On Mon, 20 Mar 2000, Kimes, Dean W. wrote:
>
> game and it has never recovered. By adding hp's instead of increasing
> damage dealt, too low partly due to the dual wield bug, they totally changed
Actually, about a month into Final, they increased the damage
mobs did. They did it again a couple more times, this time
accompanied by level changes to the mobs (Highpass orcs used
to turn green at level 18).
> the way mobs must be fought. In the old days DoT's weren't so powerful
> because the mobs would often die before they ran their course. Now mobs
> have so many hp's all the DoT's run thru and even run out. DD's and melee
> attacks though have been reduced in effect.
It's interesting that you phrase it that way. You're only
considering the case where a DoT doesn't last its full
duration.
> The reason melee types suffer from the change from fast to steady when it
> seems counterintuitive is deceptive. Although the melee class has more
> 'time' it seems to do damage and is thus more effective, in reality this
> isn't so. Unlike the DoT which is fire and forget, the melee class is on a
> different clock. The DoT is on 'real time'. If a fight lasts longer it
> does more damage. The melee person is on 'hp time'. No matter how long a
> fight lasts, the melee person's clock is limited to his/her own hp's. When
> they run out, the person is done fighting whether the fight is over or not.
I disagree with this. A melee person's ability to damage a
mob is (survival_time * damage_rate). Whether you increase a
mob's hp by 40% or increase the damage it does by 40%, the %
of red a melee person can take off a mob's hp bar is (roughly)
the same (one is the inverse of the other, but as long as the
percentages don't get too high, they're comparable).
Similarly, a DoT has a survival_time, but it's a fixed amount
(duration of the DoT). Hence increasing mob damage has no
effect on DoT effectiveness. OTOH, increasing mob hp will
increase DoT effectiveness if the DoT isn't allowed to last
its full duration, while it will decrease DoT effectiveness
(relatively speaking) if the DoT lasts its full duration.
Depending on where a DoT falls in this duration game, melee
can be helped or hurt (relative to DoTs) by giving mobs more
hp.
The simplest way to balance casters with melee IMHO would be
to give mobs so many hp that killing a white/yellow mob
required casters to expend all their mana via their most
efficient damage spells spells and a couple root/snares with
zero resists. To prevent it from upsetting melee, you'd just
have to decrease the damage the mob did proportionately.
This would make it so melee people could barely kill an even
con, and casters could barely kill an even con.
> This explains many of Verant's misconceptions. If hp's of mobs were less,
> as in Beta, then Wizards would be very balanced. Melee types would die less
I do agree with your assessment that this is why wizards are
screwed, though not for the exact same reason. DoTs are just
much more efficient than DD.
--
John H. Kim
kim@...