Thursday, June 11, 2009
Are we there yet?
Where's the Scar? Naw, I haven't forgotten about it. =) The concept is just under a bit of redesign right now. There are some aspects to it that I felt were clumsy, and there are also a number of lessons I've learned from the Ruushi Invasion event that I'd like to incorporate. Just letting you all know that it's still being worked on. =)
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Couldn't find the discussion regarding circle of bane incidentally.
ReplyDeleteMy two cents are just this: Without circle of bane, the main pk spammable of druids (okay some druids anyway) is removed. Granted, this is more in theme of druids being 'reactionary and timed', meaning that they don't just spam one spell.
However for now, it is a considerable loss of damage output, and also an increase in the intake of damage too (seeing as circle used to lessen the targets ability to hit, right?).
I love the new spells to bits, but neither of them seem to replace this loss.
All in all though, I would just like to ask whether this is to be 'it' as far as druids are concerned, or if there are other things planned.
-Iblis
Sorry, rather than focus on druids specifically, I decided to go ahead and put out a description of every class's intended direction (the Dirty Dozen.5 entry).
ReplyDeleteGlad you enjoy the new abilities =) - obviously, they're far more utility than combat-oriented (although the new windcoil buff can be quite good). Bane was intended to be a loss of damage output - druids (quickbolt especially) have had a problem of absolutely insane burst damage via quickbolt + winter storm + decay + bane overshadowing the rest of the class. Being a "one-trick pony" has hurt them in other potential areas of development.
As indicated in the Dirty Dozen.5 entry, I'll be moving druids away from that one-trick role and focusing more on other strengths - especially in the areas of defenses, group contribution, and stealth-oriented pk. The simple haven idea opens up a lot of fun design space to work around. I envision druids as eventually having a unique defensive role - one in which their mobile pk ability (esp. debuffs and harassment) is fairly strong, but in which their true power lies in the selection and defense of a single strategically selected area (around their haven).
Right now, druids are fairly far from that ideal. As I see them now, they're casters with one unfair damage trick (lessened now), a couple of utility spells which are fun but not as generally useful as the utilities they lack, and moderate to weak defensive ability. Their natural-attunement related spells are a great mechanic, but they're also somewhat random and confusing right now. I'll be tweaking the attunement effects on each spell to be a bit more intuitive over time:
[sphere] [low ... high]
illume: evening, darkness ... morning, light
satio: winter, turbulence ... spring, calm
lif: death, spirituality ... life, renewal
As you can see, druids have a great setup in terms of what they can become, but they have a ways to go before they achieve it. This is definitely far from 'it' as far as druids are concerned. =)
I really do have a ton of ideas for literally every single class in the wings. Believe me, no class is going to be ignored - I'm not trying to "reward" or "pump up" only certain classes. The class outlines I provided sketch out a vision where our class distribution offers an unprecedented amount of variety in playstyles. Every class has a lot to look forward to. =)
I'm hot! I'm thiiirsty! Kerlyn's on my side of the car! I have to peeeeee!
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