As many of you are aware, we have been looking extensively at the Archmage and Shaman careers for improvements in 1.2.1 and 1.3. In this thread we will be giving you some insight into the upcoming 1.2.1 changes, as well as some of the more dramatic changes we are looking to make in 1.3 and possibly 1.3.1.

Because our second and third set of changes are so extensive, we wanted to poll the Archmage and Shaman communities for their opinions on them prior to public testing. That way, we can get a good feel for how the general player sees these changes affecting their daily play.

When replying to this thread, we ask that you stay on-topic as much as possible, and provide clear and concise feedback on the very specific changes we are proposing. Specifically, we'd like you to answer the following questions.

1. As a whole, do you feel these changes represent a "Step in the right direction" for the career? If not, please explain which changes seem off to you and why.
2. Rate each change on a scale from 1 to 10, where 10 represents something you absolutely 100% feel should happen, and 1 represents something you never want to see enter the game.

1. Do you feel that the increase in base damage will promote your role as a healer / nuker hybrid enough that more dramatic changes are no longer necessary?
2. Do you feel that the new "Second Wind" heal in the x13 slot of the healing Mastery Path offers you better utility / usability than the old x13 abilities?

1. Do you feel that the proposed changes to the Mastery Paths will better encourage players to choose different paths for different play-styles.
2. Do you feel that the proposed changes to Mastery Paths will significantly hamper your existing play-style?
3. Do you feel that the combination of Ability changes and Mastery changes promote your role as healer / nuker hybrid enough that more dramatic mechanic changes are no longer necessary?

1. Do you believe the adjusted mechanic will significantly hamper or improve your existing play style?
2. Do you believe the adjusted mechanic will better support the healer / nuker hybrid than the current mechanic?
3. Do you feel that the mechanic is effective but not obtrusive to game play?
4. Do you feel that the loss of quick-cast spells is not made-up for by the increase in power represented in the mechanic?

Roadmap Overview

The goal for the adjustment is to allow the Shaman / Archmages to become viable healers and nukers, but not necessarily be able to excel at both at the same time, because to do so would make them entirely too powerful in comparison to the other RDPS or healing careers. In addition, we wanted to work in a way for the AM / SH careers to generally be a bit more survivable, but they will have to sacrifice a little DPS or HPS to do so.

This idea has some significant differences from the way the careers are presented currently, but we feel that it makes for a much stronger presentation without radically changing the way most players actually play (dedicated healers).  Ultimately, we want to give the Archmage and Shaman more viable options than simply standing back and spamming heals.  Please keep in mind that this is an early design and that your feedback at this stage is extremely important to us. 

Because of the scope of changes involved, we have split the Archmage / Shaman changes into three patches. Of course these deadlines may change, shortening or lengthening the time between updates. This depends primarily on the feedback we obtain from you, the community, as well as via game-play testing (both internal and public). Below is the general timeframe for the updates. Specific details will be supplied  further in the post.

Patch 1.2.1 - "First Steps" Balance Adjustments

This includes details that we would adjust and clean up regardless of the direction we take with Mechanic or Mastery Paths. These changes focus primarily on the increase of base damage and some small adjustments to limited abilities.

Patch 1.3 - Mastery Path Re-shuffle

These changes focus around changing Mastery Paths to represent distinct play styles. This includes some replacement of less-used abilities and Tactics.

Patch 1.3.1 - Mechanic Revamp

These are the final changes that re-enforce the changes made in 1.2.1 and 1.3, and further solidify the role of each of the three Mastery Paths. This includes adjustments to the base values of abilities that make them work with the new mechanic, and the replacement of numerous Tactics that become out-of-date with the mechanic change.

( 1.2.1 ) Initial Balance Updates

Overall Goal

There are a number of changes that can be pushed to live regardless of the more dramatic changes potentially in-store for the Archmage and Shaman careers further down the line. As such, we felt that it was in the players' best interests to get a smaller partial update out early that slightly improves the careers as we finalize and thoroughly test the remaining changes.

1. Increased "Base" Damage for Damage Abilities - Damage on both the AM / SH is low, even when compared to other healers. As such, a moderate increase to damage will happen regardless of further changes.
2. Replace x13 Healing Mastery Ability - Both the Archmage's "Magical infusion" and the Shaman's "Shrug It Off" will be given a more useful effect in addition to something more unique and only available to the AM / SH healers.

