This is a letter to the IMC/TOS balance staff (if that is a thing). I would like to address concerns and offer feedback on many different aspects of game-play.
Here is my current build: http://www.tosbase.com/tools/skill-simulator/build/69g6skf7ho/
I picked it based on style. I didn’t min max anything as this is my second character. It’s fun to me at least.
Pyromancy:
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Fireball
There is a lot wrong with this skill that I would like to address. Skill, by its self, is pretty solid. Hits air and ground, decent damage, good with burn, two charges. This skill fails in PVP and group play. The balls are hit by melee away from the objective and sit idle doing nothing wasting a lot of potential DPS. So let’s analyze the skill: The ball does damage, is close range, and involves team play in the form of being interacted with by other players. The following are suggested redesigned submitted for the forums for consideration.
A. Easy Suggestion: Create an attribute for Pyromancers that will allow only us to move the balls. This is an easy fix, however, will remove the team play aspect of the ball and is a little boring.
B. Medium Suggestion: Create an attribute that will allow only the owner to move the ball; however, when a team mate hits the ball, an explosion will occur, dealing AOE damage, and removing a charge from the ball. This will retain the team play aspect while keeping the balls relevant.
C. Difficult Suggestion: Create an attribute that will allow players to “obtain” a ball. The visual will be similar to a dragoons impale. Who ever melees a fire ball will run around with a ball attached to their character. The new owner will then apply a fire blast, similar to the ball being deployed near an enemy, in an AOE damaging foes. The damage will still be linked to the Pyromancer and counting for his DPS. The skill will also take into account anything done to the Pyromancer such as Quick Cast damage attribute.
Also, make it so that people you duel or PVP against cannot hit your balls away. The cast time is extremely long for something this close range; especially for PVP. Changing the cast time must be done very carefully to control its power. It is also unclear as to the AOE of the fireball. I have notices time times in groups it only hits one mob, while other times it would hit 5. Clarity on this subject would be greatly appreciated. -
Flame Ground and Fire Pillar - Pretty good spells. My only suggestion is to make these skills do damage immediately. As soon as the skill is cast, the first tick of the spell needs to occur. I would even favor more fun changes such as a “burn out” mechanic. All flame skills would burn brightest (do the most damage) at the beginning of the spells duration and decrease in damage towards the end.
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Flare - This skill sounds really cool but is poorly executed. My change to this skill would be total. I would suggest making flare explode ALL personally applied burns. Each explosion would deal a good amount of damage in an AOE and remove the applied burns. I initially created my Pyro to use this skill mainly but was persuaded not to by popular opinion of this skill.
Warlock:
Dark Theruge - Dark Theruge is an amazing skill. Cast time is reasonable. Damage is extremely high but it requires the squishy mage to get close; this is a nice balance. My only issue with the skill is that it ‘eats’ the tiles of friendly casters. For example if there is an Ein Sof (however you spell it), the DT ball will take the tile. Same for heal tiles. This is extremely frustrating and I would see it removed. The visual for this skill often bugs out to some generic black sphere. This is disappointing because the actual graphic is pretty cool but very low on the priority list.
Invocation - May our pets count towards this? If my Summon or Salamion kill something, then a spirit does not spawn. I would see this changed so that they can trigger this spell.
Sorcerer:
Catbuff - Cat buffs are pretty cool, however I would like official numbers on these buffs. If it is in fact +10 dark attack damage for the final buff, I would see this changed to a +1% or something to improve scaling for warlocks. I would also see the cat stick much closer to the caster. While on the move the cat often falls way behind and buffs the air instead of me or my team.
Summon - The summons are pretty cool. The ‘balance’ of them is way off and the AI is atrocious but I understand that these are things being worked on so I will not comment on these facts any further. The issue I have is the same as DT taking up tiles. My summon will also take Ein Sof tiles. This is quite annoying.
Wizard:
Magic Missile - This skill is great. Feels great to cast. It has low cast time, good damage, and doesn’t lock you in a long animation. I really enjoy this skill.
As a side note, I would like to request a list of interactions with pyromancy spells. For instance I have noticed that my Flame Ground some times disappears depending on Elementalist spells cast on the same location, but not every time, and in pve with people on my team. If this is a ‘feature’ then why? Does stuff like this happen with other classes where your own team can cancel out your dps? What is the purpose of that? I can understand if it is PVP and the enemy Elementalist is destroying my damage. If this is a feature of the game, I would see this transformed into “spell mixing”. If a water/ice spell interacts with my fire spell, then I would like to see steam or something nifty and not the death of my field with no explanation or graphic.
I can provide video proof if you (IMC/TOS Staff) require any. Thank you and please consider my feed back when evaluating these topics.