Hi everybody,

Ithzir champions have been released in Prime and Shattered. Plat will have them soon (in an effort to not goof up the story). They will spawn in the Ta'Faendryl North section, which can be seen here:

https://gswiki.play.net/File:EN-old-tafaendryl.gif

They might pop up from time to time in other areas of the city though, so be careful! In addition, the weaker varieties of Ithzir won't spawn in the North (but could end up in there occasionally). Adventurer's Guild bounties are not available for Ithzir champions right now, but they will be soon.

I'd like to acknowledge the Dev team for all of their help in designing and QCing the champions, and to give a big thank you to GameMasters Mazreth, Valyrka, Kynlee, Zoelle and everybody else for giving them a fitting introduction to their new home!

Ixix

Fantastic, thank you Ixix! Can't wait to go toe-to-toe with them soon.

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>>You slay me woman! ~ Wyrom

https://gswiki.play.net/Rohese_Bayvel-Timsh'l

So now that we're okay with adding new creatures to OTF, how how about some undead to go with them? Having my Voln master hunt shricken or lich qyn'arj for literally zero experience is getting really old.

Go hunt SoS.

Keith/Brinret/Shiun

Keith is correct

Wyrom, APM

http://forums.play.net/forums/GemStone%20IV/Help%20for%20Players/Policy%20Discussions/view/246

Oooh I can't wait for them to be released in Plat! Plus, bounties! -throws confetti-

~Issalya

You see High Inquisitor Brinret Ithillote the Executor of Vengeance.
She appears to be of elven descent.
He is very tall and appears to be full grown.
You whisper aloud, "I'm so confused right now."

Hey, PFLATS, I'm sure you've heard this before, but you might consider a couple of runs in Reim (especially Hand of the Arkati groups, which run about every night), for favor. Tons of experience AND Favor. I went from 50 spins on the wheel to uncountable in about 3 trips to reim with the Hand of the Arkati. A pain, but definitely worth a couple of days in IMT or a couple of choronomage orbs. I bet you can get 250+ spins from one run in Reim.



On another more related note, what level are the Champions?

>Go hunt SoS.

Gladly! Where in the EN can I hop in the wagon? (Seriously, I'd do it if it were a reasonable option.)

I really don't think it's that much to ask that there be at least one undead creature level 95 or above in the EN. There are undead in OTF already. There were high-level undead creatures in the invasion that brought the Ithzir champions. Adding creatures to OTF without adding a new area is clearly doable.

I'm not saying that adding a new creature is a small thing, and I enjoy fighting the champions so far. They're cool! I'm excited for champion bounties to start showing up. I just would like to be able to earn some favor in the same hunt.

These updates are live in Plat now as well!


Ixix

You know, it goes without saying that adding a creature or new area, or even a creature in an old area like this at the estimated 105th is pretty cool. I really like some of the balancing tweaks, even though Old Ta'Faendryl is off my hunting list.

Very cool. I really wish I had been able to participate more in the story line, but I'll get some more fun out of it anyway. Yay.

I've spent very little time in OTF over the last couple of years because it was slow to fry (or harvest necrojuice), so I'm especially excited to not see so many lower-level creatures. Looking forward to trying this out tonight.

Those spells are level based, so post cap training isn't helping you hit with them the way it would with other spells.

I'll try out those spells, but I didn't give them any special extra defense against them so I suspect that it is likely to be due to bad luck and the level difference. It's also possible that you were up against some higher than base level champions too (that might fall under bad luck though?).


Ixix

>I'm a bit disappointed to see new creatures with disarm

I agree with this, but all of OTF has the most dangerous kind of disarm of all, looting any magical item or weapon/shield from your corpse. It's why I haven't been in there since I first acquired enhancives. Having to strip down and make sure everything is double bagged is just too much of a hassle to go through.

>I understand the concerns about disarm, but the risk of item loss is a big part of the equation when it comes to balancing OTF. Making a no-disarm area was out of the scope of this project.

You guys do realize that disarm is the sole reason why a lot of people never go to OTF at all don't you?

Maybe OTF should be re-balanced around not risking permanent item loss in a game where it can literally take years and hundreds/thousands of dollars to build up your items?

(The other reason people avoid OTF is because Illistim elves are smelly.)

~ Methais

I'm not exactly disagreeing, here, but I'd like to point out that SoS had another significant factor in it that caused a severe problem with the disarm. If you died, and were raised as a lurk, chances are you wandered out of the room where your weapon was and it is now lost to the janitor.


