MUME VII: Summary of Changes (Frór) &

Author:Manwë
Date:Sat Apr 10 13:20:38 1999
Id:1286
                            Welcome to MUME VII !


The following are the most important changes from MUME VI to MUME VII.
They will be better discussed in further news and in the help files.

* Chosen statistics.
  As you should have seen when logging on, statistics like strength and
  wisdom are not random anymore: you get to choose them while creating your
  character. Raising a stat from 17 to 18 costs much more than raising it
  from 8 to 9 - so, if you want three exceptional stats the other four will
  be quite bad.
  The stat-choice process can be hard for real newbies, so an easier interface
  has been written for them, suggesting stat-sets that have proven to be
  easy-to-play and successful.

* Dynamic classes.
  Characters do not choose a class at level one, either. Instead, your class
  is determined by what you practice. If you concentrate on weapon skills,
  your combat skill and endurance will increase. If you instead concentrate
  on spells, you will become able to learn and use difficult incantations.
  And lastly, if you try to become a jack of all trades, you will not be
  able to master any of them.

* Change class.
  At any time, you can type 'change class' and see a list of titles that
  match your skills, race, alignment, history, and so on. 'change class X' to
  choose a new class. Your choice only affects where you appear on 'who warr',
  'who cleric'..., and your whois.

* Continuous regeneration.
  You will no more gain a certain amount of hp, mana and moves once every rl
  minute. Instead, you will recover health, concentration and stamina at a
  more or less steady rate - say, one point of mana every few seconds.

* Delayed actions will now (hopefully) stop as soon as the end condition
  that is necessary for the action to complete is no longer valid. For
  example, if you cast a spell at someone and he walks out of the room,
  the casting will be interrupted. If you try to backstab someone and they
  start fighting you, you'll stop the backstab attempt etc.

* During the character generation process, you are asked if you are an
  experienced player or not. If you are not, you are not asked stats directly;
  you are instead asked questions about your character, and your answers will
  select an 'easy to play' set of stats. New "easy" stat sets are simple to
  add: if you find some particularly good statsets you wish to share, put them
  on "idea".

* 'Who newbie' shows the characters who said they are not expert.

* Willpower and perception are much more important than in MUME VI. Willpower
  influences your total mana and mana regen rate, and affects some more
  spells; perception affects several warrior and thief skills.

* Hit points and OB depend on your skills - they improve by learning
  warrior skills, they worsen when you learn spells.

* A new warrior skill, endurance, will improve your hit point total and your
  hit/move regen.

* Your effective level slowly increases even when you're a legend. This
  affects the casting level of spells, OB, and so on.

* You can choose what skills to refresh and what skills to forget via the
  'train' command.

* Practicing and spellcasting have undergone several important changes,
  discussed in the following posts. The important thing to remember is 
  that your efficiency in a skill/spell depends not only on your knowledge 
  in the skill/spell (learned %) but also on your proficiency in related 
  skills/spells.

* Some spells have undergone changes (shield, armour, sanctuary).

* Casting level (determined by your level, your efficiency in the spell 
  and your casting success) detemines mana usage and spell effect.

* Spells don't fail anymore but can sometimes backfire when your casting
  level is not high enough.

* Spells can be cast at different speeds, which affects their mana usage 
  and their efficiency.

* Subraces have been introduced. For now, they only affect the knowledge 
  of languages, but some other small effects will be added in a foreseeable 
  future.


The MUME 7 Hack^H^H^H^H Development Team.