foogleman

12 minutes ago, Darth Not A Very Nice Guy said:

What were their stats? What items were they using? Sure 80% is achievable if someone had better stats than their attacker.

Like I said, I gave them exactly the same stats you described above with the exact same items. The rogue had 4 STR -  1 CON - 6 DEX - 5 PER  |  Rapier + Round Shield + Nature's Armoring.

Unless you are talking about the NPC.  THe NPC had 6 str, 6 dex, 6 con, not that it matters really. The only stat that mattered for the NPC was the 6 str, that you also used for your theoretical example.

1 hour ago, Darth Not A Very Nice Guy said:

The Best Tanky Build will use Plate armor. While it reduces your Dodge Mitigation, it's a flat guaranteed Mitigation that Dodge doesn't give you. Not to mention you'll be splitting up your EXP between two stats of STR and CON, while the Dodger if they want to keep up with the Plate will have to split between DEX-PER which doesn't really increase tankiness since they'll have low HP. So the STR-CON has a better effective health, but of course that's only with Physical damage. Magical damage, DEX-PER have the advantage since dodging reduces both Physical and Magical damage and save for a few armor, Plate mainly reduces Physical.

Night Elf Rogue (800 EXP)
4 STR -  1 CON - 6 DEX - 5 PER  |  Rapier + Round Shield + Nature's Armoring

Dodge Rating vs 6 STR
(2d5 + 5[PER] + 1[Rapier Dodge Bonus] + 2[Round Shield Bonus] + 2[Nature's Armoring] + 1[Night Elf Racial Bonus]) - (2d5 + 6[STR]) = 
(Average of 17) - (Average of 12) = Average 5

5 * (6[DEX] + 1[Round Shield Mitigation Bonus]) = 35% + 5%[Nature's Armoring Physical Damage Reduction] = 40%

300 HP * 1.40 = 420 Effective HP Against Both Physical and Magical

 

Dwarf Warrior (780 EXP)

6 STR - 1 DEX - 6 CON - 1 PER | Broadsword + Kite Shield + Half PLate

(2d5 + 1[PER]) - (2d5 + 6[STR]) = On Average Will Fail

0%[Failed Dodge] + 25%[Half PLate] + 5%[Dwarven Racial] = 30%

550 HP * 1.30 = 715 Effective HP against Physical

                     = 550 Effective HP Against Magical

 

While Dodge Tanking isn't a bad option, and is absolutely Viable, STR-CON is more effective because you spend less resources to make yourself tankier. Not to mention it's a CONSTANT Damage reduction and not RNG which can mess you over if you roll low and they roll high. So it's consistent. But in the end I believe Dodge will be on par with STr-CON at high levels of EXP and eventually STR-CON tanking will be able to take advantage of dodging mitigation due to the fact the better shield and armor require high STR ratings.

Actually, the example you describe results in a tie in practice. I just went onto the server and created both those characters exactly like you describe them here, and let both of them fight against a 6 Str enemy. The result was, that both of them tanked 12 hits from the NPC until they got knocked out.

The Rogue: Screenshot

The Warrior: Screenshot

I believe you miscalculated or underestemiated the amount of damage the rogue reduces with each dodge, which can go to up to 80%.

 

But I will say this:

As I mentioned in the tips above, good dodge can be very hard to achieve for new characters, since they need to keep their perception stat on par with the main stat of other players. Wielding a shield is mandatory to really have the edge in a fight were you rely on dodge to mitigate damage. But all the points you put into Perception will be completely wasted when you fight someone that has 1 or 2 more points in their main stat compared to your dodge. Fighting a 8 Strength enemy while only having 5 Perception yourself, for example, will result in you dodging very little, even with a shield. However, having 8 Perception against someone that attacks you with 5 Strength will probably make you dodge every attack they do for a hefty amount.

Disclaimer: I am by no means an expert in the RPG combat, but I have toyed around with it quite a bit during the beta and I wanna share some tips with all the new players, to give everyone a fair and easy start. I also encourage everyone else to come into this thread and share some of your wisdom.

