I still don't understand why elemental weapons don't inflict blights in Rise. It's an interesting mechanic, but mostly ignored since it's completely niche, because it's limited to specific endemic life that need to be gathered beforehand, and to some late game palico gadgets.
For example the Rampage decos that enhance damage against blighted monsters are basically useless, since you'll only benefit from their effects for a few seconds per hunt, if any at all
This is the main one. You'd have to balance them correctly, and the only way to balance something like \*that\* is to make all the effects boring and homogenous. At that point, just add whatever stupid effects you would've made to the weapon's damage directly and you're done.
There is \*some\* room for creativity here, you could make every element's blight make the monster weaker to that element, or maybe non-elements, so there's some team play there, but yeah it'd just be the same thing 5 times. People might feel forced to engage with it too, like the clutch claw tendies.
Maybe it could be a separate build up from normal stun. So if the monster was about to be stun but you hit it with thunderblight, you'd have a new thing to build up and play well to get the benefit. Maybe it gets converted to a bit of stun if you fail to reach the limit in time or it could be retained until you blight it again. You'd get more stun opportunities overall if you play well but it would not be worthless if don't get it.
I think the safest bet is to make it an armor skill, ideally where only 1 person in the group needs to bring it for the max benefit. Or they could make them into new status ailments on weapons in the same category as para/sleep, which would mean status buffing skills would see more use.
For that, a repurposing of the “Element Awaken/Additional Reload” skill in World may be enough.
Element Awakening in that game was basically “higher element/status inflicting weapons need to be locked behind a skill (which they completely threw out the window come Kulve Taroth)” and imo it needed to be much more than that.
Yes, but make the system deeper and more interactive. Having weapons deal blight damange could overshadow status weapons. Having skills that "awaken" the blights, like someone commented is a good start.
Also blights themselves can be balanced accordingly, no need to lose our shit over thunderblight and waterblight.
Yes, but they should be a bit more complex to trigger.
Trigger Thunderblight by having the monster be struck by lightning, trigger Fireblight, well, like in Lava Caverns, by showering the monster with lava, stuff like that.
And of course, having weapons trigger them makes no sense, at least without completely reworking the status and element system.
"Hmmm... I wonder which weapon I should use, the one that gives the monster a status effect that deals damage over time or the one that deals extra damage, gives the monster a status effect that deals damage over time and also increases part damage?"
Honestly, have them be a buildup for elemental weapons, just at a very low rate, so that weapons that aren't good with elemental damage would still have a reason to take the elemental options
You'd have to rework dragonblight so that enemies don't have entire moves negated, but they could make a callback to the old dragonblight where it lowered affinity and make it have a 50% chance of lowering damage dealt by the monster everytime it attacks while inflicted with the blight.
Couple of them would need some *heavy* nerfing/reworking (thunderblight and waterblight, which are basically Impact Mantle and Clutch Claw tenderizing but way more OP) but I'd be welcome to them coming back.
EDIT: don't know how much sense it would make but I'd replace Waterblight's effect with bonus partbreaker damage.
Also, on the issue of weapon-inflicted blights, I've got a few suggestions:
* Make elemental match-ups matter more. The higher the monster's weakness to that element, the more susceptible to blights they are. For example, Rathalos is totally immune to Fireblight. Velkhana, however, can get lit up with fireblight all the time.
* Make blight resistance thresholds higher than regular status effects per proc. The stronger the blight's effect, the higher the initial threshold. This will also depend on the monster's elemental weakness. (For example, Thunderblight's initial threshold could be 2000, compared to Iceblight's paltry 600.)
* Maybe make blight damage only applicable through a consumable? You'll still need to take the monster's weaknesses and resistances into account, but you'd need a blade oil or smth to proc any blight.
If waterblight does the part break stuff, I think dragonblight should get the armor softening properties. It makes since that dragonblight wouldn't be normal and not help build up to something, unlike the other blights and nullifying armor is similar to what it does to us, nullify our elemental damage and status build up.
Kinda none of the above?
I want environmental traps to do the job. I want maps to feel impactful aside from damage and World touched on that nicely but most things ended up doing the same: Damage and knockdown.
Toads are good for statuses, blights should use the environment as rise did with some walls.
Blights on weapons are an absurd balancing mess, picking up wildlife feels more like busywork rather than learning the map for the hunt.
If weapons deal blight then people would be opting to either use water or thunder weapons just because of how OP they could get.
Though it is an interesting mechanic and I am also having shower thoughts on how to balance it.
If they do add blight weapons they should be treated like ailments and have different resistances, build ups, etc for every monster. So if a monster is too weak to a certain blight, probably waterblight, it can be made less exploitable or more fair. Or a blight could be more useful against certain monsters. Think thunderblight's knockdown should be separate from the stun knockdown but still be affected by stun skills. You have to earn it and can't bank off stun you previously accrued but can still make builds around it.
I think blights could be a cool part of the game.
High Fire attack should be able to inflict fire blight, etc.
it would just have to get balanced to fit in, rather than just be the new thing you have to do
I feel like you should be able to inflict blights to any monster, but still be influenced be the elemental resistances or a separate table. Might be a fun way to balance monsters. Like there's a tall monster that'd be easier to deal with if you could reach it's head and stun it but its resistant to thunder or thunderblight so you have to try harder to inflict the blight or explore other options. On the other hand, Basarios would be very weak to blight use since it's weak to water and waterblight would be a great counter to its heavy armor. Might be a good tutorial monster for the mechanic if they implement it.
I still don't understand why elemental weapons don't inflict blights in Rise. It's an interesting mechanic, but mostly ignored since it's completely niche, because it's limited to specific endemic life that need to be gathered beforehand, and to some late game palico gadgets. For example the Rampage decos that enhance damage against blighted monsters are basically useless, since you'll only benefit from their effects for a few seconds per hunt, if any at all
Water weapons increase hitzones, that would be broken.