Archmages and Shaman will see around a 25% increase in most damage spells. Below is an example of improved spell damage for the Archmage. Shamans will see similar gains across the board on their spells.

1.2 Radiant Lance

 

• Base tooltip value of 299 damage at Rank 40.
• Actual damage of 265 for an Archmage with an average of 600 Intelligence, casting on a target that has 400 Toughness and 30% Resist.

 

1.2.1 Radiant Lance

 

• Base tooltip value of 399 damage at Rank 40.
• Actual damage of 335 for an Archmage with an average of 600 Intelligence casting on a target that has 400 Toughness and 30% Resist.

The old effects of both of these abilities have been removed. Both abilities have been completely replaced with a new "Second Wind" healing effect that will place a buff on the target, and if the target drops below 15% HP, it heals them for a large amount and then is removed. Below are some more details on this change.

• It is instant cast, with a 30 second duration, and a 60 second cool down.
• It costs 55 AP.
• It buffs a friendly target for up to 30 seconds. If the target drops below 15% HP (and is still alive), it heals them for a base value of 1,350 (at full Mastery at Rank 40) and the buff is removed.

For comparison, the 2.5 second heal that the AM / SH have will heal for a base value of 1,125 before stats at Rank 40 with full Mastery.

( 1.3 ) Proposed Mastery Path Adjustments

Overview

The current Mastery Paths offer AM/SH players with three choices. Those choices are:

• Healing
• Damage
• Buff / Debuff

While useful, a Buff / Debuff path does not encourage Mastery, and when a player does specialize in this path, they are fairly crippled in their primary role of healing or doing damage. As such, we will re-structure the Mastery Paths so that the third path better complements healers by providing some much-needed damage while healing, and complements nukers with some support healing while nuking. The existing Buffs / Debuffs will be re-distributed out between the three paths to give each one support. The roles of the new Mastery Paths will look something like this:

1. Pure Healing
2. Pure Damage
3. Mixed Healing / Damage (Lifetaps)

In addition, we will be retiring one of the less-used abilities in favor of a new x13 ability that is specific to the new mixed-spec path.

Core Abilities

• Rank 3 - Lambent Aura
• Rank 7 - Dissipating Hatred
• Rank 10 - Gift of Life
• Rank 14 - Walk Between Worlds
• Rank 16 - Cleansing Light
• Rank 25 - Wind Blast

 

Path of Isha - Focused Healing

 

• Rank 1 - Healing Energy
• Rank 7 - Prismatic Shield
• Rank 8 - Boon of Hysh
• Rank 20 - Blessing of Isha
• Rank 40 - Rain Lord
• Mastery x5 - Mistress of the Marsh
• Mastery x9 - Funnel Essence
• Mastery x13 - Magical Infusion

 

Path of Asuryan - Focused Damage

 

• Rank 1 - Radiant Lance
• Rank 2  Law of Conductivity
• Rank 6 - Searing Touch
• Rank 12 - Radiant Gaze
• Rank 30 - Fury of Asuryan
• Mastery x5 - Cleansing Flare
• Mastery x9 - Scatter the Winds
• Mastery x13 - Dissipating Energies

 

Path of Vaul - Lifetaps / Personal Survival

 

• Rank 4 - Balance Essence
• Rank 5 - Shield of Saphery
• Rank 9 - Transfer Force
• Rank 18 - Drain Magic
• Rank 35 - Law of Age
• Mastery x5 - Storm of Cronos
• Mastery x9 - Law of Gold
• Mastery x13 - *NEW ABILITY*

 

General details for new spell

 

• The new Mastery x13 ability will be a targeted AoE ability that drains health from an area and restores it to your defensive target. The more targets drained, the more health is restored.

Core Abilities

• Rank 3 - Ey, Quit Bleedin'
• Rank 7 - Look Over There!
• Rank 10 - Gedup!
• Rank 14 - Stop hittin' me!
• Rank 16 - Greener ‘n cleaner
• Rank 25 - Eeeek!

