As the Totems skill is one of the core skillsets (alongside Nature) of forestral communes, I feel putting up the defenses of totems (that meaning summoning each spirit to bond with) is a hassling task, especially after death. A solution however is presented to us with the Spiritbond Nature power, hoooowever it costs 5 power each time to cast. Is there any chance that when spiritbond nature is cast upon Ethereal, the home of the spirits, that it costs 0 power? It would be along the same concept of summoning demons/angels upon Celestia/Nil since that is their home plane. Totems is a pretty basic defensive skillset in itself, so I dont think this small tweak would be an imbalance to apply.
Okay this one because I personally believe it was missed in design.
-wood specs should seriously have the ability to turn elder trees into totems. I mean the amount of druids around and awake is already low enough, we shouldnt be punished for picking a spec we like more by being unable to help in an old-time druid task.
You have no idea how many times it's been brought up and argued about. It wasn't missed in design, that's 100% totally on purpose and heels have been dug in about it.
You have no idea how many times it's been brought up and argued about. It wasn't missed in design, that's 100% totally on purpose and heels have been dug in about it.
But on a serious note, I dont understand why. Communes already suffer enough with having limited amounts of totems to rune, now even moreso? lame.
We know. A few alternative solutions were suggested, like having a skill that takes a month to resolve (has a delay after you start it) that turns them into something like stationary huorns instead of totems, with slightly less power generation, but a far better capacity to actually defend.
Okay this one because I personally believe it was missed in design.
-wood specs should seriously have the ability to turn elder trees into totems. I mean the amount of druids around and awake is already low enough, we shouldnt be punished for picking a spec we like more by being unable to help in an old-time druid task.
Unless you are putting rp in totem carving, the reason for it is to generate power to the Master Ravenwood. Seeing as the -wood came from a timeline where the nexus was destroyed, they probably lost/forgot the skill to carve due to not having any point for it.
Hey, woods are already screwed with 50% sucky damage type and a 50% okay damage type. FOR RP. Why change that stance with totem carving? Harhar.
Viravain, Lady of the Thorns shouts, "And You would seize Me? Fool! I am the Glomdoring! I am the Wyrd, and beneath the cloak of Night, the shadows of the Silent stir!"
If people chopping down totem trees was still a thing -woods would be very much in demand because of BARKGUARD. Considering that the only reason that mechanic goes unused is because players have decided not use it, I can kinda understand where the admin are coming from in refusing to let wyrdenwood carve totems.
If people chopping down totem trees was still a thing -woods would be very much in demand because of BARKGUARD. Considering that the only reason that mechanic goes unused is because players have decided not use it, I can kinda understand where the admin are coming from in refusing to let wyrdenwood carve totems.
Uh no, barkguard is not as good as totemcarving by a long shot. The reason it goes unused is that it doesn't work as well, even with the buffs it was given to not be as utterly useless as it was when it came out.
What about allowing demigods to convert essence into lessons? Maybe 2,000,000 essence per 5 lessons. It would allow people to have a non-credit way of getting lessons past level 100, and provide those with way too much essence with something they could spend it on (even if they are omnitrans, the essence could be converted to lessons which can be converted into curios)!
I think on paper it would look like it might cut into credit sales, but I think its a small enough amount that it shouldn't be significant, and that it would support the free to play claim of Lusternia. Keeping a player who plays for free still increases the player-base, which will increase the chances of someone who will buy credits joining and staying.
If people chopping down totem trees was still a thing -woods would be very much in demand because of BARKGUARD. Considering that the only reason that mechanic goes unused is because players have decided not use it, I can kinda understand where the admin are coming from in refusing to let wyrdenwood carve totems.
Uh no, barkguard is not as good as totemcarving by a long shot. The reason it goes unused is that it doesn't work as well, even with the buffs it was given to not be as utterly useless as it was when it came out.
Totem carving won't help you at all unless you've already got a mature tree. Barkguard can keep the re-growing of trees from being interrupted. If you view both skills as having the same purpose, then yeah barkguard sucks. But they don't. Barkguard is just a different skill that has different effects/uses. The reason it's useless is because the situation in which it would be useful never happens (because of player driven decisions).
Not to say I have a huge problem with the glom/seren "protect da twees" treaty - I never played when it didn't exist so I won't claim to know if we'd be better off without it. Just pointing out that it's the reason barkguard is never useful.
The problem is that, when perfectly executed, barkguard will stop enemies from chopping down growing trees... but that under the same conditions, totemcarving totally removes the need to grow new trees at all.
The problem is that, when perfectly executed, barkguard will stop enemies from chopping down growing trees... but that under the same conditions, totemcarving totally removes the need to grow new trees at all.
You know, it was complained about for a long time how easy it was to chop down elders and then continue to keep chopping down the growing trees to replace it and how it was pretty much impossible to stop someone really determined to do this (which I totally agree with) and now that there's a skill that actually stops all of this stuff that's been complained about forever, you want to complain about said skill?
I think the main point is that you can now protect trees as they are growing, which is definitely a good thing, and I don't see an issue with having barkguard on -woods and leaving totemcarving on the druids. Despite any agreements, you'll always get a twat who chops down some trees just to because he can.
Can we allow Sacraments-users to use heretic/infidel/inquisition and judge on other Sacraments-users?
Obviously it's mostly only applicable to spars and arena events, but in practicality it's annoying when you're trying to teach someone in your guild or doing some type of combat assessment for guild advancement. I don't think any other skill in the game is limited like that and there really isn't any good reason for it.
Shadows are pretty frustrating when you fight another Night user too. They don't affect mana regen and you can steal all your own team's shadows so that shadowtwist is impossible until the shadowdancer on either team dies.
