For the release for the 1.25.0 version, we intend to introduce numerous modifications to the Osamodas class. We don't intend to make Osas much better at PVP in "one on one" mode. Summons will be less obsolete at higher levels, but above all it's an Osa's usefulness in groups that we want to improve. Making Osamodas more Versatile: We're well aware of the problems faced by Osas who wish to have a useful role at the heart of a team. As a result, we've decided to improve the support capabilities of this class by allowing Osas to cast their support spells on their allies as well as their summons. In concrete terms, each support spell (Animal Healing, Bear's Cry, Toad etc.) will be able to be used however you want, on a summon, or an ally. It goes without saying that the effects on allies will be less powerful than on summons. We want for Osas to be able to continue to use their summons in a group, which is why we're looking for a good balance between the benefits brought by using the support spells on summons or on allies. In addition, for a long time, a secondary healing class has been missing from Dofus. With the exception of enirpsas, none of the other classes are effective at healing their allies (apart from those classes who sacrifice close combat by using healing weapons) With this change, Osas will be able to effectively play the role of secondary healer, while keeping a great versatility. Osas' support spells will be less effective on their allies than the support spells of other classes. However, Osas will be the only class to have such a varied range of support spells at their disposal. Characteristics of Summons: We also wanted to review the role of each summon so that they all keep their interest over the course of an Osa's evolution. As a result, each summon will have a major elemental resistance and weakness. We are changing the Bwork Mage so that it is no longer in conflict with the Boar summon. The Bwork Mage will only push its enemies one square but will now also reduce the MP of its target by 1. The Tofu is generally considered a "temporary" creature that can only survive for a couple of turns at best. We want to encourage players to protect this fragile creature. The Tofu will therefore have the possibility of stealing a few points of agility from its adversary with each attack. The longer it stays in play, the better its damage will be over the next turns and the more agility it will take from its enemies. At a high level, the Gobball quickly becomes obsolete, and the role of tank or locker is given to the Crackler. We want for these two summons to complement each other. The Crackler will keep its AP reducing capabilities, its large vitality and its resistances, but it will lose some of its locking ability. The Gobball will be able to play the role of “locker" thanks to a considerably increased agility. Level 6 Summons: All the classes will have at their disposal level 6 summons. The level 6 summons will have more vitality, better resistance and cause better damage. These level 6 summons will counter the obsolete nature of some summons at high levels. Modifications to the Evolutions of Summons: Currently, each summon gains 1% damage and additional heals for each level of the caster. We're changing this so that summons gain 1% of their base stats for each level of the caster. In concrete terms, the evolution of the damage of each summon will stay the same, but the increase in their base characteristics will allow them to better lock their adversaries, to better avoid AP/MP loss and to better reduce the AP/MP of their enemies. This change to the evolution of summons will also render higher-levelled summons less obsolete. We've chosen a linear evolution as the appearance of level 6 summons will compensate for the non-linear evolution of the power of higher-levelled adversaries. We've also decided to review the distribution of the base stats of summons to ensure a better coherence with the change to the evolution of summons. As a result, the Intelligence of Osa's summons has been standardised, and the Toad spell changed so that each summon can benefit from the same level of protection when the spell is used. Changes to Osamodas spells: Some of the Osamodas' support spells will be reviewed, giving a better bonus to vitality, or giving greater damage. The standardisation of the majority of the base stats of summons will allow us to have damage bonuses that have the same effect whatever the targeted Osa's summon. Osamodas Special Class Spell: The Osa special class spell will be called "Spiritual Leash". It's a resurrection spell which only works on allies (and not on summons). For a significant AP cost, it will allow the Osa to resurrect a dead ally. This spell is only usable once per battle. The revived character will come back to life with a very small percentage of its HP, which makes it particularly vulnerable. As well, if the Osa dies, the revived character dies as well (as happens currently with summons. It's a very powerful spell that gives the Osa class a unique talent. In the future, it could be that certain monsters will be able to take advantage of this new talent as well. The AI of Creatures: With these changes, we're not planning to review the Artificial Intelligence (AI) of summons and other creatures in the game in general. The changes to AI and its improvements are more complex technically, and we prefer to keep them separate from the changes to the game's design and balancing. For AI, we eventually plan to separate the behaviour of monsters and the behaviour of summons. We hope to put in place simpler, more predictable behaviours for summons. For example, we'd like a summon that doesn't have a "fearful" nature to consistently attempt to attack its adversary without attempting to dodge it. This more simple behaviour will better allow the summoner to control which targets his summons attack. A person specialising in AI is joining our development team in a few days, the game design team will work with them to work out which are the generic behaviours that we need to review, and what bugs there are with the current AI that need fixing. We'll correct certain malfunctions with the existing AI over the months to come, but no major overhaul is expected until the start of 2009. The changes to Osas will be tested on test servers in the weeks to come. We'll keep you informed when the test server will be available.