Agree with Beauty being a difficult choice, it tends towards really cosmetic trade effects, like the domoth powers. War, Harmony, and Life all seem like reasonable choices to me too.
Harmony seems pretty good, actually. It could steal the experience buff from Knowledge. Then have something that can pacify NPCs (not player loyal ones though, due to the class-ents thing), keep the faster harvesting, an influencing speed and/or damage buff, and... I don't know. Something that lets you link to Astral nodes without draining any power from them? That one right there would make it very tempting for orgs. "You're resonating with the node and feeding the power back into it as you draw it out."
@Estarra There are five powers listed here which could flesh out a Harmony power set. I did not provide an option to replace the gap in Knowledge, but it could be as simple as just plugging in something from Beauty (like the ability to control whether you get salt, sulfur, mercury or sugar because you have the requisite knowledge to get the outcome you seek).
1) Faster harvesting in rifts, 2) Pacify non player loyal npcs on a tick, 3) Knowledge's exp bonus (it makes more sense with Harmony, since that is what the Harmony karma blessing does), 4) Influencing speed and/or damage buff (the Harmony ascension challenge relates to influencing) and 5) Ability to link astral nodes for a time without draining power from the nodes (cycling the power back into the node, or because the Soulless are dead in that timeline the power withdrawal is repressed and you just end up with critters).
Harmony Research Project (immaculate anomaly type)
Power 1: Faster anomaly harvesting in time rifts, 25%
Power 2: Pacify non player loyal npcs on a tick
Power 3: Influencing speed and/or damage buff for 3 hours/month, 5 archpower/month, can toggle on and off at will (so don't have to be 3 hour stretch but can break it up)
Power 4: 25% exp/essence buff for 3 hours/month, 5 archpower/month, can toggle on and off at will (so don't have to be 3 hour stretch but can break it up)
Power 5: Ability to link astral nodes for a time without draining power from the nodes (cycling the power back into the node, or because the Soulless are dead in that timeline the power withdrawal is repressed and you just end up with critters), 10 archpower for 1 hour
So do people like this to replace Beauty? What would replace the Knowledge experience buff?
I would prefer Beauty over this on the fact we don't need anymore pacification than we already do. The influence buff can be handy, but the majority of people that do influence don't need the buff, which helps the lowbies until you consider that they need archpower to use it. If we have to swap Harmony for Beauty, flip Powers 2 and 3 so that the influence buff is easier to obtain for smaller orgs, as well as not require archpower. Other than that, it's fine.
Another (possibly OP) idea for Knowledge would be activating the power lets you do an effect that mimics the Map Scry artifact (see target's location with a map). If you have the artifact, reduces the balance cost of using it when the power is active. The map came up as a "required" thing for bypassing certain effects, and it also gives rnum and such, so it is pretty useful. Knowing where someone is is useful.
Or maybe something that increases your daily credit values by 1? If you do something worth 1cr, you get 2 instead. Would be useful for an org's younger members who have trouble reaching the daily 20 (and even benefit older people by making it faster to complete).
Or just the beauty power of "choose the failed commodity output (salt/sugar/sulfur/mercury).
Or Omniscience (the cult power) in a limited time duration which requires archpower to activate.
Agreed that swapping Harmony 2/3 seems more reasonable. The level 2s were supposed to be passive, no archpower powers, and a passive universal influence damage/speed buff would fit better with that than passive pacify. Then level 3 is the active 5 archpower/month pacify for the toggleable 3 hours.
Will agree to beauty power outright (obvious bias amirite?) and say that giving the map effect is just too much. Maybe just on it's own and not boosting someone that already owns it would be doable, but we don't need to make that anymore potent. People already complain about being chased and how easy it is, this would only amplify that.
The daily credits isn't a bad idea but it sparked an odd idea. What if you had the Knowledge project you could go to the Knowledge Seal and it would ask you a random trivia question, whether it was an Ascension question or something relatively easy to know/figure out. A correct answer yields dailycredits. Immerses people in the lore a tad more and saves some resources around the world.
