U82 Preview 1 - Enhancement Changes (and one new Feat!)

[axel15810]

Regarding Dragon Lord -

I did not have time to test in this preview, but from what players are telling me Dragon's Roar is now basically touch range and requires hard target. A nerf to this ability is certainly reasonable, but if its range and afffectable targets are being reduced to this degree its cooldown should be lowered a bit. Currently it is double that of Stunning Blow, but with these nerfs it seems reasonable to let players use it more than once every 20 seconds.

 

[BuckGB]

Echoing some of what others have said, my feedback would be:

• Lower the point costs in Warchanter. Frozen Fury and Northwind don't need 3 ranks each and the T5s are way too expensive.
• Lower the point costs in Grandmaster of Flowers. That ED is way too expensive, particularly at T5.
• Add Melee Power to the Exalted Angel cores to better support the turn-utilizing "battle cleric" archetype.
• "For Cormyr!" should not be a one-and-done 20-second buff. That doesn't come close to justifying a 19-point spend.
• As you seem adamant in keeping them around as a required tax, more trees need trances (Warchanter would be a good start).

 

[eartheyes]

perhaps the answer the war hammers and strikethrough worries is make it an arti only trait? its not like artis are top tier melee dps and that way all the people that think it will break the game for all melee players can have their fears quelled?

 

[Smokewolf]

Let's talk about that. We've definitely heard more than a few calls for it, but despite people saying so, we've seen very few feasible suggestions for what people want to see happen to it.

A few things we have seen:

• A number of suggestions that essentially equate to "burn the tree down and replace it with a new tree"
  
  • This isn't in scope for U82, nor will it be realistically doable anytime soon.
• "The SLAs in the cores are bad/outdated and need to be replaced with better ones"
  
  • While potentially true, we've seen no realistic suggestions on what to replace these thirty-five SLAs with that doesn't overwhelmingly favor one school.
• Add Mixed Magics to Archmage
  
  • This is a good suggestion, and very Archmage-coded, and we might consider it. However, it primarily helps multiclassed characters and Wizard splashes without doing anything for pure Wizard Archmages.

We're up for potentially buffing Archmage in this pass, but it would need to fit into the following box:

1. It's got to be within the scope of what we can do. We can't do a full tree overhaul here. At most, we could do something similar to the changes Renegade Mastermaker got in this preview.
2. It needs to not lose the Archmage focus of being a tree for most-to-all spell schools.
3. It needs to bear in mind the other caster buffs in U82, including Cantrips, spell damage changes, etc, so that it doesn't blow away other caster builds or builds in general.

Here is my revised proposal.

Archmage Cores

Keep the existing core structure and SLAs with the following bonuses per core taken:

• +1 to caster level and max caster level.
• +1 Spell Penetration per core
• +3 Universal Spell Power per core

Core SLAs

I don't think the existing SLAs need to be thrown away if the spells can be made relevant past Heroics. The problem is that many of them are simply old and underwhelming even in Heroics.

Tier 1

Energy of the Scholar

Increase the value of this ability so that it feels worthwhile as an early Archmage investment.

Examples:

By providing some Universal Spell Power alongside the Spell Points.

By providing “Mobile Spellcaster” as a passive effect of taking Energy of the Scholar.

The important part is that investing in Archmage should immediately feel useful.

Wand and Scroll Mastery

No one really uses this… So maybe replace it with…

Inertia (AP 2): Whenever you cast a damaging spell or SLA, gain +3 to your Universal Spell Power for 6 seconds. This stacks up to five times, with each additional stack refreshing the duration.

Traditionalist Caster

Its functional but pretty basic. Maybe what is needed here is something that would really make an Archmage stand out in a group. Becoming their iconic signature look…

Example: Traditionalist Caster (AP2): Your Wizard can now wield a Staff in one hand simultaneously with an Orb in the other. Passive: +3% Spell Critical Chance while wielding both a Staff and an Orb.

