Report 1054

Report #1054
Skillset: Ecology Skill: Transmigrate
 Org: Hartstone Status: Completed Apr 2013
Furies' Decision:
We will allow you to toggle rebirth on or off.
Problem: After a long ago change, transmigrate was changed so that the Ecologist
suffers full death essence loss, including enemy territory loss. Transmigrate
currently costs full death loss, stops other methods of revival - including
phoenix, which brings you back in a safe area, MUCH more quickly- destroys your
familiar, and costs your full active pool of power. It echos Lichseed as a
prepared revive, but is all around worse, acting more like a wonky vitae
ability. This makes the 'transmigration' portion of deepbonding a downside to
the trans ability, instead of the core perk. It also makes the familiar in
general a deeper liability than it already is to bring into combat, as its death
means a VERY heavy hit to health. All in all, deepbonding is not usually worth
commiting to, even with the additional familiar 'unique bonuses' that now make
up the entirety of this skill's usefulness.
[A: 0 R: 0] Solution #1: Simplest - Remove the rebirth functionality from this
 skill. Make the stat bonuses base, instead of
 weighted.
[A: 0 R: 0] Solution #2: Allow a transmigrate rejection command, to remove the
 transmigration. Also, allow the ecologist to move
 about before transmigrating, so that they can revive
 away from combat. (Copy Lichseed functionality.)
[A: 0 R: 0] Solution #3: Remove death loss on transmigrate, leave it otherwise
 as is.
Player Comments:
---[Enyalida on 2/20 @ 21:06 writes]:
Solution 1 enhances the current focus of transmigrate, the stat bonuses. All
that would need to be done is to finally balance them, and allow either gender
to get any of their pool, instead of how it is now.
---[Daevos on 3/21 @ 00:43 writes]:
I'm not against the idea of certain skills have non-weighted stat bonuses, but I
would like to which stat bonuses this skill currently has.
---[Enyalida on 3/21 @ 15:11 writes]:
For Serenwilde it's Int/Flight, Con/10dmp(offensive), for males:
Dex/10Dmp(cold+fire, defensive), for females: Cha/Lvl.2 Seduction bonus. For
Glom it's Int/Flight, Dex/Dendroxin resistance, for males:
Con/10dmp(cold/poison), for females: Cha/Lvl.2 Weakening influence. If solution
1 goes through, the deepbond defense could easily be made to fade on logout,
instead of on death only (lasting through logouts).
---[Tacita on 3/23 @ 11:50 writes]:
I actually utilise transmigrate as it is for a vitae where I can run my soul out
of the immediate combat. It's especially useful for bubble combat like domoths
where I don't then have to worry about travelling back up. However, doing it
this way does mean I can't safely keep my familiar with me, so I am effectively
locked out of that side of combat. You could remove the liability by changing it
so that if you die with your familiar next to you, you can still run as a soul
and rez in your soul's new room, rather than automatically going back to where
your familiar is (as you do if you're in the same area atm).
---[Tacita on 3/23 @ 11:51 writes]:
That said, I also really hate the gender disparity in Transmigrate, and would
love to see it removed. I actually dislike the gender disparity more than I
dislike having to spam rebirth until I get the familiar type I want.
---[Kregarn on 3/30 @ 17:20 writes]:
When I was using Eco, I tended to hide my bond in my manse so I didn't end up
being a double victim. Being able to move a bit before the transmigration would
go a long ways to making this skill very viable without being gamebreaking. I
support the movement part of Solution 2.
---[Shuyin on 4/2 @ 03:27 writes]:
Solution 2 is fine
---[Veyrzhul on 4/5 @ 00:46 writes]:
I think it's more appropriate to compare Transmigration to Transmology
Homunculus, since they have a lot more in common than Transmigration and
Lichseed. I don't like any of the suggestions, but I'm fine with making the
buffs all available to both male and female characters. The Eco familiar could
probably use a buff to make it worthwhile to have it with you unarmoured,
especially in larger fights.
---[Shuyin on 4/5 @ 05:41 writes]:
Well, I wouldn't complain if a way to turn off the autorez for homunculus were
added. I'd rather not die twice while raiding.
---[Veyrzhul on 4/5 @ 17:14 writes]:
Both, Transmigrate and Homunculus, already offer a way to prevent that by
leaving the familiar/homunculus behind at a safe place. That's not an option for
Lichseed.
---[Enyalida on 4/16 @ 02:26 writes]:
What are you talking about? You do not reform at your bond anywhere it is, not
for a long time now.
---[Viynain on 4/16 @ 03:15 writes]:
One can already move about before the transmigration occurs, provided the bond
isn't in the area at the time of death. I disagree with the proposal to change
the rebirth functionality of this ability.
---[Enyalida on 4/16 @ 03:55 writes]:
No, that's false. You are sucked back to the place you die if the bond is not in
the area. You may move around as a spirit... but always revive in the death room
anyways.
---[Enyalida on 4/16 @ 04:09 writes]:
At least, last I checked. As it stands, this skill provides a more costly and
unwieldy vitae defense (widely unused in combat, because of its crippling and
painful downsides) in exchange for +1 weighted stat boost to a single limited
stat and an (on average) minor "secondary" benefit (which forms the core of the
actual use for this skill), as a trans skill. That wasn't always the case, but
the game has changed and this skill hasn't changed to keep up. At the very
least, some kind of toggle or reject should be put in, but giving it the same
functionality as Lichseed would be greatly appreciated, so that it's not quite
as much of a guaranteed double death as it is now.
---[Enyalida on 4/16 @ 04:10 writes]:
Those above comments apply to Veyrzhul saying "...leaving the
familiar/homunculus behind at a safe place." It's not an option for Ecologists
either, that's incorrect information.
---[Enyalida on 4/16 @ 04:18 writes]:
Alright, that was apparantly a bug that was fixed, you can move as a spirit, and
it works.. though it hasn't always displayed that functionality when I've used
it. All the solutions still stand though, it's still a problem if you have your
bond in combat, and you're still liable to die twice - especially in situations
where you'd suffer enemy territory death twice. Anyways, having the 'feature'
that 'balances' a skill be: "It's alright if you avoid using one of the major
mechanics of this skillset entirely" is poor balancing.
---[Xenthos on 4/18 @ 02:06 writes]:
1) Let you rebirth the creature of your choice, 2) Let you get the male / female
variants based on personal preference (down with gender discrimination!), and 3)
Add the ability to remove the deepbond when you want. Those are the solutions
I'd present and like to see implemented as a package deal. So basically,
solution #2 with two additional effects.
---[Enyalida on 4/19 @ 16:38 writes]:
That sounds about right. The only thing to add is being able to move the bond
around while reforming when it's in the area, giving the spirit moving
capability to all situations of transmigrate.
---[Synkarin on 4/23 @ 05:37 writes]:
I agree with Xenthos/Enyalida, I'd much rather have those suggestions laid out.
As far as moving the bond, wouldn't it just be easier to implement always
reforming where your spirit is, rather than the bond when it's in the area. That
seems like it'd be an easier way of dealing with it.