Auras are WAY overpowered: Remove reservation, cap them like totems and save blood magic!

UPDATE: I no longer believe removing aura reservation is the best idea, leaving post for the sake of discussion.

Okay, i think it has been that way for too long now. Auras were uber once, but since you changed them they became even more uberer.

I think the silence needs to be broken on their overpoweredness. Those auras make almost every build into an aura stacker, it's really very disruptive to the creative process of building characters.


What is the problem with overstacking auras?

You want to build a fun summoner? Think again, it's all about maxing amount of auras, leaving you with no funny gameplay skills left, unless you want to be a really bad summoner.

Attack based characters are exactly the same, and the reason spell based character are not to the same degree, is the profound lack of auras that benefit spell casters. Attack based characters which are totally dominating end-game farming: all about aura stacking, maybe 75% of your damage comes from it.

It furthers the gab between lowlifeshavronnes builds and regular builds, because they in addition to insane damage boosts get also more auras which leads to massive power increases. It will also strike at shavronnes stackers, who now have to choose between all damage auras, or having a discipline. Even without discipline you can get as much ES as a life build has life anyway.

There are an infitite amount of bad things about auras as they are now, but i don't intend to write an essay. Feel it inside yourself, you know something is not right.


Honestly, i think auras should have been done this way from the start:

- Auras have no reservation costs, but you are only allowed to use 1 aura.

- 2 farspread places on the skill tree(below marauder and between witch/shadow), should be +1 additional aura nodes.

- Possibly one chest item with an additional aura(mutally exclusive with shavronnes low life)


Ideally, auras will be more iconic. "Wow guys, pretty nice. There is a wrath guy in our party", "Hey, this guy has haste! I wish i could have that in my build!" Powerful auras, but the standard won't be to run all.

It will also save blood magic in the process, as a bonus.

No more wasting half your sockets on auras. 1 Item is sufficient and you will not need reduced mana for it anymore.


Examples:

Random marauder: Hatred, Determination

Auric Caster: Haste, Discipline, Clarity

Aura-Chest Summoner: Anger, Wrath, Hatred, Haste

Auric Daggerer: Wrath, Hatred, Discipline


I daresay pretty much all builds have full function with 1-3 auras, it's just spoiled people that want everything and every aura, taking the "aura" part out of the equation really.

Un-nobrain the auras please, make them signature of builds and core type characters. Make them something you really appreciate to be around, rather than expect from any good build and get in every party.

The fact is that multi-stacking of auras has reached the same level of abuse as in the Open Beta period before reservation of most auras was raised to 60%. At that time many players were begging GGG to cap auras in a realistic manner, to prevent more than two or at most three auras being used at once.

There were several straightforward ways this could have been done without wrecking the majority of builds that weren't abusing auras. But GGG chose to impose the type of nerf that has since proven to be chronic as well as futile, a crude and heavy-handed increase in aura reservation across the board. This sabotaged practically everyone's build at the time, but failed to restrain the aura abusers. GGG provided numerous ways to drastically reduce the onerous 60% aura reservation, completely negating the intent of the aura nerf. As a result, aura and mana management became a frustrating PITA for everyone but the abusers, who gleefully exploited the flaws in the system.

All this is the consequence of GGG's stubborn refusal to put reasonable caps and diminishing returns on game mechanics that range out of control.

Nice suggestion, but yeah, we all know it's not going to happen.

But hey, at least there's a sale ongoing, only 27 bucks for verdant armor!

"

Crackmonster wrote:

- Auras have no reservation costs, but you are only allowed to use 1 aura.

- Possibly one chest item with an additional aura(mutally exclusive with shavronnes low life)

Why the fuck would "mutually exclusive with Shavronne's low life" even matter? Don't you realize that, by removing reservation costs in the first place, low life no longer even fucking exists? Literally beating a dead horse.

Which goes to show how emotion guides your suggestions far more than actually thinking things out.

The problem, of course, is a different discussion than your proposed suggestion to fix it. And I wouldn't say there isn't a problem. It's not quite as black-and-white as you claim it to be; right now, you can make endgame viable spellcasters, and they can take Mind over Matter, which is perhaps the only game mechanic which gives you a very good reason to avoid reserving mana, because more EHP is good. Of course, there is still the problem that Mind over Matter has more of a synergy with spells than with attacks — for precisely the reasons you mention in the OP — and that Blood Magic and Mind over Matter are inherently incompatible.

Removing reservation costs isn't a smart move and isn't going to happen. Among other things, it eradicates low-life builds, both the Shavronne's variety and any other form as well. Even if low life is deserving of a hefty nerf, outright eradication is not the appropriate response. Whatever you suggest, it needs to find a way of retaining the reservation mechanic, rather than using a hard quota system, similar to Diablo 2's "limit 1 plus whatever Runewords you can stack".

I think a good part of the problem comes from the fact that auras are not customizable. With pretty much every skill in the game, you socket it in an item, and your thinking pattern from there is "how can I support this skill to make it better?" This is not the thought process with auras at all. Instead, it's almost reversed — it's almost like you get a Reduced Mana gem, and you socket that in a piece of gear and say "hey, now I can use auras," and then you support the Reduced Mana with the effects you desire. It's about making the Reduced Mana better, not about making the auras better, and the emphasis is all backward.

