Sorry for the delay on response, I work a 10 hour night shift.Omnio wrote:Ok but what about making your character better.
In AO we have tons and tons of skills and abilities that we can invest points into(points we get each level).
These skills make our character totally unique, not just health, magic points, stamina, strength etc.
We are limited to how much points we can invest so it requires some practice and skill to get it right.
It is broken down into different types of "magic" and tradeskills and many other categories.
Is this game in any way like that? Or you level up and now you're generally stronger without really thinking how to allocate your recources?
Omnio
As there are no 'levels' per se, I'll do my best to break this up simply.
There are four general skill categories:
Fight
Magic
Harvest
Craft
Each of those four specialize further and further as you gain experience in them individually. Getting experience in one skill has absolutely no effect on the other three skills, positive or negative. I personally am running at about 32 Fight/Melee, 28 Magic/Offense, 25 Harvest/Forage, and roughly 20 Craft/Ranged.
Having a higher skill level means that you have more SP (skill points) to distribute to buy skills and stanzas, as well as affecting your success rate (be that hitting your target, or successfuly crafting that uber axe). Some examples of skills and stanzas are Power Attack, Accurate Attack, Berserk, Aim Humanoid Leg/Arm/Head/Torso, Whirlwind Attack (not right name, but you get the idea), Attack after Dodge/Parry/Critical, Credit Range/Sap/Stamina/Casting Time/Health...
Get the idea? Everything can be mixed and matched to fit your playstyle. I have an attack I call Savage Riposte which consists of Power Attack 2, Accurate Attack 2, and Bleed 1. It's balanced (credited) with Attack after Parry and Stamina 3 (roughly 25 stamina use I think). So basically, any time I get a successful parry, I let loose with a nasty accurate bleed attack which is more than likely going to hit very, very hard initially. I also help balance all of my stamina usage by wearing Medium Armor. Most people who go Melee choose Heavy Armor, but that costs more Stamina when you're using those skills. I know of Light Armor fighters who have custom crafted gear to give them bonuses to Dodge, while they dual wield Daggers. Much success, supposedly.
Damage is entirely dependent on your equipment, and how well you use your equipment is dependent on the quality of the stuff, and your skill level relative to the quality. If I have a q30 Pike, and I have 10 Fight, I'm going to be doing very little damage with that pike. If I brought my Fight up to 30, I'd be doing maximum damage with that pike. If I got my Fight to 60, I'd be using a weaker weapon than I should be whose max damage is far below what I am capable of. Your skill levels and equipment also affect how potent your skills are. I have Savage Riposte set to those numbers because the best weapon I can buy is only q20, and those stanzas are set to be most effective at skill 20. I have better stanzas certainly, but I'd be wasting stamina by using them on a weapon that isn't up to the task.
In the end, this game is all about customization. Unfortunately, there are only the three classes of armor right now, and no clothing yet. In regards to appearance, we don't look particularly interesting yet. You're more than likely going to see other people running around with your color armor on a few times. The customization is in the skills you choose and how you implement them.
I forgot to mention it, but spells are VERY limited right now. Acid - for use against furries/mammals, Cold - for use against insects/kitin, and Rot - for use against plants. As I understand it, when you pass 100 elemental offensive magic you gain access to a race specific spell which has no weaknesses and can damage the critters found in the Prime Roots (who resist everything but that spell). We Zorai get lightning (mwahaha), while the Matis get poison I think. Fyros are about explosions and shockwaves, while the Tryker I don't know about. They're water specialists, so perhaps it has something to do with that.
There are more spells such as status afflictions and defensive spells (both of which are 'link' spells, which means you can't do anything else while maintaining the effects of the spell), along with the standard healing spells. Again, the customization is in tweaking the range/sap use (mana/magic/whatever)/casting time to suit your needs.
Anything else?
