OG Blog: Tradition and Challenge

[Bxpprod]

This is my third blog about the Evolution of Combat, and my hands are literally shaking while I write. The excitement here in the office surrounding the imminent beta launch can be felt in the air. It’s really quite something; we’ve had people in all weekend testing, prodding and poking the beta worlds, and some of the PvP battles have been epic! I can’t wait to see what you make of it all.

 

Anyway, on with the blog! Last time, I started to dissect some of the challenges we have set ourselves to solve with the Evolution of Combat. This blog continues with that theme, and reveals a little more about what we have planned for the beta release in 1 week. 1 WEEK! OMG! Towards the end of the blog, I’d also like to talk about the Grand Exchange and the price of items, and try to address some of the concerns that you might have about the market value of your gear.

 

Making combat easier to access – By now you should have seen all sorts of information about the action bar and how you’ll be able to build your own set of buttons for key combat features. Importantly, you’ll also be able to map each on-screen button to your keyboard.

 

You’ll be able to drag spells, equipment, prayers (including the quick prayer button)...pretty much anything, really. Food you eat via the action bar will keep removing food from your inventory until you’re out of that food type; same with potions. We're totally redesigning the spell book too, making it much easier to use, and adding combat-specific abilities to their own ability book!

 

We’ve also improved the display of weapon stats. When you mouse-over a piece of equipment, you’ll get a tooltip that will tell you its stats, and will colour-code any increases or decreases to your combat statistics - very handy when dealing with new gear.

 

We’re also changing the way that combat levels are calculated. We are scrapping the current 138 max design and replacing it with a calculation that’s far simpler to understand:

 

X + Defence level +2 = your Combat level.

(X = your highest stat level from Magic, Ranged, Attack or Strength).

 

This makes the new max combat level 200!

 

We’re making this change purely because working out your Combat level is, at present, complicated and confusing, for new and experienced players alike. We're removing any impact on your Combat level from Prayer, Summoning and Constitution levels. While they do have a clear and desirable effect, trying to represent that in the Combat level calculation is complex and isn’t really necessary.

 

Encouraging challenging fights

 

This is one of the biggest areas of change in the Evolution of Combat update.

 

In PvE combat we're rebalancing all NPCs in the game to better suit players of equivalent level. For many NPCs, this means giving them ranged and magical attacks to situate them more clearly on the combat triangle. Most of the creatures you fight within the game right now use basic melee attacks only, and rarely involve the need to use something other than your best weapon. All that will change as we'll encourage you to learn the strengths and weaknesses of each monster (all shown very clearly on the combat side panel, where your stab/slash/crush/special attack buttons used to be) and to learn the best combat method and gear to use against them.

 

To further encourage everyone to fight creatures designed for their level, we are removing the Combat XP for fighting creatures more than 30 levels below you. Drops and Slayer XP will remain the same. As I mentioned above, all NPCs are being rebalanced with this in mind. Since we don’t have any top-end training creatures in the game (yet), players with a very high Combat level will find this 30 level range increased to 50 - at least until we release some bigger training dungeons! You’ll still be able to train on creatures that are much less powerful than you, but training on things like rock crabs and cows will now only be effective at low levels - as it should be. We will be adding faster and more numerous spawn points all over the game to cope with the change.

 

In PvP, changes are much more obvious: with the combat triangle reworked and rebalanced; a huge number of abilities to use; tactical decisions on when to use them; the Defence skill strengthened with heals, deflects and other cool features; and more life points to avoid instadeaths...it’s a very different experience, but that experience is far, far better than the one we have already live. It’s about real skill and real tactics, and I am sure that our PVP community will have a great time mastering it, and finding new ways to use it that we hadn't even considered.

 

Be brave, but be traditional – We have a great game, and a great bunch of people that play it. In fact, were getting close to 200 million accounts being made! That’s a huge number and - while we want to make an exciting, interesting new Combat experience - we don’t want to turn RuneScape into something that’s unrecognisable to everyone.

 

Firstly, the new combat abilities are a development of the old special attack system. The main difference is that you now have a range of Basic attacks to help generate the adrenaline needed to use more powerful abilities, rather than simply waiting for a special attack bar to refill over time. While you'll kill quickly if you make use of the new mechanics, you'll still accumulate adrenaline - and, as such, have access to Threshold and Ultimate abilities - if you prefer to just sit back and auto-attack as before.

 

Likewise, despite the action bar being a big part of RuneScape in the future, we aren’t forcing anyone to interact with it. If you want to keep interacting with RuneScape as you did before, you can, and you won't be penalised or handicapped by doing so – indeed, it’ll be possible to minimise the action bar if you want to keep your UI clear.

 

We’ve also stuck to our roots of freedom of choice. We’re proud of the fact that you don’t have to specialise in RuneScape, and we never plan to create a class system that locks out gameplay based on the choices you made when you created your account. I can’t say too much just yet, but we’re making a bunch of really cool changes to ensure that, however you develop your character, you’ll have an array of viable combat options available to you. Stay tuned for more info in a future Og Blog!

