Major_Toughness wrote: »

None of these are good suggestions and are buffs to the already best class in PvP - which is what you play - and every sorcerer is running Dark Magic, Storm Calling, and Assassination.

Suggesting Dark Magic is a weak skill line is absurdly disingenuous.

Lebensf0rm wrote: »

Dark Magic

• Crystal Shard: I don’t think this skill needs to be moved; I think there are ways to keep the original classes competitive without assigning each tree a role like the DLC classes. I think it would be more fun to make the actives and passives from the base classes that are lagging behind stronger and more flexible. Frags is a solid skill that needs some combination of an extra effect and help from passives to end up in more PvE and PvP builds. Something like a short window of Major Berserk or a smaller, unique % damage done bonus would be both powerful and incentivize higher CPM play, which stops it from playing nice with the Fatecarver meta in PvE.
  
  Crystal Weapon is the morph that I think needs a lot of work, as there isn’t much reason to slot it anywhere for any role. If they want tanks to use it, it needs much higher armor reduction and/or a unique % damage taken debuff. If they want DDs to use it, I think looking into adding a strong DoT caused by light attacks akin to Pyrebrand or Werewolf Berserker’s bleed could make it useful.
  
• Dark Exchange: I think Zyaneth has identified some clear weaknesses of this skill and its morphs compared to other sustain skills like Netch and Siphoning Attacks. Given the channel (which feels terrible), it’s in need of buffs rather than nerfs. Minor Force and Minor Berserk are easily sourced in both PvE and PvP, so I don’t see why both morphs can’t provide these and some important major buff like Brutality/Sorcery or Savagery/Prophecy. The skill would end up somewhat loaded with these changes, but I think that’s a fair trade for an interruptible skill you have to cast every 20s.
  
• Encase: I actually like where Vibrant Shroud is at. It’s a skill that has a lot of utility. Shattering Spines, on the other hand, is unfortunately a victim to some huge QoL changes. In PvE, Tanks now have AoE pulls in Leashing Burst and Void Bash, and the various chains now taunt. In conjunction with high utility snares like Razor Caltrops, there really isn’t a need for an AoE root; trash enemies simply don’t get far enough away to make it out of cleave, especially in optimized groups. And the only real need for AoE roots in PvP seems to be setting groups up for bombs, which Burning Talons just does better (with an awesome synergy). I think one way to make Shattering Spines unique and competitive in the niches where it’s outclassed would be to make it an AoE pull like Leashing Burst but with an added effect akin to Vicious Death or Plaguebreak: enemies pulled in are briefly marked somehow, and when they die they “shatter”, dealing some sort of strong AoE damage. Another idea relevant to “shattering” could be an AoE pull that also applies Major Breach (or perhaps both Breaches), eliminating the need to source the debuff(s) from elsewhere.
  
• Rune Prison: I don’t think there’s a single use case in which this skill isn’t totally outclassed by another. Rune Cage is like Shattering Rocks but substantially worse, especially when factoring in the resource return from Helping Hands. Defensive Rune’s ability to stun an attacker with their own attack is unique, but single target hard stuns are really only useful in PvP, and in PvP you typically want direct control over hard stuns so you can be certain of your burst damage being unblocked. I think some sort of change to Rune Cage to bring it more in line with Shattering Rocks (like making it unavoidable and increasing the damage done with the target breaks free) would give it more PvP utility. Unfortunately, I think defensive Rune probably needs a total rework. A single target rune that doesn’t stun, but dramatically increases the damage a target takes from status effects and the chance of status effects being applied to them could get a lot of mileage in both PvE and PvP.
  
• Daedric Mines: Enemies can’t be hit by more than one mine at once, so Daedric Tomb ends up as a very expensive, very weak skill to use in trash packs, especially with abilities like Fatecarver in the environment. That’s about it for that morph. To be an effective AoE delayed burst tool, Daedric Tomb would have to work something like Proximity Detonation, but throwable. Even then, it might need some extra effect or strong scaling with the amount of targets hit to compete. Daedric Refuge is clunky. I like the idea of a shield for your group, but if it’s going to cost 5400 mag, I’d like to see it work like a version of Bone Shield that scales with either health or mag, as well as some some sort of additional effect, since it finds itself competing with shield-scribed Ulfsild’s Contingency.
  
• Negate Magic: I think this skill would get used more frequently with buffs that meet needs on each side of an AoE burst scenario. The buff I have in mind is some sort of shared healing/damage received within the bubble: allies in an Absorption field would share some percentage of the healing each ally in the bubble receives, and enemies in a Suppression field would share some percentage of the damage each enemy receives. I wouldn’t mind having to spend more ult on this ability for that kind of damage mitigation/increase.
  
