Critical Surge Suggestion

Maulkin · January 2015

I've been trying to think of a possible change to salvage the skill. This is the best I could come up with so far, but maybe you guys have some better ideas.

To begin with, these two changes cannot be made:
1) Increasing the heal %. It would be overpowered for abilities like Crit Rush, so that's a no-no.
2) Removing the cooldown. It would make you unkillable with uncapped AoE and decent crit chance. That's a no-no too

The best proposal I can come up with so far encompasses the changes @Atropos‌ proposed, plus one modification to the skill.

So the morphs would be like this:
- Power Surge: Grants you Major Brutality and Major Sorcery for 40"
- Critical Surge: Grants you Minor Brutality and Minor Sorcery for 20" and heals you for [X] on crit. The heal component has 1" cooldown

[X] would be a flat amount, scaling off your Max Magicka or Max Stamina whichever is higher. What would that change mean?

First off, you have a straight choice between more damage, or heals. PvE DPSers will be highly tempted now to pick Power Surge for more damage and more duration which helps with magicka sustain. The morphs offer more balanced choice. (This idea is courtesy of Atropos)

Now, if the heal is a flat amount somewhere in the region of 3k-4k it means that you always get a decent heal on crit. No risk of low damage DoTs or Bleeds stealing the crit and healing you for 500.

However, this also means that you reduce some high-end healing from things like Crit Rush and Frags which can heal for over 7k. So, mathematically speaking, you take the mean of the heal distribution, an average between highest possible and lowest possible and make it a flat value.

In that case it would be a decent heal, especially coupled with Rapid Regen to give around 5k HPS. That would allow survivability against PvE mobs, but not grant god mode. It's still a nerf compared to before, but a much more palatable one.

Finally, the Crit Surge morph grants Minor Sorcery, which stacks with the new Entropy's buff of Major Sorcery and Minor Brutality which stacks with Momentum's Major Brutality. Which could lead to the nice DPS boost that Sorcs need both in PvE and PvP.

What do you guys think?

Erock25 · January 2015

Yes. I like. The thing is, what I like most is allowing myself to have the opportunity to use Minor forms of the buffs. I want to use Crit Surge + Rally on my Sorc in stamina form, and with your change, now I can. I want to use Entropy + Crit surge on my Sorc in magicka form, and with your change, now I can. The heals being reliable are just icing on the cake.

Morvul · January 2015

the crit surge part could work (depend on the number for X

)

but why would I ever use your power surge over entropy?

Brasseurfb16_ESO · January 2015

I think 2 changes need to happen with surge,

1) The Healing component of that skill should be the base line and the Major Brutality or Sorcery should be the morph choices.

2) If the maximum healing amount is such a problem they should just cap the healing, like they capped the damage with Backlash. This way, multiple sources of damage won't steal the ICD for minor results and the cap will prevent AoE from healing the Sorcerer over the top when they hit a lot of ennemies together.

Kilandros · January 2015

Brasseurfb16_ESO wrote: »

I think 2 changes need to happen with surge,

1) The Healing component of that skill should be the base line and the Major Brutality or Sorcery should be the morph choices.

2) If the maximum healing amount is such a problem they should just cap the healing, like they capped the damage with Backlash. This way, multiple sources of damage won't steal the ICD for minor results and the cap will prevent AoE from healing the Sorcerer over the top when they hit a lot of ennemies together.

If they cap the healing at some arbitrary number then we still have the problem of running into a brick wall. Furthermore, choosing between major brutality and major sorcerer effectively kills Surge's use in hybrid builds.

Kuolo · January 2015

Crit surge might work with 2h bursts, but the lottery of crits is just awful. They could just remove the heal and put on like minor berserk there and it'd be a much better ability.

DW just seems sad the more I think about it.

Of course the heal could be a static value...

Maulkin · January 2015

Morvul wrote: »

the crit surge part could work (depend on the number for X )

but why would I ever use your power surge over entropy?

Good question.

There's no compelling reason. Only one I can think of would be duration. Notice Power Surge has double the duration of Entropy. That said Entropy is so much cheaper as a skill that it's still a lot more efficient.

