Make Shalore More Appealing to Magic Users

[Amphouse]

So I noticed that in SVN shalore have had their exp penalty reduced to 25%, and I was thinking; that doesn't solve their main issue. The problem with the shaloren is that they don't mesh well with many classes, especially mages, despite all lore and descriptions of them implying that they make good mages. They don't. I think we should change that. Here are some basic suggestions, I don't have any numbers in mind yet:

Grace of the Eternals: Can we have this scale with magic or spellpower instead of/in addition to dexterity? Or perhaps reduce mana usage? "You cast spells more gracefully, reducing mana usage by x%"

Magic of the Eternals: Can we have this increase magic? Or perhaps arcane damage?

Secrets of the Eternals: Not very useful currently. Can we have it scale with magic/spellpower? Maybe add a passive effect? I'm sure the Shaloren remember the secrets of the spellblaze...

Timeless: Their best skill currently, but it doesn't help mages at all, aside from shield extension. Kind of sad. I say this should either reduce spell cooldowns or take a few spells off cooldown, just like Nature's Balance.

Thoughts?

[cttw]

I agree. I would change Secrets to be a chargeable, on-demand invisibility. So, when you get hit, or hit above a certain damage level, it would increase the potential power of the invisibility you can trigger at will when you disable the sustain. That way you get a strong on-demand invisibility that you can't really abuse too much (I think). Duration could scale with talent level. And if you just turn it on and off, it wouldn't be charged, so it would provide a useless low power invisibility.

[tylor]

I think mounting race skills to specific stats was not very good idea to begin with. It limits options a lot.

[Sooty]

Agreed...

Also is assigning points to certain racials beyond the frirst ever going to be useful? 45 turn CD --> 40 turn CD isn't remotely worth a generic...

[wobbly]

Secrets of the Eternals: Not very useful currently. Can we have it scale with magic/spellpower? Maybe add a passive effect? I'm sure the Shaloren remember the secrets of the spellblaze...

It does

[SageAcrin]

I like the idea of having one of the first three skills boost casting speed passively. Magic of the Eternals seems the most fitting.

One of the things I've found in discussion about Yeek Archmages is that one of the few things that apparently can make up for extremely low HP is high speed...but Grace of the Eternals is only reactive, and the bonus for mages isn't very high, since they don't build Dex. Reactive bonuses have the issue of not being as good for surprise situations.

As such, specifically boosting casting speed would allow mage builds to work better for the Shalore. +5% spellcasting speed per level on a skill would make for an interesting and powerful bonus that fits with some of Shalore's current iffiest builds.

Otherwise, yeah, Secrets of the Eternals scaling with spellpower as well as Dexterity would help a lot. It's a really great skill...when it scales.

[tylor]

On other hand, why should Shalore be good for mages, or specifically for archmages? IT is a solid race for dex-based classes, such as Shadowblades and Time Wardens. Real problem is that class abilities are considered spells for some reason, blocking antimagic options.

[Velorien]

On other hand, why should Shalore be good for mages, or specifically for archmages? IT is a solid race for dex-based classes, such as Shadowblades and Time Wardens. Real problem is that class abilities are considered spells for some reason, blocking antimagic options.

Lore, I guess. The Shalore are the archetypal mage race -they had the mighty mage armies, they conducted the magical research that led to the Spellblaze, they appear to have refused to renounce magic afterwards, and their hidden lore has endured the ages better than most civilisations' did.

[tylor]

On other hand, why should Shalore be good for mages, or specifically for archmages? IT is a solid race for dex-based classes, such as Shadowblades and Time Wardens. Real problem is that class abilities are considered spells for some reason, blocking antimagic options.

Lore, I guess. The Shalore are the archetypal mage race -they had the mighty mage armies, they conducted the magical research that led to the Spellblaze, they appear to have refused to renounce magic afterwards, and their hidden lore has endured the ages better than most civilisations' did.

Well, then they should have magic-related properties, I guess. And what they currently have should be made into some new race. What race are those people in Point Zero?

[Amphouse]

I like your idea, cttw; it turns what is currently a random weak invisibility passive to a more controlable invisibility that still depends on you getting hurt. It doesn't specifically help mages, but it certainly makes that ability better.

Sage, yeah, that was one other thing I had in mind as well, I just wasn't sure how useful it would be since I usually feel most limited by cooldowns when I play archmage, but I'm sure there are builds that would find casting speed useful. Magic of the eternals is a good place to put it, although I still don't think my idea of increasing magic is crazy either; if undead can do it, then so can shalore, and it has the benefit of not being totally useless on non-magic classes, since it increases spell save. Increased spell speed is just a total waste on rogues. I like the concept of every race at least being serviceable for every class, but for some to be better at certain classes. That's why I like the idea of Grace scaling with both dex and spellpower; it keeps that skill useful for both mage shalore and dex-based shalore. It's also why I don't understand your worry that we need a new class, tylor; everything I have suggested is in addition to what shalore already have, so wardens and shadowblades can still pick shalore without any problems.

And finally, yes, the reason I want these changes is that all lore points towards shalore being magically inclined, but they don't actually play well with the magical classes. These changes would make people consider shalore when planning an archmage or similar classes, instead of the more obvious higher(who actually have abilities that support magic users) or thalore(who ironically hate magic, but make great mages, as well as great everything else).

[darkgod]

buffed

[Amphouse]

...Wow. I post a suggestion to buff Shalore and Darkgod not only reads it but makes the changes the very same day. That feels good.

Thanks Darkgod!

[darkgod]

[Aerach]

How, ye tease?! (Shalore were already amazeballs Anorithil btw, OP. NOt other casters so much though)

[Moander]

How, ye tease?! (Shalore were already amazeballs Anorithil btw, OP. NOt other casters so much though)

https://gitorious.org/te4/te4/commit/fb ... 7b163cd6d7