Magic Is In My Blood: Mage Skill Tree Revamps (Full Version)

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Nexus... -> Magic Is In My Blood: Mage Skill Tree Revamps (12/18/2013 4:42:44)

Introduction (MUST READ):

Hey there folks! Today I am bringing you the first of 3 posts which will include my ideas for revamping every class currently in the game. The core idea here is to promote build diversity, and each skill tree has been crafted in a way to do just that. What you must understand is that while I have spent an extensive amount of time on these, there are still many flaws. As an example, I have yet to calculate most energy costs/cooldowns, which play a large role in how effective a skill can be. However, the skill concepts, and overall tree has had a lot of thought put into it, and while some skills might seem "OP", just remember that both skill tree's are meant to provide as much build diversity as possible. Another thing you should note is that these skill tree's are not meant to be balanced against the current bounty/merc skill trees, but rather should be compared to their revamped counterparts for those classes which I will release when I have more time to finish them off. For now you are in for one heck of a read, so saddle up and enjoy.

*All things are subject to change and a work in progress. I would appreciate any constructive criticism/feedback.
*Not necessarily all aspects of a skill improves with its scaling stat




Tech Mage:

Tiers are in order from left to right.


Tier 1:

Name – Mantra of Vitality
Description: Whisper an incantation, and pass into a state of calm healing.
Effect: Heal for 22 (+2 per level MAX 40) for 2 turns. If more than 20 damage is dealt to you while the Mantra is active, the effect is cancelled, but you reflect 30% (+% per level, MAX 50%) of the damage, and heal for 100% (+15% per level) of the damage dealt.
Scales with: None

Name – Aura
Description: Cast an aura that increases your defenses every time you take damage
Effect: Deal 55% damage (+5% damage per level, MAX 100%), and cast an aura that adds +2 Defense/Resistance every time you are attacked (Maximum of 10 def/res). Lasts until you block an attack, deflect an attack, stun your opponent or critically strike.
Scales with: Support

Name – Cast Spell
Description: Depending on the the turn, this skill will be one of 3 unique spells.
Effect: 3 Spell Possibilities
• Overcharge (First turn)
o Deal 18 (+2 per level) energy damage, ignoring 15% of your enemies defenses.
• Replicate (Second Turn)
o Deal 18 (+2 per level) energy damage to an enemy. If there is another enemy in the game, you can choose to match the damage for them, and apply a -5/-5 defense/res debuff for 1 turn. (Double the energy cost if second target is hit).
• Enchant (Third Turn)
o Deal 16 (+1 per level) energy damage, with a 30% to stun or critically strike your opponent(not both). If you critically strike, Cast Spell can be played again on you next turn for half the mana cost.
Scales with: Technology
Note: On your fourth turn "Cast Spell" will cycle back to "Overcharge", restarting the cycle.
Cooldown: None
Energy Cost "Spell": 32 MAX level




Tier 2:

Name – Master Technician
Description: Increase your defenses, and passively improve your technical prowess.
Effect:
• Active: Improve all active shield/healing effects by 21% (+1% per level) until they end, and extend them for 1 turn. If none are active, heal for 16 (+1 per level) Health, and gain a +5/5 shield for 2 turns instead.
• Passive: Gain +1 Technology per level (in skill)
Scales with: Dexterity

Name – Anomaly
Description: Slam the ground, dealing damage and causing an anomaly.
Effect: Deal 85% (+% per level, max 100%) weapon damage to your enemy, and change all of your physical attacks/spells to energy, and all of your energy attacks/spells to physical damage for the rest of the match. Includes primary, sidearm, auxiliary, robots & cores. Also increase all attacks by 2% damage (+% per level, max 20%) for 1 turn.
Scales with: None
Energy Cost: 32

Name – Holy Strike
Description: Strike your opponent with the hilt of your weapon
Effect: Deal 102% physical weapon damage (+2% per level). Applies concussion, reducing all enemy spell damage/effects by 50% for 1 turn.
Scales with: None





Tier 3:

Name – Sabotage
Description: Sabotage your enemy, reducing their technology, and adding additional time to cooldowns.
Effect: Reduce your enemies technology by 12 (+2 per level), and add 1 cooldown/warmup to any skill/core/weapon/robot that is already in cooldown/warmup.
Scales with: Support

Name – Prime Selection [NOTE: thinking of adding an enhanced effect for every skill on the Tech Mage tree, and not limiting this skill to just 'cast spell']
Description: Select a Spell to enhance and permanently have in your arsenal.
Effect:
• Active: Select one of the 3 “Cast Spell” options to have permanently, and disable Cast Spell for the rest of the game.
• Passive: Enhance the selected Spell
o Overcharge now ignores an additional 2% of your enemies defenses per level
o Replicate now costs -3 energy per level to cast on a second enemy, but does not apply a debuff.
o Enchant now has a 22% (+2 per level) chance to stun AND critically strike (both can occur).
Note: Base Damage & Energy cost based off of Cast Spell level
Scales with: None
Energy Cost: None

Name – Rift Walker
Description: Pass into the rift, dealing a percent of your opponent’s maximum health in damage, and regaining energy whenever you are attacked.
Effect:
• Active: Deal 15% (+2% per level) of your opponents maximum health in energy damage (ignores 35% of defenses).
• Passive: +11% (+1% per level) of damage done to you is converted to energy
Scales with: Dexterity
Energy Cost: 45 at level 10





Tier 4:

Name – Sap
Description: Deal 100% weapon damage, stealing a percent of your opponents energy and buffs/debuffs for yourself.
Effect: Steal 12% (+2% per level) of your opponents energy, and match your opponents buffs/debuffs for 2 turns.
Energy cost: None
Scales with: None

Name – Ancestral Trance
Description: Call on an ancestor to deal damage and/or heal you, and grant you power.
Effect: Select an ancestor to embody you with power
• Ancestor of Betrayal
o Deal 12 (+2 per level) true damage
o Increases your block, deflect, critical strike, and stun chances by 6% (+1 per level)
• Ancestor of Wisdom
o Heal 13 (+3 per level) health [ignores heal reductions]
o All of your skills cost 5% less (+5% per level), and every time you attack you gain +1 in all 4 stats.
• Ancestor of Corruption
o Deal 6 (+ 1 per level) true damage, and heal 12 (+2 per level) health
o You restore 11% (+1 per level) of damage done as health, and reduce your opponent damage by 11% (+1 per level) for the duration of the match.
Energy cost: 59 at level 10, effect lasts permanently
Scales with: Technology

Name – Precision
Description: You use your magic to enhance the precision and damage of your attacks.
Effect:
• Active: Strike your enemy for 100% weapon damage, and apply a mark that increases your connection rate by 5% and decreases your chance to be deflected by 5%
• Passive: Sidearm and Auxiliary damage is passively increased (+1 sidearm damage on odds, +1 auxiliary damage on evens [MAX +5/+5]
Scales with: None





Blood Mage:



Tier 1:

Name – Transfusion
Description: Sacrifice some of your energy in order to gain health
Effect: Transfuse 40% (-2% per level) of your maximum energy into 36% (+1% per level) of your maximum health.
Scales with: None
Cooldown: 1 Turn
Note: If you do not have enough energy, transfusion will cost +1/+1 instead

Name – Inner Fire
Description: Shield yourself from incoming damage, and gain life on hit while the shield is active.
Effect: Absorb up to 21 damage (+1 per level), and gain 6% (+1% per level) of damage dealt as life while the shield is active.
Scales with: Support

Name – Weaken
Description: Draw on the blood of your enemy, significantly weakening them.
Effect: Deal 100% weapon damage, reducing your enemy’s damage by 15% for 2 turns and giving you a 25% to make your enemy sleep (stun mechanic) for 1 turn. If you cause sleep, their damage is reduced by 25% instead and impacts them for 2 turns after they awake.
Note: Blockable
Scales with: None





Tier 2:

Name – Leech
Description: Steal an enemy skill of your choice.
Effect: Copy an active enemy skill of your choice (cannot require a class specific weapon), and replace Leech with your selection. The replaced skill has 55% (+5% per level, MAX 100%) potency of the original.
Note: Can only be used once per game.

