Version 1.18 - Bugfixing & Balance

[schachteana]

since this seems to have become an overall balance & spell suggestion thread, can we have vital surrender back, please?

[Jippy]

I am kinda confused by the nerf of support knights in this balance update? I thought the goal was RvR play not PvP? Def stance isn't even worth skilling anymore I can't tank anything without using all my mana, if I use all mana tanking how can I support my realm?

PvP knights will be getting a buff with the increase in A01, that's the only knights you will see if this patch goes live...

[halvdan]

Originally Posted by Jippy

I am kinda confused by the nerf of support knights in this balance update? I thought the goal was RvR play not PvP? Def stance isn't even worth skilling anymore I can't tank anything without using all my mana, if I use all mana tanking how can I support my realm?

PvP knights will be getting a buff with the increase in A01, that's the only knights you will see if this patch goes live...

No, you're not the only one I think. And all you wrote is true, but it's very frustrating for me to write here all over and over with ideas without been heard. If NGD keeps thinking they know better than actual support knights that are playing the game, what we can do.

If this is going live, I'll just quit knight. And I guess most support knights will do the same.

[Hollow-Ichigo]

Originally Posted by halvdan

No, you're not the only one I think. And all you wrote is true, but it's very frustrating for me to write here all over and over with ideas without been heard. If NGD keeps thinking they know better than actual support knights that are playing the game, what we can do.

If this is going live, I'll just quit knight. And I guess most support knights will do the same.

I'd rather defensive stance stay the way it is, especially with the addition of golem fist -hp, its just gonna be too easy to kill knights.

[Anunnaki]

This what RA players wanted, a class with good defence and also good dps and speed. Basicaly instead of playing barbs let's just play knight and make war boring AF.

Knight has already +5 ms legging and with knight’s haste they will very fast catch archers & mage.

To me knight was fine, it needed just some bug fixing and replacing some useless spells.

Defence stance was ok, but the new army of one with 20s and speed is not.

But anyway let's see what will happen.

[Lebeau]

Originally Posted by Pery3000

Lol the Wind Wall change is fine. Must skill it higher than leaving it on lvl 3 as you suggested. Not to mention amulets you can get to reduce more dmg. Even I sometimes have trouble doing high dmg on certain locks with crazy gear...

Uh, no, imho it's not fine at all ... & I never suggested skilling it @ 3. Take it as high as tree lvl possibly allows. Most lack -ranged% gears/enhancements, & many still don't have complete wmc jewelry sets either. To be truly fair, game mechanics MUST be balanced out, as much as is possible, for ALL who play CoR, whether newbie, journeyman, old-school vet, or old-pro (op) gear-whore.

Originally Posted by https://www.championsofregnum.com/index.php?sec=27&l=1

Wind Wall
Since the warlock is gaining more damage, and marksmen now have to risk it out a bit more due to their range being decreased, naturally Wind Wall is being slightly nerfed.

Ranged Received Damage (%): -5 -10 -15 -20 -25

WRONG!
The warlock is NOT gaining more damage. Marksmen suffer NO sunstantive increase of risk.
WHY?:

1) You must skill these 2 lock spells in order to use them. No one currently does.
2) You lose at least 2 spells you had before in order to skill Stalagmite & Golem fist (likely other damage spells, cc's or areas), so overall, it ends up being a totally zero-sum gain +/-.
3) You actually have to get within 25m to cast either of these spells. Good luck with that versus a talented archer player.
4) You still usually won't ever get within that 25m threshold for long, if at all, unless the archer allows it so ... marks' new base range on most LB's is 30 (+10-20% from foresight) = 33-36m unbuffed, & even longer range if Parabolic shot &/or Focus are skilled & used (up to 46.5m without any +range% gears).
5) You want to nerf locks' ranged defense, & yet archer damage still remains as high as ever (500 to 600+/- uber-marks' norms anyone? Yay! NOT!).

The range advantage is still markedly obvious. Combined with high-dps setup, gears & jewels, a run-&-gun marks (or hunter) still remains overwhelming, nothing about the overall dynamic has really changed here. All loss is on the very top end of archers' ranges, so all of that is just an archer v archer consideration, since what extant surplus range beyond 25m that remains is still a really rather comfy cushion v any mages.

Thus, nothing should change. "Slightly nerfed"? REALLY!? There's a BIG difference between 25% & 35%, so just leave Wind wall alone, or maybe even increase it (20-25-30-35-40%), but at the very least, nerf less harshly (10-15-20-25-30%) as previously stated:

Originally Posted by Lebeau

...

[Takeyo]

I agree. Warlocks, being the "offensive" mages, really ought to have at least as good dps as marksmen. Maybe people are just playing them wrong, but it doesn't seem to work out that way, and considering the fact that they have significantly lower range than marksmen, I would think that their dps should actually be a little higher than marksman's dps, which it certainly can never be under current conditions.

