Okay, so I ramped up to play the Thief and Bard a little bit over the last couple of weeks, and things are going swimmingly. (Just made level with a character [the Thief] for the first time in like six or eight years! Woo-hoo!)

And I'm playing the Bard in a pretty safe area while I try to remember how I had him set up and all, and I'm noticing some things.
1) Sonic Runestaff flares are awesome. Even with only getting 2/3rds of 48 ranks of EL:Air (so 32 ranks effectively), there's many a time I'll see flares--even double-flares, and of course second-only flares--on consecutive casts.
2) I've confirmed that flares are enabled for Sonic Disruption/1030. I'm not certain if that is intended or not.
2a) I do not recall whether Disruption flares only on single-cast version (where I'm virtually positive I've seen it) or on multi-cast (where I do not recall) or both. Clarification of intent would be appreciated.
3) Basically: Are multi-target spells supposed to flare at all? They are subject to one of the AS/DS-or-CS/TD checks, so they are not automatic.

Because I do not see flares on: Holding Song/1001 [can be mass], Depression/1015 [always mass], nor Unravel/1013 [always single-target].

All three are attack spells, non-automatic, and subject to the CS/TD comparison. None are listed in any of the exemption lists (see below).

If multi-target/AoE spells are supposed to get runestaff flares, then the Bards are left out on two of those three.
If they are not supposed to, then I will have to look more carefully as to when Disrupt is doing so (I would be willing to believe it happened only on a single-target cast).
At the very least, I would expect Unravel/1013 to get them: it's definitely hostile, has a check/is non-automatic, and is not on the blocked list.

4) Vibration Chant/1002 has a CS/TD check at all times, but even if the target's hands are both empty it is possible to have your runestaff flare (on a successful warding). Is this intended?

Because I could totally see a 102-rank EL:Air capped Bard [== 68 effective ranks, == 11 steps of Lore, == 33% chance of second-flare] spamming a 2-mana VibChant and just banking on the runestaff flares for cheap damage.

5) Has anyone quantified the crit selection (purely random? degree of failure?) for VibChant/1002?
I was routinely rolling >=200 results and getting lethal crits on each of them; with my Lore [22 ranks ML:Manipulation, so likely at least +15 to the endroll, so a final result of (150 - 15 ==) 135 would net an exploding item], this would probably be in >=65 net EndRoll for success.

GM commentary and/or answers and/or player research invited and welcome!

Thanks, all!

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References:

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By: GS4-ESTILD
Re: Runestaff Updates
On: 10/10/2011
At: 12:04 PM EDT
##: 6


In order to make runestaves more attractive, we've made a few updates which will go live later this evening.

First, a runestaff's enchantment bonus will add directly to a player's defense in all stances.

Second, we now have a few merchant services for runestaves. All of the services are flares which can trigger when casting a spell.

1.) Crit flares: heat, cold, electric, acid, impact, etc.

2.) Acuity flares: these are flares which trigger to provide a bonus to the caster's AS/CS for a single attack. The amount is a static attribute of the runestaff which can be further increased as a scalable service. For example, you could have a 4x/2x acuity runestaff, which provides +20 DS in all stances and has a chance to flare +10 AS/+6 CS (the CS value is always 3/5 of the AS). Acuity enchant ranges from 1 to 10x, with 1x being fairly common and 10x be extremely rare.

3.) Mana flares: these are flares which trigger after a spell is cast to return mana to the caster. The amount of mana is a static attribute of the runestaff which can be further increased as a scalable service. It ranges from 1 to 5, with 1 being fairly common and 5 being extremely rare.

Mana flares can trigger when casting any spell. The other flare types only work on single target, war spells. All current runestaves with flares will see their flares become functional with spells once this goes live. Past that, this service will debut at this year’s Ebon Gate, then be available at other special events, through the treasure system, Premium Points, the Adventure’s Guild, and from many other places.

Lastly, holy water flares from Bless Item (304) will work on runestaves. Each time a player casts a spell that can trigger the flare, it will deplete a charge from the runestaff.

GameMaster Estild
Cleric/Empath Team

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By: GS4-ESTILD
Re: Runestaff Updates
On: 11/09/2011
At: 06:32 PM EST
##: 331




I just rolled in an update so that spells which are automatically successful will not trigger a runestaff critical flare. This includes Spirit Dispel (119), Call Lightning (125), Spiritual Abolition (230), Weapon Deflection (412), Elemental Dispel (417), Elemental Disjunction (530), Sounds (607), Energy Maelstrom (710), Sandstorm (914), and Mystic Impedance (1708).

In addition, spells which did not previously resolve success/failure through the normal attack (AS/DS) or warding (CS/TD) system have been updated to only flare a critical when successful. This includes Call Swarm (615), Spike Thorn (616), Weapon Fire (915), Boil Earth (917), and Implosion (720).

Lastly, sonic runestaves have been updated to flare less often when casting a spell vs. using the weapon for a melee attack. In addition, the lore bonus for sonic runestaves will only count 2/3 of the Bard's lore when calculating its chance to flare when casting a spell. This aligns with the other runestaff flare mechanics which have a reduced chance to flare vs. a normal weapon since spells are typically cast faster.

GameMaster Estild
Cleric/Empath Team

Even Krakii gained some experience, I think it was in July!
(The little Enchanter blew up his Major project, which killed the older Enchanter mentoring over his shoulder.
So Krakii got to raise a [near-]like-level character, woot!
But, yeah: if anyone has a raising Cleric lurking around the Zephyr Hall in the Landing, there's a dead Mage laying there stinking up the joint for the last month. :)

Thanks, Estild!

I forgot to ask about Rage/1016, but since I have NEVER cast the spell it's easy for me to forget.

.

<Estild's comments> -- author obvious

Short summary: mass-effect/AoE spells do NOT get runestaff flares. Correct?

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Please consider this an Unravel/1013 bug submission.
1) Given the number of times I drain those suckers dry, I should be seeing some flaring goodness.
2) Should there be a chance of flare on the renews also? (Still a CS/TD check... Just the mana cost goes down.)

.

Since I was just looking at the VibChant/1002 page on GSWiki, I know it's talking about <some range of X-to-Y ranks of ML:Manipulation> providing <Z amount of Endroll pushdown> for effect. Ranks above fifteen (>15) are in the "unknown/no research" category.
Any chance of getting The Word on just how much benefit each rank of Manipulation affects the eER (effective EndRoll) in that calculation?

Within your own group, is there still the CS/TD check? (There used to be a -50 TD pushdown.) Or is it automatic?

Are you typically doing these casts in the field? Just pack up your flaring runestaff when you Unravel/1013 your party members, you should be good.

Not "weapons"; specifically, your flaring runestaff.

How many runestaff-using Bards are there?

>How many runestaff-using Bards are there?

I think pure bards are not uncommon

And since I've got you on the horn right now...

"Since I was just looking at the VibChant/1002 page on GSWiki, I know it's talking about <some range of X-to-Y ranks of ML:Manipulation> providing <Z amount of Endroll pushdown> for effect. Ranks above fifteen (>15) are in the "unknown/no research" category.
Any chance of getting The Word on just how much benefit each rank of Manipulation affects the eER (effective EndRoll) in that calculation?" -- Me

Bump.