PlaneShift

Gameplay => General Discussion => Topic started by: Symasta on April 14, 2010, 08:45:23 pm

Title: Using magic against NPCs
Post by: Symasta on April 14, 2010, 08:45:23 pm
Hey there,
I don't come to the forums often but now read a little about magic but still want to start a discussion about it under a new aspect.
I have been away for a while and returned, now trying to do some training so I can make a roleplay story out of my absence. In order for that I need some progress in my characters skills. (As you can't degrade them yet...). Part of that was my idea to train one magic way to a very high level.
Now for that I have done alot of spell casting on the dlayos, and as the spell happens to attack more than one target, I could kill all 5 of them at one time.
Now I have to say:
First: It is really boring and not enjoyable, but I wanted to follow my plan.
Second: It only works thanks to sleep Glyph which I think is the first issue of magic: It is far to good for being realm one, on the other hand the only chance to enable someone to fight more than 3-5 opponents without drinking lots of mana potions.
Third: I am neither proud of it nor do I like it, but I fight the dlayos standing on the wall, never in danger to die.

That leads me to my issue:
I asked a gm to reinstate 3 dlayos as they were missing, the answer was that he could, but wouldn't as I was not fighting fair.
Now I do not want to complain about that, I can fully understand this action and might have done it the same way.
But my problem is:
At this stage of the game, how are you to use magic?
If you do not have a drifter, you can not use magic really running around as far as I know.
And with a drifter: What is the point??? Have you ever seen a game(finished game you bought) where the mage will shoot, run 10 times faster than the opponent to the other side of the "football field" to quote Marqsaynt (http://www.hydlaaplaza.com/smf/index.php?topic=35736.0) and cast another spell, running again.
That makes magic just senseless I'd say. Especially as there are only opponents that either kill you with one hit, or that you kill with one hit.
Quote from: a player with very high skills
I have to 1hit the dlayos, otherwise the lag kills me.
Same applies for sword fighting.

Now, if it wasn't for my plan, I would not fight the dlayos that way the whole time. But if I (or my character) was wanting to fight them, I would probably do something in that direction, as I OOOcly do not see a difference between standing on a wall, unreachable, and fighting in the pit, able to get far away within seconds. So how are we to use magic?
If you want to 1hit kill with magic you need to get yourself into a gm-event and get a lava glyph, or water, or something like that. Otherwise you will fail. I do not have an answer, but maybe we need to get away from one-hit-kills (they are unrealistic anyways). But that would require a far better fighting system, which I believe, has not the highest priority atm.
I am really interested in responses...
Title: Re: Using magic against NPCs
Post by: Rigwyn on April 14, 2010, 09:08:26 pm
I brought up the point once before ( in fact It was the first post I ever made ) and it ended up getting deleted.

In sum, this is what I took from the discussion:

You may not EXPLOIT the game, however I think it is fair to use terrain to your advantage.

If I stand behind an obstacle that an npc SHOULD be able to get around/past and attack him until he dies, then I am exploiting the game. The only reason why the NPC could not fight back in this case is because of some limitation to the game mechanics.

If I stand up on a high wall and shoot down at a creature and I am well out of reach then that might be a little different.

However.. Think about it from the enemy's perspective.
If you were a dlyao and you saw your brothers getting pelted to death by a weak magic user on a wall, what would you do ?
Would you stand there and wait to die or would you run out the the arena, go up the stairs, and destroy him ?

At some point you need to be reasonable.

Now, if a GM said that what you were doing was unfair or cheating then go by what he or she said. You could also ask them for clarification or advice on how to avoid exploiting the game while taking advantage of the terrain.

This is just my opinion.

One last point: This is a role playing game ( if you play on laanx ) , not a smash and bash game like doom or quake... ( or whatever today's equivalent is )

Some more thoughts about this:

Think about what would you do if you were actually in this situation. Imagine If you were a mage and perhaps lacked the brawn to wear heavy plate mail armor. Would you throw yourself into a pit of remarkably well trained gladiators knowing that you could not fend them off on your own given the time it takes to cast ? Hell no !

Would you just slump over and give up and perhaps earn a living as a basket weaver ? No way.

If it were me, I might try some of these options:

1. Get a a partner who can go toe to toe with the beast and attack it from a safe distance. Yes, basically using your friend as a meat sheild. He will gain armor training so it good for both players.

2. Team up with other magic users, surround it, and take turns attacking. ( Haven't tried this yet )

3. Beef up your armor skill so you can withstand the blows ( this is not possible for all critters )

4. Perhaps learn some sort of stun type spell ( I think dazzling light is supposed to do this ... not sure , don't use it )

5. I think its fair to run though the arena and *loose* the npc..... then hunt him down when healed...  as long as your not doing something like getting the npc snagged on a barrel or some other object.

This is really a grey issue since fair use of terrain and game exploitation based on game limitations overlap. It might be best to just use good judgment and avoid looking for a black and white answer.

