The Issue
Issue 1. Lack of effective range on Heaven's Fury and Quake when compared to current ranged DPS improvements.
Heaven’s Fury and Quake lack the range needed to act as a counter to current RDPS Range and Damage improvements.
Heaven’s Fury and Quake are 3 second stagger effects, cost 45 AP, have a range of 40 feet, and a 20 second Cooldown. Both are available for a 10-Point spend for the Knight of the Blazing Sun and Chosen in their respective trees. These abilities were meant to provide the respective teams with a 3 second stagger of the enemy to perform the following functions:
1. Quell enemy backline RDPS and Healing momentarily
2. As an anti-kiting measure, counter to group snares like Sticky Feets and Mistress of the Marsh
3. A method of interrupting an MDPS train allowing the target to escape/heal up.
The current range of 40 feet for both Heaven’s Fury and Quake places the ability well out of the reach for effective use on classes able to reach targets at ranges of over 150 feet. If fact, at 40 feet, it serves only purpose #3 above. With the recent changes to RDPS distances for both the Engineer class and the Magus, stationary RDPS is able to “set up” at much greater ranges from the normal 100ft “Back Line” as terrain and circumstances permit. A KotBS or Chosen player wishing to use HF or Quake for purpose #1 above, they are forced deeper and deeper into the enemy backlines while at the same time, their healers are being forced further and further back away from the front lines to avoid the extended range of the newly extended RDPS. This new “spread” of players places the Tank player in an unrealistic risk/reward situation. When running against an RDpS heavy pairing, this forces the Tank Player further away from his own group and deep into enemy lines under heavy fire to effect a 3 second stagger with the end result being death for the tank. The plethora of knockdowns and snares make the tank an easy target once he is within the HF or Quake range in the backlines as well as out of heal range from his own healers.
Issue 2. At 40 feet, Heaven's Fury and Quake are limited to useless in their capacity as an anti-kiting tool.
With the mobility of the RDpS classes in game, and their CC tools, the current range of 40 feet for Heaven's Fury and Quake makes them highly ineffectual anti-kiting tool for the Tanks specced into it. Chasing down an opponent over 40 feet away is impossible without some serious mishap on the kiting players part. As the only real ant-kiting tool in either classes toolbox, HF and Quake are lackluster at best and ineffectual overall.
Keeping the range of Heaven's Fury and Quake at 40 feet eliminates its use as an anti kiting ability and relegates it to use against MDPS clusters as a damage break. Even then, with it's break on damage, it is well balanced against the immunities, blocks, parries, and AoE spam in game.
The Solution
I would like to see a return to the historical range of HF and Quake back out to its original 65 foot range as in AoR, This increase should also include an increase of the AP cost to its historical 50 AP cost. With these two changes, you will restore HF and Quake to their full effectiveness while not enhancing the ability beyond its desired/intended effect.
AoR Tooltip for reference:
