07-18-2016, 11:01 PM
Stun, as a whole, is a status effect that there isn't much counterplay to. You either equip mayelia to hopefully counterplay it, or you just flat out die to it because there's not really any counterplay to losing your entire turn. If this came at a higher cost, or you got a much longer immunity to stun than the one turn you get now (which can lead to chain stunning still), then it might have some counterplay.
As it is now, Stun is the end all, be all of status effects that will almost instantly win you a fight against the person you're fighting. Things that can stun currently?
Dullahan's that lose their FP
Arbalest w/ Blowback Cannon (50%+WEIGHT chance)
Head Cracker (NPC)
Skullcaver (24% chance per crit)
These are, as far as I know, the only things that place "STUN" which makes balancing the class as a whole (or race for that matter) really hard.
Dullahan's can just FP screw themselves for a free 15% HP regen (ontop of the FP they get from the regen). Alongside interference immunity, it's insane.
Arbalests are the worst offenders of this. The class is gimmicky and requires basic attacks, but when it does work, it's pretty much instant game-over to their target. Gust Arrows + Deadly aim. Next round? Long Draw > Pulling shot (crit) > Blowback cannon. If your unfortunate victim is lucky enough to get the 30% or less chance to NOT be stunned, they're still knocked down, which removes momentum. If they weren't lucky, they lose 7 Momentum. Get to stand up for 3M next round, and then promptly lose out on, effectively, 1.5 turns of doing jack shit. These turns can be spent doing things like, RELOAD ACCEL, etc. This is why no one wants Arbalests buffed. Because their gimmick with Blowback is so ridiculous...
Headcracker is bad and NPCs can/will chain-stun your punk ass with it, especially certain event mobs. (*STARING AT GMS*)
Skullcaver is.. iffy. It requires a crit, but running it with Duelist makes it so you can, likely, get 3 hits a round. It also doesn't give stun immunity for ??? reason, so you can get a pretty good chance to actually stun someone forever and never let them actually fight back. In an RP sense, I'd probably assume this is the equivalent of an ice pick lobotomy, and anyone caught doing this sort of crap IC is probably going to jail. Forever. WHO KNOWS.
These are the only things that give stunned status. Which, rightly so, are few. It's such a gamebreaking status effect that people actually just leave if they see you whip any of that stuff out. Things that swap celerity around for a few turns and allow a person to Double Turn aren't nearly as reliable, nor do they deny someone their entire turn. It allows for some counterplay in that eventually, they'll double turn you back. Stun is just... "GET LUCKY OR DIE", with most of the odds never in the defenders favor. So here are some 'suggestions' for how to fix this.
Suggestion One
--- Make STUN a 2 tier status. (for Headcracker/Skullcaver/Blowback only).
----What this means is that you have to land STUN once, which will make the target "DAZED". However if you land it again within a certain timeframe depending upon the skill. You'll send them into the "STUNNED" status. Which will do as it does now. This solves the issue of it being so prevalent by making it much rarer to actually land it, and requiring more momentum to just deny someone their ability to fight back.
SUGGESTION TWO
---Make Stun less OP
----Iunno. Probably just make it a stunning effect, like the Ryeser and Booksmack??? It's basically -3 momentum (or 4???) and has a cooldown or status immunity or SOMETHING. Using it with anything KD would probably be aids but. Iunno. Seems a bit better than it is now.
GIB THOUGHTS
As it is now, Stun is the end all, be all of status effects that will almost instantly win you a fight against the person you're fighting. Things that can stun currently?
Dullahan's that lose their FP
Arbalest w/ Blowback Cannon (50%+WEIGHT chance)
Head Cracker (NPC)
Skullcaver (24% chance per crit)
These are, as far as I know, the only things that place "STUN" which makes balancing the class as a whole (or race for that matter) really hard.
Dullahan's can just FP screw themselves for a free 15% HP regen (ontop of the FP they get from the regen). Alongside interference immunity, it's insane.
Arbalests are the worst offenders of this. The class is gimmicky and requires basic attacks, but when it does work, it's pretty much instant game-over to their target. Gust Arrows + Deadly aim. Next round? Long Draw > Pulling shot (crit) > Blowback cannon. If your unfortunate victim is lucky enough to get the 30% or less chance to NOT be stunned, they're still knocked down, which removes momentum. If they weren't lucky, they lose 7 Momentum. Get to stand up for 3M next round, and then promptly lose out on, effectively, 1.5 turns of doing jack shit. These turns can be spent doing things like, RELOAD ACCEL, etc. This is why no one wants Arbalests buffed. Because their gimmick with Blowback is so ridiculous...
Headcracker is bad and NPCs can/will chain-stun your punk ass with it, especially certain event mobs. (*STARING AT GMS*)
Skullcaver is.. iffy. It requires a crit, but running it with Duelist makes it so you can, likely, get 3 hits a round. It also doesn't give stun immunity for ??? reason, so you can get a pretty good chance to actually stun someone forever and never let them actually fight back. In an RP sense, I'd probably assume this is the equivalent of an ice pick lobotomy, and anyone caught doing this sort of crap IC is probably going to jail. Forever. WHO KNOWS.
These are the only things that give stunned status. Which, rightly so, are few. It's such a gamebreaking status effect that people actually just leave if they see you whip any of that stuff out. Things that swap celerity around for a few turns and allow a person to Double Turn aren't nearly as reliable, nor do they deny someone their entire turn. It allows for some counterplay in that eventually, they'll double turn you back. Stun is just... "GET LUCKY OR DIE", with most of the odds never in the defenders favor. So here are some 'suggestions' for how to fix this.
Suggestion One
--- Make STUN a 2 tier status. (for Headcracker/Skullcaver/Blowback only).
----What this means is that you have to land STUN once, which will make the target "DAZED". However if you land it again within a certain timeframe depending upon the skill. You'll send them into the "STUNNED" status. Which will do as it does now. This solves the issue of it being so prevalent by making it much rarer to actually land it, and requiring more momentum to just deny someone their ability to fight back.
SUGGESTION TWO
---Make Stun less OP
----Iunno. Probably just make it a stunning effect, like the Ryeser and Booksmack??? It's basically -3 momentum (or 4???) and has a cooldown or status immunity or SOMETHING. Using it with anything KD would probably be aids but. Iunno. Seems a bit better than it is now.
GIB THOUGHTS