Well, thats my 2 cents .. er eh .. tria.
Title: Re: Using magic against NPCs
Post by: Earowo on April 15, 2010, 01:16:02 am
3. Beef up your armor skill so you can withstand the blows ( this is not possible for all critters )
thats the thing about dlayos, even with 100 Heavy armor, and full 50Q armor
they do over 1000 damage with one weapon, not that the duel wield and are hitting with both hands so thats 2000 damage every time they throw an attack at you, 1800 at the least, about 2200 at most for what i've seen, this is in no way realistic to me, back in 4.03 they did about 500-600 damage per throw they went at you, basically 250-300 per hand, and you could actually fight em duel style, But NOW, they will kill you one hit NO MATTER WHAT, and with how screwy the fighting system gets with the arena lag, its almost impossible to avoid them.
I DEMAND THE DLAYOS ARE FIXED
and on that note, if our weapon skills can only go to 100-150 [depending on weapon]
Why the Hell should a monster get to go higher then us?, i can understand somthing bulky like an ulbernuat, but when itsa player modle based monster, they should NOT be able to have higher skills then a maxed player..
Title: Re: Using magic against NPCs
Post by: Rigwyn on April 15, 2010, 01:31:15 am
Why shouldn't they be more skilled than a player ?

Are we that high and mighty that nobody can defeat us ?
Not even the hydlaa guards ?


A do agree though that one shotting makes the fight no fun. It becomes a static win/lose kinda thing

Title: Re: Using magic against NPCs
Post by: Shoraal on April 15, 2010, 01:35:11 am
...idf one takes into account that this is an RP-server, and you are already discussing "problems" of MAXED OUT chars - something that should not at all exist imho, since they are characters not demigods - obviously, some mobs are just overtly powerful...
so, unless this changes, and as this is obviously a system falure,  others such "failures" are to be used just as well imho... if one needs to make use of "tricks" to get something killed, so be it.
I guess that ight all change once balance gets implemented... far far away in the future.
Title: Re: Using magic against NPCs
Post by: Koios on April 15, 2010, 01:50:03 am
When ranged combat gets implemented I do wonder on this given situation:

Hydlaa is being attacked by.. some monster / evil things or whatnot. We go Tolkien / Medieval style, barricade the entrances with spearmen etc and have archers on the wall and in the area behind the wall.
We've all seen the movies, many of us have even had archery as a hobby some time in our lives. Where is the realism in saying that "No, you can't shoot someone from the other side of the wall, or from the top of the wall. It's not fair to them."?
I agree, it's not fair. They didn't bring a bow. But then I say "No, you can't slice a dwarf into two equal pieces, or smash the kran into rubble in 1 swing. It's not fair to them." And it isn't, they only had a bow.
Title: Re: Using magic against NPCs
Post by: kaerli2 on April 15, 2010, 06:15:50 am
When ranged combat gets implemented I do wonder on this given situation:

Hydlaa is being attacked by.. some monster / evil things or whatnot. We go Tolkien / Medieval style, barricade the entrances with spearmen etc and have archers on the wall and in the area behind the wall.
We've all seen the movies, many of us have even had archery as a hobby some time in our lives. Where is the realism in saying that "No, you can't shoot someone from the other side of the wall, or from the top of the wall. It's not fair to them."?
I agree, it's not fair. They didn't bring a bow. But then I say "No, you can't slice a dwarf into two equal pieces, or smash the kran into rubble in 1 swing. It's not fair to them." And it isn't, they only had a bow.
Fairness isn't equality.  In other words, fairness isn't about making sure everybody gets the same thing, it's about making sure everybody gets what they need given their situation.

Quote from: Rigwyn
1. Get a a partner who can go toe to toe with the beast and attack it from a safe distance. Yes, basically using your friend as a meat sheild. He will gain armor training so it good for both players.
Ah, the whole tank/DPS/healer split.  I only rarely seen it done in PS; I've participated in one instance of this and it was complete improv at that LOL:

(this is back in 0.4.x)
Setting: akk-east, out by Jirosh's shop.  A Kran and a dwarf are attacking the Rogue there...and not making much headway w.r.t the amount of damage they are taking (the Kran was taking the bulk of the damage but not doing any at all, the dwarf was doing some damage but not enough to win the fight without some help).  So, Kaerli stands in behind them and starts dropping heals on the two; not long thereafter, the rogue slumps over, having taken one too many blows.

Quote
2. Team up with other magic users, surround it, and take turns attacking. ( Haven't tried this yet )
Possibly.  Also, dropping buffs can be of some help, it's probably possible to snag >150HP using Invigoration and Strength together.

Quote
3. Beef up your armor skill so you can withstand the blows ( this is not possible for all critters )
Indeed it is impossible for Dlayos, Onyx Daggers, and other such mobs

Quote
4. Perhaps learn some sort of stun type spell ( I think dazzling light is supposed to do this ... not sure , don't use it )
That, and Magic Sleep will be good for that once it's implemented, too.

Quote
5. I think its fair to run though the arena and *loose* the npc..... then hunt him down when healed...  as long as your not doing something like getting the npc snagged on a barrel or some other object.
Unfortunately this seems to be impossible, as the NPC seems to fall off the map after some point :O  However, on a similar note, what about ducking down some passage that the monster can't fit through?  *tries to jam an Ulber into a drainpipe*
Title: Re: Using magic against NPCs
Post by: Durgrem on April 15, 2010, 09:38:19 am
You may not EXPLOIT the game, however I think it is fair to use terrain to your advantage.

