U61 Enhancement Tree & Class Tweaks

[Torc]

With Update 61 we have embarked upon a slightly unusual kind of balance pass where instead of targeting a specific gameplay feature and overhauling it top-to-bottom, we are instead going wide. This means that we've changed and adjusted 13 distinct features across 7 classes and 2 universal trees to provide a larger holistic set of changes meant to intrigue character builders and shore up some statistical weakness. These adjustments include AP cost reduction, cooldown reduction, or generalized buffs largely meant to bring up underused specs and add some excitement across the board.

• Harper Agent
  • Cores 1, 6, and 18 now give +1 hit and damage and not just hit/damage vs evil
  • Core 20 now gives +2 to all ability scores, +1 hit/damage, +5 hit/damage vs evil, and +20 universal spell power
  • Weathered Traveler t1 now gives 2/4/6 energy resist
• Swashbuckler
  • Battering Barrage cost reduced from 2/rank to 1/rank
  • Thread the Needle now gives +5% to-hit (percentage bonus based on precision) while precision is toggled on
• Warchanter
  • Spinning Ice, Frozen Fury, and Skaldic Scream now use the highest of dex, cha, or str for their DCs
  • Their DCs are now (0x bard level / 1/2 bard level / 1x bard level) and (10/12/14) (Skaldic Scream is 1x bard level and 14)
  • Spinning Ice is now a 3/4/5W cleave
  • Northwind cost reduced from 2/rank to 1/rank
• Sorcerer Savant
  • T5 Actives scale with highest of Cha or Con and not just con
  • Earthen Armor (t4 earth savant) is now +3/+6 AC
• Nature's Warrior
  • fix natural armor stacking thing in t2 to just be bonus to AC
• Ninja Spy
  • Tier 2 and Tier 4 Dark Ki upgrades now grant +1 to hit and +2 to damage to match similar enhancement lines
  • Tier 5 Touch of Despair now grants +3 to hit and +3 to damage to match similar enhancement lines
• Shintao
  • Tier 2 and Tier 4 Light Ki upgrades now grant +1 to hit and +2 to damage to match similar enhancement lines
• Henshin Mystic
  • Lighting the Candle now applies the fire portion of its imbue to Ki Spells
• Class: Monk
  • Quivering Palm has a new DC formula: DC 10 + monk level + highest of Dex or Wis mod + assassinate bonuses
• Assassin
  • All of the active poison attacks up the line are now +3W, use full rogue level for their DCs instead of half, and now make certain enemies that would be immune to poison, weak to poison.
    • Ice Chill = Undead
    • Heartseeker = Elementals
    • Soulshatter = Outsiders
• Vistani
  • Kukris now function with this tree, with the exception of the core 12, which only gives +1 multiplier (this keeps them in parity crit-wise with daggers as they naturally have +1 threat range over them)
• Archmage
  • Master of Magic (Core 20) now also grants +20 Universal Spell Power, and increases from +2 INT to +4 INT
  • Efficient Metamagics have their AP cost reduced from 2 to 1, since AM having metamagics be good seems flavorful
    • also bug fix: heighten no longer requires level 12 for no reason
  • Spell Penetration has its AP cost reduced from 2 to 1
  • Energy of the Scholar has its AP cost reduced from 2 to 1, matching other trees
  • Cores 12 and 18 now grant a generic +1 to caster level and max caster level
• Vanguard
  • Stunning Shield cooldown reduced to 45/30/15 seconds
  • Shield Rush cooldown reduced to 40/30/20 seconds
  • Shield Specialization line's damage bonus is now visible to the player

Let us know if this kind of balance pass is something you'd want us to do again in the future! This is a relatively new approach for us so any feedback on the specifics of the changes or of the structure is very welcome.

 

[ShinuzukaRakam]

I'm excited for the Monk and Archmage updates, and everything else looks really nice, too.

If future updates can have this style of balance pass, that'd be awesome.

 

[Taleisin]

I really like this. I REALY like any cost reductions in Swashbuckler!

As a request, can you look at Morninglord for reductions/changes for next week? That one seems awfully pricey!

Thank you!

 

[axel15810]

I like this kind of approach much better so there isn't a wait of years and years for a specific enhancement tree to get updates.

