I've posted an RC4 compatible version of the addon. However, I've renamed it to Spellsword, in line with the fact that it is no longer an actual rework of the Arcane Blade class.
No major changes. The minor changes, as stated previously, is the class is under Mage, is inheriting default mana regen, and name changes on some skills.
http://te4.org/games/addons/tome/spellsword
Spellsword (formerly Addon reworking Arcane Blade Class)
Moderator: Moderator
Re: Addon reworking Arcane Blade Class
Are you aware of the changes that was made to Wildfire/Uttercold/etc? You can view them here for easy reading http://git.develz.org/?p=tome.git;a=com ... c8f9314438.
It might be worth it to buff the elemental destruction skill accordingly. Maybe even at something like 1/2 or 1/4 of the power. I haven't played your class yet so I can't really give an opinion on any balance issues this might cause.
It might be worth it to buff the elemental destruction skill accordingly. Maybe even at something like 1/2 or 1/4 of the power. I haven't played your class yet so I can't really give an opinion on any balance issues this might cause.
Re: Addon reworking Arcane Blade Class
No, I was not aware of the changes. I've barely been back 2 days.gfder wrote:Are you aware of the changes that was made to Wildfire/Uttercold/etc? You can view them here for easy reading http://git.develz.org/?p=tome.git;a=com ... c8f9314438.
It might be worth it to buff the elemental destruction skill accordingly. Maybe even at something like 1/2 or 1/4 of the power. I haven't played your class yet so I can't really give an opinion on any balance issues this might cause.
I see I have some play testing ahead of myself. I'll definitely give it some thought. Bear in mind, Elemental destruction always was better than those skills, simply because of its flexibility. It not only increases damage and damage penetration, it allows you to completely change the damage type of your auto-attack, which can often be much better than 50% damage penetration. Of course if you're spec'd down a specific type (i.e. mostly fire) then it can be less useful in that sense.
Anyways, thanks for pointing it out. I'd love to hear more opinions on current balance, for other classes to compare to and for the class itself, and anything I should particularly take a look at. And of course, play testing feed back of the class itself as a whole is greatly appreciated.
Re: Addon reworking Arcane Blade Class
Lots of people including myself are playing this one. Since I am new to the class I am playing on Easy Explorer mode. (Lame, but it is just to plan for a Nightmare run once I have it figured out.)
The class is great. I am unsure this is a real improvement to the Arcane Blade or not, but it is fun to play.
It is different enough that it would be fair to say it is not even similar to an AB except that it uses melee as much as magic.
One little gripe is that there is no activatable ranged attack of any sort. And most of the stances are worded in a somewhat unclear way. For instance the fire stance activatable skill uses a "Mainhand" weapon and scales to that. Water and Air use dual weapons and scale to both. But the wording implies that it would scale exactly the same as the fire skill. Earth is the only one that appears different and it is still unclear since I cannot tell from the description if shield damage scales to it or not.
I like the general idea, but I think the descriptions need some work. Thanks for making it!
The class is great. I am unsure this is a real improvement to the Arcane Blade or not, but it is fun to play.
It is different enough that it would be fair to say it is not even similar to an AB except that it uses melee as much as magic.
One little gripe is that there is no activatable ranged attack of any sort. And most of the stances are worded in a somewhat unclear way. For instance the fire stance activatable skill uses a "Mainhand" weapon and scales to that. Water and Air use dual weapons and scale to both. But the wording implies that it would scale exactly the same as the fire skill. Earth is the only one that appears different and it is still unclear since I cannot tell from the description if shield damage scales to it or not.
I like the general idea, but I think the descriptions need some work. Thanks for making it!
