Changes in the Barrier Skill

[manonfire]

..wow.

I've hoped for this for as long as I can remember.

Now I can roll another <censored>.

[LittleLostThief]

Oldschool you couldn't walk from room to room with contact up.

I liked that.

[Dalmeth]

Bug fixes like this can go on into eternity.

[X-D]

Man, I really dislike this "bugfix" Barrier may be a useful skill for certain things, but it was already pretty weak. Specialy against certain things I will not mention. Now, Bleh, pretty much useless...AGAIN.

BOOO!

HISSS!

[Tisiphone]

Mua-ha-ha-ha-ha-hah!

[brytta.leofa]

So y'all are saying that Buffer Barrier was the only thing holding back a mutiny of preverts?

[Mood]

Man, I really dislike this "bugfix" Barrier may be a useful skill for certain things, but it was already pretty weak. Specialy against certain things I will not mention. Now, Bleh, pretty much useless...AGAIN.

BOOO!

HISSS!

Roll up <class> and abuse the shit out of this! It's the only solution!



I'm kidding. Mostly.

[Winterless]

 

[X-D]

All I can say is, a couple already very powerful things just became many times more powerful...like that was needed. And things that were already hard enough to do, like keep your sdesc hidden, is now, for all intents and purposes impossible.

I love these "bugfixes" (cures) That are worse then the disease.

Blah again.

Makes me wonder why they just do not remove the skill altogether. I mean come on, it has never been strong enough to block anything but newbie contact, any 5 day social PC can break the barrier of a 150day anti-social PC in a couple tries.

No, really, I think it is completly silly that you can break somebodies barrier by slapping them. punching, whatever. And I totally disagree that it is like contact in use. Contact requires concentration, sure, you are contacting the mind of another from who knows what distance, Like using a bow.

Barrier is closing a door and leaning against it. Contact is not something you try to hold every waking moment, Barrier is, and if you have gained the ability to keep your barrier up from opening your eyes to closing them again then it should be automatic, even through combat.

[Agent_137]

Play balance is the reason that contact and barrier break on combat. Those responsible for the bug that allowed barrier to remain active during combat have been sacked.

I'm trying to think of a situation where we needed more weight on the side of this bug fix than the other side, but I can't. Maybe I've either played this game too much, or too little.

[Clearsighted]

All I can say is, a couple already very powerful things just became many times more powerful...like that was needed. And things that were already hard enough to do, like keep your sdesc hidden, is now, for all intents and purposes impossible.

I love these "bugfixes" (cures) That are worse then the disease.

Blah again.

Makes me wonder why they just do not remove the skill altogether. I mean come on, it has never been strong enough to block anything but newbie contact, any 5 day social PC can break the barrier of a 150day anti-social PC in a couple tries.

No, really, I think it is completly silly that you can break somebodies barrier by slapping them. punching, whatever. And I totally disagree that it is like contact in use. Contact requires concentration, sure, you are contacting the mind of another from who knows what distance, Like using a bow.

Barrier is closing a door and leaning against it. Contact is not something you try to hold every waking moment, Barrier is, and if you have gained the ability to keep your barrier up from opening your eyes to closing them again then it should be automatic, even through combat.

The mentally leaning against a door analogy is how I've always seen barrier. Whereas with contact, it requires active concentration to reach out and find someone.

[a strange shadow]

Oldschool barrier, once it was up, was up. Pow.

Then it was changed to drain stun.

Now it breaks in combat?

Gosh.

Yes I'm sure there are reasons behind it. I would hope other things get changed for balance.

I just don't agree that it was at all needed.

Where is the love for the mundanes and their skills and skill trees? Is it just easier to "fix" bugs?

[Sephiroto]

Really, there never was a bug.  It was just a conscious decision of the staff to change the skill, just as they changed it in the past.  So to be more accurate, this was a "code change."  The reason why I say this is because it's not like the staff were unaware of how the barrier skill worked.  Something prompted it.  Whatever it was, there was probably some logical reason (player complaints) for the change.

Me?  I liked barrier how it was.  You might as well make us stop scanning, watching, and listening during combat too if you're going to make our barrier break.

[a strange shadow]

I think the previously existing penalties to barrier were more than enough.

I hate that my knee-jerk reaction was fear that someone would take Sephiroto's above suggestion seriously.

[Incognito]

I'm in favor of retaining (or reverting back to) the old way barrier worked, i.e. it stayed up during combat.

There's some vital OOC reasoning behind it.

OOCLY, it'll be really lame/cheesy/easy for [edited by Nyr.  Please do not post things that are not known via documentation, helpfiles, or that can be discovered in-character.]

[Tisiphone]

I'm in favor of retaining (or reverting back to) the old way barrier worked, i.e. it stayed up during combat.

