Limited field effect stacking

[bricks]

This is mostly in response to Wretchlings. They are a good annoyance when encountered in small groups, but occasionally you will encounter whole nests of 'em. The stacking acid damage can be much more dangerous than the Wretchlings themselves, and constantly getting dazed by the Rush talent means you can take a ton of hits in between two turns of action. If the field effect stacking was limited (to say, 2 or 3 effects) it would go a long way towards making Wretchling packs less dangerous. It would also open the door for more enemies with field effects, since there would be less concern that the player would have to deal with 5+ effects in addition to regular attacks.

Unfortunately I have no idea how difficult this is from a technical perspective. The code for field effects always seems very complicated when I look at the talents.

[Aquillion]

I would say go for scaling rather than a hard cap. Large groups of wretchlings ought to be dangerous, after all -- if you have a hard cap, then field-effect dependent creatures like those simply stop becoming more dangerous at all after a certain number, which is bad. Also, scaling the damage down for large numbers of overlapping fields feels more natural -- additional fields still hurt more, which is intuitive. Having additional ones suddenly no longer hurting more seems counterintuitive.

[Elkan]

There are situations where players can stack their own field effects too, nerfing that without good reason could be unfairly punishing.

[bricks]

There are situations where players can stack their own field effects too, nerfing that without good reason could be unfairly punishing.

Only situation I can think of where a ton of field effects are important would be fire mages (and I'm just guessing here). Not many classes have multiple field effects that can be activated simultaneously, with good reason.

Aquillion, I think you are right. Damage scaled to the number of effects would be more balanced. I just don't like how luck-dependent the current system is, so I believe something should be adjusted.

[Aquillion]

I should say: I'm not totally convinced this is necessary at all. I mean, yes, a bunch of wretchlings can drop a lot of damage on you real fast, but you at least have a chance to escape -- there are many more dangerous things in the game. And they kill anything else that isn't immune to acid, too (stealing your XP, but that's not really a huge deal.)

Large groups of skeleton archers are probably more dangerous than large groups of wretchlings. Yeah, they're a challenge, and I think I've lost characters to wretchlings stacking lots of acid in one area, but I never felt it was unfair -- some monsters in the game are a lot less fair than wretchling hordes.

[Final Master]

I find this to be entirely unnecessary. And, I'm surprised I have to say it.

[Grey]

I think as is wretchlings present a specific challenge unlike any other group of melee mobs, and it would be a shame to make that group threat less interesting. But as is I also think the damage isn't that big a deal unless you encounter them very early on. Shields and regen really negate them as a serious issue.

[edge2054]

If the talent level of CV on wretchlings was reduced the duration of the effect would be as well, causing generally fewer overlapping clouds.

[bricks]

I find this to be entirely unnecessary. And, I'm surprised I have to say it.

Er, sorry?

I don't mean to argue this incessantly, as it really isn't a huge issue. But I do see it as a potential for abuse. Negative status effects are typically limited in how they can stack (they either cancel the previous effect or can only have one/a limited number of the category active), so it seems that field effects could stand to have a similar treatment. Yes, there are ways to escape field effects, just as there are ways to remove negative status effects. I'd honestly like to see more field effects because they require unique tactical decisions.

[Aquillion]

Yes, there are ways to escape field effects, just as there are ways to remove negative status effects.

In general, though, it's a lot easier to escape field effects (often, simply walking can avoid a good portion of the damage, and who doesn't have a teleport / phase door / mobility option fairly early into the game?) For status effects, you need relatively specialized stuff.