206C:

- Increased the damage on engineer traps from 3% to 5% per level with the Trap Damage ability, and slightly decreased the ability cost.
- Explosives sentinels no longer grant EXP for self-boosts, and no longer grant EXP for non-explosives projectiles.
- Fixed laser mines damaging pets when user was in a turret or vehicle.
- Moved resupply to Healing Drones for Auto Engineers, and eliminated the resupply ability.
- Increased the max levels on the Drone Damage ability.
- Increased vehicle damage for Auto Engineers. 30% extra.
- Damage sentinels no longer boost or give EXP for traps and laser mines.
- Increased the Odin Turret collision size by 20% to thwart its use in smaller spaces.
- Merged Plasma Turret alt fire with Ball Turret, and removed Plasma Turret.
- 50% weapon damage reduction when Necromancers are in Phantom form.
- Reduced adrenaline surge for Necromancers from 3 to 2.
- Permanent 50% weapon damage reduction for Phantom niche, whether in Phantom form or not.
- Set minimum 15 XP for resurrection.
- Lowered the threshold at which the resurrection invulnerability turns off to hopefully avoid an instance where resurrected players are invulnerable the whole time.
- Mass Drain will now only do 4 hits instead of 5, and health per hit is reduced to 3% of max health instead of 5%.
- Increased the minimum damage on Decay from 5 to 10, and decreased the maximum from 75 to 50. Added in a cooldown timer, which will be (point value of monster / 2), up to a maximum of 8 seconds. Decreased the drain interval so it drains every 1 second instead of every 1.5 second.
- Necromancer's Ghost now activates when you have resurrected an X amount of players, rather than on 200 adrenaline. This should motivate Necromancers to resurrect more.
- Phantom pets for Necromancers no longer buffed. Base damage now 30(like the monsters) instead of 60.
- 25% weapon damage reduction for Summoners reinstated, which will kick in at Loaded Monsters 11. Weapon damage no longer taken off from Monster Damage ability.
- Readded Gold Gasbag pets.
- Reset the speed on Gold Kralls.
- HUD messages now included for Guardian Healing.
- Increased resupply on Core Classic.
- Snipers no longer take extra damage the closer they are to enemies. Now just a permanent 75% extra damage with certain weapons, nothing else.
- Reduced the max damage on the Shield Gun for the Melee subclass from 500 to 300.
- Fixed Vampiric Leech where the modifier would apply to artifacts and laser mines.

In the future, I probably will want to move the Phantom artifact from using an adrenaline-based to a number-of-resurrection based activation like the Necromancer's Ghost now uses.

Some things I may want to do for 206D, please leave your thoughts to these suggestions:

- Necromancer survivability is still a bit high even with the recent nerf(cooldown on Decay, lower HP return on Mass Drain, lower damage from Phantom pets, etc.). I may impose a 25%-50% weapon damage reduction for Necromancers. They're supposed to be weak, but survive out their enemies, just like Healers.

- I'll probably add in a cooldown timer on Engineer constructions when players get ejected out of a vehicle or turret. This is to prevent players from re-summoning a turret right after getting ejected, which is a bit of slap in the face for monsters.

- Traps and Laser Mines are still a bit tricky to work with. Large, open maps really hinder the Explosives subclass because the chances of monsters stepping on a trap is nil, while small maps actually may make them too strong. Another concern is that when sharing a base with another Engineer, the traps, which would be laid out in advance of the base, would take the kills. What if we made it so that Traps and Laser Mines can not be deployed near a defense sentinel? This would force players to place Traps and Mines strategically around the map, and not all around the base. We would then increase the damage, and maybe the radius, on the Traps and Mines so that they would be more effective out in the open.

- Waves 1-5 should be easy for lower level players, but that doesn't mean it has to be boring. What if we made some more unique monsters for those waves instead of the typical melee and Krall?
1) We could have a monster that'll attempt to lay eggs around the map. If you don't kill it in time, it'll lay an egg that'll grow each wave, hatching more monsters. It's unique, and it adds a small mini-game of trying to keep the egg count down.
2) A buffed down Sorcerer to resurrect dead monsters? No lightning, no immortal skeleton children. Gives some extra EXP of re-killing monsters.
3) What if everyone spawned with a pet at the beginning, say a Nali Cow or Nali Bunny. Your goal is to keep it alive(not sure how yet since only Medics could do this). Each wave that ends with your pet alive, you get some XP. If it dies, it won't respawn. Another small mini-game that adds some more depth to the server. I could also make a HUD message for the number of waves your pet survives so you can keep track of your record.

