Curse

Plague · Jan 21, 2006, 05:47 PM // 17:47

Synopsis: Visionaries are effective support classes for hexers, healers and damage dealers. Rather than performing direct-damage to enemies, or even direct support to allies, the Visionary supports the environment and locations. In this effect, the Visionary can act as a long-range trapper, or can deny access to parts of the map, or simply accessorize attacks, all through enchantment-like "bindings."

A "binding" is an accessorization to a player, environmental object, enemy, or minions/npcs/pets/allies that possess its own energy, which it drains over time.

Natural statistics at level 20:

Health: 320
Energy: 30

Primary Attribute Line:

*Influence - for every point of influence, you gain 1 energy every time a binding loses energy

Secondary Attribute Lines:

*Implication - alters the potency of environmental objects such as traps, spirits, wards and wells
*Reasoning - directly affects the environment and locations
*Praise - raises the potency of allied attacks and defenses
*Blame - diminishes the potency of enemy attacks and defenses

Skill Examples:

Influence:

Bound by Chains
15 Energy
2 Cast Time
60 second recharge
-Every time a binding loses energy, it gains back (1...3) energy for (6...20) seconds.

Implication:

Spirit of Denial
15 Energy
7 Cast Time
20 second recharge
-The nearest nearby spirit is bound with (5...20) energy. For each spirit in the host spirit's area, all spirits experience health degeneration equal to that, maximum 10. Each time the host spirit is attacked, the binding loses 5 energy or Spirit of Denial ends.

Supplanting Well
10 Energy
2 Cast Time
10 second recharge
-The nearest active well is relocated to your current targeted enemy or ally and its active time is diminished by 33%. If that well negatively targets allies, after (7...1) seconds, it will then target your enemies.

Overtaking Growth
20 Energy
6 Cast Time
30 second recharge
-For each trap in the area, maximum (3...10), all traps incurr an additional 2 damage when triggered, and expand their range by 5%, maximum (5...20)%.

Reasoning:

Burning Defense
10 Energy
1 Cast Time
30 second recharge
-All nearby areas that cause fire damage are bound with (5...25) energy. For each time a player in these areas would take damage or suffer a condition, they instead gain +5 armor for (5...15) seconds, and the binding loses 5 energy or Burning Defense ends.

Freezing Point
10 Energy
1/4 Cast Time
15 second recharge
-All enemies in the area afflicted with Drenched are interrupted, and their movement is reduced by 90% for (1...5) seconds. This skill causes exhaustion.

Approaching Wave
5 Energy
0 Cast Time
5 second recharge
-After (5...1) seconds, all creatures standing in water are Drenched for 5seconds.

*"Drenched" is an invented condition that causes the affected player to sustain more lightning damage by 10%.

Praise:

Bleeding Heart
10 Energy
1 Cast Time
5 second recharge
-For (2...10) seconds, all of target ally's attacks have a (5...30)% chance of causing Bleeding.

Shadow's Narration
25 Energy
1/4 Cast Time
60 second recharge
-If target ally is casting an attack spell, that ally is bound with (5...25) energy. After 5 seconds, Shadow's Narration will recast that spell on the same target for the cost of the original spell, or Shadow's Narration ends. If the original spell causes exhaustion, Shadow's Narration ends.

Group Revelation
15 Energy
1 Cast Time
20 second recharge
-For (3...7) seconds, every time an ally afflicted with Blindness connects with a physical attack, all allies gain (5...10)% armor penetration for 4 seconds once Group Revelation ends, maximum 16 seconds.

Blame:

Assuming Glare
15 Energy
1/4 Cast Time
5 second recharge
-If target enemy is casting a spell, that spell's attribute line's level drops to 0 for (3...10) seconds.

"Silence!"
5 Energy
Shout
60 second recharge
-For 20 seconds, all enemy shouts have no affect. Any time an enemy performs a shout, that shout is disabled for (5...15) seconds.

Ward of Immobility
5 Energy
5 Cast Time
60 second recharge
-If attacking, target enemy is teleported to your location and cannot sustain damage or attack for 3 seconds. A Ward of Immobility is created at target enemy's previous position for (10...30) seconds, disallowing any enemy from entering its borders.

actionjack · Jan 22, 2006, 01:29 AM // 01:29

Very nicely done.

Great organization, very artistic names. Overall seem fairly balance (maybe beside 1 or 2 skills). Creative in making a Hex and etc support class, since most people won't think of it. I love the Implication Line, and see lots protential in buffing those more uncommon skills.

I am still not too sure about how "Binding" work, more detail on that?
Also would be nice to describe some possible skill combos (within or with other classes)

One of the best one out there.. good job, delight full to read, hope to see more.

Hella Good · Jan 22, 2006, 02:56 AM // 02:56

Creative, yes, I like the Silence idea. That will be the end of IWAY.

benmanhaha · Jan 22, 2006, 04:36 AM // 04:36

Baboooooom!

