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DOUG

Cold Snap Design Question - Bug? 12/25/2016 05:52 PM CST

Have a quick question I want to ask before I bug 512 from my observations and start throwing around log files.

I've been testing the bejeebers out of 512 and 917 / 510 / 903 / 910 / 906 / 907 / 908 combos at differing levels of play. And I've noticed something that now just grinds my teeth every time I see it.

New NPC - cast 512 - ward margin of 75 - rooted
same NPC - cast 512 - ward margin of 15 - encased
same NPC - cast any non-shattering / non-melting spell - damage
same NPC - prep next spell AND THE DAMN BLOCK OF ICE MELTS!

Now, I like to think I'm a reasonable person - but having the entire block disappear in the minimum time without regard to the margin attained by the first cast?

Is the design intentional that when 'encased', and the lowest warding margin-based duration expires then the entire block of ice disappears?

If it's not, I'll be happy to bug it.

If it is, may I respectfully request that be reconsidered? In fact, my proposal would be simply to add the two durations together, each with a min / max result (8s / 25s), leading to a successfully encased creature (for that 24 mana and 6 seconds of cast round time) being immobilized for 16 - 50 seconds.

Putting this to the Fleur's test algorithm, Bind easily reaches 14 seconds and can exceed 75 seconds. Doesn't seem aligned well.

Doug

LADYFLEUR

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Re: Cold Snap Design Question - Bug? 12/25/2016 06:07 PM CST

This sounds like a much more significant request than asking for the ice to simply not melt.

I never compared 512 to Bind though. Bind is more powerful in duration because it is a single-target disabler. 512 has always been compared to mass CS-based disablers such as 316, which were adjusted in duration to match the 512 duration at the time of the update.

It sounds like poor luck, and more of that lottery luck style RNG that wizards are subjected to more than other pures, but I wouldn't consider it a bug or unintentional design. The Wiki explicitly says that the second cast to encase the creatures refreshes the duration, so if the warding margin is lower, the duration is going to be lower.

However, neither 512 nor 316 last all THAT long, which is why it's important for the ice to not melt or to not require using more mana and time inefficient setups in order to accomplish the killing. Otherwise, the logical choice becomes to simply attempt to kill outright vs. even expending the 24 mana and time to try to encase something.

GemStone IV · Major Elemental Circle