Well, this should be another help in stopping Ethereal wars between Serenwilde and Glomdoring.

And, interestingly, in stopping alliances between Glomdoring and Magnagora.

But how will this affect herbal growth?

I wouldn't have expected a post from anyone else this quickly.

But I don't see how this will stop alliances between Glomdoring and Magnagora?

Way I see it, if they have to break each others' demesnes to help each other (beforehand, Magnagora only had to demesne over Glomdoring, now they have to wastelandise it) they'll have a less easy time helping each other and will probably be more in competition.

Especially, because this is the most drastic change you can have. A tainted forest is still a forest. A flooded forest is still a forest.

BUT, a wasteland has no trees. You can't flow, you can't vines, or anything. So that might be interesting to see. Hm. Do Geomancers have to defoliate normal forests too? Doesn't make much sense if not, but.

I suppose. Does this affect Aquamancer demesnes too? That would also be an interesting change and hopefully cause an all out war.

That's what I'm curious about.

And if Geomancers will have to defoliate NORMAL forests. It doesn't make sense if they don't, really, and it doesn't specifically say in the help scroll, but.

We'll see.

The reasoning is this. When a geomancer taints, he doesn't do just any old taint. He turns the place into a tainted wasteland. But it sort of didn't make sense for them to be casting taint to taint something that is already tainted. Thus they defoliate something that is already tainted but has not gone the extra mile of becoming a wasteland. The main reason is mechanics. We do we not want two demesne-based guilds sharing each other's space for game balance. It would also throw things out of balance if a geomancer and darktalon duo teamed up and stacked every spell from both skillsets in one room as a room-wide effect. It also would be bad if Magnagora and Glomdoring were at war and the geomancers could instantly meld in Glomdoring but the bkacktalon had to first raise up a forest in Magnagora to do their attacks. So think of it this way...
Aquamancy == watery
Geomancy == tainted wasteland
Hartstone Druidry == purified forests
Blacktalon Druidry == tainted forests
Note that Blacktalon cannot cast things like spores and vines in a purified forest even though Hartstone can, nor can Hartstone cast such spells in a tainted forest. Also note that Blacktalon has a similar issue as the Geomancers when they cast a forest. It sort of doesn't make sense for them to raise a forest in a room that already is a forest, so they must INFEST it with tainted insects rather than raising up a whole new tainted forest like they'd do in a non-forestal location.

Fair enough, I suppose, on the IG reasoning for it. I just thought it was a little odd that a Geomancer would have to turn a forest into a Tainted forest, but a Tainted forest into a wasteland. Whatever works though.

I believe now they turn a regular forest into a wasteland when they taint it.

...well, good!

Perhaps I wasn't clear. A geomancer's taint spell turns anything into a tainted wasteland. The point of defoliate is that it's sort of odd to be casting a taint spell on something that is tainted already. Hence defoliating tainted forests. Granted, we could just give them GEOCAST WASTELAND to cover everything, but we think it's cooler if they actually cast a spell that explicitly says they are spreading the taint. And then that warrents thw question: how do they taint something that is already tainted? Answer: they don't, they defoliate instead to turn it from tainted forest to tainted wasteland.

So to Taint a natural forest, they have to first defoliate then taint? How does that work exactly?

Sounds clear to me, and much more reaslistic (in a fantasy game world kind of way).

Do we know if deforesting actually destroys the plants growing there?

No. It's simple, really. If it's not your type, you have to taint/flood/forest/taintforest before you can meld it.

*nod* Sure, it makes sense when combined with what Estarra said. Interesting twist, anyway.

All you have to do is Taint, not defoiliate it.

But a natural forest that is Tainted, cancels out all Forest properties, so you can't flow/wisp/climb trees in Tainted land anymore.

It should probably be changed to a two-step process then, or take additional time to be balanced, IMO.

No, because when we defoiliate, its because its already Tainted it.

This is what defoiliate looks like:

Slowly raising your arms above your head, you command the tainted earth to
destroy the surging life around you. Tendrils of black smoke rise up from the
ground and choke the life out of the surrounding foliage, which shrivels up and
becomes brittle.

Eh well.. I don't see how it's good, Shiri. Maybe I'm missing the big picture.

1. I really, really wish people would post announces when possible, so people who haven't read them yet could have SOME clue what exactly we were talking about :S

2. From what I understand, this sounds awesome to me. No more being wisped out of Revan's demense, or having people flow to/from us? I'll take it!

sounds good to me...and can someone post the announce please?

i cant get on Lusternia because I promised myself I wouldnt play until after the AP European History exam on Friday -twitch-