mikestrauss
Squire
I had to think about this for a long time before choosing a side. One argument more than any stands out to me.
As this proposal stands, a character retains roughly the same power level when using this option, but is a lower level. That means that two characters of equal level are not roughly equal in power if one has a paragon path and one does not. That divide grows even worse if one has two paragon paths or more. I think that makes scaling for weekends and modules even more difficult, approaching down near impossible when the meaning two different level X characters of otherwise identical builds (other than paragon path) can potentially be miles apart in actual combat effectiveness.
I think searching for a means to allow for build to be reduced or for characters to make changes without a Spirit Forge is commendable. I have seen (and made) various proposals that I think approach this goal without the problematic downside that I see in this one. Heck, if your entire goal is to encourage players burn off XP, the most effective carrot would probably be to allow them to burn off a higher level character to give 1.5x the benefit to a lower level character (not surpassing the higher level character) or maybe equal benefit to two lower level characters.
The last bit there is just random theorycraft off the top of my head and not really relevant to my main point. While I love the goals here, I think the actual implementation is actively harmful to the game.
-MS
As this proposal stands, a character retains roughly the same power level when using this option, but is a lower level. That means that two characters of equal level are not roughly equal in power if one has a paragon path and one does not. That divide grows even worse if one has two paragon paths or more. I think that makes scaling for weekends and modules even more difficult, approaching down near impossible when the meaning two different level X characters of otherwise identical builds (other than paragon path) can potentially be miles apart in actual combat effectiveness.
I think searching for a means to allow for build to be reduced or for characters to make changes without a Spirit Forge is commendable. I have seen (and made) various proposals that I think approach this goal without the problematic downside that I see in this one. Heck, if your entire goal is to encourage players burn off XP, the most effective carrot would probably be to allow them to burn off a higher level character to give 1.5x the benefit to a lower level character (not surpassing the higher level character) or maybe equal benefit to two lower level characters.
The last bit there is just random theorycraft off the top of my head and not really relevant to my main point. While I love the goals here, I think the actual implementation is actively harmful to the game.
-MS