Savanc

Every time an event finishes some people will have event tokens left in their backpack. Whether it is because they didn't watch the time and were too late to trade them at the vendor, had trouble logging in or whatever other reason.
 
That doesn't really matter; people have event tokens left and no way of spending them because the event vendor disappears. But what is so bad about being able to spend candy canes (winter event ends in January) in February? Or spending Doubloons (summer event tokens) in October?
 
I suggest that the event token vendors stay permanently in Eldevin.

And I think the best way is if they get a building somewhere in EC (plenty of room still) to house them.
During events they always stay at the Eldevin City Central Square, but no need for that if their event isn't up. So a building should do fine.

So far we have 5 events (Winter, Valentines, Easter, Summer and Halloween), and some room on the calender for extra events. So a building that can house around 10 people should do quite well.

Cripler, can you please stop posting messages about how you think things will never change?

They add nothing to the conversation and merely create a negative atmosphere.

My suggestion is to add an option to the rerolling system which allows players to reroll single rolls instead of all rolls on items with multiple rolls.
 

I am aware this suggestion post is a bit long and everyone's time is valuable. So here is a summary without all the yucky math.
 

• Right now rerolling 2 1-handed weapons to acceptable rolls is much cheaper than rerolling 1 2-handed weapon to acceptable rolls.
• The main reason is because with 1-handed weapon you never throw away a good roll, while with a 2-handed weapon you throw away a good roll if the second roll is bad.

Suggestion: 

Allow players to keep a roll, and just reroll 1 roll on an item with multiple rolls.
Double the cost of rerolling 2 rolls at the same time.

If you read past this you might run into math. Be aware!

Why?
You might ask the question: why should rolls on 2-handed weapons and armor like the Infernal Axe and Infernal Staff be treated different than rolls on 1-handed weapons like the Infernal Dagger, Infernal Essence, Infernal Shield, etc.?
Well, the truth is that they are treated different in the current situation! And this suggestion is here to make sure these rolls are treated equal to rolls on 1-handed weapons and other 1-roll items.
 

Situation now
When we do not like the roll on an Infernal weapon (or level 49 craftable pants, helmet, or belt) we can reroll it. There are 6 possible roll types on a weapon: Haste, Crit, Attack Power, Accuracy, Weapon Damage and Health on Hit. The chances are 1 in 6 for each roll. But of course we do not like every roll as much as other rolls.
 

1-handed

Let us assume on an essence we prefer Weapon Damage, but we will also accept Spell Attack Power (for a mage) or Crit (for a healer). The other 4 roll types are reasons for us to reroll. That means we have a 2 in 6 chance (33.33%) to get a good enough roll type.

On a 1-handed sword it might be Attack Power, and either Haste or Crit or HoH or Weapon Damage; on a throwing weapon it might be Attack Power, and either Haste or Crit; on a knife it may be Attack Power, and either Haste or Crit; etc.
For a lot of players 2 types are acceptable while the other 4 are not. Some players are more picky and some are not. In any case we will take 2 as an average number.
 

2-handed
Let us do the same with an Infernal Staff/Axe and only accept 2 roll types (Haste and Crit for healers; either Haste or Crit, and Attack Power for mages; Weapon Damage, and either Attack Power or HoH for warriors). The chances of getting 2 of these roll types however is not 2 in 6!

The chances of each roll combination for staffs/axes are the following:
  a. 1 in 36 for 2x Haste
  b. 1 in 36 for 2x Crit
  c. 1 in 36 for 2x Attack Power
  d. 1 in 36 for 2x Accuracy
  e. 1 in 36 for 2x Weapon Damage
  f. 1 in 36 for 2x Health on Hit
  g. 2 in 36 for Haste + Crit
  h. 2 in 36 for Haste + Attack Power
  i. 2 in 36 for Haste + Accuracy
  j. 2 in 36 for Haste + Weapon Damage
  k. 2 in 36 for Haste + Health on Hit
  l. 2 in 36 for Crit + Attack Power
  m. 2 in 36 for Crit + Accuracy
  n. 2 in 36 for Crit + Weapon Damage
  o. 2 in 36 for Crit + Health on Hit
  p. 2 in 36 for Attack Power + Accuracy
  q. 2 in 36 for Attack Power + Weapon Damage
  r. 2 in 36 for Attack Power + Health on Hit
  s. 2 in 36 for Accuracy + Weapon Damage
  t. 2 in 36 for Accuracy + Health on Hit
  u. 2 in 36 for Weapon Damage + Health on Hit
For a total of 36 in 36 of course.

