KinslayerMUD Forums

Well, my wife closed the window where I had a thousand word essay all written up for you, so I'll now skip the flowery speech and start over with just the meat and potatoes. I don't know if any of these suggestions are easy to code, hard to fix, or whatever, I'm just putting my opinion out there.

Things I'd like to see changed/tweaked/fixed:
1-Notice: In general, notice is hugely overpowered. Everyone and their mother has 86% notice which is all you need to see 99% hide. At the minimum, your notice should be within 5 points of the persons hide skill. Hence, you have 99% hide, I need at least 94% to see you.

2-Mob HP: Certain mobs have FAR too many hps. Wolves, scouts, and warhorses specifically. Spending 2-4 tics killing these mobs in straight up melee combat is absurd. You can lower the time it takes to roughly 2 minutes if you happen to land every bash and avoid 'tickling' during your damage roll. 2 minutes is still much too long to have to spend on this type of mob. No, I don't think they should be dead in one hit, but a lvl 40, 19 str, immense axe wielding trolloc SHOULD be able to make quick work of all of them in a minute or less.

3-Damage rolls: Damage is uncertain and inconsistent. Using the same char described above, a bashed, unarmored mob can be barely hit, OR fragged, you never know what type of damage may be dealt. If you are bashed and unarmored while being pounded by that immense axe wielder, you SHOULD be getting hit very hard at the least. Consistency is the key and it seems to be severely lacking.

4-Zones:I've built on WoT and another mud and I know the rigors of trying to get the zone right. Zone building 'inspectors' tear apart your work to get grammar and spelling correct. Here, there are a bunch of typoes and misspellings dotting the mud. I personally enjoy Scorch Earth, Gaint Trees, and the like, but it shows a lack of attention by the builder and the imm who approved it. It's probably far from important to fix, but it's just my observation.

5-Huge differences between weapons: Comparing the lowest grade in a weapon class vs. the mid grade and mid vs high end, , there is a vast difference in damage and usefulness. Of course there should be weapons that are better than others, but the differences now are astronomical. The difference between and crescent axe and radiant axe are tremendous, as is the difference between a radiant and immense axe. Weapons need to be brought in-line with each other and not have such a huge gap between. Yes, you can buy a crescent in a shop, but can you frag a bashed, unarmored mob with it? Not likely. Hell, you'd be lucky to LAND the bash in the first place.

You can compare daggers, spears, and swords the same way. I've used a good many of them and haven't grabbed a unique yet, but the differences between each end are much too great.

I don't know if the problem lies in coding because strength damage bonuses seem not be added to the damage, or if the weapon allows you to do only so much damage or what, but this really should be a priority to look into.

6-Lack of mob types, eq types: As the mud ages, I'm sure more will be added, but killing the same trees over and over is redundant. Granted, it's extremely easy to level and this is half the fun, but some spice needs to be added in the form of new and exciting mobs and eq.

7-Mob loads: Walk into Whitebridge lately? How about that other city near the blight (Shar something)? My god. Waltzing into every room holding 8+ guards is crazy. I think the max load/zone needs to be checked.

8-Channies: Overpowered? Perhaps a little, but at least here you have a good chance of even HITTING them. Plus the timers on spells seems to be quite good.

I've spent the past month here and I'm a transplant from WoT (5 years), and prior to that MUME (2 years). I realy like the atmosphere here compared to the others as this is what WoT USED to be like. There don't seem to be a lot of immature punk l33T (that right?) players here. It seems that most of us are here for one reason, to PK.

I've built a few zones on WoT and another mud, and I know how difficult certain matters are to address. This post isn't a flame, just a few suggestions on how to make things a little better.

8-Channies: Overpowered? Perhaps a little, but at least here you have a good chance of even HITTING them. Plus the timers on spells seems to be quite good.

never fought sonea when she's in a full set now have you?

I thank you for your concern, and I realize that many of the issues you have discussed in your post do indeed exist on the current version of the MUD. Let me assure you that we are working on these problems, and many will hopefully be fixed when we finish our big release, specifically MOB and equipment balance and variation, a priority in which is being looked into currently.

Meanwhile, if you have anything else that you feel is an issue, please don't hesitate in posting it as we don't know everything that is currently going on, especially me as I've been out of the loop for a while now.

Channelers are beyond uber. There is no stating that they are not unbalanced, as i have 2 channelers, and they both have 17 dex and im STILL uber.

