> Imprisonment should be removed and replaced with a second elemental specific option.
>
> MoF should get Incendiary Cloud. Stormspell Mages should get Chain Lightning.
Or a necromancer skill. Something a wizard would/could do. Or if they muddy keep it in game turn it into a aoe that immobilized for x amount of seconds and poisons, debuffs, or siphons life
Or alternatively, "Exile" the target, removing them from play, and make it permanent if the target was a minion. So automatic minion 1 shot power.
Imprisonment is a rank 9 level spell from 5e. So let's replace it with another rank 9 5e spell.
Meteor Swarm Psychic Scream
If the devs don't want to use those than let's look at some rank 8 spells... Abi-Dalzim's Horrid Wilting Incendiary Cloud Sunburst (though DCs are using this currently so need to use this ability)
Imprisonment is such a waste....Just remove it already DEVS!
7
thefabricantMember, NW M9 PlaytestPosts: 5,248Arc User
After taking the time to try out the new CW Changes, I thought I would give feedback on what I have seen. Overall, I like the changes, it feels like they add quite a bit of skill back to the class, but I would like to see some minor adjustments which, in my opinion, would be healthier for the class as a whole.
1) Disintegrate: The change to this skill is really good, however, an issue with the current design of it on preview is often enemies jump from 70% hitpoints to 0 hitpoints in the current meta. I would propose that instead of having a heavy boost to it under 25% hp, it instead scales similarly to killing flames, where it gains its maximum bonus at 25% and moves towards it as the enemies hp decreases.
2) Arcane Presence: This class feature still suffers from the downfall where, in order to build Arcane Stacks, you first need to use Arcane Powers. Suggestion: While this is slotted, your non arcane encounters have a 50% chance to generate Arcane Stacks on use. In addition, your Arcane Powers receive 1/4 to 1/2 the benefit of the buff that is being given to other powers.
3) Arcane Power Field: Increase the duration by 2 seconds.
4) Arcane Power Field offhand: Change it so that it further increases the duration by another 2 seconds.
5) Storm Fury: Taking damage causes this to proc on all enemies within 15'.
6) Eye of the Storm: Rework this to give 100% critical severity while it is active, not 100% critical chance.
7) Power Surge: Increase its duration by 1-2 seconds.
8) Reduce the animation time of Ice Knife.
The major elephant in the room is CW feats. The biggest issue is, the capstone feats for CW are worse then the ordinary feats. It is almost at the point where I am considering running builds without capstones. For example, the 10% instance wide buff that is Controlled Momentum, is much better then Shatter. CW capstones really do need a little bit of a facelift, to give them some flavour.
Otherwise, I really like the changes so far, looking forward to see what other changes can (hopefully) be made.
Is the CW damage actually lower on preview than on live and if so what % are we talking about here? Is the CW build on preview doing 5% less damage or is it so bad that it is doing 20% less damage. Just curious if you tested this or not.
For those of you taking the time to test these changes - THANK YOU!
From my preliminary testing, CW on preview is stronger than it is on live.
@balanced#2849 More bugs: Controlled Momentum stacks from multiple CWs. Prestidigitation stacks from multiple CWs. Repel still generates action points for every enemy hit. Fanning the Flame still does not benefit from action point gain.
There are a few really excellent changes that stand out here: Base damage changes + chilling presence/bugged feat changes arcane mastery stack changes and arcane power field interaction Chaos Magic allowing multiple buffs to be active
However, There is only 1 tree now for PvE DPS, Renegade.
Oppressor has been gutted from a damage perspective due to the shatter strike changes. The only thing oppressor might be used for now is a niche movement speed build.
There is still no reason to put more than 15 points into Thaum. An At-will buff (even at 100%) cannot compete with the new DPS buff Renegade got. Assailant is still underwhelming and would be better off working similar to how the old control immune part of shatter strike worked.
From a DPS perspective for both AoE and Single Target Renegade is the way to go, and for those of us who dislike randomness in our dps builds, this is a bit disappointing.
1
theycallmetomuMember, NW M9 PlaytestPosts: 1,861Arc User
So I keep hearing that Thaumaturge isn't good, but ... why?
I mean, I used to have a DPS AOE MOF Renegade build for solo PvE but switched to a Storm Spell Thaum build, because a variety of guides seemed to suggest it was stronger. What changed?
Aside, I guess, from the fact that with Razorwood companion, CA from Nightmare Wizardry is a lot better than it used to be.
Feedback Chaos Magic + I like the inclusion of defensive buffs for CW, it helps to shape a possible support path for CW. Defense in general is not as useless as some people think
+ I like the flavor of randomization and chaos, that's interesting. Explosive, uncontrollable magic is a nice theme.
+ I like capstones that offer something very special. Chaos Magic is a very strong and unique capstone
- I don't like the idea of randomized defensive buffs with cooldowns and questionable uptimes. Either you make a power that I can control and make it on cooldown, so that I have to make a decision when to use it and then wait, or you make it as a random proc, and then I have to make a build decision to proc it as much as possible to fight for uptime. Having both random proc of defensive buff and a cooldown that prevents me from having good uptime is incredibly unsatisfying to use. If I can't use defense neither as an active reaction to a threat, nor as a stable, reliable base, it makes it more of a threat than anything else, because the most it can do is to teach me to rely on it.
- having so many effects on random proc with cooldown makes it incredibly confusing in terms of input - reaction. Essentially there is no satisfaction to it, because I can't make a build based around uptime, and I can't claim a good move/game because I haven't activated anything.
- Considering more def buffs were added, I consider Rene tree to be officially support oriented (why woud I want to give party deflect otherwise). Chaos Magic, however, has no support in the tree itself, no synergy or comparable effects.
Possible Solutions/different approaches: One thing to do would be to offer me a choice for 1 buff that will be stable during combat, and the rest rotating as is. For example, If I start combat with an At-will, I (and party) will get Chaotic Speed for the duration of the fight. If I start with a daily, I will get Discipline for the duration, and encouter would be Fortitude, or combine 1 defensive with 1 offensive, i.e. on at will fortitude + Nexus etc. Or you can make the proc rate lower - 2-3%, make it proc on dots etc, and incentivize me to figure out how to get as much procs as possible to maximize uptime of all buffs. Make me build my character around an interesting and powerful capstone
More bugs: Controlled Momentum stacks from multiple CWs. Prestidigitation stacks from multiple CWs.
Should prestidigitation not stack (it's bad enough as it is)? I can see how making Controlled Momentum unstackable is putting it more in line with other feats.
Any comment on if CW dps build will really be capstone-less Rene / Thaum straddle?
Control Mastery: Control effects against non-player enemies are 2.5x as effective
WHAAAAAAAAAAAAT? Wow. I have GOT to copy Miri over and test her CC powers. Arcane Singularity might actually launch critters to orbital velocity.
Question: does Control Bonus affect the effect of Shatterstrike on control-immune enemies? I have Miri built for an extremely high bonus -- 144%
Question #2: does the 10% control bonus from Loyal Master gear transfer to the player? She has had a couple pieces slotted for a long while -- not that I would swap them out if they didn't; the stats are too good, but it would be nice to know.
One comment re: arcane mastery. I never pay attention to the stack count because I can't read it. The stack count is microscopic, at least to this 48-year-old. You might want to consider making values that are specific and important to mechanics larger in their own place on the UI.
Harper Chronicles: Cap Snatchers (RELEASED) - NW-DPUTABC6X Blood Magic (RELEASED) - NW-DUU2P7HCO Children of the Fey (RELEASED) - NW-DKSSAPFPF Buried Under Blacklake (WIP) - NW-DEDV2PAEP The Redcap Rebels (WIP) - NW-DO23AFHFH
My Foundry playthrough channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/Ruskaga/featured
Feedback: Perhaps make assailant able to proc on all enemies affected by an AoE encounter, be buffed by buffs, debuffs, and critable, and maybe increase it's proc rate. That would make the dps feat path pretty obvious I think.
Each Chaotic Magic proc should be 20% damage + either AP gain, movement and all the other shenanigans to remain its "chaotic" nature (without cooldown and obviously without being able to stack the 20% buff or maybe no more then one of the other buffs at the same time) . In strong teams nothing in AoE lasts 10 seconds which makes most shenanigans much less useful then they are on paper (except movement speed lol) and in less strong teams it's even more frustrating to provide near useless buffs most of the time.
The other capstones could also use some slight improvements. Capstones should be stronger then putting one point into a random feat. It's like that for most other classes. What exactly was wrong about Oppressor being the strongest choice for single target (bosses) ? "Oppressing" one target is easier then oppressing multiples targets after all, if you want to have it fit thematically. Thaum could have simply reworked into an equal or better choice for AoE (and soloing) by using the capstone. Other than that many of the changes seem to make a lot of sense to me, which makes the capstones stand out even more, oddly.