If I stand behind an obstacle that an npc SHOULD be able to get around/past and attack him until he dies, then I am exploiting the game. The only reason why the NPC could not fight back in this case is because of some limitation to the game mechanics.

If I stand up on a high wall and shoot down at a creature and I am well out of reach then that might be a little different.

However.. Think about it from the enemy's perspective.
If you were a dlyao and you saw your brothers getting pelted to death by a weak magic user on a wall, what would you do ?
Would you stand there and wait to die or would you run out the the arena, go up the stairs, and destroy him ?

At some point you need to be reasonable.

That is exactly the point. It is not really allowed to just cast magic from up a wall at Dlayos, who are intelligent enough to run to you and attack. It is right now tolerated though, because the NPCs cheat, too ( Kill by lag ;) )
This is of course an unofficial statement.

Durgrem
Title: Re: Using magic against NPCs
Post by: Bonifarzia on April 15, 2010, 01:27:28 pm



For quite a while I wondered how long it would take to read a thread about this topic here.
And as expected, the reactions are numerous. I am pleased to read about some good thoughts here, but there are some statements I cannot agree with.



About the main topic, I can understand when some GMs do not like it to see players cast magic from some save position without moving at all. But honestly, that does not make such a huge difference. Also without taking advantage of the terrain and when not riding a mount, you can hunt down just any mob safely. I would guess the technical main difference is to protect oneself against lag/ client freezes. I am glad my client runs smoothly such that i can always engage in a fair fight, still, the dlayo only have a chance to get me when i refuse to use offensive spells of any sort. But then it gets very difficult to time, such that defeating more than ten dlayo without taking a lethal hit is already a great challenge.

If you do not have a drifter, you can not use magic really running around as far as I know.
Only when using very slow spells against fast moving mobs.

Especially as there are only opponents that either kill you with one hit, or that you kill with one hit.
Dlayo, Expert Gladiator and other mobs with very high damage output usually have a rather weak defense.
Humanoid mobs seem to be a lot more offensive than animals in general. Some creatures can stand enormous amounts of hits while inflicting critical, but not always lethal damage.

So how are we to use magic? If you want to 1hit kill with magic you need to get yourself into a gm-event and get a lava glyph, or water, or something like that.
I doubt anyone will one hit kill a dlayo with such a spell, although the advantages can be outstanding. One hit kills are to be associated with close combat hunting techniques.


4. Perhaps learn some sort of stun type spell ( I think dazzling light is supposed to do this ... not sure , don't use it )

5. I think its fair to run though the arena and *loose* the npc..... then hunt him down when healed...  as long as your not doing something like getting the npc snagged on a barrel or some other object.

It would be nice indeed to have this sort of spells. Note that most (all?) attack spells do interrupt the mobs movement and that dazzling light would rather have the undesired effect to draw a lot of attention. Casting it by mistake in the dlayo pit can lead to funny situations.

It seems problems with NPCs getting  stuck at some obstacle got reduced by the fact that they try to sidestep now.

I DEMAND THE DLAYOS ARE FIXED
I remember in 0.4.3 you could simply stand next to a dlayo and and engage in combat without moving at all. I think it is much more reasonable the way it works now- apart from the well known problems with offensive magic.




Quote
2. Team up with other magic users, surround it, and take turns attacking. ( Haven't tried this yet )
Possibly.  Also, dropping buffs can be of some help, it's probably possible to snag >150HP using Invigoration and Strength together.


Indeed, it would be desired when the game mechanics would encourage team play more. However, mobs are perfect at switching targets, also when the hunters are not grouped, so you will hardly take an advantage here. Healing and buffs are nice to have, although not always useful, yet they do not really encourage teamplay either.
Title: Re: Using magic against NPCs
Post by: Symasta on April 15, 2010, 03:21:35 pm
I am happy to see so many reactions, so I figure I am not the only one with this problem.
Now talking about roleplay, I think it is nice if max lvls are not ath 1000 or anything like that, keeping it reasonable below 200 is good. Of course there will be people to exploit that, but anyways, it gives you the ability to have some knowledge in different ways.
For Example I never really trained Crystal Way, but as it is(was) THE way to heal yourself every smart character would use at least some of it, especially when getting the needed glyph on a low level quest. Now I am arround lvl 40 now, just from casting healing spells on myself and getting the pracitce from NPCs as I believe that you should improve (slowly) when using stuff often.
Now you talk about making magic fighting reasonable, using stunning spells. But all those spells start to work or even be able to trained at lvl 80 or the realm after. Now to get to 80 in magic you have to work alot, that wouldn't make sense, and now how is a mage supposed to use magic if he has only one way.
It might make sense to me, that at lvl 40 or what not, using the regular summon missile or healing spell should not give any more practice points as you have done this move a thousand times and it won't get better. Maybe you could also get better in spells when casting them often. More complex spells could give more practice points.
Or on the other hand: We once had about 15 new glyphs being sold by npcs. (Everyone who still buys glyphs, but doesn't sell anything once did)
Now if those Glyphs exist, why don'T give some out to the public so they can use them.
I just think right now you can not fight npcs that you kill luckily with weapons using any kind of magic. (And I did see someone killing dlayos (all five of them) with one spell, they lost energy for 10 seconds and then they were dead.)

