Seeker Skill Changes in "Dynasty" Expansion.

Lunari_Fenix - Heavens Tear · August 2012

Hey all. So as it turns out, PW-CN is getting a very shiny new expansion pack, which means we're getting a shiny new expansion pack! What does this have to do with Seekers?

EVERYTHING.

You see, what this expansion pack is bringing to us; aside from all the shiny, lag inducing, **** is SKILL BALANCING.
Yup; they're actually doing some balancing to skills from ALL 10 classes, but, I'm here to show you all the changes that are going to happen to Seekers.
This is all cut and pasted from the translation work I did on the above thread; and, these changes WILL be happening in the very near future.

Credit to Asterelle for supplying us a comparison of our current version to the new CN expansion files.

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Rock Splitting Cleave:
Is no longer a Melee range skill and is now a ranged skill (Like Staggering Strike).
Demon and Sage versions have a cast range of 20m.
Sage now deals an additional 500 damage to replace it's effect.

Staggering Strike:
Demon and Sage versions have had their cast range increased to 20m.

Arme Nier:
Cast range is increased to 28m

Quid Pro Quo:
Cast range is increased to 28m
Demon and Sage versions have had their cooldowns reduced to 30 seconds.

Blade Affinity:
Demon and Sage versions have had their cooldowns reduced to 30 seconds.
Demon version now lasts 2 seconds longer to replace it's effect.

Sacrificial Slash:
Cooldown is reduced to 30 seconds.
Now stacks with the Def Lv. debuffs from the NSW and Soulsever stances.
(e.g. 20 Def from NSW + 20 or more from QPQing Sacrificial Slash = 40+ Def Lv. Debuff)

Credit to Catal for informing me that "Sacrificial Strike" and "God of Frenzy" now trigger for our metal skills.
(Excluding Edged Blur)

Battousai:
Can now trigger "Sacrificial Strike" and "God of Frenzy".
All versions have had their cast times reduced to 1.3 seconds.

Heartseeker:
Can now trigger "Sacrificial Strike" and "God of Frenzy".
Demon and Sage have had their immobilize rate increased to 100%.
Sage now deals an additional 1600 damage, replacing it's effect.
Demon now immobilizes for an additional 2 seconds, replacing it's effect.

Ion Spike:
Can now trigger "Sacrificial Strike" and "God of Frenzy".
Demon and Sage have had their weapon damage increased to 200%, additional damage is increased to 5100, Metal resistance is now reduced by 50%, and, duration is increased to 15 seconds.
Sage now deals an additional 1600 damage, replacing it's effect.
Demon now increases the duration by a further 10 seconds, replacing it's effect. (25 seconds)

Edged Blur:
All versions will still not crit, however, now have a chance equal to 2x your critical rate to deal 1.5x damage.

Rewinding Gesture:
Cooldown reduced to 3 minutes. Now costs 20 chi.

Archangels of Justice:
Now costs 1 spark.

Angel Skill-Meteor Storm:
Stun chance is no longer reliant on soulforce. Stun chance is now 90%.

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As you can see; Seekers are going to be getting a VERY big boost this upcoming expansion. Now, I'm no PvPer (Carebear4life) but it's pretty damn clear to me that this is going to make Seekers a lot more dangerous than we are now:
BA, QPQ, and, Sacrificial Slash having their cooldowns cut by half.
Heartseeker is now 100% immobilize. (No more profanities when it doesn't proc)
The 3 metal skills can now ZERK.

Though, what strikes me as the biggest change is how much more viable becoming a Demon is now, Sage is still the bomb (Sage BA every 30 seconds?), but with these changes, I'm a lot less inclined to facepalm whenever I see a demon seeker running about. Unless you have nothing but -int gear, and, only have auto-attack and 3 Spark on your skill bar. In that case you need to GTFO my class and play a Sin or something.

Anyway, let me hear your thoughts on these changes.

