Regarding Buffs
Note: This was written by Alisto who cannot currently connect properly to the forums to post. I'm just posting for him.
First off, forum devs, the preview post button seems to be borked...I keep getting a ERR_CONNECTION_RESET whenever I try. So, apologies for any lack of organization, as I cant really preview what this will look like.
On to business!
My suggestion is to - make a certain selection of buffs last until relog, death or manual removal by the player. A couple buffs that would be included: The Gift line, Enhances, Raises, the dragon buffs True Grit, Arcane Refusal/Ignore Mysticism, Promote Vitality and Intellect, Determination, Primal Roar. I'm probably missing some there, but anyway!
I'll use Primal Roar as my example.
Currently it lasts for 30 minutes, after which you must reapply it. Nothing more than a minor inconvenience (except that awful post-delay *shakepaw!*) and a couple seconds spend to rebuff. However, that 30minutes that results in a couple seconds used up to recast doesn't necessarily add anything to the game (in my opinion). It's just something you need to recast every so often, and those couple seconds spent doing it could be better served somewhere else. The buff isn't vitally important to being an effective caster, or whatever it is a player would be using it for. A player can fly around without buffs and still be reasonably effective, although they probably won't be very useful in certain specialized roles - I know I depend on my buffs to keep my dragon from being 1-shot at Reklar. Still, I'm reasonably certain it could be done without buffs.
What I'm getting at is that buffs aren't vital enough that a player should have to recast the buff every x minutes if they want the bonus, especially with just how MANY buffs there are. In the majority of boss fights, my biped spends more time buffing dragons than the fight actually lasts. It doesn't feel like I'm actually playing the game when I have to spend a sizeable chunk of time spamming buff buttons, going "Okay who wants melee and who wants caster/ranged buffs." or "Anyone missing any buffs?". Now, I don't mind doing that at the very beginning, but I really loathe spending that chunk of time for every other hunt done that day, of which there are usually many.
In some games, buffs serve as a part of the economy - selling food that gives a health buff can make a chunk of coin. Istaria buffs don't serve any such purpose. They're easy to make and easy to acquire if one can't make them.
Talking about cost. Take dragon scales for example. Tier five scales require a certain time investment and permanently improve the character while worn. Buffs are essentially armor pieces one must re-equip every so often. It costs me a couple seconds every 30 minutes for a 161 attack skill, 250 power and a minuscule damage increase.
As a side note, while typing this all my dragon buffs but Aclarity and Velocity faded, I'll have to go recast them when I land.
It's been two years and what buffs I use hasn't changed. There'd be nothing different about my current situation if I'd cast those buffs two years ago and left them there, except that I'd have (let's do some some napkin math!) - one second cast time (approx) per buff. Dragon buffs - I count 9 in use on my dragon's bar right now. I use a total of around 15 or so for each Reklar fight. Say I've done 100 Reklar fights, that's 25 minutes spent purely on buffs if it's just one player, and I routinely have a full group whenever I start big baddie hunt.
Just timed myself recasting all my dragon buffs, it took 26 seconds.
So, why am I spending so much time casting buffs?** They serve little purpose, have very little depth to them, and I've found them barely worth the effort to cast to the point where I have a button that goes through them all and auto casts for me. Yes, the macro functionality of the game helps with the issue - however, I think that proves that something is wrong with a feature in a game where it's so boring that someone gets the game to do it for them, and goes to get a snack or something during the wait. It costs the same couple of seconds to cast a useful spell as it does to cast a not-near-as-useful buff, which confuses me.
**Addressing the existence of those trinket thingies, Infix Fury (to name one), and Aclarity. The trinkets one must either go through combat to get them, or buy some from a vendor at a hefty cost. If i remember correctly, there were actually some complaints about the cost for the 30min trinkets being too high. But, those buffs are -wonderful- and using a couple of them results in a hefty boost to combat effectiveness. Infix Fury gives +15 damage to attacks, which is pretty massive as well and is limited by charges. The beneficial buff is definitely worth the couple seconds to cast, even in the middle of battle. The only buff my dragon can spit out on its own that I consider absolutely vital if Aclarity, and only then because it speeds up combat. WIthout it, combat would be even slower and more boring (speaking as an 18 yr old who enjoys action games)
In conclusion, pretty please make buffs worth the seconds taken to cast them. There's a ton of depth that can be added. For example: off the top of my head, say each buff changes depending on other buffs active, and casting a buff in the middle of battle will give a temporary additional beneficial effect to the character, or even some sort of attack. ESO Has an ability that increases damage done for 20 seconds, and if the player does 10 attacks within that time, the buff button becomes an attack that shoots an arrow to do a hefty amount of damage. I know that Istaria is limited in its technology, but hopefully there's something that can be done to make casting buffs less of a chore.
Thanks for reading!
Originally Posted by awdz