• Passives: I also like where Unholy Knowledge is at. Cost reduction just feels good. Blood Magic getting the max resource buffs from Bound Armor is an odd choice, but I’ll take it; higher max resources benefit all playstyles. Persistence is great for tanks in PvE and PvP more generally, especially with burst damage going up like it has.. Exploitation is where major work has to be done, as others have pointed out. Hemorrhage is definitely the model: the Minor Prophecy needs to be paired with some sort of substantial buff. I’m unsure what the buff should be, however. Applying a unique armor reduction or damage taken debuff with critical damage could be interesting and useful in both PvE and PvP.

Daedric Summoning

• Summon Familiar/Twilight: The damage morphs of the summons should probably be more potent and have less of their damage tied to Daedric Prey, as Zyaneth says. The burst heal from Unstable Clannfear just isn’t good enough to be worth using two bar slots on. To be worth it, I think the clannfear would have to work like Spirit Guardian when it’s alive, and it’s active ability should do something like block for you for a short time. Twilight Matriarch would need something like passive Minor Mending and a Major Vitality aura on its active to be worth two whole bar slots.
  
• Daedric Curse: Daedric Prey probably needs pet/no pet versions to keep it flexible in PvE. The burst from Haunting Curse should be stronger if burst damage is all you’re going to get out of it, given where Grim Focus and Scorch are at.
  
• Conjured Ward: Just give the magsorcs their shield that heals back.The damage in PvP with subclassing and Monomyth together is very high, and mag specs in general seem to be suffering.
  
• Bound Armor: I like where Bound Aegis will be after the buffs announced during week 2 of this PTS cycle. However, Bound Armaments will still be much weaker than its most obvious counterpart (Grim Focus) with an increased sundered chance. Would love to see Grim Focus unnerfed or slightly modified to incentivize more active use and Bound Armaments be buffed to be comparable somehow.
  
• Passives: Given the diminishing returns from multiple sources of -% damage taken and the wide availability of both Major and Minor Protection, the value of Daedric Protection either needs to be increased or converted into an armor bonus.. Expert Summoner is somewhat weak and bland. A substantial cost decrease for subsequent casts of skills from the Daedric Summoning tree similar to Gravelord’s Reusable Parts could be nice, especially if this line’s skills were all good enough to be worth using somewhere. Flat cost reduction like a cost reduction glyph after using a Daedric Summoning Ability could also be quite good, and plays more nicely with subclassing.

Storm Calling

• Passives: Starting with this line’s passives because I think it’s where the biggest opportunity for fun, impactful changes lies. I see two passives worth changing: Capacitor and Energized. Capacitor and the line in general would benefit from increased chance to apply concussion and increased damage from the concussion effect, similar to Warden’s Glacial Presence. I think that Energized’s change should be pretty major. In short, Energized would be more useful and encourage more use of Storm Calling’s active abilities if reimagined as a lightning-themed analogue of Burning Light with a few differences. This new Energized would only gain stacks for its damage proc from physical or shock damage, but apply its damage to the target and all targets within melee range of it with guaranteed concussion. The ubiquity of Fatecarver in the PvE meta is a sign that there needs to be other ways of doing high AoE damage in longer encounters, and I see the proposed change to Energize as one way for another line to potentially meet the need for more AoE damage with a more active playstyle (something many beamed-out DDs long for).
  
• Overload: Outside of fixing bugs and making the LAs feel less clunky, I don’t think this skill needs to be touched right now.
  
• Bolt Escape: I think this skill and its morphs are roughly fine as they are. A distance increase would be nice, given how much mobility in PvP has increased.
  
• Mage’s Fury: This skill is fairly weak as an execute, and seems to see the bulk of its use in Battlegrounds for finishing off enemies that are already basically dead. I think one way to make it more useful without playing with its base values or delay would be to make it apply full stacks of the new Energized proposed above based on how low the target's health is (e.g., a target takes Mage’s Fury’s damage and a guaranteed Energized proc at 25% health, two procs at 15%, and three at 5%, or something like that).
  
• Lightning Form: I’d love to see Hurricane unnerfed some, but otherwise I think the skill is in a good place. Boundless Storm, on the other hand, is too weak. Zyaneth is onto something with one of their ideas: a thematically appropriate buff would be giving it a melee range (7m) AoE around that caster that does shock damage with increased concussion chance similar to Artic Blast. This would also play nice with the proposed Energized change above.
  
