Report 1440

Report #1440
Skillset: Discipline Skill: Focus
 Org: Shofangi Status: Completed Feb 2017
Furies' Decision:
Solution 2
Problem: TemporaryInsanity, TimeWarp, and Aurawarp all have problematic
interactions with focusing currently. TempInsanity and Timewarp were both given
free focusing mechanics which is problematic because it a) complicates things by
adding an alternate syntax which goes against the grain of the overhaul and b)
devalues stacking afflictions of that same type (lucidity and steam) by making
focusing free. Focusing Aurawarp currently appears to have no effect. In the
overhaul the biggest decision left to systems is what to focus or whether to
focus, this report seeks to enrich the potential outcomes of that decision by
increasing the interactions that focusing has.
[A: 5 R: 4] Solution #1: Remove the free focusing syntaxes for tempinsanity
 and timewarp. Allow focus/beastfocus/powerfocus to
 work on tempinsanity, timewarp, and aurawarp.
[A: 3 R: 3] Solution #2: Solution 1 and increase the healing of those
 afflictions by 25-50% when a focus is used.
Player Comments:
---[Wobou on 1/21 @ 03:53 writes]:
I'm throwing this up mostly to generate discussion. I am strongly against the
free focus syntaxes mentioned in solution 1 but I'm curious to hear how other
envoys feel. Solution 2 at 50% would be essentially equivalent to the current
cure rate with regular focusing (50% increased balance rate, 50% increased cure
rate) but allow folks to dump power and beast balance to cure quicker than they
currently could which may or may not be a good thing.
---[Shuyin on 1/30 @ 08:10 writes]:
Sure
---[Shedrin on 2/4 @ 03:22 writes]:
It does have a cost in that you won't cure other afflictions concurrently as you
would normally, and it bypasses the reduction in the amount cured with
concurrent curing in that case.
---[Malarious on 2/16 @ 01:51 writes]:
I agree with Shedrin. 1 isn't needed because it already has a cost (not curing
something else). iF admin actually take sol 1, we need solution 2 with it
potentially. Right now you should expect to not focus till it gets high because
the affs will mess you up hard
---[Wobou on 2/16 @ 03:12 writes]:
While I see what you're saying I'd argue that not curing the other afflictions
isn't truly a cost, or at least it isn't a cost when you compare it to 50%
curing balance loss (0.75 in all of these cases I believe), 1p (or 8s), or a 10s
beast balance. When you focus any affliction you're paying a cost to make sure
that there isn't a probability that you don't cure something else. In the case
of temp insanity and timewarp there isn't a cost for this, and that's what I
mean by a free focus.
---[Gero on 2/16 @ 05:12 writes]:
@Shedrin is correct in that is an inherent cost for curing off those afflictions
(timewarp, tempinsanity), however, it does bypass the whole point of the focus
system if it is not subject to the same costs.
---[Malarious on 2/17 @ 16:36 writes]:
As I said, I think there is already a cost. These affs are free passive builds,
and will kill you, unlike most affs. Mental affs will kill you by effects of
what they do, you need to be able to cure these or you will die horribly. 1.5s
lucidity balance with insanity, and spam reckless, paranoia, anorexia,
addiction. If you try to focus the one that kills you, AND take penalty (2.25s
cure bal), you are going to die. I approve 2 in case they take soltuion 1, but
I do not think this will work as the report intends.
---[Wobou on 2/24 @ 01:12 writes]:
@Malarious: This is anecdotal but currently I cure both insanity and timewarp
without the special syntaxes which is why I don't view this report as a large
buff to those afflictions. The situation you're describing with using a regular
focus while having temp insanity and 4-5 mental affs is concerning but it's
important to keep in mind that this report is only changing how focusing would
work. I would argue that even with what I'm calling the free focus mechanic that
it would not be a good idea to focus insanity against anyone using badluck on
you with that many mental afflictions. Your comment has more to do with how
badluck interacts with focusing in general rather than the change in this
report. Also nothing forces one to use focus, and even if someone is focusing
they could use powerfocus or beastfocus although I think that all of them would
be a bad idea against badluck. I also disagree that any of these afflictions are
built for free by most metrics. At minimum they cost a lot of eq time but many
of them also require power to build.
---[Shedrin on 2/24 @ 19:53 writes]:
My concern is that these afflictions already have a pretty tight balance and
changing things could mess that up. Especially with Shatterplex combos it's very
specific on the timing and amount cured. More things are being designed to
utilise warps, insanity and the balances they're on so this could be revisited
in the future but right now I'm not convinced it's necessary.
---[Wobou on 2/25 @ 07:17 writes]:
@Shedrin: There are undoubtably shatterplex setups I haven't seen, but most of
the times I've died to timequake it was through a lock in aeon. If you have
asthma in aeon and massive timewarp then neither solution 1 or 2 is going to
impact your incoming timequake one way or the other. I can possibly see how
solution 2 would impact things negatively for a researcher outside of an aeon-
lock situation but is there a way in which solution 1 could? Since this report
is more about a certain kind of consistency with the stated goals of the
overhaul I'd agree that it's not strictly necessary for the functioning of a
class in combat. I think I could say the same thing about many reports though
and if this sort of inconsistency is bothersome to anyone else (which it may not
be), I'd argue that it'll be harder to change it after more and more has been
built on top of these afflictions. I'm hoping that at minimum we can agree that
there should be a way to focus aurawarp if there's a way to focus every other
similar affliction. I would definitely not be as much in favor of it but one
thing I should've thought to add to solution 3 would be to add a SMOKE
SOOTHINGSTEAM AURAWARP command. I personally think that's going in the wrong
direction, I would rather put everything on focus and deal with issues focus has
as a whole, but the aurawarp issue is the biggest one mechanically.
---[Aeldra on 2/28 @ 09:35 writes]:
I kind of feel a little similar to Shedrin with this. I only have access to one
of the warps ( aurawarp ) and while it's probably the fastest one of the three,
I am feeling that solution 2 especially will probably mess with any chance of
building aurawarp outside of large groups. I am a little more impartial to
solution 1 ( abstaining hence ).