Weapon and Armor Rework for PVE and PVP

1. Introduction

Due to the next new area (level 30-40) that we will release soon, we decided to finally implement the new classes before that. As you might have noticed 3 classes (Water, Earth, and Soul) or Shaman, Hunter and Warlock are currently missing in the game. However, we also noticed during the PVP test last year that our current weapon and armor system is not very well suited for this, the players have too little health and especially mages do too much damage. Furthermore, the classes also lack special abilities that make PVE and PVP battles more exciting and tactical. For these reasons we have decided to revise the complete weapon and armor system before the next area and hopefully develop a much more exciting combat and class system for you.

In the course of time a lot has changed in stein.world, we have built in a point system for weapons and armor, as well as special cooldown groups for skills and we have introduced many attribute adjustments. We also want to use the item rework to have these systems in the game right from the start, so that new players are introduced to the rather special class and item system faster and better in stein.world.

In the following we explain our ideas and approaches how we will probably implement the whole thing in the near future. Please note that a lot of things are still in development and can change significantly towards the final version.

2. What does this mean for the old armor and weapons?

2.1 The current weapons and armor of the players

You will be able to keep your current weapons and armor, but they will receive an attribute and DMG adjustment. This means armor will give less Health, Health Regeneration and less Bonus-DMG. For weapons the DMG values are also adjusted, as a rough rule of thumb the player will still do about 50% of his current damage. Don't worry, the life and damage values of the enemies will of course also be adjusted, so you won't fail painfully against them.

One problem that arises from this is that the current statistics of the leaderboards will be a bit out of balance. But with the new area this should level out again and so we will leave it like this for now.

As for weapons, we probably won't be able to just change everything to the new abilities and stats because a lot will change with them (more about that later), for this reason, we will include a "relic" tag for the old weapons you possess. This means that the weapons will only be adjusted by the DMG values but will keep their old abilities and can be kept by you as a souvenir as they cannot be captured in the game anymore.

2.2 Professions and recipes

You will also be able to keep your current recipes - they will only be changed to the new weapons and armor. This means you won't be able to make the old items anymore and there will probably be many new recipes you can earn, especially because of the 3 new classes.

2.3 Drops and Quest Rewards

The drops and quest rewards will of course all be changed to the new items. This means that you won't be able to capture the old weapons and armor after this patch. We also want to make use of our new quest reward selection mechanism which is already integrated but is not used at the moment. This way the player will be able to decide for himself which armor or weapon he wants to have as a quest reward.

3. New Cast, Channel and Attack mechanisms

3.1 Weapons and tools

3.1.1 General

For the Weapon and Armor Rework we decided to implement a new cast-, channel- and attack-mechanism. The current mechanic for weapons and tools is that the player performs an action with the weapon or tool and then the attack is started, during this time the player can't move because he is currently performing the attack and the animation is playing. This mechanic will be kept but we have added 3 more to add more variation.

3.1.2 Cast Mechanism

With the new cast mechanism the player performs an attack, e.g. a staff that shoots a fireball, and the animation is also triggered. However, a cast time is running which is visualized by a bar (e.g. 2 sec cast time). If the player must move during this time, he can simply cancel the action. However, the ability is not triggered because it is only executed after the cast time has expired.

3.1.3 Channel mechanism

With the new channel mechanism the player executes an attack, e.g. a weapon that does regular damage to the ground. A channel time is started which is also visualized by a bar but runs backwards. As long as the player does not move, the attack is constantly (e.g. every 1 second for max 5 seconds) executed on the floor, as soon as the player moves in this 5 seconds time, the channel attack is interrupted. Unlike the cast mechanic, the player has already paid the mana or energy and the weapon is on cool down.

3.1.4 Attack Mechanism

With the new attack mechanic the player performs an attack, e.g. a sword that does damage to the front. The animation is triggered and as well as the damage. However, unlike the current version on the live server, the player can move immediately (the global cooldown is still active).

