Although I have proposed a series of changes in a compilation of posts named “Changes that MUST be made considering long-term development of MO2”, as I am not sure what Star Vault's next steps will be, all proposals in this new compilation will ignore the previous ones. However, for those who followed the previous posts, you will see that it is fully possible to incorporate such suggestions here, especially with regard to part 3 (Magic Schools Fundamentals).
Unlike other magical schools, the iceberg of spiritism is much deeper than is usually thought. In this case we are talking about a magical school that does not just encompass the use of spells, but a whole other separate universe, known as the Etherworld.
I would really like to say that I have best solutions for every aspect of this school, but at least I do for the most part... Thus, I will explain general problems and solutions, or things to take into consideration when design a solution, for each aspect and finally talk about spells:
Unlike other magical schools, the iceberg of spiritism is much deeper than is usually thought. In this case we are talking about a magical school that does not just encompass the use of spells, but a whole other separate universe, known as the Etherworld.
I would really like to say that I have best solutions for every aspect of this school, but at least I do for the most part... Thus, I will explain general problems and solutions, or things to take into consideration when design a solution, for each aspect and finally talk about spells:
- Quality of life
- Spirit Box;
- Banishment and Death Sickness;
- Etherworld
- Spells;
Spirit Box
This is the primary resource for the use of this magic school, as well as for the most relevant necromancy spells... In total, there are 5 different types of spirit boxes, 2 of which can be obtained through purchase from NPCs, this being the most viable method in the game. The only known difference between these boxes is their capacity to store "spirits" (Kau = Life Force). The other 3 spirit boxes are extremely rare drops... In short, the problems with such an item can be listed as follows:
- NPC spirit boxes do not have enough capacity for someone who intends to actively use spells that consume such a resource;
- This way, more spirit boxes need to be placed in the inventory, mainly when farming spirits;
- There is no way to transfer the contents of one spirit box to another;
- It's an item that drops on death;
- This way, the rare players who have superior spirit boxes do not use them;
- There is no crafting method;
In this context, the following solutions can be Applied:
- The spirit box will now be a soulbound item, it does not drop on death.
- When dying, the person will lose all stored spirits.
- At the location of the body, a temporary item will be created, which will contain all spirits lost in death.
- Spirits can be collected by anyone who has a spirit box in their inventory.
- The item will persist in the world until the timer expires or all spirits are collected.
- It is not possible to collect more spirits than the capacity of the spirit box in the inventory.
- Make it compatible with combining system;
- Just as was promised with the spellbooks, add some kind of small bonus according to the rarity of the spirit box, encouraging the obtaining of rarer spirit boxes;
- When Glass Blowing was a reality, add a crafting method for advanced spirit boxes, at least better version than the npc;
- For sure, the best ones can still be only obtainable through drops;
With these changes I hope to encourage the use of better spirit boxes, both for those who use it and for those who want to collect loot from another player, and put an end to the problem of slot management, as well as making it easier to sell spirits... As there are many scenarios where specific builds only buy small spirit boxes and the seller only has just farm medium or vice versa.
Banishment and Death Sickness
This is a problem that is partly related to spiritism. One of the community's biggest complaints is the discussion of the minimum time to be ressurrect after death (Death Sickness)... We all know that when fighting within an enemy's territory, staying alive and eliminating targets is just as important as ensuring that guarantee they stay dead... Therefore, priest camp is essential in this type of scenario.
However, it should be noted that many territories have a large number of priests in their domains, and sometimes it is not necessarily about fighting within enemy territory, but rather at some point of interest on the map where numerous groups can have outposts built around, whether they are the owners or not (allies).
In this cases, priest camp is an out of the question strategy... Given the nature of Mortal Online 2, in which group fights at points of interest tend to be long-lasting, mainly because everything in this game takes time... Most of the time It ends up being extremely frustrating to fight the same opponent that you have "already defeated" 3 or more times and realize that he still keeps coming back for the same fight.
In this same context, it is worth mentioning that the banishment mechanic is just as disappointing... When banished within the ether, the spirit is sent to the nearest red priest, in addition to, of course, receiving the Banishment Debuff. This debuff prevents mana recovery within the ether for 5 minutes. As long as the debuff persists, the target cannot be banished again. Therefore, there is no reason to have a spiritist banishing enemies killed during a fight, since after being banished they can simply press the home priest button and return completely invulnerable while waiting 20 seconds to be ressurrect...
The solution to this whole scenario is very simple:
Banishment and Death Sickness
This is a problem that is partly related to spiritism. One of the community's biggest complaints is the discussion of the minimum time to be ressurrect after death (Death Sickness)... We all know that when fighting within an enemy's territory, staying alive and eliminating targets is just as important as ensuring that guarantee they stay dead... Therefore, priest camp is essential in this type of scenario.
However, it should be noted that many territories have a large number of priests in their domains, and sometimes it is not necessarily about fighting within enemy territory, but rather at some point of interest on the map where numerous groups can have outposts built around, whether they are the owners or not (allies).
In this cases, priest camp is an out of the question strategy... Given the nature of Mortal Online 2, in which group fights at points of interest tend to be long-lasting, mainly because everything in this game takes time... Most of the time It ends up being extremely frustrating to fight the same opponent that you have "already defeated" 3 or more times and realize that he still keeps coming back for the same fight.
In this same context, it is worth mentioning that the banishment mechanic is just as disappointing... When banished within the ether, the spirit is sent to the nearest red priest, in addition to, of course, receiving the Banishment Debuff. This debuff prevents mana recovery within the ether for 5 minutes. As long as the debuff persists, the target cannot be banished again. Therefore, there is no reason to have a spiritist banishing enemies killed during a fight, since after being banished they can simply press the home priest button and return completely invulnerable while waiting 20 seconds to be ressurrect...
The solution to this whole scenario is very simple:
- Change the minimum time of Death Sickness to 1 minute and make it a scalable;
- When resurrected as a priest, the player will gain a new debuff called "Spiritual Sickness" with the same duration as the last Death Sickness;
- If the player dies while the Spiritual Sickness debuff is active, the time of the next Death Sickness will be increased by 1 minute, until a maximum of 5 minutes;
- When banned in the ether, the player will gain the Death Sickness debuff at its maximum duration of 5 minutes;
- Players cannot be banned inside of Blue Cities;
- Unlike the current version, the resurrection spell will be the only way to resurrect someone during the Death Sickness debuff, but it will not be able to remove Spiritual Sickness;
With these changes, in addition to solving this death time problem, I hope to bring greater value to spiritists. Whether inside the ether, keeping players dedicated to banishing enemies, or outside, making the resurrection mechanic much more appealing;