Problem is I can't balance Surge around Entropy because Entropy is stupidly OP. It's cheap as chips, it grants Major Sorcery, it grants Empower (via Might of The Guild passive), it increases Max Magicka + Magicka Recovery (via Magicka Controller passive), and it has nice HoT and DoT components.

I mean what the hell! Whoever made that change to Entropy needs to look at a mirror and start slapping himself repeatedly untill he comes to his senses.

On the other hand Stamina builds with Bow and DW could find power surge quite appealing for PvE or PvP ganking. There is definitely use for Power Surge but considering how good Entropy is, Surge could never compete with that for Magicka builds.

Erock25 · January 2015

mike.gaziotisb16_ESO wrote: »

Morvul wrote: »

the crit surge part could work (depend on the number for X )

but why would I ever use your power surge over entropy?

Good question.

There's no compelling reason. Only one I can think of would be duration. Notice Power Surge has double the duration of Entropy. That said Entropy is so much cheaper as skill that it's still a lot more efficient.

Problem is I can't balance Surge around Entropy because Entropy is stupidly OP. It's cheap as chips, it grants Major Sorcery, it grants Empower (via Might of The Guild passive), it increases Max Magicka + Magicka Recovery (via Magicka Controller passive), and it has nice HoT and a DoT component.

I mean what the hell! Whoever made that change to Entropy needs to look at mirror and start slapping himself repeatedly till he comes to his senses.

On the other hand Stamina builds with Bow and DW could find power surge quite appealing for PvE or PvP ganking. There is definitely use for Power Surge but considering how good Entropy is, Surge could never compete with that for Magicka builds.

Well apparently (have not tested), Weapon Power still makes your staff light/heavy attacks more powerful so you are gaining that bonus of added light attack weave dmg.

Maulkin · January 2015

Kuolo wrote: »

Crit surge might work with 2h bursts, but the lottery of crits is just awful. They could just remove the heal and put on like minor berserk there and it'd be a much better ability.

DW just seems sad the more I think about it.

Of course the heal could be a static value...

Not an option.

If they remove the heal you have 0 in-combat heals as a Sorc. Don't talk to me about could break line of sight with your opponents and that is very infrequent.

Heals component is a must for this skill, if they don't want a wider redesign of Sorc skills. Plus the lottery part was always there.

Kuolo · January 2015

Then there's this, the critical leech ability.

http://youtu.be/IpB6fXQh7gk?t=2m28s

Kuolo · January 2015

mike.gaziotisb16_ESO wrote: »

[

Not an option.

If they remove the heal you have 0 in-combat heals as a Sorc. Don't talk to me about could break line of sight with your opponents and that is very infrequent.

Heals component is a must for this skill, if they don't want a wider redesign of Sorc skills. Plus the lottery part was always there.

No, the lottery part wasn't. It was a chance to crit, but now that it's 1 sec timer, you have no power over what it is that crits when the cooldown is gone. That means you shouldn't use any of the low damage abilities (DOT-abilities) or you risk a low heal. That just seems stupid to me. No lightning form, no axe bleeds...

The heal component just has no point with the timer. My sorc is stamina build and even I think power surge might be the way to go and even then I wouldn't be so sure it'd make my quickbar.

Maulkin · January 2015

Kuolo wrote: »

mike.gaziotisb16_ESO wrote: »

[

Not an option.

If they remove the heal you have 0 in-combat heals as a Sorc. Don't talk to me about could break line of sight with your opponents and that is very infrequent.

Heals component is a must for this skill, if they don't want a wider redesign of Sorc skills. Plus the lottery part was always there.

No, the lottery part wasn't. It was a chance to crit, but now that it's 1 sec timer, you have no power over what it is that crits when the cooldown is gone. That means you shouldn't use any of the low damage abilities (DOT-abilities) or you risk a low heal. That just seems stupid to me. No lightning form, no axe bleeds...

The heal component just has no point with the timer. My sorc is stamina build and even I think power surge might be the way to go and even then I wouldn't be so sure it'd make my quickbar.

