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=DF= March 11th Design Notes: Book 3: The Awakened Depths: Roots of Change

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3/11/2022 21:58:06   
  Peachii
Clairvoyant!
quote:


Verlyrus:
Book 3: The Awakened Depths: Roots of Change

Hey there heroes!

With Dragesvard lost in cold, silent ruins, the DragonLords have taken their first steps in reclaiming the city. But the fungus won't relinquish its hold so easily...



Book 3's main story continues! Last time, the Greenguard Alliance discovered the remnants of the Dragonslayers in the destroyed ruins of Dragesvard.

This week, you'll report back to Captain Lestrad, while back on the mainland, decisions must be made.

Grab your Self-Containment Unit and head over to the Dragesvard Camp from the Book 3 Travel Map!


Also this week, we've got some adjustments and a bunch of bug fixes.

First up, some changes to last week's Never Apart challenge:

  • Achilles' defensive scaling from shield charges has been reduced from 2x to 1x.
  • Patrocles' Continuation shield All scaling reduced from 20 per hit to 15 per hit.
  • Patrocles' Termination activation damage reduced to 8x base from 12x base total. Termination activation healing reduced from 33% to 17%.
  • Patrocles' enrage Termination Boost increased to 125 from 100.

    Next, the bug fixes! (Game Version 15.2.12)

    Many of these may require clearing your cache.

  • Fixed an issue with the quest "First Date" where leaving the quest would not reset your class.
  • Pirate's Help From The Locker skill should no longer prevent enemies from playing their defeat animations.
  • Added a sneaky Bypass button to Lock 2 in the Archive E-189-L war.
  • Fixed an issue where turning in the items required for the quest Fireworks from Lim would cause errors.
  • Fixed an issue where using extra turns would prevent you from selecting enemies using the mouse.
  • Fixed an issue where an enemy in the Aeris Battlespire arena using extra turns would allow you to gain control for a turn.
  • Fixed an issue when creating a Soulforged Axe, Wand, or Scythe where after selecting a "blade", you would be unable to go Back from the Hilt selection screen.
  • Fixed an issue where teleporting when the character model is at an angle would keep the character's angle.
  • Adjusted some monster locations in the quest "Adrift" to prevent problems progressing.
  • Fixed an issue where attempting to leave the quest "New Horizon" would cause an error, and then subsequently trying to finish the quest would crash the game.
  • Fixed an issue where clicking the Leave button on the first page of the first book in the quest "Cold Truth" would softlock the game.
  • Fixed an issue where Stryche was using the wrong graphic in night time Book 1 Falconreach.
  • Fixed an issue where the Fire Eater enemy had a NaN resistance.
  • Fixed an issue with the Tyndurspawn where its Smashed debuff affected Bonus instead of Boost.
  • Fixed an issue with the Tyndurspawn where some classes would attack backwards.
  • Fixed an issue where trying to save a weapon to a build besides Default as both Equipped and Slotted would not properly save the weapon.
  • Clarified the skill description of Warrior's Defend skill.
  • Fixed an issue where the player could not approach Kara in Sulen'Eska from the left side.
  • Fixed some incorrect characters in the descriptions of the Woodman's Daggers.

    There's still a number of bugs to address, but I've managed to clear the backlog by quite a bit!


    And that's all for this week! Next week, we plan to have another main story release as your journey deeper into Dragesvard continues!

    Have feedback about recent releases? Have any crazy theories or ideas? Want to discuss all things DragonFable?

    Join the discussion on the official forums!

    Want to play DragonFable without using an internet browser?

    Check out the Artix Games Launcher!

    Follow us on Twitter for sneak peeks and updates (and feel free to tweet us your fan art and feedback too!)

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    Tags: #Verlyrus
    		•
    DF AQW  Post #: 1
    3/11/2022 23:14:11   
    Laeon val Observis
    Member
     

    		 Disregarding the shooting star that's inbound for Falconreach, which is also now more obvious than before...
    spoiler:

    Capt. Lestrad is still the thickheaded fool who will be just one step away from more casualties than needed. You can unequip/-display the Containment helm once in the quest, but be prepared that you will begin battles with 1% max HP loss even after receiving the full heal. Nice pep talk from Xan to Sep there, although a reckless charge will still cost more, especially after we were unable to put a scratch on Akanthus' armor. Better have a bit of preparation in case Warlic's yoga session takes a little too long for comfort, hopefully just enough for him to be bare minimum ready. For now, while the fungi are keeping us busy, we can only hope that our gnome allies' intel and presence in SH be enough to slow things on Jaania's boat ride to the Fissure.