If you accept 2 roll types then you only have 4 out of 36 possible roll combinations. That is 11.11% chance per time you roll.

 

1-handed

A player with 3 1-handed weapons will on average require 6 rerolls to get their desired rolls. After all, for each weapon the chance to get one of the 2 acceptable roll types is 2 in 6 (33.33%). The first roll is when you craft the item, so on average at the 2nd reroll you will have gotten it.
As this player requires 3 weapons it will cost him/her 6 rerolls on average to get acceptable roll types.
 

2-handed
For a player with a 2-handed weapon and a 1-handed weapon this is not the case. A throwing weapon and an essence also just require on average  2 rerolls  to give acceptable roll types. But the 2-handed weapon requires 8 rerolls to produce 2 acceptable roll types. 

6 versus 10 rerolls.
 

Roll Strength
What if we factor in the strength of a roll?
The strength of a roll is how much rating/power/health/etc. it gives. For example, 250 Attack Power, 300 Haste, 50 Critical Chance and 60 Health on Hit. The 250, 300, 50 and 60 are strengths

Every roll type has 7 different strengths (Weapon Damage has 6.5%, 7%, 7.5%, 8%, 8.5%, 9% and 9.5%). Even if we find Weapon Damage an acceptable roll, then are we happy with 6.5% Weapon Damage? Or would we reroll?
A mage who prefers Attack Power but accepts Crit might reroll a low Crit roll even though they would accept a high Crit roll. Maybe they would also reroll the 2 lowest possible Attack Power rolls, but would accept the highest 5 Attack Power rolls. And a Health on Hit or Accuracy roll is unacceptable in any case of course.

There are 42 possible roll strengths and types (7 strengths per type times 6 roll types). It will not be uncommon for a player to accept most strengths of their desired roll type, but only high rolls of the second acceptable roll type, and never an unacceptable roll type.
Let us say the 5 highest strengths of the preferred roll type and the 2 highest strengths of the acceptable roll type are good enough.
Then for 1-handed weapons we have a 7 in 42 (16.67%) chance to roll it each time we reroll.

1-handed
Going back to the player with 3 1-handed weapons, they have to use 15 rerolls on average, because they will use 3 weapons times 6 times to roll; and of course the first roll is when making the weapon, so 3 time 5 = 15 rerolls.
 

2-handed

For a 2-handed weapon the chance to get an acceptable roll has diminished considerable. The chance to get an acceptable roll combination is only 49 in 1764 now (2.78%).
To make a 2-handed and a 1-handed weapon with acceptable rolls will require 40 rerolls. 5 rerolls for the 1-handed weapon (1 in 6 chance and the first roll is while making it) and 35 rerolls for the 2-handed weapon (1 in 36 and the first roll is while making it).

Now it is: 15 versus 40 rerolls.

 

Pickier players
I dread to think what happens to more picky players. As a Haste Healer I would love to have high double Haste rolls on my staff and a Haste roll on my Essence. But who am I kidding? That will never happen with the current system. (And to be honest with my proposed system it may remain a dream; though easier to afford.)
If I only accept the 3 highest Haste rolls then in the current situation my staff would on average require 195 (!!) rerolls. Plus 13 rerolls for the essence. Compare these 208 rerolls to the 39 for a player with only 1-handed weapons.

 

My proposal:
Allow players to reroll just 1 roll on an item

Double cost for rerolling 2 rolls.

This will bring the rerolling 2-handed weapons in line with 1-handed weapons, because when this will be implemented 2-handed weapons that have 1 acceptable roll type and 1 unacceptable roll type will no longer have to be completely rerolled. Instead the player can choose to keep the acceptable roll and reroll the unacceptable one.

Let us get back to the two examples before (one example was where 2 rolls are acceptable; the other example was where only 7 strengths of certain roll types were acceptable).

