User:Raine Valen/Musings/Dervish Rebalance/Mysticism

Mysticism

Arcane Zeal

• Current: 10 1 5 Elite Enchantment Spell. For 10 seconds, whenever you cast a Spell, you gain 1 Energy for each Enchantment on you (maximum 1...6...7 Energy).
• Proposed: 5 1 15 Elite Enchantment Spell. For 10...18...20 seconds, whenever you cast a spell, you gain 1 Energy for each Enchantment (maximum of 0...2...3) on you. If that spell targeted an ally, you also gain 1 Energy for each Enchantment (maximum of 0...2...3) on them.
  • One of the most troublesome facets of Arcane Zeal was its high cost; it required that an enchantment stack already be on the Dervish using it for it to be efficient. By reducing the cost and increasing the duration, it's less of a hindrance and now does better to foster the energy gain for which it was designed.

Avatar of Balthazar

• Current: 10 2 30 Elite Form. For 10...74...90 seconds, you gain +40 armor, you move 33% faster, and your attacks deal holy damage. This Skill is disabled for 120 seconds.
• Proposed: 15 1 60 Elite Form. All of your attack skills are recharged and you lose all Enchantments. For 3...9...10 seconds, you gain +40 armor, you move and attack 33% faster, your attacks deal an additional 5...13...15 Holy damage, and your attack skills recharge 25...65...75% faster. This Skill is disabled for 60 seconds.
  • My personal issue with the avatars was that they had always provided a pretty meh effect for a decent duration. But, embodying the gods themselves, shouldn't one expect, well, godly effects? Of course, being godly 3/4 of the time would be imbalanced, but what about a short-duration, high-intensity burst of godliness? This buff reflected that, allowing players to use their Forms to truly manipulate the battlefield, for a reasonable amount of time.

Avatar of Dwayna

• Current: 5 2 30 Elite Form. For 10...62...75 seconds, whenever you use a Skill, you gain 15...51...60 Health and lose 1 Hex. This Skill is disabled for 120 seconds.
• Proposed: 15 1 60 Elite Form. All of your attack skills and hostile spells are disabled and all of your spells are recharged. For 3...9...10 seconds, the cost of your spells is halved, Enchantments you cast last 50...90...100% longer, and whenever you cast a spell that targets an ally, that ally gains 15...51...60 Health and loses 1 Hex. This Skill is disabled for 60 seconds.
  • My personal issue with the avatars was that they had always provided a pretty meh effect for a decent duration. But, embodying the gods themselves, shouldn't one expect, well, godly effects? Of course, being godly 3/4 of the time would be imbalanced, but what about a short-duration, high-intensity burst of godliness? This buff reflected that, allowing players to use their Forms to truly manipulate the battlefield, for a reasonable amount of time.

Avatar of Grenth

• Current: 15 2 30 Elite Form. For 10...74...90 seconds, you cannot be blocked by enchanted foes, and your attacks deal cold damage and steal 5...17...20 life. This skill is disabled for 120 seconds.
• Current (PvP): 15 2 30 Elite Form. For 10...74...90 seconds, you cannot be blocked by enchanted foes, and your attacks deal cold damage. This skill is disabled for 120 seconds.
• Proposed: 15 1 60 Elite Form. For 3...9...10 seconds, your attacks deal cold damage and cannot be blocked. Whenever you use an attack skill, you steal 5...25...30 Health from foes in the area. This skill is disabled for 60 seconds.
  • My personal issue with the avatars was that they had always provided a pretty meh effect for a decent duration. But, embodying the gods themselves, shouldn't one expect, well, godly effects? Of course, being godly 3/4 of the time would be imbalanced, but what about a short-duration, high-intensity burst of godliness? This buff reflected that, allowing players to use their Forms to truly manipulate the battlefield, for a reasonable amount of time.