Re: Addon reworking Arcane Blade Class
Thanks for the feed back OmniNegro. The class does have controllable ranged attacks, in the plain old fire and air trees. Admittedly, it costs a category point to gain access to them, so most races can't open them until level 10. It was a conscious balancing decision. The class already has some very good AoE capabilities, has solid melee damage, and warrior level health. To balance that, I closed off ranged options without significant investment.OmniNegro wrote: One little gripe is that there is no activatable ranged attack of any sort. And most of the stances are worded in a somewhat unclear way. For instance the fire stance activatable skill uses a "Mainhand" weapon and scales to that. Water and Air use dual weapons and scale to both. But the wording implies that it would scale exactly the same as the fire skill. Earth is the only one that appears different and it is still unclear since I cannot tell from the description if shield damage scales to it or not.
I like the general idea, but I think the descriptions need some work. Thanks for making it!
If you want to try a ranged Spellsword, try a Cornac Spellsword, going into Firebrand and the fire tree. You'll have a ranged attack from level 1, and mid to late game you can do an Inferno + Elemental Destruction + Mark of Fire combo. Even without fire focused equipment you'll have +10% fire damage, 50% fire penetration and an overall x1.5 damage multiplier to enemies in the mark of fire.
I'd be interested in hearing suggestions on how to make the descriptions clearer.
For example, Fire strike says:
The skill only attacks with the mainhand. If you have an offhand weapon, it does not get an attack. However the damage bonus to the mainhand weapon is exactly the same as the damage bonus applied to the mainhand and offhand weapons of air strike.Strike with the power of Fire.
The strike applies the purifying fire effect and deals W% damage with the mainhand weapon.
Purifying fire causes a beneficial effect or sustain to be removed each turn for X turns.
It also creates an explosive ball of fire of radius Y, centered on the target, and which deals Z fire damage and applies the purifying fire effect to enemies.
User's physical power opposes target's spell save to determine if purifying fire is applied.
After use, the user activates Fire Stance.
This talent may be used without a target.
Air Strike says:
The W,X,Y and Z numbers are all the same for all the strikes. You can use any weapon combination (two-handed, single, dual, or weapon and shield) with any strike. Any weapon that is used in the attack will get the X% damage bonus. It just Fire strike simply doesn't attack with the offhand weapon. Earth strike attacks with both mainhand and a shield if present, and both get the X% damage bonus. Air and Water attack with mainhand and offhand weapon if present, and both get the X% damage bonus.Strike with the power of Air.
Silences target for W turns and deals X% damage with all weapons.
It also creates an explosive ball of air of radius Y, centered on the target, which deals Z lightning damage and silences enemies.
User's physical power opposes target's mental save to determine silencing.
After use, the user activate Air Stance.
This talent may be used without a target.
Does that clarify it for you, or is it still confusing? Could you give me an example description you would find clearer?
Edit: Thinking about it some more would the following be better?
Strike with the power of Fire.
The user strikes with their mainhand weapon, applimg the purifying fire effect and dealing W% damage.
Purifying fire causes a beneficial effect or sustain to be removed each turn for X turns.
It also creates an explosive ball of fire of radius Y, centered on the target, and which deals Z fire damage and applies the purifying fire effect to enemies.
User's physical power opposes target's spell save to determine if purifying fire is applied.
After use, the user activates Fire Stance.
This talent may be used without a target.
Strike with the power of Air.
The user strikes with all their weapons, silencing the target for W turns and dealing X% damage with all weapons.
It also creates an explosive ball of air of radius Y, centered on the target, which deals Z lightning damage and silences enemies.
User's physical power opposes target's mental save to determine silencing.
After use, the user activate Air Stance.
This talent may be used without a target.
Re: Spellsword (formerly Addon reworking Arcane Blade Class)
That does seem more clear, but am I misunderstanding still? It seems that except in a few rare cases it simply does not matter what weapons you use since everything will scale the same with any of these except the dual wield situation and sword and board situations. The Earth one is the most perplexing. Do shields add to the scaling?
To be clear, I think there is no point updating the addon for the descriptions. That can be changed for the next version of it. Like when RC5 or 1.0 is out. (Presuming there is no other reason to have to update it.)
It may ruin balance, but this class could really use the rush talent before level ten. Against anything that casts or shoots I have to use my shield rune to survive to close the distance.
