I know that many players in PkHonor are used to always keeping attacking no matter what and I know they're not a fan of this change (especially since it means more clicking). The main reason we chose to make this change - despite the negative outcome of community polls - is because it creates certain advantages and major changes in combat dynamics (mostly in PvP), which are simply not there in OSRS.
The choice is always a difficult one - do we try to be as much like OSRS as possible, or do we go our own way? The solution is often found in between, but where certain core combat mechanics are concerned, the OSRS approach is simply the only acceptable one. We like to have lots of small conveniences in our game that OSRS doesn't have (such as free teleports everywhere, ease of access, higher XP rates etc.), but unlike keeping on attacking when equipping items, none of our 'conveniences' are supposed to have a direct (negative) impact on our combat dynamics.
We did consider leaving in the option to always keep attacking in PvM, but this would only lead to confusion amongst most players, so I chose not to. This means PvM scenario's have become a tiny bit more difficult than before, which can - from a certain point of view - be considered an improvement.
Secondly, the damage roll of a magic spell or ranged projectile is now calculated during cast (rather than on hit). Spell & special attack effects (such as freeze, teleblock, weaken, poison, ...) as well as the combat XP drop now also apply during cast. This change applies to both PvM and PvP.
This is something that had remained largely unchanged for the past several years, simply because we had made wrong assumptions (or were wrongly informed) about how this particular mechanic worked in OSRS. Our combat mechanics now mimic theirs much more accurately, meaning once you see a spell or projectile incoming, switching gear or prayer will not protect you from it. Also, when attacking a player or NPC, you can now predict how much damage will be dealt based on the XP drop.
We do hope to achieve the same combat mechanics and principles as they have (with some minor exceptions). But this may not always be the case. If you are familiar with precise timings, specific combat mechanics in OSRS, strengths and weaknesses of weapons and equipment and notice any of these being different here on PkHonor (at least, in a bad way), please do tell us in the appropriate in-game suggestion or bug report forums, so that we may continue to improve on them.
Now, what you've all been waiting for - brought to you by Andres, under Dylan's supervision, with my finishing touches, as well as input, testing and feedback from our community (special thanks to Adamthalion for all his efforts): ZULRAH!
This is a safe solo boss, meaning you don't lose any items on death when fighting it. You'll respawn in Edgeville with all items kept.
There are 3 different ways to get there:
- Become a premium member and use the Zulrah portal at Premium island
- Make some progress in the Correcting History quest - the sailor at port Phasmatys can sail you to Tyras camp, from where it's only a short walk South along the coast to Zulrah
- Purchase a Zulrah teleport scroll for 2M coins in a general supplies store or any slayer store
- Non-premium members will be charged a fee of 15 PkHonor Points every time they wish to row to the island
- Unlike OSRS, once Zulrah is killed, it will respawn (so non-premium members can get more out of their fee)
- Zulrah and its snakelings can apply venom, a stronger version of poison! It starts at 6 damage, hits once every 18 seconds and increases its damage by 2 every time it hits, up to 20
- Given as an elite slayer task (requires combat level 110 or higher)
The spoils: (all tradeable)
- Zulrah's scales - used on an antidote++ potion to create anti-venom potions (5 scales per dose), which in turn can be made into anti-venom+ potions with torstol
The scales are also used to charge the toxic blowpipe, trident of the swamp (aka toxic trident) and the serpentine helm (as well as the magma helm and tanzanite helm). Premium members receive 50 - 200 scales every kill, non-premiums receive 25 - 100 scales every kill (droprates for all other items are the same for prems and non-prems) - Tanzanite fang - use a chisel on it to make the Toxic blowpipe. The Toxic blowpipe has a chance to apply venom to your enemy. It works with any darts, including poisoned darts, but no poison effect will ever be applied - only venom. Just like OSRS, the blowpipe has increased attack speed while used in PvM (however, you cannot use the Rapid stance while wearing a Completionist Cape (Chaos))
- Magic fang - use on a trident of the seas to create a trident of the swamp (aka toxic trident), which can venom your enemies. Just like the trident of the seas, it has a built-in spell, but cannot be used against players in the wilderness.
