Age 48 – Changes

March 14th, 2010Orkfia Classic0 comments

Hey there

Age 48 will start the night between 19th and 20th at 00:00ST, first tick will as always be at 01:00ST. The age will last for four (4) weeks. Once the changes listed below is uploaded we’ll reset the server and add the updatebutton, the updatebutton will be removed 24 hours before the age starts with another soft reset.

Race Changes:

Brittonian

• Knight 840 cr –> 800 cr
• Rogue 425 cr –> 350 cr

Halflings

• Hobbit 0/0 10 cr –> 30 cr
• Footpad 4/0 360 cr –> 340 cr
• Poacher 0/4 400 cr –> 380 cr
• Duellist 3/6 700 cr –> 680 cr
• Cutthroat 0/0 100 cr –> 80 cr

Rohirrim (READ: Completely changed!)

• Soldier 0/0 60 cr
• Horseman 5/2 430 cr
• Mounted Archer 3/6 660 cr
• Rohirrim 7/7 850 cr
• Scout 0/0 150 cr

3 hr attack time
No rest time on Hit’n'Run
66% of normal losses when attacking
Fame counts as defence modifier (1000 fame = 0.5% defense modifier)

Bats

• Blackfoot 0/0 10 cr –> 30 cr
• Razor Fang 4/2 400 cr –> 380 cr
• Stone Skin 0/6 750 cr –> 730 cr
• Dragon Head 6/3 800 cr –> 780 cr
• White Wing 1/2 250 cr –> 230 cr

Phoenix

• Bennu 0/0 10 cr –> 30 cr
• Fenghuang 3/0 250 cr –> 230 cr
• Adarna 0/5 550 cr –> 530 cr
• Avalerion 2/7 900 cr –> 880 cr
• Angha 0/0 300 cr –> 280 cr

Lich

• Mortal 0/0 75 cr –> 60 cr

Daemon

• Imp 0/0 85 cr –> 100 cr
• Gargoyle 5/0 375 cr –> 350 cr
• Succubus 3/0 375 cr –> 350 cr

Uyon Hai

Defensive spells (DH, FoR, Heal and SoD) and basic selfspells cost triple mp –> Defensive spells (DH, FoR, Heal and SoD) and basic selfspells cost double mp.

Thurog Hai

Remove:

• 40% lower military losses.
• Can’t cast FoR

Add:

• 66% of normal losses when attacking

Other Changes:

Rating system for races

After a suggestion made in the ingame forum there is now gonna be a rating system for each race to give a new player a better grasp of each race. Its gonna look like this:

A big thanks to Sanzo that came up with the idea, to Joe and Bolle for sorting the stars and to max for coding it.

Orkpedia

A wikipedia for Orkfia Classic is gonna get launched, named Orkpedia. There has in the past been an attempt to create one for both Orkfia Classic and Alliances at War, it failed due to both activity and the difficulty of adding stuff that is named the same in both games but works differently.

The goal for the Orkpedia is to replace the guide but they will exist together until we’ve filled Orkpedia with all the information from the guide.

So if you wanna help out then don’t hesitate to write a page at Orkpedia. You can write something from the guide, add your alliance page or even add your own profile page if you’d like.

Cheers

~Acwder

Orkfia Classic – Feedback

February 16th, 2010Orkfia Classic0 comments

I’d like to give you all the opportunity to give us some feedback on the new races.

It’s all new, so you can’t expect us poor devvers to observe every single player in game; since we play as well we’d get an unfair information advantage if we did. Therefore, we require your help.

Preferably, given feedback is on the race you are playing yourself, or on a race one of your alliance mates is playing and told you about.

Reported imbalances are of course welcome, but this thread is not that narrow.

What we want to know is:

• how useful do you think the race is for alliance strategy purposes?
• is the race challenging or does it bore you to death?

This can of course go both positively and negatively: the race can be too useful or not useful enough, it can be too challenging or too boring. Some races are designed to be boring yet simple to play, others to be challenging and therefore hard to play.

We don’t promise we’ll do something with the feedback, but given feedback will certainly prompt us to consider the race. Also, the more complaints about a race, the more likely it is that it will be changed.

