Issues with Sustain

[NikolaNeiju]

Hello! I am making this thread because personally me (and probably a lot of other people) dislike sustain, I remember the criticism it faced during the launch itself as it was really OP early game, and even now it's kind of... Unfun to fight against, at least by my opinion and those I have heard from.

So! Why don't we talk about sustain and think of ways it can be improved? As always, please be civil to one another. We're here to improve the game!

I'll begin with my reasoning why right now, Sustain spells, and builds are unfun.

Sustain spells are by design, made to prolong and stall the battle, obviously that's the intended way to play sustain... The issue comes when you have several sustain spells, all of which heal you up, and a possible aura that gives you passive healing. (or conditional healing, like with blood orb/bond of blood). Which makes the battle drag on longer than it needs to be, couple that up with high DR and some people legit can't get you below 40-50% HP.

Where as Burst, Melee, Kite, all have variety of counterplay to them, Sustain on other hand has only so little, all of which are bad options, it's related to status called curse.

Distort is a mana-ripple esque type spell, a slowly moving spell which hits for low damage and curses the enemy. Hard to hit unless you can slow down your enemy and aim, OR come up close which is very unorthodox play for an illusion-based build.

Curse, is an occult spell (so that means you have to app/mentor occult first to get it- which isn't that hard, but regardless)... Which is an auto-hit for small damage plus some curse duration.

Acid Spray, which is a wave-burst type spell that doesn't even SAY that it curses in it's tooltip. Regardless, still, short duration to be any useful. But acceptable damage for short CD. It's drawbacks being that it's hard to hit without stun.

Lastly, to my knowledge Soul Drain inflicts rot which is likely some type of curse, and although it is a good spell- it's a  signature/hidden... here's also a curse gem, but it requires to gacha 3000c, and spend a gem slot instead of putting a war cry or any other generally good gem, so you spend a gem slot on a situational one. All methods of curse are either ineffective due to their short duration. Or are locked behind literally one of the three trees, or require a 3000c gamble to get....

[Chance]

Probably start by pointing out which spells are overtuned and why (in terms of their efficiency vs. others) rather than situational counters.

[Oyster.]

Every sustain spell is mathematically weaker than non sustain spells. This is because sustain can't crit, and doesn't benefit from +ap. The benefit is that sustain auto hits.

Therefore there are two ACTUAL issues:

Zoning abilities (mandrakes with mud?!) and DR stacking that make approaching healers difficult

.. and skill issue

no amount of downvotes will wipe away your tears

[SilkiyTea]

no amount of downvotes will wipe away your tears

It won't, but it will make me feel better for like, five minutes. Until I remember sustain still exists.

[Folian]

(mandrakes with mud?!) 

i agree, nerf earth.

mud has had it good for too long.

[NikolaNeiju]

Probably start by pointing out which spells are overtuned and why (in terms of their efficiency vs. others) rather than situational counters.

You make a good point, sadly I haven’t thought of that while posting, it’s 3 am so I meant to leave it here and come back to it in the morning.

[Cotillion]

I agree nerf autohits,,

[Avee]

muff belee

[MuscleWizzard]

I think the largest issue is the oppressive nature of Nature currently. Mandrakes, the flowers, and vines are all incredibly gorked when used in tandem with one another and hard kiting. I had a fight against Caliel early on into the wipe where everything was landed save for a single fatal and a plasma javelin which ended up in a loss. Not a skill issue since I know 100% that would've beat anyone else with that many spells landed.

It's less of the healing that's the problem and more of the fact that you cannot feasibly avoid damage caused by summons while oppressing healing. They're too fast, too tanky, and too up your ass for you to live free.

Perhaps curse could use more time as well. After getting a curse gem in my weapon I find it hard to make consistent use of it but THAT could just be skill issue.


(Just mute the music idk how to only record eternia without picking up background shit)

[Penguin]

Sustain is always like this on every wipe. Remember that we don't have equipment, enchantments, potions, etc., etc... Once people start getting those, it might get balanced. Also, "Curse Gem" not being categorized as a good gem is crazy...