Report 204

Report #204
Skillset: Aquamancy Skill: None
 Org: Aquamancers Status: Rejected Jun 2009
Furies' Decision:
Rejected as unnecessary.
Problem: Currently, a mage cannot meld over illusory terrain, even when in a
room of his own element (flooded for Aquamancer, tainted for Geomancer). This
creates problems in being able to quickly pass a demesne over to another holder
(such as when a younger member of the guild holds a desmesne until a security
member can get there), as it requires the new demesner to realitycheck, meld,
terrain, which creates problems when time is of the essence during ongoing
battles.
Solution #1: Allow mages to meld over illusory terrain, so long as the room
 type matches (that is, an Aquamancer could meld over illusory
 terrain in a flooded room, but would need to realitycheck, meld,
 terrain in a tainted room.)
Solution #2: Give mages a non-forceble command to dissolve all illusory
 terrain in his demesne at will, so that only melding and
 re-terraining is required when a new demesner takes over.
Player Comments:
---[Nienla on 6/17 @ 15:44 writes]:
I don't think either of these suggestions are necessary. That is just Illusory
terrain's function, and it can be a double-edged sword. However, I don't think
this is needed
---[Llandros on 6/17 @ 17:34 writes]:
It's my understanding that druids don't have to chop down each other's saplings
to meld so I think solution one is perfectly reasonable
---[Alban on 6/18 @ 01:23 writes]:
I think solution 1 would be a good change - if you are a Hartstone druid you
don't have to chop down Seren saplings to make your demesne...at least I don't
remember it being that way
---[Zynna on 6/23 @ 11:57 writes]:
I confirmed prior to writing the report that druids can meld over a sapling
someone else put down, so this change would make it fair. The inability to do so
is a frustration we've run into a bit, so I do think it's a needed change.
---[Krellan on 6/25 @ 22:50 writes]:
Your information is a bit lacking. I'll clarify some things for you. Druids can
meld as well as break over saplings. This means that saplings do not offer the
unbreakable abilities that terrain does against other mages. Also, druids
breaking over the opposing forest's saplings will consume twice as much
equilibrium as normal. Not a big deal as I wish to address saplings in a report
at some point. While I agree that this change is not needed, I am not against
solution 2. So if accepted, I will go for solution 2. I am against solution 1.
---[Ceren on 6/29 @ 19:14 writes]:
I don't understand the condition on solution 1. It sounds like you're saying an
aquamancer would need to realitycheck first before he can... meld a tainted
room? That's pretty redundant since obviously the aqua would have to flood the
tainted room before he could meld it, and that requires realitychecking the
terrain.
---[Ceren on 6/29 @ 19:40 writes]:
Regardless, what I think needs to happen is the following. First, make it so you
can't forest/forceforest a room with an opposing sapling (can't wyrdforest a
room with a hartstone sapling, and the other way around). Then, either make it
so mages can meld (but not taint/flood) over illusory terrain OR make it so
druids can't meld over a sapling (any sapling) like mages can't meld over
terrain. The ability to forest --> sapling --> meld instead of having to forest
--> meld --> sapling is a pretty big advantage, and in fights between mages and
druids, the imbalance becomes pretty apparent, particularly when there's
multiple melders involved since you can just have one druid spam sapling while
the other forests and melds over the sapling.
---[Zynna on 6/30 @ 01:50 writes]:
Ceren, you're right I left out the 'flood' step in the tainted room example.
Essentially, the solution is trying to say that mages can meld over terrain (and
the terrain would remain) in their type of room (flooded for Aquas, and tainted
for Geos) but otherwise would have to realitycheck. I agree with your comment
and suggestions though.