Avatar of Lyssa

• Current: 5 2 30 Elite Form. For 10...74...90 seconds, you have +20 maximum Energy and your attacks deal +5...41...50 damage to foes activating Skills. This Skill is disabled for 120 seconds.
• Proposed: 15 1 60 Elite Form. For 3...9...10 seconds, you have +20 maximum Energy and +1...3...4 Energy Regeneration. Your spells cast 50% faster, and whenever you cast a spell, all foes adjacent to your target are interrupted and all interrupted foes take 5...41...50 damage. This Skill is disabled for 60 seconds.
  • My personal issue with the avatars was that they had always provided a pretty meh effect for a decent duration. But, embodying the gods themselves, shouldn't one expect, well, godly effects? Of course, being godly 3/4 of the time would be imbalanced, but what about a short-duration, high-intensity burst of godliness? This buff reflected that, allowing players to use their Forms to truly manipulate the battlefield, for a reasonable amount of time.

Avatar of Melandru

• Current: 25 2 30 Elite Form. For 10...58...70 seconds, you have +100 Health, you are unaffected by Conditions, and your attacks deal earth damage. This Skill is disabled for 120 seconds.
• Proposed: 25 1 60 Elite Form. For 3...9...10 seconds, you have +100 Health, you are unaffected by Conditions, your attacks deal Earth damage and cause Poison for 5...13...15 seconds, you have a 75% chance to block attacks, and you have +80 Armor against Elemental damage. This Skill is disabled for 60 seconds.
• Concise Description: Elite Form. For 3...9...10 seconds, you become a Ranger with no Expertise.
  • My personal issue with the avatars was that they had always provided a pretty meh effect for a decent duration. But, embodying the gods themselves, shouldn't one expect, well, godly effects? Of course, being godly 3/4 of the time would be imbalanced (unless you're a Ranger), but what about a short-duration, high-intensity burst of godliness? This buff reflected that, allowing players to use their Forms to truly manipulate the battlefield, for a reasonable amount of time.

Balthazar's Rage

• Current: 10 0.75¾ 15 Enchantment Spell. All adjacent foes take 15...51...60 holy damage. For 20 seconds, this Enchantment does nothing. When this Enchantment ends, you gain 4...9...10 Health for each successful hit while under the effects of this Enchantment.
• Proposed: 10 0.75¾ 25 Enchantment Spell. All adjacent foes are set on fire for 0...4...5 seconds. For 5...13...15 seconds, you attack 25% faster and have +24 Armor while attacking. When this Enchantment ends, all adjacent foes are set on fire for 0...4...5 seconds.
  • When dealing with this skill, I asked, "What does Balthazar represent?" Well, Balthazar is the god of fire and war, so "Balthazar's Rage" should encompass that; it was previously closer to "Dwayna's Rage". While not allowing as much offensive capacity as Heart of Fury, the armor buff is in place to allow Dervishes to focus more on attacking and less on keeping themselves alive.

Dwayna's Touch

• Current: See Wind Prayers.
• Proposed:

5 0.75¾ 2 Spell. Heal target ally for 15...51...60 (maximum 100) for each enchantment on them.

• • Part of the campaigns to (1) promote dervish backlining and (2) make Wind Prayers offensive.

Eremite's Zeal

• Current: 5 1 4 Spell. Lose 1 Enchantment. You gain 1...5...6 Energy for each adjacent foe (maximum 15 Energy).
• Proposed: 5 1 12 Spell. Steal 2 Energy from each nearby foe for each Enchantment (maximum of 0...2...3) on you. You cannot gain more than 15 Energy in this way.
  • In its old form, Eremite's Zeal functioned very similar to Meditation, though it was significantly harder to get decent returns out of. As such, it has been revamped so that it not only is easier to get returns out of, but also provides moderate energy denial if used under ideal circumstances. Because it is now significantly more powerful, the recharge has been increased to prevent overuse.

Extend Enchantments

• Current: 5 0.25¼ 20 Enchantment Spell. Lose all Enchantments. For 5...17...20 seconds, Enchantments cast upon you last 100% longer. When this Enchantment ends, you lose all Enchantments on you.
• Proposed: 5 0.75¾ 3 Enchantment Spell. The next time an Enchantment is cast on target ally, it lasts 10...42...50% longer and Extend Enchantments ends. You gain 0...2...3 Energy when this Enchantment ends.
  • Previously, Extend Enchantments was primarily used for Orders Dervs, and so didn't see much play. The new Extend Enchantments allows prots on allies to be more effective, while also returning energy at high Mysticism spec, making it ideal for backline dervs, or even frontline dervs wishing to get more out of ehchants like HoF and Mirage Cloak.

