Here, here! Fix astrology so that everyone wanting to fight is pressured even further into taking tarot and hexes. Good idea!

I don't like these ideas. I say this as an active mid-tier combatant. Aeon, while great for guardians in astrology, is not that great for wiccans (MD with active aeon and SD with choke). I would find Catarin's nativity decent but not great for me to fight against. And with nativity rays, you can not cast two at once. Nativity rays is one at a time. And then there's the no guarantee of being able to give anorexia. And aeon without anorexia is pretty crap because there's no way to make them stop sipping. You get a bad nativity, you deal with it.

As for the 10 power ability to change a nativity, it's crap too. An astrologer would -never- use it in a fight so people can basically get their nativities changed once a year and leave it that way. Why would it never be used? Because there are other power skills to use and then the conservation of power for the end of the fight. I don't know about guardians but with me I have a 5/8 power dark every so often, 1 power constellations on a fairly regular basis, and 2 power stelliums when the signs are good. There are also negative spheres for 0-5 power among other costs, toadcurse which is 8 power (fail or not), 2 power shafts, 3 power for winter. (Shafts and winter is so I can attempt to stop people from leaving.) So 10 power on top of all that other power for me is not something -I- want to deal with, because I'm assuming I'll have to be in the room with them to change their nativity, because otherwise you could just change anyone's nativity on a whim.

But as an MD or SD, there are other nativities that are 'worse' than Catarin's. Pick one that has Anorexia and force that on them instead. I'll bet racial weaknesses make some nativities worse than others, as well.

The 10p thing was just a number and idea. If Astrologers eat power in combat more than others (it doesn't seem like they eat more power than Hexes Wiccans or Tarot Guardians, but I'm not sure), then reduce that cost or apply some other limitation. The idea here is to give them the option of picking an affliction set that works for them, while still providing people with an undesirable nativity a means of defense.

Constructive criticism, Sarrasri! Make helpful suggestions. =P

My information -was- helpful, being as I -am- a combatant with astrology. The nativity suggestion is horrible. Removing aeon from astrology is horrible, so would be removing anorexia. I have enough to focus on without needing to fix someone's nativity to actually do something useful. No one is going to be screwed if they just use stupidity and aeon from nativity rays, which will both take seperate equilibriums to cast, so the stupidity or aeon can even be cured by the time you get to casting the second afflict. I'm saying these ideas are stupid because that is exactly it, stupid. I rather stay mid-tier than be shot down to low-tier because of some god-awful artifact.

To hit with something like stupidity/aeon would require a great amount of good luck on the astrologer's side. It would also cost 3 power, which to any guardian, they wouldn't really want to do. Power is vital.

So how would you balance it all out? Astrology needs an overall boost. But at the same time, I agree with Catarin in that there shouldn't be situations where one person is consistently worse afflicted than another for a detail they can't do anything about. The opposite is also a problem, with those who the Astrologer is much weaker against and having no recourse.

How is it balanced that an astrologer is more powerful against one of two people, when the only difference between those two people is when they happened to create their character? Same race, guild, skills, equipment, even combat talent. One gets hosed, the other gets light treatment, every single time.

The most obvious solution, to me anyhow, is setting it up so that the Astrologer preps their target and then takes advantage of the affliction set that works best for their class. This way, the Astrologer's potency is consistent. If there's a lack of afflictions that work towards their class kill method, that can be addressed as well.

I think Astrology is meant to be that way... I doubt it'll change.

Also, is it fair that you can be effective on some days, while on others you can only afflict with silly little things? Not really, but it's the very nature of the skill. The astrologer's power isn't meant to be consistent.

EDIT: That said, I'd agree to changing the silly little afflictions into some better ones (preferably the three possible afflictions of a sign should have different cures!).

Oh god, it isn't bad enough they screwed the monks, but now they're after those poor astrologers? Please leave them alone, they barely have reason to pick the skillset as is, from what I've gathered. This artifact is not needed, and astrology should be upgraded and not nerfed. That is all.

Artifacts that targets once specific skillset in a negative way are not okay in my book. As much as I would love an artie to make me immune to choke, it would be a bit unfair.

Ashteru's law: A thread that mentions choke has outlived it's usefulness.

I didn't say anything about nerfing it!

Save the astrologers!

Solution:
Improve the weaker afflictions.
Remove aeon from Aapek.
Make a new skill for aeon that has a longer balance time than a standard ray cast so it's somewhat equivalent to flinging aeon (but on EQ, not balance).

Aeon Reliant you mean. Tell me the last time you died a Nihilist hexist? I am betting you never have. No one takes hexes because they have no aeon.

@Ildaudid: Makes me all fuzzy to be thought of

The artifact doesnt make sense, as changing your birthday is kinda wierd and it is meant to target one skillset. But I come bringing ideas! Would you want to implement them all? Probably not as really it would make us REALLY viable.

Changes:

*The ability to change nativity should change the nativity for 1 hour and cost 3p. How it would be changed is the question, you would hate to have to keep using the skill over and over to try to get aeon. However...
*Remove aeon from aapek and make it its own skill of non given name 'The curse of the stars slows your hapless foe' or something. Its not random but it would allow more balance done right. This would not be the same base as most astro it would be slower (mugwump with base 3 aeon... oww.. even 3.5 wouldnt hurt as much but speed is where tarot gets its viability usually).
*Add an ability to cast a nativity for 3-4(?) power. Giving all nativity rays at once (or perhaps a few of em).
*Make bumblebee and spider be based on 30% being a full second in delay and be curable with focus spirit?
*Give us a reason to destroy spheres we cast on people, for damage, or effects or something!
*Replace low grade afflictions when aeon is moved. Sensitivity is kind of useless due to truehearing, dizziness, scabies, and amnesia are rather uselees (kinda freeze too).. however scabies can be left be as aapek wouldnt have aeon so what aff you have in it should be worked into a tactic, but not be relied on. Adding impatience and vapors to the set would make it rather powerful (celestines done get impatence, and nihilists dont get vapors) and would add some fun to it at the same time.

Feedback? I have more I can post later.

Mind Reader!

That would handle the bulk of it right there.

You don't necessarily need to replace weaker afflictions to improve them, by the way - try getting the affs upgraded themselves so they're not worthless for everyone else too.

I should note that astrology is not that bad, though obviously it isn't awesome either. By the time I left MDs it was in pretty good shape - constellation helped a -lot-.

If you look at their weaker afflictions... improving them would be wide-ranging and much more effective for other classes that would have them. Why upgrade something like dementia instead of just replacing it to be more useful for druids? If you know your nativity, you can cure the nativity rays straightaway... when your nativity has afflictions like scabies/freeze/stupidity.... you could do all three of those at once and they could theoretically be cured immediately since they all use different balances.

Well, that's partly true, but in practice you don't know if you're being hit with a nativity ray or a zodiac ray or a date ray.

As for improving something like dementia (which isn't necessarily one that matters), that's just it - the aff is terrible for hexen and bards too except as pennyroyal-stacking. If you don't make affs worth it unless there's a good reason for them not to be worth it, you're eventually gonna end up with a load of useless afflictions that various classes get saddled with but one manages to avoid.

I had forgotten this thread!

Replacing some of the stupid stuff, and yes some things could use upgrading (specially pact powers ) would solve a bit. But the main concern is that the current aeon ray is too fast, but if you slow it down and still leave it iffy then it becomes kind of crappy. Faster than base 4, but slower than base 3 (which it seems to be now) would be nice, base 4 wouldnt be horrid, but if mugwump do get slown down in the rebalancing then base 4 will kind of suck since you will still rely on speed.