Well as I am sure a lot of you are aware, there has been a lot of discussion regarding Buffer over the previous months and it has seemingly increased even more recently. A few months ago KHobbits made a thread discussing potential options on how we could tweak the kit to make it more balanced. The thread raised a good discussion and poll about the potential options however it has been quite a considerable time since that and the Admins thought it would be good to get a fresh opinion; There have been a lot of changes to ECC recently, in terms of ownership and players, that I'm sure that opinions may have changed. Now, one option which will not be implemented is removing the kit completely. This won't happen so please don't suggest it. Please make the most of this as an opportunity to make improvements to the the balance of the kit and don't just drag it down into the gutter demanding that is removed. Please also remember that, as with all kits, it is supposed to be more powerful than not having kits. This means that ideally buffer will still allow a 1-2 hit kill in most situations. It shouldn't be able to ruin gameplay though, so what we need to do is possibly make it harder to get so many easy kills with it. The below are the options that we would like your opinion on. Please vote in the poll above and (hopefully) write a short reply below explaining your decision. You may vote for up to 3 options. Only posts that discuss potential changes to the kit without completely removing it will be allowed in this thread. Anything that doesn't adhere to this may be removed, in particular any spamming/trolling posts. 1) Add a slowness effect to the strength potion. - This will be counteracted with the speed potion, meaning that you will need to use more thought with this kit. - The potions could be configured to completely cancel each other out, so speed+str = normal speed, or maybe just a slight reduction in top speed. This wouldn't stop the potions being used independently for people with a bit more strategy. 2) Reduce the amount of time the strength pot lasts for. -This would make it less likely that people can run up a large string of kills before the strength pot wears out. Means people will have to think a little more about when to use the pot. 3) Turn the strength pot into a splash potion. - This has both upsides and downsides. Means people could cooperate when using the pots, but means that people will find it harder to drink a strength pot just before battle, and will often accidentally hit other people. - This could also be combined with some of the other options. 4) Make the pot effects wear off quickly after a kill. - This would stop the kill chaining which is possible when running around with both speed+strength pot. - Could make it so that the effects wear off 10s, 5s, 2s, after a kill. This means after you killed the first player with the pot, you would only have the effect for a short period afterwards. This could apply to just the strength pot, or both speed and strength. 5) Make the pot effects time half after each kill. - This would stop the kill chaining which is possible when running around with both speed+strength pot. - This means you could still chain a few kills, but the overall time the pot lasts will be greatly reduced when killing a couple people. This could apply to just the strength pot, or both speed and strength. 6) Add a weakness effect to the strength potion. - This option wouldn't reduce the effectiveness of the potion itself to kill people but would make using the pot more risky, and would be best used in surprise attacks, and not used as a definite win during deathmatch. 7) Drinking the strength potion deals damage. - This would cause an instant damage effect, dealing 3-5 hearts worth of instant damage. This would reduce the chance of the pot being used just before a fight, since you would want to combo it with time for health regeneration, golden apple, or health pot. 8) Drinking the strength potion causes wither effect. - This would cause an short wither effect damage lasting 10-20 seconds. This would reduce the chance of the pot being used just before a fight, since you would want to combo it with time for health regeneration, golden apple, or health pot. 9) Drinking the strength potion reduces max hp. - This would cause a reduction in the max health of the player by 2-5 hearts. This option wouldn't reduce the effectiveness of the potion itself to kill people but would make using the pot more risky, and would be best used in surprise attacks, and not used as a definite win during deathmatch. 10) Increase the hunger rate. - This would increase the rate at which a player burns through there hunger bar, similar to eating rotten flesh only faster. This would mean players health would probably not auto regenerate and would have a hard time sprinting.
