Post by Past Ramen on Oct 23, 2022 17:52:27 GMT -5
Q4 2022 Balance Patch
At long last, the promised update is upon us. The most important features of this update are the SMM raise to 100,000, the introduction of Afterlife Tutors, and the rebalancing of certain variants. A Status Effect category has been added, but this is primarily for organization and does not change the way that statuses actually play out. This is intended to enable future expansion if needed, as well as make it easier for members to clearly record what effects they have at any given time in a post.
Members are permitted to refund and rebuild any techniques which have their mechanics changed as a result of this update. Players who fall below the new minimum starting experience of 20,000 may post here to be topped up to 20,000 total XP with the following format. Techniques which have had their wording changed to fit the new Status Effect descriptions may not be eligible for a refund unless something changed mechanically.
Members are permitted to refund and rebuild any techniques which have their mechanics changed as a result of this update. Players who fall below the new minimum starting experience of 20,000 may post here to be topped up to 20,000 total XP with the following format. Techniques which have had their wording changed to fit the new Status Effect descriptions may not be eligible for a refund unless something changed mechanically.
[b]Current Total XP:[/b]
[b]Current Spendable XP:[/b]
[b]Spendable XP after Top-Up:[/b]
1: STATUS EFFECTS
In order to make the effects generated by Variants more clear, we have opted to divide these effects into categories called 'Status Effects.' These are not new effects, but rather a simplified way of listing the results of variants. At present, these effects are:
BLEEDING
When this is applied, you take 15% of your own PL as damage at the end of your turn. The amount of turns this lasts varies based on the effect that applied it.
Applied by; Bleed, Bleed+
EMBOLDENED
When this is applied, the next non-sparking technique you use has an additional +20% power. Doesn’t activate if the technique you used costs 0 KP.
Applied by; Inspire, Taunt, Inspire+, Taunt+
EXHAUSTED
When this is applied, the next technique you use has 10% less power. Cannot reduce techniques below 10% power.
Applied by; Exhaust, Exhaust+
POISONED
When applied, this reduces your transformation modifier by -x1. The effect lasts until the end of your turn. The amount of turns this lasts varies based on the source of application.
Applied by; Destron Flask
2: VARIANT UPDATES
Homing now only ignores Evasive Variants of a similar tier (ie. Light vs Light). Against higher tiered Evasive Variants, it now instead gains 20% power.
Splitting is reduced from 2TP to 1TP. All variants are applied to each half.
Merging is unchanged.
Bleed now deals 15% damage per turn, up from 10%.
Overflowing is unchanged.
Inspiring now uses the Status Effect wording, and requires at least 10% damage to be applied.
Exhausting now uses the Status Effect wording, and requires at least 10% damage to be applied.
Piercing is now 2TP, down from 3TP.
Stasis techniques may now be passed to another player, though this still uses up your respective action for the turn.
Distanced is unchanged.
Evasive is unchanged.
Shield is unchanged.
Reflective is unchanged.
Sustained has had its description clarified.
Taunt now works with up to 40% power remaining, and has been updated to use the Status Effects wording.
If you are eligible for a refund or rebuild of any of your techniques due the listed changes, please post in Technique Applications. The TP Calculator should be updated with the new variants and descriptions!
BLEEDING
When this is applied, you take 15% of your own PL as damage at the end of your turn. The amount of turns this lasts varies based on the effect that applied it.
Applied by; Bleed, Bleed+
EMBOLDENED
When this is applied, the next non-sparking technique you use has an additional +20% power. Doesn’t activate if the technique you used costs 0 KP.
Applied by; Inspire, Taunt, Inspire+, Taunt+
EXHAUSTED
When this is applied, the next technique you use has 10% less power. Cannot reduce techniques below 10% power.
Applied by; Exhaust, Exhaust+
POISONED
When applied, this reduces your transformation modifier by -x1. The effect lasts until the end of your turn. The amount of turns this lasts varies based on the source of application.
Applied by; Destron Flask
2: VARIANT UPDATES
Homing now only ignores Evasive Variants of a similar tier (ie. Light vs Light). Against higher tiered Evasive Variants, it now instead gains 20% power.
Splitting is reduced from 2TP to 1TP. All variants are applied to each half.
Merging is unchanged.
Bleed now deals 15% damage per turn, up from 10%.
Overflowing is unchanged.
Inspiring now uses the Status Effect wording, and requires at least 10% damage to be applied.
Exhausting now uses the Status Effect wording, and requires at least 10% damage to be applied.
Piercing is now 2TP, down from 3TP.
Stasis techniques may now be passed to another player, though this still uses up your respective action for the turn.
Distanced is unchanged.
Evasive is unchanged.
Shield is unchanged.
Reflective is unchanged.
Sustained has had its description clarified.
Taunt now works with up to 40% power remaining, and has been updated to use the Status Effects wording.
If you are eligible for a refund or rebuild of any of your techniques due the listed changes, please post in Technique Applications. The TP Calculator should be updated with the new variants and descriptions!
3: SPARKING VARIANT UPDATES
Overflowing+ can no longer have its power reduced below 75% when it wins a clash.
Homing+ now provides an additional 20% power if a player other than the intended target intercepts the attack. The intercepting player will lose 1 KP after damage calculations, and may be put into negative KP as a result.
Taunt+ now grants two stacks of Emboldened. These must be used on different techniques.
Inspire+ now grants both you and a chosen ally Emboldened when it deals at least 10% damage to a target.
Mending has had its wording fixed to make it clear that the amount healed is based on the original user, and not the recipient, when paired with Distanced.
4: MALUS AND XP FLOOR
SMM has been raised to 100,000 XP. In accordance with this, the minimum starting experience has been raised to 20,000 XP. Please post in this thread if you need your experience adjusted up to 20,000 in accordance with the new minimum. In the future, starting XP raises will be in increments of 10,000 to match the Malus.
We would also like to take this time to clarify that low-PL minions will be subject to a malus when refunded if it is deemed they were purchased for the sake of storing experience. If you purchased minions to store experience ahead of Malus, and refund them when the Malus changes, they will be subject to review and may still be refunded at an SMM rate. This should not effect the vast majority of cases, but falls under the general rule that we will react proactively to clear exploits.
As usual, we will be watching for cases of exploitative thread-storing and grading those at a Malus if they occur. Major threads that have been completed almost entirely under the previous Malus will be graded at Malus. Threads that were only written partially under the previous Malus may be graded at the current rate.
5: AFTERLIFE TUTORS
A new Afterlife Tutor role has been added. Tutors are similar to other player roles in that they are applied for and given based upon character eligibility. Tutors will be able to train dead characters in the use of a Sparking+. This is a special Sparking technique that has an additional 2TP to use for its design. You may only gain one Sparking+, and the ability to train with a tutor may be denied in instances of extreme abuse (ie. intentional death to maximize power.)
Read more about this system in the Afterlife Thread
6: ACTION THREAD CHANGES
Action Threads will see a slight tweak to their posting requirements going forward. From now on, members will need to secure a majority of the thread's approval to be later than 48 hours in any given post. If you are later than 48 hours and you have not secured permission, you will be automatically skipped and will be unable to post again until your next turn, even if you feel you can get a post in before the next person in line finishes theirs.
In extenuating circumstances, we encourage members to reach out to staff -- however, in most cases the 48 hour rule will be applied more strictly to ensure that Action Threads do not stall out, and to keep the pace high. As always, we encourage members to only join Action Threads if they have the energy and time to post consistently for its duration.
We would also like to take this time to clarify that when Action Threads cause permanent changes to boards, the description itself will be reviewed and edited by staff (if one is provided.) This is to ensure that boards retain the same stylistic approach in terms of length, grammar, etcetera. That being said, the actual impacts upon the board are of course firmly in the control of the players who instigated the change, and any descriptions provided by the instigating player will be given priority as a template to work from (if any changes are needed).
CONCLUSION: FUTURE OUTLOOK
This patch was obviously a long time coming, so we wanted to take this time to address future updates. Moving forward, players can expect both the SMM and the Starting Experience rates to change more regularly as the site progresses. By moving starting experience in pace with the malus, we will be able to ensure that players at the top do not need to be held back for too long at any given time. We won't be setting specific dates for these raises, except to say that they will be gradual, and also more regular than they have been over this past year. We want to encourage the most active players to feel that they are being adequately rewarded for their activity.
The increase in SMM also means we should expect the Super Saiyan-level tier to be reached soon, along with the first instance of Tierbreaking. Given this will only happen once per tier, the requirements for Tierbreaking will be fairly strict--but, once one person tierbreaks, the rest of the site can gain their transformations naturally. So, have fun, and hopefully it'll make for a memorable moment.
A new Afterlife Tutor role has been added. Tutors are similar to other player roles in that they are applied for and given based upon character eligibility. Tutors will be able to train dead characters in the use of a Sparking+. This is a special Sparking technique that has an additional 2TP to use for its design. You may only gain one Sparking+, and the ability to train with a tutor may be denied in instances of extreme abuse (ie. intentional death to maximize power.)
Read more about this system in the Afterlife Thread
6: ACTION THREAD CHANGES
Action Threads will see a slight tweak to their posting requirements going forward. From now on, members will need to secure a majority of the thread's approval to be later than 48 hours in any given post. If you are later than 48 hours and you have not secured permission, you will be automatically skipped and will be unable to post again until your next turn, even if you feel you can get a post in before the next person in line finishes theirs.
In extenuating circumstances, we encourage members to reach out to staff -- however, in most cases the 48 hour rule will be applied more strictly to ensure that Action Threads do not stall out, and to keep the pace high. As always, we encourage members to only join Action Threads if they have the energy and time to post consistently for its duration.
We would also like to take this time to clarify that when Action Threads cause permanent changes to boards, the description itself will be reviewed and edited by staff (if one is provided.) This is to ensure that boards retain the same stylistic approach in terms of length, grammar, etcetera. That being said, the actual impacts upon the board are of course firmly in the control of the players who instigated the change, and any descriptions provided by the instigating player will be given priority as a template to work from (if any changes are needed).
CONCLUSION: FUTURE OUTLOOK
This patch was obviously a long time coming, so we wanted to take this time to address future updates. Moving forward, players can expect both the SMM and the Starting Experience rates to change more regularly as the site progresses. By moving starting experience in pace with the malus, we will be able to ensure that players at the top do not need to be held back for too long at any given time. We won't be setting specific dates for these raises, except to say that they will be gradual, and also more regular than they have been over this past year. We want to encourage the most active players to feel that they are being adequately rewarded for their activity.
The increase in SMM also means we should expect the Super Saiyan-level tier to be reached soon, along with the first instance of Tierbreaking. Given this will only happen once per tier, the requirements for Tierbreaking will be fairly strict--but, once one person tierbreaks, the rest of the site can gain their transformations naturally. So, have fun, and hopefully it'll make for a memorable moment.