Sorcerer/sage dps changes for 1.4

[Xanatharia]

Every MMO I've played has what they call a "glass cannon" I believe most that play sorcerer/sage feel more like a paper water pistol.

[CarverX]

Actually, thinking about the other dps classes (and I have one of every character class) I was thinking about the lightsaber again. All the other classes have a strong punch, butt-stroke, etc. for heavy dmg at close range, why not the sorcerer? Why not give our sabers a beastly buff or skill on say a 30 sec cd rotation that makes it do a lot more damage for close range, therefore giving us another option altogether. Why was my gunslinger doing higher crits at level 10 then every skill except Death Field on my old level 50 soc? It's pretty ridiculous because they should both be the same or close to it.

 

Otherwise, why not just make the saber another offhand perm. I mean at this point it's just for show so do something with it or get rid of it.

 

Not sure what else to suggest except perhaps some type of Sith Rage building skill that builds more power over time with your damage output.

[Rompdomp]

Force Sprint making us immune to snares and roots would be too overpowered (especially for huttball). A 2 min cd 5-8 sec immunity might be alright (you could time it with force sprint and a full resolve bar), but I think the shadow spec has something like this (I'm not really sure on this), so it would be sort of lame to just copy them. The bubble causing damage to the attacker would mess up the mez on bubble break ability in the TK tree. Its sort of tough to tweak with the class right now because we in a good spot pve wise and if they buff us too much (especially healers) we would be too OP in pve and go against the designers goals to make content more challenging than it was in EV/ KP. That probably only leaves buffing survive-ability. If they wanted to beef up survive-ability I guess they could make a talent in one of the trees (very low in the tree so every spec could get it) that makes our bubble absorb more damage when we cast it on our self. However this might get complaints cuz it would require one to pay attention and not bubble another sorc. Edited July 18, 2012 by Rompdomp

[Dissentus]

I could agree with sprint breaking snares/roots, but not granting immunity. It already takes good timing to stop them and counter it. Complete immunity would be a little much, particularly for Huttball. However, if you are rooted, and then use sprint to counter it, I think that's completely viable.

[Rompdomp]

What would be sweet is making force sprint act like blink and break stuns (but not immune while its active). It might be too op without any silence type ability but I sure would have fun with it.

[DarthRaika]

The lightning tree needs a burst buff but the madness tree does not need any buffs.

 

DOT classes are just not good for even match with healer pvp unless they are made to be extremely op in the more puggy of pug matches. DOT classes will always look good on the chart and are great for pug stomping however they are not burst classes. You can't have huge burst and huge dps unless the class is OP.

 

A lot of mediocre players love dot mages in every mmo I have played and they always face this at some point. Leveling up they are very powerful and spreading dots is good for charts but once ppl get geared up and match up with healers all of a sudden the dot class doesn't kill nearly as effectively in group pvp. This is needed since dot classes usually have a lot of mobility and use mostly instants. If you gave them huge burst they would obviously be OP.

 

I'm posting here because I would like a more fun glass cannon spec for mage but that is not madness. If they gave lightning a buff I would play my sorc again. Sure madness I almost always topped the chart when that was my goal but if the other team was a premade then chart dmg alone meant nothing.

[Rompdomp]

The lightning tree needs a burst buff but the madness tree does not need any buffs.

 

DOT classes are just not good for even match with healer pvp unless they are made to be extremely op in the more puggy of pug matches. DOT classes will always look good on the chart and are great for pug stomping however they are not burst classes. You can't have huge burst and huge dps unless the class is OP.

 

A lot of mediocre players love dot mages in every mmo I have played and they always face this at some point. Leveling up they are very powerful and spreading dots is good for charts but once ppl get geared up and match up with healers all of a sudden the dot class doesn't kill nearly as effectively in group pvp. This is needed since dot classes usually have a lot of mobility and use mostly instants. If you gave them huge burst they would obviously be OP.

 

I'm posting here because I would like a more fun glass cannon spec for mage but that is not madness. If they gave lightning a buff I would play my sorc again. Sure madness I almost always topped the chart when that was my goal but if the other team was a premade then chart dmg alone meant nothing.

