Best Of

Rogue Level 18

Skills:
• Grappling Hook: Definitely one of my favorite features moving around the landscape. Getting on top of buildings feels a bit like I’m an Assassins Creed player.
• Sap: Not as strong as it could be for a sustained point of view.
• Double Strike: This feels like it should be a passive skill as there are already so many buttons to manage on the tool bar.
• Soothing Shadows: A much-appreciated skill to have for reduced downtime.
• Flurry: Skill seems to be underwhelming at 10% attack speed, yet used as a main skill especially for aoe hits.
• Backstab/stab: I enjoy how positioning changes the effect of this skill. I wish more skills where like this.

VFX
• Smokebomb: All I can say is “Ninja Vanish”. A great skill to have for a rogue and I enjoy the total visual blindness on the screen.
• Feint: Another great skill that lines up nicely with the Rogue game place to quick get behind your opponent. It took a bit of getting used to not having the camera align with where I am facing. Sometimes you don’t always face your opponent when using this ability.
• Advantage: It is sometimes challenging to see if you have advantage in the middle of a fight to time combos just right.

Daggers Weapon Combos: Not sure if I have all the timing just right. It would be helpful to see how the combo is built up in some way as a visual que.

As a follow up, I'm not saying AS Rating is a negative thing or that it doesn't improve DPS. I'm saying that AP Rating is just massively better.

The root problem I think is that AS Rating and AP Rating aren't comparable parts of the basic DPS equation, though the naming scheme makes it feel like they are.

Simplifying things, DPS from using an ability is DamageMultiplier% * FlatDamage / (BaseActivationTime / (1 + IncreasedSpeedMultiplier%))

Increased speed multiplier of +1% would give the same DPS as increased damage multiplier of +1%

However, AP Rating does not contribute to DamageMultiplier%! It contributes to FlatDamage (proportionally, no diminishing returns) in the equation while AS Rating contributes to IncreasedSpeedMultiplier (not proportionally, there are diminishing returns).
DamageMultiplier% and BaseActivationTime come from the ability being used.

By increasing AP Rating by 1 you are increasing your overall damage by a percent of how much AP Rating you already have. By increasing AS Rating by 1 you are increasing your IncreasedSpeedMultipler by at most 0.1% (less with diminishing returns)
^ That is why increasing AP Rating gives more DPS than AS Rating until 1000 AP Rating. (Current AP Rating + 1 / Current AP Rating) is greater than 0.1% until Current AP Rating is 1000

Side note on AS Rating diminishing returns: Observed 0.1% Attack Speed increase on the character sheet per AS Rating for values 1-20. There are some funky diminishing returns, and could not backwards engineer a formula that made sense. But by 445 AS Rating you are getting less than 0.069% increased attack speed per point of AS Rating.

The solution IMO is both simple and extreme at the same time. Abilities need to define the FlatDamage and AP Rating needs to contribute to an IncreasedDamageMultipler (like AS Rating does for IncreasedSpeedMultiplier) give them the same diminishing returns formula, and now they both contribute to the DPS equation equally. They would both interact with buffs similarly (stack additively with buffs to their own multiplier, and naturally multiplicatively with buffs to the other multiplier)

With the base DPS issues taken care of, I think AP Rating increasing Dots and other effects would be balanced well enough against AS Rating giving faster attacks and more frequent combos.

Seems a bit harsh for a stray bard note to kill a mount, turning you red and causing you to lose gear dont you think?

These thoughts are based on the current game design (late alpha 2 - post rogue). I have played exclusively cleric this phase.

-Intro-
Most of the abilities Clerics have are fine with the direction the game is going. Some spells are for small group combat, others are for large scale. What does not work is the inability to weave anything together reasonably and there is nothing special about them. With the addition of the rogue, I don't even have a chance to win the fight against a moderately geared one. There are multiple ways to kill a cleric, and the cleric has only 2-3 real damage abilities with subpar healing or purifying abilities. The only way a cleric can win a fight is to survive long enough to make it an attrition battle and perfect proc alignment.

1. Wings of Salvation - should apply CC immunity for some duration after use and have multiple charges. Would also be nice for this to function as a dash if you are the target. This is the only cc break atm for clerics and is almost useless in limitations surrounding the spell. Could use a higher % ratio for stronger shield. This ability is subpar to bards. Cleric mobility is terrible compared to all other classes.

2. Purify - This removes only 3 stacks of a debuff. It should remove all debuffs. This becomes even more true now that rogues are out. Clerics barely have the time for a single cleanse let alone 3 or 4 with TTK being so low. Bards aoe cleanse is more effective and versatile.

3. Chains of Restraint - too slow and too small. The 2 seconds is takes to cast and the 8 seconds of very small area denial make this very ineffective for use compared to all other classes. Recommendation: increase diameter by 50% and make it instant cast.

4. Flash Cure - you dropped it by 75% and doubled the mana cost. This was the only good spell clerics really had. This was a flat nerf and nothing was given as a replacement. While I believe this balances out at higher MP, the mana cost is too high.

