Imbue Changes

[archerforever]

I want to say that I love the rework on imbues.
That said, some things have to be adjusted.

- ALL Imbues need to have a passive bonus : When not activated, gives +1 Imbue Dice.
Like this if you have 2 different imbues, you still have a benefit for the imbue you used AP and you r not using.

- Elemental weapons / Greater elemental weapons : Must be a multi selector spell, like flame arrow, resist energy ect...
One is the OLD spell giving flat xd6 elemental damage on hit/ the other is the new spell more usefull and scaling for mid/end game builds.

- Offhand Versatility : I like the idea to have feats/options to increase imbue damage, but I think the old feat have to come back with a nerf on death aura/multiple ticks spells as it is a good/must have option for builds diversity.

- Enhanced Elemental Dice : +1 Imbue Dice for a lvl 31 ED Feat is a shame. A +3/+4 dice could be better as Embodiment of Law and Harbinger of Chaos give +2 dice.

- Can we have Heroic/Epic Feats to increase Imbue dice ? We already have epic Improved Sneak Attack for +3d6 sneak damage and Epic Eldritch Blast.

- Set Bonuses : - atually we have Profane Experiment, Echoes of the Waking Ancestors, Crypt Raider sets giving +1 Dice in heroics, +2 in epics, +3 in legendary (artifact typed) and it is a good start.
- We need more sets option to get imbue dice.
- Crypt Raider set has 4 raid items avaible : make the imbue dice bonus avaible with Set Augment from the Cauldron of Cadence.
**Set Augment System** : https://ddowiki.com/page/Augment_Slot/Set_Augment
- This system is SO BAD for the work and investment it is... 150x Thread of Fate + 3x Empty Soul Vessel + 3x RAID ITEM + 3 Augment Slots USED = 1 ONLY SINGLE EFFECT ?!!!! Seriously ?...
- Set augment system HAS TO give us the FULL SET BONUS.
- Set augment system should be avaible for all existing sets. Requiering the same amount of augments as items needed for the set to be active.

Thanks for your thoughts and feedback.

[droid327]

Yeah I think a Weapon Imbue and Improved Weapon Imbue in heroic giving +1 each, Epic giving +2, then make Legendary +3 would be appropriate options for the opportunity cost, and would be a good option for your sixth and seventh feat on pure martial imbue builds that don't need, e.g., metamagics, but don't have better weapon options like KT

[Oxarhamar]

I thought that Elemental weapon should buff dice & change the element of the imbue

[archerforever]

I thought that Elemental weapon should buff dice & change the element of the imbue

The problem is that a pure artificer can only get the electric imbue with the tier 3 in Battle Engineer tree.
That means if you want to be able to use your spell "Elemental Weapons", you have to focus and invest all your AP (10+imbue cost) in the Battle Engineer tree until your level 4.
If you want to play anything else as pure atificer with Arcanotechnician tree and Renegade Mastermaker Tier 5, you have to wait your level 14 minimum to be able to use your spells "Elemental weapon" you get level 3 and "greater Elemental weapon" you get level 9.
In my opinion there is a big problem in game design here, the electric imbue might be in the core 1 of Battle Engineer.

About your suggestion, i dont really like the idea to be able to change the elemental of an imbue with Elemental weapons spells:
- If a player is focused on let s say a cold imbue and an artificer is changing that into acid imbue damage bonus, you don t want it and it will destroy all the player build.
- I think that elemental nature of imbues respect a kind of thematic for each classes and races and being able to completely change it at level 3 as an artificer is a little broken in my opinion.
However it can be an interresting option for an ED focused on artificer, or with some new epic/destiny feats.

The best option should be to give "Elemental weapons" spells an active additive +1/+2 imbue dice of the elemental you choose, scaling with the highest spell power / ranged power / melee power.
Same as old version but now scaling.

[Stravix]

/signed on almost all of this.

Between +1 imbue dice on non-toggled imbues, off-hand vers. needing to be restored to it's primary use case without the exploited snapshotting aura spells, and sets expanded to include things like abishai and the like. Ele weapons having the old options as a multiselector seems like a reasonable option, even if it isn't really in the spirit of the imbue changes.

