Greetings true believers,

The new version of SMITE and the introduction of Conviction are now in the TEST SERVER. It would bring me great joy if you would spend a moment getting a feel for the new stuff and give me feedback prior to a live release.

CONVICTION (guild skill):

The Conviction skill is now active. It is a circle requirement for Paladins on the following schedule:
1-10th: 3 ranks per circle
11-70th: 4 ranks per circle
71-150th: 5 ranks per circle
151+: 13 ranks per circle

Upon logging in, you will get a bolded message informing you that the skill is live and that you have been grandfathered ranks. This should only appear once per character. If it appears more often, please let me know. You will be grandfathered the minimum req for your current circle, with relevant TDPs.

The Conviction skill is currently only used by SMITE, but later this year Glyphs and Lead should be added to the system. It can be taught, but you must be out of combat to do so.

SMITE:

The SMITE command has seen a substantial change from its original iteration. There are three major functional changes you must be aware of to properly use it:

1) SMITE no longer has a circle requirement. You can, and are expected to, smite right from the start of your Paladin career to gain Conviction. Smiting can teach Conviction every 60 seconds; smiting earlier than that will have its full combat effect but no skill gain.

2) SMITE can now be used with any combat style by using the command SMITE <style> <target>, for example SMITE CHOP GOBLIN. As with most attacks, it will default somewhat intelligently if you leave out the target and/or style.

3) The smite pool has been replaced with a Conviction-based count of "free strikes." As your Conviction grows, the number of smites you get increases. After you have exhausted this allotment of smites, you can continue to smite at the cost of your soul pool. Conviction-based smiting is available despite soul state; even Paladins with rock-bottom souls can smite. However, your character needs to have a nominally healthy soul to convert soul pool to smites. Conviction-based smites recharge every 60 seconds.
3b) Note that on conversion to this new mechanic you may show up as having considerably more smites than you should. This will correct itself the next time you have a recovery pulse go off.

Beyond those three, there is a number of additional changes that, while important, aren't quite as important to basic understanding or functionality of the ability:

4) Smiting no longer has the potential to degrade your soul state.

5) All smites are now considered blessed attacks (formerly you required an exemplary soul to achieve this).

6) Smites have bonused accuracy and damage compared to a normal attack of the style you pick, the magnitude of which is determined in small part by your Conviction and in large part by your Charisma. While Conviction does play a role here, the idea is Conviction helps you mostly with number of smites and your stats largely determine the potency of them. The potential potency of these bonuses is higher than it was before.

7) Formerly SMITE included a Strength bonus, which has been removed. It wasn't cumulative with HES anyway.

8) The PERCEIVE messaging for the smite pool has been removed. You instead can check the number of Conviction-based smites you have available with the SMITE CHECK command.

9) SMITE HELP has been updated.

-Armifer
"Perinthia's astronomers are faced with a difficult choice. Either they must admit that all their calculations were wrong ... or else they must reveal that the order of the gods is reflected exactly in the city of monsters." - Italo Calvino