5. Barrier - Giving 25% of your life for a 1:1 shield. This effect should last twice as long or the shield amount needs to be based on HP + MP instead of just HP. As the 'healing' class, everything about the bard is better than the cleric with less penalties and less setup.

6. Deliverance - Great for PvE. Less than useful in most PvP situations.

7. Mend - Even spec'd into the bonuses, it doesn't do enough to matter in a pvp situation to include cast time+ travel time. Most people will be dead by the time it gets there. This is a down time ability after receiving damage as a group (true to its name), but does not translate to larger battles.

8. Communal Restoration - Uses too much mana for the minimal effects. This is again completely subpar to bard abilities.

9. Defiant Light - Does not heal enough on death proc. Due to current damage on the field, its almost nonexistent for functionality. 25% of max hp is just 1 more hit from most players. Recommend temporary immunity from damage or much higher reward if the attacker procs the ability mechanic

10. Consecrating Wave - Should remove multiple debuffs without a prerequisite of silence. This change would provide some reason to not get too close.

-Additions-
Some way to covert MP to AP to balance use of weapons for clerics. Being able to actually do more damage from bows would help make clerics more useful in large scale pvp events as well as 1v1 scenarios.

-Final Thoughts-
Cleric feels really left in the dust compared to all of the other classes. They aren't equipped to be great at anything other than self healing due to distance requirements on spells and game mechanics. After playing a cleric the entirety of phase 2, it is unlikely that I would consider spending the time to try and make another one without a viable pvp option for it. Could this be a skill issue? Perhaps. However, I've spent a great amount of time playing against other classes in 1v1 situations and the power triangle doesn't exist for clerics. They are just last at effectiveness in everything that isn't PvE and their healing powers do not translate well into PvP with the low TTK.

I'm not able to identify where a cleric belongs in the power triangle because they don't have a real advantage against anything now. I am concerned that secondary archetypes will make this worse. Currently, the only reason to have a cleric in your party, over a bard, is because they can resurrect; this really only applies strategically in a lawless zone due to the abundance of embersprings + protection buff.

I would also love to interview the creator of the Cleric for stream sometime. Please let me know if this is possible.

If an option for this exists and I just can't find it I would love to know.

Is there a way to have my Mount action bar replace my combat action bar in terms of hot keys when I mount up?

For example the dragon riding in WoW. The dragon riding action bar replaces my main action bar while I am flying around.

I feel like having an extra action bar for my Mount when I can't use my primary action bar while mounted anyways is kind of silly. So to use the Mount action I have to hit Z to unlock my mouse, go clock that action bar, then hit Z again.

there's also supposed to be a look changing feature for craters so ignoring transmog we have that as another look changing feature.

I think you should be able to make your character anyway you want but some people have super bad taste and sometimes games add ridiculous transmogs...

For example a wood elf should have armor akin to their environment, trees and plant insignias maybe even moss covered. Not a rainbow winged unicorn suit. (looking at your guild wars 2) that for example should not even be an option.

I feel like Cultural armor is a necessity if you intend to keep the flavor of races. As well as racials.

So talking with chadautry in guild chat about the tick damages such as bleed, poison and burn. According to them these damages do not have stacks and only trigger off of weapon finishers generally for now. So the fact that these are not stackable in my opinion is also in detriment to AS as a stat since multi apply effects is a big upwards scaling for AS.

Then another question I asked was whether AS affected cool-down of ability's, but no it only effect's the cast time. So while the AS stat will have an effect on the speed you can do your rotation while it's up it doesn't actually effect the time it takes your rotation from coming up. In comparison AP effects the full output every time you cast the ability.

I do think some of this will be toned down with the TTK changes Intrepid has in the works but I agree AS as a stat doesn't have the same meatiness as AP, because of the reasons pointed.

The area players fight in need to be bigger for non-stage 6 nodes.
The empty node cork area around the nodes should be utilized for this.

With this method, there is no need to redesign the inside of stage 3 nodes to make it more "siege-compatible".

Before a siege, a (non stage 6) node should automatically place make-shift walls, trenches, etc. around its walls. Basically any form of obstacle that can slow down the attackers' advance and spread the players apart instead of just everyone being at the very middle of the node from the start.

I think at the very least 3 layers of gates should be used for the defending node, but even more for higher level ones. For a stage 3 node, 2 of these layers can be placed around the default node walls.

Here is a rough example of what I'm thinking:


Although all node stages on the picture have 3 layers, it shouldn't mean they are equally hard to conquer.
I'd expect that inside the node walls there are considerably more defensive buildings and guards than between the node walls and the outer walls. This means that the higher stage the node is (and the further the node wall is out), the harder it will be to siege.

Of course the number and position of walls can differ from my suggestion:
e.g. inside a stage 6 node there could be multiple districts, each with its own wall, and a successful siege could require taking over all of them.

Feedback on Lotharia's April 1st Siege - participated as an attacker, fighter archetype.