Faithful Intervention

• Current: 5 2 20 Enchantment Spell. If damage drops your Health below 50%, Faithful Intervention ends. When Faithful Intervention ends, you are healed for 30...126...150 Health.
• Proposed: 15 3 45 Enchantment Spell. The next time you would die, you are healed for 50...250...300 instead and Faithful Intervention ends. When this Enchantment ends in this way, you lose all Adrenaline, Hexes, Conditions, Enchantments, and half your Energy, and you are knocked down. If this Enchantment is ended prematurely, you are healed for 50...250...300 Health. This spell is easily interrupted if you are not under the effects of 4...2...2 or more Enchantments.
  • A passive defense skill that the caster to escape death once. It serves largely the same function as the original, only somewhat more extreme. The enchantment/hex/condition removal is there to simulate death and to prevent dying again from the same causes, like VoR + Backfire.

Featherfoot Grace

• Current: See Wind Prayers.
• Proposed:

5 0.25¼ 8 Enchantment Spell. (5...9...10 seconds.) Target ally moves 25% faster, and conditions on that ally expire 50% faster.

• • Again, more Derv backline promotion.

Heart of Fury

• Current: 10 0.75¾ 30 Enchantment Spell. For 5...17...20 seconds, you attack 33% faster. When this Enchantment ends, all nearby foes are set on fire for 1...3...3 seconds.
• Proposed: 10 0.75¾ 30 Enchantment Spell. For 0...16...20 seconds, you attack 33% faster and your attack skills cause Burning for 0...2...2 seconds. When this Enchantment ends, you lose all Enchantments and all adjacent and nearby foes take 10...42...50 Fire damage (maximum of 90 damage) for each Enchantment lost in this way. Affected foes are set on fire for 0...4...5 seconds.
  • The idea of this buff was to allow the skill to be more of a damage-oriented brother to Balthazar's Rage. The burning is only applied to attack skills, and only at high spec, to somewhat limit the pressure that this skill can put out. The end effect (Shockwave-style PBAoE fire damage and burning, though with a significantly smaller AoE) is designed to finish spikes, dealing that final blow and beginning to pressure new targets as the buff ends. Also, the skill has been designed so as to be all but completely useless for non-Dervish primaries.

Heart of Holy Flame

• Current: 10 0.75¾ 15 Enchantment Spell. All adjacent foes take 15...51...60 holy damage. For 30 seconds, your attacks deal holy damage. When this Enchantment ends, all adjacent foes are set on fire for 1...3...4 seconds.
• Proposed: 10 0.75¾ 15 Enchantment Spell. All adjacent foes take 15...51...60 Holy damage. For 30 seconds, your attacks deal Holy damage and cause Burning for 0...1...1 seconds. When this Enchantment ends, all adjacent foes take 15...51...60 Holy damage and begin Burning for 1...3...4 seconds.
  • HoHF wasn't changed much, just given a slight offensive buff.

Imbue Health

• Current: 10 0.25¼ 10 Spell. Target other ally is healed for 5...41...50% of your current Health (maximum 300 Health).
• Proposed: 10 0.25¼ 10 Spell. Target ally is healed for 10...50...60% of your current Health.
  • Previously, this skill was limited by its inability to heal the caster in spite of the fact that it couldn't reliably be used as a self-heal because of its very nature. The former limitation has been removed, while the latter remains.

Meditation

• Current: 5 1 8 Spell. Lose 1 Enchantment. If an Enchantment is removed in this way, you gain 3...7...8 Energy, otherwise you are healed for 20...104...125 Health.
• Proposed: 5 1/4 Skill. Lose 1 Enchantment. For 1...2...2 seconds, damage you take is limited to 15...7...5% of your maximum Health, but you move 90% slower and cannot attack or cast spells. If an Enchantment was lost in this way, you gain 0...24...30 Health and 0...2...2 Energy and you lose 1 Condition and 1 Hex.
  • This skill now functions similarly to Contemplation of Purity, except that it removes Enchantments one at a time and offers a temporary respite from spikes. This skill was designed to remove things that punish or prevent spells, like Shroud of Silence, Visions of Regret, Vow of Silence, or Backfire.