The thing about channelers in this mud is: pracs are soooo easy. I cant remember the exact pracs as i have a male and female, but the idea of channelers stabing and going full dodge uberness is out of wack.

Cleetus, have you seen channelers hps? You'd be amazed to find ANY channelers below 300 hps, that is just nuts.

I hear channies are hard to stat now, but once you get the stats(as statting isnt hard) you can do anything you want with that character.

And since there is still the wear all bug, any channeler can run around with a shimm axe and bash you silly.

Channelers need to be downed hugely, not just stat caps, but prac sessions for them need to be looked at, other maluses to the class. B/c right now, i dont care what you say, a channeler will win every solo 1vs1 fight.(of course mobs could come in as a role, but i dont consider bashing a channie at a patty a fight)

That is mostly why i quit my channies, id get bashed, and 1 person can not break my bashed def(i also know the best setups for parry in the game, as variables easy to discover). Yet if your on 2 ppl, sure you get torn apart, thats only natural.

Perhaps more weaves should be added for channelers, something to make them more agile by WEAVES(not by physical things such as bash/stab/charge). They are channies, they are supposed to be weak and die in one bash, not be able to fight as a normal player.

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Another issue i have with this mud is the fleelag. I nearly always play on cable, for I am so damn fast its insane. I get next to 0 fleelag on cable, and it was fun at first when i started a whillllle back.

Now its just stupid, I look at other players and I wonder htf do they even die? Fleelag is so easy that it is piss poor easy to flee. I mean piss poor, sure ppl can block for you, but any person knows to just go chill for a while and regen, that person will move, then you run.

Only real ways to die are getting stabbed with no notice on(rarely) or gettin fleestabed or charged. Or bashed at a patty.

Shrug, thats what makes this mud boring imo, the damn fleelag.

For instance, you are a basher fighting a dodger, the dodger can just spam flee and keep going for stabs(even on dial up) and still is boring.

A while back imms added flee lag, where it went from 0 flee lag to insane amount of lag. I think a nice medium should be chosen, but flee lag atm is a joke, there is next to none.

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Notice is actually perfect imo. If you look at a dark side rogue for intance(hardest on pracs in game, or dodgy hunters) That 87% notice is a burden. Especially if you have low int.

My troll rogue has 93% shield parry, and 99% dodge, i cant afford any more with track and other things.

I also dont think notice should be as the way you suggest cleetus b/c stabbing is piss poor easy as it is right now. I don't see any point making it easier.

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Damage is kinda goofy in kinslayer. I remember back b4 the mud shut down for month or 2 that grabbing a scimitar(worse sword i think) and going to pk was common. In my opinion those were the good days, you had a chance of helping to bash, nothing to loose, good ole days.

Yet now, weapons dmgs are so nuts that all low weapons suck beyond reckoning(as it always has been).

Dmg will be looked at soon im sure, but when you think about it, 73% abs isnt even that much and commonly you are pierced/pierced very hard by dagger wielders.(which is stupid).

Also, a reason that weapon dmg are a lil wack might be b/c there used to be a str bug, if you had 19 str you did uber dmg no matter what weapon, all rogues very hard abs consistently

So it was actually evened out back then with that bug oddly enough.


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Zone titles are flawed, but i find that amusing, for it shows that this isnt some prestigious mud, its a mud in the making, and it takes time.

It'll be fixed eventually

But the zones are easy as pie. I don't like these zones, it takes 10 minutes to learn them all perfectly, they are very small and "motor zones"(just from gettin to one place to the other) not much activity to the side of them.

Not many N E S W exit rooms, which make pk more fun, we have alot of 2 /3 exit rooms, which is even easier to deal with.

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Last i checked, WB mobs dont even have weapons, that made fun raiding back in day.


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My main problem with mud right now:

1. Fleelag(need more, need a balance)
2. Zones(too easy, need more bigger zones [hopefully edit the zones currently have.]
3. Channelers(need editing big time)

Basically, that is your pk right there, fleelag is hugely pk, zones are need in pk, and channelers are in pk all the time.

