Series of suggestions, and dissapointed with 22/7/2021 patch balances. Tank SnB bubble boost suggestion.
Posted: Thu Jul 22, 2021 9:18 pm
Howdy.
Suggestions:
1) Visual: allow more customization for certain classes:
1.1: Magus disk: allow Magus the option of applying paints to his 'regular' disk.
1.2 Same for the 'Squig Armor' of the Melee Squigh Herder
1.3 and last but not least, same for the tank shields.
All are part of the visuals of the player character...
but every Magus disk looks the same (well, depending on rank a bit, but still); every 'Squig Armor' looks the same, and I feel it is rather unfair that SnB tanks don't seem to have the same support in terms of customization as other classes.
This is a bit destro focussed: I've not mentioned the White Lion's pet; from my view that is 'just' a pet's visual. Changing the colour e.g. would make it no longer a 'white' lion; what about Squigh Herder pets, or Magus/Engineer turrets etc. So, I just suggest to look at placer character customizations.
2) Tanks. And protection.
Suppose you do a scenario.
Healers are supposed to top the heals chart.
DPS the dps chart (or the kills/killing blows). (yes, things don't always work out; sometimes a tank can top the damage chart due to living longer and spamming AoE's. But, compare that to a freecasting AoE DPS and... the DPS should win)
So, tanks are for protection, right?
Unfortunately, the only tanks able of contesting top protection score typically, are Black Orc & SM. SM is better at it. This is imo, because these two tanks, bring party shields.
Healers instead often top protection.
So: increase the protection shield tanks offer to the group.
Proposal: buff the other tanks protection capabilities; to cover the party. This could require a tactic slot, and be tied to wielding a shield.
Chosen: Make 'Bane shield' available at a lower level, so it fits the tactic position. 'Dire Shielding' tactic: in addition to the current, make it also give a party-shield within 50 feet, 1.5 x as strong as SM's shield. (but on a 30s cooldown).
KotBS: 'Shield of the sun', 'Sunfury' tactic: now lowers the cooldown to 20s, and if wielding a shield, gives out a party-wide shield 1.5 x as strong as BO's. (80 feet range, just like BO). (lower cooldown: KotBS does not give a party-wide dmg return).
Black Guard: I propose swapping 'Shield or Rage' and 'Feeding on Weakness' for skill tree position. This also gives 'Loathing' tree a base hatred-spending ability btw.
Then, 'Terrifying Foe' tactic: Remove the 'Hateful Strike' part: increases your Toughness based on your hatred by 3% per 10 hatred, 5% if you're wearing a shield. (so you get this benefit even at range, no need to use your weakest ability, and it scales more smoothly. Pretty big boost for things like Holding the Line imo)
'Shielded by hate' tactic: becomes +10% block fixed (really should be, this high up the tree. Ironbreaker gets 10% block, AND 5% permanent dmg reduction), AND makes your 'Shield of Rage' party wide. (being this high, and the block buff: I wouldn't bother with making this part require a shield tbh).
Now these two tactics, are far more valid competition for the + parry tactic. (and you have only 4 tactic slots).
Ironbreaker: Last but not least among the tanks imo (so jealous of that +25% parry to oathfriend ability), we have IB. Here, his 'shield' ability, costs twice as much 'grudge' as BG's hatred, and only protects vs magical dmg. I would propose making this party-wide, on the condition of wielding a shield. Otherwise, I honestly don't know what tactic to tie it into. I would use 'Oath of Vengeance', but that's in the wrong tree.
3) Tank, Renown spending, and 'Trivial Blows'.
IMO, common RR spending advice goes 'Futile Strikes, then Melee/Healing/Magic/Ranged crit', with for some classes parry/block/disrupt etc thrown in (indeed, especially so for tanks).
'Trivial Blows' is a bit 'forgotten' imo, as without Futile Strikes you get drowned in critical hits; and many classes have bonusses that trigger if they crit; such as draining AP on a crit, giving out a DoT,..
Coding wise, it may not be feasible; or at least, not easy. But what if we made 'Trivial Blows' very attractive for tanks? Specifically, regarding guard dmg?
Currently, if a player is guarded and takes dmg, half the dmg goes to the tank.
If the player takes a crit, then it doesn't matter that the tank had 'futile strikes'. (correct me if I'm wrong)
What if, with 'Trivial Blows', the tank would still lower any critical 'guard' damage?
So, the base attack hits, and then for both the player hit, and the tank guarding, the crit dmg is calculated separately.
I still think, that Trivial Blows perhaps should cost a bit less than 'Futile Strikes'. 1 point less and watch the meta go wild. (4 - 8 - 12 - 15?)
On the subject of Trvial Blows and lowering crit damage:
The recent patch, changed BG's top SnB tree ability.
Not like SnB BG was so popular to begin with.
Suggestion: keep the change, but add:
For this duration, lowers the critical damage your party members take, by 5/10/15%.
Lowering crit chance, for 1 other player, is very much a random affair. Lowering critical damage, is guaranteed. (the numbers may even merit increasing. But for trying it out, it would show a much needed look at buffing SnB BG, also in terms of BG providing party-wide bonuses. Without becoming an 'aura' tank like Chosen/KotBS. Perhaps 10/15/20% lower crit damage taken for the party is warranted)
I also would like to see the hatred tresholds changed; from 30/60/90, to 25/50/75.
all stuff intended to make SnB more attractive.
Not as much to SM or BO; but BO lost cd reduction, and still has no single target punt.
SM 2-hander gets a better 'block channel', and it's baseline (career), + wispering winds for the group.