Kensei and Warpriest are glaring omissions from this pass though. Both those trees need attention, especially Warpriest. Here's a recent thread on Warpriest suggestions if you want feedback to consider:

https://forums.ddo.com/index.php?threads/hypothetical-warpriest-revamp.2253/

 

[wdhvenrick]

Sweeping buffs are incredible, way better than sweeping nerfs to get everything on the same level. I for one am happy to see a little love to archmage. Force casters need it with ever elemental damage having immunity strip, making its gimmick a tad useless.
Also i agree with Taleisin, that morninglord is expensive.
And I'd also love to see more love given to shield bashers, its a fun play style that ends up pretty weak at times.

 

[MSC]

I like this kind of approach much better so there isn't a wait of years and years for a specific enhancement tree to get updates.

Kensei and Warpriest are glaring omissions from this pass though. Both those trees need attention, especially Warpriest. Here's a recent thread on Warpriest suggestions if you want feedback to consider:

https://forums.ddo.com/index.php?threads/hypothetical-warpriest-revamp.2253/

What changes does Kensei need? It's already one of the better physical damage trees in the game, what on earth needs to be changed in it?

 

[Ying]

Let us know if this kind of balance pass is something you'd want us to do again in the future!

Absolutely yes. Some of these changes have been desired by players for years, like Archmage AP reduction. I'm happy to see them realized in the game and It gives players hope that other similar class/enhancement issues will get adjusted in the future.

 

[wdhvenrick]

What changes does Kensei need? It's already one of the better physical damage trees in the game, what on earth needs to be changed in it?

Kensei generally requires you to take certain fighter specific feats to progress in the tree. You need the fighter focuses which only unlock at certain levels, and by the time you'd want to continue upgrading ur weapon focus you want even have the prereq feats, but you'll have spent enough enhancement points to progress.

 

[Zaszgul]

This is a great approach to hit a lot of low-hanging fruit across the board. Thanks!

 

[Altra]

With Update 61 we have embarked upon a slightly unusual kind of balance pass where instead of targeting a specific gameplay feature and overhauling it top-to-bottom, we are instead going wide. This means that we've changed and adjusted 13 distinct features across 7 classes and 2 universal trees to provide a larger holistic set of changes meant to intrigue character builders and shore up some statistical weakness. These adjustments include AP cost reduction, cooldown reduction, or generalized buffs largely meant to bring up underused specs and add some excitement across the board.

• Harper Agent
  • Cores 1, 6, and 18 now give +1 hit and damage and not just hit/damage vs evil
  • Core 20 now gives +2 to all ability scores, +1 hit/damage, +5 hit/damage vs evil, and +20 universal spell power
  • Weathered Traveler t1 now gives 2/4/6 energy resist
• Swashbuckler
  • Battering Barrage cost reduced from 2/rank to 1/rank
  • Thread the Needle now gives +5% to-hit (percentage bonus based on precision) while precision is toggled on
• Warchanter
  • Spinning Ice, Frozen Fury, and Skaldic Scream now use the highest of dex, cha, or str for their DCs
  • Their DCs are now (0x bard level / 1/2 bard level / 1x bard level) and (10/12/14) (Skaldic Scream is 1x bard level and 14)
  • Spinning Ice is now a 3/4/5W cleave
  • Northwind cost reduced from 2/rank to 1/rank
• Sorcerer Savant
  • T5 Actives scale with highest of Cha or Con and not just con
  • Earthen Armor (t4 earth savant) is now +3/+6 AC
• 
  
• Archmage
  • Master of Magic (Core 20) now also grants +20 Universal Spell Power, and increases from +2 INT to +4 INT
  • Efficient Metamagics have their AP cost reduced from 2 to 1, since AM having metamagics be good seems flavorful
    • also bug fix: heighten no longer requires level 12 for no reason
  • Spell Penetration has its AP cost reduced from 2 to 1
  • Energy of the Scholar has its AP cost reduced from 2 to 1, matching other trees
  • Cores 12 and 18 now grant a generic +1 to caster level and max caster level

Let us know if this kind of balance pass is something you'd want us to do again in the future! This is a relatively new approach for us so any feedback on the specifics of the changes or of the structure is very welcome.

I'm very excited about the changes. I love playing a caster.

