Blackened B4 ?

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Greengo
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Blackened B4 ?

Post by Greengo » Fri Jul 23, 2010 1:33 pm

Good day, I hope the name of the topic isn't wrong. I saw few posts in the forum but they are too old. :/ So could anyone give information about the status of B4? Like is there much left to be done, will we see it soon? Thank you in advise i played B3.5 and can't wait to see B4! :) Keep up the good work guys! :P

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Re: Blackened B4 ?

Post by Necrolis » Fri Jul 23, 2010 2:49 pm

Both adhin and I are working hard on B4, we are planning a public preview version soon(hopefully)
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Re: Blackened B4 ?

Post by weapon-x » Fri Jul 23, 2010 5:15 pm

:) whoa... can't wait try some new previews
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Re: Blackened B4 ?

Post by Adhin » Thu Aug 19, 2010 4:40 pm

Due to my overall plan for how I want to handle map/quests, if a preview does come out there wont be any quest in. It'll just end up being a monster killing play ground to test your selves against. Including some big boss changes (specifically Andariel is already changed and shes a {filtered}).

I wouldn't expect TO much in that regard though. I originally wanted to make a huge list of monsters to use as I made quest/maps but after making 20 or so different base kinds it occured to me It would be better to handcraft monsters for specific areas instead of going off some base library.

So the monster-sandbox wont be as diverse in the 'preview' as D2 was. That will change as quest actually start getting added in and whatnot.

Meh that actually sounds kinda boring just a mod to kill monsters with no quests but least its progress to my real goal.

-edit-
Just occurred to me you all might like some actual screenshots also, so im gonna just link my current screenshot folder on my kardon webspace.
http://kardon.biz/adhin/b4_screens/
Most of that's in. Due to a recent change some of it 'was' in, and will be again but least its some stuff to look at.

The Opportunity one is a Warrior skill (warrior only). Should be noted that the Rank 3, +5 dmg or +10 dmg is rather a huge bonus. I know it doesn't seem like it initially but when you realize what this means its a bit crazy. Basically what its doing is DOUBLING your weapons damage. That's right, doubling. You see all 1h weapons are 5 base dmg and 2h is 10 base dmg (thats an average).

Every point in STR past 10 is 10% dmg. So .5 dmg for 1h, 1 dmg for 2h. Another way to look at it is every 10 points of STR is x1 dmg. 10 str x1, 20 str x2 and so on. Opportunity increases 'base' damage, so all the other mods that usually up your dmg work OFF that too. Vital Strikes adds 200% dmg per rank (600% max). So if you got Vital Strikes maxed, and Opportunity maxed using a 2h weapon your doing 20 base dmg with +1200% dmg from Vital Strikes. It sounds huge but the second you take damage it all goes away heh.

However one change I recently made (or intent to make) to that skill is that rank 2 isn't +AR anymore, Rank 1 comes with the +60 AR and Rank 2 allows you to absorb a single hit with out the buff fading (Vital Strikes would still go away). So ultiamtely taking 1 hit would avoid all physical dmg for that hit, you'd lose the vital strike bonus (but still keep the part that opportunity gives, so 1200% to 600%, or 400 to 200...). I forget if the +5/10 dmg thing is base rank or still rank 3...
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Re: Blackened B4 ?

Post by Rattlecage » Thu Nov 04, 2010 7:44 pm

Thank you for the updates. I've been out of D2 for the past few months and it's good to see that B4 is coming along quite nicely and that "it'll be out when it's done" has become "soon." :lol: Thanks for the screens too!
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Re: Blackened B4 ?

Post by Adhin » Fri Nov 19, 2010 2:31 am

Yeah I'm tired of it not being publicly available to be perfectly honest with you. But its not currently in a stable enough state and I'm peronsally in the process of figuring out how I want the 4th base class to function.

The current class goal for a 'test' wont have any unique skills in for the characters, which I realize is also a bit extra boring but it still amounts to about 4 characters from base D2. Warrior, Psion, Priest and Mage will be on all characters as a basic path. Last tab (theres 5) will have 24 skills to pick from (6 in a column, 4 columns).

I could always make that a 5th, unique class instead of these additives but I don't see a reason to do that as the 4 base is there to structure your HP/MP/AR and number of max-hits on base attack.

Already have Warrior, Priest and most of Mage done. Psion is the newest addition I wasn't going to have as a base class but decided to do that since it just feels like it should be. It'll be focused around self buffs, be more of a counter part to Warrior (kind of like how Priest is to a Mage). I also plan to do a lot of the 'monk' skills (martial tab Zrathri had as an example, Ki Aura stuff) in the Psion area. Kind of convert them to fit the Psion to support a Monk-ish style of gameplay that way + more psion oriented stuff. Self buffs, Clone your self, only class with an active-mana regeneration ability (long cooldown). They end up having base Mana like Warriors though so they don't get the boost Priest/Mage get, but they're more efficient with there stuff then others due to Residue.
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Re: Blackened B4 ?

