Report 1306

Report #1306
Skillset: Herbs Skill: Earwort/Faeleaf
 Org: Cantors Status: Rejected Mar 2015
Furies' Decision:
We can see if this is still an issue after blind/deaf are converted to the
overhaul system
Problem: With the overhaul shift to the new curing balances, certain aspects of
bard combat have remained on herb balance. I refer to true deafness and true
blindness remaining on herb-balance, while the afflictions of bard combat have
moved onto the new curative balances - this generates situations where
previously a person would consume herb balance upon raising earwort (giving the
bard a chance to re-strip before they cured aurics), they can now instantly cure
the auric upon eating earwort without allowing the bard any opportunity to track
and counter. Likewise, there will no longer be an opportunity cost associated
with raising trueblind by eating faeleaf (removing substantial curing pressure
from the target), exacerbating the already clunky nature of Glamourist combat.
This report aims to rectify the newly introduced disparities described above.
Solution #1: Change earwort to both require and consume steam balance. Retain
 current equilibrium-disruption effect if attempting to eat
 earwort while off-steam balance.
Solution #2: Remove trueblind from faeleaf's effect on Glamours (Colourburst,
 ColourSpray, RainbowPattern, HypnoticPattern, Mesmerise,
 ColourMaelstrom, DeadlyPattern). Consider retaining the defence
 against Fascination(transfix, which will carry over to spix) and
 Maze only.
Player Comments:
---[Shuyin on 2/25 @ 16:16 writes]:
Solution 2 is clunky and inconsistent. Of the two, solution 1 is better, but I
think that this problem is only a problem because the overhaul is still ongoing.
Not all affs have been moved over and trueblind/deaf are caught in it.
---[Siam on 2/27 @ 14:56 writes]:
I understand the issue presented but let's wait for the Overhaul to move a wee
bit further before proposing changes like this please.
---[Maligorn on 3/1 @ 21:21 writes]:
I think sol. 1 is not too much to ask for and probably not going to affect
things in the long run.
---[Viynain on 3/22 @ 22:37 writes]:
I'm hesitant to support this report because of the suggestion of putting earwort
on the same balance that cures aeon potentially skewing things too badly -
especially for bards who have access to hindering a target by fiddling with
both. While the Overhaul is still underway, I'd like to defer this mechanic
being switched for later, like the other associated lock afflictions/effects so
that we have a better gauge of what this change may fully entail once the
Overhaul is complete. Faeleaf would go alongside of this earwort change, so I'd
like to defer that and not support solution 2 either.
---[Maligorn on 3/25 @ 17:28 writes]:
Coming back to this like a month later, I'm still in support of solution 1.
Solution 2 is another matter, however. We need to find a happy medium between
trueblind glamours effects on a victim and non-trueblind, and then remove
faeleaf as a curative altogether. Additionally, we need to figure out what to do
with Transfix in Glamours and with Spix, and Maze. I'd say assign a 5p cost to
transfix, and find a new effect for Spix, and let Maze stay 10p and have a long
cooldown before you can use it again, so that you can't Maze 2 people at the
beginning of a fight. Faeleaf can also be neutered by moving Rebounding to a
skill in Discipline (preferably low) and have its own balance, and since
cloudcoils has been removed, there's no longer a need to keep faeleaf in a pipe
to smoke.
---[Shuyin on 3/25 @ 17:32 writes]:
Yeah, still not supporting solution 2 either. Either you do it all or none of
it. My personal idea is to just remove the entire trueblind mechanic, then
balance Glamours' power level to somewhere in between the current versions of
blind vs nonblind. As far as transfix is concerned, what about making it into a
delayed aff that if you don't cure it in x seconds it then becomes the transfix.
This way, it replicates the current effect without necessarily having to change
anything. For maze, make it into a delayed reaction effect to give the victim a
chance to escape, like start maze, x seconds later, maze completes. Have it be
reasonably short.
---[Shuyin on 3/25 @ 17:33 writes]:
RE: steam balance for earwort - I share Viynain's issue with putting both aeon
curing and pfifth escaping on the same balance - it skews the balance in favour
of aeon bards too much. With this in mind, I don't think this report should go
through as is given the potential balance concerns
---[Maligorn on 3/25 @ 17:45 writes]:
This report is meant for aurics, not aeon bards. Auric offensives got nailed
when they all moved to steam balance -- a person can currently eat earwort, then
smoke to cure an auric in one second, making it really difficult to stick aurics
-- especially if there's passive curing in the mix. The alternative is finding a
way to keep the person from being able to smoke off aurics, allowing a bard
that's on their toes to keep them blanknoted in Octave and reasonably keep
aurics on.
---[Shuyin on 3/25 @ 20:00 writes]:
Doesn't matter if it's meant for aurics, it also affects aeon bards and there is
a real issue of making it too easy to both keep someone from leaving and keep
them stuck in aeon because they both share the same balance.
---[Maligorn on 3/25 @ 20:18 writes]:
I understand, and agree. But the auric issue still needs solving.
---[Xenthos on 3/30 @ 02:47 writes]:
Going to agree with Sojiro for now-- let's see how it looks when the system is
fully converted.
---[Llandros on 3/31 @ 18:04 writes]:
I think there are decent points made all around but it remains that leaving this
hanging has a severely negative impact on DiscordantChord, which is the base
kill method that bards are built on. Also, since not all guilds have gimmicky
kill methods in their music specs, the impact of this is not equally felt across
the board. This is more than just an inconvenience.