That is why you never see me around

But please remember, the mud is still in beta, so these suggestions have a high chance at being looked at, and it will be an awesome pk mud one day(i m waiting )

I can talk about this mud all day, so if we got more comments/suggestions, id be interested to hear.

a suggestion to make channelers less uber:

ok in aenien i love their spell/stance system. pretty much it's very hard for a newbie to make a mage because spells cost money to research.
also there are no hardcore spells. you have to make your own.

say you have lightning mastery and want to make a lightning damaging spell. say you want it to be 10d10(which is nothing that's 100 dmg max when most people have at least 1500 or more) i type in
research esti person 'test': damage lightning 10d10
and then i get
test will cost you approximately 257004 gold to research.

what i typed in was research(which is the command) esti(estimate to get an estimate on how much a spell will cost) person(it's the target: self, person, area, group) 'test':('name':) and then what it's going to do it's going to be a damaging spell lightning mastery and damage is going to be 10d10.

and 257k is a lot of money for a newbie.

also they make it so you cannot be both magic and attack. unless you are like affect spells then dmg. but anyway. stances:
to be able to cast spells at all while fighting you have to be in defensive stance. which puts your attacks(multiple attacks in this game) down to 1 or 2 compared to if you wield 1 weapon or two. in this game we could make it crappy dmg/ob/etc. also to cast spells at all you must have one hand free.

Nero Drive
You are walking on a paved road that runs south through the city of Rome.
A great gate is directly north of here. The Roman citizens are very friendly
and tip their hats or say hello as you pass.
[ Exits: n s w ]
Lorcan is standing here.
Shandra [The Quest for Roap] is flying here.
A barbarian is here, causing havoc!
Pug has arrived.

1083~(100%~)hp 948~(97%)mv 1789776free >
The barbarian says, 'AAUAUAUAAAUUUUGGGGGHHHHH!'
The barbarian's hit misses Pug! [0]
Pug's masterful pound DISMEMBERS the barbarian's torso! [45]
Pug's vicious pound OBLITERATES the barbarian's torso! [50]
Pug's masterful pound DISMEMBERS the barbarian's arms! [37]
Pug's masterful pound DISMEMBERS the barbarian's face! [43]
Pug's masterful pound DISMEMBERS the barbarian's legs! [45]
You join the fight!
Your well-placed slash mutilates the barbarian's face! [23]
Lorcan assists Pug.
Lorcan's masterful pound DISMEMBERS the barbarian's legs! [45]
Shandra assists Pug.
Shandra's hit misses the barbarian! [0]
The barbarian's hit misses Pug! [0]
Pug counters the barbarian's attack.
Pug's masterful counter attack DISMEMBERS the barbarian's torso! [38]

1083~(100%~)hp 946~(97%)mv - Pug: 39% - the barbarian: 46% >zerk
You need at least one hand free to cast.

1083~(100%~)hp 946~(97%)mv - Pug: 39% - the barbarian: 46% >
Shandra casts tirinuib onshiguab on the barbarian.
Shandra's KILLER galaxian explosion DOES UNSPEAKABLE THINGS to the barbarian! [222]

1083~(100%~)hp 946~(97%)mv - Pug: 39% - the barbarian: 10% >
Shandra's hit misses the barbarian! [0]
Lorcan's vicious pound OBLITERATES the barbarian's torso! [49]
Lorcan's vicious pound OBLITERATES the barbarian's legs! [47]
The barbarian is dead! R.I.P.
You receive your share of experience -- 679 points.
You have slain a quest monster, and receive 4 questpoints!
Lorcan gets a pile of gold coins from the corpse of the barbarian.
Lorcan splits 479 coins; you receive 119.
3 coins were not splitable, so Lorcan keeps the money.

1083~(100%~)hp 946~(97%)mv 1790685free >rem sword
You stop using a superior adamantium bastard sword.

1083~(100%~)hp 946~(97%)mv 1790685free >l
Nero Drive
You are walking on a paved road that runs south through the city of Rome.
A great gate is directly north of here. The Roman citizens are very friendly
and tip their hats or say hello as you pass.
[ Exits: n s w ]
The corpse of the barbarian is lying here.
Pug seeks Monogeo through out the rim. is standing here.
Lorcan is standing here.
Shandra [The Quest for Roap] is flying here.

1083~(100%~)hp 946~(97%)mv 1790685free >
Shandra leaves north.
Lorcan leaves north.
You follow Shandra.

The Great North Gate
This is the northern gateway to the city of Rome. The huge gate appears
to be closed and locked against intrusion. A large road muddy road runs
through the gate and into the countryside. Nero Drive runs south from here.
[ Exits: s ]
A piece of military combat plate has been left here.
A pair of leather sandals has been dropped here.
A small sword lies here.
A big pile of gold coins is lying here.
A long sword has been left here.
Lorcan is standing here.
Shandra [The Quest for Roap] is flying here.
A barbarian is here, causing havoc!
Pug has arrived.

