5. Ratbeard, You already said that Musketeer traps are spooky based. Does Will affect their damage?

Row4n412 on Mar 2, 2014 wrote:

5. Ratbeard, You already said that Musketeer traps are spooky based. Does Will affect their damage?

No-- and more to the point, not all things that get a Spooky bonus necessarily get a Will bonus by default. (Though I do understand the temptation to make that connection.)

If you get a stat bonus on a power, it is far more likely to be the class stat who "owns" that power. Something you might want to keep in mind if you're cross-training powers.

I have one more question if you can answer it, I'd really appreciate it.

Before the MB and AQ update, you confirmed that Witchdoctors were going to receive Mojo Echo, can you give us an idea of what another class will be receiving, preferably the Musketeer class? :P If that would fall under what could be considered "telling," I understand.

Ratbeard on Mar 5, 2014 wrote:

I don't think Jack would let me say much.

I'll see if I can slip this past him-- though it does not answer your question directly (because I suspect you're more interested in your own character than your companions...):

You know how Bonnie Anne (a musketeer) got "Stock Assault" at her highest level promotion, giving her a crossover melee power for her arsenal?

That's a design direction I intend to pursue further with all of the main companions, giving each one some kind of crossover power-- so, for example, Sarah Steele might someday throw some daggers, Hawkules might rip up a huge boulder from the ground and hurl it, and so on. I'd like for each class to have at least one option to change their attack style.

As for player characters, we have some new "talent" code that makes talent ranks easier to use, so you should expect to see many more places where you can pick up extra ranks of all your talents (as well as talents you don't normally have access to... as well as some brand new talents... as well as REDACTED

Hawkules' Boulder could be a line attack, like a Snap Shot (eventually building up to Uncanny Shot), since a boulder would not slow down much from hitting the first person in line.

Lucas Walker on Mar 13, 2014 wrote:

I have another question if you don't mind answering. Are the bomb traps lay on the field after the power is used supposed to do physical damage or is it meant to be magical?

Anyone that'd like to can ask questions they may have, provided Ratbeard is okay with it, since he's the one answering them. :)

Things that blow up, burn you, freeze you, shock you, and so on should do magical damage.

Things that cut you, slash you, mash you, clamp you, fold, spindle, or mutilate you should do physical damage.

Lucas Walker on Mar 13, 2014 wrote:

I have another question if you don't mind answering. Are the bomb traps lay on the field after the power is used supposed to do physical damage or is it meant to be magical?

Anyone that'd like to can ask questions they may have, provided Ratbeard is okay with it, since he's the one answering them. :)

well, RB has already answered this, but just JUDGING by its call, since you summoned the bombs, magic was involved, so it would only make sense the magically summoned bombs would do magic damage

This question isn't really about combat, more of a personal question: What is your favorite power and skill/epic? Why are those your favorites?

Lucas Walker on Mar 19, 2014 wrote:

This question isn't really about combat, more of a personal question: What is your favorite power and skill/epic? Why are those your favorites?

I have a question for either Lucas or Ratbeard- it is something that I was just curious about. Lucas, I read your excellent guide on Stats and How They Work for Beginners over on central forums, (fantastic guide and info by the way), and I had a question about the individual classes primary stats.

In the guide it states that only Musketeers & Swashbucklers benefit from the Agility stat, only Buccaneers and some Privateers benefit from the Strength stat and only Witchdoctors and Privateers benefit from the Will primary stat. Earlier in the thread/guide it states that "The main stats can also decrease the amount of damage you take from the enemy using the corresponding stat." So, my question(s) are as follows: (They all kind of go together)

1] Does this mean that, for example, only a Musk. or Swash. will benefit from lower damage numbers (on Agility based attacks from enemies w/ Agility as primary stat) if they use an Agility buffing power or equipped gear with bonuses to Agility? Or are the benefits in lowered damage intake distributed class wide, with Musketeers and Swashbucklers being the recipients of a greater benefit due to their already high Agility?

2] If a Buccaneer doesn't benefit from the Agility stat, will boosting it's Agility (either by powers or gear) have no effect on damage #s dished out from a Swashbuckler or Musketeer- of whom Agility is their primary stat. Or will a Buccaneer boosting Agility still bring those damage #s down a bit due to the boost in Agility, thus making an Agility buffing power or Agility boosting gear beneficial to them...albeit on a small scale?

3] If using a power or gear to boost/buff another classes primary stats does have any benefit in lowering damage numbers (from a class that doesn't share the same primary stat), are the benefits too small for it to be worth even using those boosting/buffing powers and gear?

and 4] Am I making any sense at all?

Again, I am just curious to know as much about the stats (especially benefits and negatives of primary stats via boosting/buffing) as possible. Both of you, Lucas and Ratbeard (of course), seem to be a great source of info and knowledge in this area and I would like to soak up as much as possible to have a better understanding of stats, powers, boosts and buffs.

Like I said, Lucas- awesome guide over on central- extremely helpful and well done! Thanks for sharing it and for the great questions and thank you Ratbeard for providing us with such helpful and informative answers!

Ratbeard on Mar 20, 2014 wrote:

My favorite epic right now is Riposte 3. And you haven't even seen my favorite power (yet).

