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Crystal Armour Balancing

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Mod Gambit

Mod Gambit

Jagex Moderator Forum Profile Posts by user
In the revised version of the first Song of the Elves blog, we pitched Crystal Armour - the new set to be awarded as a potential drop from the Gauntlet PvM challenge in Prifddinas. Check out the poll blog here to see the originally proposed design.

Following feedback, this was excluded from the first poll so more time could be spent balancing the stats and set effect. If you have an opinion on what the stats and set effect (if any) should be, let us know down below! Alternatively, you can email your thoughts to [email protected] - make sure to have "Crystal Armour" as the subject.

The finalised version of the design will be described in the next Song of the Elves poll blog and polled alongside the additional quest rewards and extra features in Prifddinas.

Thanks!
Mod Gambit

05-Mar-2019 09:33:37

4ev

4ev

Posts: 739 Steel Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
I would like to preface my post by saying thank you for knowing enough that this had to be carefully balanced or it would break the game.

That being said...

I think the most important thing to factor in is that the armour cannot be seen as breaking the combat triangle. I see you want it to be viable for more than one style of combat, that's fine. Do it properly. In my eyes, there's two, maybe three ways to go about doing this.

Option 1:
(boring - don't do this option) Emulate existing gear. If it is going to be tanky, give it negative mage and range attack values, etc. Don't create some super tank gear with no negative offensive bonuses.

Option 2:
Void route. Make it all around decent def, not BIS by any means, and it could get its offensive (or defensive in the case of the shield) bonuses from a set effect activated when wielding an appropriate crystal weapon/shield.

For example, The crystal shield could halve the player's attack speeds, but increase tank abilities, or something along those lines, add in anti-tic switch methods like the Bulwark has.

The range and melee weapons would obviously give them set effects too. For example, you could increase the crystal bow attack speed by 1 tic or something like that (make it viable again - other range weapons just outclass it in everything).

Basically think outside the box here, focus more on set effects then stats if this is the route you want to go. Castle Wars in Theme - A few minor changes to fix cheating
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05-Mar-2019 22:23:46 - Last edited on 05-Mar-2019 22:45:32 by 4ev

4ev

4ev

Posts: 739 Steel Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
Option 3:
<- (
my preference
) Morphing option. For those of you familiar with stealing creation, there was gear rewarded with mediocre stats that could be morphed to the three corners of the triangle. Morphing one piece of gear morphed the whole set. This was achieved through a right click. For a set of gear like this, I definitely think offering up a new mechanic could be a good feature.

You could even combine the previously mentioned set effects when wielding crystal weaponry/shield with this. Now arguably one of the best parts about this suggestion is that there could be 3 new models for the armour, instead of just one. Think of all that fashionscape.

Obviously, if you do go this route, the stats of each corner of the triangle need to be weaker than tier 70 gear on their own (I'd say around tier 65 stats). When you bring in the crystal weaponry, the stats of the gear overall should equate to about the dps of tier 75 gear. There needs to be a trade-off for the accessibility of the ease of switching which this would enable, which I suggest is found in the gear's base stats.

Additionally, I highly suggest adding negative offensive bonuses to all 3 versions of the gear, for the other 2 styles. If people want to morph to range gear with this set without wasting inventory, they need to be punished if they are still only using melee. You must consider all of the effects of using something like this with and without crystal weaponry. However, I definitely see this as the most fitting option for a set of gear like this, as it will always stay relevant.

tl;dr version:


Add set effects (increase attack speed of bow/halberd, more tanking with shield) and a morph option which changes its stats to mage/range/melee based armour (negative offensive to other 2 styles). Castle Wars in Theme - A few minor changes to fix cheating
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05-Mar-2019 22:38:07 - Last edited on 05-Mar-2019 23:02:15 by 4ev

Sei Asagiri
Nov Member 2019

Sei Asagiri

Posts: 439 Silver Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
I definitely want to see this armor stay relevant. I like the previous poster's idea about morphing, but I don't think it should morph the entire armor set. For example I'd like to be able to consider using it someplace like the God Wars Dungeon, and if I was ranging with the crystal bow against the Saradomin boss I'd like to have my helmet and possibly even leg armor remain melee mode. If this is too hard to do without keeping the whole set on the lower end of stats though, I'd much rather it be stronger with more limitations. Again--I want this set to feel like something I'd actually want to use, not a novelty. It doesn't have to be overpowered, but it should be competitive with barrows gear at least.

