Spiral Knights - Kataclysmic Confrontation Additions

Kataclysmic Confrontation Additions

14 replies [Last post]

Wed, 01/20/2016 - 08:13

Umbra-Lunatis

As the Kataclysmic Confrontation event is coming up after March of the Tortodrones, I'm proposing a few new additions to it this year.

>>Ancient Page Aura.
This Aura addition would cast a dark haze over an armor, somewhat like the Grasping Aura. It would include an occasional scattering of pages in a rapid, whirlwind-like fashion. It would additionally give the user a trail much like that of the Black Kat monster.

>>Dread Wing reskins.
Akin to Margrel's Dread Wing accessory, I'm proposing Red, White, and Tan variations. These match the Kat Claw, Kat Eye, and Kat Hiss colorations, allowing for more complete color schemes in outfits that include those colors.

>>Seraphynx Reskins for the Claw, Eye, and Hiss colorations, costing the same as a Black Kat Seraphynx.
Also, recolorations of the particle effects for the reskinned sprites' attacks.

Lastly,
>>Usage of the Book of Dark Rituals as a crafting item, seeing as how it is one in the first place.
I've got two ideas:
>Ritual Tome Stand (Furnishing), discussed in a different thread.
>Tome of Rage reskin, crafted with and resembling the Book.

Thoughts?

Wed, 01/20/2016 - 09:20

Holy-Nightmare

...+1

I'm all for new cosmetics and whatnot but I'd also like some new weaponry and gear (or skins of current weapons) with color schemes to match their set.

Kat Claw Blade: Basically a Shadow/Normal Leviathan blade line, same neutral damage and charge attack as regular

Kat Eye Hexer: Basically a reskinned version of the Phantasmos line

Kat Hiss Howler: Basically a pure shadow damage Nitronome line bomb

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Black Kat danger rooms (candlestick keep only event rooms), Basically a random chance to get a room with 2 BKs and a swarm of undead.

Wed, 01/20/2016 - 13:00

Fangel

Hmm.

I would say don't make the book of dark rituals a crafting item, but rather allow us to trade 100-150 ancient pages for a book that we can use in crafting, or for a Margrel fight that only awards wicked whiskers to those who participate. This would solve pretty much all problems with the event as it stands.

For the aura, why not a "phantasmal aura" for the black kat movement effect, and the ancient page aura would just be swirling pages, maybe leaving a trail of pages behind you?

More kat wings might be alright, but tbh I'd like it if we could get more wings closer to the actual kat wings, which are tiny and cute. Think more of a seraphynx wing reskin but smaller and in the kat costume colors.

Sera reskins are fine. I think tabby and siamese might already match the kat eye and kat hiss though.

Wed, 01/20/2016 - 13:23

Umbra-Lunatis

@nightmare

hey, that's not a bad idea either.
Though bleh, we've had enough Lev blades. Better idea:
A red/brown cat-claw reminiscent of Scraith's feline nature. The claws cover both hands, rendering the shield invisible but still present.
It would deal piercing damage, and have a unique three-part method of attack:
1) a pounce/leap covering 2x the rocket hammer's dash distance. To make up for this, it deals no damage.
2) a swipe with the left claw
3) a swipe with the right claw that deals moderate flinch/knockback.
The charge is a pounce manually directed toward an enemy. If it connects, the player lands on the enemy, immobilizing it and stopping any attack it was about to make, and swipes with their right hand once, dealing moderate damage, stun, and knockback. The character detaches from the enemy right after swiping.
While attacking, the claw tips gain a FF-like trail.
Overall, the weapon deals slightly less damage than the Flourish line due to the mobility increase. However, it has a small chance of dealing minor stun with the third attack.

