Talk to the Team: Stances

[AmonGwareth]

The system of Stances and Styles in Istaria can be confusing. What impacts what, a style conflicts with a stance, or vice versa. Some abilities improve when used with certain stances, others don't. Monsters don't use them. And so on. The thought here is to streamline and make a bit more logical sense out of the system. This change would replace all existing Stances and Styles:


Red Stance "A" (1) = Rename to Offensive (Give +Bonus to Damage)
Yellow Stance "B" (2) = Rename to Defensive (Give +Bonus to Armor)
Green Stance "C" (3) = Rename to Focused (Give +Bonus to Melee/Ranged ToHit)
Blue Stance "D" (4) = Rename to Attuned (Give +Bonus to Spell ToHit)
LightBlue Stance "E" (5) = Rename to Shielded (Give +Bonus to Block)
Orange Stance = Use "F" and 6, Rename to Enraged (Give +Bonus to Str/Pow)
Purple Stance = Use "G" and 7, Rename to Passive (Give +Bonus to Evasion/MagDef)


This is an idea, not concrete implementation.

[Radamanthas]

I very much like this idea. I don't use stances at all, right now, simply because I could never figure out what each does (as mentioned in the OP) and I seem to do fine, without them. Also, because naming them 'red', or 'green', or 'blue', etc, is simply too vague. Every other game I have ever played used more descriptive, player-friendly descriptions....i.e. 'Defensive Style', 'Aggressive Style', 'Berserk Style', etc. Those, at least, give you a certain intuitive indication what each stance/style does...

I really hope you do implement this suggested change, eventually!

/signed

[Terao]

Really a nice idea, I like it and the stances getting a lot more useful.

[flamefeniks]

Love the idea!

[Ming]

This is a good idea.

[Tanaros]

I really like this idea as well.

[Litarath]

Two questions.

Block Stance... will this conflict with Employ Shield, or stack? Will that ability be removed entirely then or will it be changed again? I currently enjoy Employ Shield as it currently is. If it would stack, that'd be fantastic, if it would conflict and overwrite with a lesser bonus... I'd not be to keen on such a change.

Focused Stance.... will this conflict with Precision Style or other abilities that increase to-hit chance, or would it stack as well? Much with Shielded Stance, I'd not want something that is less effective and would overwrite a key ability to a class.

[Wealtheow]

I like this idea as well. I do agree that it would need to be undertaken along with a review of how the various styles work in the new system as well. Maybe split the system up, so that "stances" are generalized across all schools, and then make the "styles" school-specific buffs that could not be mastered (although the same style might belong to more than one school). So then you could have a maximum of one (general) stance and one (school-specific) style up at the same time.

[AmonGwareth]

re: some of the questions. Refer to part of my post: "This change would replace all existing Stances and Styles"

[flamefeniks]

What about Ranger's Rapid Fire stance though? I kinda don't see a similar stance in there. :o
Would be kinda sad to see it dissapear. :l

[LOVWYRM]

great idea- Flame and me like it!

[Daulnay]

Let's see if I understand this:

Red Stance "A" (1) = Rename to Offensive (Give +Bonus to Damage) [currently called Power Style]
Yellow Stance "B" (2) = Rename to Defensive (Give +Bonus to Armor) [currently called Defensive Style]
Green Stance "C" (3) = Rename to Focused (Give +Bonus to Melee/Ranged ToHit)
Blue Stance "D" (4) = Rename to Attuned (Give +Bonus to Spell ToHit)
LightBlue Stance "E" (5) = Rename to Shielded (Give +Bonus to Block) [currently called Shield Stance]
Orange Stance = Use "F" and 6, Rename to Enraged (Give +Bonus to Str/Pow)
Purple Stance = Use "G" and 7, Rename to Passive (Give +Bonus to Evasion/MagDef) [Currently called Evasive Style]

Rapid Fire Stance goes away, and Shield Stance can no longer be used at the same time as a Style, and all the confusing and mostly ignored Red/Green/Blue stances and their bonuses go away.

If that's essentially correct, sounds good. I'd prefer a range bonus or +attack/firing rate stance to a +Str/Pow stance, since there are many ways to get +Str/Pow

[hejtmane]

The system of Stances and Styles in Istaria can be confusing. What impacts what, a style conflicts with a stance, or vice versa. Some abilities improve when used with certain stances, others don't. Monsters don't use them. And so on. The thought here is to streamline and make a bit more logical sense out of the system. This change would replace all existing Stances and Styles:


Red Stance "A" (1) = Rename to Offensive (Give +Bonus to Damage)
Yellow Stance "B" (2) = Rename to Defensive (Give +Bonus to Armor)
Green Stance "C" (3) = Rename to Focused (Give +Bonus to Melee/Ranged ToHit)
Blue Stance "D" (4) = Rename to Attuned (Give +Bonus to Spell ToHit)
LightBlue Stance "E" (5) = Rename to Shielded (Give +Bonus to Block)
Orange Stance = Use "F" and 6, Rename to Enraged (Give +Bonus to Str/Pow)
Purple Stance = Use "G" and 7, Rename to Passive (Give +Bonus to Evasion/MagDef)


This is an idea, not concrete implementation.

Did they remove stances from monsters they use to have them but I have only been back 6 weeks after like 8-10 years away when i left stances matter on monsters because they switch mid fight and sometimes you switch to blue to get more damage from critstrike and take extra damage because the mob would be in green stance it kept it some what interesting.

[AmonGwareth]

Stances were removed from monsters, yes.

[Smaug]

will there be negatives? As in if your in Offensive stance will you take more damage?

[AmonGwareth]

will there be negatives? As in if your in Offensive stance will you take more damage?

Monsters can't really use stances properly so my goal had been to provide bonuses to players, not negatives. I don't really see a benefit to penalizing a player for a particular stance if the monster isn't using them properly against you.

[hejtmane]

Monsters can't really use stances properly so my goal had been to provide bonuses to players, not negatives. I don't really see a benefit to penalizing a player for a particular stance if the monster isn't using them properly against you.

This gives me flash backs to a previous MMO I played before it shut down and we had auras we could switch and I loved that so i like your idea a lot