Special attack damage scales with weapon delay

[TheDrunkenDwarf]

Oloh posted the following on the Fires of Heaven forums in response to a question from Creediki.

Originally Posted by Creediki -- If you are using a quicker weapon, does that mean you have more opportunities to get in special attacks? Do they scale with weapon delay or...

Yep. I know damage stuff scales for sure, so that should avoid some of the problems that exist in other mmogs about high damage weapons or low delay weapons being too desirable.

Not sure about effects, taunts and other stuff because it doesn't show up like damage does. I would have to run tests to see exactly how it works. I have been purposefully not parsing this time through because I want to just get a "feel" for progression. Other testers have been parsing more than I do to make sure things are lining up...it's just not a role that I have taken, so I really cant say for sure.

I wonder if the stamina/energy cost for the skills also scales? If not, there may be an advantage to using slower weapons. (I.e. a skill that does an extra 10 damage with a 1 second delay weapon, and does 40 damage with a 4 second delay weapon is balanced as far as DPS goes... but if it costs 10 stamina to activate the skill each time... the player with the faster weapon has to spend 4x as much stamina to get the same damage.)

[Zenya]

Yeah this is a tricky one.

I wonder how the damage scaling is actually done...? Faster weapon = more spec. abilities used during a fight = more spec. ab. dmg done. Lower delay = fewer spec. abilities used = less spec. ab. dmg. done. I'm guessing they have equations in place to determine how to scale so that the overall dps remains the same, regardless of weapon. *ponder*...

Anyways, Dwarf, great deduction about the energy usage! Oloh mentions that the devs don't want one kind of weapon being more desireble than another, so I'm guessing it scales as well. If not, I hope the people in beta notice this and talk about it on the beta boards.

I'm really interested to see how this pans out.

[Lightning]

Of course, using a slower weapon gives you more time to react between rounds, Oloh even stated that you would want to do that when not soloing as battles become more frenzied with larger groups...

...anyone else drooling?

[Fadeyn]

Grabs the mop....nope, no drooling here, back to business folks.

[Eclipse]

I wonder how large the scale of speed/delay will be for 1H weapons? I'm a 1H weapon kind of guy no matter what (unless there are combat staffs...which I sorely doubt) so if I can be equipped with a very very slow 1Her...and then pull out a very fast 1Her solo...I'd be pretty happy.

And for the win, here's Clipsy's second wish for weapons in Vanguard:

First installment was the 2H combat staff. Some kinda snickered, some thought it might be cool, even though it totally flies in the face of what's been normal.

Now, I'd like to express to you the love I have for Sword-breakers. Mmmm...For those who don't have any idea what I mean:
A Swordbreaker is a defensive weapon used for parrying in place of a shield. It gets its name because if used correctly, will often shatter the weapon it parries. Either that or disarms the opponent. Sometimes this is represented by a short-sword looking weapon with trenches dug into the blade so that it can catch a blade. The wielder would then twist his weapon and either wrench the sword out of the opponent's hand or break it in half, depending on how deep the sword was buried. For those who have just no idea what I'm talking about, it will be difficult to explain fully. Sometimes known as Sword-catchers, it's a 1-2 foot long short sword, but instead of a solid blade....it has teeth.

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Hope that clears it up! *sigh* I'm a newb...it didn't work, assume that it's all in line, you should at least get the gist of it...

Obviously it wouldn't be able to break your opponent's weapon in VG, but it could be a disarming tool!
Also, another form of Sword-breakers are just gloves made of reinforced steel, with large spikes and knot holes on them...for the same reasons. That's a little too hard to draw, lol...but either one works.

So there you have it!

-Eclipse

[Lightning]

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if you want to do ASCII art, use the code tags, it uses a non-proportional font

[Eclipse]

whatever it was that you just said...great, and thanks for fixing it.

-Eclipse

[Lightning]

In many ways, the weapon you describe reminds me of the classical japanese weapon carried by the then law enforcement officials, the Jutte.

http://www.e-budokai.com/hibuki/jutte.htm

Note the hook (kagi) on the blade which allows the wielder to trap and even break sharp weapons wielded by assailants.

[Eclipse]

I do believe our two weapons are just two variations of the same idea...from different parts of the world. The one I was describing came from Western Europe. I thnk I like the jutte better anyways. For some reason I always thought it was pronounced Jitte (Gee Tay) oh wellz.

-Eclipse