Name – Heartbeat
Description: Your heart beats faster, increasing your maximum health and strength, and passively increasing your rage gain.
Effect:
Active: Increase your maximum health and strength by 11 (+1 per level) for a duration of 3 turns.
Passive: Passively increase your rage gain rate by 6% (+1% per level)
Scales with: Dexterity

Name – Droplets
Description: Steal droplets of your opponents blood, dealing damage over time, and healing yourself for the damage dealt.
Effect: Deal 5 damage (+1 per level), and heal for the same amount for a duration of 3 turns.
Scales with: Technology
Energy Cost: 45 at level 10





Tier 3:

Name – Cleanse
Description: Cleanse your blood, causing all debuffs to become buffs, and dealing energy damage to your opponent
Effect: A buff is applied that is equal to 55% (+5% per level, MAX 100%) of any debuff that was active, and you deal 16 (+2 per level) energy damage to your opponent.
Scales with: Technology

Name – Blood Ties
Description: Convert all of your energy to health, causing you to draw on your life-force (health) to cast spells.
Effect:
Active: Your skills now cost 75% (-% per level, Max 45%) the energy amount in health. Transfusion is disabled.
Passive: Passively increase your strength by 1 per skill level

Name – Plague
Description: Cause a plague to infect all enemies, dealing physical damage and reducing their chance to connect.
Effect: Deal 18 (+2 per level) damage to all opponents, and decrease their connection chance by 10% for 2 turns.
Scales with: Dexterity





Tier 4:

Name – Clarity
Description: Enchant your weapon, and strike your opponent to steal their energy and improve your hit chance.
Effect: Strike your opponent to deal 100% weapon damage, stealing 20% (+% per level, MAX 40%) of their maximum mana, and applying a mark that increases your connection chance for 3 turns.
to your opponent.
Note: Blockable

Name – Lineage
Description: When in critical condition, your lineage enables you to swap health’s with your enemy so they may experience the extent of your pain.
Effect: When below 7 health (+2 per level), you gain the ability to swap healths with your opponent (you gain their health, they gain yours).

Name – Bloodline
Description: Deal damage, and passively increase your life as a percentage of the damage dealt to your enemy.
Effect:
Active: Deal 105% (+5% per level) weapon damage
Passive: +6% Life on hit (+1% per level)
Scales with: Support
Note: Cannot be used in conjunction with rage
Cooldown: 4 turns





If you read all of that, well, you are awesome. Please let me know what you thought below and/or fill out this poll.

Thanks!


Prophet



Changelog
-Unstable ground name changed to 'Plague'
-Sleep name changed to 'Weaken'[
-Transfusion now restores a scaling % of max health (36%-45% depending on level), instead of a flat 40%
-Changed wording on Leech
-Increased starting % health cost on Blood Ties from 50% of the energy cost to 75%, and MAX level health cost from 40% to 45%.

-Mantra of Vitality now requires that 20 damage be done to break the effect. Added % scaling for reflected damage, and scaling % for damage done restored as health.
-Cast Spell is no longer random, but instead cycles between the 3 spells depending on what turn it is.



Remorse -> RE: What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Stronger: Mage Skill Tree Revamps (12/18/2013 5:28:42)

Great skill changes.

I feel that these would be a very refreshing change to the game.

They only problem I have is the mage random spell skill it should be choosable , I hate randomness taking over strategy. (hence why I hate pyro fly)



Nexus... -> RE: What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Stronger: Mage Skill Tree Revamps (12/18/2013 5:52:47)

quote:

Great skill changes.

I feel that these would be a very refreshing change to the game.

