New Dev Blog: Talents Preview for Runemage and Musketeer

Announcements
#1

Hey everyone,

We’ve got a new Dev Blog up today with the Talents preview for the Runemage and Musketeer, as well as some additional changes to the Ranger talents. Check it out:

Also based on the last thread for the previous blog post, I want to re-emphasize that these are not finalized, and they are not fully balanced. So while we welcome your general feedback on the talents themselves, please avoid diving in too deep at this point with speculation or assumptions about the relative strength of different talents, balancing issues, etc. I assure you that will all be worked through between now and then, and then of course we’ll make changes as needed once they are out the door on the 19th. For now what we’re really looking for is more general feedback on the overall talent system itself.

Thanks!

5 Likes
Light/Fireworks a no on Runemage Talents & other feedback
#2
#3

These sound like they will add a lot of depth to the classes, and they have me super excited. Killer job team.

3 Likes
#4

for the new arrows sight skill how far do u need to be to get the extra 20% damage? 20, 30, 40 etc meters?

and second, rip PVP, musketeer is now even more OP, and with arcane missile which is impossible to dodge spreading DoTs its done

1 Like
#5

As a runemage, I’m not sure about the off hand guiding of spells being a talent. I will say you did a decent job making the choice interesting on this one. Would take some time playing to see how much this actually helps allowing one to begin casting again while aiming the last. (As I’m rubbish at casting while making sure the current spell actually lands.)

I’d prefer this was a settings option, and a different skill took it’s place, but we’ll see how it pans out in the field. Definitely trying this first, as I THINK it will improve things a lot. Enough to overcome the bonus damage from static charge? Who knows!

#6

If we didn’t specify something like that yet, then it’s a safe bet we haven’t decided. Once we now for sure we’ll fill in the gaps. Right now I think it’s set at 30 meters but consider that very subject to change.

Thanks! :slight_smile:

Well that’s what we’re going for :slight_smile: I’m also interested to see how big of a difference it makes in practice.

Also just a general note I am heading out the door to an appointment, but I will try and swing back through later today to answer questions and whatnot.

3 Likes
#7

Lend a hand has me almost as excited as the talents for my main class. That’s just going to be so nice if I can get there. It also just feels good, thematically.

2 Likes
#8

Can you get multiple effects on the turret at once or do the effects replace each other?

Great work with these guys.

#9

Is there a flag/check when using the resurrection to make sure someone actually benefits from it before the cool-down is engaged?

If multiple people are dead, is there a way to target this? I suppose you wait to redeploy (or use the new talent) to drop it right on the person you want to resurrect then activate it?

Thinking of how to avoid waking up the wrong person, or being out of range and not resurrecting anyone. Let alone a misfire in the heat of battle. :wink:

#10

For the first tier of runemage is all cosmetic. I feel slided as no other class got cosmetic. I was hoping you would do something will mana shield. Some ideas that I think would be a better solution.

Elementor
tier 1: mana shield also gives magic def and last longer

Tormentor
tier 1: mana shield also give phy def and lasts longer

some other ideas for tier 1 around mana shield:
Mana shield now has a 10 meter radius
Mana shield duration is now doubled
Mana shield gives phy and mag def

7 Likes
#11
Elementalist Tormentor
Improved Fireworks: Your next Fireworks spell takes on the color of the Frost, Fire, or Pushback spell cast before it. Improved Light: Your next Light spell takes on the color of the Frost, Fire, or Pushback spell cast before it.

I am really disappointed that the first talent row here is just spell color

Elementalist Tormentor
Selfish Streak: You gain an 8% damage boost to your spells for a short time after casting 3 successful spells in a row. Shared Streak: Yourself and your nearby allies gain a 4% damage boost for a short time after casting 3 successful spells in a row.

This row seems a little bland for me, it seems to be a non-choice. If i’m solo I take the 8%, if i’m in a large party I take the 4%. Nothing in these decisions is based on my personal playstyle.

Elementalist Tormentor
Lend a Hand: Your spells now follow the direction of your off-hand rather than your wand tip. Static Charge: Your successful spell casts cause a static charge to build up on your off-hand, which you can use the Trigger button to unleash in a short blast.

As I was reading through ‘Lend a Hand’ I was excited to see this as a utility option. It would make it slightly easier to juggle casting spells and aiming spells at the same time. That said, it is already possible and the talent it is paired against is just strait up better if you can already manage to do both with the current mechanics. I would love for there to be another ‘spell control’ talent here instead of a control vs throughput choice. An option like “A spell just continues in the path it was fired at and no longer can be moved by the player” might be an interesting alternative for some players. Another option might be “spells can travel 20-30% longer before expiring” which would give a little bit of utility choices. I think ‘Static Charge’ is a great talent, but should be paired against another talent that also increases throughput more reliably, would love to see this as a row one option instead of spell color…

Elementalist Tormentor
Elemental Affinity: Your Fire, Frost, and Shadow spells grant additional buffs and debuffs to yourself and your targets. True Affliction: Your Fire and Frost spells gain an additional damage over time effect. Your Arcane Missile spell now spreads your DoT effects to all targets it hits.

