Brawl day 12/7, large Invoker update

[Nycticora]

Hi guys and gals,

We've been working on a lot of changes to Invokers, who have been known for a VERY long time as "boring" and "shitty". During the Brawl day tomorrow a lot of the planned changes are going to go live for testing. Some of the more minor "quality of life" changes are already in, and some of you have noticed them. It will be a huge help to the staff if you all report any issues you find either in-game or in the Bug Report forum. Please also discuss the changes here, including giving negative feedback like "this is stupid", "omg this is op", "I feel like this should be stronger", or "this makes me feel inexplicably pissed off for no particular reason".


The patch list that will go live tomorrow follows, but some things have been intentionally excluded from the list so that players can find during tomorrow's Brawl.

Affliction
All afflictive spells (except spells that have negative energy effects like Rend Life and Cause Wounds) now apply one stack of "Affliction" per cast.
Affliction reduces afflictive saves by 1 for 1 hour
Multiple Affliction effects stack, to a maximum of -10 saves for 10 ticks
Specifically, a stack is applied every time a saving throw versus an afflictive spell is failed
This applies to all classes that use afflictive spells (necromancer Acid Blast, dark knight's Fireball, etc.)
Affliction from multiple casters stack with each other - they both increase the same "Affliction" effect to a max of -10, they do not apply two separate -10 penalties.
Affliction is more effective against mobs.


Chain Lightning
This spell is untouched but deserves a special mention, because it WILL apply Affliction to the caster on self-hit.


Mystic Tendrils
Mystic Tendrils has been castable on mobs to drain mana from them for a little while, now. This also works on players you're fighting. It sucks though.
Mana generation from offensive targets (mobs) is slightly increased from what it was when it launched.
Is now significantly more likely to land against a mob of higher level than you.
Now has a 25% chance of destroying a Mana Shield and applying slow to self if cast on self while under the effects of Mana Shield.
Damage changed from "Negative energy" to "Lightning"
Half-Elf racial legacy "lifeblood" changed to a stand-alone spell that invokes Mystic Tendrils on self when cast.


Mana Shield and Barrier
Barrier mana cost increased to 120 from 50
No longer prevents mana gain on tick
Also no longer has a per-tick mana cost (Barrier is now the same as Mana Shield in cost and effect)

There are still issues with mana shield and barrier that need to be addressed:
All "disease" damage passes through Mana shield, this is a bug.
All damage from sources you are vulnerable to passes through mana shield (i.e. gnomes and bash damage). This is intentional, but needs to change so that you take increased mana damage instead of the damage simply passing through the shield.


Hellstream
No longer reduces all elemental damage while target is under the 'hellstreamed' effect
'Hellstreamed' effect now applies to mobs as well as players
'Hellstreamed' effect now doubles Affliction generation rate


New spell, Metal Shards
Syntax: c metal <target>
Functions similarly to Magic Missile, except missiles are half Iron and half Silver and damage is increased
Aff save for half damage on each missile
Only applies up to ONE stack of Affliction per cast (unless modified by other effects)


New skill, Conduct Lightning
Passive skill
Not sure if this is staying long-term, need player feedback
While wielding a weapon made of metal, an Invoker has a chance to zap his target with a weak lightning discharge.
Aff save reduces damage to zero.
If the caster is wielding a weapon made of lightning, this skill has a small chance to automatically cast Lightning Bolt.


New mechanic, Specialist Wizards
Syntax: specialize <domain>
An invoker of the 30th rank will be able to specialize in a "domain"
Currently a domain is one of: Fire, Ice, Lightning, Earth and this is likely to expand in the future.
A specialist invoker will receive some bonuses to certain spells based on which domain he or she chooses. These bonuses may range from "nifty" to "insanely powerful"


New skill, Elemental Mastery
Passive skill, level 50
The invoker deals increased damage to all creatures and players with WEAK vulnerabilities to their specialist element, instead treating them as MEDIUM.
This effect lasts 3 hours.
Upon striking an opponent with a spell that deals damage of their specialist element, the invoker will consume the "Affliction" effect, removing it from the target. The effect "<element> vulnerability" will be applied in its place.
Targets affected by vulnerability effects receive a WEAK vulnerability.

