Brief Lothlórien Suggestions

[Walküre]

Ah, there would be so much to say about Galadriel's display of power 

For example, I used to flood the suggestion boards, back in the days, with a very recurrent proposal of mine (that I think was never really answered directly by the Edain Team, if I can recall correctly): that is, extending Nenya's protection to the surrounding structures, so that this Ring can be efficiently used both for attack and defence (complete defence). Not to mention the incredible lore accuracy of this addition, being exactly Nenya/Galadriel the magical source that sustains physically the realm of Lothlórien against Evil and Time. There was a defensive feature in the Edain 3.8.1 that specifically related to structures, and it was also very nice to see its actual graphical display indeed.

Besides, it would be great if Galadriel could alter the effectiveness of spells with her own presence, but I really doubt that this kind of hero-spell interaction is possible to achieve, speaking about the game engine.

[FedeH]

I understand the point of your suggestion, FedeH, but it doesn't convince me completely.

First of all, as you wrote yourself, Lothlórien already has multiple healing features as its own game mechanics, and adding another one might likely end up being too redundant and quite unnecessary (if not inappropriate for balance-related reasons).

It's true, the healing properties of Radagast and, in particular, Eärendil's Enchanted Ship (Vingilótë or Vingilot) can't obviously be used in the early phase. The faction, thus, is exactly provided with the very useful Safe Refuge, which grants a total coverage in your castle, and the healing effects of the Wine Cellars too (speaking about Mirkwood). In addition to that, I would really like to address another fundamental aspect that you seemed to have left out of your reasoning (I think): Lothlórien's Border Guards and Galadhrim are already endowed with additional healing enhancements via the significant Lembas Bread passive feature, which exactly allows them to recover while they are inactive (or, in this case, covered by the sacred Mist). Of course, this option is available once you level up, but it's undoubtedly more advantageous than the sole banner carrier alone.

Furthermore, may I also deal with another important lore-based aspect referred to the said spell. I too think that Mist of the Golden Wood (by the way, the previous title of the spell was changed as I proposed the current more lore accurate name) could be made slightly more valuable. For example, Tolkien wrote that Galadriel sent once a magical mist to protect Eorl (the ancestor of the Rohirrim) from the shadows of Dol Guldur, centuries before the actual War of the Ring; therefore, we could focus on the protective/defensive nature of the Mist of the Golden Wood and think about some suitable defensive bonuses that the spell could additionally offer. This is nonetheless my own personal opinion, and there definitely are other priorities at the moment. Nevertheless, if someone has something to propose, I am more than interested to know other people's thoughts 

i agree that lorien as a faction has several healing options, being lembas the most important one, that's why my suggestion was aimed at the early game stages,  when your economy is not yet strong enough to buy banner carriers for your troops to enable lembas or buy safe refuge in your base (when i have the money to spare for that usually i don't need it, as most of my troops are level 2 already and it's easier to spend 200 per battallion in a progressive way than to save 650+1000+time for the safe refuge, plus the plot)

i acknowledge that my suggestion might not be entirely lore-wise, but was an idea to give some life to the mist power (i only buy it late game when i don't need the PP anymore or want the arrow volley), because as it is right now i feel it lacks something (If i recall correctly in the vanilla ROTWK it had a debuff of some kind). Perhaps giving the mist an additional effect will make it useful again, any suggestions?

[Canis carcharothias]

Yeah, I think the mist (and invisibility in all it's forms) are a bit badly implemented in this game. If I should think of another function for the mist, it could be a defensive bonus for allies or a slow in the rate of fire of enemy archers accompanied by a speed slow for all the units (harder to aim to something in the fog, harder to walk through the terrain if you don't know it).

[Walküre]

I personally think that the early-game issue, that was addressed above, consists basically of different strategic choices in the player's hands. I mean, you can easily choose to play with Lothlórien very aggressively, focusing on constant harassment via the archers' versatility, as you can nonetheless opt for an enhanced defence-type style, achieved via the Sanctuary's upgrades, with the castle/camp at the centre of your own strategy.

