Post by Erithania on Mar 23, 2014 15:30:47 GMT -5
It's that time again! We've got some new things to tell you about! Though some of them have technically been implemented for a while. Just no chance for them to appear that often. So, let's just get on with this.
Legendary Gear
Legendary Weapons/Armor, or Level 6 stuff (L6 following this point, for brevity) has been technically accessible since the first Stratum 5 was unlocked. We just haven't had the chance for them to appear until now. L6 stuff is masterfully crafted. We're talking on levels well beyond human limitations. This is why you cannot simply walk into the shop and buy them. Magical, crafted by gods or devils, whatever. They're exceedingly high-quality. Now, you might be wondering how to access this stuff if you can't buy it! That's a perfectly natural question. For starters, anything with a Level + 1 modifier to drops can produce a piece of L6 gear, if the case in question involves an L5 User or an S5 event. This includes FMB's, Red spawns on S5, and S5 Stratum bosses. This does not apply to Salvages, as Salvages only match your character's level. And, yes, there are other means of getting these pieces. We'll possibly have promotionals or events later, but those can't be counted on. You may see the occasional “special” mission that calls for a full team of high-level characters. You may see an L6 as a potential reward for a single participant of those.
And there are other methods, but we're not telling you until they get revealed. More fun to watch you squirm, you see.
Weapons and Damage Levels
A question that has come up a few times, and rightfully so, is “How much damage does an “Lsomething” deal?”, and it's gotten some varied results over the occurrences. Below, you'll find the list, followed by an explanation on a certain thing.
Level 1 – Minor Damage
Level 2 – Minor-Moderate Damage
Level 3 – Moderate Damage
Level 4 – Moderate-Major Damage
Level 5 – Major Damage
Level 6 – Major-Severe Damage
Now, as you see, the even-numbered levels all have a “something to something” rating. Let me explain how this works. L2 is naturally more powerful than L1, even if it's still Minor. Same with L4 to L3 and L6 to L5. However, with characters that are obviously designed to deal more physical damage than magical (this can be verified by looking at their Personas' load-outs), the damage category would be a bit higher, settling them into a “weak” attack of the next category.
For example, imagine a man with a stick. This is Bob. Bob likes his stick, but it's Level 1. He has a bunch of physical skills- Assault Dive, Skewer, whatever- and just found a new stick. It's longer, so it's Level 2. Given that he has a physical build, he can now deal Moderate-class damage with his stick.
Now, imagine another man with a stick. This is Bob-2. Bob-2 likes his stick, but it's Level 1. He has a bunch of magical skills- Agi, Bufu, whatever- and just found a new stick. It's longer, so it's Level 2. Given that he has a magical build, he still deals Minor-class damage with his stick, but it's definitely “more” than with his Level 1 stick.
This should hopefully explain the weapon system.
Expansions
Not to be confused with the new bundles of content (of which this is a piece of), but this is the tentative and likely permanent name of something being added to the shop. If you don't like the name, either deal with it or suggest something better. Anyway, Expansions are essentially the “End-game” bonuses for Persona-users. They expand the limitations of users by adding new capabilities. Think of it as a “pseudo-level 6”. The full process is split into two parts. Expansion 1, or E1, and Expansion 2, E2.
Now, Expansions have a few purposes. We give you three choices on how to proceed, but let's cover a few details before hand. First, only L5 Users with their Ultimate Persona can purchase expansions. More than that, it's highly suggested that you've developed all your other skills (and maybe your gear) before saving up for expansions. Anyway, at that point, you'd have a total of eight skill slots, two Unique options (with one being an option Custom), and all that jazz. There are three ways you can now proceed.
Option 1
You decide you want more versatility. E1 will expand your skill slots by 2, giving you a total of 10 skill slots. Once you purchase this, however, E2 can only be a similar expansion, which would grant another 2 slots, for a grand total of 12 skill slots.
Option 2
You decide you want more raw power. E1 will expand your “Unique” slots by 1, giving you a third option of a bolded skill in the Persona shop. Once you purchase this, however, you'll be locked into this route. E2 provides another Unique slot, for a grand total of 4 Unique skills.
Option 3
You decide you want another unique power. This is the “Custom” route. Given that a custom skill can be pretty powerful, not to mention unique on a number of levels, both Expansions will bond together to present a second Custom skill. In other words, purchasing E1 will do nothing until you've also purchased E2. Upon purchasing E2, you will now, free of charge, have access to a second Custom skill. We have yet to determine if this Custom Skill will be restrained to your second Unique slot or not. Given that no one will be close to this for a while, we're not in a rush to hammer it out.