 

Path of Mork - Focused Healing

 

• Rank 1 - Gork'll Fix It
• Rank 7 - Mork's Buffer
• Rank 8 - Bigger, Better, An' Greener
• Rank 20 - Gather Round
• Rank 40 - Yer A Weaklin'
• Mastery x5 - Sticky Feetz
• Mastery x9 - Do Sumfin Useful
• Mastery x13 - Shrug It Off

 

Path of Gork - Focused Damage

 

• Rank 1 - Brain Bursta
• Rank 2  - Life Leaka
• Rank 6 - Bunch o' Waaagh
• Rank 12 - ‘Ere We Go!
• Rank 30 - Big Waaagh!
• Mastery x5 - Geddoff!
• Mastery x9 - Gork's Barbs'
• Mastery x13 - Da Waaagh! Is Coming

 

Path of Da Green- Lifetaps / Personal Survival

 

• Rank 4 - I'll Take That!
• Rank 5 - Don' Feel Nuthin
• Rank 9 - Bleed Fer' Me
• Rank 18 - Yer Not So Bad
• Rank 35 - You'z Squishy
• Mastery x5 - Scuse Me!
• Mastery x9 - You Got Nuthin!
• Mastery x13 - *NEW ABILITY*

 

General details for new spell

 

• The new Mastery x13 ability will be a targeted AoE ability that drains health from an area and restores it to your defensive target. The more targets drained, the more health is restored.

( 1.3.1) Proposed Mechanic Revamp 

Overview

The final of our proposed changes is a complete revamp of the mechanic for the Archmage and Shaman careers. This is currently the least "set-in-stone" change and the one we are the most interested in gathering feedback from players on. This change represents a complete 180 from the current mechanic and would significantly alter the AM/SH ability to play as a super-dedicated healer or face-melting nuker.

Many of the final ability adjustments and Tactic revamps will occur simultaneously with this change so that all of the final balance values support and enhance the new mechanic.

In short, we'll go back to the existing mechanic and make a few more minor tweaks. In addition, we will do a final balance pass on ability values / use, as well as revamp the least-used Tactics with the existing mechanic.

Current 1.2 Mechanic 

For this example, we will be using the Archmage, but the exact same changes will occur on the Shaman.

Currently (on 1.2 live), abilities are classified as a Tranquility (heals) or Force (nukes)  ability.  When you cast an ability, the type is checked.  If you have Force points built up and are casting a Force ability, you gain another Force point.  If you have Force points and are casting a Tranquility ability, you "use" those Force points to increase the cast time of the Tranquility ability (if it is an instant-cast ability, it gains in effectiveness) and vice-versa if you are casting a Tranquility abilities.  The result is that if you have been nuking, your next heal is better, and if you have been healing, your next nuke is better.

1.3.1 Revised Mechanic 

The new mechanic changes this behavior away from having to nuke to make heals better to one that reinforces focusing on just heals or just nukes.  We would switch to a seven-point mechanic scale, running from three Tranquility to three Force (3 to -3, if you want to look at it like that).  At each point, the mechanic grants an effectiveness bonus or penalty to abilities, based on what path the spell is coming from.  The bottom chart shows the example bonuses, with +3 being full Tranquility and -3 being full Force.

• +3: 160% of Path 1 (Isha)   | 70% of Path 2 (Asuryan)      | 100% of Path 3 (Vaul)
• +2: 130% of Path 1 (Isha)   | 85% of Path 2 (Asuryan)      | 115% of Path 3 (Vaul)
• +1: 115% of Path 1 (Isha)   | 92.5% of Path 2 (Asuryan)   | 130% of Path 3 (Vaul)
•   0: 100% of Path 1 (Isha)   | 100% of Path 2 (Asuryan)    | 160% of Path 3 (Vaul)
•  -1: 92.5% of Path 1 (Isha)  | 115% of Path 2 (Asuryan)    | 130% of Path 3 (Vaul)
•  -2: 85% of Path 1 (Isha)     | 130% of Path 2 (Asuryan)    | 115% of Path 3 (Vaul)
•  -3: 70% of Path 1 (Isha)     | 160% of Path 2 (Asuryan)    | 100% of Path 3 (Vaul)

Each time you cast an ability from Path 1 (Isha), you gain a point.

Each time you cast an ability from Path 2 (Asuryan), you lose a point.

