Skip to content

Wardancer revamp

Once again, it's time for one of my profession revamp projects. Getting close to being finished with these!

This time, Wardancer is the profession that we'll be updating. The exact list of changes is still in a bit of a flux, so just a somewhat brief outline of what is coming.

For starters, a somewhat cosmetic change is that we'll probably rename the profession from Wardancer to Berserker or a similar name - this is tentative, but seems quite likely, as the current theme isn't really working very well.

As far as mechanics go, we'll be merging the existing three skills into two, removing a few abilities, and adding one new skill.

The first skill will contain all the weapon and shield attacks, with a few useless ones removed or merged. The venom-less shield attacks will also be removed, and so will feint, riposte, and blade spin.

The second skill contains mobility and all the dances (with some dances reworked, and others getting a thematic reskin). War masks and war paint are included - the latter will now also receive some mechanical effects.

An important change is that all the kicks are going to be removed. DoubleTime and BladeThirst are going bye-bye as well, to be merged in into the individual attacks as needed.

Finally, the third skill. This one is almost entirely new, and will focus on a wide variety of war chants and battlecries. These will provide both offensive and defensive options (mostly offensive, this is berserker, after all). These will operate on their own balance, and are intended to be used together with the blade/shield attacks (just like kicks are now). The defensive ones will last for a limited time, with the option of making one of them permanent.

Along with warchants, a concept of "rage" will be introduced - each time you use a warchant, your rage increases. Higher rage allows you to sometimes use an extra chant for free and gives a few other bonuses - however, if your rage becomes too high, you will receive a recklessness-like effect until you lose some of the excess.

I'll be posting more information on all this once we have more of these finalized and coded in. As always, we'll also be running a (hopefully) short beta to prepare the updated class for a release.

«1

Comments

  • Whatever you do, please keep the cartwheel, frontroll, and backhandspring skills. The exit/enter messages on these are too cute. And streamers for pompoms. :)
  • I'd like to preemptively suggest that shields have their offensive stats normalized for Berserkers, and that they be restricted to sword-and-board combos.

    "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."

  • IniarIniar Australia
    What's the kill condition?
    wit beyond measure is a Sidhe's greatest treasure
  • ALSO I AM SO EXCITED OMG OMG OMG 

    "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."

  • Diablo 2 flashbacks incoming!
    無駄だ!無駄無駄無駄無駄無駄無駄無駄無駄無駄無駄無駄無駄!ザ・ワールド!時よ止まれ!くらえ!そして、時は動き出す。
    image
  • Also, because Iniar decided to go Magick instead of AM, I think that Berserkers should use warhammers.

    "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."

  • IniarIniar Australia
    *shakefist*
    wit beyond measure is a Sidhe's greatest treasure
  • IniarIniar Australia
    And yet, somehow, I think that it would happen. *shakefist harder*
    wit beyond measure is a Sidhe's greatest treasure
  • Khizan said:

    Also, because Iniar decided to go Magick instead of AM, I think that Berserkers should use warhammers.

    Tempting ...
  • Iniar said:
    What's the kill condition?
    The design is mostly based on a combination of direct and bleeding damage. There's also an afflictions->damage crossover option. As with all things, this may still change during the development/beta, but I think it'll work well.
  • IniarIniar Australia
    Ok, so something like Outrider 2.0
    wit beyond measure is a Sidhe's greatest treasure
  • Not quite, but there are similarities.
  • IniarIniar Australia
    edited June 2015
    Man if they get warhammers I would be severely tempted/tested. :< aka. this is important.
    wit beyond measure is a Sidhe's greatest treasure
  • IniarIniar Australia
    I hate you guys so much >:[ been doing this all evening. :<

    You secure your previously wielded item and instantly draw a blackened warhammer into your left hand.
    You will now target the right arm of your opponent.
    You smash yourself's right arm with a blackened warhammer.
    You are afflicted with damaged right arm.
    You are afflicted with crippled right arm.
    You cease to wield a blackened warhammer.
    Iniar's right arm has been mutilated.
    Your right arm is greatly damaged from the beating.
    Damage Taken: 74 blunt, physical (raw damage: 133)
    Balance Taken: 3.64s

    wit beyond measure is a Sidhe's greatest treasure
  • Please please please give them warhammers. I feel like our time is at hand, @Iniar:

    image
    image
  • IniarIniar Australia
    @Garryn

    Please for this class consider loosely decoupling (downwards) the formula for bleed from straight damage. I want to avoid the situation where this becomes easier and easier

    Round One: 24% * 2 + 24 bleed * 2 
    Round Two: 200 bloodfreeze / absolve
    wit beyond measure is a Sidhe's greatest treasure
  • I'm honestly sort of iffy on more bleed based kills.

