U30 Arcanotechnician

[cru121]

The Artificer Arcanotechnician enhancement tree has been adjusted:

• The first core now grants +10 Electric Spell Power in addition to its previous effect.
• The fourth Core (Lightning Bolt) is now an SLA.
• Lightning Bolt now passively grants +1 Evocation DC
• The fifth Core (Critical Admixture) now passively grants +1 Evocation DC
• The sixth Core (Arcane Empowerment) now grants +4 INT (previously +2).
• Evocation Focus now has 3 ranks (previously 1).
• There is a new Tier 5 Enhancement: Arcane Mechanism: While wielding a Rune Arm, gain +10/15/20 Electric Spell Power and +5/10/15 Universal Spell Power.
• Prerequisites for all of the pet have been removed.
• "Imbued Defender" is now "Imbue Defender"
• Imbued Defender now grants you a passive +5 Electric and +2 Universal Spell Power per rank.
• Arcane Engine now grants you a passive +5 Electric and +2 Universal Spell Power per rank.

Summary:
+5 DC increases to evocation
+2 extra Int in Capstone
+10 +15 +15 +20 = 60 electric spell power
+17 universal spell power (new tree has +27, old had +10)

Let me preface this that I have not visited Lamannia yet, going off release notes and ddowiki description of live Arcanotechnician enhs. But here's some feedback anyway.

1) We get a bunch of spell power, but why not add a bit of extra spell crit chance or spell crit damage (instead?).

2) Spell Critical line gives only +1% to a restricted number of damage types. Either make it simply universal +1%, or consider bumping it to 1/1/2/2 or more. Compare to other newer trees.

3) Imbue Defender (T2) seems stronger than Arcane Engine (T4)
Imbue Defender gives bonuses to dog and spell power
Arcane Engine gives only spell power, but has same cost and is higher tier? Perhaps move one of the Evo focus here. Or make dog radiate aura that gives all nearby casters some bonuses.

4) Consider removing the prerequisites also from the SLA line. Or just remove Static Shock. Or replace with something else. Repair Light Wounds SLA, False Life SLA, ...

5) Add Lightning Bolt to the epic feat Master of Artifice; or replace Static Shock with it. Or merge the feat with Master of Air.

6) Shocking Vulnerability: Each Electric spell you cast has a 5% chance of applying 1/1d2/1d3 stack[s] of Vulnerable
This enhancement has very low chance of making mobs vulnerable. Consider bumping the chance to... 100%?

7) Automated Repairs: According to the wiki there is some discrepancy between how often the repairing applies and the description.
http://ddowiki.com/page/Arcanotechni...omated_Repairs

8) Palliative Admixture, Critical Admixture - Allow to target self. IIRC the admixture spells have better targeting options than the SLA. Please fix.

9) Critical Admixture heals less damage than advertised in the description. Also description mentions it being affected by Artificer Knowledge Potions but it does not.
https://www.ddo.com/forums/showthread.php/425386

10) Consider reducing the AP cost of some Tier 5 abilities (if you haven't already).

[CThruTheEgo]

Devs, can we please get some confirmation that there will be a proper artificer pass? Some minor adjustments to a single tree is not a full pass, and these changes don't come close to bringing artificers up to a level of power comparable to the revamped classes. Please tell us there's more to come.

[Aletys]

Devs, can we please get some confirmation that there will be a proper artificer pass? Some minor adjustments to a single tree is not a full pass, and these changes don't come close to bringing artificers up to a level of power comparable to the revamped classes. Please tell us there's more to come.

/signed.

Nothing at all for the Battle Engineer tree? Both of the Arty trees need improvements, and it's one of the few classes with only 2 trees to choose from.

My 1st life Battle Engineer arty (before I TR'd her) was always welcome in parties, but not because she was doing much damage (and as we all know, dps is king these days). She was an effective trapper (even in the new content on LE - a bit tough for a 1st lifer), had 2 levels of Augment Summoning (good for L Hound, but that's just one raid), and her doggy could pull the strength lever in LE Tempest spine (after some additional re-spec'ing). So good for a couple of very specific situations in a total of 2 raids.

Mostly she was welcome for her weapons buffs, especially in the 2 new raids which require several different types of DR during the course of each of those 2 raids. Not many people want to be just buff bots.

