[dev1141] Monstrosity (Play-as-a-Monster)

what mob would y'all wannabie !? charybdis would be fun !

You, sir, have just been trolled.

...I'm pretty sure.

Yeah.

Trolled.

..................I think.

I'd be your moghouse moogle and trash your inventory when you log off mixing everything around and out of place :3

what mob would y'all wannabie !? charybdis would be fun !

various missions as various mobs, watch
"you're a goblin smithy in battalia downs Rolanberry Fields. mission is to defeat 10 people below lvl 20"

Correct, there will be specific areas where "play as a monster" will be possible. The main reasoning for area limitations is due to the fact that huge monsters such as behemoth cannot move around in certain areas or certain parts of areas (think small cave passages etc.). Once there is more information on this we will be sure to pass it along.

Also, just as some follow up information in regards to this new system, we have seen concerns come up after announcing the concept of “play as a monster” in regards to whether or not the possibility would exist for players to just lose or win on purpose with their friends so they can receive rewards easily.

Obviously this would make this content quite boring and the development team is already at work to make a system to prevent this type of play style. This is the reasoning for notoriety/prestige (tentative name) points , which players can actively compete for. You will not be able to receive a reward by just defeating players with low point values continuously.

We have also seen a couple of requests for battlefields that can only be accessed as a monster as an alternative to the PvP element, so players can receive rewards there instead. While this is definitely an interesting idea and can be looked into in the future as a way to add elements to the system to make it more enjoyable, the concern is that by introducing this system, the focus of this content would shift to be more battlefield-centric taking away from the main idea of creating a fun and exciting way for players to fight as player vs. monster-player in open field areas.

Lazy Kalilla!

Translation from last week. There were some embedded screen clips that I'm not going to bother with. One was a screenshot of a brown rabbit with the name "Rabbit" overhead, one was of the monster command menu (in JP), one of rabbit vs. mandragora, one of a black rabbit "BlackRabbit" and one of a white rabbit "WhiteRabbit." I'm sure you can imagine what they might have looked like (or check out the JP dev tracker if you really need to see them).

Recent Developments for "Play As a Monster"

Hello!

We think we've kept you waiting too long for information because there was little opportunity to talk about the "Play As a Monster" (tentative name) development, so we want to report on it now.

{{rabbit screenshot}}

I became a monster. This time, I chose a rabbit. I don't have a player name, it turned into "Rabbit" in the log.

{{menu screenshot}}

The special action menu "Monster Skill" has been added to the command window. From here, you are able to select and activate special skills. Special skills are performed by consuming TP.

{{rabbit vs. mandragora screenshot}}

I did not raise the monster level first. In Sarutabaruta, I engaged in a fight to the death against a mandragora. Because of the monsters chosen, killer effects are unlikely to activate.

Right now I can only use the low level "Foot Kick," but I will learn new techniques, like "Whirl Claws," as the level increases.

Soon my monster will become battle-worthy. Next, I thought... let's try fighting against players! However, since this is still being adjusted, PvP battle is not yet possible at this time.

{{white rabbit and black rabbit screenshots}}

It even seems that you can level up subspecies, such as white rabbits and black rabbits, separately. For example, white rabbits can learn the unique "Snow Cloud" ability.

This post was really only intented to touch upon the content. Some of the internal data was actually embedded in today's {{last week}} test server update. We're moving forward steadily on this development and preparing it for testing. Please wait a little bit longer.

**This post reflects content under development, which is subject to change.

I chuckled more than once while I was translating this one. After reading this post and the previous one, it sounds like this system will at least be good for a few laughs, if nothing else.

Regarding "Play As a Monster"

Hello!

I want to give some answers regarding some of the comments we received.

I plan to continue to respond to the comments received even after this post, similar to how we have continued to respond to the fishing comments. We're preparing full details on the vision for the system as well as how it will function.

While much of this may overlap with what we have previously discussed at Vana'Fest, we would like to share the information again so that more people can see it and take a look.

A good portion of this translated post was eaten while I was editing it. I'm not going back and retranslating, though, because there's already an official translation on the SE forum which combines the two translations into one long post.

Greetings! (Sorry for the necrobump.)

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

I’d like to share a bit of information about the “Play as a Monster” (working title) content that is currently in development, so let’s take a brief look at an example…

Let’s pretend my big behemoth self turns into a different monster like this rabbit here.


The name is not the player's name as you can see, and it is displayed in the log as “Rabbit” as well.

Once you become a monster, there will be a “monster skill” option added to your action command menu. (Apologies that the below is only in Japanese, but the highlighted option is “monster skill”)



From this option you can select and execute abilities, which will require and consume TP.




Currently the rabbit’s level is pretty low, so I only have Foot Kick at my disposal, which is why I am out here fighting this mandragora. Once I level up I’ll start learning Whirl Claws and other abilities.

We wanted to become a really sweet monster and show off how you can fight against other players, but the PvP battle system is still being worked on, so we were unable to do it at this time.



It’s also possible to upgrade (evolve?) to a Black Rabbit or a White Rabbit. Depending on what kind you become the abilities will differ. For example, the White Rabbit will learn Snow Cloud.

While I am sure a great deal of players are in fact looking forward to having a new PvP aspect added to the game, those who do not fancy PvP much will still be able to enjoy this content (i.e. changing into a variety of different monsters). However, since part of a monster’s daily activity is to battle with adventurers, there is a high possibility that we will not be making it so you can completely avoid PvP on the monster-side.

Even if you are not actively picking fights, you may be attacked, so in these cases you can either try to resist as much as possible or throw in the towel. Don’t worry though, there will not be any death penalty, so just repop and keep on trucking. We would like the “Play as a Monster” PvP to be content that is enjoyable and does not disturb relationships with friends.

On another note, when becoming a monster you will not be able to form parties with other monster players or adventurers. The main reason why it will not be possible to do the former is because adventurers will not be able to defeat an alliance of fully developed monsters. We also don’t want to make it so you get head hunted while playing solo either when you are not in a party, and would like to keep it easy to play without this stress. For the latter, as I mentioned above, part of a monster’s life is to fight adventurers, so we want to keep the hostile relationship between adventurers and monster intact.

The development team is powering forward to make this content ready for testing on the Test Server, and actually a portion of the data has already been put onto the Test Server last week. We will have some more information on the overall system soon enough to share with you all!

*Please keep in mind that the above is all in development and can possibly change.

I wonder how hate mechanics will work when fighting against multiple adventurers.

Being forced to paddy cake a shield happy pld sounds pretty lame compared to spike flailing the party whm.

Guessing it will be monster-players are fair game to attack, but they cannot initiate the combat.

Basically you couldn't patrol Sarutabaruta attacking lvl 1 characters as a lvl 99 rabbit, but if they decide to attack you, they would get destroyed.

There will have to be some indicator of player controlled monsters; otherwise, I will totally chill as the same monster type at a GoV burning spot just for amusement.

I'm going to be a wamoura forever.