Reopening the suggestion for a Tide Form skill Update(s) in 2020

flexyy#6046

I tried searching for a discussion concerning the tideborn's fish skill (Tide Form) without promising results... The last thread I found that was covering about the same topic was :"TIDEFORM UPGRADE 100000000TIMES ASKED which was published in 2013 so here I am

Over the years I've been playing PWI I've spoken with some other people that would be interested in being able to use their tide form in more parts of the game or at least have more uses to it !! At first the concept was pretty cool, but it feels like the devs/designers didn't put much into the the skill branch after launch. The shapeshifting skill even has some specific Tide Form related skills In-Game that were never fully released (the skills can be found in the level 50-70 sections of the psychic skills encyclopedia I believe, they're called numbers like:700098).

In any case, with the latest updates we've been getting and the Barb and Venos classes getting some updates to their shapeshifting skills I've been thinking of a way to revamp the tide forms for both the classes. I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one who would enjoy some tweaks similar to what I'll be posting here, so here goes.

One big issue related to the lack of Tide Form usage is the lack of water throughout the game. Since Psys have the ability to "summon" water to use it as attack skills (e.g. Red Tide, Aqua Impact and Aqua Cannon/Furious Ocean) why not use it as well as a practical use to enable new gameplay ?
How about a skill that could allow the Psychics and Assassins to bring the water to them so they can use the Tide Form almost wherever they are ?

Where I'm going with this idea is if you take a look at the Tideborn's mediation animation they summon a water veil/bubble to then shapeshift into their fish form. Why not use this principle as a practical use as well ? There's even the Chubby Swine Mount that swims around ON land with a huge water bubble surrounding it and if you compare with all the fish mounts and the mermaid veno pet, they're all swimming in the air. With this idea it would solve the problem of lack of water throughout the levels.

So this Water Veil/Bubble skill would allow the Tideborns to gain access to their Fish Form skill in new areas ! Now that this "issue" has been addressed here are the ideas I would propose to affect the Tide Form gameplay and make it more versatile.

Psychic Tide Form update Suggestions
→ In Tide Form Psys gain the ability to cast certain skills while moving (ONLY THESE THREE : Aqua Impact, Spirit Blast and Landslide) → Inspired by the SB's move set
→ Tide Form boosts Water damage output
→ While in Tide Form, allow the use of certain skills, for Psychics keep the buffs and single target skills cast-able only. I think blocking AOE attack skills would be a good tradeoff to gain 10 def levels, casting mobility for 3 skills and a water magic damage boost.
→ keep the swimming speed buff underwater

Assassin Tide Form update Suggestions
→ While in Tide Form, reduce physical damage received by 2-4% ?
→ Sin's Tide Form boosts water damage output and adds a small % of water damage to all attacks and skills
→ Tide Form gives Assassins an extra 5 attack levels and the base 10 defense levels already given
→ keep the swimming speed buff underwater

Suggestion for both classes
→ On Land, boost player speed by a small amount during Tide Form (could be an interesting twist in my opinion)
→ The shapeshifted status could be purged forcing the Tide Form-transformed player back into their base form losing all benefits in PVP (balance reasons)
→ Fuse the Gift of the Rip Tide (level 2) swimming passive with the level 10 Tide Form. Make full-use of Tide Form's swimming speed buff by merging the two speed buffs into one while being underwater. This way the skill actually feels like a good alternative to flying/running in any map throughout the game when you're close by to water.

Comestic Purposes → keeping the headmesh and skin color while being transformed into the Tide Form would be pretty cool. Or at least allow us to change some colors like the PWI Mobile version now allows the barbs to change their Tiger forms! For the Fish Form I think being able to change the color of the skin, hair, eyes and scales would already make it more appealing !
→ I guess for balance reasons, allow the skill to only be used on ground and in water? Also disable flight during tide form ?

Since the Psychic and Assassins have been some pretty popular classes played overall I think these tweaks could definitely appeal to many and different players.
Note, I am mainly a Psychic player and never really used an Assassin properly so if you have some suggestions concerning the sin skills tweaks/suggestions please share them !:)