CooIGuy - Archosaur · August 2012

well if this are really true i gotta say i love the skill changes , and since im sage the extra dmg boosts on lots skills will help me kill faster b:cute

Hexalot - Dreamweaver · August 2012

Lunari_Fenix - Heavens Tear wrote: »

Though, what strikes me as the biggest change is how much more viable becoming a Demon is now, Sage is still the bomb (Sage BA every 30 seconds?), but with these changes, I'm a lot less inclined to facepalm whenever I see a demon seeker running about. Unless you have nothing but -int gear, and, only have auto-attack and 3 Spark on your skill bar. In that case you need to GTFO my class and play a Sin or something.

Anyway, let me hear your thoughts on these changes.

Well in terms of choosing which Culti... I would say Demon is the big winner here and to be frank, they now out damage Sage Seekers whose only remaining advantage is the better anti-stun skills, blade affinity and unfetter (which compared to other classes, still suck as anti-control skills IMO). Demons now have the better Ion Spike and because of this... over all superior metal damage in general.

Ion spike by default has a 15 sec cool down before it can be cast again. But Demon's metal defense debuff duration will be changed to 25 secs while Sage is upped to only 15 secs. Since the 50% metal defense debuff doesn't amp the initial Ion Spike damage that triggered it, Demon Seekers will be the only ones who will now be able to cast Ion Spike again in time to get the benefit of the debuff before it runs out (and they can then rinse and repeat), not to mention they will have enough time to use Heartseeker twice... as opposed to Sages just once... while opponent is still debuffed... as well as spam Battousai more times under the debuff than Sage Seekers. This all translates into substantially higher metal damage to use against HA classes in the future.

It's impossible for Sages of course with their 15 second metal debuff duration to cast that many metal skills before their own 15 sec debuff timer runs out.

Mor_Toran - Sanctuary · August 2012

It's too bad they didn't change Demon Vortex to make the stun effect on it worthwhile.

Nice changes, and it does make Demon a more viable choice, but I'm still happy with Sage.

Daruvial - Sanctuary · September 2012

sage seekers will always be better just becuase of the 4 second anti stun on unfetter the 30% more damage on sage mastery and the extra damage on the skills plus 2 more defence lvls on adrenal numbness.

Burnout - Harshlands · September 2012

Daruvial - Sanctuary wrote: »

sage seekers will always be better just becuase of the 4 second anti stun on unfetter the 30% more damage on sage mastery and the extra damage on the skills plus 2 more defence lvls on adrenal numbness.

demon seekers will always be better just because of the 4 second longer duration ion spike debuff, longer more useful duration on heartseeker, longer duration CC's you can actually do something with on Northern sky and parchelblade, and longer blade affinity that actually lasts long enough to increase spike damage considerably, as well as a longer peenis that can actually successfully penetrate something when it counts.

Daruvial - Sanctuary · September 2012

4 seconds longer thats like one skill... 100% chance on heartseeker working is better then it lasting longer and how is longer blade affinity gonna help you the 6 seconds is enough to cast gemini ion spike and heartseeker.

Nochaelf - Lost City · September 2012

I really like the skill changes~(>^-^)>

and...Sage seeker ROCKS.

(Think most seeker skills are anti-aps?)

b:victoryb:victoryb:victory

sirrawrsalots · October 2012

This would be really nice, but as a demon seeker: YAY. Sage just always looks better a face value, more so if you don't plan on attaining any worthwhile amount of ApS.(I want to after I've finished on good set of gear). Hope this helps seekers as a whole, and makes demon seekers a little more attractive when it's culti time.

PS: Demons Seem to dish out more metal dmg now, and Sages(still) look like they are better with physical dmg.

Lunari_Fenix - Heavens Tear · October 2012

sirrawrsalots wrote: »

This would be really nice, but as a demon seeker: YAY. Sage just always looks better a face value, more so if you don't plan on attaining any worthwhile amount of ApS.(I want to after I've finished on good set of gear). Hope this helps seekers as a whole, and makes demon seekers a little more attractive when it's culti time.

PS: Demons Seem to dish out more metal dmg now, and Sages(still) look like they are better with physical dmg.