As a side note I like the idea of making other crystal weapons have higher attack speed with full set bonus, then add a quiver to add damage and/or accuracy for the bow. This way you wouldn't necessarily need the full set to make the crystal bow decent, but it would be "more better" with the set as well. I can't really think of a way to improve the crystal shield at the moment other than possibly adding melee/range/mage accuracy on it if you're wearing the full armor set. Adding more defense would also work, but it seems like a cop out, if you will. Might be the best option though, I'm not sure.

Edit: if you add a crystal quiver, I want to see it be like a blessing in that it's just a passive item you equip to your ammo slot to buff the bow, not some stupid thing you gotta supply arrows or charges to. That's the entire gimmick of the crystal bow--to have no ammo and degrade as it's used. If you force us to use some limited ammo or use thing in our quiver then it's just like other ranged weaponry (i.e. it kills the unique identity of the weapon).

07-Mar-2019 19:10:46 - Last edited on 07-Mar-2019 19:18:44 by Sei Asagiri

The BigBacon
Nov Member 2019

The BigBacon

Posts: 99 Iron Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
Honestly unless it has an actual use for higher level players it will be dead content. The only real niche I can see for crystal armor is to make it hybrid melee/range gear. It should be somewhere around rune and black dragonhide stats combined. It could give melee accuracy and range accuracy. It would be significantly weaker than BIS gear but would allow for less switches in certain places. I don't think it would be anywhere near OP but it would have a use. It should be a better alternative than black d'hide or zerker gear for those who can obtain it but would be worse than armadyl and bandos.

07-Mar-2019 20:47:36

4ev

4ev

Posts: 739 Steel Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
Sei Asagiri said :
I definitely want to see this armor stay relevant. I like the previous poster's idea about morphing, but I don't think it should morph the entire armor set. For example I'd like to be able to consider using it someplace like the God Wars Dungeon, and if I was ranging with the crystal bow against the Saradomin boss I'd like to have my helmet and possibly even leg armor remain melee mode.

It only morphed the entire set when wielded. So you could mix and match prior to wielding it. I am also not dead-set on the whole set morphing with one click. I was just stating how it worked previously. I actually think having it single piece morphing would be fine. I leave it up to the discretion of the developers. I think if they do choose this route, that should be a separate question. Castle Wars in Theme - A few minor changes to fix cheating
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07-Mar-2019 22:12:22

blackbelt
Dec Member 2014

blackbelt

Posts: 83 Iron Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
Could the crystal armour look like the crystal shield in terms of graphics? Back in 2007, I always imagined crystal armour to be see through like the shield, kind of like ghostly robes but they cant see your face.I am also liking the idea of having it as the BIS range tank armour, maybe give it an absorption set affect instead of an offensive effect.

Also, could a reward from the gauntlet be a crystal dagger? This would be a dagger with the stats directly between a dragon dagger and abyssal dagger, but it has the full dragon dagger special attack. This would be a fun weapon to use for pvp and pvm, but it would not be over stronger than what is commonly used such as ags/d claws for pvp or sgs/d warhammer for pvm.

09-Mar-2019 02:44:20

xLil devil x

xLil devil x

Posts: 509 Steel Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
I think the Crystal Armor design I have seen thus far looks ugly. I agree with the above poster that it should more resemble the Crystal shield and not have poo brown on it at all. I don't think any of the Crystal armor, tools or weapons should have any brown on them. TBH even the images of the city walls with the brown on them mixed with Crystal if the brown was changed to another color. The brown just does not look good with it at all.

The style design should look more " Elvish" , the armor design I saw looked awkward, and not really like the other elves you see throughout Tirannwn. I haven't seen a female armor design at all yet, but I am hoping it will be a two piece skirt set with maybe an asymmetrical short skirt and top designed more like Eluned's but with a Crystal Shield design color and texture. That would actually look nice.

I hope you guys are still willing to work on the designs to come up with something that will actually look nice when finished rather than rush through what has already been made.

14-Mar-2019 15:31:19

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