Example 1:
There is still a 4 in 36 chance (11.11%) that out of the blue a player will roll 2 acceptable types, but now we have added the chance that we get 2 acceptable rolls in smaller steps. First we roll the weapon and we end up with 1 acceptable to roll and 1 unacceptable roll. The chance of this happening is 16 in 36 (44.44%). The next time we reroll we will keep the acceptable roll type and only reroll the unacceptable roll type. The chance to end up with another acceptable roll type is 2 in 6 (33.33%).
 

When crafting a 2-handed weapon we have a  11.11%  chance to get 2 acceptable roll types, 44.44% chance to get 1 acceptable roll type, and 44.44 % chance to get no acceptable roll types. If we get no acceptable roll types we will just reroll both and the same chances again apply.
If we get 1 acceptable roll type we will keep that one and reroll the unacceptable roll type with a 2 in 6 (33.33%) chance to get an acceptable roll type. This is just like a 1-handed weapon.

On average, you will have rerolled the 2-handed weapon 3.2 times to get 2 acceptable rolls (4.2 rolls but the first roll is from crafting the weapon), but because of double cost for rerolling 2 rolls at the same time it is exactly as expensive as rerolling a roll 4 times.
To get a 2-handed weapon and a 1-handed weapon with acceptable rolls it will cost the equivalent of 6 rerolls (4 + 2). For 3 1-handed weapons it is on average also 6 rerolls (3 x 2).
 

Now:     6 versus 6 rerolls

It was: 6 versus 10 rerolls

Example 2:
In this example the strength of rolls is taken into account and this reduces the number of rolls we find acceptable. With 7 strengths being regarded as acceptable (5 strengths of the desired roll type and 2 from an acceptable roll type) the chance of 1-handed weapons to get an acceptable roll is 7 in 42 (16.67%).

For 2-handed weapons this used to be 49 in 1764 (2.78%), but in the new system the chances are different. To get  2 acceptable rolls from scratch is still 2.78% , but to get 1 acceptable roll is 490 in 1764 (27.78%) and no acceptable rolls is 1225 in 1764 (69.44%). If we get no acceptable rolls we will just reroll bot h rolls (with the same chances again), but if 1 roll is acceptable then we will keep that one and reroll the bad roll at a chance of 16.67% (just like 1-handed weapons) to get an acceptable second roll.

On average, you will have rerolled the 2-handed weapon 8 times to get 2 acceptable rolls (9 rolls but the first roll is from crafting the weapon), but because of double cost for rerolling 2 rolls at the same time it is exactly as expensive as rerolling a roll 10 times.
To get a 2-handed weapon and a 1-handed weapon with acceptable rolls it will cost the equivalent of 15 rerolls (10 + 5). For 3 1-handed weapons it is on average 15 rerolls (3 x 5).

Now:     15 versus 15 rerolls.

It was: 15 versus 40 rerolls.

With this suggestion it is much more affordable to get decent rolls on a 2-handed weapon than it was before. And it is completely in line with the chances on 1-handed weapons.

That is exactly what my proposal aimed to achieve.

Edit 1: Added the part about double cost when rerolling 2 rolls. Thanks for the advice, JQuan and ernzor.

Ruining a part of the game that players enjoy, just to tackle the bot problem is never the answer

But there is nothing wrong with editing it slightly so (1) people who enjoy it can still enjoy it, and (2) people who bot can't bot there very well any longer.

Seems like changing a few melee creatures to ranges/spell creatures would be a nice move. It's still a good place to farm FP then, but not so good for botting.

From the Love Bites update topic:
2 New Achievements have been added.

I wonder what those could be....

I decided: Hugs are encouraged in the Eldevanc Kingdom

Hug achievements? Reinedor, will be the first awarded, aha.

Reine may be a close second but nobody loves hugs more than sav 

I'm sure one of us will be a close second to the other.

But more importantly, a lot more people will share hugs with each other!

My suggestion is to add achievements for hugs and other social emotes such as bowing, waving, kissing, blowing kisses, etc.
It will create an even more positive atmosphere in Eldevin!

I do know that some of these emotes are from events or chests only, and are hard to come by or cost EPs when bought from other players, but the same can be said for certain other achievements such as using 1000 dragons to travel (costs gold), get 10 mounts or 10 pets, or get special pets or mounts during seasonal events.

