It's something people themselves can solve, really... hop in on the next round of applications.

This isn't at all being suggested. We are simply asking that perhaps you take more volunteers to be Gods should they exist. Or even invite Ephemerals to be gods of orgs needing patrons. We would never ask that an active god be less active. We cherish active gods, even ones we don't get along with, simply because they are helpful to everyone.

Some comments:
1. Some Tae'dae love would be great. As long as they don't get nerfed even more (like in the last racial rebalancing...)
2. And you can't do anything to Ecology because people cry about how it buffs bards. (And can't buff it for bards because sap). Probably should focus on Druidry itself in either case, though the terts should get looked at for the mage/druid imbalance.
3. Sap. Reliance on sap sucks, especially since you can cleanse other people, and I point to the 'Problem' section of report 663. Plus, brumetower > sap, but only for HS, so maybe it's not really a sap issue?
4. No need for a brand new tert, but buffing Runes/DW to be just as desirable as TK/TP would be good, as that would mean useful for druids too. Since at present... what mage wants to take those over psionics?

We take as many volunteers as we can after we go through an interview and screening process. Ephemerals become gods after they finish their training, that's how it goes. There's several reasons why they don't immediately become gods, one of which is to protect players from having someone play a god who isn't ready.

1. I imagine that would be what we can try to solve!

2. Yep. I think one of the big problems with Druids is that they don't get a tert that is just for them, like TK/TP. If you couple this with the admin's distaste for making new specs, then all you really have is Druidry itself, like you said.

3. Yeah, sap's in a very interesting place, adding or taking something has this awkward tendency to swing the skill's effectiveness up or down. I think it would probably be better if cleanse can no longer be cast on others, but eh. I'll add that as a separate issue.

4. Thing is, I don't really think Runes or DW need buffing that much. TBH, if anything, I think they're both slightly crazy with sleepmist/rad. So it's a tricky problem.

Are Sleepmist and Rad issues with Runes and Dreamweaving being crazy as a skill, or just those abilities being really good?

And again we're running into the problem with commune design sharing every skill with someone else. They've said we can work around that with things like Stag/Crow only skills in Druidry, but it still seems trickier than when you've got your own dedicated skill that, at the least, isn't shared between archetypes. Good luck!

I personally believe it's the latter.

And yep, that's the problem in a nutshell.

YES to #2: a DMP review, perhaps both defensive AND offensive.

1. Reports like 552 and 697 introduce sweeping changes by suggesting the creation of multiple new skills across the guild/org divide. Although both are well intentioned, I feel as if either are tackling entirely too-large an issue. Certainly not the scalpel approach.
   
2. Tie into this weapon artifact runes (which is certainly the admin's domain): warriors want tuning-age variability, monks are frustrated that the effectiveness of same-costing weapon runes are halved because of the weapon/unarmed (i.e. kick) divide. Just pointing out this isn't a cost issue, but a desire to bring weapon runes (especially damage mod runes) into a more contemporary vision that aligns with tuning, alternate damage type, strategical DMP (via Charms and Tattooss), and mob resistances. Though... I believe this point violates your note not to discuss artifacts.
   
3. Oooh, and of course a re-examination of the gluts and gaps in skill-, construct-, and consumable-based resistance DMP in light of spreading out of offensive damage types.

I agree.

Okay, I'll add it to the list, then I'm going to bed. Will resume tomorrow afternoon/evening.

I definitely think dreamweaving needs looked at. I have several ideas, but it's really difficult to accomplish through the normal envoy process. It would involve nerfing a few things and then hoping that the buffs make it through. That's not really an ideal way to do things, especially if you don't know before hand whether the admin see the same problems you do. It needs to be done with all proposed changes taken into consideration. I see dreamweaving as a longstanding issue because it has been pretty much ignored since its release due to its previously buggy nature. No one (other than Hartstone, or so I'm told) takes the skill seriously as a choice in combat, so it doesn't get any fixes to make it more viable.

I'm not sure if this is within the intent of this report, but I feel Demigod is currently... a bit limited. I'm currently using 24 of my 50 weight, and that's because... well... nothing else seems that interesting for a non-com. Opening up the Domoth powers in a limited fashion would definitely resolve that; there are far more goodies out there for Ascendants to get, and since they get 150 (I think) weight, they'd still be special, even if Demis get to share their glory.

