What is each affinity good at?

WindStrike · (This post was last modified: 10-02-2015, 10:38 AM by WindStrike.)

As the thread implies, what should each affinity be good at? Here's my list of suggestions:

Fire - Tearing defenses down. AoE. Setting the world on Fire.
Water - Negating stuff.
Nature - Defense. Moar defense.
- Wind - Speeeeeeeed.
- Earth - Defense no jutsu!
Light - ... I'm actually not sure.
Shadow - Attrition, aka stealing stats.
Arcane - Screw Magic!

That's not to say this is all an Affinity should be for, but for what a good portion of the Spells focus on. In general, we should probably have 3 to 4 specialties for each Affinity, and they don't have to be specific to that Affinity. For example, Healing could be on most or all of these Affinities, just in different amounts/ways.

Fire ze suggestions! If you wanna suggest a specific spell idea, see this thread!

Orithan · (This post was last modified: 09-21-2015, 07:25 AM by Orithan.)

Light is good at disabling, though there is a lack of focus where Light is concerned. A majority of afflictions inflicted by Light attacks disable the target in some way, be it by cutting their accuracy or screwing with their affinities.
On the support side, Light focuses on buffing the target's stats and protection. A good number of Light support spells like Boost and Spirit Raise buff stats while others like Barrier tends to protect the target.

IMO, the PSI spells should be representative of their elemental specialties in some way. While they don't have to be their full incarnation (otherwise helloooo borked PSI spells), they should at least show it in some form. PSI Flare and Arrow are good examples that represent their respective affinities, but there are some that don't quite get it; notably PSI Flash. Unless we count earlier levels, an increase in Magic cost doesn't do well for disabling. It makes casting that much more painful, but it doesn't really hinder anything the target has.

WindStrike · (This post was last modified: 10-02-2015, 12:54 PM by WindStrike.)

New list of suggested themes for each affinity:

Fire
- Offensive:
  - High Damage
  - AoE
  - Anti-Defense, stuff like Armor Down and Defense Down
  - Neutral Damage
- Support:
  - Damage increases
  - Automatic damage over time
Water
- Offensive:
  - Anti-Buffs, stuff like removing them and preventing targets from getting 'em
  - Freezing things, like decreasing attack
  - Washing away multiple affinities
- Support:
  - Anti-Afflictions, stuff like preventing targets from getting 'em
  - Buff protection
Wind:
- Offensive:
  - Super high damage, but highly inaccurate (Lightning)
  - Ignores Cover (Lightning)
  - Knockdown effects, like knocking items out of their hands
  - Magnet stuff?
- Support:
  - Increased speed
  - Increased attack
  - Increased dodging, like rerolls
  - Influence, Field Effects that affect the tide of the battle
  - Healing at once
Earth:
- Offensive:
  - Disruption, like preventing charging
  - AoE
  - Immobilizing
  - Decreasing damage
- Support:
  - Increased defense
  - Increased armor
  - Barriers
  - Healing over time
Light:
- Offensive:
  - Disables
  - Shutting down passives (not innates)
  - Shutting down heavily on one affinity at a time
- Support:
  - Stat boosting
  - Barriers
  - Restoration (ie, removing Afflictions)
  - Healing w/ restoration
Shadow
- Offensive:
  - Stealing stats
  - Lifesteal
  - Feints, like rerolling on attack or switching targets mid-attack
  - Stealing Buffs
- Support:
  - Dodging, ie rerolling
  - Illusions to possibly completely dodge attacks
  - Increased escape
  - Increased attack and defense
Arcane
- Offensive:
  - Stealing Magic
  - SCREW Magic
- Support:
  - Magic recovery over time
  - Resistance to other affinities

Thoughts?

Sephiroth · 10-02-2015, 12:54 PM

I'd say that is solid.. Looks great. Smile

Orithan · 10-04-2015, 11:30 PM

Seems solid. Just that we need enough options for Earth and Wind in order for them to be a viable split.

WindStrike · 10-05-2015, 10:02 PM

Yeah, speaking of that... so far, I have yet to really see enough backing and overall support to split down to Wind and Earth as opposed to just using Nature. For now, I think I'd rather we just focus on rewriting all the spells and then seeing if we can really split Nature.

WindStrike · 10-06-2015, 05:06 AM

Revised list, goin' with just Nature. A few things got moved around a bit as a result:

Fire
- Offensive:
  - High Damage
  - AoE
  - Anti-Defense, stuff like Armor Down and Defense Down
  - Neutral Damage
- Support:
  - Damage increases
  - Automatic damage over time
Water
- Offensive:
  - Anti-Buffs, stuff like removing them and preventing targets from getting 'em
  - Freezing things, like decreasing attack
  - Washing away multiple affinities
- Support:
  - Anti-Afflictions, stuff like preventing targets from getting 'em
  - Buff protection
Nature:
- Offensive:
  - Super high damage, but highly inaccurate (Lightning)
  - Ignores Cover
  - Knockdown effects, like knocking items out of their hands
  - Disruption, like preventing charging
  - Immobilizing
  - Decreasing damage
- Support:
  - Increased defense
  - Increased armor
  - Barriers
  - Healing at once and over time
  - Influence, Field Effects that affect the tide of the battle
Light:
- Offensive:
  - Disables
  - Shutting down passives (not innates)
  - Shutting down heavily on one affinity at a time
- Support:
  - Increased speed
  - Stat boosting
  - Barriers
  - Restoration (ie, removing Afflictions)
  - Healing w/ restoration
Shadow
- Offensive:
  - Stealing stats
  - Lifesteal
  - Feints, like rerolling on attack or switching targets mid-attack
  - Stealing Buffs
- Support:
  - Dodging, ie rerolling
  - Illusions to possibly completely dodge attacks
  - Increased escape
  - Increased attack and defense
Arcane
- Offensive:
  - Stealing Magic
  - SCREW Magic
- Support:
  - Magic recovery over time
  - Resistance to other affinities

List of stuff confirmed we're doing:

Specializing the affinities
Rewriting most of the spells to account for this
Reducing the overall count of the spells
Moving the affinity bonuses/losses to the spells themselves

A number of other suggestions have been made (some examples include: splitting Nature to Wind and Earth, dropping the total affinity levels down from 1 per 5 to 1 per 10, removing combination spells); however, with all the extreme diverging opinions on them, I'm going to hold off on considering their implementation until the above things are done. Which, by the way, will probably end up solving half the suggested stuff on their own.