Classleads

Well I was informed a while back that until the massive world events are over, classleads won't be reviewed or implemented.

So while we're passing the time, I want feedback on my ideas. Feel free to either call attention to your own here or in another thread, as long as it doesn't get super disorganized.

135 S Xith            Juggling        Tarot juggling.

230 S Xith            Glue            Timed bomb fix.

249 S Xith            Fashion         Fashioning remedy.

251 S Xith            Damage bomb     Follow-up on damage possibilities for jester. Needs balancing.

252 S Xith            Lay             Lay fix.

Going to start with #135, which I'm proud of as an idea and for the way I balanced it.
Problem:
The disparity between Occultist and Jester tarot has been remarked on numerous times. Devilmark allows Occultists the ability to benefit from Devil three times, making their aeon incredibly easy to stick, and with their entities' passive effects, the devastation is far greater in comparison with a jester landing aeon, even if their proficiency with juggled blades allows venom use. With my best two-tarot aeon combo with daggers, speed still manages to come up on occasion before the second fling.
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Solution #1:
Allow tarot cards to be flung from a juggled state at a 33% balance decrease (from 3 to 2). This makes the balance of juggle (1) + fling (2) = normal fling (3). With Nimble trait, (0.8) + (1.8) = (2.6) instead of 2.8 normally. A 0.2 second to nimble card juggling per card with a juggle-throw-juggle-throw pattern. So most likely Nimble should not affect the juggleflinging itself.
Solution #2:
This gives the jester a way to overcome speed as Occies can with their speed-slowing entity and multiple devil flings. Juggling 3 hangedmans could also aide in fashioning between the shorter flings. Other possibilities include added healing boosts via priestess and magician to reduce our problematic "squishiness". But of course only when the jester thinks to prepare juggling beforehand. The final use I foresee is faster bursts of Star tarots (more likely raid kills for us and more damage application).

The in-game report for you. I realise Occies don't have the same venom delivering advantages to seal aeon, but being hit with aeon 3 times in a row with moon bonus flings and entities jumping down your throat... well we've all seen it.
So, thoughts on the pros and cons? Do you approve or would this make you cry? And do take note that juggling is limited to 3 items and that would be our maximum advantage here.

I like my steak like I like my Magic cards: mythic rare.
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Comments

  • Allows for much more interesting Jester jumping strategies with Aeon and juggled handaxes. I can't see any immediate flaws for abuse, and considering they need to take the time to prepare with actually juggling items in the first place... Sounds like a nice idea!

    I don't like classlead #230 at all, though. Unavoidable bombs is too reminiscent of pre-nerf bombs, and a bit too powerful.
  • edited November 2012
    Honestly, Juggled Tarot would sound sweet if it weren't for concussion.

    Also, I'd be down for no bomb defense. Bombs and timers are the best part of Jester. I am concerned about their immediate spamability, defensively. The fact that I could keep an opponent permanently blacked out (!!!) and webbed/bound made for an extremely safe and potent Jester experience. Then people started adding pack bomb.
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  • The problem with bombs now is that literally the only thing that stops them being dropped is off bal/eq. Not both arms mangled, not entangled. So sticking them on your opponent is really tough if they know what they're doing. Which mainly hurts on damage classes that force us to stay on the defensive and never get our fashions.

    But why would faster tarot matter with concussion? Anyone who uses aeon tarot for a slowlock is a fool, because it wears off after 15 seconds, so to truly seal that, you'd have to puppet slow anyway. And once you have the fashions for all of it that's game over as it is. I don't think 33% faster tarot would change anything that involves concussion.

    Moving on to #230. The way I envisioned Glue was as a prop that costs 20 gold in itself, thereby doubling each affected bomb's resource cost for a better payoff. Additionally, it'd have 2.5 eq (5 with confusion) or 3 sec balance (2.8 with nimble). A bomb is around 0.5 seconds to time and another 0.25 to give to someone as it stands. So this quadruples the total time used for one bomb attack, but makes each more efficient.

