Changing dragon levels

[Panbot3000]

Also posted this on the official forums:

 

Hi, my aim is to make the main quest dragons consistently stronger than the wild ones whilst also making all dragons more formidable. My plan is as follows:

 

-Dragon type/ level rate / base lvl / extras

-MQ Dragons / 1.1x / levelled (base 20) / + health @lvl 30 = 40 (see level list)

-MQ Boss Dragons / 1.2x / levelled (base 25) / + more health @lvl 30 = 45 (see level list)

 

Misc dragons during the main quest will just be levelled the same as non-MQ dragons.

 

-Brown Dragons / 0.7x / base 10 @lvl 30 = 21

-Blood Dragons / 0.8x / base 15 @lvl 30 = 24

-Frost Dragons / 0.9x / base 20 @lvl 30 = 27

-Elder Dragons / 1.0x / base 30 @lvl 30 = 30

-Ancient Dragons / 1.1x / base 40 @lvl 30 = 40

*Mythic Dragons / 1.2x / base 50 + health + abilities @lvl 30 = 50

*Added these to balance the overall reduction in base rates. These should take over from the Ancient Dragons but not appear until a point where the MQ dragons should be even stronger but regardless they should be extremely tough. May need some help creating a coloured character model for them.

 

Level List - (difficulty that has been set for the spawn locations determines whether tougher dragons appear than those set for the level of the PC)

 

1<12 = Brown

12<17 = Blood

17<26 = Frost

26<35 = Elder

35<44 = Ancient

44< = Mythic

 

1<17 = MQ 20/25

17<26 = MQ 30/35

26<35 = MQ 40/45

35<44 = MQ 50/55

 

e.g. @ lvl 34 = Elder/Ancient*, MQ40/MQ45

*depends on difficulty of spawn location

 

I figure with these values the difference between the quest dragons and elder/ancient dragons (the varieties that I see as being comparable to the MQ dragons) should be minimal and in most cases the quest dragons should be tougher than those you are facing in the wild at the time. Also reducing the level at which dragons spawn and adding 1 extra dragon for end game should improve variety. Some of the more "unique" dragons in game will be dealt with separately and probably wont abide by these rules.

 

Also one final alternative is to reduce ALL dragons levels and then use the base health and a level rate to distinguish between the different dragons. This would work better for maintaining a difference between the MQ dragons and all else but would overall make the game easier to begin with.

 

This is a fair bit of messing around due to the way the level lists appear to work so I can't say when this will be complete yet.

 

Thanks :)

 

edit - this post will probably be edited a lot as I play around with the figures

 

edit 2 - The first issue I have now found is that level lists cannot be created with scripted dragons which low and behold are used for the MQ dragons. I think I can bypass this by creating level lists with non scripted dragons and then having the MQ dragons follow these lists and then the script could be added afterwards.

Edited February 25, 2012 by Panbot3000

[Panbot3000]

Ok, i'm bumping this just this once in the hope of getting some feedback on the following areas:

 

1) Would reducing Ancient/Elder dragons as suggested be a big issue for people?

 

2) Would the starting level of MQ dragons make it too difficult at lower levels?

 

3) Does anyone have any other suggestions for this?

 

Thanks :smile:

Edited February 25, 2012 by Panbot3000