Maintenance for the week of July 21:
• PC/Mac: NA and EU megaservers for maintenance – July 21, 4:00AM EDT (8:00 UTC) - 12:00PM EDT (16:00 UTC)
• Xbox: NA and EU megaservers for patch maintenance – July 23, 6:00AM EDT (10:00 UTC) - 12:00PM EDT (16:00 UTC)
• PlayStation®: NA and EU megaservers for patch maintenance – July 23, 6:00AM EDT (10:00 UTC) - 12:00PM EDT (16:00 UTC)
• PC/Mac: NA and EU megaservers for maintenance – July 21, 4:00AM EDT (8:00 UTC) - 12:00PM EDT (16:00 UTC)
• Xbox: NA and EU megaservers for patch maintenance – July 23, 6:00AM EDT (10:00 UTC) - 12:00PM EDT (16:00 UTC)
• PlayStation®: NA and EU megaservers for patch maintenance – July 23, 6:00AM EDT (10:00 UTC) - 12:00PM EDT (16:00 UTC)
NEW Ideas For Warden Skills Revamps (serious face)
Kreshja
✭✭✭
*** 1st paragraph about "p2w", skip to 2nd paragraph for Warden skills ideas ***
With Summerset Approaching, many are frustrated that skill changes may keep Warden undesirable, except maybe Stamden's somewhat potence at PVP. I think it is a joke in game history that things you get for free are better than what you have to pay for. I personally am acceptable of the so-called "pay 2 win", because what's worse than that is "pay 2 lose". If I pay for something, I definitely want it to be worthy otherwise why should I buy it? Many are crying that ZOS is doing a bad job at balancing a new class (Warden) so they don't ever want new classes to be released again. The issue is, as long as the new class(es) can beat any or all free classes at even just one thing while the idea of "balance" is such a fluid and multi-faceted concept, people will cry "p2w" and protest against the game maker, so the game maker's only choice is to keep the new class the worst at anything, and any outstanding power will also be nerfed quickly, as in Stamden's PVP case. I think either people should get over the idea of crying for "p2w" but rather accept the idea of "pay 2 have" - pay to have a new class with different skills, a new costume, a new mount, a new house etc., each of which may be "p2w" depending on what you desire from the game, or ZOS can detach Warden from Morrowind and put it back to the base game, so that it is then "free to play" and can be buffed without people crying. Or the 3rd solution is to give Warden and potentially future new class(es) distinctive abilities/mechanics so that having them in PVE or PVP team can greatly help the game experience while not in direct parallel competition with the original classes for damage/tanking/healing.
My Warden Skills Ideas:
1) will go with the nature themes of Warden class: Animal (offense, resource regen through passives), Ice (tank, protection) and Plants (healing);
2) will try to tackle the Warden issues: good at everything but excels at nothing and lacks distinctive group value, so left behind for endgame PVE content and can improve on some areas for PVP (I don't really PVP so will focus on PVE);
3) take the positive effects of RNG to make Warden fun, meaning people are extra happy when something good and unexpected happens, for example I love Sorc's frag, so this may be the 4th but underlying theme of Warden skills - Nature's Fortune;
4) do not have carefully calculated numbers but rather focus on the mechanics, so if the mechanics are approved, will need to balance proof the numbers;
5) use Alcast's Dragonbone DLC PVE skill setups as a reference to current meta.
