The Dragon's Neck Dev Update
Pillars
There are a few pillars behind how the professions are setup:
- Professions should not be required for completing dungeons at a PC's current level.
- Professions should enable the economy by being the primary source of item valuation increases, along with consumable creation/distribution.
- Note on distribution: The intent is for NPCs that distribute consumables to act as a 'highest price' for consumables, which enables players to operate the economy while still providing a lever for solo players, or in the event we see lower-than-anticipated player volume, players the chance to obtain consumables to use throughout the world.
- Professions are, by design, a grind mechanism on TDN due to their significant impact on item power and consumables.
- Long-term: Professions will be a cornerstone in the mechanical"end-game".
- For Example, a large-scale dungeon that feature significant fire damage may require players to invest in +Save vs Fire enhancements.
Overview
During our first iteration of TDN, there was valuable feedback gathered which I will attempt to highlight the themes below:
- The grind was far too extreme for the return on investment.
- Specific items (i.e. Forge Oil for Reforging), were much too rare considering the number of recipes that the item was required for.
- Severe lack of clarity on how professions work.
An additional element that was more based on circumstance, is that due to the low quantity of critical item, prices of things like Enchantment or Reforging were driven up. This made it unrealistic for players behind the curve to afford some of these enchantments especially in cases where a player might have been 'fed' in order to maximize a particular profession.
At a higher level, some of the changes that have been implemented based on the feedback:
- The total CXP required has been reduced by approx 15%. There has also been a change to where the leveling 'hill' takes place, meaning that earlier levels will be achieved quicker.
- Items that were considered too rare before, have had their drop rate increased.
- Forge Oil, for example, has a small % chance to be obtained when Smelting, has had a % drop rate increase, AND can be purchased from the Murann reforger for a relatively steep fee.
- In general, we will more closely monitor rates of materials for professions and make on-the-fly adjustments to drop rates to ensure things do not get out of control, or remain too rare.
- We will be including the majority of steps required, and recipes needed on TDN's Wiki for reference by players.
- Cooking Profession has been added. (Secondary Profession, Details below).
- [QOL] Reforging recipes will now function the same as Alchemy, where the book can be 'used' and the recipe learned.
- This is a change from our first iteration where the PC had to keep the book on their PC while crafting.
- Profession levels must now remain within 2levels of the player level. (CXP will no longer be gained until the player levels up if you max out).
- This was decided/implemented shortly after our initial downtime.
- A PC may only hold 2 primary professions at a time.
- There is no limit to secondary professions.
Profession Details
Professions on The Dragon's Neck exist in two categories: Primary & Secondary Professions. Primary professions are limited to two per PC. Secondary professions can be freely leveled up as a player sees fit. We've opted to avoid the traditional route when it comes to professions commonly seen on PWs (i.e. Tailoring, Smithing, Mining, etc), in favor of professions that are directly focused on useful item aquisition. Should more professions be added later, they will be fit alongside our current batch. It is important to note that item properties do not stack from Reforging or Enchanting [For example, a +1 AC Enchant on an item with +1 AC will not result in +2 AC.]. Furthermore, TDN has limitations on Ability Score increases, Skill Bonuses, and more. So purely stacking a single skill will not be an optimal route mechanically as you will hit the skill cap. We will list these caps before launch.
We want items to feel 'lived in' and critical to a player's story as their lifetime progresses. Item power is intended to move laterally, rather than vertically, wherein the quantity of affixes will increase, however the strength of the affix itself will cap. In essence, a player may find a magical item with 2 affixes, and rather than improving those affixes that already exist, they will aim to add additional, alternative affixes to the item to make it more dynamic.
Primary Professions
Reforging [Production]
Reforging on TDN is the act of taking raw materials, along with trace amounts of unique ingredients (such as adamantine, mithral, etc), and infusing them into various armors, clothing & weapons. Reforging is support primarily by the Scavenging profession, however some materials involved may come from merchants, from smelting, or in rarer cases, alchemy.
Examples of affixes added from Reforging:
- +X AB vs Race (or vs non-evil Alignment). [Max +3]
- +X Damage Bonus. [Max 1d4]
- 15% Immunity vs Damage Type.
- +X Enhancement Bonus vs Race (or vs non-evil Alignment). [Max +3]
- +X Enhancement Bonus. [Max +2]
- Spell Resistance.
Scavenging on TDN is the act of finding and gathering materials from compacted debris, or small chunks of ore from ore veins. Scavenging offers players the chance to generate additional loot/wealth for their PC, and/or generate materials commonly used in the Reforging profession. As a player increases his/her profession level, the likelihood of uncovering loot inside of debris increases.