    As for the rebalances done for last week's Doom release, that should help Pat being less stingy (still reeling from those instances that he bunker busted past KAA's Writhe+Dropbear+Hidebehind) and that both enemies don't ramp up defensives too quickly.

    < Message edited by Laeon val Observis -- 3/11/2022 23:21:25 >
    DF AQW  Post #: 2
    3/11/2022 23:21:17   
    Primate Murder
    Member

    spoiler:

    People are actually starting to do something about Akanthus? What manner of madness is this?


    @Laeon
    You can display the Containment Unit, that's enough for the quest.
    AQ DF  Post #: 3
    3/11/2022 23:22:25   
    Laeon val Observis
    Member
     

    		 I already factored that into my statement, hence unequip/-display. There will be those who might be a little too OC on builds and appearances, hence the warning I placed.
    DF AQW  Post #: 4
    3/11/2022 23:25:50   
    Primate Murder
    Member

    		I see, thanks for clarifying.
    AQ DF  Post #: 5
    3/12/2022 0:49:38   
    Roxas45
    Member

    		I like this quest.
    Nice throwback to the Void Ship missions, and Some worrying detail about the mana core having the same level of danger that the void did.

    Captain Lestrad - The less said by me, the better, I feel. XP

    This quest - for the first time in a very long time - has given me an idea of what the stakes are now.
    Queen's worried about her people and the consequences of ruling.
    Seppy and Warlic, arguably two of the strongest foes we've faced (in one form or another) are hesitating to do anything. LOVE Seeing them be human like this.
    I dont entirely buy that Xan is... not insane or anything else. For one thing, I Dont think we've heard him speak at all lately and this feels like its coming out of nowhere. Hell, in the middle of his speech, I expected him to start laughing maniacally. Xan's growth... will take some time to settle into me, I feel.

    And the fungi - Oh. Nicely done.
    Raised stakes, faster pace - I'm happy. I'd be even happier to throw Lestrad into the path of them, but I guess everyone deserves a chance at redemption. He's already started showing SOME signs, with the way he addressed Kord. Guess there's some time left.
    AQ DF MQ AQW  Post #: 6
    3/12/2022 1:31:36   
    AstralCodex
    Member

    		I really enjoyed the main story quest. Echoing what people have said above about Seppy, Warlic, and Xan.

    I'm not sure the nerfs to never apart were strictly necessary but I do appreciate the Achilles +All/+BPD gain nerf, which makes the fight a lot more viable for defensive classes.
    DF  Post #: 7
    3/12/2022 10:44:31   
    Allos
    Member

    		Ah, what a feast on this week's story! a lot of good content! And we get more next week too! Finally some food around here.
    spoiler:

    Good to see Eirn's trip on Void Ship paying off for him, and Victoria makes me happy. Xan and Sepulchure's talk was so good too!

    The nerfs to NA are probably good but man I was really hoping for Relic Barrier to be made an exception for Pat. It *might?* be doable for DK without that but man, woulda helped a lot... Super free own, too...

    Edit: Okay, sorry for the wall of text, i mean it, but I'd like to stake my claim with some logic (and vent a little bit tbf):
    DK is a little weird of a class, due to its unique situation (which I actually like quite a bit!), but due to its unique gimmicks, it is rather prone to struggling with some challenges due to the restrictions that come with said gimmicks. Usually thats fine, I don't mind DK getting owned by InD or anything of the sort, It'll have bad matchups due to its wackyness, its just life.
    But this case is a bit different.
    DK has the tools for Never Apart, it'd probably be a good matchup even. It is just being arbitrarely blocked from doing it by Pat killing Relic Barrier. Sure, Pat punishes buffs, thats the point, but hear me out:
    -Relic Barrier is DK's way of making up for its unique equipment mechanic, which the class is built around. You *can* turn it off, but due to its unique purpose and position I don't think that should default it to being "just another buff". Ideally fights that punished buffs/status would weight whenever DK can afford to turn Relic Barrier off or not to deal with said punish, to then decide if an exception is needed or not (and in this case, it can't afford to switch it off NOR to keep it, damned if you do, damned if you don't...)
    -Even if Pat did ignore it, its not like DeathKnight would trivialize the fight THAT much or anything, it doesn't naturally get to max Evil, it would still have to watch out for Termination because of Reap, You'd still have to strategize properly, it'd just be *good*. Technomancer, which is a class *very* comparable to DK even, likely would still have a better matchup too. Makes one think.
    -If DK had the +40 All from barrier split across its relics's natural resists instead (not what i'm neccesarely defending, just a thought experiment), this problem would be avoided, and I don't think anyone would have said DK was too broken against it or anything. Like it has naturally bad matchups, It would have a naturally good matchup this time is all.
    -There's not reall any repercussions if Pat did ignore Relic Barrier. Most you could say is Underworld Epoch shouldn't get owned by its +Immo that counteracts its -All, which 1- *yes, correct*, and 2- yeah thats it. Thats all
    I don't know how to close this off, i'm not gonna riot or quit the game or anything if Relic Barrier stays owned. I'll just move on and be the same happy chap as usual next week. I just like the class and i'm perplexed and baffled as to why its being consciously dunked on for free. If that is changed i hope its because of my reasoning and not because i'm some angry forumite or whatever. I still like the fight a lot, and i'm thankful for all y'all do for the game, you just confuse me sometimes.


