Monday 5 July 2010

Coven life bonus changes (updated again)



Due the coven wars a lot more people are fighting which is fantastic to see. Unfortunately the downside to this is more lag at the hourly resets. So I've spent some time optimising some of the code but there is one main thing that is adding quite a bit of extra lag.

Coven life bonus.
Some of you have noticed that it takes while for it to add. This is something that needs be sorted. Coven life bonus needs to be changed or removed. If removed, the relics you've spent on life bonus will be returned for you to be used on strength & toughness. Speed will not be added at this time. The money you spent buying the relics will not be returned because you'll be able to re-allocate them for free. The other option is not to have life reset at the hourly resets, and the final option is to keep the life bonus and it being used more as a battle shield. I.E you don't get the coven life bonus added to you at the hourly reset, but it adds to your total life when the system works out how much life to give you when you attack or get attacked, the same way it does for strength & toughness. This would only make the life bonus effective in the normal battles. So your life will be displayed as your life in the side bar but will just be added to battle as you attack (or get attacked). Hope that's clear.

PLEASE GIVE US YOUR THOUGHTS ON THIS THREAD.

I'm sure you all want faster hourly resets, and this is the way to go.

Couple things about the coven wars:
- Don't worry about the total war exp you've earned, when the coven wars come out of beta all the data will be reset anyway.
- Please give us suggestions and feedback on the coven wars on this thread, this is your last chance to give feedback or any solutions to problems you think there is.

Enjoy your week,
Ash

49 comments:

Kitkara said...

Like I said... I still hate the no life bonus... I'd rather have the lag.

Cujo motha fuckin cruor said...

sounds good.

Dark August Night said...

As long as the life gets calculated in the battles, it doesn't matter if it is added at reset. THAT is a good compromise. We still get the effect of it as calculated during actual battles, like strength and toughness. It simply doesn't get added as a base number during reset. Is this correct?

Anonymous said...

I think most of those in my coven would prefer to have the life bonuses. I know i find those who are bloated on plasma making life hard for those of us who are not.

DarkAsh said...

@august - correct

Anonymous said...

i agree that the battle shield idea is the better optio, as it would enable smaler covens such as mine to offer more bonuses to newer members

Anonymous said...

i agree with Dark August Night's comments totaly as this lookes to be the better option.

Kaotik Wolf said...

I like the battle shield idea. It should help with the lag.

Prinz said...

Agreed.
removing it altogether favours plasma whores too much.
Stopping life from autorefreshing favours high rank, low stat members too much as they'll just stay dead.
The battle only option sounds like a plan

Trent said...

I would be happy to see the life bonus go , and have the relics to use elsewhere . .

Anonymous said...

okay no money will be returned what about the fact that the life boost costs and extra 20,000 so if you use 10 on life that is 200,000 coven owners lose just a thought

Anonymous said...

I agree with no life bonus and getting our relics back.

Anonymous said...

I agree with Dark August Night: the third option (battle shield) SOUNDS nice. I like the life bonuses NOT being gone. Yeah, it doesn't show, but it's still calculated in, making it amount to the same thing in the end. Of course, I can't know yet if there's something unseen that wouldn't make it as easy or as great as it sounds, but I really don't think so.

Aside from that, I also agree with Prinz--I can really see the points in what was said. I REALLY don't like some of the truth in those points. Not to mention, hmmm... I'm not sure how to state the issue I can see with battling. Basically, life not auto-refreshing would make it so easy to avoid death, and put some things like wars at a stand-still. A strategy might be made to just quickly wipe out the other coven once (like having everyone ready once a battle is to be declared) or quickly as soon someone is spotted alive, and just staying dead otherwise to not be touched or not lose. Otherwise, one could just suicide and ride it out, or other things. I'm not saying this would 100% happen or happen everywhere. But I do think, as I seem to have learned this now while watching situations for cause & effect and responses, that it would happen at least once by at least someone, even without me stating this and possibly being a "start" to the idea. I also think this would make things much more aggressive, since if there started to be only one target to FINALLY kill...
Besides even that, this would cause normal members of the site to have to lose so much money by needing to heal much more, since, aside from reviving after a bad encounter in the Underground or in Spring Valley, they now have to worry of completely caring for themselves after being attacked or attacking and losing. Yeah, yeah. It's only once in an hour that the life is given back, but that quickly adds up and starts to affect things if you look at a day, a week, or a month. I really don't think that that would be fair, especially if there's a newer player that doesn't have much money yet. They shouldn't have to waste turns that could help them get off their feet to earn money--and not much of it if at a really low level--just for a heal and to not be able to do much afterward.

All that is just my point of view and things that I could see happening as a result of the wrong choice.

Lord_Forgotten_Ravenshadow_Sortiliege said...

I do like the idea of the shield. We still get the life and it improves on the lag. Plain and simple and easy to understand.

Alice Linton said...

Hmm...sounds good. I like it.

Boudica_Iceni_Queen said...

I'm with Dark on this one! I love the wars! I also think that the idea of having all ready to enter into a war being prepared however I am clueless when it comes to how that could be done! Though I also have to say that I haven't really experienced any lag at toh ... so perhaps I'm just plain clueless! lol Great job Ash and Spot! :D

Demetri Night said...

I believe it's a good compromise to offset the frustrating lag at the top of hour reset.

So long as the life gets added back to the player in battle calculations (like strength and toughness) it's all good!

Thanks, Ash!

Anonymous said...

I think that the life bonus should be removed and the relics returned. How much vitality you have can't be altered. I think it would make it fairer, and give newbs more reason to rank up, to get more health. Alternately, the health bonus could be replaced with a speed bonus, as it's the only stat we can't boost in any way.

