Taril.8619

Unfortunately that's a common issue among most of thief's weapon kit's. That's just the nature of having no cooldown limitations. You'll simply dump your resources into the most effective skill you have available. Unless they start making Feef weapon kits rely more on comboing skills together (Kind of like how Cloak and Dagger sets up for a Backstab meaning chain backstabs is 515151 etc) this will always be the case. But as is, they kind of seem to be going the path of chucking like 3 situational utility skills onto a weapon set and then 1 attack as opposed to trying to create more diverse attack combos... An example of an easy to implement combo, would be to move PW's stun over to Headshot. So then to do your PW you'll 4 > 3. Other possibilites can be more conditional damage boosts, sort of like how Ranger's Dagger 4 skill deals bonus damage against movement impaired enemies, meaning you want to combo it after you apply an impairment (Such as Dagger 5, Axe 3, Sword 1/2). Of course, such a thing would need to be balanced in a way that the init (Also time) cost of setting up the combo and the damage boosted strike is more effective than simply spamming the unboosted strike multiple times (I.e. Heartseeker spam against high health targets)

Which is odd, given how Revenant turned out. Where Battle Scars not only are a decent option, but the GM trait for them is actually optimal as it provides more DPS than Swift Termination (While also providing some life gain, which ST does not) It's a shame that only 1 of the 3 classes that have Life Siphon mechanics can really use it in a proper build. Even worse, is just how much of Necro's kit and traits push it and it's not even very good (Necro has: Dagger 2, Focus 4, Warhorn 5, Lich 5, Signet of Vampirism active, Signet of the Locust active, Parasitic Corruption in Curses, Augury of Death and Soul Eater in Reaper, Blood Bond, Vampiric, Vampiric Aura and Vampiric Rituals from Blood Magic) at best, Soul Eater is usable, purely for the 10% damage increase though as opposed to the life gain (Even though it isn't "Siphon" and is a percentage of the damage you do, it's a mere 5% and only when not in Shroud which is where the majority of Reaper's damage lies) Feef is stuck with their Siphons being unreliable, what with being tied to Blinding an enemy or crappy Venom skills (Which don't even have a 20% cooldown reduction on the Leeching Venom trait, unlike every other Utility skill type trait)... Meanwhile, Revenant needs only a single trait and they poop out siphons constantly. Given that Expose Defenses in the same line grants them 5 stacks at the start of combat and whenever they use an elite skill, their Sword AA's give (Effectively) a stack each, Sword 4 can get 8 stacks per target hit, Shiro elite gives 6 stacks per target hit, Glint's Facet of Darkness can give 10 stacks per target hit and Renegade's Icerazor's Ire can provide 2 stacks per hit... Also, if you REALLY wanted to, you can also use Sigil of Frailty to get 2 stacks when attacking an enemies flank on a 2s CD... Sigh This also means that they can't really buff Siphon either, because then Revenant would become super broken because of how much it can Siphon based on picking literally a single (BiS) trait...

