First, let me apologize if this is the incorrect forum to post this in. I didn't know if it should go here, or in the Feature Request section or maybe somewhere else.
The basic idea for this tool is that if would be able to calculate mob stats to help server admins to tune their custom content to work similar to how it was in the old system or however they want it. It would also work to help create new content and to tune zones towards players with certain levels of gear. This would make adding new tiers of end-game content considerably easier IMO. Since AC, STR and other stats actually need to be adjusted properly in the new system, it means that most high end zones have to be tuned to make everything work as it should. It is definitely more complicated than it was before.
After quite a lot of testing, I was able to figure out some good settings and get my encounters tuned back to how I want them, but not every admin has that kinda time.
This tool could be as simple as an excel spreadsheet that has calculations build into fields (for people who are excel gurus), or even a nice stand alone app with a simple GUI that has fields and a brief explanation of how to use the tool. It could be expanded on to do much more, but I will mention that later in the post.
The tool should have 3 sections for stats or 4 if the 4th one is possible. The first section would be the player stats, the second section would be NPC stats in the new combat system, the third section would be output data, and the fourth optional section would be NPC stats in the old system.
The creator of the tool would either need to get all combat equations from the Devs or directly from the source itself if they know how to do so. I may be missing some fields or ideas that could be added to this tool, but I think this should be a good start to get an idea of what it would need.
I am posting 2 different versions of the calculator fields. One is a simple version that will to tune NPC DPS and the other is a much more complex version to calculate all combat systems for both players and NPCs. The simple version should be plenty to make a huge impact on helping admins, but I put the complex version in as well incase someone feels like doing the entire system. I am sure there are things in the complex version that I am missing and am open to more suggestions.
- New Combat System Calculator (Simple NPC DPS) -
Player Stats Section:
Player Level - Level of intended Target Player
Player AC - AC of intended Target Player
Player Shielding - Shielding of intended Target Player
Player Defensive Skills - Default is max skills for "Player Level"
Player Defensive AAs - Check Boxes to set Max for each AA
Player Disciplines - Check Box for Stone Wall and maybe other Disciplines (Optional)
NPC Stats Section (New Combat Rules):
NPC Level - Level of NPC (max skills set for level of NPC)
NPC Min Dmg - Minimum enforced damage of NPC
NPC Max Dmg - Max Damage of NPC
NPC Hit Rate - Hit Rate Speed Setting of NPC
NPC STR - Strengh of NPC
NPC Special Attacks - Check Boxes for Flurry, Tripple Attack and Quad Attack
Output Data Section:
Player DPS to NPC - Average Player DPS to the NPC
Player Max dmg to NPC - Maximum player hit on NPC (non critical)
Player Min Dmg to NPC - Min player hit on NPC (probably always 1)
NPC DPS to Player - Average NPC DPS to the Player
NPC Max dmg to Player - Maximum NPC hit on Player
NPC Min Dmg to Player- Min NPC hit on Player (with enforced Min Damage rule)
NPC Stats Section (Old Combat Rules):
NPC Level - Level of NPC (Unsure how NPC Skill levels were decided in this system)
NPC Min Dmg - Minimum damage of NPC
NPC Max Dmg - Max Damage of NPC
NPC STR - Strengh of NPC (This stat may not be applicable in the old system)
NPC Special Attacks - Check Boxes for Flurry, Triple Attack and Quad Attack
How to use it:
The tool should allow for multiple combinations of calculations depending on what is being tuned. Certain fields will be required depending on what you are planning to calculate. Perhaps a way to select what is being calculated could be created so that once it is selected, the required fields will be highlighted or whatever.
Here is an example of using this tool; The player level is set to 70 and AC set to 2000 and all other fields are left blank to set as default (0 or NULL in most cases), and if the admin is wanting to calculate what their mobs should be set to in the new system so fights are similar to the old system, they will also populate all fields in the NPC Stats Section (Old Combat Rules) to match what they have that particular NPC set to. Then they hit a Calculate button and it calculates what stats the same NPC should be set to in order to give similar results in the new system.
