Report 411

Report #411
Skillset: Ecology Skill: Smudges
 Org: Hartstone Status: Rejected Jul 2010
Furies' Decision:
We do not find this to be necessary.
Problem: Ecology is lacking in offensive power compared to the other tet choices
for druids. Smudges are powerful abilities, but they can be slow and unwieldily
to use, or costly if the quickburn option is used. I'd like to see smudges be
able to be fused in a demense, which would allow a buff that was strictly for
druids, and wouldn't improve the skillset for bards.
Solution #1: Add a command to infuse and unfuse a smudge into a single room in
 a demesne. You would not be able to create new smudges while one
 was infused.
Solution #2: Same as above, except allow for creation of new smudges after
 infusing. With this, it would probably be simplest to have an
 unfuse command just remove the smudge instead of putting it back
 in the druid's inventory in case the druid is already holding a
 new smudge.
Player Comments:
---[Viynain on 7/10 @ 06:59 writes]:
I'll support solution 2 since druids suffer from sharing practically all of
their skillsets, and the proposition should have no impact on communal bards
without neutering a druid's access to smudges. By adding in a fuse function, I'd
think druids would start considering Ecology as taking a step towards being more
viable offensively again, even more so if they can both fuse and make a new
smudge as well.
---[Eamon on 7/12 @ 04:37 writes]:
I support solution 2. I like the idea of making ecology more viable for druids
without buffing up bardic ecologists. You could also have the fused smudge
disappear on the creation of a new one. None of the other druid terts have
options to unfuse, last I can recall. Also, I would guess that gust would not be
able to interact with a fused smudge (maybe the demesne magics protect the
smudge).
---[Lehki on 7/12 @ 04:50 writes]:
Actually you can unfuse runes and motes, was added awhile ago. And suppose gust
could still work depending on how this was implemented. If it was in a way
like, the fused smudgestick just isn't used up after it's effect, and re-lights
itself after 10 seconds, gust could still be used to delay it. I think
something like that would be better then just the smudge effect on a tic, since
some of them are quite good effects.
---[Geb on 7/13 @ 03:40 writes]:
Are you guys forgetting what some of these smudges do? You have the forest
smudge that will do heavy fire damage (When I had it, I was doing near 1600
damage with it as a bard), the Mountain smudge that can break legs (which would
now be in addition to the the forest pulling a person up into the trees and
dumping him for more broken limbs), and you have the Valley smudge that will
knock enemies into the air (Increasing disorientation of opponents singular and
in groups). Allowing these to be fused into the demense as a passive effect is
too much, since each of these smudges are singularly more powerful than a single
mote or rune hitting a person every 10 seconds. I think a better idea would be
to try to create a means of making smudges less onerous to use for all, because
truthfully I see ecology as being more bothersome for bards to use than druids
since bards actually have to remain far more active than a druid to keep his
effects hitting his enemies.
---[Viynain on 7/13 @ 21:50 writes]:
Considering the limitation of smudges causes only one of these effects to be
embedded at a time, you won't be seeing a room with all three
valley/forest/mountains going on. Singularly, not quite so devastating, and the
effects are not inherently unheard of in a meld already. Read: Geomancy stun and
broken legs. I wouldn't oppose a damage tone down on forest if embedded though,
but otherwise, an embedded smudge would be an excellent boon for druids to
actually consider Ecology for an offense.
---[Raeri on 7/14 @ 07:47 writes]:
I'd suggest allowing smudges to be infused into any room at all, regardless of
demesne. It'd let out-of-demesne druids do more, and also give bardic Ecologists
a substitute for Glamour's ColourMaelstrom. The way I see it, Ecology's probably
even less useful for bards than druids. A better way to integrate smudges into
part of druid/bard combat would be good though.
---[Fillin on 7/31 @ 18:22 writes]:
Agree with Geb. Many smudges are too powerful to become an additional passive.