New Shard Sytem Ideas

[Fannyd]

I posted this in reply to the latest news post, but I recon we could get some decent debate about it in it's own topic......

Having played a few other classes one thing I did realise is that Warlocks don't actually have any big Damage Multiplying Cooldowns (eg, Dancing Rune Weapon, Blade Flurry).

An idea would be to be able to "use" a shard for a damage buff for a short period of time with a larger cooldown.


This could be implemented as +damage for us:
"Dark enrage" - Tap into the power of a soul and deal 50% more damage for 10seconds, 5 minute cooldown

Or maybe even summon an extra, aggresive pet (could be of ghost form):
"Raise Soul" - Raise the soul of a recently dispatched enemy, causing him to attack your opponent for 15sec, 5 minute cooldown.
A really cool feature of this could be that the soul comes in a ghost form of the actual enemy that you stole the soul from.

I really like the raise soul idea, but they need to find a way to make it totally different to a DK's ghoul...

Of cause this may cause damage balancing issues and we may need to take a slight nerf in overall damage to make up for it, but that's cool. I'd much rather have a few cooldowns that require a bit of skill to nail.


Stuff to think about anyway

[Fannyd]

Less hassle true, but they don't want them to be any hassle at all.
I did read a blue about having a use function, which is where my ideas for these came from.

It's true that there is a very low, to absolutely no, chance that anyone important will read anything on MMO. This is just for fun, something to think about while bored at work

[0ldboy]

Copy and paste of the official forums,i think the same:

Several key phrases used by GC causes his response to be very alarming to the lock crew:
1)Q u o t e:
our recent design has just been to marginalize shards more and more

2)Q u o t e:
We want shards to be one of the main things you think about as a lock

3)Q u o t e:
I wouldn't view it as a "buff."

1 + 2 + 3 = more work to keep your current performance

Conclusion: Warlocks are boned

On the flip side, assuming things don't end up the way GC is describing...
Optimistic Thinking: New class mechanic makes player skill more relevant to improving current class output
Pessimistic Thinking: Works as intended but shard system will get nerfed to worthlessness eventually

My epiphany moment...Ozzy at blizzcon...wow commercial...

Mr. Ghostcrawler, what went on in your head
mr. Ghostcrawler, did you talk with the dead
your lifestyle to me seemed so tragic
with the thrill of it all
you fooled all the people with magic
you waited on satan's call
Mr. charming, did you think you were pure
mr. alarming, in nocturnal rapport
uncovering things that were sacred manifest on this earth
conceived in the eye of a secret
and they scattered the afterbirth
Solo
Mr. Ghostcrawler, won't you ride my white horse(pony)
mr. Ghostcrawler, it's symbolic of course
approaching a time that is classic
i hear maidens call
approaching a time that is drastic
standing with their backs to the wall
Epilogue:
was it polemically sent
i wanna know what you meant
i wanna know
i wanna know what you meant


Dont nerf the rock´roll GC.

[Impurath]

Copy and paste of the official forums,i think the same:

Several key phrases used by GC causes his response to be very alarming to the lock crew:
1)Q u o t e:
our recent design has just been to marginalize shards more and more

2)Q u o t e:
We want shards to be one of the main things you think about as a lock

3)Q u o t e:
I wouldn't view it as a "buff."

1 + 2 + 3 = more work to keep your current performance

Conclusion: Warlocks are boned

On the flip side, assuming things don't end up the way GC is describing...
Optimistic Thinking: New class mechanic makes player skill more relevant to improving current class output
Pessimistic Thinking: Works as intended but shard system will get nerfed to worthlessness eventually

I wouldn't mind if they changed class mechanics harder if it was a buff to our dps. But since it's not going to be a buff, what's the point in that making our rotation harder or whatever they come up with?

[Aerikaya]

I don't believe they will give us a damage boost via soul shards. The post metioned they were comforatable with our DPS and I would rather have my constant DPS remain the same instead of lower DPS with a burst every 2-10 minutes. I see the new shard abilities being more defensive and "oh-shit" abilities

Soul transfer - 5min CD, 2 shards. transfers ALL threat from the warlock to the target the instant used. Only useable on party/raid members.

Shard armor - 5 min CD, 5 shards. Covers vital parts of the warlocks body with crystal fragments, reducing damage taken by 50%.

Energy font - 2 min CD, lasts 1 min. A shard hovers behind the warlock, and any person clicking the shard gains 200mp5 for 30 seconds. Hovering shard is targetable, 5k hp.

Spell store - Can only be used out of combat. Stores one spell to be released instantly. Creates a targetable shard in front of the warlock and the next spell cast is saved for use later. The spell does not necessarily have to be cast by the warlock, meaning it can store a Chaos Bolt with trinkets procced or it can hold a Chain Heal.

[Tariosus]

I wouldn't mind if they changed class mechanics harder if it was a buff to our dps. But since it's not going to be a buff, what's the point in that making our rotation harder or whatever they come up with?

Same point as every patch: Nerf da Warlock because Devs play Rogues !!! (And wear Rouge)

To be serious, some warlock mechanics/spells/whatever are broken/outdated since long time.
And there is little to nothing Bli$$ard is going to do to fix/revamp it.

I can remember, its felt like 3 years ago, someone at Blizzard posted about "changing" shard system and shardbags, buffing the bags, changing the system ect. I think it was somewhere at classic WoW.

Now we have 2nd expansion, I bet the next expansion F&F Beta will start soon, so most parts of the expansion are complete and Blizzard will only fix "critical" errors or really offense OP spells BUT all spells a WL could have to get an advantage about other classes.