First off, the lottery element I was referring to was the crit chance, so I misunderstood what you were saying. The lottery part I was referring to is still there.

The lottery of which crit gives you the heal, which you were talking about, is horrible and makes the skill utterly useless. Hence my suggestion for a flat heal that is of average value. Now you're back to 1 lottery component only, the crit chance.

Finally, if you unlock Critical Leech, it sounds like you won't even need Crit Surge any more as a stamina build. Which is cool and all but I repeat the heal element is a must for magicka Sorcs. Nothing changes that.

If you're a DW/Bow Sorc, Power Surge will look very enticing for DPS/Burst and reliance to Critical Leech for heals.

I think the options offered by the morphs are good. The skill is not a "must" which indicates balance. If a skill is a "must" that makes it OP, like Entropy currently is.

Grasshopper · January 2015

Going to drop my two cents on this,

So from what i am seeing i think Zos's fear is that crit surge would be to powerful with the AOE changes so why not make it act like it has a cap?

So the problem is that hitting to many targets will give you too much healers so why not cap the heal at the 6 main damage instances? This will mimic the effect you have on live, but at the same time it will not make it overpowered from healing you off 20+ foes.

For example:

You impulse 10 targets for your damage.
You will deal full damage to the first 6 like in the system and diminishing to the other 4.
At the same time crit surge only heals you off the first 6, keeping in balanced c:

Kuolo · January 2015

mike.gaziotisb16_ESO wrote: »

First off, the lottery element I was referring to was the crit chance, so I misunderstood what you were saying. The lottery part I was referring to is still there.

The lottery of which crit gives you the heal, which you were talking about, is horrible and makes the skill utterly useless. Hence my suggestion for a flat heal that is of average value. Now you're back to 1 lottery component only, the crit chance.

Finally, if you unlock Critical Leech, it sounds like you won't even need Crit Surge any more as a stamina build. Which is cool and all but I repeat the heal element is a must for magicka Sorcs. Nothing changes that.

If you're a DW/Bow Sorc, Power Surge will look very enticing for DPS/Burst and reliance to Critical Leech for heals.

I think the options offered by the morphs are good. The skill is not a "must" which indicates balance. If a skill is a "must" that makes it OP, like Entropy currently is.

Yes,

1) flat heal would be better idea. Or like I said in an another thread,

2) not apply the 1 sec timer on DOT abilities, but maybe make them zero the timer. So a DOT ability would heal every time it crits, but would zero the timer for other abilities. Then it there would be some options and trade offs.

3) Also it could be there's a minimum value for the heal, but no maximum: Low crit - average heal, High crit - high heal.

My friend has a magica sorc and I can't say I'm sorry he lost with the crit surge. First of all, his dps is amazing - especially AOE. Then, with a bat swarm that has heals and chance to crit and so a chance to heal with the crits, it's just stupid.

And even I was healing with the DW AOE like crazy. With mobs under 50% of health my high crits were over 1000 while the low ones were 600 - 700. I could be close to death between the strikes but full again with a one whirl. I spammed my way to VR14 very easily with undead mobs + fighter skill abilities.

Maulkin · January 2015

Grasshopper wrote: »

Going to drop my two cents on this,

So from what i am seeing i think Zos's fear is that crit surge would be to powerful with the AOE changes so why not make it act like it has a cap?

So the problem is that hitting to many targets will give you too much healers so why not cap the heal at the 6 main damage instances? This will mimic the effect you have on live, but at the same time it will not make it overpowered from healing you off 20+ foes.

For example:

You impulse 10 targets for your damage.
You will deal full damage to the first 6 like in the system and diminishing to the other 4.
At the same time crit surge only heals you off the first 6, keeping in balanced c:

It's not just the AoE cap, it's also the impenetrable changes. Even if the AoE caps were not lifted Crit Surge would be lethal with the modified impenetrable.

With 50% crit chance for example you'd be guaranteed to crit 3/6 targets with Impulse and get at least 6k heals per Pulse while doing ~20k AoE damage before we even account the DoTs! That's with new values ofc

That's way too much healing and damage-dealing combined for one ability with 2k cost.

