Report 435

Report #435
Skillset: Aeonics Skill: Paradox
 Org: Sentinels Status: Completed Sept 2010
Furies' Decision:
Paradox will be more intelligent, won't afflict with things target already has.
Also slightly sped up and will tick one additional time.
Problem: For a 10 power transcendent guardian secondary/warrior tertiary skill,
paradox is pretty lacklustre. The current list of possible attacks are
timeechoes (3p), oracle (3p), timewarp (0p), aeon (0p) and displacement (10p).
Paradox lasts 5 hits, 10 seconds apart. Following report 378, displacement is no
longer viable in paradox anyway and the lack of control over this skill can
actually act to the advantage of the target. With regards to the other skills,
they can be cast individually for a total of 6 power on a single target. In a
group, timequake can also be used for 10 power to cast timeechoes on all enemies
instantly. On top of this, paradox is of an unpredictable nature, making it even
less viable when there are other ways of sticking the same afflictions that can
be controlled
[A: 0 R: 0] Solution #1: Remove displacement. Allow paradox to hit multiple/
 all enemies in the room.
[A: 0 R: 0] Solution #2: Remove displacement. Cut power cost down to
 compensate and leave it to only affect one target.
Player Comments:
---[Jayden on 9/8 @ 15:37 writes]:
Solution 2
---[Fillin on 9/15 @ 03:59 writes]:
Forgive my ignorance, but doesn't this skill pick a new enemy every tick. Like
couldn't it theoretically give say oracle to several of your enemies, which
would then continue to tick on all of them?
---[Casilu on 9/15 @ 22:12 writes]:
Yes, it could, but it also has the same chance of giving a single timewarp or
aeon to someone or timeechoes. And for the same power cost as this, I could give
every enemy timeechoes instead of giving five random enemies a chance at
something.
---[Fillin on 9/16 @ 07:45 writes]:
Good point. I would say speed up the tick to every 6 or 7 seconds, and make your
future selves more intelligent. Specifically, when they pick a target, it won't
case time echoes if they already have it, it won't cast oracle if they already
have it, and it won't cast displacement unless they're sufficiently timewarped
for it to work. This skill seems to be balanced around the possibility of
displacement, so I would recommend against removing it as you suggest.
---[Casilu on 9/16 @ 20:02 writes]:
The main issue with random displacements is that it is not useful to bring a
kill. Without displacement, it could be justified to attack multiple people
without the possibility for mass mazing or the power cost could be lowered since
the most powerful ability it could do only costs 3 power instead of 10. If I
would want someone displaced, I would likely just do it directly and not rely on
paradox.
---[Fillin on 9/19 @ 19:49 writes]:
You're right, but then it would be pretty redundant with aeonfield and
timequake. As is, it serves a unique purpose. Up to you tho.