Eldreth over at AC Vault put up a log of the most recent developer chat. This one was particularly enlightening, but I'll point out the passage that really struck me. It's a bit long, but I'll clarify it.

...yes, I know you have no idea what he's talking about. I'll explain.

The whole idea of magic in Asheron's Call was that it would be rare, and you'd have to work to get it, but it would be a very useful thing to have. Magic would be unusable unless you'd put skill points into learning it in the first place, like some other skills (whereas some skills are always usable, you just can't improve them directly unless you've trained them).

Moreover, you wouldn't be handed your spells, aside from a token few that you knew for training the skill. You'd have to research them. Each spell required a specific set of components, used in a certain order. This is where the research came into play. You'd have to experiment with different combinations of herbs, scarabs, potions, and so forth. You could be told these combinations by another mage, or deduced from them casting the spells (via figuring out which component matched up with each syllable of the spell), but you had to work at it. This became even more of a problem when learning higher level spells. See, no matter what level of Acid Blast you're casting, the basic components will be the same.

However, with higher level spells, the tapers (candles) needed were randomized. This meant that you could have as many as 144 different combinations of tapers to try for a single spell. This was compounded by the fact that the game didn't differentiate between you fizzling the spell because of incorrect tapers, or simply a random failure on the spell even if you were correct!

Does trying 144 random combinations per spell sound fun to you? I hope not.

There was nothing stopping a mage from sharing spell component information with fellow players - they'd still have to do their own taper research. To further make magic a rare and powerful thing, though, the "spell economy" was put in place. Basically, each spell had a baseline level - if Heal Self 2 healed 20 HP, you'd always get 20 HP from it. If less people were casting that spell at any given time, however, it would do more - you might get 25 HP instead because fewer people were casting it. The incentive was to only share knowledge with a few trusted people, because it would weaken magic for everyone if it was common knowledge. (On a side note, I really like the thought process here - players were rewarded for keeping the secret, not punished if the horse got out the barn door. Bravo!)

This system worked for a while. Then people made discoveries. First off, it was discovered that the tapers weren't 100% random - certain spells shared tapers, so you could more accurately guess what was needed. Then the bombshell came through - the algorithm for the random tapers was broken entirely. You could download a program, input a basic piece of information about your AC account (your MSN Zone Name), and you'd have a full and exact list of all spell components.

Needless to say, this blew the spell economy out of the water. Sure, you still had to put the components into the research window, but the guesswork was out of it. Mages became commonplace, and the game balance was thrown out of the window. It's been commonly accepted for a while that mages are the most powerful characters in AC, and only recently has the balance been somewhat restored.

Another big problem with magic has been buffing. Pretty much any character in AC these days uses some form of magic - whether to weaken opponents, improve yourself, or travel around. These beneficial spells (buffs) have typically lasted for very brief periods of time, meaning that a fairly large part of playtime involved stopping to buff. Not fun at all.

Lastly, stocking up on components is a bit annoying. It became much easier when a component buyer was put into the game last year - you could specify how much of each you wanted, and a single command at the store would fill you up. Still, it's one more thing to micromanage that's just not fun.

So these changes, while they may need to be tweaked, sound really, really beneficial. Even with the guesswork taken out of spell research, it's time consuming and still a pain. I'd much rather go to the store, buy a few scrolls, learn my magic, and get back to playing the game. Similarly, the new component packs - I'll use them on my characters simply because I don't like micromanaging a bunch of spell components - I can buy a bunch of scarabs and not worry about it for the next month. The increase in buff times is even better - at best my current character's buffs last 15 minutes. I'll have to stop playing to go through the hassle of buffing half as often, and I'll be less in danger of my spells dropping in the middle of a heated battle.

Now I've never played a pure mage character in AC. Quite frankly, the combined annoyances of the spell system kept me away from it. I didn't like learning my spells for one school of magic, let alone three or four. I didn't want to micromanage a crapload of components. Heck, a 3 or 4 spell buff cycle annoys me, I'd hate to go through some 15-20 spell buff cycle to survive as a mage. Now I have to admit that I'm seriously considering making a mage character.

Now I have nothing against the idea of making a mage work for his spells. Magic tends to be powerful in games, that's just the nature of the beast. If you're going to go for some sort of alternate learning system, though, make it fun. When I imagine "spell research", I get the image of Harry Potter blowing up his friends in classrooms or such. Make it into minigames. Make player skill involved in it. You can even make it dangerous for more powerful spells. Just don't make me put more effort into it than I did for my foreign language homework, because I'm here to play a game, not write a thesis on the intracasies of the Derethian Mages.

...which I suppose I just did, ironically enough.

How do you like your magic in games? Should you quest for it? Buy scrolls? Do you like the idea of spell research as it currently exists in AC? Let me know.

There's always been a certain trend in the industry. Basically, taking a good idea and cloning it. Nothing new, but it should hardly be suprising given the industry (or press's) emphasis on every new title being a "killer", which is a hype-filled way of saying "We'll do the same things, but better".

So, with that in mind, I'll look at the new features and improvements of EQ2 and point out just why they seem familiar.

A brand new 3D engine which takes full advantage of a wide variety of recent technological advances in 3D hardware/software such as per pixel lighting, dynamic environment mapping, and a fully programmable surface shader system

So it's early. So it's just a press release. It's still fun to poke fun at. It's almost like they're going for Ultima Online 3D. Since Ultima Online 2 was cancelled, it's their chance!

In Dark Age of Camelot news, Arthur and the gang is going to Korea! No word yet on the massive Lord British vs Arthur deathmatch for supremacy of the game cafes.

Also in Mythic's camp, word has come forth of a "Strike Team".

Yes, a strike team. I'm not making this up. Camelot meets Counterstrike?

The Strike Team will report word of bugs, game inbalances, allow character respecialization, and also save kitties from trees. No word what happens when you get another arrow up the ass from that stealthed scout, but presumably they'll make that all better too.

Re: your Pancake Rabbit, I think you shoulda been looking for fish........;)

azan11

Thanx a bunch,

Joshua "The Rock" Stone

-Tort (tortolia@rpgfan.com)