Sorcerer dps changes for 1.4

[Xanatharia]

I've been playing a dps sorcerer since day 1, I have played both lightning and madness specs in both pvp and pve. I have posted many times on here about some of the problems I have seen compared to other classes. Now I have made a small list on some fixes that may help everyone that plays this class feel more inline with other classes without making them OP and hopefully the devs may take some of these into consideration for 1.4. Please feel free to comment or add to the list and maybe just maybe we can get some love.

 

-DoT for affliction and creeping terror on shorter timer but equal to the damage they do now. Talented in madness tree only.

 

-Bubble to not only absorb but reflect damage equal to amount absorbed,

may cause some to think twice about blowing damage CD's when attacking us.

 

-Cannot be stunned, rooted, snared while force speed is active, force speed breaks snares,

talented for sorcerer/sage only as to not affect assassin/shadow since they can vanish.

 

-Thundering blast instant, slightly more damage, increase GCD.

 

-Polarity shift talent change to add force lighting has 30% chance to proc instant lightning strike.

[Larry_Dallas]

I would just want force speed to be immune to interrupts and break roots. Maybe let both arcs of chain-shock benefit from recklessness.

[Chemic_al]

Please feel free to comment or add to the list and maybe just maybe we can get some love.

 

After being nerfed near to the point of no return? Yeah I'm giving up suggesting stuff because it won't happen. Probably unsub soon over it. probably a month or two tops, once I wind up doing the last endgame pve content.

[sithterror]

-DoT for affliction and creeping terror on shorter timer but equal to the damage they do now. Talented in madness tree only.

Shorter timer for affliction, means i would end up having to re-dot many more times thus wasting my force quicker than before for the same amount of damage. They should do more base damage or get a tier 5/6 talent to boost the damage on the same timer, same CD.

Creeping Terror- that should be on a shorter timer than what it is the amount of damage vs the length barely makes a 100 damage point tick and when it is cleansed poof no more. Lower the FC (force cost), lower the DoT tick, make it a 4s CD reuse also.

 

-Bubble to not only absorb but reflect damage equal to amount absorbed,

may cause some to think twice about blowing damage CD's when attacking us.

 

The shield would have to be reworked to cost more force and have a longer CD thus providing less defense than it all ready does.

Simply putting a no interrupt of abiilities, aka the cover shield for Agents, would be immensely more helpful....or you cannot be stunned, rooted, knocked down while in the bubble.

 

-Cannot be stunned, rooted, snared while force speed is active, force speed breaks snares,

talented for sorcerer/sage only as to not affect assassin/shadow since they can vanish.

 

This should be a 1 point talent to pick up in all that empty space in tier 3 of Madness.

 

-Thundering blast instant, slightly more damage, increase GCD.

 

TB would be better served as an instant wihtout a proc dependency, since it auto crits on affliction dot i dont think a base damage increase is warranted. leaving the 9 second CD seems ok since the force cost is high and it is a 31 point talent.

 

-Polarity shift talent change to add force lighting has 30% chance to proc instant lightning strike.

 

That is what the wrath proc is for...double dipping without talent cost, i disagree. If polarity shift would make any cast ability instant cast for 15 seconds and then have to wait out its CD of 1:45 minute to reuse, all the while stuns and interrupts could negate its use seems like a better use. it would give us 8 attacks every 2 minutes for a burst mode while putting a severe drain on our force pool with which Lightning has no force drain issues. Seems like a better modification of use and risk vs reward.

 

Shock- the extra chain shock should use the other charge of recklessness also.

 

Wrath- Bring back the Chain Lightning aplication fo wrath.

 

**New Skill** Sith Vengenance - Tier 6 Madness - 3 point Talent = Shock and Creeping Terror do 3% more damage and adds 1 extra Wrath when Wrath is gained cannot use more than every 12 seconds (Does not exceed 2 Wrath).

[warultima]

Whirlwind should have an accident prevention mechanism. For example, whirlwind will not be broken by damages <2.5% of the target's max HP. So affliction will not accidentally breaking it and pretty much everything else would.

[Larry_Dallas]

Shock- the extra chain shock should use the other charge of recklessness also.

 

Wrath- Bring back the Chain Lightning aplication fo wrath.

 

**New Skill** Sith Vengenance - Tier 6 Madness - 3 point Talent = Shock and Creeping Terror do 3% more damage and adds 1 extra Wrath when Wrath is gained cannot use more than every 12 seconds (Does not exceed 2 Wrath).

 

Agree completely that movement immunity during sprint should be talented and exclusive to sorcs. If that was a base part of the ability across all inquisitors, tankassins would be too effective in huttball (arguably, they already are). Sorcs don't make good ball carriers, so you're not getting the same level of gamebreaking on the one map by giving it to them.

 

As far as recklessness, what I would want is one charge to apply to both arcs of shock, not for shock to eat 2 charges.

[sithterror]

Agree completely that movement immunity during sprint should be talented and exclusive to sorcs. If that was a base part of the ability across all inquisitors, tankassins would be too effective in huttball (arguably, they already are). Sorcs don't make good ball carriers, so you're not getting the same level of gamebreaking on the one map by giving it to them.