In short: I don't know how to make SnB (or Choppa and Board) more attractive for these...
the top middle tree ability could use a buff, I think there's a decent consensus on that; but it's never been changed so far.
Suggestions:
1) Visual: allow more customization for certain classes:
1.1: Magus disk: allow Magus the option of applying paints to his 'regular' disk.
1.2 Same for the 'Squig Armor' of the Melee Squigh Herder
1.3 and last but not least, same for the tank shields.
All are part of the visuals of the player character...
but every Magus disk looks the same (well, depending on rank a bit, but still); every 'Squig Armor' looks the same, and I feel it is rather unfair that SnB tanks don't seem to have the same support in terms of customization as other classes.
This is a bit destro focussed: I've not mentioned the White Lion's pet; from my view that is 'just' a pet's visual. Changing the colour e.g. would make it no longer a 'white' lion; what about Squigh Herder pets, or Magus/Engineer turrets etc. So, I just suggest to look at placer character customizations.
2) Tanks. And protection.
Suppose you do a scenario.
Healers are supposed to top the heals chart.
DPS the dps chart (or the kills/killing blows). (yes, things don't always work out; sometimes a tank can top the damage chart due to living longer and spamming AoE's. But, compare that to a freecasting AoE DPS and... the DPS should win)
So, tanks are for protection, right?
Unfortunately, the only tanks able of contesting top protection score typically, are Black Orc & SM. SM is better at it. This is imo, because these two tanks, bring party shields.
Healers instead often top protection.
So: increase the protection shield tanks offer to the group.
Proposal: buff the other tanks protection capabilities; to cover the party. This could require a tactic slot, and be tied to wielding a shield.
Chosen: Make 'Bane shield' available at a lower level, so it fits the tactic position. 'Dire Shielding' tactic: in addition to the current, make it also give a party-shield within 50 feet, 1.5 x as strong as SM's shield. (but on a 30s cooldown).
KotBS: 'Shield of the sun', 'Sunfury' tactic: now lowers the cooldown to 20s, and if wielding a shield, gives out a party-wide shield 1.5 x as strong as BO's. (80 feet range, just like BO). (lower cooldown: KotBS does not give a party-wide dmg return).
Black Guard: I propose swapping 'Shield or Rage' and 'Feeding on Weakness' for skill tree position. This also gives 'Loathing' tree a base hatred-spending ability btw.
Then, 'Terrifying Foe' tactic: Remove the 'Hateful Strike' part: increases your Toughness based on your hatred by 3% per 10 hatred, 5% if you're wearing a shield. (so you get this benefit even at range, no need to use your weakest ability, and it scales more smoothly. Pretty big boost for things like Holding the Line imo)
'Shielded by hate' tactic: becomes +10% block fixed (really should be, this high up the tree. Ironbreaker gets 10% block, AND 5% permanent dmg reduction), AND makes your 'Shield of Rage' party wide. (being this high, and the block buff: I wouldn't bother with making this part require a shield tbh).
Now these two tactics, are far more valid competition for the + parry tactic. (and you have only 4 tactic slots).
Ironbreaker: Last but not least among the tanks imo (so jealous of that +25% parry to oathfriend ability), we have IB. Here, his 'shield' ability, costs twice as much 'grudge' as BG's hatred, and only protects vs magical dmg. I would propose making this party-wide, on the condition of wielding a shield. Otherwise, I honestly don't know what tactic to tie it into. I would use 'Oath of Vengeance', but that's in the wrong tree.
3) Tank, Renown spending, and 'Trivial Blows'.
IMO, common RR spending advice goes 'Futile Strikes, then Melee/Healing/Magic/Ranged crit', with for some classes parry/block/disrupt etc thrown in (indeed, especially so for tanks).
'Trivial Blows' is a bit 'forgotten' imo, as without Futile Strikes you get drowned in critical hits; and many classes have bonusses that trigger if they crit; such as draining AP on a crit, giving out a DoT,..
Coding wise, it may not be feasible; or at least, not easy. But what if we made 'Trivial Blows' very attractive for tanks? Specifically, regarding guard dmg?
Currently, if a player is guarded and takes dmg, half the dmg goes to the tank.
If the player takes a crit, then it doesn't matter that the tank had 'futile strikes'. (correct me if I'm wrong)
What if, with 'Trivial Blows', the tank would still lower any critical 'guard' damage?
So, the base attack hits, and then for both the player hit, and the tank guarding, the crit dmg is calculated separately.
I still think, that Trivial Blows perhaps should cost a bit less than 'Futile Strikes'. 1 point less and watch the meta go wild. (4 - 8 - 12 - 15?)
On the subject of Trvial Blows and lowering crit damage:
The recent patch, changed BG's top SnB tree ability.
Not like SnB BG was so popular to begin with.
Suggestion: keep the change, but add:
For this duration, lowers the critical damage your party members take, by 5/10/15%.
Lowering crit chance, for 1 other player, is very much a random affair. Lowering critical damage, is guaranteed. (the numbers may even merit increasing. But for trying it out, it would show a much needed look at buffing SnB BG, also in terms of BG providing party-wide bonuses. Without becoming an 'aura' tank like Chosen/KotBS. Perhaps 10/15/20% lower crit damage taken for the party is warranted)
I also would like to see the hatred tresholds changed; from 30/60/90, to 25/50/75.
all stuff intended to make SnB more attractive.
Not as much to SM or BO; but BO lost cd reduction, and still has no single target punt.
SM 2-hander gets a better 'block channel', and it's baseline (career), + wispering winds for the group.
In short: I don't know how to make SnB (or Choppa and Board) more attractive for these...
the top middle tree ability could use a buff, I think there's a decent consensus on that; but it's never been changed so far.