Report 1166

Report #1166
Skillset: Phantasms Skill: Phantomsphere
 Org: Pyromancers Status: Completed May 2013
Furies' Decision:
Solution 3.
Problem: The innate spammability of the requirements to land a Phantomsphere
kill lends itself to the belief and practice of continuously trying again until
the mage is eventually successful.
[A: 0 R: 0] Solution #1: Add a 2p cost to the creation of a phantomsphere -
 this would make it require a total of 8p to land the
 instakill.
[A: 0 R: 0] Solution #2: Enable phantomspheres to be dispelled or critiqued
 off of the afflicted victim - for an illusion-based
 affliction, it is currently uncurable by either,
 unlike HypnoticPattern and Phantom.
[A: 0 R: 0] Solution #3: Raise the required total to proc the instakill from 4
 to 8, scaling the damage of phantomsphere detonate
 accordingly so as to spread the time out for victims
 to successfully run or more firmly hinder the mage's
 ability to continue the attack.
Player Comments:
---[Xenthos on 5/12 @ 18:17 writes]:
I like solution 3 because it keeps it in its designed state, while being less
"you have to run at 2 spheres every time". You'd still have to run at 4 or 6,
but it's less of a spammable act that you use to say "Hey, I don't want to
fight, here are some spheres so please run away now."
---[Wobou on 5/15 @ 00:15 writes]:
Solution 1 or 2 would be great, with 1 prefered. Solution 3 would make the kill
more awkward (which has always been presented as it's major weakness) and not
solve the problem.
---[Shuyin on 5/16 @ 01:03 writes]:
Solution 2 + 3
---[Rivius on 5/16 @ 01:32 writes]:
I've never been presented with a convincing reason why this ability doesn't have
a power cost. Solution 1 supported. Solution 2 is fine as well, but not on its
own as I don't think an 8 power skill is a reasonable trade-off for one that
costs no power and is admitted to be spammable. Solution 3 would help things but
it ultimately wouldn't fix the core problem.
---[Neos on 5/16 @ 21:17 writes]:
I'm more inclined to Solution 2, possibly solution 3, no to Solution 1. Unlike
all other insta-kills, phantomspheres require the mage to not be present with
the target. So once the mage has left the room, there is nothing actively
hindering the target from simply walking out or even following after the mage.
While Pyros/Geos/Aeros at least have room effects that can hinder/effectively
slow an opponent from moving out of the room, it doesn't take too long to move
one extra room over, outside of the range of effects(sans possibly rubble), and
there's no way to know if an opponent has moved from their room, so the mage is
required to track them down, then either move to them to unite a sphere to them,
or spend time to move the sphere to the target, while not being able to hinder
the targets movement. I'd honestly far prefer Phantasms be given a new insta-
kill that's more suited to the fear aspect of the skillset, but that'd require
reworking a number of the skills to support it. Adding a power cost will just
make the skill impossible and a waste to attempt due to the inability to really
hinder an opponent from simply running out and you losing the power you just
spent on making the spheres.
---[Synkarin on 5/20 @ 18:46 writes]:
Solution 1, spheres should have a power cost, there are situations where you can
lock someone in a demesne while not being present in the room, and you
literally have no defense against it. Even a 1p powercost would stop these
situations.
---[Rivius on 5/23 @ 13:59 writes]:
I agree with Sidd. If 2 power feels like too much, even 1 power is agreeable.
The key here is to stop its spammability. In a group fight, it's very easy for
the mage to remain mobile while people pin the person down. In a 1v1 situation,
it encourages the scenario where someone is constantly chasing the mage, who is
resetting combat by fleeing and 'sphering. That's the key problem people have
with this kill method.
---[Llandros on 5/24 @ 17:07 writes]:
I like solutions 1 and 3. Solution 2 should be put in as well but I do not think
it would be enough to solve the problem on it's own.
---[Tulemrah on 5/28 @ 04:33 writes]:
Since this report is about the instakill, it would make more sense to add the
power cost to the PHANTOMSPHERE ATTACK <target> syntax, rather than to the
summoning, to leave shatter and detonate unchanged.
---[Viynain on 5/28 @ 05:38 writes]:
I have no problems with attaching the 2p cost of the first solution to the
attack syntax rather than the cast syntax.