***If your working solo-content I highly, highly recommend having a healing/tank companion out and about to draw attention from baddies. In fact I think it's almost a much for any Warlock build, and maybe any Class build in general.
I also strongly recommend having Pilgrim footwear handy.
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My Foundry playthrough channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/Ruskaga/featured
spreading lesser Curse with ACC via using atwills (seems to be one of the only ways to do so atm) feels very slow and clumsy. would be cool if we could get some other mechanic to spread curses on multiple enemys at once
Also the Tab Spell for DPS (soul scorch) hits very low even compared to the other DPS skills.
the new Encounter Power is cool but the cooldown at 22 sec really is a bit high wouldnt hurt to lower that a bit
3
ghoulz66Member, NW M9 PlaytestPosts: 3,748Arc User
edited March 2019
Take a healer companion.
Oh that's nice, cut your dps by half and make the grind even slower. Pretty @#$% sad I need to rely on the companion for a chunk of damage, since the at-wills and HAMSTER aren't doing anything.
Know what would be better design..? Having the lesser trash mobs melt easier by your at-wills, making you need to rely on encounters for the bigger ones. Now they all take an age to put down.
I went into Int, Charisma, Con but can´t tell if that´s how things should be like tbh. Companions gift doesn´t seem to work properly somehow, Bondings also disappear sometimes BOVA still seems to have a synergy with WC, but there is no Warlocks Curse anymore. Soulinvestiture, anyone did recognize that feat being active? I even have no clue how to stack it up Daily AS, Hadar Grasp, KF ? And how do I check my Critchance, 33k ? Is it 5% or 95% ? Resistence ignored what is necessary what is wasted ?
Oh that's nice, cut your dps by half and make the grind even slower.
Don't remember saying it would make things 'faster', or even hinting at that... Simply tried to indicate things would go smoother with one while soloing, that's all.
An important thing to note with all classes is balance will be adjusted up and down as we go through changes and dial in the balance. That does mean you will see dev comments about reducing or raising damages, that will simply be par for the course over preview.
Right now Warlock tends to be in a space where it is overpowered with multi-targets and underpowered on single targets. Both are areas we'd like to work to bring into alignment compared to other classes.
Players have pointed out that Dust to Dust feels like it should be in the Hellbringer path. For the next preview update I have swapped Dust to Dust and Prince of Hell. Prince of Hell also isn't a particularly interesting class feature, so I'd be interested in hearing the types of things players might like to see it replaced with.
I also swapped Deadly Curse and Dark Prayers.
Hellbringer was lacking in a strong single target Encounter. So for the next update I am experimenting with having Fiery Bolt be a single target only encounter with a magnitude of 700. It no longer has a curse synergy which means it will apply Lesser Curse as well.
All of this is subject to additional changes as we test it out and see how it all fits together.
We will of course continue to read feedback and make more adjustments as we go. The more specific the feedback is, the more likely it is something we can action on.
That's a problem. Fiery Bolt is the only directable encounter we have that can affect multiple enemies from a distance. If you take that away you're forcing us to use Dreadtheft when soloing since we're *always* outnumbered when soloing.
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
An important thing to note with all classes is balance will be adjusted up and down as we go through changes and dial in the balance. That does mean you will see dev comments about reducing or raising damages, that will simply be par for the course over preview.
Right now Warlock tends to be in a space where it is overpowered with multi-targets and underpowered on single targets. Both are areas we'd like to work to bring into alignment compared to other classes.
Players have pointed out that Dust to Dust feels like it should be in the Hellbringer path. For the next preview update I have swapped Dust to Dust and Prince of Hell. Prince of Hell also isn't a particularly interesting class feature, so I'd be interested in hearing the types of things players might like to see it replaced with.
I also swapped Deadly Curse and Dark Prayers.
Hellbringer was lacking in a strong single target Encounter. So for the next update I am experimenting with having Fiery Bolt be a single target only encounter with a magnitude of 700. It no longer has a curse synergy which means it will apply Lesser Curse as well.
All of this is subject to additional changes as we test it out and see how it all fits together.
We will of course continue to read feedback and make more adjustments as we go. The more specific the feedback is, the more likely it is something we can action on.
May i ask where the impression that SW multi-target is overpowered is comming from? Aside from some good TC placements and nuking 1 target the AoE dmg wasnt feeling that impressive tbh. What encounters did u use in your internal Playtesting for the AoE approach?
PS: and thx for your post, its good to see sw isnt forgotten .
For the Prince of Hell classfeature, i myself would find smth that lets your teammates also get some benefit from attacking enemys that have lesser curse quite interesting (could be a slight buff to dps/crit or combat advantage maybe)
3
ghoulz66Member, NW M9 PlaytestPosts: 3,748Arc User
An important thing to note with all classes is balance will be adjusted up and down as we go through changes and dial in the balance. That does mean you will see dev comments about reducing or raising damages, that will simply be par for the course over preview.
Right now Warlock tends to be in a space where it is overpowered with multi-targets and underpowered on single targets. Both are areas we'd like to work to bring into alignment compared to other classes.
Players have pointed out that Dust to Dust feels like it should be in the Hellbringer path. For the next preview update I have swapped Dust to Dust and Prince of Hell. Prince of Hell also isn't a particularly interesting class feature, so I'd be interested in hearing the types of things players might like to see it replaced with.
I also swapped Deadly Curse and Dark Prayers.
Hellbringer was lacking in a strong single target Encounter. So for the next update I am experimenting with having Fiery Bolt be a single target only encounter with a magnitude of 700. It no longer has a curse synergy which means it will apply Lesser Curse as well.
All of this is subject to additional changes as we test it out and see how it all fits together.
We will of course continue to read feedback and make more adjustments as we go. The more specific the feedback is, the more likely it is something we can action on.
