SWmud

2014 Armor Patch

Armor changes debuted January 2014. The primary purpose of these changes was to increase the functionality of armor at all levels.

Q: How has armor changed?

A: Previously, armor only increased the chance that you might dodge an attack. This is considered a player's avoidance chance (AC). The new system implemented by SWmud has retained this ability and added two more defensive stats:

• damage resistance (DR) - percent damage reduction
• damage threshold (DT) - flat damage reduction

The majority of armor now grant DR, instead of AC; thus, making you take less damage when wearing armor, as one would expect. There are still pieces of armor that grant AC, while some have been adjusted to grant DT.

Q: Has combat been improved?

A: A considerable amount of features have been added to help players understand the combat capabilities and status of their character, as well as enable coders to design much more unique and creative skills for guilds and races. Some of the improvements are as follows:

• Over 10 new offensive and defensive stats! <panic combat>
• Skill and weapon damage is now classified as chemical, physical, or energy based. Thus, skills or equipment can be tuned to better block or enhance specific damage types.
• New armor slots: neck, bracer, and belt.
• The overall weight of individual pieces of armor have decreased.
• New commands to describe your character's or enemy's attack and defensive stats:
• The <id> and <compare> commands are much more informative in terms of an armor or weapon's defensive statistics. This removes some of the mystery behind items, and it helps players quickly adapt to the armor changes.
• The <eq> command provides a printout of your offensive and defensive capabilities. This grants players a greater understanding of how their skills work, as well as the combat readiness of their character. <panic eq>
• Use the <brief -combat> toggle to remove nonessential, aesthetic combat messages, such as advanced hand 2 hand and blaster aiming. All miss messages are standardized to "You miss." <panic brief>
• Use <blook -brief> to obtain a summarized readout of your opponent's equipment and combat status. <panic blook>

Q: Sounds neat. How can I try these changes?

A: Certain guild combinations greatly benefit from building tanky (ie. equipping armor to cover all of your armor slots. Type <eq> to see slots). Try out building tanky to see if it suits your play style or character's build. Use <id>, <compare>, or <eq> to determine if the piece of armor is effective or a lower grade. Note that armor can be heavy and constricting to wear; please <panic armor_hindrance> for more information.

Q: Am I required to equip armor?

A: Certainly not. The traditional SWmud play style has been to use a weapon and just a few pieces of armor that boost your weapon damage. The armor changes are designed to grant players more options for character design. Building the traditional "pure damage" is meant to be equally favorable to building tank, though certain guilds may be more suited for damage or tank. Try out some different builds for yourself or in conjunction with other players! The armor changes are beneficial in a number of ways:

• Try building tanky, while you depend on your droids <panic slicer> or bodyguard <panic diplomat> to dish out the damage!
• Parties or groups of players fighting a boss mob would greatly benefit from having a dedicated tank to soak up the damage.
• Instead of taking multiple healing guilds, try using armor to bolster your defenses.
• Since you can own multiple characters, coordinate with friends and design the ultimate team combo! Have a player run pure damage, another healing or utility, and the last can be the tank.

In the end, we hope that players find these changes enjoyable. The update to armor will not replace the traditional style of combat on SWmud, but it opens open a separate build path for players to take advantage of.