Report 1480

Report #1480
Skillset: Psychometabolism Skill: Regeneration/Introspection
 Org: Nekotai Status: Completed Jul 2016
Furies' Decision:
Solution 3.
Problem: With the recent changes to regeneration, regeneration abilities across
the board in the game have been intentionally lowered in values to account for
the new effectivness tiers. Psymet regen has also been hit. It used to be: a
LOCKED defense, only usable on SUPER or ID channels, providing 3/10 health regen
when active. Now: the regen is dropped to 1/5. While the new changes mean that
keeping psymet regen as it is previously is not warranted, the dropping of
effectiveness is too big for a skillset that is built around having less
pvp/mobility abilities in return for tankiness. This report aims to return
psymet's regeneration to a level that is reasonably suitable to differentiate it
from acrobatics in providing a substantial, and noticeable, difference in
tankiness at the price of having less mobility/pvp abilities. Additionally,
introspection is an ability that has lost its main purpose (willpower recovery)
with the willpower changes from a while ago, and can be a good candidate to be
repurposed for resolving the problem statement.
[A: 0 R: 0] Solution #1: Change psymet regeneration's values to 2/8 health
 regen, and keep everything the same. In addition,
 change introspection to be a 5p ability that lasts
 for 60s (this allows it to provide its benefit 6
 times, since a single regen tic is 10s) with the
 following effect: increases psymet regeneration to
 4/8 and provides 2/8 mana/ego regeneration while it
 is active. In addition, make it so that introspection
 cannot be used while the regeneration ability is not
 locked in (preventing wasting 5p for no effect). Move
 introspection to an appropriate level in the skillset
 (after bodyfuel, before enhancement)
[A: 0 R: 0] Solution #2: Change pysmet regeneration to become an UNLOCKED
 defense (can use all three channels to put up,
 doesn't require a locked channel to set). Keep its
 health regen value at 1/5. Change introspection to be
 a LOCKED defense (Super or Id only), that will
 increase the value provided by psymet regeneration to
 2/8 to health AS WELL AS mana and ego. In addition,
 introspection will also add 1/10 universal damage
 resistance. If locked without regeneration active,
 it'll only provide the 1/10 universal resistance.
 Consider keeping introspection low in the skillset
 (as the first ability learned) to act as a newbie
 resistance ability - or move it higher in the
 skillset. Either works.
[A: 0 R: 0] Solution #3: As suggested by Rivius: Same as solution 2, but
 values to be 2/5 for the Regeneration ability
 (non-locked def) and pumped to 3/6 with introspection
 locked. (lowered max with higher actual boost, so
 that regneration is capped at 6 instead of at 8. If
 anyone has a radical new idea to change the entire
 mechanic instead, do let me know! Looking for fresh
 new ideas as well.
Player Comments:
---[Synkarin on 5/5 @ 21:08 writes]:
Either solution works for me
---[Raeri on 5/6 @ 01:01 writes]:
Solution 2
---[Rivius on 5/6 @ 02:06 writes]:
What was the average health regen bodyscan rating psymet had before the changes,
and what is it now? The change in regeneration scaling means that a lowered
bodyscan value may be misleading when considering total effective regen. Looking
over the spreadsheet on Announce 2593, it seems like most abilities have had
their caps lowered a fair bit, with the majority being no higher than 6 on
average. In fact, the only defense with a cap of 8 that I see is the chaos
lesser blessing, which isn't reliable anyhow. The concern initially with the
original implementation of regeneration was that it was too easy to hit 13/13
before, and that universally people hit that without effort. This had the
particular problem of devaluing racial regeneration as demigod tier abilities.
The new changes make higher regens ratings more difficult to achieve, but also
made higher level regens much more powerful. I'm very hesitant to support a cap
of 8 right now, since with the artifact it would probably mean that any psymet
user might be able to hit 13/13 regen. Unless I'm mistaken, that's only
achievable by the three regen races right now and that may be a deliberate
design decision.
---[Lerad on 5/6 @ 03:04 writes]:
To answer your question and concerns, the psymet Regeneration is the only
regeneration ability offered by psymet. Pre-changes, psymet demigods hit tier 8
normally (3/8 demi, 2/6 mercy, 3/10 psymet regen). Now, with reduced regen
values to everything, a psymet gets 1/2 from mercy, 1/6 from demi, and 1/5 from
regeneration, for only tier 3 regen. This is a huge drop in absolute
effectiveness (8% to 3%). With the drop in value for regens across the board,
psymets will not be able to hit tier 8 even with solution 1 (spending 5 power
for temporary 4/8 regen will still only give tier 6 regen [9%] when added with
demi and mercy). The only other regen available to psymet classes is in harmony
(none of the kata specs nor stealth has regen), or in org specific defenses
(like the holy water or nightwraith constructs). In other words, even with my
two solutions, it's STILL not possible for a psymet to hit the max tier 13
health regen unless they are a regen race, or they are in an org that has their
own regen values. I think it is important that psymets who ARE in such orgs,
though, do get the ability to hit up to tier 8 (and therefore tier 13 with the
l3 arti) if their org abilities allow them to. That's the entire selling point
of psymet, advanced tankiness, in return for giving up hugely impactful
advantages like somersault, contort etc etc. With either solution, harmony
psymets will have a noticeable advantage in regen over stealth psymets, as it
should be. And psymets will have a noticeable advantage over acros - and
generally other skillsets, in regen, as it should be. I feel a */8 regen value
for a locked defense in psymet is definitely justified given these numbers.
---[Rivius on 5/6 @ 11:25 writes]:
Gotcha. Thanks for correcting me with those numbers. How about solution 2 with
2/5 for regeneration unlocked + 3/6 with introspection locked? Should put you at
9%ish which is closer to the old status quo?
---[Shango on 7/3 @ 01:38 writes]:
I support regen not being locked as a channel as per solution 1. Particularly as
a +1, small benefit for preventing an entire psy channel's access for more usful
offensive skills.
---[Lerad on 7/3 @ 02:12 writes]:
Actually, solution 1 requires a locked channel for regen - I assume you meant
solution 2 instead? Either way, while I'll be happy to suggest regen
availability withouta channel being locked, I think the highest levels of regen
in psymet should still require locked channels, as a balance. We've asked for
the ability to use psymet as a more active skillset before, but unfortunately,
that has never met with much success - I believe the admin would prefer psymet
to be a more passive benefits based skillset (though I might be wrong, of
course) with the strongest abilities and effects restricted by requiring a
locked channel. It's meant to be more defensive than offensive, I guess.
---[Vladimere on 7/7 @ 17:08 writes]:
I like solution 2
---[Wobou on 7/9 @ 04:04 writes]:
All of these work for me. I'm mostly partial to solution 1 because having a
choice of what you lock is one of the more interesting things in psymet (and
having fewer things that take locks arguably makes using suspendedanimation more
convenient). I like the idea of introspection actually being a potentially
useful ability. I'm not sure if the benefits listed in sol. 1 would be worth the
5p to me but it's a good start.
---[Lerad on 7/16 @ 00:49 writes]:
Point taken about 5p being too high a cost. If solution 1 is implemented, I'll
follow up with another report to tweak its effect/costs if it is deemed too weak
(or too strong).