Tier 2

Wizards are painfully slow, often arriving too late to really contribute in a meaningful way. What could help is something similar to what works for Bards.

Velocity Squared (AP 2): While holding a Staff or Orb, you can move 1% faster for each of your Heroic Wizard levels.



Tier 3

Arcane Bolt

Place Bolt in Tier 2, while raising the MCL limitation, so that this scales into Epics.

Add in its place: Deep Thought (AP 1, Ranks 3): You slowly regenerate your spell points at a rate of 1 every 2 seconds, for 30/60/120 seconds. Cooldown: 20 seconds, 5 Charges per rest. Each spell or SLA cast has a 2% chance to restore one charge. Passive: You gain +1 Spell Point Regeneration for each Mental Toughness feat you possess.

Tier 4

One of the biggest problems with being a Wizard, is the ridiculous gear requirements of building for multiple elements just to remain a viable generalist. My proposal…

Convergence (AP A): Your spells now use your highest Spell Power and Spell Critical Chance.

School Mastery: Is pretty basic for the +2 AP investment. Perhaps rather than being a Specialist Mastery, this would become a Generalist Mastery. Effectively becoming +1DC to all schools.

Tier 5

Arcane Blast

Place Blast in Tier 4, while raising the MCL limitation, so that this scales into Epics.

Add in its place:

Forceful Magic (AP 2): Add a Spell Imbue Toggle: Direct-damage spells and SLAs gain one 1d6 Force Imbue Die per Metamagic feat taken. The effect may trigger once per target, per spell / SLA cast. Scales with 100% Force Spell Power.

Example 1: Fireball is cast triggering Forceful Magic upon impact. All mobs within the AoE of Fireball receives 1d6 Force damage per Metamagic feat the Wizard has.

Example 2: Our wizard hits a mobs with a damage over time effect. The mob is damaged by Forceful magic, only during the first tick of the effect.

Arcane Supremacy: Its biggest issue is that it’s completely random, unlike many Martial abilities that are clickable effects.

Example… Arcane Supremacy (AP 2): Clickable effect, +25% Spell Critical Chance, +100% Spell Critical Damage. 15 seconds duration, with 60 second cooldown.

 

[droid327]

• Morningstar and Warhammer are now considered hand-and-a-half weapons, benefiting from Strikethrough and the Two Handed Fighting feats in the same ways Bastard Sword and Dwarven Waraxe do.
• Notes: We're on the fence about Warhammers with this one, but want to see it play out in this preview before making a final decision. This isn't an enhancement or feat changes, it's here as it's relevant to Battle Engineer especially.

The more I think about it, the more I think Warhammer cant become HaH, unless you also take it off Knights Training

KT was created in the first place because Khopesh was in a "one ring to rule them all" situation because of its crit profile. KT opened the field so that Longsword and Warhammer could compete with equal investment, and now we see both having use cases.

If WH gets the extra bonus of 20% Strikethough minimum, and then potentially add in some more from elsewhere, particularly THF Spec at cap, then we go back to a "one ring" situation since that's a 20% increase to DPS whenever you're facing more than one mob.

Giving it to Morningstar makes total sense, since that has no use case right now, and doesnt compete on crit profile alone (except for Scourge, for a significant chunk of additional AP). I think that alone satisfies the need for a bludgeon (and sometimes pierce) HaH weapon

 

[Grimscore_Riffstorm]

Regarding Dragon Lord -

I did not have time to test in this preview, but from what players are telling me Dragon's Roar is now basically touch range and requires hard target. A nerf to this ability is certainly reasonable, but if its range and afffectable targets are being reduced to this degree its cooldown should be lowered a bit. Currently it is double that of Stunning Blow, but with these nerfs it seems reasonable to let players use it more than once every 20 seconds.

I was thinking about this too. Are we aiming for like a Burning Hands style cone? Is it smaller? Is it hard target and what's nearbye the targeted? Or is it akin to Primal Scream but touch radius?

