The current state of Spiritshifting: Ideas, reworks and more

[Harpagornis]

The ability resetting after shifting is intentional @GuyNice. Keep in mind that the Shifter loses all elemental spells and scrolls so there should be some "compensation". I discussed this with @mant2si weeks ago and he agreed that 3-4  shifts with ability resetting would be okay regarding late game boss and group fights.

 

The next problem is that i cannot find any way to avoid this abililty reset. I might agree that this feature will be very powerful mid-game but i think - and mant2si will most likely agree here - that there will be a lot of very tough (and long) encounters waiting in BoW and even more in S-S-S. However: Number tweaking is always possible!

 

So if you tell me that you can stomp the whole Fampir Cave with ease and that the fight against the Queen of Neketaka is a joke and that the BoW Dragon trembles before you in fear then we should think about some changes!

 

P.S. There is always the option to change the abilities to "per rest" - like in PoE1!

 

EDIT: I tested changing abilities into "per rest" but even then everything gets resetted - interesting!

However: In my mid-game fights so far (level 10-13) the Shifter was far from invincible. Yes, i could win fights that the old shifter could not but - holy cow - he is eating so many damage due to his low deflection that i always have to spam healing spells/abilities. But maybe my test fights are flawed cause i dont use any items (poverty-fanatic!).

 

So what we need are some extended test fights against enemies i mentioned before - maybe even testing the arena fights in S-S-S. I dont think that the Shifter will be able to solo the new Mega-Boss in his actual form. Other classes (or combos) can do that. We will see!

Edited October 3, 2018 by Harpagornis

[Harpagornis]

Tested the fight against the Queen at level 20 while starting in the middle of the pack - the result was pretty clear:

 

1. If the enemies get out their chain CC before the Shifter can activate Proliferation or Primal Beast then its GG.

 

2. If the Shifter can get out his healing/dot then the rest gets quite easy. There is even no need to change forms a lot.

 

The PL9 abilities Primal Beast + Vampiric are a killer: Draining enemies life while constantly healing the Shifter. Holy cow!!!

 

EDIT: Without Primal Beast things get much more interesting even though Vampiric seems a bit too strong at the moment...

Edited October 3, 2018 by Harpagornis

[Harpagornis]

The Fampir Cave is a massacre.

 

Even with Primal Beast + Proilferation + constant ability resetting there is no way to beat a whole group in one go. They reduce healing, have so many CC (prone!) and can deal so many raw damage that the Shifter can get killed really fast. Maybe with items (potions!) this one would be easier but after failing several times in a row to take out the first group completly i heavily dought the the new Shifter is OP. He might be a heavy striker but his lack of good defense and especially his weakness against range attackers and interrupts cause serious trouble here.

Edited October 3, 2018 by Harpagornis

[GuyNice]

Glad to hear things are mostly balanced later game. Maybe constitution affliction immunity items are a must have for him (due to the big reliance on healing). My testing has only taken me to level 9, so it's early days. While the Shifter has been very strong, he hasn't exactly been breaking the game. The reason I was concerned was the comparison to other classes. It seems the shifter can do a lot more per encounter than most (if you compare per encounter resources). But perhaps that's a decent tradeoff to losing access to insanely powerful armor and weapons.

[Harpagornis]

He can dish out lots of damage but when being pressed hard himself he lacks decent defensive options - at least against the Fampirs this isnt enough. But as i said before: I tested this with a completly naked Shifter. With items there might be a chance. And if there is a chance then i would say: We are on the right track. No?

Edited October 3, 2018 by Harpagornis

[GuyNice]

In that case I think a better test would be with some items. Also I don't think solo viability is the only parameter to test class balance. A class can be too strong in the contest of a party even if it's not the strongest in solo scenarios. Anyways I understand it's an issue from a technical POV. Maybe the answer is to reduce the shifts per encounter - give the 2nd tier at level 11 (for example) and leave it at that, max 2 shifts per shape per encounter. You could increase shift duration to compensate if total shift time becomes too low for late game.

