[Proposal] White lion reworking
Posted: Fri Dec 02, 2016 10:56 am
I wanted to propose some changes to the white lion, my aims are to:
1. Introduce some variety in play styles to the class, also some synergy into its skills along the lines of what you see with the witch hunter (another char of mine).
2. Address recent (needed changes) to pounce with some tweaks.
3. Address the pet usefulness/dmg and survivability in large warfare.
With the above in mind and working on the premise that when i talk about engagements, this is from the point of view of a perfect setup and execution, my suggestions will be based on my opinion that currently:
1. A WL tactics will all be damage focused, aside from 2 skills, this is generally what gives it its trademark burst, most people believe this is the base of the archetype but actually you have to spend a lot to get there.
2. The WL needs some added utility and survivability, there are options within the tactics to do this, but because of there positioning in certain trees and what i have noted in point 1, they cant be used, reducing its ability in keep/wb warfare and its usefulness to a party.
3. In a "perfect" setup, RDPS/Healers should be our bread and butter, basically backline targets.
4. Mobility, with the change to pounce the "frantic" fun nature and mobilty of the class has been some what reduced. I agree pounce needed a cool down, but its still not quite the 100% landing people make out on here, but could be with a few small tweaks. Additionally, even with charge and pounce, given elven grace (cc prevention) is 10 seconds long and required going in, the WL is not the in/out class its meant to be (in a perfect scenario, this can still fail, down to a players poor choice to engage). I also believe the Shaman and Squig need an effective counter for their mobility/escape methods, which we appear to be on paper, but now pounce has been addressed, its clear this isnt the case in practice.
5. The lion is ineffective, slow and after the recent pet updates, rather pointless.
6. AP management, whilst a study of the average ap cost (theres a spreadsheet somewhere) shows the WL is on par with other classes in terms of average cost, this doesnt take into account cooldowns, rotations and skills that affect consumption. I have found a WL ap usage is on par with a WH caught out of stealth, but in a perfect scenario a WH can offset with their stealth abilities and finishers, in a perfect scenario a WL can not. Whilst a WL, as a burst class, is not meant to have the sustained dps of a WH (im not suggesting it should), I still think a slight tweak is needed in this area, to allow for the escape skills as well as the initial burst damage.
7. With the use of tactics I believe the WL damage is in a good place, whether you agree tactics should be required to achieve this is another matter, im going to work on the basis that it is.
Proposals
Utility:
1. Baiting strike, its base effects should be that of the baited trap tactic (+10% disrupt and +618 armour for 15 seconds), baited trap tactic should change to enhance this to 100% disrupt and reduced to 7 seconds.
2. Blindside, its base effects should be that of the tactic blindside (50% disorient for 10 seconds), blindsided tactic changes blindside to 3 sec disable (target is blinded).
3. Thin the herd is switched to an all healing debuff.
AP Managment:
1. Primal fury will now additionally reduce ap cost for 50% for 6 seconds (much like the stealth setups the WH has), enough for 50% for one rotation, allowing enough ap for the WL to escape the backline.
Pounce:
1. Pounce, the speed increase now lasts for 5 seconds (up from 3), WL is immune to cc for this duration and neither effects end with useage of a skill, cool down increased to 20 seconds (want it used as an one off opener, not as a way to avoid cc). This means pounce will land 100%, the speed increase will aid a good players positioning (ala WH feinted Positioning, which removes the requirement on positioning, but you get my point, a perfect setup scenario) but not guarantee it (still some risk). Currently pounce is ended by skill or melee attack, which means theres a good chance your auto attack would end the speed boost before you have landed your snare, enabling enough of a gap to be out of range. You still have elven grace and charge to offer the opportunity of an escape (addressing the In/Out). Additionally when you pounce your pet is moved with you, its mean to be in melee range fighting along side, 25-50% of my damage should not be turning up 5 seconds after the fight has started.
Lion:
the pet now has 3 distinct modes:
Trained to Threaten (support)
1. Pet takes, 100% players hp, 200% players armour/resistances.
2. Pet takes on 100% of players current wpn dps
3. Shred is now a 100 wounds debuff (not a lesser armour debuff we already have)
Trained to Hunt (Support / Damage)
1. Pet takes, 100% players hp, 150% players armour/resistances.
2. Pet takes on 100% of players current wpn dps
3. Pet permanently has the speed attributed to speed training tactic, 50% increase (speeed training tactic now makes pet immune to cc instead) (this mode would be for enhancing pet pulling)
Trained to Kill (damage)
1. Pet take 80% players hp, 100% players armour/resistances.
2. Pet takes on 120% of players current wpn dps
3. Pet takes 100% of players melee crit bonus (so as to effect the pets own abilities and auto attack)
4. Player gets a 20% damage reduction
Although im sure some will disagree, with these proposals ive tried to be balanced, but these can be a starting point for discussion, please bear in mind that no single WL will be able to achieve all of the above (thats not my intention, i want to have choices).
I want to aid the wl during a perfect scenario but not affect a targets ability to respond (without some cost in terms of spec or dmg, remember any tactic used is one less dmg tactic), bringing its utility and suviviability up and inline with other high risk mdps and finally making the pet choices more meaningful, useful and fun.