Nonetheless I will likely unlock Combat Techniques first anyway.
Thanks for the speedy and well thought reply. Keep the good work going!
To be clear, I think there is no point updating the addon for the descriptions. That can be changed for the next version of it. Like when RC5 or 1.0 is out. (Presuming there is no other reason to have to update it.)
It may ruin balance, but this class could really use the rush talent before level ten. Against anything that casts or shoots I have to use my shield rune to survive to close the distance.
Nonetheless I will likely unlock Combat Techniques first anyway.
Thanks for the speedy and well thought reply. Keep the good work going!
Re: Spellsword (formerly Addon reworking Arcane Blade Class)
Here's an example, which I hope will clarify further. The damage bonus does not scale with what type of weapon you have equipped. It is only dependent on skill points.
3 Weapon examples
1) Long sword dealing 100 damage, and dagger dealing 45 damage
2) Two handed sword dealing 120 damage.
3) Long sword dealing 100 damage and shield dealing 100 damage (only when used with talents).
Say my X% damage is 150% (due to 3 or whatever skill points in the skill). Ignoring the bonus elemental damage you have the following:
Fire strike will deal 150 damage with setup 1.
Fire strike will deal 180 damage with setup 2.
Fire strike will deal 150 damage with setup 3.
Air strike will deal 150 (mainhand) + 67.5 (offhand) damage (217.5 total) with setup 1.
Air strike will deal 180 damage with setup 2.
Air strike will deal 150 damage with setup 3.
Earth strike will deal 150 damage with setup 1.
Earth strike will deal 180 damage with setup 2.
Earth strike will deal 150 (mainhand) + 150 (shield) (300 total) with setup 3.
So you might say Fire strike is the weakest strike, because it doesn't provide any real incentive to two-handed weapons. The other types of strikes can give you something more based on what you've equipped.
The idea was, I want you to be able to use any strike with any weapon combination effectively. However, they're slightly more effective if you match up weapons combinations.
In regards to the ranged/closer situation, you may have a point. You can get Tidal Rush at level 8 (without a category point to boot), but admittedly that is not much better than level 10. I think the last time I played, months ago, I remember basic Rush being a level 4 skill. I could possibly swap Healing Waters and Tidal Rush in the Water tree, getting you a Rush equivalent by level 4. Of course that pushes your healing off to level 8.
What I tend to do in my actual play with the class is use corners alot. I'll also point out that you can use strikes without a target. This means if you have Earth Strike level 2, and an opponent is 2 squares away, you can target the empty square in between you and it, and pin it with the area effect. A radius 2 ball will be able to reach 3 squares away.
I still feel the class needs another generic tree (or two). Its also very light on open generic trees at the beginning. I could make Conveyance open as base, which allows you to get controllable phase door by level 4. I'm also thinking of adding Divination in as well. Has Aegis been significantly nerfed recently? It makes sense thematically, but I've been hesitant to add to the tanking power of the class, which already has 2 heals and a regenerating shield. I could also come up with an advanced generic tree for the class.
3 Weapon examples
1) Long sword dealing 100 damage, and dagger dealing 45 damage
2) Two handed sword dealing 120 damage.
3) Long sword dealing 100 damage and shield dealing 100 damage (only when used with talents).
Say my X% damage is 150% (due to 3 or whatever skill points in the skill). Ignoring the bonus elemental damage you have the following:
Fire strike will deal 150 damage with setup 1.
Fire strike will deal 180 damage with setup 2.
Fire strike will deal 150 damage with setup 3.
Air strike will deal 150 (mainhand) + 67.5 (offhand) damage (217.5 total) with setup 1.
Air strike will deal 180 damage with setup 2.
Air strike will deal 150 damage with setup 3.
Earth strike will deal 150 damage with setup 1.
Earth strike will deal 180 damage with setup 2.
Earth strike will deal 150 (mainhand) + 150 (shield) (300 total) with setup 3.
So you might say Fire strike is the weakest strike, because it doesn't provide any real incentive to two-handed weapons. The other types of strikes can give you something more based on what you've equipped.