Enchanting / Disenchanting (Production/Gathering)
Enchanting functions two ways. An enchanter can disenchant a magical item, in order to create the raw materials that can be recycled into Enchanting recipes. Enchanters can then enchant an item with select options of Item Properties (affixes) which can then boost the overall strength of the item (similar to Reforging). An important distinction between Enchanting and Reforging is that Disenchanting an item destroys the item completely, thereby driving the investment into Enchanting to be more significant.
Examples of affixes added from Enchanting:
- +X AC vs Race (or non-evil Alignment). [Max +3]
- +X AC. [Max +2]
- 1/day Spells of various kinds.
- +Saving Throws. [Max +4]
- + Select Skills. [Max +5] -- Note: TDN has a Skill bonus cap of +8 for balance purposes.
- Resist: Death or Fear or Disease, etc.. [Max +4]
- Various Immunities.
Alchemy functions as a major cog in the profession system. Recipes generated by Alchemy can be used in both Reforging and Enchanting. Additionally, the benefits from Alchemy items can give a significant advantage in-combat. Alchemy is primarily supported by the Herbalism profession. The idea behind Alchemy's flexibility is to allow unique approaches to item improvements over time. As an example. Rather than an Alchemist pursuing a +Damage bonus against Giants affix from Enchanting, they may instead choose something else, and fuel their damage bonus via Bane Oils (which can grant a similar damage bonus to the item property for 5 minutes). This concept applies to many different affixes and item properties that exist.
Types of Alchemy products:
- Ammunition.
- Consumable: Drug.
- Consumable: Potion.
- Consumable: Poison. [Weapon enhancement].
- Grenadelike.
- Oils. [Weapon Enhancement].
- Touch/Kits.
Base herbs can offer minor buffs to an Herbalist, however the true strength of the Herb wouldn't be realized until worked into an Alchemy recipe. Herbalists will be the primary contributor to an Alchemist's efforts to create a number of consumables. That said, a good herbalist can help out in a pinch with herbs that can heal, have a chance to remove disease, and more.
Secondary Professions
Fishing [Gathering]
Fishing will provide players the opportunity to find a variety of ingredients for Alchemy, and for Cooking. It also may provide a relatively decent source of income dependent on the player's profession level. Fishing can take place at select locations near streams, and the catch you find will be based on fresh water and salt water locations.
Cooking [Production]
Various meals that can now be consumed upon resting will result in a number of different buffs that can last anywhere from 1 hour, to 8 hours. While the initial quantity of recipes at launch will remain around 15, these will expand as time progresses. As a minor sneak-peek, our approach to resting is being overhauled.
Resting
Rest Timer
- 60 minutes if using a Standard Bed Roll.
- Tavern rest reduces the existing timer by 45 minutes, allowing an earlier rest.
- Resting in a dungeon is not allowed unless the PC is in a designated Rest Zone (rare).
- Bedrolls can now be used to rest in all natural, outdoor environments, however they have reduced effects compared to a tavern rest (outlined below).
- Standard Bedrolls used in the wild, in a non-rest zone, do not restore spell/ability uses.
- Exceptional Bedrolls (working name): Reduces the rest timer by 15 minutes, allowing an earlier rest.
- Exceptional Bedrolls used in the wild, in a non-rest zone have a 50% chance to restore spell/ability uses.
- Adventurer's Tent (working name): Reduces rest timer by 30 minutes, allowing an earlier rest. [Can be used by allies, limited uses total.]
- Adventurer's Tent restores all spell uses & abilities.
- Base Heal: 35% Max Hit Points.
- CON Modifier: +.05% per Mod. (Works in reverse as well, reducing the heal value if CON mod is negative).
- Great Fortitude Bonus: +.05%.
- Tavern Rest: 3 * Base = 1.05% of Max HP.
- Exceptional Bedroll: 1.5 * Base = 0.525% of Max HP.
- Adventurer's Tent: 2.25 * Base = 0.7875% of Max HP.
Race & Class Bonuses
- Wild & Wood Elf Rest Timers: 60 Minutes if resting indoors, 30 minutes if resting outdoors. Tents will reduce the outdoor timer by 15 minutes.
- Druids, Rangers & Shaman: Significant Wound heal chance bonus when resting in the wild, reduced if resting indoors.
- 10+ Minutes: 60% Chance of success to heal Significant Wound (see Death System for more details) when resting outdoors, 15% chance indoors.
- 30+ Minutes: 100% Chance of success to heal Significant Wound when resting outdoors, 80% when resting indoors.
- For balance purposes, % chance of spell & ability restoration is unaffected by race/class considerations. This will result in value being maintained for Exceptional Bedrolls & Tents.