parsnip
Grandmaster
Work in progress! I'll add other suggestions as they come up and try to tidy up the structure. Feedback welcome, I will integrate it into my post.
Identity / Themes
There is a relatively limited set of ways to improve or mitigate damage. There are however many other interesting effects that can be used (and some are already used for Meta Pets). We should map out the effects and assign them in a way that aligns back to the core themes for each talisman. Look for other interesting ways to provide more utility or benefit, rather than just doing more damage.
Some quick thoughts / analysis of effects:
Ideally each talisman would have a blend of passive, active and consumable/equipment reliant
Note on Duration of Effects
This was mentioned by Decoy on Discord the other day:
Berserker
I see this talisman as a fearless warrior who leaps into battle and enters frenzied states for bursts of damage but who's recklessness makes them vulnerable to damage.
Tank warrior or Paladin like vibes - A heavily armored warrior who can take on multiple enemies at once.
Identity / Themes
- Clarify identity of existing talismans and focus on them. Thematically they feel a little confused. For example, why does a fearless berserker benefit from Hiding and Stealth for Phase Shift? Skip the skill requirement and rename it Mighty Leap or similar. Without a clear theme, you end up with odd mix and overlapping effects, making it more difficult to add future talismans.
- Create sub-specialities for each of the existing talismans, rather than entirely new talismans. For example, have 2-3 core relics for each talisman and then 1-2 for sub-specialities - See suggestions below. User can switch between specialities as they please.
- Constraints should make sense throughout the use of the talisman. For example, why can a Defence talisman user suddenly stop wearing heavy armor at level 10? Why can a Zerker or Rogue slap on platemail at level 10 with no effect on their damage. A Rogue should be nimble and lightfooted. A Zerker is fearless and wears little armor (or if you search for berserker, typically no chest piece).
- Each talisman should have, at most, one skill requirement to provide a bonus and it should tie to the identity / theme of the talisman (e.g. Parrying for Defence Shield Bash bonus makes sense, Hiding for Berserker does not).
- Other bonuses should come in the form of consumables or equipment. There is a missed opportunity here to create some new crafting items or increase demand for specific equipment.
- Consumables: For example, replace Arms Lore accuracy bonus with craftable Accuracy Potion that has a limited duration. Perhaps you need the matching talisman to collect a resource and then a craftsman to create it. You wouldn't lose the tali/relic effect entirely without the consumable but you wouldn't be getting its full effect.
- Equipment: The bonus for Rogues for daggers and knives was a great addition. It makes sense for a Rogue character. Similar could be done for other talismans. For example, Zerkers could have a Axe sub-speciality with a Whirlwind relic for AoE damage.
- Make talismans account bound and/or completely transferable with a questline / gold sink or relic sink requirement and add other restrictions (e.g. every time you want to transfer it, you have to sink a relic and it can only be transferred once a month). It makes no sense to allow meta pets to be transferred but not meta talismans. The restriction seems completely arbitrary at this point. If someone wants to pay gold to have one levelled, let them. The theme / identity should be tied to the talisman, rather than the character. Flexibility is one of the joys of UO - If I want to change my mage to a dexxer, I can!
- Allow Talismans to be reset anywhere, remove the requirement to re-visit the Statue of Power - this doesn't really add anything but frustration. There is no Risk vs Reward element at play, it is just annoying. Keep the gold cost for resets - Cost could increase if you reset too often within a certain period.
There is a relatively limited set of ways to improve or mitigate damage. There are however many other interesting effects that can be used (and some are already used for Meta Pets). We should map out the effects and assign them in a way that aligns back to the core themes for each talisman. Look for other interesting ways to provide more utility or benefit, rather than just doing more damage.
Some quick thoughts / analysis of effects:
- Attack Speed - Unused in talismans. Used by Meta Dragon's Quicksilver to speed up attack and Meta Steed's Paralytic to slow down.
- Hit Chance - Currently only improved by having Arms Lore.
- Damage Modifier (Base) - Used for Zerker for all weapons, Rogue for daggers/knives and Mage for spell damage. Used by Ruthless on poisoned targets.
- Damage Modifier (Temporary) - Double Strike, Shield Bash, Focus, Shadow Disciple, Dispersion (Borked).
- Armor Modifier - Used by Primal Scream (Borked).
- Resistance Modifier - Used by Shadow Disciple.
