User:The Sins We Die By/Balancing Shadow Steps

Balancing Shadow Steps

Current Issues

• Too beneficial regarding positioning
• Too beneficial to spell casters

Suggestions

• Reduce stepping range from full compass to spirit range. This imbalance is clearly too beneficial given evidence from hero battles. This will also help prevent too much terrain bypassing, which can create a very generous run distance for players to have run.
• Add a disabling function to spells upon use, 1-2 seconds. Currently being abused in Shockwave spikes and Return monks.
• Add a spirit range bubble to the radar to help manage the new effect as well as helping with the range of spirit effects.

Feelings on Shadow Stepping as a Whole

Honestly I think it is a great mechanic, which offers melee a way to slightly deal with a few of its counters (namely kiting and snares), diversifies the play, and adds to the overall fun factor of the game while (besides the problems above) being balanced. The high recharge balances what could be abuse in quick target switching to avoid prots, this is still a problem in the "machine-gun" build for the ranger unfortunately. Currently players don't have to think when stepping to avoid terrain or when return stepping as they know they will in all likelyhood still be in radar range of their initial spot. I feel it is necessary to reduce this range as it has come to be abused, while it is nice to have a way to an oppositions base besides through the gate it is just too easy to do atm. With the change players would have to pay attention to how far they stray as on a return step they may be too far out and find themselves stuck, or they might not even be able to reach certain points b/c the path is beyond the new set range. All in all it's still a good mechanic for the game, but needs to be made so it won't be so abused.

Suggestions

(Updated 18:00, 8 April 2008)

Shadow Steps To Foe

• 1 second activation time
• Change non-enchant steps to skills (especially shadow walk)
• 3/4 second aftercast for skills, would still be able to run.
• Possibly add a distinct sound during activation
• Change Shadow Walk to "Shadow Step to Target Foe, for 8 seconds you cannot cast enchantments. When this skill ends return to your original position.

Shadow Step To Ally

• 3 second spell disable for user
• Increase recharge up to 20 seconds minimum (if the 3 seconds would not additionally apply to the step itself have a 25 second recharge minimum)
• 3/4 second aftercast (these can still be used for offensive purposes)

Random Shadow Steps

• We've not really addressed Viper's Defense and Heart of Shadow, but since their effects were changed to working on activation and not a trigger they don't seem to be an issue.

General

• Lower return distances on steps from compass range to spirit range.

Those changes should even out the field if 1 side is using them and another side is not and make people much more content with shadow steps than they are now. If those changes still proved to be insufficient then more could be done, but those should work.

Critique those suggestions as you will.