Incomplete, Unclear or otherwise 'Buggy' Talent Descriptions

[Gliktch]

Just saved a Worried Loremaster on Trollmire 2, and chose "Spit Poison" as the reward, since it sounded pretty good - "Spit poison at your target doing 30.64 poison damage. The damage will increase with the Dexterity stat", and Range 10 (further than my bow/sling). Unfortunately, when I actually use it, it's instead a poison-over-5-or-6-turns kinda deal. If I'd known that I woulda chosen the ~23dmg beam instead

Also, there are numerous talents which don't state what stats level them, including a couple of those that Cursed starts with (like Gloom and I think the second talent after Gloom in the same tree, they should say that willpower helps them).

Lastly, when a talent has a variable that may not increase for two talent levels, for example the radius of an attack may be 1 at tlvl1, 1 at tlvl2, 2 at tlvl3, etc - but if it's on tlvl0 and you're checking it out, you may not be able to easily tell that investing points in it will help that radius (there are no square braces around the 1). If it was possible to have it show [1=>1] that might be handy since it indicates that's a part of the talent which will improve with tlvl/stats.

I'll list more talents whose descriptions could use additional information as I come across them. Fellow ToMErs, please feel free to use this thread for that

Regards,
- Matthew

[lukep]

I agree with everything except for the Spit Poison description fitting into this category. There are several damage types that always have additional effects:

Ice: cold damage with 25% chance to freeze for 2 turns, with an ice block of (75 + 1.5 * ice damage) HP.
Slime: nature damage, and slows by 30% for 3 turns
Poison: 1/6 nature damage, and applies "poisoned" effect, damaging the enemy for 1/6 of the damage each turn for 5 turns as nature damage. The poison effect applies immediately IIRC, so it hits for 2/6 on the first turn.

This is a wider problem than just in talent descriptions, and still need to be fixed.

Back on topic, I would like to see square brackets around variables that don't change, as well as more complete scaling information, such as the effect of talent mastery.

[Gliktch]

Refer to the descriptive text on an insidious infusion or pretty much any other poison-based talent, skill or spell in the game and you'll see why I think Spit Poison is inconsistent. They're all either "XX poison damage each turn for X turns" or "XX poison damage over X turns". The fact that this one *didn't* say that is what led me to expect something different.

Fully agree with the rest of your post though (and I'm sure it's useful information for some readers since I didn't realize that stuff when I started either), and I know I've seen others requesting distinctions in talent descriptions on both contributory stats and an indication of bonuses being based on hard tlvl or effective tlvl. So big thumbs up for all that

[Gliktch]

"Chant of Fortitude" states "The resistance and damage will increase with the Magic stat", but it gives a save bonus not resistance (probably a copypasta from Chant of Fortress).

[Zonk]

Not a talent, but related since it's a resource...

Tooltip for psi: 'It does not regenerate naturally'.

As of now, this is false.

[Gliktch]

Explosion Expert
Current Description:

Your alchemist bombs now affect a radius of 1 [->2] around them. Increases explosion damage by 0% (one tile less than the full effect) to 28% [->41%] (explosion concentrated on only 1 tile)

Proposed Description:

Your alchemist bombs now affect a radius of 1 [->2] around them. The explosion is concentrated for more damage when more than one tile of the blast area is blocked by walls, up to 28% [->41%] at maximum containment.

I still don't think this alternate description is quite spot-on, but I honestly could not make any sense of the original wording at all, and had to ask in the in-game chat... Tim filled me in, but then admitted that he couldn't work it out himself either and had to ask someone else

Maybe it's one of those things that reads like it makes sense once you know what it's trying to say, but for a newbie looking at it without prior knowledge, it's not so clear?

I would also propose that since a fully-contained blast is never possible (you would have to be on the same square with the enemy, fully landlocked..), perhaps it could be changed to show corridor damage (how much it'll hurt a monster in a standard straight corridor)? Better to give a common real-game example of applied damage rather than the impossible perfect result.

Edit: I realise that you can concentrate it more than in a straight corridor (eg, enemy right at the end of a corridor), but I think others will agree that it's a clearer guide to how effective the skill will be, in general use?

[Grey]

I prefer maximum myself, as an idea of the utmost potential. New description is much clearer though - I never would have guessed that's what it meant before.

[Gliktch]

Gem Portal
Current Description:

Crush 5 alchemists gems into dust to mark an impassable terrain. You immediately enter it and appear on the other side of the obstacle. Works up to 7 [->11] grids away.

Proposed Description:

Crush 5 alchemist gems into dust and use them to mark an adjacent wall, creating a portal that allows you to immediately pass through up to 7 [->11] spaces and emerge on the other side.

I found the original wording difficult to understand, and the fact that this talent fails and puts itself on cooldown if you click on something other than an adjacent tile is probably a bug. Failing (and going on cd) because the wall is too thick, however, is probably reasonable for this skill (hey, better than ending up inside rock! )

Thoughts on these alternate descriptions?

[Gliktch]

I prefer maximum myself, as an idea of the utmost potential.

Okay, I understand that... Maybe instead, showing 'maximum' as the value applicable to a blast where only [bomb radius] squares are exposed? Since that would be what you get in an end-of-corridor explosion.

New description is much clearer though - I never would have guessed that's what it meant before.

Thanks Writing more here as I find 'em!

Edit: One other possible wording issue is if there are other things besides walls (and the map edge) which can block the explosion... I guess trees as well? So maybe some word or phrase other than 'wall' should be used, but I'm not sure what to use. "Wall or other obstruction"?

[Zonk]

Jumpgate does not show the improvement in range you'd get by increasing the talent.

Shadow Simulacrum does not mention that it won't work on bosses.

add:Simulacrum should also mention how TL affects the stats of the copy.

[Grey]

Edit: One other possible wording issue is if there are other things besides walls (and the map edge) which can block the explosion... I guess trees as well? So maybe some word or phrase other than 'wall' should be used, but I'm not sure what to use. "Wall or other obstruction"?

Not a problem in my mind - players are sensible enough to know that the definition of wall covers trees and sand and the like.

[Dwarf_Hammer]

Curse of the Meek doesn't mention that you always gain a soul for killing the bunnies yourself:

Reaches through the shadows into quiter places, summoning 7 harmless creatures. Those creatures are then cursed with a Curse of Hate, making all hostile foes try to kill them. If killed by hostile foes you have 50% chance to gain a soul.

[edge2054]

Curse of the Meek doesn't mention that you always gain a soul for killing the bunnies yourself:

Reaches through the shadows into quiter places, summoning 7 harmless creatures. Those creatures are then cursed with a Curse of Hate, making all hostile foes try to kill them. If killed by hostile foes you have 50% chance to gain a soul.

Getting souls for killing your own summons might be a bug then rather then a description error

[Zonk]

Unseen Force talent info goes crazy if you're at 3/5, since it then adds the chance of a second strike...perhaps it should be redone so chance of a second strike is ALWAYS there, but just starts at 0%?

[Gliktch]

Unseen Force talent info goes crazy if you're at 3/5, since it then adds the chance of a second strike...perhaps it should be redone so chance of a second strike is ALWAYS there, but just starts at 0%?

Yes, that would tie in with the idea of always showing (and identifying) every change-able stat in a talent's description, even if it's just showing a "1[->1]" because it doesn't change at the next tlvl.