There's some vital OOC reasoning behind it.

OOCLY, it'll be really lame/cheesy/easy for [edited by Nyr.  Please do not post things that are not known via documentation, helpfiles, or that can be discovered in-character.]

That's not an OOC workaround. The imms, by changing this, are contending that that should work. If you don't want that to happen, avoid combat.

[NoteworthyFellow]

I'm in favor of retaining (or reverting back to) the old way barrier worked, i.e. it stayed up during combat.

There's some vital OOC reasoning behind it.

OOCLY, it'll be really lame/cheesy/easy for [edited by Nyr.  Please do not post things that are not known via documentation, helpfiles, or that can be discovered in-character.]

[edited by Nyr -- see above]
...posts are about to reach a whole new level of fervor and frequency, aren't they?

[Bushranger]

...avoid combat.

I sometimes wish this was possible, but it isn't always the case for most.

As for the barrier skill I have no thoughts on the bug fix one way or the other. Time will tell the effects this has, and I trust that staff are monitering this.

Bushranger

[Nyr]

Really, there never was a bug.  It was just a conscious decision of the staff to change the skill, just as they changed it in the past.  So to be more accurate, this was a "code change."  The reason why I say this is because it's not like the staff were unaware of how the barrier skill worked.  Something prompted it.  Whatever it was, there was probably some logical reason (player complaints) for the change.

Me?  I liked barrier how it was.  You might as well make us stop scanning, watching, and listening during combat too if you're going to make our barrier break.

No, it was a bug.  It was designed this way initially (to break on combat), but was not functioning this way.  In fact, we've been discussing this very skill on the IDB (and still are), and weren't discussing this particular change to that skill at all.  This discussion that we had prompted a look at the code surrounding the skill.  The original coder that implemented it noticed that it was not functioning as intended, and made a change to reflect the way it was intended. 
Back to that discussion I mentioned, though.  There will likely be more changes to come to reflect that discussion, because we (like those of you that have posted here) are very much aware of things in the game that can become unbalanced or exploited.  In fact, there were several other things that were discussed that have simply been accepted as "fact" (and rather detrimental to playability) that could possibly be changed as a result (unrelated to barrier).

[Lizzie]

I can't think of any time I've ever had barrier up while in combat. So this "change" (bugfix or conspiracy, whichever anyone wants to call it) doesn't affect me at all. I don't understand what the problem is, I don't understand the significance of [edited by Nyr], I'm blissfully ignorant of it, and hey - if my not knowing is why some of my characters were successfully assassinated, that's cool too!

Blissfully ignorant and glad of it Lizzie

[Agent_137]

No, it was a bug.  It was designed this way initially (to break on combat), but was not functioning this way.  In fact, we've been discussing this very skill on the IDB (and still are), and weren't discussing this particular change to that skill at all.  This discussion that we had prompted a look at the code surrounding the skill.  The original coder that implemented it noticed that it was not functioning as intended, and made a change to reflect the way it was intended. 
Back to that discussion I mentioned, though.  There will likely be more changes to come to reflect that discussion, because we (like those of you that have posted here) are very much aware of things in the game that can become unbalanced or exploited.  In fact, there were several other things that were discussed that have simply been accepted as "fact" (and rather detrimental to playability) that could possibly be changed as a result (unrelated to barrier).

Thanks for that Nyr. I, and i think many others, are satisfied as long as you folks are having a deep discussion over the issue. For my part, i was only upset that such a sweeping change was simply accepted as the "way things are." But if that's not the case, then I have faith in the collective opinions of the IMMs.

[Incognito]

I'm in favor of retaining (or reverting back to) the old way barrier worked, i.e. it stayed up during combat.

There's some vital OOC reasoning behind it.

OOCLY, it'll be really lame/cheesy/easy for [edited by Nyr.  Please do not post things that are not known via documentation, helpfiles, or that can be discovered in-character.]

That's not an OOC workaround. The imms, by changing this, are contending that that should work. If you don't want that to happen, avoid combat.

The problem with this : Anyone can just initiate combat (even if it's momentarily), have their target's barrier fall as a result, and then disengage/flee, so that [edited by Nyr.  Please do not post things that are not known via documentation, helpfiles, or that can be discovered in-character.]

Like NoteWorthyFellow said : This just made me realise [edited by Nyr]

[brytta.leofa]

There are (censored) that depend on [edited by Nyr]

[Nyr]

Didn't realize until a closer look at this thread, but there were some revelations here that should not be publicized.  I've informed the posters that I've edited their posts and the reason why.   Please do not post things that are not known via documentation, helpfiles, or that can be discovered in-character.

[Lizzie]

omg i broke teh thread with mah bliss-full ignance so sorry