Mystic Corruption

• Current: 5 1 30 Enchantment Spell. For 20 seconds, Conditions you apply last 1...12...15% longer for each Enchantment on you (maximum 50%).
• Proposed: 10 0.25¼ 10 Enchantment Spell. For 60 seconds, all nearby creatures take 5...13...15 damage for each Enchantment (maximum of 2...4...5) on you whenever you attack, but the duration of Enchantments cast on you is reduced by 60...36...30%. This Enchantment ends if you use a non-attack skill.
  • Before the buff to this skill, I had seen it in only one build, ever: Raptor Farming. Use in niche builds is no use. And so, this skill needed to be reworked. "Mystic Corruption" always sounded like an offensive skill to me, and so I changed this skill to reflect that. It is intended as a high-intensity offense buff for Dervishes with the serious drawback of also inflicting damage to allies, including the caster. Because of this, it was equipped with a cancel clause (though I wonder if that was appropriate; making a skill designed to cancel enchantments, like Pious Haste or Meditation, a requisite when using this skill would also do well to mitigate its power) to allow a Dervish to end it when it became too much to maintain.

Mystic Healing

• Current: See Wind Prayers.
• Proposed:

5 0.75¾ 2 Spell. Heals for 5...53...65. Affects 1...2...2 party members for each enchantment on you. The same party member cannot be healed more than once.

• • Another change geared at moving healing out of Wind Prayers.

Mystic Regeneration

• Current: See Earth Prayers.
• Proposed: 10 0.25¼ 5 Enchantment Spell. For 5...9...10 seconds, target ally has +1...3...4 Health Regeneration for each Enchantment (maximum of 5) on them. When this Enchantment ends, that ally is healed for 10...26...30 (150 maximum) for each Enchantment on them. (Attribute: Mysticism)
  • Less stupid invincibility, more spike heal. The self-target limit has been removed to assist in Dervish backlining.

Mystic Vigor

• Current: 5 0.25¼ 15 Enchantment Spell. For 20 seconds, every time you successfully hit with an attack, you gain 1...6...7 Health for each Enchantment on you (maximum 25 Health).
• Proposed: 5 0.25¼ 5 Enchantment Spell. For 20 seconds, every time target ally successfully hits with an attack or casts a spell, that ally gains 1...8...10 Health for each Enchantment (maximum of 1...4...5) on them.
  • This skill is, again, designed to allow dervs some backline power.

Natural Healing

• Current: See Wind Prayers.
• Proposed:

5 0.75¾ 5 Enchantment Spell. Target ally gains 2...7...8 Health regeneration for 20...36...40 seconds. That ally receives 20% less benefit from healing.

• • Geared toward prot-based teams, allowing party members to slowly recover instead of relying on heal spikes.

Pious Fury

• Current: 5 10 Stance. Lose one Enchantment. For 2...5...6 seconds, you attack 33% faster.
• Proposed: 5 25 Stance. Lose one Enchantment. For 0...4...5 seconds, you move and attack 33% faster. This stance is renewed every time you hit with an attack.
  • This stance was previously useful in very niche builds, but is now akin to Frenzy in that it has a very serious drawback. While the Dervish may not be taking double damage, they will be ripping through any prots placed on them as long as they continue to attack, greatly decreasing their survivability. Furthermore, a Dervish utilizing this stance will not have the added benefits of offensive buffs. As such, one would be wise to either let the stance drop (the relatively short duration should facilitate that) or carry a cancel stance. The short duration is also in place to allow little room for error: one or two blocked or missed attacks will cause this stance to end. The renewal clause is in place so as not to allow a permanent 33% IMS while not attacking, as the skill was intended to be used primarily in offensive capacity.