 

I agree with you totally about the tk tree (er lightning) needing allot of love. However I think the balance er madness tree would benefit with some better force efficiency and some dot protection. I think most people roll the hybrid spec instead of balance because its much more force efficient. Dot protection would not increase burst and allow it to be the steady dps/ control class it was designed to be. Lightning could use an ability high up in the tree to allow disturbance to be cast on the move. Its not a hard hitting ability but it can proc twice and proc some other junk so it would prob go along way w/out increasing burst. If you want to increase burst maybe add a 30 sec or so instant cast turbulence cd or some junk. Either way I am pretty sure the whole original sage/sorc ac was created because the developers wanted a sith class with a lightning tree. Its one of those star wars iconic things, its a shame its a mostly worthless spec for pvp.

[Dissentus]

The lightning tree needs a burst buff but the madness tree does not need any buffs.

 

DOT classes are just not good for even match with healer pvp unless they are made to be extremely op in the more puggy of pug matches. DOT classes will always look good on the chart and are great for pug stomping however they are not burst classes. You can't have huge burst and huge dps unless the class is OP.

 

A lot of mediocre players love dot mages in every mmo I have played and they always face this at some point. Leveling up they are very powerful and spreading dots is good for charts but once ppl get geared up and match up with healers all of a sudden the dot class doesn't kill nearly as effectively in group pvp. This is needed since dot classes usually have a lot of mobility and use mostly instants. If you gave them huge burst they would obviously be OP.

 

I'm posting here because I would like a more fun glass cannon spec for mage but that is not madness. If they gave lightning a buff I would play my sorc again. Sure madness I almost always topped the chart when that was my goal but if the other team was a premade then chart dmg alone meant nothing.

 

I have a thing for dot classes myself. The thing is, people don't get that pressure damage can be beneficial, even in a premade. You usually only want one of these in a group though, as direct damage is needed for the focus kills. Everybody is always about the huge numbers. Dot classes are supposed to be about keeping healers extra busy by constant pressure. If they are constantly trying to cleanse, they aren't healing and if they aren't cleansing, everyone is going to end up with dots on them for steady damage. If you are throwing dots out everywhere, they can't keep up with everyone. (in theory at least) They aren't very effective in this game though it seems, as the amount of aoe dots and dot stacks are very limited.

 

In Rift, I had a build that could stack 4 dots on someone, and then I could drain them with a channel which would obliterate them if they didn't do something about it. That's how it should work. The burst ramps up if left unattended, and then you are in trouble.

[L-RANDLE]

Here's an idea:

 

Seeing as though Shadow's Telekinetic Throw and Project hit much harder than that of Sages, I say we get (2) Melee abilities that hit harder than theirs.

 

I'm still scratching my head as to why a melee class's ranged attacks hit harder than a ranged class's same attacks.

 

Makes no damn sense whatsoever.

Same issue I have... It's absurd.. I wrote this up right after 1.3 because I thought our class had issues well before the nerf as we NEVER had any real burst. Full post @ http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=418855

 

Tree Changes:

1. Swap “Two Disciplines” from the Shadow/Sin balance tree with “Assertion” from the Sage/Sorc balance tree (both are on the same tier anyway): This will give us some melee bonus on each “Project” (more on this later). This should be an easy change since it is a “shared tree”.

5. Add a “Double Strike/Sabre Strike” talent on the TK tree: How much and what tier? Eh!! Maybe 20% and tier 3 or four. It gives incentive to spec in the TK tree.

6. Revisit all Sage/Sorc skill trees because they are not really role defining (except maybe the Seer tree): I could go on for days about the trees, but for length considerations, I will leave it at that.

 

Talent Changes:

4. Lock “Tumult” to Sage/Sorc only, unlock “Tumult” so we can use it against other players and buff “Tumult” 50%, increase the CD on “Tumult” to 90 sec, and keep the incapacitated requirement as is on “Tumult”: Whew!!! It’s a lot, but did I mention changes to “Tumult” are long overdue. I mean seriously. We already have limited attacks (as some call us “one-button wonders”). Why not open us up to more melee, if the range is eliminated. This could be our “Neo, matrix style, nuke” but it still would require a stunned opponent and good timing to connect (saying a breaker is available to the opponent and they are willing to use it).