[Cocomajobo]

The Arcanotechnician tree changes are not meant to represent a full Artificer pass. They are simply changes Steelstar put together (in his spare time, actually) because he wanted to even though a full pass of the class didn't yet fit into our schedule.

This fits in with our previously stated shift to being willing to make small tweaks to classes before we have time to provide them a full dedicated pass as described by Severlin here.

[UurlockYgmeov]

The Arcanotechnician tree changes are not meant to represent a full Artificer pass. They are simply changes Steelstar put together (in his spare time, actually) because he wanted to even though a full pass of the class didn't yet fit into our schedule.

This fits in with our previously stated shift to being willing to make small tweaks to classes before we have time to provide them a full dedicated pass as described by Severlin here.

Thank you SteelStar!

[CThruTheEgo]

The Arcanotechnician tree changes are not meant to represent a full Artificer pass. They are simply changes Steelstar put together (in his spare time, actually) because he wanted to even though a full pass of the class didn't yet fit into our schedule.

This fits in with our previously stated shift to being willing to make small tweaks to classes before we have time to provide them a full dedicated pass as described by Severlin here.

That's good to know. Thanks for the confirmation Cocomajobo. And thanks to Steelstar for whipping up some improvements in his spare time.

[Deathdefy]

The Arcanotechnician tree changes are not meant to represent a full Artificer pass. They are simply changes Steelstar put together (in his spare time, actually) because he wanted to even though a full pass of the class didn't yet fit into our schedule.

This fits in with our previously stated shift to being willing to make small tweaks to classes before we have time to provide them a full dedicated pass as described by Severlin here.

Cool. I'm downloading Lamannia now and will try a T5+Capstone Arcanotech build.

It's a genuine improvement to Arcanotech, though as I have bleated about at length, that 'rune arms don't slow you down' thing from T5 BE is not really negotiable on a build that wants to use Rune Arms for damage in any sort of dynamic environment (which I'm happy to say is most things these days).

Absolute worst case scenario, the +10 Electric SP from the first core is nice, and the +1 Evo DC from the Lightning Bolt SLA (even if it's never cast outside of heroics) makes for more interesting build decisions.

[HastyPudding]

Cool. I'm downloading Lamannia now and will try a T5+Capstone Arcanotech build.

It's a genuine improvement to Arcanotech, though as I have bleated about at length, that 'rune arms don't slow you down' thing from T5 BE is not really negotiable on a build that wants to use Rune Arms for damage in any sort of dynamic environment (which I'm happy to say is most things these days).

Absolute worst case scenario, the +10 Electric SP from the first core is nice, and the +1 Evo DC from the Lightning Bolt SLA (even if it's never cast outside of heroics) makes for more interesting build decisions.

I always felt that the slow-down effect should be tied to artificer levels, not enhancements, or better yet, remove the outdated slow effect completely. I mean, it's a key mechanic of artificers, and having it slow them down without having tier 5 in BE (which sucks when you're not a melee/ranged build) is sort of one-sided. Only BE's get to fully utilize rune arms? Doesn't make much sense, to me.

[Grace_ana]

The Arcanotechnician tree changes are not meant to represent a full Artificer pass. They are simply changes Steelstar put together (in his spare time, actually) because he wanted to even though a full pass of the class didn't yet fit into our schedule.

This fits in with our previously stated shift to being willing to make small tweaks to classes before we have time to provide them a full dedicated pass as described by Severlin here.

Steelstar has spare time?

[kmoustakas]

I like these baby steps. Not everything has to be an absolute overhaul.

[shadowspeaker]

Steelstar has spare time?

https://youtu.be/YdXQJS3Yv0Y

[GlassCannon]

The Arcanotechnician tree changes are not meant to represent a full Artificer pass. They are simply changes Steelstar put together (in his spare time, actually) because he wanted to even though a full pass of the class didn't yet fit into our schedule.

This fits in with our previously stated shift to being willing to make small tweaks to classes before we have time to provide them a full dedicated pass as described by Severlin here.

Now that's dedication. I sure wish I could help out with things like that in a more direct fashion rather than just firing off feedback on the forums once a month.