Taem wrote:Re: bradsmithsite Suggestions;
Shell of Protection: From the GOLDEN AXE thread, the only one I kind of like is a combination of the potion and hireable merc idea. I will explain: You can take ten-trophy fragments to summon a "shell of immortal protection". What this shell does is absorbs ONE death blow and restores you to full health. What this means is if you're toon should have been killed due to damage, you will instead recover full HP and your shell will dissipate leaving you vulnerable to death thereafter. You cannot stack shells. Shells are essentially spells, thus cease to exist once you exit the game. This would open up an entirely new trading system exclusive to HC with the added benefit of not providing any service that isn't already available in the standard game (how many times do you die in SC trying to get a charm sometimes?) thus not at all overpowered. The shell could work in SC to, why not, but who would purchase it when you have endless lives in SC? It would have no value in SC like it would in HC. Anyway, this could be a way for HC players to attempt some of the more difficult ubers without fear of instant death, and without the need to dumb down the game entirely just for HC players.
That Shell would have insane value in SC. You do have endless lives, but that hardly matters when you have level lockdowns. It would be especially coveted for anyone farming high labs and would significantly lower their intrinsic difficulty. Also ten trophy fragments is an easily farmable price, and I wouldn't be surprised to see people entering high labs or ubers like Lazarus or the Witch with several shells, again lowering their difficulty by a wide margin.
Honestly, the only change I would make to HC, is reducing the nodrop ratio so the reward for playing hardcore is more chances to find the gear you need to advance. This would reduce the insane amounts of grinding k3k, teganze and/or duncraig required to move forward past 120 ubers, while also improving the HC economy and giving a better incentive to play it.