Curse

Riotgear · Feb 01, 2008, 02:37 PM // 14:37

I realized there hasn't really been any discussion on this when it came up in the Pulverizing Smash thread. Weakness has always been of limited use, either acting as a primer for a few specific skills (Heavy Blow, Oppressive Gaze, Pulverizing Smash), or being used as a cover condition, the latter of which is essentially obsolete due to Mending Touch.

(Okay, so it makes Wearying Strike outside of tree mode kind of crap

So the question is: What role should the Weakness condition have? Does it need a buff? Do the abilities that inflict it need a buff? Does it need to do something else?

Artisan Archer · Feb 01, 2008, 02:51 PM // 14:51

it has been buffed nicely, it now does -1 to all attributes of the affected player. Great vs people/mobs who exactly reach the req for their shield or weapon. I don't think it needs another buff.

Shendaar · Feb 01, 2008, 02:54 PM // 14:54

I think its effect is pretty strong already, especially on hammer warriors and dervishes. The problem is that you don't really need it when you can just spam blind(a better condition) to no end with bsurge.

Stormlord Alex · Feb 01, 2008, 03:03 PM // 15:03

Weakness isn't too bad by itself - a 66% damage decrease is pretty good.
I just never bother to use it because Blinding stuff is so much easier and a more powerful way to stop a physical (90% miss chance >>>> 66% less damage), and with Mending Touch the need for a cover doesn't seem so worthwhile

Oh, and none of the skills requiring Weakness to work are worth it, imo.

TaCktiX · Feb 01, 2008, 03:08 PM // 15:08

Weakness is indispensable in PvE (especially Hard Mode), but in PvP there are better and more devastating conditions that can be used cheaper and faster. That's why it's not used.

Doji · Feb 01, 2008, 03:11 PM // 15:11

As I recall weakness is only 66% less to a base attack, if it was bonus damage aswell then it would probably see a great deal of play.

Shendaar · Feb 01, 2008, 03:14 PM // 15:14

Yeah I noticed as well that it does not affect attack skills, making it almost useless against assassin. It is still quite a devastating condition for the other melee classes, but again, who cares when you can just blind them.

yum · Feb 01, 2008, 03:54 PM // 15:54

As it stands now, besides the ones caused by hammer, those skills that causes weakness do not worth their slots.

Sun Fired Blank · Feb 01, 2008, 04:07 PM // 16:07

In a PvP context, Crippling Anthem and Anthem of Weariness are fairly potent on a TA paragon. Outside of TA or HM PvE... probably not very useful. I wouldn't say it needs to be augmented, I would just say it's fairly outclassed by other damage alleviation options, and that structurally, I don't see any way to remedy that.

6am3 Fana71c · Feb 01, 2008, 05:42 PM // 17:42

Could probably use a buff, yeah. Maybe add "spells take 50% longer to cast"? Dunno.

Shendaar · Feb 01, 2008, 06:30 PM // 18:30

Quote:

Originally Posted by 6am3 Fana71c

Could probably use a buff, yeah. Maybe add "spells take 50% longer to cast"? Dunno.

That would be quite broken.

makosi · Feb 01, 2008, 06:38 PM // 18:38

Quote:

Originally Posted by 6am3 Fana71c

Could probably use a buff, yeah. Maybe add "spells take 50% longer to cast"? Dunno.

I think there's enough caster hate already. A buff to weakness would be a 25-33% reduction in attack speed or a -33% chance of a Critical Hit.

Winstar · Feb 01, 2008, 06:44 PM // 18:44

Quote:

Originally Posted by 6am3 Fana71c

Could probably use a buff, yeah. Maybe add "spells take 50% longer to cast"? Dunno.

that would be insane

Yichi · Feb 01, 2008, 07:42 PM // 19:42

Quote:

Originally Posted by 6am3 Fana71c

Could probably use a buff, yeah. Maybe add "spells take 50% longer to cast"? Dunno.

so yay -1 to all attributes and a partial migrane/daze... NO PLZ!!!

Syntonic · Feb 01, 2008, 08:25 PM // 20:25

While this suggestion would be rather overpowered, I'd like to see weakness inflict more than -1 (-4 more or less maybe?) to a single attribute where you invested the most points in. The problem lies in the fact that there are numerous ways to easily inflict weakness and it'd just make a mess of things right now if it was buffed. I'm not sure what role it would play but there's a fine line right now - there's plenty of melee hate and plenty of caster hate to buff something else.

TheHaxor · Feb 01, 2008, 08:36 PM // 20:36

Quote:

Originally Posted by 6am3 Fana71c

Could probably use a buff, yeah. Maybe add "spells take 50% longer to cast"? Dunno.

might as well make it "target instantly dies when this condition is applied"

Ensign · Feb 01, 2008, 09:38 PM // 21:38

What the condition does is fine; it was fine before, then they decided to add the -1 to all attributes thing for no apparent reason and which didn't really do anything other than make the condition needlessly complicated. It isn't like that suddenly made the condition good for anything that it didn't already do.

Weakness is amazing is PvE where it sticks and neuters physical damage hard. It's much weaker in PvP because conditions, particularly conditions on Warriors, are much more ephemeral, as people are built to deal with blind; it also doesn't do too much against a Warrior unloading adrenaline or an Assassin using his combo since it doesn't affect the +damage or any other abilities of an attack skill at all.

Weakness is decent to good when it's a side effect of a skill you want to be using already and it's a nice bonus, but it isn't something you want to spend a skill to inflict. There aren't a lot of skills that do that, so it's essentially a PvE-only condition unfortunately.

erk · Feb 02, 2008, 12:31 AM // 00:31

I use Weakness (Enervating Charge) when I play B-Surge and there are several melee to cover, the first I hit with B-surge and the second with weakness whilst B-Surge is recharging to at least keep their damage output down.

C2K · Feb 02, 2008, 05:20 AM // 05:20

If Weakness would prevent its target from achieving critical hits, it would be just as good as blind, but then again, the skills might get nerfed.

Ensign · Feb 02, 2008, 06:41 AM // 06:41

'Cannot achieve critical hits' would be a whole lot better than the -1 to all attributes. I like that idea quite a bit actually.