Basically what I'm trying to get at here is to add some more mini-game type things that'll be fun additions without breaking the overall run-and-gun Invasion game.

- The Necromancer currently has high survivability, but with the recent nerfs, does very little damage to single targets and groups, even with pets. (Speaking about Non-Niche). Decay nerf might've been a step too far, since it was already useless before nerf (I realise this was probably done because of the Decay-niche, but then it's probably that niche that needs a nerf, not base decay). A healer with poisonblast will probably kill more than necromancers at higher waves, which seems quite odd. Did you try a non-niched Necromancer to see just how impactful the nerfs were?

- Cooldown for turret/vehicle re-deployment seems like a good idea.

- Explosive Engineer rework so Traps and Mines can't be placed near DefenseSents sounds good. Will definitely need an increase in both Trap/Mine damage though if that's the case, probably Mine damage needs the biggest buff as they are very weak currently, whereas Traps are rather good. An increase in Trap (And maybe Mine) radius activation would also be appreciated, since they currently only activate if the monsters are dead-square on them. (Could make the lasers on the Mines thicker? Or project 2 laserwires per Mine, although very close to eachother, which would serve as a Radius increase).

- 1) I like the Egg-laying mechanic. Sounds fun, and would force Engineers a bit out of their comfort zones out of their bases. (Healers too since they have to focus killing rather than healing occassionaly).

2) Nice idea! No skeletons sounds good, but it should still have a weak attack. And maybe make it ressurect more often than its Full-buffed Sorcerer brethren?

3) I like this idea. I suggest you make it so it will respawn after each wave where it dies, BUT: You earn cumulatively more XP per wave IF you manage to keep it alive multiple waves without it dying. So let's say, 5XP for 1 wave, 10XP for 2 waves etc. If it dies, it starts over at 5XP for 1 wave. This way there's a small incentive to keep it alive, but isn't a dealbreaker if it dies.
I realise this mini-game will be very easy for Engineers as they can just hide the pets in their bases, but nonetheless should be fun for all classes.
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Another idea would be to implement end-wave bosses. By this I mean, it's not really bosses, just 1 monster at the end of each wave that is significantly higher-tier than what should spawn. So Wave 1: 1 Slith, Wave 2: 1 Skaarj, Wave 3: 1 Mercenary etc.
The twist however, is that these end-wave "bosses" only spawn AFTER the entire wave has been killed off. The only way to end the wave is to kill the "boss". (NOTE: The "bosses" should not be killed off at wave-end automatically like the rest, it needs to be physically killed). This is a fun minigame and will stop players just camping in higher waves and wait very long for all monsters to die. So 16 waves, 16 "bosses". This way we can also see the use of the ghost/gold monsters again, although only as a "boss" which could be rather fun.

206D
- MWM will no longer work with Traps or Laser Mines, which caused them to bug out a bit.
- There is now a cool down penalty if you get ejected from a vehicle or turret. Rapid Build will lower it, though I didn't really want it to.
- Added Vampire Surge freebie for low levels on ClassicRPG.
- Fixed Necromancer's Ghost so that it doesn't add up the number of resurrections when the ability triggers.
- Gold monster pets now immune to Halloween and Christmas Titans.
- Halloween Titans now same species as other Titans.
- Slightly increased the primary firing rate on Lightning Turrets.
- Fixed an issue where linkers did not receive EXP for linking to Lynx Turret.
- Fixed a bug where players retained invulnerability with resurrection if they stayed in a vehicle/turret during wave countdown.
- Fixed an issue where the Anti Gravity Grenade Launcher duplicated after ghosting- now works like the starting weapon abilities.

206E
- Unlockable wave 17. Collect letters B, O, N, U, and S in the form of artifacts, and activate with B.
- Letters are dropped with the Lucky Strike ability.
- O is dropped from any monster you kill while having a health of 100 or lower and adrenaline of 50 or lower. These values are configurable and may change from time to time. Best done in early waves.
- N is dropped from any Titan.
- U is dropped from any Queen.
- S is dropped from any monster with a point value of 13 or higher.
- B is the only letter not dropped with Lucky Strike, but rather with a Lucky weapon. Has about the same chance of spawning as a double damage.
- B and O are the only letters you have to actively pursue. The rest come with regular playing.
- This is a team effort. Give artifacts to teammates most likely to survive!

