Curse

Photeus · Sep 28, 2005, 12:27 PM // 12:27

Stats:

Typical Armor: 75 defense (Decreases Protection from Melee Attacks) (+20 vs Peircing) -Mid Grade.

Health: (Same as everyone else, 480 at max, unmodded)

Energy: 2 Regen and 40 max (without focus)

Attributes:

Primary - Focusing: If interrupted while using spells, there is a 4% chance the interruption will fail per level of Focusing. Energy regen while using Continuous Cast spells increases depending on level of Focusing (1-4)

Explaination: Focusing is the art of the Daemon concentrating his thoughts and power into each of his spells. This skill makes him very difficult to interrupt, and allows him to counter his poor natural regeneration when using Continuous Cast spells from a minimum of one pip (3 total) to a maximum of 4 pips (6 total).

Continous Cast spells: These spells have a normal casting time, cost, and recharge like all spells, however they also have a duration time involved. During this duration, the Daemon remains in his casting animation and the effects of the spell continue. Such spells may cause DoT effects (Such as damage per .5 second of the duration time), Status attacks over time (such as a chain of statuses, one every 2-3 seconds), or other effects. These spells are very powerful, and the Daemon usually has increase energy regeneration while in the Duration time of the spell. However, the Daemon can be interrupted during the duration time, and the spell will end. For example:

Lightning Wrath: For a duration of x seconds (4-10) target foe takes x lightning damage (4-10) every .5 second. This damage cannot be reduced (meaning minus damage per hit gear doesn't affect it) and has 25% armor penetration (meaning that the damage is affected by armor, but does some piercing) Cost: 15 energy, 2 second cast, 20 second recharge (total cast time is 12 seconds in which interruption can defeat the attack)

Ok, I have something that just came up, so I will continue this post later, but feel free to submit peliminary ideas for now, some of the most important stuff is currently posted.

Mr Wolfmaster · Sep 28, 2005, 08:36 PM // 20:36

Sounds kinda cool. A Channeling spell would be the correct name for "continuous cast" I think. I've seen that name used in warcraft for the same type of thing. The only thing I potentally see wrong with this is the fact that...he's a daemon. I mean that's not even human is it? Although I suppose it doesn't have to be. Plus a daemon seems kinda like a simbol of pure evil. Although I suppose they do have necros...

Basicly I think it's an alright idea and the only thing I might not like are a few of the unimportant issues I listed.

NatalieD · Sep 29, 2005, 06:01 AM // 06:01

Quote:

Originally Posted by Photeus

Typical Armor: 75 defense (Decreases Protection from Melee Attacks) (+20 vs Peircing)

Primary - Focusing: If interrupted while using spells, there is a 4% chance the interruption will fail per level of Focusing.

Y'know, if you're having trouble beating rangers, there are simpler solutions than making up a new class.

Photeus · Sep 29, 2005, 12:25 PM // 12:25

This class is just supposed to be a 'tankish-caster' of sorts. His direct weakness is warriors, but is strong against interruption and has many very power (but due to continuous casting very slow) attacks. For example, I was thinking that using continuous cast, you could make an instant kill spell 'fair' (since it can be interrupted in the duration, and would kill the user also, not to mention be elite and possibly disable the casters skills for 30 seconds..so it can't be used lightly)

Also, I forgot to mention skills such as the one I described, if they are projectile in nature will effect an area. The area I had in mind was line area of effect (LAoE), such that anything in a straight line from you to your target, including the target are damaged by the duration of the spell. Sort of a 'beam' weapon, which no class in the game currenly possess and would be more viable for PvP. Not to mention, while using such a skill you are effectively disabled for the duration of the effect. Thus it is definitely not a cast-and-forget spell.

I just got the idea for the mechanics and wanted to introduce something with different mechanics than other classes, and longer allow-ability of interruption (to prevent non-Daemons from even using the skills possibly). In addition, give the class a very useful primary skill that allows those continuous casts to be effective and be beneficial to use (while disabled, mana recharges faster).

Also, I was going to allow the Daemon to have a skillset for Claw/Glove weapons. The mechanics of such weapons would be really simple. It'd take two hands, the weapons would give +armor and/or(depending on fairness) +energy (8 armor at max and/or +7 energy at max) and cause comparable-yet-less damage to swords and axes, and possibly be faster. This skill, unlike the Warriors weaponry skills, would be more useful to a secondary character, while most of the Destruction magic skills (such as the lightning skill described) would be better used as Daemon primary.