1. Animal Companion:
1) Bear Ult: fix bug/AI, some buff like Sorc's atronach but make it have a chance to stun. \\\as it should be like Selene's monster set effect\\\
2) Dive & morphs: since now dodgeable and doing slow damage it really is a class spammable that lacks behind a million years, besides it should give distinctive values in a Warden way, just like NB's Strife (suck hp), DK's Whip (cc, more damage, heal), Templar's Puncs (heal, snare, extra critical rating) and Sorc's Frag (chance to proc instant cast high damage), so rework the whole skill and morphs:
Dive basic: does higher damage based on distance of enemy (farther = damage higher), the morphs also inherit this feature;
Stam morph - Descending Flock: a single cast has 25% chance to inflict a second bird attack coming right after the first bird with 1/2 the skill damage value, if the first cast doesn't render extra bird coming, then the second cast of Descending Flock has 25% chance of proccing 2 extra birds with the 3rd bird causing 1/3 of the skill damage value, if the second cast still doesn't render extra birds, then the 3rd cast has a 25% chance of proccing 3 extra birds with the 4th bird causing 1/4 of the skill damage value, and so on until the skill procs extra birds then the proc chance rinse and repeat the cycle, but the 4th cast will guarantee extra birds (so if no proc during first 3 casts, 4th cast will have 5 birds in total) each extra bird comes anytime within 0.3 second after the one before it, each bird can also crit independantly and can be dodged (or should the extra birds be treated as dots?); \\\this way Stamden has a very good spammable and the delayed hit will be compensated by extra birds, but the chances spice up some fun in PVP requiring the player and opponent to play with skill while improving DPS for PVE, it also greatly boosts a true Ranger build in function and in form with Warden\\\
Magicka morph - Elemental Spirit: instead of a direct damage skill, change skill to a self buff that everytime Warden does direct damage (including first hit of dots) there is 25% chance of a bird automatically flying out to hit your target for X damage value, the bird will be in the elemental form relating to the staff you are wielding (fire bird, thunder bird, ice bird) and will cause the next single hit of that element to do 2 times the damage (one single direct damage hit or the first hit of a dot, such as if the Spirit procs then put Elemental Blockade on the ground, the first hit of EB consumes the buff, if the Spririt procs again during EB's period then the EB tick right after the proc consumes the buff), the spirit has random element if caster is wielding non-staff weapons(s) or resto staff. \\\a fusion of Flames of Oblivion + Frag, although this skill doesn't provide Magden a class spammable, it is a great companion to Magden's dps especially when using Force Pulse/Crushing Shock as spammable and other Desto staff skills, the form also makes Magden similar to a rage Druid concept\\\
3) Scorch & morphs: should all do more damage to cc'd targets (snared, off balance, stunned etc.) because it is bug attack out of a sudden!
4) Swarm basic: change to 8 seconds and add any tick during the period has 15% chance of proccing all the rest of damage instantly (need to have strong visual cue when that happens). \\\such rewards Warden players who are aware of the situation and reacts quickly if the proc happens and immediately applies the dot again, making gameplay more fun\\\
Fetcher Infection: rework skill to every tick has 15% chance of inflicting double damage and add above Swarm basic's feature (when the instant full damage procs, instead of instantly ticking just one time with a damage as the sum of all remaining ticks, it will instantly tick the remaining number of times all at once so each tick is calculated independently with the 15% double damage chance).
Growing Swarm: rework skill entirely, inherits Swarm basic's damage and add any tick during the period has 15% chance to cause target being stunned for 1.5 seconds with the dot immediately spreads up to 6 other targets within 10 meters from the target, the dot will definitely spread when its period ends or when target dies, and the 15% stun chance on each new affected target remains, each target can only be affected by one Growing Swarm from one player (so can stack if have multiple Wardens, but cc immunity applies). \\\this will be fun for PVP and serve kinda like a mini Mass Hysteria, it will also help PVE adds situations like the twin boss of vMol\\\
5) Betty Netch & morphs: as is and add a synergy that restores X amount of magicka or stamina depending on which morph to whole group, only one synergy appears per skill cast and has background synergy cd like other synergies, a Netch's existence is for people to squeeze it for its juice!
Alcast's Magden dps skill setup:
With the skill revamp mostly will be the same, but for max DPS can change Lotus (since its Major Sorcery overlaps with double bar Inner Light) or Harness Magicka to Elemental Spirit, except Lotus Magden DPS will still lack active skill with self heal function compared to others, but will have good sustain and don't need to rely on pots for Major Sorcery and Major Prophecy, and DPS will be much better than before.
Alcast's Stamden dps skill setup:
With the skill revamp mostly will be the same, but can change Rending Slashes or Shrouded Dagger to Descending Flock (Dive's new stam morph), Shrouded Dagger's Major Brutality overlaps with Netch and its range DPS is inferior to Descending Flock, although can hit another 2 targets, depending on whether DW still meta for Summerset and the nerf of Deadly Cloak, Bird of Pray is also a nice skill to have, a Stamden bow build could also work nicely with Descending Flock and Bird of Pray, adding Soothing Spore for more survivability.
2. Winters Embrace:
1) Permafrost Ult morph: change to damage tick every 0.5s for 8 seconds and enemies damaged 4 times are stunned for 2 seconds. \\\anti easy rolldodging out\\\
2) Expansive Frost Cloak morph: change to "Frost Meadow", same as is and add minor Intellect & Endurance to all targets affected by skill including caster. \\\more group support that is also good for a Warden healer to use, while the other morph is self tanking buff, so have to make a choice\\\
3) Gripping Shards morph: change to make enemies immobilize for 3 seconds and then they are slowed for 3 seconds after the immobilization ends or breaks.
