- Location
- The Hague
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Controversial gaming opinion: video games are good.
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What are controversial gaming opinions you have?
If there were more mages around, especially mage guards, the College would be even more of a "You came to the wrong neighborhood motherfucker" sort of place for any passing dragons.
greensun
You shall all burn beneath my light!!!
I love that part of the College
But yeah, the mage guards were supposed to be fucking lethal. At their base level they had master robes, and used Adept level spells. They were freakin' lethal and I'm quite honestly disappointed that they were cut.
The Englanderish
Schrödinger's Kuudere Kitty Caliph(a)
- Location
- Califat de Chats
You can hire either depending on the outcome of the quest. Faendal the Bosmer archer or Sven the Nord bard. Sven is objectively worse on account of having a lower level cap, offering no training and being badly specc'd for combat.
On the topic of Skyrim spells, my big issue is that the upgrade spells actually aren't half the time. Firebolt is fundamentally different to flames, which is fundamentally different to wall of flames, which is fundamentally different to fireball etc. etc. and usually only one offensive spell per type will have a direct upgrade version. Compare with physical weaponry, where an axe is an axe and will function the same regardless of what it is made of. You have to get used to a new spell at every tier.
On top of that, sometimes you'll want to use different spells depending on the situation, except oh wait flames/frostbite/sparks is shit at this level and so's firebolt/ice spike/thunderbolt etc. so I guess I'm doomed to splashdamage all the way because I've not yet found icy spear's spell tome. This is at its worst during battles with the hold guards, or vampire or dragon attacks in villages where it can get hard to not accidentally massacre the local vendor you wanted to sell stuff to.
The problem with destruction in Skyrim isn't anything to do with its dps at high levels - it's that it's freakishly, nightmarishly inconvenient and impractical to fucking use in vanilla.
- Location
- Texas, US
What is the general opinion towards Tales of Symphonia? Used to see it listed as one of the best JRPGs ever but now I see folks saying not only is it not GOAT, it's just plain garbage in every way.
It is the only Tales game I played and I didn't like it but not sure if that is controversial.
It is the only Tales game I played and I didn't like it but not sure if that is controversial.
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BrokenAscendent
Unum prae omnibus aliis
- Location
- Auld Lang Syne
KingseekerFreyr
Currently kingseeking...
- Location
- In a void!
I wish the marriage mechanic in Skyrim was really fleshed out then what it is in the game.
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- He/Him
I honestly never had any problems killing enemies with magic in Skyrim.
Then again I was also carrying around a sword and a shield because I got into Elder Scrolls for the ability to do everything and be everything at once and if I wasn't going to do that, then why even bother.
Then again I was also carrying around a sword and a shield because I got into Elder Scrolls for the ability to do everything and be everything at once and if I wasn't going to do that, then why even bother.
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You're a mage. If you need a sword you can summon one from raw hellstuff and just murder people in the face that way. Or, if you really wanna be a stealth archer, a bow. Either way saves you the carryweight of having to haul around a lump of metal, leaving more space for gems and potions and jewelry!
- Location
- Singapore
- Pronouns
- Singular They
I had immense use for just about every school of magic in Skyrim except for Destruction. Admittedly Conjuration for the Bound weapons was more of a gimmick run, since as it turned out, having to spend the effort to level up Conjuration to keep up with the game was too much effort compared to just carrying around an actual weapon.
Which is kind of the issue with talking about "magic in Skyrim" and its balance problems; everyone can agree that stuff like Restoration and Enchanting (especially Enchanting) is super-useful. But when many people complain about "magic in Skyrim" being pointless, they probably mean the Destruction school specifically, which requires more effort to keep up than other means of combat.
Although to be honest, most styles other than stealth archery requires more effort to keep up to be as effective, but that kind of gets boring after a while. But Destruction appears more so, compared to bashing faces in with a lump of (possibly enchanted) metal.
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Why, exactly?
EDIT:
Both Bound Bow and Bound Sword can be acquired at level 1, Bound Bow from a fixed spellbook in Fort Amol and Sword by purchasing it from basically any wizard. There's exactly one perk you need to increase bound weapons to stupid damage totals and you can get it at Conjuration level 20, which Bretons and Altmer start with. Hell, the Altmer can even cast Bound Bow at level 1 without requiring gear.
Power up Illusion to get Quiet Casting and make use of Invisibility and Muffle and you've got everything you need for a stealth archery run without ever using a physical bow
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Vindictus
XENO
- Location
- Texas
What?
Grinding Conjuration is easy! Raise an undead or summon a minion, and the moment it attacks someone, you get a level up. Well, not all the way through; Later, it can take two or sometimes even three summons and/or zombies to get a level up.
But you should be able to get to level 70 easily, just by replacing your zombies and/or demons regularly.
- Location
- Singapore
- Pronouns
- Singular They
I remember trying that early on, but also gave up on it because I think the minions were really squishy, so they got splattered quickly and I had to keep kiting and resummoning.
