New Oculus item is OP

[harperfan7]

I think they need some kind of nerf.

One suggestion was scarcity; you are given 5 when you are accepted into Oculus and that's all you ever get.
My idea was to have them function as they are, except:

-only works on targets within a certain radius like a grenade (but perhaps larger, like 5 or 6 tiles wide), centered on the player
-applies a debuff to your stealth score of -X or -X% for Y rounds

This would keep it from working on every enemy on the map guaranteed, in fact you can't even be around a corner.  You need a good stealth score to keep from being instantly detected, and even if you have great stealth it might be challenging to get away. 

[cypherusuh]

It's as OP as well-placed flashbang imo. And the fact that you get them almost at end-game make it quite balanced, plus it's a bought-only item at only 1 merchant, so it's further limiting item stock. At best, it's used to escape current encounter and cant really be abused without spending too much item usage. Nerfing it will ruins its intended use

[Tamior]

I'd have to agree with harperfan7 here: these smoke bombs are a little too good.
The problem really comes from the fact that they make everyone of the map instantly lose your track (irregardless of line of sight, etc).

It would make much more sense if they worked largely the same (i.e. allow you to enter stealth, converting AP to MP), but only provided an equivalent of one extra turn worth of staying out of sight.
Right now they effectively provide an equivalent of 4(!!!) turns of staying out of sight.

It's as OP as well-placed flashbang imo.

Except it's often technically impossible to incapacitate all enemies with one flashbang in most combats where you'd what to use these smoke bombs (too many enemies and/or some are immune to FB). Not to mention the fact that flashbangs are intrinsically unreliable (miss chance and resist chance) even when they have theoretical chance to work.

P. S.

you get them almost at end-game

Eh..?
You can get access to oculus practically as soon as you finish depot A.
That's early mid-game.

[LudoErgoSum]

It's as OP as well-placed flashbang imo. And the fact that you get them almost at end-game make it quite balanced, plus it's a bought-only item at only 1 merchant, so it's further limiting item stock. At best, it's used to escape current encounter and cant really be abused without spending too much item usage. Nerfing it will ruins its intended use

Well, first, a flashbang can miss or be resisted and has a fixed AoE. Second, it's hardly an end-game item; Oculus is potentially accessible to most characters pretty much right after Depot A if you know what you're doing.

There's no question that it's an insanely OP item. It effectively allows one to reset almost any encounter with non-True Sighted enemies at will, which enables even more degenerate behavior than the previous zone transition abuse (which was explicitly discouraged by the addition of the -1000 initiative penalty). Why does Neurovisual Disruption even exist with this item in the game?

[Tamior]

Why does Neurovisual Disruption even exist with this item in the game?

I've got one better:
Why does Neurovisual Disruption even exist with Mental Breakdown in the game?

[LudoErgoSum]

Why does Neurovisual Disruption even exist with this item in the game?

I've got one better:
Why does Neurovisual Disruption even exist with Mental Breakdown in the game?

Indeed. I wasn't particularly suggesting that Neurovisual Disruption is actually good, rather just implying that it's absurd that the highest-level Thought Control ability is completely outclassed by a combat utility that any character can reliably use, and which can be easily obtained at less than one-quarter of the way through the game.

[Tamior]

Why does Neurovisual Disruption even exist with this item in the game?

I've got one better:
Why does Neurovisual Disruption even exist with Mental Breakdown in the game?

Indeed. I wasn't particularly suggesting that Neurovisual Disruption is actually good, rather just implying that it's absurd that the highest-level Thought Control ability is completely outclassed by a combat utility that any character can reliably use, and which can be easily obtained at less than one-quarter of the way through the game.

Yea, no argument here.
Agree completely.