Death & Blood a little borked?

[PvK]

[quote]Originally posted by Huzurdaddi:

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Got clams?

Clearly Borked! Moderatly easy access to exponential growth == bad IMO!

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Yes, for those who can and do abuse them, but isn't that objection irrelevant in this thread? The thread suggests death and blood may be too powerful, and that water is weak. But clams are just one example of how water is strong. If they get reduced, presumably they may get something improved for balance, as well. Until then, they are a notable strength.

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Unimpressed with my sword of swiftness

Gimmie a wrath sword or Blood thorn any day of the week and twice on sundays!

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Please do. Your sword is a two-hander that does only the same damage as mine, if it hits. My sword is a one-hander that attacks twice per turn. Your sword offers +2 to attack and +3 to defend. Mine offers +1 to each of my two attacks, and +4 to defend, plus I will be using my other hand for a magic shield, so if we have the same skill, you are going to have a hard time hitting me. I'd say your choice is sub-optimal except for beating up on lesser, living targets.

PvK

[Master Shake]

The various paths of magic seemed damned well balanced to me. Some are better at certain things than others. That's the whole fricking point! If they all had great globals, summons, battle magic, and items, than the game would be more boring!

However, if you still think death is overpowered, then choose death magic. It's the easiest path for anyone to get into. Dark Knowledge is a D1 spell. You can create TWO easy +1 D items with D2 (skull staff and crown). You can summon revenants with D1 mage with a skull staff. A revenant can cast Dark Knowledge. A revenant with a skull staff can summon more revenants. A revenant with a skull staff and crown can summon a spectre (D1, 2?). A D2 spectre can take the staff and crown from the revenant and summon a Mound Fiend (D3, unholy 3). The Mound Fiend with the staff and crown is D5 and can do pretty much anything you want death-wise. So if you like death, go for it.

As a final point, I would say that Posts on an open forum whining about things being overpowered without any sort of clear argument backed up by specifics is a really bad barometer about real game balance.

[PvK]

Originally posted by Zen:

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Originally posted by Huzurdaddi:
I think the arrow points in the other direction. If there are a number of Posts about something being "effective" then there is a chance that something is out of wack.

That's a common misconception. Sort of like how unsung heroes are still heroes, even if people don't know or not.

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To which Huzurdaddi replied:

Originally posted by Huzurdaddi:

Giggle. Always the same with you zen. It's quite comical. No, really. It is. LOL.

I think Zen is quite right here, so if he's always the same about it, then good for him!

Designs where anything "effective" is broken tend to be annoying mis-applications of rock-paper-scissors game balance, a "principle" based on one of the most pointless games ever conceived, often with equally-pointless (and anti-"thematic") results.

Dominions offers many effective, and later, more and more powerful spells. That's one of its many charms, and not at all a problem. It does this on purpose, and it's able to do this without being unfair or imbalanced, because there are so many other effective alternatives available to everyone, and practically everything has some kind of counter-move.

High-powered magic is supposed to be effective in this game, and it is, without being unfair. There are many effective strategies and techniques for every path. There are also many ways to squander points and be ineffective with the things a player has chosen to acquire. Some things may also be more obvious or overt or less tricky than others, particularly when they are explained on a forum to players who haven't yet found equally effective techniques, or who don't have a clear plan for play except for a few tricks.

Moreover, the whole suggestion that certain paths are "borked" would be somewhat impractical, even if it were true, because there is rarely any direct contest between one path and another. In play there is never a simple contest of one flavor of magic versus another, and research is not even down a single magic flavor.

PvK