Ignoring the very obvious poor performance, i.e., too short character render distance, unresponsive health and stamina bars on targets and self (including the gate's health bar), and known issues like the very low TTK.

Control Point Respawns
Control points turned out to be irrelevant for both teams as their only purpose is to serve as spawn points:
- Defenders may respawn within city walls, so respawning outside is pointless when all foes are inside.
- Attackers barely got any casualties and the difference between respawning at the main camp or at a control point is under 30 seconds travel time without enemy presence.
Control points need to be made relevant.

Wave respawns are the way to go but the time between waves needs to be increased as the opposing team completes some specific objectives. For example, devices built by either team in preparation for the siege could reduce the time between waves, and the destruction of these devices by the opposing team during the siege could increase it. Please don't simply increase the time between waves based on how long the siege has been going on for, that is really shallow design.

Attackers could also have a limit to how many times they may respawn at the main camp. Think a ticket system like in other games with conquer and hold game modes, such as Battlefield or Squad - respawning at the main camp consumes X tickets for the team, respawning at the control points consumes Y tickets for the team. Building some devices before the siege increases the number of tickets available, the destruction of one of these devices by the opposing team consumes Z tickets from the team.

Final Objective Location
First of all, running the game at low settings made the final objective completely invisible, including the supposed giant red beam. If I hadn't been told we were channelling there, I would have never known.

As for the location iteself:
- From a roleplay perspective, it's in a place of too little importance - it would make more sense to have it on top of the hill, closer to the town hall.
- From a gameplay perspective, it's way too in the open and too close to the possible entry points - attackers should need to get past several layers of defences to get to the final objective, as well as traverse a final set of terrain/obstacles leading directly to the objective, which attackers may then use to hold off defenders - again, it would make more sense to have it on top of the hill, but within a building.

As for interrupting the channelling, we were told by someone from Intrepid staff that the channelling of the final objective should not be interrupted by any ability. This is really poor design - the channelling should be interruptable. If the intention is to make attackers have a chance at channelling, the solution is not to make the channeller impervious to effects, but to move the capping point away from out in the open where it can be easily interrupted from a distance and to provide ways for other attackers to aid him, such as:
- Move the final objective location inside a building so that attackers may make use of terrain to hold off defenders once they take the building.
- Make it so that only one attacker may channel at a time and make the channelling time longer, but also make it so that if the channelling is stopped, the progress is not completely reset but rather it is set back by a fixed amount and then decays over time. The progress should resume increasing whether the channelling is resumed by the same or a different attacker.

Gate Destruction Time-To-Kill (TTK)
The gate was destroyed way too fast - it needs to take more time to destroy it. But to be fair I think this has more to do with the power creep in unbalanced gear and stats than with the gate itself. Attackers were fairly well geared, too.

Impact of Archetypes
From most to least impactful:
Bards - the most impactful one because of all of their ranged AoE buffing, debuffing, CCing and damaging capabilities. Way too overpowered in all situations, including sieges. They not only make others stronger but are themselves too strong - you shouldn't be able to have your cake and eat it too.
Mages and rangers - too impactful because of all of their ranged AoE CCing and damaging capabilities, although this is to be expected.
Tank - placing walls is a cool mechanic when fighting in difficult terrain such as cities with alleyways and whatnot, too easy to channel with because of CC immunity while channelling and greater defenses than other archetypes - CC immunity should be removed.
Rogue - far too great mobility, overpowered damage output - still not very impactful in large scale fights or sieges for the same reasons as fighter below.
Fighter - has no place in the game as it is, it is outshined by all other classes in every situation and aspect of the game, including and especially in sieges and large scale battles - for the better part of any fight, fighters are restricted to autoattacking with longbow only; they can play as their archetype is meant to only when the outcome of the fight is nearly decided in their favor, otherwise they die instantly before having any impact.

Fighters will obviously benefit from a rework to stats, gear and TTK, but even in the current state of things they would be more impactful in sieges if there were actual secondary objectives in a siege. Secondary objectives would force teams to split into smaller groups where melee classes could have some impact. It should be noted that secondary and main objectives should be tackled simultaneously so that teams actually need to split and strategize, and not move in quick succession from one objective to the next as a single zerg blob.

Team selection
The system to select attackers and defenders is too slow. Requirements to join sieges should be defined by mayors, such as minimum level. Teams should be made hours before a siege starts, there should be a main roster and a secondary roster (queue) - only the main roster gets to join the siege, but if any of them is offline at the time, the players in the secondary roster may join the siege in order as sorted by the mayor, not in the order they clicked the Join Event button. Some slots in the main roster should be guaranteed to certain officers of both nodes, such as mayor and other eventual positions - other than that, individuals for the teams should be selected by the mayor or another node officer, but everyone (even if not in the attacking or defending team) should be allowed to aid either team in the preparation for the siege by bringing materials, building siege engines or devices, etc.

Thanks!
All in all, I really appreciate the involvement of Intrepid with the community, making such events possible and taking feedback on them.