Arcanistristmas (Pt. 2: Occult Cross, Fithvu/Calorh/Waseq)

[Rias]

It's Arcanistristmas Part 2! (You thought I was going to miss the Christmas deadline, didn't you?)

The first new thing is Occult Shape: Cross which allows 4 glyphs in a diagram at the same time. Which is going to be particularly useful along with ...

Three new same-effect glyphs: `fithvu`, `calorh`, and `waseq`. These are the Remote Activation glyphs, meaning you can draw your circle wherever you want, activate it once to establish the remote activation link, then wander out wherever you like in the wide world and simply speak the remote activator glyph's name aloud and boom: your occult circle activates right there, instantly. There are three of them that do the same thing to essentially act as three "quick spell slots" that can be used to store up some time-critical effects for convenient immediate activation. This should be particularly useful for Taqet. You can have three different Taqet diagrams all waiting for activation if you want, or you can have other stuff - whatever you want to throw into your diagrams, really. Suddenly Arcanists aren't so slow to actually activate their effects anymore! Though they do need to prepare ahead of time and choose which ones they want for the quick activations.

This stuff can all get a bit complicated, both concept-wise and code-wise, so feedback is very welcome. I'm excited to see Arcanists really getting their feel going now though, with using their multi-glyph diagrams to have some pretty nifty potential.

Hold your breath for Arcanistristmas Part 3, though this was the "big one" I was most excited about. I think the remote activations will be a pretty big game-changer for Arcanists, allowing for a lot more convenience than they were lacking until now.

[Teri]

So far the remote activation is fantastic. And there is a bit to read looking at the plate, but for any arcanists trying them out you do need to step into the circle at least once to activate the circle so they work when you say the activator glyph out loud. Once you activate them, you can draw another circle in the same location (normally you can't around existing unused circles, or an activated Fathys.) These all work for everything but cosir and fathys cause I'm assuming those have to be drawn then activate and persist on the ground. It would be cool to pop down a bunch of cosir circles quick for lighting, but I guess as a quick draw ability type thing maybe? Some bug reports submitted because I tried to break things.

[Teri]

As far as feedback, with the remote activation it might be good to place the energy cost tied to the character that steps into the circle when they speak the activator specifically. I mean, my character is used to going unconscious for science. If the service is offered to more than one character it could be some interesting timing when the energy costs hit, especially if the arcanist is in combat or in energy intensive work. Or logged out and they log in to death as the energy costs hit.

[Lexx416]

I've been having fun with the Remote Activators, but I do have a request - it'd be great if there was a way to see what Activators you have active at any given point! I'm pretty okay with not seeing what effect they're tied to, but just seeing something like

You feel the glyph for Calorh dancing at the edge of your mind

or something similar in 'effects' while that specific Activator glyph is active for a character would be great as a reminder, especially with the buffed durations.

[Rias]

Per the changelog: Fixed a bug that was allowing non-Arcanists to utilize the Remote Activation glyphs.

Remote Activation and the ability to use glyphs much more easily and on-demand, rather than drawing or going to a circle every time, was meant to be a defining feature of Arcanists and display their mastery over arcana. It was never intended to allow non-Arcanists to benefit from these particular glyphs as that would detract from the Arcanists' specialization. Lorewise, the speaking and triggering of the more advanced remote activation glyphs requires intricate knowledge of those glyphs and a mental technique accompanying the speaking of the word, similar to how Words of Power used by Bards are more than just anyone saying a specific word out loud.