This was before any balance patches, fanmade or official, so it may be different.
Hykal94
Orange Estus Kitteh
- Location
- Firelink Shrine
Because doing it every 60 seconds is annoying duh.
Destruction in Skyrim is either underpowered and boring or stupidly overpowered and boring.
If you have the 'impact' perk and enough buffs to your magicka regen you can kill anything by keeping it stunlocked forever.
Without 'impact' you do about the same damage as a warrior except you have an extra resource to manage and you have less health and carrying capacity. And your attacks are less satisfying to watch. And your 'armor' needs to be reapplied once every couple of minutes.
If you have the 'impact' perk and enough buffs to your magicka regen you can kill anything by keeping it stunlocked forever.
Without 'impact' you do about the same damage as a warrior except you have an extra resource to manage and you have less health and carrying capacity. And your attacks are less satisfying to watch. And your 'armor' needs to be reapplied once every couple of minutes.
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I suppose. I'm not *totally* sure how you could implement it given Skyrim's mechanics, though. It's an interesting thought for a mod... might see if I can make it happen. I assume you don't want it to be like a concentration spell where you have to continually cast
Thread tax - I actually liked the buff cost mechanic from the first Dragon Age game. Having to permanently reserve a portion of your resources for a buff or effect of some kind felt like it gave me choices with consequences. I could choose to buff my party but that meant my spell casters would be less effective in combat. Alternatively they could be more effective but everyone else would be less.
I'd love to see that system in an MMO just to see how the player base handles it but I don't think it will go very well. Players won't appreciate being "forced" to spend all their resources on other players, effectively nerfing themselves into the ground.
I'd love to see that system in an MMO just to see how the player base handles it but I don't think it will go very well. Players won't appreciate being "forced" to spend all their resources on other players, effectively nerfing themselves into the ground.
Many MMOs do have effective resource allocation for buffs? Like I get 1 cast of this buff every X seconds so I can either use it to make you stronger or to make me stronger. FFXIV has this on Astrologian for instance with their cards. It's just that with the way games are made you quickly figure out where the buffs are best spent and use them there.
The system doesn't work like that. Instead of 1 cast every X seconds it is 1 buff reduces your maximum mana by X% and the buff lasts until cancelled. There's no need to recast.
It's functionally equivalent; trading a resource for a buff in a way that makes you weaker if you buff someone else. If you want the exact mechanic then sure, buff for upkeep isn't there off the top of my head but the concept is. It's just that in an MMO you can generally see from day0 sims what the optimal play is so it's not like you're really giving anything up as it's the raid dps that matters.
Um .. what? How is lowering your maximum mana, which also lowers your mana regeneration, equivalent to casting a buff on someone else every so often? You will exhaust your mana reserves faster and have a harder time getting your mana back throughout the fight. Unless the cost of the buff is excessively high there's no way those would end up being "functionally equivalent." I mean sure you have to keep something in mind / spend time during the fight casting but I fully expect you'd spend more time effectively doing nothing waiting for your resources to recover with the lower limit.I have a spell. It gives person +10 power during its duration. I can have 1 out at a time. I can then either cast it on someone else or myself. If I cast it on someone else, I don't get the 10 power.
I have a buff. It costs mana to upkeep, which effectively costs me 10 character power due to the limitations. I can either cast it on someone else or not.
- Location
- Singapore
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It's functionally the same idea, but applied differently for the end user.
City of Heroes had Toggle powers, which are basically what you described, except instead of "reserving" a set amount of Mana (in CoH's case,
These Toggle powers range from the standard "increase Defense" or "increase Resistance" to "decrease enemy Attack" to "stuns surrounding enemies" to "applies a DoT to surrounding enemies", so on and so forth. The more impressive the power (note I said impressive, not effective), the more expensive it is to maintain, but in almost every case, a character would need to keep up at least two Toggles at any given time, so the Endurance consumption adds up to something noticeable, rather than trivial and token.
In the backend, what Toggle powers actually do is apply the buff (or debuff) every server tick (or couple of ticks; I can't recall), and subtract the Endurance at the same time. Basically, it's a continuing cast that the player sets and forgets, to simulate a constant power drain.
Back then, I remember the math gurus on the CoH forums did mention that in effect, the Endurance drain on Toggles basically meant you could lop off a section of the Endurance bar for the same effect. So the Dragon Age method is exactly that, updated to modern coding.
But in a roundabout way, I can see how it can be considered the "same idea" as casting a buff every so often. It's just that the buff this time is cast automatically, rather than manually.
EDIT: It's been a while: Endurance is the combat resource. Stamina is the ability that buffs its regeneration.
EDIT: Forgot to mention that CoH Toggle buffs also include abilities that can increase Defense (or Resistance) for all players close to the buffer, including the buffer themselves, so it's not a case of "either the player or their friends, but not both at the same time".
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