Potential Granite Armor changes?

[Ankhani]

Considering the effort, time, sweat and blood I've put into Emet, there's really next to zero chance I'd stop tanking with him. Though I do wonder
just how they intend to change Stone Armor, as it could have profound effects on the character.
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The Master said: "It is all in vain! I have never yet seen a man who can perceive his own faults and bring the charge home against himself."

>Analects: Book V, Chaper XXVI

[Acyl]

What is currently being proposed is simply changing the visual effect for Granite.
Instead of replacing your character with a standard Large Chunk of Rock, it'll be visually like the other Stone Armor toggles, putting bits of mesh and texture on your existing character model.
There is no proposal to alter the Granite power, mechanics and stats wise. This doesn't mean such a thing won't be done, but it isn't formally on the cards now.
Bear in mind that this isn't the first time Castle's expressed displeasure with the mechanical state of Granite/Stone Armor. We already know he doesn't like how the set's currently balanced. This isn't news. It wouldn't be surprising if a Stone Armor nerf/buff/balance change were made, but I don't expect it in I16. It's something that'd need a lot more lead time, not something they're just suddenly gonna spring on us in beta.
As Castle himself indicated, he's been batting it around for two years already.
-- Acyl

[Ankhani]

Ah. Well, it was news to me. I really don't read the forums beyond what you folks link, so I don't really know of Castle's malcontent with Granite. That's why I have you people to tell me this stuff.

Thanks for the clarification, Acyl.
---

The Master said: "It is all in vain! I have never yet seen a man who can perceive his own faults and bring the charge home against himself."

>Analects: Book V, Chaper XXVI

[OpMegs]

See BAB's poll/question thread here

While I would miss the massive hunk of stone that Granite is currently.....if they did this and it made Stone Armor NOT "Okay, here's all your armors
till you get Granite, at which point they're useless", I would cheer. Very very much. The current Stone Armor setup makes me cringe every time I look
at my lone Stone tanker. Overlapping armors would be much better, IMO.

Of course, I know that Stone tanks everywhere geared for "Granite-only" would suddenly find themselves potentially inconvenienced, but....
---
"Oh, silver blade, forged in the depths of the beyond. Heed my summons and purge those who stand in my way. Lay
waste."

[Ankhani]

Bab's the Animation director dude, innit he? I think all the consideration so far is that the Devs might be changing how Granite looks and not how it works.

If any of you more discerning Forum-goers would be able to clarify this more, I'd certainly like to know. I've a vested interest in any actual power changes to Stone Armor, and really don't mind how they change the looks of it.
---

The Master said: "It is all in vain! I have never yet seen a man who can perceive his own faults and bring the charge home against himself."

>Analects: Book V, Chaper XXVI

[OpMegs]

The actual thread is referring to whether Granite as an "overlay" rather than a "shapeshift" would cause an uproar or not, basically.

However, given Castle's noted that if they ever revamped Stone Armor, it would be essentially like when they revamped the /Psi Blast for Defenders, that
leads to an interesting implication.

Namely, /Psi Blast was revamped by Psychic Shockwave(the PBAOE non-nuke) being nerfed because it was overpowered compared to the rest of the set, and the rest
of the set getting a blanket buff/rebalancing.
---
"Oh, silver blade, forged in the depths of the beyond. Heed my summons and purge those who stand in my way. Lay
waste."

[OpMegs]

Castle wrote:

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So, Stone Armor is a funny set. It pretty much under-performs up to Granite, where it suddenly become king. That's really not a good place to be and I
would like to change it. And that is as far as the process has gotten for about 2 years. Why? Mainly because any restructuring of Stone Armor as a set
*would* necessitate changes to Granite that current players would NOT like.

That and a later quote, here:

[table]