Feedback:User/Damysticreaper/Paragon skills

=The Paragon=

The paragon has always been quite a strange profession to play with, being either very powerful or very weak but hardly any balance. Being a supportive profession primarily if suits the role best as damage mitigation and offensive support and still being able to do damage but the options for that are very limited because only a few skills and combination are actually useful. Another problem with it is balancing it's skills properly wich is a very difficult thing atm due to how chants and echos currently work and them being unable to be removed once aplied.

To make the paragon a more stable profession and a more playable one i suggest a function change to chants and echoes.
 * Chants: affect either party members or all allies, always earshot range, no effect on summoned creatures, a 1 second casting time with an aftercast delay, a 10 second cooldown and always possessing a minimum of 1 charge and a maximum of 3 charges. Only 1 chant can be active on a character, a new chant overrides the older chant.
 * Echoes: On activation it is always applied on you first with no effect for 15 seconds, on use of a chant or shout it is applied on who are affected by the shout or chant and it's effect is activated, only affects party members, it has no casting time, always a cooldown of 15 seconds. Only 1 echo can be on a character, a new echo overrides the older echo.

To be able to balance these skills better having skills that can counter or remove Chants and Echoes would be needed as well. Already having spells that interrupt spells and chants having enchantment removal skills also remove chants would be an option. Also an option for a counter is to have the dazed condition and other skills that affect spell casting time include Chants. Here are some skills that can be a candidate for an effective counter (I included those who already function as a counter for them and could use an improvement to be a more effective counter):


 * Magehunter's Smash, Savage Slash, Magehunter Strike, Skull Crack.
 * Bestial Pounce, Primal Echoes, Savage Pounce, Broad Head Arrow, Concussion Shot, Savage Shot, Melandru's Arrows, Nature's Renewal, Roaring Winds, Tranquility.
 * Cacophony, Chilblains, Corrupt Enchantment, Depravity, Envenom Enchantments, Order of Apostasy, Pain of Disenchantment, Rend Enchantments, Rip Enchantment, Soul Barbs, Ulcerous Lungs, Vocal Minority, Well of Silence, Jaundiced Gaze, Soul Leech, Strip Enchantment, Discord, Toxic Chill, Well of Profane, Gaze of Contempt.
 * Arcane Larceny, Arcane Thievery, Backfire, Enchanter's Conundrum, Hex Eater Vortex,Ignorance, Mirror of Disenchantment, Price of Pride, Shatter Enchantment, Signet of Disruption, Signet of Distraction, Unnatural Signet, Air of Disenchantment, Arcane Conundrum, Frustration, Shared Burden, Sum of All Fears, Discharge Enchantment, Drain Enchantment, Feedback, Inspired Enchantment, Power Leech, Revealed Enchantment, Waste Not, Want Not, Lyssa's Balance, Shatter Storm, Signet of Disenchantment.
 * Disrupting Stab, Exhausting Assault, Expunge Enchantments, Lift Enchantment, Mark of Insecurity, Shroud of Silence, Assault Enchantments, Dark Apostasy, Shattering Assault.
 * Disenchantment, Soothing.
 * Rending Sweep, Rending Aura, Test of Faith, Winds of Disenchantment, Rending Touch.

Last thing would be the effect of Leadership

=Leadership=


 * ''While in PvE for every rank of Leadership your shouts last 4% longer. For every 3 ranks of leadership once every 5 seconds when you use a shout or chant you gain 1 energy for each ally affected by your shout or chant (maximum of 15 energy by this effect). For every 5 ranks of leadership once every 5 seconds when you use a shout or chant you gain 1 strike of adrenaline (maximum of 4 strikes of adrenaline by this effect).

Shout ( seconds). You gain + health regeneration and + armor.

Elite Shout (5 seconds). All other allies in earshot gain % damage reduction.


 * Pvp version Elite Shout (5 seconds). All other allies in earshot gain % damage reduction.

Echo (10 seconds). Party members affected by your next shout or chant attack % faster.

Elite Skill (20 seconds). All other party members within earshot of your location have damage they take converted into healing while under the effect of a shout or chant.

Skill (20 seconds). All other party members within earshot of your location take less damage while under the effect of a shout or chant.

