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Hello all,
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: (provided for those who hate long explanations)
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1. Stat-boost imbuements were too powerful due to stacking potentials
2. Additive stacking also defeated incentives to convert imbuement
stones to levels beyond "ordinary."
3. Stat-boost imbuement stacking will now be shifted to a model
of diminishing returns.
4. Power levels of non-stacked stat-boost imbuements will remain
unchanged.
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Now ... for the lengthy full-explanation! :-)
When the imbuement system was first created, we knew we were throwing a lot
of crazy variables into the balance blender - some luck of the dice to see
what imbuements would generate on various random items, and some determined
by player enterprise and cooperation.
For the most part, it has worked out really well. Players seem to really
enjoy not knowing what they will get with any given combat victory's loot,
and the randomness has made otherwise useless items in the game worth
keeping and using if they happen to have an imbuement that suits your needs.
However, we are now recognizing two major problems which have moved us to
want to improve the system.
The first glaring issue that both players and wizards have noticed and spoken
up about has been the degree to which stat-boosting imbuements have changed
the power-level of players in the game. At first, it was noticable, but not
a huge problem because players had not yet mastered the art of collecting and
trading imbuements. But nowadays, it is not uncommon to see players with
a single stat boosted to the point that even the Dragon in Ribos would feel
jealous!
When the system was devised, I put this provision in the document that was
sent to the AoB for review back in January of 2011:
"The distribution will be further influenced by the trading market
that will undoubtedly spring up surrounding the crafting potentials.
This is an unpredictable factor that will require wizard monitoring
to ascertain the final impact as it develops over time."
So ... this has proven true. Some players have been able to, with a
combination of grinding for imbuements, the auction house market, and
individual trading, amass 4 or more of a given faint imbuement type on
a regular basis. I thought that would be pretty rare when I designed
the system!
Here's how the problem plays out with stat imbuements, currently:
- 2 faints are as powerful as 1 pronounced
- 2 pronounced are as powerful as 1 intense
- Therefore, 4 faints are as powerful as 1 intense.
- Through Auction Houses, agressive trading, and crafting, many
faint imbuements of a single stat-boosting type can be used by a
player, and achieved fairly consistently.
- Done wisely, this can give such a player vast power beyond the scope
of what we consider acceptable balance.
- If such a player should also get very lucky and get an intense
imbuement of that type to throw in the mix, true God-Mode can be
achieved, causing the player to be virtually unstoppable.
So, now let me describe the second problem, which is hinted at in the above
list. The economy of combining stones is supposed to continue all the way
up to glittering. But, as many people have realized, there is really no
point in doing that, since it takes 9 ordinary stones to combine up to
a glittering, and you can get the same effect by simply using 4 of your
ordinary stones to craft stat-boost imbuements on to the items of your
choice. This stalls out the interest in combining stones upward toward
glittering, which is not what the system was designed for.
So, we will now be instituting the following realities:
* Stat-boost imbuements of a single type will continue to
stack additively.
* However, the linear nature of the stacking will be replaced by
a system of exponentially diminishing returns.
* With this system, no amount of "faint" stat-boost imbuements of
a single type will be able to stack to equal the potential of
a single "pronounced" stone, or "pronounced" stones to the
potential of a single "intense" stone.
* IMPORTANT: If you are simply using a single stat-boost imbuement
of a given type, nothing will change. An "intense" will still
give you that crazy boost that you can scarcely believe is
possible, a "pronounced" will give you a big change to your
stat, and a "faint" will improve things noticably. It is when you
use *more* than one imbuement of a single stat-boost type,
attempting to stack the effects for additive boost power, that you
will notice things are not nearly so powerful as before.
This means that now you will want to use your 3 ordinary dwarfstones to
combine for an unblemished dwarfstone, because no amount of "faint"
constitution-boost effects stacked together will ever equal the effect
of a single "pronounced" effect. It also means that to achieve the true
godly powers that we had originally deemed should be *rare* as once in
a blue-moon, you will need to either (e.g. with con-boost):
A. Convert 9 ordinary dwarfstones to a single glittering dwarfstone.
... or ...
B. Get massively lucky enough to find a naturally occurring intense
con-boost on some item in the game.
... or ...
C. Trade or buy through the AH an exceedingly expensive glittering
dwarfstone. (I predict prices on stat-boost stones will now soar?)
In other words, an "intense" stat-boost effect is now (as it was originally
intended) the most powerful thing you can find in the game, and the rarity
has not changed. No more combining faints to achieve the same! :-)
We just plugged these changes in, so you should notice them with any
imbuements that generate following this post, and on all imbuements once
armageddon has come.
Onward and upward!
Regards,
G.
p.s. Remember, this change is not being made for other imbuement types,
only the stat-boosting ones.
