For those who have been unaware of the process, Spirit Healths have been under a reevaluation stage for the past year or so. The old numbers for player spirit health were very narrow (a fraction of body health) and were tough to work with in balancing abilities and systems around. Meanwhile, critter spirit healths were arbitrary, and on the whole a GREAT deal higher than that of players. This reevaluation's goal was to get players and critters more in line with their spirit healths, so we could begin to expand that facet of the system.
Once these changes go into effect, the raw numbers of player spirit health will rise a great deal while the raw numbers of critter spirit health will drop a great deal. This shouldn't be all too noticeable, since there aren't many things that deal with spirit health. Those things that do utilize spirit health -- including the Soul Attrition and Spirit Healing spells, as well as Auto-Depart times -- are being rebalanced under the new numbers.
Auto-Depart times in particular will see a noticeable change. This mechanic was designed originally when 30th level in the game was considered godly. Currently, mid-level players are able to achieve an astounding 2-3 hours on average. This makes the entire mechanic a non-issue for the most part. Obviously, this needed to be revised. Auto-depart times will likely settle somewhere around 30 minutes to 60 minutes on average for mid-to-high level players, depending on spirit health.
We expect these changes to spirit health to go live when the Magic Moratorium lifts. I've been hinting for the last year or so that Charisma will be involved more heavily -- and it is. Stamina has been removed as a component to spirit health since its effect is great enough upon vitality, with Charisma rising to be the biggest factor. Discipline will be a moderate factor. Intelligence and Wisdom will be minor factors.
Do not ignore your Charisma if Spirit Health is important to you. This does not mean you should train your Charisma like a runaway train. We suggest you not ignore it, and train in moderation. Alternately, you could save your TDPs and train a couple points at a time after the changes go live to gague its affect on you. Choose wisely!
-GM Skralthaen
