by Lujo on Wed Dec 10, 2014 12:03 am
^ Written this before Astrals comment so I'm kinda adressing other stuff here.
Which is why the sorcerers efortlessly bigass mana pool (and the ease with which he gets it up to 20) is such an anomaly - he can actually use what is probably the best theoretical tool for elves, while the elves can barely use it sensibly at all. o.O (Barring as astral has pointed out, Wizards).
And what I was saying about the potion races, I don't think they need nerfs exactly, it's more that there are clear imbalances in other places which cause several effects with them.
What I'm considering right now is the following - the Halfling spiker can get good with Taurog and Binlor, Taurog gives some damage, Binlor gives bigass damage, and he can get his basic spike off without a hitch. The gnome can get his basic stuff off with JJ, Mystera and Earthmother, likewise without a hitch, just hoard & spike and that's that. However, the halfling can get weird in very specific ways with other guys, and the Gnome can't. Yet, the gnome, who only ever really does hoard & spike if at all possible, is sorta the clear winner.
Why is this? I mean, you can tack a gnome onto a spellcasting strat and in most cases he'll be the "optimal" choice pretty much whatever the scenario is, once you do the end spike math (EDIT: not necessarily, but once you take all the cost/efect/effort bits into account). At least you'll get someone who loves gnomes asking "why not just go gnome" with possibly legit reasons. Tinker has compared the Crytal Ball to a "gnome module" and that's not that bad of a label (it's much stronger than being a gnome but the basic of it's functionality is the same, pulling mana refills out of basically nowhere).
But the halfling isn't nearly as clear cut a winner when it comes to his most effortless strats. And I think if he was, he'd need a nerf. Because he does convert for health refills, and those actually have way more costs than just dumping CP into them and even then require you to get your damage/health/resists up. Most other guys use racial bonuses, pretty tangible ones, and a lot of play to make it work on top of working for their refills. I mean, there's a reason we thought the halfling needs the trisword, it seemed impossible he could be able to work without a "damage cheat" to catch up with the other guys - because what is then the point of other guys? (And indeed, the Orc really started going places once the trisword was gone because he's the same thing minus coming with freebie refills on top of the damage).
But then, there's quite a bit more you can actually do with halflings, but all that stuff requires more resources and/or effort than either potion spam or what the gnome does (because gnome stuff involves much easier to get boons, very rarely more than one god and items which have actual price tags compared to glyphs).
What I'm trying to ask is:
- Should just tacking a potion guy onto a class/item/god combo really have hoard & spike as the most beneficial approach?
- Should tacking on a potion guy onto a class/item/god combo really edge out other options as much as tacking a gnome on stuff does currently?
- What sort of tweaks and to what exactly would make "finesse" approaches with these guys more rewarding than "hoard & spike"?
I almost got pwned by Shifty Brickwork!