Since this in the ideas forum, what are your thoughs of an expencive artifact consumble to break a flag lock (with a 4+ sec cast time)?
This would give an advatage to the team holding the artifact flag and may still allow the game to be resolved quickly, with giants, but winning the game would not just center around locking a portal flag.
I've also thought about some sort of artifact consumable that acts as an interrupt. I've thought about the cost of it a lot.
To make it 'unabusable', it needs to be not something you can carry three of at any given moment at little cost. (So probably at leat 250). Too expensive, however, and Sigils have a much higher importance level, making these items rarely used except by kiting demigods or speed stackers
It needs to be instant (even a .3 cast time makes it difficult to use against 1 second casts. Remember, this would cost gold, if you mess up it isn't just a waste of mana, or a missed kill at worse: it's gold AND the missed kill).
It needs to be ranged.
It needs to have some sort of benefit if you screw up and don't get an interrupt, or, alternatively, you can use it preemptively
It needs to be balanced with charactesr who already have interrupts or stuns (its effects shouldn't be so drastic that you can use your own abilities and this item to make other characters' abilities useless).
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A few things that I've seen or thought of:
1) Someone posted a 'Totem of Silence' which had a 20 meter AoE GLOBAL silence effect for a given period of time. (I think it was 15 seconds, 10 may be more balanced in my opinion).
Cost: 500g
Counters: Oak shield on portals (he can't pop the shield if he ports onto this Totem, unless he got smart and shields before hand. If he does so, it's only 4 seconds for the shield though because he spends 3 seconds teleporting, then 1 second on the lock. If you have 2 people waiting for him, you should get the kill).s
Stun-locking when 3v1. (Activate wand of speed, drop this, run like hell)
Possible exploitation:
Rook/Ereb/UB: BoulderRoll - Batswarm - Mass Charm - Grasp - Silence Totem
You were just stunned for 5 seconds (one demigod for 7) and you get to use no abilities...
Game Balance Alterations:
Makes AutoAttacking demigods significantly stronger (esp UB since his Ooze cannot be Silenced). This item would be death to TB since most of his damage comes from spells
Makes ranged skills more effective (you can shoot outside of the silence area into the silence area)
Makes demigod positioning even more important, and so benefits faster demigods or speed stacking
Erebus' batswarm can basically jump this
2) Expendable Pentitence
250g , 15 yard range, 15s CD
Does 200 damage on impact, interrupts
Counters:
Cloak of the Night
Game Balance Alterations:
Universal Gadget does 450 more damage (without the interrupt), so I don't see this getting many kills. However, it may get a lucky surprise.
Nice for any kiting demigods
Makes Oak stronger (instant ranged burst. Now it's another 250 damage or so after the debuff Pentitence gives)
3) Basically-Melee-Interrupt
150g, 5 yard range, 10s CD
Interrupts, no other effects
(this would be so cheap it could be abused though. But the lack of a long range and no other effect makes it have a very niche utility)
4) Long-Range Silence
250 g, 10 yard range, 25 s CD
Silences the target for 3 seconds
Silence interrupts, but doesn't trigger a cooldown, If they WANT to lock the flag so badly that they are willing to stand their ground for 3 seconds, that is their choice. This has the potential for abuse, however, with any demigod with a Stun.
5) Expenable Deadeye
325g, 10 yard range, 30s CD (longer than a tele)
Stuns the target for .5 seconds, interrupts
Good for chasing, still high cost
6) Expendable Deepfreeze
300g , 10 yard range, 30 s CD
Extends the cooldown for any used skills. This won't interrupt a lock, persay, but it will extend the cooldown of a lock past its duration (unless they go back to the crystal, Oak shield-debuff, or Heal III on them).
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On topic:
I would be okay with a slight increase in the casting time of a lock (to 1.5 maybe). 2 seconds seems like a lot. Lock-abuse is one of the strengths of Oak, however, and I think it's just fine. Anyway, most characters have a way of doing it as well.
UB: Grasp - Break Grasp - Lock (you have about .5 second of leeway with a 1 second cast time) - Level 5 - 1 skill point
Erebus: Mass Charm. Level II AoE stuns which virtually guarentees you being able to lock, even 2v1. If they interrupt your Mass Charm, lock it in their face anyway - Level 4 (Level 7 for 3 seconds) - 2 skill points, 3 for 3 seconds
Sedna: Silence does the trick. Silence II is just enough to lock and teleport away, except versus an instant interrupt (which you then need Silence III for). Increasing the cooldown of the lock makes her really only 'good' end-game tactic go away, as she is quite easily one of the weakest endgame characters: No AoE == no creep management. - (Level 5, though no one gets it at level 5 
) - 1 skill point
Rook: Boulder Roll II lets you lock. Boulder Roll III gives you enough time to teleport away against an Erebus, or anyone who has to take a few steps towards you before interrupting. - Level 5 - 1 skill point, 2 for Boulder Roll II @ 10
TB: Frost Nova II guarentees a lock. Level 1 is just enough to lock. If they have to take a few steps towards you, or if they have a slow interrupt, you should be fine. - Level 10, 5 for Level 1 - 2 Skill points, 1 for level 1 only
Oak: Shield. Enough said - Level 8 - 3 skill points
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The other characters can do it earlier. True, in a typical game you can't actually afford to backdoor their portals until about level 10. But you still have ways of at least locking the HP flag safely. It also costs Oak a helluva lot of skill points to do it.
Yes, it is very strong. Yes, it makes Oak a fantastic end-game demigod. But it's not something that deserves a nerf that argueabley hurts every other demigod MUCH worse than it does him. A full 2 second cast time for locks makes it have to be done as enemies come into your line of sight. A pure pre-emptive measure, and very hard to 'lock in your face'. 1.5 seconds makes interrupting the lock a little more newb-friendly (and, trust me, I miss it by a quarter of the second too, plenty of times. I get angry too). I just don't think that doubling the cast is balanced at all.
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Increasing the cooldown instead? Makes premades even stronger, as they are on Vent. Then the puggers will complain how 'ONLY PREMADES' can perma-lock their portal flag using coordination. Because that is the magical power that premades have: communication.
If you increased it by maybe 5 seconds, okay, not a big deal (actually, this would make its cooldown almost exactly its duration on Cataract due to the Celerity flag). 15 seconds? You're only making it more and more important to have flawless teamwork.
Also, Sedna gets buffed because of Magnificent Presense D:
