Feedback:User/Deshiba/Elementalist Marks

=Elementalist Marks= This concerns mostly the Mark type skill (A hex spell whose effect is activated trough a specific type of damage. Think: Mark of fury, Barbs & Mark of rodgort)of the Elementalist profession. I for one like this mechanic and would like to see more of it. The suggestion is to remake some Elementalist spells to follow this mechanic in stead of their previous behaviors. Namely: Glimmering Mark, Stone Sheath & Blurred vision. Because of the (what i feel are)improvements to these skills, other skills would have to be balanced accordingly.

Glimmering Mark
The air variant I would like to see as a mark for two reasons. One, in my opinion it is not a very useful skill as is. Two, it already carries the name "Mark".


 * Current behavior:
 * Elite Hex Spell. For 10 seconds, target foe takes damage each second. This hex ends if you use a skill that targets this foe.


 * Suggested Behavior:
 * Elite Hex Spell. Target foe and all nearby foes are hexed with Glimmering Mark. For seconds, whenever each foe is struck for lightning damage, that foe suffers from Cracked Armor for  second[s]. When this hex ends, that foe is Dazed for  second[s] and you lose  energy.

Rant: Since Air Magic is pretty well balanced (in my eyes) except for 1 or 2 skills this change would require no skill balance to straighten it out. I can only see some issues forming with Chest Thumper, which just has a ridiculous recharge like  Wounding Strike. Other then that if the "New Glimmering Mark" would actually be taken it would negate the specific shield armor and bonus armor to a point. Which for an elite skill I feel is not too much. So concretely the changes I'm suggesting would be:
 * Chest Thumper Spear Attack. If this attack hits a foe with Cracked Armor, that foe suffers a Deep Wound for  seconds.

Stone Sheath
The earth variant I would like to see as a mark for two reasons. One, it is (in my opinion) severely underpowered as it lacks in use for anything. Two, the non-elite Ritualist skill Dulled Weapon does the same, only better.


 * Current behavior:
 * Elite Hex Spell. For seconds, attacks made by target foe and all nearby foes deal earth damage and cannot cause a critical hit.


 * Suggested Behavior:
 * Elite Hex Spell. Target foe and all nearby foes are hexed with Stone Sheath. For seconds, whenever each foe is struck for earth damage, that foe suffers from weakness for  second[s]. When this hex ends, that foe suffers from Bleeding for  seconds and you lose  energy.

Rant: This suggestion is going to take some work in balancing skills recharge wise. Skills like Stoning will be a tad too strong with the "New Stone Sheath" purely because of the low recharge of those spells. So my suggestion is that any Earth Magic skill that is currently below except Ebon Hawk to be made. so concretely the changes I'm suggesting would be:
 * Ebon Hawk Spell. Send a projectile that strikes target foe for earth damage and causes Weakness for  seconds if it hits.
 * Glowstone Spell. Send a projectile that strikes for  earth damage if it hits. If this spell hits a weakened foe, you gain 5 Energy plus 1 Energy for every 2 ranks of Energy Storage.
 * Stoning Spell. Send out a large stone, striking target foe for earth damage if it hits. If Stoning hits a foe suffering from Weakness, that foe is knocked down.
 * Obsidian Flame Spell. Deal damage to target foe. This spell ignores armor but causes Exhaustion unless target foe suffers from Weakness.
 * Stone_Daggers Spell. Send out two Stone Daggers. Each Stone Dagger strikes target foe for earth damage if it hits. This skill recharges for 2 seconds for each missed dagger.

Mark Of Rodgort
The fire variant of the Mark already in existence, If these changes would be made to the game the duration of the current mark is simply too long. It requires some tweaking to prevent abuse in combination with the other Marks.


 * Current behavior:
 * Hex Spell. Target foe and all nearby foes are hexed with Mark of Rodgort. For seconds, whenever each foe is struck for fire damage, that foe is set on fire for  second[s].


 * Suggested Behavior:
 * Hex Spell. Target foe and all nearby foes are hexed with Mark of Rodgort. For seconds, whenever each foe is struck for fire damage, that foe is set on fire for  second[s].

Rant: This is a bit troublesome to balance because of the burning duration and in which order they are applied. In the "New Mark of Rodgort" the duration of Burning is somewhat longer then the standard 3 seconds of a lot of skills. But 1 second more or less burning with the mark on those target is not worth digging into the damage/condition stack (Chicken or the egg) situation (also a tad boring). Remarkably the Fire Magic tree is pretty well balanced so not a lot of changes are necessary the most concrete changes would be:
 * Flare Spell. Send out a flare that strikes target foe for fire damage if it hits. This skill recharges for 2 seconds if it misses.
 * Lava Arrows Spell. Lava Arrows fly toward up to 3 foes near your target and strike for fire damage if they hit. This skill recharges 2 seconds for each missed arrow.

Blurred Vision
The water variant I would like to see as a mark for two reasons. One, I simply do not like the fact that this is the only Elementalist Skill that gives a chance to miss. Two, It would tone down the defensive combination of Blinding Surge and Water elementalist significantly.


 * Current behavior:
 * Hex Spell. For seconds, target foe and adjacent foes are hexed with Blurred Vision. While hexed, those foes have a 50% chance to miss with attacks.


 * Suggested Behavior:
 * Hex Spell. Target foe and all nearby foes are hexed with Blurred Vision. For seconds, whenever each foe is struck for cold damage, that foe is  blinded for  second[s].

Rant: Why mess with Blurred Vision? Well as stated above to tone down the Elemental Spike's defensive capabilities. Why? well lets just say the combination of 90% miss chance of a condition on top of a 50% miss chance of a hex is a tad tough to deal with when both can be maintained. Now then, Water Magic. Just as Fire Magic the recharges are pretty well defined and there is not really that much to change. Even Freezing Gust plays nice with the "New Blurred Vision", since if there is no blurred vision on the target it gets snared. And if there is, it now gets blinded. The only thing that would be needed to actually test is Water trident and maybe not even that since it knocks the target down for 2 seconds. So no actual changes to suggest here.

=Other Marks= The same thing could be done for other Pofession Hexes as well. There are plenty of conditions that are not yet governed under a Mark(Cripple, Deep wound, Bleeding, Poison & Disease). Some examples:

! anything beyond this point is not part of the actual Feedback !


 * Weaken Knees: Elite hex spell. Target foe and all nearby foes are hexed with Weaken Knees. For seconds, whenever each foe is struck for cold damage, that foe suffers form crippling for  seconds and you lose  health.


 * Deathly Chill: Hex spell. Target foe is hexed with Deathly Chill. For seconds, whenever that foe is struck for piercing damage, that foe suffers from poison for  second[s]. When Deathly Chill ends that foe and all nearby foes suffer from Disease for each second Deathly Chill was in effect.