Now, you may not mix-and-match. If you go with Option 1, you'll end up with 12 Skill slots, regardless if you change your mind come time to buy E2. You can't buy E1 of Option 1, then E2 of Option 2. Furthermore, for Option 1 and Option 2, this only expands your limitations. You'll still be expected to pay for any new skills to fill your slots, or upgrades in the case of empowering skills to their new, unique variants. The Custom is free because you because put money down on it for the first Expansion without a pay-off. Plus we'd have to make a User-only Custom purchase option, just for this case.
Now, naturally, this could be some pretty powerful stuff. Powerful, even game-breaking if you knew what you were doing. It's the “final expanse” for a User. Naturally, it's expensive.
Expansion 1 will cost a whopping 50,000 FP.
Expansion 2 will cost another whopping amount, some 75,000 FP.
In other words, to fully “expand” into this new classification, you'd be spending 125,000 FP, not to mention whatever skill costs you'd incur. So, really, it's suggested that if you plan on dishing these amounts out, you focus on finalizing your other skills first.
PC Shadows in Stratum Bosses
Now, we want everyone to have fun. Part of our intended growth for Shadows is the whole “Shadows ganging up on Users” with the bosses and all. Below are our current stances on Shadow participation in Stratum bosses.
S1-2 – No PC Shadows
S3 – PC Shadows if permission is granted by Users' players
S4-5 – PC Shadow is go
There's a few issues with this setup. Firstly, there's only so many Stratum bosses not unlocked. Another thing is that a few Shadows don't even plan to fight Users, so some would just team up with the Users to fight the boss. This, while fine in concept, defeats the purpose of making these fights a good booster shot for Shadows. So, here's some potential revisions for these that we're looking into.
S1 – No PC Shadows
S2 – PC Shadow if permission is granted by the Users' players and a member of staff
S3 – PC Shadow if permission is granted by the Users' players
S4 – PC Shadow at will
S5 – PC Shadow at will, plus a second Shadow if permission is granted by Users' players
Furthermore, we would prefer that PC Shadows do not jump in on these unless they plan to attack Users or have verified that no other Shadows plan to antagonize first. It's a little messy, yes, but this is to allow people to utilize the system as freely as possible. It is not, however, set in stone! We're looking for opinions on this new PC Shadow participation.
Stratum Boss Limitations
Previously, Stratums 1-3 were limited to three participants in boss fights. This was to prevent huge groups from just beating the bosses to pulps easily and all that, and also because we had a smaller memberbase. Now, we've got more people. We're tentatively removing the original limit. Until we say otherwise, Stratum bosses, from 1-5, will all cap at five User/Civilian participants.
That's all for now, but we have plenty more planned for future releases. Look forward to it, as always!
Legendary Gear
Legendary Weapons/Armor, or Level 6 stuff (L6 following this point, for brevity) has been technically accessible since the first Stratum 5 was unlocked. We just haven't had the chance for them to appear until now. L6 stuff is masterfully crafted. We're talking on levels well beyond human limitations. This is why you cannot simply walk into the shop and buy them. Magical, crafted by gods or devils, whatever. They're exceedingly high-quality. Now, you might be wondering how to access this stuff if you can't buy it! That's a perfectly natural question. For starters, anything with a Level + 1 modifier to drops can produce a piece of L6 gear, if the case in question involves an L5 User or an S5 event. This includes FMB's, Red spawns on S5, and S5 Stratum bosses. This does not apply to Salvages, as Salvages only match your character's level. And, yes, there are other means of getting these pieces. We'll possibly have promotionals or events later, but those can't be counted on. You may see the occasional “special” mission that calls for a full team of high-level characters. You may see an L6 as a potential reward for a single participant of those.
And there are other methods, but we're not telling you until they get revealed. More fun to watch you squirm, you see.
Weapons and Damage Levels
A question that has come up a few times, and rightfully so, is “How much damage does an “Lsomething” deal?”, and it's gotten some varied results over the occurrences. Below, you'll find the list, followed by an explanation on a certain thing.
Level 1 – Minor Damage
Level 2 – Minor-Moderate Damage
Level 3 – Moderate Damage
Level 4 – Moderate-Major Damage
Level 5 – Major Damage
Level 6 – Major-Severe Damage
Now, as you see, the even-numbered levels all have a “something to something” rating. Let me explain how this works. L2 is naturally more powerful than L1, even if it's still Minor. Same with L4 to L3 and L6 to L5. However, with characters that are obviously designed to deal more physical damage than magical (this can be verified by looking at their Personas' load-outs), the damage category would be a bit higher, settling them into a “weak” attack of the next category.
For example, imagine a man with a stick. This is Bob. Bob likes his stick, but it's Level 1. He has a bunch of physical skills- Assault Dive, Skewer, whatever- and just found a new stick. It's longer, so it's Level 2. Given that he has a physical build, he can now deal Moderate-class damage with his stick.