As for the damage claw weapons would deal, it'd be one hit, one set of damage (the animation would be two hits, not unlike many sword and axe skills now)

As for the Daemon being 'demonic' or not being human, I reply that it is just a class. I'm just using the word to more describe a job than anything. Destructionist was my second idea, and wouldn't be bad. But basically the whole idea of the class is basically for the anti-heros that need more of a punch than necromancers usually deal. This character, being weak to warriors would also be very interesting in PvP due to the fact that you'd have to decide which first: Monk or Daemon?

A lot of this class' abilities will also make it look like a hybrid Necro-Ele on some really dangerous steriods. The idea is to basically have a nearly-suicidal character that is very unpredictable. He might crush your party, send in some freaky hexes, such as one idea I've come up with that would remove a specific condition and attack a foe with a appropriate counter attack "If you have deep wound on you, deep wound is removed and target foe takes damage equal to 20% of your health." or (based on a 'charge counter' idea that has been suggested for other classes) "Enchant: If you are blind, this skill gains a charge every time you 'miss'. After 3 charges, remove blind, and your next attack cannot miss and does triple damage if your foe is above 50% of their health.

Or fun Claw/Glove skills like this: "-Wound Mind- (10) Adrenal melee attack: You do no damage with this attack, but if target has above 50% energy, they are caused Exhaustion. (Thus this skill can half someone's max energy but no more, for a high adrenal cost)

Or another one: "-Destructive Punch- (20 energy, 30 second recharge) melee attack: All Enchantments, Hexes, Stances, Preparations, Skills, Shouts, and Glyphs on you and target are removed when this attack hits. You and target are knocked down."

Long post...but just wanted to explain more. I have a lot of ideas with this class.

Photeus · Sep 29, 2005, 12:28 PM // 12:28

And yes, he is meant as a class that specifically Rangers and generally Mesmers will have trouble with. The game has no good counter to interruption, besides interruption, so this character will be the anti-interruption class. Note, he can still be knocked down, but some of his skills might allow for nasty tricks when that happens. This is countered by the fact that he should be more easily handled by Elemental and especially melee attacks.

BigTru · Sep 29, 2005, 12:42 PM // 12:42

Quote:

Originally Posted by Photeus

Lightning Wrath: For a duration of x seconds (4-10) target foe takes x lightning damage (4-10) every .5 second. This damage cannot be reduced (meaning minus damage per hit gear doesn't affect it) and has 25% armor penetration (meaning that the damage is affected by armor, but does some piercing) Cost: 15 energy, 2 second cast, 20 second recharge (total cast time is 12 seconds in which interruption can defeat the attack)

Ok... I'm kinda confused on this one... You say it's a 2 second cast, then a 12 second cast...

Secondly, this is incredibly overpowered... Firstly, it ignores the damage reduction of armor... yet it also has armor piercing... yeah, ok.

At level 12, it does 200 damage (NOT COUNTING ARMOR PIERCING)... Daemon Spiker teams? Nah... only need 2-3.

If you're saying that this spells weakness is it's cast time, then I guess Mesmer/Daemon would be the new FoTM build?

Arcanis the Omnipotent · Sep 29, 2005, 07:13 PM // 19:13

Yes, the problem with this kind of build is he wouldnt be allowed to have very high damage at all. And especially not things like Lightning with armor penetration.

A Continuous Cast is too much like a Maintained Enchantment. Now if this could be used in a way like you did a Maintained Hex, where the opponent couldnt cast a certain type of spell (For Mesmers Domination Magic is halted, or Fire Magic cant be used for Elementalists) that would be an interesting field.

But too much this just almost delves into a character that builds onto the Mesmer/Monk ideas. Bending the rules, and maintaining the bend.

THEIvo · Sep 29, 2005, 10:51 PM // 22:51

I like the idea of maintaining a spell by actually beeig occupied with maintaining it

you have got some really cool ideas
/bow

Photeus · Sep 30, 2005, 11:44 AM // 11:44

Quote:

Originally Posted by BigTru

Ok... I'm kinda confused on this one... You say it's a 2 second cast, then a 12 second cast...

Secondly, this is incredibly overpowered... Firstly, it ignores the damage reduction of armor... yet it also has armor piercing... yeah, ok.

