Report 58

Report #58
Skillset: Wildarrane Skill: Spiritguard
 Org: Spiritsingers Status: Completed Oct 2008
Furies' Decision:
We're going to limit the number of active spirits a Spiritsinger has at any
given time to 5, which should help correct their issues including this one.
Problem: With the current player versus player mechanic of SpiritGuard to
provide a means by which an attack is completely blocked passively in exchange
for the use of the bard's spirits, Spiritsingers currently stand as the only
guild who currently possess three passive means to block damage completely. As
all bards have Acrobatics, Dodging there on top of Glamours'
Illusoryself/Reflection or Ecology's FamiliarGuard with the inclusion of
SpiritGuard's player versus player mechanic, three passive blocks is viewed to
be skewed a bit in regards to regular combat. By no means is it desired for the
current DMP bestowed upon by SpiritGuard against denizens wished to be removed,
but the complementary effect of blocking damage fully in player situations is
what is hoping to be addressed.
[A: 0 R: 0] Solution #1: Change SpiritGuard's current effect of blocking
 damage completely in player versus player situations
 to the effect which SpiritGuard takes up against
 denizens - instead of blocking an attack completely,
 have it reduce the amount of damage delivered in
 exchange of spirit usage.
[A: 0 R: 0] Solution #2: Change SpiritGuard's current effect of blocking
 damage completely in player versus player situations
 to an effect which cures one random affliction from
 the Spiritsinger and his or her allies should they
 have one in exchange for spirit usage. Perhaps the
 amount of afflictions can vary (between one or two)
 depending upon the Spiritsinger's max amount of
 current summoned spirits.
[A: 0 R: 0] Solution #3: Change SpiritGuard's current effect of blocking
 damage completely in player versus player situations
 to an effect which protects the listener from a
 select group of afflictions which might otherwise
 affect the self adversely. Based upon the number of
 spirits currently summoned, give the Spiritsinger a
 percent chance protection from fear, pacification,
 stupidity, and confusion.
Player Comments:
---[Nejii on 10/23 @ 02:21 writes]:
Not that this suggestion is necessarily bad, but wouldn't it be just better to
fix stacking dodges? This fixes SS dodge but does nothing about stacking eco +
regular dodge, or worse, shrine protection. It seems like those are just as bad.
---[Ceren on 10/23 @ 08:17 writes]:
You know, I think Solution 1 is the direction that most dodging skills should be
taken in. For example, make Familiarguard have a chance to partially block
damage like Acrobatics dodging does in bashing. Acrobatics, however, as the
original, probably has a right to stay as it is; the copycat dodges stacking
with it is what makes things really obscene, and as shown by Beastmastery
bodyguard, it is getting and will continue to get worse
---[Shuyin on 10/26 @ 22:53 writes]:
I'd prefer a blanket analysis of the dodging as a whole with all specs, but 1 is
best. Rad!
---[Synl on 10/26 @ 23:08 writes]:
I agree with the idea of fixing dodge abilities stacking rather than the
solutions given (though not because they're necessarily bad). That these
abilities can stack at all is the problem, not SpiritGuard alone.