"Odyssey of The Summoner" is OUT!! Find it here...

[nekarcos]

A new MINOR version update "Odyssey of The Summoner"!! (Version 0.2.0)

*** Version: 0.2.0 ~ "The 'King's Legacy' update!"
*** This patch greatly buffs Drakelings by fixing SEVERAL qualities/bugs about their interactions.
*** Also, I have created a new system for tracking the add-on version of save files, allowing me to implement "quick fixes" on a per-situation basis. (this means you shouldn't need to restart your save files as much anymore!)
*** To trigger an auto-fix, simply enter the wilderness (aka: "World Map"). For this update, characters with Drakelings are going to get an item that will correct various issues with Drakelings when used. I hope this will be a "pill" that heals, not harms

And now, the fixes:
- Some general tuning up to various things (particularly, grammar and Drakeling talents)
- A LARGE fix for how Drakeling talent inheritance works. In summary, Drakelings can now learn talents in ANY order, as long as they have the necessary stats.
- "Dragon Scales" talents will now transfer to ALL of your Drakelings as soon as you learn them. (the former-mentioned quick-fix will update this behavior)

- Corrected a problem with the Dark Crypt quest. (TYPO! I'm sorry! )
- Corrected an issue with quick-switching weapons (too many typoes... )
- VARIOUS corrections to "Conflagration" talents. Let's just say it's working A WHOLE LOT better now...
- I have been looking into "Legacy", but it still requires more field-testing. Oh! You don't know what that is? ... *sneaks away*


PS: I have been looking through the Character Vault, examining how people are playing my new classes.
- Hydra remains as the highest level one (probably due to its simplicity). There's a focus on tankiness, using Lick Wounds, Growing Bones, and Recuperate-- And yet, nobody bothers getting Ceaseless Blood and whatnot. Hmmm... I also have yet to see any Wil/Dex Hydras for that 16-Attacks-Per-Turn action

- Fire Drake sits very low (hardly any above Level 10), and I think this is due to complicated mechanics and/or issues with Drakelings dying-- Hence this very sudden update that intends to buff Fire Drake. I hope people aren't getting discouraged, because Drakelings can be VERY satisfying and effective once you get their talents going. Here's a tip: "Cunning" affects how frequently they will use talents. Drakelings get cunning if you increase their "knowledge" (participate in a lot of Reflection events).

- Ritch sits curiously in the middle... Not too high, and not too low. When I peeked at their talents, it seems there's a focus on Willpower+Firestarter. Perhaps this will change once player gain access to Tier 2 and 3 weapons? Hmmm...


Additional note: WHOA! You're not supposed to be able to play these characters on "The Arena" or "Infinite Dungeon" yet. Those game modes are COMPLETELY untested

[Hunter]

Updated to the latest, am going to try a Fire Drake (as you said, I was just a bit frustrated with the drakelings, especially since they kept dying and creating a new one stuck me on the level. But even the limited run I've done so far gives me the confidence that this is a great add-on. I'll go rate it on the add-ons page now.

[nekarcos]

So, it seems like this thread has gone silent-- Not necessarily because there is an absence of bugs or concerns, but it might be that people have encountered problems and are not aware of how/where to report them.

I feel I need to increase awareness of the patching/debugging process going on right now... Do you think it would be jarring to place a message at the start of the game that points people to this forum thread where they can report bugs? Please give me your opinions... I'll decide what course of action to take next based on what everyone thinks. If there's a "standard" way to do this, definitely let me know!

Thanks everyone!

[Hunter]

So, it seems like this thread has gone silent-- Not necessarily because there is an absence of bugs or concerns, but it might be that people have encountered problems and are not aware of how/where to report them.

I think, as I mentioned before, that a basic guide would be helpful so people know the difference between a bug and a feature. For instance, I have absolutely no control over my drakelings. The Dragon Brood talents are "Unavailable" and when I try to give orders, there are no options even after reaching level 10, defeating Kor-pul and Trollmire, and conversing with the Summoner at his new home, exhausting all the conversational options. I have no idea, based on the in-game information made available, if there's something I need to do or if this is a bug. I got the slay dragon bit, but if that's a prereq for any meaningful interaction, then perhaps you should create a side quest to help, since there's no guarantee of a dragon in the early game. And some of the talents need a bit of explication to ease the transition from normal ToME. It might help people ferret out things that aren't working properly but don't give an error message.

