I wanted to see if the Dev (Imm/Imp) Team is generally happy with the removal of the fly commune from healers and transmute metal to wood from druids.

I'll be honest - I'm deterred from playing a druid with so many gearing restrictions and I really miss healers having a fly commune. Druids/healers don't seem overpowered or that popular... perhaps consider reverting those changes.

On Invokers - given the current year - 2018 and the lower playerbase, would you consider removing the spell spam requirement from invokers? Perhaps change it to 90% like assassin kicks? As the playerbase is getting older, having to commit 50-100 hours (50 for expert invokers probably, but 100 for noobs like me) seems like a very high entry level requirement.

With ST and Hell closed, I'm looking for something to rejuvenate the explo/PVE scene.

Thank you in advance for your feedback.

(Edit: corrected a grammatical mistake)

Most tend to be outlander which lets them strengthen gear. And generally they gear very similar to mages so a lot of what they want (hp/saves/mana) can be found the same way. Even almost all of the progging gear they would be interested in is not metal(stone form, amulet of dragonkind, lash belt). You miss out on strange bracers but haste isn’t that terribly great for them and we are speaking of limit 1 items most chars will never touch.

Grabbing a weapon in the early ranks may be annoying but it’s really just there to parry so use whatever.

I do miss transmute metal to wood, though, just because its fun to loot awesome gear and wear it and druids don't get to do that as much as others.

I can't speak to fly/transmute, so I'll let someone codey do that.

Druids do have a lot of really good gear options still though, including newer things (added within the last year or so).

As to invokers, I can tell you that if that were the case, I'd personally want their ceiling power toned down considerably. Invokers get to have an assortment of pretty insanely powerful stuff at the cost of being a nerd (I think that's a funny way to phrase it). So I'm against that in general since that would require a jump back to balancing, toning things down, etc. There are other classes that are casty/communy that don't require that level of investment and who have lower ceilings.

Explore/PvE scene - we'll see! We continuously have areas in the works, but the process tends to be slow and steady. Either way, there were some recent area additions, so jump in and maybe they can sate you until something else pops out :).

-Ish

Probably not the answer ever player wants to see but that's CF for you, something for everyone not everything for everyone. Invokers are unlike any other class and some of us nerds like the spell grinding process as crazy as that may be. And the payout at the end of spamming up a 7 path invoker is way too great to have them walking around at will.

BUT - if the only thing holding you back from playing invoker is the skill spamming, just skip a couple paths, right?

And I don't agree. It seems to me that if something is "way too great" at the cost of 50 hours, or 100 hours, that it is just "way too great" period. I don't see how being a full 7 path invoker is more balanced by having them require a lot of tedious, but ultimately not very dangerous investment.

If 7 path invoker is OP, then it is OP. At 50 hours or 150 hours doesn't really change a whole lot, when the bulk of *any* character's natural lifespan is still in front of them. It's not a risk = reward mechanic, just a time = reward mechanic. That time is, generally speaking, not particularly interactive time either. Cast, sleep, eat, drink, repeat.

If it is a case of rarity... stick the limited race restrictions on the class? It feels like there are better solutions than "dump 100 boring hours".

You don't see a lot of 7path invokers successful due to that investment. There is also danger to the spam (at least every time I've played an invoker).

All in all, I don't see why any other options are necessary - the current implemented method works. I can see why someone would prefer an easier path, but again I don't think that is solved by changing invoker, I think that's solved by changing classes.

I've always had an interactive time while spamming, but I also don't like standing in a room spamming alone (which is normally minimal at most). Keeps me entertained to keep with folks! Though that has its dangers. Maybe that's why I die so much :P.

-Ish

Ish, I appreciate the quick reply (this one and the original). (A quick aside - outside of CF, I'm in charge of a legal team. We recently introduced a "challenge moment" - after each strategy meeting, we pause and say "what if we were approaching this completely the wrong way... what would the 'other way' look like?" It's led to some interesting discussions at the least and we've reversed course a number of times.)

So just to have a "challenge moment" here. What if a change like this one would bring back a few players - we'll have a few more invokers running around - a few more villagers hunting them down - it could actually revitalize a few things? You can always revert if you somehow end up with five powerhouse invokers...

Just a thought. I've never played an invoker, I don't know what they are capable of. So I may be completely off base...

Cheers!

This is where I wish there was a lower latency communication method in play, as either this spams back and forth or I end up looking like a crazy person, or I give up, or you do, or some combination of all of the above.

>You don't see a lot of 7path invokers successful due to that
>investment. There is also danger to the spam (at least every
>time I've played an invoker).

You don't see a lot of 7 path invokers successful. I believe that's because it's boring to spend most of your time spamming and so you end up playing some other char or some other game entirely. Those are the two results that happen to me. Neither of us has empirical data on why people don't play invoker more.

There is danger to the spam... but less so than if you are actually like... playing for those 100 hours vs hiding away and spamming, yeah? We can at least agree there I would think. More dangerous to walk down up and down Eastern than sit in Pine Forest spamming wind wall for an hour.

>All in all, I don't see why any other options are necessary -
>the current implemented method works. I can see why someone
>would prefer an easier path, but again I don't think that is
>solved by changing invoker, I think that's solved by changing
>classes.

This is the way we've always done it! First, we print the email, then we go to the scanner and scan it as a pdf, then we have a pdf of the email. I don't see a problem here.

I don't consider it a question of "easier" vs. "harder", but of interactive vs. idle, or interesting vs. boring. I mean if the paths just unlocked, a 7 path invoker with 75%'s is way crappier than the 100% version, but they can be out there mixing it up at 50 hours with all their tools (albeit crappy version of them) instead of hiding away. That seems like an obvious win kind of for everyone in this case. Invokers that spam still have a pretty massive advantage due to no lost concentration, and elemental mastery and all that jazz, but those that don't can simply get in there and play...

Edited to add: The current method works depends on what your design goal is. If the goal is, have as few invokers running around as possible and generally make mages really rare... then maybe I'd agree the design is working, but I suspect that's not it. So what is the design and how are you assessing whether it is working or not?

>I've always had an interactive time while spamming, but I also
>don't like standing in a room spamming alone (which is
>normally minimal at most). Keeps me entertained to keep with
>folks! Though that has its dangers. Maybe that's why I die so
>much :P.

Yeah. I mean that seems like a more interesting way to do it, but I don't think this is representative of how invokers are usually played. I don't know how to don't end up sitting alone for hours spamming something like drown...

If they were going to give invokers their spells without mastering them, they should either lower their power considerably or do as you suggested and make them limited. Both seem like a worse option to me. I like invokers as they are, rare but powerful, and I've never had the opportunity to play a minotaur, still, after all these years.

I would just change the role of affinity. Instead of affecting learn rate I would make it affect casting level. I would also change shield from immunity to 10% per affinity point(but not touch the general dam redux). So a 10 affinity makes you immune 0, does not.

If there were a ton then everyone would be immune to everyone in the current system. They are similar to conjurer in that they basically neutralize each other.