——

As a last reminder: races will not remain static. Each age there will be some cost tweaks in a number of races, not because they are imbalanced, but simply to adjust the balance of the races and prevent the game from becoming stale. Say, if you all take rohirrim, they’ll likely receive a small cost penalty next age, whereas underused races may get some small cost bonus. Of course this does mean race abilities and use must be different enough to make the choosing of the penalized race a reasonable (strategic) choice. Therefore, feedback

Link to the ingame post: click here to view this ingame

~Bolle

Age 47 – Changes

February 6th, 2010Orkfia Classic1 comment

Hey. Age 46 is over. Here is the changes for Age 47.

Age 47 will start feb 13th 00:00ST (night between 12th and 13th), first update at 01:00ST as normal. The updatebutton will be added in between ages once the changes has been uploaded and removed 24 hours before the age start.

Over to the changes, its been planned for some time now to bring in some more races and its finally complete.

Short version: the effects from classes is removed and 14 races is added.

Long version:

Instead of having races and classes split they will now merg. When you sign up / restart / die you will be able to first pick your main race. Lets for example say you want to play Orc, then you get to pick which class you want to play, these two choices decides what race you will be ending up playing.

Sticking to the example, picking Orc + Rogue would give you Mori Hai, picking Orc + Warrior would give you Oleg Hai. This new way of picking races lead to 16 races not being enough, instead we give you 30 races.

This a quite a big change but we are confident its the way forward and to make sure we improve our playerbase, the second change to do that is to sort the lag, our current server gives alot to wish for, we will be looking into moving over to a vps in a few ages, the issue is as always money.

No one of us Orkfian players have ever wanted orkfian to become a paying game and we will stick to that ofc. Sponsorship however is the option you as a player have to help us, the cost of it will be changed from $2 to $5 (to test before we move to the new server which will cost about five times the current one).

Races, Here is all the races, some old ones has been changed aswell so I’ll post all of them.

Orcs | Elves | Humans | Winged | Cursed

The Orcs

Spellbinder – Uyon Hai

Most orcs are dangerous due to brute force. This also counts for Uyon Hai, but they are also specialized in magical warfare. They use magic practically rather than theorizing about it’s nature. For Uyon Hai, practical means bloody. Using magic for civilian or defensive means is despised heavily.

Gnome (0/0)- 50 cr
Raider (7/0) – 550 cr
Grunt (0/6) – 620 cr
Warlock (5/7) – 880 cr
Thug (0/0) – 400 cr

Steal mp on raid/hitnrun (citizens / 50 mp gained or units / 10 mp gained, whichever is higher) Offensive spells are 15% cheaper (includes CB/RotH). Defensive spells (DH, FoR, Heal&SoD) and basic selfspells cost triple mp.

Guardian – Thurog Hai

These Orcs are highly traditional. Little is known about them since finding them often means that you won’t be found anymore. Despite their small numbers they have survived for centuries, and it is not expected that this will change anytime soon. Rumors are that they hide secrets unknown to any other Orkfian race.

Gnome (1/1) – 75 cr
Tauren (7/2) – 650 cr
Troll (0/7) – 725 cr
Thurog (8/8) – 1000 cr
Creeper (0/0) – 300 cr

40% lower military losses.
Can’t cast FoR.
3 hour build and return time.

Sage – Grokan Hai

Grokan Hai are somewhat an oxymoron. They are orcs, yet they are not particularly interested in violence or conquer. As outcasts of the ‘normal’ orc races, they are the smartest, best organised and most peaceful orcs that can be found in Orkfia. Their intellectual capabilities sometimes surpass that of humans and even elves. Grokan Hai have a passive and observative nature and they take an optimistic approach to life, the universe and everything.

Gnome (0/0)- 100 cr
Headhunter (6/0)- 450 cr
Lurker (0/5)- 450 cr
Witch Doctor (2/8)- 1000 cr
Sniffer (0/0)- 400 cr

+10% tax income.
+10% income from banks.
Grokan Hai passively gain (acres / 48) rp’s each tick (0.5 RPA per day).

Rogue – Mori Hai

Long thought to have perished in the ancient war, the Mori Hai were rediscovered looting a small human outpost. It is thought that when all was lost, they retreated to the mountains of ORKFiA and hid themselves. The little that is known about them is from the ancient documents pertaining to the war, in which they played a central part. They are fast and agile, but what other secrets do they hold?

