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A tweak to nightblade diversity.
Grasshopper
✭✭✭
So I have been goofing off with numbers on the PTS and I have come to a conclusion on some changes that could help build diversity of nightblades on the server. Currently you really only see two types of nightblades on the server. The first being a solo ganker, and the second is a group orientated single target dps. Every once and a while you will get a group oriented nightblade assassin, but good ones are far and few between.
Shadow Cloak is ability is a staple for nightblades everywhere, it lets you pull of shenanigans that you would regularly not be able to do, This includes setting up ganks which help people defend keeps, infiltrating large groups and etc.
There is a couple changes you can make to the skill that would change how nightblades think and act as assassins if they so wanted to.
Magicka Based Cloak
The first change that could open up game-play would be an increase of duration on both morphs of shadow cloak from a final duration of 2.9 to 4.0 or 4.5. What this does is this takes advantage of the idea that people have mana regen. The average nightblade is going to stick around 80-120 mana regen without putting any points into increasing it. As of currently the 2.9 second duration only allows 1 tick of the mana regen to go through before you un-stealth. Meaning that only 80-120 of the cost was mitigated. With either of the increased duration you would increase it to 2 ticks of this regeneration (160-240) allowing people to stay stealth for much longer and sneak up on enemies, enabling a targeted strikes on key enemies. Meaning that it changes the dynamics of groups how they should be, a fight to protect your key players such as the crown holder in pvp, your healers, or key ultimate holding characters.
Concerns of magicka cloak
Keep in mind this is only a rough draft of this idea, as of currently if you went through this plan if someone where to spec into this type of gameplay they might be able to stealth INDEFINITELY with seducer and archmage!
This is not an entirely bad result though, because if make is where by doing this they will be specking out of damage they would regularly have it could be a cool group/solo utility setup. Saying that you would have to run the numbers with Archmage and seducer in mind to make sure they do not spec into too much damage.
Stamina Based Cloak
Before any mentions about stamina cloak we did some thought into it if shadow cloak had a stamina based morph with the same duration, we came to the conclusion that it would be possible to add this to the game with the current state of shadow cloak. With the shadow cloak you can currently trigger this effect,
Meaning you would get 372 stamina and health back with a single use of the cloak without losing any sort of damage stats. This would FORCE your character to stay in one spot to cloak for ganks, meaning you would be a sitting duck if you camped a location too long.
The only concern with with balancing this is that unlike the archmage + seducer combo this does not force you into two sets nor does it lock down one of your weapon slots. Someone could stack damage into this setup and be very successful ambushing enemies.
Counterplay to this playstyle
For something to be balanced there has to be a way to play against this setup and we actually already have the tools to do so on the 1.6 pts. Both Revealing Caltrops and the New flare ability counter this setup quite well. A large proportion of the pvp communitity already has these tools avaliable to them to shut down this build. Keep in mind though if a experienced set of players do not make preparations for this they could be down one healer or a crown leader
Conclusion
Me and my theorycrafting buddies think that a duration increase on Shadow cloak and/or a stamina morph to shadow cloak might have a good effect to the depth of nightblade play in pvp. It would require some testing, but at the same time it adds new dynamics and thought processes to all players involved.
"Should I Ride to a keep and risk being ganked or wait for someone to group with me?"
"Am I or my pvp interrupters properly protecting my healers / key players?"
"Is there a possibility that my nightblades can take out a high priority target to break stalemate?"
Community thoughts?
Guild Theorycrafting Bug,
-Grasshopper
(edit: before my own guild decides to use me as fishing bait)
Special thanks to,
-Zhat (Ability and set cross referencing)
-The Darkest Pepperoni AKA Burnt (helping with tests on diminishing cost reduction)
Edited by Grasshopper on 7 February 2015 21:23
Analyses
Shadow Cloak is ability is a staple for nightblades everywhere, it lets you pull of shenanigans that you would regularly not be able to do, This includes setting up ganks which help people defend keeps, infiltrating large groups and etc.
There is a couple changes you can make to the skill that would change how nightblades think and act as assassins if they so wanted to.
Magicka Based Cloak
The first change that could open up game-play would be an increase of duration on both morphs of shadow cloak from a final duration of 2.9 to 4.0 or 4.5. What this does is this takes advantage of the idea that people have mana regen. The average nightblade is going to stick around 80-120 mana regen without putting any points into increasing it. As of currently the 2.9 second duration only allows 1 tick of the mana regen to go through before you un-stealth. Meaning that only 80-120 of the cost was mitigated. With either of the increased duration you would increase it to 2 ticks of this regeneration (160-240) allowing people to stay stealth for much longer and sneak up on enemies, enabling a targeted strikes on key enemies. Meaning that it changes the dynamics of groups how they should be, a fight to protect your key players such as the crown holder in pvp, your healers, or key ultimate holding characters.
Concerns of magicka cloak
Keep in mind this is only a rough draft of this idea, as of currently if you went through this plan if someone where to spec into this type of gameplay they might be able to stealth INDEFINITELY with seducer and archmage!
This is not an entirely bad result though, because if make is where by doing this they will be specking out of damage they would regularly have it could be a cool group/solo utility setup. Saying that you would have to run the numbers with Archmage and seducer in mind to make sure they do not spec into too much damage.
Stamina Based Cloak
Before any mentions about stamina cloak we did some thought into it if shadow cloak had a stamina based morph with the same duration, we came to the conclusion that it would be possible to add this to the game with the current state of shadow cloak. With the shadow cloak you can currently trigger this effect,
Meaning you would get 372 stamina and health back with a single use of the cloak without losing any sort of damage stats. This would FORCE your character to stay in one spot to cloak for ganks, meaning you would be a sitting duck if you camped a location too long.
The only concern with with balancing this is that unlike the archmage + seducer combo this does not force you into two sets nor does it lock down one of your weapon slots. Someone could stack damage into this setup and be very successful ambushing enemies.
Counterplay to this playstyle
For something to be balanced there has to be a way to play against this setup and we actually already have the tools to do so on the 1.6 pts. Both Revealing Caltrops and the New flare ability counter this setup quite well. A large proportion of the pvp communitity already has these tools avaliable to them to shut down this build. Keep in mind though if a experienced set of players do not make preparations for this they could be down one healer or a crown leader
Conclusion
Me and my theorycrafting buddies think that a duration increase on Shadow cloak and/or a stamina morph to shadow cloak might have a good effect to the depth of nightblade play in pvp. It would require some testing, but at the same time it adds new dynamics and thought processes to all players involved.
"Should I Ride to a keep and risk being ganked or wait for someone to group with me?"
"Am I or my pvp interrupters properly protecting my healers / key players?"
"Is there a possibility that my nightblades can take out a high priority target to break stalemate?"
Community thoughts?
Guild Theorycrafting Bug,
-Grasshopper
(edit: before my own guild decides to use me as fishing bait)
Special thanks to,
-Zhat (Ability and set cross referencing)
-The Darkest Pepperoni AKA Burnt (helping with tests on diminishing cost reduction)
Bug and Theorycrafter since beta.
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