Post by Rattlecage » Fri Nov 19, 2010 9:12 pm

What do you have planned as far as monsters go?
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Re: Blackened B4 ?

Post by Adhin » Fri Nov 19, 2010 11:29 pm

pretty much what I already have in, which is used to populate all of A1 and A2. I had a post awhile ago that listed it all out, but I think that was on the main site which needs a re-design and me to actually do news posts again. Anyways that list was this:

-Beasts-
Stirge
Giant Spider

-Magical Beasts-
Storm Bats
Phase Spider

-Monstrous Humanoids-
Minotaur

-Undead-
Zombies
Skeleton (one throws axes)
Skeleton Archer
Mummy
Mummy Lord (Priest)
Wraith
Dread Wraith
Shadow
Greater Shadow
Grave Shadow

-Extraplanar-
Red Slaad
Blue Slaad
Green Slaad
Gray Slaad
Death Slaad

It gives a good idea for balance I want to go for but D2 has a tendency to spawn 'groups'...in GROUPS. So When I make something as a 'group' and I intend the player to take that on directly (say 1 on 4) and it be DIFFICULT, and then you end up taking on 12-16 because of the silly spawner stuff... well it gets kinda hectic but people can still survive heh. Which probably means I'll be making monsters stronger once I have real controle over that (aka, map work).

Another thing is each one has kinda different powers. So unlike base D2, a 'Slaad' isn't just a slaad, each color brings a different set of things. Red Leaps from a distance, so a group can ambush you out of no where. Blue rushes forword almost suicidal and uses a double hit style secondary attack. Green tends to use more ranged attacks. Death and Gray are the real beasts of em, Death is like a hyped up Blue with a ranged attack, and Gray is basically a Caster variation, lots of spells to deal with.

The Skeletons all spawn in a random set, I actually did 3 separate groups based off there weapon type (Sword, Blunt, and Axe). And each one has the other 2 as minions so its a complex mash up for them for what you get, but they will always have at least 1 of each, so one of em will always be throwing axes at you randomly as they advance.

On top of that I also want to make more of a distinction between Single, Squad and Swarm style encounters. D2 for instance is basically all swarm. Tons of monsters all over. I'd rather it be more difficult encounters (and I mean that more in monster AI use and dmg out put then giving them tons of HP). So early on your facing small groups of Stirges (swarm monsters) and 1-2 bats, maybe a spider in the current test. Later on its full groups of spiders and Bats which kinda drives home how annoying bats are in a group. In A2 I actually have Bat Swarm ambushes they're semi-rare. If your not careful with that you'll get shocked to death rather quickly.

Balance wise a good basic example are the Storm Bat and Spiders. Both have about the same HP, you can kill them in 2 swings from a 1h weapon or 1 swing from a 2h weapon early on. They die quick, but they do pretty solid damage. Spider charge and have a poisonous bite which lasts a good long time, but its low dmg so it ends up causing other encounters to be more difficult then they otherwise would be. Storm Bats have a small radius shock nova, which does x2 there melee attack. So if your fighting a pack of striges and 1-2 bats shows up you'd ant to switch targets immediately, left alone they'll destroy your HP 'very' quick. And that's why the Swarm spawns of Storm bats are a pain - there's a lot, they're more likely to 'spark up' and shock you.
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Re: Blackened B4 ?

Post by l2p_omg » Sun Jan 30, 2011 3:52 pm

Good day!
What about new info? Can any1 tell smthing about mod and B4 version?

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Re: Blackened B4 ?

Post by Adhin » Tue Feb 01, 2011 3:55 am

New info... new info. Not sure if I posted this anywhere (probably not been lazy with that). But there will be 4 base classes instead of 3 for all chars. I decided I wanted Psion to be one to compliment the Warrior class (like Priest/Mage do eachother) and didn't want only the Pal to have it. They have a semi-unique setup in how they function. few self buffs that have passives to alter/upgrade said line, some use/attack abilities and I moved the Monk-like abilities that where originally on the priest over to Psion. Which means Priest is getting some of the old cleric/priest combatty spells to compensate that. So a little re-configuring, don't have Psion or the Priest new stuff done yet though.
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Re: Blackened B4 ?

Post by l2p_omg » Tue Feb 01, 2011 1:57 pm

Anyway, great to hear some new info. Big thx Adhin!
Hope we'll c B4 release soon.

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