Lv 1000 -> Inconsistent penalties associated with Omni-elemental Effects (1/4/2022 23:09:19)
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Multiple effects in AQ can apply to attacks of a single element, multiple elements, and even every element at the same time. The effects most relevant to this GBI include, but are not limited to: BtH Boost Defense Boost Defense Loss Elemental Shields Elemental Vulnerability. These effects are found on variety of items, especially more recently released ones. However, the application of penalties when these effects apply to more than one element is highly inconsistent. AQ has several penalties that are applied to effects in these situations: The always-useful penalty, which is applied to effects use non-standard elements, such as Harm or Heal. This penalty either reduces effect power by x0.9 effect power or increase effect cost by x1.1. The omni-elemental penalty, which is applied to effects that apply to all elements. This penalty either reduces effect power by x0.6, or reduces effect power by x0.8 and increases effect cost by x1.2. When applied correctly, this provides the player with a trade-off: You must choose between more potent single-element effects or less potent effects that apply to a wider range of situations. The problem is that, in practice, these penalties are almost never properly applied, examples include: Bag of Mixed Nuts, Runic Binding, Z-Finity Gauntlet: Space, (Twisted) Pig Drake, Invincible Star, and Geocastellum Robes’ skill. These items’ effects often have a form of the always-useful penalty (or other incorrectly applied penalties) rather than a form of the omni-elemental penalty. There have been some “recent” items that have the correct penalties applied to their omni-elemental effects: Bun-Banneret Pet/Guest, Edoc Imanok, and New Year’s Surprise, however, these items are unfortunately in the minority. This absence of proper penalties disincentivizes the use of single-element effects. Let us look at an example: Why would anyone practically use Epoch Slice instead of Runic Binding? There really is no good reason as Runic Binding only receives a x1.1 cost increase for its omni-elemental effects rather than a proper penalty. In short, the incorrect application of penalties to omni-elemental effects has created an environment in which single-element effects have no chance to be competitive with omni-elemental effects. To address this problem, I propose that: Only truly non-elemental effects (Harm, Heal, etc.) should receive the x0.9 power or x1.1 cost always-useful penalty. All effects which apply to all elements should receive an equivalent of the omni-elemental penalty. This could could take a number of forms: x0.6 to power, x0.8 to power/x1.2 to cost, or even x1.4 to cost. A more consistent application of these penalties will allow for single-element effects to be more competitive, encouraging their use. Credits - Special thanks to @CH4OT1C! for assisting in the writing/brainstorming of this GBI.
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