The idea was, I want you to be able to use any strike with any weapon combination effectively. However, they're slightly more effective if you match up weapons combinations.
In regards to the ranged/closer situation, you may have a point. You can get Tidal Rush at level 8 (without a category point to boot), but admittedly that is not much better than level 10. I think the last time I played, months ago, I remember basic Rush being a level 4 skill. I could possibly swap Healing Waters and Tidal Rush in the Water tree, getting you a Rush equivalent by level 4. Of course that pushes your healing off to level 8.
What I tend to do in my actual play with the class is use corners alot. I'll also point out that you can use strikes without a target. This means if you have Earth Strike level 2, and an opponent is 2 squares away, you can target the empty square in between you and it, and pin it with the area effect. A radius 2 ball will be able to reach 3 squares away.
I still feel the class needs another generic tree (or two). Its also very light on open generic trees at the beginning. I could make Conveyance open as base, which allows you to get controllable phase door by level 4. I'm also thinking of adding Divination in as well. Has Aegis been significantly nerfed recently? It makes sense thematically, but I've been hesitant to add to the tanking power of the class, which already has 2 heals and a regenerating shield. I could also come up with an advanced generic tree for the class.
Re: Spellsword (formerly Addon reworking Arcane Blade Class)
Thanks for the explanation. I now finally know for certain what it means in each case.
As for switching Healing Water for Tidal Rush, I think it is fine as it is. And I would rather invest heavily in fewer talent trees than a few points in many.
As for Fire being weak, I tend to think that direct damage capabilities do not trump the ability to make a buff disappear every turn. That by itself can be exceptionally potent. (Meta would be much weaker without Disperse Magic in it.)
I like the class a lot so far. Thanks again!
As for switching Healing Water for Tidal Rush, I think it is fine as it is. And I would rather invest heavily in fewer talent trees than a few points in many.
As for Fire being weak, I tend to think that direct damage capabilities do not trump the ability to make a buff disappear every turn. That by itself can be exceptionally potent. (Meta would be much weaker without Disperse Magic in it.)
I like the class a lot so far. Thanks again!
Re: Spellsword (formerly Addon reworking Arcane Blade Class)
I've pushed version 22 out.
This is a combination bug fix (issues with my combat.lua file superload) and some more minor balance tweaks.
I would suggest grabbing the new version, as V21 will be throwing lua errors when certain combat skills are used (mostly from other classes, like the Onslaught skill).
The balance tweak was to add Conveyance and Divination as open generic trees, with a 1.2 multiplier. It felt a little sparse in terms of Generic trees starting with only Arcane Veteran and Combat Training (which everyone can get open).
Going forward I'm thinking about the following:
1) Possibly changing Mana Focus. Right now it provides 0.1 mana regen and 2 spellpower per talent level. There's already a spellpower talent (Arcane Prowress) and I'm starting to think another spellpower booster is silly. I'm considering changing it to a mana on hit similar to Shock Hands, rather than a straight boost to base mana regen. Of course that would favor dual wielding over single weapon styles. Looking for ideas on this.
2) The idea of leaving the basic spell trees in is growing on me. Partly because the sub-class has been moved into the Mage class. Plus it feels like it has enough unique class trees (5). I'm thinking of perhaps making an advanced Generic Tree, and moving Master Blade into that, and replacing the tier 4 Arcane Veteran talent with something like Adrenalin Rush, but using stamina in place of mana (instead of life in place of stamina). Something useful against mana burn enemies.
Theme on that tree I'm trying to figure out. Perhaps something about mastering one's weapons, keeping in theme with the Master Blade talent.
Lastly overall balance numbers. Is the class too bursty for example? Resource generation at a good point? Sufficient survivability?
This is a combination bug fix (issues with my combat.lua file superload) and some more minor balance tweaks.
I would suggest grabbing the new version, as V21 will be throwing lua errors when certain combat skills are used (mostly from other classes, like the Onslaught skill).