So then HB has less AoE damage....? Not that it was doing good damage in the first place. Curse bite is just too clunky now to properly apply lesser curse to everything without wasting extra time.
Why not just BUFF soul scorch so it's an actual useful single target power?
So then HB has less AoE damage....? Not that it was doing good damage in the first place. Curse bite is just too clunky now to properly apply lesser curse to everything without wasting extra time.
Why not just BUFF soul scorch so it's an actual useful single target power?
This change leave Hellbringer with 5 multi-target encounter powers still.
Curse Bite has proven to be a very useful power with internal testing, I'd be curious to hear if other players feel it is difficult to get good usage out of.
We could technically buff anything at all, and a buff to soul scorch isn't off the table. But we are also attempting to bring all of the dps paragon paths into similar ranges of DPS to make sure all classes are viable.
Let's look at an extreme example where we buffed soul scorch by x10. To offset such a large damage boost in one aspect of the class, we'd have to reduce damage in other places such as encounter powers. Obviously the suggestion isn't to do something to that degree, but I wanted to show that for every buff there are considerations of how it changes the class overall.
The goal of adjusting Fiery Bolt was to give Hellbringer a solid, powerful encounter it could use when single target damage was the big consideration, like for bosses. If Warlock players don't find that particularly necessary or useful, it can easily be changed back to what it was.
> @hustin1 said: > That's a problem. Fiery Bolt is the only directable encounter we have that can affect multiple enemies from a distance. If you take that away you're forcing us to use Dreadtheft when soloing since we're *always* outnumbered when soloing.
On the other hand, who should really care about distance? As long as SW AoE ends up at least as functional as it is on live (read: acceptable, but not great), I’m fine with changing FB.
This change leave Hellbringer with 5 multi-target encounter powers still.
Curse Bite has proven to be a very useful power with internal testing, I'd be curious to hear if other players feel it is difficult to get good usage out of.
We could technically buff anything at all, and a buff to soul scorch isn't off the table. But we are also attempting to bring all of the dps paragon paths into similar ranges of DPS to make sure all classes are viable.
Let's look at an extreme example where we buffed soul scorch by x10. To offset such a large damage boost in one aspect of the class, we'd have to reduce damage in other places such as encounter powers. Obviously the suggestion isn't to do something to that degree, but I wanted to show that for every buff there are considerations of how it changes the class overall.
The goal of adjusting Fiery Bolt was to give Hellbringer a solid, powerful encounter it could use when single target damage was the big consideration, like for bosses. If Warlock players don't find that particularly necessary or useful, it can easily be changed back to what it was.
Maybe instead of changing fiery bolt you could add a feat to improve killing flames like we had on the fury path, then being ss and kf the damage dealers for single target, and fiery bolt with curse bite for aoe. Also as you are switching d2d to hellbringer, in my opinion immolation spirits and the permanent soul puppet should be on the same paragon, as we had with soulbinder damnation
An important thing to note with all classes is balance will be adjusted up and down as we go through changes and dial in the balance. That does mean you will see dev comments about reducing or raising damages, that will simply be par for the course over preview.
Right now Warlock tends to be in a space where it is overpowered with multi-targets and underpowered on single targets. Both are areas we'd like to work to bring into alignment compared to other classes.
Players have pointed out that Dust to Dust feels like it should be in the Hellbringer path. For the next preview update I have swapped Dust to Dust and Prince of Hell. Prince of Hell also isn't a particularly interesting class feature, so I'd be interested in hearing the types of things players might like to see it replaced with.
I also swapped Deadly Curse and Dark Prayers.
Hellbringer was lacking in a strong single target Encounter. So for the next update I am experimenting with having Fiery Bolt be a single target only encounter with a magnitude of 700. It no longer has a curse synergy which means it will apply Lesser Curse as well.
All of this is subject to additional changes as we test it out and see how it all fits together.
We will of course continue to read feedback and make more adjustments as we go. The more specific the feedback is, the more likely it is something we can action on.
1. Focus damage is pretty low indeed, Soul Scorch as a single target encounter looks weak tbh., loosing that dps-buff from sparks on top feels a bit contradictious somehow. 2. Maybe buff Killing flame instead of Firy Bolt for single target, KF is the one to favour imo. 3. Maybe think about BoVA doing same as Firy Bolt (as you plan to do) and Arms ->apply Lesser Curse to synergize with CB/VE/HG 4. Vampiric embrance with the tiny 20% temp HP buff, i mean that encounter deals 20-70k actually, a temp HP of 4-14k HP, having near 200K HP is pretty much from low to no interest imo, since that encounter is worse than all the rest
Beside that Soulweaver feels far more comfortable also compared to other classes doing solocontent, Harrowstorm Cursebite and Pillar are doing the work, not sure how the setup will look like in dungeons, but there are also many open tasks I think. One thing to mention is, when mobs attack me (Soulweaver) they kill themself, they litterally explode in short...me doing nothing , sure a bug having those 10+ invisible Immolation Spirit all time arround no matter if I called them or not The more I cast the more show up..but don´t vanish Beside that I think PoP should apply Lesser Curse, since there is only one Aoe that does ->Harrowstorm
BUG: at-will power damage for Thaum is too high. This did not occur at initial build so is related to later build changes. I have relogged but damage does not change. Encounters should expected damage
[Combat (Self)] Your Scorching Burst deals 313204 Fire Damage to Galeb Duhr. [Combat (Self)] Critical Hit! Your Scorching Burst deals 643883 Fire Damage to Molten Galeb Duhr ....................... [Combat (Self)] Critical Hit! Your Magic Missile deals 333282 Arcane Damage to Galeb Duhr. [Combat (Self)] Critical Hit! Your Magic Missile deals 372544 Arcane Damage to Molten Galeb Duhr.