 

[jrazumich]

Any chance that you can unlink Arcane Bolt and Arcane Blast in Archmage the way you're unlinking SLAs in Sorcerer?

 

[droid327]

Also, if WH does stay HaH, should Bastard Sword be simplified to a Martial weapon?

Hard to justify the feat tax for Exotic proficiency if WH gets the same thing plus a better crit profile

Or at least make it 19-20/x3 to match

 

[axel15810]

• As you seem adamant in keeping them around as a required tax, more trees need trances (Warchanter would be a good start).

On this point, put me down as someone who'd be completely in favor of trances being removed from DDO entirely. They're so strong that they're mandatory on all builds. If your trees don't have it you must splash in a universal for it. They limit build diversity since they must be worked into all builds and are just in general an additional required buff button push for everyone that doesn't add much to the game. At least add in more insightful augments for the same bonuses to make them less required.

 

[rabidfox]

On this point, put me down as someone who'd be completely in favor of trances being removed from DDO entirely. They're so strong that they're mandatory on all builds. If your trees don't have it you must splash in a universal for it. They limit build diversity since they must be worked into all builds and are just in general an additional required buff button push for everyone that doesn't add much to the game. At least add in more insightful augments for the same bonuses to make them less required.

I'm of the same view. At the least, they should remove snapshotting on trances and then make gear provide near trance level values (80-85%) so trances are only a slight boost.

 

[droid327]

I'm of the same view. At the least, they should remove snapshotting on trances and then make gear provide near trance level values (80-85%) so trances are only a slight boost.

I doubt they could remove snap shot since that'd require the game to recalculate your bonus with every attack, and that sounds chewy

But yes increasing insightful damage/accu/DC scaling seems like an easy blanket solution, create an alternative opportunity cost to the AP/class investment. That also addresses the gap between class and uni trances

 

[rabidfox]

I doubt they could remove snap shot since that'd require the game to recalculate your bonus with every attack, and that sounds chewy

Yeah, every attack would probably break things. Refresh the numbers every X seconds; whatever won't kill the servers but will make using a swap no longer effective.

or just refresh the numbers a trance is using any time someone swaps weapons/gear.

 

[sHiBe]

The more I think about it, the more I think Warhammer cant become HaH, unless you also take it off Knights Training

KT was created in the first place because Khopesh was in a "one ring to rule them all" situation because of its crit profile. KT opened the field so that Longsword and Warhammer could compete with equal investment, and now we see both having use cases.

If WH gets the extra bonus of 20% Strikethough minimum, and then potentially add in some more from elsewhere, particularly THF Spec at cap, then we go back to a "one ring" situation since that's a 20% increase to DPS whenever you're facing more than one mob.

Giving it to Morningstar makes total sense, since that has no use case right now, and doesnt compete on crit profile alone (except for Scourge, for a significant chunk of additional AP). I think that alone satisfies the need for a bludgeon (and sometimes pierce) HaH weapon

What If I want to use Warhammers in TWF? I would want to keep the Knights Training feat for that. Also, please do not make Warhammer an exotic weapon, leave it where it is please.

 

[Sormiron]

I think they need to remove the summon stuff and maybe give it more tank stuff. It feels mostly like a tank tree. Main issues are base HP is 6 so ideally give them a feat that makes it match fighter. Or maybe swap the summon stuff and make it a selector one where one focuses on defence other on offence

I would be fine with such a direction. they´d need more threat for spells than +75% if that would be the theme. possibility of getting decent ac/prr/mrr on their own and such.

the summoning stuff is a bit sad in general. to see that go entirely out of the game I dono. there still are a few that enjoy it even if it is underwhelming. there are still a few struggling with with the summoning builds and it got some attention in one raid with stat items for pets/summons and hirelings. I dont think warlock is on the list of builds at all. summonings themselves are weaksauce and I think its druid/dark hunter for wolf, maybe arti for dog. usualy some split with high enough level of these for equipent. saw some bard aswell. wizards skeleton was dying to quick I think. hirelings including golden ones +primal avatar mantle and Magos of eclipse stuff and summonings were the thing.

