Blight Update 237-238 Discussion

[Holth]

I went through all the formulas for the new crystals. Seems most of them do the same thing as current spells or scrolls - damage converters, resistances, wards. As they will be much harder to make in bulk as they require looted crystal slivers, which by the way do not drop very well, I would think their numbers should be much higher. A tier 5 spirit resistance spell gives +128, spirit ward gives +220. A tier 6 crystal gives +130 to each. Not enough of a difference, in my opinion, to warrant hunting for tier 6 slivers and carrying around a bunch of different crystals to use. I believe the school has a lot of possibilities, but as scrolls and spells are so much easier to make, I would like to see the numbers bumped up for the crystal buffs.

It would also be quite helpful I think, if whoever the vendor ends up being that sells the abilities, would have some dialogue explaining how to use them. It took me a bit to realize they were actual abilities and needed to be hotkeyed to use instead of buying stacks of the abilities.

Thaalia of Order

[AmonGwareth]

The drop rate of Sliver is something we're adjusting for the next update.

We don't feel the values need to be changed for the crystals. The reason is that each has a range. For example, the Tier 6 Resistance crystal has a range for its value of 130 to 195. The one you created just happened to give 130. As far as being easy to make, once players are collecting the resources and since in this case Bipeds and non-Crystalshapers can collect them as well the slivers will be more common.

[Northwind]

Why don't you simply make it a fixed value from the start?
Anything above 175 would be a good one and it will certainly provide a strong incentive to use a crystal instead of a scroll.

[Velea]

My apologize to Amon and everyone else...

In creating the Resistance Crystals, they were not fully updated to give the proper augmentation. Only the T1 Resistance crystals give the proper buff. So when Amon looked this morning in the internal database, and mentioned the range and such on them is when I discovered my mistake.

It will be corrected with the next delta, but in short, the resistance crystals are supposed to give a set value buff to one resistance, with a negative debuff on the opposite resistance. For example, the Crystal of Flame gives a buff to your Flame Resistance, but makes you more vulnerable to Ice Resistance.

[Northwind]

So it starts.

Aha, I was wondering where is the "Crystal buffs will come at a cost" part which was mentioned when the new school was described initially.

So we lost the ability to consume T6 dropped crystals that gave 130-195 resistance/ward bonuses with no penalty at all to a overcomplicated-manufacturing process that involves dropped components and which gives in return crystals with the same range of bonuses (130-195) and a penalty on top of it.
Am I missing something here?

Are the Istarian Gods so upset that they feel the need to punish their followers instead of rewarding them?

[Velea]

Northwind, before you start making assumptions, may I suggest that you wait until the next delta is applied to Blight, which should be later this week, and see what the currently bugged crystals actually do once they are fixed?

[Northwind]

*shrugs*
My gripe on this matter stand with the fact that we had to lose the consumable effect of the dropped crystals.
My other gripe stand with the fact that with the new crystals the bonuses come at a cost. At least some of them.

Will that change in the next blight delta?
I don't think so but that's another assumption so better let's wait an see.

On the other side, I cannot stop noticing some really nice effects from the new crystals, but then again let's not forget that my gripe is with the bonus/penalty system
Maybe that's why I delete on sight the blighted items that give plus/minus bonuses and maybe that's why I find myself at a loss with the new system where I can no longer get a certain bonus without a corresponding penalty.

Ramblings off, time to get home