ArenaNet:Skill feedback/Monk/Life Sheath

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Archive

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Archive 1: pre-December 11th, 2008 update

Life Sheath (last update: December 11th, 2008)

Mordax Praetorian' Issue -- 02:00, 12 December 2008 (UTC)

Issue

While new functionality is great, the old functionality was also great even if the skill was a bit weak

Suggestion

Give the new functionality to Mark of Protection, restore Life Sheath's old functionality but with a buff to recharge time

Renly Moore 14:11, 12 December 2008 (UTC) Issue --

Issue

The old functionality was, in my opinion, far superior to the new update. The new functionality, when used in combination with protective spirit really is not that great. Damage taken is capped at 10% and healing is then too. And I am not convinced that the AI would recognize that if a player has protective spirit to not put this on them as well. When a single protection monk can get a party of 7, the healing monk had left, through an entire Fissure of Woe clearing with just using Life Sheath, Protective Spirit, and Dismiss Condition the elite should not be considered weak, just underused. I and the majority of monks I know are now scrambling to reassemble a working protection build now that the functionality of Life Sheath has changed. Simply because an elite is underused does not mean that it is a bad skill. Not everyone enjoys the "flavor of the month" builds. What I had always enjoyed about Guild Wars was that there was no one perfect build. So long as I found that I was comfortable using and enjoyed I could play the game. I, and others, enjoyed monking with the old functionality of Life Sheath.

Suggestion

Return life sheath to its old functionality, or make this new functionality a PvP only skill.

Jet 19:54, 13 December 2008 (PST) Issue

Issue

The issue of Life Sheath, I believe, was not the cap on the damage, nor the recharge, but the casting time. 1 second (and this is more on a PVE outlook) is vastly longer than other prot skills that lets a monk prevent massive damage (mainly Spirit Bond, Protective Spirit). 150 damaged absorbed is certainly nothing to over look, its quite large despite the greater damage enemies can do, it would still be 150 damage that would've been negated. As Renly Moore stated, its good to have builds that don't use the same elites, its nice to have variety, and Life Sheath was one that just simply underused, but not to be underestimated how good this elite originally was.

Suggestion

Bring back the old version, decrease cast time to 1/2 second, increase recharge to 8-10 seconds, if the casting time makes it overpowered.

Tainisk 21:49, 14 December 2008 (PST) Issue

Issue

As a protection monk, I used to carry protective spirit, life sheath, dismiss condition, and some random unimportant skills. When you are fighting ele bosses on hard who can spam flare for 400+ dmg per hit, being able to heal doesn't mean much. You have to keep the party from getting wiped in one hit. Reversal of fortune (and the new life sheath) will only effect the next hit, which 99% of the time is the wand attack, not the 400+ dmg flare. Also, reversal of fortune will not help against things that have high dmg rate, but low dmg per hit. The old life sheath did. If the only way to play this game and succeed is use the build that the 'cool' kids use, then I'm not sure I want to play it. I have never thought that there was any one way to get through any mission/quest/vanquish. Different people come up with different builds that make them happy. The whole point of the game is to have fun, not be a carbon copy of everyone else. I never minded the casting time, but if the point of this update was to boost a 'weak' skill, then dropping the casting time would definatly help. As Renly Moore said, when I can take a party through the Fissue of Woe with the only skill on my bar that restores health as dismiss condition after the healing monk left, I don't really consider that build weak. Life Sheath was an important part of that build and the only thing in the entire FoW that gave me any trouble were the handful of monsters with degen.

Suggestion

Bring back the old version.

Wandering Traveler's issue: 22:06, 14 December 2008 (UTC)

Issue

the new life sheath is great, but it is essentially dwarfed by two staple non elites for a prot monk: Reversal of Fortune and Dismiss Condition. The two are staples for a prot monk, and don't use the elite.

Suggestion

Restore to the old version.

Halogod's issue: 02:52, 11 July 2009 (UTC)

Issue

The new Life Sheath is good, but I think the old functionality was alot more fun and useful even though it was weal

Suggestion

Revert to the old version,

5 0.25¼ 5 20 seconds, 50...210...250 damage is negated.

Painted Bird 23:02, 12 February 2009 (UTC)

Issue

Boring and no more powerful than the original. The change was unnecessary, and the new skill has less style than the original. I don't know why but Anet seems to think it should go back and overhaul a bunch of the elite skills in the game and change their functionalities to stronger clone versions of other skills. That's not very creative and it's counterproductive. And like I said, in this case, unnecessary. All it does is diminish the variety of playstyles available. When you change a skill, keep the change minor unless the skill is just that horrible that it needs a re-write. Don't go back and re-write skills 'just because'.

Suggestion

Restore the original version. Maybe add a minor buff to it if it's too weak, but honestly, I saw no problem with it originally.

RC II

Issue

Just as Reaper's Sweep is basically just a Wounding Strike which removes enchantments, this skill is now like an RC/RoF cross which you can use on yourself. That's a bit boring, and it also leads to power creep (though the latter's not much of an issue since this isn't quite as good as RC).

Suggestion

Don't revert the functionality, but make it a hybrid of the two, something which works more like the old version and makes more thematic sense like it does, but which takes the usefulness of the new version (the old one was pretty underused). Something like:

Life Sheath. 5 0.75¾ 5 .

Elite Enchantment Spell. Remove one condition from target ally. For 3...7...8 seconds, that ally gains 25 armour and +0...3...4 Health regeneration, and new conditions last only 100...60...50% as long on them.

The numbers might need some work, but something like this would be a much more defensive skill, as the old LS was. However, it would still be powerful at removing conditions and would be able to heal a bit too which is something that many protection prayers skills lack.

Falconeye's Proposal

Issue

-See Above:

Suggestion

• Life Sheath -

5 ¼ 5 - (Protection Prayers) - Elite Enchantment Spell. "Remove 1...3...3 conditions from target ally. (8 seconds.) Negates the next 1...3...3 incoming damage and converts them (maximum 20...84...100) to healing."

--Falconeye 06:02, 26 March 2009 (UTC)

Crimmastermind's Proposal

Issue

-Stale and boring concept.

-Copy of RoF with contition removal tacked on to give it elite status

Suggestion

• Life Sheath -

5 ¼ 15 - (Protection Prayers) - Elite Enchantment Spell. "(5 seconds.) Target ally has a 50% chance to block attacks. The next time that ally blocks an attack, that ally is healed for 5...113...140 health and loses one condition."

--Falconeye 06:02, 26 March 2009 (UTC)

This suggestion is just a copy of shield guardian. Kumlekar 03:35, 26 May 2009 (UTC)

Idea From the Name

Issue

As above.

Make Protection Prayer able against lame blood spike.

Suggestion

5 ¼ 5 Elite Enchant. For 0...7...9 seconds. Target ally is immune to Life Stealing. --紅茶喵._. 08:25, 12 July 2009 (UTC)