 

 

General Tips:

 

1. Importance of your main stat: Weapons and skills usually scale with one stat, like strength or willpower. Some even scale with two. Naturally, increasing your main stat will make you hit harder with those weapons and skills. Not only that, but your chance to hit is also highly dependant on your main stat. If you notice an enemy dodging a lot of your attacks, that means your main stat is too low to reliably hit them. Because of this, pushing up your main stat (Strength, Dexterity or Willpower) is the best way to turning you into a deadly fighter.

 

2. How to be tanky: The three main stats that will increase your tankiness are: Constitution, Perception and Dexterity. Constitution will raise your HP. Perception will raise your chance to dodge attacks. Dexterity will raise the amount of damage you can dodge (up to a maximum of 80%). But one important note to keep in mind about Perception:  If you want to dodge, your  Perception will always be put up against the attackers main stat, like Strength. And since most attackers will put a lot of points into this, you will also need a lot of points in Perception to be able to dodge. This can be very hard to achieve, especially for new characters. Shields will help you a lot with this, since shields will increase your dodge rating. Wearing heavy armor, however, will decrease your dodge rating. A leather wearer with a shield and high perception is probably the most dodge-heavy character you could make.

 

3. Healing is very strong in the RPG. If you try to 1vs1 a character that can heal himself (Mark of the Mender is everyone's favorite here), you almost stand no chance unless you have one of the abilities that reduce healing. Aimed Shot and Mortal Strike are two of those abilities, but only available for Hunters or Warriors. And they cost Essence. An Ability that is rather cheap in its energy cost and is available to every class, is Mark of the Scorned, which will also reduce healing on the target by 50%. A very nice tool to have if you want to beat a healer.

 

4. Even if you are a melee character, it's always handy to have some means of ranged combat capability available. A bow, for example. Switching weapons when you are engaged only costs 5 energy. Or maybe an ability you can use from range? It will help quite a bit if you come into a fight against another melee character, because often people don't want to engage first since it costs 10 energy. IF you stand there and throw ranged abilities at them every turn, you kinda force them to engage you.

 

5. Using the "Guard" skill on your Hunter or Healer is a great way of making sure that they don't get shut down in a group fight. But be careful. If you engage someone while guarding, you will lose the guard.

 

6. Learning an Ability is free, and you can unlearn one Ability every 2 days. Good to know when you are not satisfied with your current skill set or want to try something new.

 

7. Be mindful of your Fatigue during combat. Each action you take will raise your fatigue, and receiving damage will also raise your fatigue. When you are very fatigued, there is a high chance to receive a random injury.

 

8. Lost a lot of HP during your last fight? Naturally generating it takes a lot of time. You can speed up the process with food and bandages, or find a healer.

 

9. If you manage to bring an enemy down to 0 HP during a fight, they are stunned for the remainder of combat and you can injure or execute them, or even take them prisoner. Be mindful though that putting an enemy to 0 HP will disengage you from them, so in order to execute them you will have to Move (10 energy) to them again and the execute itself costs a hefty 20 Energy, too. So it is possible to execute someone in the middle of a group fight, but it will cost a lot of your energy and the time you take to do so may give your enemies enough advantage to turn the fight into their favor.

 

10. Want to disengage from someone that is attacking you, but you don't have Blink or Disengage in your arsenal? You can also target yourself and do a "Move" action to try and disengage.

 

11. You can also use the RPG to do simple roll checks with your attributes. The command ".rpg check strength" will roll a 2d5 plus your strength, for example. This can come in very handy for your daily RP purposes or events that are not combat related.

 

12. You can macro all your abilities with the command ".rpg act <abilityname>". This is very useful for making combat and other things faster and easier.