I'm gonna go off on a tangent, but, Seekers just aren't meant for auto-attacking. Fact is, getting above 2.86 takes an extraordinary amount of time+luck+money. Even if you do manage 5.0 by some fantastic miracle; BMs and Sins would still out damage you, GREATLY. Now; if we ignore the aps hullabaloo, demons are much more appealing than they used to be, and thanks to a shiny new Ion Spike, will fair far better against HA in PvP .

EDIT: Same tangent, but this thread will give you an idea on how stupid APS is for Seekers.
Clicky

Mor_Toran - Sanctuary · October 2012

Lunari_Fenix - Heavens Tear wrote: »

I'm gonna go off on a tangent, but, Seekers just aren't meant for auto-attacking. Fact is, getting above 2.86 takes an extraordinary amount of time+luck+money. Even if you do manage 5.0 by some fantastic miracle; BMs and Sins would still out damage you, GREATLY. Now; if we ignore the aps hullabaloo, demons are much more appealing than they used to be, and thanks to a shiny new Ion Spike, will fair far better against HA in PvP .

EDIT: Same tangent, but this thread will give you an idea on how stupid APS is for Seekers.
Clicky

Absolutely correct.

The Seeker is a caster class. Yes it's melee too, but it's a battlemage. The majority of our damage is based on skills. There is absolutely no point on focusing on APS as a seeker. Even -chan does not have a huge effect on our skills, so gear to add to your defense and crits, stat for dealing damage and put a little aside for hp.

An APS seeker is even a bigger failure in the game than an APS barb. (Although you could do more damage because you can use skills, but then if you're using skills, you won't be using the APS.)

XXZeonXx - Harshlands · October 2012

Zerk on metal skills is going to be absolutely ridiculous. Absolutely. On the topic of sage/demon differences..

From an endgame gear standpoint, sage Seeker is still the better option. Purify spell lessens the importance of demon's better CCs, HAs aren't killed via anything but spike damage anyway, so the importance of a longer lasting Ion Spike debuff is nearly moot, and the only classes that do viable damage to us are AAs, so longer CCs on LAs/HAs isn't as important.

From a PWI average gear standpoint, demon is a lot more viable, but I still would say sage is the better option. The main threat here is Sins. People get killed by skill spam without true attempts at spike damage. Demon ion spike debuff is more useful, longer CCs for keeping away Barbs/BMs/Sins are helpful. Demon parchedblade is good for AAs, but not HA/Sins since you're still constantly trying to keep distance from them. Demon northern sky waltz is better here. BUT sage still has a 4 second anti-stun and tidal on blade affinity, which now means we get tidal protection for 6 seconds every 30 seconds. Sage still deals higher damage overall. In this scenario it comes down to whether you'd like to be better at keeping yourself away from the opponent, or keeping the opponent away from you.

Sage blade affinity wins over demon still. All of our most deadly combos are easily useable in the 6 second time-frame given by sage; the extra time from demon is a waste.

Wizard will now be easier for Seekers to kill in general due to them being unable to avoid our simple damage skills by distance shrinking, and for those Wizards who used to wear full pdef gear against Seekers, killing with metal damage is a much more viable option than it was before due to zerks. (Even though it was quite viable before; R9 3rd cast +12 jaded wiz in full pdef gear gets charm bypassed from anywhere near half HP by a combo'd ion spike crit from an equally geared Seeker.)

Archers will be extremely easy to kill now. Staggering strike and rock splitting cleave reach the same distance as their leaps and metal damage can now zerk on them. Typically Seekers should be depending on metal damage in this fight since accuracy of physical skills can be a pain, but regardless, if endgame archer was hopeless against endgame Seeker before (which they were), it's going to be a completely impossible matchup now.

Edged blur doing 1.5x damage about half (or more at endgame) of the time, along with ion spike debuff increase, will make dropping HAs a lot easier than it already was. The hardest HA for Seeker to take down (BM) will still be a bit difficult, but much easier than it was previously.

I'm expecting a dramatic increase in the amount of players who pick up Seekers, as well as a dramatic increase in the number of people who put heart of steel on their genies, and this goes for both pre-endgame and endgame.

Definitely looking forward to these changes.

Mor_Toran - Sanctuary · October 2012

Not to sound like a total noob here, but what the heck are CC's?