Gnome (0/0) – 85cr
Goblin (3/3) – 250cr
Axethrower (0/4) – 405cr
Ogre (4/5) – 575cr
Assassin (6/0) – 600cr

3 hour attack time
+15% more homes allowed
25% less food needed
1 home counts as 0.4 Hideouts (ops/spells against T/M buildings will not affect homes)

Warrior – Oleg Hai

Somewhat less aggressive then their cousins, the Uruk Hai, the Oleg Hai are less concerned with destruction, and more concerned with dominance. As such, they can defend the lands they conquer much better. However, with all their knowledge of combat techniques, they are lacking on the spiritual side. Due to their past relations with Harpies, it is not abnormal to see Harpy mercenaries within their race.

Gnome (0/1) – 50cr
Wolfrider (7/0) – 500cr
White Skull (0/6) – 650cr
Harpy (4/1) – 80cr
Thief (0/0) – 440cr

+30% more land gained when attacking
Harpies are mercenaries

Crusader – Uruk Hai

Also known as the King Orks, their aggression and offense is unmatched. They have the tendency to press on where others may not. They wish only to destroy, and often get that wish.

Gnome (0/0) – 50cr
Brute (7/2) – 480cr
Shaman (0/6) – 625cr
Half-Giant (16/1) – 1300cr
Blackguard (0/0) – 450cr

80% of normal losses on elites (attacking & defending)
Homes hold 275 citizens
Blasphemy Crusade has a 4 hr attack interval instead of 6 hr.
Uruk Hai gain 500 cr per demolished building on BC.

The Elves

Sage – Moon Elf

Moon Elves have dedicated their lives to discover truth by contemplating in the light of the moon. While at work during the day, they meditate during the night. It is unknown whether they ever sleep or not.

Slinger (0/0) – 50 cr
Moon Lightress (5/2) – 375 cr
Devoted (0/7) – 800 cr
Lunar Priest (6/8) – 1100 cr
Rogue (0/0) – 230 cr

Yards –> Moon Glades. Moon Glades produce wood but also increase mana/thievery regeneration rates as if they were hideouts/guilds (doesn’t increase max mp/tp). So simply add their percentage both to guilds and hideouts for calcing the regeneration.

Warrior – Grey Elves

Hardened by their desert homeland, these Elves make excellent warriors. They are fast and skilled with all sorts of weapons. They know how to hide and how to strike.

Slinger (0/0) – 40 cr
Sandwalker (5/0) – 450 cr
Marksman (2/7) – 760 cr
Blademaster (5/4) – 500 cr
Rogue (0/0) – 300 cr

25% chance of staying unidentified when attacking.
Yards production halved.
20% decreased land losses on getting grabbed due to the barren nature of your lands.
3 hour return time.
+35% bonus on weaponries

Guardian – Sea Elf

These Elves abandoned their homeland for the seas of Orkfia. It’s hard to find them when you seek, except for the fortressed ports they possess.

Slinger (0/0) – 50 cr
Sailor (6/3) – 650 cr
Falmar (3/6) – 650 cr
Vessalar (7/7) – 900 cr
Rogue (0/0) – 350 cr

25% chance that your troops won’t find a Sea Elf when trying to attack them.
+25% resistance to thievery/magic.
+35% bonus on walls.

Spellbinder – Dark Elf

Masters of deceit, their magical talents are unparalleled. However, they have only average military power.

Slinger (0/1) – 100cr
Nighstalker (2/0) – 80cr
Sorcerer (0/4) – 280cr
Nightrider (3/7) – 675cr
Assassin (0/0) – 350cr

+25% magic level bonus
TPA is twice as effective against enemy ops

Rogue – Wood Elf

Also known as Sylvan Elves, these Elves abandoned their old way of life and became one with nature. They prefer a solitary life and can call upon the spirits of the forest to protect them if need be.

Slinger (0/0) – 40cr
Woodrider (4/0) – 440cr
Druid (0/4) – 400cr
Tree Ent (0/10) – 1450cr
Grassrunner (0/0) – 200cr

-10% crowns to explore
+35% thievery points per update

Crusader – High Elf

High Elves are extremely militaristic, however, they have sacrificed much of their previous military power in order to create a practically invincible one, so that they don’t repeat mistakes of the past.

Slinger (0/0) – 75cr
Sage (6/0) – 600cr
Longbowman (0/6) – 750cr
Priestess (4/4) – 400cr
Rogue (0/0) – 350cr

Homes hold 360 people
1% churches provide 4% protection instead of 3.5%
All military units are immortal

The Humans

Spellbinder – Wizards

The Guild of Wizards consists of highly skilled individual magicians and is organized in a strict hierarchy. Education and training is a thorough and slow process. The individuals that don’t get booted are definitely worth the effort, though.