    IMO, it really doesn't work out very well because your ability to stick a bleed-based kill is based almost entirely on your ability to stick haemophilia which realistically turns any bleed-based offense into an affliction offense. Also, any worthwhile bleed-based offense is going to pose ridiculously huge synergy problems with Outrider and it'll be even worse if Templar ever gets a viable longsword method.

    "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."

  • Berserkers need to get silver warpaint that grants a starburst like effect, so that I may live and die and live again.

    "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."

  • Khizan said:
    Berserkers need to get silver warpaint that grants a starburst like effect, so that I may live and die and live again.
    WITNESS ME!

  • VALHALLA!

  • IniarIniar Australia
    Garryn said:
    if your rage becomes too high, you will receive a recklessness-like effect until you lose some of the excess.

    Could you consider making this more of a masochism/heroism effect rather than recklessness? Not sure how AMers feel, but recklessness for even 1-2 ticks at the wrong time can be awfully punishing.
    wit beyond measure is a Sidhe's greatest treasure
  • Warding - Berserking

    Berserking

    Syntax: BERSERKING ON|OFF

    Allowing your bloodlust to rule your psyche can be a two-edged weapon. Having
    this ability active will increase your strength and the speed with which you
    may strike, but you will be less likely to dodge blows as well, you will become
    fatigued faster, and casual assessment of your health and mana will be
    ineffective.

    When you have been greatly damaged and are near death, you will go berserk,
    which will allow you to use the anger in your soul to speed up your quickjab
    attacks. You will cease being a berserker after a short time, and will not be
    able to go berserk again for a while.

  • This is a very important demand request from Ultrix: Berserkers need to keep the ability to create colorful sword streamers, because Ultrix gets a bad case of the sads when she doesn't have a colorful streamer on her broadsword.

    "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."

  • Streamers remain, yes.
  • IniarIniar Australia
    Any news?
    wit beyond measure is a Sidhe's greatest treasure
  • Soon.
  • Garryn said:
    Soon.
    Winter is coming.

  • edited July 2015
    Okay, so as of now, the main coding is done, still need to run testing, validate numbers, write ability helps, and so on - we'll likely be starting player testing on this early next week.

    For now, as a bit of a teaser, here are the ability lists. Please keep in mind that anything can still change.

    Maiming offers the following abilities:
    [spoiler]
    Maiming offers the following abilities:
    Slash               The basic attack of the Berserker.                                                                         
    Combo               Swiftly combine your attacks.                                                                              
    Raze                Destroy the defences that would keep your weapons out.                                                     
    Gripping            Keep your weapons in hand.                                                                                 
    Trip                Trip your foe with a scoop of your weapon or shield.                                                       
    Posture             Handle heavy shields with natural ease.                                                                    
    Absorb              Absorb the damage from physical assaults.                                                                  
    Envenom             Coat a weapon or shield in toxins.                                                                         
    Parry               Deflect the blows of your foe.                                                                             
    Streamers           Bind colorful streamers to your weapons.                                                                   
    Strike              A slower, yet more powerful attack.                                                                        
    Envelop             Disarm the weapons of the enemy.                                                                           
    Distract            Cause them to lose concentration..                                                                         
    Ward                Ward your soul from harm.                                                                                  
    Barrier             Protect your body from harm.
    Bloodletter         Let their blood flow freely.
    Strip               Strip the defences of your foe.
    Spin                Confuse your opponent.
    Gash                Attack swiftly in the heat of the battle.
    Impale              Pin them to the ground.
    Stun                Stun an incapacitated foe with your shield.
    Arc                 Strike all your foes in the room.
    Reprise             Parry and strike.
    Twist               Twist the blade impaled in your foe's innards.
    Knockout            Knock them out with this powerful attack.
    Pulverise           Weaken magickal sigils.
    Crash               Knock someone from your area.
    Fleche              Charge in and impale your foe.
    Cleave              Finish your foe in one mighty blow.
    Fling               Throw your shield at the enemy.
    Throw               Bring the enemy to you.
    Transfix            Mesmerise your foe into inaction.
    Entrench            Deflect all physical blows.
    Disembowel          Remove the innards of your impaled foe.
    For more information, type AB MAIMING <ability>.
    [/spoiler]

