World of Darkness Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 from Hardsuit Labs

[Zombra]

In vidya its different because vidya is not PnP and can never be so it needs to concern itself with being vidya.

Absolutely. I guess what it comes down to is Bloodlines established a mood and this power feels wacky in a way that breaks the mood.

 

[Roguey]

Button and awesome, finally connected in Bloodlines 2.

 

[Strigoro]

The punches really keep coming in.
So the braindead commie agitator clan has it's ability to be more peeled way and neglected and beats out Gangrel as the default kinetic play through option.
Seriously how can misfit belligerents be more core than a clan which can cover the same niche but has a lore inspiration that actually pertains to vampire and boogie man type myth.
The upside is they passive nature of their disciplines is nerfed into activatable charges.

Not that big a deal on its own but n+1 on disappointment again.

 

[Grunker]

Actually I think using Melpominee levels in a creative combination it IS possible to encase someone in a sphere of pure sound.

Anyway, joking aside, the point is real. Disciplines of original Bloodlines as mentioned before are very poorly balanced, and most of them don't really measure up. Truth is, majority of them (you know, since it's VtM) are not really even that vampire themed (Malkcoughmalk). The only one that had a genuinely distinct, powerful, and unusual effect was high-level Celerity. In terms of what would be absolutely genuinely vampire themed, it isn't exactly that long either, at most you could say it's Dominate (which as mentioned isn't even that good or interesting in its execution), Animalism (assuming you can get over the fooken magic presentation), and Potence. The disciplines were not what made Bloodlines good.


PS: Earthshock has been around for a long time, the primary change is that Potence (and other previously passive disciplines) now also have active abilities on lower levels as well. However it was part of the rather ass concept of "NPC powers", discipline levels made purely for NPCs to use (which I think is stupid both in terms of existing since it's mostly just condescending towards players, and secondly because any GM should strive to invent their own strange elder powers instead of taking some cookie cutter premade).

It's not that I like Earthshock, in fact my initial reaction was exactly like the rest of the people here "wtf, Tauren stomp in a vampire game?" and I still feel like that. It's just that in comparison with blood projectiles and 3 versions of the same crowd control effect with a slightly different particle sparkle from the original, what little we've seen of the discipline gameplay of this game seems much cooler. And aside from Earthshock which is totally weird (especially the upgrade), they look more vampire themed as well.

 

[Grunker]

I'm much more worried about the potential of a super duper woke narrative, but I gotta say the concept model for that Brujah is hella awesome. Lenny from Motörhead is the gold standard for oldschool brujah

 

[Lord Commissar Alexer]

Doesnt bother me that much, i was always a tremere guy.

 

[Cael]

I'm much more worried about the potential of a super duper woke narrative, but I gotta say the concept model for that Brujah is hella awesome. Lenny from Motörhead is the gold standard for oldschool brujah

You are just begging for them to make Lenny into a woke sensitive New Age cuck sjw, aren't you?

 

[Sukhāvatī]

 

[Jedi Exile]

I still don't get it about a thinblood joining a clan, how it is possible. And why you should retain your thinblood powers and get new clan powers. And why thinblood powers are so cool, even if you are supposed to be a 'lesser' vampire.

 

[Lord Commissar Alexer]

Magic.

 

[Infinitron]

From a gameplay perspective the "thinblood powers" are really basic universal vampire powers that you start out with. On top of those you get the powers of your chosen clan.

Question is how it works for other vampires that you might encounter in the game.

 

[Cael]

I still don't get it about a thinblood joining a clan, how it is possible. And why you should retain your thinblood powers and get new clan powers. And why thinblood powers are so cool, even if you are supposed to be a 'lesser' vampire.

Muh oppresshun.

 

[Strange Fellow]

Lenny from Motörhead

Lenny

fags

 

[Grunker]

Lenny from Motörhead

Lenny

fags

oh wow, i deserve the guillotine for that one

 

[Prime Junta]

 

[Wesp5]

From a gameplay perspective the "thinblood powers" are really basic universal vampire powers that you start out with. On top of those you get the powers of your chosen clan.

Speaking of which, what about Bloodbuff (and Bloodheal if you use the plus patch)? These were generic all-clan-powers in the first game, but I haven't heard anything about them yet regarding Bloodlines 2...

 

[Prime Junta]

I'm kinda hoping they'll drop them. Bloodbuff especially trivialises some of your build choices.

 

[Rahdulan]

I'm kinda hoping they'll drop them. Bloodbuff especially trivialises some of your build choices.

I think it's just a matter of better balancing them as powers. You'd think both healing and buffing were invented specifically for Redemption/Bloodlines as a gameplay mechanic, but they are actually from the roleplaying game itself. Where you spend a single blood point mattered way more there and it was harder to replenish blood in general, though.

 

[Prime Junta]

I think it's just a matter of better balancing them as powers. You'd think both healing and buffing were invented specifically for Redemption/Bloodlines as a gameplay mechanic, but they are actually from the roleplaying game itself. Where you spend a single blood point mattered way more there and it was harder to replenish blood in general, though.

Yep. Balance doesn't matter much in PnP anyway as the GM can tailor challenges to fit the party's capabilities.

 

[Vibalist]

Where is Presence?

 

[Grunker]

I'm kinda hoping they'll drop them. Bloodbuff especially trivialises some of your build choices.

Best thing about Wesp patch is the Bloodbuff nerf IIRC. I'm fine with Blood Healing though, since that actually would work for Bloodlines (well, at the beginning at least). It's basically regenerating health but in a way where it's not trivial and free (or not supposed to be anyway) to recover health. Just remove the heal effect from feeding so you have to choose blood or health unless you've got a good supply of the former

 

[Wesp5]

Best thing about Wesp patch is the Bloodbuff nerf IIRC.

Originally Troika planned a buff that must be directed at either Strength, Dexterity or Stamina, not all at once...

 

[Prime Junta]

Best thing about Wesp patch is the Bloodbuff nerf IIRC.

Originally Troika planned a buff that must be directed at either Strength, Dexterity or Stamina, not all at once...

If you picked which one at CC that would have been good. If you can choose which one to buff at the time you use it, it would have been just as bad (or worse).

 

[Wesp5]

If you picked which one at CC that would have been good. If you can choose which one to buff at the time you use it, it would have been just as bad (or worse).

I guess you would have picked the stat, but you only would have gotten a buff of +1. BTW speaking of Bloodheal, does feeding heal in the PnP game? Maybe I should remove this for the plus patch if it is possible...

 

[Prime Junta]

I guess you would have picked the stat, but you only would have gotten a buff of +1. BTW speaking of Bloodheal, does feeding heal in the PnP game? Maybe I should remove this for the plus patch if it is possible...

I wouldn't. It would just add busywork -- heal with Bloodheal, feed to replenish blood points, rinse, repeat. The warehouse, Grout's mansion, and endgame Temple and Ventrue Tower would become extremely tedious.