The balance tweak was to add Conveyance and Divination as open generic trees, with a 1.2 multiplier. It felt a little sparse in terms of Generic trees starting with only Arcane Veteran and Combat Training (which everyone can get open).
Going forward I'm thinking about the following:
1) Possibly changing Mana Focus. Right now it provides 0.1 mana regen and 2 spellpower per talent level. There's already a spellpower talent (Arcane Prowress) and I'm starting to think another spellpower booster is silly. I'm considering changing it to a mana on hit similar to Shock Hands, rather than a straight boost to base mana regen. Of course that would favor dual wielding over single weapon styles. Looking for ideas on this.
2) The idea of leaving the basic spell trees in is growing on me. Partly because the sub-class has been moved into the Mage class. Plus it feels like it has enough unique class trees (5). I'm thinking of perhaps making an advanced Generic Tree, and moving Master Blade into that, and replacing the tier 4 Arcane Veteran talent with something like Adrenalin Rush, but using stamina in place of mana (instead of life in place of stamina). Something useful against mana burn enemies.
Theme on that tree I'm trying to figure out. Perhaps something about mastering one's weapons, keeping in theme with the Master Blade talent.
Lastly overall balance numbers. Is the class too bursty for example? Resource generation at a good point? Sufficient survivability?
Re: Spellsword (formerly Addon reworking Arcane Blade Class)
I will make a new character today with V22 and see how it goes. I like the ideas you have for the class. It sounds great.
Currently anything with manaburn slaughters these guys like they were not even there. And since there is no reason to push Willpower for Stamina gain, there is little reason to try a mana adrenaline talent since you will run out of stamina just about instantly anyway.
What would be nice is an emergency talent that uses little or no resources but has a large cooldown or even a debuff when used. It would be a panic button to use when you run out of stamina and mana and cannot use the talents you invested in to save yourself. It need not be massively potent, but we could make an entire skillset that does not share the resource dependency everything else they has does. Obviously this would do not good unless you bother to put points into it, but it could really save you in situations like the manaburn enemies mentioned above.
Currently anything with manaburn slaughters these guys like they were not even there. And since there is no reason to push Willpower for Stamina gain, there is little reason to try a mana adrenaline talent since you will run out of stamina just about instantly anyway.
What would be nice is an emergency talent that uses little or no resources but has a large cooldown or even a debuff when used. It would be a panic button to use when you run out of stamina and mana and cannot use the talents you invested in to save yourself. It need not be massively potent, but we could make an entire skillset that does not share the resource dependency everything else they has does. Obviously this would do not good unless you bother to put points into it, but it could really save you in situations like the manaburn enemies mentioned above.
Re: Spellsword (formerly Addon reworking Arcane Blade Class)
http://te4.org/characters/26046/tome/7b ... 72a0f1104a
This is my level 14 Spellsword Ghoul. It feels like a Wrymic. Not bad. I have the Bunnyficated! effect on this character too. (Thanks Darkgod.)
This is my level 14 Spellsword Ghoul. It feels like a Wrymic. Not bad. I have the Bunnyficated! effect on this character too. (Thanks Darkgod.)
Re: Spellsword (formerly Addon reworking Arcane Blade Class)
I've pushed out version 23, which is simply compatible with Version 1.0.0. Its essentially the same as the previous release.
OmniNegro, I still would like try coding up the stamina -> mana talent. All I ask is you see it in action first, before dismissing it. It should allow you to use your class based escape talents (Tidal Rush, Whirlwind Teleport, Phase Door, Teleport) at the very least, even if stamina is low. Plus if coded right, it will keep your mana sustains up for a few turns even when mana is at zero, preserving a large portion of your effectiveness.
However, I can also at the same time address your other suggestion. I can try integrating some emergency type talents into the new advanced generic tree. I've also been trying to figure out what to do with Master Deflection, as its arguably too good, especially on hard boss fights.