I think flipping two and three makes sense (so the pacification becomes an activated option with a cost). I am curious as to your objection on it in principle though; pacifying non-player NPCs does not seem to be a problem if it is more available. Player ent pacification is problematic in that it hits some classes considerably harder than others, so I wanted to make sure that was not an issue if they went with something like this. If there is a balance consideration that you are concerned about, it can be replaced; it just seems fitting to me flavour-wise.
Glad we agree on that, as for npc pacification it is just an unnecessary power. The only function it would have is running through an enemy you're enemied too or things have natural aggro. Assuming it goes on a tick to fire, you're either no longer in that room to effect those mobs, you're actively fighting them and it does effectively nothing, or you manage to time the tick and land in a room with a normally aggro npc and can sit there without being hit.
A good tick of pacification can keep the enemy you're fighting from damaging you (if it is pacified on its tick while you are fighting it, you are saved from its attack). It isn't useless but it certainly isn't super powerful either. To my mind that is okay. Not all the powers are meant to be highly desired, right?
Don't get the wrong idea though. I am just saying I think it is a little more useful than you apparently do, not arguing for its survival. Do you have another thematic option in mind? I will see if I can come up with another option or two as well for it, nothing is coming up right now.
I'd still like to see the beauty power brought over rather than the pacify power. I'm not saying it is useless, just more niche than the cost would suggest.
Can we do the Knowledge Seal trivia thing for Daily Credits as its own separate implementation though, not bound to the project? Would be cool to see people approach the Seal, interact with it (other than touch) and it send a tell to the player. They can TRIVIA SUBMIT <answer> and the test string can register off that variable field. Assuming it is correct, they can be rewarded 5 Daily Credits separate from the ticks, like WildNodes participation is just a flat 5.
Are you asking for the Beauty power to go into Harmony? I thought your preference was for it to be slotted into Knowledge (it has a hole because we scooped out the exp booster). Perhaps I misunderstood that.
Maybe I'm just misremembering something, but yes that was the case. Pacification can stay I suppose if we want to roll the trivia thing as a separate implementation rather than part of the project. If we make it part of the project, then I'd push for beauty effect into harmony to replace pacification. So to try and compile my thoughts to be more legible:
Knowledge's missing hole should get the old beauty power to toggle failures Harmony can keep pacification as the third power if - Trivia for daily credits via Knowledge Seal is implemented on its own.
Power 2: 3/13 mana generation, passive, no archpower needed
Power 3: Elemental/Ethereal essence value is doubled, 5 archpower/month
Power
4: Add Trivia challenge to the Seal of Nature. If Trivia challenge done as its own standalone thing which does not require a Knowledge power, then instead make this: Grant the ability to toggle "failures" (ie Jewelers always produce
salt/sulphur, Alchemist sugar, Forging/Cooking mercury etc). 10
archpower for 1 hour.
Power
5: Keen Knowledge - Gain the effects of aetherial quickening as well as
the ability to travel to any permanent milestone and village obelisk
within the basin. Activate for 10 archpower, duration lasts until
logout. Combines ring of aetheric quickening and compass of true
direction to offer utility to those that seek it, without outright
altering how PK functions.
Harmony Research Project (immaculate anomaly type)
Power 1: Faster anomaly harvesting in time rifts, 25%
Power 2: Influencing speed and/or damage buff, passive, no archpower needed.
Power
3: If trivia challenge used for Knowledge Power #3, then: Grant the ability to toggle "failures" (ie Jewelers always produce
salt/sulphur, Alchemist sugar, Forging/Cooking mercury etc). 10
archpower for 1 hour. Otherwise: Pacify non player loyal npcs on a tick, 5 archpower per month
Power 4: 25% exp/essence buff
for 3 hours/month, 5 archpower/month, can toggle on and off at will (so
don't have to be 3 hour stretch but can break it up)
Power 5:
Ability to link astral nodes for a time without draining power from the
nodes (cycling the power back into the node, or because the Soulless are
dead in that timeline the power withdrawal is repressed and you just
end up with critters), 10 archpower for 1 hour
Seems like it was missed, @Estarra is the nature power meant to be in line with the others where individuals use archpower to gain the benefit or no?