1083~(100%~)hp 945~(97%)mv 1790685free >
Pug gets a big pile of gold coins.

1083~(100%~)hp 945~(97%)mv 1790685free >
Shandra casts tirinuib onshiguab on the barbarian.
Shandra's fierce galaxian explosion --DEMOLISHES-- the barbarian! [276]

1083~(100%~)hp 945~(97%)mv 1790685free >
Pug assists Shandra.
You join the fight!
You are not in range to attack!
Lorcan assists Shandra.

1083~(100%~)hp 945~(97%)mv - Shandra: 87% - the barbarian: 54% >zerk
You must take a defensive fighting style to cast in battle.[/b]

other things
armor decreases casting %

1083~(100%~)hp 965~(99%)mv 1812395free >spellbook
SPELLBOOK ENTRIES Cast Chance
Mana encumbered raw
berzorker 22 56% 62%
berzerker time 46 46% 52%

Great post Cleetus. I know that a lot of those issues have been bugging players for a while. They sure have bug'd me.

Zones - Right now we're working on implementing new zones that are needed just for moving around. I agree 100% some of the zones in the game are just terrible. For the new ones we've established special criteria in order to produce good zones that are nicely descripted (whether you like the layout our not that will be up to you). For example the zone that links Fal Dara to TV, is just a straight road, hardly any extra features. Have you looked at Mountains of Dhoom? Yes, completely agree. Once we've produced the new zones I've really been thinking of just scratching some of the ones already in the game and making new ones. This will take some time however. The original zones were just thrown in in order to have a game, but I want it to be a tad more professional, we've taken zones straight out that were just bad. Much is left to be done.

Mobs - In general I have to agree, and it is something that I am working on with the new eq release/whipe. I've thought that the current mobs were quite silly that it took forever to kill with a top end weapon (or even a low end weapon). There are too many city mobs, they are simply too spammy. I'm currently making new mobs which might take some time still, for smobs, cities, exp and so forth.

Damage - Some of the damage problem lies within an abs bug that we have, which made it hard to balance. But yes, damage vs mobs and vs PC's will be different.

Fleelag - Just want to comment on this as well, It might not be that we need an increase in how much fleelag that is built, but rather how fast a player will lose his fleelag. We could probably increase the fleelag, but I believe that within a tic or two you will lose most of it anyway. Might just need to increase the length it takes to get rid of your fleelag.

Keep the suggestion comming.

1 hand casting? i would have a defense of 200 in fulldodge which would mean my defense would be mauled. Which would result to no casting at all

not if you use a SHIELD. numbskull. or if they made one hand weapons that gave more parry. of course that'd mess up balance 1h weapons that gave parry and then shields would be too uber unless of course 1h weapons that gave parry unless wearing a shield.

Wait wait wait!

I can't belive No one said anything about QPs! Right now quest points for scalps are way too low! I mean, master is rank 8, which is close to 5 mil qps! And fade... I don't even want to think about that! I mean, atm we have 1 rank 7, after a whole lot of time of the game being up!

Seriously though, atm the goals of higher ranked clan members are basically non existant, because of the insane ammount of qps needed. It's like "I've just killed 3 humans! Woo! Oh, wait, I only get 6 qps for that "

I was thinking about the mud in simplified terms and the game of paper rock scissors came to mind, what if the characters were set up in that fashion, give each class a quick small dmg skill, a medium time dmg skill, and a long pulse dmg skill. channies have the quick one air scythe and thieves have the long one of stab. It could be set up if person a tried using the long time high dmg skill the other player might go for the quick pulse small dmg skill, it would add strategy.

types of skills

short pulse small dmg

quick stab
air scythe
warrior lunge 1 round of increase ob with added dmg

medium pulse medium dmg
stab (medium dmg stab, more of a circle in melee)
call lightning (less dmg)
bash

long pulse high dmg
stab
bash of doom (stuns victim for 3 rounds)
fireball


these are just some random thoughts and ideas you guys kick em around and poke holes in it.

a progressive smob

have to kill one mob to get key, then kill another mob or set of mobs to get next key, then final mob or mobs to get eq in chest. mob would be soloable but it would take a long time to do, set zone to not repop while a pc is in zone.

can you say g bandit guy forget his name.