A potential change I'm keen to hear your thoughts on
This is one of the Keystone changes we'll be trying out in the Beta soon:
Edit: I suppose I should note this character has Eldritch Battery. Her Energy Shield is now paid before mana. Edit edit: All the usual effects on Energy Shield will still apply to this ES - Recovery delay, Ghost Reaver, Zealot's Oath, etc. You'll not have any more base mana than you would have had prior to taking the keystone, though. Damage won't interrupt ES recovery any more, only losing mana or ES will. Edit edit edit: Stun avoidance will no longer apply. Arctic Armour will still drain mana, ignoring Energy Shield, Edit by Mark: Mind over Matter doesn't take from mana like AA, it damages it, which would be protected by ES in this case, since damage is what ES protects from. More background: This change has an interesting history; I suggested it offhand as a strange idea, but it solved a few key factors we were investigating, like AA/MoM defense being too high for too low a cost, so it was decided to go ahead and try it out. It's quite likely we'll see other changes to the kesytone as testing progresses, but because it's such a big change to one of the most popular Kesytones, any sweeping change won't be made without testing the waters carefully. The change isn't intended to 'kill' any mechanics, but will give us the opportunity to reassess some. Edit: Like the mana drain amount or mechanic on Arctic Armour Edit: Thanks for your thoughts, everyone! The team will definitely be discussing it on Monday, and we'll keep you abreast of changes as they're made. Keep your concerns and suggestions coming. Balance & Design Last edited by Mark_GGG on Apr 17, 2015, 11:57:05 PM
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" All the usual effects on Energy Shield will still apply to this ES - Recovery delay, Ghost Reaver, Zealot's Oath, etc. You'll not have any more base mana than you would have had prior to taking the keystone, though. Damage won't interrupt ES recovery any more, only losing mana or ES will. Imagine it as just how Energy Shield operates over life, except applied to mana. Balance & Design
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" Areas won't reserve from ES, so you can cast purely from ES and reserve all mana, if you have a good way to recover energy shield. " Arctic Armour still drains mana. Only costs are paid by ES, not reservation or drain. " No. ES blocks (non-chaos) damage from getting at the resource it protects. When it's moved to mana, it will intercept (non-chaos) damage that would be dealt to mana. It would have no effect on the 70% of damage that stays going to life. Edit by Mark " That's correct. ES will act just like it was over life, not getting any special bonuses from being over mana other than recovery not being interrupted by damage. Balance & Design Last edited by Mark_GGG on Apr 18, 2015, 12:41:38 AM
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Updated the first post with more details, keep the questions coming!
Balance & Design
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" We're testing this out and we'll see it on Beta, and see how it performs. If nobody can find a use for it, it'll change again! Balance & Design
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"Since Rory does seem to have actually clarified the mechanic at play here (that I can see), I'll take this one. The new Eldritch Battery currently being tested has two stats (wording not final): Energy Shield protects Mana instead of Life and Spend Energy Shield before Mana for Skill Costs Energy Shield protects Mana instead of Life means that your ES is over your mana, and not over your life, as seen in the screenshot. Since it's not over your life, damage that's doing to your life isn't intercepted by ES. Since it's over mana, damage going to mana (Mind over Matter, etc) will hit ES first, except in the case of Chaos Damage, which bypasses ES and would go straight through to mana. You will no longer have the 50% chance to ignore stuns for having ES, as that's a property of ES protecting life and doesn't apply when it's over mana instead. Life being lost will no longer impede the ES refresh, but Mana being lost for any reason will, as of course will losing ES as it always does. Effects which just make you lose mana, such as Arctic Armour or Sapping flasks, will not be affected, just as ES doesn't stop Caustic Flasks from removing life. If you take the Blood Magic Keystone, you'll have no mana, and ES will be protecting your empty mana globe. Mind over Matter will still try to divert some damage to mana, and this will be able to be absorbed by ES, but once ES is depleted of course, no damage can be taken from mana and will will all go to life. Spend Energy Shield before Mana for Skill Costs means that for skill mana costs (not reservations) you pay with ES until you run out, then start paying with mana. Mana reservations are not costs, and will still be paid directly with mana. Blood Magic still switches you to spending life "instead", so you won't be able to pay with ES if you have blood magic and this stat. In all other respects, ES behaves exactly the same - it still has the refresh mechanic, and anything that references ES still applies to ES. |