Dragon Hunter Staff

[Carapace]

Hello again Arlorians!

There have been quite a few threads and discussions popping up around the Arcane Dragon Hunter Staff. We have been watching these, and discussing it internally. We feel to everyone's benefit we should discuss openly why we feel the Staff is working just as we have intended for it to work.

Before diving into that, we definitely want to say we understand that the immediate perception of "red numbers are bad" when it comes to things like damage, DPS, crit, stats, etc is hard to ignore. In many cases we find it is believed to be a guiding star for the validity of power on a new piece of equipment. In our view this is not always the case. The intent for the Arcane Dragon Hunter Staff was to add another spell to the Sorcerer's arsenal, which is evidenced by the 100% chance to cast Consecrate when charging the staff.

Here I'm going outline a couple of key points about how the staff functions, and our reasoning for those functions below.

Mana Cost
One of the bigger discussion points at the moment is in regards to the mana cost of the Consecrate ability. We feel that the mana cost is appropriate for a number of reasons.

Let's look at some numbers for level 46.



The initial portion of the Consecrate cast does an AoE damage equivalent to a Charged Fireball cast around the Sorcerer, which is why that number is relevant in this discussion. In addition, Consecrate also casts a powerful shield on all allies standing within the consecrated area. This dual ability comes at the cost of an additional 52 mana over the two spells cast individually when comparing the Arcane Shield and Fireball cost together. Playing solo this is a little more expensive. If used in a group however, then the arcane shield cast portion of 168 could be reasonably split up between the number of players. In a group of four using the consecration would cost 42 mana per shielded ally. So casting Consecrate in a group scenario results in a more efficient cast / mana usage for the staff. It serves better as a strategic spell cast during moments of a confrontation.

The reason the spell costs mana at all is a result of what we learned from the Ker'shal Staff. This spell cast is a free Shadow Fireball. The fact that is was free made it impossible to give it any real power, because it would change the dynamic of the class. By that reasoning, the only way to make the Consecration cast something of value was to give it a cost.

Cast Time
The cast time for Charged Arcane Shield is .75 seconds, and the cast time for charged Fireball is also .75 seconds. In total casting these two effects apart would take 1.5 seconds. The charge cast time for Consecrate is 1.25 seconds, and is therefore actually more efficient by comparison. It also is more timely in that you deal damage and shield yourself / allies with a single cast.

Staff Damage and Stats
While the Consecrate spell does not offer the DoT component of an upgraded fireball, it does also boost each allies damage and critical chance increasing overall damage output of the group while they stand in the consecrated area. The damage provided by Consecrate is also scalable by each individual player's primary stat bonus %, elixirs, and pets. This helps make up the deficit that is seen in the raw numbers on equipping the staff. I say make up because it does not close the entire gap. The rest of the damage is spread to your allies improving output for the entire party that supercedes the individual performance in most all cases. It is inteded for group play to capitalize the full potential of the Staff.

Normal Attack DoT Proc
The proc rate for the percentage based Damage Over Time is on par with the other Arcane Weapons, but random number generation has a way of making it feel like things are happening too much, or too little depending on the odds. When it does land, it is very powerful, so we're content leaving this proc chance where it is.

Multiple Consecrations
We will be looking closer at the number of consecrates currently allowed at the same time. It may have been prudent of us to restrict the number of active Consecrates to once. This doesn't mean we will change this aspect of it, however we will review it, as this would also allow players to utilize the spell and feel more mobile by casting multiple when necessary.

In addition to the above information, the Staff could feasibly be used in place of Arcane Shield in some cases where more damage dealing abilities would be beneficial. The option to free up an action slot for another viable spell we feel makes for a good choice for players to make.

Overall we are presently content with where the Arcane Dragon Hunter Staff sits within the options for current Sorcerer weapons, and now with a little more information and understanding into how it was crafted, we hope you do to.

Thank you again for the excellent feedback, keep it coming - it does get heard!

- Carapace