Another example would be setting the player level to 70 and AC to 2000 again, but this time only setting the Output Data fields for NPC DPS and Min/Max damage. This time, it calculates again and will fill in NPC stats for the old and new systems to give the end result you set in the Output Data fields. You could also have specified NPC special attacks and the calculation would take those into account when it fills in the other stats.
Using the Complete version of the calculator would work similarly, but would be much more complex than the Simple version.
Here is the list I have so far for the Complete version:
- New Combat System Calculator (Complete) -
Player Stats Section:
Player Level - Level of intended Target Player
Player AC - AC of intended Target Player
Player Shielding - Shielding of intended Target Player
Player Defensive Skills - Default is max skills for "Player Level"
Player Offensive Skills - Default is max skills for "Player Level"
Player Defensive AAs - Check Boxes to set Max for each AA
Player Offensive AAs - Check Boxes to set Max for each AA
Player Disciplines - Check Box for Stone Wall and maybe other Disciplines (Optional)
Player Attack - Attack of intended Target Player
Player STR - Strength of intended Target Player. Default is max for level + AA cap increases if applicable.
Player DEX - Dexterity of intended Target Player. Default is max for level + AA cap increases if applicable
Player AGI - Agility of intended Target Player. Default is max for level + AA cap increases if applicable
Player Primary Dmg/Dly - The Damage/Delay of the Player's Primary Weapon
Player Secondary Dmg/Dly - The Damage/Delay of the Player's Secondary Weapon
Player Weapon Dmg Bonus - Damage Bonuses for the player's weapon
Player Block - Check Box if shield is in use. Default is max block skill for "Player Level"
NPC Stats Section (New Combat Rules):
NPC Level - Level of NPC (max skills set for level of NPC)
NPC AC - Armor Class of NPC
NPC Min Dmg - Minimum enforced damage of NPC
NPC Max Dmg - Max Damage of NPC
NPC Hit Rate - Hit Rate Speed Setting of NPC
NPC STR - Strengh of NPC
NPC DEX - Strengh of NPC
NPC AGI - Strengh of NPC
NPC Attack - Greyed out since it can't be set, but could be shown in end results
NPC Special Attacks - Check Boxes for Flurry, Tripple Attack and Quad Attack
Output Data Section:
Player DPS to NPC - Average Player DPS to the NPC
Player Max dmg to NPC - Maximum player hit on NPC (non critical)
Player Min Dmg to NPC - Min player hit on NPC (probably always 1)
NPC DPS to Player - Average NPC DPS to the Player
NPC Max dmg to Player - Maximum NPC hit on Player
NPC Min Dmg to Player- Min NPC hit on Player (with enforced Min Damage rule)
NPC Stats Section (Old Combat Rules):
NPC Level - Level of NPC (Unsure how NPC Skill levels were decided in this system)
NPC AC - Armor Class of NPC
NPC Min Dmg - Minimum damage of NPC
NPC Max Dmg - Max Damage of NPC
NPC STR - Strengh of NPC (This stat may not be applicable in the old system)
NPC DEX - Strengh of NPC (This stat may not be applicable in the old system)
NPC AGI - Strengh of NPC (This stat may not be applicable in the old system)
NPC Attack - Greyed out since it can't be set, but could be shown in end results
NPC Special Attacks - Check Boxes for Flurry, Triple Attack and Quad Attack
- Taking this tool even further -
Advanced Options:
To further adjust the flexibility of this tool, I thought it was be really helpful to have an advanced options window that would allow people to easily adjust every equation that the tool uses. This would make it simple to adjust this tool for future updates when equations change, and I am sure they will from time to time.
Automatic Database Updating:
This would probably take considerably more work, I am sure, but if there was a way to have this tool automatically update the Spawn_Entries table, that would be AMAZING!!! The player would select a spawn, or even an entire zone of spawns to be adjusted. They could then either just run the database updater with default settings, or they could set the Player Stats Section of the tool. The tool would pull the stats of the NPC(s) in the Spawn_Entries into the tool and maybe reference the Spawn2 table so it can do an entire zone at a time. Then, it would calculate the stat settings for the new combat system for each NPC so that encounters would be set to seem similar to how they were in the previous combat system. It would then update the database with the all new settings! Bam! A completely re-tuned zone in just seconds!
Tool Request - New Combat System Calculator
Linear Mode