For the record, since Glom and Seren made that agreement -- I've not seen a single elder chopped. And that was well over a year ago. Was it even... two years ago? Just before Sidd was ascended? I think it was. Two years, and not a single elder has fallen.
I don't understand people's hysteria when it comes to elders. I seriously don't. So what. A druid hasn't logged in for several hours, maybe even a day, and there's a whole bunch of them. That means 8 power instead of 10 power per hour per tree. We're the ones who have to fix it if they're chopped, so everyone else should ctfd, imo.
As a druid, totemcarving is something that is pretty entrenched in our rp as *druids* not as -woods. We're different. We play different roles. If everything was fair, we'd be playing scissors paper rock.
Elders have fallen, Gaudiguch likes to do it, and a few Magnagorans do too. None of your totems may have fallen, but if one of the cities wants to chop totems, we're very hard pressed to stop it.
-Woods are still druids
EDIT: And there were lots of non-totemcarving, but totemcarving-comprable ideas thrown around, including much more interesting and unique additions to the elder tree mechanics. The barkguard patches are... patchy.
before we hand out totemcarving to -woods, please get rid of the blunt/cutting damage from their bombs first.
Viravain, Lady of the Thorns shouts, "And You would seize Me? Fool! I am the Glomdoring! I am the Wyrd, and beneath the cloak of Night, the shadows of the Silent stir!"
I hear...uh... Druids used to sneak into Mag and destroy statues.
Everiine said: The reason population is low isn't because there are too many orgs. It's because so many facets of the game are outright broken and protected by those who benefit from it being that way. An overabundance of gimmicks (including game-breaking ones), artifacts that destroy any concept of balance, blatant pay-to-win features, and an obsession with convenience that makes few things actually worthwhile all contribute to the game's sad decline.
If the game and druid guilds had a high enough population, it wouldn't be an issue at all, and no one would question the vision for it. But when you have a handful of druids, you're pressuring them to stay druid to make sure totems are unkept.
As for why you don't see elders being chopped, it's probably because your side of the game has been doing a lot better for a while. Not really sure why that's so shocking. If someone on our side goes to chop your trees down, you have the military force to make them really, really regret it. If someone does it to us, the most we can pull off is some small raids here and there that are easily put down. By contrast, we've had trees cut down far more recently than two years ago and occasionally still get people who threaten to do it.
I see both sides of the argument - why for RP it wouldn't be suitable, and why with our population it feels necessary. I think there's a fair enough argument for the latter too to just dismiss it as hysteria.
ahem, concerning another issue i've come to notice with -woods.
It seems that several druid abilities from other skills are catered towards the Druid having the ability to instantly supply trees or treetops, thus allowing for use of some abilities whenever the druid wishes. To elaborate further:
Take Swoop in Crow. Swoop requires that the Druid be within the trees (or in -wood spec case, perspective in trees) in order to use swoop on a target. Naturally a Druid with Druidry is able to summon their forest demesne and utilize that as their treetop, however in the -wood spec case, they cannot summon any tree. One would assume that the wyrdenwood, being a tree, would never have to rely on having treetops in any location since they are supplying themselves, but that isnt the case.
There are many more abilities that are catered specifically for Druidry and tend to leave the -wood spec out, but i'll focus for now on abilities that seem to become unusable for mechanical reasons, that being Swoop in this case.
Idea:
Swoop (and other such abilities, like treetoss) doesnt require new treetops -or- a new ability place in -wood specs that temporary manifests a tree, much like dryads in wiccan.
Comments
-wood specs should seriously have the ability to turn elder trees into totems. I mean the amount of druids around and awake is already low enough, we shouldnt be punished for picking a spec we like more by being unable to help in an old-time druid task.
But on a serious note, I dont understand why. Communes already suffer enough with having limited amounts of totems to rune, now even moreso? lame.
Unless you are putting rp in totem carving, the reason for it is to generate power to the Master Ravenwood. Seeing as the -wood came from a timeline where the nexus was destroyed, they probably lost/forgot the skill to carve due to not having any point for it.
As much as several of them need to be added to the game, this one really should be pushed through regardless.
The divine voice of Avechna, the Avenger reverberates powerfully, "Congratulations, Morkarion, you are the Bringer of Death indeed."
You see Estarra the Eternal shout, "Morkarion is no more! Mourn the mortal! But welcome True Ascendant Karlach, of the Realm of Death!
I think the main point is that you can now protect trees as they are growing, which is definitely a good thing, and I don't see an issue with having barkguard on -woods and leaving totemcarving on the druids. Despite any agreements, you'll always get a twat who chops down some trees just to because he can.
Obviously it's mostly only applicable to spars and arena events, but in practicality it's annoying when you're trying to teach someone in your guild or doing some type of combat assessment for guild advancement. I don't think any other skill in the game is limited like that and there really isn't any good reason for it.
It seems that several druid abilities from other skills are catered towards the Druid having the ability to instantly supply trees or treetops, thus allowing for use of some abilities whenever the druid wishes. To elaborate further:
Take Swoop in Crow. Swoop requires that the Druid be within the trees (or in -wood spec case, perspective in trees) in order to use swoop on a target. Naturally a Druid with Druidry is able to summon their forest demesne and utilize that as their treetop, however in the -wood spec case, they cannot summon any tree. One would assume that the wyrdenwood, being a tree, would never have to rely on having treetops in any location since they are supplying themselves, but that isnt the case.
There are many more abilities that are catered specifically for Druidry and tend to leave the -wood spec out, but i'll focus for now on abilities that seem to become unusable for mechanical reasons, that being Swoop in this case.
Idea:
Swoop (and other such abilities, like treetoss) doesnt require new treetops
-or-
a new ability place in -wood specs that temporary manifests a tree, much like dryads in wiccan.