MashmalloMan wrote: »

ZhuJiuyin wrote: »

As you can see, the maximum damage of Relentless Focus (33982) is greater than the 33602 of Proc-Crystal Fragments, and Relentless Focus is easier to use and does not need to rely on randomness.

Instant Crystal Frags can be used on average once every 3 seconds, maybe more, maybe less, vs once every 5 seconds for Grim Focus. So yeah, it's to be expected that it hits less. It's more readily available, no matter how much you may dislike the RNG, that's the intended flavour of the skill. It's actually more reliable and consistent in my opinion because you can proc it from any bar, and you don't need to hit your target with a light attack. You can literally be facing the wrong direction and earn an instant frag.

Additionally, while many don't like Hard Cast Frags, it's still an option that shouldn't be ignored. Grim Focus can't be used as a spammable, Frags can. It doubles as 2 skills in 1 and potentially saves a skill slot on your bar for something new, that could directly increase your total DPS or improve your Frag damage.

TLDR: I don't know why we're comparing them 1:1, apples and oranges.

Not to mention, if the status effect is taken into account, the damage ratio of Relentless Focus will be higher, because Overcharged causes less damage than Diseased.

This is just not true, they reworked status effects years ago to be based on Burning as the standard. 4/5 of the direct damage status effects deal 10% more than 1 tick of Burning. This applies to Sunder, Concuss, Overcharge, and Chill. Diseased deals the same damage as 1 tick of Burning, so -10% less than the rest, but has an aoe proc on a 4s cooldown that deals only 40% of what 1 tick of Burning does.

100% + 40%(4s cd) = Diseased
110% = Overcharged

If you only procced Diseased and Overcharged once every 4s, then yes, Diseased will come out slightly ahead because of the 4s aoe proc, but firstly, they're incredibly close it's negligible, and secondly, Overcharged would come out ahead if procced more often than once every 4s since it has no cd on the extra 10% damage. Just so happens you can use Frags much more often than Grim Focus, so comparing status effects is a wasted endeavor. If anything it favours Frags.

In addition, the damage ratio of Force Pulse is 8.5%+8.1%+7.8%+burning (2.5%)+chill (1.4%)+Concussion (0.4%)=28.7%
And Crystal Fragments+Proc-Crystal Fragments+Overcharged is 38.1%, which is less than 10% higher than Force Pulse, and this is the case when Proc-Crystal Fragments are included.

These results are to be expected, it's not 10% better, it's roughly 33% better. You also get 108 ws damage if paired with Storm Calling which improves the rest of your DPS.

Again, apples and oranges, but this does show why Crystal Frags is a well designed spammable that also doubles up as a semi burst skill via Instant Frags.

If we only count the single damage, the maximum damage of Crystal Fragments+Overcharged is 19550+2918=22468
And the damage of Force Pulse is 5823+5756+5792+burning(2062)+chill(2869)+Concussion(1559)=23861
The maximum damage of Force Pulse (although affected by the chance) is still higher than Crystal Fragments, and don't forget that Crystal Fragments has a casting time of 0.8 seconds.

Why would we ignore half of the reason the skill is used? That would be like saying "if we ignore that Force Pulse can apply 3 status effects or does aoe damage..." It's a part of what makes both skills do something different. If you want to compare spammable to spammable, you need to include the whole picture. Hard Casting Frags procs Instant Frags the same way casting Force Pulse procs more status effects. They both contribute to DPS.

I'm not saying I love hard casting Frags, I'm just saying it's balanced appropriately. Nothing needs to change.

It is obvious that the changes to Blood Magic this time will not help the Dark Magic line, because it lacks stable and efficient spam skills, and Proc-Crystal is very unstable and cannot be guaranteed to be used continuously within 10 seconds. Not to mention the other skills and passives of this line, which are either poor or useless.
Dark Magic is in desperate need of a bigger buff, as the strongest skill in the line currently does even less damage than the common skills, not to mention Crystal has a 0.8 second cast time, and Proc-Crystal is very unstable. Not to mention Suppression Field, Shattering Spines, Rune Cage, Daedric Tomb, etc., which do even less damage and are less useful, and even cost more than similar skills.

I mean I agree with all this, I just don't agree with your method of proving it. Crystal Frag and Dark Exchange are great skills, the rest needs a lot of work. Focus on the rest.