Dagger:

http://www.wowhead.com/item=116529/incised-dagger

http://www.wowhead.com/item=117255/lightdrinker-dagger

http://www.wowhead.com/item=59256/unkeeper-blade

http://www.wowhead.com/item=69219/sacrificial-blade

 

 

Fist Weapon:
http://www.wowhead.com/item=116514/creeperclaw-knuckles

http://www.wowhead.com/item=144171/neronoks-razor-katar&bonus=4173

 

1H-Axe:

http://www.wowhead.com/item=153290/krokul-mining-pick

http://www.wowhead.com/item=119207/meat-cleaver

http://www.wowhead.com/item=65795/virnaal-guardsmans-axe

http://www.wowhead.com/item=52951/chicken-chopper

http://www.wowhead.com/item=36572/dinged-cleaver

 

1H-Mace:

http://www.wowhead.com/item=116646/steelforged-hammer

http://www.wowhead.com/item=156937/dark-iron-blackjack

 

1H-Sword:

http://www.wowhead.com/item=119204/1-handed-alliance-sword

http://www.wowhead.com/item=76390/trainees-spellblade

http://www.wowhead.com/item=65492/broadsword-of-the-crown

http://www.wowhead.com/item=88649/monastic-sword

 

Polearms:
http://www.wowhead.com/item=86394/hozen-warrior-spear

http://www.wowhead.com/item=134782/seasoned-pike

http://www.wowhead.com/item=88723/sturdy-yaungol-spear

 

Staff:

http://bfa.wowhead.com/item=155075/lord-aldrus-greatstaff

 

2H-Axe:

http://www.wowhead.com/item=55295/mardenholde-broadaxe

 

2H-Mace:

http://www.wowhead.com/item=127333/ogramal-snake-charming-flute&bonus=0

http://www.wowhead.com/item=119405/durgs-heavy-maul&bonus=0

http://www.wowhead.com/item=117384/warmaul-of-the-warmaul-chieftain

 

2H-Sword:

http://www.wowhead.com/item=64604/sword-of-marshtide-watch

 

 

I'll look for some armor sets later.

Welcome. Bring your friends.

Yes, hello. Bring your friends!

Yes... if filling this out is a requirement to reach the connection guide.. that would be quite silly.
I know most of those questions are really important for the growth of the server, but I'd make answering them optional.

Like I said on Discord, what official lore has Blizzard given us in regards to orcish hobbies and past-times? Orc lore isn't really my thing, but I can't think of anything. And logic demands that they do have some hobbies and past-times. Is surfing one of them? Who is to say it is or isn't?

 

In any case, as far as I have talked with Varen about this, he told me that Unknown Shores would go ahead and develop some custom lore to fill in the blanks that Blizzard left or, like in cases of this here, make a clear definition of how it's going to be. So yeah...

 

Final Conclusion:  Staff should decide here if this is actually a thing or not.

1 hour ago, Antioch said:

I actually agree with Foogleman, so just seconding his opinion here. In addition: I believe that next to the DM's there has to be people who are looking at the large scale of things, the big events shifting the story of the server, as well as incorporating the smaller events into the big picture. If there is such a team already, disregard this. In addition, I think it would be helpful to let us know exactly which people are on "The Council" as well as what their assignments are, so we know who to turn to for what.

In regards to storytelling, I had this idea of Zone DMs once.

For example, if you look at zones in WoW (retail), each zone has a distinct story that starts and finishes inside that zone. Each zone has a "theme" to it, as well. If I was in charge of managing the whole storytelling side of things here, I'd make staff-only subforums for each island and assign one dedicated DM to each island. That DM has two major jobs. First, he needs to represent the NPC presence on that island. This means, when he is online and has the time, he should just be present on the island and look at what players on there are doing, and have the NPCs react to it in a way he sees fit. His second job is to keep a basic "log" of this in his dedicated island-subforum, where he just briefly describes what is going on story-wise on the island, keep a short log of recent events and, most importantly, what is going to happen in the near future. As an example, let's say there is an island that has a small, local pygmy tribe on it. Players have not discovered the tribe yet, but they have been harvesting in their hunting grounds. The DM writes on in his subforum, that the Pygmy tribe is currently aware of the newcomers and weary towards them and their current course of action is to observe. This information is then useful, when in case of the absence of the Island-DM, any other DM can just quickly take a look at the subforum and know exactly what is going on there and how he should let the NPCs react if anything happens. So let's say players run across a Pygmy hunting party and the island DM isn't present, so a replacement DM takes over. The replacement DM knows roughly how the Pygmys would react, so he DMs this random event for the players. The outcome is that the players react very hostile and kill the pygmys. The replacement-DM can then go back to the forum and add what's happened to the "log", so that the main island DM can make a decision later on what happens next and what changes this small event will provoke on the island.

