Report 987

Report #987
Skillset: Wildarrane Skill: SpiritGuard
 Org: Spiritsingers Status: Rejected Jul 2013
Furies' Decision:
The arguments presented do not convince us this is necessary or balanced.
Problem: SpiritGuard currently functions with a slight chance to partially
absorb a denizen attack. If an attack is absorbed, a spirit from the
Spiritsingers entourage will dissipate. With the slight chance of absorption,
plus the dissipation of a spirit, this song effect has become little more than a
bashing filler effect with just as much negative effects as positive due to the
fact that with the loss of spirits, a spiritsingers damage and defensive DMP
also decreases. This report seeks to enable SpiritGuard to once again function
in a PvP environment since the reasons why it was changed no longer exist.
Solution #1: Replace the current effect of SpiritGuard to on a tic, summon a
 Spiritual Guardian to the Spiritsingers side. When a Spiritsinger
 takes damage, the damage is transferred to ego, 1:1 ratio. The
 Spiritual Guardian will fade after being hit.
Solution #2: Replace the current effect of SpiritGuard to on a tic, summon a
 Spiritual Guardian to the Spiritsingers side. When a Spiritsinger
 is afflicted with a spiritual affliction, the Guardian will block
 the affliction. The Spiritual Guardian will fade upon absorbing
 the affliction.
Solution #3: Replace the current effect of SpiritGuard with, an active
 ability, that will turn an Ancestral Watcher into a Spiritual
 Guardian, who will instead of of announcing the arrival of the
 enemy, it will knock them down and off balance, AKA knockdown
 affliction. Cost is 1 power, making it a 2p cost in total.
Player Comments:
---[Enyalida on 7/6 @ 17:52 writes]:
Is solution 1 asking for a forcefield clone that is stopped by targeting an ent?
I don't think I can support any of these solutions.
---[Wobou on 7/7 @ 02:44 writes]:
You may want to clarify what was changed before, why it was changed, and why
that reason is no longer relevant. Solution 1 seems way too strong for me, not
only is it ent-based forcefield but unlike psionics you can't burn out which is
the main drawback to forcefield. Solution 2 and 3 don't seem overly strong to me
but I'm not sure what need its filling.
---[Asmodea on 7/7 @ 04:40 writes]:
When SpiritGuard was first created it was a skill which intercepted PvP attacks,
fullyabsorbing them much like how dodge does. FamiliarGuard was also able to do
the same as dodging. SpiritGuard, FamiliarGuard alongside Dodging made a
Spiritsinger rather difficult to strike since all three skills stacked.
SpiritGuard was envoyed and changed to its current state of partially
intercepting damage in PvE only and no longer effects PvP. FamiliarGuard was
also envoyed and changed to its current state of intercepting poisons only, not
attacks. Dodge was also envoyed and changed to its current state of if the
acrobatis prone, you can't dodge, as well as the % to dodge drops considerably
---[Asmodea on 7/7 @ 04:40 writes]:
When SpiritGuard was first created it was a skill which intercepted PvP attacks,
fullyabsorbing them much like how dodge does. FamiliarGuard was also able to do
the same as dodging. SpiritGuard, FamiliarGuard alongside Dodging made a
Spiritsinger rather difficult to strike since all three skills stacked.
SpiritGuard was envoyed and changed to its current state of partially
intercepting damage in PvE only and no longer effects PvP. FamiliarGuard was
also envoyed and changed to its current state of intercepting poisons only, not
attacks. Dodge was also envoyed and changed to its current state of if the
acrobatis prone, you can't dodge, as well as the % to dodge drops considerably
should you have also just dodged. This report seeks to enable SpiritGuard to
once again function in PvP since the reasons why it was changed basically no
longer exist.
---[Asmodea on 7/7 @ 04:43 writes]:
Solution 1 while yes it is similar to forcefield and yes it is somewhat ent
based, it will only transfer a single attack once every 10 seconds. Unlike
Forcefield which is every attack until the mage burns out.
---[Wobou on 7/10 @ 10:18 writes]:
Aha. I missed the tick wording on solution 1. That makes it sound much more
acceptable although I worry about delayed big damage skills like mancer skills
since those are 10 second timers if I recall, being able to dump all of that
into ego is very beneficial unless they are telepaths.
---[Enyalida on 7/11 @ 18:31 writes]:
Not to mention woodchemantics burst skills that can already be dodged (by the
acrobatics dodge skill), reduced by RoAs (when typing is appropriate), and
avoided in the usual ways. I'm still not a big fan of these solutions.
---[Viynain on 7/22 @ 04:38 writes]:
I disagree with the proposal to add more dodging capability to a class that
already has Acrobatics inherently. Blocking damage or afflictions as either of
the first two solutions suggest isn't something I support. The current effect is
one I feel more preferable than solution 3, so I do not support this either.
---[Asmodea on 7/22 @ 08:01 writes]:
I was going to change solution 1 but the report finalised itself. So I'd like to
propose another choice, Since it is PvE only, leave it strictly PvE but increase
the benefit to be the same as that of Beastmastery BodyGuard, where the spirits
surrounding the Spiritsinger fully absorb the incoming blow of the denizen. The
more spirits surround the Spiritsinger, the more chance of absorbing an attack.
Once absorbed, the spirit fades like normal.
---[Siam on 7/25 @ 18:47 writes]:
Solution 1 liimited to pve
---[Xenthos on 7/27 @ 14:17 writes]:
I'm not sure it's possible to limit things to PvE like that. We've had many
conversations in the past re: receiving damage from mobs or players, and we've
been told that it's not. I don't really mind changing it a bit as long as it is
PvE, but bards do -not- need a forcefield clone (even limited in scope) or any
of these other solutions in addition to passive dodging and potentially foppery
as far as PvP is concerned.
---[Asmodea on 7/28 @ 07:31 writes]:
Spiritguard is currently PvE only, it doesn't effect PvP at all. My previous
comment, apologies if it came across confusing, but I meant for it as a boost to
its current effect, keeping it PvE.
---[Steingrim on 7/31 @ 00:08 writes]:
Spiritguard used to work in pvp was changed as so many other skills were changed
for balance. That doesn't mean that the skill can never have a pvp component,
only that should not be similar to the old dodge.