 

As far as recklessness, what I would want is one charge to apply to both arcs of shock, not for shock to eat 2 charges.

 

That is what i tried to write, that shock would use 1 charge and if the 2nd arc procc'd it would use the 2nd reckless charge also.

 

I didnt consider point about sins using said ability, coupled with 3-5 sec immunity would prolly lead to the OPness in huttball matches, kinda like Riftblade runners in a certian pvp match in Rift. Good call.

[Fireswraith]

Will of the Sith should be a 3 point ability giving 3/6/9 % Willpower.

 

It would be nice if there were some skill in Madness that made our dots unpurgable.

 

Buff our damage a bit in some way so we can be closer to Marauders/Snipers.

[Heriana]

I'm having absolutely no trouble keeping up with and out dpsing the people in my guild in ops. I have a hard time justifying asking for an increase in our damage. That being said, something feels awkward about our class in pvp. It feels like the only way I can play is to dot up targets and hide next to a pillar. I can throw out a few snares, cc's, and interrupts, but in rwz's I get targeted like no other.

 

I feel like the biggest thing we're lacking is a true defensive cooldown. Every other advanced class has some form of damage reduction, immunity to interrupts, stealth, immunity to certain damage forms, increased dodge chance, etc. We have at best a sprint that you can't use when rooted and is stopped by roots, stuns, ccs, etc. We also have a shield that heals for about 3.5k. That is hardly a defensive cooldown when compared with those of other classes (Especially considering it's the only instant heal that a sage has).

 

I feel like anything short of a rework of force sprint or a new defensive cooldown won't change a thing.

[Mayborn]

After being nerfed near to the point of no return? Yeah I'm giving up suggesting stuff because it won't happen. Probably unsub soon over it. probably a month or two tops, once I wind up doing the last endgame pve content.

 

+1

 

DPS Sorcs are now unplayable.

 

PVE -- Their dps is the lowest of all classes.

PvP -- Our burst is sad. Paper paper thin even in War Hero. A single stun we can go from 100 to zero.

 

Luckily, Guild Wars 2 is open soon for everyone this game burned.

[pureeffinmetal]

Lightning Strike to Reverberating Force is all I want atm. Edited July 20, 2012 by pureeffinmetal

[mulzii]

as a madness sorc, i wish they'd add a skill, or tweak crushing, that would hit hard if target is under 30% hps (similar to takedown/execute/etc), but only procs if target has x amount of deathmarks on them.

[Fireswraith]

Oh yeah that's what I would really like, an Execute <30% damage ability. OH OH!! Maybe it can be an ability (same CD as other executes) that makes your next damage attack cast instantly, I would so switch to Lightning then. Lol maybe it can also make Force Lightning cast instantly so it does all the damage all at once. That would make me switch back to Madness though hehe.

[Truescopes]

+1

 

DPS Sorcs are now unplayable.

 

PVE -- Their dps is the lowest of all classes.

PvP -- Our burst is sad. Paper paper thin even in War Hero. A single stun we can go from 100 to zero.

 

Luckily, Guild Wars 2 is open soon for everyone this game burned.

 

Your dps is nowhere near the lowest in pve.

[CecilPaladin]

Wrath- Bring back the Chain Lightning aplication fo wrath.

 

This is the only change I want. Our dps is fine for raids.

Edited July 22, 2012 by CecilPaladin

[Calogerus]

Strictly from PVP standpoint

 

Thundering Blast

This ability looks fearsome, death coming toward you. Well looks can be deceiving can't they? I'd like people to fear me getting this ability off. I want them to ignore others attacking them just to stop me from getting this 2sec cast spell off. As it stands most people just sit there and take it and save their interrupt(S) when I pop alacrity or when I try to run and heal.

 

Force Lightning

This to me, is our signature. It clearly states "I'm a Sith Sorcerer and the galaxy fears me!" However that is not at all reflected in the damage it does. Since we have to turret for it I would really like to see its damage get a major buff. I would go so far as to argue that even if we were Madness spec'd to have Force Lightning off CD it wouldn't be overpwoered.

 

Bottom line if Force Lightning were to get a major damage buff then I believe (IMO) this would raise our dps pretty freakin' good.

 

Survival wise, we have the lightest armor in the game with the lowest HP. Class MMO and for all that is Star Wars ENTITLED to the class that wears the lightest armor with the lowest HP we SHOULD have damage to be feared and ccs to watch out for and make the other player really think about how they use their CDs instead of Lultraining over us. To be honest I haven't seen 1 class use their get our of cc free card on anything I've used on them. Yes I use my ccs right -.- kind of have to if I want to live long enough to run to the nearest pole to hide behind.

[Cavad]

+1

 

DPS Sorcs are now unplayable.

 

PVE -- Their dps is the lowest of all classes.

PvP -- Our burst is sad. Paper paper thin even in War Hero. A single stun we can go from 100 to zero.

 

Luckily, Guild Wars 2 is open soon for everyone this game burned.

