Thanks for the great feedback guys, and for keeping it constructive. A lot of concerns about power improvement level appear to be coming from a solo experience point of view, which is understandable. We do, however, have to design around the expectation that all of these could be used in tandem with a group of 4 of the same class, as well as mixed classes. Thanks to the great analysis of how effective the Time Clock can be at higher levels, now multiply that effect by 4 sorcerers. Same with the Taunts from Axe throw, or the Frost Bolt freeze effect. When combined with other players the scalar potential climbs pretty high.
A couple of insights on the masteries being brought up a lot thus far:
Frostbolt Freeze: 0.4% per attack may not seem like a lot, but at skill rank 10, with 4 Sorcerers, that's a 16% chance per collective cast to freeze a boss or Player for 2s. This is fairly powerful, on a small cooldown. We want it to feel like a boon when it goes off, but not overpowered to be game breaking.
Juggernaut Cooldown: This is 0.5 seconds per point, not 0.25 seconds for a total reduction of 5 seconds.
Lifegiver Sapling: Just to clarify, the chance for a sapling to spawn raises to 25% at level 10, the amount healed is always 4%. In a party of four that is always going to provide a sapling statistically, possibly more. They can overlap resulting in 1% per sapling if you're standing in the correct area.
Damage Passive: Previously the % Damage bonus was rendered useless by basically having any pet out with a % Damage multiplier as these did not stack. The 10% from your pet would be considered larger and those 5 points would be wasted. With the new change the damage will always be added, but can scale by those % benefits from primary stats and pets/elixirs. The bottom line is that players wil see more damage than they did previously based on how the system works.
Critical Reduction: This was done in conjunction with the damage change to balance out the damage output as well as provide more headroom for itemization moving forward. the 2% can be made up with Lightning Jewels or different gear combinations as a player sees fit, and we like the idea of choices and options in Arcane Legends.
Abilities with Mana Cost Reduction: These are intended for PvP more than PvE, as mana recovery is not available outside of skills. It certainly has its uses in PvE, but the benefits are far greater in PvP
Keep in mind as a part of this system coming out we intend to do more expansions and level caps in the future. The idea is to provide choices and options moving forward beyond the currently coming expansion, as until now we have hit a ceiling with skill points. The points being made about Curse punishments for extended DoT times and the like is an interesting angle, but we believe strategy of play is also important in terms of PvE vs PvP. We will obviously keep an eye on these masteries as players get there hands on them to play and test.
Keep the feedback coming, we're looking forward to everyone playing with these and experiencing them in play and not on paper!
- Carapace
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