Post by ExDeath on Sept 1, 2008 21:49:57 GMT -5
Based on the opinions of a few people that I've spoken to, I've come to the conclusion that some people don't exactly "get" Enrage. So, I'm going to explain the practical purposes of this spell and the ways that mass implementation would benefit the metagame and playerbase as a whole. Firstly, a great thanks to awall for replacing my horrible spell name with one more fitting. Secondly, if you don't know what Enrage is, I'll explain it for you in simple terms.
-Para is now SFFF instead of FFF.
-FFW is a new mind spell, Enrage, which makes it so the affected warlock cannot use a W on either hand next turn. It cancels with all other mind spells.
I want everybody to know that this is not a suggestion I've made lightly. Prior to and (mostly) after suggesting it, I have played lines out on my whiteboard and analyzed all the details of this spell. It may yet need to be tweaked, but overall it is a good spell, and I will be pushing RavenBlack not only to make it a hardcoded variant, but also to change the default rules to "Maladroit ParaFC Enrage". Therefore, if you want a challenge with these parameters, you'd type nothing, whereas if you want a challenge with the opposite, you'd type "Confusion ParaFF Paralysis". That is why it is very important for everyone to play Enrage games and tell me what they think could be done differently to make implementation perfect.
So, a logical question is, "Why? What needs to be changed?". This is not merely a crusade against para. There are actually three major problems with Warlocks right now, and I'm certain everyone would agree with at least one of them, so let's start there.
D/P loops. Despite the admirable trend of the playerbase moving away from D/P, it is commonly known that this is still the best opening. And although Enrage does not cure the "loop", it may discourage D/P as it will make D/W and S/W more viable. Why does it do this? Because, currently, D/P can take advantage of S/W's passive style by starting with:
DSFFFFF
PWPFSSS
Again, it is commonly known that this line refutes S/W and D/W, but with Enrage this will no longer be possible, allowing more defensive openings to be viable again. However, it does not kill the idea of FoD entirely, it only weakens it by a half-move. This half-move is significant enough to make it a bad opening, but still a very deadly midgame idea, as we can see from this line:
-DSFFFW
PWPFSSS
In a 50/50 at the end, the Enrage can be targeted at yourself to bounce a mind spell or targeted at the opponent to prevent Magic Mirror (nifty use, isn't it?). So FoD is weakened significantly, but still a viable kill mechanism. Overall, this contributes to the health of the game. Moving on...
Para-chaining. Well, this is the most obvious issue that Enrage prevents, and I don't want to start another debate on whether it is good or bad. BUT, I certainly don't think it is something that should be imposed on players who don't like it. For those players, it makes the game more boring and more random than they would like. This variant will give them another alternative, and Para is still there if both players should prefer it.
Monsters. Considering probably 80% of my victories come from an ogre or dual goblins with varying degrees of para-chain, I well understand how overpowered they are. With the removal of para-chains, monsters are no longer the ironclad asset they once were. Of course, they are easier to summon, but harder to hold on to, and that is the way it should be. There is still a "chain" available which is still effective, but does not lead to stagnation. It is:
DSFFFWWSWDSFFFW....
This gives you a mind spell or counter spell on the majority of turns, but it is much easier to stop, and also more diverse in its effect, leading to a healthier game. Note para is still a part of this chain, it just isn't "all" of the chain.
Game flow. Ok, this isn't really a problem that needs fixing, but in addition to the three above things, Enrage also stimulates action by making big spells easier to cast, and giving players a relatively harmless mind spell to bounce with. Not only monsters, but Anti-Spell (to force it through or bounce more safely than DSF/DPP), Fireball (to force it through), and most especially Cause Heavy Wounds (it's a natural force-through as the spell ends in a W). Oh, and it's also perfect for one of my favorite spells: Invisibility, especially if an amnesia is coming...drop PPW/FFW and it's very hard to stop. It's still a challenge to get big spells off, but at least this forces players to think about DISRUPTING spells rather than just COUNTERING them. Counterspell is probably a little too good (or maybe just having two of them is), and for that reason many of the fun spells have been ignored for a long time.
So, what about the negatives? Well..if you love Para, that's obviously a negative for you. Also I believe this variant renders the Haste spell even more useless. The spell might be a little bit too powerful, or it might be a little bit too weak. I can't say for sure. But the FFW is perfect as it leads only to defensive chaining and Cause (X) Wounds. It is perhaps too difficult to lead into, but I encourage you to try DSFFFW sometime, or even just SFFFW. It looks insane, but a turn of para followed by a turn of Enrage gives you a really huge initiative where you can cast a lot of nasty things.