Apprentice 0/0 50 cr
Red Mages 6/0 670 cr
White Mage 0/5 520 cr
Archmage 4/8 1170 cr
Servant 0/0 400 cr

+25% mana regeneration.
+25% ML.
Decreased citizens regrowth (base growth 0% instead of 5%).

Rogue – Halflings

The Halflings or Hobbits are a people of short stature and small minds. This is not a weakness but rather the key to their succes and survival in the Orkfian lands. Do not neglect them, for they will make sure you notice them.

Hobbit 0/0 10 cr
Footpad 4/0 360 cr
Poacher 0/4 400 cr
Duellist 3/6 700 cr
Cutthroat 0/0 100 cr

1 home counts as 0.4 Hideouts (ops/spells against T/M buildings will not affect homes)
2 hr thieves return time.

Guardian – Rohirrim

The Rohirrim are a hardy people, breeders of horses. They are both honorable and loyal, fast and fiery. Able to handle both bow and lance while riding, these people are a feared sight on the plains. Don’t tempt them, or you will find yourself impaled on a sharp spear.

Soldier 0/0 50 cr
Horseman 5/2 450 cr
Mounted Archer 3/6 670 cr
Rohirrim 8/7 900 cr
Scout 0/0 300 cr

2 hr attack time
Fame counts as defence modifier (1000 fame = 1% defense modifier)
50% lower losses.

Sage – Brittonian

Due to the former size of their empire, the Brittonians were forced to sacrifice military power for raw numbers. This still holds true today, even though they no longer have the glory of their forefathers.

Soldier (1/0) – 100cr
Pikeman (3/0) – 450cr
Crossbowman (0/2) – 270cr
Knight (2/4) – 840cr
Rogue (0/0) – 425cr

Homes hold 600 people
50% of normal food consumption
RP cost: 750cr
+20% research bonus, 10% means 12% for the tribe.
(NOTE: removal of TP bonus)

Crusader – Viking

Unfortunately, it is very expensive to train a Viking. They are very dense, and tend to be overtly arrogant. Though once trained, a Viking is a very strong and versatile unit.

Soldier (1/1) – 85cr
Swordsman (3/0) – 160cr
Archer (2/6) – 480cr
Berserker (8/8) – 930cr
Looter (0/0) – 375cr

Inflict 2x more damage to enemy on attack
25% chance of location not showing in any news when making hits
Blasphemy Crusade and Hit’n'Run are two hour attack time + 2 hour army rest time.

Warrior – Dwarf

Dwarves were recently freed by the other human races, while not totally being humans, these smaller ‘half-humans’ are expert craftsmen, dedicated miners and strong warriors, rivalling the vikings as fighters.

Grunt (0/0) – 75cr
Hammer Smasher (6/0) – 450cr
Stone Thrower (0/4) – 350cr
Grey Beard (3/6) – 725cr
Short Cloak (0/0) – 350cr

+25% mine income
+35% bonus on weaponries
2 hour build time

The Winged

Rogue – Bats

Used to living in underground caves, Bats are apt at operating under the cover of darkness. These pesky fliers will continue their assault unto the end. You may not live to see the dawn.

Blackfoot 0/0 10 cr
Razor Fang 4/2 400 cr
Stone Skin 0/6 750 cr
Dragon Head 6/3 800 cr
White Wing 1/2 250 cr

2 hour return time for thieves
3 hr attack time

Spellbinder – Phoenix

Magical birds of birth and rebirth. Phoenix are rare and powerful. Always encounter a phoenix with the greatest respect, for they are both proud and vengeful. They do not die naturally, neither do they forget those who harmed them.

Bennu 0/0 10 cr
Fenghuang 3/0 250 cr
Adarna 0/5 550 cr
Avalerion 2/7 900
Angha 0/0 300 cr

Rebirth (passive, can be used): Sacrifice a number of units. They will give instant mp equal to (total of defensive value * 0.003). The units will be retrained in 4 hours without any cost. (20000 avalerions = 140000 * 0.003 = 420 mp). Cannot exceed max MP limit.