Instead of a reskinned phantamos:
A white/grey wooden crossbow that deals piercing damage. It has a slight reload delay between each shot.
The gun would function similarly to Maskeraith's needles; it would shoot thorns that attach to enemies. However, hitting an enemy with a thorn stuck to it would shoot a thorn at the next closest enemy and deal extra damage to the enemy originally shot.
The charge attack would function similarly to the Magnus. A single, large bolt that does extra damage to thorn-stuck enemies, pierces multiple enemies, but deals no knockback. The user is propelled backward the length of one rocket hammer dash.
The bolts' color would be white.

Instead of a Nitronome:
A tan/green explosive barrel. Charge time is slightly less than the Angry bomb.
Deals Piercing damage. Propels the user forward with a pounce, (maximum length 2.5x rocket hammer dash) having the player slam the bomb down when they hit a wall, enemy, or come to the end of the dash length. The fuse time, as opposed to the charge time, is less than a second, and the barrel makes contact with the ground at the end of the fuse.
The blast would work almost the same as a Nitronome, however, dealing the same knockback as Nitro along with BAB-level stun. The blast radius is relatively the same as the Irontech Destroyer, and the blast color is orange.

whatcha think?

Wed, 01/20/2016 - 13:34

Umbra-Lunatis

@fangel

Oh yes, mewkat wings pls. Possibly just non-prismatic seraphynx wings though.
The dread wing reskins are for Scraith, Preowa, and Torair's Cowl/Raiment colors.

For the BoDR: How about two crafting recipes that produce slightly different results? A token-earned item would have a dark leather-bound book with yellowed pages, while the book would have its own color scheme. The token book is like the black kat mask: Almost as "elite", but falling short of the true power of the Book itself.
The BoDR is already a material. There is no sense in not using it in crafting, especially for potentially cool-looking items.

(oh also splitting the auras up is a good move. props to ya.)

Wed, 01/20/2016 - 21:29

Dracora-Speaking

+1 in general

I'm always fully against using BoDR as a crafting item. It's too ridiculously rare, and too needed for too many items anyway. The last thing it needs is more uses in obtaining more lasting items.

IDK why they don't classify the BoDR as a key, instead of a material (not all materials are used in crafting, either). Same with the Fiendish ID Card. It's not like we can't craft non equipment items (sprite pods = usable, and sprite food). It's not like monsters can't drop anything but materials (mewkat = accessories, pickups, heat). I'm sure Black Kats could drop an item classified as a key, and I'm sure we could put pages together to make a book-key.

I also constantly wince at how Kat Eye set is pretty much completely outclassed by Sacred Grizzly Shade (we all know those few pixels of increased shadow defense on the kat are laughable, and being weak to poison is meaningless, and both can be rectified by UVs anyway), especially regarding cost. Just add MSI:low to each kat piece, not just Black, and we wouldn't have this problem. It would also justify their outrageous cost. Wait no it wouldn't. OOO, stop it.

IMO, before they add new amazing stuff to the kat event, they need to fix it first. It's hands down the worst event in the game for various reasons, the largest of which is how it fails to encourage team play because we can't usefully invite each other to the black kats we find, unlike mysterious rooms for other events. It was not always this way in the past, so it's definitely intentional change, and a decision I find severely disappointing and damaging to the community (especially with BoDR host scams, which are made worse by the desperation caused by the grind, and also need work).

These things have been said before. Many times.

Anyway, these are some beautiful ideas I'd like to see. Especially if we can earn some of 'em like we do with the Grasping Aura during SotA.

I would pair a Sealed Sword with an Ancient Page Aura for additional papery-shedding looks.

I'd call your book accessory reskin "Tome of Rituals" and it sounds amazing.

Wed, 01/20/2016 - 21:56

Umbra-Lunatis

@dracora

What you said about the Sealed Sword makes me wonder if we could get a page-shedding Gran Faust reskin. sounds pretty neat
Far as the auras being token-earned, absolutely.

If the Book was made into a key, that would be fair too. However, there's nothing quite like ripping apart a curse-ridden feline phanton, finding a tome that undulates with pitch-dark magic lodged inside of its tattered remnants, and hooking it up to a harness so you can carry it around. just saying.

