IanDStructible
New member
Bullet and Spirit shields don't scale very well into the late game. This is just a fact, because as the game progresses Bullet and Spirit resist becomes more and more powerful. As it stands, the only advantage shields have is that they aren't affected by resist reduction. As a result, Combat Barrier and Enchanter's Barrier both feel like they need to be replaced by the respective Improved Armor in the late game, resulting in a substantial soul loss. Which is made more unfortunate by the interesting but eventually outclassed effects of these items.
A simple solution to this is to add Improved versions of both Barriers, with increased shield size and increased benefits while shields are active. However, this would still not scale as well as Armor, so I propose an additional mechanic: when a shield breaks with the respective Improved Barrier equipped, have the Improved Barrier heal the player by a decent amount (possibly around 10% of their health). This would provide synergy with the Armors, incentivizing a hybrid approach, and would also in itself provide stronger defensive scaling than the current barriers. There would also be a lot of strategy involved: when you face somebody with an Improved Barrier equipped, do you avoid dealing that damage, deal that damage and suffer their health boost, or break it first to waste the heal? All of this is more interesting than selling Barrier for Improved Armor, on both sides of play. Additionally, this would not affect the early game other than increasing the appeal of the standard Barriers.
A simple solution to this is to add Improved versions of both Barriers, with increased shield size and increased benefits while shields are active. However, this would still not scale as well as Armor, so I propose an additional mechanic: when a shield breaks with the respective Improved Barrier equipped, have the Improved Barrier heal the player by a decent amount (possibly around 10% of their health). This would provide synergy with the Armors, incentivizing a hybrid approach, and would also in itself provide stronger defensive scaling than the current barriers. There would also be a lot of strategy involved: when you face somebody with an Improved Barrier equipped, do you avoid dealing that damage, deal that damage and suffer their health boost, or break it first to waste the heal? All of this is more interesting than selling Barrier for Improved Armor, on both sides of play. Additionally, this would not affect the early game other than increasing the appeal of the standard Barriers.