It's bad enough I have to translate from everyone using the old PW-MY abbreviations, without having to learn new ones. b:chuckle

Kalish - Lost City · October 2012

Mor_Toran - Sanctuary wrote: »

Not to sound like a total noob here, but what the heck are CC's?

It's bad enough I have to translate from everyone using the old PW-MY abbreviations, without having to learn new ones. b:chuckle

In this context, crowd control. Although considering it's PWI I tend to just assume Credit Card whenever I see it b:laugh

Alsiadorra - Sanctuary · October 2012

They could have made the damage from Edged Blur cause aggro..

LIO_SWRD - Archosaur · November 2012

Lunari_Fenix - Heavens Tear wrote: »

Though, what strikes me as the biggest change is how much more viable becoming a Demon is now, Sage is still the bomb (Sage BA every 30 seconds?), but with these changes, I'm a lot less inclined to facepalm whenever I see a demon seeker running about.

.

Yeah it bcoms a lot more viable to be Demon now n.n But one thing that I don't have clear now it's the Demon Heartseeker effect. Did they overwrite the extended range? Just asking cause I didn't get what you mant there. b:sad

Lunari_Fenix - Heavens Tear · November 2012

LIO_SWRD - Archosaur wrote: »

Yeah it bcoms a lot more viable to be Demon now n.n But one thing that I don't have clear now it's the Demon Heartseeker effect. Did they overwrite the extended range? Just asking cause I didn't get what you mant there. b:sad

Pretty much, in exchange for losing the extended reach, they get to hold their target down for two more seconds. An even trade if you ask me; considering that none of your other skills had the same reach, it meant you had to waste time getting in range for your next attack. Now; Heartseeker, Gemini Slash, and, Arme Nier, all have the same range, when maxed, making it easier to follow up on.

Deceptistar - Sanctuary · November 2012

i like my Archangels of Justice alot, it allows me to annoy the **** out of pple in NW

Daruvial - Sanctuary · December 2012

am i the only one that's noticed heartseeker doesn't always immobilize when it says it has a 100% chance? :$

IHaxJoo - Raging Tide · December 2012

Daruvial - Sanctuary wrote: »

am i the only one that's noticed heartseeker doesn't always immobilize when it says it has a 100% chance? :$

well its 100% but once you have any stance on, the % to immobalize and the % to proc a certain debuff becomes shared from that point on.
When I don't have any stances on, i always immobalize but once i have a stance on, i sometimes miss so i think that's it.

Daruvial - Sanctuary · December 2012

oh.. i didnt think of that that could be it but its still bs cause it doesnt say that effects it and it does say 100%

Alsiadorra - Sanctuary · December 2012

I like some of the changes.. but GOF on every skill was always there, from what I noticed. This is why I kept my R8 sword, cause frankly GOF is just a charm ****.

Hexalot - Dreamweaver · December 2012

Alsiadorra - Sanctuary wrote: »

I like some of the changes.. but GOF on every skill was always there, from what I noticed. This is why I kept my R8 sword, cause frankly GOF is just a charm ****.

Metal skills were never able to zerk before so that's definitely new. GoF does hit your HP hard, particularly when aoeing big pulls... that's why most Seekers get Sin BP for FC, Delta, etc to save on charm... unless Cleric's BB is available. If you happen to PVP on the hand... nothing beats GoF crits for big spike damage.

XXZeonXx - Harshlands · December 2012

Hexalot - Dreamweaver wrote: »

Metal skills were never able to zerk before so that's definitely new. GoF does hit your HP hard, particularly when aoeing big pulls... that's why most Seekers get Sin BP for FC, Delta, etc to save on charm... unless Cleric's BB is available. If you happen to PVP on the hand... nothing beats GoF crits for big spike damage.

GoF hits your HP just as hard when vortexing on a huge group of mobs as it does when vortexing on one person. Not sure where the rumor started, but GoF is more like a self buff and not a debuff on the enemy. When you zerk, you zerk on every target that the move hits, and it is counted as one zerk. The chance for you to zerk is independent of how many targets you're hitting, so there's no difference in either situation.

Seeker Skill Changes in "Dynasty" Expansion.

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