And again from my experiences with astralbashing I feel it's pretty questionable whether or not orgs would invest in it if they're getting the benefit already from one of their allies. It's also seems pretty specific given it directly applies to one activity (astralbashing) where the others can be used more broadly (Nature seems the closest but can be useful for, non-aetherspace, hunting and potentially influencing)
The powers don't have to be in line with each other, though I wanted to basically follow a pattern but if one breaks out of the pattern, that's okay. None of the powers should extend to allies of an org, just the org members themselves.
None of the powers should extend to allies of an org, just the org members themselves.
The Harmony five power being suggested does, indirectly.
The vast majority of the group astralbashes I've been in have involved multiple orgs.
So if say Hallifax has Harmony five and their allies can rely on even one Halli being regularly present at the bashes then it's less relevant for say Serenwilde to build Harmony because they're already getting the benefit of being able to use astral without draining the nodes.
10p, gives you a defence that gives a chance to dodge hits from mobs that aren't loyal to players or player orgs. Every time you dodge it builds up a bit (not increasing the dodge chance) once you build it up to like 5/10 dodges you can use RETRIBUTION <target> (mobs only, no loyals, etc) that does a massive hit of damage using your strongest damage buff, maybe even a guaranteed crit (still have to roll the multiplier though).
The def resets to base once used and lasts til log out.
To possibly bring that in line more - 10 archpower, gives you a defence that upon taking damage from denizens and non loyal npcs grants a stack of retribution, up to ten stacks. Can be activated freely with RETRIBUTION <target> <damagetype> (denizens and non loyal npcs) to impart an attack for each stack using the specified damage type. Each expended stack has its own crit chance and resets to base once used, lasts until log out.
Eat your heart out, it's a gnomeweapon into a Harmony power!
*shrug* The inspiration was the story of Shanth eluding Crazen until eventually defeating him.
The suggestion is really more like Crystalweapons from Harmonics except the stacking is caused by dodging (because of the inspiration) rather than attacking, with a similar significant effect that's available once charged.
It stacks to 5 or 10, Retribution does typical damage for a mob attack, but is a guaranteed crit with a severity based on the number of stacks (the initial def would count as 0)
Reason I changed the dodge to taking damage, is because we currently have no way to dodge mob attacks, outside of Rune of Absorption or beast bodyguard. Acrobatics Dodge is just a damage reduction rather than negation. Though I suppose it depends on what you meant by dodge.
Reason I changed the dodge to taking damage, is because we currently have no way to dodge mob attacks, outside of Rune of Absorption or beast bodyguard. Acrobatics Dodge is just a damage reduction rather than negation. Though I suppose it depends on what you meant by dodge.
Oh, I was thinking it would actually give you a dodge chance
@Estarra I think that's a wrap then! Below is what we're suggesting (to my knowledge of the agreements had)
Nature Research Project (past anomaly type)
Power 1: Teleport to Open Time Rifts, long wait
Power 2: X/13 village influence buff, passive, x = floor(CR/2) minimum 1
Power 3: Eating herbs heals h/m/e (like sparkleberries), 5 archpower per month
Power 4: Grant a 1/8 universal damage buff and resistance, as well as a 1/8
health, mana, and ego regeneration while in a room that is natural
Power 5: Naturegift, 10p to activate, every member of an org receives an entity
follower (different look depending on org), can only have one. Entity will
cure/heal occasionally its member
Knowledge Research Project (future anomaly type)
Power 1: Less mana cost in time rifts
Power 2: 3/13 mana generation, passive, no archpower needed
Power 3: Elemental/Ethereal essence value is doubled, 5 archpower/month
Power
4: Grant the ability to toggle "failures" (ie
Jewelers always produce
salt/sulphur, Alchemist sugar, Forging/Cooking mercury etc). 10
archpower for 1 hour.
