Classleads 2014/2015
Mathiaus
Pennsylvania
Starting out the new cycle. Opinions and thoughts on the upcoming classleads.
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Comments
(I will also assume that hammering pun was intentional)
"On the battlefield I am a god. I love war. The steel, the smell, the corpses. I wish there were more. On the first day I drove the Northmen back alone at the ford. Alone! On the second I carried the bridge! Me! Yesterday I climbed the Heroes! I love war! I… I wish it wasn’t over."
When you destroyed the defiler class for the second time, you said that it was passable as is and that you would address the short comings of the class in the next classlead cycle. Is that still your plan or do we need to write 24 classleads to migrate the class from a one-trick-pony (elder blood spam) to a versatile, playable class on par with modern professions?
As a follow up, you agreed to reword a lot of the overlap of terminology in defilers bad mechanics, are you still planning on doing that without us filing a classlead?
As for terminology, that is indeed on the list.
Re ether: I'm definitely open to better solutions. (I'm aware mine sucks, hence the lack of a submition.)
@Iniar:
I could get someone to file it for me as a proxy instead if you'd prefer? I'm perfectly aware a clumsy change would benefit me, but that doesn't change that the current mechanic is silly, and you know it. If you have issue with other mechanics, rejoice: classleads are open. Ad hominem.
Such a change definitely would help a class like monk, where they can effectively hit 100% of the time since coding around parry is easy.
The problem with monk is the overarching problem of limb damage. Last seasons restoration change did absolutely nothing to remedy the problem. BBT, Incendiary, Vivisect* are not the problem. Limb damage is the time bomb.
What would you recommend to fix defiler? I'm pretty iffy on the entropy mechanic because it's a really weird dynamic that is absolutely crazy against low health/low psychic resistance, but tapers hard when you're facing high health/high resistance targets. Would you be open to overhauling this mechanic in a different direction that's not target/psychic damage based?
This would also lead into a different mechanism that manifests seeds.
If we were going to overhaul, I'd say entropy almost has to become a resource mechanic, but a simple one geared at dealing more damage. Build entropy on a target like taint, use entropy for all the things we currently use it for. I think there's a lot of opportunity in a mini overhaul to streamline the process and make defiler a little less convoluted. The framework is here for a great modern class, the execution is just a little sketchy.
The entropy mechanic doesn't work in its current incarnation. Everyone pretty much agrees that if a Defiler can reliably push to entropy explosion + demonic seed that they are going to die. There's a lot of ways to cheese to this and it ends up being "The safest way to fight a defiler is to not." If you can't push to that threshold of entropy damage, the class doesn't offer much in the way of "What do I do now?" You're forced to really limp by until you can try to push for that 25% entropy threshold. As such, I think we just need to remove the 'entropy' mechanism entirely and re-purpose the skill as something else.
The direction I'm hoping we can steer the class is focusing on the types of seeds and infusing them with demonic energy. All seeds will be 'demonic' seeds and we'll adjust the vocabulary accordingly. You can use these seeds for a variety of offensive abilities and a few defensive ones for personal use and allies. I'd like to push the class in a more limb damage oriented direction (Don't fret, I want to classlead the death of vivisection). After that, can we eliminate some of the awkward hentai in the class and shift it more towards bending nature to your will? Lastly, implant in it's current incarnation is a terrible kill condition. Can we delete it or rework it to be something more functional?
Hazel: Would increase % non-phys damage for next 2-3 attacks
Elder: Would proc bellow (with damage adjusted accordingly for frequent use)
Torso limb damage -> Increased bleeding/reduced ability to clot
Limbs -> Repetitive proning, remove levitation?
Arms -> Status debuf, static damage on every offensive action
This is just a rough outline of terrible ideas, but take what you will. I think it's a good start in moving away from entropy which is all or nothing and not fun for either party.
In all good conscience, I cannot possibly believe that while we are doing a Smithing and weapons alteration project, you cannot make the time to work on Wardancer. Functioning classes are crucial for PvP, and saying 'nobody wrote a clear enough report' to actually justify giving the class the time of day is unacceptable. Acknowledging that the class needs help, then saying your hands are tied? That is pretty low.
Before anybody decides to make a big stink about Defiler, it was never OK then either, we just never had a good excuse to work on the class. This time, we are basically saying that a weapon-centric class doesn't deserve a good look during a classlead and beta period where the main attraction is finally reworking weapons and Smithing.
At the very least, give 30 the same treatment you give every report that has a good point but shitty solutions: "I won't use these, but we will figure it out in beta."
Edit: I am willing to accept bandaids until such a scenario exists, but absolutely nothing? That's not right.
Classleads filed: 3/8
Bladedance: 0
You have to take responsibility for providing the impetus and the knowledge base to convince homeslice (@garryn) to do the crap to fix your class. See: Wytchen, Defiler, Diabolist. Classlead 30 was poorly worded and offered very little in the way of empirical evidence. The solutions were somewhat incoherent and too far reaching. You had 8 classlead slots (16, 24 based on friends) and you could have addressed skills individually. You only chose to go for 3.If the class is so bad, didn't it merit more than 3?