State of RS Combat [Draft]

[Makoto_the_Phoenix]

Preface:

 

This [rough] draft covers the basics of the three points of the combat triangle; Magic, Ranged, and Melee. Summoning is not included. Many of the examples also underline the older standards/tactics of PvP and PvE combat, with an [interestingly] heavy bias towards freeplay; if you feel that I should update that part, let me know.

 

 

 

Foreword: This rough draft attempts to inform and address the problem of the current Combat system in RuneScape. It can be seen as a giant wall of text; please don't write this off to tl;dr. Read it thoroughly and completely before passing judgment -- it is just a rough draft, after all :P

 

 

 

I: Current State

 

 

 

When it comes to fighting in RuneScape, one has a large amount of options. They can choose what whichever weapon they please, whichever skill they like, or even which Magic spellbook they wish. With these options come some benefits, but even larger drawbacks. For instance, one can choose to use a Dark Bow with Dragon Arrows (superior to most Ranged weapons by any standard), but this would come at a price able to hit insanely hard once about every eleven seconds. For Warriors, they can chose the all-power Godsword or the highest metal 2H they can wield both can hit hard, but both weapons are painfully slow to use for practical use. Magicians are rather stuck when it comes to speeds their spells are cast at about Longsword speed but have a decent edge when it comes to damage. One such spell can hit up to 32 and slow their opponent's attack down for 48 seconds.

 

 

 

II: Major Issue

 

 

 

If you haven't noticed it by now, I'm referring to each weapon by its speed. Weapon speeds haven't really been a critical factor up until the release of RS2, as back then, most every player still believed in their their Rune 2h or a Dragon Battleaxe (which suffered absolutely NO speed penalty). If you'll recall, Jagex reworked their entire combat system with the release of RS2(1):

 

 

 

We noticed that most players only used a small range of weapons, mostly 2-Handed Swords and Battleaxes, which is pretty poor considering the range of weapons available. We wanted all the weapons in RuneScape 2 to be useful so, as you may already know, we've introduced new resistances!

 

 

 

This meant, in effect, that a Mace or a Scimitar, both previously considered useless and novelty weapons, should have had a major use in the upcoming version of RuneScape. However, shortly after the launch of RS2, players realized how unforgivably slow Battleaxes and 2-Handers had become, so they switched to Longswords, Shortswords (where available), Daggers, and the Scimitar. Does anyone notice a small trend with that? Instead of of the eleven different types of weapons available to one at the time, only four were being actively used, and that was effectively reduced down to two. Before a whole year had passed, the Scimitar had become the de facto weapon of choice for many players, and the major problem of weapon bias and imbalance had once again became prevalent.

 

 

 

This problem crept into the realm of Rangers as well, as they were not overlooked in the Combat update with the update came the overwhelming dominance of the Magic Shortbow, or any Shortbow for that matter Crossbows and bolts would be under-appreciated for about three more years(2).

 

 

 

Magicians had received the proverbial short-end of the staff by having an invariable casting speed. The exception to this would be the God staves; they had a single point of speed over the staffs or battlestaffs of the time. To this day, the fastest casting staves are the God staves and the Ancient Staff a stat that really hasn't changed since the days of old. Their spells also lack true punch with the standard speeds that they can cast, the most one can do with Standard Magic is either 14 on Freeplay, or 25 with Iban's Staff. Magic was also supposed to be able to fight truly effectively against Warriors, and be able to bind them in place for up to 15 seconds (practically doubled with the introduction of Ancient Magicks on 18 April 2005). However, their rate of casting and amount of damage pale in comparison to a well-equipped Warrior with a Scimitar he could probably hit about four times harder and faster than a Magician, even with Entangles.

 

 

 

III: Introduction of Slayer

 

 

 

With the Slayer update in 2005, and someone achieving 85 Slayer subsequently (don't really know when, probably late-July or early August), a new, fast and powerful weapon was spawned the Abyssal Whip. In terms of melee combat, it is second-to-none because of its speed and flexibility. A one-handed weapon that was insanely fast, and hit insanely hard the face of RuneScape combat was guaranteed to be changed forever, and not for the better. The skill level required to kill an Abyssal Demon for one of these was immense (the skill was released in January, I'm saying that it took about six months at the earliest for someone to get 85), and the weapon itself, being a force to be reckoned with, left demand virtually unchanged even to this date at absolutely got to have it or you're not fighting anything. To date, most every new weapon (or weapon class) has been compared to the speed of the Whip and Scimitar if it's slower than those, then it's not effective at what it does.

 

 

 

IV: Wielding/Shooting Dragonfire, the Godsword, the Dark Bow, and Miasmic Spells

 

 

 

I'm going to take a time-jump here to reiterate a few of the newest talents for each class here, since they themselves are very popular in PvP circles. The Godsword was released in late 2007, virtually eclipsing any and all weapons of the time with its awesome strength and special attacks here is the only time that speed was not largely considered as a negating factor. The Dragonfire shield can be used to throw literal Dragonfire at one's opponent, and if they are unprepared, one can become an instant barbecue victim. The cheaper alternative to that would be Dragonfire-enchanted bolts, which, if activated, hit an impressive 64 (otherwise hit rather high anyway, upwards of 38 without any activation). Miasmic spells are a relatively newcomer, with the addition of PvP worlds, as they are the only class of Magic spells to hit above 30, and with an added effect, slow their opponent's attacks down. Lastly, the Dark Bow is an awe-inspiringly powerful bow, with the ability to deal up to 48x2 damage, and specials that will never hit below a certain threshold.

 

 

 

Each weapon and addition has its pros, but each has major cons:

 

 

 

Dragonfire Shield: Must be charged to be used to throw fire (obviously); cannot be used very quickly; expensive, so not likely to be used against players; not likely enough to be used against NPCs as none pose that serious of a challenge

 

Dragonfire bolts: Expensive, time-consuming to make and enchant; canceled out by an antifire/Dragonfire shield; uncontrollable special ability

 

Godsword: Impractical (but not unheard of) to use in PvP situations; slow, expensive, may not always be an accurate-enough special

 

Dark Bow: Unforgivably slow this alone is enough to reduce its usefulness outside of PvP situations

 

Miasmic Spells: Cannot be used without the aid of a special staff, which is only usable on PvP worlds

 

 

 

V: Theories and Solutions

 

 

 

So what can be done to fix this major issue? One way would be to remove weapon speeds on all weapons, but this reintroduces the very issue that RS2's combat system was intending to fix weapon bias and elitism. Another fix would be to introduce new and better weapons to faze out the older class, but this creates even more problems.

 

 

 

The way that I would go about fixing this would be as such.

 

 

 

[Melee] Introduce weapon skill levels. Allow a person to become exceedingly skilled in a particular class (or classes) of weapons, to improve weapon speed (certain weapons would be excluded).

 

[Melee] Include the ability to knock-down or stun an opponent with a rather hard hit.

 

[Melee] Allow armor to reduce damage done.

 

[Range and Melee] Cap the amount of damage that a faster weapon can do. For instance, the faster it is, the weaker it can hit; the slower it is, the higher it can hit. Ensure that the slower weapons can not hit below a certain, reasonable threshold, and ensure that all weapons cannot hit above the same threshold. Some exceptions will apply (Barrows).

 

[Melee] Introduce the Dragon set effect, whatever that might be.

 

[Range] Improve the benefits for using a slower Ranged weapon (probably more damage or higher Magic defense)

 

[Range] Allow up to Red Dragonhide armor on Freeplay.

 

[Range] Allow up to Adamant bolts (absolutely no tips) on freeplay.

 

[Magic] Allow magic level to improve damage on the following ratio: D = (floor(S) + (L*.15)). This means, if I have 99 Magic, I can hit up to 47 with a spell that does an initial 32 damage.

 

[Magic] Give Snare and Entangle to Freeplay. Five seconds does not last long.

 

[Magic] Allow casting speed to be determined by level.

 

 

 

VI: Closing Thoughts

 

 

 

This is to be debated, as this is just a rough draft, and what I feel on the matter. I'd really like to see this system get the appreciation that it deserved from the introduction of RS2.

 

 

 

Sources:

 

 

 

1) http://news.runescape.com/newsitem.ws?id=145

 

2) http://news.runescape.com/newsitem.ws?id=620

[The_Maddest]

which is only usable on PvP worlds

It's only obtainable as a drop on PvP worlds but I'm pretty sure it can be used on non PvP.