And, Yes, please. Do it again!

Thanks

 

[Ivor]

I like this approach. Many things end up feeling abandoned when they aren't touched for several years. This helps alleviate that perception.

If I could make a request, next time you do this please take a look at all the older racial enhancement trees. Many of them have over-costed or under-powered things that could be made much better by these types of tweaks. I'd like to see the older races stack up better when compared to newer ones.

 

[axel15810]

What changes does Kensei need? It's already one of the better physical damage trees in the game, what on earth needs to be changed in it?

Mainly, some abilities such as Kensei tier 2 tactics are too expensive (for example this same enhancement in the WF tree is half the AP cost) and the capstone should be more attractive for pure kensei fighters IMO. As Severlin discussed recently in a Q&A Kensei doesn't do the pure 20 heavy armor fighter kensei thing very well. It has been my experience too that Pure 20 Kensei doesn't feel that great but tell me if you disagree. I am not saying the tree isn't good for many builds, it just needs some attention in certain areas.

 

[Contessor]

Warchanter changes = great
Monk QP changes = great
Archmage changes = great
Vistani adding kukris = really great

Harper = still no incentive to invest in this tree other than trance. The cores should be double the bonus to not just evil at least on Core 6 and 18 and maybe tame the 20 down to +4 and make it for all as well. Also there should be some more fluff on the tier 4/5. Maybe +2/4/6 assasinate in tier 4 and maybe a mass hold SLA in tier 5 based on CL? This tree needs some love all around tbh.

The other changes look OK.

Overall I like this sweeping buff strategy.

 

[PraetorPlato]

Could falconry capstone also get buffed? Doesn't have to be a ton, but a little love for 41 falc would be nice—right now, not many people take it past 27.

 

[Gavaleus]

Adding my vote to keep doing these kinds of balance changes. Full balance passes appear hard to carve out time for, so if a dev spots something every now and then that they could tweak I think that would be great. Little changes like these can go a long way.

 

[StevenC]

With Update 61 we have embarked upon a slightly unusual kind of balance pass where instead of targeting a specific gameplay feature and overhauling it top-to-bottom, we are instead going wide. This means that we've changed and adjusted 13 distinct features across 7 classes and 2 universal trees to provide a larger holistic set of changes meant to intrigue character builders and shore up some statistical weakness. These adjustments include AP cost reduction, cooldown reduction, or generalized buffs largely meant to bring up underused specs and add some excitement across the board.

• Harper Agent
  • Cores 1, 6, and 18 now give +1 hit and damage and not just hit/damage vs evil
  • Core 20 now gives +2 to all ability scores, +1 hit/damage, +5 hit/damage vs evil, and +20 universal spell power
  • Weathered Traveler t1 now gives 2/4/6 energy resist
• Swashbuckler
  • Battering Barrage cost reduced from 2/rank to 1/rank
  • Thread the Needle now gives +5% to-hit (percentage bonus based on precision) while precision is toggled on
• Warchanter
  • Spinning Ice, Frozen Fury, and Skaldic Scream now use the highest of dex, cha, or str for their DCs
  • Their DCs are now (0x bard level / 1/2 bard level / 1x bard level) and (10/12/14) (Skaldic Scream is 1x bard level and 14)
  • Spinning Ice is now a 3/4/5W cleave
  • Northwind cost reduced from 2/rank to 1/rank
• Sorcerer Savant
  • T5 Actives scale with highest of Cha or Con and not just con
  • Earthen Armor (t4 earth savant) is now +3/+6 AC
• Nature's Warrior
  • fix natural armor stacking thing in t2 to just be bonus to AC
• Ninja Spy
  • Tier 2 and Tier 4 Dark Ki upgrades now grant +1 to hit and +2 to damage to match similar enhancement lines
  • Tier 5 Touch of Despair now grants +3 to hit and +3 to damage to match similar enhancement lines
• Shintao
  • Tier 2 and Tier 4 Light Ki upgrades now grant +1 to hit and +2 to damage to match similar enhancement lines
• Henshin Mystic
  • Lighting the Candle now applies the fire portion of its imbue to Ki Spells
• Class: Monk
  • Quivering Palm has a new DC formula: DC 10 + monk level + highest of Dex or Wis mod + assassinate bonuses
• Assassin
  • All of the active poison attacks up the line are now +3W, use full rogue level for their DCs instead of half, and now make certain enemies that would be immune to poison, weak to poison.
    • Ice Chill = Undead
    • Heartseeker = Elementals
    • Soulshatter = Outsiders
• Vistani
  • Kukris now function with this tree, with the exception of the core 12, which only gives +1 multiplier (this keeps them in parity crit-wise with daggers as they naturally have +1 threat range over them)
• Archmage
  • Master of Magic (Core 20) now also grants +20 Universal Spell Power, and increases from +2 INT to +4 INT
  • Efficient Metamagics have their AP cost reduced from 2 to 1, since AM having metamagics be good seems flavorful
    • also bug fix: heighten no longer requires level 12 for no reason
  • Spell Penetration has its AP cost reduced from 2 to 1
  • Energy of the Scholar has its AP cost reduced from 2 to 1, matching other trees
  • Cores 12 and 18 now grant a generic +1 to caster level and max caster level
• Vanguard
  • Stunning Shield cooldown reduced to 45/30/15 seconds
  • Shield Rush cooldown reduced to 40/30/20 seconds
  • Shield Specialization line's damage bonus is now visible to the player

