Clarity artifact

Riluo

So I have been saving for artifacts and one that I got was clarity. I spoke to Qeddwyn as you do to learn about them all. He responds that it :

Reduces the time spent suffering from blackout by 20%/35%/50%

So I bought it thinking 35% is just enough to curb the horrible two combo issue, only to later find out that level two is not 35% it is a low miserable 20%.

Why was this never change for Qeddwyn as I would not have considered it and worst still why only 20%!! Why? I got it to stop people from pulling of two hidden combos and they still can pull it off even with a level 2 artifact. Please can this be addressed @Oleis. Please! As 20% still allows people to hide two combos in blackout. I mean one combo is perfect, and still allows people to disguise targeted limb attacks without concern. Honestly I am very disappointed as are others because this artefact is terrible now

Serrice

That's just an issue of Qeddwyn's text not being updated to fall in line with the liaison change. You should bug.

And frankly, I fail to see how two hidden combos is an issue.

Riluo

It is not so much the issue that the artefact was not correctly stated by Qeddwyn as it is. In fact Razmael was happy to speak to me about my concerns and correct Qeddwyn, which is extremely nice of him.

The main problem is more in relation to the fact that even at 30% (level 3) it equates to squat, so 10 or 20% is laughable. For example in a fight/test with other monks I am dropping the average blackout length by 1.8 second out of the full blackout, so with this in mind it does nothing to aid people with the blackout spam, because by this point they have done two combos on your limbs. In fact it is easier to just do wounds me after the blackout in either case. I have not test with a Shaman, but I would assume you might get 3/4 of a sec off if you are lucky.

Honestly it needs raised at least to 20/30/40.

--sorry on tablet so I am not able to tweak as I post.

Ilyon

What you describe is a (potential) problem with blackout in general, not anything specific to the clarity artifact, and that's how it needs to be addressed.

Aishia

If it is any higher than it is now, it's capable of making the length of most(If not all?) blackouts shorter than the balance cost of using them.

Aishia

As a simple philosophical argument, an artifact shouldn't exist that absolutely negates the use of a combat mechanic in every iteration.

Valingar

Cutting 20% out of the blackout time isn't insignificant (or 30%, with lvl3 clarity). That's huge.

Let's use mind blackout as an example, since it's what you seem to take issue to. The base eq cost for mind blackout is 4s (- modifiers like eq crown). The base duration for mind blackout is 8s.

That leaves 4-4.5s of blackout time to act in after the monk recovers equilibrium, depending on how artifacted the monk is. Your level 2 clarity artifact is cutting 1.6s out of it. That means you're reducing the time they can actually utilize this blackout to 2.4-2.9s. With a full level 3 artifact, this would be 1.6-2.1s of blackout.

Blackout as a whole has taken a lot downgrades and is a lot easier to track your attacks in now. The classes that have blackout are balanced around its use. Blackout isn't some kind of unfair advantage added on top of the rest of the things. It's a very real part of monk, zealot and (probably) shaman offenses.

Ezalor

I agree with Ilyon in that nerfing the artifact itself wasn't the bigger problem, but rather that some individual skills are problematic, namely Mind Blackout. It got triple buffed in the last liaison round (attacks don't show up AT ALL in blackout now, whereas you could see the Tekura combo but not which limb it hit in the previous iteration + clarity nerf + mana cost reduced). And while you can see your own attacks now, before you could already do that through tracking your Balance/Equilibrium Used messages. So essentially net buffs to the skill.

Ironically the blackout changes spawned in part due to a report to nerf Mind Blackout but resulted in it getting buffed instead. With L3 clarity it's very manageable to deal with as they only get 1 combo off during a blackout, but with no clarity/L1 clarity they can get 2 attacks in blackout in any stance, with L2 clarity they can get 2 combos off in blackout in Scorpion, which starts necessitating the maxed arti to fight against it.

Serrice

Having started using the class and having fought against it a ton, I can assure you that two blacked out combos isn't anything to write home about. Due caution is all that's necessary to avoid being steamrolled by it, much like facing an Indorani.

In addition 'very manageable' implies something has become easily mitigated and thus, not worth opportunity cost paid to use on the part of the user. This would be like if someone bought an artifact that would make Dwhispers 'very manageable' or Teradrim golems 'very manageable'.

Ezalor

Indeed, with L3 clarity you can keep yourself safe basically "trading" one 4.4s guess restoration application for one 4s eq blackout on your vital limbs. I don't think it's worth using Blackout against a L3 clarity user as you're slowing your offense by half (or it's even at best). When you're able to get two combos off though there's the opportunity to do way more with it. The wounds command exists to help mitigate this but when it's possible to pretty much keep 100% blackout uptime on someone you'd begin drifting into a stalemate situation of just spamming wounds vs spamming blackout. Kai Strike combined with Blackout also has amazing synergy where your enemy cannot guess pre-restore vs it and cannot tell which limb is being hit to be able to parry it, and makes wounds useless. It's something that probably approaches instant win against anything less than L3 clarity.

Seir

Blackout is one of those dumb afflictions that is/was universally complained about across IRE. In every game that it exists, there is usually a problem with it. I don't mind Clarity as I feel it's existence is a necessary evil in most cases. I'd much rather Blackout have a unique function for the particular classes that use it such as Monk that involves masking their attacks rather than it masking them for everyone. It's incredibly potent in groups and essentially a death sentence if your system isn't set to auto-sip/moss.

Irruel

I hate the clarity artefact.

Not because I play classes that use blackout, but because I think blackout should be properly balanced if it is not already.

We don't have artefacts that speed up salve balance, writhe times or slow down incoming beheads. Clarity shouldn't exist at all, and it shouldn't need to. I feel similarly about the stun reducer and web boots.

I bought web boots years ago, before Sileris blocked feed, and vamps could web/feed you to death (or run away). I would refuse to do that now. Artefacts should not balance combat.

Ishin

Fucking well said, Irruel. Why should I have to buy a fucking artifact just to make something 'sensible' instead of being ridiculous and getting crapped on? +1 on your whole post, bro.

Aishia

I agree too, feel the same way about resolve. (Stun reduction)

Ishin

Me too, Aishia.

Seir

I also feel that way. If something requires artifacts in order to be balanced, it's improper balance.

Riluo

In terms of fixing blackout what ideas are out there as I would hate to think artifacts are a most to manage a skill?

Irruel

First step: define everything blackout does
Second step: define every relevant thing it does for each class dependent on it
Third step: define the problem things
Fourth step: figure out which things each class needs it to do

Where the things in the fourth are the same as the things in the third, these point toward the tweaks that would need to be made to the classes before both blackout is nerfed and the clarity artifact dusted.