 

 

 

While your suggestions for F2P are very generous, being a F2Per, I would say that they imbalance the combat situation. In my opinion, rangers and meleers are relativly equal in damage output capability. With around 90+ ranged (aquirable at low combat levels) ranged hits rapid 16-17s with very high accuracy, much greater than any meleer at the combat level. Of course, this evens out when we get near maxed combat because meleers get high accuracy (attack) and power (strength). However, that's the problem of combat levels, irrelevant to this thread. My point is that range really doesn't need a power buff. Having said that, crossbows and bolts in F2P are completely ignored. Maybe crossbows and bolts of equal power to the current bows and arrows?

 

 

 

Mage most certainly needs an update. Possibly wave spells, although this could overpower it. Snare is needed and so is teleblock.

[Owned_Nex]

 

Dragonfire Shield: Must be charged to be used to throw fire (obviously); cannot be used very quickly; expensive, so not likely to be used against players; not likely enough to be used against NPCs as none pose that serious of a challenge

 

Dragonfire bolts: Expensive, time-consuming to make and enchant; canceled out by an antifire/Dragonfire shield; uncontrollable special ability

 

Godsword: Impractical (but not unheard of) to use in PvP situations; slow, expensive, may not always be an accurate-enough special

 

Dark Bow: Unforgivably slow this alone is enough to reduce its usefulness outside of PvP situations

 

Miasmic Spells: Cannot be used without the aid of a special staff, which is only usable on PvP worlds

 

 

 

 

DFS can be charged rather easily. Although it can't be used constantly, you can use 1-3 charges a fight.

 

 

 

DFB is expensive, but not time-consuming to make. Nobody uses DF shield in combat, so that does not matter. The special is uncontrollable, which is understandable.

 

 

 

The GS is NOT impractcal. Take the AGS, the "best" GS. You get a good hit(50+), You can't out-eat it's damage. Add in two specials, and its a easy k0.

 

 

 

Dark Bow is mainly a PJ weapon with Void. Its not used in fighting, just for k0s.

 

 

 

Miasmic Spells can only be used with the staff, which is pretty good. It is OBTAINABLE on PvP worlds, but can be used anywhere.

 

 

 

 

 

Some of your suggestions are a debate on it's own. Some I agree with(D hide, Snare/Tangle) others (magic damage increase) I disagree with, since it would make higher leveled spells useless, and much more expensive.

[123Yourgone]

It took 0ddball about 1 and a half months to get 85 slayer, he cannoned everything.

[Live2Live]

As far as im concerned combat is fine just as it is,And can only get better in years to come BAD ideas

[123Yourgone]

I agree with all your suggestions makoto.

[Makoto_the_Phoenix]

As far as im concerned combat is fine just as it is,And can only get better in years to come BAD ideas

 

But you're missing the point. Combat is becoming one-sided again, just like it was in Classic - now instead of the most awesomely powerful weapons being solely used, you have players using weapons that are only at the speed of a Dagger.

 

 

 

It took 0ddball about 1 and a half months to get 85 slayer, he cannoned everything.

 

 

 

That's insane. I did not know that.

 

 

 

which is only usable on PvP worlds

It's only obtainable as a drop on PvP worlds but I'm pretty sure it can be used on non PvP.

 

 

 

While your suggestions for F2P are very generous, being a F2Per, I would say that they imbalance the combat situation. In my opinion, rangers and meleers are relativly equal in damage output capability. With around 90+ ranged (aquirable at low combat levels) ranged hits rapid 16-17s with very high accuracy, much greater than any meleer at the combat level. Of course, this evens out when we get near maxed combat because meleers get high accuracy (attack) and power (strength). However, that's the problem of combat levels, irrelevant to this thread. My point is that range really doesn't need a power buff. Having said that, crossbows and bolts in F2P are completely ignored. Maybe crossbows and bolts of equal power to the current bows and arrows?

 

 

 

Mage most certainly needs an update. Possibly wave spells, although this could overpower it. Snare is needed and so is teleblock.

 

 

 

I haven't heard of many players using any PvP weapon on a non-PvP server, mostly likely because they're so damn overpriced, but that's just me. Anyway, perhaps Melee and Range are on even footing as far as power goes. It's not uncommon to simply defeat meleers my level with nothing but rune arrows or bolts.

 

 

 

I'm more than willing to give freeplay Snare, teleblock, and Wave spells. What self-respecting PvP Mage would use standard magic, anyway?