4) Arctic Wind & morphs: as is and add Minor Maim because it's wind from the Arctic!
5) Crystallized Shield & morphs: change restore magicka to restore X stamina or magicka whichever resource pool is higher, and 35% chance to also restore X amount of the lesser resource. \\\more competitive against Defensive Posture & morphs\\\
6) Passives: combine Icy Aura's effect with Glacial Presence and increase the reduction of snare to 20%. Add a new passive "Winter's Endowment" - 15%/30% chance for Warden and 10%/20% chance for each group member to get extra loots of gold and materials from killing enemies, farming nodes, fishing, and chest opening (but not from stolen items = no double loot with red items, also don't stack with multiple Wardens in same group).
Alcast's Warden tank skill setup:
DK tanks excel in that they have great sustain, survivability, functions like chains and talons, plus most skills also have buffs/debuffs, comparably with Netch, Arctic Wind and Crystallized Shield buffed, Warden Tank is much better than before - can sustain both magicka and stamina better and provide more group value, can replace Living Vines with Soothing Spores and Orbs with Silver Leash (pull target to you), which is like DK's chains, but DK would still be better ultimate tank (how could the Guardian of Nature born out of Winter be less tanky? Well maybe dragons are just too strong), Frost Meadow (Expansive Cloak ) is good for healer to use, Permafrost and Gripping Shard are good for dealing with mobs or PVP, while Winter's Endowment will give another reason to enlist Warden in group and will make Warden the best for farming mats/chests.
3. Green Balance
1) Fungal Growth basic: change skill area to 90 degree cone;
Enchanted Growth: inherits Fungal Growth basic and add Major Intellect & Endurance for 8 sec; \\\a must have group sustain buff\\\
Soothing Spores: as is (stamina morph) and add Minor Vitality for X sec. \\\good for Warden tank to use and for PVP, a group 8% healing buff is very nice\\\
2) Healing Seed basic: rework skill to grow 6 flowers at random locations within 8 meters area in 3 seconds, so one appears every 0.5 second, each flower emanates a heal over time aura for X amount per second of a 2 meters range, group members OR CASTER close to the seeds can synergy with them for Y amount of heal but the flower will disappear, at the 6th second after casting the skill, all remaining flowers will burst and heal the whole 8 meter area for [Y*number of remaining flowers] amount of hp; \\\more fun and dynamic gameplay than the original version that provides nothing during a long 6 seconds but group members must spend attention to synergize in order to heal\\\
Budding Seeds: inherits Healing Seed basic features, and add each synergy activation can purge 1 negative effect, also activate the skill again will immediately create all 6 flowers and burst them to heal; \\\the purge helps group but still can't compete with Cleanse or Templar's purge, better than original version that offers nothing valuable over 6 seconds than clicking twice for a burst heal\\\
Corrupting Pollen: inherits Healing Seed basic features but each flower's 2 meters aura doesn't heal but instead adds Minor Breach and Fracture to enemies, and also Major Defile to enemies in the 8 meters area. \\\great for PVP to create a "don't you dare enter" field and move around the flowers at randomly generated locations while having to decide to burst them for heal right then or enjoy their debuff to enemies longer, but 6 seconds is not too long and the flowers appear one after another not all at once so still room to counter or avoid, a Stamden should not have much magicka to repeatedly use this skill while a buff to Magden PVP\\\
3) Remove Living Vines and introduce a new skill called Forest Whisperer = a self buff lasting X seconds, 25% chance collect 1 forest sprite when healing with green balance skills, the sprites will exist during the buff period, and then auto consumes one sprite to instant heal one group member in the amount of 25% of their max hp within 28m range who drops to less than 50% hp until they reach more than 50% of max hp, can have max 2 sprites at a time; 10% chance consume all sprites at once to instantly revive a group member right after their death and heal back to hp amount equal to the power of the number of sprites, but still deduct a death bonus count at trials, instant revival can work on the caster herself too. \\\Living Vines is a bad oh crap heal and overlaps with Siphon Spirit while Siphon Spirit provides both life and magicka steal, so Living Vines is good to have but not really that necessary, instead Forest Whisperer is a compensation for oh crap heal compared to Breath Of Life but can't replace BOL, but Whisperer also adds a great group functionality\\\
Morph 1 - Fallen Leaves' Blessing = same as Basic Forest Whisperer, but has 20% of instant revive chance for each death. \\\great for exploring new dungeons or finishing hardcore content to minimize the frustration of dying a lot and having to rez a lot, also decrease group wipe chance to save people some time so they can go eat or pee or both at the same time\\\
Morph 2 - Silent Miracles = same as Basic Forest Whisperer, but can have max 4 sprits at a time and each sprite heals 35% of the target's max hp. \\\better for top endgame PVE groups going for no death, because with revival the death bonus will still be deducted so it's better to keep everyone alive and no death\\\
4) Nature's Grasp basic: a special occasion skill because it is hard to find when a healer wants to instant stack with target, maybe more so in PVP or healing off group for vSO or healing vImperial City Prison, so skill as is and add Living Vines' features to morphs;
Bursting Vines: as is and add additional heal over time to target and yourself if target hp lower than 50%;
Nature's Embrace: name changed to "Leeching Vines", as is and add minor life steal to enemies that damage the target.