- Wave 17 consists of a variety of large bunnies:
' - Each bunny killed is worth 30 XP, configurable so it may change.
' - Cosmic Bunny produces a giant black hole after getting gibbed.
' - Shock Bunny produces a lightning effect similar to the Lightning Turret/Shock Trap that will electrocute nearby players.
' - Poison Bunny produces a poison blast after getting gibbed.
' - Ice Bunny produces a freeze bomb after getting gibbed.
' - Rage Bunny produces an Ultima twice as powerful and large than the regular Ultima Bunny.
' - Gold Bunny is the special one. Anytime it takes damage, it will drop EXP gems. The higher the damage, the larger the EXP value. The catch is that it also produces an attack any time it takes damage. Don't get too greedy with this one!
' - All bunnies will reduce your adrenaline to 0 after killing it, so you can not abuse globe or holograph. You also can not kill bunnies with artifacts like lightning rod or bolt, or with sentinels.

- Fixed an issue where resurrected players die first when a new wave starts.
- Lowered the ammo amounts on AVRiL. 10 ammo initial, 7 on pickup, maximum 30 rockets.
- New icon for Sentinel Summon and Destroy Sentinel artifacts.
- New textures for Ice and Fire Tentacles.
- Holiday stuff is back on, which also means XP requirement is cut by 20%! Level up once for it to take effect.

Thanks Jefe for help with the textures and meshes.

Wave 17 is currently crashy, and I believe the culprit is with the Gold Bunny. However, the amount of effects coming from all bunnies is a lot.

I plan on reducing down on the visuals, as well as the damage radius of blasts- make this at least a playable bonus wave.

I also plan on redoing the Gold Bunny. It's a bit wonky with how it's set up now. Here's an idea for a new approach:

The first time you damage a Gold Bunny, it'll randomly change colors. If you damage it on a certain color, it'll drop EXP gems. If you damage it in another color, it'll take lots of damage which means you are closer to killing it. The process starts over again- damage it to change colors(ie roll the dice or spin the wheel) and make your move. Land on the right colors, you get rewarded. Land on the wrong colors, you just end up killing it with little gain. I think this is a more fair approach than the current one.

. wrote:
Hollon: first hit = spin the wheel. the wheel will keep spinning until you hit it again. if hit = right color, drop xp gems and stop the wheel. if hit = wrong color, damage the bunny and stop the wheel. either way, the wheel is stopped. next hit = spin the wheel. restart the process
Gavran!: You should add that to the post
Gavran!: Thats very clear
Hollon: or i could just make the wheel spin continuously forever, and you just gotta hit the right colors

I also plan on giving the Rocket Launcher the red and green smoke effect like the monsters use for the holidays. This is probably the most important change we'll have so far!

206F
- Optimized bunnies on wave 17 and removed Gold Bunny to hopefully fix the crashes.
- Bunnies will reward XP upon hit, as well as drop some Gold Gems worth 25 XP.
- Slightly increased the chance of a letter S drop.
- Nalis now drop letters and Gold Gems, and can no longer be hurt by players. Will still be hurt by monsters.
- Reduced the cost on Nali Call ability.
- Slightly reduced damage radius on Upgraded AVRiL that ClassicRPG receives.
- Slightly reduced max damage on Shield Gun for Melee subclass.

After several runs, it looks like wave 17 works nicely now. Yay!

I've been thinking about the BONUS letter method and how the system is currently set up, and I have a new method in mind that could replace it. Right now, letters are dropped by monsters as artifacts if you have Lucky Strike, or by Nali if you have Nali Call. Like regular artifacts, you can toss the letters around to players, but one person needs to have all five to unlock 17.

The new method would be to have letters dropped by monsters or Nali as pickups, but upon pickup, NOT be an artifact, kind of like when you pick up a jump boot but you don't actually see that as an artifact. The game will periodically check each player to see if they have letters. If all letters are present, unlock 17. So one person could have B O, and another person can have N U S. This would unlock 17.