[123Yourgone]

As far as im concerned combat is fine just as it is,And can only get better in years to come BAD ideas

 

But you're missing the point. Combat is becoming one-sided again, just like it was in Classic - now instead of the most awesomely powerful weapons being solely used, you have players using weapons that are only at the speed of a Dagger.

 

 

 

It took 0ddball about 1 and a half months to get 85 slayer, he cannoned everything.

 

 

 

That's insane. I did not know that.

 

 

 

which is only usable on PvP worlds

It's only obtainable as a drop on PvP worlds but I'm pretty sure it can be used on non PvP.

 

 

 

While your suggestions for F2P are very generous, being a F2Per, I would say that they imbalance the combat situation. In my opinion, rangers and meleers are relativly equal in damage output capability. With around 90+ ranged (aquirable at low combat levels) ranged hits rapid 16-17s with very high accuracy, much greater than any meleer at the combat level. Of course, this evens out when we get near maxed combat because meleers get high accuracy (attack) and power (strength). However, that's the problem of combat levels, irrelevant to this thread. My point is that range really doesn't need a power buff. Having said that, crossbows and bolts in F2P are completely ignored. Maybe crossbows and bolts of equal power to the current bows and arrows?

 

 

 

Mage most certainly needs an update. Possibly wave spells, although this could overpower it. Snare is needed and so is teleblock.

 

 

 

I haven't heard of many players using any PvP weapon on a non-PvP server, mostly likely because they're so damn overpriced, but that's just me. Anyway, perhaps Melee and Range are on even footing as far as power goes. It's not uncommon to simply defeat meleers my level with nothing but rune arrows or bolts.

 

 

 

I'm more than willing to give freeplay Snare, teleblock, and Wave spells. What self-respecting PvP Mage would use standard magic, anyway?

 

Yeah fire wave would make f2p mages respectable again, whereas now they are a joke at over 55 combat, and its not like p2pers use waves.

[The_Maddest]

Yeah fire wave would make f2p mages respectable again, whereas now they are a joke at over 55 combat, and its not like p2pers use waves.

 

Not quite true. They are a joke at solo PKing, yes, but it is utterly impossible to PK as a clan without a mage. As bad as mage is, the binds are mandatory while PKing and the fire blasts are more accurate than melee.

[Makoto_the_Phoenix]

I'm not 100% convinced that you guys are getting the jist - I'm trying to debate the effect and one-sidedness that weapon speeds have [re]created for Combat. Can we get back to that?

[The_Maddest]

I'm not 100% convinced that you guys are getting the jist - I'm trying to debate the effect and one-sidedness that weapon speeds have [re]created for Combat. Can we get back to that?

 

 

 

You sort of summed up the answer to that question when you said:

 

However, shortly after the launch of RS2, players realized how unforgivably slow Battleaxes and 2-Handers had become, so they switched to Longswords, Shortswords (where available), Daggers, and the Scimitar. Does anyone notice a small trend with that? Instead of of the eleven different types of weapons available to one at the time, only four were being actively used, and that was effectively reduced down to two. Before a whole year had passed, the Scimitar had become the de facto weapon of choice for many players, and the major problem of weapon bias and imbalance had once again became prevalent.

 

 

 

However...

 

[Melee] Introduce weapon skill levels. Allow a person to become exceedingly skilled in a particular class (or classes) of weapons, to improve weapon speed (certain weapons would be excluded).

This could work, but it would just make another weapon, say the battleaxe, reign supreme. This would be like the change to RS2 and would solve nothing.

 

[Melee] Include the ability to knock-down or stun an opponent with a rather hard hit.

As good as this sounds, it wouldn't make me use a 2H sword as a training weapon/battle starter because of the slow speed

 

[Melee] Allow armor to reduce damage done.

I don't see how this would make a difference

 

[Range and Melee] Cap the amount of damage that a faster weapon can do. For instance, the faster it is, the weaker it can hit; the slower it is, the higher it can hit. Ensure that the slower weapons can not hit below a certain, reasonable threshold, and ensure that all weapons cannot hit above the same threshold. Some exceptions will apply (Barrows).

The minimum hit is a new concept. Bear in mind a 5 with a slow weapon is, in many cases of PvP just as useful as a 0 (i.e. it doesn't get you kills)

 

 

 

[Melee] Introduce the Dragon set effect, whatever that might be.

