Below is my recently submitted Bonedancer report.
Mythic requires TL reports to follow a formatting convention and word limit. I tried to sandwich as many concerns as I could into the report given those constraints. Everyone can judge for themselves how adequately/inadequately this report represents them.
Conversation with Mythic is an ongoing process, that is, my contact with them isn't limited to discrete quarterly reports. So, if you have an issue that isn't reflected here, please post. Or if you have any other comments, please post as well.
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Bonedancer Team Lead Report
July 2004
OVERVIEW: Bonedancers have great difficulty finding a group. Most of their pets are ineffective, and the vast majority of groups do not desire any BD’s ability strongly enough to extend an invite to a BD.
SUPPRESSION
1.) Unimpressive spells
The ablative spell line is undesirable. The Suppression BD focuses aggro on herself via lifetaps, she doesn’t need to protect her pets. This spell is power-expensive, provides negligible benefit and is rarely worth casting.
The AE Focus Snare worked at SI release, but remains bugged (no AE component).
2.) Fossil guardian is an ineffective pet
This pet continues to not assist the dread commander and break both mesmerization and root. It casts an unremoveable damage shield on the BD. This is always a hazard in RvR. As a slow-moving green con with no special or ranged attack, it presents a trivial threat to the enemy.
3.) Fossil healer bug
A long standing reproducible bug prevents fossil healers from healing. [Link to description of bug/exploit omitted - Darm]
DARKNESS
1.) Unremarkable damage
This line features for damage only a 179 delve snare nuke at level 50. Both Hibernia and Albion feature pet classes with access to more powerful spells (Light mentalists: 209 DD nuke + 158 AE nuke + pet; Theurgists: 209 DD nuke + AE mesmerization + pets).
2.) Unimpressive pets
Both of the pets in this spec line, the fossil mystic and fossil seer, perform miserably in PvE and RvR. They are green con, have high resist rates, break mez/root and are a trivial threat to the enemy.
3.) STR/CON pet buff
This provides negligible benefit to the sub-pets in this spell line, and properly belongs in Bone Army.
BONE ARMY
1.) Unremarkable damage
DoTs are the only casted damage spell for a Bone Army BD, and they inflict 62% the damage of Cabalist/Mentalist DoTs.
2.) Fossil archer ineffective
This pet has 50% of the DPS of the fossil soldier, due to redraw delay, and is rarely used.
3.) Mastery of the Arcane
The loss of this RA destroyed the primary means for Bone Army BDs to augment their pets’ damage; consequently, pets have greater difficulty retaining aggro, this is critical for the function of this spec line in PvE.
REALM ABILITY ISSUES
1.) Thornweed Field
This spell’s requirement of both a GTAE target and a LOS check makes it difficult and frustrating to use.
2.) Mystic Crystal Lore/Raging Power
BDs are always power hungry. The increase in price of MCL/RP has hurt the ability of all BDs to contribute to a group. Newer and lower realm rank players have been hurt the most severely.
3.) Allure of Death
Most BDs do not have an opportunity to enjoy this RA. They are often frustrated by their inability to find a group for RvR and quit well before achieving realm rank 5.
MASTER LEVEL ABILITIES
1.) Brittle Guards cannot keep up with teleportation, boats or groups with speed.
2.) It is difficult to determine if Chaotic Power (Banelord 7) and Tactical Insight (Banelord 5) are providing any benefit.
NEW ISSUES
1.) New Frontiers places a premium on ranged combat. BDs lack any effective ranged pet, and the dread commander itself has no ranged capability. The dread commander must often be kept on “passive” to prevent it from rushing to melee, i.e. suiciding, and destroying all of the BD's pets. The BD community sincerely hopes for a dread commander with ranged capability.
2.) Pets often become lost or fall through geometry in keeps and towers.
3.) Pets cannot keep pace with boats in New Frontiers.