So while I agree that the current implementation for disarm is bad, I just don't think the argument comparing it to SoS is going to amount to the same conclusion.

>If disarm is seen as necessary to balance OTF, perhaps making everything more difficult might be as good a solution. My experience in OTF is that it is very easy hunting except for what seems to be largely randomized ways of either dying or losing your gear. Doesn't sound like a lot of fun to me on either side of that equation, (boring + item loss) so I hunt elsewhere.

What's the reward for all the risk people take in OTF with potential permanent item loss, usually due to things completely outside the player's control (other than making the decision to not go there in the first place)?

It certainly isn't good loot or fast exp. So what is it?


~ Methais

The potential for mechanical gear loss has zero impact on my personal hunting decisions.

I spend all my coins on fluff items in GS. Hell, Eva doesn't even enchant her own gear because I'm such a slacker. The worst she will lose is whatever enchant an illthorn runestaff is (losing the alter would bother me more). She hunts in crap gear (6x fulls) and almost never dies in OTF, it seems pretty win for me. Safe hunting option since level 85ish and EN based.

Less boring and a faster fry with the champions now, too!

~Amanda, player of Treeva

Item loss is an archaic game balance mechanic, diminishes fun, and should be removed entirely from the game.

Adding something another actual level 100 critter to OTF is a step forward, but I don't see myself hunting there regularly until item loss is finally deprecated like it should be.

AIM: m444w

>Hey, PFLATS, I'm sure you've heard this before, but you might consider a couple of runs in Reim (especially Hand of the Arkati groups, which run about every night), for favor.

I'm not going to travel to Icemule and then pay out-of-pocket to access a Paid Quest just to get favor. If basic accounts are given Reim access, then I will reconsider.

I know Reim access can be bought from other players with silvers, but if I do so, someone will still be spending the money on SimuCoins, which will justify Simutronics' choice to make it paid for basic accounts and will encourage similar development priorities in the future.

Anyway, Reim is a Quest, was worked on by Paid Quest GMs, didn't take development time away from the non-Quest priorities in Gemstone, and shouldn't have any bearing on development priorities for the teams that work on non-Paid things. So it's completely irrelevant to the discussion.

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Like I said, I love the champs (aside from stacking warcry RT, which got me killed in the invasions but hasn't yet in OTF), I love that they spawn without the chaff Ithzir around, I'm super pumped about this update, I just wish undead came with it.

I'm being vocal because due to this historical issue, I can name only 4 Voln masters over level 95 in the entire EN, and my PC is one of them. Out of necessity, if I don't say anything, nobody will.

We few, we sad few, we band of brothers, for he today who sheds ectoplasm without experience with me, shall be be my brother, be he never so vile. This grinding shall gentle his condition.

(When we rescue each other, we whisper OOC to each other about hating to burn favor to Symbol of Return bodies past the water on Gyldemar Road, since we know that'll just be more time hitting lich qyn'arj or shricken later on.)

::Monks just don't have the benefits from post cap experience that other classes get. If you were well trained at level 100, you won't be much better at true cap than you were on hitting 100. Critters designed to challenge other classes post cap are going to be beyond you because the power differential between monks and other classes opens up dramatically with post cap experience.::


I'm not entirely sure what the benefits from post cap experience is that other classes get, a little clarification there would help. And if that is the Case then the gm's should stop updating all the other classes for a bit and update monks to make them on par with the other classes. I say that not to be rude, but I keep seeing other classes get updates to their spells and such and here we are without full access to all of our spells, and disadvantaged when it comes to hunting post cap creatures due to uac being much less effective against them.

>I'm not entirely sure what the benefits from post cap experience is that other classes get, a little clarification there would help.

The general problem is that monks have fewer things to train, and so when you get to train everything rather than having to make choices, monks end up worse off. Specifics will vary depending on which class you are comparing with, but the general issue is lack of things to train.

Rogues, warriors and paladins get sizable benefits from shield and armor training even if they don't use shield or armor. There's no comparable buff in MnM or anywhere else to match 425 and 430 for rogues and warriors.

You had problems getting RT-locked. Rogues and warriors get much more in the way of passive defense ranks than monks do, as a result of their guild freebies and shield points (and rogues can hide in RT too), so RT locking them is a lot harder than RT locking a monk. Pre-cap monks get compensation for spending more time in RT because they have cheaper DS training point costs and can make themselves harder to hit. Post cap monks have the worst DS because they have the least available to train but are still the most easily RT-locked.