I have a proposition for the page token->book transaction.
Instead of summoning Margrel, the token-bought Book would summon either Scraith, Preowa, or Torair. These bosses would use melee, ranged, and AoE attacks, respectively. Once defeated, they would drop either a Kat Cowl or Kat Raiment, in the Claw/Eye/Hiss colors, along with a Whisker.

Wed, 01/20/2016 - 23:43

Baconparadox

Everything sounds like a good idea

But isn't kat gear mostly armor and helmets?

Thu, 01/21/2016 - 07:16

Umbra-Lunatis

@bacon

Yeah. Apart from the Black Kat Seraphynx and a couple cosmetics, the gear consists of the kathats and the kat cloaks.
That's why having event weapons as an addition would be really neat, like Nightmare was saying.

Thu, 01/21/2016 - 08:20

Holy-Nightmare

Keep it simple

With the current staff I think we could get out different damage type Cobalt weapons for this even FAAAAAR sooner than 3 brand new weapons with new mechanics.....

Cobalt gear is simply reliable and having a damage type added to the group would be wonderful. Just look at the Valiance branch options....

Thu, 01/21/2016 - 08:30

#10

Umbra-Lunatis

@nightmare

Hey, if i don't put it out there then it won't ever be out there. Always worth a shot.
Only problem with cobalt gear is that it's very boring to use. There's no variety to it, and if we got cobalt stuff from Kat while the other two events hand out the Carbine and the Tortofists, that would kinda suck.
Plus, I'd rather have weapons reminiscent of the Kat Tribe itself. There's a lot of lore to fill with that kind of stuff.

Thu, 01/21/2016 - 10:26

#11

Fehzor

Honestly I try to forget the event exists most of the time. If they want me to care they need to make the book less impossible to get.

Thu, 01/21/2016 - 12:48

#12

Dracora-Speaking

Going off the seemingly random names...

OP has reminded me that the descriptions of the non-black Kat gear mention these names:

Kat Claw = swords (claws are swords, nuff said) = Scraith

Kat Eye = handguns (eyes are for seeing/zooming/targeting) = Preowa

Kat Hiss = bombs (hissing is something cats do, and many oldschool bombs have a hissy fuse before they boom) = Torair

These are some pretty fragmented mentions of lore, SK. Care to elaborate? I like the idea of fighting them, but I don't like the idea that they drop helmets, and I don't think OOO will invest much in new boss dynamics. But here we have the opportunity for Mysterious Rooms specific to the Kataclysmic Confrontation.

These Mysterious Rooms are "shrines" that appear in the clockworks when Black Kats are on the move. There would be three different shrines (one per hero), and each is considered the "purrfect kat nest" by Black Kats, as such, several BKs are encountered. Thus we can invite each other to black kat fights! Yay! Each shrine would have its own hazards and scenery, but a tome stand would always be in the center. This tome is a record of that hero's adventures, a sort of journal if you will. Thus Black Kats want to eat it to try and be more like their idols. These shrines only appear in T2 and T3, otherwise, same rules as other mysterious rooms.

If the player approaches the tome stand after the fight and offers 200 ancient pages to try and restore what the Black Kats ate from it (let's just assume they're blank pages and the Hero can rewrite the lore with a spooky Owlite Feather quill), a spiritual vision of one of the kat tribe heroes (a ghost) appears over a book in the center of the shrine (only seen by the donator), and gives thanks for getting those rabblerousers (the black kats) out of their tomb. In return, a whisker drops for the donator (bound). Each player in the party has the opportunity to interact with the tome. If they don't have enough pages, they simply read a fragmented story (donators get the same story fragments, hey, it's not like the hero can instantly write all that stuff up again). Thus we have a room with 3 functions - cooperative black kat hunt, whisker acquisition, and lore.

