Today we're releasing the 'Elite Threat' system! If you all remember the 'hunting overhaul' system, wherein certain NPCs in Tcanna, Torturer's Cavern and Drakuum got enhanced mechanics for a low chance at dropping area-unique relic pieces - then this is an iteration on that system!

I won't outline the full details here, HELP ELITES covers that in detail, but let me highlight instead here the changes between this new system and the old one.

Elite NPCs
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Under the old system, the NPCs would just get randomly assigned powers on reset. Every NPC had at least one power essentially. This has changed, and now all those NPCs will be going back to their mundane selves. No powers, and no drops.

Instead, new 'elite' versions of certain NPCs will spawn rarely in the area. We won't be setting this up for every single NPC type in the area, just certain ones. For example, in Tcanna, you might occassionally encounter an elite gorilla, but never a crow.

You can tell if a NPC is an elite one by looking at INFO HERE, it'll say (elite) next to its name. For system builders, the NPC's attributes in GMCP will have an 'E'.


Difficulty
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Elite NPCs are a lot more difficult. They hit harder, and often have additional attacks over their mundane counterparts, and that's not counting the various powers they get.

They have a significant amount of health, are crit resistant (not immune unless they have that specific power) and their health also scales upwards based on number of attackers. That said, the health scaling is such that more people should still result in a faster kill overall.

Their health values are also hidden even if you have the hunter's book artifact. Instead, you will see their health as a percentage on EVALUATE - and this is available to everybody regardless of the artifact.


Powers
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Most powers have changed in anticipation of fights being longer, and entirely new powers have been added, read the HELP ELITES file for an overview of each power. The old system had various checks against your stats, similar to DC rolls, but these have been removed entirely. Elites can spawn with any number of powers.


Rarity & Rewards
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Elite NPCs are a lot, lot rarer. Most will, on average, spawn once every 2-4 days. There will be exceptions to this rule, such as the Dramlai Siege story event, or maybe in the future certain quests will guarantee an elite spawn.

Since they're a lot rarer, we've changed up how the rewards work. For those elites that have drops, like the old hunting overhaul mobs that drop their area-unique relic pieces, an elite NPC will always drop 1 item guaranteed. In addition to that, if five or more people helped to kill it, then there will be a second guaranteed drop. These guaranteed drops are separate from its normal random drop checks, which will still run regardless. The random chance on its normal drops has been significantly lowered. This will be on a case by case basis, but for example the Tcanna NPCs have gone from a 1/10000 drop chance down to 1/10.

Drops are given randomly to those that helped kill the elite - it's not who got the killing blow.

Elite NPCs are also worth a decent amount of experience, and dying to one shouldn't result in experience loss. In addition to this, helping to kill one will grant you a new 'elite_triumph' defence that will boost your experience gain by 10% for 30 minutes.


Bring friends!
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These are not intended to be solo experiences. While some of you could definitely solo them, the system has been designed around multiple people.


New Hunting skills
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There are two new skills available under AB HUNTING related to this system:
- AB HUNTING SCRUTINY
- AB HUNTING ELIMINATE


Dramlai urgent missions
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Elite Drakkenmont soldiers will soon be showing up for this Dramlai siege event. When an elite Drakkenmont soldier spawns, it'll be announced over the Resistance channel and a new 'urgent' mission will be available to accept. Urgent missions do not require, nor use up any of your allowances. Rather than dropping relic pieces, these Drakkenmont Elites will drop 'a torn Drakkenmont insignia', a currency that will be used in the future at the Resistance shop. The mission itself will always reward 1 of these insignias, so consider the elite drops to be extras for a lucky few.

These elite soldiers will show up more frequently than elites from other areas.


That should be it for now. Remember to read HELP ELITES and please be patient with any bugs that show up. Good luck!

Penned by my hand on Kinsday, the 21st of Lanosian, in the year 512 MA.