These achievements may (if time permits) be linked to Valentine's Day in 2 weeks time. Maybe there can be special places or creatures where the emotes can be gained.

My main suggestion is to add achievements for an X, Y, Z and A amounts of hugs, bows, waves, kisses, blown kisses, etc.
Adding a mini event for Valentine's Day is a welcome optional extra.

This will be fixed next update, it's due to some new functionality we've been added for the Festive event next week

Interesting...

Oh, and one other aspect of the Hug emote is broken/missing.

I can't seem to hug someone to death in PvP. That seems to be a major oversight in the emote.

*runs through the streets while ringing a bell* The end of Eldevin is nigh!!

People can no longer steal hugs and kisses that are not "meant" for them...

But the best part of hugs and kisses is that random people go steal them and you meet new people!!

Please HCS, fix hugs and kisses so that they can be stolen.

Or make it so that you can tick a box in options that makes you choose whether you want your hugs and kisses made to be stolen or not.

After looking for it for weeks I can safely say there is no tea at all in Eldevin.

For a UK based game this seems like a rather huge oversight.

How on earth can a game survive without a proper cup of tea?

Therefore I suggest the Cows introduce tea to the game.

The easy (but boring) way would make the shopkeepers sell tea alongside the water and beer they are selling.

A much more interesting way would be a quest that makes you make your own cup of tea.

First you get some materials to make a cup or glass. Peter the glass maker in EC can help us with that.

Next we grow tea at a farm. Tea can be low level because everyone should have access to it.

Then we get some water (from a well) and boil it. This can be done at the cooking area or the alchemist. And now we add the tea to make a proper cup of tea. Depending on the tea we may add milk (cooking ingredient) or lemon juice (alchemy ingredient) to it.

Last but surely not least, we share the proper cup of tea with our friends.

And since a cup of tea a day isn't too much to ask this quest can be a daily one.

The reward of making, drinking and sharing this cup of tea may be a few artisan awards and a nice group buff. Or something equally nice that the Cows think of.

For some quests you need to make crafted items. The obvious example are the daily crafting quests, but some other quests also require you to craft certain item (for example a level 28 quest in Illaneska called Assisting The Watch which requires 3 weapons of different levels).

When crafting I always double or triple check to make sure I have the right item as I don't want to waste materials on making the wrong items. Yet I still make a few mistakes now and then. And I doubt I am the only one doing that.

I thought an easy helping tool would be to have items that are required for a quest will be highlighted in the crafting overview (or otherwise stand out from the rest of the items). This will help people avoid making crafting mistakes which will benefit their enjoyment of the game and in turn everyone's general happiness.

To be honest I am gonna stay out of this thread, as you have clearly shown recently in world chat that you have some kind of weird jealousy thing going on towards me, many people have whispered me and said how obvious it is that you are angry at my success.

I am a bit stunned by this. I really don't know where this comes from. I can assure you I am not jealous of your success.

If I said something in world chat that has given you that impression then I am sorry for saying it as it was not intended that way.

Go grind loot for 100 hours at level 40 Savanc, then come back and tell me how easy it all is. 

I fail to see why I can't have an opinion about it if I am not level 40, but have watched many level 40 players when they AoE grind, and been part of a lot of level 30 AoE farming parties during beta. I know what I am talking about.

Furthermore, what was that amount of gold you gained so far? You mentioned it in chat a day or two ago. Something like 24k gold come to mind. How is it that 1 player gaining so much gold is not damaging the game's economy?

I have not leveled a Warrior since beta, but it was much easier to level with AoE grinding, and that was before HoH gems.  Do AoEs need to be nerfed?  Maybe a little, but need to be careful not to put Warriors (more than Mages) out of business with mana issues.   I do think it would benefit Instances, where gathering and quickly dispatching everything before the boss has become the norm.

That can always be tackled by reducing the mana usage of warrior (and templar and assassin?) abilities if needed.

But remember that the only think that hurts warriors more than it hurts mages in my proposal is the Almadine part. Both are equally affected by the first two proposals.

One of the things that has a negative effect on Eldevin is how overeffective AoE grinding/farming is.
AoE = Area of Effect; this means abilities that target an area (often with several creatures in it) contrary to abilities that target one creature at the time.