    Rampage offers the following abilities:
    [spoiler]
    Handspring          Spring into the room, striking your foe.                                                                   
    Warpaint            Paint yourself as a true Berserker.                                                                        
    Blue                Paint yourself blue to bolster your courage.
    Frontflip           Evade your foes, despite your afflictions.
    Block               Do not let them escape.
    Spurn               Cure many ailments with your strength.
    Rage                Throw off pacifying afflictions.
    Flexibility         Nothing can keep you pinned for long.
    Red                 Paint yourself red to become more flexible than ever.
    Clotting            Stop your bleeding with sheer will.
    Bemuse              An erratic dance to confuse your foes.
    Gold                Paint yourself in gold to enhance your bemusing efforts.
    Warmask             The mask of the master Berserker.
    Backflip            Escape the traps of the enemy.
    Dive                Descend from the treetops.
    Elusion             A fluid, weaving dance of the warrior.
    Backhandspring      Hit them while fleeing the room.
    Highjump            Leap into the trees.
    Forwardroll         Bring them down to your level.
    Purple              Paint yourself purple to strengthen your chants.
    Balancing           Stay on your feet.
    Sentinel            The dance of the Shield.
    Escape              Escape those who threaten you.
    Kipup               Instantly regain your feet.
    Beguile             The beguiling dance of the warrior.
    Yellow              Paint yourself yellow to improve your beguiling.
    Mirage              Escape into the distance.
    Eviscerate          Strike your foe until they perish.
    Green               Paint yourself green to enhance your eviscerating moves.
    Doubledance         Combine multiple dances into one.
    For more information, type AB RAMPAGE <ability>.
    [/spoiler]

    Warchants offers the following abilities:
    [spoiler]
    Warchants           Manage your warchants.                                                                                     
    Shout               A simple, yet effective shout.                                                                             
    Toughen             Steel yourself against physical damage.                                                                    
    Heal                Rid yourself of afflictions.                                                                               
    Rejuvenate          Slowly restore your mental clarity.                                                                        
    Persistence         A chant that just keeps going.                                                                             
    Restore             Healthy warriors can fight longer.                                                                         
    Regenerate          Slowly recover from battle wounds.                                                                         
    Bleed               Inflict bleeding wounds.                                                                                   
    Stun                A stunning cry to leave them reeling.                                                                      
    Terrify             Reign supreme on the battlefield.                                                                          
    Empower             Steel yourself against elemental damage.                                                                   
    Rage                Let your battle senses overcome you.                                                                       
    Release             Release the accumulated rage.                                                                              
    Warsong             Enhance the power of your chants.                                                                          
    Disorient           Disorient your foe with the power of your voice.                                                           
    Resonate            No one can hide from your wrath.                                                                           
    Invigorate          Benefit more from healing elixirs.                                                                         
    Weaken              Weaken your foe with a forceful yell.                                                                      
    Numb                Yor fellow fighter shall feel pain no longer.                                                              
    Bloodflow           Keep that blood flowing.                                                                                   
    Echoing             Punish all who dare to oppose you.                                                                         
    Pierce              Inflict suffering to a disoriented foe.                                                                    
    Bewilder            Inflict suffering to a weakened foe.                                                                       
    Enrage              Whip your allies into a fighting frenzy.                                                                   
    Dualchant           Maintain two persistent chants at once.                                                                    
    Scream              Inflict damage to everyone nearby.                                                                         
    Vesselburst         Cause weakened blood vessels to burst.                                                                     
    Overwhelm           Gain the upper hand, then capitalise on it.                                                                
    Equalize            The last stand of a warrior.                                                                               
    Shatter             All weaklings must perish.                                                                                 
    For more information, type AB WARCHANTS <ability>.
    [/spoiler]
  • edited July 2015
    Please tell me Warchants aren't going to be passive periodic tick effects. For my own sanity's sake, given how most passives have been near entirely removed from every other faction.

    EDIT: Alternatively are Warchants on a separate independent balance and 'persistent warchants' are like, persistent buffs? That is less scary.


  • Wysrias said:
    EDIT: Alternatively are Warchants on a separate independent balance and 'persistent warchants' are like, persistent buffs? That is less scary.
    Correct.
Sign In or Register to comment.