Gerv wrote:Loathing:
1) With None Shall pass moved to the bottom, how is the generation of hate for BG specs of loathing and Anguish?
2) None shall pass should be generating 10 Hate (client side) not 5 as per the tooltip, what return on hate are you seeing?
3) How has the survivability of the Black Guard and it's Dark Protector changed, with the addition of Force of Fury and Elite Training additions?
4) Do the additions to Dark Protector increase the survivability beyond what is required in a group setting, if you believe so, why?
The 2H stuff I have yet to try, Ive been messing with SnB so ill comment on what I have tested.
1) NSP - Never had hate gen problems on SnB because SnB has very few hate spenders... Toughness debuff being a spender is moot due to Chosen aura (that most run) and it not stacking. So this for survival is good however putting FOF up at top tier makes this and Bolstering Anger mutually exclusive. As well as Elite Training (largely due to tactics and other abilities like AoE snare being needed). "Return on Hate" I dont worry about frankly since I dont use NSP to generate hate, its not needed, its used to increase block 50% as an "oh ****" button. The issue I have with NSP as hate generation, is its mutually exclusive with the other buffs/benefits you can provide.
If you want to buff toughness, lets say, you hop in and drop some hateful strike (for the proc) as well as Feeding on Weakness. By the time those are in play + a snare its been several seconds of combat and likely your sitting at a healthy "hate" amount. So IDk, this seemed like a moot point for hate purposes for me, in MOST cases... More about getting 50% block than anything else for survival.
3) Survival of the BG has decreased due to FOF being so high (overall) As to survival of the DP, its obviously increased. It feels "OP" in PVE due to 4 parry attacks being VERY Good + the Shield. In PVP however Elite Training is often not taken in 2H specs OR SnB (that I have played) because its exclusive to FOF which is a much better ability... I will also note, I didnt see disrupt included in Elite Training. I saw Parry increase to 100% but not Disrupt.... Maybe that was removed? IDK.
(its merely not shown on the tooltip buffline, target self, type .getstats and you will see it grants 800% parry and 800% disrupt, no strikethrough on that. Buffline will be a client tweak - Torque)
4) I think survival of DP is fine in group settings. The addition of Shield of Rage applying to the DP combined with FOF are big improvements. For 6 man groups, its just fine. In RVR however, the benefits are too limiting to just the DP. 2H used to be deemed "viable" because of its tankiness with FOF, but not you cant really go FOF + 2H... So 2H specs are less tanky, which is what offered the crit benefits....
Overall these changes were a much needed "buff" but now I fear BGs almost over-excel in small group settings where they still are lack luster in RVR settings. Mainly due to the selfish nature of the BG and his benefits. I think they were overall GOOD changes however....
OTHER THOUGHTS:
- I cant help but feel like NSP should grant 50% parry/dodge/disrupt instead of block. You could bump this back down to 5 hate per attack defended or even NONE. This would mirror WODS and give 2H specs viability here both as a defensive tool + maybe a hate generator that is defensive. This wouldnt really change SNB availability at all and make up for loss of FOF for 2H specs.
- I also wonder if Elite Training and Choking Fury were swapped, what that would do... Since you COULD get FOF + ET then which would be a more SnB tank+utility spec for DP. This might also open up (potentially) some 2H specs going Anguish, however Loathing offering Terrifying Foe + Anger Drives me, is just too good to pass up... Which, what you could do if you offered NSP as 50% parry/dodge/disrupt could be to move Terrifying Foe up to tier 3 and drop Feeding on Pain to T2... NSP would "make up" for the toughness + FOF loss, but you might see some tri-spec where people take Anger Drives Me + go into Anguish for Elite Training. It allows for many "build options". Or maybe they go E.T. and take outgoing heal debuff and forget Loathing, etc. etc.
Having E.T. at tier 2 limits too many build options so the change to E.T. was kinda "meh" for the DP bonus.
- Wave of Scorn is kinda "meh" at this point. High AP cost + long CD. Same with IB but they get Rune Etched Axe (tactic) that allows to "spam" AOE Snare. I feel like Wave of Scorn should have its AP reduced to maybe 45, and have its CD reduced to 10 sec. (Same with EarthShatter - which already costs 25 AP but should have 10 sec CD) to make AoE Snare more viable to use...
- Pitless Strike seems next to "worthless" IMO. Considering its hate cost + redundancy with Chosen+Mara. This ability seems almost never used.... So this seems like an area that could be improved. Potentially modified to lower the targets Weapon Skill (Counter the IB's WS buff) or something else that is non-redundant. Drop the Hate Cost to 15. Could also grant your DP AP if "within 50 feet".
My fear with the BG is this.
He is a good "selfish" tank that has moderate damage and high tankiness. His downside is party utility - which is what makes him suck in RVR (generally). Buffing the DP buffs, make him better in smaller parties but still lack luster in Warbands due to lack of party-wide benefits.
Being brutally frank. If you want BGs to be seen in warbands, you would make Feeding on Weakness a party wide benefit as well as Brutal Smash - party wide. Which would minimally provide STR/Toughness/Willpower to the party via benefits - largely overlap with the Chosen however requires a target to hit + limited buff + no debuff of those things.
This would atleast make them a viable "alternative" to a Chosen without the morale pump however with better DP benefits (like FOF + maybe ET).
Ill shutup now as I feel like I am just rambling.
Overall, I like the changes I just feel like the changes made BG better for small group play and left them about he same for warbands... Which, maybe thats just OK for now....