BUG: at-will power damage for Thaum is too high. This did not occur at initial build so is related to later build changes. I have relogged but damage does not change. Encounters should expected damage
[Combat (Self)] Your Scorching Burst deals 313204 Fire Damage to Galeb Duhr. [Combat (Self)] Critical Hit! Your Scorching Burst deals 643883 Fire Damage to Molten Galeb Duhr ....................... [Combat (Self)] Critical Hit! Your Magic Missile deals 333282 Arcane Damage to Galeb Duhr. [Combat (Self)] Critical Hit! Your Magic Missile deals 372544 Arcane Damage to Molten Galeb Duhr.
Dreadtheft should probably deal increased damage (or be given lifesteal or CC) and it should also APPLY lesser curse, not just refresh it. As others have stated, the ability locks down our mobility in a very significant way. Currently, it has not been given enough compensation for the lost utility of damage reduction AND a debuff, and simply isn't favorable when compared to spamming atwills and casting a different encounter instead, which often has some form of utility attached.
Spark gain for Soulweaver is TOO DAMN HIGH. Spells should either cost more and be more impactful, or spark generation should be highly hobbled and healing should be raised (but not damage, I think that's in an OK place for a hybrid healer). Right now though, spamming Harrowstorm feels bad and you should probably feel bad for thinking harrowstorm spam was a cool idea.
The feat for Soul Defiler (the lifesteal/heal for damage dealt mechanic) needs to be clearer- does it ONLY double the self healing to 2% and leave the shared healing at .5%? Or does it double basic the self healing, making 'half that amount' 1%? That's the difference between this being a decent survivability feat and a potent healing feat. If it's the prior, phrasing should be adjusted to something more like 'Increases the self-healing of Soul Defiler by 1%, while the healing shared with others remains unchanged'. Otherwise, it should simply be 'Doubles the healing values of Soul Defiler'.
This may just be the lag of Preview showing, but most animations for Soulweaver feel very clunky still. Even if the overall animation time is the same, it would likely alleviate the feelings of futility in the player base if you made them faster and more active, like those of the Wizard. All in all though, cast times could also use a buff, in combination with spark rebalancing described above. Please keep in mind: Thematically, Warlocks are not really exerting personal effort to cast their spells. They're invoking a small pool of magic granted to them by a patron who, while stingy, isn't exactly limited to dial-up speeds. It makes sense for us to have fast, strong abilities in small batches, rather than a continuous string of spells like a Wizard. This also, further, fixes your problem of Warlocks being weaker in solo play- this is more than partly a result of our clunky cast times causing us to take easily avoided damage, or not cast the spells in order to avoid damage- wasting the lost animation time.
Suggestion: Like Bane/Bless, Wraith's Shadow could possibly be cast on an ally for inverted effect- AOE damage around them, healing only to the primary target. This would make it much nicer to work around in single-target fights.
The goal of adjusting Fiery Bolt was to give Hellbringer a solid, powerful encounter it could use when single target damage was the big consideration, like for bosses. If Warlock players don't find that particularly necessary or useful, it can easily be changed back to what it was.
Personally I think that boosting Killing Flames for single target (because Murderous Flames does not exist anymore) would be a better aproach that converting Fiery Bolt from multi target to single target.
About curse bite, I'm using it quite effectively. I use Harrowstorm and then Curse Bite. The bad thing about this combo is that for some reason sometimes Harrowstorm does not curse the enemies and I have no idea about the reason; and sometimes Harrowstorm does not reapply the curses when you consume them.
I first tried playing the campaign with Hellbringer but I was dying quite a lot. Fortunately, soulweaver feels more playable, probably not because the damage but because you can selfheal which is a good thing in solo content.
I have not tested neither Hellbringer nor Soulweaver in dungeons so I have no idea how well they perform in group content.
As @schietindebux says, PoP should apply Lesser Curse, since Harrowstorm is the only AoE.
On Hellbringer, soulscorch does so low damage that I stopped using it altogether and used atwill instead.
On Soulweaver, tab does no damage when you slot the feat
Arms of Hadar (the big hand that splash in front of you), uses sparks AND has the old cooldown from live. Please, make it either use sparks or keep the old cooldown. Not sure if this is a bug but it feels like it's one.
Curse Bite has proven to be a very useful power with internal testing, I'd be curious to hear if other players feel it is difficult to get good usage out of.
We could technically buff anything at all, and a buff to soul scorch isn't off the table. But we are also attempting to bring all of the dps paragon paths into similar ranges of DPS to make sure all classes are viable.
Let's look at an extreme example where we buffed soul scorch by x10. To offset such a large damage boost in one aspect of the class, we'd have to reduce damage in other places such as encounter powers. Obviously the suggestion isn't to do something to that degree, but I wanted to show that for every buff there are considerations of how it changes the class overall.
The goal of adjusting Fiery Bolt was to give Hellbringer a solid, powerful encounter it could use when single target damage was the big consideration, like for bosses. If Warlock players don't find that particularly necessary or useful, it can easily be changed back to what it was.
Thank you for such a quick response As many others right before me pointed out, killing flames should take the spot of hard hitting encounter, maybe switching its place to dps paragon with fiery bolt spot. Removing course synergy from fiery bolt is a good solution to lesser curse issue, and moving eventually to t1 power will help new players handle the mechanic. Will be SW weak or overpowered? Time will say, my first concern at the moment is feeling class playable and enjoyable, damage balance will be a matter of magnitude only :-) For what concernes prince of hell: as will be moved to support spec, I would see it as a debuff, a movement speed one? About soul scortch: (sorry I am still addicted to DoTs) I would love it adding a stacking effect that increases DoT strength chaining power multiple times. I am also missing if a bug or intended that soul scorch is consuming a variable amount of sparks
New, insane thought on Dreadtheft fixing: SWAP Dreadtheft and Accursed Souls. Have Accursed Souls damage and curse all nearby enemies with either marginal tempHP or marginal self-DR. Have the new Dreadtheft DAILY deal ramping damage up to ten seconds- dealing part of its damage, also ramping, to the caster. In this way, you create a POWERFUL daily with a massive risk/reward dynamic, so that Tyrannical Curse isn't the only option. Example: New Dreadtheft deals 50 magnitude damage to enemies and 1% of the player's max health per second. After three seconds of channeling (at 4 seconds), it doubles every second. 100 magnitude/2% at 4 seconds, 200 magnitude/4% at 5 seconds, 400 magnitude/8% at 6 seconds, 800 magnitude/16% at seconds 7 through 9, and 1600 magnitude/40% of the player's maximum life for the last second, if you can survive and channel the whole thing. (Damage is split between the two ticks, obviously, and as before the spell is canceled if you move or are hard-cc'd.)
