With a recent patch note for the Port Mistral update giving Strength builds resistance to limb loss, I feel as if those who don’t go with Strength builds at all are left behind somewhat. Strength users already have increased resistance to whirlpools, and now they’re getting protection from a mechanic that, in terms of forums lingo, “serves ZERO purpose, and should jump off the Stepstones NOW.”
In World of Magic, limb loss wasn’t much of a problem since Weapons only ever had one skill and couldn’t be emphasized. However, in AO, it’s a much bigger problem, as Warriors and Knights are on Team F*cked if they lose a limb unless they have a Healing III+ potion on standby, since it’s almost always the right hand first, and said hand is used for almost every single weapon. Limb loss could’ve been a cool mechanic to immerse the player, but as it stands, it’s simply a nuisance, and more importantly, bad game design.
Proposal
Either make the Limb Loss mechanic resisted by all builds naturally, whether it be explained through something like Mages being able to resist inherent magical properties of Techniques/Skills, or simply raise the damage requirement for limb loss to something like 50% of the player’s max HP. Obviously, that number could be raised, especially since Dark Sea lightning is one of the most constant threats to the player’s limbs.
The former scenario could be applied with level-ups, since the player won’t really encounter limb-losing scenarios unless they actively look for them, such as high-leveled bounty NPCs or letting Calvus charge up his 500-beam. Perhaps it could be a gain of 0.5% limb loss resistance per level up, capping out at the Berserker build’s 80% if Vetex wants to keep the mechanic. The latter would be far easier to implement and see applied to players, as then it will be the player’s fault for losing a hand, since currently, the most foolproof way of reaching the damage threshold would be letting yourself take a hit from a rival character without a lot of Defense in your gear.
why not just remove limb loss outright? yeah i get you somewhat deserve to be punished for taking on something that you’re way underprepared for, but being able to lose 1/3rd of your health from an attack is already enough of a punishment, and it’s more of an annoyance than an actual punishment, which leads to moments where you get limb loss from things that you think you’re not underprepared for, like sharks
Warriors should at least get the resistance too, hell, everyone except mage should get it. Weapon builds regularly use their bodies to use weapons, it requires not only the arms to swing and thrust, but the legs to do the footwork too. Vitality builds meanwhile are inherently tough, so they should be built tougher. Magic, however, doesn’t have anything to my knowledge right now that could reasonably give them resistance, but they’re still able to use their magics without their limbs so they won’t need the resistance.
this wouldn’t work because of what the stats represent;
magic: something that increases your skill and aptitude in magic
weapons: it improves your skill over weapons and its techniques
vitality: using the spirit to improve the healthiness of the body
strength: imrpoving the strength and toughness of your muscles
magic should, as you said, not have any resistance to limb loss.
Likewise, weapon stat investors shouldn’t have to receive a resistance to it either as they train in their weapon control, not their body.
vitality will have it partially as they will have a larger hp pool, thus having a higher numerical requirement for limb loss.
strength gets the buff because their body gets tougher, but does not get resistance to it the same way vitality does.
the argument that weapon users use their body can’t be stably used, due to the fact that every high-leveled being in AO naturally has a stronger body. the stats and builds represent your specializations on top of a stronger body.
The main reason (I assume) that it’s for strength builds is because unlike mage, you actually get affected by limb loss and unlike weapon builds where you can use some of your attacks, strength builds can do literally nothing. Should the mechanic be removed? Yes absolutely, in its current state it does nothing.
maybe it works for dual sword skills, I haven’t tested that myself personally, but regardless, that ain’t gonna save you when its most likely that your other two weapons are useless now lol.
You can use skills without your right hand, although it’s extremely limited. I think the only weapons that can work without it are the Staff, Dual Swords, and Polearms.
strong enough health potions regrow limbs but honestly i think first awakening should give us the ability to regrow limbs upon recovering back to full health on some RCT type shit.
ohh yknow what itd be fuckin crazy if having a high enough regen stat just let you regrow limbs or something. thatd be kinda funny
i mean. i like the idea of losing limbs on paper, but for the most part people just avoid dealing with it altogether by resetting unless they’re in the dark sea, so in practice it’s just kind of annoying??
While you are right about weapon classes using techniques rather than strength, I’d argue that weapons and their skills would still require muscles to use, especially bows, throwing skills, some grabs, and obscenely big regular weapons such as the greathammer. They just don’t rely on it that much, using handheld objects instead of their body for contact with their opponent, so perhaps a compromise would be them getting the resistance but at a lower level.