Maulkin · January 2015

Kuolo wrote: »

mike.gaziotisb16_ESO wrote: »

First off, the lottery element I was referring to was the crit chance, so I misunderstood what you were saying. The lottery part I was referring to is still there.

The lottery of which crit gives you the heal, which you were talking about, is horrible and makes the skill utterly useless. Hence my suggestion for a flat heal that is of average value. Now you're back to 1 lottery component only, the crit chance.

Finally, if you unlock Critical Leech, it sounds like you won't even need Crit Surge any more as a stamina build. Which is cool and all but I repeat the heal element is a must for magicka Sorcs. Nothing changes that.

If you're a DW/Bow Sorc, Power Surge will look very enticing for DPS/Burst and reliance to Critical Leech for heals.

I think the options offered by the morphs are good. The skill is not a "must" which indicates balance. If a skill is a "must" that makes it OP, like Entropy currently is.

Yes,

1) flat heal would be better idea. Or like I said in an another thread,

2) not apply the 1 sec timer on DOT abilities, but maybe make them zero the timer. So a DOT ability would heal every time it crits, but would zero the timer for other abilities. Then it there would be some options and trade offs.

3) Also it could be there's a minimum value for the heal, but no maximum: Low crit - average heal, High crit - high heal.

My friend has a magica sorc and I can't say I'm sorry he lost with the crit surge. First of all, his dps is amazing - especially AOE. Then, with a bat swarm that has heals and chance to crit and so a chance to heal with the crits, it's just stupid.

And even I was healing with the DW AOE like crazy. With mobs under 50% of health my high crits were over 1000 while the low ones were 600 - 700. I could be close to death between the strikes but full again with a one whirl. I spammed my way to VR14 very easily with undead mobs + fighter skill abilities.

I do have a feeling that regerdless of AoE caps and Impenetrable, ZOS wanted to nerf Crit Surge for the reason you described. The current implementation however is stupid. Something needs to change.

I do like your idea of DoTs healing then resetting the timer, it's more of a buff than my suggestion.

However it might:
a) be too many things to keep track of. For example, if you lay down a WoE and pump elemental ring with a fire staff, you have probably proc'ed 3 DoTs (including Burning) on 20 nearby enemies. each of those could reset the timer if they crit.
b) reinforce a DoT-stacking meta for more heals.

If they can pull that off, I'd prefer it.

Varicite · January 2015

Kuolo wrote: »

mike.gaziotisb16_ESO wrote: »

First off, the lottery element I was referring to was the crit chance, so I misunderstood what you were saying. The lottery part I was referring to is still there.

The lottery of which crit gives you the heal, which you were talking about, is horrible and makes the skill utterly useless. Hence my suggestion for a flat heal that is of average value. Now you're back to 1 lottery component only, the crit chance.

Finally, if you unlock Critical Leech, it sounds like you won't even need Crit Surge any more as a stamina build. Which is cool and all but I repeat the heal element is a must for magicka Sorcs. Nothing changes that.

If you're a DW/Bow Sorc, Power Surge will look very enticing for DPS/Burst and reliance to Critical Leech for heals.

I think the options offered by the morphs are good. The skill is not a "must" which indicates balance. If a skill is a "must" that makes it OP, like Entropy currently is.

Yes,

1) flat heal would be better idea. Or like I said in an another thread,

2) not apply the 1 sec timer on DOT abilities, but maybe make them zero the timer. So a DOT ability would heal every time it crits, but would zero the timer for other abilities. Then it there would be some options and trade offs.

3) Also it could be there's a minimum value for the heal, but no maximum: Low crit - average heal, High crit - high heal.

My friend has a magica sorc and I can't say I'm sorry he lost with the crit surge. First of all, his dps is amazing - especially AOE. Then, with a bat swarm that has heals and chance to crit and so a chance to heal with the crits, it's just stupid.