    < Message edited by Allos -- 3/12/2022 13:31:25 >
    DF AQW  Post #: 8
    3/12/2022 15:26:30   
    Laeon val Observis
    Member
     

    		 ^For your first premise, it'll be a matter of converting the aura into the same way as Techno's heat and P/BDL's Boost aura. As you can see, both have aspects of bolstering (offensive) stats instead of defense. As to why it hasn't been done yet can be left out of the imagination, although it might be funky for the game currently to calculate. The best for that would be something similar to Earth Dragon Spirit's effect, as that is the foundation of Extra Fluffy Tog's damage shield. Even then, this ain't the first that a class is walled because of auras. SWoT's shadows, though inert, do set off Leorilla. Serious premiums aside, Atealan BCs will also be subject to the same effect.

    As per your suggestion of placing the AllRes into the accessories, doesn't really matter. Disregarding its potential changes to non-DK builds, even at its current state DK is trolled by Unraveller, both normal and EX mode, making winning for it against anti-All mechanics difficult if not impossible.

    For your claims that DK has the kit for the fight, do realize that even with max Uaanta's Blaster, its Evil+All falls short to more less restrictive builds as listed in the Endgame Wiki, topping out at 65 at level 90 as opposed to 76/78 at the same level. On top of that, its shield doesn't line up with either foes' rotations (a 2/9 barrier versus a 5/6 and a 7-action rotation), its extra AllRes buffer doesn't have a -Heal offset, and the presence of a DoT (unless Achilles first kill) means deathproofing is (almost) out of the question. Those combined means that the solos can be manageable, but the duo will become a pain that can loop back to a "have you considered Technomancer" situation.
    DF AQW  Post #: 9
    3/12/2022 16:29:18   
    Allos
    Member

    		@Laeon
    your comment confuses me a bit because either you didn't understand what I said, or I don't understand what *you* are saying. And i can't tell which (I don't mean as an offense either)

    My suggestion isn't *exactly* to make Relic Barrier a passive non-status, its generally unimportant to me whenever that happens or not.

    I didn't suggest splitting the all-res into the accessories either, in fact i explicitly said that was a thought experiment to prove a point, and not actually my suggestion.

    Like i could address all that you said in that third point but i can't tell if you said these because you think I said "use DK" (it can't do the fight currently lol) or if you're trying to strenghten my points. Yes, DK has problems it'd have to overcome in the fight. And i believe it can overcome all of them save for patroclus owning relic barrier. thats the entire point of my post, I want relic barrier to be an exception to patroclus's termination nuke so DK can do cool things in the fight and win (and because i think Relic Barrier is an essential part of DK's gimmick of course), That is the only change i actually propose. Techno will probably still be better but hey, another class having a good run on it is not a bad thing.
    (But yes DK would kill Achilles first and turtle on Patroclus, just no relic barrier = take a billion damage)

    < Message edited by Allos -- 3/12/2022 16:53:38 >
    DF AQW  Post #: 10
    3/12/2022 21:32:14   
    Boxer2380
    Member

    		I've completed AdventureFriends 2, but I'm not seeing the extra dialogue with Aegis that came with this update. I went to go see him in Ravenloss Book 3 like it said, but nothing seems to be different.
    AQ DF MQ AQW  Post #: 11
    3/12/2022 22:57:26   
    Laeon val Observis
    Member
     

