Remove or reduce PBT cost - Phoenix Freeshard

PBT drains mana, and without good reason as far as I can tell. Many chants in this game do not use mana (for example, run speed, dmg add, mezz reduction, etc), and I'm not sure why this was ever designed to constantly drain mana. It effectively acts as a malus to power regen. I believe this cost should be removed, or reduced as I don't see it serving a purpose; the power drain serves as an annoyance without any incentive to play differently. For counterexample: paladin's endo chant uses power, thereby encourages twisting to prevent going out of mana. Whether this is good design is separate argument, but it certainly reinforces a certain playstyle.

PBT doesn't appear to have any exploits to which a power cost would alleviate or eliminate. And furthermore, PBT is already severely restricted--it's 1000 radius, has a 3s immunity after removal, and requires specialization. It affects all realms, so should be fairly neutral in affecting realm balance, and I don't see it affecting PvE balance significantly either.

Thoughts?

Thu 6 Jun 2019 2:06 AM by teiloh

I believe it's because there wasn't an immunity before. Now that there is one, it's not so justifiable anymore.

Thu 6 Jun 2019 2:17 AM by Isavyr

teiloh wrote: ↑
Thu 6 Jun 2019 2:06 AM
I believe it's because there wasn't an immunity before. Now that there is one, it's not so justifiable anymore.

That could be, though even historically I'm not aware of any situation in that having a full group of PBT was optimal, whether it was PvE or PvP, mana cost or not.

Thu 6 Jun 2019 2:34 AM by Fooj Fujiyama

I agree power cost should be less, you can't stack two pbts as far as I know on phoenix so at least a reduction or no power cost would be nice! It drains a ton of power.

Fri 7 Jun 2019 10:13 PM by Isavyr

Bumping for naysayers.

Mon 10 Jun 2019 9:53 PM by Isavyr

OK last bump. If nobody can give a reason why this change shouldn't happen, when there are reasons that it should...

Sat 15 Jun 2019 5:46 PM by Isavyr

I lied. I would like some discussion around this ability. I'll add one downside to doing this:

Some players (I think a fringe?) have the perception the game is falling apart due to custom changes. I think this sort of change is improving the game, but any change is bad in their mind. On one hand, it makes no sense to cater to their illogical thinking, but on the other, they are still bodies that the server could benefit from having.

Sat 15 Jun 2019 6:11 PM by lurker

There is a perfectly reasonable argument to be had around ‘how much stuff you can change /customise before you are not really playing daoc anymore’... Just because you consider something illogical doesn’t mean it is.

Not saying pbt power cost is a line too far. But it does impact a number of things that need to be considered.

It makes warden power usage a lot more manageable / gives hibs a fair amount more survivability.

It obviously makes theus a lot more manna efficient / will result in more pets out in given scenarios.

So whilst this change may be warranted given customisations already in place on this server there are broader things to consider than just the annoyance of it.