This exists in the current release of HFF. You may have found it. It's bizarre. I once found it from Wirtistopheles himself -- apropos!
AMULET OF WARDING : This item is horrible! Qlvl 20 grants you perfect obsidian, but removes 100 life points. Now, characters that need 40% resistance are low level characters, and they surely don't have the HPs to spare. Rogues, Bards, and Monks certainly not. Warriors would be dropped to some ungodly lowdigit number. Barbarian might survive it, but his natural resistance ensures he'd never be so desperate for resists he'd resort to this item. And on a Mage? Instant lich. WHO designed this thing?!
Concept for a new Amulet of Warding : Mana steal amulet with severe defense penalties. 5% mana steal, -25% to -45% resist all, -25 dex, unique picture. This item finally furnishes the Monk with mana steal, and hasted mana steal for him, Warrior, or Barb. My only concern is whether the allure of mana steal is so great this would become a staple item.
Code:
NAME DLVL NEW.DLVL SIZE NEW.SIZE
Satyr Lord C1-C2 C1-C3 ---- ----
Devil Kin Brute C1-C2 C1-C3
Gravedigger C1-C1 C1-C2 ---- ----
Firebat C1-C2 ----- 550 800
Skullwing C1-C2 C1-C3 1740 800
Lich C1-C2 C1-C3 ---- ----
Crypt Demon C2-C3 C1-C4 ---- ----
Hellbat C3-C4 C2-C4 ---- ----
Bone Demon C3-C4 C2-C4 1740 800
Arch Lich C3-C4 C2-C4 ---- ----
Biclops C3-C4 C1-C4 ---- ----
Flesh Thing C3-C4 C2-C4 ---- ----
Reaper C3-C4 C2-C4 ---- ----
(This stuff is formatted much nicer in my text file. Grr.)Most monsters gained at least one extra possible dlvl in their appearance range. This adds more possible monster mixes, though not many more. I personally think it makes things at little more interesting. The seed sizes were modified for similar reasons: Bat size was much too small, and Skullwing/Bone Demon size was unreasonably big! This should even things out a bit.
Additionally, damages for Gravedigger (2-12) and Flesh Thing (12-18) are far too low for their area. I'm giving these a bump. (Annoying Flesh Thing sound effect has been removed as well.)
TABLE : Monster Breakup
Code:
AREA # of Different Monsters* # of Distinct Types**
Church 34 07
Cats 34 13
Caves 31 12
Hell 22 07
Hive 12 10
Crypt 14 12
*Special boss types (e.g. Butcher) not counted.
**Monsters using the same graphic are of a distinct type. Alternate weaponry still counts as one type.I made up this table because I was pondering the redundancy of the dungeon. Namely, how many monsters the each area has, and what quantity of those monsters are simply repetitions of other base types (e.g. Fallens and Carvers). Interestingly, while Hive and Crypt have comparatively fewer monsters in total, most of the monster types found therein are not simply repetitions of other critters. Even so, from a gameplay standpoint I find the areas somewhat lacking in variety.
With respect to the Crypt, I'm open to suggestions about improving the monster mixes. There are 16 unused monster slots available, which means I can make up to 16 new monsters without overwriting old ones. So, of course, the question is (1) Should I? and (2) If you think so, what would you like to see? It could be something very simple, like a second type of Biclops, Crypt Demon, whatever; or it could be something with a bit more freshness, like a creature that uses Leoric or Butcher's animations; or more Knights, Snakes, magical attackers; "Shredded" type would be very Crypt-appropriate; whatever.
HIVE CHANGES
I'm removing Hork Spawn, because they're just about as worthless as any monster can get. If pumpkins with teeth weren't crappy monsters as it were, their related soundset bloody sucks. They even /sound/ like pumpkins when you smash 'em. Ugh. CRAP monster. Just CRAP.
I quite hate the Hive. I don't even play it in HF:F. Would anyone like to see it /completely/ revamped? Namely, I think it would benefit if it were made at least as challenging as Hell. A second "Caves"-level difficulty area has never made sense to me. So, options abound here. The monsters could be made more buff individually to be on par with Hell. I'd like that, myself.
Alternatively, as I suggested for Crypt above, Hive could gain a few new monsters -- or replace old, crappy ones. In particular, I very much dislike Stingers and Venom Tails. I consider them about as worthwhile as Hork Spawn. They're not gothic. (But neither is the Hive, really. Hm...)
VISUAL CHANGES :
I'm not satisfied with Tomb Rat's graphic. It's too toonish. Would anyone else prefer Scavenger or Spitter graphics here?
AFFIXES :
-ToHit% affixes are broken. They cause a rollover to values in the range of 65535. In lieu of leaving this be, I think this is a prime opportunity to throw in some fun cursed affixes. BNMs wouldn't suffer from -ToHit affixes, and BNR/Ws won't even use the things, so there's no point in fixing it. Similarly, Fragility and Brittleness don't hinder BNs at all. Thus:
Code:
OLD
pos name range qlvl effect
(Prefix)
0 Tin 6- 10 3 -% To Hit
1 Brass 1- 5 1 -% To Hit
24 Clumsy 50- 75 5 -% To Hit, -% damage done
25 Dull 25- 45 1 -% To Hit, -% damage done
(Suffix)
58 fragility 100-100 3 -% durability (decreased durability)
59 brittleness 26- 75 1 -% durability (decreased durability)
NEW
pos name range qlvl effect
(Prefix)
0 BNM's 30-100 3 - mana
1 [NoNameYet] 30- 30 1 - mana
24 [NoNameYet] 0- 0 5 constantly lose life
25 Dull 25- 45 1 - magic
(Suffix)
58 amnesia -2- -2 3 +/- spell levels
59 stunlock 50- 50 1 move mana to lifeThe range on the -Magic and -Mana equipment is extreme, so speak up if it bothers you.
Next, ol' Sierra added a few new affixes for us. Yes, yes, they did. Nobody uses them. No, no, they don't. Because qlvl 1 affixes can't combine with ANYTHING useful! So, here's what I was thinking:
Code:
OLD
pos name range qlvl effect
(Suffix)
3 gore 9- 12 25 + damage done
4 carnage 13- 16 35 + damage done
NEW
pos name range qlvl effect
(Suffix)
3 devastation 1- 1 25 5% chance of doing *3 damage
4 devastation 1- 1 35 5% chance of doing *3 damage(Who uses Gore and Carnage anyway?)
I considered "of the Ages" effect from "Indestructible" to "Fastblock." For anti-morph purposes, qlvl and base type occurence would not change. (So, it'd still be qlvl 25 and appear on armor, helm, shields, weapons, and staves.) Now, this is a /weird/ change, but I'd justify it on the following grounds: it'd make the enchantment useful to /somebody/, namely the Rogue. She'd no longer be stuck using SS or HD for fastblock, which opens up some interesting potential equipment setups.
Thoughts do me no good in your head. Comment!
-Lemmy