Maybe something powerfull for summonings could be done for Archmage and Warlock. Conjuration/necromancy giving summonings much more attack damage and a lot of lot of tankyness + spell dc´s and spellpower equal to highest of yours. Archmage is already multiselector for the schools and that can be done with the summoning stuff for warlock. I know spellpower and spell dc´s excist in primal avatar. giving the summonings enough power to be noticable in a group where hirelings is excluded would be the goal with that I suppose. Even while leveling.

 

[mikarddo]

Who are the ‘people’ mentioned numerous times who are asking for this? My request is for a professional and inclusive way to poll your customers. Because whomever has your ear is not representative of all of us.

Half of the changes are unneeded and the other half go way too far. Tone it all down.

Polling customers would make little sense though.

Most players - very possibly including me - are not particularly rational beings that aim for the overall best for the game. It is never easy to kill your own darlings even when it may be for the greater good.

 

[Frantik]

Notes: Two Handed Fighting builds are doing well against large packs of mobs, but they're significantly behind when dealing with Bosses and larger targets, to the point where we're hearing some THF builds are being excluded from Raids. This gives them significantly more ability to deal with single targets, while not at 100% uptime. Exact numbers of MP/Strikethrough ratio are a work in progress.

So melee THF are being considered not being strong enough vs single target, and in some cases being excluded from raids, and this will be addressed by SGG, but when it comes to a similar problem with casters and AoE???

 

[Juizo]

Harper Agent


Plz, redraw.

 

[Crustbucket]

I have a few take aways.

1. I am concerned with Warhammers as Hand and a half weapons for the same reason Knights training was proposed to dethrone Khopesh. Looking at the wiki you will find that Warhammers for an equivalent one feat tax into Hand and a Half territory net a crit multi or range as compared to Bswords or Dwarven Axes. See below.

• Improves Heavy Maces and Morningstars to 18-20x2 (17-20x2 with Improved Critical: Bludgeoning)

Morningstars can improve to 17-20x3 with Aasimar Scourge enhancements.

• Improves Warhammers to 18-20x3 (17-20x3 with Improved Critical:Bludgeoning)

Morningstars would be a fair blunt equivalent to a bastard sword.

2. I dont think THF should be given a feat or toggle as its another item to manage on a hotbar. Now i know this a weaker reason but i think when you opt into THF you kindve signed on for that slow big damage playstyle. No need to start making fighting styles what they are not. IF you wanted to buff THF make Patience not slow down THF specifically, large "slow" high damage numbers. or THF gets double the bonus damage from abilities. Something thematic, two hands twice the effort etc.

3. I would rather these changes be rolled out progressively with a month or so inbetween some of these to make sure you dont shake up the game so much or shock a player base so much that they stop wanting to play.

4. Basic attacks should be left alone .... they are basic .... most people would rather cycle abilities at this point.

 

[LetsGetDangerous]

Hello!

Here are a few changes planned for this Balance Pass. In looking at this new feat and changes to Enhancements, we are looking to boost some trees and styles that need some love while bringing down a few over-performing abilities.

New Feat:

• Lock In
  • Included automatically with Improved Two Handed Fighting and Two Handed Specialty
  • Active: (Requires you to be using a Two Handed Weapon and not be in Animal form to activate. Hand and a Half does not count.) For 20 seconds, you cannot benefit from Strikethrough. For the duration, you gain Melee Power equal to 50% of your Strikethrough. This effect ends early if you switch to a style or weapons that do not meet the requirements. 60 second cooldown.
    • Notes: Two Handed Fighting builds are doing well against large packs of mobs, but they're significantly behind when dealing with Bosses and larger targets, to the point where we're hearing some THF builds are being excluded from Raids. This gives them significantly more ability to deal with single targets, while not at 100% uptime. Exact numbers of MP/Strikethrough ratio are a work in progress.