And even I was healing with the DW AOE like crazy. With mobs under 50% of health my high crits were over 1000 while the low ones were 600 - 700. I could be close to death between the strikes but full again with a one whirl. I spammed my way to VR14 very easily with undead mobs + fighter skill abilities.

Seems like it would be far more elegant to simply make Crit Surge unaffected by DoT crits.

Kuolo · January 2015

Varicite wrote: »

Seems like it would be far more elegant to simply make Crit Surge unaffected by DoT crits.

Yes. Didn't actually think of that at all

Any of the described sound (for I'm just presuming at this point) better than what it is with 1.6.

angelyn · January 2015

I've posted this elsewhere but there be so many threads and I don't know which one the devs may see:
LIGHT ARMOUR MAGICKA SORCS HIT 3 TIMES OVER IN THIS UPDATE:

Nerfed health of all players- didn't scale health up same amount as other stats
Nerfed light armour -to provide only 25% protection that heavy can
Nerfed only remotely reliable healing for class- crit surge.

CRIT SURGE WAS THE ONLY REMOTELY RELIABLE SELF HEAL IN OUR OWN SKILL TREE(PVE)
So the main reason they nerfed Crit surge healing was due to the combination of impenetrable & AOE changes that will affect PVP? I can understand how the new AOE system means that healing off of a high crit AOE ability might make you OP.However, I wondered why all AOE healing abilities for all classes didn't have a 1 second cooldown implemented.

Even if there was no cooldown I have to choose between weapon power+healing or boost to spell power:

Stamina sorcs get healing(albiet at 1 second cooldown nerf rate)plus increased damage
Magicka sorcs get increased damage

Why should I PVE magicka sorc now have no viable self healing skills from my own class because they redesigned the AOE and impenetrable system?I'm not saying that the AOE changes or the Impenetrable changes are bad. I'm only saying that as a class, sorcerer's have no real self healing skill now because ZOS rendered our only remotely reliable heal (in PVE!) useless. In addition, they did this to stop their new system from affecting PVP negatively.

And even for stamina sorcs, a 1 second cooldown on the only remotely reliable heal from our own class tree will probably now not make it onto their bar. However, they may actually get some heals in PVP with the changes to impenetrable?

ANY OTHER RELIABLE SELF HEALS IN OUR OWN SKILL TREE?
There is hardened ward as an alternative to heal but because from now on all sorcs have to use pets, we will be picking the empowered ward morph instead so that we can have measly DPS.

Dark Exchange is another class ability that has promise for both magicka and stamina sorcs, but its rendered useless by the fact that it's a channeled ability.

IDEAL SOLUTION
@NordJitsu suggestion in this thread:http://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/discussion/148366/surge-in-1-6/p1

NordJitsu wrote: »

The answer is clear.

Critical Surge (base skill): Costs magicka. Critical hits heal you for 65% of damage dealt.

Power Surge (morph): Costs Stamina, Buffs Weapon Power (Major Brutality or whatever the hell), and Critical Hits Heal you for 65% of damage dealt.

Spell Surge (morph): Cost Magicka, Buffs Spell Damage (Major Sorcery), and Critical hits heal you for 65% of damage dealt.

This is the only acceptable solution.

NordJitsu wrote: »

I don't think there'd be any need to reduce the % if they capped it at 6 targets like they said they're doing with all secondary effects.

ALTERNATIVE SOLUTION IF NOT WILLING TO CHANGE SURGE
Make Dark Exchange it an instant cast like @Kilandros suggested in this post:
http://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/discussion/147868/suggestion-dark-exchange

Either way sorcs will actually have something in the SORCERER tree that can reliably heal them. That is the reason why so many sorcs are complaining. Give me a reliable heal in my own class tree.

Maulkin · January 2015

Kuolo wrote: »

Varicite wrote: »

Seems like it would be far more elegant to simply make Crit Surge unaffected by DoT crits.

Yes. Didn't actually think of that at all

Any of the described sound (for I'm just presuming at this point) better than what it is with 1.6.

Varicite's idea definitely works and probably better than mine and yours Kuolo.

