ArenaNet:Skill feedback/Paragon/"Brace Yourself!"

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"Brace Yourself!"

Spura's Issue -- 22:57, 20 February 2008 (UTC)

• Issue: This skill is overshadowed by monk's Aura of Stability. Also next to useless in PvE, arenas, AB. The required targeting of an ally is very distracting to do inbetween targeting of a foe for spear skills.

• Suggestion: Change to target ally to make it better in pve and arenas(doubt it would make much difference in organised play). Maybe make it aoe and really short duration.

Discussion

Angelic Loki's issue -- 01:15, 25 March 2008 (UTC)

• Issue: Same as above, the skill is vastly inferior to the effect from AoS, and having a character spec'd to protection is not unusual

• Suggestion: To keep the skills inline, Brace should last slightly longer then its recharge, since it cant employ enchanting, and both Brace and AoS should prevent the next 1..2..3 knockdowns. "Brace yourself!" is unremovable, so make it cost 10 energy as opposed to 5.

Elder Angelus's suggestion -- June 2008

• Issue: Above + targetting allies with profession that is attacking is hard and distracting.

• Suggestion: Change to : "For next 1..2..3 seconds, target foe cannot knock down any allies." 12 sec recharge.

Change the skill a bit?

Issue

Single other target, single knockdown, thus overshadowed by Aura of Stability which protects from an unlimited number of knockdowns.

Suggestion

OK, some of the above suggestions are great, but how about changing it to "Brace Yourselves!" and then making it work on multiple allies. Thus, rather than becoming the paragon version of Aura of Stability, it would be more like an AoE alternative. Perhaps:

5 18

For 3...8...9 seconds, the next time any nearby ally would be knocked down, they are not, and if they would have been knocked down by a foe adjacent to them, that foe takes 15...63...75 damage instead.

Limiting it to nearby would prevent abuse and limit how much energy a paragon could get from leadership with it (if it proved to be too much, the cost could always be upped to 10 , of course). Also, the duration and recharge would have to be modified (as suggested) to prevent everyone being permenantly protected from knockdown. Because this could now be triggered multiple times, I suggest changing the damage mechanics so it hits less often.

This would be a great change because it would allow you to buff up a group of people as soon as you see someone coming towards you without having to know who was going to be hit, thus making it more of a protective skill rather than a reactive one. It would still require skill, however, as positioning would be important, what with its limited area. Also, though it would prevent knock-locks, it wouldn't make them worthless as one failed KD would break it, allowing the target to be hit by another one. What's more, you wouldn't have to target an ally which is tricky for a paragon.

Buffing it to AoE makes it much more powerful, but retaining the 1 hit prevents it from being overpowered, and it probably wouldn't replace Aura of Stability except in teams which already have a support paragon.