This thread is part of a series I’m going to be doing as I get more accustomed to the new classes of Reborn. I intend to write up suggestions and complaints for classes, skills and talents. This one specifically will also include QOL changes I would like to suggest, in addition to my feedback on Shaman. I understand that I’m not veteran enough, and am just one person voicing my opinion. I also understand I don’t have all the answers. Constructive feedback on my feedback is appreciated.
Quality of Life:
Some of us, I suspect many of us - are the type to want to carry around equipment for every class. I know I cycle through 3-4 classes per play session. Part of this means that every time I change weapons, I have to change my armors and secondary class items (ammo, totems, etc). This means taking off existing trinkets (aka ammo, etc), armors, changing the weapon, then equipping the new armors and new trinkets. Doing this while keeping my inventory organized is kind of a tedious burden.
What I would like to request be done in this situation is that instead of treating the trinkets as items to be equipped in an inventory, instead switch the trinket equipment slots to be a drop-down style equipment chooser. A similar comparison would be Guild Wars 2, where you choose what skill you want in a certain slot. I’m asking for something like this, only for the trinkets. This would make swapping between classes friendlier, clear out some room in inventory (almost an entire inventory tab just for trinkets/secondary items for classes at present!). I imagine this will also be important for any future expansions when more classes are added
There is also an issue with the lack of information being presented in tooltips for skills and talents. For example; Fire Consumes on Shaman applies a DoT effect – but for how long? How powerful is the DoT? These are things you want to know before choosing the talent. This information should be presented so that the player makes an informed choice, seeing as how we can’t freely change talents.
What I would like to request be done in this situation is that more verbose descriptions of talents and skills are offered in their respective interfaces. Additionally, a page of status effects (buffs / debuffs) with verbose descriptions should be added to the Journal.
An issue that has existed since the game launched has been the issue with picking up loot on classes with both main hand & off-hand equipment. This has been enhanced by the addition of classes with “a lot going on” such as Bard. Picking up loot is now even harder, as without putting both equipments away (i.e. drumsticks), you will often end up grabbing instruments instead of loot, requiring you to put away all of your weapons in order to pick up loot.
I’m not really sure how to solve this issue. Perhaps just auto-loot? Or walk-over loot to pick it up? I don’t know…
Shaman:
I’m a huge fan of throwing spells generated by totems, it is a very fun playstyle which is always a win in my books. It feels like the class overall though doesn’t have much to do in combat - especially when waiting for orbs to respawn. There are often times where monsters are in my face, and I’m just like “well, guess I’ll sit here and eat damage while I wait for orbs”. Yeah my Frost/Lava totems are pulsing some damage, and I’m not complaining about kill speed - but those downtimes between orbs are like staring into the abyss.
What I would like to request for Shaman is something to do specifically when you don’t have any orbs to throw, or are still waiting for orbs to spawn after initial totem-drop. I have a few ideas;
- Vodun; Channel a small damage over time beam on an enemy while self-healing. If an enemy is killed while they are being drained, you receive a moderate self-heal. This is performed via off-hand trigger and works at a moderate range. This would give the Shaman something to do when they haven’t gotten their totems down yet, or are waiting for orbs to respawn.
- Wardrums (Totem); Drop a drum on the ground. Hitting it causes the drum and all active totems to pulse out a damage buff or crit-rate buff to nearby allies, as well as minorly reducing the remaining cooldown between orb spawns.
Additionally, the talents for Shaman aren’t to the level as the original classes in terms of increasing functionality and utility, and most importantly - changing the gameplay. I think hurts them moreso than other newer classes due to their limited customization and complexity.
- Tier 1: Presently you choose either between turning Stun into another good skill for a DPS rotation, or increasing the duration of the stun. Changing Stun Totem into a DPS decreases the already minimal utility that Shaman has, so I feel this option should be eliminated. In its place, the Blazing Speed talent from Tier 2 should be offered. However Blazing Speed needs a buff. Right now it has a very un-noticeable effect on movement speed.
- Tier 2: With Blazing Speed being moved to Tier 1, the current option in this tree is one that improves DPS via a DoT effect on Fire Consumes. It would then also make sense to see Longevity from Tier 3 added as the replacement talent here. This would result in the user choosing between either increased damage or ease-of-combat.
- Tier 3: With Longevity moved to Tier 2, the current option in this tree is one for increased convenience by allowing orbs to be grabbed from a distance. I don’t think this is a very good talent though as proper totem placement is part of mastering the class, and even then its not difficult to do. Instead turn this tier into one strictly for convenience.
- Tier 3-1: Totemic Mastery moves here from Tier 5.
- Tier 3-2: Totemic Call moves here from Tier 4.
- Tier 4: With Totemic Call moved to Tier 3, the current option here is Strikes Twice, which instantly respawns Lightning orb when it crits. This suggestion is two-fold, as I think Tier 3 can become a very big gameplay changing talent. Firstly, [Strikes Twice] will now affect any Orb, not just Lightning Orb – but will have an internal cooldown of 5 seconds before you can take advantage of the affect again. Secondly, the new adjacent talent could be something like [Amped Up] – Instantly respawn spell orbs when an enemy dies. OR… [Ready Steady Go] – Totems instantly spawn orbs upon being dropped.
- Tier 5: With Totemic Mastery moved to Tier 3, the current option here is All In, which guarantees a crit on the first orb to spawn on a totem. This emphasizes placing totems when they come off cooldown, as it synergizes very well with [Strikes Twice]. I then suggest the adjacent talent to be one which rewards the player for having their totem out longer, which would synergize with [Longevity]. [Hallowed Totem] Totems that are out longer than 15 seconds have their orb respawns reduced by 1 second.
Lastly, some QOL changes that would be nice to see;
- Add a stronger sound effect for Flame Totem so that us no-lookers can tell when an orb is at the ready. I’ve already made a thread about this – but basically the Lightning Totem is very good at notifying the player, but Fire is not.
- Add an indicator for how long a totem will remain in effect. At present you can often find yourself holding nothing in the air as you reach for recently spawned Spell Orbs only to have the totem vanish, taking your spell orbs with it. This is anti-fun and control is largely and literally not in the players hands. I think a good solution for this would be to put a simple ‘clock animation’ style timer above the totems position on the toolbelt.