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upcoming changes to the sidekick/companion buffs

Posted: Sat Jun 07, 2008 6:18 pm
by Ryme
I'm going to be making some changes to the way summon wolf, summon buffalo, and wind warrior function, as part of an expansion of that companion slot.

I wanted to mention this before hand, because there is one potential detriment to players: wind warrior will become mutually exclusive with the wolf and buffalo. There's probably a couple of days yet before I make any changes, but when things are updated players with both companions will lose one of them (likely whichever has fewer minutes). I didn't want anyone to be surprised by this, or waste any money buffing both in the near future. Also, if you prefer to keep one or the other, make sure the one you want to keep has the most minutes left.

I don't want to say too much more until things are actually ready, but there will be more companion choices in the future, not all of them skills. All will have a temporal duration. Some will do things other than deal combat damage. And, to the appreciation of many, I'm sure, that slot will be protected to prevent intentional or accidental interference from other players.

Posted: Sat Jun 07, 2008 6:50 pm
by MagiNinjA
Yay?

So this means we can only have only one of those three? Wind Warrior will need a buff up then, I think, to compare to Water Buffalo.

Posted: Sat Jun 07, 2008 8:11 pm
by Cristiona
Hm. Wind Warrior will definitely need something. I think it would be nice if WW could maybe get a blocking mechanic, as opposed to just being "the Psion version of Buffalo". There's already some difference between wolf and buffalo (static vs scaling). Giving the Warrior a different kind of love would be nice. Especially since non-Psions can't use it in the Space Station.

Posted: Sat Jun 07, 2008 9:27 pm
by Ryme
linakrade wrote:Is this change going to also fix the issue of, say, having buffalo running and another player buffs you with wolf, screwing buffalo up?
ryme wrote:And, to the appreciation of many, I'm sure, that slot will be protected to prevent intentional or accidental interference from other players.

Posted: Sat Jun 07, 2008 10:08 pm
by Ryme
No worries. But that's a big affirmative. No more griefing of other players, intentional or otherwise.

Posted: Sat Jun 07, 2008 11:25 pm
by MagiNinjA
linakrade wrote:I'm curious if it will bear a similarity to how accordian thief buffs work on KoL, blocking when you already have the maximum limit?
We will see. :)

Posted: Sun Jun 08, 2008 5:56 am
by neocamp22
More importantly, will the change in buff coding to provide for protection allow auras to be buffs now? >.>

Posted: Sun Jun 08, 2008 8:58 am
by MagiNinjA
Read your post again, neo. Doesn't really make sense.

And I doubt Ryme is changing auras to buffs. Psions don't have any self-buffs without auras. Psions need the auras, too.

Posted: Mon Jun 09, 2008 3:38 pm
by neocamp22
Auras were originally intended to be buffs. Remember? And my post made plenty of sense, you just phail at comprehending it.

Posted: Tue Jun 10, 2008 11:45 pm
by MagiNinjA
Oh funny because Psions don't have any self-buffs then. Just about. Ignore Naturalists.

Posted: Wed Jun 11, 2008 11:30 am
by neocamp22
Elementals have only one self-buff.

Posted: Wed Jun 11, 2008 3:19 pm
by MagiNinjA
They still have one, regardless. And a crazy heal skill, so no complaining.

Posted: Tue Jun 24, 2008 6:47 pm
by Ryme
Okay:

1) Wolf, buffalo, and wind warrior are now classified as a sidekick-type of effect.

2) You can only have one of any sidekick at a time.

3) Right now you can't dismiss a sidekick, but very soon you will be able to.

4) Sidekicks still have a duration like other effects. However, this duration only decreases while patrolling (combat or noncombat), not by resting or the VR center or whatever.

5) Using a summon skill on yourself works as usual. Using a summon spell on someone else now gives them an item which they can use for summoning their own sidekick, at their leisure. No more being able to overwrite someone's sidekick!

6) There will be more sidekicks, and of more types, very soon.

7) Sidekicks always come with a little icon at the top of your left-hand character sheet, by your name, and they're always listed above other active effects in the lower left.

I think that's it for now.

Posted: Tue Jun 24, 2008 7:57 pm
by malk-a-mite
:)

Posted: Tue Jun 24, 2008 8:28 pm
by Cristiona
Old buffalo is borked...

Doesn't do anything (no text in combat), is down in the active effects list, and doesn't give the picture.

Posted: Tue Jun 24, 2008 8:53 pm
by Ryme
Old buffalo really isn't supposed to exist. In theory everything should have converted to the new one. It seems a few things snuck through. Perhaps if someone had cast a buff that was "waiting" for you to log in to get it? Maybe a couple of other quirks are out there - let me know if you've got a ton of the old buff sitting around and aren't getting anything.

Posted: Tue Jun 24, 2008 9:14 pm
by MagiNinjA
Simply awesome.

Posted: Tue Jun 24, 2008 9:29 pm
by Ryme
There was an error with the buffalo conversion. Should be fixed now, with minimal collateral damage. Let me know if there's anything really off.

Posted: Tue Jun 24, 2008 11:19 pm
by Cristiona
Hm. Just used a hologram on a multi and got the image. Looks like WW has a similar problem Buffalo did :/

Posted: Wed Jun 25, 2008 6:27 am
by Ryme
The database doesn't seem to have any messed up entries in it. Maybe logout/login might fix? I'm guessing there's a page or function somewhere that isn't handling the new code quite right yet--if anyone can tell me what they're going when things go wonky, that might help.

Posted: Wed Jun 25, 2008 6:26 pm
by Ryme
Yes, sorry. "combats" meant patrolling, noncombat or combat.

Posted: Wed Jun 25, 2008 6:45 pm
by Ryme
There were some quirks for a few people, which I think I've mostly cleaned up. Let me know if anything remains quirky.