Ley Energy Buildup

[Gibson.4036]

Does anyone find this mechanic fun or challenging?

Mostly it just seems annoying.

Was this a good idea on paper that just turns out to be annoying in actual play? Or can someone tell me why it adds something positive to the game?

[Linken.6345]

8 hours ago, Gibson.4036 said:

Does anyone find this mechanic fun or challenging?

Mostly it just seems annoying.

Was this a good idea on paper that just turns out to be annoying in actual play? Or can someone tell me why it adds something positive to the game?

Were do we even have that again?

[Khisanth.2948]

4 minutes ago, Linken.6345 said:

Were do we even have that again?

Mostly bounties but some EoD champions also have them

 

By itself ley energy build up is fine. It can be "meh whatever" or "wtf this is horrible" depending on the enemy it is on and what other buffs it has.

It is essentially a damaging condition that can only be removed in a specific way.

Edited May 20, 2022 by Khisanth.2948

[Donari.5237]

The annoying part about it is that it sets up certain locations you have to stand in order to fight the champ.  These locations are not always in a good spot (eg none appearing in melee range, or the champ also having other "must stand here" or "must stand still" abilities that don't let you hit it from one of the ley safe spots, or dropping poison or fire on those spots).  And in a game where mobility in combat is key, they pin you in place plus make it hard to help downed people.

So for me it is the least fun ability that can show up, and it's a little frustrating that it shows up so much on EoD champs.

[DaFishBob.6518]

It's crummy, and frankly seems to be bugged since standing in the proper zone gives a protective boon that lasts a certain duration but the moment you step away from the zone, the boon disappears and ley energy buildup happens again.

[Khisanth.2948]

You don't need to stand in it the entire time. You step into it once in a while to clear the stacks once they are higher than you can handle. If your character can't handle having any stacks at all then that is a different problem.

[Ariurotl.3718]

I don't find it particularly annoying tbh. It's just a bit of a challenge to spice up those fights and it's easy to manage.

[Gibson.4036]

I tend to play very mobile builds, as well as builds that can wield both a melee and a ranged weapon set. So I generally don’t have trouble getting to the orbs to discharge.

I did realize while doing bounties last night that every time I find out one has the effect my response is, “ugh”.

As @DaFishBob.6518said, it does seem buggy. Sometimes the buff that’s supposed to keep it off for a time after you discharge vanishes as soon as I leave a circle. At which point my response is just to range the rest of the fight and hop from circle to circle.

There always seem to be players being defeated by it, and other players end up typing out reminders in chat while trying to fight.

I was really curious if anyone thinks, “yeah, this is a nice addition to champ fights”. It turns out at least @Ariurotl.3718feels that way.

I guess in a game that is always telling us “don’t stand there”, one way to add some complexity is to also say “but you really need to stand here or here”.

[Antycypator.9874]

This is really annoying when Instabilities are more dangerous than bosses, so you're trying to survive some additional damage sources while fighting a DPS golem. It would be much better to have champs and bounties with unique abilities, so you have an actual Sniper, not a flying bubble trying to kill you.

[AliamRationem.5172]

I like it a lot better than restorer and phase shifted.  At least individuals have some agency in countering its effects.  Phase shifted you're just screwed for half the fight if you're playing a melee build while restorer is completely irrelevant in groups and completely impossible to counter if you aren't.  Those are poor design.  Ley energy buildup is only really poorly designed on bosses that move large distances frequently and thus end up too far away from the circles to clear the debuff without disengaging from the fight.  

[Blood Red Arachnid.2493]

I tend to be in favor of mechanics that discourage players from mindlessly piling on to the boss.  Ley-energy buildup is a good stress test for group healers, and also requires situational awareness for players to run in and out of the zones to remove the debuff.  All in all, while it is difficult to deal with I find it much better than Phase Shifted.  

[Ashen.2907]

1 minute ago, Blood Red Arachnid.2493 said:

I tend to be in favor of mechanics that discourage players from mindlessly piling on to the boss.  Ley-energy buildup is a good stress test for group healers, and also requires situational awareness for players to run in and out of the zones to remove the debuff.  All in all, while it is difficult to deal with I find it much better than Phase Shifted.  

Pretty much this.

Perhaps not an ideal solution to the, "stack and smack," you might see elsewhere, but it helps.

[Caitmonster.9036]

I find Phase Shift more obnoxious, if I'm gonna be honest. Feels really lousy when you're on a predominantly melee character and you have to go stand in the ring for 30 seconds until you can start whacking the enemy again.

[Khisanth.2948]

9 minutes ago, Blood Red Arachnid.2493 said:

I tend to be in favor of mechanics that discourage players from mindlessly piling on to the boss.  Ley-energy buildup is a good stress test for group healers, and also requires situational awareness for players to run in and out of the zones to remove the debuff.  All in all, while it is difficult to deal with I find it much better than Phase Shifted.  

If there is a healer there shouldn't even be much of a concern for ley line buildup.

[AliamRationem.5172]

I wish they would do a balance pass on unstable magic.  I know bounties aren't really relevant content, but they could be a lot more enjoyable as a solo/small group challenge if so many of the effects weren't so poorly designed.  Here are some suggestions:

Phase Shifted - When it's melee flip you deal 125% damage at 0-250 range and 75% damage beyond 250 range.  When it's ranged flip, reverse the debuff.

Restorer - Spawn one healing orb baseline.  Increase its healing effect and reduce its health.  Interrupts prevent healing for 5 seconds.  Scale up to additional orbs with more players present.

