[Suggestion] Specter Alac

[BenaSPACE.6028]

As it stands specter alac is centered around wells, which means it has to spam its utility skills. 

 

I suggest that instead, Traversing Dusk provides alac on shadowsteps, and not just on well casts. Alternatively, you can have it to where shadowsteps instead extend alacrity. 

[kash.9213]

I think Specter is intended as a responder and that's why most of it's output and mitigation is combined with movement. Packing alacrity into shadowsteps would mean full alacrity uptime almost on it's own unless you're thinking a one second duration or something, and that's before Wells even. You wouldn't even have to think about it so much since it would be happening as consequence of your movement and actions. That would be fitting for Specters design, but probably too strong. 

It is unfortunate that that alacrity is tied to Wells making them have to be used off cooldown instead of as needed, but them's the breaks.

[Doggie.3184]

Should just be on Siphon and allow self/ally targeting buffs with adjusted duration. Alacrity is essentially a holy trinity class and should be part of a spec's F skill mechanics.

[Vismooth.4128]

There's another way you could do it.
Keep alac on wells, but add pulsing alacrity while in shroud (like harb does).
I know this isn't very sophisticated as a solution and very much a band-aid for a sore wound that is base Specter design.
Despite that, it'd solve both alacrity application and cluttered headspace within utility selection for dps alac builds.


And on another note, I would very much prefer if we had something completely different in place of what there is now as F1 and F2. More like an array of shroud skills, to which you could then tie alacrity and barrier application. Kind of like scourge. But that'd probably require a lot of effort.

Edited October 18, 2022 by Vismooth.4128

[Felices Bladewing.3914]

8 hours ago, Doggie.3184 said:

Should just be on Siphon and allow self/ally targeting buffs with adjusted duration. Alacrity is essentially a holy trinity class and should be part of a spec's F skill mechanics.

 

2 hours ago, Vismooth.4128 said:

There's another way you could do it.
Keep alac on wells, but add pulsing alacrity while in shroud (like harb does).
I know this isn't very sophisticated as a solution and very much a band-aid for a sore wound that is base Specter design.
Despite that, it'd solve both alacrity application and cluttered headspace within utility selection for dps alac builds.


And on another note, I would very much prefer if we had something completely different in place of what there is now as F1 and F2. More like an array of shroud skills, to which you could then tie alacrity and barrier application. Kind of like scourge. But that'd probably require a lot of effort.

 

what if combining your suggestions which i think are both valid, so you put out aoe alac on short duration while siphoning allies, and you passively give alacrity to the teathered target (not pulsing, so no aoe just the two of you) and yourself while in shroud, which makes it also more desirable to stay in shroud while keeping the Anet „design flaw“ of being single target focused. But while writing i realize that would make spectre more fun, but still not useful enough as an alec support.

[Vismooth.4128]

2 hours ago, Felices Bladewing.3914 said:

what if combining your suggestions which i think are both valid, so you put out aoe alac on short duration while siphoning allies, and you passively give alacrity to the teathered target (not pulsing, so no aoe just the two of you) and yourself while in shroud, which makes it also more desirable to stay in shroud while keeping the Anet „design flaw“ of being single target focused. But while writing i realize that would make spectre more fun, but still not useful enough as an alec support.

Ally targeting is dysfunctional, poorly implemented, clunky as all hell, antithetical to encounter design in this game (as in it goes against the way that the encounters are played by the community) and quite frankly - can die in a fire.
If Anet ever wanted to implement single-ally focused skills, it's been 10 years - they missed their mark. It's far too late to even try.
Single ally alac application will not make Specter more valuable for group content or anything else for that matter. It simply needs to go.

And on the topic of making staying in shroud more desirable. It can't really be either, at least not without giving it a way to make use of initiative while inside of it. If you were to shift most of the damage and utility that Specter provides over to shadow shroud to make it more worthwhile, what would be the incentive to stay out of it then? It would almost invalidate the rest of the core kit, since unlike Necro, Specter doesn't have a need to keep up a periodic damage buff (Soul Barbs) from entering/exiting their shroud. This is one of the bigger flaws of Specter's design that I personally see, that Shroud can't be better than initiative skills (to not make them obsolete), but has to be better than just auto attacking with your scepter. Those systems are working against one another, which also makes it really hard to balance as a whole.

[nopoet.2960]

17 hours ago, kash.9213 said:

It is unfortunate that that alacrity is tied to Wells making them have to be used off cooldown instead of as needed, but them's the breaks.

This comment resonates with me. 

 

What if we get rid of alacrity on wells and instead add another venom that gets applied alongside of rotwallow.  Call it like Quickening Venom.  It would work like traditional venoms so every time your ally lands an attack they get some duration of Alacrity.  This feels way more teef like to me.

[kash.9213]

2 hours ago, nopoet.2960 said:

This comment resonates with me. 

 

What if we get rid of alacrity on wells and instead add another venom that gets applied alongside of rotwallow.  Call it like Quickening Venom.  It would work like traditional venoms so every time your ally lands an attack they get some duration of Alacrity.  This feels way more teef like to me.

As much as it aggravates me, It might still be fair to make me chose what I'm using the utility for. Still, the Wells are designed for a moving fight to get ahead on your groups path and that deliberate application feels counter to Wells as stationary buffs. 

A venom would be fitting, but you'd have to decide how it's applied and what's happening also as consequence or adjacent. If it came in parallel to RoV from attacks, then it wouldn't be great for boosting Siege users, which is what Wells are actually pretty good for as long as there's not a huge crowd right on top of them. 

[Felices Bladewing.3914]

7 hours ago, Vismooth.4128 said:

Ally targeting is dysfunctional, poorly implemented, clunky as all hell, antithetical to encounter design in this game (as in it goes against the way that the encounters are played by the community) and quite frankly - can die in a fire.
If Anet ever wanted to implement single-ally focused skills, it's been 10 years - they missed their mark. It's far too late to even try.
Single ally alac application will not make Specter more valuable for group content or anything else for that matter. It simply needs to go.

And on the topic of making staying in shroud more desirable. It can't really be either, at least not without giving it a way to make use of initiative while inside of it. If you were to shift most of the damage and utility that Specter provides over to shadow shroud to make it more worthwhile, what would be the incentive to stay out of it then? It would almost invalidate the rest of the core kit, since unlike Necro, Specter doesn't have a need to keep up a periodic damage buff (Soul Barbs) from entering/exiting their shroud. This is one of the bigger flaws of Specter's design that I personally see, that Shroud can't be better than initiative skills (to not make them obsolete), but has to be better than just auto attacking with your scepter. Those systems are working against one another, which also makes it really hard to balance as a whole.

yep totally correct, thats why i had a change of mind in the last sentence 

[nopoet.2960]

6 minutes ago, kash.9213 said:

As much as it aggravates me, It might still be fair to make me chose what I'm using the utility for. Still, the Wells are designed for a moving fight to get ahead on your groups path and that deliberate application feels counter to Wells as stationary buffs.

Nope you've convinced me and you can't take it back.  🙂 Wells should be used for their stated utility and movement alacrity should be a result of putting barriers on your allies like rot.  This gives more regular application in combat but if you have a special case you could use shadow refuge to apply from a distance.