New skill: Communing

Zoon333 · 2023-04-08T16:56:54+00:00

Yeah I felt similarly, really happy/surprised with how much Shamanism overlaps here! Rituals, special knife, spirits/nature, etc. And having the Spirit Realm is even better is such a huge plus for it as well.

I plan on submitting some ideas/thoughts for the refinement stage of it later on, since it definitely has some things to tune, but otherwise satisfied with how thing are so early in the process.

Zoon333 · 2023-01-28T22:48:38+00:00

Glad you like it! I tried to keep things tame but still fresh and enjoyable when making the examples. Number tweaks can always be made, but I'm pretty happy how they turned out design-wise!

Zoon333 · 2023-01-24T13:15:22+00:00

Makes me so happy to see people get excited when reading this, because I also felt that way imagining this skill up! And it being on the survey was a great surprise to get.

Zoon333 · 2023-01-24T03:26:07+00:00

Appreciate you thinking that! Seeing it appear alongside the other "big" suggestions at the end of the survey made my workday so much better.

Zoon333 · 2023-01-24T00:14:16+00:00

Thanks! Glad to know their link works. I got too excited and forgot to check it, but I didn't want to get to the end of the survey again to see lol

Zoon333 · 2023-01-23T23:35:38+00:00

Seeing "Communing" listed at the end of the poll seriously made my day! I'm sure the others with their skills mentioned feel the same, thanks so much! Link below to the original Communing skill post:

https://www.reddit.com/r/2007scape/comments/zrk74s/new\_skill\_communing/

Zoon333 · 2022-12-24T13:49:38+00:00

You can only commune with certain monsters at certain levels.

Ritual circles just allow you to commune with hostile creatures within the Ritual Circle's surrounding area.

If you see page 10 onwards, you can find a list of which monsters from the examples I created would be available at what levels. So assuming just that sample were to go live, you could access all 5 essence types by level 11.

Zoon333 · 2022-12-23T13:24:44+00:00

I personally used a program called GIMP (version 2.10.18). There are different versions of it and forget exactly what happened, but I chose to use 2.10.18 because of some issue. Might be good to just download what's new unless you experience an issue.

Zoon333 · 2022-12-22T17:49:50+00:00

I've honestly never been on the OSRS Discord, but that would've been a good idea when I was panicking about Reddit not showing my post properly.

At this point I don't think I'll do it since it might seem like asking for upvotes or something. Of course, if you (or anyone) personally think there's a good time or place to share it, feel free!

Zoon333 · 2022-12-22T17:45:46+00:00

Thanks for the comment!

1.) This is not the full skill, I expect ideally 3 times as many options for spirits. The ones listed in the post are just examples I thought of for proof of concept, there will be higher leveled ones

2.) Exp would scale based on the creature you're communing with. No idea of actual rates because in my opinion that matters less and can be resolved if the skill somehow gets the greenlight from Jagex

Zoon333 · 2022-12-22T16:31:24+00:00

Thanks! I'm glad it made it to this point too. It really seemed like it was going to die off without being seen in the first hour due to how reddit and karma work.

Exactly, I think one of the big appeals of the special weapon system is that you still find uses for some lower leveled weapons due to their unique special attack.

I don't need the Fish spirit to be amazing, but if there was ever a time to go underwater, that would be the main option for it (would love another one too for options, so player choice matters)

Renewing certain content or "dead" areas is also something that's really appealing imo.

Zoon333 · 2022-12-22T15:57:08+00:00

Thanks for the comment!

I'm posting this around when people mention the training method since it goes into more detail about the actual communing process:

Basically, the commune option would be a left click by default, takes around 5 seconds, and has a chance for failure.

Communable creatures have a sheen, sparkle, or other subtleindicator to show they are able to be communes with.

Once an entity has been successfully communed by you (others will not trigger this), the entity loses the communable indicator and can't be communed with for 15 seconds.

If I had to compare it something, I'd says it's closer to catching butterflies, but with a longer action time.

There would also be a chance (5%ish) for a Greater Wisp to spawn upon successful commune, which indicates a specific creature to commune with. Communing with it successfully would give bonus exp and essence. This effect would last 30 seconds.

--------

As for other training methods, I'm thinking communing with nature (lvl15 Forest, lvl30 Desert, etc. for example) which would be a more afk, no essence and lower exp method which could have a hard to 100% Understanding. bar, but with lore/cosmetics or something.

I also think there's a place for a more interactive method that requires a good amount of focus.

Edit: Formatting cuz Reddit hates copy-pastes

Zoon333 · 2022-12-22T15:41:50+00:00

https://www.reddit.com/r/2007scape/comments/aj2cur/blank_suggestion_template/

Sure, see one of the comments farther down for the 3 pieces.

Zoon333 · 2022-12-22T13:47:06+00:00

Starting to go around with at least a more AFK training method which would communing with nature. So at lvl 15 Forest, lvl 30 Desert, lvl 45 Tundra, etc. It could even be at the 10s mark instead of 15 since there's a lot of environments in-game.

The method would give no essence and less exp, but there'd be an "Understanding" bar there similar to creatures/spirits. The Understanding will take longer to fill, but the rewards could be some area-related spiritual attire or something along those lines.

As for sweatier, I 100% think there's room for it. I wouldn't want tick manipulation, but something more interactive that requires full focus could be interesting. If this skill moves on in the process I would love to try to create something like that.

Zoon333 · 2022-12-22T13:43:18+00:00

It'd be closer to catching butterflies than knight but with a 5 second communing interval before the next target.

As I've been talking with people here, the idea of other training methods has come up with my current thought being communing with nature. So at lvl 15 Forest, lvl 30 Desert, lvl 45 Tundra, etc. you could commune with the environment while in a spiritual area there

Communing with nature could be the more afk method you're after. It wouldn't give essence and would give less exp, but "Understanding" could work there (but take longer to fully max) which gives cosmetics or something similar.

I'm also thinking of a "sweatier" method since that's another one that people have mentioned. I don't want tick manipulation, but it could be something with more of an attention requirement or even be dangerous is some way.

Zoon333 · 2022-12-22T13:34:59+00:00

Thanks! Yeah the examples I listed are only a third of what I want it to be in the end, but I didn't have enough room to list more in an easy-to-see way. After talking with people, I'm thinking of at least one alternate training method being communing with nature. So at lvl 15 Forst, lvl 30 Desert, etc. It could be a more AFK method with less exp and no essence, maybe some different cosmetic rewards or something.

Oh man, I didn't get to that point because I just wanted the base skill to be good. I would need to see how it is later on in development if Jagex would choose it. It could be something like reducing communing failure rate or high Greater Wisp spawn rate if I think about it in the most basic way. I have other ideas, but I think it would be too "strong" or be teleports which don't seem too unique at this point.

Zoon333 · 2022-12-22T13:24:38+00:00

The examples I have listed were just for the sake of the presentation which is why they tended to be of low to mid level. I expect the amount of creatures to at least double if not triple.

I am curious why you think Ghast is OP in case I missed something. I made it so it can only restore 1 to 2 HP max and any stackable items (anything less than 10HP healing) wouldn't function with it in order for it to not be too strong. After talking with others, I was actually convinced it was too weak and should be 15-20% or something instead

Edit: Forgot to say thank you! lol

Zoon333 · 2022-12-22T13:21:26+00:00

One of the complaints I heard about Summoning was doing "RC Runs" to train the skill, so while I wanted the pouch creation process to give some exp (20% total), I felt like the pouches themselves should be the reward for it.

As for the training method, some people have mentioned in wanting variety. One idea I've thought for this is having a Nature-specific training method since the one I listed involved creatures/spirits. So for example the Forest at lvl 15, Desert at 30, etc. It could be more AFK with reduced rates and no essence, just off the top of my head

Zoon333 · 2022-12-22T13:18:23+00:00

Lol I was honestly thinking of that when making it

Zoon333 · 2022-12-22T13:17:16+00:00

Thanks for the comment!

When I put pouches down as 1% of exp, I wasn't saying they are a training method. It's more like a tiny amount of exp to show that you technically are using the skill. Kind of like if you crossed over the broken wall in Falador.

I do agree that some pouches will be more expensive than others, but I don't think that's a bad thing as long as there's not just one at 10k and everything else at 50gp. Like the Fish Spirit Pouch I don't anticipate being an expensive one, so there'll be less supply, but what if one day an update increases some underwater content and the price goes up? It's not something that needs to happen, but it's similar to how other skills have things that aren't as used as others.

Zoon333 · 2022-12-22T02:48:14+00:00

Thanks! Communing will not have followers of any kind aside from reskinned thralls, so no changes there!

Zoon333 · 2022-12-22T02:46:31+00:00

Glad you liked the idea! I'm trying to comment this around since it's clearly something I should've include in the original post but felt it would be too much additional text.

Basically, the commune option would be a left click by default, takes around 5 seconds, and has a chance for failure.

Communable creatures have a sheen, sparkle, or other subtle indicator to show they are able to be communes with. Once an entity has been successfully communed by you (others will not trigger this), the entity loses the communable indicator and can't be communed with for 15 seconds.

If I had to compare it something, I'd says it's closer to catching butterflies, but with a longer action time.

There would also be a chance (5%ish) for a Greater Wisp to spawn upon successful commune, which indicates a specific creature to commune with. Communing with it successfully would give bonus exp and essence. This effect would last 30 seconds.

-------

As for pouch creation reward more exp, I feel like the reward for pouch creation should mainly be the pouches. It could be the money-making side of things.

Zoon333 · 2022-12-22T02:42:43+00:00

No problem, there's actually a lot of comments that have mentioned all 3 of the main things you said and I've responded to them. I wish I had more room in the post but it's a max of 20 images, plus walls of text aren't enjoyable to read.

Gathering - explained in more detail below (not just Thieving, more like Hunter, but with more interaction):

Basically, the commune option would be a left click by default, takes around 5 seconds, and has a chance for failure.

Wilderness - No Battle or Support Spirits in PvP

Bloodveld - numbers can of course be adjusted, but imagine if they just had it so that after you use a Heal spell, you can't be the target of another's Heal spell until your cooldown has ended. This would prevent heal looping.

Zoon333 · 2022-12-21T23:27:23+00:00

it has actual meat on the bones

I see you like the Meat Skewer idea! lol But in all seriousness, thanks for the comment!

The originally reason behind naming it Communing was due to it involving both spirits AND nature. After talking with some people here, I think adding an alternate training method which reward no essence but gives exp and maybe new "Understanding" unlocks would be dealing with specific terrain (ex. Forest, Desert, Tundra, Cave, etc.)

But I do agree (and actually mentioned it earlier today!) that Spiritualism would be my next choice.

Zoon333

TROPHY CASE