Alcast's Warden healer skill setup:
It has been embarrasing that the original Warden healing skills could be taken off the bars and Warden healers can still heal because they offered no distinctive values compared to Templar's skills, so another interesting comparison - Nature vs. Light on healing/support capability, Templar healers excel in that they have BOL, purge negative effects, shard, Repentance/Radiant Aura and good self buffs, but with above revamps Warden healers will be a clutch for endgame hardcore PVE content and PVP groups because of Forest Whisperer, which also compensates not having BOL but you have to work for the sprites, the buffed Enchanted Growth can replace Ward on the front bar to provide Major buffs with the same time period as Combat Prayer while Forest Whisperer can fill in the spot on back bar, Budding Seed's change can compensate a bit for lack of class group purge and timing the moment to leave the flowers on the ground could help group members purge who are far from you while you are somewhere else using Cleanse (like in vAS), but overall still can't paralell compete with Templar's toolkit, also if there is space on the bars, can put Frost Meadow (Expansive Cloak) from Winters Embrace line to provide more group buffs.
PVP:
The above revamps of Dive, Growing Swarm, Permafrost, Gripping Shard, Arctic Wind, Crystalized Shield, Soothing Spores, Corrupting Pollen and Nature's Grasp should provide Warden viable options in PVP with excellence as a buff/healer, a moving debuff/snare fortress, a solid range DPS especially in group play, and a potential burst damage dealer based on... RNG!
Summary:
These revamp ideas are more about creative mechanics so that Warden doesn't have to parallel compete with other classes but can provide unique values and make Warden gameplay less clunky and take fewer actions that offer no distinctive values. I'm also about giving skills the functions and forms that match their names. With the above revamps in Animal Companion line I believe Warden's DPS will be greatly improved, but not to an OP extent because of the chance based mechanics, in short fights with good RNG they may do big burst damage but with bad RNG they may still suffer, while they start to shine as fights get longer especially with better sustain, but still no execute. Better sustain and better group support also help Warden tanks, who shall have more than enough tools to choose from. The new mechanics in Green Balance line shall likely guarantee Warden healers a spot for certain situations, and create new dynamic PVP healing playstyles good at moving a lot that are different from Templars. Winter's Endowment passive is a unique added value of the whole Warden class, so for sure to include Wardens in group no matter what you're doing. I truly love Warden as a class, as I love all the other ESO classes, and I believe the above revamps would not only make Wardens function better in game but also make their form fit better the concept of companions of animals, guardians of nature and soldiers of winter. Thanks for reading!