To the other point of discussion here:
The dlayos are Gladiators, so they won't all attack you if you fight one of them. Ulbernauts should, though.

And further I know it is a low importance discussion, especially on the RP server, but after the post that magic has been redone so greatly...I don't know....
Title: Re: Using magic against NPCs
Post by: Sarva on April 15, 2010, 03:39:53 pm
I'll just note this. The idea of the arena is that is is a place where fighters come to engage in combat to test and improve their skills. The arena isn't really designed, or intended for ranged combat at this time. As Durgrem mentioned since some mobs are a little out of balance we are tolerating some wall killing but when the mobs are properly balanced wall magic killing isn't going to be acceptable in the arena. If you want to do that sort of thing to practice your magic then find a place out in the wilds to do it. Remember the idea and spirt of the arena is it is a place that fighters do battle with each other in the pit and some times for the entertainment of others watching form the stands. Not very entertaining watching someone standing on or behind a wall safely firing magic at a mob
Title: Re: Using magic against NPCs
Post by: Earowo on April 16, 2010, 02:38:14 am
I DEMAND THE DLAYOS ARE FIXED
I remember in 0.4.3 you could simply stand next to a dlayo and and engage in combat without moving at all. I think it is much more reasonable the way it works now- apart from the well known problems with offensive magic.
i do not beleive that can be used as a legit statement for keeping the dlayos as they are now, back in 4.03 THE ONLY TIME you could stand next to dlayos to kill them, was when the monsters are about to go impervious, the rest of the time people would duel them like any other person, thats what i miss...now with my lag i cant kill anything higher up then a tefusang,
Title: Re: Using magic against NPCs
Post by: Vakachehk on April 18, 2010, 10:01:11 am
this thread is stupid!! completely stupid!

it is like telling an archer to not stand on top of the wall and to be down in the warfare... its like dohh what do you think we are, stupid?! But I do agree Dlayos and Expert Gladiators should not get to a higher level than a player its just stupid it means that no one can be an actual hero or villain.
Title: Re: Using magic against NPCs
Post by: bloodedIrishman on April 18, 2010, 02:57:52 pm
this thread is stupid!! completely stupid!

it is like telling an archer to not stand on top of the wall and to be down in the warfare

An NPC in Planeshift does not have the ability to run up to that archer on the wall, so wall killing is unacceptable.


In a perfect Planeshift world...

A monster which a player cannot defeat (without cheating) would require a group. So...
Group benefits > Individual benefits

In Planeshift right now...

A monster which a player cannot defeat (without cheating) would require a group. But...
Individual benefits > Group benefits


I don't mind Dlayos, Expert Gladiators or an NPC monster being stronger or much stronger than any player. As long as it for group benefit. It isn't right now.


Title: Re: Using magic against NPCs
Post by: Rigwyn on April 18, 2010, 06:46:53 pm
Vakachehk,

Try to understand the problem.

The problem is that imperfections in the game mechanics can be exploited to make it easier to kill an npc.

Using terrain to your advantage is fine. Its logical and make sense from an ic perspective.

Getting an npc stuck behinf a blade of grass so that he cannot reach you on the other hand is exploiting the game mechanics and is cheating.
( This blade of grass exploit btw does not work any more. Npc's can now move around things better)

Her's the grey area:

There are times when you will want ti take advantage of the terrain legitimately, however doing so may cause the npc to get stuck.
In this case, you are not trying to exploit the game, however you cannnot help it.

Now if a GM says that you may not use this tactic because of the exploitive nature (unintended of course) then you'll feel like your being denied the right to use the terrain.
On the other hand, if the gm allows it then it may give newbies the idea that its ok to use exploits.

So pushing for a black and white answer at this point will dissapoint. ( Hey :) I rhymed ! )

the same logic applies to shooting from the walls. Its valid use of terrain however we all know that the npc's will be unfairly vulnerable.

So which side should a gm take ?

Given Sarva's post it sounds like they have been allowing it to a *reasonable* extent and using jugement to determine if someone is exploiting the game or not. That seems like a fair compromise to me.




Title: Re: Using magic against NPCs
Post by: Overtherainbow on April 19, 2010, 12:11:18 am
You rhymed 'point' and 'disappoint'.

The hell do you want, a cookie?
Title: Re: Using magic against NPCs
Post by: Adder on April 19, 2010, 08:23:43 pm
Well I think one thing Dlayos should do when attacked from the wall, which is unreachable, is to move to the center, or at least away.
It is a failure of the mob AI that it cannot do this, and I guess it is hard to work out when to run and when not, since runing away could be exploited as well.                       
Title: Re: Using magic against NPCs
Post by: Symasta on April 19, 2010, 08:40:32 pm

In a perfect Planeshift world...

A monster which a player cannot defeat (without cheating) would require a group. So...
Group benefits > Individual benefits

In Planeshift right now...

A monster which a player cannot defeat (without cheating) would require a group. But...
Individual benefits > Group benefits


I don't mind Dlayos, Expert Gladiators or an NPC monster being stronger or much stronger than any player. As long as it for group benefit. It isn't right now.



