Well, I think you're both on the same page but don't realize it. What these classes lack is any sort of build-up mechanic and are entirely based on burst-damage that scales with sticking unstickable affs. Their entire design is far too simplistic.
I imagine that when the decision was made to go with designing six new
primary skills without introducing new afflictions, on a practical level
a simple skill design was preferred. But yes, as thematically great as
all the new skills are, they do seem to have been designed without
consideration of how a person can stick the afflictions needed for their
kill condition. That they were initially introduced as an option for
melders who'd prefer a 1v1 oriented skill makes it somewhat more of a let
down, as that is exactly where they are weakest. (Psionic users
excluded, TK/TP already being viable, yadda yadda!)
I don't think
it's an unsalvageable design though, as what also appears to have been
neglected in their design is how they might interact with a mage/druid's
secondary skill. Phantasms has quite a few demesne requiring abilities,
so I think introducing options for *mancers there might be a good route
to take, and once Pyrochemantics is released, we'll have full picture. I
imagine similar could be done with Stag/Crow.
As a rough brainstorm of what I think a mancer-Phantasms ability might be like:
Infusing a thread of your soul into a phantom sight stealer will enable you to send it to your target and see what he or she sees, as long as the target is in your demesne when the illusion is cast.
(mancers): Syntax: BLEND MIST/CLOUD/FUME STOLENSIGHT <target> Power: 1 (Any) Reqs: 5 Mist/Cloud/Fumes (takes direct from spec. receptacle, doesn't drop focused)
Blending your mists/clouds/fumes with a phantom sight stealer will enable your mists/clouds/fumes to condense into the very body of your target, obscuring their sight. (aff: blindness)
StolenThoughts
might be something like a one-time 'anti-flee', where attempting to
pass through the mancer's mists/clouds/fumes on way to exit makes you
forget what you're doing and you get sprawled + amnesia or whatever.
Buffing a few of the
'dud' afflictions also helps things, but for a 1v1'ing mancer/wood, I
don't think it's enough since they're mostly pretty limited in the
afflictions they can give out.
I like this idea, but honestly don't see what you have to work with in Stag. Right now Stag is a grab bag of barely related utility skills (at least half of which I've never seen used), and there is currently nothing in the skill that's demesne dependent to give *wood dependent effects to.
Really, I'd say that druids needed changes to Stag/Crow more than they needed them to demesnes, after the attention they got with the allergy changes. They still might be due for an overhaul after everything else is done, just to give them some sort of cohesion.
Wait, did I hear mention of Stag / Crow overhauls?!
But yes, blending the other skillsets with the primary would be nice; having a tie in for dreamweaving, for example (not just the illusions skillset, as there are demesne-linked abilities in some others as well).
Well, mention that we really, really need them. I haven't heard anything from up the ladder, and I assume all their codey people are bogged down with the remaining *chemantic and the Wicca overhaul that they teased about in Celina's why no one plays Wiccans thread. Maybe BT and HS could work together to think of changes to make piecemeal through the envoy system, but I wouldn't hold your breath for a super awesome nature phantasms or anything anytime soon.
Wait, did I hear mention of Stag / Crow overhauls?!
But yes, blending the other skillsets with the primary would be nice; having a tie in for dreamweaving, for example (not just the illusions skillset, as there are demesne-linked abilities in some others as well).
There are fuse/embed skills in the 'chems and 'woods, and Sleepmist can always be dropped in individual rooms (although I would not object to an additional sleepmist-fume-thing for DW 'chems and 'woods).
Thoughts on changes to rustedspikes? It currently knocks off leg balance for about ~1s, meaning it's of no use against anybody: even monks use a SPECIFIC leg balance rather than the 'legs' balance, and as it knocks offbal for less than the standard balance you recover from rustedspikes before you recover normal arm/leg, as below from Cauthorn's POV (including weird typo!):
You attempt the Kata form of buildup (momentum: 1).
* ka jakari akyaevin rleg left
With a deft flick of your wrist, you whip Akyaevin's right leg with a scythe-bladed chain of platinum links, lashing the skin from his flesh.
* ka jakari akyaevin rleg right
You swing a menacing obsidian viola at Akyaevin, and he raises his viola which absorbs the blow.
* ka kick akyaevin rleg left
With a quick spin, you kick Akyaevin in the right leg with your left foot.
Your momentum increases.
Your masochistic tendencies go into remission.
Akyaevin twists toward you, one of his rusted spikes throwing you off balance.
6699h, 6656m, 6270e, 10p, 27879en, 27900w ekdb<>- [1 momentum] (XBHSPFA) {5.7061}
Akyaevin takes some salve from a vial and rubs it on his legs.
6699h, 6656m, 6270e, 10p, 27879en, 27900w ekdb<>- [1 momentum] (XBHSPFA) {6.4196}
You have recovered balance on your legs. 0.939
6699h, 6656m, 6270e, 10p, 27879en, 27900w exkdb<>- [1 momentum] (XBHSPFA) {6.6471}
You have recovered balance on your left leg.