Now, imagine another man with a stick. This is Bob-2. Bob-2 likes his stick, but it's Level 1. He has a bunch of magical skills- Agi, Bufu, whatever- and just found a new stick. It's longer, so it's Level 2. Given that he has a magical build, he still deals Minor-class damage with his stick, but it's definitely “more” than with his Level 1 stick.
This should hopefully explain the weapon system.
Expansions
Not to be confused with the new bundles of content (of which this is a piece of), but this is the tentative and likely permanent name of something being added to the shop. If you don't like the name, either deal with it or suggest something better. Anyway, Expansions are essentially the “End-game” bonuses for Persona-users. They expand the limitations of users by adding new capabilities. Think of it as a “pseudo-level 6”. The full process is split into two parts. Expansion 1, or E1, and Expansion 2, E2.
Now, Expansions have a few purposes. We give you three choices on how to proceed, but let's cover a few details before hand. First, only L5 Users with their Ultimate Persona can purchase expansions. More than that, it's highly suggested that you've developed all your other skills (and maybe your gear) before saving up for expansions. Anyway, at that point, you'd have a total of eight skill slots, two Unique options (with one being an option Custom), and all that jazz. There are three ways you can now proceed.
Option 1
You decide you want more versatility. E1 will expand your skill slots by 2, giving you a total of 10 skill slots. Once you purchase this, however, E2 can only be a similar expansion, which would grant another 2 slots, for a grand total of 12 skill slots.
Option 2
You decide you want more raw power. E1 will expand your “Unique” slots by 1, giving you a third option of a bolded skill in the Persona shop. Once you purchase this, however, you'll be locked into this route. E2 provides another Unique slot, for a grand total of 4 Unique skills.
Option 3
You decide you want another unique power. This is the “Custom” route. Given that a custom skill can be pretty powerful, not to mention unique on a number of levels, both Expansions will bond together to present a second Custom skill. In other words, purchasing E1 will do nothing until you've also purchased E2. Upon purchasing E2, you will now, free of charge, have access to a second Custom skill. We have yet to determine if this Custom Skill will be restrained to your second Unique slot or not. Given that no one will be close to this for a while, we're not in a rush to hammer it out.
Now, you may not mix-and-match. If you go with Option 1, you'll end up with 12 Skill slots, regardless if you change your mind come time to buy E2. You can't buy E1 of Option 1, then E2 of Option 2. Furthermore, for Option 1 and Option 2, this only expands your limitations. You'll still be expected to pay for any new skills to fill your slots, or upgrades in the case of empowering skills to their new, unique variants. The Custom is free because you because put money down on it for the first Expansion without a pay-off. Plus we'd have to make a User-only Custom purchase option, just for this case.
Now, naturally, this could be some pretty powerful stuff. Powerful, even game-breaking if you knew what you were doing. It's the “final expanse” for a User. Naturally, it's expensive.
Expansion 1 will cost a whopping 50,000 FP.
Expansion 2 will cost another whopping amount, some 75,000 FP.
In other words, to fully “expand” into this new classification, you'd be spending 125,000 FP, not to mention whatever skill costs you'd incur. So, really, it's suggested that if you plan on dishing these amounts out, you focus on finalizing your other skills first.
PC Shadows in Stratum Bosses
Now, we want everyone to have fun. Part of our intended growth for Shadows is the whole “Shadows ganging up on Users” with the bosses and all. Below are our current stances on Shadow participation in Stratum bosses.
S1-2 – No PC Shadows
S3 – PC Shadows if permission is granted by Users' players
S4-5 – PC Shadow is go
There's a few issues with this setup. Firstly, there's only so many Stratum bosses not unlocked. Another thing is that a few Shadows don't even plan to fight Users, so some would just team up with the Users to fight the boss. This, while fine in concept, defeats the purpose of making these fights a good booster shot for Shadows. So, here's some potential revisions for these that we're looking into.
S1 – No PC Shadows
S2 – PC Shadow if permission is granted by the Users' players and a member of staff
S3 – PC Shadow if permission is granted by the Users' players
S4 – PC Shadow at will
S5 – PC Shadow at will, plus a second Shadow if permission is granted by Users' players
Furthermore, we would prefer that PC Shadows do not jump in on these unless they plan to attack Users or have verified that no other Shadows plan to antagonize first. It's a little messy, yes, but this is to allow people to utilize the system as freely as possible. It is not, however, set in stone! We're looking for opinions on this new PC Shadow participation.
Stratum Boss Limitations
Previously, Stratums 1-3 were limited to three participants in boss fights. This was to prevent huge groups from just beating the bosses to pulps easily and all that, and also because we had a smaller memberbase. Now, we've got more people. We're tentatively removing the original limit. Until we say otherwise, Stratum bosses, from 1-5, will all cap at five User/Civilian participants.
That's all for now, but we have plenty more planned for future releases. Look forward to it, as always!
