Purple Worm

[Alundaio]

I assume it's a bug:I notice the Purple Worm does move around (By this I mean it goes under ground and reappears) when someone is either eaten or uses magic on it. BUT the worm will remain completely still  if attackedby ranged weapons until it dies. WAY TO EASY. If you can somehow put in a timer or somthing to make it move every now and again if it's attack mode, That would be awesome. I enjoy fighting that thing every once in awhile, and would actually like to see it be more challenging. Thanks!

[Elhanan]

Well, considering that for some to do this safely from range, it will require a lot of time to kill a creature of that size. And in some locations, other respawns may appear creating slight distractions and further delays. I believe this is one of those encounters that may be easier for some classes; more difficult for others.

Personally I am for leaving this as is.

[The Amethyst Dragon]

The next planned reset will include a change to the gizzard (so that it can be affected by many direct-elemental-type-damage spells and so that escaping should be more reliable) and to the worm (which may start going after anyone that damages it from a distance, as was originally intended).

[evilkittenofdoom]

The purple worm isn't moving in response to some custom spells, nor is it to my Acidbombs that my amulet produces (YAY acidbombs on my custom item)

Also, could we up the loot they drop? For something that is level 36 and can slaughter you if you get too close, and is a real pain to kill with ranged attacks, it doesnt exactly drop very good stuff. A bandit mage drops better things on average.

[Guest]

Actually if it dies when it's Moving (In which it dissapears and reappears next to the attacker) It doesn't drop any loot at all. I also Noticed that if you consistantly attack it, the purple worm will move so much it doesn't even have a chance to attack or eat anything. I think it needs to move randomly or should just change it back, since it doesn't drop loot whilst teleporting.

[MannyJabrielle]

Or rather... it shouldn't "move" when being attacked in melee, only when attacked by ranged/ranged spells, because yes, when it's constantly "moving", it doesn't attack back.... as long as you win the initiative roll, you own the worm.

[daveyeisley]

Or rather... it shouldn't "move" when being attacked in melee, only when attacked by ranged/ranged spells, because yes, when it's constantly "moving", it doesn't attack back.... as long as you win the initiative roll, you own the worm.

Worse... if you are in a party, and it is constantly moving.... you cant get an action in if you dont win the initiative roll.

[MannyJabrielle]

Although.... it does give aenea a bit of that "wack-a-mole" feeling

[eeriegeek]

Don't know what the official status of escape from the worm is, but K'az just spent a good 30 min in there and has had the gizzard down to near death for quite some time trying a dagger, a short sword (piercing) and a Kukri, a handaxe, and a sickle (slashing) without success. The Sai and the Katar were unequipped. Oddly enough, she then freed herself with a rod of lightning!

[evilkittenofdoom]

Also, the bard song "Quaking Chorus" is double damaging it per pulse at the moment.

[Caldor]

Early this afternoon I didn't get out of the way of a purple worm in time, and was swallowed. Nothing would damage the gizzard, not even a +3 long sword. After a few Delayed Blast Fireballs, I received the "I have freed myself!" text in the status box (four times, in fact), but I was still in the worm. This happened a couple of weeks ago as well.

Thanks!

Caldor

[Ra Cha Chongo]

As far as I know, you can only free yourself by using a small or tiny weapon that deals slashing (or possibly piercing) damage; what really confuses me is that it gave you the "I have freed myself!" message

[MannyJabrielle]

I think edited it so you COULD get out with other means such as blasting it with the right magic. I'm not 100% certain on that...

[Caldor]

As far as I know, you can only free yourself by using a small or tiny weapon that deals slashing (or possibly piercing) damage; what really confuses me is that it gave you the "I have freed myself!" message

It seems to me this changed fairly recently, because last summer I had no trouble slicing up the gizzard (with any available sword) and getting out.

FWIW, I also got the "I have freed myself" message during the prior incident I mentioned.

At least today I was able to stay clear of the darned worm's range!

Caldor

[evilkittenofdoom]

There are some spells and abilities that do not trigger it to move, though I'll let you figure out which (Unless wants it fixed if it's not supposed to do that)

[Caldor]

There are some spells and abilities that do not trigger it to move, . . .

Thanks for mentioning that. I noticed that phenomenon with one of the spells I threw at the worm during one of the more usual recent occasions ("usual" in the sense that I didn't wind up inside). I'll wander down that way again soon and go through my repertoire to see which ones have that effect.

Normally, this isn't a problem. On the two occasions within roughly the past month that I wound up inside, I had been distracted by something external to the computer. When I turned back to look at the screen, there I was in the alimentary canal. With the Boots of Striding and Springing, it's usually a simple task to stay clear and let the dirty rotten machemovitz have it.

Caldor

[daveyeisley]

With the Boots of Striding and Springing, it's usually a simple task to stay clear and let the dirty rotten machemovitz have it.

LOL!
Phenomenal.

[MannyJabrielle]

Escaping out of the purple worm is broke. A couple other players have mentioned this to me as well.