Edited by Kreshja on April 8, 2018 4:05AM With Summerset Approaching, many are frustrated that skill changes may keep Warden undesirable, except maybe Stamden's somewhat potence at PVP. I think it is a joke in game history that things you get for free are better than what you have to pay for. I personally am acceptable of the so-called "pay 2 win", because what's worse than that is "pay 2 lose". If I pay for something, I definitely want it to be worthy otherwise why should I buy it? Many are crying that ZOS is doing a bad job at balancing a new class (Warden) so they don't ever want new classes to be released again. The issue is, as long as the new class(es) can beat any or all free classes at even just one thing while the idea of "balance" is such a fluid and multi-faceted concept, people will cry "p2w" and protest against the game maker, so the game maker's only choice is to keep the new class the worst at anything, and any outstanding power will also be nerfed quickly, as in Stamden's PVP case. I think either people should get over the idea of crying for "p2w" but rather accept the idea of "pay 2 have" - pay to have a new class with different skills, a new costume, a new mount, a new house etc., each of which may be "p2w" depending on what you desire from the game, or ZOS can detach Warden from Morrowind and put it back to the base game, so that it is then "free to play" and can be buffed without people crying. Or the 3rd solution is to give Warden and potentially future new class(es) distinctive abilities/mechanics so that having them in PVE or PVP team can greatly help the game experience while not in direct parallel competition with the original classes for damage/tanking/healing.
My Warden Skills Ideas:
1) will go with the nature themes of Warden class: Animal (offense, resource regen through passives), Ice (tank, protection) and Plants (healing);
2) will try to tackle the Warden issues: good at everything but excels at nothing and lacks distinctive group value, so left behind for endgame PVE content and can improve on some areas for PVP (I don't really PVP so will focus on PVE);
3) take the positive effects of RNG to make Warden fun, meaning people are extra happy when something good and unexpected happens, for example I love Sorc's frag, so this may be the 4th but underlying theme of Warden skills - Nature's Fortune;
4) do not have carefully calculated numbers but rather focus on the mechanics, so if the mechanics are approved, will need to balance proof the numbers;
5) use Alcast's Dragonbone DLC PVE skill setups as a reference to current meta.
1. Animal Companion:
1) Bear Ult: fix bug/AI, some buff like Sorc's atronach but make it have a chance to stun. \\\as it should be like Selene's monster set effect\\\
2) Dive & morphs: since now dodgeable and doing slow damage it really is a class spammable that lacks behind a million years, besides it should give distinctive values in a Warden way, just like NB's Strife (suck hp), DK's Whip (cc, more damage, heal), Templar's Puncs (heal, snare, extra critical rating) and Sorc's Frag (chance to proc instant cast high damage), so rework the whole skill and morphs:
Dive basic: does higher damage based on distance of enemy (farther = damage higher), the morphs also inherit this feature;
Stam morph - Descending Flock: a single cast has 25% chance to inflict a second bird attack coming right after the first bird with 1/2 the skill damage value, if the first cast doesn't render extra bird coming, then the second cast of Descending Flock has 25% chance of proccing 2 extra birds with the 3rd bird causing 1/3 of the skill damage value, if the second cast still doesn't render extra birds, then the 3rd cast has a 25% chance of proccing 3 extra birds with the 4th bird causing 1/4 of the skill damage value, and so on until the skill procs extra birds then the proc chance rinse and repeat the cycle, but the 4th cast will guarantee extra birds (so if no proc during first 3 casts, 4th cast will have 5 birds in total) each extra bird comes anytime within 0.3 second after the one before it, each bird can also crit independantly and can be dodged (or should the extra birds be treated as dots?); \\\this way Stamden has a very good spammable and the delayed hit will be compensated by extra birds, but the chances spice up some fun in PVP requiring the player and opponent to play with skill while improving DPS for PVE, it also greatly boosts a true Ranger build in function and in form with Warden\\\
Magicka morph - Elemental Spirit: instead of a direct damage skill, change skill to a self buff that everytime Warden does direct damage (including first hit of dots) there is 25% chance of a bird automatically flying out to hit your target for X damage value, the bird will be in the elemental form relating to the staff you are wielding (fire bird, thunder bird, ice bird) and will cause the next single hit of that element to do 2 times the damage (one single direct damage hit or the first hit of a dot, such as if the Spirit procs then put Elemental Blockade on the ground, the first hit of EB consumes the buff, if the Spririt procs again during EB's period then the EB tick right after the proc consumes the buff), the spirit has random element if caster is wielding non-staff weapons(s) or resto staff. \\\a fusion of Flames of Oblivion + Frag, although this skill doesn't provide Magden a class spammable, it is a great companion to Magden's dps especially when using Force Pulse/Crushing Shock as spammable and other Desto staff skills, the form also makes Magden similar to a rage Druid concept\\\
3) Scorch & morphs: should all do more damage to cc'd targets (snared, off balance, stunned etc.) because it is bug attack out of a sudden!