When a Phoenix unit dies in combat, it is retrained. FoR still limits units lost but, obviously, it only means less are retrained. Mortality negates this ability.

Sage – Eagle

Eagles are rare, elusive creatures, often hunted for their valuable feathers. That said, they are extremely difficult to find. Many a hunter has gone into eagle territory, and the results are usually the same. Either they find nothing, or they never return…

Nester (0/0) – 40 cr
Emesen (3/0) – 145 cr
Vendo (0/5) – 575 cr
Anekonian (2/8) – 1080 cr
Razorbeak (0/0) – 265cr

30% chance that your troops won’t find an eagle when trying to attack them
Barren lands count as walls (20% max can run more but doesnt add def, 40% max together with walls) but also produce 100 kgs of food and 10 kgs of wood each tick.

2 hour exploration time

Guardian – Dragon

Long ago the ancient guardians of ORKFiA laid their wings to rest and retired to their caves for many ages. Now, after news of the new wars had spread to the Dragons, they return once again to try and bring stability to the world of ORKFiA. Only the most experienced rulers can tame these strong beasts.

Baby Dragon (0/2) – 30cr
Green Dragon (25/0) – 515cr
Yellow Dragon (0/32) – 715cr
Red Dragon (50/10) – 1250cr
White Dragon (0/0) – 440cr

2 hour attack time
Homes hold 50
Non-homes hold 5
33% of normal military upkeep costs
Balancing penalties, see guide.

Crusader – Hawk

While tolerant towards other birds, Hawks are absurdly intolerant towards any non-Bird. Their territory is defended with a fury and speed only outmatched by Ravens. But while Ravens may be faster, Hawks are more persistent. Their existence is to be eradicated completely and eternally.

Nester (0/0) – 25cr
Silver Talon (5/0) – 450cr
Red Tail (0/5) – 550cr
Hawkwing (7/6) – 750cr
Razorbeak (0/0) – 250cr

2 hour return time.
50% of normal losses when fighting against winged, 150% when fighting non-winged.

Warrior – Raven

Once worshipped by humans, and with good reason! What they lack in military power, they make up for with incredible speed and ferocity. The raven has the uncanny ability to attack and return to a defensive position before the enemy knows what hit them.

Nester (0/0) – 60cr
Blackclaw (2/0) – 75cr
Razor Wing (0/5) – 600cr
Blackwing (5/5) – 835cr
Screacher (0/0) – 350cr

One hour attack time
On a failed attack 25%-50% returns after 1 update.
76% of normal losses on Blackwings when attacking.
132% of normal losses on Blackclaws when attacking.
-50% damage on BC.
No two hour rest on Hit’n'Run.
-50% losses on the raven when using Hit’n'Run.
NOTE: Though raven may seem changed, they are not. These features were just ‘in the code’ but never updated to the guide.

The Cursed

Spellbinder – Lich

Liches are the spellcasters of the Undead ‘race’. Where other races sometimes are abhorrent or maybe seduced by Dark Magic, Liches are specialized in and consumed by it. As former rulers or magicians, they chose an unlife of command and power rather than death.

Mortal (0/0) – 75 cr
Acolyte (3/0) – 200 cr
Apprentice (0/4) – 300 cr
Lich (0/6) – 600 cr
Outcast (0/0) – 350 cr

+10% max mp
Special selfspell ‘Abysmal Trance’. Cost and difficulty similar to Pestilence. Abysmal Trance increases mana regeneration by 100%. Abysmal Trance can be voided. When the Lich casts a spell while Abysmal Trance is running, the spell is interrupted and will disappear.

Guardian – Revenants

‘Those that we call Revenants, rose from grave to desecrate, holy matters.’
Revenants are Undead beings. The main difference with other types of Undead is that they are highly physical, having not only bones but also flesh that is not necessarily rotting. They are unnaturally strong and heavy and are often used as Guard of Undead leaders.

Skeleton (0/1) – 60 cr
Axewielder (6/2) – 500 cr
Bone Archer (4/7) – 700 cr
Revenant (5/6) – 600 cr
Orc Slave (0/0) – 400 cr

30% resistance to thievery.
15% more damage taken from magic.
Immune to cursed sorcery.
4 hour retreat time.

Sage – Daemons

Daemons are very intelligent immaterial beings. They are not Undead themselves but often (not always) are ‘seen’ amongst them as leaders. It is unknown to mortals how they come into existence and how to make them leave it. Their individual strength seems to be strongly related to their intelligence and willpower.