Melee Weapons:

• Morningstar and Warhammer are now considered hand-and-a-half weapons, benefiting from Strikethrough and the Two Handed Fighting feats in the same ways Bastard Sword and Dwarven Waraxe do.
• Notes: We're on the fence about Warhammers with this one, but want to see it play out in this preview before making a final decision. This isn't an enhancement or feat changes, it's here as it's relevant to Battle Engineer especially.

Changed Feats:

• Master of the Domain of War now gains +10 to Melee and Ranged Power in addition to its other effects, to offset the reduced usefulness of Holy Sword with the changes to Warpriest.
• Notes: This also isn't an enhancement change, it's here because it's relevant to the Warpriest changes below.

Enhancement Tree Changes:

• Inquisitive:
  • See Ranged Changes thread.
• Dragon Lord:
  • Dragon's Roar now uses a significantly shorter cone.
  • Dragon's Roar no longer affects creatures who are unaffected by Greater Shout; this includes Undead, Elementals, Oozes, etc.
    • Notes: Players feel that Dragon's Roar has singlehandedly obsoleted some forms of casters; it needs to change. This allows it to still be a powerful tool for Dragon Lord Fighters, just at closer range and not quite as universal in all content.
• Purple Dragon Knight:
  • The Purple Dragon Knight enhancement, For Cormyr!, no longer requires you to be under 50% HP to grant its damage. Its damage bonus buff has been reduced to half your Charisma modifier, and it now lasts for 20 seconds.
    • Notes: This ability has gotten stronger over the last 10 years, as the level cap and overall available CHA has increased, to the point where its bonus is becoming too integral to certain Raid strategies. This change still lets it grant a meaningful bonus in a more accessible way, while also being more in line with other abilities in similar trees.
• Battle Engineer:
  • See Ranged Changes thread.
  • Battle Engineer's "Hand and a Half Training" has been renamed "Bastard Sword and Dwarven Waraxe Training".
  • Battle Engineer's "Hammer and Morningstar Training" now gains +5% Strikethrough per rank.
  • Haste Boost replaced with Engine Strike: Melee Attack: +200% Damage, +1 Threat Range, +1 Multiplier. 6 second cooldown. (This is a parallel melee ability to Fusilade's replacement detailed in the Ranged Changes thread.)
  • Haste Boost has been added in T2 as a multiselector with Action Boost: Power and Attack.
• Arcanotechnician
  • Multivial of Flame, Frost, Acid, and Sparks are added to the Arti spellbook as level 5 spells. Not actually part of the tree.
  • Arcane Mechanism is removed, and its abilities consolidated into Charged Recoil.
  • NEW: Shock Gauntlet: SLA: Target living, construct, or inanimate object foe at touch range must make an Fortitude Saving Throw (standard spell save) or die. If they succeed, they take 1d6+4 Electric Damage per Caster Level, MCL 25. 20 second cooldown.
  • Notes: Arti Caster just suffers from extremely narrow DPS options, and a lot of the ones they do have are not great. This (along with caster level updates going on in the spell change threads this pass that affect these SLAs) helps significantly flesh out their options.
• Warpriest/War Soul
  • Smite Foe (Core 1) now applies “On hit: you are healed for 1d3 per Character Level, which scales with Positive Spell Power. This healing can only trigger once per use of this ability.” (Ameliorating Strike in T4 still applies the heal to nearby allies, and adds the Lesser Restoration to you and nearby allies.)
  • Inflame now has a 40 second cooldown (was 90)
  • Wrathful Weapons now reads: When wielding your religion's favored weapon in your main hand, you gain +3 to hit and damage, and +9 Universal Spell Power. +3 Imbue Dice.
  • Warpriest’s Divine Power gains +1 Competence Bonus to Critical Multiplier, making it match War Soul’s.
  • War Caster (Core 5) now grants +5 Melee and Ranged Power in addition to their other effects.
  • Implacable Foe (Core 6) now grants +10 Melee and Ranged Power in addition to their other effects.
  • Fires of Fury now has a Light multiselector
    • Notes: Clerics really want to play with weapon-oriented domains other than War, This opens up those other Domains while still giving a bonus for using the War Domain. This also opens up low splashes and lets Warpriests/Souls focus a little better on one Spell Power. Open to suggestions on how to further make these trees relevant.
• Sorc Savant Trees
  • Unlink the SLAs, so you can take only the ones you want
