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Okay, I realize that shifting is buggy as all hell, but at what rank should streak shifts be available?
Relevant skills:
App: 140
Scholar: 244
Mech: 162
Empathy: 251
Charisma: 27
I've had streaks show up in my shift help for quite a few ranks now (100+?) so I figured that'd be no real problem, but almost none of them work.
I understand the features of the target also matter, but THAT much? They have black hair and all I can do is deep purple, deep blue, blue-black and black streaks? (BTW black hair with black streaks?)
TG, TG, GL, et al.
Also: Moo.
Ive noticed that attempting to shift something you yourself have, i.e. green eyes if your empath has green eyes, is much easier than trying to shift something that you do not have.
If you have the gift of life spell, cast that first before you attempt any shift since it gives a boost to empathy, a key factor in your shifting ability. If you find that the shift is still out of reach, raise charisma a few points and try again.
If you have the gift of life spell, cast that first before you attempt any shift since it gives a boost to empathy, a key factor in your shifting ability. If you find that the shift is still out of reach, raise charisma a few points and try again.
<<attempting to shift something you yourself have, i.e. green eyes if your empath has green eyes, is much easier than trying to shift something that you do not have. >>
i'm aware of this part. I am curious about one facet of this, however. As two of my empaths <1 in prime, 1 in plat> are both s'kra. Exactly how does it determine which "hair" color/ streaks are easier for s'kra or tog empaths?
If you are going to damn yourself, my child, you might as well do it all the way.
i'm aware of this part. I am curious about one facet of this, however. As two of my empaths <1 in prime, 1 in plat> are both s'kra. Exactly how does it determine which "hair" color/ streaks are easier for s'kra or tog empaths?
If you are going to damn yourself, my child, you might as well do it all the way.
Maybe this isnt the answer you are looking for, but I seem to remember reading somewheres (and I cant find the documentation for proof) that it is easier to perform a shift on someone of the same race. If I seem to me making this up out of thin air, then I apologize for the misinformation, but I was always under this impression.
If you are a s'kra, then shifting services for other s'kra are natural, and the skill required is neutral (or reduced??).
As far as how to identify the hair color scale, I don't have an answer. I can not tell you why shifting your streaks to red would be easier than shifting them to blue.
If you are a s'kra, then shifting services for other s'kra are natural, and the skill required is neutral (or reduced??).
As far as how to identify the hair color scale, I don't have an answer. I can not tell you why shifting your streaks to red would be easier than shifting them to blue.
>>Maybe this isnt the answer you are looking for, but I seem to remember reading somewheres (and I cant find the documentation for proof) that it is easier to perform a shift on someone of the same race. If I seem to me making this up out of thin air, then I apologize for the misinformation, but I was always under this impression.
I can confirm that this is true. My usual Prydaen empathic companion was able to perform certain shifts on my Barbarian before she was able to manage them on others. She said it was because his barbariac brain had less resistance, but I don't think this is mechanically the case :) I'd have to ask if you need to know which though. I don't think the ones we tested were related to hair.
~Talo, Prydaen Barbarian~
I can confirm that this is true. My usual Prydaen empathic companion was able to perform certain shifts on my Barbarian before she was able to manage them on others. She said it was because his barbariac brain had less resistance, but I don't think this is mechanically the case :) I'd have to ask if you need to know which though. I don't think the ones we tested were related to hair.
~Talo, Prydaen Barbarian~
>> I can not tell you why shifting your streaks to red would be easier than shifting them to blue.
Unnatural colorations are harder to shift. Under the old system, they were as hard as gender shifts.
Red is natural. Blue is not.
Rev. Reene
"Politics is a simple game -- move a piece here, move a piece there -- except sometimes, the pieces bleed."
Unnatural colorations are harder to shift. Under the old system, they were as hard as gender shifts.
Red is natural. Blue is not.
Rev. Reene
"Politics is a simple game -- move a piece here, move a piece there -- except sometimes, the pieces bleed."
I don't mind just fluff. Just fluff is fine.
I have a problem with so many feature slots being shift-only in the first place. Everyone should get a basic selection of faces/noses/builds in the character manager when they roll up their character. Shift should be there to expand on those options and add cool new things, instead of being the only way to get a face shape or whatever period.
I have a problem with the fact that the system was released what, two years ago with the promise of more features being added and instead all we have is a system that is broken in even more ways than the old one and one, count 'em, ONE new feature (freckled skin) added to the lot.
I have a problem with the fact that the downtimes are STILL broken despite this being a known problem and that some shifts are STILL impossible because whatever the rewrite did broke the parser.