Maybe this is true about Monsters in the wild, that you need to fight in a group. But in the Arena??? A Gladiator only meant to be fought by groups..How can that be? I have never seen that before!
Title: Re: Using magic against NPCs
Post by: Bragan on April 25, 2010, 07:51:00 am
According to the Wikipedia page on Venatio (hunt held in the Colosseum prior to gladiator duels) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venatio:
"Very few animals survived these hunts though they did sometimes defeat the "bestiarius", or hunters of wild beast"
Note the use of the plural form, hunters. Granted, this still refers to animals and not gladiators, but there is precedent for many-against-one combat in gladiatorial arenas. I agree that it doesn't seem congruent with settings to have gladiators unbeatable in single combat.
Maybe the Dlayos should be replaced with monsters unbeatable in single combat (Maulberlords? I don't know what the higher end of the bestiary is), and maintain gladiators as requiring an elite character to beat them in fair, single combat.
Would it be difficult to code that groups attacking gladiators cause gladiators to become aggro towards members of that particular group? Sort of, since this group is going against the (implied?) rules of gladiatorial combat, the other gladiators won't suffer such dishonorable scum to live.
Title: Re: Using magic against NPCs
Post by: Sarva on April 25, 2010, 09:30:03 am
Just as an FYI the other night I saw someone fighting Dlayos by himself in the arena. IN many cases he could single hit kill the dlayos. When he couldn't single hit kill them he would back up and use magic from inside the pit. So clearly it is possible to fight dlayos by yourself from inside the pit.
Title: Re: Using magic against NPCs
Post by: Shoraal on April 25, 2010, 01:46:12 pm
"possible" for a bluesuit character is equal to "impossible" for a realistic character...
Title: Re: Using magic against NPCs
Post by: Rigwyn on April 25, 2010, 02:20:37 pm

If by bluesuit you mean "maxed", then yes. Only the best trained characters should stand a chance against these warriors. They are the best warriors around. It would be unrealistic if half-trained or noob characters could kill them.
Title: Re: Using magic against NPCs
Post by: kaerli2 on April 25, 2010, 06:54:27 pm

If by bluesuit you mean "maxed", then yes. Only the best trained characters should stand a chance against these warriors. They are the best warriors around. It would be unrealistic if half-trained or noob characters could kill them.


Shoraal's basic argument is that it should be nigh impossible to max a character in anything.  I will leave its validity up to you though.
Title: Re: Using magic against NPCs
Post by: Shoraal on April 25, 2010, 08:08:03 pm
almost, Kaerli - maxed out in "something" - okay, that is a "specialist".
maxed out in "everything", most likely "because I can" imho should not be possible at all.
Title: Re: Using magic against NPCs
Post by: Rigwyn on April 25, 2010, 08:59:30 pm
I disagree on the maxed in everything point.
I used to feel that way until I learned that very few players ever reach that level.

If I learn spanish and attain a level of proficiency of 100 ( for arguments sake )
Should I not be permitted to learn french to the same degree ?
And what if I want to learn 5 other languages ?

Is there something about mastering a language that would prevent me from mastering a second ?
Title: Re: Using magic against NPCs
Post by: Earowo on April 26, 2010, 12:33:56 am
im not quite sure language is a good camparison, i dont disagree, but language is more mental compared tot eh argument about something more physical
Title: Re: Using magic against NPCs
Post by: Rigwyn on April 26, 2010, 01:11:13 am
Well, apply the same logic to fighting skills.
Say I learn ju-jitsu to level 100

Next I want to learn boxing to the same extent.

What's to stop me from training at this to the same extent ?

If anything a master in ju-jitsi might have an easier time learning boxing than someone who has zero experience in any fighting system.

Likewise, learning/mastering multiple ways if anything would create *synergy*

In real life time would limit you since learning to be one of the best would take a lot longer.
Title: Re: Using magic against NPCs
Post by: Sarras Volcae on April 26, 2010, 08:28:51 am
you don't get kaerli's point.

from sarva's observation, a player would have to be completely maxed in order to kill a dlayo.

however, people are saying players should not be maxed, and that maxing is unrealistic and shouldn't be allowed.

then how the flying frisbee are dlayos supposed to be killed?



unrelated but, rigwyn, you ought to know what you're talking about before you make examples  :P
Title: Re: Using magic against NPCs
Post by: Earowo on April 26, 2010, 08:39:08 am
TECHNICALLY maxing isnt possible for your average joe, since the max for anything is 5000, and the skills we have we cant get anywhere past 200
Title: Re: Using magic against NPCs
Post by: Shoraal on April 26, 2010, 09:47:07 am
That is one aspect...
Also, Rigwyn missed the point of the "everything"...
a single weapon category, and maybe a corresponding armor category "maxed" - yes, "possible", but it should be "exceptional" and not every Tom, Dick and Harry.
And THEN... some people additionally have maxed one (or even multiple) ways of magic, maybe even crafting, etc...?
This is where realism completely leaves the stage imho.
And for the worst part... Stats...
In the NPC-refactor-Thread, people were asked to describe their fights with NPCs, and were also asked for their stats...
how often have I read "stats all 200"?
Heck why?
"becauise it is possible"?
This is an RP after all, so a char imnsho should fit his ROLE, and not be a collection of (as high as possible) numbers.
Title: Re: Using magic against NPCs
Post by: Rigwyn on April 26, 2010, 10:51:43 am
There is a problem with egotism here.
Some folks - especially those who have not invested the time to complete their training will allways feel like they are less than those who have invested in their training.
Nothing can be done about this.

