Suggestions

Quick idea I had that I couldn't find otherwise: I personally find it frustrating to have higher-level dragons that have the same problems as they did when they were level 1, because Meditate still causes a 75% damage-dealt decrease, or Scratch still only provides a small amount of Breath. I've noticed that Anticipate can produce a little more Breath, but it's not much, and it's only generated [i]if[/i] the dragon is attacked. (Although it could be that I'm somehow playing the game completely wrong...) On the other hand, I noticed that we have aesthetic upgrades in Baldwin's for some attacks. So, assuming the staff aren't already planning something like this due to the Coliseum rewrite/the ever-expanding Baldwin's activity, I have an idea that could be implemented in three ways! [b]The first way is that actual upgrades are provided to the preexisting brewed attacks[/b](Silverglow Meditate, Irradiated Scratch, etc.); say Silverglow cuts down the 75% damage debuff into 65% or 50% and Plumed Anticipate/Irradiated Scratch generate more Breath on hit. The problem with this idea is that...[list] [*]These aesthetic upgrades have already been implemented for some time, and people are already using them as aesthetic upgrades, nothing more or less. [*]This would increase the demand for such battlestones, and the staff may feel compelled to make them much harder to brew in Baldwin's. [*]This may mess things up within the Coliseum and cause way more problems than intended, making it actually easier to just implement new battlestones.[/list] [b]The second way is to simply implement more battlestones that are "upgrades" for older stones.[/b] These stones would have a higher required level than the starter stones, and and still be purchased just like any other stone, or maybe even brewed items. So, say Scratch has an upgrade stone called "Cut" or "Slice", and it generates more Breath when used. Or maybe Meditate has an upgrade stone that works in the same way, but only decreases 50% of your damage. Or maybe Ward becomes capable of absorbing more magical damage. The problems here are that...[list] [*]The staff would have to implement a bunch more stones that aren't necessarily unique. [*]People might not want to essentially repurchase a battlestone they simply want to upgrade(as you're paying for the whole stone, not just its benefits compared to the old stone) [*]The only way to avoid the above problem is to make the stone cheap, which I don't believe the staff would be willing to do despite the level requirement as these stones would be more powerful than their older counterparts.[/list] [b]The third way is similar to the second one but requires more work; instead of adding more stones, it's adding an upgrade system into the game itself.[/b] This would likely be done [i]only[/i] during the Coliseum rewrite, since it would be a greater undertaking. Once implemented though, it could serve as a simpler, cheaper way for people to upgrade their dragons' abilities. It would probably be a feature in the Abilities and Stats page. The Upgrades would alter the stats of an existing battlestone, [i]not[/i] replace it. They could still have the level requirements, but be cheaper as you're paying for a modification of an existing stone, not a whole new stone. The problems I see here are that...[list] [*]This would be quite the undertaking to implement, and I'd rather not overburden the staff. [*]This would mess with the current Coliseum's code; it would probably be best to implement it only into the Coliseum rewrite so it wouldn't cause problems now. A smaller con with this is that it delays any sort of upgrade implementation until much later. [*]It may not be feasible to have an upgrade system that modifies an existing stone, as all existing battlestones would have to be treated as some sort of "base stone" so that their pros and cons can be altered individually. [*]This could encourage and allow multiple upgrades to the same stone, and coding for a bunch of upgrades for a bunch of stones is probably not in the staffs' best interest.[/list] Problems overall include battlestone prices fluctuating drastically, this being an interruption/a regurgitation of the staffs' current plans, and this really screwing up the current balance of powers in the Coliseum(as the staff would have to account for upgrades/a lack thereof when designing and/or altering higher-level venues). But, despite these problems I still decided to throw this out there. Thoughts? Better ideas? Something I should change or take into account? Reasons why this idea is terrible? XD EDIT: Oh yeah, and I might as well utilize this post to say that I would love a battlestone where you could somehow share Breath among dragons; my mage always has way too much Breath for his own good, but my fighters can't cast worth a rat's tail. Having a way to distribute that Breath would be awesome.