[Chosen] Embrace the Winds
Posted: Wed Jun 19, 2019 10:55 pm
Hello fellow Chosen its me Hero, and I yet again need your awesome opinions and feed back. Two weeks ago I posted about Chosen utility to stir up conversation and was completely overwhelmed with the support. We received 69 replies and almost 5000 views. I learned that there are many of you, like me, who are unhappy with the current state of the class.
As of Sunday we received this message from a Game Master shortly before the 7 page forum was closed.
Subject: Chosen are underperforming vs Kotbs in group play
So naturally I did what anyone would do after reading this post. I took to the balance forums and laid out the first of many balance proposals for Chosen to come. This time focusing on the Embrace the Winds tactic.
viewtopic.php?f=95&t=32245&p=364258#p364258
Because of the nature of balance forums, only devs can post comments and opinions, but I'd like to leave it up to you guys. Do you feel this is a fair balance proposal? Which option do you like best? Is there anything you feel needs to be added to the post?
As of Sunday we received this message from a Game Master shortly before the 7 page forum was closed.
Subject: Chosen are underperforming vs Kotbs in group play
So naturally I did what anyone would do after reading this post. I took to the balance forums and laid out the first of many balance proposals for Chosen to come. This time focusing on the Embrace the Winds tactic.
viewtopic.php?f=95&t=32245&p=364258#p364258
Identify the issue
The Chosen tactic "Embrace the Winds" and the Knight tactic "Focused Mending" were seemingly intended to be mirrored, but as they stand now the Knight tactic is a much stronger tactic and cheaper mastery investment.
Embrace the Winds -
12pts into Path of Discord
All healing used on you becomes 15% more effective.
Focused Mending -
8pts into Path of Glory
Stay Focused! will now also cause groupmates in the area to receive 15% more from all healing effects used on them.
The more expensive Chosen tactic only affects himself. The cheap Knight tactic gives 15% heal to all group members within 100ft.
Why is this an issue?
The issue is that having one tactic clearly better than another factions mirrored tactic is unbalanced. This gives an unfair advantage to groups who bring a knight vs groups that bring a chosen.
Proposal
There are a few options:
1. Swap the two the tactics. Since the Knight has to invest fewer points in the respective mastery tree, the Knight should receive the weaker Chosen tactic. And since the Chosen has to spend more mastery points to receive the tactic, the Chosen should receive the superior tactic when using the Path of Discord Aura "Discordant Instability".
2. Buff the Chosen tactic. Because the Chosen tactic is a more expensive mastery investment, the Chosen tactic should be stronger. We could keep the Knight tactic as is and only improve the Chosen tactic. Instead of giving 15% to all heals within aura range, the Chosen could give 20%-30% more health to group members healed within 100ft.
3. Mirror the tactic. The hardest and most unpopular option would be to mirror the two tactics one way or another, and fix the mastery trees to require the same point investment in their respective mastery trees. This is a less desirable option because it requires some discussion on fair point costs for these tactics as well as the other tactics in Path of Discord and Path of Glory mastery trees. Its also worth pointing out that the community seems very proud to boast its game having 24 unique classes, this option would only go against that precedent.
4. Give the Chosen a new unique tactic. One fun option would be to give the Chosen a new thematic tactic that makes sense in its respective mastery tree. The Path of Discord is all about embracing the power of Tzeetch and using his strength to weaken your enemies. With this option, Embrace the Winds would siphon the life of enemies making the healing on foes within 30ft to be 15% less effective. This tactic would only work if it was stackable with other healing debuffs including Discordant Turbulence.
Because of the nature of balance forums, only devs can post comments and opinions, but I'd like to leave it up to you guys. Do you feel this is a fair balance proposal? Which option do you like best? Is there anything you feel needs to be added to the post?