There haven't been any good class suggestion in a couple of weeks. This one is very cool.

I do have some problems though. A V/R would turn flame traps into friggen land mines. I also think assuming glare should be elite, that is crazy good.

Also like jack said, please elaborate on this "binding."

Plague · Jan 22, 2006, 06:02 AM // 06:02

I looked back after I was done and was dissapointed I couldn't cover bindings more than I did, since I ran out of skills, but didn't want to dedicate all my examples to explaining it. Of particular direness I was want to give examples of bindings that affect hexes in various ways, repeating them or absorbing their affects, or chaining them with other hexes, or turning health degeneration into spike damage, etc.

Eye for an Eye
15 Energy
1 Cast Time
45 second recharge
-If target enemy is experiencing health regeneration, that enemy is bound with (1...15) energy for 15 seconds. For every hex the bound enemy casts, the binding repeats that hex with the host as the target for half the cost of the original spell, minimum 1.

The idea is that a binding is like a spirit, except you can't target just the binding. It doesn't have health, only energy, so it won't take damage. The only way to "damage" a binding outside of what its skill suggests is to use an energy-draining technique on what it's attached onto. Problem there I ran into is that the only way to drain energy from environmental objects like water, grass, lava, etc. would be to use another Visionary skill that globally affects energy levels. So, mesmers wouldn't be as effective sometimes.

Visually, a player affected by a binding would have a particle or "glyph" effect on them, or something to that affect.

I didn't have room to list enough skills to make combos obvious, aside from that one "Drenched" combo. Most combinations are cross-class so as to not be overpowering or limiting in what you can use. Rather than typical combos, Visionaries use a good deal of global spells that only work if enemies or allies are suffering conditions or are in a specific position on the field, or on their backs, etc. The idea is that Visionaries are map experts, and are required to observe what's going on in the field rather than just ignoring the map they're on and their placement, like many classes can.

An obvious downside is that in one-on-one combat, they're hardly effective, as unless they create preperations, they won't have have enough damage output or defensive output to be effective in combat.

Another thing to note is that while not as effective as other classes, Visionaries have a small amount of traps, spirits, shouts, etc. for a moderate amount of self-sustanence. By being less effective I don't mean that a Visionary's hexes, traps, etc aren't worth using on their own, just that they don't have obvious affects. Example:

Damning Trap
20 Energy
4 Cast Time
45 second recharge
-When triggered, after 2 seconds, any enemies nearby take 5 damage, and any enemies casting a spell are interrupted. For each point of damage sustained, that enemy loses (1...3) energy, which you gain as health.

Exertion
15 Energy
3 Cast Time
20 second recharge
-Hex spell. For (8...30) seconds, target foe and all nearby foes experience +1 health regeneration. Each time an enemy hexed with Exertion loses energy, that enemy takes 1 damage for every point of energy lost, maximum (3...14). If any enemy drops below 25% health or above 95% health, that enemy loses (1...6) energy and Exertion ends for that enemy.

Goading Shell
10 Energy
1 Cast Time
2 second recharge
-1 Energy Regeneration
-Enchantment. Target ally reduces the physical damage sustained by (1...3) nearby allies by (3...12). Goading Shell ends if another ally enchanted by Goading Shell is nearby or if the enchanted ally attacks.

And so on. You can probably guess how effective some of these could be with other spells, like Energy Surge or Protective Bond, Feast of Corruption, Wards and so on. I'm actually somewhat concerned about the skills chaining with others too well. I find myself constantly editing and backspacing because I keep thinking of ways to exploit these things.

Plague · Jan 22, 2006, 06:41 AM // 06:41

I was just going through the Ritualist's skills and noticed they have "binding rituals" that operate like spirits.

Heh, not quite the same, but oh well. Maybe I'll change "bindings" to "coupling" or something.

benmanhaha · Jan 22, 2006, 01:54 PM // 13:54

I like the binding idea. But do the bindings go from you to your target? And is it when you run out of energy they die?

actionjack · Jan 22, 2006, 06:06 PM // 18:06

I am still unsure bout Binding. Seem too complex. Won't it be same as just putting a time duration on it? Especially bounding to the enviroment part.

Bane of Mortality · Jan 22, 2006, 07:19 PM // 19:19

Nice class idea. I still want my tactician though.

Plague · Jan 22, 2006, 09:45 PM // 21:45

Mostly. I mainly wanted it to still be possible to attack them in some way, while not counting them as kills on the field or giving them too much "health."

Bane of Mortality · Jan 22, 2006, 11:29 PM // 23:29

Speaking of health, that brings up a question. Why is their max health 320? Why dont they have the standard 480 and just weaker armor?

Plague · Jan 23, 2006, 04:41 AM // 04:41

It affects sacrificing and other percentage attacks/defenses.