"Certain Cleric and Paladin group spells (307, 310, 1605, 1609, 1613) have been modified to be a little more user friendly for casters and group members. <snippage>
This change required a bit of an overhaul of the spells above so the underlying spell mechanics have changed. The bonuses, caster duration, and group benefits should have remained unchanged, but messaging may have changed slightly." -- Viduus, 5-Aug-2016
and
"The paladin spells 1609 (Divine Shield) and 1617 (Zealot) have been updated to support self-cast only versions via the EVOKE command. Using this method will prevent the effects from applying to the paladin's group. This should alleviate some concerns paladins have with leading large groups without causing ill effects." -- Viduus, 8-Aug-2017
.
These are excellent, and natural outgrowths of the "mass effect for single-target spells"/"single effect for mass-target spells" changes that have been put into place recently with the cast/evoke mechanics.
And indeed, Bards were at the forefront in this, with the mass- and single-target versions of Disruption/1030.
However... it really does get old, for me at least, hitting innocent passersby with bad effects (like Depression, NOW with -30 to your TD and a FREE BONUS of +3s RoundTime!) or worse effects (like death, from Disruption [to include "possibly now at 30 TD less than you were expecting"]).
And I'm not even the one suffering the ill effects!
.
I would love it if some of this same "use mass for single" love got spread around (like for Noise/1017, and Depression/1015), and love it even more if some of the "use single for mass" got spread, too (like for Rage/1016, and Banshee's Wail/1008, and Lullabye/1005, and VibChant/1002).
Go ahead and stack in Lore requirements, as is done with Disruption, or Hand of Tonis. Those make sense, because you're using additional skill.
Go ahead and use the cast/evoke dichotomy, as is done with <a whole raft of Wizard & Paladin spells, for example>, because those make sense, too.
.
Thanks!
KRAKII
LUXELLE
Re: *BARD* Spells getting friendlier any time?
08/09/2017 12:51 PM CDT
This was one of the bigger surprises (and when I say surprise, I mean surprised in a bad way) after leaving DR and playing here.
In DR, we had a cast option that hit only creatures in the room, and it's been there for ... years and years.
I was stunned to find out there was no such thing in GemStone for area of effect harmful songs.
In fact, to hit everyone and every critter in the room, you had to go out of your way with a different option entirely.
CAST CREATURE: vs. critters only
CAST AREA: everything in the room
---
Rohese: "... the TownCrier (tune in if you haven’t, it’s without doubt the best thing to ever happen on LNet)"
;tune towncrier
In DR, we had a cast option that hit only creatures in the room, and it's been there for ... years and years.
I was stunned to find out there was no such thing in GemStone for area of effect harmful songs.
In fact, to hit everyone and every critter in the room, you had to go out of your way with a different option entirely.
CAST CREATURE: vs. critters only
CAST AREA: everything in the room
---
Rohese: "... the TownCrier (tune in if you haven’t, it’s without doubt the best thing to ever happen on LNet)"
;tune towncrier
KRAKII
Re: *BARD* Spells getting friendlier any time?
08/09/2017 01:49 PM CDT
I think Bards had always been fairly unique-ish in that they had a large number of mass-effect capabilities pretty much from the ground up.
(Luck, mass-Hold [when it was still its own spell], Kai's & Eonak's [back when they were two distinct spells], Depression, Noise, Disruption, & later Tonis [if they were Song-y]; EWave, Guards, later MassEWave if they were on the Elemental side.)
I'm not sure any other profession really had the ability to do that many things to "a whole bunch" at once.
Then there were rounds of consolidation, so now we have Hold (which will be mass, if there are suitable numbers of targets, whether we choose it to be or not) and only Kai's (growing to the effect of the old Eonak's) and other effects.
This is great, and all, because it let new things be added in...
...but the creation of the effects has not kept up with the times.
With--depending on the spell--'evoke' being able to do a mass-version of single-target spells/single-version of a mass-effect spell, in SO many places, it would be nice to get some of that development love spread to this other list, too.
.
.
Oh, and while I'm mentioning things, the 'renew' verb needs to be made a "runestaff valid" trigger for flares. The actual casting of a renewal effect (such as single-target Disruption for only 10 mana) is, itself, perfectly willing to use runestaff flares... as long as you use 'prep/cast' and see the messaging about paying only 10 mana.
But (any) use of just the 'renew' verb by itself, will NEVER cause a runestaff to flare.
(Luck, mass-Hold [when it was still its own spell], Kai's & Eonak's [back when they were two distinct spells], Depression, Noise, Disruption, & later Tonis [if they were Song-y]; EWave, Guards, later MassEWave if they were on the Elemental side.)
I'm not sure any other profession really had the ability to do that many things to "a whole bunch" at once.
Then there were rounds of consolidation, so now we have Hold (which will be mass, if there are suitable numbers of targets, whether we choose it to be or not) and only Kai's (growing to the effect of the old Eonak's) and other effects.
This is great, and all, because it let new things be added in...
...but the creation of the effects has not kept up with the times.
With--depending on the spell--'evoke' being able to do a mass-version of single-target spells/single-version of a mass-effect spell, in SO many places, it would be nice to get some of that development love spread to this other list, too.
.
.
Oh, and while I'm mentioning things, the 'renew' verb needs to be made a "runestaff valid" trigger for flares. The actual casting of a renewal effect (such as single-target Disruption for only 10 mana) is, itself, perfectly willing to use runestaff flares... as long as you use 'prep/cast' and see the messaging about paying only 10 mana.
But (any) use of just the 'renew' verb by itself, will NEVER cause a runestaff to flare.
NAAMIT
Re: *BARD* Spells getting friendlier any time?
08/11/2017 08:27 AM CDT
Speaking of Song of Depression - Can we please have 1015 enhanced to contain a targeted single-cast mode like 1030? Alternately, could SING <SPELL> be enhanced to allow us to set automatic RENEW function if we happen to already be singing it? For songs like 1015, there's no way to readily know if it's already active when running around, so you end up wasting mana (and time) by using SING, only to be told you're already singing that song.
KRAKII
Re: *BARD* Spells getting friendlier any time?
08/11/2017 09:59 AM CDT
Depression/1015 & Disruption/1030 both show up as listings in 'song status', and--thankfully--do not calculate into the renewal total (because they stop at the renewal).
Unravel/1013 is another that stops at the renewal, but I don't recall if it displays in 'song status'; I know that it definitely does show in 'spell active'.
.
Oh, and welcome to "Krakii's Litany of Bardic Work Needed [Addendum, pt. #1]":
http://forums.play.net/forums/GemStone%20IV/Bards/Bard%20Magic,%20Spells,%20and%20Spellsongs/view/778
The basic Litany can be found here:
http://forums.play.net/forums/GemStone%20IV/Bards/Bard%20Magic,%20Spells,%20and%20Spellsongs/view/546
I refer back to it every so often with reminder bumps, saying stuff still needs to be worked on... GMs keep not-working on it, even with reminder bumps. :(
Unravel/1013 is another that stops at the renewal, but I don't recall if it displays in 'song status'; I know that it definitely does show in 'spell active'.
.
Oh, and welcome to "Krakii's Litany of Bardic Work Needed [Addendum, pt. #1]":
http://forums.play.net/forums/GemStone%20IV/Bards/Bard%20Magic,%20Spells,%20and%20Spellsongs/view/778
The basic Litany can be found here:
http://forums.play.net/forums/GemStone%20IV/Bards/Bard%20Magic,%20Spells,%20and%20Spellsongs/view/546
I refer back to it every so often with reminder bumps, saying stuff still needs to be worked on... GMs keep not-working on it, even with reminder bumps. :(