That's the main thing I want to see changed. I want to see the game change to the point where you don't run 3 auras and a Reduced Mana in a 4L, but instead you run one aura in that 4L and throw supports on it. I want to see auras limited not so much by how much Reduced Reservation you can stack, but instead by how many sockets you are willing to commit to running the Aura properly. I want to see discussions on which supports are best for which Auras, with some actual valid disagreements.

Which, by the way, is another thing you really didn't think out — if players really were limited in how many auras they could run, the current system wouldn't support that choice at all. Reduced Mana is the only current aura support, which would be irrelevant under your suggestion, so there would be no support gems for auras at all. It would be amazingly boring. Auras need supports in order for a non-aura-stacking system to actually work.

I don't believe the reservation system needs to be scrapped in order for those kinds of things to occur. But I do think it involves taking some time to really rethink how Auras should work in a game with sockets and support gems as its core skill mechanic.

That's just not true.

List of low life benefits:

- up to around 300 increased spell damage you benefit from due crown of eyes

- 30% more damage when low life (pain attunement)

- Possible righeous fire up to what some 65% more damage or something like that


Yes, you can already double(without righteous fire) your damage with low life, you want it to remain triple to quadruple damage boots compared to non shavs!

Do the math.

You say i speak from emotion, but let me school you a bit. I love aura builds, some people hate them and only play them coz they are good, i don't, i really like them. I'm an aura kind of guy. This post took me a long time to arrive at, i tried being silent for a long while to protect my previous auras, but reason brought me here. I know it is wrong, i have experienced it, tested it, realized it.

I bet beyond anything your long post was guided by emotion.

You made it because you are afraid your builds will be wrecked, you and all the others who will come and say exactly the same.

Your reasoning is clouded, that's why you try to argue it's the best game where everyone has a good 3-6 auras as standard, and there is nothing special to auras.

Do you remember where auras come from? They are supposed to be special, unique and something you contribute to a party while feeling special doing it. They are supposed to bring people together so they are stronger, benefitting from each others varied auras.

The game you are promoting is one where everyone runs the same shit anyway to make your builds work, why not just remove them all then and make their effects baseline? They arent special, it just becomes meh, removing gem choices for things that could have been done with gear. Why should they be auras at all if it's ways to solve problems, rather than give boosts?

"

Which, by the way, is another thing you really didn't think out — if players really were limited in how many auras they could run, the current system wouldn't support that choice at all. Reduced Mana is the only current aura support, which would be irrelevant under your suggestion, so there would be no support gems for auras at all. It would be amazingly boring. Auras need supports in order for a non-aura-stacking system to actually work.

Have you looked at this lol?

It's so much more fun to always use reduced mana for auras, it's very fun indeed.

You should really read my post. I'd say "again," but it's rather clear you didn't get it.

"

Crackmonster wrote:

"

Which, by the way, is another thing you really didn't think out — if players really were limited in how many auras they could run, the current system wouldn't support that choice at all. Reduced Mana is the only current aura support, which would be irrelevant under your suggestion, so there would be no support gems for auras at all. It would be amazingly boring. Auras need supports in order for a non-aura-stacking system to actually work.

Have you looked at this lol?

It's so much more fun to always use reduced mana for auras, it's very fun indeed.

I'm not defending the current system. I'm saying that there would be nothing to do with links under yours. What we really need is more support gems for auras, and to have them actually matter.

You can link them to empower and increased area ;)

"

Crackmonster wrote:

You can link them to empower and increased area ;)

Okay, you've got two. But you'd want five at a bare minimum. This is because 4Ls allow three supports, and you don't want to see the exact same three supports every time.

Honestly... what is wrong with having everyone use auras? Maybe it's part of, I don't know, the DESIGN of the game? You guys act like there is an ARPG bible somewhere that states "Auras must be optional and cannot be powerful, so sayeth the design gods."

I apologize for being snide, but I imagine GGG likes that players use auras. And it was WAY worse in OB, whoever is saying it is worse now must not remember everyone having 5+ auras. The biggest problem is Low-Life in general. Shavronne's, in my opinion, should be completely removed from the game. I know that won't happen, so my only hope is that they nerf it so that there is no increased ES on it and maybe another penalty. Aura-stacking with Shav's and utilizing Crown of Eyes + Pain Attunement is honestly the biggest balance issue IMO.

Auras are actually incredibly diverse, since the increased reservation forces choices now, unlike in OB. If you're a summoner, you for sure want Vitality and probably some Resist Auras. If you're ele buzzsaw, you're running Anger + Wrath. If you're melee physical you want Hatred. Casters typically Clarity and Discipline. If you want more than 2-3 auras, you have to spec for it in the tree. I know a lot of people choose to do that, but I don't see anything wrong with the game encouraging aura use. It does make Blood Magic weaker, but honestly I can think of other, more interesting ways to save Blood Magic.

Yes, there's some overlap (a lot of people use hatred and clarity), but all in all I think it is a balanced and purposeful design aspect in the game, and I happen to enjoy it (Mostly. Again I really hate Shavronne's and Crown of Eyes.)

EDIT: I just saw the discussion on adding more supports. I think increasing the support pool and aura pool would help make it feel less homogenous for the people that dislike auras.

Yes, I agree the nerf did nothing and also that the current and previous situation regarding auras is beyond stupid.

However, I also saw so so many good suggestions about it blatantly ignored in favor of lazy number tweaking that I lost all hope things will ever change. The battle is long lost, they seem to like it this way, just look how long it took to take care of snapshotting.