 

[Range] Allow up to Red Dragonhide armor on Freeplay.

 

[Range] Allow up to Adamant bolts (absolutely no tips) on freeplay.

 

[Magic] Allow magic level to improve damage on the following ratio: D = (floor(S) + (L*.15)). This means, if I have 99 Magic, I can hit up to 47 with a spell that does an initial 32 damage.

 

[Magic] Give Snare and Entangle to Freeplay. Five seconds does not last long.

 

[Magic] Allow casting speed to be determined by level.

I don't see how any of these would help

 

 

 

[Range] Improve the benefits for using a slower Ranged weapon (probably more damage or higher Magic defense)

The raise in damage would have to be by about 5+ for it to be anything near popular. The majority of rangers would still use the shortbow though because it's insane firing speed can even top the much more powerful scimitar.

 

 

 

Take note that in my comments I'm talking about F2P combat, and F2P only.

[00hydro]

 

[Range and Melee] Cap the amount of damage that a faster weapon can do. For instance, the faster it is, the weaker it can hit; the slower it is, the higher it can hit. Ensure that the slower weapons can not hit below a certain, reasonable threshold, and ensure that all weapons cannot hit above the same threshold. Some exceptions will apply (Barrows).

 

 

 

 

All except the bolded area are already declared with the larger strength bonuses warharmmers, twohanded swords, and battleaxes claim. The bolded area, on the other hand, is a great idea in which I support, assuming that the minimum cap is reasonable. Being able to constantly hit above a ten would be incredibly overpowered.

[Makoto_the_Phoenix]

 

[Range and Melee] Cap the amount of damage that a faster weapon can do. For instance, the faster it is, the weaker it can hit; the slower it is, the higher it can hit. Ensure that the slower weapons can not hit below a certain, reasonable threshold, and ensure that all weapons cannot hit above the same threshold. Some exceptions will apply (Barrows).

 

 

 

 

All except the bolded area are already declared with the larger strength bonuses warharmmers, twohanded swords, and battleaxes claim. The bolded area, on the other hand, is a great idea in which I support, assuming that the minimum cap is reasonable. Being able to constantly hit above a ten would be incredibly overpowered.

 

I don't exactly see how a faster weapon has its damage capped off. Consider the Dragon Dagger, Dragon Claws, and Arrows excluding Dragon. They're very quick, and they can hit very hard, very fast - almost outpacing a Godsword in total damage done.

[The_Maddest]

 

[Range and Melee] Cap the amount of damage that a faster weapon can do. For instance, the faster it is, the weaker it can hit; the slower it is, the higher it can hit. Ensure that the slower weapons can not hit below a certain, reasonable threshold, and ensure that all weapons cannot hit above the same threshold. Some exceptions will apply (Barrows).

 

 

 

 

All except the bolded area are already declared with the larger strength bonuses warharmmers, twohanded swords, and battleaxes claim. The bolded area, on the other hand, is a great idea in which I support, assuming that the minimum cap is reasonable. Being able to constantly hit above a ten would be incredibly overpowered.

 

Even a minimum hit of 5 could be overpowered with a rune 2h in clan PKing. At the moment, a maxed out player could tank a clan 20 of level 100s for, say, 3-4 minutes. With these minimum hits, all 20 players could hit the level 126 for a minimum of 5. This would take him down in one hit. It is extremely overpowered. Another scary thing would be this would work with anyone who can wield a rune 2h. So you could be jumped by a team of lv 50s and die in one hit.

 

 

 

Another issue is ranged. Ranged is very effective, but that effectiveness lies solely in its speed. If slow weapons got nerfed, F2P ranged would get nerfed.

[Makoto_the_Phoenix]

Even a minimum hit of 5 could be overpowered with a rune 2h in clan PKing. At the moment, a maxed out player could tank a clan 20 of level 100s for, say, 3-4 minutes. With these minimum hits, all 20 players could hit the level 126 for a minimum of 5. This would take him down in one hit. It is extremely overpowered. Another scary thing would be this would work with anyone who can wield a rune 2h. So you could be jumped by a team of lv 50s and die in one hit.

 

 

 

Another issue is ranged. Ranged is very effective, but that effectiveness lies solely in its speed. If slow weapons got nerfed, F2P ranged would get nerfed.