I would add to this the notable fact that warlocks lack mobility and consistent defenses. I won't say they have *low defenses* per se, because they can be quite resilient if they manage to fully execute their drain combos and consume two charges of energy barrier while maintaining a steady stream of DoT with Vitality Absorption equipped, but that is extremely, wildly inconsistent, and the complete lack of mobility significantly exacerbates the issue. It was less of a problem back when warlock slows were so insanely oppressive, but they're largely balanced now.

These points together add up to a pretty good case for making warlock dps somewhere between a barbarian and a marksman, which is just impossible as things stand. Even with the recent "buffs" to warlock dps, it seems to remain just a little too inefficient or inconsistent for many people to take up, and we're left with the only alternative, the control warlock, which is rather a waste considering the fact that they lack pets and/or consistent defensive abilities.

I think that the crux of the issue is that it is too difficult to separate the control spells from the pure damage spells, meaning that if we give warlocks great dps, there will be no way to stop them from still having amazing control, and I've made suggestions already as to how to fix that problem. Either way, warlocks using slow, lockdown control builds, and long-ranged marksmen against classes that have no effective counterplay (warlocks as of current Amun build and barbarians in general), are both anti-fun and *feel* unfair. Both of those things should generally be avoided at all costs. They may crop up on occasion in unbalanceable situations, but those are outliers which don't really merit worry or consideration. The problem is that these classes are *consistently* performing this way, under most if not *all* circumstances.

I think we're moving in a good direction overall, but more fundamental adjustments need to be considered.

[kowocki]

To all who complain a damage imbalance-> there will never be a balance as long as %based spells and buffs affect jewellery (noted by many ppl on this forum for years)

[kowocki]

My old crazy idea about mage (i am noob in this matter, never played a mage so just i base on my "experience" of facing them as opponents+spells descriptions/"experiments" with hypothetical setups at slartis website)

1) reduce amount of power points to 85 at lvl 60

2) reduce amount of discipline points to 1703

3) keep four shared trees and do only two subclass specific trees-> sth like (for unknown reason cant attach a image file):

Conjuer trees:

1) life (unchanged)
2) summons (unchanged)

Mage trees:

1)mental

-arcane missile

-bettle swarm

-mind blank (moved from conjuer sorcery)

-mind push

-pricking ivy

-will domain

-silence

-NEW TIME MASTER-> effect of sanctuary+ cs+ big movement speed boost (mage tear apart space fabric and flows thru battlefield in etheric form)-> work as sanctuary for conju (so no chage much)+good escape spell for warlock (runs away but cant cast offencive spells)

-insightful (moved from conjuer sorcery)

-steel skin (same as above)

2) staff mastery (mostly unchanged)

3) mana control

-energy barrier

-mana burn

-synergy bond

-mana pool

-energy borrow

-ambitious sacrifice

-arcana devotion

-mana communion

-mana pylon

-evendims fury (moved from staff mastery tree)

4) enchantments

-force armour (moved from conjuer sorcery to boost warlock defence)

-new ally buff +15 class attribute at lvl 5 (no more complaining as barb why he gave me dexterity or as archer "wtf conju why strenght?)

-friendly shielding (moved from conjuer sorcery tree)

-bless

-karma mirror (moved from conjuer sorcery tree)

-bless weapon

-dispell magic

-magic barrier (moved from conjuer sorcery tree)

-materrial wall (same as above)

-mas dispell

[kowocki]

Warlock trees:

1) arcana:

-vampirism

- "Laziness" at lvl 1 movement speed -10%, attack speed -5%; lvl 5 movement speed -20%, attack speed -25% needs mana cost rise and cd

-"petrify hands" effect of old laziness (so damage debuff) plus protection reduction similar to infuriate

-sadistic servants

-meteor

-soul keeper

-vitality absorption (buffed to 5% at lvl 1 and 25% at lvl 5)

-golem fist

-NEW Master of Doom->area 10 range 25, effect of darkness (with same duration) and mana cost/cd of old MoD

-sultar terror

2)elementalist:

-fireball

-freeze

-lightning

-frozen storm

-wind wall (wind is element after all)

-elemental exposure

-cremation (needs fire for it so element)

-magma blast

-twister

-summon lightning



SUM UP:

-we will cut lots of crap spells

-make mages more robust in play

-little or no change for conjuer/warjuer

-should make warlock more deadly and agile, boost it defence, make game more dynamic and fun, shorter spell chains due to more powerful curses

-warlock wont be god mode as reduced discipline/power points so more varied setups at warzone tho all useful, not same boring build we see all the time