[KoobTheProud]

The problem with imbues is that they become necessary in many builds, particularly builds that are hitting often as opposed to less often but harder.

I think the right answer with imbues was to take existing imbues and rework the bonuses they provided as opposed to creating a general opportunity to add imbues to many other builds. Forcing imbues and ways to build dice just shifted the emphasis for many builds in melee and ranged damage towards stacking imbue dice.

We're all going to be dealing with a meta dominated by builds that find ways to get the highest number of imbues scaling with the highest possible factors and at that point the problem will become clear.

[archerforever]

The problem with imbues is that they become necessary in many builds, particularly builds that are hitting often as opposed to less often but harder.

I think the right answer with imbues was to take existing imbues and rework the bonuses they provided as opposed to creating a general opportunity to add imbues to many other builds. Forcing imbues and ways to build dice just shifted the emphasis for many builds in melee and ranged damage towards stacking imbue dice.

We're all going to be dealing with a meta dominated by builds that find ways to get the highest number of imbues scaling with the highest possible factors and at that point the problem will become clear.

I dont think that imbue builds are or will become a problem when melee/ranged/caster builds can do 100k+ damage for years in end game.
Adding a 5k-10k imbue damage per hit is just not enough to be game breaker for a build focused and specialized in imbues.
Maxed Imbue damage builds are comparable to a sneak attack build, no more, no less.

Additionally I can t agree when you say "The problem with imbues is that they become necessary in many builds, particularly builds that are hitting often as opposed to less often but harder".
In fact if you attack faster, you are in a SWF/TWF build and you dont hit multiple targets.
If you attack slower, you are in a THF build and can hit multiple targets and compensate the slower attack.
ranged builds can attack further, bow has MS for 3x shot burst, crossbows have dual shooter, 30% alacrity, repeaters options...
Maybe throwers builds can benefit for a greater efficiency on imbue builds but does it really matter when you can do 100k+ damage on a single attack ? I dont think so.

[droid327]

The problem is that a pure artificer can only get the electric imbue with the tier 3 in Battle Engineer tree.
That means if you want to be able to use your spell "Elemental Weapons", you have to focus and invest all your AP (10+imbue cost) in the Battle Engineer tree until your level 4.
If you want to play anything else as pure atificer with Arcanotechnician tree and Renegade Mastermaker Tier 5, you have to wait your level 14 minimum to be able to use your spells "Elemental weapon" you get level 3 and "greater Elemental weapon" you get level 9.
In my opinion there is a big problem in game design here, the electric imbue might be in the core 1 of Battle Engineer.

One, if you're not investing in the weapons offense tree, I think it's fair that you don't get weapons offense you could say the same thing about, e.g., Recon or Blast Rod SLA

Two, /2 arti is a popular splash, so if the imbue was in T1 or 2, that's giving a cheap spell power imbue to everyone on top of everything they already get

[Xgya]

I thought that Elemental weapon should buff dice & change the element of the imbue

I'd love to agree with this, but it has potential griefing potential, which the devs tend to avoid - rightfully so.

See, if someone comes along and sets all their equipment to have the highest Electric spell power they can get their hands on, and use an Electric imbue, when there's this guy at the back that just says "You do Acid damage now". Might think they're helping by adding 2 dice, but they're also removing most of their existing scaling, and that might sting.

The original functionality on elemental weapons was minor, but present. Getting to deal a damage type you normally wouldn't is neat in a few scenarios.

Frankly, I'd prefer if they just outright gave out two spells. Imbue Weapon, which does what the new elemental weapons spell do, and the original PnP spell Weapon Augmentation, that did a ton of different stuff.

The lesser Augmentation would give a merited buff to the current elemental weapons spell. Give the weapon an extra property, dealing elemental damage based on the weapon's scaling strength (so Lesser Augmentation on a level 32 weapon would actually have greater effect than the same on a level 4 weapon).
Greater Augmentation would give the same, but more esoteric kinds of damage (light, force, as well as elemental burst versions of the previous).

This sounds like it would require a LOT of work, and some items might not have their proper scaling levels set in, but the goal is to keep the current imbue buff for the people that like it, while giving back the original functionality to the people that liked that, without overlapping.