«Repost» Alpha Feedback: Class Balance Suggestions

[Vile]

The following is the feedback I gave during the Alpha phase. I still stand by these suggestions as a Starting Point. This is just a public disclosure on my class feedback & I won't be debating it, simply posting it to link it and make it visible.

Class Skill Feedback.

«section» denotes the suggested changed value
Mage:

All Water Spells have a 10/20/30/40/50% «Guaranteed» chance to grant a stack of "Mana Fissure" for 30 «2/4/6/8/10» seconds. Maximum Stack of 2.

All Wind Spells have a 10/20/30/40/50% «Guaranteed» chance to grant a stack of "Windwalker" for 30 «3/6/9/12/15» seconds. Maximum Stack of 3.

All Fire Spells have a 10/20/30/40/50% «Guaranteed» chance to grant a stack of "Blaze" for 30 «3/6/9/12/15» seconds. Maximum of 5 stacks.

All Sorcery spells have a 10/20/30/40/50% «Guaranteed» chance to apply «grants» a stack of "Mystic Weakening" «Mystic Weaving*» for 30 «3/6/9/12/15» seconds. Maximum of 2 stacks.
(*Mystic Weaving grants Magic Defense Pierce 10% + 5% Critical Rating per stack.)

New Spell: [PvM Frost Ring] Copy & Paste of Frost Ring w/ AoE Taunt applied. Requires Frost Ring (5) & 2 Skill Points.

Reason behind these suggested changes.
   The RNG element of the procs is often infuriating at worst or highly irritating on average. The effects and balance were designed with max stacks in mind, yet the RNG element causes them to often be dropped, despite playing the class correctly, simply due to the RNG doing what RNG does best, not working.
   The change to Mystic Weakening into Mystic Weaving is due to the fact that Mobs/NPC's can't "learn spells" ie, they cannot have procs applied to them like conventional debuffs. Hence changing Mystic Weakening to Mystic Weaving, will provide both incentive to use the Sorcery Tree [it's largely ignored outside of rank 1 Mana Bolt for the magic resist down] while making it function in PvM content. There are other spells like this I will suggest changes to below.
   Lastly the AoE PvM specific taunt for Frost Mage. As demonstrated several time by myself, Mages if willing to drop a large volume of damage, are capable of tanking bosses and trash pulls. They simply lack the aggro control to do it. 

Cleric:

"Mana Wave" «Holy Spear» (Sorcery Element) «(Holy Element)» -MP «Applies Natural Weakness*» for 10 seconds.  Max 2 stacks.
(Natural Weakness reduces PvM Resistance by 10% per stack)

"Summon Ice Dragon": needs better Fire Breath scaling, it's very low.

New Spell: [Solar Flare (Fire)] Short-range AoE (8m) 175%+210/185%+220/195%+230/205%+240/215%+250. Applies Burn DoT (Look at Fire Ring Muse Offensive tab and copy ratio + 45%) Cooldown 10sec. MP Cost 75/85/95/105/115. Requires Hellfire (5).

Valkyrie Chant: Remove healing requirement. This makes it inaccessible to Battle Clerics and Mages, and buffs are not restricted in this manner on any other classes [exception Dealer Crit mentioned later]

Resistance Chant: Remove requirement, as this doesn't fit the conventional standard set by all other classes.
This was done

Blessed Mind Chant: Remove requirement, as this doesn't fit the conventional standard set by all other classes.
This was done

Salamander & Mana Flames: Double MP cost of cast, these are too easily accessible and expendable in combat situations, including PvM.

Reason behind these suggested changes.
   Mana Wave is largely useless as is in PvM. Changing Element to Holy increases it viability in PvM, while the change to Natural Weakness increases it's usefulness in PvP and synergizes with summon playstyles.
   Solar Flare is simply the natural progression for Cleric to have an offensive Fire spell continued into it's next tree. They also lack any baseline AoE potential for PvM, this change addresses that.
   Buff changes are as described, but I must insist on there being parody and consistency between how application of ability points works. No other jobs require you to sacrifice skill points in order to get buffs, and this mentality of taking things away under the guise of meaningful choice isn't something I recommend.
   Flame changes are there to curb degenerate builds that abuse the accessibility of these. 