• Lightning Splash: Outside of providing a synergy, this skill isn’t doing a whole lot. I think it would be cool to see at least one of this skill’s morphs work like a hybrid of Twisting Path and the Essence Thief proc: the caster gains Major Expedition for a short time after moving through their own puddle, as well as some sort of damage buff. This would fit with the mobility encouraged by the rest of the line, as well as give the skill some needed power.
  
• Surge: Critical Surge is fine where it is. I would like to see a much more powerful Power Surge, however.. I rarely see this morph used, and would be more interested in seeing it work as a pure damage skill instead of an AoE heal. Perhaps Grave Lord’s Sacrifice is the model: make it work like that, but for all class skills.

I agree that fragments need an additional effect.
• I like your suggestions for crystal weapon as it's meant to be a pressure option rather than burst, maybe it could indeed gain a dot but I don't feel it would suit this ability. Instead it's debuff could stack which would reinforce it's identity as a pressure skill and maybe make it potentially usefull for supports/tanks. Imo it's also a bit more interactive than a bland dot or damage taken debuff.
  
  I wasn't ready to touch the dead skills at the time beacuse it's a lot more work lol
• As for shattering spines I rly like the idea of enemies shattering on death similar to plaguebreak, could really see use in pve fights with lots of adds and the concept itself sounds like a lot of fun.
  
• Rune prison was only ever used for one patch when it was made both unblockable and undodgeable which was a bit to much indeed but then it was ruined completely as if in retaliation by making it dodgeable while adding a long delay before the effect taking and a visible effect on top making it impossible to get stunned with.
  
  Besides the delay rune cage acts similarly to shattering rocks with one small condition that makes a world of difference: shattering rocks deals damage when the stun completes while rune cage deals damage if the stun lasts the full suration which virtually never happens. The dealy needs to be ruduced significantly to make it on par with javelin in use that is also less conspiquous visually. so account for that too. Then damage should be done when the stun ends and not if it lasts the full duration because this condition is impossible to fulfill. Additionally it could gain a debuff on top to make it more unique and account for the fact that it doesn't benefit form any of the passives.
  
  Defensive rune is bad by definition as you said because you have no control over the timing of the stun and not even the choice of target. Needs to be reworked. I think it's redundant as a stun, so should be remade into a buff/debuff. For instance, while the effect holds heal when dealt damage (could be an ordinary hot or some other effect) and apply a debuff to attackers (anything is possible: reduce damage, increase damage taken etc) or something along those lines. Otherwise can be made into a straight up buff of sorts.
  
• Daedric mines is hard. I think there's no saving this one, has to be completely scrapped and replaced by something different entirely.
  
• Persistence is indeed good for tanks but that's it. I'd like for it to be more more universally applicable. Not to mention that as I said it fit sorcerer poorly due to the fact that block mitigations doesn't apply to damage shields, so this passive feels counter intuitive.
  
• Personally, I dislike max stats being moved to dark magic when ward is in daedric summoning, to make it worse now 2 lines have max stat buffs split among them.
  
• Nice suggestion for Negate, I second it. Additionally, to reinforce it's identity and make it more useful for supports I propose that Absorption field cleanses ALL debuffs in the area, both aoe and single target.
  
• Indeed dark magic can probably be made into another damage tree with it's functionalities being a mix of damage and support/utility but in my opinion that would require more work than making it into a full support/utility tree. Another thing to consider is that storm calling needs crystal shards to become a full-fledged damage tree unlike a secondary complementary choice it is now.

• Yes, you are right of course, Daedric protection is indeed quite weak in actual combat, I overlooked this. Your suggestion is agreeable too. But many other lines have same flat armour bonus, so maybe it could grant a mix of armour and something else, or just bake the armour into rebate as that one is extremely weak on it's own. And add a new passive. As I said in my post
• Expert summoner s way too weak even for max resource builds that basically don't even exist anymore, it's value needs to be buffed then to support max res builds and put expert summoner more in line with other highest level passives add a secondary effect scaling with max resources, like increase armour/damage/recoveries or even shield strength to support shields based on your highest resource.

• I agree that this line is in great need of a distinct and interactive damage passive. In my opinion the new passive should be something completely unique rather than resembling burning light. Disintegtrate used to fulfill this role perfectly and I believe that it can once again.
  I disagree with your idea on lighting splash for the same reason, major expedition would make it too similar to path of darkness.