3.1.5 Conclusion

These 3 mechanics allow us to have different playstyles of the classes. A mage has more cast abilities, a Warlock channels his abilities and a Warrior can strike fast and still keep his mobility. These mechanics should bring much more variety to the classes and they should play noticeably different.

3.2 Food and Buff-Food

We also plan to use the cast and channel mechanism for food and buff food, which we have been wanting to implement for a long time. With this Weapon and Item Rework, we're going to cut the overall life regeneration by at least half to take the Life regeneration out of combat and get players to regenerate their life outside of combat with Food, similar to other MMORPG's. Connected to this would be the new profession “Cooking”, which theoretically should be introduced with the new area and therefore the players can produce buff-food for dungeons to strengthen themselves.

4 Classes

4.1 Introduction

Stein.world doesn't have any classes in general, but from the beginning our goal was that every player can build his own class with his armor and weapons and that everybody can be everything without being bound to a class that you have to choose during character creation. We ran into a few problems with the development of the different areas, so we decided to use a kind of point system that steers players in a certain direction depending on their armor. The idea behind this was that certain (stronger) attacks cannot be used by multiclasses, i.e. classes that play 3 points fire and 3 points heal. The goal here is that no matter how you distribute your points your class always has a right to exist and that not certain builds are the best and the others are not used at all. We try to give you as players as much freedom as possible to play your character the way you want.

With the upcoming Weapon and Armor Rework we want to make sure that the old classes and also the new classes are clearly different and play differently. We want to achieve this with new abilities and effects as well as the mechanics which were already listed above.

4.2 Main classes

In this part we want to go into more detail about the 7 main classes that will exist in stein.world after the Rework. As a main class we call a character who has only invested points in a certain type of damage e.g.: all 6 pieces of armor in fire points.

Each class will have 1 auto-attack (as already existing in the current version. An attack that costs nothing and does little damage and is used as a filler when everything else is on CD). Then 4 DMG attacks and 3 additional tools/trinkets to improve and strengthen attacks. So, there will be a total of 7 main abilities per class and 1 Auto-Attack. Later on there will be more tools and trinkets with a bigger focus on PvP but also PvE like DMG reduction, slows etc.

4.2.1 Warrior (Physical)

The Warrior is the classic MMORPG tank class in stein.world. He does relatively little damage but is very robust and can take a lot of damage. His goal is to get focus of the enemies so that his teammates can do damage. The Warrior will receive special abilities that will allow him to strengthen himself and direct enemies at him. Furthermore, we want to give the warrior the ability to react quickly to Threat loss to help his teammates.

4.2.2 Mage (Fire)

The Mage will receive a new set of skills to make him play more like a typical mage. His attacks will mostly be changed to casts and he will be able to combine his attacks to do more damage. On the other hand, he will be very vulnerable when executing attacks, because he will have to stand still for a longer time to execute them. Otherwise the mage will stay as he is, a ranged mage who does a lot of damage with strong spells at distance but can't take much damage himself. (in an example later the Mage will be discussed in more detail)

4.2.3 Shaman (Water)

The shaman will be one of the 3 new classes with the rework. He is the only melee fighter who uses mana and totems. With the totems he will be able to damage enemies and support himself and teammates. He has more life than a Mage and can carry out his attacks faster and thus remain relatively mobile in close combat. The special thing about the shaman will be that he can stand a little bit further away, so he is more a midrange melee class.

4.2.4 Hunter (Earth)

The Hunter is another new class introduced with Rework and the only ranged class that uses Energy. Like the Mage, the Hunter will fight at a distance and use markers on enemies to perform strong combos. With relatively little life and armor, the Hunter and Mage will have to watch out for attacks from enemies and try to keep them at a distance with slows (the Hunter will be discussed in more detail in an example later).

4.2.5 Fighter (Death)

The existing fighter will also receive a new skill set that allows him to deal damage quickly in close combat and still remain mobile. He will get an ability to hold on to enemies to get to them better (especially important in PVP). The fighter has a relatively large amount of health and armor.