Knight:

New Unique Skill: [PvM Magic Flechettes] Requires Magic Shot (5) & Rain of Arrows (5). 135% + 150 Magic Damage (Sorcery Element). 2 SP Cost. MP Cost 75. Cooldown 14 Seconds
Applies Taunt: Duration 14 Seconds. Area of Effect Radius: 15m. [Animation like Arrow Rain]

Crossbow Piercing: 2/4/6/8/10% + 5/10/15/20/25 Physical Defense Pierce «+Magical Resistance Pierce» & 3/6/9/12/15% Physical Defense Pierce «+Magical Resistance Pierce»

(1 Hand Tree) Trap Arrow, Poison Shot & Critical Shot require Double Shot (5) « (1/2/3/4/5) 1:1 ratio as you go» .

Critical Shot: Should be a guaranteed Critical.

Focus Shot: rename «"Siphon Shot"» same potency damage, cooldown, MP. Add a new HP Absorption at 50% potency of "Absorptive Strike" from 1Hand tree.

Fatal Thrust: duration 5seconds «10 seconds»

Reason behind these suggested changes.
   Crossbow Knight lacks an AoE Taunt for dungeons, that can keep up 100% uptime, meanwhile 1Handed Sword easily accomplishes this. I've made two compromises being 1: It doesn't work in PvP and 2 Being a Unique means double the SP cost. 
   Crossbow Pierce changes are due to the fact that the 3 most used skills as a Crossbow Knight are magical. Why this was overlooked previously I never found out, but it makes the Pierce Passive completely able to be skipped due to it being useless in it's current state. Adding Magic Pierce to the passive, will make it significantly more likely to be useful.
   Having 3 abilities locked behind 1 skill requiring max rank causes a long gap when first starting out as a Crossbow soldier, addressing this will make the starting experience flow better.
   Critical Shot should be a guaranteed critical. It's in the name, it makes sense.
   Focus Shot is never cast due to it's weak potency, long cast time animation and generally doesn't fit into the rotation very well. Adding a half potency absorption will make it worth considering for rotation or sustain, and a good utility over-all.
   Fatal Thrust's animation is fairly long for 1Handed times, and the fall off speed compared to potency of the ability makes it not worth casting very often. Doubling the duration should make it more frictionless to apply periodically.

Champion:

Champion Strike: HP 100% «+Static Heal Amount (75% scaling of Bloody Assault <Raider Dual> should be good)».

Axe Fury: On melee hit «attack» have a 25/30/35/40/45% «100/100/100/100/100%» to gain Axe Fury. Axe Fury increases Critical Damage by 12% and skill MP Cost by 10% per stack, up to 5 stacks for 10 seconds. «5 seconds» [This ability cannot «can» refresh itself at maximum stacks]

Battle Rage: After 15 critical attacks, gain 50% Harmful Effect Resistance, for 5 seconds. « replace with On melee attack, 50% chance to gain 1 stack of Battle Rage. Battle Rage increases your Critical Defense by 5% + Harmful Effect Resistance 3% for 10 seconds Maximum 5 Stacks. This ability can refresh itself at maximum stacks.»

Spear Mastery AoE Range <Champion Tree> 1/2/3/4/5m AoE Range. «replace with "Spear Mastery Skill Power" 2/5/8/11/15% + 50100/150/200/250 Skill Power»

Champion's Footing: Movement Speed 20/40/60/80/100. «Replace with "Charge The Line" Movement Speed 750. Duration 5 Seconds. Cooldown 30 seconds. MP Cost 5%»

Advanced Two-Handed Skill Power: Skill power 10/15/20/25/30% + MP Consumption - 3/6/9/12/15%. «After Casting Sword Force or Soul Wreck, gain 1 stack of "Magic Swordsman". (Magic Swordsman grants 25% Magic Defense + 25% Harmful Status Resistance for 5 Seconds Maximum of 2 stacks)»

Reason behind these suggested changes.
   Champion Strike: Axe Champions have many weaknesses baked into their playstyle, primarily their lack of accuracy. Adding a small static healing amount means, even if they miss the damage of the ability, they will still be healed for the smaller static amount. [Note: This does NOT provide the healing from the percentage % portion, as that requires the damage check] This exists for Absorptive Strike, and Bloody Assault. 
   Axe Fury: This skill was never property finished when I provided feedback after iteration 1. Special note: I designed this passive myself during the beta testing phase, and the initial phase went well, however my feedback was ignored, and thus I am requesting this be fixed now, and function as I intended it to.
   Battle Rage: Unreliable harmful effect resistance that you cannot control the proc window of. Additionally, due to the Critical to Critical & Critical Defense changes, Axe champions notorious Critical-tanking capabilities were stripped and never replaced. I see this as a good opportunity to return them to their critical-tanking prowess. 
   Spear Mastery: The AoE Radius modifier got out of hand by the end of NA, I'm looking to reduce that degenerate result of AoE Radius stacking gameplay, and replace it with a high static-potency skill power modifier that boosts both AoE builds, and Single Target / Bossing builds.
   Champion's Footing: Everyone misses the Champ Charge, let's bring it back.
   Advanced Two-Handed Skill Power: Two-Handed Sword Champions suffer from no particular resistance specialty. Spears have Dodge, Axes [if my change is accepted] will have Critical Defense. I propose this change to give Greatsword users a niche in windows of Magical Resistance and Status superiority. Nothing says high Status like periodically being above status affects.  