When you cut the gizzard down to escape, you go into cutscene mode for a second and say the "I have cut myself free" message, but you just stay inside the worm. This is completely repeatable and sucky

[The Amethyst Dragon]

Dammit.

[MannyJabrielle]

Are cestus weapons not supposed to work on the gizzard?

They're tiny, and piercing weapons... yet when I attack the gizzard with a cestus, it's resisting upwards of 45 damage. If I switch to a short sword, which is also pierce, no resistance. Both weapons are +5.

[MannyJabrielle]

oh, and it seems to be flat out impossible to escape now? I beat the gizzard down to near death rather quickly, but then it just stayed there, and I beat on it longer while it was at near death than it took to get it down to near death. No escape messages fired off, even after dishing out some 1.5K in physical damage alone.

[The Amethyst Dragon]

Looks like I'll be completely re-scripting purple worm stuff.

[evilkittenofdoom]

Again? Good luck. I'd hate to have to see these go bye-bye

[MannyJabrielle]

Got eated again... one CAN escape apparently. I got back into the same worm, and it was still at near death from earlier today.

A tweak I might suggest though.... make it so the purple worm doesn't eat you right back up the moment you escape? DOuble-load screens really aren't fun.

[Caldor]

I was eaten by a worm when on with Zayde today, and although I got the "I have freed myself!" message many times (and the escape scene and sometimes the column of light), I never got out. Zayde disappeared, though. My PC "X" on the ground was still under where he was in the gut, and he was still fighting the gizzard.

After trying a buffed short sword, then going back to the +1 dagger, I happened to notice that each time it said "I have freed myself!" apparently, I was getting 40 XP. I have a screen cap showing this. On the cap it shows four times in the status messages.

[daveyeisley]

After a 10 minute fight with a purple worm, and LOTS of scurrying about frantically to avoid being eaten, Lucian and Dimiix finally killed the worm... and were rewarded for their efforts with... wait for it.....


A truckload of nothing. No XP, no loot. Nothing.

[Alundaio]

I think I mentioned this awhile back. The purple worm's script to teleport/burrow fires after he dies leaving no loot. I do recall getting the experience reward at the time.

[eeriegeek]

It seems a little random... sometimes it leaves a loot bag and sometimes it doesn't. Without any empirical evidence it seems that the faster you kill it the more likely to leave remains and give xp.

[The Amethyst Dragon]

Working on the scripts for this monster right now. I'll be testing with my character Steel after the next module update.

Intended results of the changes:

1. Set escaping PC in cutscene mode, and plot, for a better duration so that he/she can be jumped out properly.

2. Allow PC damage dealt to gizzard to apply to the worm.

3. Get spell damage to properly be counted against the amount needed for escape.

4. Allow PC to get proper the "kill credit" if worm is killed from inside.

5. Slight increase to worm's Challenge Rating number to add a modest XP increase.

6. Modify worm's burrowing behavior:
- increase time spent above ground (delay between delves underground)
- increase time spent underground during burrow action (1-3 rounds)
- improve worm's ability to follow a foe while burrowing
- allow PCs to teleport out of the worm's gut via spell or potion of escape
- apply a shaking VFX inside worm and prevent PC(s) inside worm from escaping (via cutting/blasint) while worm is underground (since technically the worm creature model is removed from the map while "underground", there isn't a valid place for them to cut their way out to).

[daveyeisley]

- apply a shaking VFX inside worm and prevent PC(s) inside worm from escaping (via cutting/blasint) while worm is underground (since technically the worm creature model is removed from the map while "underground", there isn't a valid place for them to cut their way out to).

Awesome news, but one thought on the above restriction.

If there are two damage threshholds, one for escape and one for killing the worm from inside, then I could understand the above logic applied to a PC being able to "escape", certainly.

I just want to make sure that escape via killing the worm from inside is still allowed, as a PC who kills it could climb out via the tunnel it burrowed, since it is dead and not moving to keep them inside any longer.

[The Amethyst Dragon]

I just want to make sure that escape via killing the worm from inside is still allowed, as a PC who kills it could climb out via the tunnel it burrowed, since it is dead and not moving to keep them inside any longer.

Correct. It will still be allowed (especially since I just added some code to track where the worm was when it started to burrow, just in case someone decides to teleport away before it reemerges from the ground).

[The Amethyst Dragon]

Bah. Stupid worm still not working quite right. I sacrificed Steel to be eaten by the worm. Escaped once, but later escapes didn't fire correctly.

For now, I've put the purple worms in hibernation so they don't mess up on anyone else while I work on fixing them. They're cool and all, but not worth frustration today.

[daveyeisley]

Bah. Stupid worm still not working quite right. I sacrificed Steel to be eaten by the worm. Escaped once, but later escapes didn't fire correctly.

For now, I've put the purple worms in hibernation so they don't mess up on anyone else while I work on fixing them. They're cool and all, but not worth frustration today.

Im sorry they're giving you so much hassle,

Thanks for sparing our players in the meantime, though!

[The Amethyst Dragon]

For the time being, I'm locking this thread, just so I don't have to think about it. Once I have more time and a fresh perspective on it, I'll take up working on these worms again.

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