12-09-2023, 06:03 AM
(This post was last modified: 12-09-2023, 06:17 AM by Raigen.Convict.)
This is more like a general survey mixed with a suggestion board... Do you all feel Summoner is in a fun to use and healthy place right now? I sure don't. Feels more like a balance nightmare where because of the bonus stats and passives out the butt you gotta limit what youkai can do because summoner both does TOO MUCH and NOT ENOUGH at the same time.
You may wonder what im proposing. A rework of some kind, not just to the class but all youkai as well. The fact that Youkai are so easily called out in Zerg rush fashion when in the right cases fp sustain for them is very possible for enough rounds to get absolutely massacred forces them to be relegated to being weaker statblocks than most PVE monsters just with neat passives that either destroy people like Suzaku or Seiryuu, or are useless like orbelo.
So, I propose an idea. Summoner having another meter to manage where all youkai have a rating. Depending on a few factors, you can only have a certain number of youkai on field according to this. In my head I thought of the Ascendeds being the highest rated and thereby can only have one on field at once, maybe two if using grand summoner with a specific passive skill from it. In turn, youkai that are weaker can have more out at a time like a snow crow alongside a hippogriff and a fairy. I also thought of this system causing you to only be able to ever have 3 youkai on field max if not using grand summoner for 5. A main class skill for sure. This limiter will help remove some of the un-fun nature of grand summoner, slightly...
From here, touching up Grand Summoner a bit would be needed as well, such as Summon Storm. I now propose it summons the first youkai in your list up to 5 but takes the meter into account for how many are actually summoned. As a bonus i'd like it to also prioritize summoning ascendeds to their proper side of the field if only because its an invocation.
With the changes above neutering swarm tactics, now youkai can have their stats changed to be a little bit better, but the biggest thing is that I want youkai to gain 'items' as they level up from 1 to 60. They have torso, hand, and accessory slots, this could be where they get better stats or effects they're known for from... For example, Drowned Woman no longer has Amendum, sin, and purpose as a passive but instead its moved to a torso effect. This srops summoners from being able to install her for tanking purposes and encourages summoning her for the effect. this also allows something like cripple arm to MATTER as itd remove a glove item temporarily if applicable. This change combined with treating their monster weapons like monsters in game and having them actually scale their power hit and crit based on youkai would give Bonder the actual feeling of fighting with the youkai AND make the youkai with cooldowns on their skills actually feel WORTHWHILE.
Okay, now onto the problem of passives... the summoner I feel should only ever gain halved, quartered, or altered effects from evoke passives given they're all so stackable and effective. Certain passives arent as eggregious but due to having so many it gets overwhelming... On top of install passives... This is a tough one but I had the thought of removing sync mind... Instead give that effect to promo classes! Shapeshifter specifically receiving a passive to allow the summoner to use the evoke passives of a youkai while installed so the other two cannot make easy use of it. Bonder on the other hand having a passive to use the passive evokes of only BONDED youkai. Grand Summoner will not have one so they cant start summonimg powerful youkai while being immune to elements.
Finally, I want Evoke skills/Spells to properly use SWA in their calculation which makes them use weapon accuracy so they dont miss as stupidly often. It also makes buffing a youkai far easier and an option to consider.
Okay, thats all i got so far, I havent thought of every interaction but I poured some time and my soul into this. What do you all think? Maybe add suggestions to the mechanics? Or suggest an entirely different system. My goal was to address the power of install, zerg rush, and how weak youkai feel.
You may wonder what im proposing. A rework of some kind, not just to the class but all youkai as well. The fact that Youkai are so easily called out in Zerg rush fashion when in the right cases fp sustain for them is very possible for enough rounds to get absolutely massacred forces them to be relegated to being weaker statblocks than most PVE monsters just with neat passives that either destroy people like Suzaku or Seiryuu, or are useless like orbelo.
So, I propose an idea. Summoner having another meter to manage where all youkai have a rating. Depending on a few factors, you can only have a certain number of youkai on field according to this. In my head I thought of the Ascendeds being the highest rated and thereby can only have one on field at once, maybe two if using grand summoner with a specific passive skill from it. In turn, youkai that are weaker can have more out at a time like a snow crow alongside a hippogriff and a fairy. I also thought of this system causing you to only be able to ever have 3 youkai on field max if not using grand summoner for 5. A main class skill for sure. This limiter will help remove some of the un-fun nature of grand summoner, slightly...
From here, touching up Grand Summoner a bit would be needed as well, such as Summon Storm. I now propose it summons the first youkai in your list up to 5 but takes the meter into account for how many are actually summoned. As a bonus i'd like it to also prioritize summoning ascendeds to their proper side of the field if only because its an invocation.
With the changes above neutering swarm tactics, now youkai can have their stats changed to be a little bit better, but the biggest thing is that I want youkai to gain 'items' as they level up from 1 to 60. They have torso, hand, and accessory slots, this could be where they get better stats or effects they're known for from... For example, Drowned Woman no longer has Amendum, sin, and purpose as a passive but instead its moved to a torso effect. This srops summoners from being able to install her for tanking purposes and encourages summoning her for the effect. this also allows something like cripple arm to MATTER as itd remove a glove item temporarily if applicable. This change combined with treating their monster weapons like monsters in game and having them actually scale their power hit and crit based on youkai would give Bonder the actual feeling of fighting with the youkai AND make the youkai with cooldowns on their skills actually feel WORTHWHILE.
Okay, now onto the problem of passives... the summoner I feel should only ever gain halved, quartered, or altered effects from evoke passives given they're all so stackable and effective. Certain passives arent as eggregious but due to having so many it gets overwhelming... On top of install passives... This is a tough one but I had the thought of removing sync mind... Instead give that effect to promo classes! Shapeshifter specifically receiving a passive to allow the summoner to use the evoke passives of a youkai while installed so the other two cannot make easy use of it. Bonder on the other hand having a passive to use the passive evokes of only BONDED youkai. Grand Summoner will not have one so they cant start summonimg powerful youkai while being immune to elements.
Finally, I want Evoke skills/Spells to properly use SWA in their calculation which makes them use weapon accuracy so they dont miss as stupidly often. It also makes buffing a youkai far easier and an option to consider.
Okay, thats all i got so far, I havent thought of every interaction but I poured some time and my soul into this. What do you all think? Maybe add suggestions to the mechanics? Or suggest an entirely different system. My goal was to address the power of install, zerg rush, and how weak youkai feel.
OOC Devourer Of Souls: it makes me feel like someone slipped me acid laced water
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