Skill (8 seconds). Blocks the next attack against you. Block effect: inflicts burning condition ( seconds) to all foes adjacent to you.

Skill ( seconds). Your next shout or chant lasts 50% longer.

Signet (8 seconds). Your next attack gives energy and  strike[s] of adrenaline.

Stance ( seconds). You move 25% faster. Lasts 50% longer if you use this skill while under the effect of a shout or chant.


 * Pvp version Stance ( seconds). You move 25% faster. Lasts 50% longer if you use this skill while under the effect of a shout or chant.

Echo (10 seconds). Party members affected by your next shout or chant move % faster.

Skill (10 seconds). Your next chant costs less energy, gives  strike[s] of adrenaline and cannot be interrupted.

Skill. Gain health. Gain more health if there is an ally within earshot.

Skill. Gain energy. Gain strike[s] of adrenaline if there is an ally within earshot.

Stance ( seconds). You attack 25% faster. Lasts 50% longer if you use this skill while under the effect of a shout or chant.


 * Pvp version Stance ( seconds). You attack 25% faster. Lasts 50% longer if you use this skill while under the effect of a shout or chant.

Elite Stance ( seconds). You attack 33% faster and gain 33% more adrenaline while under the effect of a shout or chant.


 * Pvp version Elite Stance ( seconds). You attack 25% faster and gain 25% more adrenaline while under the effect of a shout or chant.

Stance ( seconds). You have 75% chance to block attacks. Block effect: foes adjacent to you take damage.

=Command=

Shout. Allies in earshot have % chance to block the next incoming attack.


 * Pvp version Shout. Allies in earshot have % chance to block the next incoming attack.

Shout (10 seconds). Allies in earshot inflicts cracked armor and deep wound condition ( seconds) with their next attack.


 * Pvp version Shout (10 seconds). Allies in earshot inflict cracked armor condition ( seconds) with their next attack.

Shout. Allies in earshot Inflict burning condition ( second[s]) with their next attack.


 * Pvp version Shout. Allies in earshot inflict burning condition ( second[s]) with their next attack.

Chant (10 seconds). Party members hit + adjacent foes with their attacks. The next attack skill[s] interrupt an action.


 * Pvp version Chant (10 seconds). Party members hit + adjacent foes with their attacks. The next  attack skill[s] have 50% chance to interrupt an action

Chant (10 seconds). Allies have +% change to critical hit. The next attack skill[s] deals + damage.


 * Pvp version Chant (10 seconds). Allies have +% chance to critical hit. The next  attack skill[s] deal + damage.

Chant (10 seconds). Allies deal + fire damage with their attacks. The next attack skill[s] inflict burning condition ( second[s]).


 * Pvp version Chant (10 seconds). Allies deal + fire damage with their attacks. The next  attack skill[s] inflict burning condition ( seconds).

Elite Chant (10 seconds). Allies attack +% faster and gain % more adrenaline with their attacks. The next attack skill[s] give + strike[s] of adrenaline.


 * Pvp version Elite Chant (10 seconds). Allies attack +% faster and gain % more adrenaline with their attacks. The next  attack skill[s] give + strike[s] of adrenaline.

Elite Chant (10 seconds). Allies have +% chance to critical hit with their attacks. The next attack skill[s] have +25% armor penetration and are unblockable.


 * Pvp version Elite Chant (10 seconds). Allies have + % chance to critical hit with their attacks. The next  attack skill[s] have +25% armor penetration and are unblockable.

Chant (10 seconds). Allies deal + earth damage to foes adjacent to their target with their attacks. The next attack skill[s] inflict weakness condition ( seconds).


 * Pvp version Chant (10 seconds). Allies deal + earth damage to foes adjacent to their target with their attacks. Then next  attack skill[s] inflict weakness condition ( seconds).

Echo (10 seconds). Party members affected by your next shout or chant have % chance to block.

Echo. Deals fire damage and inflicts burning condition ( second[s]) to all foes adjacent to party members affected by your next shout or chant.

Echo (10 seconds). Party members affected by your next shout or chant deal % more damage to foes suffering from burning condition.