Corpse Collector said...

I have always had an issue when it comes to life bonus... some hours it would be there other hours I would have to heal to gain the added life. Losing the bonus from the coven all together I think is a detriment. Lots of covens use that as a selling point to offer to new recruits. I know life is one stat I look for in deciding between covens if I'm out looking.

Pardon my ignorance as I do not know coding, but isn't there a way to "perma-add" life when in a coven instead of it refreshing every hour? Does coven strength and toughness refresh too or is that more of a constant added stat that doesn't refresh every hour?

Deamon Whispers said...

Get rid of the Life stat.Return the Relics so we can add them to the other stats

IM sure it will all work out in the End.

River Veritas said...

Hate the lag, Because my computer says the Page is taking too long to respond. Then I have to refresh and UGH. So I say...Get rid of the Life Bonus.

Jho'nee Duvall said...

I agree dump the Life boost and let the leaders relocate the relics elsewhere.

Spicy Song Fidela-Pierce said...

I can see both sides of the coin. However, even if we get the relics back, it still comes down to wise investment, which is then used as a "selling" technique no matter where it is allocated.

I think the battle shield option is still a viable compromise as then the life boosts are there for benefit we all truly enjoy

Theo DeathSpirit said...

So it would be the same way like we activate powers, that don't show in stats but are obvious in the battles? Is that what it means?

DarkAsh said...

Yes theo

Theo DeathSpirit said...

Then I wouldn't mind it if it worked that way. If that helps the loading to be faster and literally doesn't change anything but the visual statistics well why the hell not ;)

Guildythewicked said...

I don't know if this was mentioned. BUT a lot of people count on the life boost they get from coven. And used AP for stats ( or sold em, w/e) I don't think it's fair that they now lose the life buffer that they once had.

Anonymous said...

I still dont like this coven war thing. people are getting booted from covens cause they dont fight thats not right. i liked my coven but left cause i spend more time with friends then ranking up. some like it some dont just saying what i think

Firestorm said...

Ash keep the life boost from the cover and don't change anything at all including AP for stats ECT....

Anonymous said...

Ash keep the life boost from coven and don't change anything at all including AP stats ect ......

Wolfpack said...

i agree with Dark, i think the life shield option is the best one if that gives us less lag. reason for this is that the coven life bonus is very important for younger vamps as it might just give them that edge they need to win a battle.

Anonymous said...

1 last thing since you're on the subject of Coven Wars... would it be possible for a player to pre-purchase up to say 10 life potions to keep in their inventory so they may speed up the regeneration process instead of waiting for the 1 minute heal, the half minute VIP+ heal, or traveling to Ghost Town to purchase the potion?

Just curious...

Anonymous said...

my computers a relic so your efforts only help everyone else:P

crimsonlust said...

sorry, we have to keep the life.. i dont want the relics back... just keep the life and do what has been mentioned...

crimsonlust said...

sorry , we have to keep the life. i dont want relics for the others.. life helps so much when fighting! keep it as stated above with the shield!

alexander said...

i belive we should keep the life and just deal with the lag i have already used my points from lvling in other areas and my coven life bonus is a super help..to take it away would ruin most players fun in the game as they will battle and just get wiped out if they lose the life

Prinz said...

oh and giving speed relics would be so stupid, new members join a coven with a massive speed boost and nobody outside the top 500 or in that coven can touch them? No ta

Anonymous said...

how about get rid of all three and just each time the coven ranks up the owner can reward each player with points instead of getting the relics just a thought it will make players train rather than jump into buds just for the coven stat bonus

Anonymous said...

Life is better than lag and lag is for few seconds.that will sucks to remove life bonus.and i am agree with upper guy idea.

Marco said...

The battle shield option seems to be a sensible way of fixing this without upsetting things. If I understand the explanation correctly then Ash could have just done that to begin with and posted an update saying 'To avoid lag at the top of the hour reset have changed the coven life bonus system so it now operates as a battle shield. This should have little or no change to how battles play out, the bonus will just now be applied in battle rather than showing in your basic stats'. I could have misunderstood but it seems like that is the case and people should stop acting like we've been told all life bonuses are to be scrapped and they're doomed.

Marco said...

I don't see the problem. As I understand it the difference in the battle shield option will simply be that the effects of the bonus will only be translated into battle rather than showing in your basic stats, other than that it will be the same. Some people seem to be getting very worried over something Ash could have just done and posted as an update saying "I've changed the coven life bonus to eliminate lag at the resets, it no longer shows in your stats but still has the same in fight effect so your life bonus hasn't disappeared it just displays in a different manner."

Correct me if I've misunderstood but that seems to be the very simple situation.

Summer said...

I like jumping into buds for stat bonuses. I resent that.

Anonymous said...

Summer- Plus, Buds worked hard to get where they are. Ash. You make me want to kick babies some times.

Kalirren said...

I agree with Dark; no one really needs to see the life bonus in the left bar. We can all do addition. If adding the life at battle time would make it easier on the server, I say do that.

Marco said...

Grrr, don't know if it's my comp or the site being stupid that it didn't show my post as publishing earlier so I reposted and it still didn't, come back a couple of hours later and they're both there and I look stupid :)

Elphaba Reve said...

The lag doesn't bother me. It's only a few seconds, and if I'm on the wrong computer, I miss it completely anyway. I really prefer to keep the life bonus.

Anonymous said...

Not bothered by the lag in fact i haven't had any, and do not have speed as a coven boost that would just suck.

Anonymous said...

keep the life bonus live with the lag

Anonymous said...

i dont know if anybody else is experiencing this but when you heal the coven bonus is still added to your hp and then on top of that you get the battle shield which makes things really unfair

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