Question on 3.7.4 Patch

In the Patch notes there was a point referencing one of the Bug Fixes:

Fixed a bug where Cyclone and Righteous Fire's area of effect was visibly scaling with Character Size. This has no functional effect on its area of effect.

Now is the bug that the AOE was visually scaling, or was the bug that it is only visually and that it had no functional effect?

The reason I ask it this way is that in the Wiki it states:

Character size is a rare stat that alters the visual size of the player's character model. This is a purely cosmetic function, and does not affect the character's collision radius.

...however it also states under 'Shrine':

Massive Shrine
Courage stands tall. You have increased Life, Area of Effect, and Size

30% increased Character Size
40% increased Area of Effect
40% increased maximum Life

Now while some gear items also have some affects to size (fex; Rat's Nest, Gruthgul's Pelt, etc...), I'm assuming that the size change is purely visual despite the obvious suggestion from the raised stats that go along with those items.

The actual Question...

With the addition to the changes from the patch notes, the "...Cyclone and Righteous Fire's area of effect was visibly scaling with Character Size..." Has there been consideration in the coding that differentiates between the intended "Character size as visual only" that I'm assuming is to be in place because of an item's visual representation, and the Size Increase from the Massive Shrine that is 'Included' with it's effects of raising Character Size, Max Life, and Area of Effect?

In addition to this because I didn't even think of it until now...

How would the new change affect builds that include:

The Gull
Raven Mask
Quality: +20%
Evasion: (249-280)
Energy Shield: (122-178)Requires Level 38, 44 Dex, 44 Int
Trigger Level 1 Create Lesser Shrine when you Kill an Enemy
(120-150)% increased Evasion and Energy Shield
+(30-45) to maximum Energy Shield
+(60-80) to maximum Life
+(30-40)% to Cold Resistance
75% increased Effect of Shrine Buffs on you
50% increased Duration of Shrine Effects on you

While I realize the specific type of shrines created are randomized, Massive Shrine is one of them and would affect the character size whenever it came around....as well as give the additional stat increases that came with it.


I apologize for the long post...but in a game that treats area radius and damage in the way that PoE does, it just triggers the logic in my brain when the patch notes say specifics about 'Fixes' in terms of Visuals vs. Functionality, but 'suggest' any number of hidden possibilities of breaking something else entirely.

Sorry, it's just how my brain works, because a lot of things in this game are confusing as it is, without adding the variable of "Why doesn't my area of damage scale with my character size?" that people are bound to ask...probably even more so now with this added difference.

Character Size is a purely cosmetic stat, as you note.

The bug was that it gave your character a larger visual aoe radius in some cases, when in fact Character Size does not increase your actual aoe radius.

The only relation between the stat and Massive Shrine is that the shrine happens to give that stat. I'm not clear what you think is, or should be, going on there.

The bug fix should have no effect on The Gull, other than aligning the cosmetic size of the aoe radius to reality if you happen to be running Cyclone or RF.

Unless I'm completely misunderstanding the patch notes, this appears to be much simpler than you're making it.

:-)

I agree with steidlc. The patch should be fixing visual bug where visual depiction of AOE would increase with character size while your actual AOE size would not change.

"

steidlc wrote:

Character Size is a purely cosmetic stat, as you note.

The bug was that it gave your character a larger visual aoe radius in some cases, when in fact Character Size does not increase your actual aoe radius.

The only relation between the stat and Massive Shrine is that the shrine happens to give that stat. I'm not clear what you think is, or should be, going on there.

The bug fix should have no effect on The Gull, other than aligning the cosmetic size of the aoe radius to reality if you happen to be running Cyclone or RF.

Unless I'm completely misunderstanding the patch notes, this appears to be much simpler than you're making it.

:-)

What I'm getting at is the fact that things like the Massive Shrine increasing the character size is linked with it's increase in area affect visually, whereas the other size changes are only visual with the exceptions of a couple of Jewels, iirc, that also increase area affect along with player size.

The confusion I'm referring to, is when people get used to the effects of the shrine and/or the jewels that combine size with stats, and whether or not the new change will affect ALL size changes and not just the "Visual-only" size changes. Because if they do, then the possibility is there, that changing the cosmetic visual size will break the mechanics that link size with stats as a visual cue that the buffs are indeed applied and working.