Game Mechanics: channeling skill is broken

[mcoy]

The devs already have my logs, but here's a small excerpt from a level 24 cleric:

[Sun Nov 11 23:36:22 2001] You begin casting Greater Healing.
[Sun Nov 11 23:36:23 2001] Charbone skeleton hits Ginen for 3 points of damage.
[Sun Nov 11 23:36:24 2001] A Sarnak recruit hits YOU for 2 points of damage.
[Sun Nov 11 23:36:25 2001] Your spell is interrupted.

[Sun Nov 11 23:37:30 2001] You begin casting Divine Aura.
[Sun Nov 11 23:37:30 2001] Ginen slashes a Sarnak recruit for 9 points of damage.
[Sun Nov 11 23:37:31 2001] Charbone skeleton hits Kuguk for 3 points of damage.
[Sun Nov 11 23:37:31 2001] A Sarnak recruit hits YOU for 26 points of damage.
[Sun Nov 11 23:37:31 2001] A Sarnak recruit hits YOU for 48 points of damage.
[Sun Nov 11 23:37:31 2001] A Sarnak recruit hits YOU for 2 points of damage.
[Sun Nov 11 23:37:31 2001] Your spell is interrupted.
[Sun Nov 11 23:37:32 2001] You begin casting Divine Aura.
[Sun Nov 11 23:37:32 2001] Charbone skeleton tries to bash YOU, but misses!
[Sun Nov 11 23:37:33 2001] Your spell is interrupted.
[Sun Nov 11 23:37:33 2001] A Sarnak recruit bashes YOU for 3 points of damage.

[Wed Nov 14 19:47:30 2001] A sarnak recruit hits YOU for 48 points of damage.
[Wed Nov 14 19:47:31 2001] You begin casting Root.
[Wed Nov 14 19:47:31 2001] Dojokata strikes a sarnak recruit for 6 points of damage.
[Wed Nov 14 19:47:31 2001] A sarnak recruit tries to bash YOU, but misses!
[Wed Nov 14 19:47:32 2001] Ubeta pierces a sarnak recruit for 1 point of damage.
[Wed Nov 14 19:47:33 2001] Ubeta pierces a sarnak recruit for 16 points of damage.
[Wed Nov 14 19:47:33 2001] Your spell is interrupted.
[Wed Nov 14 19:47:33 2001] A sarnak recruit tries to hit YOU, but misses!
[Wed Nov 14 19:47:33 2001] Dojokata punches a sarnak recruit for 10 points of damage.
[Wed Nov 14 19:47:34 2001] You begin casting Root.

[Wed Nov 14 19:48:45 2001] You begin casting Greater Healing.
[Wed Nov 14 19:48:45 2001] You tell your party, 'Casting Greater Healing on Dojokata'
[Wed Nov 14 19:48:46 2001] Aillie crushes a sarnak recruit for 8 points of damage.
[Wed Nov 14 19:48:46 2001] Your Root spell has worn off.
[Wed Nov 14 19:48:46 2001] A sarnak recruit hits Ubeta for 2 points of damage.
[Wed Nov 14 19:48:47 2001] Ubeta pierces a sarnak recruit for 13 points of damage.
[Wed Nov 14 19:48:47 2001] Dojokata tells the group, 'mend failed'
[Wed Nov 14 19:48:47 2001] A sarnak recruit has been struck by lightning.
[Wed Nov 14 19:48:48 2001] A sarnak recruit hits YOU for 10 points of damage.
[Wed Nov 14 19:48:48 2001] A sarnak recruit tries to hit YOU, but misses!
[Wed Nov 14 19:48:49 2001] Your spell is interrupted.


-Mcoy

[azxten]

https://github.com/EQEmu/Server/blob...one/spells.cpp

Delete "channelchance -= attacked_count " lines.

Before line 1131 add "for attack_count random 1-100, if > channel value set attack_interrupt true" then check this attack_interrupt value in line 1131.

This will remove the modification of attack count altering chance to channel as a single roll and convert it to a per attack roll to fail casting as it should be.

In logic of line 1116, "if(d_x < 5 && d_y < 5)", instead of reducing channel chance by the square of distance moved which is affected by channeling skill instead make it a chance to fail that isn't modifying channeling skill chance.

Line 1123 "channelchance -= distancemod" instead changes to a random roll 1-100, if roll is < distancemod you fail. Move 1 unit, you get a distance mod of 25, roll >25 you cast, roll <25 you don't cast.

This introduces a separate casting chance for failure due to distance moved which is unrelated to skill.

These changes should bring channeling closer to classic behavior. A chance to be interrupted for each melee hit you receive that is modified based on your channeling skill. A separate chance to be interrupted based on distance moved that is not modified by skill. Potentially up to 16 rolls per cast, 15 hit rolls modified by channeling skill, and 1 distance move roll.

[Pretzelle]

It's far more accurate on TAKP. They could check with Haynar or Torven over there for how they have it set up.

[azxten]

Bump

[Brocode]

Originally Posted by Pretzelle [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

It's far more accurate on TAKP. They could check with Haynar or Torven over there for how they have it set up.

Go play TAKP then [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

On Serious note, your saying the actual channeling is only accounted once aka one roll instead of each hit? Because when im casting when it really matters i get some sad interrupts and you want to make it even worse? Can we add the same to NPCs? WTB Balance if you demand that to PCs

[azxten]

Originally Posted by Brocode [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Go play TAKP then [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

On Serious note, your saying the actual channeling is only accounted once aka one roll instead of each hit? Because when im casting when it really matters i get some sad interrupts and you want to make it even worse? Can we add the same to NPCs? WTB Balance if you demand that to PCs

I want to make it classic and in classic channeling was not very successful particularly at low levels. EQ is meant to be a social grouping game.

[Mayge]

Was i dreaming all those years when SKs could easily pull rooms of 4-5 mobs effortlessly with FD as long as it didn't fail?

[Dolalin]

So Torven sent me the logic they use on TAKP which I've given to the P99 devs. They took their code from a client decompile so it's as close as I imagine you could get to accuracy. A Trilogy client decompile would be interesting to see, perhaps the logic is in there too (TAKP's client code has a few extra lines to handle channeling AAs, they modify the roll a bit). But looking at it I doubt it changed much.

Based on what I see, channeling is indeed overpowered on p99.

Low level characters should start out with only a 10% chance to channel through hits, which climbs a hill from a minimum roll of 39 to a maximum roll of 370, out of 391, as you progress your levels and channeling skill. It caps at 95% chance to channel.

Additionally you get a level bonus to channel if the spell you are casting is more than 5 levels lower than you are.

Chance to channel is effectively capped at 10% until level 6. Then it scales slowly upwards as a function of level and channeling skill.

My level 3 iksar shaman was about 50/50 to channel through hits on p99 which always felt off. Her chance should be 10%.

A level 10 caster with max channeling and casting a level 8 spell should have a 16% chance to channel.

A level 20 caster with max channeling and casting a 20th spell should have a 31% chance to channel. But casting level 4 gate, they would have a 44% chance to channel due to level bonus.

A level 55 SK with 210 channeling, casting Feign Death (level 30 spell for them) would have a 73% chance to channel (due also to level bonus).

That should give you an idea of how it scales.

[Izmael]

How can a client decompile provide the logic that is handled server-side?

[Dolalin]

Originally Posted by Izmael [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

How can a client decompile provide the logic that is handled server-side?

I was confused about this too at first, but it looks like the channeling code itself was included in the OSX client (TAKP emulates the Mac Al'Kabor server), and they decompiled that.