4) Swarm basic: change to 8 seconds and add any tick during the period has 15% chance of proccing all the rest of damage instantly (need to have strong visual cue when that happens). \\\such rewards Warden players who are aware of the situation and reacts quickly if the proc happens and immediately applies the dot again, making gameplay more fun\\\
Fetcher Infection: rework skill to every tick has 15% chance of inflicting double damage and add above Swarm basic's feature (when the instant full damage procs, instead of instantly ticking just one time with a damage as the sum of all remaining ticks, it will instantly tick the remaining number of times all at once so each tick is calculated independently with the 15% double damage chance).
Growing Swarm: rework skill entirely, inherits Swarm basic's damage and add any tick during the period has 15% chance to cause target being stunned for 1.5 seconds with the dot immediately spreads up to 6 other targets within 10 meters from the target, the dot will definitely spread when its period ends or when target dies, and the 15% stun chance on each new affected target remains, each target can only be affected by one Growing Swarm from one player (so can stack if have multiple Wardens, but cc immunity applies). \\\this will be fun for PVP and serve kinda like a mini Mass Hysteria, it will also help PVE adds situations like the twin boss of vMol\\\
5) Betty Netch & morphs: as is and add a synergy that restores X amount of magicka or stamina depending on which morph to whole group, only one synergy appears per skill cast and has background synergy cd like other synergies, a Netch's existence is for people to squeeze it for its juice!
Alcast's Magden dps skill setup:
With the skill revamp mostly will be the same, but for max DPS can change Lotus (since its Major Sorcery overlaps with double bar Inner Light) or Harness Magicka to Elemental Spirit, except Lotus Magden DPS will still lack active skill with self heal function compared to others, but will have good sustain and don't need to rely on pots for Major Sorcery and Major Prophecy, and DPS will be much better than before.
Alcast's Stamden dps skill setup:
With the skill revamp mostly will be the same, but can change Rending Slashes or Shrouded Dagger to Descending Flock (Dive's new stam morph), Shrouded Dagger's Major Brutality overlaps with Netch and its range DPS is inferior to Descending Flock, although can hit another 2 targets, depending on whether DW still meta for Summerset and the nerf of Deadly Cloak, Bird of Pray is also a nice skill to have, a Stamden bow build could also work nicely with Descending Flock and Bird of Pray, adding Soothing Spore for more survivability.
2. Winters Embrace:
1) Permafrost Ult morph: change to damage tick every 0.5s for 8 seconds and enemies damaged 4 times are stunned for 2 seconds. \\\anti easy rolldodging out\\\
2) Expansive Frost Cloak morph: change to "Frost Meadow", same as is and add minor Intellect & Endurance to all targets affected by skill including caster. \\\more group support that is also good for a Warden healer to use, while the other morph is self tanking buff, so have to make a choice\\\
3) Gripping Shards morph: change to make enemies immobilize for 3 seconds and then they are slowed for 3 seconds after the immobilization ends or breaks.
4) Arctic Wind & morphs: as is and add Minor Maim because it's wind from the Arctic!
5) Crystallized Shield & morphs: change restore magicka to restore X stamina or magicka whichever resource pool is higher, and 35% chance to also restore X amount of the lesser resource. \\\more competitive against Defensive Posture & morphs\\\
6) Passives: combine Icy Aura's effect with Glacial Presence and increase the reduction of snare to 20%. Add a new passive "Winter's Endowment" - 15%/30% chance for Warden and 10%/20% chance for each group member to get extra loots of gold and materials from killing enemies, farming nodes, fishing, and chest opening (but not from stolen items = no double loot with red items, also don't stack with multiple Wardens in same group).
Alcast's Warden tank skill setup:
DK tanks excel in that they have great sustain, survivability, functions like chains and talons, plus most skills also have buffs/debuffs, comparably with Netch, Arctic Wind and Crystallized Shield buffed, Warden Tank is much better than before - can sustain both magicka and stamina better and provide more group value, can replace Living Vines with Soothing Spores and Orbs with Silver Leash (pull target to you), which is like DK's chains, but DK would still be better ultimate tank (how could the Guardian of Nature born out of Winter be less tanky? Well maybe dragons are just too strong), Frost Meadow (Expansive Cloak ) is good for healer to use, Permafrost and Gripping Shard are good for dealing with mobs or PVP, while Winter's Endowment will give another reason to enlist Warden in group and will make Warden the best for farming mats/chests.
