I made these arguments on the last thread, but I don't think everyone saw them, so I want to re-post and see what people think. Some of this text wall might be outdated, so you'll have to excuse me:
My thoughts on the direction the game is taking, and where I think it needs to go:
---1. Throwers need a nerf- Their speed, damage, and survability is just wayyy too overpowered. I like their support role of being good/quick dismounters, but not with the changes coming to Animal form. Which leads me to point 2.
---2. Animal Form- does NOT need to be nerfed. By nerfing Animal Form you are MAKING dismount overpowered. Animal Form can logically only be as overpowered as dismounting is; considering the only thing that Animal Form is, is a *reaction* to another ALREADY powerful move (the dismount). In other words, You can not logically say that Animal Form is more overpowered than the dismount, when the Animal Form is merely a *REACTIONARY RESPONSE* to the dismount... unless you think that there should be no counter for being dismounted; meaning it should be even more overpowered than it already is. Animal Form would not be necessary if dismounting wasn't so overpowered. Think about it, why else would people invest 80 skill points in Ninjitsu, just to save them from ONE ability (the dismount)?? Dismounting (*imo*) is definitely overpowered. Animal Form only *alleviates* the consequences of being dismounted. There's nothing overpowered about that. Once again, Please do NOT nerf Animal Form. It is *NOT* overpowered. As I said, " Animal form still has to wait for the remount timer, giving groups plenty of time to dump the person on foot. You also can't use any abilities while in animal form, and you can't even remount until you *UNDO* Animal Form. If someone has to invest 80 skill points just to run as fast as everyone else, *WITH* all of the limitations I just stated, it can hardly be considered overpowered. Besides, if you actually chase and follow someone while they're in animal form, you can disrupt them once they "un-form" and try to remount. It's not difficult, and it's definitely not overpowered." And that's all besides the fact that it is a *REACTIONARY RESPONSE* to ANOTHER ALREADY POWERFUL ability (dismount).
---3. Cleansing Winds Nerf- That's reasonable. It should still be useful, but with diminishing returns imo.
---4. Divine Fury Nerf- ...Seriously? lol
---5. Two Handed Weapon Buff- This is what I want to see. Don't Nerf one handed weapons, they're not overpowered. Two handed weapons are just underpowered. In doing this, you are not destroying anyone's templates/gear set up, but you are making one underpowered one more viable and also adding additional options for people to play the game in their own unique way. I think you need to take it one step further and give two handed weapons an extra imbuable property. Those who pvp will use it on Balanced, essentially making two handed weapons just as useful as one handed. In PvM they will use it on something else making two handed weapons significantly better. So instead of increasing the intensity cap to 600 on exceptionally crafted items, why not make it 550 and decrease the intensity cost of balanced to 50 instead of 100? Two handed weapons will be viable for pvp again, and for using one handed weapons in pve, the ability to use pots will be a small price to pay for 1 magical property and 50 intensity points.. You will also make it easier for archers in pvp, who unlike throwers have to use balanced, and you will also bring back the PVE Archer, a class long forgotten. And to keep Archery from being overpowered, you can always slightly nerf the damage of some of the weapons to equal the damage output of a thrower.
---6. Stamina Potion Nerf- This is perhaps somewhat needed, but not to such a high extent.. It's ridiculous that dexxers/throwers and the like have 100% stamina at all times, but that doesn't mean they should easily bottom out either. A mages only source of power comes from his/her mana and he/she constantly has to manage it. Dexxers and Throwers don't need mana to do a baseline damage. They can do that baseline damage while waiting for their mana to go up (unlike mages), where as a mage has to wait for mana, or expend their current mana at the cost of their long term mana. Dexxers/Throwers should have to learn to manage their stamina and resources a little better, and not just spam total refresh pots every time it drops a little bit. That said, it shouldn't be too difficult. They just shouldn't have 100% all the time, but the focus of the fight should not be keeping their stamina from bottoming out.
---7. HLD Buff/DCI Nerf- And Yes, it is a buff, because it's only a Nerf against people with less than 45 DCI. And Who in PvP Has less than 45 DCI? (No One). HLD Does not need a buff. It is already easy enough to hit mages with HLD as it is. I play both sides of the ball. It's fine as it is. If this is a way to keep dexxers/throwers happy because they're upset about the stamina nerfs, just reduce the stamina nerfs. If it's because throwers are upset because they don't have 50 hci anymore, well guess what? No one else does either. The point is, it's balanced as it is. If you nerf the stamina too hard, or nerf mages that stack dci too hard, you're just going to unbalance the game and make everyone unhappy. A lot of the people who complain about things like not hitting people enough, just either aren't good pvpers, have bad suits, or just like to complain a lot. Most people would agree that generally speaking, other than throwers, the game is pretty balanced as it is. It's just in these forums you don't get the opinion of the majority, you often get the opinions of the people most upset by something.// If you nerf DCI so that all DCI above 45 is useless, you are not only giving dexxers and archers a huge advantage and comparably nerfing the hell out of mages, but you are giving throwers more of a buff than any of the nerfs that you are implementing could possibly make up for. If hit chance was balanced in the old system (except in the case of throwers), why would you nerf DCI??
---8. You want to make armor other than Woodland and Leather Armor more viable, so you... Nerf them? And then give them a LMC bonus? Wtf?... this is completely senseless. And if this has anything to do with nerfing throwers, well newsflash, they'll just wear leather gear. If you want to make gear like platemail viable again you have to give it a slight bonus, like you did with woodland armor (2hpr, 5 HCI, 10 DI, etc). Although, Lower mana cost is NOT the way to go. Logically, it doesn't even make sense. And this whole new Armor Refinement Idea was a good idea, that turned stupid when you started adding consequences, like reduced resists and DCI. If you want to make the gear better, specifically with refinement, make refinement make an *actual* difference. Not a Benefit with an equal consequence. That's not going to make it as useful as woodland/leather gear. I for one am NOT going to craft anything other than Woodland and Leather with these changes, and I've made at least 25+ PvP/PvE suits since imbuing came out. *Get Rid* of the Lower Mana Cost, and make refinement better. Make refinement work where heavy armor like platemail gives slight max resist increases without a nerf to dci, or at the expense of other resists. Each piece of Woodland gear can have either 2 HPR, 5 HCI, or 10 Dmg Inc. If you made it where with refinement Each piece of refined platemail increases each resist on the piece by 1, and each of your maximum resists by 1, With a 6 piece suit people would be able to get 76/76/76/76/76. A balanced substitute for the 10 HPR, 25 Hit chance increase, or 50 dmg increase, they would otherwise get from Woodland Gear. Also, a lot of people aren't going to wear a platemail helm, because they'll wind up going with something like a mace and shield glasses, so really they'll only have 75/75/75/75/75 (cursed 75/65/65/65/65), although the option of that platehelm would be available. You can also include the option to, instead of raising the resists cap, you can go with a slight dci or hci bonus (which for dexxers/throwers dci doesn't come easy). Instead of each resist being raised by one, why not make where the dci and the dci cap, or the hci and hci cap are raised by 1 point. Then dexxers/throwers would be able to get their hci/dci cap up to 50-51 (5-6 piece set). This is sound, sensible, and people would love it. It would make people want to use this, and at the same time those people with woodland/leather armor wouldn't be angry that their gear is nerfed, or no longer up to par.
---9. Fix the Curse bug- sometimes I can't recurse people even after their current curse wears out. Curses should be allowed to be replaced without penalty. It is *NOT* overpowered, a mages damage output WITH it is still LESS than pretty much any other class, especially when you consider the possibility of being disrupted.
---10. I like the changes to the special moves. Especially moving shot. 25 base damage throws with a fireball and a hit velocity at the cost of 15 mana? 9 mana when you include 40 lmc? Ridiculous. Mages can't hit on the move, and with the stamina pot nerfs it's gonna be harder for dexxers too. A moving shot is often for the killing blow, and it should be a little bit more of an investment. As for all of the other changes, I think they're balancing, and making weaker moves more powerful allows for more versatility and options when deciding what weapons and specials to use.
---11. If you really want to make the game more interesting and balanced, why don't you just add a little to some of what's already there. Like everyone agrees that chivalry is kind of useless unless you have a 4/6 template. So how about capping chivalry at 2/6 like everything else, but adding a few spells like some of the other templates. For example, a chivalry spell that works like attunement, but instead of absorbing melee damage, it absorbs magical damage. Or a chivalry or a Spellweaving spell that works like a wall of stone. Call it a light prism or something. Or a chivalry spell that actually does some single target damage, like "smite" or something. Or a ninjitsu spell that causes the person to enter stealth, but creates an image that continues to run in the direction they were facing. Stuff like this would allow for more versatility amongst non-mages, and make something less used like chivalry a little more useful. And of course I'm not just referring to chivalry, you can actually make *new* spells for any spellbook. But new content like this would make the game more fun, keep people playing, and most likely bring some old players back. It can't be too difficult to do. I mean something like the chivalry spell to cast a wall would be the same coding as a wall of stone, except with different artwork.
