Just a suggestion, but I feel like it might be better to give players a certain number of stat points to distribute over the stats, to better establish what they specialize in, what they're average in, and what they don't even care about.
There are 7 different stats, and there are 7 ranks. Assuming that C is normal, set F as 0, E as 1, D as 2, and so on.
After that, give every player 21 points, meaning that they can become C rank for all stats across the board. Thus, there's a simple way of doing some degree of balance when it comes to stat distribution. Then, just come up with simple 1-point bonuses for selecting different classes.
While I'm at it...got a question. Intelligence determines the power of spells. Does that relate to skills (think about a Warrior's 'spells'), or no?
Hm, another question then. In the context of the game, every time you level up, do you get stat points to distribute? Or is it automatically distributed?
Because if it's the first case, how exactly do you communicate that your character is someone who put all their points into, say, STR and AGI, because they're pure burst Assassin? Would it be like STR and AGI at S, while everything else is F? Doesn't feel like it'd properly communicate just how powerful your 'S' is in comparison to someone else who's the same level, has two S rank stats, but also has a smattering of Cs and Bs.
Maybe I'm just overthinking it, but eh...I tried to balance out the fact that I had some As by giving F and E rank stats, but then there's other sheets that have double S without any Es or Fs.
Man, if you think about it, American Beer is such a value consumable. If all food items were like that, I could totally see people playing Elder Tale like they do with Monster Hunter. Eat a shit ton of food that gives you stat bonuses, and then go out and solo a boss.
Oh yeah, I'm curious. Is the stats thing just there for fluff, in the end? Doesn't seem like there's any rulings at all about it, outside of not putting all your stats into S.
"I have seen some shit." IGN: Reissten Name: “I sorta play this game to escape from reality? So yeah…sorry!” Age: “Just because my voice is high doesn’t mean I haven’t hit puberty yet, alright? Gender: “Alright, now, you’re just trolling. I’m a dude.” Personality: “Well, what can I say here…I’m a nice guy, you know? Ignore all those assholes who q.q about my guild beating their ass. What I enjoy are challenges, and the types of people I like are challenge lovers. Nothing gets the blood pumping harder than a dangerous, sketchy fight that demands perfect play, after all! And nothing feels better than crushing someone’s egotistical attitude, especially if they’re a goddamn pussy class like Assassin or Mage. Sure, those types are nice when it comes to PvE, but PvP? Bitch please, stop spamming and hiding.
Really though, outside of glorious 1v1 PvP combat, I must say that I actually read the lore for Elder Tale. I mean, I AM a Bard with a Courtesan sub-class, after all, even if I’ve approached it in a hilariously unorthodox manner. Gotta love NPC interactions and making money off performances. Not much of a guitarist, but when it comes to singing? Man, I don’t even NEED the Diva sub-class.” --- History: “I play video games to escape the fact that I have no idea what I want to do in the future, and because my parents are total twats. There. Easy. Have a summary of my entire RL life.
When it comes to Elder Tale, though, I think I’ve been playing for…six, seven years now? Reissten is my baby boy, after all, and I pretty much never actually played an alt. Endgame content is the most fun, and after you get a taste of that, the levelling grind just doesn’t feel cool anymore. Anyways, I would like to think that I was one of the more prolific Bards in the server, but in my early days, it was more about soloing dungeons than partying with strangers. Fun times, but the slow grind was so annoying.
Thankfully, Intolerant was there, and I stopped playing with NPCs! Dude’s hilarious, and he’s also manly, so we hit it off pretty easily. From there on, I got together a few more guildless friends, and the famous PK Guild, <BDC> was made! It started with just casual ‘for honor’ affairs, but after a while, all those Elder Tale streamers with their high-and-mighty attitude sorta ticked Intolerant the wrong way, and we went big game hunting.
Sorta scumbaggy, now that I think about it, but hey, it was still a challenge, and after kicking that one Assassin’s face in…what was her name again? Skyswimsky or something like that? Well, whatever. Got us lots of attention, and there was a period in time where we PK’d so much that I actually got bored of it, and started raiding seriously.
Thank the heavens for that as well. <Fifth Princess’s Remnants> had just been announced to occur two weeks after I decided to go do PvE, and I forced myself to hit max level in order to participate. Took a little more time than I thought it would for us to find pubs that didn’t think I was trolling, but after that was sorted out, I lucked out so fucking hard. Got my first (and only) Phantasmal-class item, and it fit my build idea so well that I probably shouted loudly enough to bust my guildies’ ear drums.