Valkoor, it is always useful to buff your stats, for defense if for no other reason. If I buff Bonnie Anne's Strength, though she cannot use it offensively, it will definitely lower the effectiveness of Str-based enemies that attack her.

There is not a fixed amount of stat that is useful or not, because the calculation is comparative. More is better. With the changes to the stat buffs recently, fortunately you don't have to think too much about it. Your buff will buff all your companions who *do* use that stat to attack, and as a bonus effect, it will also (defensively) buff all adjacent companions, regardless of what stat they use to attack.

We have some UI improvements coming that will make it a little easier for you guys to see stats in action-- but those UI changes are coming with some more fundamental changes to combat that will make some of Central's excellent guides outdated on some points.

Jack will have the basics covered for most players, but I am sure some of you guys will have some more in-depth questions. I'll be available for follow up questions, of course, to help get you guys back on track.

I love Riposte too. Best reflex epic ever.

Ratbeard on Mar 20, 2014 wrote:

My favorite epic right now is Riposte 3. And you haven't even seen my favorite power (yet).

Valkoor, it is always useful to buff your stats, for defense if for no other reason. If I buff Bonnie Anne's Strength, though she cannot use it offensively, it will definitely lower the effectiveness of Str-based enemies that attack her.

There is not a fixed amount of stat that is useful or not, because the calculation is comparative. More is better. With the changes to the stat buffs recently, fortunately you don't have to think too much about it. Your buff will buff all your companions who *do* use that stat to attack, and as a bonus effect, it will also (defensively) buff all adjacent companions, regardless of what stat they use to attack.

We have some UI improvements coming that will make it a little easier for you guys to see stats in action-- but those UI changes are coming with some more fundamental changes to combat that will make some of Central's excellent guides outdated on some points.

Jack will have the basics covered for most players, but I am sure some of you guys will have some more in-depth questions. I'll be available for follow up questions, of course, to help get you guys back on track.

Can we expect critical strike music for ranged units and is there a reason why they are without critical music?

Will we see higher ranked Epics and talents like Elusive Rank 4 or Relentless Rank 4? For higher ranked Epics would they still retain the bonuses granted at their third ranks?

Can we hopefully see something that will allow Musketeer plays to make better use of their high accuracy and Double-Tap 2? Since our powers cannot miss and do not trigger Epics, a power that uses our accuracy or something would be really nice to see.

What is Blood flames supposed to do? Is it supposed to be a stronger version of Scatter Pike or a stronger version of Zeena's Rain of Fire? If so, would it's damage be based on health or would it have a set damage-range that'd increase with the wielder's level?

Will power series ever go past 3? For example, there is Rain of Mortarshells, Hail of Cannonballs, and Tempest of Torpedos, will series like these ever have more powers added to them or is 3 the maximum limit?

Is the Armor Penetration in Pirate101 the same as Wizard101's? For example some weapons have a pierce rating of 30% against an enemy with say 50 Armor, would that be -30% of their Armor or -30 Armor like in Wizard101? Can we expect to see Armor Penetration on magical ranged weapons?

Will we receive a stronger version of the Ol' Quigley? It's base range of 5 makes it a very useful weapon and I'd love to have a stronger version of it.

Can we expect critical strikes for ranged units?

If I recall correctly there were a lot of tough camera issues to solve with ranged units (e.g. "bullet time") which is why there's no special crit animations for ranged. It's something our tech team could probably, eventually solve, but it doesn't seem like a great investment of resources.

Will we see higher ranked Epics?

Yes.

Can we see something that will allow Musketeers to make better use of their high accuracy?

Accuracy is doing more than you think. There is no such thing as a "dump stat" in P101. There will always be, unfortunately, some combat calculations that are too complex to put in front of the players, as they would just end up frustrating casual players.

What is Blood flames supposed to do?

Circle back and ask me after it's finally fixed.

Will power series ever go past 3?

Probably not.

Is the Armor Penetration in P01 the same as W101?

No.

Can we expect to see AP on magical ranged weapons?

Maybe.

Will we receive a stronger version of the Ol' Quigley?

You'll receive stronger versions of long range muskets.

Since Hold the Line is exclusively for melee units and Witch Hunter is exclusively for Witchdoctors or magical companions, is there an Epic solely for Musketeers?

Witch Hunter isn't exclusive to WD or magical companions. By happenstance more than design, that's where it tends to end up. But there are a couple of other companions that have it.

That may answer your second question-- "Each class should have an exclusive talent!" is not a design goal, so there's no particular reason to think that Musketeers should or would get one.

A better example is Turn the Tide. That is exclusive to Buccaneers, by design. That does not necessarily mean that any other class will get an exclusive talent.

Will Witchdoctor units have their own version of Crossfire/Flanking?

It's called "Doomspell"-- you just haven't seen it before. I'll make sure to expose it on a WD companion or two.

Lucas Walker on Mar 22, 2014 wrote:

How does the game choose which target will be hit with Mojo Echo when activated by an AoE? How does the game choose which units are hit by things like Double-Tap and Bladestorm? Is it totally random or based on how much Agility, Will, or Strength the probable targets are?

i think he has mentioned this before in another post, just like glancing blow, its randomized