I'm playing around with Miri's CC powers on preview. Is there supposed to be an indication when Frostbite affects a boss? On normal critters, "Shattered" will appear. Should I be on the lookout for a "Frostbite" popup?
My baseline for Arcane Singularity is normally level-70 critters at the stronghold, but there's no guild in Preview. I don't know if there are any level-70 critters anywhere else. I tried it on level-71 critters in a Maze Engine quest and the effect was slightly below baseline, and on level-69 critters in Spinward Rise, which was above baseline. So, I'm guessing that the pull of AS is about the same.
Harper Chronicles: Cap Snatchers (RELEASED) - NW-DPUTABC6X Blood Magic (RELEASED) - NW-DUU2P7HCO Children of the Fey (RELEASED) - NW-DKSSAPFPF Buried Under Blacklake (WIP) - NW-DEDV2PAEP The Redcap Rebels (WIP) - NW-DO23AFHFH
My Foundry playthrough channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/Ruskaga/featured
More bugs: Controlled Momentum stacks from multiple CWs. Prestidigitation stacks from multiple CWs.
Should prestidigitation not stack (it's bad enough as it is)? I can see how making Controlled Momentum unstackable is putting it more in line with other feats.
Any comment on if CW dps build will really be capstone-less Rene / Thaum straddle?
@dupeks for a dps build there's no reason not to take the renegade capstone. You have to go all the way down the tree anyways to get uncontrolled obliteration and chaos magic is only 1 point more.
The Ren/Opp capstones are lackluster, but the tier of feats right before them are what you're aiming for and if you're already that far into a tree there's no reason not to grab the capstone as well.
chaos buffs will now be much harder to proc with only a 5% chance on power use instead of... however it worked before.
There is a 5% chance for EACH buff to proc on power use. So with 6 possible buffs, that the probability of chaos magic proccing is (6 x 5%) = 30%.
It also still procs the same - you do damage in any way, you have a 30% chance of chaos magic (WILD MAGIC) buff. Apparently the function they were trying to use for proccing based on doing damage was not foolproof. So I assume that they're making it so instead of the code using "damage dealt" as a feedback, it passes specific distinct variables instead: At-Wills, Encounters, Dailies.
Edit:
How it works now:
Chaos Magic: Dealing Damage to targets has a chance to apply Chaos Magic to yourself and allies within 50'.
How it works in the preview:
Chaos Magic: Is now triggered when using At-will, Encounter, or Daily powers (it was weird before)
When a power is activated, each buff has a 5% chance of being applied.
chance and Is now triggered are italics because the current manner has a CHANCE of proccing CHAOS MAGIC. The new manner is that it is that it is triggered while using a damage dealing ability. In other words, Chaos Magic now "procs" 100% of the time, and the shift of "proc burden" is whether each buff procs (30% that at last does). Essentially the phrase "Chaos Magic" is now the name of the feat, no longer mechanically a buff in itself. Again it seems like changing to an algorithm that provides the same results but via different code structure.
0
thefabricantMember, NW M9 PlaytestPosts: 5,248Arc User
More bugs: Controlled Momentum stacks from multiple CWs. Prestidigitation stacks from multiple CWs.
Should prestidigitation not stack (it's bad enough as it is)? I can see how making Controlled Momentum unstackable is putting it more in line with other feats.
Any comment on if CW dps build will really be capstone-less Rene / Thaum straddle?
To prevent any bugs in future, imo, prestidigitation should not stack. It can then receive a balance review in light of it not stacking. It is bad regardless of whether it stacks or not but it will be easier to balance in future if it is fixed.
I think this build is the way to go next mod for single target:
You can subtract 2 points from nightmare and move them to phantasmal for premades.
With the following setup:
Rotation is: 1) Cancel Cast Scorching Burst to apply Smoulder. 2) Icy Terrain. 3) Fanning the Flame. 4) Swarm. 5) Soul Sight. 6) Ray of Enfeeblement. 7) Ice Knife. 8) Disintegrate.
Throw in at wills (magic missiles) when stuff is on CD, the idea is to maximize the damage of disintegrate. Ideally you have RoE on mastery until boss is below 25%, then move Disintegrate onto mastery.
Control Mastery: Control effects against non-player enemies are 2.5x as effective
WHAAAAAAAAAAAAT? Wow. I have GOT to copy Miri over and test her CC powers. Arcane Singularity might actually launch critters to orbital velocity.