The numbers may need revising up/down once tested.
1. Introduce some variety in play styles to the class, also some synergy into its skills along the lines of what you see with the witch hunter (another char of mine).
2. Address recent (needed changes) to pounce with some tweaks.
3. Address the pet usefulness/dmg and survivability in large warfare.
With the above in mind and working on the premise that when i talk about engagements, this is from the point of view of a perfect setup and execution, my suggestions will be based on my opinion that currently:
1. A WL tactics will all be damage focused, aside from 2 skills, this is generally what gives it its trademark burst, most people believe this is the base of the archetype but actually you have to spend a lot to get there.
2. The WL needs some added utility and survivability, there are options within the tactics to do this, but because of there positioning in certain trees and what i have noted in point 1, they cant be used, reducing its ability in keep/wb warfare and its usefulness to a party.
3. In a "perfect" setup, RDPS/Healers should be our bread and butter, basically backline targets.
4. Mobility, with the change to pounce the "frantic" fun nature and mobilty of the class has been some what reduced. I agree pounce needed a cool down, but its still not quite the 100% landing people make out on here, but could be with a few small tweaks. Additionally, even with charge and pounce, given elven grace (cc prevention) is 10 seconds long and required going in, the WL is not the in/out class its meant to be (in a perfect scenario, this can still fail, down to a players poor choice to engage). I also believe the Shaman and Squig need an effective counter for their mobility/escape methods, which we appear to be on paper, but now pounce has been addressed, its clear this isnt the case in practice.
5. The lion is ineffective, slow and after the recent pet updates, rather pointless.
6. AP management, whilst a study of the average ap cost (theres a spreadsheet somewhere) shows the WL is on par with other classes in terms of average cost, this doesnt take into account cooldowns, rotations and skills that affect consumption. I have found a WL ap usage is on par with a WH caught out of stealth, but in a perfect scenario a WH can offset with their stealth abilities and finishers, in a perfect scenario a WL can not. Whilst a WL, as a burst class, is not meant to have the sustained dps of a WH (im not suggesting it should), I still think a slight tweak is needed in this area, to allow for the escape skills as well as the initial burst damage.
7. With the use of tactics I believe the WL damage is in a good place, whether you agree tactics should be required to achieve this is another matter, im going to work on the basis that it is.
Proposals
Utility:
1. Baiting strike, its base effects should be that of the baited trap tactic (+10% disrupt and +618 armour for 15 seconds), baited trap tactic should change to enhance this to 100% disrupt and reduced to 7 seconds.
2. Blindside, its base effects should be that of the tactic blindside (50% disorient for 10 seconds), blindsided tactic changes blindside to 3 sec disable (target is blinded).
3. Thin the herd is switched to an all healing debuff.
AP Managment:
1. Primal fury will now additionally reduce ap cost for 50% for 6 seconds (much like the stealth setups the WH has), enough for 50% for one rotation, allowing enough ap for the WL to escape the backline.
Pounce:
1. Pounce, the speed increase now lasts for 5 seconds (up from 3), WL is immune to cc for this duration and neither effects end with useage of a skill, cool down increased to 20 seconds (want it used as an one off opener, not as a way to avoid cc). This means pounce will land 100%, the speed increase will aid a good players positioning (ala WH feinted Positioning, which removes the requirement on positioning, but you get my point, a perfect setup scenario) but not guarantee it (still some risk). Currently pounce is ended by skill or melee attack, which means theres a good chance your auto attack would end the speed boost before you have landed your snare, enabling enough of a gap to be out of range. You still have elven grace and charge to offer the opportunity of an escape (addressing the In/Out). Additionally when you pounce your pet is moved with you, its mean to be in melee range fighting along side, 25-50% of my damage should not be turning up 5 seconds after the fight has started.
Lion:
the pet now has 3 distinct modes:
Trained to Threaten (support)
1. Pet takes, 100% players hp, 200% players armour/resistances.
2. Pet takes on 100% of players current wpn dps
3. Shred is now a 100 wounds debuff (not a lesser armour debuff we already have)
Trained to Hunt (Support / Damage)
1. Pet takes, 100% players hp, 150% players armour/resistances.
2. Pet takes on 100% of players current wpn dps
3. Pet permanently has the speed attributed to speed training tactic, 50% increase (speeed training tactic now makes pet immune to cc instead) (this mode would be for enhancing pet pulling)
Trained to Kill (damage)
1. Pet take 80% players hp, 100% players armour/resistances.
2. Pet takes on 120% of players current wpn dps
3. Pet takes 100% of players melee crit bonus (so as to effect the pets own abilities and auto attack)
4. Player gets a 20% damage reduction
Although im sure some will disagree, with these proposals ive tried to be balanced, but these can be a starting point for discussion, please bear in mind that no single WL will be able to achieve all of the above (thats not my intention, i want to have choices).
I want to aid the wl during a perfect scenario but not affect a targets ability to respond (without some cost in terms of spec or dmg, remember any tactic used is one less dmg tactic), bringing its utility and suviviability up and inline with other high risk mdps and finally making the pet choices more meaningful, useful and fun.
The numbers may need revising up/down once tested.