I could make Master Deflection more like Evasion, becoming something like a 30 turn cooldown, instant cast "use accuracy to deflect ranged attacks and spells for 2/4/6/8/10 turns". Either doing flat duration based on talent points or perhaps duration based on Dexterity. Possibly with or without stamina cost.
Still trying to come up with other interesting talents that fit an advanced generic "weapons master" type theme. Of course Battle-tactics does some that well already.
OmniNegro, I still would like try coding up the stamina -> mana talent. All I ask is you see it in action first, before dismissing it. It should allow you to use your class based escape talents (Tidal Rush, Whirlwind Teleport, Phase Door, Teleport) at the very least, even if stamina is low. Plus if coded right, it will keep your mana sustains up for a few turns even when mana is at zero, preserving a large portion of your effectiveness.
However, I can also at the same time address your other suggestion. I can try integrating some emergency type talents into the new advanced generic tree. I've also been trying to figure out what to do with Master Deflection, as its arguably too good, especially on hard boss fights.
I could make Master Deflection more like Evasion, becoming something like a 30 turn cooldown, instant cast "use accuracy to deflect ranged attacks and spells for 2/4/6/8/10 turns". Either doing flat duration based on talent points or perhaps duration based on Dexterity. Possibly with or without stamina cost.
Still trying to come up with other interesting talents that fit an advanced generic "weapons master" type theme. Of course Battle-tactics does some that well already.
Re: Spellsword (formerly Addon reworking Arcane Blade Class)
Do not take my opinion as a confirmable fact of how the class plays.
I do not mean to dismiss your ideas. You can see how I am playing the class. There could be better ways. And I do like the class.
I will likely have to reroll a new character and try a different tactic to see how things play out. One thing I finally realized was a mistake on my part was keeping the mana/stamina regeneration talents whose names elude me up. It was pushing my mana/stamina dangerously low all the time. I am not too good with Lua, but is there a way the mana/stamina expenses of the sustainable talents can scale to the talent level? For those two that would make much more sense.
The stamina regeneration talent was good enough to keep up even with only one point in it. But the mana regeneration talent left me spamming my mana-surge rune. Finally I realized I was better off by far with a larger pool that took longer to rest back to full than a quicker filling small pool. If it can scale to the talent level in terms of benefit and expense, then it would probably be invaluable.
The biggest weak point I found was healing. I know we should not have a class with every skill on a silver plater. But I think there has to be a middle ground. I just do not know what it is. Since I was playing a Ghoul, I used Retch every fight. I even maxed the talent and relied upon it to keep me alive.
Any race that does not have a persistent heal over time talent or rune will have trouble and have to rely upon shield runes. (Living races can get and rely upon Infusions and Fungus, but I wonder if that would even come close to what I was getting from Retch.)
I was lucky enough to get a weapon with a talent that names again evades my memory, that had a range of seven and grabbed an enemy and pulled them right besides me. If not for that or something similar I would have had to use Phase Door and Rush. (In addition to Tidal Rush that worked very well, but I never put enough points into it to get good distance.)
I will likely try a new character tomorrow. I still enjoy it quite a bit. Thank you for the continued work and patience.
I do not mean to dismiss your ideas. You can see how I am playing the class. There could be better ways. And I do like the class.
I will likely have to reroll a new character and try a different tactic to see how things play out. One thing I finally realized was a mistake on my part was keeping the mana/stamina regeneration talents whose names elude me up. It was pushing my mana/stamina dangerously low all the time. I am not too good with Lua, but is there a way the mana/stamina expenses of the sustainable talents can scale to the talent level? For those two that would make much more sense.
The stamina regeneration talent was good enough to keep up even with only one point in it. But the mana regeneration talent left me spamming my mana-surge rune. Finally I realized I was better off by far with a larger pool that took longer to rest back to full than a quicker filling small pool. If it can scale to the talent level in terms of benefit and expense, then it would probably be invaluable.
The biggest weak point I found was healing. I know we should not have a class with every skill on a silver plater. But I think there has to be a middle ground. I just do not know what it is. Since I was playing a Ghoul, I used Retch every fight. I even maxed the talent and relied upon it to keep me alive.
Any race that does not have a persistent heal over time talent or rune will have trouble and have to rely upon shield runes. (Living races can get and rely upon Infusions and Fungus, but I wonder if that would even come close to what I was getting from Retch.)
I was lucky enough to get a weapon with a talent that names again evades my memory, that had a range of seven and grabbed an enemy and pulled them right besides me. If not for that or something similar I would have had to use Phase Door and Rush. (In addition to Tidal Rush that worked very well, but I never put enough points into it to get good distance.)
I will likely try a new character tomorrow. I still enjoy it quite a bit. Thank you for the continued work and patience.
Re: Spellsword (formerly Addon reworking Arcane Blade Class)
Balancing a class is a process, and its useful to have outside perspectives.OmniNegro wrote:Do not take my opinion as a confirmable fact of how the class plays.
I do not mean to dismiss your ideas. You can see how I am playing the class. There could be better ways. And I do like the class.
The class has a sufficient number of unique talents, its hard to test them all in one character. And its quite possible to develop very different Spellswords. Its one of things I like about the design, a Fire focused Spellsword plays very differently from a Water focused one, or a generalist one. I tend to find myself playing generalist, since I like having a lot of different skills, even if they're not all 5/5.OmniNegro wrote:I will likely have to reroll a new character and try a different tactic to see how things play out.
That is a very important realization. Early game, Spellswords can't actually afford to keep up all their possible sustains.OmniNegro wrote:One thing I finally realized was a mistake on my part was keeping the mana/stamina regeneration talents whose names elude me up. It was pushing my mana/stamina dangerously low all the time. I am not too good with Lua, but is there a way the mana/stamina expenses of the sustainable talents can scale to the talent level? For those two that would make much more sense.
The stamina regeneration talent was good enough to keep up even with only one point in it. But the mana regeneration talent left me spamming my mana-surge rune. Finally I realized I was better off by far with a larger pool that took longer to rest back to full than a quicker filling small pool. If it can scale to the talent level in terms of benefit and expense, then it would probably be invaluable.
Its also true, at 1 point, the mana sustain will generate only 0.1 resource for every turn, so it takes 400 turns to generate 40 resource points which it uses to sustain. Even at 5/5, it takes 80 turns. Most fights don't take that long. Its when you combine the talent at 5/5 with a mana surge rune is where it starts to earn back, as even a starter 600% rune will add an extra 25 resources over 10 turns.
But the talent was original designed for when the class had no innate mana regen. Back then, the difference between 0 mana regen and 0.1 was very, very large. I'm testing out some changes locally to make it a combination of both mana regen as now, and replace the spell power with mana on hit, in the range of 0.4/0.8/1.2/1.6/2.0 per hit. Scaling sustain cost is possible, but is a bit weird, in that the talent becomes both better (effect) and worse (resource cost).
Thats true of all the classes I think. I've seen winners with 2 Healing Infusions, a Regen Infusion, and a Shielding Rune.OmniNegro wrote:The biggest weak point I found was healing. I know we should not have a class with every skill on a silver plater. But I think there has to be a middle ground. I just do not know what it is. Since I was playing a Ghoul, I used Retch every fight. I even maxed the talent and relied upon it to keep me alive.
Any race that does not have a persistent heal over time talent or rune will have trouble and have to rely upon shield runes. (Living races can get and rely upon Infusions and Fungus, but I wonder if that would even come close to what I was getting from Retch.)
But yes, extra rune/infusion slots are important. Its generally my first expenditure of a category point. Undead have it rougher, since they have to find good shielding runes.However, in the case of the Spellsword, I suggest trying some more of the other defensive talents.
First, try Earthen Barrier. Even at 1 point, its roughly an extra 100 hit points at level 8 (as long as you've got 100 hit points left, since it lets 50% damage through). If you get it to 5/5, then it regenerates 10% of its strength each turn. While its up, it makes any healing you do have roughly twice as effective. Late game, you'll have enemies dropping it, but middle game its an extremely strong talent. I've had people suggest it needs to be toned down mid-game, which may be true. Jury is still out on this one.