Question: does Control Bonus affect the effect of Shatterstrike on control-immune enemies? I have Miri built for an extremely high bonus -- 144%
Question #2: does the 10% control bonus from Loyal Master gear transfer to the player? She has had a couple pieces slotted for a long while -- not that I would swap them out if they didn't; the stats are too good, but it would be nice to know.
One comment re: arcane mastery. I never pay attention to the stack count because I can't read it. The stack count is microscopic, at least to this 48-year-old. You might want to consider making values that are specific and important to mechanics larger in their own place on the UI.
That is because, if you read the lines near that bit of text, it isn't a change to control powers, they simply gave a hidden feature a tooltip. It still functions exactly the same as on live.
@thefabricant Good to see you arrived to the same conclusion I had ! Dps is pretty nice and goes crazy on execute phase. Only thing I changed is 2/3 in Blighting power and 3/3 in Arcane Enhancement. And, as you said, I didn't bother with Nightmare.
However on aoe, I have still not find a gameplay that convince me. Everything I tried seems underwhelwing atm. Needs more testing !
1
thefabricantMember, NW M9 PlaytestPosts: 5,248Arc User
@thefabricant Good to see you arrived to the same conclusion I had ! Dps is pretty nice and goes crazy on execute phase.
Only thing I changed is 2/3 in Blighting power and 3/3 in Arcane Enhancement.
And, as you said, I didn't bother with Nightmare.
However on aoe, I have still not find a gameplay that convince me.
Everything I tried seems underwhelwing atm. Needs more testing !
@tenetomb for trash I run SS Rene with a similar feat distribution (but no focused wizardry) and then storm spell + evocation as class features. CoI or Steal Time on mastery (depending on group), disintegrate, Icy Terrain.
There's a significant oversight here: Imprisonment is still in the game.
In fact, vorphied, the whole "Control Wizard" thing is a relic of D&D 4th edition, in play at the time that NWO launched. Thomas Foss, Lead Designer, even stated in a recent Nova interview, that it was unfortunate that, at the time, mages had to be "Control Wizards" and couldn't just be "Wizards". Clear implication that they were forced by D&D licensing, at the time, to go with a control role. For the last 3 years Cryptic have been free to drop the word "Control" from "Control Wizard", but that would be a serious rework of the class, and they're more likely to put that level of effort into a new class.
I'll happily take rework of the existing levers to make the CW a valued member of end-game parties.
Truthfully I have always wanted a true mage in NW. The CW is... well its kinda meh as a wizard, more of an elementalist.
Ha, and as far as D&D4ED, there is a reason Pathfinder got huge keeping the 3.5 rules. I just went to a small convention and there was more Pathfinder play then any other versions of official D&D combined. They really screwed the pooch with 4.
Feedback Uncontrolled Obliteration + Similarly to Chaos magic, this is a very nice flavor to the chaotic version of CW (it's like Izzet ) + Very nice offensive buff, a variation on other self buffs that thematically fits. Potentially very strong.
- It doesn't belong where it is in Ren tree, in the current form. Ren is shaping to be a support tree, so putting self buffs under its capstone is contradictory. You are risking that EVERY single CW will run Renegade because of this feat. - It doesn't provide any synergy with Chaos Magic beside more personal dmg, which is not what we want in a tree that focuses support (at least based on a design of the capstone) -
Solution/Different approach This is the most problematic feat now. Instead of self buffing (something I don't really like to see in the column under Ren capstone) make a buff for others similar to Commander strike. Either it can function as an Aura for other only - or on attack/encounter or something like that. Of course it would need to be nerfed, because it would be too strong when an entire party benefits - something like "up to 3-6-9-12-15%" Another option would be to make it a status effect on enemy which would be consumed when another party member hits.
If the feat stays as is, Ren might be the only viable tree, and that's really bad. Even now we have 2 viable tree based on whether the party has CA. With Thaum being in a gutter, This one feat can break it considering Nightmare Wiz is in Ren tree 20 feats+.
Hi ppl, as former cw now op i can tell you that no changes will make cw desirable in parties (5man), as party will always take gf instead of cw (meta party) and im telling this as op it hurts me to say but cw is excellent class to play but its no good buff/debuff and for sure its bad dps, fortunatly for me i sow where constant cw nerfing is gonna take cw so i left playing cw and switched to op and i dont regret, if you are pve(dont know for pvp) just switch to desirable class as gwf, dc, gf or op.
More bugs: Controlled Momentum stacks from multiple CWs. Prestidigitation stacks from multiple CWs.
