Blood 9 Blessing: Beavis and Butthead for the first time

[tinkthank]

Since I didnt know what Death Curse did but figured it would be really groovy, I made a Mictlan Fountain with the appropriate stats and went for some sacred action. Boy was I dissapointed.

Am I correct or alone in thinking that this is truly a very very very dissapointing blessing effect to spend 9 blood on? I *never* thought I would revert to the Beavis and Butthead dictum in Dom II (I think a wise person said: if it appears to be one-sidedly bad, think again), since everything is just so cooly balanced, but...
"Blood 9 blessing sucks". Ok I said it.

[Saber Cherry]

You are correct. It is not even 1% as good as any of the level-4 blessings=)

Death-9 is very weak, too, unless you go through some strange exploits involving deliberately suiciding your sacred mages to avoid upkeep. I wouldn't mind a completely new Blood-9 and Death-9 blessing effect.

Blood: How about "Blood Vengance -4" ? Meaning opponent makes an MR save versus penetration 7 or gets hurt instead of the blessed unit. Or else, "Blood Poison": Any melee attacker that draws blood is poisoned.

Death: Keep the unit EXACTLY THE SAME after death, just add the "undead" flag, refill its HP, and give it 0 base encumbrance.

[Taqwus]

OTOH, Lava Warriors, already strong and with berserker ability, become outrageously strong with a high Blood blessing. They're pretty much the epitome of pure-offense at that state. Perhaps not the most efficient or practical thing to do, but it can be fun.

[geo981010]

Yeah - Blood 9 is weak. The strength bonus has uses, but the Blood 9 part is just blah. If you are going to 9, the Fire, Nature and Water blessing almost always make for better offensive power units. I wouldn't mind giving them blood vengeance instead, or maybe life stealing attacks (similar to vampire life drain but no armor piercing - all holy melee attacks gain the attacker back life).

I was thinking of suggesting something similar to Saber's idea of the undead to make the Death 9 nicer. Keeping the unit the same makes sense, and add the undead attribute and 0 encumberance. If possible, all holy commanders should have some undead leadership, or give the reborn commanders some at least (or both). As a totally cosmetic but cool change - I'd really like a color palette shift on the unit similar to what happens for when the unit is paralyzed in battle to give them that "28 Days Later" zombie look. (Obviously new sprites for every unit to have an undead Version would be cool, but too much work). This way every unit would have an "undead" Version of itself that looks undead-ish, and the undead Versions of grunt troops will be worth something.

[pole_shift]

"a color palette shift on the unit similar to what happens for when the unit is paralyzed"

That is a great, great, great idea geo98101.

I really hope the Devs consider it. Any comment from the Devs?

[tinkthank]

Originally posted by Saber Cherry:
You are correct. It is not even 1% as good as any of the level-4 blessings=)

Death-9 is very weak, too, unless you go through some strange exploits involving deliberately suiciding your sacred mages to avoid upkeep. I wouldn't mind a completely new Blood-9 and Death-9 blessing effect.

Blood: How about "Blood Vengance -4" ? Meaning opponent makes an MR save versus penetration 7 or gets hurt instead of the blessed unit. Or else, "Blood Poison": Any melee attacker that draws blood is poisoned.

Death: Keep the unit EXACTLY THE SAME after death, just add the "undead" flag, refill its HP, and give it 0 base encumbrance.

OK so I am not totally crazy then.
Great other suggestions so far.

[Taqwus]

Hm, yup. A warning to those thinking of trying the "kill the mages so you no longer have to pay upkeep" idea -- even before any possible afflictions gained during their murder, Soulless have a wonderful MR of 5, have the 'never heals' flag, and are no longer sacred.

[Kristoffer O]

Originally posted by Saber Cherry:
You are correct. It is not even 1% as good as any of the level-4 blessings=)

Death-9 is very weak, too, unless you go through some strange exploits involving deliberately suiciding your sacred mages to avoid upkeep. I wouldn't mind a completely new Blood-9 and Death-9 blessing effect.

Blood: How about "Blood Vengance -4" ? Meaning opponent makes an MR save versus penetration 7 or gets hurt instead of the blessed unit. Or else, "Blood Poison": Any melee attacker that draws blood is poisoned.

Death: Keep the unit EXACTLY THE SAME after death, just add the "undead" flag, refill its HP, and give it 0 base encumbrance.

Blood vengeance has ben tested at an early stage. It was ridicously (damn language, this is the second time I come across this stupid word. Could someone inform me of the correct spelling) powerful.

The strength effect is rather powerful at high levels and the curse is fun.

Undead is not a flag. It is an intrinsic of a unit and not changable (like stealth). An entirely new stat would have to be introduced. Not impossible, but not quickly made either. Otherwise it's a good idea. It was discarded ages ago in the development of Dom 1, but the current development of Dom2 with easy modding etc might have opened new possibilities, to some extent at least. Hmm, I just got an excellent idea derived from your undead flag. I must ponder this. Thanks!

Originally posted by Kristoffer O:
Blood vengeance has ben tested at an early stage. It was ridicously (damn language, this is the second time I come across this stupid word. Could someone inform me of the correct spelling) powerful.

Ridiculously

[Bowlingballhead]

Hmmmm. I sense secrets that I was not privy to. You say 'blood blessing becomes strong at high levels'. Does this mean that blessings 'scale up' as the god's stat increases? So at blood 8 you dispense more than a 'mere' +2 strength?

This inquiring mind definitely wants to know.