 

This way, you have one DM basically being the overarching storyteller of that one island. He is the one that, in large parts, decides how this whole island will react to what the players do. While at the same time having every other DM being able to "jump in and be hs substitute in case of absense". The benefit is obviously that storytelling for each individual island is more organized, that there won't be much conflicting scenarios since there is just one guy per island making the big decisions, and that it'll overall be easier to keep track of things.

 

Even if you do not pick up on the idea of zone-dms, I would still recommend making a staff-only subforum for every island were you guys keep a simple log of what is going on on that island, what events recently occured, what the "locals" on that island are currently up to and which stance they have towards players etc. etc. 

Generally speaking, I like it.

 

Especially the idea of temporary DM rights is good. SHould make people feel a lot more comfortable with doing events when they don't have to apply for a full-time job in order to do it.

I feel like the "Helper" and "Moderator" position could be put together. Both positions require a person to be empathetic, patient, social and ACTIVE (a helper isn't helping anyone when he's only there one hour a week). So a person that is a good Helper would also be a good Moderator, in my eyes.

This is a Quick & Easy guide for new players.

For more in-depth information, please visit Server Information and read the guides listed there.

 

My Character

Look at your character sheet.  Open up the RPG Handbook and there you have it.

You can also type: .rpg csheet to get a more detailed character sheet. The book will not show you buffs or debuffs you currently have. .rpg csheet will.

This is the moment were you should make a ".rpg csheet"-Macro. It will come in very handy and you will use it a lot. Trust me.

 

Let's look at your stats first:

Strength: Your Hit-Chance vs. dodge in melee combat will be determined by either your strength or your dexterity, which ever is higher. Strength is a requirement for some gear, like plate armor. Strength increases the damage of some weapons and skills.

Dexterity: Your Hit-Chance vs. dodge in melee combat will be determined by either your strength or your dexterity, which ever is higher. Dexterity increases the damage of some weapons and skills. Dexterity determines how much damage you avoid when you successfully dodge. Dexterity does not increase your chance to dodge! Dexterity increases the amount of energy you start with on your first turn in combat.

Constitution: It increases your maximum HP by 100 per point. It reduces the amount of Fatigue you suffer from all actions, and increases your HP regeneration out of combat.

Perception: It increases your chance to dodge. It determines who goes first in combat. It increases your chance to flee from combat. The amount of detailed information you receive when you .rpg csheet on another player or creature is determined by your perception.

Willpower: It increases your Hit-Chance vs. dodge when using magic attacks. It increases the damage and healing of magic skills. The amount of skills your character can learn increases by one for every two points in Willpower. Willpower also decreases the magic damage you take.

Ingenuity: It increases energy regeneration by one for every two points in Ingenuity. It increases the critical hit chance of physical damage skills by 0.5% per point, and magical damage skills by 1% per point. Critical Hits do 175% damage/healing. Some abilities scale with Ingenuity.

 

What about the other stuff?

Productivity is explained in the next paragraph.

Fatigue rises with certain actions, like crafting, swimming, doing combat etc. and it decreases over time. A high fatigue decreases your healing/damage output, and increases your damage taken during combat.

Story Stat is a special stat that is given out by GMs during events and can be used only during that event as a resource for special things.

Energy is needed during combat to use abilities.

Essence is a resource for some powerful abilities. It recharges slowly over time.

 

IMPORTANT: More on Fatigue and Injuries

Fatigue can rise from many actions taken in game, but mainly traveling with the boat, swimming and combat.

The percentage number displayed under Fatigue in your RPG Handbook reduces your outgoing damage and increases your incoming damage during each turn of combat. Every time you get damaged in combat, you have a chance to receive an injury.

There are several different kinds of minor injuries, and they can stack up. Too many injuries can become Major or Severe.

There are several ways in the game to deal with injuries and fatigue. For example, using a campfire will reduce fatigue more quickly over time. Using a bedroll will greatly reduce the time that some wounds need to heal. There are also some abilities in your RPG Handbook under "Non-Combat Abilities" that can help with wound treatment. Click here for more details about injuries.