Should prestidigitation not stack (it's bad enough as it is)? I can see how making Controlled Momentum unstackable is putting it more in line with other feats.
Any comment on if CW dps build will really be capstone-less Rene / Thaum straddle?
To prevent any bugs in future, imo, prestidigitation should not stack. It can then receive a balance review in light of it not stacking. It is bad regardless of whether it stacks or not but it will be easier to balance in future if it is fixed.
I think this build is the way to go next mod for single target:
You can subtract 2 points from nightmare and move them to phantasmal for premades.
With the following setup:
Rotation is: 1) Cancel Cast Scorching Burst to apply Smoulder. 2) Icy Terrain. 3) Fanning the Flame. 4) Swarm. 5) Soul Sight. 6) Ray of Enfeeblement. 7) Ice Knife. 8) Disintegrate.
Throw in at wills (magic missiles) when stuff is on CD, the idea is to maximize the damage of disintegrate. Ideally you have RoE on mastery until boss is below 25%, then move Disintegrate onto mastery.
The Renegade path should not be our DPS path. Renegade has and should still be the full buff path for CW, not our go to path as a DPS. That is just horrible.
I like having options now but from the look of the update why bother with anything that is not Renegade. I want a full on Thaum DPS, a Hybrid DPS/Buffer from Oppressor and a full on buff build from Renegade. That new feat the added to Renegade should be added to Thaum as that is our DPS path or it was at one point.
As you pointed out the capstones are all lack luster for CW. Looking at what CW has for captsone vs. other classes really makes me not even want to bother with my CW come mod 15. I am nearly done with my CW enchantments wise and because of these changes, I just don't want to bother with him any more. In fact, the DC changes, though I do like how the devs are moving there, I just don't feel like keeping my DC around either.
I like the fact they devs are doing changes but the changes seem to hinder some classes or force our hands to play a specific way when we should not be forced as such I want options and with the update it does not seem like we will have options.
> Imprisonment should be removed and replaced with a second elemental specific option.
>
> MoF should get Incendiary Cloud. Stormspell Mages should get Chain Lightning.
Or a necromancer skill. Something a wizard would/could do. Or if they muddy keep it in game turn it into a aoe that immobilized for x amount of seconds and poisons, debuffs, or siphons life
Or alternatively, "Exile" the target, removing them from play, and make it permanent if the target was a minion. So automatic minion 1 shot power.
Imprisonment is a rank 9 level spell from 5e. So let's replace it with another rank 9 5e spell.
Meteor Swarm Psychic Scream
If the devs don't want to use those than let's look at some rank 8 spells... Abi-Dalzim's Horrid Wilting Incendiary Cloud Sunburst (though DCs are using this currently so need to use this ability)
Imprisonment is such a waste....Just remove it already DEVS!
^^^ This ^^^
I just have not grasp as to why the devs leave in these absolutely crappy powers for classes while leaving out stuff that would completely rock. But then, a CW is a complete failure of an actual mage/magic user/wizard from D&D.
OK, just going to say this, completely rip out the CW class altogether. It just is a failure with the absolute brokeness of player invoked control in the game. Just gut the class and rename it. There is no controller class in the game and all these changes will not fix that fatal flaw.
GIVE US A MAGE CLASS!!!! We want fireball, lightning bolt, polymorph self, cloud kill, etc. Hell, we want a familiar! I just don't understand why this is so hard for you guys, other games seem to pull off mage classes pretty well.
1.) When we all first login after m15 is officially deployed, will all characters be reset automatically or do we all have to invest in a Retraining Token to respec?
2.) Do any of these changes to CWs (and other classes) impact or trigger a potential hard/soft cap of stats that might not have existed prior to m15?
3.) Do any of these changes impact companion choice/performance - such as Death Slaad procing infection upon at-will usage?
4.) Do any of these changes impact mount choice/insignia bonuses?
5.) Will there be any issues with Weapon and Armor enchantments being too much or too little in effectiveness?
Feedback:
Color-coding stats to be greyed out or turn red upon hitting maximum thresh-hold would be a nice touch to eliminate pointless guesswork or accidental overcompensation.
"Talent is a flame. Genius is a fire." - Sir Bernard Williams
Shatter Strike (Reworked): Whenever you deal damage to a frozen target, you have a 20% chance to shatter them. Shattered Foes are stunned for 5 seconds and lose health equal to 250% of your weapon damage. If a target is immune to being frozen, they will instead be affected by Frostbite. Frostbite consumes all stacks of chill to lower the amount of damage a foe deals by 25% and causes them to take damage as if they were controlled. Frostbite lasts for 8 seconds and can only be applied once every 12 seconds. Additionally, your Chill stacks have their duration increased by 3 seconds.
