HatsuharuZ
01-14-2014, 09:34 PM
My objective here is to give, without questioning anyone's competence or sanity, feedback on enhancements. I'm going to start with artificer, then work my way through the classes in alphabetical order. I'm not going to list all of the enhancements, just the ones that are either very interesting or very much in need of a change, then make a few comments. If anyone feels that they disagree, or have alternate suggestions, please feel free to post them. That's what the forums are for, after all. All comments and opinions made by the OP are talking from the standpoint of a single-classed character.
Note: If you see [enh. a]------->[enh. b] anywhere, that signifies an enhancement line, and that any comments made after that are talking about the entire line. [enh. a] is a prerequisite for [enh. b].
Note 2: I'm not going to list the descriptions of the enhancements, just the names, where they are found, and my comments concerning them. Again, not all enhancement will be listed, just the ones that deserve attention, one way or another.
In general, these enhancements are useful. The only thing that seems to be missing is a skill boost and a saves boost. Artificers are one of the two trap-disabling classes in the game, and sometimes they need to run *through* traps to get to the trap boxes. Without a saves boost or evasion, this is very dangerous. And without a skill boost, an artificer with poor gear is going to have a hard time disabling traps. I suggest getting rid of the "Attack Boost" enhancement in the Battle Engineer tree, which will allow both Skill and Saves boosts to be put there.
Battle Engineer
[Core Abilities]
1) Battle Engineer ----> Infused Weapons ----> Infused Armor ----> Infused Weapons ----> Infused Armor ----> Master Engineer
Comments: Very practical for a melee build. Some AC, PRR, attack, damage and spellpower. No matter what your style is, these are useful. I find the extra universal spellpower from having a charged runearm very interesting, although it might be hard to use at first. The only problem I find is the capstone, "Master Engineer". A spellcasting implement is any weapon that provides a spellpower bonus, including spellpower bonuses from augments, so whether or not this capstone is useful depends entirely on whether or not your main weapon has spellpower on it or not.
[Tier 1]
1) Weapon Training
Comments: This lets the user choose between high-damage melee weapons (both of which produce glancing blows) and crossbows. Very useful, if you are wielding a shield or a runearm. People who want to use two-handed weapons miss out, though.
2) Attack Boost
Comments: There are so many stacking sources of +to-hit in this game that it's not even funny. This could be removed.
[Tier 2]
1) Wrack Construct
Comments: Very useful, if only against constructs. I like how it can get down to a 4 second cooldown and stack up to 5 times.
[Tier 3]
1) Disable Construct
Comments: There aren't that many crowd control effects available to artificers which affect constructs. This is one of them, but I'm not sure if it's worth the trouble. I would suggest upgrading the daze to a stun, then lower the duration and cooldown. And possible make it an AoE on higher tiers of the enhancement.
[Tier 4]
1) Battle Mastery
Comments: Haste Boost or Endless Fullisade? Hmm, tough choice. Well, not if you are a melee build, but still, good enhancement.
[Tier 5]
Comments: All of the tiers 5s here are going to be useful to someone. Now, there are 2 spaces here for something awesome if the devs wanted to put something there....
Arcanotechnician
[Core Abilities]
1) Arcanotechnician ----> Palliative Admixture ----> Thaumaturgical Battery ----> Lightning Bolt ----> Critical Admixture ----> Arcane Empowerment
Comments: T.B. is essentially a spellpoint discount when you are casting a number of spells in quick succession. P.A. is good for when your party is buffing at the beginning of a quest, however 10 spell points are not much at higher levels when more buffs are available. Arcane Empowerment would be more useful if there were more higher-level offensive wands in the game.
[Tier 1]
1) Static Shock ----> Lightning Sphere ----> Blast Rod ----> Lightning Motes
Comments: Yay SLAs! I've never been particularly enamored of Blast Rod, though. It's essentially a poor man's Lightning Bolt.
[Tier 2]
1) Imbued Defender ----> Automated Repairs ----> Arcane Engine ----> Master Defender
Comments: These give the user a reason to use their pet. Automated Repairs is a good idea, especially. Of course, you need to have Construct Essence or be Warforged in order to make use of it.
2) Shocking Vulnerability
Comments: I like how this can proc on multiple targets. However, at only a 5% proc rate, it's not going to be very useful. Furthermore, it only activates on electric spells, while the two most powerful spells and artificer has do not have any electric components.
