Tidal Forces is kinda broken. Two suggestions on how to fix it.

[Lazarillo]

So Water Blast's combo system has...issues.  Because of the way the Tidal Power buffs build and deplete, it's possible to lose a stack right as you're getting ready to activate a power, because the number of stacks can't build past three, and any new stacks are wasted, as they do not override pre-existing stacks.  To this end, it's especially rough to, say, pop Tidal Forces for a max powered Geyser, or similar, only to immediately lose the Tidal Power, because the three stacks it grants are negated by 1-3 prexisting stacks, which then immediately time out.

 

To that end, I've got two ideas on how to maybe(?) fix the combo system to deal with these issues:

 

1. Make Tidal Forces, specifically, cost all the player's remaining Tidal Power, and then, once the power activates, have it grant three stacks.  This will remove any sort of...vestigal stacks that therefore won't prevent the new stacks from doing what they're meant to do.

2. Raise the cap on Tidal Power stacks to six, and make anything that costs "all remaining Tidal Power" (Geyser, Water Jet, Water Burst, Dehydrate) still do so, but only be buffed as if you have three stacks.  By doubling the number of stacks without increasing the effects, you still effectively make it so that new stacks aren't wasted as they'll still only fall off as they come.

[Crunchyllama]

I recently started a water/poison corrupter, and I noticed how sometimes the tidal power would drop off right as I clicked water burst. I think the best thing to do would be make new stacks refresh the timer/replace the old stacks. Otherwise it's one of my favorite power sets so far.

[Lazarillo]

12 hours ago, Crunchyllama said:

I think the best thing to do would be make new stacks refresh the timer/replace the old stacks.

The irony is that it feels like while that'd be the most straightforward for the players, I wonder that it might actually be harder to implement (hence my other ideas kinda reflecting mechanics I've already seen in-game).  That's just a guess though, I suppose.