6699h, 6656m, 6270e, 10p, 27879en, 27900w exkdb<>- [1 momentum] (XBHSPFA) {8.9995}
You have recovered balance on your right arm. 3.297
You have recovered balance on your left arm. 3.2999
EDIT: I don't know what it's doing to the text. It's previewing fine! So I just removed the formatting.
Yeah, I'm not sure even changing it to general balance and doubling the time would still make it worth...anything. Terrible suggestions are as follows:
- have it target a random, specific limb, knocking that limb off balance for 2-4s.
- moving away from offbal, have it inflict light wounds on a random body part. Not stellar, but interesting maybe?
Crumkane, Lord of Epicurean Delights says, "WAS IT INDEED ON FIRE, ERITHEYL."
-
With a deep reverb, Contemptible Sutekh says, "CEASE YOUR INFERNAL ENERGY, ERITHEYL."
Inflicting wounds from a chem spec? That would be just as useless. And in groups, warriors don't need any more help stacking wounding than they already can do.
Make it extend both arm balances AND normal equilibrium by 1s, ignoring normal balance altogether. This makes anyone who procs spikes lose an extra sec off whatever attack they used, since the only thing that works without arm balance is a monk's kicks, and the only way to do so is to kick out of a form while off arm balance (can't start forms with any limb off bal). Combo users get shafted a little more because there's more chances of proccing it for them than for single hit attacks, but at least it's better than a combo breaker.
Alternatively, change it to give a different aff. No idea what's appropriate or useful in this situation.
(Alternatively, change the entire god forsaken mechanic. Yeah, yeah, I know it won't happen.)
Everiine said: The reason population is low isn't because there are too many orgs. It's because so many facets of the game are outright broken and protected by those who benefit from it being that way. An overabundance of gimmicks (including game-breaking ones), artifacts that destroy any concept of balance, blatant pay-to-win features, and an obsession with convenience that makes few things actually worthwhile all contribute to the game's sad decline.
Relapsing wouldn't be all that handy without a delivery method for poisons, which doesn't exist for Geos...well, outside of TK, which I remembered as I wrote this.
Comments
I like this idea, but honestly don't see what you have to work with in Stag. Right now Stag is a grab bag of barely related utility skills (at least half of which I've never seen used), and there is currently nothing in the skill that's demesne dependent to give *wood dependent effects to.
Really, I'd say that druids needed changes to Stag/Crow more than they needed them to demesnes, after the attention they got with the allergy changes. They still might be due for an overhaul after everything else is done, just to give them some sort of cohesion.
But yes, blending the other skillsets with the primary would be nice; having a tie in for dreamweaving, for example (not just the illusions skillset, as there are demesne-linked abilities in some others as well).
The original look!
Love it! (Im sure all you LoL fans know what I mean ;D)
Edit: Also thought of this
You attempt the Kata form of buildup (momentum: 1). * ka jakari akyaevin rleg left With a deft flick of your wrist, you whip Akyaevin's right leg with a scythe-bladed chain of platinum links, lashing the skin from his flesh. * ka jakari akyaevin rleg right You swing a menacing obsidian viola at Akyaevin, and he raises his viola which absorbs the blow. * ka kick akyaevin rleg left With a quick spin, you kick Akyaevin in the right leg with your left foot. Your momentum increases. Your masochistic tendencies go into remission. Akyaevin twists toward you, one of his rusted spikes throwing you off balance. 6699h, 6656m, 6270e, 10p, 27879en, 27900w ekdb<>- [1 momentum] (XBHSPFA) {5.7061} Akyaevin takes some salve from a vial and rubs it on his legs. 6699h, 6656m, 6270e, 10p, 27879en, 27900w ekdb<>- [1 momentum] (XBHSPFA) {6.4196} You have recovered balance on your legs. 0.939 6699h, 6656m, 6270e, 10p, 27879en, 27900w exkdb<>- [1 momentum] (XBHSPFA) {6.6471} You have recovered balance on your left leg. 6699h, 6656m, 6270e, 10p, 27879en, 27900w exkdb<>- [1 momentum] (XBHSPFA) {8.9995} You have recovered balance on your right arm. 3.297 You have recovered balance on your left arm. 3.2999-
Make it extend both arm balances AND normal equilibrium by 1s, ignoring normal balance altogether. This makes anyone who procs spikes lose an extra sec off whatever attack they used, since the only thing that works without arm balance is a monk's kicks, and the only way to do so is to kick out of a form while off arm balance (can't start forms with any limb off bal). Combo users get shafted a little more because there's more chances of proccing it for them than for single hit attacks, but at least it's better than a combo breaker.
Alternatively, change it to give a different aff. No idea what's appropriate or useful in this situation.
(Alternatively, change the entire god forsaken mechanic. Yeah, yeah, I know it won't happen.)
Random aside.