Regarding Skill Descriptions.

[Distinct]

This has been bothering me since day one, but I figured sooner or later it'll change.
However, I've been browsing these forums every day since this game has been released, and I've not yet seen a single complaint about the current Skill Descriptions.

Which has made me believe I'm the only one bothered by this.

Either way, I decided I'd just throw it out there.

The current Skill Descriptions are misleading, wrong and very vague.

The Skills you use in this game are crucial, moreso than your gear and spec imo.

Firstly, a few of the skills are completely wrong and/or misleading.

Like the Taunt skill of the Warrior. It says it costs 25, yet it can still be used when you have absolutely no mana. Go ahead, check for yourself.

There are multiple skills that give incorrect information, my battery is way to low to test them all right now, but I'm sure many of you have come across them.

Next up, we have vague.

I'll reuse the Warriors taunt as an example.
"Pull enemies away from your friends!"
Cost 25. +Dodge chance per rank.

Cost 25 what ?
How much Dodge chance ?

New example: Enchantress' Ice Storm.
"Snare targets in a bone-chilling ice storm"
Cost 25. +Freeze time per rank.

Cost 25 what ?
How much freeze time ?
It doesen't even mention how long your opponents are frozen for in the first place.

I got a ton of examples, drain life, Nightmare, Magic shield and so forth.
Actually, it's more like half the skills in the entire game.

Speaking of Nightmare, some items have a vague description too.

I'll use my Warrior's Elf Guard's Blade of Darkness as an example.
"Now with NIGHTMARE proc!"
98-128 Damage, 2.0 Speed, 2 Str, 1% hit, 1 Armor.

As you can clearly see, the weapons stats is very well shown. No question about that.
However, what is Nightmare proc ? What does it do ? Duration ? What's the proc chance ?
Also, what does "proc" mean ? I know, but someone new to MMORPGs or RPGs in general will not know.

Now I've explained what it is I think needs to be improved (Just my personal opinion, I'm not demanding anything).

Now I'll explain what I suggest could be done.

Skills descriptions should have a general setup.

"Skill Name"
"Description"
"Details"

Let's use Warriors Vengeful Slash as an example:

VENGEFUL SLASH
Slash your enemies for extra damage!
Cost: 10 Magic, +5 Damage, +2 Knock-back, 15 Second Cooldown.
Rank 2: +6 Damage, +3 Knock-back.
Rank 3: +7 Damage, +4 Knock-back.
Rank 4: +8 Damage, +5 Knock-back.
Rank 5: +9 Damage, +6 Knock-back.

That was just to show the format, the numbers there are probably incorrect, seeing as I have no idea how much damage Vengeful Slash does, how much Knock-back it has, or what the cooldown is for it.
Why ?
Because it does not specify.

What it currently says is:
VENGEFUL SLASH
Slash your enemies for extra damage!
Cost 10. +Damage, +Knock-back per rank.

Honestly, does ANYONE perfer what it currently says to my suggestion ?
Anyone at all ?

I've played MMORPG's for along time, and it's all about making your character as powerful as absolutely possible.
That means knowing every single bit of information regarding your character and said character's setup.
Especially now with PVP coming out, I need to know exactly how to maximize my damage output in the shortest ammount of time, I need to know how many seconds my skills need to cool down before I can reuse them, I need to know exactly how much damage they do, which then allows me to know the exact number it will crit for if the oponent has zero armor.

Again, that was just an example, but you catch my drift.
Skills are important.
Knowing your skills and how to use them will get you further than any piece of loot or ammount of gold could ever do.

[TheBaconKing]

I don't really care if it tells me exactly what each rank will give me, and quite frankly there isn't enough room on the iPhone interface to show that much. The font is already tiny.

But I do agree with the descriptions. For instance Hellscream can assumed just from reading the description that it is AOE debuff, when it really just debuffs your target. Also it doesn't even mention it has an AOE stun. They are too vague. I want to know everything this spell is capable of doing. Now that doesn't always include the numbers. I just want to know if it is AOE, does it do damage or heal, does it knock back, or what does it do in general.

I had to come to these forums just to see what all every spell did. It shouldn't have to be that way.