Each time you cast an ability from Path 3 (Vaul), you move a point closer to 0. (So, if you are positive it subtracts one point, and if you are negative it adds one point.)

When envisioning this on the UI, just imagine that the Current Tranquility shows a positive count, and the Current Force shows a negative count. As such, if you have -3 on this chart, the UI would show +3 Force.

Along with the new mechanic and reorganization, the base values of some spells would have to change to meet our new needs.  Because heals would be getting a large boost when maxed from the mechanic, we would lower the base value of all heals.  The goal is that the "2" point in the system, that heals under the new system are equivalent to what they are now base.  This would allow an Archmage who is at full Tranquility (+3) to be slightly more effective than he or she is currently without totally inflating the healing per second value.

Examples of Ability Performance under new Mechanic

Boon of Hysh

 

• 1.2 Value: Base tooltip value of 1,125 at Rank 40. With 700 Willpower, that would result in a heal of 1,545.
• New Values (Using the same 700 Willpower)
  • Base tooltip value of 820
  • 3 Tranquility: 1,984
  • 2 Tranquility: 1,612
  • 1 Tranquility: 1,426
  • 0 (Balanced): 1,240
  • 1 Force: 1,153
  • 2 Force: 1,054
  • 3 Force: 868

 

 Radiant Gaze

 

• 1.2 Value: Base tooltip value of 648 at Rank 40. With 600 Intelligence against a target that has 400 Toughness and 30% Resist, the result  would be 573 damage over 9 seconds.
• New Values (Using the same 200 Stat Advantage and moving to the Asuryan Path)
  • Base tooltip value of 648
  • 3 Tranquility: 401
  • 2 Tranquility: 187
  • 1 Tranquility: 530
  • 0 (Balanced): 573
  • 1 Force: 659
  • 2 Force: 745
  • 3 Force: 915

 

 Radiant Lance

 

• 1.2 Value: Base tooltip value of 299 at Rank 40. With 600 Intelligence against a target that has 400 Toughness and 30% Resist, the result would be 265 damage.
• New Values (Using the same 200 Stat Advantage and moving to the Asuryan Path)
  • Base tooltip value of 399 (upgraded base value)
  • 3 Tranquility: 235
  • 2 Tranquility: 285
  • 1 Tranquility: 310
  • 0 (Balanced): 335
  • 1 Force: 385
  • 2 Force: 436
  • 3 Force: 536

 

Balance Essence

 

• 1.2 Value: Base tooltip value of 249 at Rank 40. With 600 Intelligence against a target that has 400 Toughnessand 30% Resist, the result would be 230 damage and healing.
• New Values (Using the same 200 Stat Advantage and moving to the Vaul Path)
  • Base tooltip value of 249
  • 3 Tranquility: 230
  • 2 Tranquility: 265
  • 1 Tranquility: 299
  • 0 (Balanced): 368
  • 1 Force: 299
  • 2 Force: 265
  • 3 Force: 230

Question : I don't see any mention of improvements to Tactics, will there be further changes to AM / SH tactics in addition to the changes summarized?

Answer : Yes we intend to do a thorough pass on all Tactics, however this is heavily dependent on the Mastery Path and Mechanic changes. As such we will not be going into detail on this until we've finalized that these features will or will no go live.

Reserved for Q&A Posts #2

Hey all,

There is a lot to read and digest in the posts above, please remember that your participation on this thread is expected to be civil and constructive. You're welcome to disagree with the decisions we're looking at but there is no need to be rude or obnoxious. We want your feedback and look forward to discussing your thoughts and ours together. Please help us in keeping this thread clean and remain on topic.

Always remember, that while we might not be talking about your specific career, or topic we are constantly working to provide new and interesting developer discussions. Please do not impede on a thread to share your point of view if it doesn't pertain to the topic being discussed. Your patience and cooperation in this matter allows us to do more of these on a regular basis.

In the event that anyone is unable to follow our request please be reminded that you will lose your ability to participate in this and all future discussions in the Developer Roundtable area. While we hope that doesn't need to happen please keep it in mind before posting

Thanks for your support and enjoy the conversation, have fun!