I have a problem with all of this and the fact that we have not been told anything regarding when these issues MIGHT be addressed and when we MIGHT get new features and when the bugs in the system MIGHT be fixed.
/rant
Rev. Reene
"Politics is a simple game -- move a piece here, move a piece there -- except sometimes, the pieces bleed."
I have a problem with so many feature slots being shift-only in the first place. Everyone should get a basic selection of faces/noses/builds in the character manager when they roll up their character. Shift should be there to expand on those options and add cool new things, instead of being the only way to get a face shape or whatever period.
I have a problem with the fact that the system was released what, two years ago with the promise of more features being added and instead all we have is a system that is broken in even more ways than the old one and one, count 'em, ONE new feature (freckled skin) added to the lot.
I have a problem with the fact that the downtimes are STILL broken despite this being a known problem and that some shifts are STILL impossible because whatever the rewrite did broke the parser.
I have a problem with all of this and the fact that we have not been told anything regarding when these issues MIGHT be addressed and when we MIGHT get new features and when the bugs in the system MIGHT be fixed.
/rant
Rev. Reene
"Politics is a simple game -- move a piece here, move a piece there -- except sometimes, the pieces bleed."
>>It's never been very good. Starting with the fact it's just fluff. I wanna shift in combat and learn empathy well from it.
You know.. I remember when the attitude on shifting was very close to what the current stance is on necromancy now. Shifters were the bane of existence and I saw Jomay do some pretty horrible stuff.
If anything starts to draw parallels between empaths and necros I would think shifting would be the most corrupted act and a obvious hat in the blasphemer ring.
I have no problem with making empaths learn more empathy from the act (manipulate too please!!!!!) .. but making it even easier such as shifting in combat or being more socially acceptable than it already is I am not in favor of.
You know.. I remember when the attitude on shifting was very close to what the current stance is on necromancy now. Shifters were the bane of existence and I saw Jomay do some pretty horrible stuff.
If anything starts to draw parallels between empaths and necros I would think shifting would be the most corrupted act and a obvious hat in the blasphemer ring.
I have no problem with making empaths learn more empathy from the act (manipulate too please!!!!!) .. but making it even easier such as shifting in combat or being more socially acceptable than it already is I am not in favor of.
>>but making it even easier such as shifting in combat or being more socially acceptable than it already is I am not in favor of.
Well I never said it should be socially acceptable. Shifting as it is right now is supposed to get you jailed if caught doing it or talking about it.
Shifting isn't really a corrupted act. The power that Empaths wield is actually the most natural (and most powerful) of abilities that exist.
As much as I'd love to talk about the parallels between Empaths and Necromancers it's really hard to since we don't know how lore wise they are able to use transference links the way they are able to.
Also when I talk about shifting in combat really what I'm talking about is combat disable abilities. Doesn't, and shouldn't, be flashy. I don't want to wave my hand and suddenly shift a critter's legs together. But making it so they have a harder time maintaining balance, harder time swinging weapons or defending.
Yeah spells could do those things and we do need lots more spells. But it would make shift a useful instead of just another silly fluff thing we can do.
Well I never said it should be socially acceptable. Shifting as it is right now is supposed to get you jailed if caught doing it or talking about it.
Shifting isn't really a corrupted act. The power that Empaths wield is actually the most natural (and most powerful) of abilities that exist.
As much as I'd love to talk about the parallels between Empaths and Necromancers it's really hard to since we don't know how lore wise they are able to use transference links the way they are able to.
Also when I talk about shifting in combat really what I'm talking about is combat disable abilities. Doesn't, and shouldn't, be flashy. I don't want to wave my hand and suddenly shift a critter's legs together. But making it so they have a harder time maintaining balance, harder time swinging weapons or defending.
Yeah spells could do those things and we do need lots more spells. But it would make shift a useful instead of just another silly fluff thing we can do.
>> As much as I'd love to talk about the parallels between Empaths and Necromancers it's really hard to since we don't know how lore wise they are able to use transference links the way they are able to.
This is being hinted at in-game recently. While it might not be commonly known yet, recent events have brought it to the attention of... at least a few (non-necro) characters.
The necro-empath thing is REALLY interesting, and makes for some truly fascinating lorewonkery. But that's not really on-topic for Shift.
Rev. Reene
"Politics is a simple game -- move a piece here, move a piece there -- except sometimes, the pieces bleed."
This is being hinted at in-game recently. While it might not be commonly known yet, recent events have brought it to the attention of... at least a few (non-necro) characters.