Power
5: Keen Knowledge - Gain the effects of aetherial quickening as well as
the ability to travel to any permanent milestone and village obelisk
within the basin. Activate for 10 archpower, duration lasts until
logout. Combines ring of aetheric quickening and compass of true
direction to offer utility to those that seek it, without outright
altering how PK functions.
Death Research Project (desolate anomaly type)
Power 1: Universal damage buff in time rifts, 10/10
Power 2: Universal damage buff, 3/10, passive, no archpower needed
Power 3: Faster insanity recovery, stacks with artifacts, 5 archpower/month
Power
4: 5% Crit boost for 1 hour, 5 archpower/month, can turn on and off at
will (so don't have to be 3 hour stretch but can break it up)
Power
5: Defy Death -Upon the next time you would be slain, you are instead
placed within stasis for five seconds. You cannot take any action, nor
can you be effected by aggressive actions. During this time you can
choose to teleport to the Portal of Fate or be revived at 50% vitals and
no defenses. Activate for 10 archpower, defense until death, cooldown
of a game month when the effect triggers. Grants the user an arguably
better version of vitae so that they can choose to use that time to stay
or get out of dodge. Cooldown is meant to be long so that this doesn't
just become a way to grief raiding. The half vitals enforces the choice
of standing your ground with the possibility of it being quickly used
against you.
Harmony Research Project (immaculate anomaly type)
Power 1: Faster anomaly harvesting in time rifts, 25%
Power 2: Influencing speed and/or damage buff, passive, no archpower needed.
Power
3: Reduce denizen resistance to ego battle attacks by 50%, 5 archpower/month
Power 4: 25% exp/essence buff
for 3 hours/month, 5 archpower/month, can toggle on and off at will (so
don't have to be 3 hour stretch but can break it up)
Power 5:
Ability to link astral nodes for a time without draining power from the
nodes (cycling the power back into the node, or because the Soulless are
dead in that timeline the power withdrawal is repressed and you just
end up with critters), 10 archpower for 1 hour
Also, we're still proposing the Trivia thing as a standalone Daily Credit generation idea to further immerse players in the lore.
Er, unless there's some discussion elsewhere that resolved the concern about harmony 5, it's realistically still pretty out of line.
It's value is directly related to whether or not an org (or two) in your alliance can reliably provide the benefit without your org needing to maintain it where as the other powers maintain their benefit regardless of what your allies have built.
You could limit it if instead it created an instance of an org-based "training zone" where if the leader of a squad has one active, entering puts you in their instance of the zone but you can only enter if you're a member of the linked org. Have something like nodes which can be interacted with to summon more mobs. Could have variability potentially where mob levels are relative to the instances owner (lowbies get easier but less rewarding stuff), potentially even a passive mode where mobs are influence-able. Have the instance become unstable after a certain amount of time and/or kills. Can only personally open one instance per weave.
Additional benefit of not being harrassed out, with the kills as the timer and if there's no insanity it means solo people can bash out the full thing even if it takes them longer than a group would. Can be used by players of a variety of levels and has to be built to access the benefit.
Why is it an issue at all? Do you see yourself putting off Harmony and all the buffs it gives just because Mag or Halli picks it up? It is an anomaly for 1 hour of bashing essentially, so why does it matter if others can take and use it? Yes it means alliances could work in tandem, but I can't say in good faith people are going to willingly bypass faster harvest rates and influence buffs just because an ally can toss up the power. They still need anomalies to make it work.
But, if this is going to be a thing that has to be addressed, just make it a private node. Activate at the nexus and it creates a portal to a private node on Astral. Org specific, lasts until 'depleted' of enemies spawned.
