Marauder: Shameless Opportunist ability!

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Rias
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Marauder: Shameless Opportunist ability!

Post by Rias »

Marauders can now pick up the Shameless Opportunist ability! This should help reinforce the Marauder fighting style; particularly their preference to press their advantage when their opponents are off-balance.

As always, feedback is very welcome for this new ability. Go try it out a bit and report how it feels!
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saladbowl
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Re: Marauder: Shameless Opportunist ability!

Post by saladbowl »

Reporting in: its good. Maybe too good.

In practice every attack (including shield bash, tackle, etc) gets what amounts to True Strike level rerolls on low balance opponents, capping at five rerolls around lowest balance. That's before taking ability rerolls into consideration. So Tackle can gain six rerolls, Shield Bash can gain seven rerolls, and if you have 25 balance, True Strike can gain nine rerolls. Mounted combat can add two potential rerolls and morale can add one: my achieved maximum is twelve rerolls.

That only matters if you're winning a fight. If you're getting staggered left and right, it still helps with overcoming your bad balance on other enemies with bad balance. With the overall balance treadmill sloping combatants into negatives over time it might help facilitate comebacks.

It's like an offensive version of Combat Analysis and around the same power. What's great is that unlike CA, people can theoretically do something about it by putting resources into upping their balance, though there's few ways to increase balance right now. I'm not too keen on all combat classes getting super strong manditory 'reroll inflation' abilites. But having a strong ability does put a smile on my face.

I'd reccomend lowering the max rerolls to three, maybe four. As it is now, it solidifies victories with ease after hitting a one or two balance reduction moves. This removes additional possibility of fighting back after getting a balance advantage, beyond the normal penalties. Hopefully the other Marauder enjoyers can post their feedback too.
Last edited by saladbowl on Sat Mar 26, 2022 1:29 am, edited 1 time in total.
Gorth
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Re: Marauder: Shameless Opportunist ability!

Post by Gorth »

I have to agree that this ability could use some nerfs.

Today I took a group to Valeria prison, an area that normally gives me quite a ways of trouble. And we got hit maybe three times, this time, because, with my hurled weapon, I could feint without triggering Tumble, they could get in a Tackle or similar, considering there were two of them, and then I could attack from Combat Avoid with +6 reroles and murder. This is one example, I know, and I haven't been taking notes. But the sheer speed and ease of these kills was worrying, and I'm sure I could do similar to what @2 suggested, Truestriking and grabbing a warmount for just more reroles.
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Rias
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Re: Marauder: Shameless Opportunist ability!

Post by Rias »

After lots of testing and feedback, the maximum rerolls granted by this ability has been reduced from +5 to +3.
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Karjus
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Re: Marauder: Shameless Opportunist ability!

Post by Karjus »

Still think this is ridiculously overpowered, in a variety of ways. Activating on purely target balance, activating on all offensive rolls, belonging to a class who can already completely lockdown opponents balance, and sheer number of rerolls.

Tactical Dodge: Trip: Icing on the cake, but mentioned because it can still cause balance loss.
Dirtkick: 10 second cooldown, -5 target balance. Very low chance of failure, due to the skills used for both offense and defense. 3 second RT, so has to be timed but still low drop in defense. Doesn't use/need balance.
Tackle: 15 second cooldown, -10 target balance. Designed to provide the attacker a weighed chance of success but has 5 second RT so does make you vulnerable. Requires balance.
Feint: 15 second cooldown, -10 target balance. Designed to provide the attacker a weighed chance of success, and as a Marauder who will likely have Artifice, will have an even better chance. 2 second RT, no drop in defense to really use unless incredibly poor timing. Doesn't use/need balance.
Shield Bash: 10 second cooldown, -15 target balance. Designed to provide the attacker a weighed chance of success but has 5 second RT so does make you vulnerable. Doesn't have minimum balance requirement.

In a fight, a Marauder just has to drop feint/dirtkick in the first 5 seconds which will also stagger, followed by a tackle/shield bash, and they'll have a target at -25 balance. Keep in mind, the first -15 balance caused by the two abilities that are hard to defend from, will trigger Shameless Opportunist while also giving their opponent negative defensive rerolls due to balance loss (unless they managed to get a circle/have positive balance to start), and mean that the final tackle/shield bash will have positive rerolls to ensure it lands anyway.

At that point, you're rocking the fight with bonus rerolls to your Dirtkick, Tackle, Feint, and basic attacks, while your opponent is suffering from increased penalties to defend against all of these due to balance.

Keep in mind, the only way for anyone to get out of that at this point would be to leave. Circle, has a 15 second cooldown, and gains 8 balance back, along with a 3 second RT and due to the fact that every ability the Marauder has to keep the target in negative shield bash has improved chances to hit an opponent that is already vulnerable to them, you create a constant loop where there is no circumstances that you should be fighting an opponent while not maximizing the rolls from this.
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