I am also missing if a bug or intended that soul scorch is consuming a variable amount of sparks
That is "intended" in the Hellbringer tooltip. Can consume up to 18 Soul Sparks (3 whole dots on the gauge). I'm assuming it's meant to feed the Soul Spark Recovery Lvl 80 feat for more encounter CD refresh, I just haven't bothered trying to level up on Preview to test that.
Warlock: Don't want to let you down but I am hell bound. - Imagine Dragons Cleric: You can be an angel of mercy or give in to hate. - Shinedown Wizard: The more the dark consumes me, I pretend I'm burning bright. - Shinedown Barbarian: Am I beautiful... as I tear you to pieces? - In This Moment
Bug: Harrowstorm NEVER crits, nor critically heals. This is likely just a sloppy carryover from it being a targeted ability- no target means it can't make a crit roll, is my best guess. I would recommend copying over the critical calculation from Dreadtheft, allowing each tick of damage or healing to roll for crit separately. Alternatively, you could have the roll be made against an 'imaginary entity' with counter-stats based on those in the given map. Either way, NO warlock should be punished for building crit; this needs to be a priority fix for Soulweaver before launch, or it will likely crush build diversity.
Other healing spells should also be checked for this flaw- Warlock has always had some degree of crit orientation, so Crit should definitely be reflected as a core mechanic for them in this facet too.
EDIT: Harrowstorm also plays a 'hit'/'stagger' animation on players. This is also a bug. Seems separate, though.
Hello! Do you want to cast a Warlock far, deep and to be forgotten, like the worst nightmare dream? Or until the M16 Podgorie module came out to pump up to 70 lvl? What you did with him at the beginning of character creation is a feeling that you need to throw him in the trash. Do not confuse the Warlock with the Cleric. Where even at the beginning of the game you understand the importance of the Cleric class. If the Cleric could have less damage in the beginning, but then he could heal himself and the one next to him. Immediately it became clear up to level 30 that he was treating and during the journey he realized that they could not always come to the rescue and he already chooses who to be according to the situation.
Cleric take for comparison in terms of damage on mobs. But the warlock at the beginning of this Cleric can compare? What did you give him a useless daily skill Damned Souls? To call more often the Doll of the soul, a temporary assistant, so to speak, due to time constraints. Does daily skill cast in time faster than combat skills? Or does the OD gain a warlock from one or two blows to the mobs under full, so that the daily skill does not have time to roll back? Or vice versa recoilless is?
All classes at the beginning go like DD, except Clerics who can balance between healing and damage. Bring back the daily skill of the Children of Hadar or replace with another. At the beginning of the game Cursed souls can throw in the trash. It is useful at a higher level when the Killing Flame combat skill is replaced by another. Since the Killing Flame and the Damned Souls evoke the soul doll. And if you take for a basis that, according to the description of the doll’s call, it also heals me for an unknown share, restoring health, it makes no sense at all, since I have another combat skill in this case, due to which I can fully or partially restore health. Not to mention that health potions are sold for gold, ab, ZEN + can be done in the workshop. The focus on the Warlock must first be done in DD, for convenience, it swings into solo. With us, solo begins with this, until you go to dungeon or fight, where you need a team from 3 to 40 people (I considered the Guild command quests and so on).
Why, oh why did you take the Tower of Power away from the Hellbringer paragon? My Warlock feels absolutely useless without it.
Pillar of Power does not any damage, it only buffs damage and healing so it makes sense to be in the Soulweaver path.
What would be great to do is either make it to spread curses or make it do 1 point of irressistible damage so it spreads the curses, whatever was easier to code.
By the way, if exchanging Dust to Dust with Prince of Hell, I would increase Dust to Dust to a 10% self damage bonus (because it a self buff and it only affects yourself) and I would change Prince of Hell to be something like either a 5% party damage and incoming healing buff, or a 5% damage debuff to the enemies you hit, probably the second one feels more lore like due to being a warlock and cursing enemies.
I have being testing 3 more hours today and my personal feeling about SW is: - Hellbringer is a party damage dealer, mostly unplayable solo because enemies will hit you sooner or later and once that happens you will probably die. - Soulweaver is a party buffer and usable for solo play because it can self heal.
I have not done that much group content, although by playing it through the campaign it feels like Hellbringer needs some more damage output across all powers.
@noworries#8859 I think there should be a discussion about utility of different feats and powers in general same as balance powers. Bugs like Immolation spirits and those bats from Brood that sometimes do not vanish should be fixed, sure, but the overall experience playing the class is from bigger interest. Some points I thought about:
Encounter and Synergies:
My biggest crits with Soulscorch on a dummy lev 70 was maybe 26k crit + 75% dot, 150% dot from "double dot" = 65k in the sum. Damage table in general looks good to me, regarding singel setup. SS+KF+CB+BoVA (for sparks). Soulscorch might need a buff though, maybe 25-30% overall to start with. SoulScorch spends no Action points maybe there is a bug?
