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A Bonding Runestone and Companion Gear Recommendation
checkmatein3
Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 525 Arc User
This post is for Cryptic Developers to consider reworking the entire Runestone and Companion system. My recommendations take into account:
1) The need for Cryptic to make money by selling Bonding Runestones and Companions from the Zen Market. So, my recommendations include the Bonding Runestone as BiS in almost all mathematical scenarios.
2) The freedom to choose Augment or Non-Augment, but with a small difference in play style. Augments will provide more stat points to the player. The Non-Augment will provide less stat points to the player, but will make up for the loss in stat points with the actions that the non-augment provides as a summoned companion.
3) The freedom to build augments and non-augments with more flexible stats.
Ok, so here are my recommended changes:
CHANGE #1--Make sudden rings unuseable in all companions. There, I said it. Stacking rings are fine, but make sudden rings unuseable. This is game-breaking, even with my recommendations.
CHANGE #2--Cap Augmentation at 200% from all sources. % boosts from runestones, legendary bonus, companion influence, charisma...hard cap it at 200%. Augments already have a % boost, because, they are...well...augments.
CHANGE #3--Make Augment's % Stat Boost increase with Quality (Uncommon 25%, Rare 50%, Epic 75%, and Legendary 100%). So, there is a real reason now to upgrade those augments.
CHANGE #4--Make all Augments statless. Zero. Zilch. Nada. None. You only get stats that you put in through the slots.
CHANGE #5--Make Bonding Runestones an augmentation OR a stat of player's choice. R12 Bonding could be 50% stat boost OR 840 points of any stat of player's choice (Offensive if in offensive slot, defensive if in defensive slot). Make Normal Runestones a lower augmentation AND lower stats of no choice. R12 normal runestone could be 25% stat boost AND 700 points of a defined stat.
The math is so variable, the permutations are mind-blowing, but the trends would be:
1. Augments would still give more stats to the player with an unkillable companion, at the expense of the loss of the functions of a summoned companion. Some players would prefer just the stats.
2. The loss in stats between the augment and the non-augment is not so great that a player might want to 'risk' a non-augment companion for its function. Because augments don't have stats, and a non-augment of the same quality would (lets say both legendary), the non-augment would have a little more stats for itself and for the player. For example, A Legendary Stone of X with 3 Bonding Runestones (2 at 50% and 1 for stats), with 3x Avengers, with rank 12 enchants (with 2 stats), would give the player 22194 stat points. A Legendary Harper Bard with 3 Bonding Runestones (3 50% choices) and the same everywhere else, would also have 2 companion stats of 652, and a legendary bonus of 15%. The total augmentation would be 165%. The companion would have 11561 stat points for itself, and provide 19075 stat points to the player. The difference of 3000 stat points between an unkillable augment and a killable non-augment, in this instance, is made up for in the actions of the summoned companion. The player can decide whether the companion provides 3000 stat points in actions (buffing, debuffing, dps, aggro, etc).
3. Bonding runestones give freedom to build the companion with stats of one's choice or to reach the maximum augmentation cap more easily.
4. For free-to-play players, not having bonding runestones would still provide very good augmentation and stats, you will just be a little less than the Bonding and won't have the freedom of stat choice like the player who buys the bonding runestone.
1) The need for Cryptic to make money by selling Bonding Runestones and Companions from the Zen Market. So, my recommendations include the Bonding Runestone as BiS in almost all mathematical scenarios.
2) The freedom to choose Augment or Non-Augment, but with a small difference in play style. Augments will provide more stat points to the player. The Non-Augment will provide less stat points to the player, but will make up for the loss in stat points with the actions that the non-augment provides as a summoned companion.
3) The freedom to build augments and non-augments with more flexible stats.
Ok, so here are my recommended changes:
CHANGE #1--Make sudden rings unuseable in all companions. There, I said it. Stacking rings are fine, but make sudden rings unuseable. This is game-breaking, even with my recommendations.
CHANGE #2--Cap Augmentation at 200% from all sources. % boosts from runestones, legendary bonus, companion influence, charisma...hard cap it at 200%. Augments already have a % boost, because, they are...well...augments.
CHANGE #3--Make Augment's % Stat Boost increase with Quality (Uncommon 25%, Rare 50%, Epic 75%, and Legendary 100%). So, there is a real reason now to upgrade those augments.
CHANGE #4--Make all Augments statless. Zero. Zilch. Nada. None. You only get stats that you put in through the slots.
CHANGE #5--Make Bonding Runestones an augmentation OR a stat of player's choice. R12 Bonding could be 50% stat boost OR 840 points of any stat of player's choice (Offensive if in offensive slot, defensive if in defensive slot). Make Normal Runestones a lower augmentation AND lower stats of no choice. R12 normal runestone could be 25% stat boost AND 700 points of a defined stat.
The math is so variable, the permutations are mind-blowing, but the trends would be:
1. Augments would still give more stats to the player with an unkillable companion, at the expense of the loss of the functions of a summoned companion. Some players would prefer just the stats.
2. The loss in stats between the augment and the non-augment is not so great that a player might want to 'risk' a non-augment companion for its function. Because augments don't have stats, and a non-augment of the same quality would (lets say both legendary), the non-augment would have a little more stats for itself and for the player. For example, A Legendary Stone of X with 3 Bonding Runestones (2 at 50% and 1 for stats), with 3x Avengers, with rank 12 enchants (with 2 stats), would give the player 22194 stat points. A Legendary Harper Bard with 3 Bonding Runestones (3 50% choices) and the same everywhere else, would also have 2 companion stats of 652, and a legendary bonus of 15%. The total augmentation would be 165%. The companion would have 11561 stat points for itself, and provide 19075 stat points to the player. The difference of 3000 stat points between an unkillable augment and a killable non-augment, in this instance, is made up for in the actions of the summoned companion. The player can decide whether the companion provides 3000 stat points in actions (buffing, debuffing, dps, aggro, etc).
3. Bonding runestones give freedom to build the companion with stats of one's choice or to reach the maximum augmentation cap more easily.
4. For free-to-play players, not having bonding runestones would still provide very good augmentation and stats, you will just be a little less than the Bonding and won't have the freedom of stat choice like the player who buys the bonding runestone.
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