I'm always spewing my hair-brained notions around here. So, in no specific order, here are some that are floating across my gray matter right now:


Wrath! Too Sexy?

Wrath hurts, wrath curses, wrath GPS-tracks you, and some paladins can even make their wrath stronger. Also, it's fast! One round of lag! I know wrath is supposed to be a beast. But, paladins have so many other choice morsels to use, and it's sad to see most of them reduced to a small, small sampling of the class' abilities simply because they are too sexy. When I see a two-handed paladin forgoing all of his other abilities (except hiltsmash, because I guess that's mandatory) for the sake of wrath-spam, it makes the Mek sad. I wish they had bigger incentives to use the less blastastic abilities. If that means toning down wrath, I say that's good. If anyone In The Know wants me to hash some ways of making that happen, I'll carry on in a post dedicated to it.


Shifter Dominance

I know shapeshifters really appeal to a lot of players. I get it. I've been there. But c'mon people, the zoo has run wild. This class irks me a bit because, as with wrath-spamming paladins, it really takes very little skill to be deadly. That basically equates to putting classes that DO require skill in a handicapped position. I guess there is a place for this class, since there are a lot of intricacies and variety to other available ones. But, I just wish they weren't so popular. Maybe this will fix itself with time, but all I've seen is that the little buggers are getting more and more common (moreso than they already were).


Thieves are Not the Best at Making Money

Having recently played a thief, I can say with certainty that I can amass wealth a lot easier with just about every other class, even a healer. I understand that "stealing" pertains to much more than coins, but fattening up the piggy bank should definitely be the realm of the thief as well. Why is this? It's because killing mobs for their gear and selling their crap is how you make money, and most thieves can't do that as easily as most other classes at higher levels (where this really becomes more of a necessity). The problem is, quite simply, that thieves can't steal coins from shopkeepers anymore. It's supposed to be that other people go around doing the hard work (killing for gear and selling it, etc), and the thief comes in and reaps the benefit by jacking the poor sucker who just cashed in. Or, more to the point, stealing from the merchants who sell things ALL DAY LONG. I don't get it. If the rationale is that shopkeepers need their bankroll to buy gear from other PC's, well that's cool! BUT, let's insert a special case for all merchants where they have a second, "stealable" pile of coins on them. When this becomes drained, they become exactly as they are now, but they don't draw from it to buy gear. If it sounds ludicrous, look at the current system! You get your hands charred for trying to steal from any merchant in the ####in world, yo!


Healers

Imperial Healers, I am betting, are the direct cause of the Great Healer Nerf. Or did Restraal pwn too much? Don't like sanc'd Centurions? I've got an idea - make em ####in' undead and unable to take sanc just like a lich. It might be kinda cool! It would be supersexyintergalacticplanetary if we could see some kind of reversion to an older system. AND, let's see the class become more desirable for healing and exploration than, you know, bards. Just my .02 cents.


The Shaman Class

It's become a myth, sorta like Dry Land, but can we expect this to happen before Starcraft 2 hits the shelves? This is sort of a trick question.


Marketing

I recall there being a surge of momentum here...I just can't remember where those posts got off to....oh wait, I remember! They are in the MARKETING FORUM. I know you all would get murderboners, just like me, if your PK range lept from a piddly 5 or 10 to 25 or 30. Tell me you wouldn't (Baer and Iunna you are excused. Ahtieli, you're included ;-)) Let's just make Stunna and whoever else has marketing experience the Lord High Marshall's of Marketing, sign them to an NDA, and then you guys can talk over the phone and get something really happening.

>Wrath! Too Sexy?

I'm pretty happy with the way wrath sits right now. As a shield paladin, it's pretty good, but you also don't have many other choices in most cases. As a two-hander, you almost always have better damage choices.

>Shifter Dominance

Shifters are one of the most recent classes to see significant changes, so in that sense, of course they're popular. Beyond that, I'm seeing a lot of shifters, but I'm not seeing a lot that are exactly running the table on anyone.

>Thieves are Not the Best at Making Money

They may not be the best, but pre-hero I think they're pretty fantastic. Even at hero they rank pretty well depending on your choice of skills. Stealing is helpful but it's not necessarily the cornerstone of all great thief gold strategies.

>Healers

I think it's more just the realization that evil healers were, in practice if not in a vacuum, almost ridiculously stronger than good healers before because of the kinds of characters they got to pair up with. It's not what we wanted for a class that was meant to skew good/neutral and for which we allowed some kinds of evil healer almost as an afterthought.

>The Shaman Class

No one is working on a shaman revamp right now.

>Marketing

I'm all about people doing more marketing. Generally it seems to be something we can all agree we need more of, but that we all (and I tar myself with that brush) would rather talk about than do.

>Healers

I think it's more just the realization that evil healers were, in practice if not in a vacuum, almost ridiculously stronger than good healers before because of the kinds of characters they got to pair up with. It's not what we wanted for a class that was meant to skew good/neutral and for which we allowed some kinds of evil healer almost as an afterthought.


I've not seen a decent evil healer in awhile. They've been a little over-nerfed. As it stands now I'd almost rather have a bard than an evil healer.

>They've been a
>little over-nerfed.

I might be able agree to that. I think their current power level is closer to where they should be than their previous power level, but at times it seems a little too much to me.

On the other hand, most of the evil healers I've watched much haven't made much in the way of use of dark pact, either.

>>Marketing

I'll do it because I think its important. More even, its most important. So:

Has not Stunna (and me too btw) offered you direct and concrete suggestions and got no answer, even "We think you, guys, are wrong and we disagree with your offers"?

Right now it goes second (or maybe third?) month while I am conducting ad campaign (for my own costs). I got no info how is it going (which only you have), no collaboration to make it more effective (well, I am pretty sure all the money are wasted because of...) and no costs as well.

Oh, and shifters. I dont remember I even died to one and I certainly dont think they are deadly as many other builds. Wrath, healers, thieves...dunno, I am not that smart to argue :P

Wrath! Too Sexy?



Wrath hurts, wrath curses, wrath GPS-tracks you, and some paladins can even make their wrath stronger. Also, it's fast! One round of lag! I know wrath is supposed to be a beast. But, paladins have so many other choice morsels to use, and it's sad to see most of them reduced to a small, small sampling of the class' abilities simply because they are too sexy. When I see a two-handed paladin forgoing all of his other abilities (except hiltsmash, because I guess that's mandatory) for the sake of wrath-spam, it makes the Mek sad. I wish they had bigger incentives to use the less blastastic abilities. If that means toning down wrath, I say that's good. If anyone In The Know wants me to hash some ways of making that happen, I'll carry on in a post dedicated to it.


Make wrath 2 rounds of lag and otherwise leave it alone. Wrath is primarily used by shield ded paladins, who have more than enough defense and damage reduction to get away with winning way too many fights with wrath spam. Just because there -are- ways to combat wrath spam doesn't mean wrath is balanced.

Shifter Dominance



I know shapeshifters really appeal to a lot of players. I get it. I've been there. But c'mon people, the zoo has run wild. This class irks me a bit because, as with wrath-spamming paladins, it really takes very little skill to be deadly. That basically equates to putting classes that DO require skill in a handicapped position. I guess there is a place for this class, since there are a lot of intricacies and variety to other available ones. But, I just wish they weren't so popular. Maybe this will fix itself with time, but all I've seen is that the little buggers are getting more and more common (moreso than they already were).

The thing with Shapeshifters is that you have the chance to get undesirable (but not necessarily bad) forms as well as desirable (usually good) forms. Yeah, it feels kind of cheap and lame when you get raped by a hummingbird/tiger or something like that the second they hit hero range, but think of all the people who didn't get the forms they wanted and aren't as powerful. That said, a shapeshifter has a very specific set of challenges that are often simply impossible to overcome with the forms they get. So while it's great to have the awesome killing power of hummingbird/tiger with only 40 hours into your character, it also sucks to have the hard-coded limitations of other combos. The reroll edges make this whole dynamic more interesting, though.