Ironically, making everyone a damage-dealer actually lends itself more towards better designed content requiring a trinity. So long as it's done right (As opposed to FFXIV style "Make Tanks and Healers have to barely Tank or Heal") If everyone is a damage dealer, then you can focus your content towards having a better distribution of Tank/Healer/Support especially in smaller group sizes, since you don't have to worry about fitting in X amount of DPS classes into each group. An example, would be the industry standard "Dungeon" group is 1 Tank, 1 Healer and 3 DPS. This means that 1) There's inherently a disparity between required roles. 2) Requirements for 2 of the roles are shouldered entirely by a single person. 3) You have a separation of DPS from other roles, while Damage is the only infinitely scaling variable for encounters (I.e. Healing more, just leads to more overhealing. Tanking more, just leads to less healing required. While damaging more will always make fights go faster).This of course also gets worse as you enter into "Raid" groups which are often 2 Tanks, 2-4 Healers and X DPS (Depending on format, often they use multiples of regular party sizes, so 10, 15, 20 or 25 players meaning 6-19 DPS) which often highlights how poorly Tanking is designed in the game as there's usually a period of time where the 2nd Tank feels redundant (Also, sometimes actually replaced by another DPS) since the games entire combat system has been designed with the 1 Tank mentality for the majority of it which doesn't often translate well into then forcing multi-tank encounters (Typically using "Debuff that means you can't MT for X seconds" type mechanics that force swapping tanks or "This big attack hits number 1 AND 2 on threat" that simply requires 2 tanks to exist in the encounter) In a setting where "Everyone is a damage dealer", you could instead find a standard 5 man Dungeon party of 1-2 Tanks, 1-2 Healers and 1-2 Support. Thereby allowing you to make content that can be more taxing on these roles as each one can find themselves with a partner to back them up. Heck, given the fact that all 3 of these roles happen to work towards the same goal of mitigating incoming damage, well designed content could find themselves in a situation where any number of these roles can accomplish said content. A party of 5 Tanks could absorb all the damage, a party of 5 Healers could heal all the damage or a party of 5 Supporters could lock down all the enemies (Provided you actually let players CC bosses and not enforce blanket immunities... One of the cool things about CoX was that it did allow for people to chain CC Arch Villains, to a point where a Controller/Dominator could solo an Arch Villain by perma-CC'ing them provided they had good enough mods to provide enough CC as well as damage to overcome natural regen).Of course, larger scale content becomes harder to design, since you then have to consider how to limit CC so as to not nullify the content with a handful of Supports. I.e. In the case of the CoX example where a Controller/Dominator can perma-CC an Arch Villain, such a character can single handedly nullify the need for a Tank or Healer in any content meaning that everyone else is there to act as a pure DPS (Though, I guess with everyone designed to be a damage dealer, it wouldn't necessarily mean they would be bored, as opposed to redundant Tanks/Healers in Tank/Healer/DPS trinity games. Also, this particular example wasn't unique in CoX, since Scrappers, Brutes and Masterminds could all easily solo Arch Villains by maxing out their defense/resistances too) This potential all goes to waste once you start making specific "DPS" roles required to output the majority of the damage (Since, even if content is technically possible to still be accomplished with 5 Tanks or 5 Healers, people will err to the path of least resistance, which would be the much faster clears by having as many dedicated damage dealers as possible). Even more so when players start to look at gear and stats and there are stand alone options that maximize damage output designed for the DPS classes (As opposed to a scenario with only Tanks/Healers/Support where all 3 roles will need to focus on their role stats to perform), since then you get situations where everyone starts trying to forgo their role in order to stack up on damage (Since again, the only infinitely scaling variable is damage output)

Though, this limitation in the combination options is part of the issue that makes me want more Core additions. Since, it's all well and good to get a shiny new Elite pack. But then you only have so many iterations you can try out to customize it. To say nothing about having aspects you like from multiple Elite Specializations but can never combine (For example, on my Thief, I really like the Deadeye spec, with the Malice stacks and use of a Rifle. But I much prefer Daredevil's Physical Utilities over Deadeye's Cantrips. But it's impossible to use both together. Or maybe I'd like to try out a Core Elementalist with MH Sword) It often feels like a bit of a shame when looking at Elite Specs and how the new weapons and utilities are tied to them, not just the unique mechanics (Which justify being an exclusive Elite Spec)

So, Elite Specializations are pretty cool. They add a new specialization, new utility skills and a new weapon to a class. But, the downside is the limitation that is having to use the new Specialization to be able to use the new weapon and utilities as well as going forward the specialization itself will become more notably limiting since you can't use multiple Elite Specializations together (Meaning that each new Elite Specialization still only has 2x the current 5 core Specializations to use alongside) As such, I was wondering if core classes might ever be expanded upon? Given that such a thing would create more potential options to utilize. I.e. A new core weapon/Utility set could be utilized by any combination of Core Specializations as well as any Elite Specialization. While any new Core Specialization increases the pool of options that can be paired with an Elite Specialization (Whilst also making more combinations for 3x Core Specialization builds) If necessary, you can continue to lock these additions behind Expansion content (Such as how Elite Specializations are unlocked), it's just it would be nice for new content to have more flexibility.

What if it applied Burning? That could up its damage. Alternatively, they could swap the positions of some traits and then change their power levels accordingly. For example, Chilling Victory on T1, Deathly Chill on T2, Chilling Nova on T3 with reduced CD. Also could add on an additional effect of "Conditions applied to chilled enemies have 10%/20% increased duration"

An interesting alternative could be Life Siphon could equalize the damage and healing, but have them both be affected by Power and Healing stats. That would improve the stat's worth in both DPS and Support builds. As well as possibly open up some interesting hybrid builds (Such as Zealot/Crusader) For the concerns about "Muh invincible MM build!" it would be easy enough to simply target the root of the problem, which is the pet life siphon from the Vampiric trait.