4.2.6 Warlock (Soul)

The last of the 3 new classes with the rework will be the Warlock. A Mage-like class that uses debuffs to keep enemies under control and deals damage over time. The Warlock bewitches and poisons his opponents and then waits for them to die. Like the other ranged classes, he will have to keep his opponents at a distance with his rather low life and armor.

4.2.7 Priest (Heal)

The priest is the healing class in a stein.world and is there to support team mates in dungeons with strong healing spells. The Priest will also receive a new set of abilities to support his group members with one-time healing or healing over time. With very little life and armor, the Priest is the most vulnerable class in stein.world and must be protected by his team mates at all costs (especially in dungeons).

4.3 Subclasses

4.3.1 Explanation

We want players to be able to play the main classes, i.e. have 6 points of one kind equipped, but we also want to develop a good system that allows players to combine the points from two classes into so-called subclasses. The mixture of armor with different points and thus also weapons are subclasses that will get their own names just like the main classes. We will probably display this name in the Stat window in game. The name itself has no meaning for the game, but we suspect that it is a nice addition to see what Spec you are playing.

7 Main classes:

Class 1	Class Name
Physical	Warrior
Fire	Mage
Water	Shaman
Earth	Hunter
Death	Fighter
Soul	Warlock
Heal	Priest

22 Subclasses:

Class 1	Class 2	Class Name
Physical	Fire	Battlemage
Physical	Water	Berserker
Physical	Earth	Ranger
Physical	Death	Barbarian
Physical	Soul	Blackguard
Physical	Heal	Paladin
Fire	Water	Wizard
Fire	Earth	Dragonslayer
Fire	Death	Warmage
Fire	Soul	Sorcerer
Fire	Heal	Mystic
Water	Earth	Scout
Water	Death	Binder
Water	Soul	Necromancer
Water	Heal	Monk
Earth	Death	Rogue
Earth	Soul	Shadowcaster
Earth	Heal	Druid
Death	Soul	Hexblade
Death	Heal	Cleric
Soul	Heal	Inquisitor
More than	2 mixed	Hybrid

Because there are 6 pieces of armor in stein.world, a player can have 6 points which he can vary in his subclass. Here is an example for a mixture of mage and hunter, i.e. a Dragonslayer:

• 5 points fire and 1 point earth
• 4 points fire and 2 points earth
• 3 points fire and 3 points earth
• 2 points fire and 4 points earth
• 1 point fire and 5 points earth

So theoretically there are 5 variants, but the first and last one is rather impractical as you will see in the example, because only the auto-attack is a skill that needs one point. So, for each mixture of two main classes to a subclass, there are 3 practicable variants. With 10 assignable slots in the quickbar and a pool of over 8 PvE and many PvP skills per main class, there are hundreds of thousands of possible variations of subclasses with different points and equipped skills/weapons.

4.3.2 Example (concept)

In the following two examples we will take a closer look at the two classes Mage and Hunter to show how we imagine the interaction and mixing of class points. Please keep in mind that everything is still in development and can change, also we have not finished all attacks and names yet.

Mage:

1. Autoattack
Requirement: 1 Fire Point
This is a weapon, like the one already in the game, that does little damage without a cool down but is free. It serves as a gap filler when all other abilities are on CD.

2. Fireball:
Requirement: 2 Fire Points
Cooldown: 5 sec
A classic fireball that is a 2 second cast and does moderate damage to the target.

3. Flamestrike
Requirement: 3 Fire Points
Cooldown: 8 sec
A strong Flamestrike that is a 2 second cast with a 22% chance to reset the cool down of your Fireball.

4. Fire Bomb
Requirement: 3 Fire Points
Cooldown: 10 sec
A powerful firebomb that explodes on the enemy and is a 1.2 second cast. When the target is suffering from “Burning Wounds”, the Fire Bomb deals 14% extra damage.

5. Sunfire
Requirement: 4 Fire Points
Cooldown: 25 sec
A strong sunburst that burns the ground for 5 seconds, slowing enemies by 2.5 B/s and dealing damage to them. The opponent gets the debuff "Burning Wounds" for 5 seconds.

