Feedback:User/Shayne Hawke/Avalanche, Yellow Snow

Snowball is awesome, but the balance between Avalanche and Yellow Snow just sucks. The following is a brief explanation why things are so bad and what can be done to fix this.

Dwayna vs. Grenth - Avalanche vs. Yellow Snow
Avalanche vs. Yellow Snow is a debate that's carried on for years now. Simply put though, Avalanche overpowers Yellow Snow. It's a fact. While it may not always be the determining factor of who wins or loses, it proves itself to matter in struggles between teams of similar power. The Cripple condition is far more effective in this kind of arena than Disease could ever hope to be.

The following are ways to even this playing field:


 * Reduce Yellow Snow to a 1 second cast time -OR- increase Avalanche to a 2 second cast time;
 * The functionality of Hidden Rock changes to a Preparation/Skill with similar cast time and effect -OR- Yellow Snow's functionality changes to a Preparation/Skill with similar cast time and effect;
 * Put players under a Effect/Disguise that gives players of each side separate creature types, or change Yellow Snow to inflict Poison for an increased duration (15-20 seconds).

OR


 * Avalanche affects all creatures in the target's area.

- Cast Times

As it stands now, the cast times for Avalanche and Yellow Snow are a second apart. Given how this works, a few scenarios can happen, like these:


 * A person begins to cast Avalanche. The target notices and begins to cast Yellow Snow. The caster can cancel Avalanche with a hope that the target will waste their Yellow Snow, eliminating a possible Hidden Rock and ensuring that a recast Avalanche will stick for a while.
 * A person casts Avalanche. The target casts Yellow Snow. By the time they're done using Yellow Snow, the first caster will have gained a second's movement on their target and eliminated a possible Hidden Rock.
 * A person casts Avalanche. Their target simply moves forward. The caster will more than likely catch up to their enemy.

Whatever situation takes place, the person using Avalanche will catch up with their target, and has a potential of eliminating a KD. The solution would be to even up the cast times. It would be preferable to drop Yellow Snow down to 1 second, because boosting Avalanche to two might make it too weak in the face of Dazed or a watchful Mesmer.

- Glyph Status

The fact that Yellow Snow and Hidden Rock are both Glyphs that overwrite each other makes Yellow Snow a very undesirable option when in a pinch situation that could have that person losing their bundle. Switching either skill to something else would remove the danger of writing over the KD, making it a much more viable option.

- Conditions

Disease isn't a great tool in comparison to Cripple, because this arena is about running presents to an "altar" and not about kills. It becomes especially annoying when you realize that Disease can spread, which causes it to be worth anywhere from helpful to disastrous. Giving each team different Creature Types so that Disease doesn't backfire to Grenth would solve this. Similarly, changing this condition to Poison would make it a little safer, yet weaker, so buff the duration.

On a more extreme side, one solution to the argument would be to make Avalanche affect all players on the field. This isn't exactly a serious suggestion, but I feel that it would be a condition to force Dwayna players to consider when and where to use their Avalanche as to not affect their own team.

After all, festival arenas deserve balance too. Add more Gamer points for consecutive victories too, thanks.