I'm not sure I'd put Cantrips in Fire. Given that literally 3/4 of them purely defensive. Makes more sense for them to be Earth. Conjured weapons fit Fire pretty well, since Fire gets a lot of passive damage for being in the attunement, which works well alongside conjured weapons (Also, it's both Power and Condi damage so it works for all the weapons) Glyph fits better with Water, add some boon generation and possibly also Aura generation and they're golden since Aura generation would synergize with Powerful Aura to give them to the party. Thus leaving Signets for Air, which can work well with another Ferocity and/or Precision buff on Signet activation. As far as Traits go, I'd say something like; FireConjurer - Now deals AoE damage and Burn when one of your conjured weapons is equipped and also reduces cooldown of conjured weapon skills by 20%. (Adds some thematic burst damage to picking up/equipping weapons. Including if an ally picks your weapon up) Smothering Auras - Instead of increasing Fire Aura duration, now applies Might to nearby allies when you apply an Aura (Meaning mass Might if using Water/Fire with Powerful Aura pog) AirSame things as in the OP Inscription - Changed to give Tempest's Precision after activating a Signet and gain 80 Ferocity while under its effect. Signets have 20% reduced cooldown. EarthSame Stone Flesh, Elemental Shielding, Earthen Blast and Stone Heart changes from OP. Diamond Skin - Also triggers Earthen Blast in addition to its other effects. Written in Stone - Changed to Cantrips apply Immobilize and 3 Bleed stacks to targets around you when activated. Cantrips have 20% reduced cooldown. WaterSame Cleansing Wave/Chilling Fury change from OP Soothing Disruption - Changed to Glyphs now grant you an Aura based on your attunement (Fire = Fire Aura. Water = Frost Aura. Air = Shocking Aura. Earth = Magnetic Aura). Glyphs have 20% reduced CD. Cleansing Water and Soothing Power combined into "Soothing Mist is now 100% more effective and cleanses conditions" Powerful Aura - Also applies Boons when you apply Auras to allies (Fire Aura = Might. Frost Aura = Regen. Shocking Aura = Fury. Magnetic Aura = Protection) New GM Trait "Heart of Ice" - Chill you inflict lasts 33% longer. Deal 10% more damage to chilled enemies. ArcaneSame Arcane Precision change from OP Elemental Lockdown - Now applies Arcane Power when you lockdown an enemy instead of its current effect. Cooldown increased to 60s. Evasive Arcana - Also casts Arcane Blast with a 40 second CD in addition to its other effects (The attunement proc retains no CD) Bountiful Power - Also increases concentration by 180 in addition to its other effects. For weapons, I'll mostly go with what's in the OP. But I'll add a couple more things; Off Hand DaggerTransmute Frost also Chills enemies in addition to its other effects. TridentBoil also applies Burning. Ice Globe also chills on detonation. Lightning Cage also applies 5 stacks of Vulnerability in addition to its other effects. Rock Blade also pierces in addition to its other effects. Murky Water also applies 1 stack of Bleed in addition to its other effects.

Racial classes? Nah. That doesn't sound particularly fun. More racial dialogue? Yes please! Also, Racial Elites not being complete and utter trash? I'd be down for that. A Racial trait line? Could be neat, but most likely would be a horrible thing to balance and thus unlikely to happen.

Core Necro is awkward. For Condi build, it seems to be focused around the gimmick of using Corruption skills to apply conditions to yourself and then using Plague Signet + Deathly Swarm/Putrid Mark (From x/Dagger and Staff respectively) to send them to your enemy... But also using Epidemic to spread them in an AoE... Which leaves you with limited options to actually do much. With Scepter seemingly being balanced around having the GM trait from Curses spec "Lingering Curse" to make Feast of Corruption become an AoE (As well as significantly buffing its single target Condi stacking with the 50% duration increase) For Power build you pretty much just have Axe/Warhorn. As Axe can burst pretty decently with Ghastly Claws (Which also gains a bunch of Life Force) whilst this weapon set up also has some AoE in the form of Unholy Feast and Locust Swarm (Unfortunately, UF's extra explosion proc has a ridiculous 25% life threshold making it rather useless). Though, Well of Suffering is also really strong Once you get Elite specs though, Necro finally gets some decent skills. Greatsword is pretty good (With Reaper Shroud being sick) making a Power build viable. While Scourge gets a suite of F skills and support for Condi builds as well as access to Burning, though there's still a distinct lack of straight forward Condi stacking in an AoE, with it relying almost entirely on Epidemic which comes with a 50% duration decrease...

