Affichage des articles dont le libellé est Inconsistencies and inequalities in PvP mechanics. Afficher tous les articles
Affichage des articles dont le libellé est Inconsistencies and inequalities in PvP mechanics. Afficher tous les articles

samedi 14 novembre 2015

Inconsistencies and inequalities in PvP mechanics

When Vladd and Redhawk did their Reddit AMA, it was mentioned that there has been resources set aside for PvP development which was confirmed in the recent livestream. I figure this would be a great time to fix some discrepancies in regards to the way abilities function/are treated by game mechanics.

This is going to sound like Rogue QQ, but that is only because I am most familiar with the Rogue calling and the mechanical frustrations associated with it. I am sure issues like these exist for the other callings, but someone else will have to do the leg work to report them.

Some examples:

  • Unleashed [Paragon]: Successful Follow Up attacks place a stack of Readiness on the Warrior, up to 5 stacks. Each stack increases Attack Power and Weapon Contribution by 4%.
    Unpurgable
  • Duelist Pose [Bladedancer]: Successful critical hits with Bladedancer abilities increase your attack power and weapon damage by 4% per stack. Maxiumum 5 stacks.
    Purgable

These two talents are literally identical, yet the Rogue version is purgable while the Warrior one is not. Reverberation from the Bard soul functions similarly (2x the AP bonus but no weapon damage bonus) and is also purgable.
  • Planar Replenishment [Rogue 61 mastery]: While in combat, you heal 25% of your endurance every 3s.
    Purgable
  • Overflowing Vitality [Mage 61 Mastery]: While in combat, you heal 25% of your endurance every 3s.
    Unpurgable
Once again, two identical traits. The issue here is that Planar Replenishment is a purgable buff that is placed onto the Rogue, whereas Overflowing vitality is a passive with no corresponding buff placed on the Mage. Passives cannot be purged therefore the Mage will always receive this healing whereas it is possible, and even common that the Rogue loses the benefit of this mastery in PvP.
  • Illuminate [Archon]/Coda of Jeopardy [Bard]/Corroded Defenses [Oracle] : Causes the enemy to take an additional 1900 damage when hit. Each attacker may trigger this once every 3s.
    Cleansable
  • Spotter's Call [Beastmaster]: Causes the enemy to take an additional 1900 Physical damage when hit. Each attacker may trigger this once every 3s.
    Uncleansable
Besides literally identical abilities, there also exists some puzzling inconsistencies between similar abilities/mechanics.
  • Battle Dance [Bladedancer]: Using a rhythmic action triggers Battle Dance, which increases damage dealt and reduces damage taken from enemy players based on the number of enemy players around the Rogue, up to a maximum of 20%.
    Purgable
  • Blade Rush [Harbinger]: When charging a player in PVP: Damage done by the next 4 damaging melee abilities of the Mage are increased by 0.1% per point in the Harbinger soul. Damage taken by the Mage is reduced by 0.1% per point in the Harbinger soul. These bonuses are multiplied by the number of enemy players within 7 meters of the target, up to a maximum of 10.
    Unpurgable
  • Righteous Charge [Paladin]: When activated, debuffs up to 10 enemy players for 15s, increasing their damage taken by up to 20%, based on the number of points spent in the Paladin soul and the number of enemy players around the Warrior.
    Uncleansable
With the 2.5 patch several of the melee souls received PvP specific additions to some of their abilities with the intended purpose of increasing melee soul viability in PvP. None of them should be purgable/cleansable.
  • Way of the Mountain [Paragon]: The Warrior cannot be knocked back and takes 5% less damage.
    Unpurgable
  • Defensive Pose [Bladedancer]: Increases movement speed by 15%. Reduces damage taken by 5%. Heals for 1% of Maximum Health every 2 seconds. Reduces Energy Regeneration Rate by 5/s.
    Purgable

You may look at that comparison and say they aren't similar at all. Paragon receives a passive move speed buff from Ride Like the Wind which as a passive, is multiplicative with active move speed buffs and is obviously unpuragable. Defensive Pose heals, but also has an energy regeneration penalty which effectively reduces the Bladedancers dps, which can be accomplished in a similar manner by the Paragon using Way of the Sun (also unpuragable) as its second way buff (trading dps for self healing). Which leaves the 5% damage reduction in common, and the Paragon with the only permanent cc immunity in the game.

Beyond that, there are some glaring inequalities across callings.

  • Furious Assault [Shaman]: Reduces the Cleric's Global Cooldown by 0.5s. Reduces mana costs by 35%. Reduces area effect damage by 25%. Applies all Shaman Courage buffs when cast. Lasts 1h.
    Unpurgable
  • Spiritual Scrutiny [Inquisitor]: Reduces the global cooldown of the Cleric's abilities by 0.5s, and their mana costs by 33%. Allows the Cleric's damaging abilities to ignore 20% of their targets' Armor and Resistance. Reduces the cast time of Bolt of Judgment by 1.5s and its damage by 20%. Prevents Bolt of Judgment from consuming Echoing Concord. Lasts 1h.
    Unpurgable
  • Turn the Blade [Paragon]: Reduces the duration of the Global Cooldown by 0.5 seconds, and reduces the Power cost of abilities by 33%. Reduces damage and healing done by 30%.
    Unpurgable
  • Rhythmic Actions (Blade and Soul Parity, Fated Blades, etc) [Bladedancer]:
    Purgable
  • Free Recoil [Marksman]: Rapid Fire Shot consumes a max of 2 Combo Points. Cast time of Deadeye Shot is reduced by 0.5s.
    Purgable
GCD reductions and abilities that significantly and fundamentally alter a souls rotation/playstyle should not be purgable. Especially in the case of Bladedancer, the soul is completely balanced around 100% uptime on its dances. It's damage output without a dance up is 50%-60% of its potential. They are not cooldowns, they are fundamental to the way the soul plays/performs.

This last part is just me being salty.

  • Furious Vengeance [Primalist WAR PA]: Whenever you receive a Critical Hit from an enemy player, you have a 10% chance of increasing your Attack Power by 5% for 12 seconds. Stacks up to 3 times.
  • Countering Strikes [Rogue WAR PA]: Whenever you dodge, parry or resist a player attack, you have a 10% chance of increasing Attack Power by 5% for 15 seconds. This ability only works in PvP.
Primalists have significant uptime on a 15% AP boost in PvP whereas the Rogue equivalent is 67% less potent and is rarely triggered.
  • Death Touch [Paragon]: Instantly deals 17871 Physical damage that bypasses armor, snares the enemy and reduces their Strength and Dexterity by 80% for 8s. This ability grants 1 Attack Point.
55% uptime on a passively applied uncleansable snare, and a Dexterity/Strength debuff that equates to a ~32% outgoing damage debuff/41% outgoing heal debuff to AP using callings attached to one of the souls higher damaging abiltiies. Not only is that uncleansable and the most effective debuff in the game, it stacks with everything else due to the way it affects the target character.

TL;DR: For identical/similar abilities/talents decide how they should be affected by purges/cleanses/various game mechanics and make sure they all behave the same way.

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Inconsistencies and inequalities in PvP mechanics