Edit: Here's one basic problem that's less a bug than something that needs to be looked at -- drakelings have a habit of occasionally getting "stuck" in certain places in corridor dungeons (as opposed to more open area dungeons like Trollmire) when autoexploring. There's nothing keeping them in place. They just stop following you until you return for them. It's not the usual behavior of minions/summons.

[Hellcommander]

Ok since you want errors and stuff here are some of found so far:
Just so you know midnights escort options break nature's award for the escorts
1. tinker escort only gives the choose of +2 luck and giving name of location where you can find the trainer
2.I can't seem to give orders to my fire drake minions (disabled verdant pack and still can't access their level up dialog) right clicking give orders brings up a blank dialog box.

[Hellcommander]

Could you please add in a accelerated healing or instant heal for the active ability part of the lick wounds skill (on of the main problems I've had with fire drake and hydra is that they lack any emergency heal options and there lacking defenses early on due to the slots they have available). An as for hydra I use it like a breath attack nature mage (you where saying no was rolling willpower build ) and use the fire drake as a commander so far.

[nsrr]

PS: I have been looking through the Character Vault, examining how people are playing my new classes.
- Hydra remains as the highest level one (probably due to its simplicity). There's a focus on tankiness, using Lick Wounds, Growing Bones, and Recuperate-- And yet, nobody bothers getting Ceaseless Blood and whatnot. Hmmm... I also have yet to see any Wil/Dex Hydras for that 16-Attacks-Per-Turn action

I'd say this is due to players trying to make up for the lack of healing and regeneration infusions. I know I rely on these heavily, especially in the early levels. When the only way to use one is to destroy it, you start looking for other ways to heal yourself.

- Fire Drake sits very low (hardly any above Level 10), and I think this is due to complicated mechanics and/or issues with Drakelings dying-- Hence this very sudden update that intends to buff Fire Drake. I hope people aren't getting discouraged, because Drakelings can be VERY satisfying and effective once you get their talents going. Here's a tip: "Cunning" affects how frequently they will use talents. Drakelings get cunning if you increase their "knowledge" (participate in a lot of Reflection events).

I'd say you're right about Drake issues. It becomes pretty clear right away that the drakelings will play a pretty big part in the Drake's story, so having even one of them die makes me feel like the run is already a bust. That combined with mechanics that I can't really say for sure if they are working... it's a little discouraging, yeah.

So far I have only gotten Inspiration from quests. I thought the lower level of the talent would give me inspiration for killing bosses such as Bill, The Shade, etc... but it did not. So is that not working, or does it only mean certain bosses? Or could it be that it means new, powerful enemies that are unique to the oots story? Without knowing, I can't say if this is a bug or not.

When I did get inspiration I was a little unnerved that it was a temporary buff. I had assumed I would get it and store it to be spent as needed, such as in the case of a drakeling dying.
Tried Raise Drakeling to see if I would get a fourth one, but alas, it said I could only manage three at a time. So I tried Role Model instead, but I just got a message to the effect that drakeling was 'not feeling it' and it didn't learn any talents. Did I do something wrong? I had plenty of talents that were inheritable, and the drakeling didn't know any yet.
Later I completed a second quest and tried Role Model again, with the same result. I feel like I must be missing something.
Another thing about this is that it puts Role Model on cool down, and even though the inspiration buff remains, there is no way you could use it because the cool down for Role Model is so long. Was the buff meant to go away? Was the cool down not meant to trigger?
I feel like if the drakeling can't learn anything because it doesn't meet certain requirements, I should get some information regarding what those might be, and the opportunity to try again with another drakeling, instead of having to sit there watching the buff that I worked so hard get tick away into uselessness.

I should note, as well, that this was all in a run that I started after the latest patch. My Drake certainly feels powerful, by I'm still mostly at a loss when it comes to my Drakelings.

- Ritch sits curiously in the middle... Not too high, and not too low. When I peeked at their talents, it seems there's a focus on Willpower+Firestarter. Perhaps this will change once player gain access to Tier 2 and 3 weapons? Hmmm...

I would say the focus on Willpower and Firestarter are related to the fact that Flame Spit is the only active talent you start with, and the rest of the Ritch's damage output relies on an expendable resource, in the form of blades. Once you level up the generics and you can forge them with more durability, and get better blades to work with, this might not be as much of an issue, but it makes the early game really difficult, and I think players are looking for a way to build a Ritch that will not be so reliant on a scarce (i.e. not regenerated by resting) resource.

Another thing is that the Ritch has a number of abilities that rely on enemies bleeding... and you don't get any abilities that make enemies bleed until later. Why invest in the talents that interact with bleeding before you can make anything bleed? Start them off with an active attack that causes bleed and I bet you will see a shift away from Firestarter.

Also... Cold Bood is an interesting tree, but I can't really see anyone investing the cat point. As there is only one talent in it that actually gives you any net power (two give more exp, which becomes pointless when you reach max level, and the other gives more gold) and even that is only effective against enemies that have already been considerably weakened. Considering how low-impact the entire tree is, I would vote for unlocking. I would go further, even, and suggest that Ritchs start with one point in each of the talents in this tree. Drakes and Hydra both start with generic points already invested, and while they would be a bit odd to start without them, given their nature, it still makes the Ritch start seem unbalanced. This would make things a little more 'even', while gaining them next to nothing in the long run. And, as I said, I don't really see players investing in this tree, so why not give them a some free points in it?

[nsrr]

Could you please add in a accelerated healing or instant heal for the active ability part of the lick wounds skill (on of the main problems I've had with fire drake and hydra is that they lack any emergency heal options and there lacking defenses early on due to the slots they have available). An as for hydra I use it like a breath attack nature mage (you where saying no was rolling willpower build ) and use the fire drake as a commander so far.

I would agree that Hydra and, especially, Ritch lack on demand healing, and that I was more than a little disappointed that none of the activated Natural Combat talents included a heal or regeneration effect.

As for Fire Drake, though, I have two words for you: Renewing Flames. I overlooked this talent initially, to my detriment. Invest in it. Use it. It's everything you need and more. This is the kind of power that makes up for not having infusions. If I can get the inheritance thing figured out so that my drakelings can use this, too?
Oh, there would be no stopping that dragon army

[echo42]

Echoing what other people have said - especially the bit about no accelerated healing really hurting the summon classes. Hydra is the easiest to handle because of its massive regeneration and tankiness, although I personally found most of the unlockable talent trees underwhelming. Focusing on breath and feral heads seems to be the way to go - gaze does very little until you level up your mindpower, and even then you're better off just killing things quickly. I feel like most of the unlockable trees revolve around playing the hydra as a stealthy, sneaky class, which seems at odds with its colossal bulk. Also it starts off with two points in the hoarding beast tree, which already puts it two generics up over its fellows.

Ritch seems harder to get going - see comment about healing. Getting swords and daggers early on can be a bit of a crapshoot and it would be nice if sharpen allowed you to turn any metal weapon into a graftable blade - that's why most people go hard on flamespit.

And yes, I agree that fire drakes are a bit intimidating because so much of it is reliant on the drakelings, which aren't exactly the clearest mechanic to grasp right off the bat. The early game feels like a permanent escort mission, which is not very fun for anyone.

[Hellcommander]

I wonder way do you have the other hydra trees locked til level 10 when there abilities start being "available" to rank at level 0.

[Hellcommander]

The skills that can't be invested before level 10 despite having skills that require level 0 are:glob (poison/trap tree), swamp beast (water/stealth tree), mist beast (crowd control/disorder tree).

[Hellcommander]

Can you please buff the glob tree so that it can be affected by the hydra breath tree, that seems like that would be interesting if you could combine the breath poison effects with the glob poison effects. Another thing that needs a buff is the borrow ability needs to be tweaked to allow movement though crystals and walls (if it doesn't already).

[Hellcommander]

Could you also make it so when globs poison can stack to a degree and make it so that all of the globs don't get destroyed unless they are disarmed or something.

[Hellcommander]

Yup part the earth does not work on crystals.

[Razakai]

As a developer, this is pretty impressive. Good work.