I voted for the following two choices, as I couldn't find a third choice that I actually liked. As a note, I am an owner of this kit, so I am giving these opinions from a perspective that has seen and used Buffer. 2. Reduce the amount of time the strength pot lasts: This would reduce how ridiculously a single player can destroy one game. Kill streaks need to be more based on skill rather than simply hitting somebody once before they hit you five times. This leaves the ability for the player to still easily win a one vs. one against a non-buffer opponent, but does not ruin the game for the rest of the players. 3. Turn the strength pot into a splash potion: This one would be more fun, and would also bring a slight increase in skill cap for the potion. This could be seen as a buff as well however, as teams may use this to gain the strength potion effects for two players. 4. Make the pot effects wear off quickly after a kill. See same reasoning for number 2. Notes for the choices that I did not vote for: 1) Add a slowness effect to the strength potion. I guess this fits with the tankier stronger player, but I would personally find this boring to use/play against. The one hit kills would still be a prevalent issue. 2) Reduce the amount of time the strength pot lasts for. My vote, see above. 3) Turn the strength pot into a splash potion. My vote, see above. 4) Make the pot effects wear off quickly after a kill. My vote, see above. 5) Make the pot effects time half after each kill. This would not be enough of a nerf in my opinion. I'd rather see a large decrease in the time after a kill occurs. 6) Add a weakness effect to the strength potion. Didn't quite understand this one, doesn't this just offset the strength potion? Or does it simply happen for some of the time? Edit: Thanks to matty for explaining this, he says it makes you take more damage. I feel like this is a somewhat viable option, however it is certainly not in my top 3. 7) Drinking the strength potion deals damage. Would be fun, but players would simply drink the potion earlier. No tangible effect would be seen. 8) Drinking the strength potion causes wither effect. I like this, but in my opinion seems a bit too strong of a nerf. I feel nobody would use the strength potion, which is certainly not the idea. 9) Drinking the strength potion reduces max hp. Doesn't stop the issue regarding one hit kills. Doesn't make any sense. 10) Increase the hunger rate. These players have plenty of food. I don't see this being a huge change.
I chose the slowness effect because many users like the 1hit, however if the user is too slow even after using the speed pot + str2 pot then that would be better.
1) Good idea, but why don't we just get rid of the speed completely and keep the strength with no slowness effect? 2) Haven't played in a while, but from my experience playing SG, using the buffer always felt like a waste because I couldn't find more than 3 people by the time the potion ran out. This may be different for other players. 3) - but means that people will find it harder to drink a strength pot just before battle Not entirely sure what this means Players just look down and splash before a fight (look up some faction gameplay if you need examples). Splashing a teammate will not give the two people the same amount of time, they'd each get less than the full amount. 4) This one makes the kit kinda useless, makes it so that you can only use it for one battle... :/ 5) Same thing here, so you get 2 kills, and then you only have 22.5 seconds to find another one? Doesn't seem useful to me... 6) Wouldn't the weakness just cancel out the strength, or at least part of the strength? 7) If it would reduce the chance of someone using it, why would the kit exist? Besides, people can just splash heal and be back up to full hp. 8) pls no, wither is the most annoying effect in the world. 9) 5 hearts is a little too much, maybe 2.5 or something? 10) Good idea again
I, personally, believe that this is a great idea because in my opinion, kit buffer is way too over powering. I've noticed newer users raging, or getting frustrated that they're trying to earn money by sging, and complaining about getting one-shotted by the one and only buffer, then quitting. I think that we should try to reduce the time of the pot, so users can't drink it before Deathmatch, and get three more kills, along with winning the game. Another good idea is to have the pot wear off quicker after a kill, so it isn't too over-powering. Thank you for this, and I really hope something could be changed.
I'd rather not have the $90 spent on Buffer++ get nerfed. Changing kits drastically will make me think twice about buying another feature, in risk of having that changed and more money wasted. Just leave it as it is. If people want to get wrecked by those with buffer, let them. No one is forcing you to play SG, and if you don't like it, you can find another way to make money.
I like 3, 7, and 9. 3 for the reasons above and 7 and 9 as it would deal damage and reduce the ability to have a certain amount of hearts so it could be used to damage other opponents and then have the same effect with some disadvantages. Just my opinion
For the record, what is the server's policy on tweaking/altering donation features? I do not remember an instance of something like this occurring in the past, and the only listed disclaimer in the server's policy is regarding a complete removal, not a change.
Just for the people questioning the usefulness of #6, weakness makes you take more damage in minecraft rather than deal more. So it would still deal as much damage but you would take more as well, like a double edged sword effect.
Turning it into a splash potion is very very very bad. Team of three, each with buffer. They all stand on the same block, drop the potion, all three receive buffer, with one potion. Repeat.
If I had it my way.. 1. Add a delay before the str2 effect actually works. This way you can't just drink the potion the moment you see someone you don't like. You have to plan ahead 2. Add a slowness effect during this delay. So you can't just drink it and run away in a 1v1 situation 3. Reduce the time it lasts. The way I see it is that the potion is meant to be used strategically and at the right moment. Games are usually really short because of the amount of players. The potion can just be used at the beginning or near the end and it will last the whole time.
I think the best would be making it impossible combine spy + strength. Another suggestion is making it speed potion 1 not 2. I also like opinion number 1 and 2. I think combined all this opinions in my post would make it balanced and new users have a chance to kill the buffer users.
First of all, I would like to say that buffer would remain just as OP because of the regen, insta health, and speed. Furthermore, we aren't removing strength, but rather nerfing it a bit.
OK if your going to tweak buffer in any way, just make it strength 1. Like, putting any of these in would completely destroy the kit. My second option on if you disagree with my first one is, just don't change it..