But what can you do if your character is weak, and everyone else is so much stronger than you ?

*bling*

Oh, I know! Bash them! Say they are out of character and that what they have done is unrealistic! They are *power levelers!*
Now we can hobble along with our bruised egos and finally be able to hold our heads up again.
There, thats wasn't so hard. We just defeated some of the most comitted players by negating them out of existence.
Shame on you. That's cheating in my book.

You want to kill a dlyao ?
1. Max either brown way, sword or axe and heavy armor.
2. Learn to time your attacks so you don't get hit.
- you will still get hit now and then. That's life. Suck it.

The world is a dangerous place and you are not the most powerful creature in it - nor should you be.

As for maxing *everything* I don't know anyone who has maxed *everything* and I really don't care if anyone has.
You don't need to master all 6 ways, weapons and armors.
If you want to be a badass then max sowrd or axe, ha, and one magic way.

Of course, once you do that some noob roleplayer will point the finger at you and accuse you of being a powerleveler.
They will be jealous of your prowess and just negate you as described above.

Am I maxed ? No.
My 6 stats are maxed ( which doesn't mean a hill of beans ) and I have about 50 in sword and ha and a little ofer 60 in DW.

Do I cry about peiple being more powerful than me ?
Or about noob roleplayers with 15 un redway trying to electrocute me with 10,000 volts of electricity ?
No. When someone tries to do something their character should not be able to do I simply react in a way that is realistic givin their abilities.

Title: Re: Using magic against NPCs
Post by: Sarva on April 26, 2010, 04:08:15 pm
For some reason I found the comment about realism begin thrown out the door interesting this morning.

Realism? From who's  idea of realism are we talking about?

If you are talking about realism from our real lives then realism goes out the door  with magic and coming back from the dead via the death realm since neither of those  exist in our real lives.

Of course the game isn't going to be much fun if you only get one life and hey don't we all wish we could do magic for real? If you want realism that portrays what our real lives are then go play Farmville.

So Most of us probably play Planeshift because we want a "reality" where magic is "real" and where we get more than one chance at life in case something bad happens to us. So the question is what other things are we willing to accept in this altered reality. Remember our Player Characters are the super people of this world while the NPCs are the common every day people. Our PCs are the top athletes  or the smartest brains or the best magic users etc.  In this reality someone who spends enough time can max several different areas.  Also in this reality there are monsters that can't be beat even by someone who has maxed all their stats, heavy armor and axes. At least that is the current situation, as always this could change as further rebalancing happens.

Title: Re: Using magic against NPCs
Post by: Symasta on April 26, 2010, 07:07:26 pm
Quote
You want to kill a dlyao ?
1. Max either brown way, sword or axe and heavy armor.
2. Learn to time your attacks so you don't get hit.
- you will still get hit now and then. That's life. Suck it.

Very funny. Klyros can't use heavy armor (just not set yet). Now if you need heavy armor to defeat them, how can the dlayos be the strongest fighters arround, if they don't/can't wear heavy armor. Or do I get it wrong that they are supposed to be Klyros'?
Additionally:
Where is the point of one-hit-killing. Is that a realistic combat. You stand BEHIND the gladiator you want to fight, start hitting, you miss, you run away and use your magic skill?

I know it all is to be set later, still I find it very problematic.
Title: Re: Using magic against NPCs
Post by: Rigwyn on April 26, 2010, 08:58:59 pm
Regarding armor, I don't know. That could be an inconsistency. On the other hand there could be some undocumented settings info that we don't know about that explains it. They could have some ridiculous level of skill with light armor... Don't know; don't care. It is what it is.

As for the OOC battle tactics, like I said earlier, this is a very grey area.  Any attempt at a black or white answer will disappoint the whiter or blacker members of the grey pool.

The GM's could say "No OOC battle tactics allowed - including: waiting for them to respawn, ooc backstabbing like you mentioned, shooting from the wall, using terrain to exploit limitations"

That would piss off many.

They could say "All of the above are allowed" ( including some tricks which I won't mention )

But then they would be allowing players to exploit the game. Surely people would be on the forums crying and moaning about how being in the arena breaks the realism for them.

Given the latest change to npc AI, I'de be willing to bet the the NPCs will grow smarter with time.


Title: Re: Using magic against NPCs
Post by: Earowo on April 27, 2010, 04:28:13 am
@ symasta, the funny thing is, monsters can attack you when you are bhind them, when you *should* be out of their reach, and also when you are above somthing that technically cant attack whats above em, like a consumer, either way, its really screwd up in that sense
Title: Re: Using magic against NPCs
Post by: Sarras Volcae on April 27, 2010, 08:36:14 am
one-hit kills are very realistic. they're the more common type of kill irl. :P
Title: Re: Using magic against NPCs
Post by: Symasta on April 27, 2010, 10:53:26 pm
one-hit kills are very realistic. they're the more common type of kill irl. :P

With a gun, but not in a fair fight.
Anyway, I guess it is kinda leading nowhere...But I guess that should have been clear from the beginning
Title: Re: Using magic against NPCs
Post by: Rigwyn on April 27, 2010, 11:29:47 pm
You have a point sarras.. But I think it varries with context.

