Report 1401

Report #1401
Skillset: Moon Skill: Shine
 Org: Moondancers Status: Completed Nov 2015
Furies' Decision:
Sol. 2
Problem: Shine is an ability that grants varying degrees of damage and health
depending on the phase of the moon (e.g. Waxing Crescent - slight damage
increase, Last Quarter - average health increase). Currently it can only be cast
at night, on any phase except New Moon and costs 10p regardless of phase. The
problem is that the effects of some phases like those in the Crescent and
Quarter phases are not worth the 10p. In addition, after overhaul the values of
Shine's effects have been changed into: Wax Crescent - 1/6 damage increase,
First Quarter - 1/7 damage increase, Wax Gibbous - 1/8 damage increase, Full
moon - 1/8 damage increase + 3/8 max health bonus, Wane Gibbous - 3/8 max health
bonus, Last Quarter - 2/8 max health bonus, Wane Crescent - 1/8 max health
bonus. The max health bonuses are fine, however, the damage increases do not
really grow significantly with phase. Waxing effects mechanics now require using
power to have a significant +1 damage increase, the possibility of which
increases with the moon phase. This new mechanic is suddenly not as useful as
its pre-overhaul design. This report seeks to relate the power cost of the skill
to its effects given, and also restore the skill to its former usefulness.
[A: 0 R: 0] Solution #1: Keep the max health bonus effects. Change the damage
 increases into: Wax Crescent - 1/8, First Quarter -
 2/8, Wax Gibbous/Full Moon - 3/8. Vary the cost of
 the skill based on Moon Phase: New Moon - cannot be
 cast, Waxing Crescent - 4p, First Quarter - 6p,
 Waxing Gibbous - 8p, Full Moon - 10p, Waning Gibbous
 - 8p, Last Quarter - 6p, Waning Crescent - 4p.
[A: 0 R: 0] Solution #2: Same as above however the buffs be as follow s Wax
 Crescent, First Quarter, Wax Gibbous/Full Moon would
 give 1/7, 1/8 and 2/8 damage increases, respectively
Player Comments:
---[Synkarin on 11/7 @ 02:00 writes]:
Does Shine change effect if the moon cycle changes while the defense is up? Does
it persist through death? I don't buy that it's not equal to it's pre-overhaul
status, and don't see any justification for the buff
---[Lerad on 11/7 @ 10:52 writes]:
According to the AB file (or at least, the AB file on Xiel's website): "If a new
moon rises while you have this defense, the defense will go into hibernation but
re-emerge during the next waxing phase." Not sure if it also does the same for
other phase changes, but I suspect it might. Some testing, if possible, would be
nice. Secondly, I want to raise a concern that a 3/8 UNIVERSAL damage buff is
very, very strong in the post-overhaul meta. In fact, looking at the list of all
the damage buffs existing in the game when the damage overhaul was implemented,
there is literally no 3/* damage buff, not even for individual damage types. The
only thing that would be comparable would be Puissance, which is a 6/10 buff for
ONE hit in a limited time. Curios are the only things with a 2/* buff, and
everything else is 1/*. Furthermore, it should also be noted that while the flat
value of a 3/8 buff may be roughly equal to a 10dmp buff pre-overhaul,
diminishing returns also doesn't exist post-overhaul. The usage of Shine is
indeed fairly niche and difficult to capitalize on, and in light of the moon
phase limitations, I acknowledge that a 1/8 buff may be underwhelming at 10p. In
(moon)light of that, I would suggest is a 2/8 buff (alternatively: a 1/10 buff,
which would be fairly valuable in the overhaul meta too) during full moons, and
a 1/6 and 1/8 buff for the two weaker versions. 3/8 would probably be too much,
though, in my opinion.
---[Enyalida on 11/7 @ 16:27 writes]:
What do you mean that you "don't buy that it's not equal"? It's not equal.
Before the overhaul, the percentile buff to damage increased with phase. Now,
the percentile buff does not increase, it's always just 3% - you just have a
higher chance of it coming into effect. I don't necessarily support this report
(Will read over it more closely), but that comment strikes me as wrong.
---[Shedrin on 11/7 @ 20:08 writes]:
How much did Shine affect dmp and health pre-overhaul?
---[Lerad on 11/8 @ 02:05 writes]:
I'm not sure about health, but 10dmp (at max), from Xiel's site, which is 10% if
absolutely no diminishing factors are at play - most of the same 10dmp abilities
for buffs have been converted to 1/*, though, and that's also why I feel a 1/10
or 2/8 is more appropriate, instead of a 3/8 buff.
---[Ryboi on 11/9 @ 23:35 writes]:
Yes, Shine does change with moon phase while the defense is up and persists
through death, but you mostly use the skill for the current phase benefits.
Which is why we'd like the power cost to reflect just the benefits of the
current phase. Yellow (a similar effect to Shine's Waning Crescent) costs 3p,
and was the basis for the minimum 4p cost of the Shine. While we agree that most
10dmp have been changed into 2/*, Shine differs in that it is not a constant
defense like the curios. You can only get the maximum damage increase 25% of all
the moon phases Wax Gibbous+Full Moon). And even then it plays little role in a
Moondancer's kill strategy, making its home in bashing utility. We are trying
to veer away from just varying the cap since the power cost for the skill should
make the buff valuable anytime that it's cast, but since First Quarter is just
~1 RL hr, it is probably not much to let Wax Crescent and First Quarter get
approximately the same buff. If the current suggestion still found to be too
powerful, another solution has been added where Wax Crescent, First Quarter, Wax
Gibbous/Full Moon would give 1/7, 1/8 and 2/8 damage increases, respectively.
---[Synkarin on 11/10 @ 23:23 writes]:
I can get behind solution 2 - changing the max allowable buff is indeed still
important, especially around the /8 level. I'd even suggest making the full moon
2/9 instead of 2/8 to help bridge the gap and really display the full power of
the Full Moon etc
---[Shedrin on 11/10 @ 23:59 writes]:
Solution 2 seems pretty good.
---[Lerad on 11/11 @ 08:50 writes]:
Solution 2 looks good.
---[Jaamil on 11/12 @ 01:38 writes]:
Solution two is fine
---[Shuyin on 11/13 @ 02:42 writes]:
Solution 2 is fine
---[Tanin on 11/20 @ 15:52 writes]:
Solution 2 would be acceptable