Agreed. Shouldn't be too unbalanced either, especially considering the cost and the max of 50.

Obligatory mention needs to go to warriors whose several problems that have been, perhaps not around since their inception, but definitely for a number of years now. The high cost to be a viable warrior, the frequency that the several layers of RNG screws you over and the sheer lack of design updates to specs that had gotten nerfed over the years I think really deserves a good luck at. In fact, warriors might benefit from a good special report instead of gradual envoy improvements in my eyes.

I think there can be things done to make the RNG more fair, while keeping it intact and not skewing warriors to become overpowered. I also think general kill-method design should be looked at closely.
Yes, while it's true that some people have done well as warriors, they're usually the ones who have just about every little buff you could possibly imagine, and even still, fell far, far behind other classes than invested the same.

There is a correlation between god activity level and how well an org is doing, which you'll see if you look back through the whole history of Lusternia, but correlation is not causation. Having to be a divine in a losing org is draining, exhausting, demoralizing, and discouraging in ways that are very similar to how being a player in one is all those things, and gods are at least as subject to burnout as mortals, if not more so. You can't easily separate out the cause and the effect because they're interrelated in a vicious circle.

And if need be, it could even take double the weight for Ascendant powers for Demigods. That'd limit it to 25 ascendant-weight for Demigods (or 50 if you've bought the manna), meaning there'd be virtually no demigods running around with fearaura, for instance.

I am 100% on board with this. The system needs a review at the end-game level. It needs to be opened up for more people to participate and play with it (yes, yes, I understand the RP angle, but in terms of fun for the game's demigods it's just too limited).

Also, losing Demigod shouldn't lose bought powers, just put them into remission until Demigod is re-attained.

(I haven't made four+ threads on this subject... right? )

Some rough ideas:
1) Winning Ascension nets you all 3 of your Seal's powers for free (no weight, no essence cost), along with all the other Seal and Ascension benefits. Thus:
- If you hold a Seal, even if you are only a Demigod you can buy all powers from the Domoth of your Seal. Normal weighting and essence rules apply.
- Allow the holder of a Seal to pick one power from that Seal's Domoth to attune it to. That one power will consume zero weight. It still must be purchased as normal as far as essence goes.
* This immediately opens up Domoth powers to a number of additional people who have played and won events in the past even if they are not Ascendants.

2) Consider modifying the weighting system. Up Demigod weighting to 75 points or so, and Vernal Demigod to 125. Probably keep Ascendants at 150. This is because we want to widen the field and let more people participate, and 50 weighting is just too low the moment you can look at the Ascendance powers (they cost so much).

3) Review some of the costs on the Ascendant stuff. Aegis should cost 35 or so weighting, not 50.

4) New 'buyable' thing that lets you purchase one Domoth power (like a Vernal Demigod; it would stack with VDs and let them pick up to two, but have no effect for Ascendants, and can only buy one of these items). Normal weighting rules apply.

5) There've been threads with more ideas for Demigod powers. Please implement more things. Though the more that's implemented, the more important it is to review weighting restrictions! Possibly even for Ascendants, at that point.

Note: Not everything needs to be implemented, these are just some ideas that either individually or altogether could help with the end-game system.

I agree. I can't imagine how much it would suck to buy a second tradeskill only to have a bad turn of events that make you lose demigod or something :S


EDIT: I actually do like the idea of opening up one domoth power to demigods who bear seals. It really does seem to make sense too. I think it should be limited to one ascendant power per demigod though (eg. If John won harmony one year and chaos the other, he can only choose from either chaos and harmony; they don't stack.)

It's early enough that I felt justified in just editing my post instead of making a longer, more detailed one. Just in case you want to review the rest of it for comments and thoughts!

Remove Demigod Ephemeral Powers, or add a CONFIRM command to them (similar to QUIT , or binding credits). Make the confirm message BIG BOLD RED LETTERS OF DOOM.

Can't you upgrade from ephemereal to permanent powers at no essence cost assuming you have the weight now?

Also I agree on opening up ascendant powers so more than just a handful of people can play with them, the weight limits keeps people from getting more than just one - at the cost of stats.