Og Blog: Tradition and Challenge

Saw this topic on the RSOF from Mod Rathe and it answers a lot of questions bout the combat level formula and the combat xp restriction.

Hi all,

I hope to clarify our thinking behind the new combat level calculation here. As you will have seen, the new combat level calculation has been announced and is:

2 + Defence + X = Combat Level
X = The highest of either Attack, Strength, Ranged or Magic

Therefore the new highest combat level is 200, and the new lowest is 4.

What we wanted to achieve with the new calculation was to streamline it, so making it easier to gauge how difficult your target will be to fight. Now while in a way it is sad to see Prayer, Summoning and Constitution retired from the formula, we felt that they were just complicating the issue.

While Prayer does make a big difference to the outcome of a fight, ultimately either someone has it or they don't and you'll soon see if they do when they use it. To this end, we felt people who are serious about their combat would all have the necessary Prayers. In a system where everyone has something, featuring it in the calculation doesn't really help anyone, and so for the sake of streamlining, Prayer was dropped from the formula.

In regards to Summoning and Constitution, while again they do make a difference, in the new system they don't make enough of a difference to warrant a place in the new formula. A maxed out player in the best gear will have 990 Lifepoints from their Constituion, but will be getting around 15,000 Lifepoints from their equipment. Summoning has largely been left to one side for now, as we wish to re-visit the skill with an overhaul of its very own in the future. For now, Summoning doesn't play a large part in the new combat system, so again is not featured in the new formula.
...We hope the new combat level will give people a clearer view of what their target is capable of. With the new level of balance we hope to bring to Melee, Range and Mage, and the reinforcement of the combat triangle, having 99 in Attack, Strength, Magic and Range won't provide you with an advantage over someone with only 99 in one corner of the combat triangle. Armours now feature heavy negative penalties for attacking with the wrong style while wearing them, so having 99's in all the corners of the combat triangle will not present an advantage during a fight. Where having 99's will be an advantage, is giving you the choice as to what style of combat you want to use before a fight.

We are very keen to hear your feedback on all aspects of the new system, and will work closely with the players during the Beta to help polish the system to the best it can be.

Some final random thoughts:

All NPC's have had their combat level changed to reflect their true combat ability, and will use the same system as players (a lot of boss monsters use fake combat levels in LIVE currently)

Players worried about a level 4 guy with 99 Summoning cleaning house with their Steel Titan needn't worry, that level 4 will get demolished with no defence, and hence no larger lifepoints pool.

Armour switching in combat will not be an effective tactic to employ, as when you switch some armour in combat, you will encur a double global cool-down across all your abilities, which will result in your damage output taking a serious hit in the short-term which will give quite an advantage to your opponent who will still be blasting away at you.

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I seen a fair few posts turn up about people worrying about not getting Slayer xp from low level tasks. To clarify the recent blog post, in the new system, Slayer XP is not affected by being over 30 levels above the target NPC. It is only the traditional combat XP that is affected in this way: Attack, Strength, Defence, Ranged, Magic and Constitution. If you are 30 or more levels above your target, you will receive reduced XP in these stats from killing them, as opposed to none at all. Slayer XP is not reduced.

Also, this only applies when you are *above* the targets level. If you are below the targets level, such as when fighting a boss such as Nex, there is no XP penalty.

Further clarification - all NPC's in the game have been given new combat levels. There should now always be something good to train on for full XP for your combat level.

Update:

After interrogating my fellow combat developers, here is more detailed information on XP:

The XP reduction kicks in based on comparing your offensive stat to the enemy Defence level, and in fact does not use your overall combat level. Here is an example:

I have 99 Attack, 99 Defence and 1 Magic.
I Mage an NPC with 50 Defence, and I have selected to Mage defensively, so gaining Magic and Defence XP.
Let's say this NPC awards 200 XP, therefore 50% (100 XP) is for Magic and 50% (100 XP) is for Defence.
My Defence skill is more than 30 levels above the NPC so this XP is reduced down to 10% (10 XP).
However, my Magic skill is less than 30 levels away from the NPC so I get 100% of my Magic XP (100 XP).
I am awarded 10 Defence XP and 100 Magic XP.
The reduction is only applied down, never up. So if I kill an NPC that is 50 levels higher than my offence and defence skill, I will be awarded 100% of the XP.
However, if my offence and defence skills are 30+ levels above the NPC I kill, I shall only be awarded 10% of the XP.

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