For those of you who may not be aware, the "quarter second" rule regulates how balance and other timed actions are calculated and applied in Imperian.
Basically, when you perform an action that would use balance, the amount of time that you lose balance for is calculated in hundredths of a second. Then, it is truncated to the next lowest quarter second, with a little bit added as a buffer, and this number is assigned to your character as a timer.
Every .25 seconds, a task would tick in Imperian and count everyone's balance timers. When your timer runs out, you regain balance. While this was a fairly efficient way to process everyone's balance, it's terribly imprecise.
When we set a balance cost on an ability, we couldn't effectively and precisely determine for just how long you will lose balance. This was because of all the calculations, the truncation, and more significantly, at what point in the task countdown your timer was set. This was particularly vexing to me as I was attempting to fix some of the bashing disparities, as a very tiny difference in speed could account for a 25% difference in overall bashing effectiveness.
Because of the significant improvements we've made to our hardware and processing power over the years, I've decided to abolish the quarter second rule.
This means that now when you lose balance or equilibrium, the amount of time will be calculated and assigned to your character in hundredths of a second. This will allow us to be much more precise in assigning balance times, and means that, for example, every single point in the speed stat of a weapon will have a measurable effect on the balance time.
This also means that the balance times that you have been used to are slightly changed, due to the fact that they are no longer being trucated and rounded so imprecisely. Your balance times should not fluctuate by more than 0.15 seconds in either direction. If you see anything more significant than that, please let me know immediately.
This change applies to the following timers: overall balance, right hand balance, left hand balance, equilibrium, herb balance, elixir balance, salve balance, pipe balance, writhe time, and stun timers.
If you find yourself in a position where you are not regaining any of these balances, please BUG it and use the RESET BALANCES command to restore your timers. This should not be necessary, and only exists as a precaution should something accidentally go wrong.
As always, if you encounter any problems, please let me know and I will get things fixed for you as soon as possible.
Penned by my hand on the 9th of Letum, in the year 635 AD.