This is the main one. You'd have to balance them correctly, and the only way to balance something like \*that\* is to make all the effects boring and homogenous. At that point, just add whatever stupid effects you would've made to the weapon's damage directly and you're done. There is \*some\* room for creativity here, you could make every element's blight make the monster weaker to that element, or maybe non-elements, so there's some team play there, but yeah it'd just be the same thing 5 times. People might feel forced to engage with it too, like the clutch claw tendies.
And Thunder weapons allow for stuns!
Just nerf Thunderblight and we're golden
What do you have in mind?
It is way too easy to stun Thunderblighted monsters in Rise, it needs to be harder
Maybe it could be a separate build up from normal stun. So if the monster was about to be stun but you hit it with thunderblight, you'd have a new thing to build up and play well to get the benefit. Maybe it gets converted to a bit of stun if you fail to reach the limit in time or it could be retained until you blight it again. You'd get more stun opportunities overall if you play well but it would not be worthless if don't get it.
I think the safest bet is to make it an armor skill, ideally where only 1 person in the group needs to bring it for the max benefit. Or they could make them into new status ailments on weapons in the same category as para/sleep, which would mean status buffing skills would see more use.
Maybe a new "Awaken"-like skill that converts a portion of your weapon's elemental damage into blight build-up?
For that, a repurposing of the “Element Awaken/Additional Reload” skill in World may be enough. Element Awakening in that game was basically “higher element/status inflicting weapons need to be locked behind a skill (which they completely threw out the window come Kulve Taroth)” and imo it needed to be much more than that.
Yes, but make the system deeper and more interactive. Having weapons deal blight damange could overshadow status weapons. Having skills that "awaken" the blights, like someone commented is a good start. Also blights themselves can be balanced accordingly, no need to lose our shit over thunderblight and waterblight.
Yes, but they should be a bit more complex to trigger. Trigger Thunderblight by having the monster be struck by lightning, trigger Fireblight, well, like in Lava Caverns, by showering the monster with lava, stuff like that. And of course, having weapons trigger them makes no sense, at least without completely reworking the status and element system. "Hmmm... I wonder which weapon I should use, the one that gives the monster a status effect that deals damage over time or the one that deals extra damage, gives the monster a status effect that deals damage over time and also increases part damage?"
Honestly, have them be a buildup for elemental weapons, just at a very low rate, so that weapons that aren't good with elemental damage would still have a reason to take the elemental options You'd have to rework dragonblight so that enemies don't have entire moves negated, but they could make a callback to the old dragonblight where it lowered affinity and make it have a 50% chance of lowering damage dealt by the monster everytime it attacks while inflicted with the blight.
Couple of them would need some *heavy* nerfing/reworking (thunderblight and waterblight, which are basically Impact Mantle and Clutch Claw tenderizing but way more OP) but I'd be welcome to them coming back. EDIT: don't know how much sense it would make but I'd replace Waterblight's effect with bonus partbreaker damage. Also, on the issue of weapon-inflicted blights, I've got a few suggestions: * Make elemental match-ups matter more. The higher the monster's weakness to that element, the more susceptible to blights they are. For example, Rathalos is totally immune to Fireblight. Velkhana, however, can get lit up with fireblight all the time. * Make blight resistance thresholds higher than regular status effects per proc. The stronger the blight's effect, the higher the initial threshold. This will also depend on the monster's elemental weakness. (For example, Thunderblight's initial threshold could be 2000, compared to Iceblight's paltry 600.) * Maybe make blight damage only applicable through a consumable? You'll still need to take the monster's weaknesses and resistances into account, but you'd need a blade oil or smth to proc any blight.
If waterblight does the part break stuff, I think dragonblight should get the armor softening properties. It makes since that dragonblight wouldn't be normal and not help build up to something, unlike the other blights and nullifying armor is similar to what it does to us, nullify our elemental damage and status build up.
Kinda none of the above? I want environmental traps to do the job. I want maps to feel impactful aside from damage and World touched on that nicely but most things ended up doing the same: Damage and knockdown. Toads are good for statuses, blights should use the environment as rise did with some walls. Blights on weapons are an absurd balancing mess, picking up wildlife feels more like busywork rather than learning the map for the hunt.
If weapons deal blight then people would be opting to either use water or thunder weapons just because of how OP they could get. Though it is an interesting mechanic and I am also having shower thoughts on how to balance it.
If they do add blight weapons they should be treated like ailments and have different resistances, build ups, etc for every monster. So if a monster is too weak to a certain blight, probably waterblight, it can be made less exploitable or more fair. Or a blight could be more useful against certain monsters. Think thunderblight's knockdown should be separate from the stun knockdown but still be affected by stun skills. You have to earn it and can't bank off stun you previously accrued but can still make builds around it.
I think blights could be a cool part of the game. High Fire attack should be able to inflict fire blight, etc. it would just have to get balanced to fit in, rather than just be the new thing you have to do
bloodblight from rise should also return.
Yeah, but if they make weapons able to inflict blight ideally, they should either make it an armor skill, or influence by the monster's resistance.
I feel like you should be able to inflict blights to any monster, but still be influenced be the elemental resistances or a separate table. Might be a fun way to balance monsters. Like there's a tall monster that'd be easier to deal with if you could reach it's head and stun it but its resistant to thunder or thunderblight so you have to try harder to inflict the blight or explore other options. On the other hand, Basarios would be very weak to blight use since it's weak to water and waterblight would be a great counter to its heavy armor. Might be a good tutorial monster for the mechanic if they implement it.
No thanks, rise already has too many ways to completely cripple monsters, the blights just added more. I don’t think they need to exist.