Thieves are Not the Best at Making Money



Having recently played a thief, I can say with certainty that I can amass wealth a lot easier with just about every other class, even a healer. I understand that "stealing" pertains to much more than coins, but fattening up the piggy bank should definitely be the realm of the thief as well. Why is this? It's because killing mobs for their gear and selling their crap is how you make money, and most thieves can't do that as easily as most other classes at higher levels (where this really becomes more of a necessity). The problem is, quite simply, that thieves can't steal coins from shopkeepers anymore. It's supposed to be that other people go around doing the hard work (killing for gear and selling it, etc), and the thief comes in and reaps the benefit by jacking the poor sucker who just cashed in. Or, more to the point, stealing from the merchants who sell things ALL DAY LONG. I don't get it. If the rationale is that shopkeepers need their bankroll to buy gear from other PC's, well that's cool! BUT, let's insert a special case for all merchants where they have a second, "stealable" pile of coins on them. When this becomes drained, they become exactly as they are now, but they don't draw from it to buy gear. If it sounds ludicrous, look at the current system! You get your hands charred for trying to steal from any merchant in the ####in world, yo!

I haven't played a high level pickpocket, but I thought they could sell stuff for absolutely insane amounts of coin. But yeah, anything that can kill dragons is way, way, way ahead of any thief. No ideas here, aside from reducing the gold amounts on certain mobs/chests so that what thieves can do carries a little more weight.

The main problem I see here is that IMHO, it's easier to go kill a dragon or get a group and kill harder / more dragons than it is to steal coins, steal gear, sell gear, etc. etc. Also, getting gold from mobs doesn't make an enemy for life like jacking someone's loot does.

Healers



Imperial Healers, I am betting, are the direct cause of the Great Healer Nerf. Or did Restraal pwn too much? Don't like sanc'd Centurions? I've got an idea - make em ####in' undead and unable to take sanc just like a lich. It might be kinda cool! It would be supersexyintergalacticplanetary if we could see some kind of reversion to an older system. AND, let's see the class become more desirable for healing and exploration than, you know, bards. Just my .02 cents.

Undead centurions? FML. That would make centurions immune to a lot of things that are really necessary to making centurions as they are not OP. I think healers are very desirable for exploration, especially in certain areas, when there are any healers at all. I don't think I've played an “old system” healer, but my last hero range healer seemed perfectly fine to me.

The Shaman Class



It's become a myth, sorta like Dry Land, but can we expect this to happen before Starcraft 2 hits the shelves? This is sort of a trick question.

Someone in Asgaard said this was in the works at some point. Yeah, I know that's vague. :sadface: Diablo 3 > Starcraft 2.

Marketing



I recall there being a surge of momentum here...I just can't remember where those posts got off to....oh wait, I remember! They are in the MARKETING FORUM. I know you all would get murderboners, just like me, if your PK range lept from a piddly 5 or 10 to 25 or 30. Tell me you wouldn't (Baer and Iunna you are excused. Ahtieli, you're included ;-)) Let's just make Stunna and whoever else has marketing experience the Lord High Marshall's of Marketing, sign them to an NDA, and then you guys can talk over the phone and get something really happening.

The imms have already said they aren't open to an arrangement like that, and that aside from working on our own with what information and resources we have access to ourselves, the only other option is basically to join the staff, work your way up the ladder, and become the Marketing Guy. The problem with marketing CF is that MUDs in general are a dying genre and hobby. Sites like TMC and TMS, as well as the playerbase of many of the “most popular” MUDs are all signs of this. Also, CF is one of the least newbie-friendly of the popular MUDs (IMHO) both in terms of gameplay and atmosphere.

Seriously though, put up fliers at local schools, colleges, public areas, etc. Look for local tabletop gaming groups, D&D meetups, etc. and advertise. Put CF in your Forum sigs and various profiles. Tell your friends instead of keeping it a secret (for some of you). Spread the word.

>Wrath! Too Sexy?

Problem here is that paladins can't lag. So if you take away their ability to do "fast damage"...then they basically a defense shifter with summon.

>Shifter Dominance

I blame roll the bones. Heh. Shifters are indeed pretty rough, but mostly when they're uber-protected. Without barrier, they're on par with most warriors. There sure are a lot of them though.

>Thieves are Not the Best at Making Money

Depends on the thief, really. With certain thief skills and enough game knowledge there are still some loopholes left that generate "super-fast" cash. I don't know any of them, but I hear stories. Excluding stuff like that, though, I basically agree with you. Given the dynamics of my hero-level gold source, I would say the easiest classes are assassin and certain types of thieves. Summoning classes would do okay as well, but it might be more of a hassle for them.