ITEM ISSUES
1.) Unlike most cloth casters BDs occasionally melee with their staves, usually in PvE. BDs would appreciate finding some dropped or artifact staves with procs instead of charges. As an example, BDs would be thrilled if the staff generated by the Belt of the Moon would generate such a weapon (wink wink nudge nudge).
DOCUMENTATION ISSUES
1.) No issues.
OTHER ISSUES
1.) Pet level cap was implemented and balanced in the Pre-ToA, Pre-New Frontiers environment and requires reevaluation.
2.) Inability to select weapon type (axe, sword, 2H, 1H etc) of dread commander.
3.) Suppression spec lacks group version of high power cost ABS buff, requiring constant stopping for buffing, resting for power.
4.) Poor substitute for pet spam class compared to Albion and Hibernian pet spam classes.
5.) Pets become lost and disappear in ToA and epic dungeons.
6.) Insignificant role in epic raids.
7.) Fossil healers cast health regen buff that is redundant with Suppression spec line abilities.
Source :
http://vnboards.ign.com/Bonedancer_F...28/72192924/?7
Points importants :
Pour lui le point le plus important et le fait que les bonedancers ne trouvent pas de groupes ce qu'il propose est donc axé dans ce sens.
.Il se plaint des nombreux bugs touchant les pets, (pet healer faisant grêve, trajet douteux dans ToA et les donjons...) ainsi que de l'ae snare focus toujours buggé.
.Il se plaint aussi du manque d'interet des pets en general (à part les pets healers) comme le pet buffeur qui n'assiste pas le commander et casse les mez/roots, les pets darkness trop petit level et donc ayant un nombre de resist trop important ou encore des pets archers qui ne tirent pas assez vite pour etre interessant.
.Il parle de la difference entre le BD spé army et les doteurs des autres royaumes : moins de dommages et seules facon de faire des dégats. (il oublie un peu les pets la
)
Il deplore également la fin de la RA maitre des arcanes qui permettait de booster les pets afin qu'ils gardent l'aggro.
.Il compare encore le Bonedancer avec les autres casteurs car selon lui le DD snare qui à la même valeur que le DD de base n'est pas logique au vue des spé des autres royaumes. (en spé DD, on gagne de la puissance brute avec 50 en spec par exemple) Il pense que le buff force/constit à sa place dans la ligne armée car correspondant plus aux pets. (il a pas tord)
.Niveau RA il evoque le probleme de mana due à l'augmentation du cout de SCM et de raging power, il se plaint de la difficulte d'utiliser TF (il faut une ligne de vue et un point au sol type GTAOE) et de la frustration des rang inferieur à 5 qui sont encore moins groupé car ils n'ont pas Allure of Death.
.Niveau MA il deplore que Brittle Guards est perdu lors de teleportation, en bateau ou en groupe avec un speed. (ne sachant pas à quoi ca correspond merci de me dire si l'interpretation est correcte
) De même Chaotic power et Tactical insight semblent denué d'interêt.
.Pour lui les nouveau probleme de frontiers sont due au besoin du BD d'avoir des attaques longue portée, selon lui les pets en manque, il voudrai notament un commander avec une attaque à distance principalement car si on veut faire attquer des pets à distance, le commander part au CaC. Il deplore les "trous" ou tombent les pets dans les forts et les tours, ainsi que l'impossibilite des pets à suivre le bateau.
.Il veut des procs sur les baton au lieu de charges, car le Bonedancer est souvent au CaC en se servant de son baton, notament en PvE. (personellement je prefere de toute facon les charges)
.Finalement il voudrait une réevalution des caps pour les pets, la possibilite de choisir l'arme du commander, un buff d'abs de groupe au lieu d'un abs simple, gagner une importance dans un raid epic (la y a pas grand chose à faire, comme beaucoup de mago...) et enfin il voudrait une compensation pour rivaliser avec le spam pet hib et alb.
Voila pour le 1er rapport du nouveau TL Bonedancer, à lire aussi la réponse d'Yggrase dont l'idée me semble pas mal.
Personellement je trouve qu'il n'y a pas assez de sugestions, que des constatations.