They only problem I have is the mage random spell skill it should be choosable , I hate randomness taking over strategy. (hence why I hate pyro fly)


I also hate randomness, which I why I added Prime Selection into the mix. Not sure if I'll keep it that way though. But for now it stays. I kind of like being able to choose between a turn/enhanced effect, and a random skill.

Decided to tweak it after all -- Hows this?

quote:

Name – Cast Spell
Description: Places a random spell with a unique effect into your skill list for the remaining duration of your turn. Once your turn ends the skill is removed whether you choose to use it or not.
Effect: 3 Spell Possibilities
• Overcharge
o Deal 18 (+2 per level) energy damage, ignoring 15% of your enemies defenses.
• Replicate
o Deal 18 (+2 per level) energy damage to an enemy. If there is another enemy in the game, you can choose to match the damage for them, and apply a -5/-5 defense/res debuff for 1 turn. (Double the energy cost if second target is hit).
• Enchant
o Deal 16 (+1 per level) energy damage, with a 30% to stun or critically strike your opponent(not both). If you critically strike, Cast Spell can be played again on you next turn for half the mana cost.
Scales with: Technology
Cooldown: 2 Turns
Energy cost "Cast Spell": None
Energy Cost "Spell": 32 MAX level



Prophet



Remorse -> RE: What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Stronger: Mage Skill Tree Revamps (12/18/2013 6:24:55)

^ How about instead of it being random,

Every turn it changes and alternates into one of the skills.


Therefore you can use that in your strategy.

And it starts as a particular version and cycles through the exact same constant order, therefore removing all randomness from it.



Nexus... -> RE: What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Stronger: Mage Skill Tree Revamps (12/18/2013 6:28:29)

quote:

^ How about instead of it being random,

Every turn it changes and alternates into one of the skills.


Therefore you can use that in your strategy.


Oh I like that, going to change it now. Thanks Remorse =)

quote:


Name – Cast Spell
Description: Depending on the the turn, this skill will be one of 3 unique spells.
Effect: 3 Spell Possibilities
• Overcharge (First turn)
o Deal 18 (+2 per level) energy damage, ignoring 15% of your enemies defenses.
• Replicate (Second Turn)
o Deal 18 (+2 per level) energy damage to an enemy. If there is another enemy in the game, you can choose to match the damage for them, and apply a -5/-5 defense/res debuff for 1 turn. (Double the energy cost if second target is hit).
• Enchant (Third Turn)
o Deal 16 (+1 per level) energy damage, with a 30% to stun or critically strike your opponent(not both). If you critically strike, Cast Spell can be played again on you next turn for half the mana cost.
Scales with: Technology
Note: On your fourth turn "Cast Spell" will cycle back to "Overcharge", restarting the cycle.
Cooldown: None
Energy Cost "Spell": 32 MAX level


Prophet



Altador987 -> RE: What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Stronger: Mage Skill Tree Revamps (12/18/2013 9:14:45)

Nexus these are really cool! also i agree with the randomness point that remorse has made but this sounds so interesting i wish i could see like a prototype lol



Nexus... -> RE: What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Stronger: Mage Skill Tree Revamps (12/18/2013 10:29:29)

quote:

Nexus these are really cool! also i agree with the randomness point that remorse has made but this sounds so interesting i wish i could see like a prototype lol


Thank you for reading, I'm really glad you enjoyed them. I fixed the randomness on that skill after remorse brought it up, because I agree with all points made about it. As far as a prototype is concerned, I really wish I could see this stuff in action as well!


Prophet



Dual Thrusters -> RE: What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Stronger: Mage Skill Tree Revamps (12/18/2013 12:31:46)

These skills look like something I would use in Dragonfable

Pretty interesting! Especially lineage for bloodmages



Nexus... -> RE: What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Stronger: Mage Skill Tree Revamps (12/18/2013 16:36:18)

quote:

These skills look like something I would use in Dragonfable

Pretty interesting! Especially lineage for bloodmages


I'm not surprised you see some DragonFable in these skills, as it was my first AE upgrade every (about 7 years ago), and remains probably my favorite (nostalgia wise) game to date. As far as Lineage goes, yeah, that's by far one of my favorites as well. Can really make you opponent think twice about bursting you down, healing, or praying for a critical strike.