Or we could have a mini-colored-margrelesque fight in each shrine. Preowa would be like a slightly smaller white+grey Margrel, or something, and with not as many dark abilities. And drop a whisker for everyone in the party upon defeat. Maybe even a fetish or two. Maybe they have a decent chance of dropping BoDR. This would mean the rooms would have to be more rare though, and I don't like that so much. But fun stuff! It all depends on what OOO intends the heroes to be...totally evil Owlite killers, or true heroes of heart who regret their actions during the Academy's fall and that's what holds them back from moving on...well, other than having so many kat after-lives.

I think this sort of thing would be a wonderful lore opportunity. We could read about the kat tribe heroes in the tomes in the center of their shrines (fragmented and partially digested as the pages might be), and possibly learn about the differences between kat individuals, any rivalries and so on (whiskers are "won" from Margrel according to the material description, so what does that say about kat tribe heroes having them? Oh juicy rivalry indeed). I'm very adamant about improving this event's gameplay by encouraging teamwork and doing something about the horrendous costs of relatively useless armor items. Making whiskers more accessible seems to be an excellent opportunity/solution...in my book.

I wonder how this could all come together regarding the Book of Grey Feathers Margrel supposedly opened, according to the Black Kat armor and helmet descriptions... and who were the Kat Nappers!? (4* Black Kat description). I feel like OOO had big plans for the event, they just never got finished with 'em. Like maybe the Kat Suit costumes were supposed to be combat equipment...

Thu, 01/21/2016 - 13:40

#13

Fangel

Kat event is bonkers

Instead of summoning Margrel, the token-bought Book would summon either Scraith, Preowa, or Torair.
This sounds pretty much identical to a suggestion I made a little under two years ago. The system proposed is a "chapter" system, where you trade 100-150 ancient pages for a random "chapter" from the tomes of the past. Each chapter would have a unique boss battle to it, and would give tokens that don't expire that can be traded for wicked whiskers.

The idea is that the event is still a social one, but people won't be trying to force other people to buy slots into margrel for obnoxious prices, and then potentially just cheating them out of their money. Tortodrones, Apocrea, heck, even Grinchlin Assault are fun events. Black Kat is a mindless event and locks most players out of its content. While I'm okay with mindless, the locking players out of content is not something that's great for the game.

Kat event needs revamping. I have a rather large megathread from a while back that has gone over many many fixes to the system. I'll likely be bumping it event kat event until some fix makes it into the system, but it's never too early to reboot the conversation!

Thu, 01/21/2016 - 14:23

#14

Mertorius

I strongly agree that before adding anything new to this event they have to fix it first. The event is simply not enjoyable, nearly every aspect of it is bad. First you have to be considerably lucky to get a blak kat to spawn, then you have to be insanely more lucky to get the BoDR to drop. Not to mention the addition of the nearly useless kat armors, which, despite their general uselessness (except the Black Kat one ofc), have been priced at 30k energy or so thanks to the wicked whiskers and the party invite scams.

I like Dracora-Speaking's Mysterious Kat Shrine idea so +1 to that. Or they could just make a kat nest danger room like the ones we find in the prestige missions and have them work like the Mysterious Rooms from the Tortodrone event: You kill the black kats, a random amount of Ancient Page tokens drop in the end as reward. Then you use said tokens to trade for wicked whiskers to craft the kat armors. Just double the amount of whiskers needed to craft the Black Kat armor and done. Isn't that how part of the Tortodrone event works? That seems reasonable to me. But it sure seems like OOO cares about gameplay complaints nowadays doesn't it?

Anyway +1 to Ancient Page aura, Dread Wings reskins, seraphynx reskins, Kat Claw Blade, to Fangel's craftable book and to the idea of acquiring the new cosmetics with tokens.

I think the Kat Eye Hexer should be a new alchemer. Maybe shadow fire or something? And the Kat Hiss Howler would be better as a shadow Dark Briar Barrage. Nitronome is part of the basic Spiral Knights weapons line, so a shadow variant should be acquired through Basil, like the new Blaster lines.

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Kataclysmic Confrontation Additions