>1. Switch around aura and barrier's properties. Make aura>shorter duration (4-5 hours), higher damage reduction. Make>barrier lower damage reduction, much longer duration (40>hours) and the only form of damage reduction that doesn't>reduce healing. Shield remains the same, and is easiest to>find/get since it's largely not on mobs like the other two.So really you're just saying make barrier much more prevalent than it really is.>2. Make detect artifact level 35. This way by 40 everyone>should have an aura source if they're any good at exploring. 35 feels a bit low to me. In my mind it's not "as soon as I can possibly use an aura/shield/barrier wand I should have detect artifact".>3. Despoil moves to level 40. To prevent level 30-40 monster>mages with aura.>>4. Critical hit becomes 1.5 rounds lag instead of 2.I'm lost here...>5. Make an edge to extend auras duration, something closer to>current barriers level, as a reward for well played and long>lived chars. If barrier is so important to a mages build, it's>a chance to empower it with your edge points.Meh.>The key behind all these changes is to shift the balance of>power with mages. The greater gripe everyone has with the>system is that it's very easy for vets or uber-mages to gain>abs, while newbies and less powerful mages get trampled on>trying to get them. By making aura far more common>barrier-like protection, you're powering up lvl 30-45 mages>significantly while giving barrier a glaring flaw - it's 4-5>hour duration. This means smarter tactics are rewarded while>all mages get a basic hardcore damage reduction they can use.I don't really see that as changing very much. So now people complain they can't find their aura source instead of their barrier source.>This also depowers uber-mages (liches, charged aps,>despoil-crazy scions) somewhat at hero because now their>barrier-style aura only lasts a few hours and the>really-hard-to-get wands they could get easily don't give that>much protection.Really? How? Your aura is now 5 hours instead of 8, your barrier is now 40 instead of 25, and your shield is exactly the same. This doesn't depower anyone.>The idea is diminishing returns on prep>effort. Putting a lot of time and effort has a rapid reward at>first, and can still continue to have a reward, but this>reward is not as great at hero - when exploration moves more>toward the big area explores and certain hardcore areas. This>encourages more low level exploration, fixes what I personally>percieve is a great imbalance between uber-mages and regular>mages power, and still allows the same maximum level of damage>reduction when all three are combined. The idea of removing>barriers healing-impairing ability is, again, to reward>uber-mages effort for getting that extra dam-redux.I really don't see removing any of these healing-impairing ability. If we really wanted to do that, we'd just give all mages more hit points, because that's what it really is.>Scouts now also have many more foes with high damage>reduction, and a slightly faster skill to counter it as well>as discern to watch it's low-duration ticker and time their>attacks.>>What do you think?
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