The latter option is exactly what I normally choose, researching Safe Refuge and the other pivotal protective enhancements as soon as I can. I'm well aware, though, that we are dealing with many personal approaches that can be followed, but I also think that one 'style' could efficiently make up for another one's flaws and vice versa, without the need of implementing other features.

Yes, defensive bonuses is what I too was thinking about, regarding Mist of the Golden Wood. And, I honestly relate as well to the fact that I was never really acquainted so much with invisibility/stealth aspects in the game.

[FedeH]

An interesting alternative regarding armor buff and the mist could be that being in the mist increases your troops piercing armor by 25% (you are harder to hit from a distance in the middle of the mist), but also you have a decrease on your melee armor of 10 or 15% (since you are in the mist you have reduced visibility and therefore can't see much, making you more vulnerable to melee attacks). This is really useful to protect your archers from other archers, but also makes them more vulnerable to trample and melee. (The decrease in the melee armor is in order to prevent the woods+mist armor stacking and breaking the balance, you can have extra piercing protection, but in order to do so you need to sacrifiy melee protection).
This gives you 3 possible combinations:

• Only woods to an 25% increase in general.
  
• Only mist to increase your piercing armor in exchange to melee armor (for your archers principally, or your infantry when they're being attacked by a lot of archers and few infantry, or mist for archers & woods for infantry at the same time, your call).
  
• Mist+woods, for extra protection against arrows (50%?) but no bonus in melee (or a mere 10%, numbers are subject to changes)
  

thoughts?

[Hamanathnath]

Well I don't think that we should get rid of Mist's Invisibility Feature.  The problem is if we replace it with a Buff of some Sort, Lothlorien's 1st Tier Spellbook Powers would all be buffs of some sort.  And having a penalty on it isn't a great idea because people would just get the Horn of Elven Wood first like they do now. 

Honestly, I just think Invisibility in general should be tweaked with a bit. With the current effect, it is very hard to tell whether or not you are actually stealthed, or if people can see you.  So if possible, I would like to see the stealth effect reworked, to make it clear whether or not you are being seen.  The in itself would fix a lot of problems Mist has at the moment.

[Canis carcharothias]

That's absolutely true. A rework on stealth would be much appreciated and it could solve the problem! 

[Garlodur]

And what if the mist would additionnally cancel enemy leadership abilities for a while? As if the enemy troops could not find each other in the thick mist and do not have any clue about what to do without leadership...

[The_Necromancer0]

I suggest that the Border Guardhouse and the Galadhrim Quarters gain an increases in HP in order to be able to resist the Earthquake spell, which as of now, destroys everything in a Lothlorien base.

[Ursidey]

The current picture for Lembas is quite dark and not very recognizable. I found this picture which could be used instead :

http://www.4shared.com/photo/5tsPMEUdce/lembas.html

[Walküre]

But the current picture is directly taken from the LOTR cinematographic trilogy. It's thus overall more fitting than the image you proposed, in my opinion.

By the way, this topic doesn't deserve an own thread; I will merge everything with the Lothlórien Brief Suggestions thread.

--- MERGED ---

[Ursidey]

Yes I know which picture comes from that used in the game (a photo of Legolas), but we do not recognize at all the lembas

[Walküre]

Quite true. If you or other people are able to provide other alternative images (always from LOTR) for that feature, we will maybe be able to come up with suitable proposals 

[Ursidey]

Ok, from the movies there is this one, maybe better : http://www.4shared.com/photo/1QimXtowce/Lembas__1_.html

[Glorfindel23]

Hello, I've worked on the two bows of Legolas, I show my work to the edain team if her are interested. The texture modification is saved in a new file named "EuBowLegolas.tga".
(This is just a small retexturation).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mI7wu6hMW0Y