View Issue Details

IDProjectCategoryLast Update
0007407Valley 1Suggestion - Spell IdeasJul 6, 2012 10:50 am
ReporterPenumbra Assigned To 
Severityfeature 
Status consideringResolutionopen 
Summary0007407: "Correct" shields heal player
DescriptionThe minor increase in damage reduction given by using the correct shield against the same elemental shot is minimal. If, instead, the shield would take that extra 20% as healing to the player it would greatly increase their utility.
TagsNo tags attached.
Internal WeightFeature Suggestion

Relationships

related to 0006420 strongly considering Shield Spell Differentiation 
related to 0008765 considering Have shields halt mana regen, regenerate themselves, and never time out 

Activities

khadgar

May 1, 2012 2:13 pm

reporter   ~0023166

But how would this impact monocolored battles? Say, a giant fire amoeba suddenly because completely trivial, even with a very weak shield?

Penumbra

May 1, 2012 2:32 pm

reporter   ~0023167

That's a good point. The shield would still require massive amounts of mana to maintain, so it isn't like they could just have it up the whole time. It would be a method to regain health in a boss fight that isn't tied to waiting for monsters to respawn and farm for life orbs.

It would still require precise timing and, since the health return is small fraction of the damage that would have been caused, screwing up would be more detrimental.

In the big Amoeba fights, I try to avoid everything, find safe points and whatnot. This might just make someone want to go out there and dodge just to collect a few.

Singularity125

May 15, 2012 9:05 pm

reporter   ~0024288

With shields easily being able to be always-on with the new change to use Mana Regen instead of Cost Reduction, this would be very imbalanced. However, if the shields are brought back into line as a burst tool, and a new sustained shield is added without this bonus, then I'm all for this idea.

Chthonic One

May 16, 2012 12:03 am

reporter   ~0024290

Last edited: May 16, 2012 12:05 am

Well frankly the way to balance shields healing is that only 20% of the health blocked by the shield while it's active heals the player, but all the damage goes towards the strain of maintaining the shield.

E.g. The shield can absorb 100 damage per second but absorbs fire. Enemy hits you for 50 fire damage, player heals 10 hp, and the shield can absorb another 50 damage that second.

Another Example: The same shield takes 200 fire damage, the first 100 is absorbed healing the player for 20, the remaining 100 damages the player as normal. Net damage is 80.

Final Example: The same shield takes 200 earth damage, the first 100 is blocked but not absorbed, the remaining 100 is applied as normal. Total damage 100.

Pyrrhic

Jul 1, 2012 12:47 am

reporter   ~0026187

It's a cool idea, but I agree that it would be imbalanced against bosses with single-element attack types, who rarely use melee (most notably, the giant blue and red amoebas).

Another minor issue: this might also encourage people to always carry around all of the kinds of shields with them, which might clutter up the spell inventory even more than it already is (at least, in my opinion).

It might also encourage people to try and regain health by deliberately sitting within range of a certain enemy, with the correct shield activated, trying to regain their health - which, I don't know, seems kind of funny. Enemies should be destroyed, not patiently stood in front of while they inadvertently heal you.

Maybe each shield could have a small chance of returning damage as health: for example, a Fire shield has a 20% chance of turning 10% of the damage of a fire attack into health. But again, it seems like that'd encourage people to sit in front of certain enemies, hoping that they'll heal them - when it'd make more sense to just kill the enemies for their health drops.

Again, it's a cool idea, but I can't think of any good ways to implement it.

Issue History

Date Modified Username Field Change
May 1, 2012 12:06 pm Penumbra New Issue
May 1, 2012 1:59 pm tigersfan Internal Weight => Feature Suggestion
May 1, 2012 1:59 pm tigersfan Status new => considering
May 1, 2012 2:13 pm khadgar Note Added: 0023166
May 1, 2012 2:32 pm Penumbra Note Added: 0023167
May 8, 2012 9:43 am Penumbra Relationship added related to 0006420
May 15, 2012 9:05 pm Singularity125 Note Added: 0024288
May 16, 2012 12:03 am Chthonic One Note Added: 0024290
May 16, 2012 12:05 am Chthonic One Note Edited: 0024290
Jul 1, 2012 12:47 am Pyrrhic Note Added: 0026187
Jul 6, 2012 10:50 am Pyrrhic Relationship added related to 0008765