[Jaxan]

I agree. Skills have changed or been altered as Devs have tinkered with the balance, but the descriptions have never changed. For example "Stomp" has chance of stun, but there is no mention of it in description. An update to the descriptions with added details for each rank would be appreciated.

[Jovians]

I agree too. Ive come across this on my Suportress :) i spec'd Points into "Weakness" and "Nightmare". The discription is to vague. Hopefully this will be addressed as they do more charecter balencing.

[nerdherd]

Full agreement here. It would be nice if the devs could update the descriptions and be a little more specific about what each one does.

[Azrael]

This seems like a pretty easy and straight forward change that can and should be implemented. I fully agree.

In addition, i'd like to see a bit more detail in the descriptions. For example, durations of effects/affects, and specific damage done.

[Obliteration]

Very agreed, like avian scream. + damage?
No damage done. Avian sucks anyway though haha.

[Zeya]

I can never figure out if my enchantress buffs/debuffs are AoE or what. Do I have to proc the buff with everyone huddled together? Will it buff a teammate on the other side of the map? They need descriptors for if it's true AoE (radius of effect), whole party, or one target.

[Distinct]

I don't really care if it tells me exactly what each rank will give me, and quite frankly there isn't enough room on the iPhone interface to show that much. The font is already tiny.

There are easy ways to shorten that.

For example, instead of listing all skill ranks, it can say something like
"Next rank: +6 Damage, +2 Knock-back."

[Azrael]

debuffs are AoE. Buffs are obviously AoE. In fact any spell that is cast on your part, is AoE, since you cant target a player.

[Splurd]

I don't really care if it tells me exactly what each rank will give me, and quite frankly there isn't enough room on the iPhone interface to show that much. The font is already tiny.

But I do agree with the descriptions. For instance Hellscream can assumed just from reading the description that it is AOE debuff, when it really just debuffs your target. Also it doesn't even mention it has an AOE stun. They are too vague. I want to know everything this spell is capable of doing. Now that doesn't always include the numbers. I just want to know if it is AOE, does it do damage or heal, does it knock back, or what does it do in general.

I had to come to these forums just to see what all every spell did. It shouldn't have to be that way.

The lack of space can be resolved with scroll bars or arrows or a button to launch a pop up to give more info. Lots of ways to get more space.

[Splurd]

debuffs are AoE. Buffs are obviously AoE. In fact any spell that is cast on your part, is AoE, since you cant target a player.

Not all debuffs are AoE, like the Archer ones.

[Zeya]

debuffs are AoE. Buffs are obviously AoE. In fact any spell that is cast on your part, is AoE, since you cant target a player.

AoE, but how big is the 'A' in AoE? Is it an infinite radius that covers the whole map?

[Azrael]

Not all debuffs are AoE, like the Archer ones.

Some archer debuffs are AoE, and some are not. The same can be said for warriors.
However my statement was only pertaining to the Enchantress class, as i was responding to Zeya's post.


And no zeya, the range of debuffs and buffs for the enchantress are different, and neither reach across the whole map.

[Zeya]

And no zeya, the range of debuffs and buffs for the enchantress are different, and neither reach across the whole map.

Xanthia said in another thread that BoV and BoM are zone-wide and that the debuffs are a radius AoE (nearby). I'm still hoping a Spacetime developer can comment.

[Distinct]

Up! The devs need to see this.

[Splurd]

AoE, but how big is the 'A' in AoE? Is it an infinite radius that covers the whole map?

the amount of aggro that would generate would be pretty scary.

[Justg]

Good suggestion, we'll do our best!

[Banned]

Haha! I guess you got your wish Distinct.

[flaimdude]

Although it would've been nice if you'd atleast posted something in my thread like "Good suggestion, we'll do our best" or something of similiar nature.



Good suggestion, we'll do our best!

Ownnnnnnned. :) Seriously, you devs are epic.

[Cinco]

Today's update included changes to the skill descriptions as part of a multi-stage effort to make the information more useful.

I changed the skill descriptions to include mana cost, cool-down time periods, effective range, damage min - max and more info about secondary effects (like debuffs and how they affect target armor, damage, etc.).