Second, consider Windstorm. For every one near you (melee enemies), it drops enemy global speed somewhere around 20-30%. 75% incoming damage means 33% more effective healing.
Third, Water stance with dual wielding and 5/5 Elemental stance can bring in a reasonable sustained stream of health.
Fourth, Earth Stance can provide mitigation with high armor and a little resist against melee enemies. It very good when combined with Arcane Armor.
Fifth, consider not running Aura of Fire. Its an awesome sustain, but in some cases, it will do more damage to you than the enemies are doing. At 4% of 500 max hit points, that is 20 damage per debuff, no matter what kind. After 5 turns of debuffs, thats 100 hit points. It adds up fast.
Looking at your Ghoul's talent distribution, you might be rushing Elemental Destruction too early. Its best against high resistance enemies, and can be extremely useful in that regard with just a single point in it, since you can convert your damage to something it doesn't resist. Its rare to see an enemy with high resistances in Fire, Lightning, Cold, and Physical at low levels. Spend those talents points on more defensive talents if you're feeling pressured hit point wise.
Put 2 points into Earth Strike. It'll provide a 2 turn pin, with a reach of 2 - i.e. target an empty square adjacent to you and it will produce a ball of radius 1, hitting out 1 further square. Combined with Tidal Rush (which pins) or Rush (which dazes and thus effectively pins), you should be able to keep ranged enemies around long enough to smack them down. The freeze from Water Strike can be used in a similar way.OmniNegro wrote: I was lucky enough to get a weapon with a talent that names again evades my memory, that had a range of seven and grabbed an enemy and pulled them right besides me. If not for that or something similar I would have had to use Phase Door and Rush. (In addition to Tidal Rush that worked very well, but I never put enough points into it to get good distance.)
Late game, you have the potential for 4 closing abilities in class: Targeted Phase Door, Rush, Tidal Rush, Whirling Teleport and Rolling Earth. Even Mark of Fire combined with Windstorm can slow enemies down greatly (50% movement slow + ~30% global slow) so they can't get away.
Sounds good. Try a few of the different talents you didn't try this run, and see what works for you. I hope you find some of the suggestions above useful. Good luck.OmniNegro wrote:I will likely try a new character tomorrow. I still enjoy it quite a bit. Thank you for the continued work and patience.
Re: Spellsword (formerly Addon reworking Arcane Blade Class)
Thank you. I will try another Ghoul, and this time I will try a sword and board capitalizing on Earth heavily. (With just enough Wind and Water to get the level two and three talents.)
If I survive long enough I will put a minimum into Fire to get to Mark of Fire. That will be the game breaker for when things get really tough later.
I put some more though into the Mana sustain, and you are right that the Mana Surge Rune is where it shines. The Stamina one felt overpowered by comparison, but that actually makes sense with no Stamina Surge Runes existing in the game yet.
Balance is tricky. You are doing a masterful job. When it is basically complete, I hope Darkgod will consider making it part of the next release by default. (Either as an addon like Stone Wardens are, or as part of the module itself as a base class.)
It is going to be tough stopping myself from using a good two hander in exchange for a less likely one hander and a shield, especially since the odds of a single good two hander are twice that of a good one hander and shield.
If I survive long enough I will put a minimum into Fire to get to Mark of Fire. That will be the game breaker for when things get really tough later.
I put some more though into the Mana sustain, and you are right that the Mana Surge Rune is where it shines. The Stamina one felt overpowered by comparison, but that actually makes sense with no Stamina Surge Runes existing in the game yet.
Balance is tricky. You are doing a masterful job. When it is basically complete, I hope Darkgod will consider making it part of the next release by default. (Either as an addon like Stone Wardens are, or as part of the module itself as a base class.)
It is going to be tough stopping myself from using a good two hander in exchange for a less likely one hander and a shield, especially since the odds of a single good two hander are twice that of a good one hander and shield.