Suggested Changes to Bless Bonuses

[Ming]

I think the lvl 9 blesses are meant to be unequal. W9 bless needs to be more powerful as W9 is not as useful in its own right while S9 needs to be weak because S9 is powerful in its own right. B9 is the only one that I think needs strengthened. Currently I cannot think of any situation where one would want to start with a B9 pretender.

[Sombre]

S9 bless isn't actually weak though. S bless isn't great, but S9 is usable, unlike blood or air. What is A9 on a pretender good for? Why would you really need air that high?

I don't really buy that balance argument. Air magic is very powerful, but air on your pretender isn't really.

[Edratman]

If the blesses were changed, someone would figure out how to use this to their advantage and start a new round of calls for modifications.

[Humakty]

A9 on a pretender is surely of no use, but A mages are the most powerfull battle mages around, able to toast my anathemants or witch hunters before they can even get in range for their poor F spells.

[Sombre]

But what does that have to do with air bless being weak? It isn't like you can't use national air mages if you don't take an air magic pretender. I don't understand the argument that because air magic grants powerful combat spells it should have a weak bless - the combat/utility spells are used by recruitable air mages, the bless is on the pretender - they aren't really related at all. I mean sure the pretender is another air mage, but one isn't going to make much difference and he still wouldn't need anywhere near A9.

[konming]

While A9 is not that useful, A4 or A5 is certainly extremely useful on your pretender, esp. considering in LA, no nation gets A4 and even A3 is not guaranteed for the strongest air nation.

[Velusion]

Meh, people who think that changing things to make them more balanced promotes the same style of play are completely incorrect. Balance promotes people to try new things and encourages different strategies, rather than the obvious best.