3. Green Balance
1) Fungal Growth basic: change skill area to 90 degree cone;
Enchanted Growth: inherits Fungal Growth basic and add Major Intellect & Endurance for 8 sec; \\\a must have group sustain buff\\\
Soothing Spores: as is (stamina morph) and add Minor Vitality for X sec. \\\good for Warden tank to use and for PVP, a group 8% healing buff is very nice\\\
2) Healing Seed basic: rework skill to grow 6 flowers at random locations within 8 meters area in 3 seconds, so one appears every 0.5 second, each flower emanates a heal over time aura for X amount per second of a 2 meters range, group members OR CASTER close to the seeds can synergy with them for Y amount of heal but the flower will disappear, at the 6th second after casting the skill, all remaining flowers will burst and heal the whole 8 meter area for [Y*number of remaining flowers] amount of hp; \\\more fun and dynamic gameplay than the original version that provides nothing during a long 6 seconds but group members must spend attention to synergize in order to heal\\\
Budding Seeds: inherits Healing Seed basic features, and add each synergy activation can purge 1 negative effect, also activate the skill again will immediately create all 6 flowers and burst them to heal; \\\the purge helps group but still can't compete with Cleanse or Templar's purge, better than original version that offers nothing valuable over 6 seconds than clicking twice for a burst heal\\\
Corrupting Pollen: inherits Healing Seed basic features but each flower's 2 meters aura doesn't heal but instead adds Minor Breach and Fracture to enemies, and also Major Defile to enemies in the 8 meters area. \\\great for PVP to create a "don't you dare enter" field and move around the flowers at randomly generated locations while having to decide to burst them for heal right then or enjoy their debuff to enemies longer, but 6 seconds is not too long and the flowers appear one after another not all at once so still room to counter or avoid, a Stamden should not have much magicka to repeatedly use this skill while a buff to Magden PVP\\\
3) Remove Living Vines and introduce a new skill called Forest Whisperer = a self buff lasting X seconds, 25% chance collect 1 forest sprite when healing with green balance skills, the sprites will exist during the buff period, and then auto consumes one sprite to instant heal one group member in the amount of 25% of their max hp within 28m range who drops to less than 50% hp until they reach more than 50% of max hp, can have max 2 sprites at a time; 10% chance consume all sprites at once to instantly revive a group member right after their death and heal back to hp amount equal to the power of the number of sprites, but still deduct a death bonus count at trials, instant revival can work on the caster herself too. \\\Living Vines is a bad oh crap heal and overlaps with Siphon Spirit while Siphon Spirit provides both life and magicka steal, so Living Vines is good to have but not really that necessary, instead Forest Whisperer is a compensation for oh crap heal compared to Breath Of Life but can't replace BOL, but Whisperer also adds a great group functionality\\\
Morph 1 - Fallen Leaves' Blessing = same as Basic Forest Whisperer, but has 20% of instant revive chance for each death. \\\great for exploring new dungeons or finishing hardcore content to minimize the frustration of dying a lot and having to rez a lot, also decrease group wipe chance to save people some time so they can go eat or pee or both at the same time\\\
Morph 2 - Silent Miracles = same as Basic Forest Whisperer, but can have max 4 sprits at a time and each sprite heals 35% of the target's max hp. \\\better for top endgame PVE groups going for no death, because with revival the death bonus will still be deducted so it's better to keep everyone alive and no death\\\
4) Nature's Grasp basic: a special occasion skill because it is hard to find when a healer wants to instant stack with target, maybe more so in PVP or healing off group for vSO or healing vImperial City Prison, so skill as is and add Living Vines' features to morphs;
Bursting Vines: as is and add additional heal over time to target and yourself if target hp lower than 50%;
Nature's Embrace: name changed to "Leeching Vines", as is and add minor life steal to enemies that damage the target.
Alcast's Warden healer skill setup:
It has been embarrasing that the original Warden healing skills could be taken off the bars and Warden healers can still heal because they offered no distinctive values compared to Templar's skills, so another interesting comparison - Nature vs. Light on healing/support capability, Templar healers excel in that they have BOL, purge negative effects, shard, Repentance/Radiant Aura and good self buffs, but with above revamps Warden healers will be a clutch for endgame hardcore PVE content and PVP groups because of Forest Whisperer, which also compensates not having BOL but you have to work for the sprites, the buffed Enchanted Growth can replace Ward on the front bar to provide Major buffs with the same time period as Combat Prayer while Forest Whisperer can fill in the spot on back bar, Budding Seed's change can compensate a bit for lack of class group purge and timing the moment to leave the flowers on the ground could help group members purge who are far from you while you are somewhere else using Cleanse (like in vAS), but overall still can't paralell compete with Templar's toolkit, also if there is space on the bars, can put Frost Meadow (Expansive Cloak) from Winters Embrace line to provide more group buffs.
