Posted by Talton on April 29, 2000 at 07:13:50:
In Reply to: Record number of spellbanes posted by Hifflio on April 29, 2000 at 01:21:33:
> I fought ragers this day and counted up the number of spellbanes
> in a row that happened. I will leave out names and whatever so I
> don't hurt anyone's feelings or the VIP feelings.
> During the numerous battles, I counted for sure, at least 35 spellbanes,
> at least 9 dodged spells by spell evasion, the only spell I got
> through, which failed, was the one when the rager did not have spell
> -bane up (knew that because he/she put it up right after I casted.).
> That was one time. I would love to have a spell that makes
> me immune to physical attacks. I can only wish, only wish.
> Good fighting, although I felt my helplessness in the situation
> overwhelm me, even with all my powers. This I will tell you straight
> up, a one on one fight between a villager and a master, the master
> loses every time if they are a berserker, a toss up if a scout, and
> I have never fought a defender. Damn...
I'd have to agree here. Battle by far now has the better powers than masters. However, it could also be the fact that battleragers can now heal from scourge, and the fact that not having any magic isn't really that hard any more, considering the HUGE bonuses you get. I don't care if Ludi (ripping off a bard of mine's name incidentally, who I had for 400 hours) has great gear, or any of the other Battleragers, spellbane shouldn't be working that much, and area spellbane should be toned down hugely.
I don't care what spells do, or if sleep lasts for 13 hours or hold lasts a huge ass long time (from what everyone tells me it's really ass hard to land now) I just know ragers consistently do better not because they "work together". hell, it's because of them ganging people they get great gear in the first place half the time. Is there not a law against parity, or are the Immortals of Battle just blind to that? You've got great gear, guys, so why not show us what skills you have and instead of jumping people like you do (3 on 1 or whatever) try being selective of who you jump.
e.g. Battlerager thinks to himself "I need gear."
Battlerager sees randomWarrior.
Battlerager whacks randomWarrior.
I've heard this time and time again, Battle beating on non-magic classes. Come on. Shape up or something and try beating on mages, or people that blatantly use magic in your face?
Heck, kill one of your heroes repeatedly because he's using twinkle. (you know who you are, I'm not going to do any character assassination by posting your name). I don't care if you think that sword's "imbued by the Gods", the fact is that it's got an effect that looks like magic.
It almost seems to argue: If Battleragers are walking around in record numbers, and doing very well without magic, what hindrance is no magic for them?
Berserker powers are very, very strong in my opinion. And 90% of Battleragers seem to be berserkers. Not everyone can summon that elite storm giant soldier and beat the rager. Guess what, redirect. I can name three classes that can, and only one of those classes can be Masters. In Ludi's post he was talking about spell save and how much he has. Mithadris, I believe is a Spectre (47th level Necromancer, 4 level difference). Now, I've played a summoner before many times, and I can tell you that with great saves it's really hard to summon someone 4 ranks above you, like Ludi is. Why did they take anti-paladins out of Masters anyway, to make the Masters weaker? Like, come on. If you're going to completely assassinate a cabal,
A) take away their tanks so all they've got is mages (which doesn't seem like much, given that great players still do very well with Masters, but it is - fire anti-paladin masters did really well).
B) Give them a leader that doesn't induct too much since he's fighting all the tine. Give them heroes that can't interview too often because more often than not, they're always retrieving. Another reason to Master's really bad numbers. I don't hack the heroes, honestly. I think they're doing a great job as players. But I do think Masters needs some firepower and they're not getting it.
Some suggestions on reforming Battle's powers:
A) Make ripostes and backfists unable to be deathblowed. Every spell effect Masters have can be avoided, it's time to balance the field there by doing the same thing for Ragers. An annihilate pillar may hurt, but it can be spellbaned. An annihilate deathblow backfist cannot.
B) Tone down area spellbane! It's really, really nice as it is right now and there's little people playing mages can do if every spell seems to be spellbaned then the rager gets a free round of attacks. Alternatively, make it so that the rager no longer gets that free round of attacks, and spellbane's damage could be upped some, however work less.
C) Make it so that ragers have clearly defined roles. Make it so that if they step out of those roles they get punished.
Some ideas:
Berserkers:
Make it so that berserkers have to stay bloodthirsted 90% of the time. To compensate, let berserker ragers drink blood (which would quench 1/2 of their thirst) and eat body parts for thirst/hunger. Admittedly, this can get tiresome, but it's a tradeoff. You get what you play for. I also do not believe assassins or thieves should be allowed this, since they are sneaking around constantly and their skills would much suit battle better if they were scouts.
Classes: Bards, Warriors, Rangers.
Scouts should be scouts. They should remain hidden and camouflaged most of the time to most ragers, and not be warriors or bards.
There's a reason for this, if scouts are to be hidden, they should have the skills to compensate.
They could also have their own cabal channel through Battle's village (I don't know if this has already been implemented) to talk.
Some ideas on defenders would be much appreciated, as I neither have thought them up nor have I had time to write them down.
Comments are appreciated, flames ignored.
Talton