Random Afflicted Thoughts

[HousePet]

Been thinking about a better name for Shadow Stalker and came up with Depraved.
For a bit of flavour, we can say they have lost their own soul, so now they steal other peoples souls.

[astralInferno]

Depraved is a pretty awesome name, kudos.
(I really love the afflicted namescheme)

[Micbran]

So... The million dollar question is... What do they do with the souls they steal? I'm assuming they have 3 resources, life, souls, and hate. So I'd imagine souls is going to play a semi pivotal part in their mechanics. Also, are they going to have a unique method of gathering souls? Necromancer has to have his aura on and in range, but he's ranged and has minions, so it's more of just a way to make sure he doesn't harvest easy souls. On kill is fine, because a unique method might actually be a little overkill.

[HousePet]

Could make it something like you have to apply a debuff or two to the target then use a special soul harvesting talent on them.

Maybe use the souls to make your shadows stronger?
Some nasty soul powered attacks?

[HousePet]

Introduction:
Doomed have quite a few problems as a short-ranged caster with their lower damage, poorer damage mitigation, and unreliable mobility when compared to both high-ranged caster and melee classes. When added to managing Hate as a resource these problems make Doomed not only feel a little lacklustre, but also a little frustrating to play. I would like to propose some changes for discussion while I make myself familiar with add-on creation.

Aims:
- Keep the class identity.
- Alleviate some Hate management issues.
- Buff damage mitigation.
- Rework Darkness to provide more mobility and require less luck.
- Concentrate more on buffing damage through utility than buffing damage by numbers.
- Embrace the concept of strong skill synergies at high point investment, using Shadows as a strong stepping stone early/mid-game and utility late game.

To avoid:
- Buffing Shadows themselves, including scaling. We all know how dangerous Doomed NPCs can get.
- Losing the class identity as a short-ranged caster (I’ve never been a fan of range 10 with anything), including Hate as a resource.

Doomed current skills for the lazy. http://te4.org/wiki/Doomed

Proposed Changes:

Deflection:
- Remove Hate cost per turn.
- Introduce sustain cost of 5.
- Increase charge rate to 1/10 per turn.
Goals: Removing the Hate per turn cost gives a bit of relief from Hate management. Increasing the charge rate will allow Doomed to shrug of up to 24 damage a turn.

Gesture of Guarding:
- Buff damage mitigation to 20%-50% (Maybe combatScale with Cunning.)
- Increase to 5-20%(cTL:50%) chance to counter attack.
Goals: Make melee a little more appealing. Give Doomed compensation for their low range.

Unnatural Body:
- Increase heal mod from 50%-100% to 50% to 120%
Goals: Just a slight buff to a talent which feels like it takes more than it gives.

Shadows:
- Remove Hate cost for summoning when no enemies are visible.
- Shadow Warriors available at levels 1/2/3/4/5 or 1/4/5/6/7
Goals: More Quality of Life Hate Management Relief. Starting Shadows level 1 is more viable.

One With Shadows:
- Reduce cast time for all skills to 0% of a turn.
- Reduce Shadow Decoy sustain cost by 10 as other sustain costs are introduced.
- Shadow Transposition removes (not transfers) 1-3 detrimental effects.
Goals: Increase the usefulness of Shadow utility as their usefulness as damage dealers and damage sponges decreases during the mid/late-game.

Darkness Tree: Rework. Keeping the +%damage to foes in your creeping Dark.

1. Dark Tendrils.
- Moved to first skill. Instant Travel Speed. Leaves Darkness. Range 8. Grants Dark Vision range 1 per point. CD:12, 8 Hate.

2. Dark Pull.
- Teleport foes afflicted with dark tendrils to you reseting the pin duration and reducing the cooldown of Dark Tendrils by 2-6(raw talent level) if successful + free melee attack. Instant cast. Grants Dark Vision range 1 per point. CD:5, 5 Hate.

3. Dark Leap.
- Teleport (range 7) with darkness radius 1 on impact. If targeting a foe Darkness radius is increased to 2 (3 at level 3) + free melee, CD:12-8(raw talent level), 10 Hate.

4. Even Moar Dark (or a better name form someone with more imagination.)
- Inflicting status (confusion, stun, knock back, hateful whisper) produces Darkness radius 1 (radius 2 at level 3).
- Using Dark Pull produces Darkness where the foe lands (radius 1 at level 2, radius 2 at level 4).
- Movement Speed +50%-250% (as Dark Vision Provide Currently.)
- Global Speed (+15%) while in Darkness at effective talent level 6 (or 5 raw talent level.)

Goals: Give Doomed more mobility to compensate for their low range. Make the Creeping Darkness less random and therefore, more useful. High Point investment results in strong combat buffs and cross-skill tree synergies.

Overview:
These changes should alleviate the problems Doomed have as low ranged caster, while also buffing Gesture melee builds, by improving their existing damage mitigation and giving them some much needed mobility. By giving One With Shadows some quality of life tweaks we manage to make Shadows feel useful as utility right up until the end. By reworking Darkness to not only give mobility but to also make it more reliable and provide combat buffs we give Doomed a little extra oomph when it comes to slogging it out with range 10 casters and axe-wielding maniacs. By the removing the 0.2 Hate/turn of Deflection and Hate cost to summon Shadows we improve the quality of life for Doomed, you will no longer lose 24 Hate every time you level up your shadow skills, and your Hate won’t drain twice as fast for being impolite enough to let your Deflection shield charge while you auto-explore.