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The Weapon Enchantment buffs ended up being a waste of development time.
grimah
Member Posts: 1,658 Arc User
@rgutscheradev Firstly this isn't a jab at you or the other developers. I'm hoping the developers do not sweep this under the rug and continue improving this element of the game. The buffs did impact the game in any notable way, none of the changes created any diversity with player choice, apart from barkshield which was a great change.
I've stressed this before that choice in the game is what makes things fun. It is the reason why GWFs are asking for a rework despite being great DPSers, it is just not fun building a character that is a clone of every other person of that class, using the same encounters, spec for eternity. This is why after years of playing this game I settled for the GF class because I NEVER meet another one with the same choices I have made and I don't think mine is better or worse than each others.
You did great work with mounts and companions which made the game alot more interesting and Weapon Enchantments are an untapped resource that can create alot more Individuality within the playerbase which is sorely needed. Ones that are great for certain specs or classes, not just the be all enchant for everyone, Dread is a good example.
Now I'm just going to do a little armchair development to brainstorm some ideas that could work. I would NEVER one thing to be overpowered over another.
Bilethorn
When poisoned, At-wills deal extra damage. 35% at trans.
Bronzewood
Remove the cooldown.
Dread
Fine as it is.
Feytouched
Fine as it is.
Flaming
Burning targets damage to nearby enemies with each tick, and the increased damage should effect all party members.
Frost
Remove the cooldown on the debuff and inflicts cold, slowing targets by 10% for 3 seconds with no cooldown (making it a choice for things that work only versus controlled targets)
Holy Avenger
Remove the cooldown.
Lifedrinker
Also heals players close to you (15-20 yards?) for the same amount over 3 seconds, effect stacks.
Lightning
Enemies struck are inflicted by shock, triggering damage for the next party member that hits them for the same damage.
Plague fire
The enemy damage reduction should be increased to 3% per stack so 9% total.
Terror
bump up the debuff to 8% at trans making it competitive with plaguefire for debuffing (since it doesn't reduce their damage like plague does)
Vorpal
Fine as it is, and used as the benchmark.
These are just ideas brainstormed up based on what different players want, and would desire. Without making one choice the be all and end all for every class.
I would love to come up with ideas for the armor enchantments but that would require some thought as being struck is hard to balance for both PvP and PvE.
I've stressed this before that choice in the game is what makes things fun. It is the reason why GWFs are asking for a rework despite being great DPSers, it is just not fun building a character that is a clone of every other person of that class, using the same encounters, spec for eternity. This is why after years of playing this game I settled for the GF class because I NEVER meet another one with the same choices I have made and I don't think mine is better or worse than each others.
You did great work with mounts and companions which made the game alot more interesting and Weapon Enchantments are an untapped resource that can create alot more Individuality within the playerbase which is sorely needed. Ones that are great for certain specs or classes, not just the be all enchant for everyone, Dread is a good example.
Now I'm just going to do a little armchair development to brainstorm some ideas that could work. I would NEVER one thing to be overpowered over another.
Bilethorn
When poisoned, At-wills deal extra damage. 35% at trans.
Bronzewood
Remove the cooldown.
Dread
Fine as it is.
Feytouched
Fine as it is.
Flaming
Burning targets damage to nearby enemies with each tick, and the increased damage should effect all party members.
Frost
Remove the cooldown on the debuff and inflicts cold, slowing targets by 10% for 3 seconds with no cooldown (making it a choice for things that work only versus controlled targets)
Holy Avenger
Remove the cooldown.
Lifedrinker
Also heals players close to you (15-20 yards?) for the same amount over 3 seconds, effect stacks.
Lightning
Enemies struck are inflicted by shock, triggering damage for the next party member that hits them for the same damage.
Plague fire
The enemy damage reduction should be increased to 3% per stack so 9% total.
Terror
bump up the debuff to 8% at trans making it competitive with plaguefire for debuffing (since it doesn't reduce their damage like plague does)
Vorpal
Fine as it is, and used as the benchmark.
These are just ideas brainstormed up based on what different players want, and would desire. Without making one choice the be all and end all for every class.
I would love to come up with ideas for the armor enchantments but that would require some thought as being struck is hard to balance for both PvP and PvE.
