- Trapsack.
What is the purpose of this skill? To prevent other players from digging in your sack? We have sysops for that, and all players have access to them starting at level 1. Are there any creatures that steal from players, thus giving this skill a purpose? Dragons will mug you when flatted, but this skill hardly affects that, nor does it poison dragons who attempt it.
I don't have an alternative idea for this ability. If thieves cannot steal from players, this ability needs to be removed or replaced with something usable. - Charge at skill 15.
While understandable for some weapons (halberd), this skill is insulting with others (bow). Skill 15 should be a milestone in a player's life, and I like the idea of having a new ability to play with, either passive or active. Different weapons should have different abilities unlocked at skill 15. Perhaps bows get a passive bonus to hit, or daggers get a bonus to excellent hits. Maybe staff gets a bonus to blocking, and axe gets the ability to cleave (automatically attack a second enemy if the first swing is a kill shot). It would make weapon choice more important than figuring out which weapon hits hardest in the end-game. This leads me to my next statement. - Weapon choice is uninspired.
Current weapon choice is based solely on what is available at the end of the game, and there are some clear winners. In Nork, halberd is the only viable weapon until the very end of the segment, when things like saber and Berovar's greatsword become available. Until then, you just can't compete with anyone using a halberd. There needs to be more useful weapon variety. Killers aside, only certain weapons are seriously considered in certain segments. I'll use Nork as my example.
There are ten weapon skills, most of which have no viability at all or are dubious in their usefulness. Nobody in Nork uses axe or shortsword because they are easily outclassed by anything else. Mace, bow, dagger, throwing, and staff have uses for certain classes or situations, but are generally not viable. Mace users have Smasher's mace, Mentalists have Chipper's staff, there's the returning axe for throwers, etc. Then there's greatsword and longsword, both of which are good choices for the end of the scenario, but have no viability before then. This leaves us with halberd, which has easily obtainable, very powerful variants of itself throughout Nork. From level 1 to level 50, halberd is the weapon of choice unless you need to damage a power lair.
We need to get some competitive mid-level weaponry in the game to spice things up. There also needs to be a viable end game weapon for each class of weapon. The term 'stick' was coined for a reason. Years ago, players knew that halberd was the path to the top of the game and not much has changed since. - KM5 silver crossbow.
This weapon is a joke. Given the locality of it and the difficulty in obtaining it (two rare, random drops), plus the fact that only a thief can get to the NPC and trade for it, it should be better. Current testing puts it at the same strength as a wooden shortbow. As far as end game weapons go, this might be the worst in Drakkar. - Skilling anywhere there is real risk or challenge.
In Nork, the best skill is found in places you can kill things in one hit or less. Even at higher skill levels (15 to 20), the best skill per hour is found in places like Nork -3.5 and the Yeti caves. Below is a typical example of productive hunting at these skill levels.
In order to gain maximum skill per time spent hunting, you have to hunt areas that are of no challenge. In theory, hunting KM-5 should be more rewardining than sniping goblins in N-1 at skill 17, but this is not the case. Skilling is reduced to mind-numbing clicking-to-beat-respawn tactics. No dancing, dodging, healing, or any other actual player skill is required. I want to be rewarded for hunting somewhere that make me put forth real effort into both killing and surviving. I'm not sure how to fix this; maybe re-implement some of the old skill gained per swing or hit, or increase the skill gained per kill in higher end areas?
Thanks for reading.