Archmage/Shaman Class Mechanic

[Deehorsey]

I had a brief experience with the experimental mode, so I’m a bit hazy with the history of it’s changes and the logic behind those changes, but its current state isn't great. In most cases, healing AMs get stuck deep in the blue, while dps AMs get stuck deep in the yellow with 5 stacks.

A Healing AM/Sham can’t make good use of blue stacks for offensive abilities that lack. A DPS AM/Sham can make slightly better use of yellow stacks, casting fast, expensive, mild heals/rez.


Suggestions:

1. Change the stack size to 3. Considering stacks only move up and down 1 point at a time, getting deep into yellow or blue creates a place of being stuck with those stacks.

2. Give blue stacks some disrupt penetration. Without having to worry about int/wp conversion, making the offensive skills more reliable to healers would make them more appealing to use.

3. Change stack bonuses from “Increase Potency OR cast speed” to “Increase Potency AND cast speed.” Other small bonuses could be practical too, such as adding +magic/healing power or crit. This would help compensate for the strength of “off spec” abilities. I did want to mention here, too, that Healing Energy/Gork'll Fix currently benefit from cast speed, despite it already being as fast as GCD (In other words, stacks are msotly pointless for this ability.. The same could be said about Fury of Asuryan/Big Waagh)

[Gobmarley]

In fact, the mecanic was good before ab.ex, really good during ab.ex, and totaly bad after ab.ex. Now the mecanic is totaly broken, as you said healing AMs/Shams get stuck deep in the blue/green and insta cast are not insta cast, you have a 1sec Gdc and 1 more sec to see the effect.

I like your second suggestion and the disrupt penetration eventually with a up of I'll Take That + Furry of da Green + Bleed Fer' Me / Energy of Vaul + Balance Essence + Transfer Force to 200, 250, or 300% of the damages done. Not to do something too powerfull but something usefull.

[Telen]

The experimental mechanic was great in that it made it the central part of the class that a mechanic is meant to be. Problem was getting boosted heals and boosted lifetaps which benefited each other. Pushing healing way past where a lifetap spec was meant to be.

Mythic had the right idea with the proposed changes that never made it to game. Heals build force, damage builds tranquility but lifetaps just use force or tranq. They dont build it. So you can weave heals and dps as its two seperate roles it gets benefit from both parts of the mechanic. Pure healers wouldnt get benefit from both by lifetaps and neither would dps.

[Aurandilaz]

I blame original class design; it was maybe good idea when trying to make a "new" game with "new" ideas back a decade ago. Then over the years since launch, people realized that hybrids just never live up to same performance as "true" classes, either full healer or full dps when it comes to raw specialized performance.
So the class mechanics, as well as the classes themselves, are stuck in the limbo between "potent healer" and "potent dps".

I remember long discussions back on Bioware forums about how to make Shaman/AM somewhere close to the same performance levels as "real" healers, but meh, never really ended up with any working solutions year after year.
They would probably need to redesign the classes from zero in order to make some sense into their current mystery mechanic.

t. formerly bitter shaman (I gave up)

[Deehorsey]

Well the LT and AoE LT need an entire different thread for discussion, but that seems to be more about the numbers, rather than the mechanics, no? Could someone clarify for me what changes were made during .ab ex?

Stacking should be an incentive to use other abilities. Otherwise why have the mechanic at all? Isn't this class (WP/DoK similarly) intended to make use of both the offensive and defensive sides of their class occasionally?

Having heal stacks should make you 20/40/60/80/100% as effective as a "real" dps, or some version there of, and vice versa. The class is literally charging up for something, it should be made worthwhile.


The old mechanic of depleting the class resource was nice (like a charge up and release) but the current is fun no-less. But I feel like the intervals should be changed to something like 25/50/75% on 3 stacks, so you can move across stack-states (favorite new term) more easily. In short, become more effective in your off-spec for a short window.

The major issue I have as a DPS is building 5 stacks of yellow, and then having to dig myself out of a hole to use LT's on the run. This stresses the importance (and quite frankly, dependence) of pre-healing for blue stacks.

[footpatrol2]

Or just revert the system back to how it was a AoR. That class mechanic system wasn't bad. It wasn't amazing either but definately wasn't bad. The AoR system had a flow to it. The current system is clunky.

[NSKaneda]

Current mechanic is slow, lacking in both healing and dps and limits class potential.
Instacasts and immediate drop/build of the mechanic allowed for more versatility and adaptability on the battlefield. Now there is no flow and no rhythm. IMO current version of the mechanic is good for "pure", stationary, pve type of healing.

I like your second and third proposition. I wonder if making shammie mechanic further on par with zeal/rp one (the more stacks you have, the more wp/int magic/heal crit conversion you get or aforementioned 20/40/60/80/100 buff to heal / dps) would make up for taking away instacasts.

[Tesq]

Or just revert the system back to how it was a AoR. That class mechanic system wasn't bad. It wasn't amazing either but definately wasn't bad. The AoR system had a flow to it. The current system is clunky.

kind of agree it just needed a tweek to be fast and encourage all skill use by have an ap discout

kinda 2-1 points gain instad 1-0

that way you could dot+lifetap and group heal all in 3gcd, basically instead group heal in 2,5 sec you dot and life tap in 0.5 more
and if cast time redution cannot be applied because skill have no cast time (like dots and lifetaps) the skill get a disrupt striketrough