We have started work on a fairly big project, which we will be gradually expanding alongside our other additions, and whose ultimate goal is to make most attacks work on players and mobs alike. The initial release is now available for you to play with.

The primary motivation is to make the PvE aspects of the game more appealing, especially to newer players (because let's face it, not being able to use 90% of your abilities unless you want to PK kind of sucks). That said, some abilities will always remain player-only - ranged attacks, room-wide attacks, instakills, and similar effects won't work on mobs for obvious reasons.

The key feature of this system are mob afflictions. These work *very* differently from player afflictions - instead of using cures and all that, the afflictions are all either time-cured or instant one-off effects, and the mob is also immune to that affliction for some time (the cooldown is always longer than the duration). In many cases, the afflictions have (or will have) a different effect on mobs than on players, as the regular effect isn't really applicable. For the supported afflictions, AFFLICTION SHOW <name> lists the timing and effects.

The effects of mob afflictions are fairly minor, and often exist just to provide some variety and flavour, rather than to affect bashing in any significant way. Further upcoming additions may be a bit more significant, depending on how these changes play out.

I'd like to emphasise that this is going to be a side project, not a focused effort - we'll be gradually adding support to more abilities, a few at a time, between our various other developments.

These afflictions are supported on mobs right now:

- fear: 50% chance to scare the mob out of the room; anything immune to Intimidate is immune to this one as well

- peace: the mob doesn't attack until the effect wears off

- amnesia: the mob forgets whom it was attacking

- shivering: a small periodic chance to become disrupted

- frozen: mob doesn't attack or move

- prone: mob doesn't attack or move

- disrupted: same as prone/frozen (for now; further additions will differentiate between these three)

- disloyalty: other loyal mobs do not assist this one

- sleep - the mob falls asleep; this one has no cooldown, but instead only works 33% of time, and doesn't work on guards

Not all attacks that give these afflictions work against mobs. For now, these do:

Assassin/Renegade: Freeze (Spatium)
Bard: Kiyan, Mellaon, Kawis (Voice)
Deathknight: Chill (Necromancy), Battlecry(prone only) (Brutality)
Defiler: Sleep, Pacification (Shadowbinding), Harrow (Desecration)
Diabolist: Chill (Necromancy), Fear, Amnesia (Evileye)
Druid: Swing (Evocation)
Hunter: Glare (Shapeshifting)
Mage: Freeze, Disrupt (Pyroglacia)
Monk: Fear, Disrupt (Telepathy)
Outrider: Icebreath (Wyrmriding)
Predator: Gouge (Knifeplay), Disrupt (Beastmastery)
Priest: Panic (Fayth)
Ranger/Amazon: Legsweep, Battlecry(prone only) (Warding)
Runeguard - Battlecry (prone only) (Chivalry)
Summoner: Rixil, Eerion (Enslavery)
Templar - Battlecry(prone only) (Chivalry)
Wardancer: Distract (Bladedance)
Wytch: Fear, Amnesia (Curses)

Additionally:

- Kiyan (Voice) and Pacification (Shadowbinding) now do the Peace affliction instead of the previous effect; the extra damage for the latter remains in place

- Quarterstaff Swing (Evocation) can now optionally be targetted at a single individual; the targetted version also works against mobs (the untargetted version does not)


That's it for now, so play around with these if you want, see what you think! Just don't expect too much - as I said, making bashing more complicated isn't really the goal.


Garryn



Penned by my hand on the 13th of Vita, in the year 43 AM.