The Dragon's Neck Dev Update
I have a couple big updates for the community and I'll start off with the less-savory one and then get to the much more savory/chewy one afterward:
Launch Date
I am not going to be able to provide an updated launch timeline at this time (context shortly). Based on our current staff and development progress back in June I felt strongly that a Q3 launch was completely realistic, however RL being RL, we aren't on target for that expectation. While I know the community 'gets it', I feel an explanation is in order.
The cause of the missed expectation is threefold:
- My (Aschent_'s) work situation has dramatically shifted in the past month and a half, in that more is on my plate at the moment than I originally anticipated. Luckily, this will not last forever and I expect that within the next 1-2 months I will have my time back. This connects to the code-cause below, however if I cannot dedicate an adequate amount of my time to TDN at launch (and for at least the 2-3 months following it), I don't feel comfortable launching and leaving the server in a position where they need to deal with experience-damaging bugs for a long-period of time, or, similarly bad, force myself to spend more time than is reasonable on TDN.
- Code Development is behind. Unfortunately, there have been some systems constructed in the past that were outside my purview that had to be entirely reworked. That, coupled with unforeseen slowdowns in overall code-output from the team has us behind on execution.
- I was confident I could just burn through code in late-Aug & September, however that just didn't happen and I don't expect to be able to do that in Sept.
- If you know code, and can handle taking something from design document to implementation, feel free to send a Code Dev app to Aschent: https://www.dragonsneck.com/threads/application-developer.14/ -- While we don't greenlight everyone, I still encourage you to make the effort if you're capable with NWScript and are interested in contributing.
- 3D Art work needs some additional time to bake.
Frankly, I'm sorry we missed this. I hate committing to something and not following through on that commitment because we get people excited and then burn their excitement with a delay. I feel like I've typed a similar message once or twice in the past and want to just say thank you to those who stick around awaiting TDN's return despite the mishaps.
Launch Q&A
- Is Development/code completely stalled due to the first issue?
- No, development continues, just at a slower pace than expected. TDN is my (and the team's) hobby. So the time we do have to commit is poured into the server.
- How can you (Aschent_) know that free-time will improve?
- New job started in January, from Jan to June/early July I was much more available than I have been since then. The work-related impacts are expected to be short-lived, however it basically involved a position being backfilled which is being actively worked on and has very little risk of being opened again once filled.
- Is the below update (TDN11) in any way causing this?
- No, the changes outlined below, for the most part, hit the hardest at 11 and beyond, meaning that the bulk of the work would have taken place after launch (despite the designs being completed).
- Things like moving feats around are relatively simplistic to implement. Coding entirely new feats/abilities is a bit more time-intensive.
- When launch is decided upon, how will that be cascaded?
- I am going to give the community a 30 day window for a launch date once the server is done. At this point, my goal is to get the server finished, and completely operational before committing to anything else. I go into announcements with the best intentions and missing that is frustrating for everyone. We are committed to getting this server right, and just need some more time to bake.
TDN11
We have made the decision to dramatically shift how progression works (as it relates to class-advancement) after level 11. I recommend a mindset shift of forgetting traditional leveling-up expectations after level 11. While the server will allow leveling up to "level 18", there is a change-of-mindset for level 12 to level 18 in terms of how progression functions. Our existing plans around PC progression felt problematic, as we faced the dilemma of trying to encourage people to stay levels 10-12 and incentivize that with things like Permadeath rewards, while at the same time providing content and an expectation of gameplay 13-18. For those of you who have been with us for a while, you should be familiar with our willingness to try approaches that might seem crazy at first, however once implemented and in-practice, should make clearer sense.
Benefits of this system:
- Allow players from ~10-18 to adventure together in dungeons.
- Allow players from ~10-18 to join in on DM events together.
- Allow us to utilize content in a more efficient manner.
- I.e. Rather than spending numerous hours building a dungeon for an end-game that would take years+ to reach (if some reach it at all), we can ensure that content is readily available for a larger field of the playerbase.
- Stay more true-to-modified-setting and apply a holistic design approach to the "end-game" of the server.
- Implement a lower-wake change to the community that lessens impact on builds (to the best degree we can at least).
- Eases the amount of content we would need to build for future expansions and allows us to focus on quality over quantity.
Beginning at Level 11...
- Your Class-driven Hit points gained-per-level will now average out after 11.
- This means that total HP will normalize to 11 regardless of the class builds you take.
- Feats such as Toughness will still grant HP bonuses.
- BAB (Base Attack Bonus) will average out after 11.
- Similar to HP, your BAB will average across all selected classes and normalize to 11.
- All future levels will return your BAB to the level 11 state.
- Skill Progression will cap at 11.
- Social Skills will still be available for selection after leveling up.
- Skill Point Banking is being retired.
- In other words, you use what skills the class grants. Failing to do so will require a relevel.