Does Control Bonus affect any of the durations listed? Which ones?
Harper Chronicles: Cap Snatchers (RELEASED) - NW-DPUTABC6X Blood Magic (RELEASED) - NW-DUU2P7HCO Children of the Fey (RELEASED) - NW-DKSSAPFPF Buried Under Blacklake (WIP) - NW-DEDV2PAEP The Redcap Rebels (WIP) - NW-DO23AFHFH
My Foundry playthrough channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/Ruskaga/featured
I'd have to agree with some others here that I'd prefer to see all 3 paths provide distinct functionality (and viability). I really can't understand why there is an apparent bias against the Thaum path. Most SS mage's were playing it once upon a time because it is a FUN damage path. I have many options as loadouts, that include MoF / SS Opp, Thaum, Rene but of course I am biased towards which I enjoy the most. That changes over time from variant to variant, but that is the hook, I would like to be able to change things up and experiment in different situations with different builds without gimping my toon and consequently the team. I'm sure that is the goal of the devs for all the classes, at least I hope it is.
Please revisit Assailing Force and give some consideration to the feedback that has been provided. The capstone should be something worth putting points in Thaum beyond spell twisting imho (if even for that come mod 15).
Comments
Meteor Swarm
Psychic Scream
If the devs don't want to use those than let's look at some rank 8 spells...
Abi-Dalzim's Horrid Wilting
Incendiary Cloud
Sunburst (though DCs are using this currently so need to use this ability)
Imprisonment is such a waste....Just remove it already DEVS!
@balanced#2849
More bugs:
Controlled Momentum stacks from multiple CWs.
Prestidigitation stacks from multiple CWs.
Repel still generates action points for every enemy hit.
Fanning the Flame still does not benefit from action point gain.
Base damage changes + chilling presence/bugged feat changes
arcane mastery stack changes and arcane power field interaction
Chaos Magic allowing multiple buffs to be active
However, There is only 1 tree now for PvE DPS, Renegade.
Oppressor has been gutted from a damage perspective due to the shatter strike changes. The only thing oppressor might be used for now is a niche movement speed build.
There is still no reason to put more than 15 points into Thaum. An At-will buff (even at 100%) cannot compete with the new DPS buff Renegade got. Assailant is still underwhelming and would be better off working similar to how the old control immune part of shatter strike worked.
From a DPS perspective for both AoE and Single Target Renegade is the way to go, and for those of us who dislike randomness in our dps builds, this is a bit disappointing.
I mean, I used to have a DPS AOE MOF Renegade build for solo PvE but switched to a Storm Spell Thaum build, because a variety of guides seemed to suggest it was stronger. What changed?
Aside, I guess, from the fact that with Razorwood companion, CA from Nightmare Wizardry is a lot better than it used to be.
+ I like the inclusion of defensive buffs for CW, it helps to shape a possible support path for CW. Defense in general is not as useless as some people think
+ I like the flavor of randomization and chaos, that's interesting. Explosive, uncontrollable magic is a nice theme.
+ I like capstones that offer something very special. Chaos Magic is a very strong and unique capstone
- I don't like the idea of randomized defensive buffs with cooldowns and questionable uptimes. Either you make a power that I can control and make it on cooldown, so that I have to make a decision when to use it and then wait, or you make it as a random proc, and then I have to make a build decision to proc it as much as possible to fight for uptime. Having both random proc of defensive buff and a cooldown that prevents me from having good uptime is incredibly unsatisfying to use. If I can't use defense neither as an active reaction to a threat, nor as a stable, reliable base, it makes it more of a threat than anything else, because the most it can do is to teach me to rely on it.
- having so many effects on random proc with cooldown makes it incredibly confusing in terms of input - reaction. Essentially there is no satisfaction to it, because I can't make a build based around uptime, and I can't claim a good move/game because I haven't activated anything.
- Considering more def buffs were added, I consider Rene tree to be officially support oriented (why woud I want to give party deflect otherwise). Chaos Magic, however, has no support in the tree itself, no synergy or comparable effects.
Possible Solutions/different approaches: One thing to do would be to offer me a choice for 1 buff that will be stable during combat, and the rest rotating as is. For example, If I start combat with an At-will, I (and party) will get Chaotic Speed for the duration of the fight. If I start with a daily, I will get Discipline for the duration, and encouter would be Fortitude, or combine 1 defensive with 1 offensive, i.e. on at will fortitude + Nexus etc.
