[Sword Master] Revamp Blessing of Heaven

[dansari]

1. Identify the issue.

Order does not have any viable non-morale ability morale drains. There's not much more to say on the subject. WH has a tactic in the right tree that is pretty bad, and SM has Intimidating Blow, which is also pretty bad.

Additionally, Sword Masters don't necessarily have the most functional utility in warband play outside of being a WW/stat steal bot (spirit debuff doesn't have a great place in warband play). In my experience, it's much better to simply run two knights unless you're specifically running a group that benefits heavily from WW.

2. Explain why it's an issue.

This presents an imbalance in the morale meta, and a decrease in the amount of SMs that can find a good place in a warband. The morale balance isn't perfect; there are flaws on both sides. However, not having a class to bring to the warband that can drain morales from the start of the fight creates an imbalance I wish to address, as well as giving SMs more utility in RVR.

3. Propose a viable solution to the problem.

My solution is to revamp the Sword Master's Blessing of Heaven tactic (right tree, 11pt) to mirror the Marauder tactic Crushing Blows (right tree, 11pt) -- 25% chance to drain 225 morale on the target. Currently, this tactic is a lackluster heal proc for anyone who damages the target for 10s after you hit them with a Path of Hoeth ability. In addition, since Intimidating Blow would then be even more useless than it is now, I would also change the ability to act like the Marauder's Wave of Terror. So, Intimidating Blow would halt morale gain for the single player hit for 5s.

There are a few ways you could change the Blessing of Heaven tactic:

1. Link it to the Blade Enchantments
By linking it to the Blade Enchantments, you allow SMs running stat steal or resist debuff to take advantage of the tactic, regardless of their main spec. Blade Enchantments already have a 25% chance to trigger on the target, so it matches the Crushing Blows proc chance.

2. Link it to Hoeth abilities
By linking it to Hoeth abilities, you somewhat limit the specs that can use the tactic to its fullest potential, but this is more in line with what Maras have currently (they have to be in a stance to proc the morale drain chance). This would allow you to aoe drain with Wrath of Hoeth, or open up the possibility to double drain with WW.

3. Link it to Improved Stance
By linking it to Improved Stance, you still allow the most viable methods of aoe draining to shine through (Wrath of Hoeth and Phoenix's Wing), but you don't open up possibilities where a single target can get drained heavily through the use of something like Ether Dance, or the double swings on Crashing Wave, Whispering Winds, and Dragon's Talon. This is my preferred condition so that it's not OP in smallscale.

This accomplishes three key goals: making SM more viable for warband play, giving order a viable non-morale ability morale drain, and revamping a lackluster 11pt tactic.

[Penril]

Declining. If a class needs some love for being able to play in a WB, morale drain/pump is not the way. At least on my part, I despise morale bomb WBs and would love to see them gone from this game.

If a dev is interested in moving this proposal, feel free. Cause I won't.