It is abusable in SO many ways.

Just now:
I got blackjacked by binder thief.
Fully bound.
My potions stolen.

Anaconda comes and entwines me. Slays me.
Thief/anaconda full loot me. Thank you.

Best thing: I CANT DO A THING about it.
100% guaranteed kill.

And who said nightgaunts were overpowered?

-=NNNick=-

To those of you who rebutted the original poster's argument that constriction should be removed with, "But it took two people!"...

I'd remind you of the situation with blackjack, damnation and rot. That also required two players, but was still considered imbalanced enough to bring about change.

Does this mean constrict will be changed? Hell if I know. But I could certainly see a case for it.

Yeah because Anaconda is already the worst defensive form by far, let's keep kicking it. I mean what other form tanks worse then a third tier form and whose only attack crushes the gear your trying to get from a Mob. Also for some reason CF Anacondas are the only ones who aren't amphibious. This Anaconda rant brought to you by the letter A and the number 3.

That which does not kill us,
makes us stronger.

Settle down Beavis. (In my opinion) the general suckitude (or lack thereof) of the anaconda form exists irrespective of whether its insta-kill ability is (or is not) imbalanced.

The statements:

"The anaconda form needs a power tone-up," and

"The anaconda's constrict ability should be tweaked in order to promote enjoyable game-play,"

can be simultaneously true.

Well considering the utter suckitude of the Anaconda has never been fixed no matter the gnashing of teeth. I can easily see constrict become even more impossible to kill someone with, without the Anaconda being made to be on par with other forms.

P.S. I especially love how the Anacondas only attack crushes gear, so it makes it unregearable with.

That which does not kill us,
makes us stronger.

Maybe it will never be "fixed". Maybe it doesn't need to be. That's not for me to decide. If it does indeed suck, though, then it hardly sucks less by virtue of its ability to garner zero-skill kills.

Can't agree with you there. If I have an avg 1 dmg sword, but said sword can insta kill even the toughest opponent if I get the right conditions then to me that makes it alot more valuable. I'm not saying it isn't cheesy, just less sucky. I agree I think constrict should be changed, but I think if you take away that one little perk then the Imms should seriously consider revamping the whole shape.

That which does not kill us,
makes us stronger.

"Well considering the utter suckitude of the Anaconda has never been fixed no matter the gnashing of teeth. I can easily see constrict become even more impossible to kill someone with, without the Anaconda being made to be on par with other forms."

It's a defensive form! It should be hard to kill people with an anaconda. You also left out its regenerative qualities, which do not suck.

P.S. I especially love how the Anacondas only attack crushes gear, so it makes it unregearable with..


If I recall, the crushing attack has to be done manually. If so, there is no reason to use it while regearing. Normally I see players use another form, then switch back to anaconda for healing.

Denting is an extremely useful combat skill. Even a superior opponent will think twice before facing it.

Anaconda does NOT suck! Fear it.

>It's a defensive form! It should be hard to kill
>people with an anaconda. You also left out its regenerative
>qualities, which do not suck.

It is the least defensive of the defensive forms, even the porcupine tanks better and it also does the least damage besides the armadillo. It's regen is not enough to make up for how much it gets hit even with the slight damage redux. It's the only major defensive form I got that actually died to what my third tier form had just been tanking rather well.

>If I recall, the crushing attack has to be done manually. If
>so, there is no reason to use it while regearing. Normally I
>see players use another form, then switch back to anaconda for
>healing.

This doesn't help if your second focus is defense/air/water and you haven't learned your final form in your minor. In my opinion it should have a once a round automatic bite attack. Also having a form that is only used for Regen points out the suckiness of it. The Sand lizard has better regen and it's only third tier form if that's what your going to use it for.

>Denting is an extremely useful combat skill. Even a superior
>opponent will think twice before facing it.

Considering it rarely destroys anything in pk because of how short pk combat is with the anaconda getting it's ass whooped or your opponent fleeing because you attempt a constrict I think it's a moot point.

>Anaconda does NOT suck! Fear it.

I honestly don't think you've ever played on if your making that statement. Only fear it if someone finds a super cheap way to abuse it.

P.S. Let me offer up an idea to change it. Up one of it's defensive attributes to make it worthy of a top tier defensive form, my pick would be regen. Give it a once around bite attack so you can at least attempt to regear with just it. Change constrict from insta kill to a superior form of crush. Maybe make it cause more and more damage each time it tightens and make it harder and harder to flee from. And one last thing, MAKE IT AMPHIBIOUS!

That which does not kill us,
makes us stronger.

>It's a defensive form! It should be hard to kill
>people with an anaconda. You also left out its regenerative
>qualities, which do not suck.

