Important mechanics / Spell changes

[AntoninD'Erlon]

Any chance that these can be updated on the website, and perhaps, also told to all players equally when big things are changed?

When Spell Resistance was changed to resist dispelling, a rather large group knew about it and used it while most people were blind to the fact.

Evard's black tentacles is also changed to do bulk damage again but any other changes to the many variables on that spell are left to be discovered. This isn't so important since the only effect here, that's seen, is blur not giving 50% immunity. Still, the point remains I think.

I think things like that are kind of important and that it's slightly unfair if certain people know and use it while others (the majority in some cases) are left blind to it and at a serious disadvantage.

[Yalta]

I agree.
 
I know the DM team are very busy, but such important changes actually start to make things unbalanced, so rather than a tedious forum update issue, it starts to give some a real advantage to the knowledgable section of the server.
 
Given the limited time of the DM team maybe a process whereby only once the forum has been updated, the changes are made to the server?
 
That way everyone has a chance to see it. I am sure the vast majority would be happy to wait a little for things IG.

[Caddies]

1) No large group knew about it. Most DMs didn't even know about it.

2) Evards hasn't been changed, at all.

Mort merely forgot to make a post on the forums after he updated the change, no reason to make it out as some sort of conspiracy or regular event.

Relax.

[AntoninD'Erlon]

It's not meant to be anything of the sort. Evards doing bulk damage as a whole rather than individual tentacle damage is different than normal. As in, 7+7+7+7+7 physical damage is different than 35 damage when it comes to resistance and reduction mechanics. A blur, formally, would have reduced the total damage in that case to 10 (7-5 five times) compared to 30 (35-5). It used to function how it is now, then it was changed in 1.69 before being changed on EFU again at some point.

http://nwn.wikia.com/wiki/Evard's_black_tentacles

The changes however aren't the issue. I just think that having knowledge of these things whenever possible would be awesome. We know you guys do a ton of stuff already but I think some importance rests with handing out the information to mechanical changes. It's not a big deal and everyone is relaxed, don't worry :)

[FleetingHeart]

Evard's was changed by bioware. Blame them for not keeping you up to date.

[Cruzel]

bioware at least releases patch notes :(

[Barehander]

The point remains: updates should be documented. Whenever someone updates the module, the update log should be updated as well. If I were to mention the biggest problem in EfU design to a player's eyes, it's the sloppiness of documentation and organization.

There are several obscure changes, from what I've gathered, that aren't documented on the forums/website. Moreover, we have Mechanics Changes both on the Information pages and in a seperate forum topic. The former should probably simply link to the latter, which is easier to update regularly.

[Mort]

You had the tools to figure it out too! I gave you a shield with SR (RIGHT after it was changed) and you never used it because it had 2 AC instead of 3. Nevermind that it was more stylish. Sort-of your fault for sacrifying style for 1 ac. Oups.

Evards was not changed in EFU.

zzz.

[Howlando]

I agree we should do a better job of documenting our mechanics changes. I'll take some time later to go through it later today.

[9lives]

DMs are basically hitler.

[Snoteye]

1) No large group knew about it. Most DMs didn't even know about it.

And this is actually the crux of the matter.

[PureeOfPelican]

As a new player, I can say that I truly don't understand all of the changes here.  Since they aren't all documented, it's very difficult to understand how to build a character based on the modifications.

That may be the intent and, if so, I completely understand.  However, it is definitely frustrating to me as a new player.  I am forced to continuously come up with concepts that don't work because I am unaware of the changes that have been made.

I would volunteer to document all of the changes made to the base game given the opportunity to see them and make sense of them.

[Barehander]

As a new player, I can say that I truly don't understand all of the changes here.  Since they aren't all documented, it's very difficult to understand how to build a character based on the modifications.

That may be the intent and, if so, I completely understand.

That might be a good intention, but it's horrible on a PW. It creates groups of knows and know-nots. To a lesser extent it's true with some IC things, such as summon themes: if you have no idea what exists, you have no way to pursue them IC. If however you're an experienced player who's gained this knowledge on other PCs, you'll have a much easier time with a new one.

This is, to an extent, inevitable. But I guess it should be avoided as much as possible by extensive documentation. NWN is first and foremost a game, after all, and the rules of the game should be known to everyone equally no matter how much we focus on story.

But I guess this is a pointless rant, because I don't think that's the rationale behind the lack of documentation anyway. It's just a lot of work, especially if there are several people in charge of module updates and they don't share a simple system for writing down changes. It'd be pots and kettles if I blamed anyone for that, because I have a lot of first-hand experience of slacking with this stuff from my other server. If it's not done immediately, it becomes tedious work. And I doubt many DMs (or otherwise) do this for the tedious work.

[FleetingHeart]

That is not the intent. It mostly comes down to people not taking the time to document changes as they impliment them.

For what its worth, most of the spell changes are indeed current.

[PureeOfPelican]

I work in a place where hundreds of people commit changes to the source code every day.  Anyone who plays EfU benefits from their work.  Admittedly, they are not volunteers and are paid well for their diligence.

My offer is to go through the scripts and document changes to the base game so that everyone is on a level playing field.  I have the technical capabilities to follow through.  I'm not at all upset if that isn't wanted here, but I still make the offer in case it is.