    		 @Allos, as far as anyone knows, Stuffed is the only status that has quite the exception handling of all statuses as anything else that displays on the stat/resist interface is susceptible to purges and buff/debuff integer checks (remember that +Health is considered by Pandora EX as a buff instead of debuff when her Inversion check engages, hence the integer part). The second most resilient would be the pyro's Magefires not purging on To Ashes because it's the pyro player themselves that calls the purging. DK's artificer system is definitely its strong point, and I recognize that (I wouldn't be having my Figmini, Flux Leaf, and Dominion Tentacle w/o DK after all), but it doesn't mean that it can be entitled or too generic enough to clear one Inn quest too many. If that were the case, IBR won't be trolled so hard by innate (Inn) boss designs, Inn Seppy won't OTK DmKs, and v1 wouldn't be in its blacklisted state. Point of fact here is, notwithstanding the encouragement of multiple class masteries, with all the variety of combat themes the Inn offers, it should be an expectation that there will be variable, you can say, "class inclusiveness", per fight. The reason why my feedback on how you seek Relic Barrier to be exception handled in my previous statement is structured as such is based on the logics I've lain on the table just now. If you want Relic Barrier to be an exception to Pat's or any status checking bosses, the best is to make it similar to the auras of P/BDL, Techno, among other classes with powerups that don't display in the stat/resist interface.

    As for the AllRes to DK accessories part, that I very clearly understand as a thought experiment. The most fault I'll have there is word choice, most likely the term "suggestion". And throughout my statements here and previously, never had it crossed my thought that you are trying to use DK here despite the tone you set sounding similar to that of a roleplayer or someone with narrow class choices. I just set the facts as they are, relative to the big picture of the game regardless of how encouraging or discouraging they are, and leave the reader to interpret and/or use them.

    @above, do you see a dialogue button labelled "Sk'aar" (it's underneath "House")? If not, cache clear. If still no, bug report.

    < Message edited by Laeon val Observis -- 3/12/2022 23:16:21 >
    DF AQW  Post #: 12
    3/13/2022 0:29:45   
    Allos
    Member

    		@Laeon Aight, let me dissecate this then. (post wall edit: jeez i need to find a way to say what i want in less lines, sorry)
    Yes, stuffed's mostly the only exception, besides Leorilla ignoring Paladin and Necro's inherent auras IIRC. I was staking my case nonetheless because I think with reason that rule can be broken, doesn't have to be a holy commandment. And in this case i think it should (and in UWE's funny -all +immo but its UWE so whatever). I don't mind classes getting owned by having bad matchups, said as much in the first post. This one pisses me off because its completely arbitrary, if techno or BDL had its passive as status i'd vouch for them as well. Just kinda makes the situation more ridiculous IMO.
    IBR's banned in one (quite old) fight due to its weird skill allowing it to completely ignore the fight and shred it. The fight's also so easy nowadays nobody would care if it wasn't, nor care that it is. As for having bad matchups because of how the class actually is built, yeah happens.
    DMK gets owned in 1 fight for flavour reasons and it STILL WINS the fight so ?????? what are you talking? You coulda used soulweaver as a much better example since unraveller auto-kills that, and to that i say "lol flavour". Woulda still rather it wasn't the case tho but hey if its particularly funny or lore, its *fiiiiine*, DK isn't either of that in this case.
    IBR is also an old class in need of a revamp, so yes, it has pretty bad matchups nowadays, and yes, i'd like that to change, for it to BE revamped eventualy. Not the point. DK is a modern class revamped not that long ago, and it was made the way it is and yet it is refused to have its design take into consideration apparently. Its also a free class, which the other 2 aren't. Up to you if that matters, I think that matters a **little little bit.
    I'd probably be up for making it a non-aura passive but at that point its even more arbitrary. You can make RB an exception for Patroclus and achieve the same result, so does it really matter which way you go? If anything mine requires the least changes. (I also think it happens to be fine for other status-checking bosses we have so far, but I would like it to be **taken in consideration** in future boss design is all. if the punish is less severe or in a shorter window you can probably justify "just turn it off a little")

    Because the all-to-relic part was a thought experiment to prove that it'd be fair to let DK barrier be an exception, the fact you also took it way further than i intended it to (understanding it as not actually my suggestion or not) did make it pretty weird to me, its what confused me really. Also what are you talking about, DK does Ex Unraveller, i've personally done it lol. And since you brought up ExRav, let me add, i wouldn't want verly to go on a hunt adjusting old bosses to fit DK, which was revamped long after Unrav (which it still beats lol). I just think it makes no sense to not take how DK was designed into consideration on new fights, like this one.
    No i'm not a roleplayer or anything of the sorts, in fact my first attempts at the fight were with Technomancer, which went quite well. I just wanted to try the fight with a different class afterwards, get a feel for it beyond the first impressions with techno. DK **is** a class i'm quite fond of tho so it was my second choice is all. In paper it has a ton going on in favour of it in this fight too. If this simple change with 0 repercussions was done, i'm confident DK would have done the fight even before the other nerfs. I just think the reason its not done is bad so i went talky-mode.
    I'm also not entitled, yes, i had a few lines addressing that in my original post. Its why i tried to give as much reasoning for my proposition as possible instead of going the shorter "tl;dr owning relic barrier is stupid, don't do that" route.

