Report 332

Report #332
Skillset: Psionics Skill: Burnout
 Org: Pyromancers Status: Rejected Mar 2010
Furies' Decision:
We do not find this to be necessary.
Problem: Currently, when you reach 0 Ego from the use of Psionics, you lose
experience comparable to conglutinating, and you are unable to use psionics for
an hour. The advantage is, you don't have to redef, or lose power for the
trouble. Unfortunately, in most cases it really is far better to die and def up
again than it is to be without psionics for so long. Especially as this unlocks
your channels, knocking you off balance for six seconds (assuming you had all
three locked - and since most burnouts seem to come from lagging/overwhelming
force while you have Forcefield up, it's probable they were locked), meaning
you're fairly likely to die in addition to the current burnout penalties. If
you get burned out in PvP somehow, you're now without an entire skillset for an
hour - the skillset you were probably relying heavily on to engage in combat in
the first place.
Solution #1: Reduce burnout time to 10 minutes, comparable to a shattered
 mind, and the time it takes to re-def and get back to your
 favourite hunting ground/get back into combat. Possibly negate
 being knocked off channel to allow a chance to escape in the
 event of burnout.
Solution #2: Negate experience loss, and leave burnout time as is. Not really
 a fan of this, as the burnout time is far more relevant than the
 experience.
Solution #3: Middle ground - reduce experience loss, and reduce burnout time.
 Again, possibly negate being knocked off channel to allow for a
 chance to escape.
Player Comments:
---[Placeus on 2/26 @ 00:35 writes]:
Could you consider adding an elective (unforceable?) defence which will cause
you to die instead of burning out if you reach 0e? If Celestia's being raided
and I know I'm going to risk burning out and dieing, I can put that up and just
die. At least I can be effective after the death and don't risk burnout +
death.
---[Ilaveuse on 2/26 @ 22:21 writes]:
Well, I don't like solution 2 at all, I agree that it's the burnout that sucks.
I would be in favour of solution 1, I think. I think that would help a lot.
Psionics is killer and burnout is supposed to be a balancing factor to it, but
it doesn't seem fair to me to take the entire skillset away for a whole hour.
I'm not big on Placeus' idea to just make you die, because as was mentioned in
the problem, you're likely to die anyway. If you're in a bad enough situation to
burn out, you're kind of screwed, and having that defense would basically negate
burnout entirely, it seems. Also, would this apply to Healing burnout too?
---[Ixchilgal on 2/27 @ 16:18 writes]:
I had forgotten that healing gives burnout too. But I see no reason it
shouldn't - losing access to an entire skillset for an hour because you dared to
make some minor mistake is really a bad system. I don't see what it adds to the
game, and it's extremely frustrating, particularly if you were reliant on that
skillset to be competative with other people who aren't handicapped in such a
way.
---[Ilaveuse on 2/28 @ 02:33 writes]:
Sure. Apply it to Healing too and I'm in.
---[Placeus on 3/1 @ 12:34 writes]:
Ecologists can be burnt out to, I believe
---[Xenthos on 3/1 @ 23:36 writes]:
It seems like your solution 3 was what they accepted the last time this was
envoyed-- you state in the problem that it's an hour of burnout time, and it was
once upon a time. It was reduced to 40 minutes (or 45?), so with the artifact
burnout time is around 20-22 minutes.
---[Ilaveuse on 3/2 @ 16:53 writes]:
It still seems like a long time. And it's hard to say that the artifact balances
it because there are a lot of mid-range people that can't afford the artifact.
Being a mage hunting and using forcefield and getting burned out due to lag or
something and losing the skill for 45 minutes would still be annoying. Maybe
reduce it to 20 minutes as the regular and make the artifact drop it to... 8
minutes? 10 minutes? The numbers can be tweaked, they're just off the top of my
head suggestions.
---[Ixchilgal on 3/2 @ 23:39 writes]:
Anything even close to an hour is rediculous. 20 minutes wouldn't be too
horrible, but crippling every guild that has a burnout mechanic is asinine.
---[Fillin on 3/7 @ 01:32 writes]:
Burnout time has never been reduced, just the xp loss, and only for demigods at
that.
---[Ilaveuse on 3/9 @ 06:11 writes]:
Even better. Solution 3 seems to be the best then so that the artifact still has
an effect. (Alternately, go with solution 1 and just make the artifact cut out
burnout all together? Maybe?)
---[Xenthos on 3/14 @ 14:00 writes]:
Wrong, Ceren. I just went and found the announce post on this. READNEWS
ANNOUNCE 613. This was prior to the Demigod one-- XP loss was lowered for
everyone, and the time was reduced about 15-ish minutes (it used to be a full
hour once upon a time). The relevant line in the announce post is line #1.
---[Xenthos on 3/14 @ 14:22 writes]:
Now, with that said, I would be all right with a 30-minute base burnout time
(which would come out to 15 minutes with the artifact). 15 minutes is enough
time to be felt (and, let's face it, the artifact is here to stay. It's not
going anywhere, so we have to take that time into account), without being quite
as frustrating. This would be half the initial time of the burnout. Keep in
mind that TK and TP are very powerful skillsets, which is demonstrated by just
how many mages go with them even despite the current penalty as-is for burnout.
The burnout is intended to be a bit of a limiter on these (and, unfortunately,
Healing kind of gets caught in the crossfire). For that reason I don't think
that 10 minutes is a good idea. I most definitely don't think that 0 minutes
burnout time is, heh.
---[Incabulos on 3/20 @ 21:21 writes]:
Honestly, I'd like to see it cause no experience loss at all, if we can't get a
time reduction. Causing both has always struck me as kind of... ridiculous.
Forcefield's not even worth putting up, if you've got high health compared to
your ego.
---[Fillin on 3/24 @ 06:03 writes]:
Oh, so it was lowered once. A 30 minute burnout as Xenthos suggests would be an
improvement, though I really feel that burnout should just kill you and do
nothing more. That was rejected already though, so I won't push it.
---[Xenthos on 3/29 @ 23:19 writes]:
I don't mind the experience loss going away, so I'd be happy with a 30 minute
burnout (15 minute with artifact), and no experience loss.
---[Ilaveuse on 3/31 @ 02:12 writes]:
A 30 minute burnout time and no experience loss would be better than nothing!