Elite Chant (10 seconds). Allies inflict bleeding condition ( seconds) with their attacks. The next attack skill[s] inflict crippled condition ( seconds) and deal  piercing damage to target foe and all foes adjacent to target.


 * Pvp version Elite Chant (10 seconds). Allies inflict bleeding condition with their attacks ( seconds). The next  attack skill[s] inflict crippled condition ( second[s]) and deal  piercing damage to target foe and foes adjacent to target.

Elite Chant (10 seconds). While attacking allies gain + armor and cannot be interrupted. The next attack skill[s] cannot miss.


 * Pvp version Elite Chant (10 seconds). While attacking allies gain + armor and cannot be interrupted. The next  attack skill[s] cannot miss.

Chant (10 seconds). Allies gain energy with their attacks. The next attack skill[s] cost  less energy (minimum cost 1 energy).


 * Pvp version Chant (10 seconds). Allies gain  energy with their attacks. The next  attack skill[s] cost  less energy (minimum cost 1 energy).

=Motivation=

Shout (10 seconds). The next spell used by allies in earshot has % chance to activates 33% faster.


 * Pvp version Shout (10 seconds). The next spell used by allies in earshot has % chance to activate 33% faster.

Shout (10 seconds). The next spell used by allies in earshot has % chance to recharge 25% faster.


 * Pvp version Shout (10 seconds). The next spell used by allies in earshot has % chance to recharge 25% faster.

Shout (20 seconds). Allies in earshot gain energy whenever they cast a spell.

Shout (20 seconds). Allies in earshot gain health whenever they cast a spell.

Elite Shout (10 seconds). The next spell used by allies in earshot has + attribute points.


 * Pvp version Elite Shout (10 seconds). The next spell used by allies in earshot has + attribute points.

Chant (10 seconds). The next skill[s] used by allies heals for.

Chant (10 seconds). The next skill[s] used by allies costs  less energy (minimum cost 1 energy).

Chant (10 seconds). The next time[s] allies take damage they are healed for.

Chant (10 seconds). While under the effect of a shout party members gain + armor against elemental damage. Party members are healed for the next  time[s] they are affected by a shout.

Chant (10 seconds). While under the effect of a shout party members have % chance to block melee attacks. Party members gain energy the next  time[s] they are affected by a shout.

Echo. Party members affected by your next shout or chant gain energy.

Echo. Party members affected by your next shout or chant are healed for health.

Chant (10 seconds). The next skill[s] removes a hex from allies.

Chant (10 seconds). The next spell[s] used by party members remove a condition and have % chance to recharge 50% faster.


 * Pvp version Chant (10 seconds).The next  spell[s] party members use remove a condition and have % chance to recharge 50% faster.

Chant (10 seconds). The next spell[s] used by party members cost 50% less energy and have % chance to activate 50% faster.


 * Pvp version Chant (10 seconds). The next  spell[s] used by party members cost 50% less energy and have % chance to activate 50% faster.

Echo (10 seconds). Party members affected by your next shout or chant gain + health regeneration and +50 maximum health.

Echo. Party members affected by your next shout or chant lose conditions.

Chant (10 seconds). Allies are unaffected by the dazed condition. The next spell[s] used by allies cannot be interrupted.

Chant (10 seconds). Allies gain energy regeneration. The next spell[s] used by allies have + attribute points.

Elite Chant (10 seconds). Allies gain + maximum health and conditions expire % faster. The next spell[s] used by allies remove a condition.


 * Pvp version Elite Chant (10 seconds). Allies gain + maximum health and conditions expire % faster. The next  spell[s] used by allies remove a condition.

Elite Chant (10 seconds). Allies gain % more health when healed and gain + health regeneration. The next spell[s] used by allies heal for.


 * Pvp version Elite Chant (10 seconds). Allies gain % more health when healed and gain + health regeneration. The next  spell[s] used by allies heal for.

=Spear Mastery=

Spear attack. Inflicts bleeding condition ( seconds). Critical hit if target foe is suffering from a condition.

Spear attack. Inflicts cracked armor condition ( second[s]). 25% armor penetration if target foe is suffering from a condition.

Elite Spear attack. Deals + damage. Inflicts deep wound condition ( seconds).