- Block/Absorb Damage - Used by Defense generally and, I believe, during Elude.
- Hit Location - Unused. Could be an interesting modifier. For example, if a rogue gets a chest hit and they have a certain relic they get bonus damage.
- Area of Effect - Used by Dispersion, Recoil, Leech, Shadow Dance.
- Damage over Time (Poison/Bleed) - Used by Infected Wounds, Disembowel.
- Stun - Used by Shield Bash
- Walk Speed - Unused.
- Resource Return - Used by Leech to return Health, Shadow Disciple to return Mana.
Ideally each talisman would have a blend of passive, active and consumable/equipment reliant
Note on Duration of Effects
This was mentioned by Decoy on Discord the other day:
Decoy: not a fan of the mechanic of duration being affected by level we do here
Decoy: it makes stuff pretty useless for a while
Decoy: other properties should scale instead
Decoy: primal etc
Decoy: qs blinks on and then off basically at first
Decoy: rather have had it be the same duration but the dex scaling was super low at first or something
Decoy: going forward with relics it aught to be that way
Decoy: scale something else but not duration, don't make it last .5 seconds at level 1 heh
Decoy: it coulda been a % reduction maybe
Decoy: like 75% to 100% or some range
Scaling duration by level is a weak motivator for levelling normally. Players end up just trying to macro it. I'm thinking primarily of relics like Quench, Remedy, Primal Scream, Elude. Keep the duration fixed through-out, scale the effects.Decoy: it makes stuff pretty useless for a while
Decoy: other properties should scale instead
Decoy: primal etc
Decoy: qs blinks on and then off basically at first
Decoy: rather have had it be the same duration but the dex scaling was super low at first or something
Decoy: going forward with relics it aught to be that way
Decoy: scale something else but not duration, don't make it last .5 seconds at level 1 heh
Decoy: it coulda been a % reduction maybe
Decoy: like 75% to 100% or some range
Berserker
I see this talisman as a fearless warrior who leaps into battle and enters frenzied states for bursts of damage but who's recklessness makes them vulnerable to damage.
- Should have to wear light armor or low armor at all times, not just during levelling. As mentioned at the beginning, it might make sense that they have to skip wearing a chest piece. Want to PvP, put that armor on. Want to PvM, you have to take chest piece off to get full damage bonuses.
- Shouldn't need Hiding/Stealth. Phase Shift could be renamed to Mighty Leap or something along those times.
- Infected Wounds would make more sense on a Rogue. A bleed attack (like Rogues Disembowel) seems more suited to a Zerker.
- Attack Speed is an obvious choice for effect, like a mini quicksilver. Zerker enters a frenzied state and attacks faster. This can return some stamina. Temporary bonus effect could come from a magic mushroom consumable.
- Axe Specialist - With a relic for an AoE Whirlwind Attack or Sweeping Strike to hit 2-3 targets.
Tank warrior or Paladin like vibes - A heavily armored warrior who can take on multiple enemies at once.
- Should have to wear heavy armor at all times, not just during levelling.
- Benefits from temporary armor increase like the Meta Spider's Carapace after issuing a battle cry.
- Could be tied to Mace Fighting for bonus damage or reduce the targets attack speed.
- Shield Specialist - Bonuses from having a Shield equipped to increase relic effects. Shield Bash is a great start.
- There's a reason Shadow Disciple is more expensive than other relics, it rolls together a number of effects that could have been distributed across two or three relics - A mana return relic, a resistance decrease relic and a damage increase relic.
- Mana return effect could be boosted by consumable.
- Damage increase could be tied to Inscription.
- Dispersion has been broken for a while on single-targets. It acts like a double strike and it actually seems more potent than Focus in those circumstances.
- Spirit Speak doesn't really make thematic sense, unless there is a darker speciality, for example a necromancer theme.
- Summoner - Bonuses or variations to Vivify. For example, summon a pack of imps for ranged damage.
- This talisman currently feels like a mix of Ranger and a Rogue. With sub-specialities this could be teased apart.
- Should wear only light armor
- Dodges attacks rather than taking reduced damage. Consumable to further increase the dodge chance.
- Ranger - Ranged specialist with expert aim who can slow down enemies. Uses Tracking to get bonus damage on a specific target.
- Assassin - Nimble short-blade expert who deftly dodges the enemies attacks. Heartseeker relic increases damage when getting a Chest hit location.
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