 

How do I learn abilities?

Open the RPG Handbook, go to "Abilities". This shows all abilities you currently have. The energy cost of each ability is shown in blue in the brackets. The essence cost of an ability is shown in purple. Click on "Ability Dictionary" to get a list of all abilities in the RPG.

To learn an ability, click on it and then click on "Learn Ability". You can "unlearn" an ability once every 24 hours.

Green abilities can be learned by any class. Blue abilities are class-specific. You can only ever have two class abilities.

 

How do I equip myself?

Every item is just "cosmetic". To give your item actual stats that work with the RPG, you have to apply a Token to it. You can get tokens from the vendor. Players can  also craft tokens when they have the skill. To apply a token, simply right-click it and then left-click on the item.

There is two types of tokens. Weapon Token and Armor Token.

The weapon token only works on a fitting weapon. For example, the token for a Short Bow will only work on an item that classifies as Short Bow.

The armor token only works on your chest armor. That means, whatever you wear as chest armor will determine the overall type of armor your character wears in the RPG, regardless of what you have equiped on head, shoulders, feet, hands, etc.

Important: To equip your weapon/armor in the RPG, you have to equip it normally like you would any other item in WoW, and then type: ".rpg equip". Otherwise it will not show up on your character sheet.

 

How do I get better?

The two main factors in getting better are: XP and Productivity.

XP: You increase your XP by Training. Open the RPG Handbook, go to "More Actions" and click "Start Training". This will spend 4 productivity every 5 minutes training until you stop or run out. Based on your experience level, this will result in various amounts of XP gained. 
You can kill NPCs to make training faster, spending 12 productivity immediately after killing an NPC!

Productivity: Productivity is used to buy XP. It is also used for gathering and crafting, explained later on. You regenerate 3 Productivity per hour, even when offline. Productivity is shared among all characters on your account!

 

How do I craft stuff?

Gathering: Fist you need to find a spot that has materials. For example, if you want to find wood, go to an area with trees. Then, open up your RPG Handbook, go to "More Actions" and click "Examine Local Resources." If there is any, it will show up in the chat window. To start gathering, open up your RPG Handbook, go to "More Actions" and click on "Start Woodcutting". Now you just have to wait. To stop gathering, click on "End Gathering". Each "tick" of gathering costs 3 Productivity.

 

Crafting: Get a Manual from one of the vendors. As weaponsmith, you want to get the "Weaponsmithing Manual". You can buy crafting recipes from the vendor. Right-click a recipe and left-click on your Manual to add it. Then, open up your Manual to see all the recipes you know. Click on one of them and it shows you the materials you need. Then click "Craft" to create the item. You need to stand next to the crafting station that is shown in the recipe! Crafting an item costs various amounts of Productivity, depending on the item!

 

 

How do I fight?

Start or join a fight: Find an enemy or an already ongoing fight, open your RPG Handbook and click on "Start/Join a Fight".

Your turn: You will be notified when it is your turn. The time on your turn is limited, so don't take too long. You will regenerate energy at every start of your turn. Your turn will end automatically when you run out of energy, or you end it manually by typing ".rpg act end". You should definately make a macro for that! You will use it a lot.

Abilities: You can use as many abilities in your turn as you like, as long as you have the energy for it. To use an ability, open your RPG Handbook, go to "Abilities" and choose. Alternatively, you can macro it by doing ".rpg act <abilityname>". Example for Heroic Strike: ".rpg act heroicstrike". Making a macro for abilities you use very often is a great idea!

Engaging: To use melee abilities, you need to be engaged to your target. There are several skills that can engage you to someone, but the most common one is the "Move" ability.

Losing all your HP: When a player loses all of their HP, they get stunned until the fight is over. While in this state, they can get injured or executed.

Ending a fight: To end a fight, type ".rpg fight end". The fight ends when every participant votes for it to end. Players that are stunned due to loss of all their HP will always automatically vote "yes".

 

 

How dare you.

Cumming first makes you proud. Interesting.