However they still need to rework Surge and morphs and also, like I said, Entropy. Power Surge is inferior to Entropy in every way and since they don't stack no-one will ever use Power Surge, neither a magicka nor a stamina build.

That's a sign of a terrible skill design if there's no scenario where it's useful.

The core idea of having to choose between major buffs or minor buffs + heals is good, if it's followed by a much needed nerf to Entropy.

I said it before and I'll say it again, Entropy is insanely OP atm. Also it needs a balance between its morphs. Degeneration is rubbish considering you lose the extra HP every time you switch bars and have to regen it back.

I think if the skill was like this:
- Entropy: DoT + Minor Sorcery
- Structured Entropy: DoT + Minor Sorcery + Chance to heal on weapon damage
- Degeneration: DoT + Major Sorcery

This would be far far more balanced. The HoT is removed as you can get a heal element from Structured Entropy if you wish. But again you have a choice between more damage or heal chance.

As far as caster Sorcs are concerned they'd then have a choice to make between the two combos:
1) Power Surge + Structured Entropy or
2) Crit Surge + Degeneration

This would be interesting cause if you're not running a crit build, option 1 is clearly superior for single target boss damage. You'll get better heals from Crushing Shock procs on Structured Entropy than with Crit Surge because of your low crit chance.

A high crit build however could be better off with Crit Surge and Degeneration. A PvP build would probably prefer this too as it works better with AoEs than single target damage. Again quid pro quo, you have interesting choices to make.

Finally, this is not just about Sorcs. Entropy needs a nerf and a balance between morphs. Surge needs a fix and a balance between morphs and the above situation is a win-win for everyone I think.

Digiman · January 2015

mike.gaziotisb16_ESO wrote: »

2) Removing the cooldown. It would make you unkillable with uncapped AoE and decent crit chance. That's a no-no too

Even if your covered head to toe in heavy armor and are swarmed by mobs or players it wouldn't come close to making you a god, if you wore cloth you would be torn to shreds.

We are talking crit procs and 50% seemed balanced before, especially against a normal pack of mobs as long as blocked and dodged, elites were much harder and you needed to be mobile and dodge. As for against Players the idea was to let you do damage as you healed from off hits, but the moment they focused on you, you were gone as you either had to escape or be beaten down fast.

Honestly the 1 second CD is a killer for this ability for Sorcerers. Even with the mobility added to Dark exchange, its a 4 second channel and designed to be used when your not being focused on.

Surge was supposed to have the crit heal baseline, now it seems it won't even be used for that. We are getting pigeon holed into using pets for survivability, and they will nerf bat that quick smart after a month on live as players will start shouting out that PvP should be about Players not Pets.

Can't believe they broke it.

Kuolo · January 2015

Maybe if the pets had timers and they could be placed on the 2nd quickbar, they would be used, but as of now, they just take the space and make the game more boring.

I honestly been thinking about making a 2h sorc with pet, but at least now that I'm leveling him up, the pet had to go.

The 1.6 Atronarch looks interesting though with the synergy and all.

Maulkin · January 2015

Digiman wrote: »

We are talking crit procs and 50% seemed balanced before, especially against a normal pack of mobs as long as blocked and dodged, elites were much harder and you needed to be mobile and dodge. As for against Players the idea was to let you do damage as you healed from off hits, but the moment they focused on you, you were gone as you either had to escape or be beaten down fast.

I think we've explained enough times that the removal of AoE caps and change to impenetable meant something had to change about the skill. The heals would be insane. If you don't see why then fine, but even as a Sorc, I can't agree with you.

I don't like the cooldown either. If you can think of a more appropriate nerf than the cool down that would bring it in line with the changes then we're all ears

ToRelax · January 2015

@mike.gaziotisb16_ESO
I don't see why you don't want the cooldown gone, you obviously have no idea how much critical surge would heal in PvP if it was gone. Not only do you exaggerate vastly ith your damage of impulse, there is also magic resistance, crit resistance, damage shields, and very squishy light armor.
The cooldown is terrible game design in my opinion and needs to go, period.
If anyone thinks Surge would become OP without the cooldown, then add another mechanic that caps the heal but still allows it to be reliable.