The necro-empath thing is REALLY interesting, and makes for some truly fascinating lorewonkery. But that's not really on-topic for Shift.
Rev. Reene
"Politics is a simple game -- move a piece here, move a piece there -- except sometimes, the pieces bleed."
>>Yeah spells could do those things and we do need lots more spells. But it would make shift a useful instead of just another silly fluff thing we can do.
This I am 100% behind. Having our most advanced guild ability being 30th circle-ish (That may be a bit off I dont remember it was like 5 DOZEN circles ago) sucks and healing becomes inherently boring around the same level. Shift being only a fluff ability stinks and even though my empath can do everything up to the most advanced age shifts she has done VERY few shifts for profit due to being an out-of-town combat focused healer.
This I am 100% behind. Having our most advanced guild ability being 30th circle-ish (That may be a bit off I dont remember it was like 5 DOZEN circles ago) sucks and healing becomes inherently boring around the same level. Shift being only a fluff ability stinks and even though my empath can do everything up to the most advanced age shifts she has done VERY few shifts for profit due to being an out-of-town combat focused healer.
>>unnatural colors
Yeah, the first thing I did when I got shift was test it out, and I found to my surprise that I could give my Thief blue streaks.
And then I couldn't remove them. That was pretty awesome. I figured since blue is such a weird color that it would be much harder than all the others, but...no.
So my Thief had to wear a feature hider for several months / tell people she lost a bet.
Things that I would like to see from the shift system:
1. All features are available in the character manager, removing the quasi-OOC nature of shift. Thus shift would only be used cosmetically for times when someone wanted their features shifted not added.
2. Shift has combat applications added. Temporarily shift someone's legs shorter or longer so that their balance and reflexes are greatly impaired. Shift someone to have cataracts temporarily so that their vision is impaired. Various ways to buff and debuff certain stats and skills basically. These would be force shifts but would be temporary and not cosmetic. I'd like to see self-buff abilities available this way also...
And don't even get me started on manipulate! Lots of tasty, tasty applications there also, I think.
-- Player of Szrael --
"Necromancy is Bad" (GM Armifer)
Yeah, the first thing I did when I got shift was test it out, and I found to my surprise that I could give my Thief blue streaks.
And then I couldn't remove them. That was pretty awesome. I figured since blue is such a weird color that it would be much harder than all the others, but...no.
So my Thief had to wear a feature hider for several months / tell people she lost a bet.
Things that I would like to see from the shift system:
1. All features are available in the character manager, removing the quasi-OOC nature of shift. Thus shift would only be used cosmetically for times when someone wanted their features shifted not added.
2. Shift has combat applications added. Temporarily shift someone's legs shorter or longer so that their balance and reflexes are greatly impaired. Shift someone to have cataracts temporarily so that their vision is impaired. Various ways to buff and debuff certain stats and skills basically. These would be force shifts but would be temporary and not cosmetic. I'd like to see self-buff abilities available this way also...
And don't even get me started on manipulate! Lots of tasty, tasty applications there also, I think.
-- Player of Szrael --
"Necromancy is Bad" (GM Armifer)
<<Yeah, the first thing I did when I got shift was test it out, and I found to my surprise that I could give my Thief blue streaks.>>
ya know, that must be a s'kra thing. that was one of the first colors my s'kra empath got as well. she gave my barbarian blue hair. :-)
If you are going to damn yourself, my child, you might as well do it all the way.
ya know, that must be a s'kra thing. that was one of the first colors my s'kra empath got as well. she gave my barbarian blue hair. :-)
If you are going to damn yourself, my child, you might as well do it all the way.
Is it time for me to repost my list of the ways in which Shift is still broken?
I THINK IT IS.
As far as I know, all of these bugs/issues still stand.
Original post date: 10/13/08 (HA!)
It's been a while since shift was changed, and although these bugs have been pointed out before, the fact that they have yet to be fixed has grown wearisome. So, what follows are my problems with the Shift system as it stands:
1. Hair streaks are, comparatively, bizarrely difficult. Not only do most of the colors not go through easily, but the shift itself takes far too long, and the downtimes are way, way too high. I've gotten a downtime of over 300 minutes for a hair streak shift.
2. It was said that the time it would take to perform a shift is capped, but I've timed shifts (hair streaks, body shifts) at over fifteen minutes, which seems too high. Please check this duration and downtweak it? That is a very long time for my character to be immobilized.
3. Downtimes across the board are very inconsistent, and shift evaluate might as well be a random number generator for how useful it is in telling you when your downtime is going to be up. It would be nice if downtimes were more directly correlated with shift difficulty, and if shift evaluate actually gave us something resembling an accurate response, give or take a few minutes.
