Magblade rebalance

Apxac

How would you feel if Merciless gave Major Sorcery or maybe even Major Sorcery + Major Prophecy? Having those buffs on Merciless would seriuously improve magblade bar space and facilitate pre-buffing in cloak for ganking / bombing playstyles. This would only buff magblade, not stamblade. As far as I'm concerned they could drop Sorcery from Sap as well as the IMO ill-conceived idea of turning Merciless into a damage + healing skill.

I think this is a really good idea. It would be nice to get these buffs from 1 class ability, I think it would solve the problem of a lack of slots for healing ability (a cloak no longer heals enough, but it gives a good protection in time). This is an interesting idea, I would test it.

And with healing it would be worth doing otherwise. It should be removed from Merciless, because it is simply useless. BUT the healing of Swallow Soul should be made stable, tied to the base damage, not to the damage done. This will solve all the problems of the class, I think. In addition, it is worth reviewing the flight time of the arrow, because this is the only burst damage at nightblade, but it is too slow, take a very long time and very easy to dodge.

(thanks fred4 for a good idea )

Lucky28

minor berserk + Major berserk on Merciless.

seriously. they should just take off the delay so it can actually be a worthwhile skill in PvP.

darkblue5

Seems a bit like one of the main effects would be more freely running tri-pots which would help some. Don't think it alone would be enough.

Merciless reducing the cost of dodge rolls and break frees could be very interesting.

Merciless Resolve making it so opponents that damage you get hit with bleeds might be even better. Sounds a bit like a calculation nightmare but wouldn't buff PVE magblades. Certainly fits with the masochism theme of magblade with Malevolent Offering and people deciding to play the spec this patch XD.

Said in another post that a unique phys/spell resist buff could work.

Just don't have high hopes for magblade tbh.

Apxac

Guys, what do you think? Looking for your feedback and comments. This is really important for the viability of the class. I believe that these changes will create a normal balance for the class in pvp, without changing the pve.

NyassaV

I mean I like the idea. Doubt it'll happen

Rex-Umbra

Rather a burst heal for survivability.

Iskiab

I’ve sort of given up already on merciless resolve. I’m more likely to use sap now with or without the sorcery buff.

Zophix

Even with the DK nerf to wings Magicka NB will still lose by default.

Jeezye

TBH since the skill is designed around light attacking I dont get why we have leeching strikes as a seperate skill just for some lousy healing and sustain. I'd say simply merge these skills, while active heal for x per light attack and when activating restore x magicka and do damage. Barspace is insanely tight and leeching has no active combat effect besides returning resources every 20 seconds...

Blinkin8r

Apxac wrote: »

How would you feel if Merciless gave Major Sorcery or maybe even Major Sorcery + Major Prophecy? Having those buffs on Merciless would seriuously improve magblade bar space and facilitate pre-buffing in cloak for ganking / bombing playstyles. This would only buff magblade, not stamblade. As far as I'm concerned they could drop Sorcery from Sap as well as the IMO ill-conceived idea of turning Merciless into a damage + healing skill.

I think this is a really good idea. It would be nice to get these buffs from 1 class ability, I think it would solve the problem of a lack of slots for healing ability (a cloak no longer heals enough, but it gives a good protection in time). This is an interesting idea, I would test it.

And with healing it would be worth doing otherwise. It should be removed from Merciless, because it is simply useless. BUT the healing of Swallow Soul should be made stable, tied to the base damage, not to the damage done. This will solve all the problems of the class, I think. In addition, it is worth reviewing the flight time of the arrow, because this is the only burst damage at nightblade, but it is too slow, take a very long time and very easy to dodge.

(thanks fred4 for a good idea )

I'm all for adding something to both morphs of grim focus as it's a complete joke now, but let's think about it. They took fracture off surprise attack cause it was on another skill, Mark target (kind of a joke but the point remains). Since we get Major Sorcery from Sap Essence, I doubt they'd add it to Relentless Focus.
But again, they absolutely need to add something to both morphs of Grim Focus cause as of now it's a waste of a skill.

