Air Shield users

@Chris is now talking about nerfing focus regen while using Shield of Air:
https://twitter.com/catnipgames/status/1372598533266812938

 

Hm. I'm not quite as annoyed with this one. But, my transfer rate is only .5, so if it works as he describes it, it wouldn't actually affect me until I put more xp into air. Without actually seeing it in action, it feels like it's reasonable. But, I suppose if my transfer rate was better, I might feel differently.

 

Wow, so in that post Chris did consider virtually invincible players (PVE only though), but hyper consumption of focus potions for the average Joe who uses Shield of Air to not be so squishy?

This kind of change will hurt the average player who uses the skill as intended and won't do any harm to the few people on the verge of the "exploit" zone.

 

I talk just about PVE side, but it break pvp even more.

In 2 words: freaking strong glass canon NEVER should be invulnerable OR if it is it, should not be a freaking strong and simultaneously the easiest way to play the game.

Physical damage you can output in this game (and it is how it should be done) is extremely high but always was limited by a time you waste to mitigate incoming dmg, in best zones you get high incoming DPS. Ways of mitigating are different - passive or active from “class” to “class” (kite, pay part of dps for tanking ability, healing, stacking low time glyphs) all those types has their pros and cons for usage but they have much in common, you need to push many keys or/and pay by your dps.

With air shield you almost not wasting time on your defense(crazy achievable focus regen, 2k-4k+ EHP potions, kite with ability for unlimited amount of mistakes) AND not paying by DPS fall (you can wear epic brittle (very high str 400+)+bandit (high dex/crit))

The answer is pretty easy make air shield transfer rate depend of ATT not DEX. So nothing would be changed for Air mages, but physical glass cannon would be rebalanced. @Elgarion

 

Very reasonable solution you got there.

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Looking at past 6 months changes, I'm afraid all the devs will do to try and balance the game is nerfing one aspect after another. I'm kind of repeating myself, but why not make other options viable by buffing them instead of nerfing the existing meta builds.
People invest thousands of hours to get to a point and then BAM, it's not worth your time investment anymore.
When something is broken or unreasonable, like near zero transfer rate, sure they need to address it.

Currently Ranged + Bandit + Tactics Spec + Savage Sonata is the meta. Why not try to buff Blades/Polearms/Bludgeon to have their own sweet spot? Not to mention some magic trees that are almost worthless like Water.

 

I'm 10000% against this notion. Why do we want the game to be full of people 4 shotting dragons?

 

How do we prevent the 4-shot dragon in a game without practical skill cap?

This will eventually happen, unless you keep nerfing everything ad aeternum.

It's part of the game design.

 

@Chris I've got to say this is depressing. When I started this game I decided I wanted to be an air mage. Many of the schools of magic had a "shield" spell that increased their attunement and gave them another benefit. Much to my surprise when I got my shield spell I discovered that using it immediately drained my entire focus pool. This meant that using my "shield" spell was basically a death sentence. (I even suggested to @Chris that he change air shield to do something more in line with the other shield spells, like give a dodge bonus, instead of a weird defensive ability that drains all of your focus...)

The design of the air shield spell meant that if I wanted to play and air mage and be able to use my shield spell without it draining all of my focus and making my character useless, I would have to design my entire character build around focus, and in combat focus regen. (I even took the bloody focus tree as my second specialization for the little bit of in combat focus regen it gives.) This is going to drive @Chris nuts, but I have also built my character around -fizzle chance to the point that I can overcome the -75% fizzle penalty of passive stance and I can chain lightning while I am in passive stance.

It's worth noting that this character build was pretty much forced on my air mage by the way air shield is designed. Now I read @Chris is going to nerf in combat focus regen while you use air shield.... Geeez are you serious!?!?! The entire design of the skill forces you to need in combat focus regen. (Its not much fun to play your character with no focus...) If you are going to take away in combat focus while you have air shield up then stop biting at the edges and take the bloody bandaid off. Give me a dodge buff, remove this defense at the cost off focus weirdness, and be done with it!!!!! The skill is a waste of code/death sentence if you cant regen focus while it is going...

(Don't even get me started on how many of the boss creatures in this game are literally immune to damage from my air spells. The only thing I can do as an air mage against them is start beating on them with a weapon since my spells are useless, but please by all means suck my focus to ZERO so I am reduced to auto attacking them with a club....)

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PS: "Its' no fun to play your character with ZERO focus" needs to be a STICKY NOTE on @Chris monitor.
I consider "I hate this so much it makes me not want to play this game" to be part of the definition of a bad design.
- Zombies that suck your focus to ZERO = bad design
- Skill that sucks your focus to ZERO = bad design
- Areas on the ground that suck you focus to ZERO = bad design
Its fine if these things are in the game as a challenge for you to figure out how to avoid the death sentence of being reduced to ZERO focus, but if the design is "Yeah umm your just gonna have zero focus" = bad design

 

- Zombies that suck your focus to ZERO = not fun

 

if people have Levelled their skills to the point they can 4 shot dragons, then why shouldnt they? theyve earned that

 

Yikes. The new air shield nerf (lower focus regen) is structured so that it affects all focus sources- so not only your regen, but what you get from drinking a potion. Not a fan of that at all. I was okay with hurting the regen, but if I can't grab a pot and heal up either...

 

It essentially eliminates any reason to use Shield of Air.

[edit] He also lowered the amount that dexterity benefits the skill, so a nerf across the board to all players, not just the top.

 

I mean, it'll still be super useful until you run out of focus. I suppose if I were more agile, I could quickly dismiss the shield, and suck down some potions, but re-casting air shield in combat is pretty fizzle-tastic.

 

Because it makes combat stupid trivial and uninteresting?

I'm with you in that I think devs should try to see these things coming and avoid rolling out broken skills that will inevitably need to be nerfed after players progress them to a certain point. That's not a justification for just leaving things broken after the fact though. I mean, how many MMOs have you played where you get a long duration buff that just passively mitigates almost all mob damage? How much fire resist and DA would shield of ice need to be equivalent to shield of air? It's just ridiculous if we're being honest about it.

 

To every Archer in this conversation, just archers. How many of you have reached 0.2 Transfer rate. From my point of view not even 1% of the game population has achieve this. Let me know and let see how hard it is to achieve?

 

After botting was allowed at ERG, Sanctus Spine and Superstition Canyon? Quite easily, I assure you.

 

Well, I just spent some time on QA and all I can say is... I guess I'm done.

 

Again?

 

Chris stated in today's stream that none of this is set in stone. Be sure to give him feedback on the changes. (On Twitter, probably, so he'll actually see it.)

 

Everyone please go and test on the QA this current changes are really bad. I am fire mage and I do not like what QA has done.