    Problem:
    The practicality of giving timed bombs has taken significant blows in recent times. Not only do many fighters have sufficient reflexes to give back, pack, or drop bombs on balance, they can now drop the bombs unconditionally. Mangled arms, webs, ropes, nothing stops them from being dropped, and so we cannot stick bombs on our target by any practical means. Shortening the timers helps only slightly, especially as too short a timer can result in the bomb backfiring on us.
    -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Solution #1:
    Create a skill called Glue after Timers in Pranks. Using a 2.5-3 second equilibrium, the jester may coat a timed bomb in glue. When this bomb is given to the target, they will be unable to give, drop, or pack it until its detonation. Glue itself should be a Prop to be wished for, at a cost of 20 gold and lasting a few months. The popularity of this prank would mean that dozens of glue would be carried by a jester at one time, so its decay time should be nearer to that of balloons than to mickeys. The longer eq/bal of this skill's use should minimize its overuse in combat.
    Solution #2:
    My second idea is to create an affliction called "stickiness" that would be cured by an epidermal salve and mutually exclusive with slickness. The subject's skin would either secrete or become somehow covered in a sticky substance that inhibits manual dexterity, preventing them from giving/dropping/packing/throwing items. The idea with stickiness is that you would have to stack salve balance for it to be effective, which jesters can do. APPLICATION: Smokebombs' practicality is approximately zero. A smokebomb has no effect when set off in an inventory. Allow its smoke to give stickiness, so that a jester would aim to stick the stickiness before giving other bombs. Stickiness would be mutually exclusive with slickness, meaning they'd cancel each other out. So if a Jester afflicted himself with it to protect from slickness, an extra gecko stab would strip it. Alternately, make the stickiness effect an uncureable 10-15 second effect.
    Solution #3:
    Alter Firecrackers to be utilized for combat purposes as well, so that the flash of a firecracker's detonation blinds those in the room, making them unable to see the timing and giving of bombs for a short duration.

    Stickiness was an afterthought I had. We rarely use gecko except in slowlocks, so similar function. Mangle leg. Give smokebomb. Give other bombs. And the firecracker idea is a bomb-specific blackout.

    I like my steak like I like my Magic cards: mythic rare.
  • edited November 2012
    Jester was pretty ruined with the change to drop bombs with mangled arms. Choosing between being able to run away by curing your legs or put bombs in your pack by curing your arms was an important aspect of Jester kills, and now there's just no reason to cure your arms first. Dropping bombs means that bombs are almost useless unless you want to fight from out of room, and then you can't react to how they cure. 

    The glue thing would be too long to use in practical combat unless you're ganking (and even then it would be too volatile and unpredictable). Juggled tarot won't (and shouldn't) happen, it would simply be too devastating. If anything, web bomb should strip speed 

    Firecrackers for PVP is a bad idea, it would get ridiculously spammy ridiculously fast, and I'd guess it's a pain in the neck for readers.

    Glancing at your other classlead titles, fashioning is fine and a damage bomb is a bad idea - remember that bombs can be used by everyone. Imagine holocausts, damage bombs and concussions under cover of retardation. Jesters are also good at keeping people still and curing, but giving someone, say, 40 damage bombs would just get silly. For damage, I'd suggest looking at fixing throttle instead (it also spawns memory of Homer, which is just win).

    In total, a good Jester was incredibly frustrating to fight - to the point where it was more fun for the Jester than anyone else. It got to the point where they just weren't really fought 1v1 anymore, and Jester's group combat was Jester just had so many ways to kill that it was very hard to defend against them all, so they reduced the problem by making bombs drop-able. Balancing Jester is extremely difficult as it can either be way too strong or way too weak, and getting it just between is hard. Jester rewarded skill with kill methods that had counters that just weren't intuitive (such as spamming writhe to block forced tumble). Honestly, giving a class that much potential just asks for disaster. It would be better to nerf single-target bombs and remove the ability to drop them. 
  • AktillumAktillum Philippines
    Multiple easy ways to get around people putting bomb in pack. Jesters only need 2 fixes;

    Remove ability to put bombs away w/mangled arms
    Make it possible to force putting pipes away.

  • edited November 2012
    People can just drop bombs once they're handed off now, so the Jester gets hit by them too (and can't take advantage of them)

    (Also, I didn't describe Jester's group combat on accident (it kind of sucks, outside of adjacent juggle bombs (dust/conc/web x404455845) and you can't do much other than hangedman or box.)

