Armor Change happening Sooner than Later

[Ben]

The armor changeover will be happening sometime in the next 14 days, as opposed to January as originally estimated.

I will give some information on this change so you can prepare.

1) Enchanter armor will be completely unaffected. You will still use your robe and ring combo, with the various enchanter pants. This MAY change later, but since enchanter AC is calculated differently than the rest of the professions, I will have to do them separately if I decide to at all.

2) Upper Armor for initiates, warriors, clerics, and rogues will be doubling in AC, doubling in plat price/value and increasing in Level Requirement by 1. Upper Armor will basically become full body armor. IE Full Plate Breastplate will become Full Plate Suit, with you roleplaying that the one item covers both your upper and lower body portions.

3) Leg and Lower Body Armor will be deleted both on your person and in stores. The only exceptions to this will be Shiny Metallic Pants, which will become a Shiny Metallic Outfit, and Light Cloth Pants, which will become Thing Cloth Clothing. The slot that formerly was used for leg armor will now be used for zero AC clothing for roleplaying, etc. Plan to have all kinds of outfits... so people can wear formal clothing to receptions and functions, and play clothing for out in the field. The plan is for all clothing to have a level requirement of 1... since they have no stat boosts at all, their entire purpose is for roleplaying. The only limit will be that the majority of the clothing selection will be for Premium Members only.

4) Some armor (formerly upper body armor) will then be changed in level requirement by 1 up or down, with the AC of that armor adjusted accordingly to match the new level, in order to fill level gaps where armor is needed. Some new armor will be created to fill remaining level gaps where armor is needed. This portion of the change may take several weeks to balance out correctly.

5) Aegis crystals will be unaffected for now. Helms, gauntlets, boots, cloaks will be unaffected for now.

CHANGES FURTHER ON:
-many icons will be needed for new armors and clothing
-new descriptions will be needed for new armors and clothing
-many new armors and clothing will be developed after existing items are balanced

[Ben]

For those complaining that I am deleting their bottom armor and thus taking money from you, here is a math lesson.

Top and bottom armors cost the same.

So if you pay 40 plat for your top and 40 plat for your bottom, you have a total of 80 plat value in your armor.

When I make the armor change, I will be deleting your bottom armor and doubling the value of your upper armor. So you will lose 40 plat from the bottom armor I deleted, but you will gain 40 because the top armor you paid 40 for will actually be valued as if you had paid 80, giving you an extra 40 plat for a total of 80 plat, just like you had before.

[Ben]

Armor change has been delayed again because I broke my computer last night.

=)

[Ben]

Some more things that have come up.

Yes, the bottom armor you own that is ON YOU will be deleted. Yes the upper armor you own and that is ON YOU will become full body armor. HOWEVER, there will be some issues:

1) These upper body armors will only be in existance for 2 weeks to 1 month (undecided, as of yet). Why? This is because there is no good way to change all of their NAMES. So even though your upper body armor will become full body armor and have double the AC, it will still say something like "Chainmail Shirt"... whereas the new one in the shop will say "Chainmail Suit" or whatever. Both will have the same stats, but the one you own will be somewhat OOC.

The point is then you have 2-4 weeks or so to replace your armor with brand new stuff from the shops before it is deleted. Most people still levelling normally will replace their armor in this time period anyways as they will outlevel whatever they were wearing and need new armor anyways. This DOES mean that some of the hand-me-down armor in guilds will be useless.

2) Yes, all bottom armor, except the following:
the enchanter line of pants AND
light cloth pants AND
shiny metallic shirt
WILL be deleted. That includes any unique items. I do not believe that there are any truly unique bottom pieces out there that I have ever made. Anything that has been a reward from the gods has been a weapon or shield or helm or cloak or gauntlets... I can't recall ever giving out special reward bottom armor. Or tops. If I have, please let me know because I don't remember. ACCIDENTALLY unique items, such as old versions of pants or pants named different things, WILL be deleted, as these are not "true" uniques... just artifacts of past game changes. I know Ixon loves that stuff, but I don't have time to go through and save all the relics.

3) levelling... yes, all the top armor will be going UP a level requirement. This is meant for balance purposes. I don't really want to explain because it is complicated... but suffice it to say that if I doubled the XP of all armor but left level requirements the same in the new system, you would have the XP that a person two levels ahead of you had in the old two armor part system. So in a way this is good because you will have the AC of what a person would have had one level ahead of you... so you have extra armor a whole level earlier.

So if you are level 20 and your armor top is level 20, it will then be 21 and you will no longer be able to use it. (The change will be accompanied by one of those fun auto-strips where your clothes fly off you into your pack.) However, it will have doubled in value and you will be able to sell it to a merchant and buy the next lower armor type. And, as I said, you would need to buy new armor within 2-4 weeks anyways.



So yes, there are always issues with this kind of change when we change something fundamental about how the game works, but that is just part of trying to perfect the system. We started making this game not knowing anything about what we were doing. It truly is remarkable that it turned out so well. =) But there is always room for improvement, and sometimes it takes some pain to make thing better in the long run.

[Ben]

To address some more potential problems that some people have thought up:

Only your TOP ARMOR that you have EQUIPPED whenever I make the change will be turned into full body armor. Any armor you have in the bank or in your inventory unequipped will be left at its old value and old AC, essentially making them useless. Or 1/2 useless. =) This is to keep people from buying tons of breastplates so they can then sell them later for a profit.

[Ben]

All legging mod scrolls will be useless and will be deleted after the change, so if you have some now you might as well apply them to your leggings and enjoy them now.

Thanks to people who are thinking of this stuff and reminding me it will need to be taken care of. =)

[Ben]

I am going to start changing the names of upper body armors to reflect their soon-to-be new life as full body armors.

I will be starting at the higher level requirement armors and work down, so as to avoid confusing NOOBIES for as long as possible.

PLEASE NOTE that even if you buy upper armor that has been renamed, when the AC and cost resets are done, and that two week waiting period I talked about above is through, the armor will STILL be deleted. This is because the database keeps track of armor via number, not name, so it is the same item regardless of name.