Also it would be nice if not everyone would create a new thread about Surge so we could read other people's arguments before commenting...
http://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/discussion/148366/surge-in-1-6

About the suggestion you would have to choose between major buffs or minor buffs+heal :
Minor buffs are not worth a slot on my skill bar in PvP in general. And I need that heal in PvP, the only thing that doesn't always goes easy peasy in PvE are Bossfights in wich I'll never rely on that heal anyway. So one would choose a heal. Well, then make that heal competitive. I assure you, it wouldn't even be OP if you would flat out take away the cooldown.
Test as much as you want ZOS, but do try to take on a group of players with Surge without the cooldown, then tell me again it's needed.

Holycannoli · January 2015

#2 is exactly what needs to be removed though. It's often wasted by DoTs.

If uncapped AOE is the problem I'm sure they can cap it's heals.

Kilandros · January 2015

mike.gaziotisb16_ESO wrote: »

Digiman wrote: »

We are talking crit procs and 50% seemed balanced before, especially against a normal pack of mobs as long as blocked and dodged, elites were much harder and you needed to be mobile and dodge. As for against Players the idea was to let you do damage as you healed from off hits, but the moment they focused on you, you were gone as you either had to escape or be beaten down fast.

I think we've explained enough times that the removal of AoE caps and change to impenetable meant something had to change about the skill. The heals would be insane. If you don't see why then fine, but even as a Sorc, I can't agree with you.

I don't like the cooldown either. If you can think of a more appropriate nerf than the cool down that would bring it in line with the changes then we're all ears

1. Remove the heal entirely from Surge.

2. Make Dark Exchange instant cast.

3. Profit.

gendarkb16_ESO · January 2015

Well as I posted in the other post:

gendarkb16_ESO wrote: »

Stop saying that stamina sorcs benefit from surge... the first problem with surge even in 1,5 in AvA is that if the enemy blocks your crit, you don't heal, so in pvp everyone is permablocking so crit surge in pvp never (or very rare) heals. At least in 1.5 pve critical surge is still good.

But right now in 1.6 patch and the new buff unification mechanic, surge got nerfed to oblivion for both magica and stamina sorcerers.

Why use surge now when:

Magica sorc: Entropy gives the same buff and better heals + a dot dmg
or even worse a spellpower pot with health/spellpower/extrastat pot is better than surge for more duration and you get a free slot on your bar.

Stamina sorc: Rally gives the same buff for an extra 14s (34s total) and way more heals and a reliable heal on demand.
or even worse a weaponpower pot or health/weaponpower/extrastat pot is better than surge again and you get a free slot on your bar, you can even drop rally ... so why use rally or surge when a pot does the same effect.

The only way that surge ls usefull again is with the removal of the internal cooldown and make that if a crit attack is blocked you still heal by the 65% of the damage you did.
Also you promised(in interviews and esolive)that the extra duration that power surge morph gives right now in 1,5p (around 34-40s) in 1,6 that would be the new duration of surge in the base spell. Right now the brutality buffs fron pots last longer than surge...

So my suggestions would be:

- Move the crit heal to base spell
- In AvA if your crit is blocked you get healed for the 65% dmg done, ex: 1000dmg crit , because is blocked target takes 500dmg and you heal for 325hp
- Remove (1.5) or lower the cooldown to 0.2s so the same area can't heal x6 x60
- Increase the duration of surge to 30-40s can't be that the brutality buff from a potion last longer than a buff that uses a slot in the action bar.
- Morph 1 magica: add spell power buff
- Morph 2 stamina: add minor berserker buff

seanvwolf · January 2015

I think DoT skills (including flurry and it's morphs) shouldn't trigger the cooldown. Any other direct damage spell or AOE should cap at 6 crit heals per second. Otherwise, remove the cooldown altogether. It's so sad when my bow heals me at 1000-2000 hps (who usually doesn't need the heals) and my close range heals me at 250-500 hps (if I'm lucky; and i definitely need the heals).