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Power Adjustments to Control Wizards in Beta Weekend 4
wingedkagouti
Member Posts: 275 Arc User
Critical Power (Paragon Feat from the Renegade tree: Gain AP on Crit) now has a 10 second cooldown, meaning Action Point gain has been reduced significantly for any build that relied on that to generate AP.
Steal Time no longer generates AP for enemies hit during the initial channeling (may be related to the Critical Power change).
Spell Mastery at level 10 means Control Wizards either have one less Encounter Power than other classes or doesn't have a Class Feature, at least until level 15 due to the new power progression. Due to the Class Feature I strongly suggest that Control Wizards get an extra Encounter Power available at either the 5 or the 10 Points level, simply to keep pace with the other classes.
The new power progression should be cause for some pause and reconsideration in how you want to play your character as you level. Shoving Ice Knife up to level 40 means your dailies are pure AoE for most of your career, and thus openers against groups rather than finishers against bosses. With Arcane Singularity at level 10 you really have no reason to spend points on the other two low level dailies, unless you have nowhere else to spend those points in order to unlock the higher tier powers. AS doesn't do quite as much damage as Oppressive Force or Ice Storm, but 1) it groups up enemies for follow up AoEs (of which the CW has plenty), b) it's not centered on the caster and c) it's a very large AoE. Ice Storm is also a large AoE but it scatters everything, thus making further control harder.
We do get to improve to rank 3 at level 20, so you don't have to get every early power to rank 2 to progress. All in all, it means that you can basically skip 2 of the pre-20 powers, which should most likely include at least one of the passives. As far as ranks go, Rank 2 = Old Power Level, Rank 3 = Minor to Noticable Power Increase depending on the specific power. Going from +10% to +15% Control Duration (Orb of Imposition) is probably not going to matter that much in the long run, you're likely gaining less than 0.1 seconds of duration on most powers. Entangling Force and Icy Terrain on the other hand get reduced cooldowns on top of the damage increase, so that's something you should notice far more.
One major thing missing is the base numbers on powers for everything but damage. Base duration for the Daze from Oppressive Force, the effect of said Daze, the duration of the Stun from Entangling Force, Base Knockback distance from Ice Storm, Damage and Mitigation debuff from Ray of Enfeeblement, etc. What are the numbers? And why should we not be informed of them in the UI?
I was forced to play with a noticably different mindset than I had during BW2/3, mostly due to the change in AP gain from Steal Time. Yes, it was quite a bit OP to basically spam Dailies in standard rotation with Encounters, but my initial feelings are that the change to Critical Power is too much in the opposite direction.
Passives seem somewhat improved, even though some impress me far less than others.
1 Orb of Imposition - With control duration already so low, +15% (at Rank 3) is not going to change much (you might be able to get 0.3 seconds longer duration on some things)
15 Arcane Presence - Seems solid, and you have reason to rank it up if you want to deal damage
15 Chilling Presence - Gets a noticable increase going from Rank 1 to Rank 3, but probably not as useful as:
20 Evocation - You're going to have a ton of AoE spells and this makes them all better.
30 Storm Fury - Could be decent, but you don't really want to be below 50% health if you can avoid it.
40 Storm Spell - Some added damage, but it doesn't say how much, so it could be great or utter <font color="orange">HAMSTER</font>.
50 Eye of the Storm - It's hopefully +5% Crit Chance instead of 5% (you get 5% from 15 Cha alone), the main reason I didn't get this was to try out Maelstrom of Chaos.
Steal Time no longer generates AP for enemies hit during the initial channeling (may be related to the Critical Power change).
Spell Mastery at level 10 means Control Wizards either have one less Encounter Power than other classes or doesn't have a Class Feature, at least until level 15 due to the new power progression. Due to the Class Feature I strongly suggest that Control Wizards get an extra Encounter Power available at either the 5 or the 10 Points level, simply to keep pace with the other classes.
The new power progression should be cause for some pause and reconsideration in how you want to play your character as you level. Shoving Ice Knife up to level 40 means your dailies are pure AoE for most of your career, and thus openers against groups rather than finishers against bosses. With Arcane Singularity at level 10 you really have no reason to spend points on the other two low level dailies, unless you have nowhere else to spend those points in order to unlock the higher tier powers. AS doesn't do quite as much damage as Oppressive Force or Ice Storm, but 1) it groups up enemies for follow up AoEs (of which the CW has plenty), b) it's not centered on the caster and c) it's a very large AoE. Ice Storm is also a large AoE but it scatters everything, thus making further control harder.
We do get to improve to rank 3 at level 20, so you don't have to get every early power to rank 2 to progress. All in all, it means that you can basically skip 2 of the pre-20 powers, which should most likely include at least one of the passives. As far as ranks go, Rank 2 = Old Power Level, Rank 3 = Minor to Noticable Power Increase depending on the specific power. Going from +10% to +15% Control Duration (Orb of Imposition) is probably not going to matter that much in the long run, you're likely gaining less than 0.1 seconds of duration on most powers. Entangling Force and Icy Terrain on the other hand get reduced cooldowns on top of the damage increase, so that's something you should notice far more.
One major thing missing is the base numbers on powers for everything but damage. Base duration for the Daze from Oppressive Force, the effect of said Daze, the duration of the Stun from Entangling Force, Base Knockback distance from Ice Storm, Damage and Mitigation debuff from Ray of Enfeeblement, etc. What are the numbers? And why should we not be informed of them in the UI?
I was forced to play with a noticably different mindset than I had during BW2/3, mostly due to the change in AP gain from Steal Time. Yes, it was quite a bit OP to basically spam Dailies in standard rotation with Encounters, but my initial feelings are that the change to Critical Power is too much in the opposite direction.
Passives seem somewhat improved, even though some impress me far less than others.
1 Orb of Imposition - With control duration already so low, +15% (at Rank 3) is not going to change much (you might be able to get 0.3 seconds longer duration on some things)
15 Arcane Presence - Seems solid, and you have reason to rank it up if you want to deal damage
15 Chilling Presence - Gets a noticable increase going from Rank 1 to Rank 3, but probably not as useful as:
20 Evocation - You're going to have a ton of AoE spells and this makes them all better.
30 Storm Fury - Could be decent, but you don't really want to be below 50% health if you can avoid it.
40 Storm Spell - Some added damage, but it doesn't say how much, so it could be great or utter <font color="orange">HAMSTER</font>.
50 Eye of the Storm - It's hopefully +5% Crit Chance instead of 5% (you get 5% from 15 Cha alone), the main reason I didn't get this was to try out Maelstrom of Chaos.
Post edited by wingedkagouti on
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Comments
As for storm spell, I actually use it now, seems really decent, each of those 'hits' deals about the same damage as a single magic missile hit. With the amount of attacks I throw, this stuff hits quite often, so it's great against single tough targets.
Shield does not absorb all incoming damage, but makes surviving much easier. Maybe trading it for 'time steal' was not so bad after all.
In my opinion the Renegade spec is what makes CHA/WIS work extremely well.
Base crit severity is 75%. Every point in CHA increases companion stats, crit chance and combat advantage damage by 1%. Just looking at the crit chance and severity it's a .75% increase in damage compared to INT's 1% increase. Speccing into Renegade turns that into 90% severity for a .9% damage increase AND makes it much easier to deal combat advantage damage... which is also increased by CHA.
Do we have any numbers on combat advantage damage? Base % increase in damage?
Yeah not impress with it.
Right away useful, use it.
If you go with the "Renegade" tree. You find "Chiling Advantage" with it you get additional crit chance.
If you go with Arcane Presene this would be your 2nd passive power.
Tested at lvl 38, if you are below 50% health it will shock mobs for whooping ~40dmg. Skip it!!!!!!!
Not tested.
If I remember correctly it has a internal cooldown and it adds +crit chance. Would be your 2nd passive power if you go "Renegade" tree with "Chilling Pressence" for a "crit" build......
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