6. Flamerush
Requirement: 2 Fire Points
Cooldown: 20 sec
A strengthening spell that will probably give Critical Bonus or Critical chance for a certain time. At the moment still in development.

7. Unknown
Requirement: 4 Fire Points:
Cooldown: 30 sec
The Mage teleports to the target location with a fire explosion that causes slight fire damage.

8. Unknown
Requirement: 5 Fire Points
Cooldown: 60 sec
The Mage receives a Fire Damage Bonus of 15% for 10 seconds

Hunter:

1. Autoattack
Requirement: 1 Earth Point
This is a weapon, like the one already in the game, that does little damage without a cool down but is free. It serves as a gap filler when all other abilities are on CD.

2. Unknown
Requirement: 2 Earth Points
Cooldown: 5 sec
A shot that deals moderate damage to the opponent and marks him with a debuff for 5 seconds (the mark buff is stackable on enemies).

3. Unknown
Requirement: 3 Earth Points
Cooldown: 9 sec
A poisoned arrow that poisons the enemy and causes damage over time. The opponent is also marked with a debuff for 5 seconds

4. Multishot
Requirement: 3 Earth Points
Cooldown: 10 sec
The Hunter shoots 5 arrows at 0.2 sec intervals at the target, dealing +8% damage for each mark debuff (maximum number of debuffs is 3).

5. Arrow Hail
Requirement: 4 Earth Points
Cooldown: 15 sec
A hail of arrows that deals damage to enemies in the area every second for over 5 seconds and marks them with a debuff. Also, enemies are tied up for 3 seconds and cannot move.

6. Unknown
Requirement: 2 Earth Points
Cooldown: 20 sec
A strengthening trinket that will probably give a Bonus for a certain time. At the moment still in development.

7. Unknown
Requirement: 4 Earth Points:
Cooldown: 30 sec
The Hunter receives a short speed boost for 3 seconds and can thus better dodge dangers and attacks.

8. Unknown
Requirement: 5 Earth Points
Cooldown: 60 sec
The Hunter receives an Earth Damage Bonus of 25% for 5 seconds

Possible combinations for a Dragonslayer:

This should give you a small overview of how the different combination possibilities could play. In this example, however, all PvP/PvE additional Weapons/Tools are missing which will allow much different playstyles.

4 points Fire 2 points Earth
A Dragonslayer who uses Sunfire to slow down his enemies, inflicting Burning Wounds and deals massive Fire Damage. When enemies get too close, he can teleport away and when he runs out of mana he bridges the regeneration time with two abilities of the hunter.

3 points Fire 3 points Earth
This kind of Dragonslayer can do constant damage without having great problems to have too little mana or energy. However, he lacks the Ground control effects to control his enemies. A class combination that is very valuable for long boss battles in dungeons.

2 points Fire 4 points Earth
This Dragonslayer ties his enemies up with Arrow Hail and deals great damage with Multishot through his marks and increases his damage with fire damage from Mage. If things get tricky, he escapes with a speed boost.

4.4 Ideas for additional skills/weapons for PvP and PvE

This part is also still under development and a collection of ideas for possible additional weapons/trinkets/tools that can be used across classes in PvP and PvE.

• Remove debuffs from yourself
• Remove debuffs from everyone in an area
• Dodge the next damage that is inflicted
• Dodge damage for x seconds
• Convert Mana to Energy
• Convert energy into mana
• Selfheal for Mana
• Selfheal for Energy
• Extend opponent's cool down for x seconds (PvP)
• Giving Cooldown to all abilities of the opponent (PvP)
• Invisibility for x seconds
• Mana Drain (PvP)
• Energy Drain (PvP) and many others

5. Overall conclusion

Finally, we hope that we could give you a little insight into what we are planning next month and hope that you like our idea regarding the big Armor and weapons rework. As mentioned in the beginning, please remember that everything is still in development and can change until the final release. If you have any other ideas or suggestions for improvement then please join our Discord:

https://discord.com/invite/K2xA8Vg

Otherwise stay healthy and have fun in the world of stein.world