AoE grinding/farming is by far the fastest way to gain XP and to get gold (through loot drops).
The problem with it is that gaining levels becomes too easy which is detrimental to gameplay. And the rapid influx of gold is very damaging to the game's economy.
 
 
There are several reasons why AoE grinding/farming is so effective:

• AoE abilities are affecting all creatures in its radius by the same amount.
• Creatures give the same amount of XP and loot whether you kill them 1 by 1 or all at once through AoE.
• Almadine gems give health when using your weapon in an AoE attack (like Maelstrom).

Some possible adjustments to make AoE grinding less overpowered and effective would be to :

• Change AoE abilities so that they are more effective on small groups of creatures and less on bigger groups.
• Change XP and loot chance so it is (compared to the current situation) higher on low amount of kills per minute, and lower on high amounts of kills per minute.
• Change the Health per Hit on Almadines so that they give a lot of health if you hit 1 creature, and less per each extra creature.

1. Change AoE abilities so that they are more effective on small groups of creatures and less on bigger groups.
AoE abilities now typically deal an X amount of damage to all creatures in its radius.
This can be changed so that an AoE ability has a quite bit more effect if only 1 creature is in the radius; a bit more effect if there are two creatures in its radius; slightly more effect if there are three creatures in the radius; the same effect as now if there are 4 creatures in the radius; slightly less effect if there are 5 creatures in its radius; a bit less effect if there are 6 creatures in its radius; a moderate amount less effect if there are 7 creatures in its radius; etc.
 
For example, right now the talent Maelstrom deals 90% Melee DPS to ALL creatures in its radius.
That means if you can stay alive you can deal that amount of damage to a few dozen creatures. A few dozen creatures each time is actually not uncommon in AoE grinding/farming.
 
But an ability like this could be changed so that it then deals 105% Melee DPS if there is 1 creature in the radius; 100% Melee DPS to two creatures in its radius; 95% to 3 creatures in its radius; 4 creatures => 90% to all; 5 creatures => 85% to all; 6 creatures => 80% to all; 7 creatures => 75% to all; 8 creatures => 70% to all.
 
Of course the numbers aren't set in stone. But it will give you an idea of how it will work.
 
By changing the abilities like this the general idea behind AoE abilities will still be there: they are more effective against groups of creatures than that single target abilities are.
But you can't use them as overpoweredly effective against dozens of creatures at the same time any longer.
 
 
 
 
2. Change XP and loot chance so it is (compared to the current situation) higher on low amount of kills per minute, and lower on high amounts of kills per minute.
One of the reasons to go AoE farming is to have easy access to XP and gold.
People have been known to get to level 40 in mere days through AoE grinding. Also a lot of people use AoE farming to gain a lot of gold in a short time.
Both developments have had a negative effect on the game. It is not in the interest of the game if players can gain levels way too easily, and it is especially bad for the game if gold flows into the game too fast because it leads to rampant inflation.
 
Both these issues can easily be tackled by introducing a reduction on XP and loot chance based on a simple timer.
If someone kills many creatures in a certain amount of time then the XP and loot chance from these creatures is reduced.
 
An example of how this can work:
A player who kills creatures at a moderate pace would kill creatures once every 10 seconds or so.
Each time the player kills a creature it will check how many creatures the player has killed in the last minute.
Player 1 has killed at most 6 creatures in the last minute so the loot chance and XP are unaffected.
Player 2 has killed more than 6 creatures in the last minute so the loot chance and XP are slightly reduced for the 7th creature; a bit more reduced for the 8th creature; more reduced for the 9th creature; etc.
 
To put it in numbers (again they are not set in stone; they are to give you a general idea of how it works):

Player 1 kills creature 1 at 0 seconds (timer starts counting); creature 2 at 10 seconds; creature 3 at 20 seconds; creature 4 at 30 seconds; creature 5 at 40 seconds; creature 6 at 50 seconds; creature 7 at 60 seconds; creature 8 at 70 seconds; etc.
He will get the normal XP and loot chance because there is always 1 minute between the first and 7th kill. And between the 2nd and 8th kill; 3rd and 9th kill; etc.
 