In this current iteration, ranges of values are from "Rank 1" to "Rank 5" - so you will see things like '6 - 120 Damage' on some stuff... meaning that if you're at Rank 1 the lowest damage you'll do is '6' and when you've ranked the skill to Rank 5 the maximum damage will be '120.' Not ideal, obviously, but it's a step in the right direction.

In the future we will see a change to the way skill descriptions are represented - adding more lines of text and (for me) the ability to put in much more data without worrying about various formatting problems between iPhone and iPad versions of the Skills interface.

Thanks for the feedback!

- Cinco

[Distinct]

Good suggestion, we'll do our best!

Hahaha! You guys are awesome!

While you're granting wishes, I'd like 500 additional stat points for each of my characters.

;)

[Splurd]

Today's update included changes to the skill descriptions as part of a multi-stage effort to make the information more useful.

I changed the skill descriptions to include mana cost, cool-down time periods, effective range, damage min - max and more info about secondary effects (like debuffs and how they affect target armor, damage, etc.).

In this current iteration, ranges of values are from "Rank 1" to "Rank 5" - so you will see things like '6 - 120 Damage' on some stuff... meaning that if you're at Rank 1 the lowest damage you'll do is '6' and when you've ranked the skill to Rank 5 the maximum damage will be '120.' Not ideal, obviously, but it's a step in the right direction.

In the future we will see a change to the way skill descriptions are represented - adding more lines of text and (for me) the ability to put in much more data without worrying about various formatting problems between iPhone and iPad versions of the Skills interface.

Thanks for the feedback!

- Cinco

Well rather then have it confusing, why not explain what the skills does for *that* level. Eg at lvl 1 it says 6 damage, At level 2 it says 35 damage, etc. Dont need to say what increases, since when they add it they can see.

6 - 120 damage sounds like, when I cast a spell, it does 6d20 damage (DnD terms ftw), so it sounds like it is a a huge damage range which is very random.

[Azrael]

Well rather then have it confusing, why not explain what the skills does for *that* level. Eg at lvl 1 it says 6 damage, At level 2 it says 35 damage, etc. Dont need to say what increases, since when they add it they can see.

6 - 120 damage sounds like, when I cast a spell, it does 6d20 damage (DnD terms ftw), so it sounds like it is a a huge damage range which is very random.

I understood it just fine.

Btw Great job Cinco. However this new information seems to indicate that damage spells like slashes are set in stone and are not effected by the weapon being used, which i think is an issue. Thats a post for another time though, so thanks so much for this update (and your constant hard work on the game).

[Splurd]

I understood it just fine.

Btw Great job Cinco. However this new information seems to indicate that damage spells like slashes are set in stone and are not effected by the weapon being used, which i think is an issue. Thats a post for another time though, so thanks so much for this update (and your constant hard work on the game).

That is because you read the patch notes and understood what they meant.

Try viewing it from the perspective of a new player who has not read the patch notes and looks at a skill which says, 12-80 damage, with 20-90% chance to stun.
See, the way they phrase it is misleading. The dash even more so. Since dash is usually used to express a range. Like weapons. My bow does 40-50dmg. My stats, I do 70-80 damage. And my skill? Does 12-80 damage. So people will think the skill does a range of damage.

But I do agree with the issue about the weapon. Tho how the spell damage is calculated is still a mystery to me. (dps or dmg? I cant tell)

[arazmas]

I guess I'm late jumping onto the bandwagon... but as of right now the description sounds like it's written by an engineer and a normal human being wouldn't understand it at all. it's good that you guys are making updates but this isn't exactly the right direction...

[Tatanka]

....phrase it is misleading. The dash even more so. Since dash is usually used to express a range. Like weapons. My bow does 40-50dmg. My stats, I do 70-80 damage. And my skill? Does 12-80 damage. So people will think the skill does a range of damage.

Very true. It does look like a range.

Started playing yesterday and i needed to search in the forums to get to the conclusion that I have missinterpreted the skill damage.

By the way: is there already somewhere, not ingame, where we could read/compare the various skills from the diferent classes? Wiky kind of stuff...