When I say “Flavor,” I don’t mean how they taste with your tongue. I mean how their skills and playstyle symbolizes their class name. For example Elementalist is an enormous offender to flavor. Elementalist is currently seen as “aoe dps,” not a master of the elements.
Currently, the only thing that makes an Elementalist an “Elementalist” is their skills: 3 Ice skills, 2 Fire skills, 1 non-offensive Earth skill, and 1 Lightning skill. If you removed Stone curse and electrocute, you’re basically playing pyro-cryo-mancer 4, kind of like how Chaplain is Priest 4. To truly make an “Elementalist” feel like an actual Elementalist, you would have to provide it with incentive to use the elements, as opposed to just a class with different elemental skills in one skill tree. Which is basically what the Elementalist is now.
Imagine if Elementalist had a buff skill or an attribute that said something like this:
- Targets hit by Fire element skills become Fire element for X seconds.
–OR–
- Targets hit by Fire element skills become vulnerable to Ice element skills for X seconds.
“Vulnerable” is a stackable debuff that makes the target take 10-100% extra damage from the particular element. You can only be vulnerable to one element at a time. Becoming vulnerable to a new element removes all stacks of the old vulnerability.
Now copy and paste that and adjust for all the other elements an Elementalist would use. Now you have incentive. Using certain elements will make your other elements stronger. It makes you FEEL like an Elementalist since you’re using the elements to your advantage.
The first example is obvious. It lets you use the element chart to give enemies weaknesses they normally wouldn’t have. However, it runs into problems with multi-hit skills flipping the element of the target with the first hit, thus resulting in lower damage. I still listed it as an example to illustrate my point: using the element chart to your advantage.
I personally blame the element chart for being so binary. Fire beats Ice and loses to Fire. Ice beats Fire but loses to Ice. I much prefer circular charts: Ice beats Fire beats Earth beats Lightning beats Ice, and the reverse for elemental disadvantage. If the element chart ever gets updated to follow a circular advantage system rather than a binary advantage system, this first example would be more flavorful.
The second example fixes the problems of the first without changing the element chart. Multi-hit elemental skills are now benefited rather than punished. You still have a strong incentive to use the elements. You can even support your party by making their elemental skill stronger, promoting team play is always good. By making the feeling of using the elements to your advantage stronger, the flavor of the class is improved.
Obviously, skill damage may need to be compensated to make the introduction of this buffskill or attribute balanced with the old Elementalist.
That’s just one change I’d like to see. I would also strongly encourage the addition of an offensive earth skill to the Elementalist line-up to allow them to take advantage of the previous change. Alternatively, a skill that allows Elementalist to flip the elements of their Elementalist skills would also strengthen their flavor. To illustrate:
Electrocute -> Instead of shooting lightning connecting multiple enemies, wide spikes of stone shoot out from the ground, threading the enemies. Similar to Ice Pike’s animation, but the spikes zigzags between the targets.
Hail -> Instead of raining ice, it rains fire. Easy stuff.
Prominence -> Fire slinkies become snow slinkies.
Freezing Sphere -> More like burning sphere.
Meteor -> Glaciers falling out of the sky hurts just as much.
Frost Cloud -> Uh, it turns into Flame Ground? I honestly dislike how similar these 2 skills are.
Rain ??? Gets replaced by the element change skill
Stone Curse ???
Having the ability to change their own elements demonstrates that they aren’t bound by the predetermined elements of their existing skills. It’s a very “elementalist” thing to do. It lets them focus on the quality of the spell as opposed to their element, since controlling elements should be of no issue to an Elementalist.
In the long run, I personally don’t think this skill is very well balanced. Mainly due to the element chart in ToS being so lousy. I still described it to the best of my ability to explain the concept of Flavor and how it improves the Elementalist’s flavor.
Elementalist isn’t the only class lacking flavor. I also have some problems with Archer and Ranger and how they are a little too similar. Without describing any of their skills and attributes, what makes a Ranger different from an Archer? How about their flavor? What makes a Ranger a “Ranger” and not an “Archer”? Vice versa.
Finally, this thread is not about nerfs and buffs, but flavor. Remember flavor is stuff like: a Cryomancer being able to freeze things. If a cryomancer didn’t freeze stuff, it would just be an ordinary Wizard. Most classes do a good job at differentiating themselves from others. A few could do a better job through their skills and playstyle, or they might as well just be renamed.