Report 353

Report #353
Skillset: Geomancy Skill: Sickening
 Org: Geomancers Status: Completed Mar 2010
Furies' Decision:
Rockslide damage very slightly increased and sickening changed to a level 2
malus.
Problem: A few months ago the damage on rockslide while prone was effectively
halved at the same time as the warrior formula revamp. While it still does
damage, of course, it's no longer enough to make a difference in a psionic
offense (the most common pattern you see for a mage). Sickening, which gives an
affliction that acts as a small sip penalty, was always one of the less useful
geomancy effects. Now that the damage is so easy to keep up with, Sickening is
practically meaningless. Indeed, I feel Geomancy is now worse off than even
Aquamancy (which is saying something, since they lost currents), having similar
hindering power, but instead of healing/curing, it has hunger, a tactic entirely
negatable by spending gold beforehand. Since I'm almost positive the admin do
not intend for geomancy to have healing/curing, I will not even bother to
suggest that (though, from a purely balance standpoint, I feel it would
suffice). Instead, I will offer solutions that help aspects of geomancer combat
outside of the all but antiquated geo damage, and most of all create enough
value for the sickening affliction to make people actually consider spending
focus spirit on it, as currently it is far better curing-wise to just ignore it.
[A: 0 R: 0] Solution #1: Change the effect of sickening to periodically give
 quicksand (sort of like an earth treebane, eg. "You
 stumble as the earth churns below you, causing you to
 fall into a patch of quicksand."). I suggest that the
 first tick happen 5 seconds after the affliction is
 given, then every 15 seconds from there on. That will
 result in 2-3 hits of quicksand if sickening is not
 cured, depending on the duration of sickening (which
 is somewhat random.). Note that you can tumble while
 in quicksand, which is something you've always had to
 do for stonewalls if you lacked leap.
[A: 0 R: 0] Solution #2: Change sickening to slow balance and equilibrium by 1
 second a piece.
[A: 0 R: 0] Solution #3: Change sickening to give a semi-masked affliction
 every 8 seconds until cured, some rather serious,
 some not. Suggested list: gluttony, deadening,
 clumsiness, dementia, disloyalty, weakness, and
 relapsing.
Player Comments:
---[Fillin on 3/15 @ 23:00 writes]:
On second glance it's probably not so clear, but none of these solutions change
the actual Sickening demesne effect in that it gives a focus spirit affliction
every 40 seconds. What changes in each solution is only the effect of the
affliction itself.
---[Xenthos on 3/15 @ 23:34 writes]:
Er... the geomancer demesne is most definitely not "antiquated" or "worse than
the aquademesne". You're right that the damage is no longer completely
overpowered, but it's certainly not meaningless when used in combination with
other damage effects-- such as, say, friends / boulderblast. Further, slowing
equilibrium and balance is insane when stacked on with, for example, Freeze and
warrior attacks that knock people off-balance. The rockslide thing was a
necessary damage adjustment, but it by no means killed the geomancer demesne.
:/
---[Viynain on 3/15 @ 23:38 writes]:
I must thoroughly disagree with the notion that Geomancy of all the melding
specializations is suffering so badly that it needs another offensive boost as
suggested by this report. With recent changes to bring another affliction on top
of the already high damage output of the meld (yes, blindness on Duststorm is
something Id say is a reliable boost), I do not believe that the introduction of
the possibility of changing Sickenings effect towards more afflicting on top of
the substantial stun or damage is needed by the class. And the suggestion of
placing another hindering mechanic (on top of Rubble, Duststorm, and Stonewalls)
would just overall tip the scales even further on getting out of the meld.
Finally, Id rather not see two levels of equilibrium and balance maluses tossed
on top of each other in a class working together with Necroscreams TaintedLove.
---[Fillin on 3/24 @ 07:23 writes]:
Use all the ellipses and exasperated tone you like! I see no compelling reason
why Sickening should remain as is. The sip malus is quite small when considered
on its own, and given the rockslide nerf, it no longer even has synergy with the
rest of the meld. Keep in mind, the effects I described in my solutions only
appear if the sickening affliction is not cured. And indeed that was my goal, to
retool the affliction so that one would feel some pressure to cure it, instead
of ignoring it as is currently the favoured response.