Some encounter build up sparks, some don´t. BoVA is doing pretty ok, concerning spark generation and utility, deflectbuff etc. , HG and DT should have the same feature.
Hadar grasp: is a lackluster somehow, no sparks and the refresh of LC is clunky. Maybe change "Curse consume" into "Curse Synergy" at first and maybe get that encounter (HG) back towards a spark generating power. If you want to make it simple, just make all powers apply lesser Curse, since that´s what the class was about. Afterwards switch all powers from Curse Consume towards Curse Synergy. "Curse consume" looks dead to me anyway, since Warlocks Curse is gone and I can´t curse actively, except running ACC and using At Wills or waiting for my encounter CD to run off. Powers that should at least apply LC should be BoVA, Hadar Arms, Spheres (allready do so), DT Curse Synergy should work with Curse Bite, Vampiric Embr., HG, Firy Bolt. By that ACC can be reworked, since you don´t have to run it 24/7 to make the class work at all -> no curse, no warlock, no fun. ACC could maybe works like this: "Curses do lower the targets Crit resistance" for example -> feels more like a Curse that way
Vampiric Embrance: needs more utility like giving back the selfheal component to have a "vampiric effect" beside that tiny HP buff. On top, no Curse Consume please-> Curse Synergy
Dreadtheft: As now is dead for a hellbringer setup, no utility and a minus dps. That power was only from interest in a buffer setup for a templock (25% debuff+DR buff). Maybe simply make it a "soulweaver only power" and buff it´s utility like debuffing the bosses/mobs Awarenss/Deflect/critresistnace, healing same way the group on top. Or make DT spend a DR buff (like before) for a more tanky way to handle mobgroups and by that make that encounter afflict LC again (as some others mentioned allready). That way DT builds up sparks without the need to curse targets before. At least you can build up sparks that way in short, same as you could use the power to get those sparks up in a very short time.
Mechanics: Soul puppet: Soul Investiture, even not showing up in the buffbar, is working but vanishes after about 20 seconds, intended? Lesser Curse: DOT-damage and as above synergy with classfeature ACC (debuff for mobs "resistance")
Class Feature: ACC: as above
Dark ones blessing: benefits automatically by applying curses more frequently - if ever survivability might be a reason to slot it.
Deadly Curse: could also benefit from a better availability of curses adn by that can be slotted as a aoe feat, has no utitlity on bosses I think. Without curses it will be from low to no interest.
Dark Prayer: hmm, 2500 defense + at 30% life, not very promising -> Shadow walk:Run speed+10%, Deflection 2500 and Crit 2500 -> wich one sounds more promising.. Can you see the difference? DP looks like a placeholder compared to Shadow Walk wich is active 100% and does 3 times better on top. Solutions needed!
Feats: Double Scorch: 160% instead 150% is nice, but about SoulScorch in general: I delete a 7.5% overall damagebuff (when 30 sparks up) by lowering my ammount of sparks. By that I loose about 60% of that plsu damage i gain from using Soulscorch as focus damage. Feels wrong to me somehow. A mechanic that deletes another mechanic (sparkbuff). You could change that 0.25% damagebuff for one spark and let´s say put in a defensive-buff/speedbuff instead, like defense or deflect or movement, so you can chose between damage or defense - run away from mobs Lift focusdamage for some powers maybe (Killing flame and Soulscorch at first), to have a setup that works on a bossencounter. Killing flame may need a small push for a better scaling with missing Hp of the target.
Power of the nine Hells: since double scorch is a tool to improve dps (PVE), PotnH should have a different utility like improving survivability (PVP) "PotnH improves deflection stat or spends a movement buff"
Same with Parting Blasphemy: maybe like "slowing targets for x %" fun aspect and BLASPHEMY fits better in a CC-effect than simply dealy xy weapondamage by removing a curse ...boring somehow
Risky Investment: you allready have that dps feat Executioners Gift, hard to chose between two dps-feats, from wich one never had any importance for the last 5 years... maybe rename it into "Safe Investment: Having a puppet active spends a 10% DR buff"... Soulinvestiture will never stack actually >1, having no tools to do so! Only power that works is Accursed Souls (every 60 seconds for 20 seconds about), Hadar Grasp does nothing in that case (no puppet spawns and no buff is applied), bugged.
This gives the former feat Soul Desecration a meaning for soloplay (low gear) and PVP, same as the level 80 feat "Wrathfull Souls". At least you have a simple solution for those feats each one based on the former feat adn giving you a choice between less dps more tankyness or more dps and less tankyness.
That´s all so far from my side for hellbringer path, did not check Soulweaver enough. PS: I had no problems to stay alive in Borovia at level 70 as a hellbringer and running my tiger, without boons and gear it will be hard though. DC is also pretty good in surviabbility , my GF has problems tbh, but he dies slow in general , except for some situational oneshots from bugged mobs I think... "BANG" dead in a splitsecond from full health, maybe due to some crazy bugged deflection damage/debuffs no clue.
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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
Also the Tab Spell for DPS (soul scorch) hits very low even compared to the other DPS skills.
the new Encounter Power is cool but the cooldown at 22 sec really is a bit high
Oh that's nice, cut your dps by half and make the grind even slower. Pretty @#$% sad I need to rely on the companion for a chunk of damage, since the at-wills and HAMSTER aren't doing anything.
Know what would be better design..? Having the lesser trash mobs melt easier by your at-wills, making you need to rely on encounters for the bigger ones. Now they all take an age to put down.
Companions gift doesn´t seem to work properly somehow, Bondings also disappear sometimes
BOVA still seems to have a synergy with WC, but there is no Warlocks Curse anymore.
Soulinvestiture, anyone did recognize that feat being active? I even have no clue how to stack it up Daily AS, Hadar Grasp, KF ?
And how do I check my Critchance, 33k ? Is it 5% or 95% ? Resistence ignored what is necessary what is wasted ?
