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PD -> RE: A Comprehensive Balance Discussion (2/25/2011 0:27:20)
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@IsaiahTheMage... Just people a lot of people use a skill doesn't mean it should stay
Let me explain...
The removal of the 3 skills would in reality, do nothing. In fact, it would make things better. If you looked back in ED's history, you'll see that there were MANY problems with Assimilation, Shadow Arts, and Blood Shield. And In fact, people are STILL complaining about it! These skills have done NOTHING to improve the state of the game - In fact, they've only made things worse through stat requirements, which essentially, limits the optional builds everyone gets to choose from.
Now, the reason for the removal of these skills are because of their either Over-efficient, or under-efficient. In order to balance skills, you MUST fix the ratios and improvement rates.
Shadow arts as a passive means it is effective for an infinite amount of turns, which in turn, means infinite chances for increased luck factors (Block, Stun). To couple this with Bloodlust, is just obscene. The ratio is this: 0 Turn Cost for a varied amount of FREE support. The increase is subject to the Block and Stun Formulaes, hence, I say varied. And also like Re-Route, unlike Hybrid armor, this increases effectiveness as you level up (As you naturally invest more points into support as you level up). Hybrid armor does not - Rather, it loses 250% effectiveness (Effectiveness decay rate varies on dexterity invested) over 22 levels (When you max it out at level 10).
Blood Shield and Assimilate on the other hand, have different problems. They, like Hybrid Armor and Poison, are fixed at static increases - They do not improve with anything. This causes the ratio to get worse and worse over time. Although it may seem good at lower levels, they're not. Blood Shield's ratio is terrible at low AND high levels abroad.
1. It's around 280% defense boost (Effectiveness diminish rate is even worse for Blood Shield) at level 14 (Assuming you max out the skill), at the cost of 13 HP, hence, why Hybrid Armor is just the better option for defense. At lower levels, people generally have Less HP. And also, using Blood shield when you already have low total HP is a bad idea. You basically gave yourself a free loss at that scenario
2. As I said above, Like Hybrid armor, it also shares the problem of effectiveness decay. Due to the way resistance improves with Technology, if you choose to use a High technology build (Which coincidentally, correlates with +5 Focus), it's effectiveness is lowered even faster than does Hybrid armor diminish in effectiveness.
Now, as for Assimilate, it is static - It does not improve over time, and it is limited to staves only, which sadly, are mostly Energy Staves. There is overlord Staff, but that in comparison with other staves in it's level is pretty terrible. It would've been better IF it improved with stat growth - which it doesn't.
Now, look at all the problems that were CREATED by the new skills. Yeah, not worth keeping around in my opinion. They are better removed than adjusted.
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