  • Remove the caster level debuffs from the cores for alt-elements
• Vanguard
  • T5 Brutal Impact loses “+1 Critical Damage Multiplier on a roll of a 19-20.”, gains “While wielding a Shield, you gain a +1 Competence Bonus to Critical Threat Range”.
  • Shield Combat II (Core 4) gains “While wielding a Shield, you gain a +1 Competence Bonus to Critical Multiplier”.
    • Fighter Vanguard players are frustrated that they must go mega deep into Kensei to get any Crit options with their weapons, and literally can’t get some at all if they go T5 Vanguard. This opens up options.
• Renegade Mastermaker
  • Mastermaker (T5) now adds: “+1 Competence Bonus to Critical Threat Range with Weapons”
  • Radiant Forcefield SLA (Core 5) now adds: “Passive: You gain Curative Admixture: Heal as a 6th level Artificer spell”
  • Battlefist’s damage bonus increases to 50%
  • Paragon Body (T5) is removed.
    • Constructive Conduit (Core 4) gains the “+4 Fortitude and you no longer suffer Arcane Spell Failure from Armor” that used to be in Paragon Body.
    • Mastermaker’s Competence Bonus to Max HP increases to 30% (its original 20%, plus the 10% Bonus that used to be in Paragon Body, to the same maximum)
  • NEW T5: Multiselector:
    • Aggression Engine: Melee Attack: +50% damage. On Hit: For the next 6 seconds, you gain +20 Melee Power, +40 Universal Spell Power, and +10% Spell Crit Damage. For the next 20 seconds, you gain a +450% Competence Bonus to Melee Threat and 900% Competence Bonus to Spell Threat. Cooldown: 12 seconds. Passive: +100% Melee and Spell Threat
    • Tactical Engine: Melee Attack: +50% damage. On Hit: For the next 6 seconds, you gain +20 Melee Power, +40 Universal Spell Power, and +10% Spell Crit Damage. For the next 20 seconds, you gain +10% Doublestrike and a +4 Competence Bonus to Spell and Sunder DCs. Cooldown: 12 seconds. Passive: +5 Melee Power
  • Notes: People want to play Renegade Mastermaker, but feel it doesn’t have enough punch vs. what you give up in Battle Engineer. They also want to tank with it, despite not being a tank tree. These changes give them the tools they need to front-line with this tree to tank, and combined with some Battle Engineer, to DPS.
• Vile Chemist
  • See Ranged thread notes about Core 2 Doubleshot
  • Wave of Poison and Greater Wave of Poison can now each stack up to 3 times, increasing the damage each time.
  • Notes: Players feel the damage portion of these spells doesn’t hold up, so I’ve made them more like Eladar’s Electric Surge, rewarding you for repeat casts.
• Harper Agent
  • T2 Heroic Companion is removed, and replaced with Multiselector: Harper Lore I: (2AP)
    • Harper Weapon Training: +1 to Attack and Damage while Single Weapon Fighting.
    • Harper Spell Training: +2% Spell Crit Damage with Force/Physical, Sonic, Light, and Good spells
  • T3 Highly Skilled is removed, and replaced with Multiselector: Harper Lore II: (2AP)
    • Harper Weapon Training: +1 to Attack and Damage while Single Weapon Fighting.
    • Harper Spell Training: +2% Spell Crit Damage with Force/Physical, Sonic, Light, and Good spells
  • T4 Throat Dagger’s cooldown changes to 18/15/12 seconds.
  • T4 Throat Dagger is now a multiselector with Silencing Strike: Melee Attack: 20/30/50% Damage: Damaged non-boss enemies cannot cast spells for 6 seconds. Cooldown: 18/15/12 seconds.
  • New T5: Multiselector:
    • The Resolute Blade: +1 Competence Bonus to Critical Threat Range while Single Weapon Fighting. Rank 2: +1 Competence Bonus to Critical Multiplier while Single Weapon Fighting.
    • The Harp’s Magic: +2% Spell Crit Damage with Force/Physical, Sonic, Light, and Good spells. Rank 2: An additional +2% Spell Crit Damage with Force/Physical, Sonic, Light, and Good spells
  • Notes: This gives Harper a little more identity, as well as more avenues for some builds to climb higher in the tree. T5 may not be the most powerful set of T5s, but shouldn’t just be strictly worse than class trees. This ought to give some strong options to SWF builds throughout the game.
• Sacred Fist:
  • Violence Begets Violence is reduced to 1AP (matching current Monk)
  • Sacred Strike V is reduced to 1AP (matching similar T5 offerings - Henshin Mystic, Kensei, etc)
  • Light of Hope and Light of Glory are reduced to 1AP each
    • Notes: Sacred Fist is one of the most expensive enhancement trees in overall AP. Granted, it has a lot of abilities that are 2AP from other trees, so I’m lightening it where it doesn’t match or doesn’t have an analogue.

