and into wrote:Yeah, I think enslavement is more appropriate as a wand-only effect, and TD would be fun for enchanter and/or arcane marksman starting book. At least, spell enslavement, as currently designed, potentially allows for more degenerate game play than does current version of TD.
It often feels like the biggest issue with enslavement is just the way it affects discussions of hexes. Enslavement is, in some ways, the ultimate single-target hex. It turns an enemy into an ally for a fight, and it makes them stabbable after. Basically, ever time I see a discussion about a new idea for a single-target disable, it comes down to "confusion and hibernation have early game covered, and then enslavement is better than an instant kill at level 4, so where could anything else go?"
I feel like the key question here is "is enslavement too strong right now?" If enslavement's too strong, then it should be changed or removed either way, and then we can consider whether that opens up some new single target disables or a buff to Tukima's dance to create something more powerful than current level 3 hexes but less powerful than enslavement. If enslavement's power level is appropriate for a level 4 hex, then it's trickier, because that means the problem with designing disables above level 3 isn't that enslavement exists, but that hexes' unreliability is a big enough flaw that a level 4 hex should be better than an instankill. Removing enslavement would just open up a slot to be filled by something else of the same power level, which still doesn't leave room for various interesting mid-level hex ideas people have had.
I guess one area that hasn't been played with much is varying levels of reliability. Hexes don't all have the same level of reliability, from what I understand, but I don't think it feels hugely different. Part of the problem with Tukima's dance, at least the few times I've tried it, is that it often just feels like every turn I was attempting to dance an enemy, I could have been confusing or enslaving them instead.