Create a cooldown on Soul Annihilation

[na314]

Problem

Soul blades are a terrific class concept, but tend to feel dull when you actually play them. Most people tend to use their Focus to just spam Soul Annihilation over and over. As a result, the rest of the Cipher's ability set just gets ignored because it is generally better to spend Focus on Annihilation than on another spell. This leads to an effective, but ultimately bland playing experience.

 

Proposed Feature 

I want to introduce a cooldown to Soul Annihilation.

 

Proposal Value

Limiting a player's usage of Soul Annihilation will force him/her to be more tactical in its use and will also encourage the use of other Cipher abilities while Soul Annihilation is on cooldown. 

 

Suggested Implementation

• Apply a debuff to the player upon using Soul Annihilation
• The debuff should be designed to increase the base cost of Annihilation to an unattainably high value (e.g. 500 Focus instead of 10)
• The inflated cost to use Annihilation will effectively lock out the skill until the debuff ends, in effect creating a cooldown

• The debuff can be set in the Status.gamedatabundle files and can be configured by each player to best fit their tastes - I would propose roughly 10 seconds
• During the 10 seconds, the player can continue to use Focus on other buffs, debuffs or damage abilities without penalty or benefit - only Soul Annihilation is affected

 

Request

I am fairly confident that this mod can be designed within the gamedatabundle files, but likely requires more competence than I have with this sort of thing. 

 

Is there anyone here who shares my thoughts about Soul Blades that would like to help in creating this mod? 

 

Thanks!

-N

[MaxQuest]

Problem

Soul blades are a terrific class concept, but tend to feel dull when you actually play them. Most people tend to use their Focus to just spam Soul Annihilation over and over. As a result, the rest of the Cipher's ability set just gets ignored because it is generally better to spend Focus on Annihilation than on another spell. This leads to an effective, but ultimately bland playing experience.

Agreed.

Soul Annihilation idea is great. But Soulblade playstyle feels very bland because the player will spam SA and only SA.

 

I have took a look at your suggested implementation, and made a quick mod (see attachment) using your blueprint:

- Created an unique SA keyword (gui)

- Attached that keyword to SA ability

- Attached a new StatusEffect to SA ability, that gets applied to the player when you use annihilation

- That StatusEffect is of ModifyResourceCost type with 989 value and 10s duration. It checks for SA keyword and cipher class in it's AttackFilter.

 

The possible caveats are:

- I haven't tested it yet

- Duration might scale with INT

 

 

---

While I do completely agree with the problem. I actually don't really like the solution.

And am slowly moving towards an alternative approach.

 

The main idea is: Soul Annihilation also deals damage to enemies recently damaged by shred powers.

I have managed to do that. But now also need to decouple SA damage from weapon damage bonuses, and weapons that deal damage to more than 1 enemy at a time (like WotEP, Citzal, Rod with modal, and so on).

AnnihilationCooldown.zip

Edited January 5, 2019 by MaxQuest

[na314]

Thanks Max! Especially for turning something around so quickly. I'll take a look at the file and test it out later today.

 

Your alternative idea for Annihilation sounds intriguing. I'll track your post to see how it works out. It definitely would add more complexity to the mechanics for SA.

 

-N

[na314]

Not sure where the issue is, but the mod seems to cause an issue with Deadfire upon loading up the game. 

 

After the game starts and you are brought to the main menu, a number of the option buttons are disabled (e.g. the Load saved game button is grayed out and has a gear next to it). 

 

As soon as I disabled the Annihilation mod, the game menu was fine again. Trying to go through the files myself, but can't put my finger on the problem. 

 

-N

[MaxQuest]

^ Just checked. I have missed a closing </Entries> tag in gui.stringtable

I have re-uploaded the mod's archive.

 

Have also taken a look at Ascendant_SE_ResourceCostMult status effect for guidance, and adjusted Soul_Annihilation_Cost_Increase SE accordingly. I.e. moved class and keyword check from AttackFilter to StatusEffectComponent itself.

 

But still, something is amiss, as it looks that SA ability doesn't apply the Soul_Annihilation_Cost_Increase SE, even when it's added to it's StatusEffectsIDs array...

Edited January 5, 2019 by MaxQuest

[uuuhhii]

soul blade also need better buff the -5 cost of shred spell

maybe -25% cost

[na314]

^ Just checked. I have missed a closing </Entries> tag in gui.stringtable

I have re-uploaded the mod's archive.

 

Have also taken a look at Ascendant_SE_ResourceCostMult status effect for guidance, and adjusted Soul_Annihilation_Cost_Increase SE accordingly. I.e. moved class and keyword check from AttackFilter to StatusEffectComponent itself.