Anyway, the last thing I want is for this to turn into a para vs non-para thread. Keep in mind Para will always be available even if Enrage becomes hardcoded. Look at the other benefits that Enrage provides and tell me, honestly, that they would not give Warlocks a brighter future. I defy it.
-Para is now SFFF instead of FFF.
-FFW is a new mind spell, Enrage, which makes it so the affected warlock cannot use a W on either hand next turn. It cancels with all other mind spells.
I want everybody to know that this is not a suggestion I've made lightly. Prior to and (mostly) after suggesting it, I have played lines out on my whiteboard and analyzed all the details of this spell. It may yet need to be tweaked, but overall it is a good spell, and I will be pushing RavenBlack not only to make it a hardcoded variant, but also to change the default rules to "Maladroit ParaFC Enrage". Therefore, if you want a challenge with these parameters, you'd type nothing, whereas if you want a challenge with the opposite, you'd type "Confusion ParaFF Paralysis". That is why it is very important for everyone to play Enrage games and tell me what they think could be done differently to make implementation perfect.
So, a logical question is, "Why? What needs to be changed?". This is not merely a crusade against para. There are actually three major problems with Warlocks right now, and I'm certain everyone would agree with at least one of them, so let's start there.
D/P loops. Despite the admirable trend of the playerbase moving away from D/P, it is commonly known that this is still the best opening. And although Enrage does not cure the "loop", it may discourage D/P as it will make D/W and S/W more viable. Why does it do this? Because, currently, D/P can take advantage of S/W's passive style by starting with:
DSFFFFF
PWPFSSS
Again, it is commonly known that this line refutes S/W and D/W, but with Enrage this will no longer be possible, allowing more defensive openings to be viable again. However, it does not kill the idea of FoD entirely, it only weakens it by a half-move. This half-move is significant enough to make it a bad opening, but still a very deadly midgame idea, as we can see from this line:
-DSFFFW
PWPFSSS
In a 50/50 at the end, the Enrage can be targeted at yourself to bounce a mind spell or targeted at the opponent to prevent Magic Mirror (nifty use, isn't it?). So FoD is weakened significantly, but still a viable kill mechanism. Overall, this contributes to the health of the game. Moving on...
Para-chaining. Well, this is the most obvious issue that Enrage prevents, and I don't want to start another debate on whether it is good or bad. BUT, I certainly don't think it is something that should be imposed on players who don't like it. For those players, it makes the game more boring and more random than they would like. This variant will give them another alternative, and Para is still there if both players should prefer it.
Monsters. Considering probably 80% of my victories come from an ogre or dual goblins with varying degrees of para-chain, I well understand how overpowered they are. With the removal of para-chains, monsters are no longer the ironclad asset they once were. Of course, they are easier to summon, but harder to hold on to, and that is the way it should be. There is still a "chain" available which is still effective, but does not lead to stagnation. It is:
DSFFFWWSWDSFFFW....
This gives you a mind spell or counter spell on the majority of turns, but it is much easier to stop, and also more diverse in its effect, leading to a healthier game. Note para is still a part of this chain, it just isn't "all" of the chain.
Game flow. Ok, this isn't really a problem that needs fixing, but in addition to the three above things, Enrage also stimulates action by making big spells easier to cast, and giving players a relatively harmless mind spell to bounce with. Not only monsters, but Anti-Spell (to force it through or bounce more safely than DSF/DPP), Fireball (to force it through), and most especially Cause Heavy Wounds (it's a natural force-through as the spell ends in a W). Oh, and it's also perfect for one of my favorite spells: Invisibility, especially if an amnesia is coming...drop PPW/FFW and it's very hard to stop. It's still a challenge to get big spells off, but at least this forces players to think about DISRUPTING spells rather than just COUNTERING them. Counterspell is probably a little too good (or maybe just having two of them is), and for that reason many of the fun spells have been ignored for a long time.
So, what about the negatives? Well..if you love Para, that's obviously a negative for you. Also I believe this variant renders the Haste spell even more useless. The spell might be a little bit too powerful, or it might be a little bit too weak. I can't say for sure. But the FFW is perfect as it leads only to defensive chaining and Cause (X) Wounds. It is perhaps too difficult to lead into, but I encourage you to try DSFFFW sometime, or even just SFFFW. It looks insane, but a turn of para followed by a turn of Enrage gives you a really huge initiative where you can cast a lot of nasty things.
Anyway, the last thing I want is for this to turn into a para vs non-para thread. Keep in mind Para will always be available even if Enrage becomes hardcoded. Look at the other benefits that Enrage provides and tell me, honestly, that they would not give Warlocks a brighter future. I defy it.