Two well trained gladiators in full plate armor and swords facing each other  .. ? I'm not sure one shotting makes sense.
A master gladiator getting his jugular snipped by a 99 year old couch potato with a razor ? sure.

Title: Re: Using magic against NPCs
Post by: kaerli2 on April 27, 2010, 11:38:02 pm
You have a point sarras.. But I think it varries with context.

Two well trained gladiators in full plate armor and swords facing each other  .. ? I'm not sure one shotting makes sense.
A master gladiator getting his jugular snipped by a 99 year old couch potato with a razor ? sure.



LOLOLOL

The main issue with one-shots is that they're no fun to experience, especially coupled with lag spikes.  Lag + one-hit-kill monsters = you LOSE.  At least we'll have less lag with this new server...
Title: Re: Using magic against NPCs
Post by: bloodedIrishman on April 28, 2010, 01:05:59 am
One-shot deaths cause fighters to become much more focused and the combat is intense. However lag makes this style of fighting unfairly tipped to those with nice tech.
Title: Re: Using magic against NPCs
Post by: kaerli2 on April 28, 2010, 04:36:10 am
One-shot deaths cause fighters to become much more focused and the combat is intense. However lag makes this style of fighting unfairly tipped to those with nice tech.
Exactly.  Many RPers can't afford to be going through top-of-the-line HW every two or three years, or optical fiber to their doorsteps for that matter.  Even for those who do have such technology at their disposal, geography is still a major issue due to the unavoidably large delays of long-haul communication (ever noticed that it takes >100ms to get a packet across the Atlantic and back?).

Add to that the seriously uneven dispersion of such technology (FTTH is only available in a few major cities at this time, and there are PS players who play on dialup, wireless-WAN, or other similarly bad connections; atop that, getting top-of-the-line PC gear is difficult to do in non-urban areas due to shipping availability and costs), and one-hit fighting just leaves 99% of the PS population ranting and raving.
Title: Re: Using magic against NPCs
Post by: Sarras Volcae on April 28, 2010, 09:19:27 am
one-hit kills are very realistic. they're the more common type of kill irl. :P

With a gun, but not in a fair fight.
Anyway, I guess it is kinda leading nowhere...But I guess that should have been clear from the beginning

guns aren't fair? o_O
Title: Re: Using magic against NPCs
Post by: Earowo on April 29, 2010, 01:49:46 am
a fair fight is fist to fist, do you really think its fair, when a person with a pistol or an assult rifle comes up behind you and kills you before you even know they are there?
Title: Re: Using magic against NPCs
Post by: Sarras Volcae on April 29, 2010, 09:15:07 am
all's fair in love and war

i have a feeling none of you have fought hand-to-hand. everything is fair unless you're in a controlled environment or accepted those dang geneva conventions
Title: Re: Using magic against NPCs
Post by: citizen on April 29, 2010, 11:45:57 am
a fair fight is fist to fist, do you really think its fair, when a person with a pistol or an assult rifle comes up behind you and kills you before you even know they are there?


Do you really think its fair, when a person who is 30kg heavier than you and is well trained in fist to fist fight comes before you and kills you with 1 blow? :)
Title: Re: Using magic against NPCs
Post by: Rigwyn on April 29, 2010, 04:00:53 pm
Exactly.  Many RPers can't afford to be going through top-of-the-line HW every two or three years

Not to nit-pick, but I don't RP because I cannot afford a fast computer.   :)
Title: Re: Using magic against NPCs
Post by: kaerli2 on April 29, 2010, 05:30:15 pm
Exactly.  Many RPers can't afford to be going through top-of-the-line HW every two or three years

Not to nit-pick, but I don't RP because I cannot afford a fast computer.   :)


It's correlation not causation Rigwyn :)
Title: Re: Using magic against NPCs
Post by: Rigwyn on April 29, 2010, 05:47:14 pm
Exactly.  Many RPers can't afford to be going through top-of-the-line HW every two or three years

Not to nit-pick, but I don't RP because I cannot afford a fast computer.   :)


It's correlation not causation Rigwyn :)

No, you said many role players *cannot afford to*
You are not indicating correlation here, you are saying that a lack of money is the cause.

Do you think I'm poor ?
Im not.
I AM stingy though ;)

(http://rightvoices.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/daffy.png)
Title: Re: Using magic against NPCs
Post by: Symasta on May 02, 2010, 06:33:47 pm
I'd like to bring in a new aspect:
Now I had some time and I did a few tests:
And it seems that walking in a circle and casting spells, which I thing is acceptable for a mage to move at least a little and not expecting to kill with one hit, is able to kill dlayos or any other monster because they are inable to hit you, as long as you take care and walk in circles. I mean I tested it and got hit on the third try cause I was not careful enough, but it works.
Now is that fair? You are in the pit and you are able to kill them. Someone being not the best in weapon nor magic can hit first and then walk in circles and kill the dlayo. But again you are exploiting the game, aren't you?
Now I have an idea:
Why is it impossible to cast spells when running? Maybe if you were charging a spell, but casting when running should be possible (maybe at a certain lvl).
On the other hand it should be impossible to cast a spell like energy arrow or flame burst at a target directly behind you. I would say that the arrow/fire ball would emerge from your hand and you'd need to focus on your opponent, so to speak see him.
Now we already have the facing thing in sword fight, can't we get it for magic too and allow people to run, but maybe at a slower pace then when not casting any spells, so it would be fair to real weapon fighters?
Then again, I guess people would just run backwards and cast spells......  :-\
Title: Re: Using magic against NPCs
Post by: Rigwyn on May 02, 2010, 07:46:38 pm
Just my opinion - this is one of those areas where exploit and tactical play overlap. Its both fair play and an exploit at the same time. This is what I mean by a "grey area" - white + black.
A black or white answer is not going to be suitable.