 

Simplify balancing and code

 

The RuneScape code base has more than a decade of development layered onto it, and can be a tricky place for developers to work. Starting fresh with a centralised system means that we can spend less time grappling with our code legacy and more time making awesome content for you to enjoy. It’s also the perfect time to rebalance many of the items that are poorly represented in the current game (like adding more benefit to 2h gear throughout melee and ranged, and restructuring 'weakening' spells), and reconsider those things we believe to be too powerful. This means that every single piece of gear will have tactical choices associated with it, through its stats, associated NPC weaknesses, and abilities available while using it. As I’ve mentioned before, the relationship between DPS and healing right now makes adding higher levelled gear very tough, so we’re rebalancing all of that too, giving players the ability to have lots more life points by wearing more armour. This, in turn, will give us the freedom to release bigger and better gear in the future that’s for more suited to our elite players (those with one or more combat-related levels at 90+).

 

What will happen to the price my items?

 

As with many things in life, the effect of change is often unpredictable. As such it’s a dangerous time to be trading or speculating on the way items might rise or fall in value. Remember that this is a beta, and is, therefore, subject to change at any time. We are very likely to be modifying effects, stats, special abilities etc during the beta, so the price of items in the live game will most likely fluctuate greatly and erratically.

 

In my final blog I’ll be talking about how we’re rebalancing the combat triangle; the new gear we’re adding (including something truly amazing that we’ve been keeping as a surprise); combat levels and pures; and the changed relationship between food, armour, life points and Constitution.

 

Thanks for reading!

 

Mod Mark (Og)

RS Lead Designer

 

Sauce HI REND LOLOLOLOL

http://services.runescape.com/m=news/og-blog-tradition-and-challenge

 

Hi all,

 

I hope to clarify our thinking behind the new combat level calculation here. As you will have seen, the new combat level calculation has been announced and is:

 

2 + Defence + X = Combat Level

X = The highest of either Attack, Strength, Ranged or Magic

 

Therefore the new highest combat level is 200, and the new lowest is 4.

 

What we wanted to achieve with the new calculation was to streamline it, so making it easier to gauge how difficult your target will be to fight. Now while in a way it is sad to see Prayer, Summoning and Constitution retired from the formula, we felt that they were just complicating the issue.

 

While Prayer does make a big difference to the outcome of a fight, ultimately either someone has it or they don't and you'll soon see if they do when they use it. To this end, we felt people who are serious about their combat would all have the necessary Prayers. In a system where everyone has something, featuring it in the calculation doesn't really help anyone, and so for the sake of streamlining, Prayer was dropped from the formula.

 

In regards to Summoning and Constitution, while again they do make a difference, in the new system they don't make enough of a difference to warrant a place in the new formula. A maxed out player in the best gear will have 990 Lifepoints from their Constituion, but will be getting around 15,000 Lifepoints from their equipment. Summoning has largely been left to one side for now, as we wish to re-visit the skill with an overhaul of its very own in the future. For now, Summoning doesn't play a large part in the new combat system, so again is not featured in the new formula.

 

...We hope the new combat level will give people a clearer view of what their target is capable of. With the new level of balance we hope to bring to Melee, Range and Mage, and the reinforcement of the combat triangle, having 99 in Attack, Strength, Magic and Range won't provide you with an advantage over someone with only 99 in one corner of the combat triangle. Armours now feature heavy negative penalties for attacking with the wrong style while wearing them, so having 99's in all the corners of the combat triangle will not present an advantage during a fight. Where having 99's will be an advantage, is giving you the choice as to what style of combat you want to use before a fight.

 

We are very keen to hear your feedback on all aspects of the new system, and will work closely with the players during the Beta to help polish the system to the best it can be.

 

Some final random thoughts:

 

All NPC's have had their combat level changed to reflect their true combat ability, and will use the same system as players (a lot of boss monsters use fake combat levels in LIVE currently)

 

Players worried about a level 4 guy with 99 Summoning cleaning house with their Steel Titan needn't worry, that level 4 will get demolished with no defence, and hence no larger lifepoints pool.

 

[qfc]296-297-805-63808234[/qfc]

[Bxpprod]

Whoops. Shoulve gone in thread inb4merge.

 

SORRYMODSLOI<L

[Ambler]

tl;dr Turmoil/SteelTitan/99hp pures go

[xSxqPowerx]

tl;dr Turmoil/SteelTitan/99hp pures go

Yeah seriously, everyone who has 99 prayer and summoning is essentially becoming 24 levels lower (in terms of the old system)

[Robert_R]

To further encourage everyone to fight creatures designed for their level, we are removing the Combat XP for fighting creatures more than 30 levels below you. Drops and Slayer XP will remain the same. As I mentioned above, all NPCs are being rebalanced with this in mind. Since we dont have any top-end training creatures in the game (yet), players with a very high Combat level will find this 30 level range increased to 50 - at least until we release some bigger training dungeons! Youll still be able to train on creatures that are much less powerful than you, but training on things like rock crabs and cows will now only be effective at low levels - as it should be. We will be adding faster and more numerous spawn points all over the game to cope with the change.