I'm gonna go with Axe. Though, I'll preface this with the notion that Greatsword could be pretty cool as well, I know I really liked my Warrior/Rogue Greatsword build in Kingdoms of Amalur (Even if it was so OP that I 3 shot the last boss before it even moved). It's just, Teef could do with some more 1H weapons, especially given they open up more options due to the various parings available. Torch could also be interesting. Giving a sort of Warhammer Witch Hunter vibe with the DoT spec where you'd set enemies on fire. Sword off-hand... I dunno, current Sword OH's seem kind of lackluster and I'm not sure a Teef one would fare any better. Axe though... Many Axe sets have some decent AoE (Warriors Cyclone Axe and Whirling Axe, all of Ranger's Axe skills, Necro's Unholy Feast and Revenant's Temporal Rift) which could be interesting. Also, potential to make a helicopter build where you run Axe/Axe + D/D + Daggerstorm and only use attacks where you spin xD My main qualm, would be the fact that I'd like to see Axe/Axe as a core option as opposed to locked behind an Elite. Since, there's a lack of Power based AoE in the core weapon sets, being limited to only Sword's cleave (Which is only 3 targets) and otherwise it's basically just SB's Cluster Bomb which has some of its damage in Bleed.

1 pet on Soulbeast really does feel limiting. Since, not only are you already limited because of the stats gained upon melding is tied to pet types (Meaning for Power builds you're looking for Ferocious while Condi builds are looking for Deadly. I'm not entirely sure what Ranger builds would be looking for Versatile/Supportive/Stout...) But then you're being limited by going from 8 available pet skills (Due to pets having 3 skills used by themselves and then the Beast skill you activate) down to only 5 available pet skills (The 4 baseline pet skills + the single unique Beastmode) - Also, it's not as if the F1 and F2 skills granted by Beastmode count as "Beast" skills for the purposes of proccing Traits either. Meanwhile, accessing that single unique Beastmode skill, means losing out on one of the baseline pet skills (Their standard attack, which can be relevant as some of them do have effects such as Felines with their Vuln stacks, some are Projectile Finishers, some apply Bleeds/Poisons), all the stats the pet has (More relevant in PvE than in PvP), many skill synergies (Commands, some Signet effects), like the entire Beastmastery Specialization as well as various other Traits (Opening Strike pet proc, Shared Anguish, Allies Aid, Poison Master pet proc, Refined Toxins pet proc, Moment of Clarity pet proc, Sharpened Edges pet proc as well as various "Allies get Boons" procs which can synergize with "We Heal as One") Not to mention how Beastmode is also inherently Melee focused, which also provides a limitation in that use of it negates some of the notable worth of Ranger's ranged weapon sets (While being actively detrimental to Longbow and Farsighted which deal more damage at high range)

I'd love to see more customization. More trait choices, up to 4 per tier (With a rebalance of many lacklustre traits... Sucks picking a specialization purely for 1 GM Trait with the rest of the spec being garbo and that 1 trait being better than other specs garbo) Additional options for the current 3 bridge traits per spec. Some can be meh depending on spec and playstyle and there's currently no options available for them... Heck, additional skills for existing weapons too! While it would be an enormous task, it would be nice to have options for alternate skills for weapon sets. Since sometimes you have skills that are mediocre for the content you're doing (For example, Ranger LB Skill 4 in PvE... I can push my enemies out of my skill 5? wew so stronk!) or seem awkward in the weapon archetype (For example, D/D Feef has its AoE and Ranged options as Condi skills, but literally the entire rest of the weapon set is hyper tuned towards Power... In fact, Feef seems to completely lack any Power based AoE in its core weapons only having Daredevil's Staff filling that particular role)

I had a random thought. What if Conjured Weapons had a unique mechanic, where slotting them on your action bar replaced had them passively replace your skills for that element and had an activated effect where you dropped them to allow an ally to pick them up while you gained access to your normal skills temporarily? Of course, there'd need to be some adjustments what with Fiery Greatsword and Flame Axe both being fire... (Maybe create Arcane Greatsword instead? Whereby it maintains its temporary skill replacement in your kit as an Elite skill and can gain unique effects based on your attunements?) as well as some additional skills to account for Beaver's dual attunement skills (Not sure what would happen with skills 4 and 5 though... Whether they'd remain each individual weapon's skills 4 + 5 and only skill 3 changed with dual attunement or if you'd weirdly gain access to x/D, x/F or Staff skills/other conjure skills)