A LOT to do
Right now Warlock tends to be in a space where it is overpowered with multi-targets and underpowered on single targets. Both are areas we'd like to work to bring into alignment compared to other classes.
Players have pointed out that Dust to Dust feels like it should be in the Hellbringer path. For the next preview update I have swapped Dust to Dust and Prince of Hell. Prince of Hell also isn't a particularly interesting class feature, so I'd be interested in hearing the types of things players might like to see it replaced with.
I also swapped Deadly Curse and Dark Prayers.
Hellbringer was lacking in a strong single target Encounter. So for the next update I am experimenting with having Fiery Bolt be a single target only encounter with a magnitude of 700. It no longer has a curse synergy which means it will apply Lesser Curse as well.
All of this is subject to additional changes as we test it out and see how it all fits together.
We will of course continue to read feedback and make more adjustments as we go. The more specific the feedback is, the more likely it is something we can action on.
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
PS: and thx for your post, its good to see sw isnt forgotten
For the Prince of Hell classfeature, i myself would find smth that lets your teammates also get some benefit from attacking enemys that have lesser curse quite interesting (could be a slight buff to dps/crit or combat advantage maybe)
Why not just BUFF soul scorch so it's an actual useful single target power?
Why not just BUFF soul scorch so it's an actual useful single target power?
This change leave Hellbringer with 5 multi-target encounter powers still.
Curse Bite has proven to be a very useful power with internal testing, I'd be curious to hear if other players feel it is difficult to get good usage out of.
We could technically buff anything at all, and a buff to soul scorch isn't off the table. But we are also attempting to bring all of the dps paragon paths into similar ranges of DPS to make sure all classes are viable.
Let's look at an extreme example where we buffed soul scorch by x10. To offset such a large damage boost in one aspect of the class, we'd have to reduce damage in other places such as encounter powers. Obviously the suggestion isn't to do something to that degree, but I wanted to show that for every buff there are considerations of how it changes the class overall.
The goal of adjusting Fiery Bolt was to give Hellbringer a solid, powerful encounter it could use when single target damage was the big consideration, like for bosses. If Warlock players don't find that particularly necessary or useful, it can easily be changed back to what it was.
> That's a problem. Fiery Bolt is the only directable encounter we have that can affect multiple enemies from a distance. If you take that away you're forcing us to use Dreadtheft when soloing since we're *always* outnumbered when soloing.
On the other hand, who should really care about distance? As long as SW AoE ends up at least as functional as it is on live (read: acceptable, but not great), I’m fine with changing FB.
Contagion - Cleric
Testament - Wizard
Pestilence - Ranger
Dominion - Paladin
NIGHTSWATCH
Also as you are switching d2d to hellbringer, in my opinion immolation spirits and the permanent soul puppet should be on the same paragon, as we had with soulbinder damnation
2. Maybe buff Killing flame instead of Firy Bolt for single target, KF is the one to favour imo.
3. Maybe think about BoVA doing same as Firy Bolt (as you plan to do) and Arms ->apply Lesser Curse to synergize with CB/VE/HG
4. Vampiric embrance with the tiny 20% temp HP buff, i mean that encounter deals 20-70k actually, a temp HP of 4-14k HP, having near 200K HP is pretty much from low to no interest imo, since that encounter is worse than all the rest
Beside that Soulweaver feels far more comfortable also compared to other classes doing solocontent, Harrowstorm Cursebite and Pillar are doing the work, not sure how the setup will look like in dungeons, but there are also many open tasks I think.
One thing to mention is, when mobs attack me (Soulweaver) they kill themself, they litterally explode in short...me doing nothing , sure a bug having those 10+ invisible Immolation Spirit all time arround no matter if I called them or not
The more I cast the more show up..but don´t vanish
Beside that I think PoP should apply Lesser Curse, since there is only one Aoe that does ->Harrowstorm
BUG: at-will power damage for Thaum is too high. This did not occur at initial build so is related to later build changes. I have relogged but damage does not change. Encounters should expected damage
[Combat (Self)] Your Scorching Burst deals 313204 Fire Damage to Galeb Duhr.
[Combat (Self)] Critical Hit! Your Scorching Burst deals 643883 Fire Damage to Molten Galeb Duhr
.......................
[Combat (Self)] Critical Hit! Your Magic Missile deals 333282 Arcane Damage to Galeb Duhr.
[Combat (Self)] Critical Hit! Your Magic Missile deals 372544 Arcane Damage to Molten Galeb Duhr.
Contagion - Cleric
Testament - Wizard
Pestilence - Ranger
Dominion - Paladin
NIGHTSWATCH
((Sometimes so many of them you actually have trouble clicking doors/gates and the like to use them even ...))
Winter Lily (CW) / Winter Rose (DC) / Winter Ivy (HR)
Pandora's Misfits Guild Leader
Spark gain for Soulweaver is TOO DAMN HIGH. Spells should either cost more and be more impactful, or spark generation should be highly hobbled and healing should be raised (but not damage, I think that's in an OK place for a hybrid healer). Right now though, spamming Harrowstorm feels bad and you should probably feel bad for thinking harrowstorm spam was a cool idea.
The feat for Soul Defiler (the lifesteal/heal for damage dealt mechanic) needs to be clearer- does it ONLY double the self healing to 2% and leave the shared healing at .5%? Or does it double basic the self healing, making 'half that amount' 1%? That's the difference between this being a decent survivability feat and a potent healing feat. If it's the prior, phrasing should be adjusted to something more like 'Increases the self-healing of Soul Defiler by 1%, while the healing shared with others remains unchanged'. Otherwise, it should simply be 'Doubles the healing values of Soul Defiler'.
