Dogmae

Overall, I am pleased with our epic, but I will admit that it doesn't have the wow factor like the Guardian one does. So let's use this to come up with idea's that can be used to make it better. Remember that you need to clear VP for this, so any changes you think of, think of them from a raiders view.
I like Splurt, it a unique effect. I also like the Clicky peel/reverse DA, as I have said in other threads there are many times where it could come in handy. The hate proc is interesting, and I think that it could be very useful.

Problems
1. Lowest HP on all of the fighter Epics

2. +100 CA damage, not that appealing. Also + Skills distribution seems off when you compare. Sk and Pal got the short end of the stick.

SK: 10 slashing / 8 double attack / +100 CA damage
Pal: 10 slashing / 6 melee crit / +100 CA damage
Grd: 8 Slash / 10 Defense / 8 melee crit / 5 shield effectiveness
Zerk: 8 Slash / 10 Defense / 8 double attack / 5 shield effectiveness
Mnk: 10 crush / 8 deflection / 8 melee crit / 5 deflection chance
Bru: 10 crush / 10 deflection / 8 dbl attack / 5 deflection chance

The +100CA seems to have taken the place of the 5 shield effectiveness, but we have nothing to take the points of the 10 defense.

3. Other fighters (except Paladin) have a beastly damage proc that gives them some other bonus also, where SK and Paladin seem to only proc that other bonus and not the damage.

Fixes:
1. Raise HP to be inline with other fighters.
2. Ditch +100 CA. Add +5 Ability casting time (spell haste), and 10 Defense. (I would much rather the +5 cast time over +5 shield effectiveness, even +5 recast would be better then shield imo). Changing the +CA to Spell Dmg has been thrown around as an idea, but I am personally not to fond of that as it is easy enough to cap and we already have a buff for it, I feel that the +5 cast time would be much better.
3. Add Damage Proc, maybe a DoT that is coded to work with Splurt. If it's asking too much, lower the hate gain to like 200% (I find the hate gain proc interesting and would hate to see it go away all together) in order to add the damage.

These are my biggest "balance" issues with the epic compared to all other fighters.

Dream additions to make it omg wow:
1. Clicky Super Stance buff that takes place of our stances and give all the Benefits of Offensive and Defensive Stance with none of the negatives. (Only Problem with this, is it would most likely have to take the place of the clicky Peel, as I doubt there can be 2 clicky effects)
2. People seem fond of raidwide Deathmarch. Personally I don't think it would be that great, unless it enhanced the duration of On the March also.


Please be constructive with what you post here, and remember that this is a weapon for raiders, so if you haven't been in VP, then you may not understand everything this weapon can do.

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Arkanis

first off splurt is not unique as the necromancer mythical has the same ability with same name. this being said i think we should keep splurt ,but we should also be given spell double attack.

the wizard mythical has it but we should be given atleast double the % because of our spell dmg compared to theirs.

i like the idea of a m4 epic stance clicker as well maybe have the double spell attack on the stance itself instead of the epic. i would just hope the epic stance would just be clickable to cast off the epic and would not require the epic to be equipped to use the stance fulltime.

Dogmae

If our epic was discovered before the necro epic would it have been unique then? It is a new effect, just put in game on epics, so to me it is unique.

Spell double attack would be nice, but I don't see SoE giving it to us, as it is the main drawing point of the wizard epic, which is why I said spell haste.

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Drodin

Not saying that +5 spell haste wouldn't be better than the + damage (cause its a lot better) but I've never understood why gear made for crusaders and bards isn't both +CA and +Spell damage. It's not like its double the benefit or anything vs say just 100+ca for a warrior or rogue.

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Dogmae

That has always been an issue of mine as well, but due to the total point value they have for item creation it has always been limited to one or the other. Even if we could get both in place of the CA damage, we would be better off with Spellcast or recast.

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Deule

Great post Dog.

The biggest problem I see with our epic is that it doesn't generate enough DPS. The hate is great, but it is raw hate.

The fix I would most like to see is changing that raw hate into DPS hate, this would help keep our DPS in line with everybody elses. An example would be something like the broken Praetors Guard effect except doing +300 damage for every spell cast. This would give us the hate that is on there plus it would do it while giving us the dps we need using a 1h, since we are the only class that doesn't maximize DPS with a 1h (no DW and no Buckler Line).

Splurt is interesting and unique. However I would much rather see it reach its max damage potential in 3 tics instead of 5. Spells like our insinuate and coil will never hit that 5 tic mark.

The clicky Peel effect is cool, but I think they should bump it to at least 10 seconds to be in line with Divine Aura.

Symbiotic

We're supposed to be the most lethal of all the plate wearing classes. However the best offensive ability they could come up with is "Splurt"? - if it must be kept add some nice sized damage over time to it so at least the weapon itself is doing something more than auto attack damage. The DoT off Uzdrak's Cleaver 184-225 poison damage instantly and every 2 seconds for 24 seconds for example. Wouldn't that be nice?

*ADD A DMG PROC, (even a DoT)

What else? +100 CA dmg is nice, however it's clear that we got the short the end of the stick as far as innate abilities on the weapon. The idea for +5% casting speed is something I'm very fond of. That would be great to make up for the lack of a +5 Shield Block chance going with the idea that we're not the most defensive but the most offensive brand of plate wearing tank.

*ADD SPELL CASTING HASTE MOD (for lack of stats)
**ADD SPELL CASTING HASTE MOD (+20% cast speed proc)

I think adding anything to deathmarch could perhaps alter the game a little too much, I'm not asking for control effects, just higher damage output for the weapon itself. Why limit it so badly with Splurt so that only our dots are affected. I'd rather see the ability replaced altogether (see above).

Lastly, this is a raid only acquired weapon. However if I wanted to tank I'd play a gaurdian. This should have been a two hander for DPS.

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Narkle

I think Splurt would be cool if it had a chance to proc (or just be a passive ability like it is now) speeding up our DoTs and adding more ticks to them for their duration for dps rather then scaling with each tick..I do like the idea of raidwide Death March..I think it would be awesome with its relatively low recast time..I would DIE for them to give us the wizards double spell chance as well over any of the effects we currently have...The +100 CA damage is lame +5 recast would be nice or +10 shield effectiveness (seeing as how SKs have the worst avoidance of all fighters)...I agree with Deule 100% though about this needing to be a dps weapon since we can't DW and it isn't a 2H...I hope Dogmae made this thread because he has the ability to push this feedback to the right people =)

Mikesnow

I would like to see a few changes, nothing dramatic imho, but I would like the damg spread to be increased to 101 - 497, since we have no option to dual weild I think a bit higher of a dmg spread could make up some of the auto atk difference.

Second take the 100 ca off and add +5 sheild block or effectivness and also add +10 to hate gain.

Then put our hps in line with the rest of the fighter classes.

Lastly replace the Hate proc with some generic dmg proc like the others with melee or spell crit chance, preferably melee crit.

I think effectively that would put us inline with the rest of the classes mythicals, and is essentially the same thing as what we currently have, with only a slight boost to shielding and overall dmg.

As much as I would love to have those changes, I also know they are not likely to happen, so i have just tryed not to think about it, as i am sure most know sony rarely makes anything better to balance classes, instead they usually tend to bring everyone else down.

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Narkle

You know mikesnow that is a great idea I had not thought of..Since we can't duel wield and there is like one 2H better then War axe and TnT Mayongs sword in the game (VP axe)...They should just give this close to a 2H dmg spread and 2H rating for us and pallies..It is totally fair imo with lack of DW and no "to die for" 2H in the game...If they just did that id be happy with all the effects as is