[IMC, with all seriousness, please read this]
First of all, the problem of the combo is HK’s -5 AoE def ratio attribute which allows any skill to hit 11 mobs, this and the fact that AoEs can hit too many mobs compared to any other classes in the game.
About most important DD Wizard spells and JP + HK + MM combo NERF. And, mostly, about how to change balancing in this game. I only have Wizards character
Hi, my name is André and I’m a ToS player, I have always played Wizard on my characters on MMORPGs and so do I while playing ToS. This topic comes to shine a light on Wizard’ s problems and how they need to be reworked before Rank 8 or even the JP nef hits us.
There is, though, currently a huge balancing problem with ToS, where either whole classes or determined ranks of classes, or even separated skills.
This much is visible, if you take Swordman Class as an example there wasn’t a single DPS efficient build, or Pyro and Thauma, ranks of Wizard with no real future.
Before kToS patch merge, the only possible build for a DPS wizard was Elementalist 3. The reason for this is simple, you guys left all other wizard DD spells in a bad shape and made one better than anything else able to hit huge number of targets and with no interruption problems such as PP or GP.
Now, with the current state Linker works, it’s possible for any DPS build focused on Linker to pretty much solo any area of the game, so that’s a problem, but the fact is: The way JP worked before and the way you are going to make it work after this patch AND the way it worked before are both too bad.
Please consider, I’m not saying Linker should stay the way it is. I’m saying what needs to be redone is, somehow, the whole mechanics of the game, together with HK’s attribute (-5 AoE def ratio), which is the real OP part of the combo.
Then, at rank 8, you saw how Wizard was overpowered and decided to give more power to other classes. That was a completely correct thought, but you mostly forgot that, with this, any Wizard build not done around Linker became useless.
The thing is: Linker is truly an OP class, but because of a few reasons:
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It’s mostly a class developed to help others, a Linker 3 can’t solo Earth Tower but making 10 targets an easy kill every 22 seconds helps a lot FOR THE PARTY.
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Hangman’s Knot attribute recues mob’s AoE def ratio to 0 or negative values, this makes it possible to hit all 11 mobs and give 11x the damage on each.
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AoE spells have too many targets, this makes them too good both with or without Linkers, if you consider how badly other classes need AoE attack ratio, there is no real reason for Wizards to have so much ratio so easily.
Now, considering these points, I would like to put in examples, spell by spell, a few suggestions that would improve the whole game mechanic probably:
- Joint Penalty: This skill have been changed so many time that it’s obvious it needs a balanced version, most DPS builds that do not use Frost Cloud for its OP number of hits and DPS rely on Linker. You can’t simply nerf and not think about what it affects, what about people who rely on Dark Theurge + JP, this is a high rank combination and would be much worse if any deployed hits on random mobs that not the first linked wouldn’t get shared. So for this skill I’ll be making a series of suggestions:
Damage sharing “formula”: As long as JP is to useful, it would need it to stay the way it is (which is basicaly the way devs most likely wanted it to work despite HK being OP), what can be changed is it’s interaction with AoEs, you could give a 2x ticks multipier instead of 5+ for example, as long as it isn’t counted on the Hit Count. The problem with this before the patch is you would get to 50 hit counts without sharing a single damage over Frost Cloud in 3 seconds for example.
Hit Count: IF JP stays the way it is but BOTH HK’s attribute and AoE’s huge number of targets get fixed, then the Hit Count is fine, maybe 150 is too much for level 15 JP but less than 50 won’t let Linker 1 remain alive after some point.
Number of targets: To me, this looks like the thing that, after HK’s attribute change, needs to be most looked at. This simple thing is making Linker 3 too OP and Linker 1 to get “useless” since with a good JP you can always find a big number of Linkers C2+. So, what could be changed: Reduce the number of targets, but give it a C1 attribute that raises the number of targets, for example:
New attribute: Joint Penalty: Target Limit, +1 target per attribute level, max level 3. Needs level 1 JP.
Level - Number of Targets - Hit Count
1 —3 — 10
2 —3 — 20
3 —3 — 30
4 —3 — 40
5 —4 — 50
6 —4 — 60
7 —4 — 70
8 —4 — 80
9 —5 — 90
10 —5 — 100
11 —5 — 110
12 —5 — 120
13 —6 — 130
14 —6 — 140
15 —6 — 150
With this new scaling, considering skills will hit less targets because of HK’s attribute, you would: Give more utility to Linker C1, keep Linker C2 as good as it is and give to only Linker C3 the possibility of using Dandel Gem + Divine Might to improve himself to 10 JP targets.
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Hangman’s Knot: The attribute that reduces AoE def ratio should be reduced to level ONE, or remove AoE def ratio by %, like 30~50% max, making any skill hit all mobs IS too OP.
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Flesh Cannon: This is actualy one of the Wizard skills that look balanced, you rely on AoE attack ratio, good damage, good cooldown, good aim, needs class setup but can live without Linker.
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Summoning: Needs damage attribute: 1% per level max of 100 levels, this is the only way for Sorcerer’s main source of damage to become competitive on PvE, could be nerfed to 50~75% damage on PvP if the attribute gets implemented though.
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Frost Cloud: Too many targets, good number of hits/second considering R8 classes. This is a solid skill, the problem is AoEs are too OP right now because you don’t have to push your AoE attack ratio up, you simply hit 15 mobs (or 15 AoE attack ratio base, which is still too much). All AoE skills should have a maximum target number of 10, and still rely on AoE attack ratio, something around 0+2 AoE attack ratio per level + base attack ratio, leaving level 5 FC with ~13 attack radio without further adds.
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Flame Ground: This skill is Pyro’s main weapon over JP where you can’t place Fireballs. It applies it’s damage too slowly to ever fight against higher ranks spells. It should have ~35 seconds cooldown BUT 2 overheats, meaning you could either stack 2 of these or use it more times on early game.
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Psychic Pressure: Complete rework: 3 overheat 7 seconds duration each 20 seconds cooldown. New attribute or change the skill itself: Should work from further away.
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Gravity Pole: Good skill, needs to do either CC OR damage on PvP, currently does none, no one even uses it. I guess 50% damage reduction along with the CC nerf would be enough, not 20%.
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Summon Familiar: Re-work attribute: Splash damage attribute should work at 30~50%, this would be a great sorcerer spell since Sorcere is one of Wizards most gimped classes.
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Fireball: New attribute: No one pushes fireball away. Cooldown +12 seconds.
It doesn’t matter how people play.