The advantage with the new method is that there is less artifact clutter, and one person doesn't need to hold all the letters.

The disadvantage with the new method is that you can't toss letters to a teammate since it's not an artifact, and if you die with a letter, it will not drop as a pickup like it does with artifacts.

Any thoughts on the new method?

I'm also probably going to consolidate Lucky Strike and Nali Call into one ability since they basically do the same thing.

I've also been thinking about new Necris-Ghost themed monsters that would be a great addition to the Necro monsters and maybe even Necromancer subclass:
- Healer Ghost - heals nearby monsters.
- Illusion Ghost - clones itself. If you kill a clone, lose some HP or adren.
- Possessor Ghost - steals a friendly pet and turns it hostile. Or, commands nearby monsters to attack a single player.
- Protector Ghost - reduces damage on nearby player projectiles.
- Aggressive/Damage Ghost - increases damage on nearby monster projectiles.
- Poltergeist Ghost - pushes or shoves you around, or teleports you a bit. This one is potentially annoying... but that should be the point??
- EXP Ghost - like Soul and Adren Nalis, but this time it steals EXP muahaha! I'll put in a minimum player level for this ghost to steal EXP, say 40 or 50 or 90 or whatever, otherwise it'll be harmless, and no negative EXP.

Note that these ghosts don't directly harm you, but rather act as a support to other monsters. I like to think of them as the Medic counterpart to monsters as Tech is to Engi, Cosmic is to Adren, and Fire/Ice to WM.

206H(I had to skip over 206G for version mismatch reasons)

- Consolidated Nali Call with Lucky Strike.
- Nali's will have a higher chance of dropping letters/gems if players are near it, and a lower chance if players are further from it.
- Sentinels no longer target Nali.
- Pets no longer damage Nali.
- Nalis will no longer "hurt" each other if spawned on top of one another.
- BONUS letters no longer work like artifacts. The letters you pick up will be stored in your inventory. The letter "B" will constantly check all players for the other letters O-N-U-S. If it's all there, wave 17 unlocks. This will prevent artifact clutter, and multiple players can achieve BONUS as a team now instead of a single player needing all the letters.

- New Ghost Monsters
- EXP Ghost - takes EXP from players, if above level 60
- Priest Ghost - heals nearby monsters
- Poltergeist Ghost - increases monster projectile damage, and violently moves a player up and down
- Shaman Ghost - reduces player projectile damage, and disables magic effects done to monsters
- Possessor Ghost - invuls a nearby monster, and spawns more monsters via a green orb
- Illusion Ghost(orange) - makes multiple copies of itself. If you kill a clone/copy, you lose HP and adren. Killing the original kills all copies.
- Misfortune Ghost - disables some weapons and destroys pickups

Notice that all of these ghosts are primarily a support. They have no direct hostile attacks. Ghost monsters are see through blue, like the ghost pets, and use player models, with each ghost a different model. However I added in different color effects to better differentiate them.

- Fireball artifact no longer burns the user, but the target.
- Reduced projectile speed on Cosmic Mercenary.
- Increased damage and damage radius on engineer traps.
- Increased monster points on Ice/Fire Mercenary from 6 to 7.

206I
- Fixed letters not dropping from monsters with the Lucky Strike ability.
- If one person collects a letter, that letter will now show on everyone's HUD instead of just the user, so everyone knows which letters are left to collect.
- Fixed spawn height on Beam Sentinel, and redid controller targeting so that monsters no longer need to be a certain distance away to target.
- Changed the mesh on the engineer trap projectiles so a bigger collision radius can be used.
- Increased sound effects on traps.
- Fixed the Wildfire Trap green smoke effect not showing up in online play.
- Shaman Ghosts no longer reduce damage on Traps, Grenades, Mines & other stationary projectiles(otherwise there is an infinite loop with explosive sentinels increasing its damage).
- Added in a green flame effect for monsters that are "possessed"(ie granted invulnerability) by the Possessor Ghost to easily distinguish.

Bear with me while I go through these updates. Some known bugs at the moment:
- Players and pets that walk over explosive Traps will set off the Trap, but it does no damage.
- Misfortune Ghosts are meant to force switch a player's weapon, but that isn't working right now. In the next update, I'll change this so that it just gives a misfortune curse to the player where nearby pickups are destroyed.