Counterspells

[erwin]

Should we have *current spells act as counterspells, removing the effect totally, and not just them listing on effect?

For example, a cast of weaken shows this

SPL: (80     min)  weaken                -6 to Strength, sets WEAKENED

a cast of strength shows

SPL: (34     min)  strength              +6 to Strength, sets HOLY-STR

, and both shows up on my effect.

Why not make it simpler, if you have STRENGTH casted on you, a cast of weaken will NULLIFY it by an appropriate amount, and then if it gets too low, sets the WEAKEN status. Similarly, if you have WEAKEN cast on you, STRENGTH can also nullify weaken.

There are some spells with this +/- effect, like armor/corrupt armor , energy drain/bless, haste/slowness.

Instead of having an affect list one page long, it could be shortened with such counterspells This would make such spells all the more useful, because it is no more one-cast to have these effects, they can be countered as well, making PK more fun.

(Oh yeah..is it me or are negative buffs way too long, lasting around an hour?)

[Leonardo]

As for the Counterspell idea - I'll let the coders decide if it's a priority, something easy to do or worthless.
But I definitely agree with the spells TIMING - I've posted other messages of complain about it - but I've never got any feedback by the Imms about it.
It is just VERY annoying for us PKers to enjoy our PK sessions when after most of them we got to wait HOURS for the offensive BUFFS to wear off.
It's killing us from the inside, restricts the use of PK and annoys us all. I strongly believe that SPELLS timers should be reconsidered.

This is the thread about it - I think most of the players agreed too - the thread started well then some monkeys started a personal fight on it and Prom locked the thread.
http://4dimensions.org/forum/index/topic,141.0.html

[erwin]

But I definitely agree with the spells TIMING - I've posted other messages of complain about it - but I've never got any feedback by the Imms about it.

Come to think of it, how about adding that as a service the RECALL healer can do? Just remove all spells from affect, whether they are buffs or not? Though yeah..that's not a solution to the problem of spell timers..

[Leonardo]

Yes, I believe it could be really useful if the Healer could give such a service.
Under the payment of some money, tokens or tradepoints - remove every buff from the actor.

I can build a script that does it if the option is not coded and if you get any Imm to approve it.

[Virisin]

Not priorety, but I wouldn't oppose it seeing as it's just a logical idea.

As for timers, damn Xeriuth and his squabbling. But yeah, the original thread established that they should be shortened.

[erwin]

But if they were shortened, like magic bubble, would there be a time when players say "How come negative buffs last so damn short but positive buffs like sanctuary last so long?"

[Kvetch]

My thought to that would be that the positive and the negative should have the same timer length.  Your example of weaken and strength would mean that if strength gave a time of 30 minutes, than weaken should do the same.  I'm all for the healer being able to exploit you PKers for a lot of money/tokens/first born to get the negatives and positives washed off ya. 

Kvetchy

[Virisin]

I think all those spells should be shorter.. And less available. Redundancy ftl. Internet memes ftl.

[erwin]

If they have the same timer length (not necessarily short), does that mean these spells are just 'fire and forget'?

Eg, if you have sanctuary, I dispel it, you can cast sanctuary on yourself if you manage to escape, it's up to me to ensure that you don't.

But if I debuff you using abovementioned spells, you're rendered back to the same state as you were before, with no chance of buffing up because the spells will neutralize each other without countering.

[Prometheus]

The duration of spells will need to be discussed between the immortals to see if they should be shortened or not. I can see why Magic bubble got shortened. But my point of view is some defensive buffs should last a while. But I think offensive weakening spells should have a shorter timer. Another example is the blasted basilisk that casts slow for like 30 minutes. Mutters.

Prometheus.