    Also, I think I had a strategy of giving someone 50 packs and having them put restoration in the packs, then double mangle arms. Never actually did that one (don't know if you were able to force that or are able to now), but I think that's why forcing putting pipes away etc. might not be a good idea. :D
  • AktillumAktillum Philippines
    edited November 2012
    Possible to take advantage of dropped dust bombs because they won't see you giving them more bombs in the blackout, even if you have it too.
    Buckawns > Dropped web bombs, so buckawned Jester vs non-buckawned is okay.
    Dropped concuss bombs = backflip south, switch prefarar, shoot north (lol so it might only work on newbs)

    The 2 methods of beating packs I don't want to talk about because they'll suddenly be in next SVO update.

  • Honestly stun was the strongest bomb, most top tiers have buckawns (and Jesters have slipperiness, so there's not as much incentive to get buckawns for Jesters) and systems use NASA technology to cure through blackout these days (pretty sure Vadi has a satellite that watches the other person's screen so the system can know how to react .00002% faster). The stun bombs are unpredictable, so if you drop a stack of 15 and try to fling death, one might explode early and it's entirely possible they'd just tumble and snipe you (and even worse, taunt you afterwards). 
  • AktillumAktillum Philippines
    Forcing pipes away only works if they don't have a flame sigil. You'd think everyone would have flame sigiled pipes but you'd catch people with their pants down.

    I'm guessing nerf to forcing away mending/pipes was an unintentional consequence of nerf to thieves, because it wiped out a very balanced strategy for classes that use force skills (Occies, Jesters, Priests, Serps).

  • Pipes were one of a handful of exceptions to the force nerf. It's still possible to make people put them inside containers.
    My free mudlet scripts can be had HERE.
    image
  • AktillumAktillum Philippines
    You whisper, "put restoration in pack" to the puppet of Kard.
    Kard puts a mahogany vial into a wyvernskin pack.

    Sohl's right. For some reason I remember being told I couldn't force pipes away a few days ago during testing. Was probably something else.

  • Rean said:
    The glue thing would be too long to use in practical combat unless you're ganking (and even then it would be too volatile and unpredictable). Juggled tarot won't (and shouldn't) happen, it would simply be too devastating. If anything, web bomb should strip speed 

    Glancing at your other classlead titles, fashioning is fine and a damage bomb is a bad idea - remember that bombs can be used by everyone. Imagine holocausts, damage bombs and concussions under cover of retardation. Jesters are also good at keeping people still and curing, but giving someone, say, 40 damage bombs would just get silly. For damage, I'd suggest looking at fixing throttle instead (it also spawns memory of Homer, which is just win).


    The glue thing: bombs are already unpredictable, and the length is what makes it balanced. If I have to choose between 'too long' and 'ineffective' I'm going with 'too long'.

    Web bombs stripping speed: Goes in the box of dumbest ideas ever, so props for that. :P

    Tarot juggling: You said it could be abused but gave no examples. I balanced it against abuse, so give a reason it would be overpowered?

    I like my steak like I like my Magic cards: mythic rare.
  • And moving on to the damage bomb, the oh so controversial.

    Problem:
    This addition goes in hand with the Suicidemice fixes that we'll be seeing. Offered below are the mechanics to implement a useful, but fair and controlled damage bomb, a slight revision on my previously submitted concept. It is primarily to address a jester's inability to ever kill by damage. I submit the name Cuckoobomb, for the noise made when it explodes.
    -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Solution #1:
    When Suicidemice are made available to Jesters everywhere, we would have a damage bomb to send with them. In effect, it would do what a Thurisaz rune does, except that our clever mice can run on water and are limited to 10-15 rooms away from the target. An average person with 12 constitution should take about 400-500 damage from one of these bombs on a mouse. (If you want to make it fun, the damage could be dexterity-based, as nothing else is) So the Jester has to get within range of the raiders/defenders and send their mouse(s) on the way with presents.
    Solution #2:
    Of course, since we can time such bombs, there must be safety measures put into place so that we can't simply time a few bombs and drop them to create an explosion that makes holocaust look like a sneeze. That wouldn't be fair. Timed bombs on the ground should do 50% less damage than mice. Bombs in the inventory should do 25% less. So, 500 untimed, 375 inventory, 250 timed on ground roughly. Also, 2 seconds before a bomb explodes, it chirps "Cuckoo!", which isn't hidden by blackout, to prevent sneaking damage stacks into the inventory that way. TIMERS should only have a window of 2-10 seconds on damage bombs to prevent overly large stacks from accumulating.
    Solution #3:
    These bombs should be 1 bomb per iron, as opposed to 2 per iron like other bombs. And to prevent parties from spamming one another from adjacent rooms and killing an entire group, either: a) give them a 75% dud chance when being simply thrown, or b) make these bombs interceptible by arrowcatch as well.
    -------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    You'll notice I had your issue in mind in solutions #2 and #3.
    Throw at ground/direction/mouse = 500 (100%)
    Inventory timer = 375 (75%)
    Ground timer = 250 (50%)

