Spellmaster Seals and Level 200 Spell 2022-10-20 15:00

The Summoning of Dopple spell, reworked in update 1.52, will disappear completely and be replaced by a new spell. As for class sets, the items in them will now no longer grant more bonuses and instead become ceremonial items for cloaks and headgear. To replace this equipment, a new type of item will be introduced: Spellmaster Seals.
 

Summoning of Dopple and Level 200 Spell

 

Summoning of Dopple Spell

For many years now, the Summoning of Dopple spell has been the ultimate reward for reaching level 200. As well as overpowering your enemies, summoning a Dopple in combat is irrefutable proof of your success. After an initial survey among our players in 2021, it was decided that the summons would be kept but in a different format where the same spells would be shared, regardless of the class, to reduce the balancing problems that the spell created between the various classes. Initially, the summons had a limited range of actions, derived from the class spells of the summoner, which resulted in a huge advantage in combat for certain classes but not much for others. 

The first modification replaced the spells already owned with a spell from each element, which were identical for all Dopples, so that everyone had the same abilities. Although the Dopples all had the same potential in theory, the unequal synergies with the summoner's class meant that there was still an imbalance in combat. For example, an Eniripsa could trigger its marks in whichever element it wanted using the summons. 

In light of these problems, and in line with our desire to streamline the game and speed up combat, we have decided to remove this spell and replace it with a new one: Exaltation.
 

Exaltation

[xxx] Exaltation (Iop Exaltation, Rogue Exaltation, etc.) is a spell that can only be cast once per fight and grants the caster a bonus of 1 AP, which remains active for the duration of the fight. The spell can be cast after a certain number of turns in combat (from 10 to 4 turns after the fight starts based on the spell's rank) for a cost of 3 AP.

During combat against very high-level monsters, most dungeon keeper mechanics, once learned, don't require much thought once the loop has started. The team of players can create a "cycle" in which they repeat the same actions at regular intervals to make the dungeon keeper vulnerable, chip away at its health until it recovers from its vulnerable state, then repeat the cycle as many times as it takes to win the fight. We think speeding up the fight from the fourth turn by offering players more freedom and options is acceptable because only the repetitive part of the fight will be shortened, and it doesn't simplify the strategy to be used.

For combat between players, the thinking is quite similar because between level 200 characters, each player will have access to the spell at the same point in the fight, provided they have the equivalent rank, and the only difference between the opponents will be their decision of whether to use up Action Points after the fourth turn or wait. As for fights between level 200 characters and lower-level opponents, we believe a max-level player will be able to make a difference before the fourth turn to gain the upper hand in a fight. In fact, while the spell gives a considerable advantage in fights between players of different levels, this disparity has always been there and is desirable as a reward for reaching the maximum level.

Through these modifications, we hope to speed up fights at very high levels and add more variety to fight turns by offering more options and more varied combat gameplay thanks to this extra Action Point, which is also guaranteed to be useful for all classes. 

 
 

Class Sets and Spellmaster Seals 

 

Class Sets

Class sets are sets of five level 40 to 150 items, with each one corresponding to a specific class. Individually, the equipment items they contain modify the spells of the associated class: increased damage, reduced AP cost of spells, line of sight removal, etc. If worn all together, these items also grant bonuses to the wearer's characteristics, so these sets can be worn in full or partially.

Although we like the many possible combinations these bonuses grant, we think that sacrificing an item slot, or even using the full set, is too big of a price to pay other than in extremely specific situations because the bonuses granted are not big enough to compensate for the usual characteristics boost an item grants.

We have wavered on what to do with these class sets for a long time, because we think simply deleting them would detract from the game's variety. On the other hand, increasing the equipment items' individual bonuses or the set bonus is too risky in terms of balancing. Trying to make the individual items stronger would make the full set too powerful, and only increasing the bonus of the full set would make the individual items useless if they aren't worn together. And this is without considering the loss of other set bonuses because five items blocks almost all other set combinations.

For this update, we have decided to remove equipment class sets from the game and implement a new system that uses the effects of these sets. From version 1.57, these equipment items will become impossible to craft or equip.

The visible items of these sets (cloaks and headgear) can be exchanged for a ceremonial version of the item from an NPC so those who like the look of them can continue to enjoy them. Non-visible items (belts, boots, and rings) can be exchanged for a certain amount of kamas from various NPCs when the update goes live. For those who don't own any, don't worry, ceremonial version of these items can still be acquired later by other means.

To avoid potential abuse, we are unable to buy back class items at the same price for which they were sold, and we are aware that the amount will not cover all the money invested. We apologize to those who owned these items for this loss, but we think this is the best solution for the transition.
 

Spellmaster Seals

A Spellmaster Seal is a new type of item that is crafted by level-100 artificers and can be equipped in Dofus and Trophy slots.

Each of them will grant a unique bonus linked to a spell of the relevant class, and they won't use up a main equipment slot. This new system will be reserved for level-200 characters only. The character must own the relevant spell, and it must be at level 6.

As an example, let's take a Spellmaster Seal: Summoning of Gobball. This spell reduces the cooldown period for the Summoning of Gobball spell by one turn. To equip it, a character must be a level-200 Osamodas and own a level-6 Summoning of Gobball spell.

For the release of the update, 30 Seals will be available, which is two per class. We intend to add more later on if the concept proves popular and if using these items works for you and for the development team. Among the spells that will get an item for 1.57, we have only chosen utility spells for each class so that they are appealing to as many players as possible.

To determine which spells and effects would be the most likely to appeal, we looked at which spells were the most used in each class and which items in each set were the most popular. Combining this information with a dash of expertise, we drew up a ranking of the strongest effects on existing class items, and another ranking by class of the spells that would benefit the most from these effects.

We thought Trophy and Dofus slots were better suited to encouraging a genuine choice of equipment items than equipment slots as the trade-off is significant without being too much of a handicap. And we have voluntarily chosen to add strong Seal effects for this first wave to build on this idea. If we eventually implement a second wave of Seals, there would be three per class, each related to a different elemental path.

In addition, to limit potential over-use, you can only equip two Seals at a time on the same character, regardless of whether their effects are on utility or attack spells.

This is not an exhaustive list of Seals and their effects, but here are a few you can find in the beta in the coming weeks. Along with some new effects, you will also see some familiar ones:

• Spellmaster Seal: Magnet (Rogue): Increases the number of casts per target by 1
• Spellmaster Seal: Vulnerability (Pandawa): Disables line of sight
• Spellmaster Seal: Summoning of Tactical Beacon (Cra): Increases the number of casts per turn by 1
• Spellmaster Seal: Power (Iop): Reduces the cooldown period

 

Impact on the Artificer Profession

As these new items are reserved for level-200 characters, Artificers need an 8-slot recipe to make them.

With new recipes added for the final profession level, we were able to review the quantities of ingredients required in Trophy recipes so that they reflect the progression of artisans better.

The number of items required for Trophies will be changed as follows:

• Major Trophy: 8 slots → 7 slots
• Jackanapes and Voyager Trophy: 7 → 6 slots
• Normal Trophy: 7 slots → 5 slots
• Minor Trophy: 6 slots → 4 slots

Note that, unlike classic equipment items, an inferior version of the Trophy is always required to craft the next level up. For example, to craft a Major Trophy, a normal version of the Trophy is always required.

With these modifications to the game at level 200, we hope to open up new possibilities for experienced players and offer them even more ways to appreciate and take advantage of the benefits of their classes.

We believe this will bring about a revival in PvM and PvP, and offer more ways to surprise enemies… and allies!