[3.3.0] opinions and comments

[Estie]

Branding rings...I am very sad that they dont brand anymore. They added a welcome quirk to the puzzle of getting a good kit, where some weapon might be inferior by itself, but superior if paired with a ring.

And yes they are junk now, but maybe exactly the fact that there is all 4 of them might be reason to keep them in the game. They are the only way for a warrior to get double resist in lightning and acid, if Colluin is not present.
But whatever, if they are removed I wont miss them.

[Magnate]

Originally Posted by Estie

Branding rings...I am very sad that they dont brand anymore. They added a welcome quirk to the puzzle of getting a good kit, where some weapon might be inferior by itself, but superior if paired with a ring.

And yes they are junk now, but maybe exactly the fact that there is all 4 of them might be reason to keep them in the game. They are the only way for a warrior to get double resist in lightning and acid, if Colluin is not present.
But whatever, if they are removed I wont miss them.

I liked them too, and would really like them to have weak (x2) brands, if I can persuade takk of the merits of that.

If they are to stay as they are now, making them shallower would be fine.

[Derakon]

I suppose you could also provide a Ring of Resistance that gives the basic four resists and an AC boost. There'd be a decent period in the late early game (...) where that'd come in handy, and if it activated for temporary resistance then people would continue carrying it around as an ad-hoc rod.

[Timo Pietilä]

Originally Posted by Magnate

I liked them too, and would really like them to have weak (x2) brands, if I can persuade takk of the merits of that.

If they are to stay as they are now, making them shallower would be fine.

Maybe make them better versions of slaying rings? Currently if I need to choose between ring of damage and slaying I almost always choose damage. If the slaying ring would have also resist and activates for double-resist, that might change.

Problem with branding rings is that they make big dice extra attack weapons too powerful, even if the brand would be a weak (x2) one.

[Xaxyx]

Originally Posted by kurie

I find the removal of restore stat potions a hindrance and more than a bit of an annoyance.

This is a nice place to segway into a discussion on the new stat potions. [...]typically it's simpler to just squelch them and continue a bit further into the dungeon and harvest stat potions.

Perhaps we could kill two birds with one stone? I propose altering the functionality of up-and-down stat potions as follows:

- If the stat that the potion is intended to raise is not currently at max, then restore it to max -- a la the old-style restoration potions -- with no additional effects or penalties.

- If the stat that the potion is intended to raise is currently at max, then increase the max (and current) of that stat, and lower another random stat, as per currently functionality.

In this fashion, these potions would serve two purposes simultaneously: restoration, if and when it's needed; or the poor man's stat gain potion, as intended.

[Estie]

Originally Posted by Timo Pietilä

Maybe make them better versions of slaying rings? Currently if I need to choose between ring of damage and slaying I almost always choose damage. If the slaying ring would have also resist and activates for double-resist, that might change.

Problem with branding rings is that they make big dice extra attack weapons too powerful, even if the brand would be a weak (x2) one.

Im not really worried about big dice weapons with extra attacks; those dont exactly grow on trees; rare is the game where I see one of those.

However, maybe this is an idea:

Would it be feasible to introduce temporary branding, as a buff ? A spell-like ability that asks for a melee or ranged weapon as input and adds branding property to that weapon for a certain number of game turns.

- The elemental rings would get this activation instead of their elemental damage effect, applying to a (the wielded ?) melee weapon.

- There is the ranger spell and the priest spell which is similar and noone seems happy about; those could turn into spells with the same effect. Maybe have the ranger version apply to ranged weapons only and priest to melee ?

- There is an artifact activations which brand bolts - Cubragol - unless that got changed recently. Cubragol would fire brand itself temporary. Any branding procedures of missiles can be removed/replaced with branding the launcher instead.

Unfortunately, it would be great to have the effect noted as active on the status bar which is already stuffed.

Dunno, what you think ?

[Magnate]

Great minds think alike. Temporary brands have been on my to-do list for a long time - but there was no mechanism for objects to have temporary flags. There still isn't - but we're a lot closer now.

[Derakon]

Why does the object need to get the brand? Can't that be applied to the player instead? I mean, I suppose that would open you to e.g. activating Cubragol then switching to Umbar, but I don't see that as a huge concern.

What can we do with temporary object flags that we can't do with temporary player flags?

[Magnate]

Originally Posted by Derakon

Why does the object need to get the brand? Can't that be applied to the player instead? I mean, I suppose that would open you to e.g. activating Cubragol then switching to Umbar, but I don't see that as a huge concern.

What can we do with temporary object flags that we can't do with temporary player flags?

Er, keep them attached to the object. We don't want activating Cubragol to brand Pain, now do we?

(Yes you could work around that with player flags, but it would be an ugly hack. Temporary object flags would be sensible, and aren't hard to implement now. It's just a case of encapsulating them.)

[kurie]

Originally Posted by Xaxyx

Perhaps we could kill two birds with one stone? I propose altering the functionality of up-and-down stat potions as follows:

- If the stat that the potion is intended to raise is not currently at max, then restore it to max -- a la the old-style restoration potions -- with no additional effects or penalties.

- If the stat that the potion is intended to raise is currently at max, then increase the max (and current) of that stat, and lower another random stat, as per currently functionality.

In this fashion, these potions would serve two purposes simultaneously: restoration, if and when it's needed; or the poor man's stat gain potion, as intended.

I think this is a capital idea!