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Sceptus' Experimental Imps

Posted: Thu Jul 19, 2012 12:42 am
by Sionyl
I was so excited when I went down into the crypts, saw all the amazing atmosphere descriptions and the walking minions throughout the crypt. Then I entered the torture room which continued to raise my spirits (no pun intended) and walked down the hallway into the summoning chamber. I was amazed, excited, and filled with glee when I saw that it was a shop! So I saved up my precious riln (being a week old player, riln is still a commodity) and got myself an imp! I was happy and loved having this little guy follow me around, and heck he even threw spells at enemies for me.

All that being said, I had my dreams and hopes dashed when I spoke with Noctere about the imps. During a task I saw that my imp got hurt, so I thought that I could get him healed much like I can my horse. Sadly I was mistaken. I found out that these were a one shot pet that you got to run around with until it died. This cost me 2000 riln that was graciously refunded when I learned the facts about the item but honestly I think that this item could be greatly improved if it was permanent, and perhaps tweaked a little bit to reduce it's effectiveness. I think that this is something that perhaps should be purchasable through our recognition points, we are talking about a wonderful item that Sceptus talked about to Xzean and I. He experiments down there and as a Corvus person we get to have the opportunity to share in his experiments by getting an imp.

This is just my opinion but I think that if you aren't going to make it permanent then some warning needs to be in place before the purchase, as they tell you about the spell types the imp casts but little else. Or make this more a vanity item and purchasable through recognition points with a modicum of combat abilities, just small random spells that go off occasionally.

Thanks again to Noctere for the refund. I appreciate it. I also just wanted to post this so my opinion could be heard on this debate.

Posted: Thu Jul 19, 2012 9:14 am
by Landion
These are still being tested out a bit and as such hadn't been announced just yet. Technically Sionyl shouldn't have been able to purchase one just yet either... but that's alright. It was an oversight on my part where assassins were instantly having their Corvus reputation increased upon joining the guild. (alpha alpha alpha and has now been fixed for future generations of unsuspecting Claw members.)

That said, these are certainly intended to be temporary and cool perks for certain Corvus members who have gained Sceptus' , Shar or Winston's approval via roleplay. They are completely intended as a vanity item, rather than a permanent pet.

I would not want to give out permanent pets that assisted you in combat for a wide variety of balance issues which have been discussed a great deal among the GM team. They are intended to be rather expensive as compared to what they actually provide. From an IC perspective Corvus needs funds to run his Outpost and improve its environs, among other things.

You also probably noticed that the imps were not very adept in combat comparatively, and don't have armor. Both are intended.

Really these work mechanically almost exactly like a sorcerer's shadow familiar, only that you have to purchase it instead of being able to summon it at will.

You can lose your imp several ways:

- By it being killed.
- By you being killed.
- By dismissing it.

You can log out with your imp and it will return to you when you log back into the game and an imp WILL follow basic Minion commands. So you can tell it to avoid combat if you wish to try to make it last longer.

I'll see if we can't add a bit more to the messaging to indicate that these are not intended to be permanent purchases.

Posted: Thu Jul 19, 2012 2:59 pm
by Acarin
Wait.... you mean they're not intended to have 5000 for all of their combat skills?

Posted: Thu Jul 19, 2012 4:14 pm
by Sionyl
I think they were 100 for mine. :P

And I appreciate the response. I think the idea of a perk like this is cool. But I also think that there should be some in play messaging that tells an unsuspecting person, such as myself, that they are temporary. Otherwise they are cool and I agree that being able to purchase a pet that assists in combat has some major balance issues. Maybe something like this could be made that could be put into one's home as a pet that stays in there and just makes atmosphere messages.

Posted: Fri Aug 24, 2012 12:14 pm
by Landion
Pricing on these has been dropped a bit.

This comes after speaking to Rias about the lore behind them and why they couldn't be healed.

There's no way to heal these little guys, and they're meant to be an expendable resources, like most of Sceptus' minions.

Sorcerous aid only effects uncorpreal beings, while herbs would only work on actual flesh. These guys being demons are unique in that neither form of healing assists them as they fall under niether category.

Posted: Fri Aug 24, 2012 3:51 pm
by Kiyaani
My imp is not expendable. He's my friend! =P