EcclesiaFides

Adding a conditional heal to Merciless Resolve that only works if you're within seven meters of the target is backwards AF for magblades, who tend to play from range...like basically every other magicka build. Adding minor vulnerability to Teleport Strike/Lotus Fan also ties magblades into melee range yet again. It's not fun and is not conducive to playstyle diversity (thanks for shoehorning us into melee range).

Here's my solution: what don't we just switch the two damn things? Make the Merciless Resolve morph apply minor vulnerability upon a hit from spectral bow. Bam, problem solved. Target takes 8% more damage (sort of like having berserk back) but it's limited in scope and duration. It's also conditional in that you gotta work for it (get stacks up, keep the ability active, light attack weave) instead of just a flat 8% across the board. Also, it's 8% only on the target, not across the board. If ZoS wants to tone down NB damage, do this. In keeping with the switch, instead of having Grim Focus having a healing component conditioned upon being within melee range, add that to Teleport Strike cause that is a gap closer that puts you in melee range anyway. Makes way more sense that way.

Apxac

EcclesiaFides wrote: »

Adding a conditional heal to Merciless Resolve that only works if you're within seven meters of the target is backwards AF for magblades, who tend to play from range...like basically every other magicka build. Adding minor vulnerability to Teleport Strike/Lotus Fan also ties magblades into melee range yet again. It's not fun and is not conducive to playstyle diversity (thanks for shoehorning us into melee range).

Here's my solution: what don't we just switch the two damn things? Make the Merciless Resolve morph apply minor vulnerability upon a hit from spectral bow. Bam, problem solved. Target takes 8% more damage (sort of like having berserk back) but it's limited in scope and duration. It's also conditional in that you gotta work for it (get stacks up, keep the ability active, light attack weave) instead of just a flat 8% across the board. Also, it's 8% only on the target, not across the board. If ZoS wants to tone down NB damage, do this. In keeping with the switch, instead of having Grim Focus having a healing component conditioned upon being within melee range, add that to Teleport Strike cause that is a gap closer that puts you in melee range anyway. Makes way more sense that way.

Interesting changes, but this is not enough, something would be worth doing with healing. Oh, those ZOS's. I hope something will change in the next version of the patch, because now it looks like ***. I hope they will do something with healing and finally change the gain between the lotus fan and merciless resolve ... It would be a minimum, but not something I would like to see.

kaithuzar

EcclesiaFides wrote: »

Adding a conditional heal to Merciless Resolve that only works if you're within seven meters of the target is backwards AF for magblades, who tend to play from range...like basically every other magicka build. Adding minor vulnerability to Teleport Strike/Lotus Fan also ties magblades into melee range yet again. It's not fun and is not conducive to playstyle diversity (thanks for shoehorning us into melee range).

Here's my solution: what don't we just switch the two damn things? Make the Merciless Resolve morph apply minor vulnerability upon a hit from spectral bow. Bam, problem solved. Target takes 8% more damage (sort of like having berserk back) but it's limited in scope and duration. It's also conditional in that you gotta work for it (get stacks up, keep the ability active, light attack weave) instead of just a flat 8% across the board. Also, it's 8% only on the target, not across the board. If ZoS wants to tone down NB damage, do this. In keeping with the switch, instead of having Grim Focus having a healing component conditioned upon being within melee range, add that to Teleport Strike cause that is a gap closer that puts you in melee range anyway. Makes way more sense that way.

I don’t think the problem is so easily resolved, because merciless never hits...

kaithuzar

The primary reason why stamblade “was” strong is because
1) nightblade IS meant to be a high damage burst style class; this is its iconic feature/class identity
2) cloak + dodge roll is “too much mitigation”, it’s actually infuriating to fight against especially when you add in speed

Increase cost of both dodge roll & cloak so that they can not be spammed & give stamblade their damage back AND give concealed the magicka equivalent of fracture.

Then all nightblades will be better off & people can catch/attack us.