devtrackers.gg
TL;DR: It's a nice concept and has positive changes for the game, but there are a few negatives specifically related to PvM that unfortunately outweigh the positives.
I am concerned that the staff, many of which aren't high-end PVMers, are trying to implement too many combat changes at once without fully understanding the impact it will have on the game.
Blog Post Breakdown
- The concept is solid and many of the additions would have a comfortable place in OSRS.
- I have no additional issues with the training of the skill that hasn't already been addressed by /u/GentleTractor.
- Rebalancing old, dead content is great.
- Mystic c*cktails are essentially magic's equivalent to chins. These are fine.
- Demon Bane claws seem like a nice way to train magic on slayer tasks.
- Skull scepter with better "Crumble Undead" spells echoes the benefits of the demon bane claws, but for undead enemies.
- Skilling rings and combat rings coming to warding are a welcome addition.
- The synergy with Farming and Hunter is great.
- Battle wards should not be implemented. The combat buffs they bring to the game are unnecessary and clash with the "Warding is the magical counterpart to smithing and crafting" tagline.
- The effects, such as AoE damage on adds, healing, and prayer restoration simply by bringing a ward, do not fit with this skill and don't have a place in OSRS. These could have a significant impact on the meta that nobody currently understands.
- Conjuring wards aren't as worrisome as Battle wards, but they still feel out of place for the "magical equivalent of smithing and crafting."
- There are already plenty of ways to train prayer, but this one is significantly less meta-impacting as the Battle wards.
- The robes in the later levels are too powerful for something you can create from a skill. If they must be in the game, they should be a degradable item you can combine with Ancestral to make it stronger, rather than being stronger than Ancestral. Once it degrades, Ancestral will revert to normal and you will have to craft the item once again to gain the buffs.
- Venemous robes will be stronger on Olm and Zulrah than Ancestral, which are two of the few places where Ancestral is useful.
- Smithing does not allow you to make something better than Bandos armor.
- Crafting doesn't allow you to make something better than Armadyl armor.
What makes me a "veteran?" - I've played since 06 and was around through EOC, as well as started playing when OSRS was released. I started playing when OSRS was released, but took a hiatus when I went to college. I started playing on my main account around 15 months ago and I am almost maxed. Overall, I have thousands of hours of playtime in PvM, skilling, and PKing content.
Edited to move my qualifying statement to the end of the post.
Edited again to make my tl;dr more consistent with the post.
Edited to add GentleTractor's comments on Warding as well.
Edited a few grammatical errors.
Edited to make my "veteran" comment seem less pretentious, as it was meant to be a qualifier more than a brag, as well as to add context to my post where I stated I started playing a year ago.
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