Imp (0/0) – 85 cr
Gargoyle (5/0) – 375 cr
Glabrezu (0/5) – 475 cr
Balrog (0/9) – 1175 cr
Succubus (3/0) – 375 cr

All military units are immortal.
Doubled priest production.
1 PPA gives 3% production bonus as opposed to 2% production bonus.

Rogue – Spirit

It is difficult enough to see a spirit, but to kill one? What a spirit really is, is a little bit of a mystery. It is long thought that they are the cursed souls of the Nazgul. Lacking a physical form brings its advantages, but it also brings its disadvantages.

Ghost (0/0) – 25cr
Phantom (2/0) – 125cr
Poltergeist (1/7) – 945cr
Ghoul (6/2) – 525cr
Apparition (0/0) – 250cr

Can not be visioned
Do not require food
2 hour return time for thieves

Warrior – Undead

The Undead were once living, breathing creatures, and are indeed a fearsome sight. It is very difficult to kill one, as they do not breathe, nor do they have any organs to pierce. The only food the prey upon is enemy flesh.

Skeleton (0/0) – 90cr
Zombie (7/0) – 700cr
Mummy (0/4) – 280cr
Vampire (7/9) – 1060cr
Imp (0/0) – 360cr

Vampires are immortal when attacking or defending
Enemy killed military units will join your army as skeletons
+35% bonus on weaponries

Crusader – Nazgul

Soulless creatures experimented on with evil necromancy, the Nazgul believe their “curse” to be a gift. The Nazgul have strong magical resistances, due to the ancient curse placed on them.

Mortal (0/0) – 40cr
Black Rider (5/0) – 460cr
Blood Pet (0/7) – 660cr
Wraith (13/13) – 1500cr
Gollum (0/0) – 333cr

Cannot explore nor use Tents
Deal 20% more damage with Blasphemy Crusade
On Standard Attack and Barren grab Nazguls gains 35% more explored acres than normal

A big thanks to the dev team that spent their time on this, if you find something to be unbalanced then dont hesitate to let us know.

Cheers

~Acwder

The Aftermath

January 4th, 2010The Orkfian Times1 comment

So here we are.

Its been a few hectic days.

Lets have a look at how things turned out.

The punishment was dealt about 19 hours after it happened, the outcome was five suspended tribes. The two LEs getting 24 hours for the use of this loophole that LnO in discussion with Martel deemed to be a bug. 12 hours for three tribes who in the alli channel supported what was happening, not taking part in any way other then writing down their support.

I have no problem with the two 24 hours suspensions, even tho I wouldnt classify it as a bug but rather a loophole which used this way lead to something extreme but still working as intended. I will come back to this later on.

What I find questionable is the suspension of someone who didnt participate at all in this abuse other then writting their support for it, this sets some new and atleast for me totally unheard of standards. I could drop a number of examples here but I guess all of you can imagine how this is just plain stupid.

Lets go through what else this has lead to.

Martel posted a “Stricter rules for Game Talk” topic in Game Talk, calling for a more strict forum section to apparently make sure the staff doesnt miss valid points amongst the “spam” taking place there.

Alliances at War has now a third version, the three are: The Live one, a Balancing server and an Experimental server, this is to finally try to avoid having us players being beta testers every single age.

Light Elf should now be fixed. No question about it that that was needed.

Balrog was just after the initial suspension of the tribes be changed at the same time as Light Elf, this has apparently been changed and nothing seems to be done about them until next age change.

The aatw staff will apparently try to communicate better in the future.

Martel himself says he doesnt have an official comment about this whole situation atm.

Personally Ive now also been kicked out of #orkstaff, not that I had any official reason being there in the first place but Ive been there for around a year and a half, so I guess its quite a statement on how this statement we did with LE was not appreciated.

Martel himself said when he first logged in and saw this that he was upset that we went this far and that we could had gotten to him about this with a way less aggresive way. Thats just the problem tho, it wasnt Martel we tried to reach, it was the Head of devlopment we tried to reach.

Someone might say that we could had convinced Iluros with something less abusive and easier, well fact remains, he himself was a 9k balrog and couldnt see anything wrong when his main job is development which includes balancing not just having a race in pushing through changes.

