Okay, gonna try this again.

Stun, Sleep, Curse. The three misfits of the status condition family in Spiral Knights.

So how can these status effects be fixed, you may ask? Well that's what this thread is dedicated to. This is not a thread about simple ideas for new content in the game (though that IS part of it) but instead a discussion on how they can be adjusted accordingly to not only be balanced but also fit into the game both as more prominent status effects and as full-fledged level themes like their more popular brothers, Fire, Freeze, Poison and Shock.

There are many things about these conditions that require discussion. Just one example - currently, Curse is a status effect only dealt by the Undead family. Sleep was a status condition only dished out by a Lichen variant called Slooms and Sloombargos. Stun is also currently limited on what kinds of enemies deal it. The question is - if these three Status conditions went on to become full-fledged stratum themes, should the levels be built with Undead/Sloom/etc. enemies that already deal the effect, or should the effects branch out and be dealt by more types of enemies?

What types of hazards can be incorporated into these stages - more floor traps, or something fresh? How can these three statuses be balanced so that they're less cheapening and easier to deal with? At what depth would these statuses start appearing as stratums in the Arcade to make sure newer knights don't have a tough time, considering how difficult these statuses make the game? These are all important topics that are better deserving to be touched upon than "is this idea good enough"? So that's the point of this discussion. This is not meant to be a thread dedicated to critiquing various ideas, but instead an open discussion on how these misfit statuses can be better incorporated into the game.

Stun - Of the three misfit statuses, Stun actually fits into the rest of the game the best, and doesn't need serious tweaking. More enemies should deal Stun than the few that already do, including Beasts, Slimes and Constructs. The Stun strata would basically just be like the Compounds and Status-themed arenas but with Stun instead of an elemental condition. An idea I have for a hazard which I'd like to see is the Knight Bell. Basically this works as a reverse Beast Bell - if an enemy hits it and you're in the blast zone, you're Stunned for awhile. Another one I've got is the Stun Cloud, an obstacle that causes you to be Stunned indefinitely while you're inside of it. It doesn't blanket the whole level, but instead covers a small obstacle course full of Spikes, Missile Launchers and other various hazards. You have to make it past all of these obstacles while Stunned - though the timing on these hazards is adjusted to accommodate your slower movement speed, you'll still need to bring your A-Game when it comes to timing if you want to make it through alive.

Sleep - Actually, when it comes to which status is the biggest misfit, Sleep wins that award, and thus needs the most adjustments to better fit in. More enemies besides Slooms and Sloombargos can put you to Sleep, including Beasts, Constructs and Slimes. After all, Slooms are just VARIANTS of Lichens, and if you're gonna make one Sleep variant of an enemy, you may as well make more, right? A variant of Gun Puppies could spray out Sleep mist every time it opens its mouth with range like the Red Rovers'. I like the idea of Sleep 'building up' over time in place of its current effects; basically, the way it works is that if you get hit with one Sleep attack, you go into a state of drowsiness where you walk a little slower and attack slower. If you get hit with another, you become more drowsy and so on, until after getting hit with a TON of Sleep attacks, the screen blurs and then goes black, and the nearby monsters will basically annihilate you. This however, would require you to get hit with lots of Sleep attacks and is completely avoidable with good play. A type of Sleep level I've come up with is "The Nightmare." It starts out nice, bright and cheery - the few enemies that are around will do nothing but spray you with Sleepy mist. But once it has built up and you inevitably fall asleep, you'll hear horrible growling, and when you awaken, suddenly BAM! The scenery is dark and gloomy, enemies that were previously cheery and harmless are now relentless abominations out for your blood, and the music is changed to be heavily distorted. This is where it gets insanely hard, and you have to make it to the end without falling asleep again or else you're basically dead.

Curse - More enemies besides Undead should deal this status, especially Fiends, who are known to be dark magic users according to the symbols all over the place in the Devilish Drudgery stages. Beasts, Slimes and Constructs could also deal this stat; one idea I have for Curse Slimes is that if they get hit with a Curse-weapon like Faust or a Curse Vial, it will "ignite" them and they'll be able to cause Curses just by touching you. An idea I have for Curse Constructs is the Faust Mecha Knight, a Mecha Knight that, as the name implies, wields a variation of the Faust, that like Faust, can Curse both his targets and himself. Curses all around are changed so that they don't depend on how many Weapon Slots you have; a weak Curse will usually leave one, if not two, slots open, while the strongest Curse will Curse EVERYTHING you have. Another variation for the Curse I'd like to see is one that "builds up" similar to the altered Sleep condition. Get hit by one Curse attack, one item gets Cursed. Get hit with another, another item gets Cursed. Get hit a third time, a third item gets Cursed, and it keeps going on until all of your items are Cursed. This variety of Curse usually lasts roughly 50 seconds, and each time you get hit with another one of these Curses, the time is extended. One very difficult version of the Curse level could be where you have to run straight through a cloud of Curse gas for the duration of the level. It's a weak Curse, meaning you will still have at least one weapon to use, but here's the kicker - you have to deal with it for the ENTIRE LEVEL, and you can't use a Remedy Capsule to heal it. Ouch. Getting hit with any Curse-based attacks while you're in this cloud will basically block out all of your weapons and pickups for a short time. Fortunately, if you get Cursed from an attack, you can Remedy it and it will go away over time.

Sleep and Curse, even with these adjustments, are very difficult statuses do deal with, and therefore they won't start appearing until the lower depths of Tier 2 and all of Tier 3.

Of course, all of these adjustments would require a huge update that I'm sure OOO won't concern themselves with at the moment, what with the new Tier 3 boss in the works and the likely far-off, but inevitable, Swordsman and Bomber balancing updates already on their plates. I'm inclined to believe that OOO will add these conditions as strata at some point - after all, the Clockworks would get pretty stale over time if they only added a few new boss strata every now and then, right? But if these are ever to come into fruition, they're probably at least a few years away and will most likely be released separately. Either way though, that doesn't mean these status conditions cannot be discussed, nor does it mean that them being added in the game is totally impossible.

Now, discuss.

(Credit to Fehzor for coming up with the revamped version of Sleep. Nice idea, man)