    Timers between 2-10 on damage bombs, takes 0.5 to time and drop. Assuming perfect 10 secs on the first, that's a maximum on the ground of about 250 x 16 = 4000 at one time, and that would involve the jester carelessly sticking around in the room and likely killing himself. (Keep in mind inventory bombs would hurt the jester himself more if he gets hindered)

    For throwing, also a 75% dud chance, making them less ideal for raids and more expensive with the iron ratio.
    Am I overlooking anything?

    I like my steak like I like my Magic cards: mythic rare.
  • AktillumAktillum Philippines
    edited November 2012
    Suicidemice won't revolutionize Jester combat.

    I say no to damage bombs and ask that Throttle damage be increased to the same as choke, with scaling for +Str, because strength = strangling ability.

  • edited November 2012
    I don't see any reason bombs need an overhaul like this. Jesters are in a spot where they have really nice 1v1 and very respectable group combat and group ganking. The only area that you could really say they are lacking is solo jumping and to a degree area fighting (But they still have star + suicidemice, though granted I have little understanding on suicidemice) because of a lack of being able to secure a win while making their opponent sit still.

    Classes have their strengths and weaknesses, making Jesters able to stick bombs on their opponents with no way around it is frankly pretty crazy. Also no to the strippable gecko defence. 

    Making bombs undroppable with mangled arms is also very strong, because of the ease of securing broken arms on a target as a Jester in 1v1. I have no idea how to balance that.

    Nty to dexterity deciding damage for _jesters_

    I remember sparring you a while back on an alt, and it seemed very much like you were trying to make Jester into a class that it just is not designed to be. Initially you went for some Aeon locking attempts, but in the end you basically resorted to stars and throttle and bop. While what you were doing was fairly innovative, stick to your classes strengths instead of trying to make a mountain out of a molehill and only restricting yourself! :) 



  • AktillumAktillum Philippines
    The logical solution here is to make it so that after a certain amount of web bombs explode in your pack, it becomes too sticky to place anything inside. It will take a 2 second balance to CLEAN PACK OF WEBBING.

  • Not sure what you think is dumb about web stripping speed, do you mean weak or overpowered, or are you just trying to be aggressive? I'm not at all interested in a chest pounding contest, in any case. You have decent ideas, but I don't think you've really done enough beyond theorizing to fully think them through. If you want damage, suicide mice (which wouldn't be any better than star, honestly) is not the answer, nor are "damage bombs". Jester is not a damage class, and should not be. Look at throttle if you really want to kill with damage.
  • JonathinJonathin Retired in a hole.
    edited November 2012
    Never mind. I don't feel like explaining my question.
    I am retired and log into the forums maybe once every 2 months. It was a good 20 years, live your best lives, friends.
  • MishgulMishgul Trondheim, Norway
    edited November 2012
    Your post makes less sense after edit.

    -

    One of the symptoms of an approaching nervous breakdown is the belief that one's work is terribly important

    As drawn by Shayde
    hic locus est ubi mors gaudet succurrere vitae
  • Throttle definitely needs attention. The best I've been able to do with it is hidden confusion, then force shield and choke while they can't breathe. But a choking attack can't go far when it requires 20 fashions and uses 6. I'd keep the required the same but it should use 3 or 4, OR should do much better damage, OR be unblockable by breathing.