 

 

Sorc pve dps is acutally the 3rd highest. Lightning is right behind annihilation mara and lethality sniper. Everyone thinks their class is terrible. I mean, I had a sniper in general chat today that told me (in a very condescending way), that lethality snipers are bottom of the barrel dps after I mentioned they were doing well do someone else.

 

That particular guy was usually very nice too.

[Fireswraith]

I still think they are 4th, behind Arsenal Mercs included. But what's the difference, 3rd 4th, only 1 spot.

[Calogerus]

Sorc pve dps is acutally the 3rd highest. Lightning is right behind annihilation mara and lethality sniper. Everyone thinks their class is terrible.

 

A lot of us Sorc's are talking about PVP, I understand here and there some have been talking about PVE wise and while I cannot comment on PVE (because I don't) we are at the "bottom of the barrel" in PVP. And the annoying this is, it won't take much to bring us back as a viable ranked WZ team choice and just simply give us a reason to be target number one because we can actually put out some damage, not because we are easy to kill.

[DjXeela]

ha ha ha ha ha ha ha are you really asking for a bunch of buffs to the already highest dps class IN PVP right now ? you say you have played a sorc since day 1, and if that's the case then you should have the same experience in me for pvp. no class can match a sorcs sustained dmg output and high mobility in warzones. it saddens me that 1/10 sorcs realises this..

[Larry_Dallas]

I still think they are 4th, behind Arsenal Mercs included. But what's the difference, 3rd 4th, only 1 spot.

 

A bit off topic, but with all the whining about sorcs in pvp on these forums, I'd just like to note that taking an arsenal merc into a warzone is a hilarious exercise in futility.

[Yeochins]

ha ha ha ha ha ha ha are you really asking for a bunch of buffs to the already highest dps class IN PVP right now ? you say you have played a sorc since day 1, and if that's the case then you should have the same experience in me for pvp. no class can match a sorcs sustained dmg output and high mobility in warzones. it saddens me that 1/10 sorcs realises this..

 

Quite clearly you're not any factor, not on any rated teams, nor have any relevant PvP experience.

 

Sustained damage means nothing in PvP. Its all about burst and instant casts. If you're channeling skills in your lightning tree you have no mobility. If you're channeling force lightning for a wrath proc in madness you have no mobility. If you're throwing out your other instant casts you're chewing through force like nothing else.

 

The reason sorcerers arent viable is because the cant deal a whole lot of damage in 2-3 GCD's like other classes can. A full augmented war hero geared marauder and powertech can push at least 10K in 2-3 GCD's. If the stars align with bloodthirst then that number is easily 15K at minimum. That is 3 seconds.

 

There is absolutely no way a sorcerer is dealing that much damage. Reckless critted deathfield 3-4K. Add in a chain shock or a critted crushing darkness and you can hit 6K. Bloodthirsted you may be able to hit 8K worth of burst. Nothing significant. Your third skill is at most going to deal up front 1-2K worth of damage if your lucky to crit.

 

Burst isn't there. That's why sorcerers are useless. Bring them into rateds where burst is heavily coordinated and you stand absolutely no chance. You have no defensive cooldowns to mitigate 30K incomming damage in 2 seconds. On top of that you're not useful as a DPS because you cant coordinate with one other and dish out enough damage to kill someone in 2-3 GCD's.

 

 

Come back when you have rating over 1900 and let me know what you think of our class.

Edited July 23, 2012 by Yeochins

[islander]

The main problem with this class seems to be in its inherent design.

 

This class just strikes me as better used in PvE, not PvP. Which sucks, because I want to PvP.

The nature of the force bar. We have a much larger resource pool then any other class.

Left alone, we can crank out some numbers if you play it well and are geared.

 

However, we have absolute garbage burst which is what PvP is all about. We also have garbage defense.

Note I didn't say garbage escapability. We've got that at a reasonable level. However, we can't DPS down anything like a melee class - who has access to the same roots as we do or a ranged DPS (BH, Agent, Republic mirrors) yet these can all do way more burst damage.

 

I'm not sure how you fix it without making us overpowered though. Reducing our force pool would be crippling for PvE. Giving us some defense would help, but really, I think the best solution is giving a Sith Inquisitor burst DPS. Put the cannon back into the class. Right now, we're just pop guns in lightning spec, and maybe a musket if madness specced.

 

The trick is giving us burst without making us OP. We are supposedly masters of the dark side of the Force though, but right now we don't feel like it.

 

In the end, Yeochins is spot on imho. It takes so long to war hero gear someone and I feel like right now I'm relegated to nothing but normals forever.

 

The only qualifier I'll make to this opinion is that I've not extensively used a madness DPS spec. I'm going on second hand word from numerous others who I pvp with.

Edited July 23, 2012 by islander

[islander]

A bit off topic, but with all the whining about sorcs in pvp on these forums, I'd just like to note that taking an arsenal merc into a warzone is a hilarious exercise in futility.

 

Try it in light armor.

[Truescopes]

Try it in light armor.

 

Try it without the utility of a sorc. Seriously, you are not in a worse place than arsenal mercs right now.