Own
Moderator
I've touched on some of these before, but have different thoughts on them after a while.
Fireball: Mechanically alright, visually somewhat lacking. When I think 'MAXIMUM FIREBALL', I imagine something more akin to a hadoken. It seems like the phoenix should at least be 1.5 to 2x bigger. Unless maximum gold charge skills aren't meant to be super epic.
Earthspike: For a while it's bothered me that there's never an earth spike. It's an earth pillar. It seems like the final pillar of earth should actually be spikey, with a pointed tip. Also, the ordering of the animation is reversed. It launches you into the air with an earth pillar, then you land on the fist for extra damage. Shouldn't you be launched by the fist and land on the spike?
Flamethrower: No visual chalge between silver and maximum gold. I think a while back the plan was to give flamethrower blue flames at max, to set it apart. Would love to see that added at the next skill tinkering update.
Insect Swarm: I saw maximum gold insect kill an enemy and then die half a second later. The skill at it's base level says it ressurects insects if they land the killing blow on an enemy, prolonging it's duration. So I did some experimenting.
I went to Red Gigaslime, cast max Insect Swarm. Duration: 19 seconds, then die. I went to Pillar Mountains, south of spawn, gathered a large herd of quickly respawning enemies. They consistently ripped through every enemy available. Duration: 19 seconds, then die.
What is their +duration on kill / +fly on kill bonus supposed to be? Or is it bugged? Should this go in the bug reports forum...?
Frostnova: Max charge of Frostnova did 473 damage. Insect Swarm did around 2,000. Fireball 1700, with +400 dmg DoT afterwards. This is too weak to be viable against anything, unless it gets +DMG or some sort of blizzard aura for a few seconds around the caster, slowing or damaging enemies.
Ice Spike: Max charge did 630 damage. Too weak to be viable.
Meteor: Max charge does 950, then an DoT up to 1750 total. It's much harder to use than fireball, costs more and misses often. So why does it have much less damage than fireball?
Smash: I've harped on this one foreeever, because I want to enjoy it and it is perpetually unejoyable. This will never be more than an often ignored gimmicky skill like Windslash in it's current state. Many enemies are immune to being flung about or too big to go far, or are fought 1 on 1. Add to that that it's really difficut to launch an enemy where you want. Call them smashballs, spirit balls or whatever, but they need to exist in the game in some form for anyone to have fun with Smash, playing it like a golfing skill. Maybe if you charge smash up to it's basic charge, it spawns a spirit ball nearby for several seconds. The higher you charge, the more powerful the ball.
Additionally, for it to be more viable, charging Smash should extend a short red line away from all targets around you. To show where they will be sent flying if you smash them, based on your current position to them.
Dodging Strike: A debuff that adds +10% damage for 4 seconds seems a bit on the weak side for a perfect dodge. Being able to perfect dodge an attack is impressive enough to warrant something fancier than that. Mom seems to use dodging strike against the dragon, where it gets hit with a few strikes after her retreat. It would be nice to see that added to Dodging Strike. Though maybe unecessary.
Fireball: Mechanically alright, visually somewhat lacking. When I think 'MAXIMUM FIREBALL', I imagine something more akin to a hadoken. It seems like the phoenix should at least be 1.5 to 2x bigger. Unless maximum gold charge skills aren't meant to be super epic.
Earthspike: For a while it's bothered me that there's never an earth spike. It's an earth pillar. It seems like the final pillar of earth should actually be spikey, with a pointed tip. Also, the ordering of the animation is reversed. It launches you into the air with an earth pillar, then you land on the fist for extra damage. Shouldn't you be launched by the fist and land on the spike?
Flamethrower: No visual chalge between silver and maximum gold. I think a while back the plan was to give flamethrower blue flames at max, to set it apart. Would love to see that added at the next skill tinkering update.
Insect Swarm: I saw maximum gold insect kill an enemy and then die half a second later. The skill at it's base level says it ressurects insects if they land the killing blow on an enemy, prolonging it's duration. So I did some experimenting.
I went to Red Gigaslime, cast max Insect Swarm. Duration: 19 seconds, then die. I went to Pillar Mountains, south of spawn, gathered a large herd of quickly respawning enemies. They consistently ripped through every enemy available. Duration: 19 seconds, then die.
What is their +duration on kill / +fly on kill bonus supposed to be? Or is it bugged? Should this go in the bug reports forum...?
Frostnova: Max charge of Frostnova did 473 damage. Insect Swarm did around 2,000. Fireball 1700, with +400 dmg DoT afterwards. This is too weak to be viable against anything, unless it gets +DMG or some sort of blizzard aura for a few seconds around the caster, slowing or damaging enemies.
Ice Spike: Max charge did 630 damage. Too weak to be viable.
Meteor: Max charge does 950, then an DoT up to 1750 total. It's much harder to use than fireball, costs more and misses often. So why does it have much less damage than fireball?
Smash: I've harped on this one foreeever, because I want to enjoy it and it is perpetually unejoyable. This will never be more than an often ignored gimmicky skill like Windslash in it's current state. Many enemies are immune to being flung about or too big to go far, or are fought 1 on 1. Add to that that it's really difficut to launch an enemy where you want. Call them smashballs, spirit balls or whatever, but they need to exist in the game in some form for anyone to have fun with Smash, playing it like a golfing skill. Maybe if you charge smash up to it's basic charge, it spawns a spirit ball nearby for several seconds. The higher you charge, the more powerful the ball.
Additionally, for it to be more viable, charging Smash should extend a short red line away from all targets around you. To show where they will be sent flying if you smash them, based on your current position to them.
Dodging Strike: A debuff that adds +10% damage for 4 seconds seems a bit on the weak side for a perfect dodge. Being able to perfect dodge an attack is impressive enough to warrant something fancier than that. Mom seems to use dodging strike against the dragon, where it gets hit with a few strikes after her retreat. It would be nice to see that added to Dodging Strike. Though maybe unecessary.