Report 112

Report #112
Skillset: Necromancy Skill: Leech
 Org: Nihilists Status: Completed Jan 2009
Furies' Decision:
Will boost slightly as well as tie into deathmark. ?
Problem: Given the recent changes to Amissio and the lack of a Nihilist envoy at
the time, the drain increase for Celestines/Paladins has increased dramatically
and left the Necromancers behind. For balance issues, Necromancers could use a
small buff here, factoring in the fact that the manakill on the Nihilist side
requires 50% mana drained and to be bound or paralyzed. This extra need for an
affliction causes one to have to web at around 50% mana or far below, hope they
don't writhe out and hope that they can't contort or cure before you regain eq
to wrack if you are solo, or trying to manage a web ontop of it in the midst of
spammy group combat where you can't see who is bound while just barely outpacing
mana healing. I believe that increasing it just abit would be the best step for
balanced combat manakilling and making it a more viable option for Guardians
rather than soullessing everytime.
[A: 0 R: 0] Solution #1: 3% increase to leech
[A: 0 R: 0] Solution #2: +150 per drain. This would make leech function as a
 seperate skill entirely focusing on draining a base
 damage instead of a percentage like amissio. This
 clearly defines the role of leech instead of making
 it a copycat version of another skill.
[A: 0 R: 0] Solution #3: Giving an addition benefit to deathmark to increase
 mana drain of leech as deathmark increases. Fixing it
 so that leech does give additional deathmarks as was
 assumingly intended. This could operate under the
 formula of +.5% per level (1 deathmark means .5%
 more, 2 means 1%, and so on) The increased drain
 reflects the binding of the soul to the necromancer's
 mark and the added drain gives more vialibity to the
 usage of deathmark and the difficulty of building a
 mark and keeping it mantained justifies the deathmark.
Player Comments:
---[Xiel on 1/2 @ 01:45 writes]:
Question...isn't Amissio in the base skillset of Rituals and not Sacraments? So
the buff there wouldn't only affect just the Celestian side of things, but both
sides as well, since both Sacraments and Necromancy users have the option of
using Amissio? Unless I'm missing something, that is.
---[Shuyin on 1/2 @ 04:01 writes]:
Yeah Amissio's in rituals, so I can't see the rationale that somehow Nihilist
manadrain is behind.
---[Romero on 1/2 @ 09:20 writes]:
Yes, it is in rituals and both classes have access to it. But for an RP sense (I
personally would never use amissio when I am a necromancer just for a combat
buff, just like I wouldn't use vitae ever), and for a logical sense in skillsets
(leech comes at expert necromancy which is far beyond apprentice or capable rank
amissio). Right now with the formulas, they are essentially equal and you are
handing novice sacrament users the same might as a necromancer using leech.
Also, as stated before the formulas should not be so close as they are when we
are required the extra affliction having bound/paralyzed. I am asking a small
buff to make up for this discrepancy in requirements and to give a skill which
requires much more lessons (so in theory should be more powerful) a little bit
more weight so we are on equal ground.
---[Xiel on 1/2 @ 12:02 writes]:
But doesn't Leech not only contribute to the mana-draining bit, but also helps
to build the DeathMark if used instead of Amissio? So though the skill might
come later than Amissio for more lessons, it also contributes more to other
skills of Necromancy, no?
---[Romero on 1/2 @ 12:03 writes]:
Leech does not add to deathmark.
---[Nejii on 1/2 @ 12:04 writes]:
Also, the reason it requires web is because it's 5p less power than
absolve/toadcurse, and doesn't cost power if it fails (IIRC). So you can't use
that difference as a reason for other upgrads unless you think celestines
deserve them too. That said, there is something to be said for having leech do
something amissio doesn't...maybe something less significant than another direct
mana loss boost, though.
---[Nejii on 1/2 @ 12:04 writes]:
Excuse me, 5p total, 3p less.
---[Xiel on 1/2 @ 12:06 writes]:
Mind, I've nothing against Leech tweaking, but if Leech isn't contributing to
DeathMark stacking (which I could swear it's supposed to do since I think
Charune said all Necro abilities end up building this Mark up), then shouldn't
that be fixed?
---[Romero on 1/2 @ 12:14 writes]:
Leech would be useless stacking deathmark as its not building up anything to the
final kill. I am totally fine with the other methods of building deathmark as
thats not really the problem. The problem is that an effective manakill is
harder with the set conditions of 50% mana and webbed, and while yours does cost
more power (because its easier) that does not change the fact its still not
viable to attempt a manakill on most targets for the outsipping/writhing out
problems that I have already stated. This also does not explain why an unspec'd
ritual user can drain the exact amount of mana as a spec'd necromancer user.
Those envoys who have fought me know that manakill will unless you almost never
be a problem from me especially if you are a Demigod with a huge manabank. I am
asking for a small buff, 3% is 150 extra at 5000 mana.
---[Romero on 1/2 @ 12:19 writes]:
-unless you above there*. Was going to add a silly comment but stopped.
---[Romero on 1/3 @ 11:47 writes]:
I added additional solutions to differentiate the skill from the others.
Solution 3 is the favored solution.
---[Nydekion on 1/11 @ 05:45 writes]:
This seems more of a wishlist change than fixing any imbalance. Necromancy users
have access to both amissio and leech already so there is already benefit
derived from the amissio update. Add to this fact that the extra restrictions to
necromancy wrack kills (paralysis or entanglement) are trivial, at best, with
the introduction of beasts casting web, I do not think this suggestion to leech
to siphon more mana is necessary at all.
---[Synl on 1/13 @ 17:53 writes]:
Don't know how needed this is, but solution 2 looks good. Allows Necros two
abilities to choose between depending on opponent.