[Tier 3]
No comments
[Tier 4]
No comments
[Tier 5]
1) Evocation Focus
Comments: Artificers only have six spell levels and less spell points than wizards do. It would be nice if this could be changed to have two tiers, each giving +1 to evocation DCs.
Note: If you see [enh. a]------->[enh. b] anywhere, that signifies an enhancement line, and that any comments made after that are talking about the entire line. [enh. a] is a prerequisite for [enh. b].
Note 2: I'm not going to list the descriptions of the enhancements, just the names, where they are found, and my comments concerning them. Again, not all enhancement will be listed, just the ones that deserve attention, one way or another.
In general, these enhancements are useful. The only thing that seems to be missing is a skill boost and a saves boost. Artificers are one of the two trap-disabling classes in the game, and sometimes they need to run *through* traps to get to the trap boxes. Without a saves boost or evasion, this is very dangerous. And without a skill boost, an artificer with poor gear is going to have a hard time disabling traps. I suggest getting rid of the "Attack Boost" enhancement in the Battle Engineer tree, which will allow both Skill and Saves boosts to be put there.
Battle Engineer
[Core Abilities]
1) Battle Engineer ----> Infused Weapons ----> Infused Armor ----> Infused Weapons ----> Infused Armor ----> Master Engineer
Comments: Very practical for a melee build. Some AC, PRR, attack, damage and spellpower. No matter what your style is, these are useful. I find the extra universal spellpower from having a charged runearm very interesting, although it might be hard to use at first. The only problem I find is the capstone, "Master Engineer". A spellcasting implement is any weapon that provides a spellpower bonus, including spellpower bonuses from augments, so whether or not this capstone is useful depends entirely on whether or not your main weapon has spellpower on it or not.
[Tier 1]
1) Weapon Training
Comments: This lets the user choose between high-damage melee weapons (both of which produce glancing blows) and crossbows. Very useful, if you are wielding a shield or a runearm. People who want to use two-handed weapons miss out, though.
2) Attack Boost
Comments: There are so many stacking sources of +to-hit in this game that it's not even funny. This could be removed.
[Tier 2]
1) Wrack Construct
Comments: Very useful, if only against constructs. I like how it can get down to a 4 second cooldown and stack up to 5 times.
[Tier 3]
1) Disable Construct
Comments: There aren't that many crowd control effects available to artificers which affect constructs. This is one of them, but I'm not sure if it's worth the trouble. I would suggest upgrading the daze to a stun, then lower the duration and cooldown. And possible make it an AoE on higher tiers of the enhancement.
[Tier 4]
1) Battle Mastery
Comments: Haste Boost or Endless Fullisade? Hmm, tough choice. Well, not if you are a melee build, but still, good enhancement.
[Tier 5]
Comments: All of the tiers 5s here are going to be useful to someone. Now, there are 2 spaces here for something awesome if the devs wanted to put something there....
Arcanotechnician
[Core Abilities]
1) Arcanotechnician ----> Palliative Admixture ----> Thaumaturgical Battery ----> Lightning Bolt ----> Critical Admixture ----> Arcane Empowerment
Comments: T.B. is essentially a spellpoint discount when you are casting a number of spells in quick succession. P.A. is good for when your party is buffing at the beginning of a quest, however 10 spell points are not much at higher levels when more buffs are available. Arcane Empowerment would be more useful if there were more higher-level offensive wands in the game.
[Tier 1]
1) Static Shock ----> Lightning Sphere ----> Blast Rod ----> Lightning Motes
Comments: Yay SLAs! I've never been particularly enamored of Blast Rod, though. It's essentially a poor man's Lightning Bolt.
[Tier 2]
1) Imbued Defender ----> Automated Repairs ----> Arcane Engine ----> Master Defender
Comments: These give the user a reason to use their pet. Automated Repairs is a good idea, especially. Of course, you need to have Construct Essence or be Warforged in order to make use of it.
2) Shocking Vulnerability
Comments: I like how this can proc on multiple targets. However, at only a 5% proc rate, it's not going to be very useful. Furthermore, it only activates on electric spells, while the two most powerful spells and artificer has do not have any electric components.
[Tier 3]
No comments
[Tier 4]
No comments
[Tier 5]
1) Evocation Focus
Comments: Artificers only have six spell levels and less spell points than wizards do. It would be nice if this could be changed to have two tiers, each giving +1 to evocation DCs.