James Nichols
Community Forums Manager
Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning
Follow me on twitter: @JamesMythic

Maybe I'm alone in this, but the mechanic changes are the exact opposite of what I wanted to see. I loved the idea of the AM/S being flexable casters that are more powerful if they switch back and forth between types of spells, and are weakened if they focus on only one. The new mechanic would outright destroy that idea, and I'm absolutley not a fan of it. I think the mechanic revamp is a step in the exactly wrong direction.

Sorry, that post wasn't up to protocol, here's more:

Baseline adjustments: 8. While it's a good idea, I don't know how Archmages and Shamen are weak compared to other healers in the damage department. RL and BB do the same amount of damage as RoS and Scorge. In addition, the AM/S have lots of additional damage spellsthat the RP/ZE don't have that can add some damage. Against single targets, my AM has always done more damage than my RP. The only thing that mattered was that my RP had spammable/constant AoE that could make fighting multiple monsters easier.

Magical Infusion/Shrug it off: 10. Magical Infusion is terrible, and Shrug it Off isn't much better. Off topic, and I'm sorry, but you also have to worry about Shrug it Off's mirror if you change it.

Mastery Paths: 6. Some of the individual changes are good, like Cleansing Flare at x5 and the revamp of the Vaul path, but I worry that adding a personal survivability path will hurt the careers in the long run. The AoE lifetap may simplify play, too, but it could become another braindead AoE ability; just like the several other braindead AoE abilities. It's nice, and is the sort of thing I think the AM/S need to establish the battlefield presence they should have, but I worry that it could degrade the AM into another One-Button-Wonder once battles start to get big.

 Mechanic Revamp: 1. As I said, I may be alone here. But that is a bad idea. It reverses the entire idea that the AM/S was sold on, a balanced caster who is at its best when blending damage and healing. It would enforce boring playstyles, focusing on one aspect rather than the full spectrum of abilities the classes would have avalable to them. It forces specialization, rather than encouraging diversity. Not a fan at all.

Nice to see the roadmap for these two classes, it seems very interesting and a VERY good buff, I guess we'll have to actually test this one in the PTS before further feedback, this seems like too much a change to reply based only in theory crafting hehe!

But, very good to know you're willing to completely rethink a class if you see that it's performing badly.

---

Kentaro wrote:

Nice to see the roadmap for these two classes, it seems very interesting and a VERY good buff, I guess we'll have to actually test this one in the PTS before further feedback, this seems like too much a change to reply based only in theory crafting hehe!

 

But, very good to know you're willing to completely rethink a class if you see that it's performing badly.

---

Agreed. I'm looking forward to when other classes get this same treatment, and I'm very glad to see the AM/Shaman getting looked at. Even without the mechanic change, things are at least looking much better.

Sweet these are good info for the Much needed help on AM.

Hopefully this can be done on other classes that need help 

Looks good overall. Ive been pushing for a sliding scale for a while. (reference thread: Mechanic discussion on Archmage Board )

The one problem I have with this system is that the first two trees are punished by it. They should both match vaul and can only get reduced to a maximum of 100% effectiveness (so -3 force would put isha skills at 100%).  

The 1.31 mechanic revamp seems to be the right direction for the Archmage.

My only concern lies in whether or not the Vaul Path has enough of both healing/damage to compensate for being too far along one side of the -3 to 3 slider.

Example:  Archmage is at +3 from casting several healing spells.  Tides of battle are turning and the AM decides to cast some damage spells.  If the damage comes from Asuryan, it is automatically reduced.  If, however, the damge spell comes from Vaul there is no reduction below 100% of base damage.

This idea works just fine so long as Vaul has enough of both healing and damage to facilitate a switch in roles from healer to damage dealer.

I'm liking the first two phases.  The mechanic change looks good on paper, but the one we have no does also.

Hard to say.

I'd have to say, overall...I am liking the mechanic changes.  Can't wait to try them out.

Kudos!

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Draygo wrote:

Looks good overall. Ive been pushing for a sliding scale for a while. (reference thread: Mechanic discussion on Archmage Board )

 

The one problem I have with this system is that the first two trees are punished by it. They should both match vaul and can only get reduced to a maximum of 100% effectiveness (so -3 force would put isha skills at 100%).  