Thanks for reading Dual.


Prophet



ED Divine Darkness -> RE: What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Stronger: Mage Skill Tree Revamps (12/18/2013 17:32:04)

really good ideas, welcome back to ed bro!



Nexus... -> RE: What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Stronger: Mage Skill Tree Revamps (12/18/2013 18:10:20)

quote:

really good ideas, welcome back to ed bro!


Thank you, means alot.

Prophet



Mother1 -> RE: What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Stronger: Mage Skill Tree Revamps (12/18/2013 18:24:05)

Interesting ideas to say the least.

Some sound a bit strong, while others sound complicated but putting that aside If they could test these ideas extensively (not like they do now since we always seem to find what they miss) and see that they don't do this then it could help balance out the classes.



Exploding Penguin -> RE: What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Stronger: Mage Skill Tree Revamps (12/18/2013 20:22:49)

Interesting... but I feel like there's a big problem: Too confusing.

A lot of these skills have very confusing effects, and this would deter newbies and even miid-level players from playing strategically because they simply can't understand what the heck they're using. Right now the skills are fairly simple and easy to understand, which makes ED user-friendly for all ages.



Nexus... -> RE: What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Stronger: Mage Skill Tree Revamps (12/18/2013 21:59:42)

quote:

Interesting... but I feel like there's a big problem: Too confusing.

A lot of these skills have very confusing effects, and this would deter newbies and even miid-level players from playing strategically because they simply can't understand what the heck they're using. Right now the skills are fairly simple and easy to understand, which makes ED user-friendly for all ages.


Yeah I can understand that criticism I suppose. Some people just want to be able to copy builds that use 3 skills and win. I guess this suggestions is geared towards the audience I played with when I was really active (the original older audience of Epicduel), people who want strategic options and gameplay, and not some watered down luck based copy pasta fiasco. I think the reason why many of these skills come off as confusing, is because they are doing multiple things, as opposed to one thing. This opens up many more options for builds, but does complicates things. With that said, I think the developers moved away from 'casual' gameplay when they got rid of PvE, so it only makes sense that if we are going to focus on competitive PvP, that things get a little more complicated in order for balance to exist. I wouldn't say that 'many of these skills have confusing effects', because for the most part its all the same effects we have now, just more per skill (there are a couple exceptions).

But thanks for the feedback, I can see where you are coming from, and I may try and simplify a few of the more complex skills in the future.


Prophet



Exploding Penguin -> RE: What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Stronger: Mage Skill Tree Revamps (12/18/2013 22:22:47)

It's actually pointed towards the general playerbase, not just the masses who overuse easy builds. Look at all the questions pertaining to skills already right now, especially ones like blood commander that have effects that aren't described exactly. If we changed so many of each class's skills to be like that, then the forum would be flooded with questions, which no doubt would raise enormous amounts of confusion in the community.



Mother1 -> RE: What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Stronger: Mage Skill Tree Revamps (12/18/2013 22:27:26)

@ Nexus

Problem is that as I mentioned to remorse sometime ago now they are aiming at younger players as opposed to the older ones when the game first came out. Over complicate things and those players will be clueless.

Also I know you know this as well as I do, but people use the same copy paste builds for one reason. It has been proven to give good win ratio which people want. It is because of that one fact alone that we have so many copy builds.

It didn't help when omega made every item the same as opposed to the other phases which made copy building even easier.

I could go on but I won't.



Nexus... -> RE: What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Stronger: Mage Skill Tree Revamps (12/18/2013 22:37:22)

quote:

It's actually pointed towards the general playerbase, not just the masses who overuse easy builds. Look at all the questions pertaining to skills already right now, especially ones like blood commander that have effects that aren't described exactly. If we changed so many of each class's skills to be like that, then the forum would be flooded with questions, which no doubt would raise enormous amounts of confusion in the community.