PVP:
The above revamps of Dive, Growing Swarm, Permafrost, Gripping Shard, Arctic Wind, Crystalized Shield, Soothing Spores, Corrupting Pollen and Nature's Grasp should provide Warden viable options in PVP with excellence as a buff/healer, a moving debuff/snare fortress, a solid range DPS especially in group play, and a potential burst damage dealer based on... RNG!
Summary:
These revamp ideas are more about creative mechanics so that Warden doesn't have to parallel compete with other classes but can provide unique values and make Warden gameplay less clunky and take fewer actions that offer no distinctive values. I'm also about giving skills the functions and forms that match their names. With the above revamps in Animal Companion line I believe Warden's DPS will be greatly improved, but not to an OP extent because of the chance based mechanics, in short fights with good RNG they may do big burst damage but with bad RNG they may still suffer, while they start to shine as fights get longer especially with better sustain, but still no execute. Better sustain and better group support also help Warden tanks, who shall have more than enough tools to choose from. The new mechanics in Green Balance line shall likely guarantee Warden healers a spot for certain situations, and create new dynamic PVP healing playstyles good at moving a lot that are different from Templars. Winter's Endowment passive is a unique added value of the whole Warden class, so for sure to include Wardens in group no matter what you're doing. I truly love Warden as a class, as I love all the other ESO classes, and I believe the above revamps would not only make Wardens function better in game but also make their form fit better the concept of companions of animals, guardians of nature and soldiers of winter. Thanks for reading!
2
-
MLGProPlayer✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭✭✭✭Magicka warden needs a lot of work.
A few easy fixes I would make:
- Make the bear a single bar ability. The bear is mandatory in every magicka warden build to achieve "competitive" DPS (it isn't really even competitive with the bear, but it's somewhat close). DPS without the bear is sub 35k in solo parses. It's just not possible to use the warden without the bear. Given that magicka DDs need AOE ults (since stamina DD does the whole single target DD thing much better), they need to be able to slot destro ultimate. If you have the bear clogging up both slots, you are useless. 38k single target damage from your magicka DD is worthless when stamina DD can give you 50k single target damage.
- Get rid of the respawn animation on the bear. The animation currently lasts 2 seconds (it is one of the longest skill animations in the game) and cannot be cancelled. During boss fights, where the bear keeps dying, the respawn animation constantly interrupts your rotation (as it happens automatically). Interrupting the animation just means you no longer have an ult.
- Increase the damage buff from Advanced Species from 2% to 3%. If it causes stamina warden to overperform, then split the ability into magicka and stamina damage.Edited by MLGProPlayer on April 8, 2018 4:34AM0 -
mb10✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭✭The problem is a lot of you think Warden is another Sorc or Stam DK but with different animations as the skills.
You go in with the same playstyle and expect the same or better results lol the warden is a completely different class
And sorry (not sorry at all) to say, but Alcast's setups are trash here2 -
MLGProPlayer✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭✭✭✭The problem is a lot of you think Warden is another Sorc or Stam DK but with different animations as the skills.
You go in with the same playstyle and expect the same or better results lol the warden is a completely different class
And sorry (not sorry at all) to say, but Alcast's setups are trash here
That's because the warden is no different from those other classes. Let's look at the warden's DPS abilities:
Dive: DPS skill
Scorch: DPS skill with redundant debuff
Swarm: DPS skill
Betty Netch: Self buff
Falcon's Swiftness: Self buff
Impaling Shards: DPS skill
The warden has no group utility skills that can be slotted in a DPS setup. Slotting some of their utility skills instead of your standard DPS abilities significantly lowers what is already the lowest DPS in the game.
The warden is the most rigid of the 3 classes. They can be built as a tank, healer, or DPS with nothing in between. The class has no skills like the templar's Cleansing Ritual, for example, which provides team utility and DPS in the same skill.
There is a reason why you don't see any wardens on trials leader boards. They simply don't provide any value to teams.Edited by MLGProPlayer on April 8, 2018 5:40AM0