We expect that there are other trees and abilities out there that need love, but we (sadly) don't have time for absolutely everything in this pass (or much beyond what's listed here). That said, let us know what you think of these changes, if there are other small changes you think would have a big impact, and anything else you can come up with!


Known Issues:

• Icons for some of the new Enhancements are placeholders.
• VFX has not been completed for new active abilities/SLAs listed on this page

Please oh please do not give artificer multi vials. That is Alchemist niche. You will destroy the Alchemist. If you want to give them some more budget, increase the turrets. They are artificer schticks and they are very under used.

 

[nyk7979]

I found the new cantrip system very interesting. "But this is the enhancement tree thread." I hear you say. Yes but the cantrip changes gave me an idea for how to improve the enhancement tree for Archmages. Currently it feels like all the schools focuses feel the same and generally are outperformed by other specialized classes.

Two things: Mana consumption in heroic levels and DC's. Archmages should be masters of their school. So instead of choosing SLA's from a school, as a core enhancement, reduce the base cost of level 'x' spells or below for spells of that school to 0*. You still have to pay for metamagic since they are not true SLA's but the player gets the option to cast their non-boosted spells of their chosen school for free. Capping this at level 6 or 7 level spells is probably ideal.

Some where in the tree, maybe t3 or t4, an enhancement that mimics the new cantrips mana return effect to spells of the chosen school would be a pretty interesting way to manage metamagic feats. I have thoughts on how this effects metamagic enhancements but I will put these on the cantrip update post. If you do this I'm 100% coming back and throwing some money at you guys again to make my transmutation archmage dreams come true!

I don't know much about high epic levels but the DC's of their chosen school should be competitive. Maybe adding more DC bonuses to the core tree could help with that as well.


*Another option I had in mind was adding this line to the primary core enhancement. "Reduce the cost of level 'x' spells by 'y' sp for each core enhancement on this tree." The only problem with this is that I'm not sure how the system would handle negative spell costs and it may lead into needing to add a floor to spell costs and that could potentially be a nightmare for you guys; on top of that, it would leave a ton core enhancements empty, but if y'all got all that covered this would be the preferred route.