 

But still, something is amiss, as it looks that SA ability doesn't apply the Soul_Annihilation_Cost_Increase SE, even when it's added to it's StatusEffectsIDs array...

 

I took a stab at creating a similar mod solution on my own yesterday afternoon. Not nearly as clean and elegant as yours, but I managed to get the desired results in-game. 

 

I largely referenced the configurations for the newly added Forbidden Fist monk class. I only realized yesterday that the solution I was looking for in the Soul Blade was recently created for the FF. With a few copies and tweaks, I was able to reapply the same logic. Still need to go back in and clean up the superfluous code and add some appropriate GUI entries (right now the debuff says "Cipher Forbidden Fist cost increase 900"). 

 

Hmm... I'm looking for an option to share my gamedata file, but I don't see it on my screen.

 

 

I did have one more idea that I wanted to share. Not sure if I should create a new post or not, but here it goes:

 

Problem

The existing Soul Annihilation cast is visually unimpressive. Ideally, the cast would ignite the Cipher's Primary Weapon in purple flames similar to the visual FX in POE1. Now, I have found a prefab file for Citzal's Great Sword that would be perfect for the cipher.

                    "OnEquipVisualEffects": [
                        {
                            "VisualEffect": "prefabs/effects/abilities/wizzard/fx_citzals_enchanted_armory_sword_wpn.prefab",
                            "AttachPoint": "Fx_Bone_01",
                            "EmissiveColor": {
                                "A": 1,
                                "R": 0.8313726,
                                "G": 0.7764706,
                                "B": 1
                            },
                            "EmissiveGlowScale": 1,
                            "ScaleToCharacter": "false"
                        }
                    ],

The problem is that I cannot figure out how to add the FX to the Soul Annihilation cast as opposed to adding it directly to a given weapon. 

• The FX is pretty intense and would be annoying if it was permanently present versus just appearing on an ability cast
• You don't want to have to apply the FX to every single weapon you want to use on your Cipher

 

Proposed Solution

Enhance the Soul Annihilation ability entry so that the above Citzal FX is invoked on the Cipher's Primary Weapon every time Soul Annihilation is cast. 

[na314]

soul blade also need better buff the -5 cost of shred spell

maybe -25% cost

 

One idea I've been toying with is creating a second ability similar to Soul Annihilation that would offer a defensive bonus.

 

Name:

Soul Reinforcement (name subject to change)

 

Description:

The Cipher consumes all of his Focus to create a protective mental barrier around himself. The strength of the barrier is proportional to the amount of Focus consumed. Shares the same cooldown with Soul Annihilation

 

Details:

• 15 second Defense bonus (Deflection & Will)
• 1 Defense Point per 8 Focus Consumed
  • e.g. Casting Soul Reinforcement with 90 Focus will buff Deflection & Will by 11 points each for 15 seconds
• Shares the same 10 second cooldown with Soul Annihilation (based on the mod that was designed in my original post)

 

 

I am still thinking through what kind of Defensive buff I should use. Not sure if the one I just described is a little too plain, or too imbalanced. Potentially, there might be room to create a third Soul ability that gives the Soul Blade an interesting ability kit. Then they would have multiple options with regards to how they handle their focus. They could now generate 1 of 3 effects at a time (all on the same cooldown): either increased damage, increased defense, or some other utility ability that still needs some consideration.

[MaxQuest]

I took a stab at creating a similar mod solution on my own yesterday afternoon. Not nearly as clean and elegant as yours, but I managed to get the desired results in-game. 

 

I largely referenced the configurations for the newly added Forbidden Fist monk class. I only realized yesterday that the solution I was looking for in the Soul Blade was recently created for the FF. With a few copies and tweaks, I was able to reapply the same logic. Still need to go back in and clean up the superfluous code and add some appropriate GUI entries (right now the debuff says "Cipher Forbidden Fist cost increase 900").

Ah, indeed Forbidden Fist curse does something similar.

I have took a look, and now my version works too)

The trick was in using two status effects (one with 10s duration, and another one with indefinite cost change).

 

Hmm... I'm looking for an option to share my gamedata file, but I don't see it on my screen.

There is a "Attach File" option if you click "More Reply Options".

 

 

P.S. Regarding VFX: I don't know how to attach item VFX to statusEffects. But can attach a statusEffect VFX. For example have a attached red flames from frenzy SE, and set them to last for 2s after you use Soul Annihilation.

P.P.S. Have re-attached the mod files.

Edited January 5, 2019 by MaxQuest