    < Message edited by Allos -- 3/13/2022 0:48:50 >
    DF AQW  Post #: 13
    3/13/2022 6:26:12   
    Dratomos
    Helpful!


    		 Hey, main story! Missed ya. Really enjoyed this part, interested to see what we see next week!

    As for the DK discussion, I do agree with @Allos. Relic Barrier should get some changes, so that it doesn' enrage foes who don't like us heroes having status effects. As it is vital part of DK's playstyle, it does damper it's style heavily and needs some adjustments. I also really like using DK and fights like these where it has a lot of potential to beat the duo, it is a bit sad for all that to disappear due to Relic Barrier.

    quote:

    SWoT's shadows, though inert, do set off Leorilla


    @Laelon: no they don't actually. Neither does the Umbral form. I checked also against Pat and he also didn't care for my shadows. So it's not entirely impossible to modify Relic Barrier as well to be immune to status checks. The problem might come from it coming from items and not abilities (as Relic Barrier can disappear due to equipment change, whereas SWoT's shadows and Umbral's don't).

    < Message edited by Dratomos -- 3/13/2022 6:29:10 >
    DF AQW  Post #: 14
    3/14/2022 7:47:31   
    charrynator
    Member

    		Ever since we got the backstory of Warlic in the Alexander character file, of him not being Wargoth but his son, I've been waiting for the real Wargoth, the one who destroyed the original world of the Atalea to arrive to Lore, either in search of his son or Atrea, and maybe it has finally arrived. Who knows maybe the Empress was keeping him in the dark about Lore but with her in the current state maybe that's no longer a possibility.
    AQ DF MQ  Post #: 15
    3/14/2022 18:00:16   
    Baron Dante
    Member

    		So I didn't have time last week to talk about Ach and Pat, but I'd like to say that Patroclus is probably my favorite mechanics while in a long time. Achilles not so much, since I think the start of the fight where you can work around his gimmick where he either gets stronger or grows more defensive is cool, but then it's just kinda thrown out to have him do both anyways. That's somewhat mitigated by the changes, so that's nice. Just wanted to specifically say this because most of the stuff I've said about Inn fights recently hasn't been the most positive, so y'know, credit where it's due.

    So, as far as this release goes, I noticed something I'm not a huge fan of: The "boss" has slowly increasing permanent MPM, something that's not generally a huge issue, (To the point that this never even crossed my mind during the last main story release that featured the same boss, just without the extra mobs) it's possible for you to end in an unwinnable position if you end up spending too much time here with a bunch of classes, because said MPM keeps ramping up for a fairly long time. (+200 MPM in addition to what the boss starts with) I'd also guess this would be a bigger issue for lower-end characters.
    Like, I definitely don't get the feeling these bosses that basically amount to "large normal enemies" are really supposed to be difficult, and the 'difficulty' coming from such an edge case, one that seems to be intended to be more flavor than anything else, I think decreasing the max MPM wouldn't hurt.
    AQ DF MQ AQW Epic  Post #: 16
    3/14/2022 19:26:31   
      Verlyrus
    DragonFable Boxcat


    		 I agree with the concerns about Relic Barrier. I'm looking into a way to make it exempt from buff detection, as well as any other future or past skills that we may want to exempt, without having to hardcode them into the buff detection stuff.
    Shouldn't be too difficult, but I want to make sure I get it right.

    I also agree about the Hollow Dragonslayers. I'm definitely going to tune them down as "general enemies".

    I appreciate all the feedbacks!
    AQ MQ  Post #: 17
    3/14/2022 22:58:44   
    AstralCodex
    Member

    		re: Relic Barrier for Patroclus Termination - I agree that in the future, this is something to exclude, but DK does already do the duo without food or extra pots even with Termination triggering on Relic parrier, so it doesn't seem super high priority?

    @Dramatos - the way Patroclus Termination seems to work is that it checks for statuses that increase your stats. Stuff like Void Barrier, EDS, Umbral Form, or Archivist's statuses don't trigger it as a result. Statuses that decrease your stats such as the -Health from Stan don't count either.
    DF  Post #: 18
    3/15/2022 5:53:37   
    Dratomos
    Helpful!


    		 @Astral: I would se it's nice change to have. Because dealing Pat with DK makes it just more annoying. Not something that cannot be done, but something that at least for me is just extra unnecessary difficulty.

    And as for Pat, I also figured that he terminates all users who increase their stats, but I thought it would be good to add that SWoT's Umbral form doesn't count, even if it does increase MPM.
    DF AQW  Post #: 19
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