Or you can make the proc rate lower - 2-3%, make it proc on dots etc, and incentivize me to figure out how to get as much procs as possible to maximize uptime of all buffs. Make me build my character around an interesting and powerful capstone
[PS4] Alliance - House Stargaryen
Any comment on if CW dps build will really be capstone-less Rene / Thaum straddle?
WHAAAAAAAAAAAAT? Wow. I have GOT to copy Miri over and test her CC powers. Arcane Singularity might actually launch critters to orbital velocity.
Question: does Control Bonus affect the effect of Shatterstrike on control-immune enemies? I have Miri built for an extremely high bonus -- 144%
Question #2: does the 10% control bonus from Loyal Master gear transfer to the player? She has had a couple pieces slotted for a long while -- not that I would swap them out if they didn't; the stats are too good, but it would be nice to know.
One comment re: arcane mastery. I never pay attention to the stack count because I can't read it. The stack count is microscopic, at least to this 48-year-old. You might want to consider making values that are specific and important to mechanics larger in their own place on the UI.
Blood Magic (RELEASED) - NW-DUU2P7HCO
Children of the Fey (RELEASED) - NW-DKSSAPFPF
Buried Under Blacklake (WIP) - NW-DEDV2PAEP
The Redcap Rebels (WIP) - NW-DO23AFHFH
My Foundry playthrough channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/Ruskaga/featured
The other capstones could also use some slight improvements. Capstones should be stronger then putting one point into a random feat. It's like that for most other classes. What exactly was wrong about Oppressor being the strongest choice for single target (bosses) ? "Oppressing" one target is easier then oppressing multiples targets after all, if you want to have it fit thematically. Thaum could have simply reworked into an equal or better choice for AoE (and soloing) by using the capstone. Other than that many of the changes seem to make a lot of sense to me, which makes the capstones stand out even more, oddly.
My baseline for Arcane Singularity is normally level-70 critters at the stronghold, but there's no guild in Preview. I don't know if there are any level-70 critters anywhere else. I tried it on level-71 critters in a Maze Engine quest and the effect was slightly below baseline, and on level-69 critters in Spinward Rise, which was above baseline. So, I'm guessing that the pull of AS is about the same.
Blood Magic (RELEASED) - NW-DUU2P7HCO
Children of the Fey (RELEASED) - NW-DKSSAPFPF
Buried Under Blacklake (WIP) - NW-DEDV2PAEP
The Redcap Rebels (WIP) - NW-DO23AFHFH
My Foundry playthrough channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/Ruskaga/featured
CW never get obvious buffs. They get trade-offs.
The Ren/Opp capstones are lackluster, but the tier of feats right before them are what you're aiming for and if you're already that far into a tree there's no reason not to grab the capstone as well.
It also still procs the same - you do damage in any way, you have a 30% chance of chaos magic (WILD MAGIC) buff. Apparently the function they were trying to use for proccing based on doing damage was not foolproof. So I assume that they're making it so instead of the code using "damage dealt" as a feedback, it passes specific distinct variables instead: At-Wills, Encounters, Dailies.
Edit:
How it works now:
Chaos Magic: Dealing Damage to targets has a chance to apply Chaos Magic to yourself and allies within 50'.
How it works in the preview:
Chaos Magic: Is now triggered when using At-will, Encounter, or Daily powers (it was weird before)
When a power is activated, each buff has a 5% chance of being applied.
chance and Is now triggered are italics because the current manner has a CHANCE of proccing CHAOS MAGIC. The new manner is that it is that it is triggered while using a damage dealing ability. In other words, Chaos Magic now "procs" 100% of the time, and the shift of "proc burden" is whether each buff procs (30% that at last does). Essentially the phrase "Chaos Magic" is now the name of the feat, no longer mechanically a buff in itself. Again it seems like changing to an algorithm that provides the same results but via different code structure.
I think this build is the way to go next mod for single target:
You can subtract 2 points from nightmare and move them to phantasmal for premades.
With the following setup:
Rotation is:
1) Cancel Cast Scorching Burst to apply Smoulder.
2) Icy Terrain.
3) Fanning the Flame.
4) Swarm.
5) Soul Sight.
6) Ray of Enfeeblement.
7) Ice Knife.
8) Disintegrate.