Ley Energy Buildup - Touching the white circles grants resistor, which prevents additional stacks from applying for 10 seconds even after you leave the circle.  Increase the damage from debuff stacks.  If the boss moves beyond 600 range from available circles, spawn new ones.

Exploiter - Remove the blue shield animation.

Propagator - Failing to kill the tendril within a certain period of time causes additional tendrils to spawn.  Increase the number of tendrils that spawn along with boss scaling.

Signaler - This one is fine.  Leave it as is.

Survivor - Procs once at 75% and once at 25% health.  Causes the boss to siphon health with attacks, scaling to the number of players present, and reduces incoming damage by 50%.  Initiates a breakbar.  Breaking the bar removes the effect.

Polluter - Poison fields have longer duration and spawn centered underneath random players.  If the boss stands in these fields, they begin to shrink rather than spread.  Scales up to spawn more poison fields with more players present.

Scorcher - Scales up to spawn more fire fields with more players present.

Sniper - This one is fine.  Leave it as is.

Spinning Lasers - This one is fine.  Leave it as is.

All legendary effects - They're fine.  Leave them as is.

[Dante.1508]

On 5/21/2022 at 9:36 AM, DaFishBob.6518 said:

It's crummy, and frankly seems to be bugged since standing in the proper zone gives a protective boon that lasts a certain duration but the moment you step away from the zone, the boon disappears and ley energy buildup happens again.

Yes i'm with you here, i think its broken these days, i did it the other day and successfully doing it did literally nothing to the boss and i died anyway.

[AliamRationem.5172]

16 minutes ago, Dante.1508 said:

Yes i'm with you here, i think its broken these days, i did it the other day and successfully doing it did literally nothing to the boss and i died anyway.

It's not supposed to do anything to the boss.  You gain stacks of the debuff that deal damage over time.  You can see the number of stacks you have by a little purple version of the same icon that indicates the ley-energy buildup ability on the boss.  The more stacks you have, the more damage you take.  Stepping into the white circles instantly clears all stacks of this effect, but you begin to gain stacks again once you step outside of the circle.  The only time you can't gain stacks is if you break the defiance bar and the boss gains the little red icon that indicates unstable magic effects are inactive.

[Gibson.4036]

18 hours ago, AliamRationem.5172 said:

I wish they would do a balance pass on unstable magic.  I know bounties aren't really relevant content, but they could be a lot more enjoyable as a solo/small group challenge if so many of the effects weren't so poorly designed.  Here are some suggestions:

Phase Shifted - When it's melee flip you deal 125% damage at 0-250 range and 75% damage beyond 250 range.  When it's ranged flip, reverse the debuff.

Restorer - Spawn one healing orb baseline.  Increase its healing effect and reduce its health.  Interrupts prevent healing for 5 seconds.  Scale up to additional orbs with more players present.

Ley Energy Buildup - Touching the white circles grants resistor, which prevents additional stacks from applying for 10 seconds even after you leave the circle.  Increase the damage from debuff stacks.  If the boss moves beyond 600 range from available circles, spawn new ones.

Exploiter - Remove the blue shield animation.

Propagator - Failing to kill the tendril within a certain period of time causes additional tendrils to spawn.  Increase the number of tendrils that spawn along with boss scaling.

Signaler - This one is fine.  Leave it as is.

Survivor - Procs once at 75% and once at 25% health.  Causes the boss to siphon health with attacks, scaling to the number of players present, and reduces incoming damage by 50%.  Initiates a breakbar.  Breaking the bar removes the effect.

Polluter - Poison fields have longer duration and spawn centered underneath random players.  If the boss stands in these fields, they begin to shrink rather than spread.  Scales up to spawn more poison fields with more players present.

Scorcher - Scales up to spawn more fire fields with more players present.

Sniper - This one is fine.  Leave it as is.

Spinning Lasers - This one is fine.  Leave it as is.

All legendary effects - They're fine.  Leave them as is.

Thoughtful suggestions. Thanks for writing this out.

[Dante.1508]

On 5/22/2022 at 11:59 AM, AliamRationem.5172 said:

It's not supposed to do anything to the boss.  You gain stacks of the debuff that deal damage over time.  You can see the number of stacks you have by a little purple version of the same icon that indicates the ley-energy buildup ability on the boss.  The more stacks you have, the more damage you take.  Stepping into the white circles instantly clears all stacks of this effect, but you begin to gain stacks again once you step outside of the circle.  The only time you can't gain stacks is if you break the defiance bar and the boss gains the little red icon that indicates unstable magic effects are inactive.

I didn't see any meaningful damage boost before i died.. Maybe i'm talking about a different champ.. when i channeled i was given a new skill a sword i could throw at the boss it did nothing.. Probably mixing up encounters.

[AliamRationem.5172]

1 hour ago, Dante.1508 said:

I didn't see any meaningful damage boost before i died.. Maybe i'm talking about a different champ.. when i channeled i was given a new skill a sword i could throw at the boss it did nothing.. Probably mixing up encounters.

Think you're talking about the other thread where we were discussing the legendary bandit executioner.  This thread is talking about the unstable magic effect called "ley energy buildup".

[Dante.1508]

Just now, AliamRationem.5172 said:

Think you're talking about the other thread where we were discussing the legendary bandit executioner.  This thread is talking about the unstable magic effect called "ley energy buildup".

Yes i realized my error thats why i said i think i messed up. Sorry.