QCF Design Community

Hi folks, due to circumstances I'm not getting into again I've had the Naga Cauldron in my locker for the longest while, and even if I've been playing less lately I still look at it every time I start the game up. I've also been playing around with it more than other people (I guess, because it's largely not discussed - ever).

Thoughts:

It's not really a bad idea, but the problem is is that it doesn't do anything on it's own. I've made a mistake and brought it on a run into a dungeon with 0 debuff sources and had a chance to really withnes it's biggest failing. Simply put - it's quite possible for it do do NOTHING at all for you.

So I've been thinking along these lines.

It needs to provide debuffs of it's own. Absolutely needs to for it to work, because it not only takes your item prep slot, but dictates your other slots as well, and your entire gameplay, narrowing it's use too much. Currently the best, and probably only real way to use it is to prep JJ for the debuffs - but then you've lost an item slot to JJ and an item slot to the Cauldron and if you bring a RBS for the slow that's another items slot - and it's just not that good (what is?).

There's several ways of countering this.

Remaking it:

Variant 1) "Naga cauldron makes you slow, gives your health potion overheal and boosts potion use by 5% per debuff"
Variant 2) "Same but starts you of with 1 weakening and 1 corrosion" or any combo of this.
Variant 3) "NC gives you overheal and 5% per debuff, but randomly debuffs you on level up a-la patches"

Adding more support on top of it:

Variant 1) Allowing everything that could work with it to work with it (unless everything allready does, like the Thief)
Variant 2) Alter Patches punishment scheme to give debuffs instead of "temporary setbacks" that can in fact screw you over really hard.


EDIT: Another idea I've just had is - what if it counted class abilities as dubuffs if they lowered stuff? So Berserkers, Monks, Rogues, Bloodmages, Gorgons and so forth could start with debuffs? It would also take a mouseover bar to see what's active, but it would be really cool.

So anyway, too much text, TL/DR: Needs to be more self sufficent and probably provide it's own debuffs, with perma slow being the easiest and the most dependable one (and it would prevent the need to prep RBS/platemail to acquire it).

EDIT disclaimer: I don't think NC is weak, just niche. I've just kicked ass in DL with a NC halfling priest JJ into GG (very late) with a fair helping of cydstep. Wouldn't mind it not being as niche, it's all.

Perma-slow in my mind, is far to widespread as it, because it is the single most painful effect in the game. How about giving it the ability to not cure debuffs naturally (poison/mana burn on level, curse through kills), but it can be smashed to cure all debuffs. I'm frankly not sure if that is an improvement or not, but it is an idea. That way you try to get one of every debuff late, then just deal with them. It also gives you a chance to get rid of some nasty debuffs (like way to much curse, weakening, or corrosion, or some very inopportune poison or mana burn).

The biggest problem it has is dependability on outside sources to gain an effect past overheal. Overheal is kick ass, mind you, but the potion boosting effect is shaky because:

- there is only two ways to gain perma slow (and one of them is a blacksmith prep)
- curse peters out unless you really lay it on thick, which you can't most of the time
- mana burn and poison are cured on level up
- exhaustion is vampire only if it counts at all
- Corrosion and weakening are manageable, but there's dungeons where ther isn't any of either (say naga city underground).

But the only reliable way to get at least corrosion and weakening, the more stable ones, is to prep JJ - who's major boon wipes off your debuffs late. And late is when you need them the most, and when they hurt you the least. Now I'm not sure what the intended number of +5% increases on it were but if it came with it's own set of corrosion and weakening at least you wouldn't have to prep JJ to make it do anything at all.

IMPORTANT EDIT: And the first directional dungeons, as well as the central area mostly don't HAVE corrosion and weakening monsters, so the item is rather less usable without heavy reliance on preps other than it if you want to take it there on a vicious run. This is probably the biggest reason to make it more self-sustained.

Plus I like the idea of some class features counting as debuffs for it. Probably too much of a hassle to code though.