We had the same issue with the whole toughness and industry thing, we even started a petition here on the portal which quite a few people signed, me and quite a few with me were pleased to see it getting delayed atleast for another age.

Someone might now argue that there is no one in charge in the dev team, that suprises atleast me a bit since it clearly states Iluros as head of dev. Lets see what else people we have in aatw dev.

• Iluros
• Joe
• Bolle
• Halcyon
• Amiralla
• Robokop

We have covered Iluros. Joe stated in game talk that he voiced the opinion in dev that Balrogs were/are overpowered, he even went so far as playing as them to prove it, this however was changed when KP went all Eagles thus making his statement ruined.

Bolle were at the time arguing for Balrogs, not seeing the obvious flaw with them.

Halcyon is for those that isnt aware of it playing in #17, the alliance that consisted of six balrogs (is now five cause one reset), having 50% of one race can only be described as intentional, I don’t believe any of the players in #17 are stupid so they gotta have been aware of the overpowerness in the race.

Amiralla has been inactive during this period of time so I assume he havent taken part of the discussion in dev.

Robokop is obiviously against Balrogs overpowerness since it was him and me that were the two Light Elves.

If dev had been a democratic group without a lord/head of resort then it should had been Joe & Robokop vs. Iluros & Bolle with Halcyon as a joker. Since Balrogs is overpowered I can only assume that IF the aatw dev is democratic then Halcyon joined with Iluros and Bolle.

So either way democratic or with a special leader it still came down to convincing Iluros.

Something that seems to keep occuring is that everyone is blaming someone else, ppl in staff are blaming eachothers, some staff even goes so far to blame the players for not doing the balancing for them.

This community is small but great, but it is not our job to find the flaws in stupid pushed changes, now that sentence and sure this whole article might have pissed someone off but the fact still remains, we are not some beta testers, before you go all defensive on your ass spend some extra thoughts on whats being said. Before its to late.

Cheers

~A player who gotten tired of seeing the devs misstakes beeing blamed on the players a.k.a Acwder

Sort it out

January 3rd, 2010The Orkfian Times0 comments

This is yet another petition against the changes taking place in aatw, and further more a protest letter against how things are currently being treated.

Lets start with the facts.

This will consist of three things. 1. Balrogs, 2. Light Elfs, 3. The mentality of some Dev people.

First of Balrogs. Currently 7 of the top 10 tribes in Alliances at War are all Balrogs.

Their stats is the following:

• Instantly replenishes 1 mp for every 75 citizens killed during attacks
• +1.5% bonus to mage level per 1000 fame
• 1 weaponry counts as 0.75 guilds
• 15% fewer homes allowed
• Balancing traits—Takes 25% less damage to buildings and military from invasions, thievery and mystics; Mines, farms and yards produce 50% of normal; 50% market/barracks space efficiency; 50% of normal military upkeep.

• Basic: Damned Soul 0/0 100 cr
• Off: Devil 23/0 1,340 cr
• Def: Occultist 0/16 1,100 cr
• Elite: Demon 15/13 975 cr
• Thief: Spy 0/0 400 cr

There is a few factors here making Balrogs not only really good but also really imbalanced. I will here state a few of the imbalances with Balrogs and things around Balrogs

1. 15% homes and the reduced dmg taken makes Balrogs close to impossible to kill with EQ/DM/Arson unless the tribe is really really inactive and very very low deffended
2. The racestats combined with the weaps working as guilds makes Balrogs a superb attacker, currently not being match by any other race.
3. Due to how the failrates works atm with 50-200% for mages and thieves, tms cannot do anything against an attacker thats much bigger, attackers can on the other hand due to loads of changes recently improving attackers do raids, BCs and Razes on any tribes at any sizes (as long as they can beat them ofc), I personally experienced that my last lifespan (as Balrog so I know how imba it is and the attackers targeting me was 2 balrogs and a mori more then twice my size), I recieved about 22 attacks in the period of just above 48hours. loosing over 1.2million raw def (at ~11k acres).

Balrogs made their return in Age 26. There are currently 20 Balrogs in play making them the third most played race in aatw, only beaten by Eagle (31) and Spirits (also 20), tho having a look on the sizes of these races makes the statistics above kinda misguiding.

Out of those 20 Spirits playing only 11 tribes are above 400 acres, infact only 14 of them have tribes with any acres at all. Eagles on the other hand have 29 tribes above 400 acres, this mainly due to KP deciding to reset and going all Eagles.