At level 12, it does 200 damage (NOT COUNTING ARMOR PIERCING)... Daemon Spiker teams? Nah... only need 2-3.

If you're saying that this spells weakness is it's cast time, then I guess Mesmer/Daemon would be the new FoTM build?

Ok, allow me to explain.

This spell is more of an anti-protection magic skill, and to keep warriors taking a fair ammount of damage. (Well runed warriors could reduce it by 3, and shielding hands itself can nullify completely without the little bonus) Besides, it'll be the only lightning damage spell this character has regardless.

At level 12, this attack deals 13 damage every .5 seconds (26 damage a second) to 60 armor. (Lets say Elementalist in Pyro gear)
Same level, this attack deals 10 damage every .5 seconds (20 damage a second) to 80 armor (Lets say a Warrior)
Same level, this attack deals 8 damage every .5 seconds (16 damage a second) to 100 armor (Lets say a Ranger wearing Lightning gear)

It's anything but a spike. It's damage over time that can be stacked with degen, that's more of the purpose. The counter is either lots of regen, interrupt the caster (in his total of 12 second time using the spell), the caster being 'disabled' (downfall of using it), killing the caster (I hope to God you can down someone that takes double physical in 10 seconds), or heal through it (You can't heal 200+ DoT damage within 10 seconds?). If it's not fair, we can up the recharge time, ammount spent, cast time, duration it lasts (but 20 second continuous cast would be too much, making this skill undesirable), but it's not really a spike at all.

Yes, it only takes two seconds to fire. However to maintain the full-length casting time, it takes 10 seconds. Imagine using Firestorm, and in this hypothetical situation, it only takes 2 seconds to finish the cast. However, you are stuck continuing the cast for it's duration (until it's finished), so you can be interrupted, you can be knocked down, you can be KILLED during the cast time, prematurely ending it. That's how this works. It would have no conflict with a mesmer, because the cast time is 2 seconds (at 16 fast-cast, it'd be 1). You still have to 'fire' it for the remaining 10 seconds. In addition, the new fix to Glyph of Renewal wouldn't hurt this either, as even at instant cast, you still are 'stuck' for 10 seconds. This would be a SEVERE disadvantage because it makes you target #1, since you can't defend yourself (besides using stances or shouts, for example), except that the primary attribute makes these spells cause you to have increased energy regen AND that you have a enhanced chance to avoid interruption while continuous casting. This would make it so that it's undesirable to use these skills as a non-Daemon.

BigTru · Sep 30, 2005, 12:32 PM // 12:32

Ok... so what do we do about Matra of Resolve and Glymph and of concentration?

Photeus · Sep 30, 2005, 05:14 PM // 17:14

Well, Mantra of Resolve, if I have the right mantra, counters ALL interuption and the target loses energy instead. Right now, I can't access the site descriptions here on guru, but there is also another stance that makes you uninterruptable, and when you are interrupted, the stance ends. Also, Glyph of Concentration would make these skills completely interruptable, it seems.

As for Glyph, I can give a good answer. Glyph of Concentration, when it comes to Continuous cast spells, such as the one in particular I described, will only have effect on the casting time. So, for example, lets say you're dazed and cast this spell. Dazed effect is ignored so spell casts as usual and cannot be interrupted (at all due to the Glyph). However, during the casting duration, the dazed effect works as normal (since the Glyph is innactive now).

Mantra of Persistance (which I think is the one that cancels and defeats an interrupt) would simply stop one intial interrupt (whether it came during cast time or during continuous time) and then be gone. It could be reapplied while in mid cast either way, but would work as normal.

Mantra of Resolve is a real problem. But then again...why is anti-interruption such a huge problem? This class is resistant to interruption and there were plenty of ways of countering the damage from the skill itself. This class would have huge benefits from Mantra of Resolve, this is true. The extra regen would make the mana loss negligible and the extra interruption would give you a 100% interruption defense.

Try killing a Ranger with Elemental attacks alone. It's hard to do.
Try killing a Warrior with Physical attacks alone, again, hard to do.
Try killing a Monk with only damage, nearly impossible to do.

Honestly, this will be a very powerful combo. Honestly, I don't think it's a huge problem. Yes, it basically beats interruption, but that is the class' intent. I understand if you feel it's overpowered, but I, playing too much Elementalist for my own good, believe that Rangers are overpowered. Are they really? Or was it just that my Fireballs are much less effective against them (to the point of worthlessness)?