Report 742

Report #742
Skillset: Transmology Skill: Throat
 Org: Illuminati Status: Completed Dec 2011
Furies' Decision:
While we believe Illuminati are a strong guild and that reverting the skill to
how was may tip them to OP, we think the skill can be tweaked without major
redesign. We will investigate tweaking the time delay.
Problem: Announce post 1847 changed fleshform sing to be stopped by everything
that stops beckoning in addition to the other restrictions that had previously
been used to balance the skill. As it stands, sing is strictly inferior to
beckon due to the long delay involved (during which the summoning can be broken
by a number of methods) and the transformation requirement. Prior to the
changes, it could bypass shields, blocking, barrier, walls and the target being
off balance, but failed if the target moved away from the singer, changed
elevations or moved the singer.
[A: 0 R: 0] Solution #1: Revert the changes to fleshform sing introduced in
 Announce 1847. Sing would go back to having a delay
 but being much more difficult to block. If necessary,
 the messages can be changed slightly to justify why
 sing bypasses mundane barriers.
[A: 0 R: 0] Solution #2: Completely remove the delay on fleshform sing. This
 mirrors the summoning ability available to Celestines
 and Nihilists without straining credulity by allowing
 sing to bypass barriers, blocking, etc. as it
 previously did.
[A: 0 R: 0] Solution #3: As solution 2, but modulating the caster's EQ based
 on temp. insanity levels. No insanity is 4s off
 balance (twice that of single-target beckon),
 decreasing to 0.5s at massive insanity.
Player Comments:
---[Shuyin on 12/7 @ 02:06 writes]:
Solution 2 or 3 works, prefer solution 3
---[Rivius on 12/7 @ 02:07 writes]:
Solution 3
---[Iytha on 12/7 @ 02:31 writes]:
Re: Solution 1; Change the current second person messages to something along the
lines of "A hauntingly beautiful song fills the air, compelling you to find its
source." and "As the song reaches a crescendo, you find yourself at source of
the beautiful music." and the third person messages to something like "As the
song reaches a crescendo, you find yourself unable to pay attention to anything
else. When song ends and your senses return, Elostian has [vanished|appeared]."
---[Azula on 12/7 @ 06:42 writes]:
Solution 2 or 3 sounds good
---[Sidd on 12/7 @ 23:28 writes]:
Sol 3 looks good to me
---[Enyalida on 12/8 @ 19:46 writes]:
Solution 2 or 3, provided it still consumes eq on attempt.
---[Wobou on 12/22 @ 04:50 writes]:
Solution 3 is my preference.
---[Xenthos on 12/26 @ 20:34 writes]:
As per my comment on 747-- based on previous results I don't feel that all
guilds are meant to have beckon clones, and Illuminati are -very- good at
locking someone down and keeping them in the room. Their 'beckon' equivalent
should have more restrictions than beckon itself. I'd like to see the following
change: 5s summon time at no insanity, instant at max insanity (or possibly at a
level below max), so that they need to work at getting it to its 'best' state
(ala Researchers).
---[Shuyin on 12/26 @ 21:06 writes]:
Sing was forcefully turned into a beckon clone by bugreports and admin changes,
so it's not exactly the illuminati's choice that prompted this report. A 5s
summon would be an improvement, but it still does not address the inherent
problems with a delayed beckon (with a warning!) that has about 10 different
ways to stop it.
---[Iytha on 12/27 @ 01:37 writes]:
I am confused by Xenthos's suggestion: It makes the skill terrible for group
combat initiation (5s is easily enough time to get blocks/walls up) but a very
good anti-escape skill (instant beckon that doesn't require an ent). That's
exactly the opposite of what you want if there are concerns about making
Illuminati too good at preventing running.
---[Xenthos on 12/29 @ 01:14 writes]:
It's already a very good anti-escape skill, if you've plumped up the insanity on
the target. I don't really mind just making it instant in that case. Making it
5s without insanity helps out on the other end of the spectrum, without just
making it very powerful both ways. Nothing confusing there-- I don't feel that
it needs to be a beckon clone (despite Sojiro's comment it currently is not--
there's even a solution to turn it into an exact mirror).
---[Shuyin on 12/29 @ 08:43 writes]:
Well, if you really got down to it, you're right, it's not a beckon clone, it's
actually worse!
---[Xenthos on 12/29 @ 22:34 writes]:
Exactly, as I said in my first comment-- it should be! It's just a matter of to
what degree.
---[Shuyin on 12/30 @ 06:57 writes]:
Having it take 5s to summon someone is still strategically useless. Beckon is
mostly used to open up group combat fights (it's almost never used 1v1
effectively). Within those 5 seconds, the victim can leave the room, get
doubleblocked, put up most forms of walls, sit in a distort-like effect, just
keep shielded, put up barrier, sit, and even just throw him/herself offbalance.
I've named more than 5 reasonable solutions that render the 5s summon time
ineffective for a beckon-like effect