So if there are a new shard system, it WILL SUCK and it WILL BE a NERF !!! Thats for sure.
How worse it is atm, it CAN ALWAYS BE NERFED AGAIN by Bli$$ARD

[Kelpie]

Methinks we could see a shard spell which changes fire color? mmmmm

[SamuraiJakkass86]

I like some of the ideas you guys are coming up with - especially the floating mana regen shard.

In all honesty I would like to see multi-shard consuming spells, and the shards themselves should not be stored in bags, more like a resource system that gets bigger as you lvl (I.E. lvl 80 warlock can cast a whole lot more 5-shard spells then a lvl 30).

How about this for a completely different system then the one I just said...

Basic Shard Usage: Consume shard, gain enhanced state for 15 seconds that grants access to shard-skills. You regen .5% of your mana every 3 seconds for the duration.

Soul Surge: Your demon feasts upon a soul shard which increases it's movement speed by 50% for 15 seconds, it also becomes immune to fear, snares, stuns etc etc. 3 minute cooldown. The demons appearance (simply cosmetic) becomes hazy/phasyish

The shards themselves will still be harvested the way they are now.

Alter Soul: Permanently alter the role of your current pet.
Voidwalker (Tank) -> Voidwalker (Caster, similar to the ones in Hellfire). Now uses drain skills and blows up either on command or after taking significant damage.

Imp (Caster) -> Imp (Melee): 1 second attack speed, has fire damage with all attacks, whatever else this imp would like to use that's melee related.

Felguard.. idk what to do with it.

Felhound (buff-eating melee) -> Felhound (life-stealing melee): Each bite has a chance to add debuff which reduces healing by 50% for 5 seconds. Also steals 15% of pet damage as health for felhound.

Succubus (pvp, melee, cc) -> Succubus (pvp, melee, interrupt): Succi loses seduction but gains Hormone Driven Shriek, AoE interrupt that lasts for 5 seconds (45 second cooldown).

Anyone know what you can do to a felguard? :P

[Kelpie]

Anyone know what you can do to a felguard? :P

No longer attacks but provides buffs to the warlock, having been bound to its master so intricately.

[Mantas]

The simplest thing would be to make some abilities work like Shadowburn. If used on some conditions, they would not consume a shard.
And make Soulwell/Summon free of shard, useing some regnants instead.

[AcidicRage]

All i want out of this new shard system, is a pole to slam in to the ground and my succubus to start doing mind melding aerobatic manuvers

[Impurath]

Would that work like Aoe Seduction?

[AcidicRage]

Would that work like Aoe Seduction?

yes...

[Gerian]

I bet it'll end up being a stat proc of sorts after using a spell that consumes a shard. I highly doubt they're going to re-invent warlock resource management by giving us a plethora of new spells to spend shards on.

[Kelpie]

Yeah, they won't...I don't even think they'll go so far as to have any shard spell effect DPS, seeing as how it was hinted at that Blizzard doesn't think Warlocks need a DPS buff.

[Boltenstein]

I don't make many promises because even when I say "there is a very slight chance we may eventually consider changing this at some point in the future" that then becomes "promised us next patch."

But we are excited about the shard system and we think warlocks will view it as a cool component to their class instead of a hassle they have to put up with.

I wouldn't view it as a "buff." I'm not sure your dps really needs a buff at the moment if that's what you mean. If you mean taking something kind of marginal and perhaps annoying and making it cool, then that's what we intend to to.

Too often our recent design has just been to marginalize shards more and more. That isn't the direction we want for the class though. We want shards to be one of the main things you think about as a lock, but that includes rewarding you when you use them well.

Not trying to screw to this thread over or anything, but they said, in the above post, that this change isn't going to be a dps boost, but merely taking something "kind of marginal and perhaps annoying and making it cool".

[rfarris]

Are you sure they're not thinking of something as simple as "Soul Shards stack?"

[Swutter]

How about..

At level 10 you learn [Aura of the Soulless]
(If someone has a better name then I would be more than happy to change it!)

Every time you gain a critical strike you have a 65% chance to receive a [Soul Fragment].
Your damage over time effects also has a 30% chance of giving you a [Soul Fragment].


Warlocks will no longer have mana, instead they have to feed on souls in order to cast spells. Up to 300 Soul Fragments can be collected. [Aura of the Soulless] can be modified depending on which tree you take. Affliction will give your dots an additional 60% chance to give you a [Soul Fragment]. Demonology will give your demon a 100% chance to give you a [Soul Fragment], and Destruction will give your critical strikes a chance to get a [Soul Fragment] by 30%. This talent would be deep in each individual tree.

So with Affliction you would get: 65% chance from crits and 90% chance from dots to get a [Soul Fragment]. Demonology will give you 65% chance from crits, 30% chance from dots and whenever your demon deals damage with a spell you have a 100% chance to gain a [Soul Fragment]. And Destruction will give you 95% chance from crits and 65% chance from dots.



Shadow Bolt could cost around 5 Soul Fragments, Corruption could cost 3 Soul Fragments, Curse of Agony could cost 4 Soul Fragments and some talent spell such as Chaos Bolt could cost 15 Soul Fragments and Soul Fire could cost 30 Soul Fragments or so, anything that would be balanced and fair. Sure this can be better, but I hope you get what I mean.

[Kétuna]

Are you sure they're not thinking of something as simple as "Soul Shards stack?"

This would be brilliant... but i guess they have the same issue as stacking those clams

[poEse]

i wude like to see somthing like BIGOMG [cost 1 chard you will get angry and ech of your spells who will get resisted will heal you 300% of the mana it cost hold on 15sek]

ore somting licke this dont know about how much mana the spels cost
butt it will healp a lot vs ruges but prob its op

and i think there hass to be a cd un using soul chards so you have all 15 seks the question about wich abiliti will be the best for the next 15 seks

i like my idea oO


im sory about my language i am not from englend and i am legasteniker