Comments
Harmony Research Project (immaculate anomaly type)
The daily credits isn't a bad idea but it sparked an odd idea. What if you had the Knowledge project you could go to the Knowledge Seal and it would ask you a random trivia question, whether it was an Ascension question or something relatively easy to know/figure out. A correct answer yields dailycredits. Immerses people in the lore a tad more and saves some resources around the world.
Omniscience can stay a cult leader power, thanks!
Can we do the Knowledge Seal trivia thing for Daily Credits as its own separate implementation though, not bound to the project? Would be cool to see people approach the Seal, interact with it (other than touch) and it send a tell to the player. They can TRIVIA SUBMIT <answer> and the test string can register off that variable field. Assuming it is correct, they can be rewarded 5 Daily Credits separate from the ticks, like WildNodes participation is just a flat 5.
Knowledge's missing hole should get the old beauty power to toggle failures
Harmony can keep pacification as the third power if -
Trivia for daily credits via Knowledge Seal is implemented on its own.
Knowledge Research Project (future anomaly type)
Harmony Research Project (immaculate anomaly type)
Is that basically what you had in mind, Lycidas?
And again from my experiences with astralbashing I feel it's pretty questionable whether or not orgs would invest in it if they're getting the benefit already from one of their allies. It's also seems pretty specific given it directly applies to one activity (astralbashing) where the others can be used more broadly (Nature seems the closest but can be useful for, non-aetherspace, hunting and potentially influencing)
None of the powers should extend to allies of an org, just the org members themselves.
The vast majority of the group astralbashes I've been in have involved multiple orgs.
So if say Hallifax has Harmony five and their allies can rely on even one Halli being regularly present at the bashes then it's less relevant for say Serenwilde to build Harmony because they're already getting the benefit of being able to use astral without draining the nodes.
For harmony 5
10p, gives you a defence that gives a chance to dodge hits from mobs that aren't loyal to players or player orgs.
Every time you dodge it builds up a bit (not increasing the dodge chance) once you build it up to like 5/10 dodges you can use RETRIBUTION <target> (mobs only, no loyals, etc) that does a massive hit of damage using your strongest damage buff, maybe even a guaranteed crit (still have to roll the multiplier though).
The def resets to base once used and lasts til log out.
Eat your heart out, it's a gnomeweapon into a Harmony power!
The suggestion is really more like Crystalweapons from Harmonics except the stacking is caused by dodging (because of the inspiration) rather than attacking, with a similar significant effect that's available once charged.
It stacks to 5 or 10, Retribution does typical damage for a mob attack, but is a guaranteed crit with a severity based on the number of stacks (the initial def would count as 0)
Nature Research Project (past anomaly type)
Knowledge Research Project (future anomaly type)
Death Research Project (desolate anomaly type)
Harmony Research Project (immaculate anomaly type)
Also, we're still proposing the Trivia thing as a standalone Daily Credit generation idea to further immerse players in the lore.
It's value is directly related to whether or not an org (or two) in your alliance can reliably provide the benefit without your org needing to maintain it where as the other powers maintain their benefit regardless of what your allies have built.
You could limit it if instead it created an instance of an org-based "training zone" where if the leader of a squad has one active, entering puts you in their instance of the zone but you can only enter if you're a member of the linked org. Have something like nodes which can be interacted with to summon more mobs.
Could have variability potentially where mob levels are relative to the instances owner (lowbies get easier but less rewarding stuff), potentially even a passive mode where mobs are influence-able. Have the instance become unstable after a certain amount of time and/or kills. Can only personally open one instance per weave.
Additional benefit of not being harrassed out, with the kills as the timer and if there's no insanity it means solo people can bash out the full thing even if it takes them longer than a group would. Can be used by players of a variety of levels and has to be built to access the benefit.
But, if this is going to be a thing that has to be addressed, just make it a private node. Activate at the nexus and it creates a portal to a private node on Astral. Org specific, lasts until 'depleted' of enemies spawned.