Throw in at wills (magic missiles) when stuff is on CD, the idea is to maximize the damage of disintegrate. Ideally you have RoE on mastery until boss is below 25%, then move Disintegrate onto mastery.
Only thing I changed is 2/3 in Blighting power and 3/3 in Arcane Enhancement.
And, as you said, I didn't bother with Nightmare.
However on aoe, I have still not find a gameplay that convince me.
Everything I tried seems underwhelwing atm. Needs more testing !
Ha, and as far as D&D4ED, there is a reason Pathfinder got huge keeping the 3.5 rules. I just went to a small convention and there was more Pathfinder play then any other versions of official D&D combined. They really screwed the pooch with 4.
Actually, I already tried this setup but in Thaum and it was... Meh...
+ Similarly to Chaos magic, this is a very nice flavor to the chaotic version of CW (it's like Izzet
+ Very nice offensive buff, a variation on other self buffs that thematically fits. Potentially very strong.
- It doesn't belong where it is in Ren tree, in the current form. Ren is shaping to be a support tree, so putting self buffs under its capstone is contradictory. You are risking that EVERY single CW will run Renegade because of this feat.
- It doesn't provide any synergy with Chaos Magic beside more personal dmg, which is not what we want in a tree that focuses support (at least based on a design of the capstone)
-
Solution/Different approach
This is the most problematic feat now.
Instead of self buffing (something I don't really like to see in the column under Ren capstone) make a buff for others similar to Commander strike. Either it can function as an Aura for other only - or on attack/encounter or something like that. Of course it would need to be nerfed, because it would be too strong when an entire party benefits - something like "up to 3-6-9-12-15%"
Another option would be to make it a status effect on enemy which would be consumed when another party member hits.
If the feat stays as is, Ren might be the only viable tree, and that's really bad. Even now we have 2 viable tree based on whether the party has CA. With Thaum being in a gutter, This one feat can break it considering Nightmare Wiz is in Ren tree 20 feats+.
[PS4] Alliance - House Stargaryen
I like having options now but from the look of the update why bother with anything that is not Renegade. I want a full on Thaum DPS, a Hybrid DPS/Buffer from Oppressor and a full on buff build from Renegade. That new feat the added to Renegade should be added to Thaum as that is our DPS path or it was at one point.
As you pointed out the capstones are all lack luster for CW. Looking at what CW has for captsone vs. other classes really makes me not even want to bother with my CW come mod 15. I am nearly done with my CW enchantments wise and because of these changes, I just don't want to bother with him any more. In fact, the DC changes, though I do like how the devs are moving there, I just don't feel like keeping my DC around either.
I like the fact they devs are doing changes but the changes seem to hinder some classes or force our hands to play a specific way when we should not be forced as such I want options and with the update it does not seem like we will have options.
I just have not grasp as to why the devs leave in these absolutely crappy powers for classes while leaving out stuff that would completely rock. But then, a CW is a complete failure of an actual mage/magic user/wizard from D&D.
GIVE US A MAGE CLASS!!!! We want fireball, lightning bolt, polymorph self, cloud kill, etc. Hell, we want a familiar! I just don't understand why this is so hard for you guys, other games seem to pull off mage classes pretty well.
I chose perfect time to return
Thank you so much CRYPTIC!
This is going to be so much fun
1.) When we all first login after m15 is officially deployed, will all characters be reset automatically or do we all have to invest in a Retraining Token to respec?
2.) Do any of these changes to CWs (and other classes) impact or trigger a potential hard/soft cap of stats that might not have existed prior to m15?
3.) Do any of these changes impact companion choice/performance - such as Death Slaad procing infection upon at-will usage?
4.) Do any of these changes impact mount choice/insignia bonuses?
5.) Will there be any issues with Weapon and Armor enchantments being too much or too little in effectiveness?
Feedback:
Color-coding stats to be greyed out or turn red upon hitting maximum thresh-hold would be a nice touch to eliminate pointless guesswork or accidental overcompensation.
Does Control Bonus affect any of the durations listed? Which ones?
Blood Magic (RELEASED) - NW-DUU2P7HCO
Children of the Fey (RELEASED) - NW-DKSSAPFPF
Buried Under Blacklake (WIP) - NW-DEDV2PAEP
The Redcap Rebels (WIP) - NW-DO23AFHFH
My Foundry playthrough channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/Ruskaga/featured
Please revisit Assailing Force and give some consideration to the feedback that has been provided. The capstone should be something worth putting points in Thaum beyond spell twisting imho (if even for that come mod 15).