Report 485

Report #485
Skillset: Wildarrane Skill: SpiritGuard
 Org: Spiritsingers Status: Rejected Nov 2010
Furies' Decision:
We do not find this to be necessary.
Problem: During the overhaul of the stacking of various dodging abilities,
SpiritGuard's effects against players was changed from a total dodge to
providing some DMP in exchange for the consumption nof spirits called by
AncestralCall in the same way it functions versus denizens (chance to provide
DMP). However, in its current form, the DMP provided by SpiritGuard is not worth
the cost of the consumed spirit, since it also drops the effectiveness of the
other stanza effects (and indeed can at times consume the majority of the
coterie of spirits quite quickly, for little gain.) Keeping in mind the issue of
dodging abilities working in tandem, this report aims to change the nature of
the skill and restore its function as a viable part of a Spiritsinger's
repertoire.
Solution #1: Remove the chance for SpiritGuard to take effect during player
 combat, limiting its effects to be denizen-only. In exchange,
 allow SpiritGuard to completely nullify an attack when
 successfully blocking an attack from a denizen instead of the
 current DMP on proc. A spirit will still be consumed upon a
 successful block.
Solution #2: In addition to the above (Solution 1), should the Spiritsinger be
 accompanied by 5 or more of their ancestral spirits summoned by
 AncestralCall, allow the Spiritsinger to influence undead and
 other spirit-like denizens.
Solution #3: Solution 2, without the 5 spirit requirement.
Player Comments:
---[Vadi on 11/3 @ 23:46 writes]:
How much DMP does it currently give? Will a spirit be used up upon the
absorption or not? Also, what is the change being proposed here - allow undead
influencing with 5 spirits or a a chance at full damage reduction?
---[Xenthos on 11/11 @ 22:29 writes]:
What's with finalizing without responding? Seems kind of odd. I had been
hoping you would clarify somewhat. Guess I should just go ahead with my
comments: 1) It's been made pretty clear through Lusternia's mythos that Spirits
!= Undead (most importantly, made clear in Serenwilde, because of their whole
distaste for undeath but focus on spirits), so it would seem awkward from an RP
aspect to get that kind of bonus on something completely unrelated. Further,
"completely nullifying attacks from denizens" would be a whole lot of anti-ent-
class shenanigans. Wiccans would probably run through the stockpiled spirits
relatively quickly, but other ent classes won't burn up the spirits faster than
they return, and a % chance to block the angel / demon / etc. seems a bit harsh.
---[Raeri on 11/12 @ 22:57 writes]:
Hrm. I was really trying to make it just block damage while bashing here - if
possible, it'd be good to exclude ents/beasts/pets/etc from it. I had reworded
the solutions to clarify in response to Vadi's questions, but looks like I
missed some. The DMP seems similar to Acrobatics Dodging from some testing I did
a while back - though it stacked with it - but since having the spirits get used
up meant DMP from AncestralCall dropped, and damage boost from AncestralFealty
decreased, it's not really worth using in the present form bashing-wise. In pvp,
the loss of spirits for DMP runs into the same issues I've mentioned in past
reports as it has implications regarding many other stanza abilities in
Wildarrane.
---[Raeri on 11/12 @ 23:00 writes]:
In an attempt to clear this up: by 'completely nullify an attack from a
denizen', I mean 'take no health damage'. Afflictions and whatnot would still go
through (think illusoryself-style, instead of acrobatics-style dodge)
---[Talan on 11/18 @ 16:38 writes]:
My feeling is that between beast bodyguard and the rune of absorption,
illusoryself, there is already enough full damage blocking. I'm also with
Xenthos on the influence undead stuff.
---[Fillin on 11/23 @ 04:28 writes]:
Solution 1 is fair, so long as it doesn't affect denizens loyal to players.
---[Vadi on 11/29 @ 01:15 writes]:
I'm fine with the revized solution #1 (nullify all dmg and go away, does not add
undead influencing)