 

Well, how about the threshold only take effect if your attack is above a certain level, say 90. If it's level 90 and above, and you use slower weapons, when you hit (I don't mean that you'll just never miss, of course!), you won't hit below a 2. Every 2 levels it goes up by one.

 

 

 

Ranged needs to be reworked in such a fashion that it causes more collateral damage than hitpoints damage. Say, for instance, it forces a Magician to drop their runes, or shoots off a Warrior's helmet. With a javelin, it could be possible to decrease the speed at which a person can block attacks.

 

 

 

We're back to the whole speed issue here. How can it be balanced so that each weapon has a use in a particular scenario, instead of players just using a whip?

[The_Maddest]

Well, how about the threshold only take effect if your attack is above a certain level, say 90. If it's level 90 and above, and you use slower weapons, when you hit (I don't mean that you'll just never miss, of course!), you won't hit below a 2. Every 2 levels it goes up by one.

 

 

 

Ranged needs to be reworked in such a fashion that it causes more collateral damage than hitpoints damage. Say, for instance, it forces a Magician to drop their runes, or shoots off a Warrior's helmet. With a javelin, it could be possible to decrease the speed at which a person can block attacks.

 

The minimum threshold of 2 would be too low to be of any use, especially if you need an attack level of 90 for it. On the other hand, as I said before, you couldn't put he minimum damage much higher. Tricky thing balancing is, eh? On the topic of balancing, again with respect to clans mages are already quite powerful and end up with most of the kills in situations. This would say that maybe wave spells aren't needed, yet solo mage PKing dictates otherwise.

 

 

 

These combat 'effects' would require a complete rework of RS combat, not just the speed of the weapons. You could also have effects for melee like if you hit your max hit, you hit a devastating blow and the opponents defence level is temporarily lowered.

[greenmelf]

I do very much agree that there are major problems with the current combat system in RS2.

 

 

 

Below are my thoughts on how to fix combat.

 

My wording is not always the best so I have summarized my main points into the titles of several hide brackets containing said subject.

 

 

 

[hide=Strength bonuses should be based on weapon speed]The problem is that strength bonus is not effected by the speed of the weapon.

 

Thus a though a faster and a slow get the same bonus absolute weapon damage, a faster weapons's bonus weapon damage relative to it's speed will always be higher.

 

 

 

Weapons should be given a damage value and a speed value, such that they can be given a damage per second value.

 

Then make damage bonuses be added directly onto the damage per second value, thus making the damage bonuses both from strength level and gear all have an equal bonus to weapons of all speeds.

 

 

 

Weapons with the same metal type should all have the same damage per second value, except for two-handed weapons which should be slightly higher due to the second hand being used for attacking instead of defending.

 

 

 

This way each weapon will have it's own advantages/disadvantages in terms of 4 basic categories, metal, one-hand vs two-hand, hard hitting with slow speed vs medium hit with medium speed vs low hitting with high speed, and slash vs stab vs crush.[/hide][hide=Damage Curve should open down, not up]From my experience the damage curve looks something like the graph below, where the x-axis is the damage from 0 to max hit, and the y-axis is amount of times the particular damage was hit.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Above graph is a rough sketch of actual melee combat data.

 

Done in f2p with Rune Scimitar and Amulet of Power.

 

Had about 80 Attack and 80 Strength at the time and was fighting Ice Giants.

 

Recorded damage from over 900 swings.

 

22.5% 0s

 

6.1% 1s

 

...

 

3.4% 16s (Max hit)

 

 

 

Average damage per swing: 6 or 37.5% of max

 

 

 

Admitted not the best test, but still gives some decent data to give a rough idea.

 

 

 

The graph below is what I think the damage curve should look like.

 

 

Start with a reasonable miss change, maybe 5%. Then increase chance to hit to a certian point and then decrease.

 

Have the average hit be somewhat between 60% to 75% of the max hit.

 

 

 

Hitting lots of 0s and low numbers is annoying.

 

Also hitting highs and lows so randomly is annoying too.[/hide][hide=Change in damage curve means more HP needed, and exp reduced per damage]Having increased overall damage done with the change to the damage curve, HP values would have to be changes, maybe to 3 or 4 times your HP level.

 

Added the possibly of gear that added more HP, not too much more HP though.

 

 

 

All food would have to be increased in effectiveness.