Raider:

Shattering Blows: 5/10/15/20/25% «100/100/100/100/100» chance to apply «gain» 1 stack of Weakened Armor «Shatter Strikes» to your target «yourself» when dealing damage. Max 5 stacks. Weakened Armor reduces target's Defense by 5% per stack, for 30seconds. «Shatter Strikes increases your Pierce Physical by 10% + 50 per stack. Duration: 10 seconds. Can refresh itself at max stacks»

[New Passive]: Deft Subterfuge: HP from Item Effect: 4/8/12/16/20% + MP from Item Effect: 4/8/12/16/20%. 100% Chance when damaged to gain "Sleight of Hand". Sleight of Hand increases HP from Item Effect by an additional 6/12/18/24/30% + MP from Item Effect by an additional 6/12/18/24/30% for 10 seconds. This effect cannot be refreshed at max stacks. Requires: Dual Weapons. [Not Katars]

Stealth & Cloaking shared CD.

Critical Accordance: 5% chance to apply Critical Weakness «gain Critical Acuity» on melee «Critical» hit. Critical Weakness reduces target Critical Defense by 2% per stack, up to 10 stacks, for 15 seconds. «Critical Acuity increases your Critical Rating by 2% per stack, maximum of 10 stacks, for 15 seconds.»

Reasons behind these suggested changes.
   Shattering Blows suffers from the aforementioned problem with Mystic Weakening, being that NPC's cannot "learn" abilities, thus these procs do not work in PvM. Changed to a self-buffing proc, that achieves much of the same result.
   Deft Subterfuge: Dual Raiders lack a bit of in-combat staying power as well as options for passives when compared to Katar Raiders impressive selection and options in offensive* passives. If Katars are the offensive selection king, I see no reason why the defensive options cannot be extended to Dual Raiders, especially given their theme is supposed to be in the melee as a scrapper/fighter archetype.
   There isn't a single class in ROSE that has 2 decloaks. There is no reason outside of a "get out of jail free card" for Katar [and only Katar] to have 2 stealth mechanics. Cloaking should be used offensively, and stealth should be used defensively or for positioning. Alternatively you could change Cloaking to be 5 seconds in duration down from 30 but skill-types might suffer from that change.
   Critical Accordance suffers from the NPC's not learning procs, Moved things around so it benefits both PvP and PvM players and retains it's original intended benefit of increasing critical frequency.

Scout:

Crossbow Scout: Unique [PvM] Taunt Shot, bake into base Scout skill-tree under Triple Arrow. Remove PvM Specificity. Requires Crossbow.

New Unique Skill: [PvM Braggard] <Use Soldiers "Taunt" yelling animation> AoE 20m Taunt. Requires: Crossbow. Cost 2 SP, no MP, deals no Damage. (This is effectively just Sacrifice for Crossbow Scouts so they can hold aggro in Dungeons as a tank)

Replace: Sand Trap with "Explosive Trap". Trap when activated casts a singular large Radius Burning Damage over Time. Scaling based on 70% of Phoenix Arrow from Bow tree. Requires Crossbow.

Replace "Flash Trap" with "Caltrop" Trap when activated causes 50% Move speed reduction + Bleeding Damage over time matching the potency of Acid Shot from Artisan skill tree.

New Unique: "Lethal Advantage" Requires Bow. Passive: While under the effect of Camouflage, your critical rating is increased by 50%, and Accuracy by 2,500.  Stack persists for 1 second. Requires Camouflage (5) & Sharpened Tips (5). 