 

I feel like this would bother me if I wasn't already maxed.

[kamil1210]

Great changes :)

[Miss Lioness]

To further encourage everyone to fight creatures designed for their level, we are removing the Combat XP for fighting creatures more than 30 levels below you. Drops and Slayer XP will remain the same. As I mentioned above, all NPCs are being rebalanced with this in mind. Since we dont have any top-end training creatures in the game (yet), players with a very high Combat level will find this 30 level range increased to 50 - at least until we release some bigger training dungeons! Youll still be able to train on creatures that are much less powerful than you, but training on things like rock crabs and cows will now only be effective at low levels - as it should be. We will be adding faster and more numerous spawn points all over the game to cope with the change.

 

I feel like this would bother me if I wasn't already maxed.

 

it's bothering me ;d

[Utopia]

I'm excited, seems like the game is finally modernizing.

[Kirschen]

Lovely, the 60m I blew in getting 96 prayer to 99 in 2010 is a bigger waste than what I felt it was. At least I will have some fun seeing level 200 and feel new joy in fighting. I feel like I can have some true freedom for creativity.

[999134]

We're removing any impact on your Combat level from Prayer, Summoning and Constitution levels

 

FU.

:/ Staking pures with 1 summ/pray now useless.

Also wondering if summoning familiars will still give xp you cannot change... Will kind of be unbalanced if summoning tanks have access to kyatts, steel titans etc.

[Nobody]

Finally, a number that won't bother me when I look at it.

 

Curious how pures will adapt.

[Platinum_Myr]

Combat level should include all the combat skills... Or at least make it easier to look people up?

[Aneron]

good thing I don't have any expensive gear L

[Ambler]

Good thing about this is that I'll be the max level possible with my cape if my stats stay the same! :thumbsup:

This does kinda kill pures.... Geting any 99 combat basically means you need the rest at 99 to compete.

[Matt258]

200 Max Combat!@!@! :???: :eek:

Well have more training up to do. Still reading the Blog about this. Why Spoil this News today instaed of waiting for the BTS video..

[Miss Lioness]

Good thing about this is that I'll be the max level possible with my cape if my stats stay the same! :thumbsup:

This does kinda kill pures.... Geting any 99 combat basically means you need the rest at 99 to compete.

 

Then I'm glad I always have balanced combat =3.

90 Atk + Str + Def.

[xSxqPowerx]

The way I look at it:

In pvp, assume everyone else has 95 prayer

 

In pvm, don't believe anyone who says they have 95 prayer unless you look them up

[Utopia]

Good thing about this is that I'll be the max level possible with my cape if my stats stay the same! :thumbsup:

This does kinda kill pures.... Geting any 99 combat basically means you need the rest at 99 to compete.

 

Well the max any pure will be is 102. For example, you could have a pure will just 99 Strength, the other with 99 Strength/Attack/Ranged/Magic and they would be the same combat level.

 

So I guess this does kind of kill pures.

[Mercifull]

Hello 200 Combat (still wont be able to kill Jad)

[Grasle]

...this is good.

[Platinum_Myr]

I feel like there have to be drastic changes to the combat system for that combat level to make sense...

 

a) prayer has a huge impact on dps

b) summoning (though this is less relevant due to single combat areas)

c) constitution, but also less relevant as defense = armours that increase base life.

 

I feel like they are planning on making multi-combat everywhere.. (that would be nice...)

 

As for the 30lvls lower etc.. that is just horrible. Absolutely dumb. At minimum you should gain combat xp for slayer tasks regardless of level.

 

I find it interesting that attack and strength have been separated as well in the new system. It does mean for a "pure" the best levels is either 99def/summon/pray/constitution but lv1 attack/strength/range/mage or 99 attack/strength/range/mage/pray/const/summon and 1 defense.

 

I feel like defense will add enough to be not worth making a pure, and attack/strength also.

 

The only real problem is that players with sub-par prayer or summoning will be compared to players without 99 prayer/summon in combat level. (I am not counting constitution here because that goes up naturally with combat training in general)

[Oddish DIY]

Lets say your account has 99 Magic, 99 Defence, 1 Attack, 1 Strength for some reason. Your combat level would be 200. You would only get experience from monsters of level 150 and above. How would you train attack and strength?

[L2Pullout]

I hate it. If Jagex wanted to change 10 years of the same they should of made a new game.

[Saradomin_Mage]

Lets say your account has 99 Magic, 99 Defence, 1 Attack, 1 Strength for some reason. Your combat level would be 200. You would only get experience from monsters of level 150 and above. How would you train attack and strength?

In the next 2 months, I reckon.

[Quasar]

Pest Control