Yeah, I get some people would be confused, but that's what happens when you introduce new things, and in order for there to be change, you need new things. So this is my attempt to outline a way to bring a positive change to EpicDuel's balance, by promoting build diversity and giving all classes the tools they need to make whatever build they want. I recognize there will be confusion, but when the dust settles I bet we would have a better game.

Take the new scaling that is going to be happening pretty soon here. On the surface it looks pretty darn confusing (big damage numbers, big health etc.), but underneath there is only 1 thing: an improvement. That's the goal here.

quote:


Problem is that as I mentioned to remorse sometime ago now they are aiming at younger players as opposed to the older ones when the game first came out. Over complicate things and those players will be clueless.


Younger or older, I think everyone can appreciate good balance, even if it is very confusing at first. I know whenever I start a new game I am always lost, confused, overwhelmed, and excited (that's the best way I can describe the feeling). In my opinion, the process of leveling exists to familiarize players with the mechanics of the game. Why would ED be any different?


Prophet



Remorse -> RE: What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Stronger: Mage Skill Tree Revamps (12/18/2013 22:58:57)

This is actually something they could use if they decide to segregate the difficulty of the game.


Because I feel the only hope older players have in wanting to return to the game is to return some of the games complexity in strategy if not make it much more complex.



If they separated the game into 2 difficulties by perhaps separating it in servers then this would be a great way to improve the player age range as well as give something for the old players to come back to.


I understand now that making the game accessible to a younger audience seems to be their current focus, it is just sad to think that the game has decided to remove what was fun about the game in the eyes of the older players.




New skills such as these suggested here as well as complex and highly synergetic cores in a separate server would be an amazing addition to the game and perhaps a last resort for any of the older players to ever have hopes of liking it again.


I would like to hear from a developer in respect to allowing a more difficult version of the game being released because for some of us that is the only future hope for the game.

-Remorse Less.



Nexus... -> RE: What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Stronger: Mage Skill Tree Revamps (12/18/2013 23:03:27)

quote:

This is actually something they could use if they decide to segregate the difficulty of the game.


Because I feel the only hope older players have in wanting to return to the game is to return some of the games complexity in strategy if not make it much more complex.



If they separated the game into 2 difficulties by perhaps separating it in servers then this would be a great way to improve the player age range as well as give something for the old players to come back to.


I understand now that making the game accessible to a younger audience seems to be their current focus, it is just sad to think that the game has deceided to remove what was fun about the game in the eyes of the older players.




New skills such as these suggested here as well as complex and highly synergetic cores in a separate severer would be an amazing addition to the game and perhaps a last resort for any of the older players to ever have hopes of liking it again.


I would like to hear from a developer in respect to allowing a more difficult version of the game being released because for some of us that is the only future hope for the game.

-Remorse Less.


This is a fantastic idea and very well put.


Prophet



Remorse -> RE: What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Stronger: Mage Skill Tree Revamps (12/18/2013 23:17:38)

^ Unfortunately,

I have recently come to realize that what first seemed to me like broken and extremely bad core and robots ideas are actually an attempt to lower the complexity of the game by making strategies easy to execute. EG. they counter your shield reduce it with the azreal gear or do people heal loop? get the hatchling rush core etc.

Perhaps this is part of their plan of making the game more accessible to a younger age group and I fear if it continues down this path for long their will be nothing left for older players to enjoy in fact it's pretty much at that stage now. This is why I think a difficult server is needed or they will continue to have reduced numbers of players and less happier players as well.




This is why I don't think your ideas will have much hope though I really wish it did, because they are trying to go in the opposite direction to that well that's is what it seems like to me and unless they separate the game their will be nothing fun about it left for us.



InFlamed Fury -> RE: What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Stronger: Mage Skill Tree Revamps (12/19/2013 22:42:25)

I would love to have these skills applied to the game as it would add a refreshing feel to it as Remorse has said previously. If these do get implemented into the game, i would love to see what they can do.

~InFlamed Fury~



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