1891, RE: Retooling ABS
Posted by Zulghinlour on Wed 31-Dec-69 07:00 PM
>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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