Player 2 kills creature 1 at 0 seconds (timer starts counting); creature 2 at 1 seconds; creature 3 at 2 seconds; creature 4 at 3 seconds; creature 5 at 20 seconds; creature 6 at 21 seconds; creature 7 at 22 seconds; creature 8 at 23 seconds; creature 9 at 40 seconds; creature 10 at 41 seconds; creature 11 at 42 seconds; creature 12 at 43 seconds; creature 13 at 60 seconds; creature 14 at 61 seconds; creature 15 at 62 seconds; creature 16 at 63 seconds; creature 17 at 80 seconds; creature 18 at 81 seconds; creature 19 at 82 seconds; creature 20 at 83 seconds: etc.
He will get normal XP and loot chance for creature 1-6 because they are his first in that minute.
For creature 7 he will get 95% of the normal XP and loot chance.
For creature 8 he will get 90% of the normal XP and loot chance.
For creature 9 he will get 85% of the normal XP and loot chance.
For creature 10 he will get 80% of the normal XP and loot chance.
For creature 11 he will get 75% of the normal XP and loot chance.
For creature 12 he will get 70% of the normal XP and loot chance.
For creature 13 he will get 70% of the normal XP and loot chance (same as creature 12, because now creature 1 is already a minute ago).
For creature 14 he will get 60% of the normal XP and loot chance (same as creature 12 and 13, because now creature 1 and 2 are already a minute ago).
For creature 15 and any subsequent creature he will also get 70% of the normal XP and loot chance (because there are always 12 creature kills in the last minute).
 
This way AoE grinding/farming will prove to be a less effective way to gain XP, and will bring less gold into the game economy.
 
 
 
 
3. Change the Health per Hit on Almadines so that they give a lot of health if you hit 1 creature, and less per each extra creature.
One of the most important and overpowered ways of AoE grinding/farming is to use Almadine gems on your weapon and use AoE abilities that use that weapon.
The gems will give you health based on each time you hit a creature. And if you use an AoE ability of a large group the Almadine gems will give you so much health that you can survive several dozen creatures attacking you at the same time.
 
While the Health on Hit that Almadine give is in itself not overpowered when used against creatures 1 on 1, it is overpowered when used in AoE attacks.
A simple and effective way to reduce the overpowering effect it has with AoE abilities is to reduce the amount of health it gives if a player has done a lot of hits in a certain time frame. The initial health on hit may be raised a bit.
 
For example, if a player has a weapon with an Fair Almadine gem (tier 4 gem) in it then currently it will give 24 health on hit.
Let's raise that to 36 health per hit, but give it a reduction of 1/6 of the last amount per hit within a 3 second time frame.
When that player uses an AoE ability that uses the weapon then the first hit in 3 seconds will give 36 health; the second gives 30 health (36 with a 1/6th reduction = 30); the third one 25 (30 with a 1/6th reduction = 25), the fourth will give 21 (25 with a 1/6th reduction = 21); the fifth gives 17 (21 with a 1/6th reduction = 17), sixth gives 14 (17 with a 1/6th reduction = 14); seventh gives 12 (14 with a 1/6th reduction = 12); and the next hits give 10, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 3, 2, 2, 2, 1, 1, 1, etc. health per hit if they are all within those 3 second.
 
Suppose you hit once every second then your first hit gives you 36 health; the next hit at 1 second gives 30 health; the third hit at 2 seconds gives 25 health; the fourth hit at 3 seconds also gives 25 heatlh because the first hit is 3 seconds ago; and the following hits keep giving you 25 health until you break the pattern of 1 hit per second.
 
Suppose you hit twice every second then your first hit gives you 36 health; the next hit at 0.5 second gives 30 health; the next hit at 1 second gives 25 health, the fourth hit at 1.5 seconds gives 21 health; the fifth hit at 2 seconds also gives 17 health; at 2.5 seconds the sixth hit gives you 14 health; and at 3 seconds the seventh hit gives you 12 health because the first hit is 3 seconds ago; and the following hits keep giving you 12 health because those hits are always the 6th hit in the last 3 seconds until you break the pattern of 2 hits per second.
 
This change would keep the effect of Almadine for normal use, but reduces its overpowering effect it has on AoE grinding.