Reasons behind these suggested changes.
   Crossbow is a tanky class, that cannot benefit it's group unless it is controlling the fight and being targeted by the enemy. A single target taunt should be baseline.
   Braggard: As a tank, AoE aggro is imperative in Dungeons. Akin to Sacrifice [Which works in PvP as a reminder] This ability enables Crossbow Scouts to tank, albeit specifically in PvM content.
   Sand Trap: Is useless, and Crossbow already has a superior Dodge Down from its first class skill "Shackle Arrow". A tactical explosive trap that requires kiting / baiting onto it for it to go off, seems like a nice compromise. This will also help them retain aggression in PvM. 
   Caltrop: Bow Scout is already known for speed, range, and aggression. Flash Trap doesn't really fit that playstyle perfectly, however, tactical movement and baiting enemies onto a trap that yields both movement speed down, and can maintain aggression/pressure via a bleed while the Scout returns to a range position fits it much better. 
   Lastly, some love for Bows with Lethal Advantage. This effectively guarantees or as close to a hit is landed from Camouflage, as well as highly increases the likelihood of a critical hit on the opener. Given this advantage is bound to Camouflage's cooldown, AND they remain in it long enough for the proc to apply, I feel this is relatively well balanced for a first iteration of a new mechanic for Bow Scouts. 

Bourgeoise:

Cannonier's Panic: ["Cannoneers* Panic"... it's spelled wrong] When you are hit 5 times gain 15% + 20/40/60/80/100 Movement Speed for 5 seconds. Replace with «"Tactical Retreat" Active ability. Use to gain 750 Movement speed and 50% Critical Defense Rating for 10 seconds. Cooldown 45 seconds.»

Wind Step: Defunct due to Tactical Retreat. Remove and Replace with "Powder Keg Propulsion" Critical Damage 0%+200 & Enhance Damage 0%+100. Duration 10 Seconds. Cooldown: 30 seconds.

Reflect Aura: rename "Stim Pack" Reflect Attack 15%. Duration 30 «10» seconds. Cooldown: 55/52.5/50/47.5/45 Seconds. «HP Recovery Rate +(2/4/6/8/10 * Character Level)»

«This is where I'm hoping a previous suggestion regarding CHA, CON and SEN's relationship be changed comes into play to cover to remaining defensive problems Dealer/Bourgeoise has.» Here is the original post

Reasons behind these suggested changes.
   Cannoneers Panic just fundamentally is not a good design for an ability. The redesign gives a very high burst of speed, and protection from critical strikes, which have a bad habit of animation locking movement. 
   Wind Step to Powder Keg Propulsion: Movement baked on demand into Tactical Retreat. Redesign spell to provide static damage gains for the big burn moment that will now be inaccessible due to removal of runes. [This was fundamentally what made Cannon Bourgeoise viable in late NA].
   Reflect Aura is poorly designed, given if you cast it with Illusion, you're effectively reducing the damage pressure Reflect provides. With a high HP regen added to the Reflect, you can save Illusion, not punish the Reflect status, while maintaining a combat presence for a short period. Duration is drastically reduced, which I suspect will provide a nice balance point.
   It is highly important that if the proposed changes to CHA, CON and SEN aren't performed, that a return inspection happen with Dealers as a whole, due to their lack of defensives. [This is primarily a huge problem for Artisans, while Bourgeoise are still affected to a lesser degree.]

Artisan:

New Crafting Skill: "Supply Box"

Adamantite Shell Projector. "Temporarily Gain 35% Damage Reduction." Consumable Item Cooldown: 45 seconds.

Refreshing Wind Emitter: "Construct a temporary installation that emits a pulse of healing" [Copy Summon Amount, and healing values of Salamander Flame. This is a summon item capsule]

Refracting Crystal: Use to reveal hidden enemies nearby. [Standard Decloak. Use appropriate values]

Pulse Regulator: Use to revive a fallen ally. 

Magic Dampener Infusion: Use to temporarily grant yourself Harmful Status Immunity for 5 seconds. 

Straps and Stitching: Use to gain a passive proc "Perfect Fit" for 9 minutes. Perfect Fit increases Critical Defense by 10%, and Physical Defense +35%. 

Reasons behind these suggested changes.
   Artisan lacks many basic combat functions and protections. In fact, Artisan actually has 0 defensive passives, No decloak, and little to no group utility. Keeping in line with the crafting theme of the class, I've designed all of the above items with the intent of the following:
A Damage Reduction cooldown. A basic fundamental all classes have.
A Healing Turret to provide some backline support.
A decloak, every class requires this.
A CC utility item. Most classes have some specified resistances.
A pseudo-defensive passive. You will need to maintain and craft the item, however it provides the same benefit of a standard defensive passive.

Special Note: ALL items crafted from Supply Box are CHARACTER LOCKED. They cannot be traded, vendored, stored or dropped to other players. These are intended to be "skills" you craft. NOT commerce items.

Edited December 19, 2022 by OwlchemistVile