From then on, it was pretty smooth sailing, I’d say. That casting time reduction really made things easier for a slow class like Bard.
And the Catastrophe? I love it. Finally, Elder Tale has become a true skill-based game. And I get to escape from reality even harder! Yay~” --- In-game Information Gender: “I’d say that my avatar is pretty cool, but I guess it’s forgivable if you think it’s also girly.” Race: “I’m not a furry, but for certain reasons, I chose Wolf Fang. Actually, no, the reason’s pretty obvious. Stat buffs are badass as hell.” Class: “Bard is love, bard is life. If only there was a Charisma stat I could dump points in.” Class Level: “Just managed to hit level 70 before the expansion popped up. Gonna be good times.” Subclass: “Courtesan...What, it’s the best subclass for convincing NPCs to fund your trips.” Subclass Level: “Reached 87 a week or so ago, but it’s been halted because I was grinding pretty hard.” Guild <BDC> A small-sized PK Guild founded by Reissten a couple of years back, it’s comprised mainly of his friends, and has enjoyed some infamy these days. While the original idea was just to have all the benefits of a Guild, Reissten realized that all his friends shared the same taste: gotta go big, or go home. From there on, one of the other members, Intolerance, suggested that they become a PK guild, focused on taking down famous, high-level players and kicking Assassins in the throat.
Later on, Reissten expanded on the ‘manliness’ factor further, turning BDC into a guild that specifically declines healer classes that aren’t War Priests or Exorcists, all Magic classes, Assassins, and Weapon-using monks. A little harsh, of course, and they’re often scrambling for decent pub healers when it comes to raids…but it’s still cool.
The BDC became famous six months ago, when the entire guild, comprised of 13 players, donned level 10 Normal equipment and weapons, and managed to defeat a famous lvl 80 Assassin wearing Phantasmal equipments. There was a metric ton of quick clicks and timely Provokes, but after an hour, they managed to kill that filthy stealth burst dickhead.
Unfortunately, when the Catastrophe occurred, only two of BDC’s members were logged in: Reissten and Intolerance.
Build: Cadenza – Solo Play Specialization Reissten specializes in tactical play, not strategic play, constantly and swiftly switching songs in the heat of combat, and staying out of range of enemies until the very instant cast time is completed for his offensive spells. Back when Elder Tale was but a game, people thought that he was playing Osu or some other rhythm game whenever he got into a hard boss fight. With optimal equipment, Reissten can outmatch the DPS of a swashbuckler. Without that equipment, Reissten simply becomes a mediocre warrior that has an excellent sense of timing.
His Wolf Fang buff is really what makes him capable of doing this build though. It would become nigh impossible if not for that free strength buff.
Transformation – Calling upon one’s Wolf Fang heritage, it is a self-buff that turns one into a furry in exchange for a large boost in Strength.
Resonance Beat – Imbues weapon with a tune that can be transferred onto the enemy on hit, dealing shockwave damage. When the enemy is hit after that, the shockwave resonates with the attack and explodes, dealing more damage.
Dissonant Beat - Imbues weapon with a tune that can be transferred onto the enemy on hit, dealing shockwave damage. When Resonant Beat is used to trigger Dissonant Beat, or vice versa, the shockwave becomes an AOE effect that lowers the Defense and reduces the Agility of all valid targets around the enemy.
Symphonic Beat – Imbues all allies with a Symphony stack that is consumed when they attack. If multiple allies attack simultaneously, they gain a damage buff that scales off the amount of Symphony stacks consumed at once.
Staccato Beat – Changes user’s AGI and STR stats around and grants 100% crit chance for a singular attack. If it kills the enemy, the cooldown for Staccato Beat is reset.
Philistine’s Requiem – Permanent status buff that renders 20% of all damage dealt as true damage for all party members.
Scherzo of Elements – Permanent status buff that imbues ally basic attacks with an element of the user's choice, as well as converting all physical attacks to magical attacks. Can be recast with no cooldown to change the element.
Twin Sword Impromptu – Permanent status buff that doubles the amount of attacks, but halves the base damage and increases mana consumption of spells by 50%. Used for increasing the effectiveness of buffs.
Climatic Crescendo – Permanent status buff that increases damage of allies based off the amount of times they have struck a single target. Buff is reset every time the ally targets a different enemy.
Rhapsody of Star-Crossed Lovers – Permanent status buff that randomly pairs up allies and makes them share both HP and MP. When either of them are injured, that HP pool decreases, and when it reaches zero, both of them die. However, there is no way for them to die alone.