Creator of the featured survival horror foundry: "The Silence of Haydenwick" Video Review
and also the featured satirical comedic adventure "A Call for Heroes".
and also the featured satirical comedic adventure "A Call for Heroes".
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Comments
These are fairly wide arrays of enchantments.
I then see support toons using Plaguefire and Frost.
The only enchants I don't see being used by anyone are lifedrinker, flaming and bronzewood.
I think we need more time for people to find the enchant they want to use and more importantly, for them to earn the AD they need to switch to it. Weapon enchantments aren't a cheap investment so we can't realistically expect people to just jump across to them immediately.
With that being said however...I would like weapon enchantments to be reworked further. Not so much to make them more viable, but to give them their own identity. Right now they aren't really unique in any way which sort of removes the desire to use them.
For example I would change lifedrinker, so that instead of boosting lifesteal it worked like this:
Your Damage is multiplied by your lifesteal chance. You cannot lifesteal.
This would reward dps for stacking lifesteal chance as their primary defense but penalize them at the same time by making them even more glassy.
The defensive aspect of T.Holy would also need to be reworked since it occupies the same space as the damage debuff on Feytouched, which is far superior to the DR buff on holy. I would suggest instead of granting DR it gave temp HP equal to your power rating or something like that, in which case it having a CD would also seem sensible. Or alternatively:
"20% chance to gain X% of your next attack as temporary hitpoints." Then remove the CD from it. I am leaving the percent at X since it would be a point of balance and seeing what isn't overpowered. Since temp HP is constantly being rewritten (it doesn't stack) this wouldn't be particularly overpowered in the sense of allowing you to build up massive amounts of temp HP, but it would create an interesting situation where your life would keep bouncing up and down in combat. It would be particularly effective against massive groups of enemies but it would do nothing to prevent sudden 1 shots.
Or say for example change terror to do the following: "Enemies struck by your attacks gain a stack of Terror. Each stack of terror reduces their chance to hit you by 5%. Stacks of terror last 5 seconds. Terror stacks up to 5 times."
None of these ideas are likely balanced, but they serve to illustrate a point about the current design of weapon enchantments. They are bland. I was discussing this with @jaegernl and maybe he has something to add to this thread.
In the end I would like the design of weapon enchantments to move away from granting flat percentage weapon damage or critical severity and instead move to each granting a unique effect. This way, when you compare enchantments it isn't just a cast of saying, "ok, that 1 grants x% of weapon damage and the other 1 grants 2x% of weapon damage, the other 1 is clearly better."
I think their work has made a difference. Could it be better? Possibly. And armor enchants should be next.
I agree with the context of your discussion. But ofcourse the enchantment Debuffs and reworks will require a considerable amount of time and theory crafting takes time. Right now, Fey for PvP Dread/Vorpal for PvE (DPS) is the way to go 90% of the time.
We literally need variety. I spoke about giving choice ages ago. The point of having 2x Paragons + 3x Masteries (aka Paragon Feats) should allow for Versatility though, till now no such change has been seen.
There is literally no perfect counter. Ofcourse Neverwinter is not like other games, or not nearly as balanced as a Moba. But, bringing the Balance of classes, to that level of said Moba would require building the game again from Ground 0.
If you remember, back in mod 3 where stat influx was a huge issue and on top of that the stat curves were so narrow that stacking up stats over 7K or more used to seem stupid.
We need those Stat curves NOW (the ones of Mod 3), only the Curves, to reduce the influx of one particular stat. TRs spamming up recovery up to 25K+ (seen in PvP) and power on GWFs standing upto 52K (without bondings) makes things ridiculous.
I know that this should be a separate post but, I will try my luck here. Because 90% of the issues are interlinked.
All these issues require immediate fixes which go hand-in-hand with others (and not cause game-breaking bugs/loops).
Sincerely,
Hero
TR + HR + OP + SW
Nikostratos
Weapon enchants have the potential to create new builds and styles for different classes. Opening up new feats and stat choices with a bit of creativity with these designs. As @thefabricant suggested with lifedrinker. My suggestion was for DCs to be able to try melee dps/support builds, this is the direction I hope things can go too.
Some enchants could increase threat for example, allowing lesser geared and defensive orientated tanks to be able to team with others effectively without having to build too much offensive stats.
and also the featured satirical comedic adventure "A Call for Heroes".