- Serpentine visage - use a chisel on it to make a Serpentine Helm. It provides complete immunity from poison and venom and has a chance to envenom your enemy when you take damage
Note: dismantling a tanzanite fang, magic fang or serpentine visage will give you 20,000 Zulrah's scales - Tanzanite & Magma mutagen - recolor your serpentine helm. (the helm remains tradeable)
- And of course, your very own pet snek, which you can freely morph into any 3 colours! (don't forget to feed it an ex-ex-parrot for better luck)
In further news:
- The accuracy of ranged attacks in PvP has been slightly increased
- The Staff of Light now has a 1/8 chance to not use up any runes while casting a spell (does not apply to teleporting, Charge, Telegrab, Superheat, Low Alch, High Alch or Lunar spells)
- Poison now applies every 18 seconds (instead of a random amount between 10 and 20 seconds), but will now wear off more slowly. This way, our poison now works exactly the same way it does in OSRS
- Super energy potions now work propely (you could always make them but never drink them - we've fixed that now). Each dose restores 20% run energy
- You can now create Antidote+ potions (toadflax + coconut milk + yew root), which have the same effect as Superantipoison potions, but they last longer (little over 8 minutes instead of 5 minutes)
- You can now create Antidote++ potions (irit leaf+ coconut milk + magic root), which have the same effect as Antidote+, but provide the longest poison immunity (12 minutes)
- Venenatis, Krakens, the Giant Mole and Nex now drop noted yew and magic roots and to provide ingredients for Antidote+ and Antidote++ (the only alternative is through the farming skill by planting yew and magic trees)
- TzTok-Jad's attack timings have been changed to accurately mimic its working in OSRS (especially where the timing of protection prayers is concerned). The melee attack now also hits much faster
- Several monsters and bosses are now immune to either poison or venom (or both), in accordance with the OSRS wiki. Most monsters on the list were already immune to poison in PkHonor before
- The ring of recoil now works against all NPC's and will return 10% of all damage taken (rounded up), up to 40 damage total. Once 40 damage is recoiled, the ring will break
- The Giant Mole now burrows less often
- Emerald bolts (e) will now apply poison far more often than before (more like it does in OSRS)
- Fixed a bug where smoke spells would heal you (like blood spells) when used against players
- Blood spells in PvP now always heal you for exactly 25% of damage dealt. In PvM, you still heal a random amount between 0 and 25%
- Smoke burst & rush now apply 2 poison damage, smoke blitz & barrage now apply 4 poison damage (instead of a random amount between 3 and 5 for all smoke spells)
- You will now receive chatbox warnings when you have 50, 30, 20, 15, 10, 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1 charges left on the following items: Toxic Blowpipe, Abyssal Tentacle, Trident of The Seas and Trident of The Swamp
- Fully charging a Trident of The Seas will no longer result in a Trident of the Seas (full) (but will simply be a Trident of The Seas with 2500 charges). Adding the (full) item was a mistake, as it resulted in a bug that causes players to lose charges on other tridents when used. You can still normally use remaining (full) tridents, but you cannot trade or stake this version (as they are now a discontinued item). At some point in the future, we may choose to turn all remaining Trident of the Seas (full) and into regular tridents to completely remove them (and the bug)
- You can now disable login/logout messages of your friends (in ::settings)
- Fixed a bug that caused the message "X has logged out" to appear when a friend logs in while their private is off
- The bankers at Edgeville have finally overcome their fear of ghosts and allowed the refund store keeper to take up residence inside the building. With access to a proper counter, he has been able to do his job more efficiently. The other bankers have even nominated him for "undead employee of the year" (a contest brought to you by the Game Organization and Assistance Team™ at Camelot)
- The Chaotic Staff, Arcane Pulse Necklace and Occult Necklace now give +15% bonus magic damage (instead of +20%)
- The Third-Age Druidic Staff (when used outside the full set) and the Staff of Light now give +12% bonus magic damage (instead of +15%)
- The Arcane Stream Necklace now gives +10% bonus magic damage (instead of +15%)
- The Arcane Blast Necklace and the Completionist Cape now give +6% bonus magic damage (instead of +10%)
- The Max Cape now gives +3% bonus magic damage (instead of +5%)