This may just be the lag of Preview showing, but most animations for Soulweaver feel very clunky still. Even if the overall animation time is the same, it would likely alleviate the feelings of futility in the player base if you made them faster and more active, like those of the Wizard. All in all though, cast times could also use a buff, in combination with spark rebalancing described above. Please keep in mind: Thematically, Warlocks are not really exerting personal effort to cast their spells. They're invoking a small pool of magic granted to them by a patron who, while stingy, isn't exactly limited to dial-up speeds. It makes sense for us to have fast, strong abilities in small batches, rather than a continuous string of spells like a Wizard. This also, further, fixes your problem of Warlocks being weaker in solo play- this is more than partly a result of our clunky cast times causing us to take easily avoided damage, or not cast the spells in order to avoid damage- wasting the lost animation time.
Suggestion: Like Bane/Bless, Wraith's Shadow could possibly be cast on an ally for inverted effect- AOE damage around them, healing only to the primary target. This would make it much nicer to work around in single-target fights.
About curse bite, I'm using it quite effectively. I use Harrowstorm and then Curse Bite. The bad thing about this combo is that for some reason sometimes Harrowstorm does not curse the enemies and I have no idea about the reason; and sometimes Harrowstorm does not reapply the curses when you consume them.
I first tried playing the campaign with Hellbringer but I was dying quite a lot. Fortunately, soulweaver feels more playable, probably not because the damage but because you can selfheal which is a good thing in solo content.
I have not tested neither Hellbringer nor Soulweaver in dungeons so I have no idea how well they perform in group content.
On Hellbringer, soulscorch does so low damage that I stopped using it altogether and used atwill instead.
On Soulweaver, tab does no damage when you slot the feat
Arms of Hadar (the big hand that splash in front of you), uses sparks AND has the old cooldown from live. Please, make it either use sparks or keep the old cooldown. Not sure if this is a bug but it feels like it's one.
As many others right before me pointed out, killing flames should take the spot of hard hitting encounter, maybe switching its place to dps paragon with fiery bolt spot. Removing course synergy from fiery bolt is a good solution to lesser curse issue, and moving eventually to t1 power will help new players handle the mechanic. Will be SW weak or overpowered? Time will say, my first concern at the moment is feeling class playable and enjoyable, damage balance will be a matter of magnitude only :-)
For what concernes prince of hell: as will be moved to support spec, I would see it as a debuff, a movement speed one?
About soul scortch: (sorry I am still addicted to DoTs) I would love it adding a stacking effect that increases DoT strength chaining power multiple times.
I am also missing if a bug or intended that soul scorch is consuming a variable amount of sparks
Example: New Dreadtheft deals 50 magnitude damage to enemies and 1% of the player's max health per second. After three seconds of channeling (at 4 seconds), it doubles every second. 100 magnitude/2% at 4 seconds, 200 magnitude/4% at 5 seconds, 400 magnitude/8% at 6 seconds, 800 magnitude/16% at seconds 7 through 9, and 1600 magnitude/40% of the player's maximum life for the last second, if you can survive and channel the whole thing. (Damage is split between the two ticks, obviously, and as before the spell is canceled if you move or are hard-cc'd.)
Cleric: You can be an angel of mercy or give in to hate. - Shinedown
Wizard: The more the dark consumes me, I pretend I'm burning bright. - Shinedown
Barbarian: Am I beautiful... as I tear you to pieces? - In This Moment
Other healing spells should also be checked for this flaw- Warlock has always had some degree of crit orientation, so Crit should definitely be reflected as a core mechanic for them in this facet too.
EDIT: Harrowstorm also plays a 'hit'/'stagger' animation on players. This is also a bug. Seems separate, though.
Remove curse synergy from BoVA to help spread minor curses.
What you did with him at the beginning of character creation is a feeling that you need to throw him in the trash.
Do not confuse the Warlock with the Cleric. Where even at the beginning of the game you understand the importance of the Cleric class.
If the Cleric could have less damage in the beginning, but then he could heal himself and the one next to him. Immediately it became clear up to level 30 that he was treating and during the journey he realized that they could not always come to the rescue and he already chooses who to be according to the situation.
Cleric take for comparison in terms of damage on mobs.
But the warlock at the beginning of this Cleric can compare? What did you give him a useless daily skill Damned Souls? To call more often the Doll of the soul, a temporary assistant, so to speak, due to time constraints. Does daily skill cast in time faster than combat skills?
Or does the OD gain a warlock from one or two blows to the mobs under full, so that the daily skill does not have time to roll back? Or vice versa recoilless is?
All classes at the beginning go like DD, except Clerics who can balance between healing and damage. Bring back the daily skill of the Children of Hadar or replace with another.
At the beginning of the game Cursed souls can throw in the trash. It is useful at a higher level when the Killing Flame combat skill is replaced by another. Since the Killing Flame and the Damned Souls evoke the soul doll.
And if you take for a basis that, according to the description of the doll’s call, it also heals me for an unknown share, restoring health, it makes no sense at all, since I have another combat skill in this case, due to which I can fully or partially restore health.
Not to mention that health potions are sold for gold, ab, ZEN + can be done in the workshop.
The focus on the Warlock must first be done in DD, for convenience, it swings into solo. With us, solo begins with this, until you go to dungeon or fight, where you need a team from 3 to 40 people (I considered the Guild command quests and so on).
What would be great to do is either make it to spread curses or make it do 1 point of irressistible damage so it spreads the curses, whatever was easier to code.
By the way, if exchanging Dust to Dust with Prince of Hell, I would increase Dust to Dust to a 10% self damage bonus (because it a self buff and it only affects yourself) and I would change Prince of Hell to be something like either a 5% party damage and incoming healing buff, or a 5% damage debuff to the enemies you hit, probably the second one feels more lore like due to being a warlock and cursing enemies.
- Hellbringer is a party damage dealer, mostly unplayable solo because enemies will hit you sooner or later and once that happens you will probably die.