 

About Vampiric - if you look at the enchant on weapons, it's 20% life steal. And it's easily one of the best. Considering the talent also works with damage from spells - I think it's safe to lower it to 20% (and the same for Wolf form).

[Harpagornis]

Yeah, as i am a solo-player only my "natural" focus is there which also means that i dont care much about party compositions. With this background i tried to get the Shifter into the "right" position as a viable solo char. Three shifts is minumum for me so i will only adept maybe the abilities but - first - we have to do some more tests.

 

Vampiric down to 20% is okay - should still be strong!

 

I increased Lightning Reflexes to 15% so there is at least one unique defensive talent for the Shifter. This should help him a bit.

 

If i get some time i will test the Fampir battle a bit more - maybe even with some other class combos. This Should get interesting!

Edited October 3, 2018 by Harpagornis

[GuyNice]

Fair enough, we all have our own way of playing. However for the solo tests may I suggest wearing some (appropriately powerful) items, as I don't think any character should be able to solo the hardest encounters in the game naked, if at all 

 

Edit: If we're going to tone down abilities instead of lowering the amount of shifts, let me suggest Bear roar - should do Shaken (from Frighten), similar to Barbarian ability (still has much better AoE). Cat form action speed buff is too high (33% on top of Swift), I suggest lowering to 20%. If you use it in a party setting to cast spells at the beginning of combat, you get 33% + 15% speed and no armor malus, instantly. Seems a bit too much.

Edited October 3, 2018 by GuyNice

[Harpagornis]

Yeah, Bear Roar is not optimal - i agree! Will have to think about that!

 

Cat Flurry doesnt ist OP - at least solo but as you can use it three times we can tone this down a bit -> 25% for now!

 

Another ability that is totally useless in late game is "Armor Breaker" from the Stag. There is just no need for that and - even worse - its recovery time is too high.

 

Will rework these and post later - hopefully - an updated version!

[GuyNice]

In early-midgame at least Armor Breaker is quite good. But maybe you can increase the cone AoE and lower recovery a bit.

[Harpagornis]

For whatever reason Armor Breaker keeps his high recovery time even though i reworked the ID - thats bad.

 

Therefore i tried to imagine what else could help the Shifter and also works with the Stag - here is the idea:

 

"Unstoppable"

Immune to Engagement

Immune to Interrupt

+25% Movement Speed

+10 Accuracy for one Attack

Duration: 8 seconds

No Power Level Scaling!

 

Even though this might decrease his early-game-power (which is already high - no?) this aims for lategame where the biggest issue for the Shifter are interrupts.

 

Feedback on this one is welcome!

Edited October 3, 2018 by Harpagornis

[GuyNice]

Seems a bit too much for 1 ability. How about simply giving the Shifter Courageous (5 resolve, immune to interrupt) when shifting to Stag? Could make it higher duration, 15 sec or so. Together with the defenses buff that should be very nice indeed.

Edited October 3, 2018 by GuyNice

[Harpagornis]

I played a bit around but the new ability does not strike me - at least not in its posted form. Therefore i revived an old idea:

 

"Unstoppable"

Resolute Inspiration

Supress Afflictions

Duration: 15 seconds

 

So the Stag gets some defense immediately or it can wait until afflictions went in to neutralize them AND gaining the inspiration.

In one of the first mod version the Stag had Suppress Afflictions as level 4 ability - this here is spiced up and looks far better now.

 

 

I am also working on all those small bugs that constantly try to break the mod - or at least small parts. Most of the time they creep in out of the dark but - finally - it looks like they are going to be exterminated soon. Hopefully!

Edited October 3, 2018 by Harpagornis

[Harpagornis]

If you are in for some testing and bug searching then i will upload a new version soon this evening @GuyNice!

 

Maybe some others want to join the ways of a Shifter? Any Druid lover out there? What about you @Reent?

 

P.S. The Fampir Cave will get another visit soon too - hopefully!

Edited October 3, 2018 by Harpagornis

[Harpagornis]

Another big change for the Bear:

 

His innate ability "Terrifying Roar" got changed into

 

"Cry of Anxiety"

The Bear cries out in desperate anxiety disorienting all enemies around.