 

 

 

Also, higher damages means Exp per damage would have to be decreased.[/hide][hide=Then now Attack, Defense, Magic and Ranged need reworking?]All these skills would have to be changed in how they work, not exactly sure how though.

 

 

 

Higher Attack moves damage curve peak more toward max hit?

 

Higher Defense moves the whole damage curve slightly left, thus reducing the max hit?

 

Higher Magic increases magic damage?

 

 

 

All magic and ranged items(and spells) given magic/range 'strength' to increase damage just like normal strength is to melee?

 

(Might have to tweak base damages then with this.)[/hide][hide=Other tweaks could be helpful]Combat runes(mind, chaos, death, and blood), should cost much less to make training magic viable combat spells more cost-effective.

 

Magic armor should be increased in value to raise mage risk in PKing with now decreased rune cost.

 

Protect Prayer should be make a much less viable option, or even better, make it unusable while attacking.[/hide]

 

 

 

Not prefect ideas, but I think, worth a thought.

[fenrir321]

Here is a guide on how to use magic effectively in all combat situations. If armor reduced damage, then it would need a higher max hit, but it doesn't and therefore doesn't.

 

 

 

I do agree that dragon armor is underused. It should be the most used armor. It it rare and invaluable. Barrows is just plain invaluable. Too high a drop rate.

 

 

 

I really doubt that Jagex would put crossbows for f2p. They can do a LOT of damage with high enough ranged level. If they do a max of 27 on ftp, that would a serious issue. I think that a more practical approach to solving the "luck is a skill" problem would be to double hp by adding another hp skill, like stamina. It is p2p only since f2p combat is already balanced. A higher cushion of hp would help a lot in p2p pvp.

 

 

 

Bind does not do much in f2p solos. However, in wars or in groups it can be a life-saver. Perhaps snare, but definitely not entangle, purely because of the magic level accuracy not because of the time frame held. F2p magic needs one of two things purely for self-defense:

 

1)higher dps, best offense is the best defense

 

2) kiting spells to kill those pesky meleers.

 

 

 

Having both would be too much, but one or the other would be very nice.

 

Speed increase would definitely help increase mage dps.

 

HOWEVER, I do hope you realize that if we add fireblasts to the speed of msb on rapid, the same would be of ice barrage or even the god spells/wave spells. The wave spells wouldn't have a high enough dps to keep up with melee and range. The ancient magicks and god spells would be too much by far. Everything that is added to f2p is added to p2p, this has to be kept in mind.

 

 

 

I've toyed around with suggesting that strength level dictates metal grade and attack and defense dictate what kind of weapon/armor can be worn.

 

 

 

For example, it would take 60 strength to wear dragon metal.

 

 

 

It takes 5 attack to wield a dagger

 

10 short sword

 

20 mace

 

30 longsword

 

40 war hammer

 

50 battle axe

 

55 Spear/hastae, including zamorakian spear

 

60 scimitar

 

70 2h sword, including saradomin sword

 

75 Whip

 

80 barrows weapons

 

85 Godsword

 

 

 

+5 levels to use the weapon's special attack (90 attack to do godsword special, 10 attack for dds spec, etc.)

 

 

 

As you go up, the amount of exp in any skill decreases.

 

with no weapon, you receive 6 exp per damage point

 

Barrows weapons give 0.6 exp per damage point, whip would give 0.9 exp.

 

On controlled, you would receive .2 exp in all skills with barrows weapons.

 

By this method, the best exp would either be a longsword or a battleaxe.

 

The godsword would give no exp at all.

 

 

 

This wouldn't solve the problem with pvp, but it would give people an incentive to get other weapons.

 

 

 

There could be a similar system with range and magic.

 

 

 

F(x)=-x where as X dps approaches infinity, F(x) exp approaches negative infinity.

 

There really isn't a way to solve the weapon confinement problem unless you tack on a combat lvl requirement for the type of weapon (not grade). Balancing the dps still wouldn't completely solve the problem because I would rather shoot 2 arrows doing 18 damage max instead of 1 arrow doing 36 damage in twice the amount of time. Still the same dps, but then we get into the accuracy and average hit where < point X, accuracy determines dps for the most part, and > point X strength determines dps for the most part. Basically, they would have to balance the accuracies of the weapons too, which would vary according to the armor types. Combat would become extremely complicated for melee, which is supposed to be a simple skill. I'm all for complex strategies, but I'm sure the people who are not me are not.