Let us know if this kind of balance pass is something you'd want us to do again in the future! This is a relatively new approach for us so any feedback on the specifics of the changes or of the structure is very welcome.

Hi Torc,

Thank you for the tweaks.

My opinoin:
1. All sorc savant's capstones should be improved from +2 charisma to +4 charisma, to be on par with other class's enhancement capstones.
2. Sorc savant T5 Actives scale with highest of Cha or Con and not just con, thank you for that. However the DC will still be irrelevant in the current endgame. Could you please consider adding Evocation bonuses to the t5 actives?
3. I think archmage's Cores 12 and 18 each will need +1 to all spell dc, rather than +1 to cl and mcl. Currently archmage is much worse than palemaster in terms of spell DC.
4. Could you please consider changing archmage's t5 arcane supremacy to an active skill. Currently the passiveness of arcane supremacy makes it virtually useless.

 

[Wisefreelancer]

I was musing the other day that Harper desperately needs any improvement and how sad it was it would likely never be prioritised. And now here buffs are! These kind of changes are awesome. Even if its just a handful every major update, it gives new freshness to neglected bits and pieces.

 

[Guedez]

Having a Two Handed Fighting universal tree that is on part with Inquisitor (Ranged) and Vistani (TWF) would be nice, but that's clearly out of scope for this.
Maybe even a STR/CON specific tree as there are plenty of trees for all other attributes besides these two

 

[Itchybeard]

I have some questions about Warchanter changes:

• Spinning Ice, Frozen Fury, and Skaldic Scream now use the highest of dex, cha, or str for their DCs
• Their DCs are now (0x bard level / 1/2 bard level / 1x bard level) and (10/12/14) (Skaldic Scream is 1x bard level and 14)
• Spinning Ice is now a 3/4/5W cleave
• Northwind cost reduced from 2/rank to 1/rank

Frozen Fury says... "Affected enemies must make a Fortitude save (10 + Charisma modifier + 0/one-quarter/one-half Bard Level + Stunning modifiers) or become frozen" etc. The above bullet points now allow for DEX or STR to also be part of the calculation. Cool. Variety is good.

However, what about the DC? Is the "10" portion of the original DC calculation just gone in favor of upping the Bard-level component? Is the (10/12/14) mentioned above replacing the "10" because there are 3 Ranks? I wasn't sure based on the bullet point if the (10/12/14) was referring to something else entirely. If these DO replace the 10 portion of the formula, would the new DC calculations be...

Rank 1 DC = (10 + highest of CHA/STR/DEX + [Bard Level x 0] + Stun Mod)
Rank 2 DC = (12 + highest of CHA/STR/DEX + [Bard Level x 1/2] + Stun Mod)
Rank 3 DC = (14 + highest of CHA/STR/DEX + [Bard Level x 1] + Stun Mod)

Spinning Ice buff is nice. Thank you.
Northwind cost reduction is VERY appreciated, btw!

 

[Lagin]

Drop Int for a pre-req for Whirlwind