4. Shift still occasionally fail for no reason, just before completion. A downtime isn't incurred, so I can start again, but this is really annoying especially when the shift itself took about ten minutes. The messaging at a shift completion is also a bit weird and repetitive, seeing the "With relief..." message about three times.
5. I'm not sure what's factored into what we see in our lists, but the lists often seem to be entirely unrelated to the shifts my character can actually perform. Either cut my list down to the ones she can reliably do, or allow her to do all the ones I can see on most people (given some variation for race/charisma). I can see every nose shape in shift list, and yet when I had her try to shift someone's nose she "lacked the skill" to do all but one.
6. In addition, I didn't see any nose shapes until my character got herself a nose shape. What is up with THAT?
7. Shift is too hard for what it is. I am completely in favor of Empaths being able to do all of the shift options by 50th circle or thereabouts. It feels as if the skills required to perform the most difficult shifts have been unnecessarily inflated in order to give an illusion of there being a reason to train an Empath past 50th circle. Shift, as it stands, is cosmetic and useless mechanically, yet is an important part of letting people visualize characters. There should be another tier of shifts that actually DO things (long-term stat buffs, anyone?) that are more difficult. Or even "exotic" shifts like bizarre colors, wings, or tails on non-tailed races would be interesting fluff that could take more skill.
8. Make shift age actually do something. Make it shift the person an entire age category, visibly. There is absolutely zero reason to have your character's birthday changed by a day, especially since premium accounts can actually choose birthdays. It's gotten to the point where we have Human and Human-lifespan-race PCs that are almost too old to realistically adventure. Let Empaths be a way to turn back the clock without requiring dozens of separate shifts for what is essentially NO VISIBLE EFFECT.
~Laril
I THINK IT IS.
As far as I know, all of these bugs/issues still stand.
Original post date: 10/13/08 (HA!)
It's been a while since shift was changed, and although these bugs have been pointed out before, the fact that they have yet to be fixed has grown wearisome. So, what follows are my problems with the Shift system as it stands:
1. Hair streaks are, comparatively, bizarrely difficult. Not only do most of the colors not go through easily, but the shift itself takes far too long, and the downtimes are way, way too high. I've gotten a downtime of over 300 minutes for a hair streak shift.
2. It was said that the time it would take to perform a shift is capped, but I've timed shifts (hair streaks, body shifts) at over fifteen minutes, which seems too high. Please check this duration and downtweak it? That is a very long time for my character to be immobilized.
3. Downtimes across the board are very inconsistent, and shift evaluate might as well be a random number generator for how useful it is in telling you when your downtime is going to be up. It would be nice if downtimes were more directly correlated with shift difficulty, and if shift evaluate actually gave us something resembling an accurate response, give or take a few minutes.
4. Shift still occasionally fail for no reason, just before completion. A downtime isn't incurred, so I can start again, but this is really annoying especially when the shift itself took about ten minutes. The messaging at a shift completion is also a bit weird and repetitive, seeing the "With relief..." message about three times.
5. I'm not sure what's factored into what we see in our lists, but the lists often seem to be entirely unrelated to the shifts my character can actually perform. Either cut my list down to the ones she can reliably do, or allow her to do all the ones I can see on most people (given some variation for race/charisma). I can see every nose shape in shift list, and yet when I had her try to shift someone's nose she "lacked the skill" to do all but one.
6. In addition, I didn't see any nose shapes until my character got herself a nose shape. What is up with THAT?
7. Shift is too hard for what it is. I am completely in favor of Empaths being able to do all of the shift options by 50th circle or thereabouts. It feels as if the skills required to perform the most difficult shifts have been unnecessarily inflated in order to give an illusion of there being a reason to train an Empath past 50th circle. Shift, as it stands, is cosmetic and useless mechanically, yet is an important part of letting people visualize characters. There should be another tier of shifts that actually DO things (long-term stat buffs, anyone?) that are more difficult. Or even "exotic" shifts like bizarre colors, wings, or tails on non-tailed races would be interesting fluff that could take more skill.
8. Make shift age actually do something. Make it shift the person an entire age category, visibly. There is absolutely zero reason to have your character's birthday changed by a day, especially since premium accounts can actually choose birthdays. It's gotten to the point where we have Human and Human-lifespan-race PCs that are almost too old to realistically adventure. Let Empaths be a way to turn back the clock without requiring dozens of separate shifts for what is essentially NO VISIBLE EFFECT.
~Laril