    @Aktillum webs exploding in pack is a partial fix to one bomb, but also sounds like more work than the gardan would deem necessary. Glue is the solution on bombs. And it's a perfect prank, adding something sticky. (Reminds me of Dick Dastardly from Wacky Races)

    @Rean I meant that it doesn't make logical sense that web would strip speed, and also sounds overpowered. Though smoke bomb still needs a use in inventory, so it could have a speed-slowing effect like that Occultist entity. I'd agree with that change to solve tarot juggling, but would still prefer tarot juggling.
    I agree that damage bombs should be revisited after mice fixes and other jester 'overhaul' that we've been hearing about. Not a necessary change, but one that would make things interesting.

    I like my steak like I like my Magic cards: mythic rare.
  • So, classlead 251 was about Lay, because when it's on keepup it makes fashion combat against a bard beyond annoying. Or a stalemate at least. I suggested either lengthen lay's voice balance or simply allow double-fashions from true fashion to "trample" over the defense.

    But onto my last interesting one.

    Problem:
    Several rounds of changes ago, puppetry/vodun was altered so that puppets could not be used to continually harass their victim, while keeping in place an 'ally' function that allows friendly puppets to remain fashioned. The Problem is that the target can avoid death by simply leaving the battle and waiting for an amount of time (of which I am not sure) for the fashions to decay when they think we have enough to do our damage. I have had a serpent phase and inform me that he'll 'wait for those to decay'. It was a good fix at the time, but it has put an extreme damper on out-of-arena jester/shaman combat.
    -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Solution #1:
    Allow fashions to 'fall off' in stages. After 12 hours without additional fashioning, round fashions down to the nearest 10. 50,40,30,20,etc. However, I believe that until the jester is killed and their puppet cancelled, fashions should not 'fall' while below a certain amount, 15 minimum, so that combat does not have to start over at each new encounter but still does not give the jester any advantage he/she does not deserve.
    Solution #2:
    Alter Fashion and Truefashion so that one gives a consistent 1 fashion but does not decay, while the other gives 'decayable' fashions, but always 2. FASHION|TRUEFASHION PUPPET OF <target>. Allow for mixing and matching of the types of fashions. The Trans skill "Truefashion" should ensure 1 solid, non-decayable fashion of the puppet. The ability to burst fashion not only gives jesters/shamans a chance to "jump" their prey or have a short-term fight without killrooms and cheap tactics, but also stops us from having to fashion-flee-fashion-flee, making the fight tedious not only for us but for the opponent as well.
    Solution #3:
    A Jester's enemy list currently serves no function. Allow an enemied target's puppet to either not decay or decay more slowly than one not on the list. Please consider any potential combinations of these solutions, as long as the problem gets addressed, because as it stands, I could never consider joining the Mark as a jester/shaman. There is no way to fulfill a contract on someone decent who doesn't want to fight me. When fashions 'stuck', it was always incentive to face your puppeteer instead of allowing them to amass fashions. So again, it needs rethinking.

    I imagine #2 would be most complicated for Them to implement, but it's my favorite.
    TRUEFASHION PUPPET OF <target> = 1 permanent fashion
    FASHION PUPPET OF <target> = 2 decayable fashions

    I should add that if that route were taken, the decayable ones should probably fall off much faster (within 10-15).

    I like my steak like I like my Magic cards: mythic rare.
  • Aktillum said:
    You whisper, "put restoration in pack" to the puppet of Kard.
    Kard puts a mahogany vial into a wyvernskin pack.

    Sohl's right. For some reason I remember being told I couldn't force pipes away a few days ago during testing. Was probably something else.
    Maybe the person had flame sigil'd their pipes?

  • JonathinJonathin Retired in a hole.
    This is why everyone should have gotten a dragonskin pack when they were on sale.
    I am retired and log into the forums maybe once every 2 months. It was a good 20 years, live your best lives, friends.
  • The reason I'd be opposed to juggled tarot is that any ability which lets you lust faster than someone can reject is going to be abused.
  • Rean said:
    Jester was pretty ruined with the change to drop bombs with mangled arms. Choosing between being able to run away by curing your legs or put bombs in your pack by curing your arms was an important aspect of Jester kills, and now there's just no reason to cure your arms first. Dropping bombs means that bombs are almost useless unless you want to fight from out of room, and then you can't react to how they cure. 

