Report 654

Report #654
Skillset: Nekotai Skill: Nekcree
 Org: Nekotai Status: Completed Aug 2011
Furies' Decision:
We will look to implement solution 1.
Problem: Nekotai Nekcree is available via 100 ka kata mod and the 10 power
ScorpionFury (which lasts roughly one minute). This ability gives some bonus
damage/wounds to nekai's cutting damage type that procs on successful poison
transfer on an envenomed weapon. KeenEye is useful to determine Nekcree proc.
Since poison shrugging does not affect proc, Creehai (halves opponent shrugging)
does not increase rate of occurrence. BeastSpit & ScorpionSpit also do not
contribute to Nekcree. This report seeks to enhance Nekcree by changing damage
type from bonus cutting to poison to target to bypass physical DMP glut and
spread across another damage type. Secondly, Nekcree seems ka costly when
compared against similarly classed kata mods, especially given the chance to
fail a proc. I'd like to see an overall reduction of 50 ka by splitting the cost
across Creehai and Nekcree. This solution wouldn't reduce momentum requirements
against either mod when singularly used (as Nekotai is largely built upon
50-weight ka blocks). The ka savings would only be apparent when the two are
combined within a single form.
[A: 0 R: 0] Solution #1: Change Nekcree's bonus damage/wounds from cutting to
 poison type. Adjust damage/wounds (in either
 direction) if determined necessary.
[A: 0 R: 0] Solution #2: Change Nekcree's bonus damage/wounds from cutting to
 poison type. Adjust Ka cost for Creehai from 200 to
 175, and Nekcree from 100 to 75. Combined, this will
 save 50 Ka (from 300 to 250 Creehai+Nekcree cost).
Player Comments:
---[Viynain on 8/7 @ 05:56 writes]:
I've no problem with the first solution since it makes thematic sense - you're
inducing more damage by the application of poison, so the damage type resulted
should be poison rather than cutting. I've no grasp at all on monk ka or
momentum costs, so I have nothing for or against the second solution. I do
support the first suggestion though, so huzzah for understanding something.
---[Talan on 8/11 @ 13:43 writes]:
I wonder why it was not suggested that perhaps a portion of the damage only
should be converted to poison damage type? Perhaps 50% cutting, 50% poison? I
realize that monks must want to get in on the varied damage types now available
to other classes, but converting the whole thing to a damage type with dmp
lesser generally available outside the communes seems a bit much. I think any
changes to the damage type would be enough and the ka costs do not need to be
lowered.
---[Ilyssa on 8/11 @ 14:01 writes]:
I agree with Viynain. Especially with the part about not knowing enough about
momentum to fiddle around with it
---[Janalon on 8/11 @ 14:15 writes]:
My apologies if the report was not more clear. Nekcree adds bonus damage to a
nekai-based attack (nekai+bonus). The bonus damage is variable based upon the
target's defenses, but preliminary studies show an improvement of 60 damage, 40
wounds per nekai hit. The intention of this report was to convert only the bonus
damage to poison damage type, and not the entire nekai+bonus. That being said, I
wouldn't be opposed to a skill change into 50% cutting, 50% poison, but I feel
that would be buffing, and not altering the skill.
---[Janalon on 8/14 @ 20:29 writes]:
Regarding Talan's, "I think any changes to the damage type would be enough and
the ka costs do not need to be lowered." Nekcree is a variable modifier. Based
on the assumption of 50% poison transfer rate: there is a 25% chance of miss,
50% one nekcree bonus, and 25% chance double nekcree. Damage is also largely
variable based on target's defenses. Unbuffed, I hit a fully-deffed Regnilolo (a
trans acrobat) for 134d/51w on a single nekai. Upon successful nekai+nekcree,
the output was 172d/74w (an increase of ~ 40d/20w). For the sake of comparison a
kick produced 240d/193w. My main issue is that the nekcree doesn't produce a
bonus commensurate with the ka cost and probability of proc. Nekcree's pricetag
seems very ka costly when compared against other kata spec mods (too long an
analysis to write here). This comes in addition to the Nekotai having the costly
ka actions of any monk guild. Splitting a +40 damage gain across cutting and
poison damage types won't fix the issue. I also won't ask for a straight up
damage increase, though it might also be warranted. Rather, I am asking for a
lower ka cost split between two mods (so neither can be introduced at an earlier
momentum level) and change in damage type on the bonus to bypass cutting
resilience (which might not be possible to code if nekcree is based on a
percentage of a nekai hitafter cutting resilience is applied).