Pious Haste

• Current: 5 5 Stance. For 3...10...12 seconds you move 33% faster. When this Stance ends, you lose one Enchantment.
• Proposed: 5 5 Stance. Lose one Enchantment. For 1...7...8 seconds, you move 33% faster. If an Enchantment was lost in this way, you move 50% faster instead.
  • While there was nothing wrong with the previous version, it didn't reward the loss of enchantments and instead encouraged running without them. The changes to the skill reward clever Enchantment removal by giving it super-Dash movement enhancement, but it still allows one to use it in its old capacity, albeit with a more frequent refresh requirement. Additionally, because it now removes an enchantment on start instead of on end, it can be used to cancel enchantments on demand.

Pious Renewal

• Current: 5 0.25¼ 3 Elite Enchantment Spell. For 8 seconds, whenever an Enchantment ends on you, you gain 0...2...2 Energy and 0...8...10 Health.
• Proposed: 5 0.25¼ 15 Elite Enchantment Spell. For 10...26...30 seconds, whenever a Dervish Enchantment you cast ends, you gain 0...8...10 Health and 0...2...2 Energy.
  • The problem with this skill previously was that it did Mysticism's job, while Mysticism already did Mysticism's job. In its current form, it still allows for the same use, but with the added ability to allow half of the Dervish's Mysticism bonus to take effect when the Dervish casts spells on allies. To prevent abuse with things like Patient Spirit and Reversal of Fortune, this skill has been limited to Dervish enchantments only.

Pious Restoration

• Current: See Wind Prayers.
• Proposed:

5 0.25¼ 4 Spell. Target ally loses 1 Dervish enchantment and is healed for 30...78...90. That ally loses 1...3...3 hexes if an enchantment was lost in this way and they are still enchanted.

• • Carefully designed to be unusable with non-dervish enchantments, this spell once again allows dervs to backline.

Vow of Silence

• Current: 5 0.25¼ 10 Elite Enchantment Spell. For 5...9...10 seconds, you cannot be the target of Spells, and you cannot cast Spells.
• Proposed: 25 0.25¼ 3 Elite Enchantment Spell. For 0...24...30 seconds, all spells, chants, and shouts within earshot have 80...40...30% of their normal range, all hostile spells, chants, and shouts used in the area fail, and nearby creatures take 10...34...40 damage whenever they attempt to use a hostile spell, chant, or shout.
  • While there was nothing wrong with the previous version, it was very niche, used primarily in running builds. The new revision still allows that functionality at moderate spec (remember, all creatures in spell range will have to get into the area to cast spells or use offensive chants or shouts, at which point they will fail), while also giving the Dervish the ability to control spellcasting during combat. Because the effect is so powerful, the cost has been increased considerably and it has been made to affect allies as well, thus requiring prudent use so as to avoid hampering one's own team.

Watchful Intervention

• Current: 10 1 15 Enchantment Spell. For 60 seconds, the next time target ally's Health drops below 25%, that ally is healed for 50...170...200 Health.
• Proposed: 10 0.25¼ 8 Enchantment Spell. For 4...9...10 seconds, target ally takes 5...17...20% less damage. Whenever damage would drop that ally's Health below 25%, that damage is negated and that ally is healed for 40...128...150 instead and Watchful Intervention ends.
  • With its long duration, Watchful Intervention really didn't require being "watchful" at all. The duration, cost, casting time, and recharge have all been lowered in order to reward more active play styles. In addition, it now slightly reduces damage for its short duration, further enhancing its "intervention" aspect.

Zealous Renewal

• Current: 10 0.75¾ 15 Enchantment Spell. All adjacent foes take 15...51...60 holy damage. For 20 seconds, this Enchantment does nothing. When this Enchantment ends, you gain 1 Energy for each successful hit while under the effects of this Enchantment.
• Proposed: 10 0.25¼ 30 Enchantment Spell. For 5...13...15 seconds, your spells and attack skills return 20...68...80% of their cost and recharge 33% faster. Zealous Renewal ends after you use 1...4...5 skills.
  • This skill functions similar to a temporary Attunement, returning energy on expensive skills. Because this skill is so strong, its recharge has been drastically increased to match the new functionality.