Duration: 10 seconds

 

This is the first (and only?) perception affliction the Shifter gets and similar to terrified its also quite strong.

 

Any comment on that one @GuyNice before uploading?

[GuyNice]

How about:

Cry of Anguish

The Bear lets out a desperate roar, disorienting enemies in the area.

 

Anxiety sounds a touch out of place to me.

 

Although I would personally turn Terrifying Roar into Frightening Roar which applies the Shaken effect. But I don't feel that strongly about it xD

[Harpagornis]

Ah, that name is even better @GuyNice. Will change this immediately - thanks!

 

I toned down the passive Bear cry a bit from "shaken" to "staggered" while also reducing the duration to 10 seconds.

 

Here is the next version - Changelog will follow soon. Have fun!

Spiritshifting Evolution 0.8.zip

[GuyNice]

Nice! I'll try and squeeze some play time in tonight

[Harpagornis]

As you may notice @GuyNice there has been more reductions of recovery time so the Shifter plays "a bit" faster now. The concentration gain from "Unstoppable" is also doing its job to minimize the interruption problem at least to some degree - i think an immunity would have been too strong here. There is still a risk of getting CC´ed if you run into the middle of enemy hordes so you have to keep an eye on positioning - like always.

 

Lets hope there are no new-old bugs!!!

Edited October 3, 2018 by Harpagornis

[GuyNice]

Popped in game for a quick test and remembered something which bothered me earlier: Exoskeleton Plate should be self only (thematically and according to the description) yet you can target friendlies with it.

 

Also there's a bug when casting in Stag form. It starts casting but freezes right when the spell is about to cast.

 

Boar ability Pick Up the Scent gives Concentration (should be Aware only, no?).

 

Druid Stage Carnage ability has wrong description. It suggests you do an AoE with every attack, but it's a single use AoE on hit.

 

Unstoppable duration seems too high. At level 9 with 20 int it lasts almost 30 sec (immunity to hostile effects). With multiple uses per encounter you can just ignore hostile effects with this. Lower to 8 seconds base IMO.

 

Another thing I was thinking of for balance - reduce the Affliction immunity granted by each form to resistance. It makes it too easy to trivialize hostile afflictions.

Edited October 3, 2018 by GuyNice

[Harpagornis]

You are right regarding Plates - fixed it.

 

The Stag casting freeze is a mystery but i will take a look at it - happened here too!

 

P.S. It only occurs when casting instant spells....? O_o

Edited October 3, 2018 by Harpagornis

[GuyNice]

You are right regarding Plates - fixed it.

 

The Stag casting freeze is a mystery but i will take a look at it - happened here too!

 

P.S. It only occurs when casting instant spells....? O_o

 

Not in my game - occurs on spells with casting time too.

 

Also noticed now that on level up the auto-granted spells no longer appear on the left side, instead it shows Spiritshift Bear -> Elder Bear -> Dire Bear. Not sure if intentional or not but it's a little confusing.

 

Noticed new talent: Bleed - I like it. Suggestion: Change name to "Lacerate".

Edited October 3, 2018 by GuyNice

[Harpagornis]

Boar Ability gives concentration? Yes!

 

Blame Obsidian for the wrong Stag Carnage description!

 

Unstoppable only disables active afflictions but not new ones - reducing it a little bit is okay though. Regarding the immunities of animals: So far they could not avoid dying against enemies with lots of different CC like Fampirs. They might be strong on paper but even "normal" characters can get immunities from items or food. I think they are okay!

 

EDIT: The UI on level up and in character screen is a joke. Sometimes it shows every change correctly, sometimes it messes up everything.

Edited October 3, 2018 by Harpagornis

[GuyNice]

You know that items work on Shifters too right? Only armor and weapons don't (while shifted). It seems like overkill to me.

Edited October 3, 2018 by GuyNice

[Harpagornis]

Then discuss this with @mant2si - if he ever will show up here again - as he was the one who voted for this one! At least for the moment they will stay.

 

The Stag cast freeze is strange. Sometimes i can cast five spells with no problem but after that: Freeze all day long. Whats the trigger....?