- Classes that are heavy skill-users (Rogue & others) will see a feat-gain that enhances skills commonly used within their kit to help offset the sting of this change.
- Caster Level will be capped at 11.
- Feats that grant greater damage bonuses will have adjusted cadences.
- Sneak Attacks will now be on a 3level progression cadence.
- Meaning that Sneak Attack will cap at 7d6 damage.
- Death Attack will have a 4level progression cadence.
- Monk Damage bonus bonus will cap at +2d6, Small will cap at +2d4.
- This bonus will be unattainable after the total player's level quantity exceeds level 11.
- Sneak Attacks will now be on a 3level progression cadence.
- Abilities that check for Max Class level will be capped at level 11.
- Spell & Ability Effects for spell level 6 & beyond will be re-balanced post-launch.
- These rebalancing efforts will be aimed at neutralizing massively Overpowered spells.
- Some spells may receive flat damage/heal nerfs, some will receive utility-change adjustments.
- Spell gained will remain as is. So eligible Spellcasters can still achieve level 9 spells, etc.
- Essentially, the Spells you gain on level up, along with available spell slots, remain the same.
- The spell cooldown concept would be expanded.
- Note: Spell Reagents are planned and will be leveraged to offset the applied cooldown:
- Cantrip: No cooldown
- Level 1: No cooldown
- Level 2: No cooldown
- Level 3: 3 minutes
- Level 4: 6 minutes
- Level 5: 9 minutes
- Level 6: 12 minutes
- Level 7: 20 minutes
- Level 8: 30 minutes
- Level 9: 40 minutes
- Why are cooldowns coming into play?
- The more spells a player receives while leveling, the more firepower and utility they are going to receive. In order to offset this, we are in a position to institute spell cooldowns (which, as mentioned can be offset by up to 50% (or possibly greater) with reagents.) Also, note the hit dice update below.
- Pure spellcast classes will receive abilities that can offset or remove the cooldowns for a given spell level, or all spell levels. Details TBD.
- Note: Spell Reagents are planned and will be leveraged to offset the applied cooldown:
- Class base hit dices will be updated. All classes below d8 HD will be raised up to d8. d10 and d12.
- Battlerager will be reduced to d12, however will receive a feat that will improve their total HP.
- Some skill bonuses may see some adjustments to avoid over-the-top power builds.
- All Spells that could be acquired at level 11+ are being rebalanced.
- This will be a TBD announcement that will cover spells as the design needs a bit longer to wrap.
The Wiki articles for each Class are updated with the modified design to match TDN11. Be aware, that things will continue to shift and change as we implement and make class adjustments.
Also, we know that people are going to have varied opinions of this approach/change. While we appreciate the conversation in Discord that tends to happen, we are going to be generating a forum thread where we can capture specifics and then publish answers in Q&A format. I am personally making it a point that we do this primarily to avoid situations where devs are spending numerous hours explaining something, and also ensuring the rest of the community can be looped into the answers.
TDN11 Q&A
- My Build!?!?!!!!
- Yes, you will want to revisit your expected concept and rework your build accordingly.
- I have X concern, and need to know how to voice that!
- Please direct questions to the following link: https://www.dragonsneck.com/threads/tdn11-question-thread.186/
- We will answer in long-form answers to ensure the community has plenty of awareness on clarifications.
- I want to clarify something and be pretty direct about it. We are notlooking for alternative large-scale solutions to take the place of TDN11 in solving the problems presented earlier. The dev team and myself discussed many different options before landing on TDN11, and it is our belief that TDN11 is the most ideal solution when factoring in all facets of the conversation.
- In other words, don't take it personally if your recommendation that took 5+ hours to craft is not taken into consideration.
- Please direct questions to the following link: https://www.dragonsneck.com/threads/tdn11-question-thread.186/
- Will we have an opportunity to test this ahead of launch?
- Yes, details TBD.
- (Semi-Unrelated) Some bugs were discovered during the Battle-Royale, can you describe what is being looked at?
- Shadowdancer's Darkness is going to be reworked due to the general bugginess that exists with Darkness Effect.
- Stealth is being reviewed and patched. Unfortunately the implementation of this was hacky and I will need to give it a holistic review and fix since we have identified a number of issues with the existing system.
- Cantrip refreshing was buggy.
- Some thrown objects were not firing.
- Character overwrites due to using the same name.
- Visuals/VFX issues -> We are going to rework out appearances in a way that is going to shift the scaling/adjusting of accessories, however will result in an overall more reliable experience for players. More to come on this.
- Some general misc bugs that will be cleaned up over time.
A few things you can look forward to in the interim:
- Monthly Updates will be returning in October!
- Another Battle-Royale-type experience before launch.
- We will be upgrading our server (again!) before launch. The CPU strength will be nearly 50% better than what we used during our first iteration of TDN.
Once again - Thank you for the patience! We're looking forward to a smooth launch and getting in-game with you all.
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