Conjuror's and PvP [Archive] - EQ2 Forum Archive @ EQ2Wire

xKHONSx

07-02-2006, 11:54 PM

This thread is meant for all of the Conjurors that play on one of the PvP servers. This thread would definitely get more attention in the PvP forum, but it’s not exactly the kind of attention I’m looking for. The usual response to a thread like this would be at least 20 posts of flames, but I’m looking for constructive ideas. If you can revise/expand upon some of these ideas, or have ideas of your own please feel free to post and let’s hope the right people see it. My background: <BLOCKQUOTE dir=ltr> I played EQ2 for about two months when it was first released. I got my conjuror to 46 in those two months that I did play. Every once in awhile I would sign up for a month and try a new class out, but I never really got into any of the other classes I tried. Once PvP servers were opened I rolled a new conjuror on Nagafen. I played for the first month, quit for awhile, and now I’m back playing my PvP Conjuror again. Right now I’m only level 40, but I’m already starting to feel some of the major problems that mages face. I have a decent kill versus death ratio for a mage (something like 1430 vs. 380). I don’t run since it’s usually pointless, and I’ll attack anything from green con up to orange con. I’m not afraid of dying. I’m one of those people that only enjoy playing pet classes in MMO’s, but I can already tell I’m going to start getting my [expletive haxx0red by Raijinn] handed to me quite often the higher level I get. I'm not complaining as I will continue to play my conjuror no matter how bad it does get, but it would be nice to see a little more balance.</BLOCKQUOTE> Anyway, here are some of the issues and possible fixes……. Resists: <BLOCKQUOTE dir=ltr> Any class can raise their resists through the roof with the right gear, so that basically cripples all mages. It would be nice if resists were reworked a bit. Let’s say the resist cap is 10,000. Maybe the resists should be broken up into tiers. Every 1,000 is a new tier and adds a larger chance to outright resist a spell as well as a larger chance to receive less damage. Resist Chance for outright resist % of max damage taken 0 – 999 5% 95% 1000 – 1999 10% 90% 2000 – 2999 15% 85% …… 9000 – 9999 50% 50% These are just arbitrary numbers so this may be underpowered, or overpowered, but it’s something to build off of. This actually may be the system that is in place now, but it seems like a lot of spells are outright resisted, so if this is the current system it could be tweaked a little better.</BLOCKQUOTE> Mitigation: <BLOCKQUOTE dir=ltr> Tank classes get the best of both worlds because they can raise their resists just like everyone else, and they obviously have the highest mitigation. Even the mitigation that scouts have make them extremely powerful. I know mages will never have their mitigation increased because they would become way to powerful, but maybe they could put items on the PvP vendors that increase your defensive skills. Maybe items that increase avoidance, or perhaps items that have saves on them that increase defense to piercing, slashing, or crushing damage. PvP items that slightly increase some defensive skills wouldn’t make or break PvP, but even if those items seem too powerful then just make them cost more gold and status. Instead of a level 40 item needing 25,000 faction to be available for purchase make it 30,000, or even 35,000, since it’s a powerful item.</BLOCKQUOTE> Debuffing: <BLOCKQUOTE dir=ltr> Fights don’t last very long so it’s a fruitless effort to attempt to debuff and then unleash your spells. As a mage we’re usually dead before we can get off more than one or two spells, so usually it’s best to unleash the spell and hope that it lands. Long long ago some of our spells had debuffs built right into them. Spiked Earth/Spiked Rain/Klicnik’s Bite had a debuff against piercing damage. That would be a fantastic debuff to have while using the air pet. Burning Agony/Flaming Agony/Fiery Doom had a fire debuff attached to it if my memory serves me right (I could be wrong). The shattered line used to debuff against magic damage. It would be nice to see some of these debuffs incorporated with our spells once again and implemented in PvP. It would help balance things out if done correctly.</BLOCKQUOTE> Immunity timers to roots/stuns/mezzes/stifles/knockback: <BLOCKQUOTE dir=ltr> The way it works now, or at least as far as I know, is that if you hit someone with a stun that has a duration of 10 seconds, then they will be immune to stun effects during the duration of that stun, and for 10 seconds after. It seems that sometimes you get chain stunned for entire fights, and this is because of a fundamental flaw in the game mechanics. If you have a stun that has a duration of 3 seconds then you are immune for another 3 seconds afterward, which if you actually last that long (meaning you are in a group with at least one healer) you’ll just be stunned again almost immediately. So this system actually favors stuns with shorter durations since the immunity timer is shorter. Yes a seven second stun will give you more time to attack while your opponent is defenseless, but then they get a longer immunity timer to stuns. Maybe immunity timers should be readjusted to last longer regardless of the duration of the spell. Or, maybe, if someone hits you with a stun during combat they can’t stun you again as long as you remain engaged in combat with that same person. If they run/evac/escape by whatever means necessary, and combat stops, then the immunity timer resets itself and the next time they engage they can stun you again. Expanding upon that idea a littler further, if someone stuns you during a fight you will be immune to stuns from that person, but others could stun you after the initial immunity timer wears off. This would encourage a lot more teamwork and skill in PvP since groups would have to time their stuns/stifles/knockbacks/etcetera accordingly. Someone could hit you with a three second stun, then you will be immune for three seconds after the stun effect wears off, but at the same time you are immune from stuns from that particular person. However, if timed right, then someone else in the group could pick up the slack and stun you again after the immunity timer wears off.</BLOCKQUOTE> Casting Times: <BLOCKQUOTE dir=ltr> Many scout CA’s have extremely short casting times, so they can get off a lot of arts in a very short period of time. Mage spells have significantly longer casting times, so sometimes it’s hard to even get off two spells before someone drops you. Considering resists are outrageous, would it really be a terrible thing if casting times in PvP were reduced? I’ll keep the reuse timers, but it would be nice to see shorter casting times to help even the playing field a bit.</BLOCKQUOTE> Shattered line: <BLOCKQUOTE dir=ltr> I’ll take a reduction in damage on this spell if they will put the stifle effect back on it in PvP. This was one of the first spells I would cast, but now that it only Dazes it’s lost a lot of it’s potency. Daze only stops auto-attack, but all of the real damage comes from spells/CA's. The stifle effect in PvP was not overpowered. Yes it did stop the use of spells/CA’s for a few seconds, but considering we don’t have much mitigation auto-attack still does plenty of damage to us.</BLOCKQUOTE> PvP Spells: <BLOCKQUOTE dir=ltr> I know there are no new spells on the PvP servers, but maybe they could come up with some new spells that are only available on the PvP vendors. Perhaps a self buff that increases your mitigation versus slashing damage, and a separate spell that increases your mitigation versus piercing damage, and so forth and so on. Make these buffs use concentration slots to help balance things out. That way you have to decide the setup you want to use. Do you drop Conjuror’s Signet for the self buff against piercing damage? Do you drop the master 2 pet offensive stance for the self buff against slashing damage? What you gain in one buff you’ll lose something else by not being able to use a different buff, so it wouldn’t be hard to keep this balanced. Even if these skills are overpowered make theme cost more gold/status, as well as raising the minimum faction required for such spells.</BLOCKQUOTE> These are just my ideas. Maybe some of them are stupid. Maybe some of them are impossible to implement, but even if there is one good idea in here that will help balance PvP it would be nice if it made it into the game.