---

Unfortunately allowing abilities to go "Negative" is the only way we can allow AM / SH to compete with RDPS or more focused healers in their respective categories. We cannot (and will not) make the mistake of allowing a career to pump up their damage to close to RDPS levels for a penalty of being only as good as the other healers at healing (And vice versa)

That is one of the major crux of the issue with the Current AM / SH... They get to be less then mediocre DPS and solid (but not stellar) healers.

That being said allowing for an infrequent reversal (IE somthing that switches you immediately from Tranquility to Force or vice versa) is somthing we're considering with the new mechanic, however it would be a very rare one time a fight at best situation.

-Adam

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Kuro wrote:

The 1.31 mechanic revamp seems to be the right direction for the Archmage.

 

My only concern lies in whether or not the Vaul Path has enough of both healing/damage to compensate for being too far along one side of the -3 to 3 slider.

 

Example:  Archmage is at +3 from casting several healing spells.  Tides of battle are turning and the AM decides to cast some damage spells.  If the damage comes from Asuryan, it is automatically reduced.  If, however, the damge spell comes from Vaul there is no reduction below 100% of base damage.

 

This idea works just fine so long as Vaul has enough of both healing and damage to facilitate a switch in roles from healer to damage dealer.

---

Don't forget that the AM/SH has plenty of spammable healing and spammable damage spells to facilitate a quick swap from full healing (+3) to full damage (-3). For example, seven Lambent Auras only takes a few seconds to cast, and if that AM needs to suddenly deal a little bit of damage, he/she has the mixed path to lean on.

• 1.2.1 - Damage Boost
  • I don't think the damage is going to help the healers out there. They already ignore the mechanic as it is. Adding more damage is not going to make them better healers, nor pay attention to the mechanic. On a scale of 1 to 10, I rank this as a 1. Not desirable.
  • I don't believe this will help the mechanic issues. Having someone cast 3 heal spells just to cast a powerful nuke doesn't make sense.
• 1.2.1 - Second Wind
  • The concept for the spell is fantastic. But I really don't think it is going to be worthwhile. If it lasted longer than 30 seconds, and the cooldown took place AFTER the spell had expired (or if it was used) then maybe.
  • Assuming the average player has 6000 - 8000 HP, you're talking about firing off at roughly 900-1200 HP left. With lag, or a decent crit (many I've seen easily exceed 1,200) I don't see this being useful. If it fired off at 25% maybe it would be more useful.
  • If the person is under such heavy fire, they're goign to die anyway, and this seems like it would be a waste. It shouldn't save a person from dying if 10 people are beating on them, obviously, so I don't know what a compromise is.
• 1.3 - Mastery Revamp
  • I personally didn't see many issues with the mastery lines. It was pretty obvious which ones were healing, and which ones were damaging.
  • My playstyle is healing. I'm going to heal. I'll spec the same line as I did before, so no, just changing these up won't hamper my style.
  • No. The changes do not forgo the necessity of a mechanic change. With the above changes, people will still ignore the mechanic. If someone can take 5 seconds to cast 3 damage abilities, they aren't really needed as a healer. If I do that in my group, people die.
• 1.3.1 - Mechanic Revamp
  • I'm all for this mechanic change. It needs to happen in order to encourage people to vary their play-style. The pong mechanic right now doesn't allow someone to hold any weight when they get to that destination (whether hard damage, or hard healing)
  • It sounds relatively unobtrusive. Time will tell I suppose.

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Draygo wrote:

Looks good overall. Ive been pushing for a sliding scale for a while. (reference thread: Mechanic discussion on Archmage Board )

 

The one problem I have with this system is that the first two trees are punished by it. They should both match vaul and can only get reduced to a maximum of 100% effectiveness (so -3 force would put isha skills at 100%).  

It makes sense, though. If you're in a balanced path you dont suffer as much as a specialized healer/nuker when you switch roles - since you're already in the middle. 

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Rancidmilk wrote:

• • I don't believe this will help the mechanic issues. Having someone cast 3 heal spells just to cast a powerful nuke doesn't make sense.

---

But the mechanic revamp addresses this

Folks,

I know everyone's inclination is to give this a quick read then enter their 2 cents ASAP. However please keep in mind we have some focus questions that we'd specifically like answered. When replying please try to directly answer the focus questions, this will help us better monitor the thread and move it foward into more detailed or diffrent discussion routes.

Thanks

-Adam