Shattered Kingdoms

Except that every tribunal -does- have access to the exact same set of buffs at various levels, except for lighten load since the lighten load change. Why? Because of a side effect to the spell itself being changed. Is that unbalancing? Heck yes. Lighten load is sick.

The coded advantages to joining a trib are two-fold: the guard NPCs, and the buffs. If you change what buffs can be held, you severely alter the benefit of joining that tribunal. If you think that the Talon deserved a buff to their trib, then that's fine, but I disagree. Talon were fine way before before everyone else lost lighten load. Now, they get it for free whereas everyone else has to have a heavy armor priest friend. It's never come up in the forums before, either, and is worth bringing to Dulrik's attention.

As well, brewing lighten load is horrible compared to having it held on you 24/7. They're not even close to the same. A lighten load vial lasts a matter of minutes. If your response to this is "Make friends with a heavy armor priest," then I agree with you: The Talon should not be the only exception to this rule.

Best solution still is: Don't carry a ton of crap.

It's laughable to think that the Talons have anything near what other tribunals have. I've been in every single faction that has leadership NPCs, and I can guarantee you, that even with lighten load capable NPCs, they are dead last in the race.

Personally I don't care whether it gets changed/removed, but if it does come down to an argument, I'd rather see the spell removed from all tribunal NPCs in favor of PCs having access to the spell.

I'm not even sure what the original post is aimed at.

My argument is not about why lighten load is nice. It is this: Understanding that lighten load is so awesome, why should the Talon be the only tribunal to get lighten load 24/7 for free?

I think the Talon should have it removed. It was a good nerf to tribunals all around to remove lighten load, because tribunals were already favored. The Talon just got overlooked and that should be rectified.

The argument's kind of a moot point because:

1) I don't think it's broken and I would be the person making the change,
2) Dulrik, in an earlier thread, is on record as wanting to remove this kind of spell support from tribunal NPCs anyway.

So...

So... why not do it now instead of waiting a year to bring things back into balance? You obviously have a different opinion than I do, but lighten load is an amazing buff: IMO it was close or tied for the number one buff for every trib before it was removed, because size large races and giants could run around below 1/2 capacity 24/7, not to mention that casters didn't have to wear strength mods to avoid going overweight from consumables. For larger melee races, lighten load by itself is just as good as the passive bonuses to combat that only some cabals get.

Add onto that the fact that lighten load is the most uncommon spell in the entire game and you have what is a pretty decided advantage for joining the Talon over other tribs (MC excluded because they are more than just a trib), especially if you intend to play a size large class that isn't constantly overburdened.

I'd just rather have the access to this sick spell universalized so that there isn't a clear and obvious choice for large-sized heavy armor wearers in tribs. A centaur, minotaur or giant merc/barb in any other trib besides the Talon is going to be patently worse because the Talon is the only trib with 24/7 access to lighten load.

Lighten load is imperative for front-line warriors to help keep them under half carrying capacity, and a huge boon to casters who don't dump points into strength. It also means you can carry away the bodies of the fallen (friend and foe alike) at the end of combat.

People who underestimate lighten load are like people who can't appreciate how truly powerful faerie fire is.

I've always noticed a huge difference in combat ability when overburdened versus not. When over 1/2 weight, you hit less often and get hit more, you miss more bashes and dodge less bashes. For melee classes, that's pretty much all you do.

Armor, sanc, haste, giant strength, frenzy, every single one of these buffs are nice, but can be obtained through other means. Lighten load is the rarest spell in the game, and vials barely last any time at all: Running out of lighten load while carrying too much stuff is deadly and often results in you dropping your recall vials while you hear laughter in the background.

Lighten load makes warriors better than they already are...mc lost lighten load just like everyone else and alaric is still walking around shoving peoples anuses in withoit it. Casters absolutely do not need it, even a sprite necro hoarding 12 weapons for their sick wraiths. You want it? Join the Talons. Point is no one needs it, they just want it.