Slime Squisher
Posts: 406
Joined: Thursday, 1st March 2012, 01:42
Distortion's instant Teleport needs to go away
I think the other distortion effects are all good design-wise. Dangerous, maybe unadvisable but they make sense whether its you or monsters using it.
On the other hand, the instant teleport effect is a pain in the ass without bringing anything of value and an example of bad design for several reasons IMO.
First, here is why I think the other effects are good:
Bonus Damage is the main reason why you use it.
Its also part of why its scary when monsters use it.
Banishment is another reason why you use it - instakilling monsters is as powerful as it sounds, but this is compensated by being unreliable and Distortion in general being quite dangerous and the experience penalty.
Its also interesting on monsters, the player has enough information to react to it, and though harsh early on, banishment is mostly survivable.
Blink is the main reason its scary to use, despite its power, the tactical challenges Blink can create can be deadly combined with being unable to unwield it safely if you worship Lugonu - I think though it is sometimes a bit of a pain in the ass, its mostly good design to give the player extra power in exchange for extra risk.
When a monster wields it its also good. Can also be somewhat favorable or very dangerous.
Delayed Teleport its kinda there. But I think its not bad. When a monster becomes unstable you can decide whether to focus on killing it before it gets yanked away or to do the opposite, knowing this is what is going to happen. Gives the player a choice, doesn't feel particularly annoying.
When a monster hits you with this, its a similar situation. You can feel relieved if it was a bad situation (but you still have to survive till it yanks you) or you can try to kill the monster before you get yanked away.
Either way not bad.
Now, the Instant Teleport on the other hand is terrible on several levels.
First, it immediately creates an inconsistency with how Teleport normally functions - compared to an effect the same damn weapon you are using produces - which if I am not wrong goes against Crawl's principles.
Second, its somewhat redundant with Delayed Teleport. Why are there two Distortion Teleport effects instead of just one?
Third, it constantly disrupts the flow of combat. While Blink repositions your enemies and creates tactical challenges without ending the engagement, and Delayed Teleport gives you some time to adapt to the fact that the engagement is ending, Instant Teleport does neither. And that health you took off the enemy? A waste of your time, you get nothing for it. At least Banishment removes the threat from the level and gives you some XP for it.
The worst part is how damn frequent it is. It seems to happen every other battle.
When a monster uses this on you, it doesn't feel as exasperating because its not an effect you are constantly getting hit with, but you are either relieved you just got out of a bad situation for free (bad!), annoyed your enemy just got out of a bad situation for free (bad!) or just indifferent (not bad, not good)
Thoughts?