[Andrael]

how will the new spells and passives work with an invoker who is already at pinnacle and may not have any practices about?

[Andrael]

Also, the part of specialist wizard, what spells of the 'Earth' type are going to be there? cause last time I remember, they didn't really have any earth spells.

[Nycticora]

There's an in-progress list of spells that we're gonna do helpfiles on, but two examples of earth-type spells are Meteor Swarm and Armor

Some feedback will help with that, too. Like, you guys are the wizards, not me, so you tell me what skills should have tied effects. This is really easy to extend and build on, and we can add new elements easily

[Andrael]

this brings up another thing, will earth-type spells be doing magical or physical damage. it makes sense that if its just thing that move the matter into attacking, like Meteor Swarm, then it'll be physical damage. Another thing is probably having something like say, for the earth storm spell, like "Sand Storm" or something to that effect, just giving out tips, haven't touched my invoker in a few days.

[Andrael]

another question. If a invoker becomes a specialist in one style, say fire for example, does that mean he is weaker in ice? And or prone to taking more damage from the opposites of the element he chose?

[Andrael]

well, something that would be cool, is if there was a skill called invoke element, where they'd get it somewhere between 30-50 after choosing their element. It would do a minor stat boost as well as something else. Like earth could increase hp and con, fire could increase strength and damroll, lightning could increase dex and hitroll, ice could increase wis/int and mana. Just an idea I'm tossing out there to make the whole element thing more there.

[Dogran]

Does the Brawl Day mean that normal game will not be up for that time? Or will there be different access for the Brawl day?

[Andrael]

[kento]

I love the massive amount of flare his adds to invokers. It makes them more diverse and exciting. Expect a silly amount of feedback.

[Nycticora]

My bad - Conduct Lightning was renamed to Static Discharge

[Andrael]

is the brawl up yet?

[Nycticora]

yeah dogg

[Andrael]

Alright who broke the game?

[Ergorion]

[Blashyrkh]

Earth Shield - Earth shield protects a target with an earthen shield, increasing their life. If an opponent is in combat with the target under earth shield, there is a high chance that the shield will wound their opponent and, in some cases, root their opponent to the ground.

Sandstorm - Summons a whirling sandstorm around the invoker that hits all targets within a room. Costs 1 round to cast, lasts 4 rounds, but does minimal amounts of damage. One could move around with it, but not much different than meteor swarm except cast/damage, could have a chance to blind or misdirection.

Enchant Weapon - Enchant weapon now has a very rare chance to enchant a weapon with the element the invoker chose through elemental mastery. Could go lots of different ways with this.

Meteor Swarm, Armor, maybe Shield, cannot think of too many other Earth related spells. Earthquake, but that is a shamans spell. Trying to think of balance while brainstorming this stuff, don't want to come up with anything too overpowered.

[Ceridwel]

Dammit, Brawl Day when I'm stuck doing family stuff. Well, I shouldn't say 'stuck'. But ya, stuck.

[Mummy]

Oh, Earth Invoker spells? Hm... I liked his misdirecting Sandstorm, though probably only for a short duration.

Binding Roots - Roots extend from underneath to bind the targets ankles, making it impossible to flee. The roots do not have time to properly set and therefore are easily broken after a mere round of combat. Flying targets can be affected by this if they stay in combat three rounds after the spell has been cast, allowing the roots to grow far enough to reach off the ground and would still only last a round.

Maybe Earth Invokers could have an increased chance of successfully casting spells (or damage) in mountains and hills?

Or perhaps they could only unleash certain powerful spells in such areas, like:

Wrath of the Mountain - Sends a torrent of boulders when the invoker is on mountainous terrain that is more dangerous that Meteor Swarm.

[Hondorian]

How about a spell that propelled your opponent into the air. While airborne they would have reduced melee effectivenesses, perhaps they would fail at landing dirt kicking. Then finally, when they landed there could be some damaged received from the impact.

[Hondorian]

How about a spell that propelled your opponent into the air. While airborne they would have reduced melee effectivenesses, perhaps they would fail at landing dirt kicking. Then finally, when they landed there could be some damaged received from the impact.