    The glue thing would be too long to use in practical combat unless you're ganking (and even then it would be too volatile and unpredictable). Juggled tarot won't (and shouldn't) happen, it would simply be too devastating. If anything, web bomb should strip speed 

    Firecrackers for PVP is a bad idea, it would get ridiculously spammy ridiculously fast, and I'd guess it's a pain in the neck for readers.

    Glancing at your other classlead titles, fashioning is fine and a damage bomb is a bad idea - remember that bombs can be used by everyone. Imagine holocausts, damage bombs and concussions under cover of retardation. Jesters are also good at keeping people still and curing, but giving someone, say, 40 damage bombs would just get silly. For damage, I'd suggest looking at fixing throttle instead (it also spawns memory of Homer, which is just win).

    In total, a good Jester was incredibly frustrating to fight - to the point where it was more fun for the Jester than anyone else. It got to the point where they just weren't really fought 1v1 anymore, and Jester's group combat was Jester just had so many ways to kill that it was very hard to defend against them all, so they reduced the problem by making bombs drop-able. Balancing Jester is extremely difficult as it can either be way too strong or way too weak, and getting it just between is hard. Jester rewarded skill with kill methods that had counters that just weren't intuitive (such as spamming writhe to block forced tumble). Honestly, giving a class that much potential just asks for disaster. It would be better to nerf single-target bombs and remove the ability to drop them. 
    Confused because, if people drop bombs but can't run away or shield because of mangled limbs will it not have the same effect? Especially considering if Jester can just shield freely to prevent bombs hitting him to start a JitB?

    Jarrel-smalljpg

  • Also about devilmark for Jester, I personally dont think it is necessary, if sticking aeon with just a few tarot threws could happen as a Jester it would be retarded since it'd be followed up with juggled kalmia/aconite/slike and well, you know how that goes.

    Therotically it's actually very easy to stick aeon with tarot if you use hocuspocus and juggling carefully, stopped by shield but, well, so are occultists. As far as I understood it, as a Jester, I used tarot to hinder, control, defense and strip speed.

    Jarrel-smalljpg

  • @Jarrel It comes down to good timing with bombs anyway. Tower/peels is no different than the mangle. And I do shield to avoid my dropped bombs when I use that as an intentional strategy. But shield balance is like over 3 seconds and bombs have variation on the timers so things can go wrong. Plus butterfly and web don't do anything on the ground unless they're flying, and dust doesn't serve to hinder for a jitb. I have done timed conc stacks to interfere during my winding so they can't tumble fast enough.

    Truth about jester is that having to stick to one kill tactic makes it boring for both parties and highly predictable. It's a fun class because you can innovate.

    As for sticking tarot the paralysis jump-check screws hocuspocus a little, and again comes down to timing. I do know how daggers can be used in aeon, but the tarot wears off after 15 seconds, which is a maximum of about 8 throws in aeon. The best possible combination there might be asthma/paralysis/anorexia/slickness/stupidity/ and 3 other mental afflictions. Or skip the mentals and wind a jitb, but I don't think it takes that long to cure out of that stack. The issue is that when speed gets stripped and they shield or hinder, it will come back up faster. And sometimes they double sip or whatever causes it to come up faster.

    I love using hangedman to annoy the hell out of people, but the chance for variety in tarot would be nice. In essence, this would be the same as a Devil'd fling (3 seconds) + an additional fling (3 seconds) = (6)
    Juggle fling (2) x 3 = (6). In the 6 second span, the only thing that changes is we specify the middle card. Fair?

    I like my steak like I like my Magic cards: mythic rare.
  • I don't follow with the aeon thing. You know you can reaeon to reset the 15 sec timer, yeah?
  • Tanris said:
    I don't follow with the aeon thing. You know you can reaeon to reset the 15 sec timer, yeah?

    ..Did not know that. But that makes occultist follow-up devil flings scarier.
    I like my steak like I like my Magic cards: mythic rare.
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