Toccata on Stormy Days – Permanent status buff that increases party’s Agility and Evasion and passively lures monsters to the party. As long as this status buff is on, monsters ‘tagged’ by Toccata will continue to chase the party, until they leave the zone.
War Hymn – Permanent status buff that steadily increases movement speed and attack damage of the party over time, provided that they never stop moving. Great for a band of melees, but not really useful when one has to consider more stationary players.
Remembrance and Reincarnation – Permanent status buff that affects the entire party outside of the Bard. When an ally dies, their mana bar becomes full, before rapidly decaying. Until that ‘timer’ runs out, they can use whatever spells or attacks they desire. After they finally ‘die’, they cannot be revived by Clerics. A song that appears to only be useful if one doesn’t have a high-level healer.
Swan Song of the Valkyries – Self-buff that enables the Bard to double the amount of songs they can play at once, in exchange for having half of total mana cost be inflicted on their HP instead.
<The Fifth Princess’s Tears> “A pendant holding the blood of one of the Scrapped Princess’s parents. It was a beloved piece of jewelry, holding the memories and arcane knowledge of those long past.” Phantasmal-Class Back in the days when Elder Tale’s level cap was 50, there was an exclusive raid for the West Europe server, featuring a heart-breaking plot of lost love, Alvs, and, at the very end, a hellishly overpowered magic-spamming lvl 70 boss who doesn’t even actually die when you beat him.
Reissten was one of the players who participated in that raid, and managed to luck out and get that Phantasmal-class drop. It is a pendant that halves the casting time for spells, in exchange for halving their range as well. For someone like Reissten, this was literally perfect. Even though other pendants at higher levels granted better stats, The Fifth Princess’s Tears is the only equipment that grants such a massive decrease in cast time.
<Spellslinger Tunic> “Once worn by a performing magician who practiced to entertain instead of fight, people say that his spirit now resides in his clothes, urging others to ‘do it snappily’ as well.” Production-Class A Level 60 cloth armor, Spellslinger Cloak increases Evasion and Agility. It’s a rather flamboyant tunic, really, with shimmering reds and golds, as well as fancy threads woven inside that glow when one casts magic. Nothing too special, it suits Reissten’s style just fine.
<Waning Lunar Glaive> “Like the moon, man’s strength also wanes with time. Crafted of moonstone and blessed by starlight, this blade scars the very soul of its victims.” Production-Class A Level 65 two-handed weapon, the Waning Lunar Glaive has a unique effect that makes it an optimal PvP weapon. Instead of doing damage to HP, it does damage to MP, draining the mana of those that it strikes. Especially effective against classes reliant on spells, it is, sadly, ineffective against bosses, due to their horrendously massive MP pool. The glaive itself has a slim blade, and is milky white, glowing softly in the darkness.
<Valkyrie’s Flight> “The silvered spear of the battle maidens, forged in the flames of Valhalla to guide the worthy to their final destination.” Ancient-Class A Level 70 two-handed spear, the Valkyrie’s Flight was obtained from the raid boss <Ride of the Valkyries>, which involved a lot of saltiness from the melee-centric party that was the BDC. It has a long, silver blade inscribed with Norse runes, and a shaft of red wood. When swung, it glows with a radiant force, tracing afterimages in the air. When wielded, it grants the user <Boon of the Valkyrie>, increasing their AGI by one rank, and also gives them the skill of <Valkyrie Wings>, allowing them to fly freely for ten minutes, with a three hour cooldown.
There’s a rumor in the game that there is a hidden mechanic within Valkyrie’s Flight, but, as it is, most people trade it off for lvl 80 Production-class weapons after they cap. Well, flying around is still fun.
<Guitar> “A musical instrument that Bards can use.” Multiple Use One of the few non-consumable items that Reissten has, the Guitar is used more to accentuate his singing than anything else. He’s not a great guitarist, but his voice more than makes up for that.
Stats Strength (STR): A (5) Agility (AGI): S (6) Intelligence (INT): B (4) Wisdom (WIS): F (0) Defense (DEF): F (0) Evasion (EVA): C (3)
Now that I've actually gotten a look at the RP forum...God damn, it's fucking elaborate. XD
Guess you really would have to be dedicated to read through all the rules and the articles and whatnot. It really is just a question of whether you want to invest some heavy time in a different forum dedicated to a single RP, or if you'd rather just have a casual RP that could develop into a long-term one.
EDIT: A more general question. Simply by watching the anime or reading the light novels or looking through the wiki, a whole bunch of problems presented by the Catastrophe already have solutions for them. Would Elder Tale EU have different solutions to said problems then (such as how to cook food with taste)? Or what.