It is the least defensive of the defensive forms, even the porcupine tanks better and it also does the least damage besides the armadillo. It's regen is not enough to make up for how much it gets hit even with the slight damage redux. It's the only major defensive form I got that actually died to what my third tier form had just been tanking rather well.

This is really just personal preference. You're right in that the Anaconda is less defensive because it can regen, instakill, AND crush armour. With these abilities, this form should be forced into using different tactics than the usual head-to-head tanking. If people try to use it as a mongoose, lemur, porc, croc, or anything else, OF COURSE it's going to suck. It's just different.

I honestly don't think you've ever played on if your making that statement. Only fear it if someone finds a super cheap way to abuse it.

I was being facetious. Actually I experimented with an anaconda two or so years ago and found that there were abusable bugs in it.

>If I recall, the crushing attack has to be done manually. If
>so, there is no reason to use it while regearing. Normally I
>see players use another form, then switch back to anaconda for
>healing.

This doesn't help if your second focus is defense/air/water and you haven't learned your final form in your minor. In my opinion it should have a once a round automatic bite attack. Also having a form that is only used for Regen points out the suckiness of it. The Sand lizard has better regen and it's only third tier form if that's what your going to use it for.

No one forces you to choose defense/air/water as your other focus. Each focus has pros and cons. Also, the Sand Lizard can't insta kill or dent your armour. You know all this. You obviously don't enjoy the anaconda, so nothing I say can really change that.

P.S. Let me offer up an idea to change it. Up one of it's defensive attributes to make it worthy of a top tier defensive form, my pick would be regen. Give it a once around bite attack so you can at least attempt to regear with just it. Change constrict from insta kill to a superior form of crush. Maybe make it cause more and more damage each time it tightens and make it harder and harder to flee from. And one last thing, MAKE IT AMPHIBIOUS!

I'll settle and say that the anaconda could be more stylistically appealing. They have obvious limitations, sure. However, I don't think it is over or underpowered for its purpose. Given that shifters received a shot in the arm a few days ago, who knows when they'll be looked at again ... Our coders have been very generous lately though - so you can always hope.

Will it be better if the anaconda was a cloud giant warrior bashing you after the thief backstabs?

Pretty similar. Different stylse, same ending.

A lot of characters could get away from that.

A necro/thief behind cents...that's similar. Sort of. Not like the anaconda has much else. It needs to be tweaked, I think.

nt

"Do not merely practice Art, but penetrate to the very heart of it. For only Art and Science elevate man to the Godhead." Ludwig Van Beethoven

Just now:
I got blackjacked by binder thief.
Fully bound.
My potions stolen.

Anaconda comes and entwines me. Slays me.
Thief/anaconda full loot me. Thank you.


So basically, it took two people to kill you. Could the anaconda have used its constriction to kill you by itself? Probably not if you were paying attention. This is no different that two people perma-lagging someone by using lagging attacks on alternate rounds. This is "in effect" a 2v1 assist kill, so I guess my question is to Zulg whether this would count as such under the new PBF gango-meter? I assume it doesn't, but who knows?


Best thing: I CANT DO A THING about it.
100% guaranteed kill.


Incorrect. :=)


And who said nightgaunts were overpowered?


Hastur. Need I say more? *chuckle*

Rom.

When a giant starts bashing you, he enters melee, and thus your bindings can start to fall off. Gag goes pretty quickly, enabling you to order mercs, cast recall etc. Defensive or hastened melee classes might well find that they can survive melee long enough to come untrussed, say.

When an anaconda insta-kills you, I don't think your bindings are coming off at all. Could be wrong, but that's a difference.

Anaconda insta-kill sometimes shouldn't work (I think on a bound person is a good example, but then, you have other wierd situations like on a rager in a locked room etc), there was a lot you can do about getting jacked in the first place.

>Anaconda insta-kill sometimes shouldn't work (I think on a
>bound person is a good example, but then, you have other wierd
>situations like on a rager in a locked room etc), there was a
>lot you can do about getting jacked in the first place.

I don't see why it would need changing. As was pointed out before, it's a two-person kill. There are a number of situations in which a character is doomed by having first been fully bound by a thief. Any shaman, necromancer or anti-paladin should be able to lock in that kill just as well. A paladin with a little summon savvy should too.

How many times have you heard thieves complain about how hard it is to get someone fully bound and how easy it is to have some lowbie come by and untie the victim? This is the tradeoff for having it be quite strong when it works to its full extent.

I can almost guarantee I could abuse the constrict ability until it got changed though, so that in some situations where you can have no way to avoid the constriction it won't work. Not by constricting bound people but in a another fashion that people can't get away from (and it doesn't involve sleep).