Buffs changed discussion

Is this intentional? I remember @Chris said there was a decision made that buffs were going to result in increased reagent usage - but now it appears that they are adding negative effects instead?

(Just learned below that this is intentional - reagent usage was abandoned but I didn't see that post in the blog discussion thread - just the original Chris's blog post mentioning reagents were the compromise)

 

I will be un-training Air's Embrace down to 40 since I do not like losing damage resistance.

I may live with the change to Enlightenment and Strength of Earth and use them anyway.

 

Ahh - thanks @Alley Oop - I didn't see this post in the discussion thread - I just remembered that the change to buffs was supposed to be reagents related, and when I saw this today, I thought maybe it was a mistake that went in instead. I guess that newer post by @Chris explains it - thanks!

 

What are the negatives for Strength of Earth (I think that's what it's called) and Celestial Blessing?

 

these were "nerfed" in 514.. as it was discussed in devplus on discord last night before 515 and 516 were out.

Id rather have reagents than negative effects.

celestial blessing (81) phew untouched, no downs no reagents
str (80) -16.1 focus
dex (80) -1.6 dam resist,
int (80) -16.2 health,
douse also untouched, just douses.

 

Loss to focus on both.

@Chris another focus hit to Tamers if we decide to use these buffs?!?!?

 

I am showing a focus loss for celestial blessing in build 516.

 

How much of a focus loss?

 

Yeah, I'm not real certain about the actual benefit of that extra dexterity anyway.

 

From what I know, crit chance and dodge chance, but I cannot see that on the character sheet.

I will put the XP back into bow skills anyway.

 

I personally am not fond of the idea of "punishing" people who use buffs, or because now they are extended in time.

Would be better if reagent cost was escalaing with skill level. "lowbies" use them for free, "highbies" must pay to use and ultra-highbies pay a lot more. As simple as that.

 

Negative affects for using a buff is NOT the way to go.

Just because I use a buff I now suffer a penalty.

Piss poor decision.

What needs to be dealt with is the excessive stacking of buffs not plain old buff use.

If this is implemented it is a HUGE step in the WRONG direction and shows how out of touch developers actually are.

 

I'm not completely opposed to a penalty for buffs, but it's definitely not my preference. The penalty, if any, should be associated to the opposing school as to skills that could directly impact survival (health, damage resistance, focus).

For example, Air's Embrace have a -X strength since Earth is opposite Air. Similarly, Strength of Earth would have -X dexerity. Enlightenment would lose both dex and strength. We already have a similar system with high-end food (obsidian beer stew is +6 strength at the expense of +2 dex). The current negative values feel arbitrary.

While I understand these core stats influence survival and can scale, I feel this is a more meaningful change and choice to buff.

Ideally, I'd rather have buffs be limited in that you can only cast one of the associated buffs instead of having all 3 active, so it really is a choice which is active. You would have the choice to change on the fly if you stock your deck without fear of a penalty other than losing a damage/heal turn, or waiting for a quick swap.