Report 1657

Report #1657
Skillset: Wildarrane Skill: CairnLargo
 Org: Aeromancers Status: Completed Apr 2017
Furies' Decision:
Solution 1.
Problem: CairnLargo is a unique "song" in the Spiritsinger repertoire in that it
has a thematically appropriate haunting spirit mechanic that could be used for a
variety of effects. Unfortunately, these effects are either too weak, offering
nothing to the Spiritsinger offence, or too strong, gated only by how many
balances and spirits a Spiritsinger can attach to their target. Additionally,
there is no way for a target to remove the spirits other than to move between
rooms. This is neither engaging nor rewarding for either side. This report aims
to change CairnLargo into a more engaging skill while giving Spiritsingers a
3-power skill that they could use to build their offence while keeping to the
theme of haunting enemies with spirits.
[A:13 R: 0] Solution #1: Change CairnLargo to a 3 power song that attaches a
 spirit to a hearing target for 20 seconds. On cast
 and every 10 seconds after that, the target will take
 500+5% max hp cold damage and 1 level of freeze, per
 spirit. Playing CairnLargo on a target with at least
 one spirit on them will do one tic of damage/freeze
 on cast and reset both the timing of tics to be 10
 seconds after the latest cast as well as the duration
 to 20 seconds (so 2 more tics total). Has no effect
 on a target who is hearing/shielded when tics occur.
 Each target can have up to 3 spirits attached to
 them, though this can continue to be cast to do 1 tic
 + reset the duration, and multiple Spiritsingers
 cannot attach spirits to the same target. Standard 3
 second song equilibrium that cannot be encored.
[A: 2 R: 6] Solution #2: As per solution 1, but on cast gives 0.5 base + 0.5
 per spirit seconds of stun instead of 1 level of
 freeze per spirit. Tics will only stun for 1 second
 regardless of how many spirits are on the target.
[A: 3 R: 6] Solution #3: As per solution 1, but on cast gives 0.5 base + 0.5
 per spirit seconds of stun instead of 1 level of
 freeze per spirit. Tics will still give 1 level of
 freeze per spirit.
Player Comments:
---[Falaeron on 4/2 @ 22:37 writes]:
This is a solution that I came up with after the Spiritsinger envoy expressed
concerns that CairnLargo's mechanics were not very interesting and I found that
Wildarrane lacks a 3-power skill like the other bard specs have. Basically, the
idea is that this becomes a damage-over-time effect that can stack up to 3 times
if the Spiritsinger continues to put power and equilibrium into it. I feel that
this is a vast improvement for both Spiritsingers and their targets over the
current incarnation of CairnLargo.
---[Wobou on 4/3 @ 13:55 writes]:
I solution 1 sounds alright but I don't know spiritsingers as well as I should.
Just a question of clarification, if I dump 9p into the skill as quickly as I
can then I get 3 immediate ticks + 2 more ticks over time right? That would mean
essentially 1k + 2k + 3k damage over the course of 9s and then two more ticks of
3k which is decent dps but less burst than the skill currently does. I think
solution 2 is definitely too strong, being able to time a 3s stun is enough to
get off a deathsong solo and 20s is long enough to regen the 2p you'd need to
afford the bardoon.
---[Shedrin on 4/3 @ 15:01 writes]:
I'm reading it as, if you play it as fast as possible, you'll get 3x 500+5%,
then 10s and 20s after the last one, get 1500+15%. Which, in terms of upfront
damage, a minorsecond would be better, but better damage over time for the power
cost. And if I'm reading it correctly, you'll only get a 1s stun with Solution
2.
---[Falaeron on 4/3 @ 19:44 writes]:
Wobou had it right. On cast will also do the damage/stun per spirit. With
solution 2, the stun scales up to 3 seconds. Eeven if timed well there is still
a 5 second window to stop Bardoon (which is 3p btw, but that isn't as relevant
here) from happening. I don't think it's necessarily a bad thing that a bard can
deathsong in solo. After all, it is their instakill and in the case of forest
bards they don't even have another instakill available to them. Also,
Jitterbug/HerbBane can already be used to potentially block earwort eating.
---[Xenthos on 4/3 @ 21:23 writes]:
My initial kneejerk was that this was too much when I saw it last night, but
I've actually been coming around to solution 1. Losing the other effects of
CairnLargo in replacing towards this actually seems like it might be less
effective than the current 5-spirit effect in terms of "burst" damage, but it's
more constant pressure instead. No to passive stun ticks alongside active stun
ticks though (especially ones going up to 3s per tick).
---[Wobou on 4/4 @ 13:30 writes]:
My issue with solo deathsong is two fold, one is I don't think that the class
that has the strongest ability to stop running should also have a reliable in-
room instakill and the other is that I don't think other bards can easily solo
deathsong, so if we make it so spiritsingers can that's an imbalance in a
different way and those other guilds will (rightfully) request the same kind of
tools and I don't think bards in general need that kind of help. Basically if
concrete socks didn't exist then solution 2 could be fine, but since they do
exist the only counter to not being deathsonged in solution 2 is to not ever be
hit with ear ache or to roll the dice in very stacked odds and attempt to gust,
unless I'm missing something.
---[Shedrin on 4/4 @ 18:16 writes]:
A 3s delayed stun is probably too strong. So solution 1, or Solution 2 if the
stun won't increase in duration.
---[Enyalida on 4/5 @ 01:52 writes]:
Or just make it have a stun on cast, but never on tick - in addition to the
freeze level because why not?
---[Falaeron on 4/10 @ 23:49 writes]:
I've updated solution 2 and added solution 3 based on the feedback above
---[Malarious on 4/10 @ 23:57 writes]:
I am not a fan of the damage as presented. 500 + 5% per spirit whenever cast
means if you repeat the song every 18 seconds (as an example) you can do 3K
every time you cast. You can potentially do this about 4 times in a row. doing
1K, 2K, 3K, 3K, 3k, 3K damage (the last 2 are from tics). This report also asks
to allow 3s casting of 3s triple chills or a stun. This seems like a lot of
damage to me, but is pure damage, no real setup or design involved otherwise.
Unlike other songs this asks that being deaf not actually stop it, so damage is
halved but chills/stun still happen.
---[Falaeron on 4/11 @ 00:02 writes]:
Based on discussion on envoys, I've updated solution 1 to say that the spirits
will have no effect on a target who is hearing or shielded when tics occur.
---[Falaeron on 4/11 @ 00:13 writes]:
I don't think the damage is too high. Over 6 seconds (9 second equilibrium) and
with 9 power you could do 6k damage, but I can do almost as much with
destruction without any power or hearing requirement. Active power is a very
valuable resource for bards, between perfectfifth, majorseventh and tertiary
skills.
---[Lerad on 4/13 @ 07:57 writes]:
No stuns, please. I object to solution 2 and 3. Solution 1 alone. Damage seems
fine, but just to clarify something: The report says that "Playing CairnLargo on
a target with at least one spirit on them will do one tic of damage/freeze on
cast..." - this on cast "one tic" refers to ONLY 500+5% (regardless of how many
spirits are on the target?) or does it give one tic that depends on on how many
spirits are on the target. Sorry if it's been answered above, but reading the
comments, I didn't get a confirmed sense of which this is.
---[Falaeron on 4/13 @ 19:04 writes]:
Each spirit does 500+5%, so 1500+15% at 3 spirits. I would like to note that
stuns, especially on cast, already exist in multiple 3p bard songs.
---[Lerad on 4/15 @ 00:48 writes]:
Thanks for the clarification. I think those numbers are good. We can always
adjust again after if need be, but I don't think there'll be too much concern.
---[Shuyin on 4/16 @ 19:31 writes]:
Solution 1 only.
---[Malarious on 4/18 @ 03:24 writes]:
One last note. Getting 3K damage (on a 10K health target) every 3s, plus mass
freeze seems a bit much. Can we not have a full tic of damage, since you still
get the tics after?