Spear attack. Interrupts an action. Interruption effect: if you interrupt a skill that skill is disables for seconds.

Spear attack. Deals holy damage to target and foes adjacent to target. Inflicts burning condition ( second[s]) to summoned creatures.

Spear attack. Deals + damage. Inflicts crippled condition ( seconds) if target is moving.

Spear attack. Critical hit. Deals + damage.

Spear attack. Deals + damage.

Spear attack. Deals + damage. Deals + more damage if target's health is above 50%.


 * Pvp version Spear attack. Deals + damage. Deals + more damage if target's health is above 50%.

Elite Spear attack. Deals + damage. Interrupts an action. Inflicts dazed condition ( seconds) if target foe is suffering from a condition.

Spear attack. Deals + damage. Moves 3 times faster than normal.

Spear attack. Unblockable. Deals + damage.

Spear attack. Inflicts deep wound condition ( seconds).

=No Attribute=

Elite Signet. Removes two conditions and two hexes from yourself. Gain 50 health for each condition and hex removed.

Signet. Removes dazed, deep wound, weakness and one aditional condition from yourself.

Signet (5 seconds). Your next attack gives double adrenaline.

Summary
The function of the echo did not take me a long time to come up with a suitable function for it. Knowing that an echo is a reflection of a sound i moddeled it's function in a way that it buffs shouts and chants based on a similar method the guardian the legacy of the paragon does in gw2. The chants give me a bit more thinking to come up with a suitable function for them. The Anthems i had a swift idea of but the chants in the motivation line gave me a bit more time to come up with a suitable function for them due to their names wich don't give them much flexibility in their functions.

Leadership

With leadership i primarily focused on self supportive skills and some offensive and defensive party support, wich was quite easy to do since primary attributes primarily focus on self support and skill buffs. With command and motivation i took a diferent aproach in function.

Command

With command i decided to make all of the skills defensive and offensive support skills for attackers. composed primarily out of one type of chant the anthem i decided to move all of the anthems to command and moved all non anthem chants to motivation. The anthem i designed them to have a function buffing normal attacks as well as attack skills increasing damage by melees and ranged attackers.

Motivation

Motivation is almost fully focussed on spellcaster support with some added supportive healing. The role of motivation with this change now has it's focus on buffing spells and allowing casters to cast their spells more often and let them last longer in battle by allowing them to heal themselfs and granting them energy managment.

Spear Mastery

For spear mastery i changed the conditional effects of a lot of spear attacks or removed them completely. I ended up giving most of them an effect and a conditional effect instead of a purely conditional effect, so they are not too situational to use. This in total should give the paragon a good ammount of diverse skills to manipulate the battlefield by buffing it's allies with shouts chants and echoes and taking out the enemy with the spear.

No Attribute

With the No Attribute skills i was thinking of skill functions that can benefit multiple professions. Thinking how they could function best i decided to go for self-support skills. I changed Cautery Signet into a skill that can keep any profession clean from both conditions and hexes. It should work well in condition and hex heavy areas, both PvE and PvP alike. Remedy Signet became like Antidote Signet, but instead of removing blind, disease and poison it removes dazed, deep wound and weakness. I included dazed because in this suggesion Chants are affected by the dazed condition, it also keeps spellcasters clean. Deep wound has been added because it is a very dangerous condition and with the dervish update can now be easily covered. For the last condition i went for weakness because it can seriously hinder the damage output of any profession due to the reduction of the attribute points, and even more on martial classes due to the added 66% weapon damage reduction. I did not add bleeding because it is a condition that is easily reaplied when it's removed and burning because of it's short duration, cripple has been left out because it is most usable on the stationary classes. Signet of Aggresion has been changed into a skill that gives an aditional strike of adrenaline on an attack. I decided to remove the activation time so it does not hinder the DPS of the martial classes to much. It would be nice if signets without an activation time and aftercast would not stop attacking or movement of players when used.

Shouts, Chants and Echoes.

When changing the shouts i was thinking how they could be the most useful for the paragon and be a support to the party. After that i looked at leadership's function and looking back how shouts are used, mainly "Go For The Eyes!" and decided to give them effect affecting allies and party members and altered their functions so they are more beneficial as support and let the paragon benefit leadership better and doesn't have to bring GFTE as sole shout for energy managment. After giving them a new range some shouts had to have their powers reduced or needed to be completly altered and combined with the added leadership effect of prolonging shout duration in pve.