Balrogs got 19 tribes bigger then 400 acres, out of the 151 tribes being bigger then 400 acres, making it 12.6% of all played races atm.

Taking a look at top 10 you’ll see that 7 out of the current top is all Balrogs (as mentioned earlier)

Now lets take a closer look into Balrogs immortality. I will base the calcs on a typical Balrog both in the top10 and one of the smaller to prove its immortality both on big and on small acres.

A 3,xxx acre Balrog.

• Homes: 15%
• Markets: 8%
• tmdeff: 18% acads (with fame bonus making it ml 20)
• (This is a tribe in growthmode)
• 68% citiz

To kill this tribe with Arsons, DMs, EQs and Razes would require 89% of the Balrogs Homes. 89%.. thats sick, that is ofc not voided, but its still a huge ammount, at these small % the dmg from tms are really low.

Raid/fb killing could be a option for smaller Balrogs but you need alot of raids/fbs to do so, don’t forget about pestilence that boosts the citz regen even more and nightmare if the alliances have any economics (we failed a fb/raid kill on a 2.6k balrog that had 20% economics, even voided he was almost 100% citz again before the attackers could raid again.

A 13,xxx Balrog

• Homes: 15%
• Markets: 8%
• tmdef: 26% acads (ml 36 with fame bonus), 7% ghs
• (Semigrowth mode)
• 65% citz

Here you need 85% homes if not voided.

The point here is not that the only are immortal (really really hard to kill) they are also damn good attackers, I personally believe them to be the best attackers ingame atm and I think this opinion is shared by alot of people.

You have to be a fool not to see the overpowerness with Balrogs yet the last age changes only held improvements for the race other then reducing the ammount of citz the non homes holds (which is a drop in the ocean as a change)

Moving on

To cut it short, Light Elf has a ability where any dark spell results in 1% mp recharged for the targeted Light Elf, it was noticed that even people from the same alliance could throw spells like visions and the LE would get his mp recharged, this could be used to such extent that two LEs could achive an unlimited ammount of mp.

This is ofc overpowered, and I say overpowered cause its working as intended, it wasnt written in any other way in the dev forum, nor in the guide nor in the age changes list. it litterly says:

Replenishes 1% of total mana whenever targeted by a dark spell

The current definition of dark spells is everything you can throw on someone else except for the alliances spells.

This is again something utterly overpowered.

When this was noticed earlier we started discussing it in our alli channel (Im playing in #45 in aatw), and me along with the staffmember that reported it (he also reported it right away as a issue) decided to go and kill Iluros the dev responsible for all this (he was at this time playing Balrog and being quite a big one aswell), we would then move on to kill the 7 balrogs in the top10, this would be to prove the point about both imbalanced and overpowered races and no fixes were anywhere to be seen.

So we started doing some fbs. About 1.3k of them, we didnt kill Iluros but he came online and sent to LnO that this was a bug and thus we should be suspended. My arguement has the entire time being that if Light Elves should be suspended due to using a overpowered function then so should all Balrogs, but this opinion wasnt shared.

I could now go on and on about the discussion that took place both on #orkstaff @ irc and on the ingame forum but I want to point out with this post is once again that players are taking the consequenses of stupid changes that wasnt thought through and pushed into the game, its getting annoying being beta testers every single age.

A LE fix was on devork just a few hours after it being noticed, Balrogs on the other hands wasnt even planned to be changed until after this whole convo, a change is now on devork, I won’t even comment that change but I can’t believe that it takes this much arguementation to show something obvious..

All LEs are now paused until this fix has been uploaded, Balrogs on the other hand are left free to play around tho Iluros stated if they would be paused they should have the lost years repaid.. And Iluros put it:

Balrogs are overpowered. People playing balrogs receive an unfair advantage from their choice, but their intent at least explicitly is not to take advantage of the imbalance.

So you do deserve to get suspended according to Iluros if you picked Balrog cause they are the best attacker in the game atm due to their overpowerness.

This post have now taken so long time to write down due to being busy on so many other places argueing about all this that most of the discussion is over.

Ive decided to post this anyway. Now for crying out loud spend some more thoughts and testing into the changes you go live with before you no longer have a game to change.

I hate to write another of these longwinding posts so please sort it out so I don’t have to do it again.

Imbalance is a bitch

Cheers

~An annoyed Acwder…