A grey answer like "it depends" or "its a judgement call" is probably most fitting.
Title: Re: Using magic against NPCs
Post by: Bragan on May 08, 2010, 08:14:38 am
Tactical in my eyes does mean exploit, at least as far as the enemy's "natural" limitations, though not necessarily the game's. Bring a gun to a fist fight? Yes! Were I to fight, I'd fight to win, not to see who's best in "fair combat". If the dlayo's aren't smart enough to back away from the wall when someone's pelting them with magic willy-nilly, that's their deal. But don't do it and then complain if (when?) they get smarter and come 'round to beat you up, or if something goes wrong like them disappearing -- maybe they finally ran away!

This game is no-where near final, things continue to be improved. A little while ago you could "climb" by repeatedly jumping, and when the glitch finally got fixed, people got mad because the devs fixed a bug. Huh. If you're exploiting a bug and a GM doesn't say anything about it because it generally doesn't harm anyone and it hasn't been fixed yet, fine. It's your choice whether you ignore it, or if you exploit it. Just keep in mind that the current behavior is not the intended one, and won't last. Hopefully it'll be fixed soon but if it isn't it's because the devs have to balance day jobs, a social life, and dealing with programming and design issues that may seem simple to those of us on the outside, but rarely are so once all the little interactions are considered. The beauty of Open Source is that if something really bugs you, you're free to take the code and do something about it. And I'm really not being sarcastic in saying that, though sometimes I think we all need to be reminded of how much work all this represents.

Basically, we're forgetting that the game is still lacking features, such as a (even) better AI, racial modifiers that I'm sure include stat maxima, and many more that are part of a balanced vision for the game. But the game's not yet there, and probably won't be for a while. It's still very playable though, and until the game's mechanics are implemented to a point where they actually have a bearing on these philosophical discussions, I really don't worry too much about it.
Title: Re: Using magic against NPCs
Post by: Sarras Volcae on May 09, 2010, 03:53:18 am
a fair fight is fist to fist, do you really think its fair, when a person with a pistol or an assult rifle comes up behind you and kills you before you even know they are there?


Do you really think its fair, when a person who is 30kg heavier than you and is well trained in fist to fist fight comes before you and kills you with 1 blow? :)

idk who this was for

anyway, yes, if i instigated it. gladiators and anyone in an arena knows it's fair.

i don't see anything wrong with exploiting, either. it's just being smart. unless you're fighting through a wall, i see nothing wrong.
Title: Re: Using magic against NPCs
Post by: kaerli2 on May 09, 2010, 04:31:02 am
Tactical in my eyes does mean exploit, at least as far as the enemy's "natural" limitations, though not necessarily the game's. Bring a gun to a fist fight? Yes! Were I to fight, I'd fight to win, not to see who's best in "fair combat". If the dlayo's aren't smart enough to back away from the wall when someone's pelting them with magic willy-nilly, that's their deal. But don't do it and then complain if (when?) they get smarter and come 'round to beat you up, or if something goes wrong like them disappearing -- maybe they finally ran away!

This game is no-where near final, things continue to be improved. A little while ago you could "climb" by repeatedly jumping, and when the glitch finally got fixed, people got mad because the devs fixed a bug. Huh. If you're exploiting a bug and a GM doesn't say anything about it because it generally doesn't harm anyone and it hasn't been fixed yet, fine. It's your choice whether you ignore it, or if you exploit it. Just keep in mind that the current behavior is not the intended one, and won't last. Hopefully it'll be fixed soon but if it isn't it's because the devs have to balance day jobs, a social life, and dealing with programming and design issues that may seem simple to those of us on the outside, but rarely are so once all the little interactions are considered. The beauty of Open Source is that if something really bugs you, you're free to take the code and do something about it. And I'm really not being sarcastic in saying that, though sometimes I think we all need to be reminded of how much work all this represents.

Basically, we're forgetting that the game is still lacking features, such as a (even) better AI, racial modifiers that I'm sure include stat maxima, and many more that are part of a balanced vision for the game. But the game's not yet there, and probably won't be for a while. It's still very playable though, and until the game's mechanics are implemented to a point where they actually have a bearing on these philosophical discussions, I really don't worry too much about it.

And then the NPCs blatantly exploit bugs from time to time too...Kaerli got smacked by a Dlayo's sword THROUGH  A STONE WALL once.  nice job, eh?
Title: Re: Using magic against NPCs
Post by: Earowo on May 09, 2010, 06:33:36 am
dont forget about when they hit you from half way across the arena, during loading screens, when you've logged out or crashed, and other things npc's exploit ;D