What is up my suggestions forum. I was talking about statuses over on the Spiral Knights Discord, and formulated an idea for a revamp to the curse status. While this idea has been in my head for some time, fleshing it out over multiple conversations solidifies the idea for me and makes it foolproof with feedback.

Without further ado, here would be the changes to the curse status:

Curse
The "curse eye" symbol above the player's head becomes a dynamic part of the status. The eye has 3 critical modes: "open", "closed" and "half-open".

When the curse eye is "open", the player will take damage like the current curse status.
When the curse eye is "half-open", the player will have a chance to take curse damage.
When the curse eye is "closed", the player will not take any curse damage.

For a really shoddy mock-up visual, here's something I made while at work: Curse Status Eye States

These three "curse modes" can shift over time. Instead of the curse permanently forcing you to stop using a specific weapon, you may find yourself having to switch between weapons to continue fighting. These "switches" are indicated by specific noises, with a grandfather clock "gong" noise indicating an "open" eye, and a clock ticking noise indicating a "half-open" eye.

Additionally, when cursed, players will no longer find themselves unable to fight. No matter what the player's resistances are to curse, one of their weapons will always be in either a closed eye, or half open eye position.

Curse resistance would also have a different effect on the player. Instead of simply lowering the time and number of items cursed, it will also lower the damage taken from cursed swings, and lower the chance of a half-open eye attack from hurting you. Additionally, the eye will change between modes slower, and less frequently.

Similar to sleep, curse would be made so that it cannot be reinflicted on a target that is currently cursed. It would not have the grace period that sleep provides, but the curse timer will wear off in the same amount of time no matter what.

Drain
Drain would be a new status type that deals damage over time, similar to fire. However, drain only does minimal damage to the player by default. However, should the player start moving while drained, the damage over time will start increasing.

Resistance to drain would lower the damage over time, as well as slow the damage buildup, allowing players to move to a safe position if they choose to.

Curse is a status that prevents you from attacking properly while under its effects, however it still gives you a full range of movement to dodge around in combat with. Drain is modeled after the opposite, forcing a player to stand their ground without using a movement button in order to avoid damage. For both these statuses, a powerful shield is your best friend.

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There we have it! The goal of this post for curse was to point it towards being a better status that's more interesting. As it stands right now, curse is the most boring status in the entire game. If you're cursed, you're being forced to not fight for an indefinite amount of time, and in a game where fighting is the gameplay, you're basically forcing the player to stop playing. With this revamp, curse is changed to be a more dynamic status where it relies on the player listening and watching for cues, and swapping their weapon to continue the fight.

At the same time, it's still a very dangerous status on players. Being weak to curse means most of your weapons will hurt you when you use them, and even when you're chancing your attacks, it's a gamble that you as a player are willingly taking. Curse stops being a "game's fault" status, and starts becoming a restriction to work around, making overcoming the status feel good.