- Soulweaver is a party buffer and usable for solo play because it can self heal.
I have not done that much group content, although by playing it through the campaign it feels like Hellbringer needs some more damage output across all powers.
I think there should be a discussion about utility of different feats and powers in general same as balance powers.
Bugs like Immolation spirits and those bats from Brood that sometimes do not vanish should be fixed, sure, but the overall experience playing the class is from bigger interest. Some points I thought about:
Encounter and Synergies:
My biggest crits with Soulscorch on a dummy lev 70 was maybe 26k crit + 75% dot, 150% dot from "double dot" = 65k in the sum. Damage table in general looks good to me, regarding singel setup. SS+KF+CB+BoVA (for sparks). Soulscorch might need a buff though, maybe 25-30% overall to start with.
SoulScorch spends no Action points maybe there is a bug?
Some encounter build up sparks, some don´t.
BoVA is doing pretty ok, concerning spark generation and utility, deflectbuff etc. , HG and DT should have the same feature.
Hadar grasp: is a lackluster somehow, no sparks and the refresh of LC is clunky. Maybe change "Curse consume" into "Curse Synergy" at first and maybe get that encounter (HG) back towards a spark generating power.
If you want to make it simple, just make all powers apply lesser Curse, since that´s what the class was about.
Afterwards switch all powers from Curse Consume towards Curse Synergy.
"Curse consume" looks dead to me anyway, since Warlocks Curse is gone and I can´t curse actively, except running ACC and using At Wills or waiting for my encounter CD to run off.
Powers that should at least apply LC should be BoVA, Hadar Arms, Spheres (allready do so), DT
Curse Synergy should work with Curse Bite, Vampiric Embr., HG, Firy Bolt.
By that ACC can be reworked, since you don´t have to run it 24/7 to make the class work at all -> no curse, no warlock, no fun.
ACC could maybe works like this: "Curses do lower the targets Crit resistance" for example -> feels more like a Curse that way
Vampiric Embrance: needs more utility like giving back the selfheal component to have a "vampiric effect" beside that tiny HP buff. On top, no Curse Consume please-> Curse Synergy
Dreadtheft: As now is dead for a hellbringer setup, no utility and a minus dps. That power was only from interest in a buffer setup for a templock (25% debuff+DR buff). Maybe simply make it a "soulweaver only power" and buff it´s utility like debuffing the bosses/mobs Awarenss/Deflect/critresistnace, healing same way the group on top.
Or make DT spend a DR buff (like before) for a more tanky way to handle mobgroups and by that make that encounter afflict LC again (as some others mentioned allready). That way DT builds up sparks without the need to curse targets before.
At least you can build up sparks that way in short, same as you could use the power to get those sparks up in a very short time.
Mechanics:
Soul puppet: Soul Investiture, even not showing up in the buffbar, is working but vanishes after about 20 seconds, intended?
Lesser Curse: DOT-damage and as above synergy with classfeature ACC (debuff for mobs "resistance")
Class Feature:
ACC: as above
Dark ones blessing: benefits automatically by applying curses more frequently - if ever survivability might be a reason to slot it.
Deadly Curse: could also benefit from a better availability of curses adn by that can be slotted as a aoe feat, has no utitlity on bosses I think. Without curses it will be from low to no interest.
Dark Prayer: hmm, 2500 defense + at 30% life, not very promising -> Shadow walk:Run speed+10%, Deflection 2500 and Crit 2500 -> wich one sounds more promising.. Can you see the difference? DP looks like a placeholder compared to Shadow Walk wich is active 100% and does 3 times better on top. Solutions needed!
Feats:
Double Scorch: 160% instead 150% is nice, but about SoulScorch in general: I delete a 7.5% overall damagebuff (when 30 sparks up) by lowering my ammount of sparks. By that I loose about 60% of that plsu damage i gain from using Soulscorch as focus damage. Feels wrong to me somehow. A mechanic that deletes another mechanic (sparkbuff).
You could change that 0.25% damagebuff for one spark and let´s say put in a defensive-buff/speedbuff instead, like defense or deflect or movement, so you can chose between damage or defense - run away from mobs
Lift focusdamage for some powers maybe (Killing flame and Soulscorch at first), to have a setup that works on a bossencounter. Killing flame may need a small push for a better scaling with missing Hp of the target.
Power of the nine Hells: since double scorch is a tool to improve dps (PVE), PotnH should have a different utility like improving survivability (PVP) "PotnH improves deflection stat or spends a movement buff"
Same with Parting Blasphemy: maybe like "slowing targets for x %" fun aspect and BLASPHEMY fits better in a CC-effect than simply dealy xy weapondamage by removing a curse ...boring somehow
Risky Investment: you allready have that dps feat Executioners Gift, hard to chose between two dps-feats, from wich one never had any importance for the last 5 years... maybe rename it into "Safe Investment: Having a puppet active spends a 10% DR buff"... Soulinvestiture will never stack actually >1, having no tools to do so! Only power that works is Accursed Souls (every 60 seconds for 20 seconds about), Hadar Grasp does nothing in that case (no puppet spawns and no buff is applied), bugged.
This gives the former feat Soul Desecration a meaning for soloplay (low gear) and PVP, same as the level 80 feat "Wrathfull Souls". At least you have a simple solution for those feats each one based on the former feat adn giving you a choice between less dps more tankyness or more dps and less tankyness.
That´s all so far from my side for hellbringer path, did not check Soulweaver enough.
PS: I had no problems to stay alive in Borovia at level 70 as a hellbringer and running my tiger, without boons and gear it will be hard though. DC is also pretty good in surviabbility , my GF has problems tbh, but he dies slow in general , except for some situational oneshots from bugged mobs I think... "BANG" dead in a splitsecond from full health, maybe due to some crazy bugged deflection damage/debuffs no clue.