In the command line most noticable are "Find Their Weakness!" and "Brace Yourself!". For the first i was thinking of an effect wich would be most useful and looked at how it was used and what for, being it's ability to let anyone inflict deep wound. With that in mind i let keep it's deep wound ability and removed it's damage. After that i started thinking what else could be beneficial to the martial classes or more so what effect they mostly lack and fill it up and with that i came out on cracked armor, altough with it's new range and effect i reduced the durations of the conditions up to that of it's recharge. For PvE however a party wide deep wound would be to strong no mather how much you try to balance it so i removed it and increased the duration of cracked armor instead. The latter was rather easy thinking why it needed a change and that's because there already is a shout that prevents a knock down for the entire party, A second reason is also because it would be too strong for pvp and would be a pain to balance properly. After that i was thinking what else could be useful for the martial class and suit the name and i went for a defensive Go For The Eyes! mimicing it's function but instead of increasing the chance of a critical hit it gives a blocking effect.

Of the shouts i have changed attributes of quite a few of them. "Help Me!", "Incoming!", "Lead The Way!", "Make Your Time!", "Never Give Up!", "Never Surrender!" and "They're On Fire!", all have their attributes changed together with their effects. Help Me! and Incoming! have been moved to leadership with a new function and purpose. For Help Me! i went for a self supportive skill giving defense and health regeneration as well as meeting the condition of skills that require you to be under the effect of a shout or chant to work. Incoming has been changed into a damage reduction skill based on the imbagon's primary shouts, also to fulfill the paragon players long time wish: an imbagon build for pvp. The Motivation shouts are all designed to support the caster backline buffing their spells and making casting them easier.

The Chants really gave me a headache to redesign. As noticed i have moved all of the Anthems to command and all the other chant types to motivation. Now to explain their new function namewise.
 * Anthem: a passive attack buff and an active attack skill buff.
 * Aria: an active skill buff.
 * Ballad: no change.
 * Chorus: a passive effect while under the effect of a shout and an active effect triggered by shouts.
 * Lyric: two active spell buffs.
 * Song: a passive buff and an active spell buff.

The Anthems are fully focused on martial support and the Lyrics and the Songs are fully focused on spellcaster support. The Arias, Ballad and the Chorusses can benefit both classes. I do expect some criticism with the changes of Song of Purification not being able to remove conditions from the martial classes but IMO there is a better skill for it. With Song of Concentration not being able to prevent interruption of any skill i expect a lot of criticism of player killers. I added a limit of chants on a character to 1 so their effect cannot be stacked on eachother making them to strong and difficult to balance. It also allows chants to have more powerful and unique functions. I do know that the limit on Chants can hinder the use or multiple paragons in a group, but they have plenty of shouts to compensate that drawback.

The Echoes also received a change in function of how they are applied but how they work remained mostly the same.
 * Finale: an instant active effect.
 * Refrain: a passive effect.

With this change the echo now function as a buff to shouts and chants who as skill types did not posses a buff. With the changes to Aggressive Refrain the paragon would not have a non elite IAS so i changed Natural Temper into a IAS stance. Enduring Harmony and Soldier's Fury who do not posses Finale or Refrain in their names but are still an echo have had their skill types changed, both skills still keep their roles. Soldier's Fury's effect is now more in line with with the other Soldier stances. Echoes have been limited to 1 for the same reason as chants. Finales who have an instant effect however do not remove a Refrain so they can be combined but cannot activated at the same time.

With the rerolled functions of chants, shouts and echoes and the new roles of command and motivation the mid-line paragon can now choose to support either the frontline or the backline while still being able to deal a reasonable ammount of damage with it's spear.

Well that is the paragon for now, i'm sure it still requires some balancing and mostly for PvP.

Oh yeah the paragon could really use a leadership shield or a function that makes off-hand weapon require leadership so it can 12-12. Right now the paragon is the only class who is unable to effectively 12-12 with it's attributes due to the location of the self support skills and the lack of a leadership shield.