True Affliction sounds amazing, and has the potential to allow for some truly epic moments as a Runemage. I already currently love spreading frostbolt debuffs for a sick Ice Lance cleave on live, this would make moments like that potentially even cooler. ‘Elemental Affinity’ sounds like it might not be nearly as powerful in an AoE situation, but that is entirely dependent on how much longer the debuffs last and how much the magical debuff really is. In general I like this row and i’m excited to play around with both.

Not giving any feedback on Musketeer, in general those talents look awesome and seem like good choices.

5 Likes
#12

Additional thoughts does investing orbs in your turret affect you ult gain? Is it added as detonating a turret was before?

#13

thanks for responding so quick riley, but just thought of a few more questions

  1. for the true affliction does it spread buffs other people put on or only your own
  2. for overcharged is there a cool down on when u can gain orbs back after consumer them in the charged shot
1 Like
#14

Got to agree here. I’d go with @Johann 's comment or add a small % vulerability to fireworks small radius AE or a small % damage bonus (or STR bonus) to all within the radius of the light spell.

The cosmetics are kinda fun, but nobody else “wasted” a slot, on a pure cosmetic effect.

2 Likes
#15

How much damage boost does Overcharge give and how much does it last?
Is the 20% damage boots from Arrow Sight balanced with the difference between Precision and Rapidity or is it an extra 20%?
Also i’m comfortable to say 30 meters are still spam range.

#16

I’m excited to try Lend A Hand for the FEEL of it! I expect it’s going to feel very magical to fire off a spell from the wand and then direct it with our free hand.
Can’t wait!

2 Likes
#17

And what’s the measure for “very quickly without pause.” ? Will I lose that buff if I shot a charged arrow ?

#18

I think Lend a Hand sounds awesome, will be a challenge for when you need to move as there’s no player movement setup on the wand hand, it’ll be interesting to see.

3 Likes
#19

Mage
Tier 1 - Is this a trolling attempt? Every other slot on other classes affects dps or healing or survivability. Neither Fireworks nor Light are relavent to combat. Functionally, mage only has 3 tiers of talents. This would be a fun feature of the base spell that wouldn’t affect class balance at all, but I hope you reconsider this tier and replace it with anything else.

Selfish Streak / Shared Streak - This is good. Reward for learning to cast correctly. A buff I can keep rolling in a fight. Just have to decide between helping my group (assuming the range is high enough to reach the ranger at max range, and melee dps at the boss), or a guarnteed dps boost to myself.

Lend a Hand - Great for everyone who isn’t Decoy. Now we can start chain casting without doing dps to the floor and ceiling. This and static charge are good. I’ve been wondering why mages even have a second hand. Now I won’t be shoving the other controller in my pocket!

Static Charge - You have my interest. Range? Aoe? Faster than charging an Ult? Depends on how much dps this adds. Obvious choice for Decoy.

Elemental Affinity - I can see a few different rotations that make use of these. This will totally wreck my current runesets, but it may be worth it. This seems heavy for single target over changing targets.

True Affliction - Dots are dps on single target, so good for boss fight. Aoe dots are good for trash pulls and farming reagents from low mobs. I can use this. This is good.

Musk -
Improved Renew - healing buff. Good for solo, great for groups.
Improved Poison - I need to test again. What was the length of poison vs the cooldown of the orb? This may be a buff if length <= cd + 2.

Improved Lifewell - Great! That was hard to get everyone to stand in and still dps bc of body collisions. Longer duration makes it even better. We make our stand here!

Speedy - Eh. If you happen to drop the turret exactly the number of seconds before the last mob in the group dies, and if everyone is close by ( sry rangers), then you get to move faster to the next pull. Solid meh. Maybe this is a pvp talent?

Renewed Synergy - Tank healing buff. Self healing buff. Frees the renew orb to throw at second area.

Totall Recall - Good for being on the move. Not resetting the lifetime kinda hurts. Not sure I’d ever take this over the improved healing. Solo play is too slow to need it, groups would benifit from the healing more.

Light’s blessing - Makes Cure a 25% aoe. Nice. Very nice.

Empowered Turret - This feels like a solo talent. It depends on the strength of those new effects. They would have to be very strong to make this a better choice than lights blessing.

The changes to the ranger talents look really good. I’m excited to try out all of these.

1 Like
#20

Also…how do I know I’m 30 meters away?
@Riley_D too