Troll's racials need some love
Posted: Tue May 12, 2015 8:44 pmCurrently, trolls are underdogs when it comes to Horde racials. Berserking is neither as substantial as something like Bloodfury is for burst, and is awfully dependant on your health bar to get the full effect out of it(and also, if I may add, quite dangerous).
Meanwhile, both the troll priest racials and the regeneration racials are also very underwhelming, compared to other racials.
To begin with Berserking, my suggestion to fix this ability is as follows;
Berserking
Increases your casting and attack speed by 20% or 30%, and you critical hit chance by 3%. At full health the speed increase is 20%, while below 30% health the increase is 30% increase. In addition, activating Berserking below 50% health will now clear any stun or slows from the user. Lasts 10 sec.
This would make the racial more usable in PvP without making it OP, as well as giving it a more substantial buff in PvE.
Regeneration
The main problem with the regeneration racial is not it's effect, it's effect can be pretty powerful in both PvE and PvP if it's numbers are right. However, it's numbers are low and as such, it's just way too difficult to get any decent use out of it like Orcs do from their stun resistance, for example.
At 802 life and 118 spirit, my current health regeneration in combat on my level 30 troll priest is a whopping 2 life every 5 seconds. That is 0,2% of my total healthpool regenerated every 5 seconds. Simply put, that is bad.
The description is also not correct because the health regeneration in combat is increased per 5 seconds, instead of the every 2 seconds that it regens out of combat. But even if that was fixed to function correctly, it's still not enough.
So, to fix this, I suggest the following; fix the health regenerated in combat to every 2 seconds as it is out of combat as it should be. Then, buff the Troll's on-combat regeneration by a further 200%. Example:
Regeneration
Health regeneration is increased by 10%. 30% of total health regeneration may continue in combat.
With the abovementioned fix, I would now restore 6 health in combat per 2 seconds. That is substantial enough for it to be useful. In comparison, my untalented renew Rank 4 heals me for 49 every 3 seconds, equal to 32 every 2 seconds(rounded down).
Lastly, we have the Priest racials. As these racials are not good enough to be very useful either, I have some simple fixes prepared for them.
Hex of Weakness
Weakens the target enemy, reducing damage caused by 20 and reducing the effectiveness of any healing by 20%. Lasts 2 min.
Again, the idea behind this spell isn't bad. It's just weak in it's execution. By simply working on the numbers, we can make this simple, underwhelming racial more useful. Example;
Hex of Weakness
Weakens the target enemy, reducing damage caused by 100, and reducing the effectiveness of any healing by 40%. Lasts 2 min.
500% increase in damage reduction makes it significantly better at later levels and substantial enough now to actually feel powerful and worthy of being used when leveling. The higher healing reduction then is justified by the fact that, unlike Mortal Strike, it's dispellable. This would make the whole racial more useful for both PvE and PvP environments, but also for things like leveling and soloing stuff.
In addition to this, the Global Cooldown triggered by this spell should be set to 1 second, so it would make more sense to cast it on the go and when it gets dispelled. Afterall, it's supposed to be a minor racial spell, not as powerful as many other spells at the troll's arsenal.
Shadowguard
The caster is surrounded by shadows. When a spell, melee or ranged attack hits the caster, the attacker will be struck for 116 Shadow damage. Attackers can only be damaged once every few seconds. This damage causes no threat. 3 charges. Lasts 10 min.
Basically the problem with this spell is, that it's not substantial enough to be useful, and, in effect, it's basically just a weaker version of the Shaman's lightning shield. To make it more unique and worth using, I would suggest the following changes to this spell so it feels more unique than Shamans and to also make it more viable and worthy of using;
Shadowguard
The caster is surrounded by shadows, reducing melee damage taken by 2%, and increasing Shadow damage dealt by 5%. When a spell, melee or ranged attack hits the caster, the attacker will be struck for 116 Shadow damage. Attackers can only be damaged once every few seconds. This damage causes no threat. Lasts 20 min.
Instead of increasing the damage, we gave it an extra effect, wich mind if I say, stacks additively with Shadowform. The effect now should give a damage output similar devouring plague(although not with the same utility), while still maintaining the unique effect of the Shadowguard for damaging enemies. In additon, to differentiate it further from the Shaman's, this effect will no longer have set charges and will instead last for 20 mins.
***Edit: How could I have forgot about the Throwing Specialization?!
Trolls would now have an unique "Auto-Throw" ability, similar to the Hunter's auto-shot. In addition, the damage of Thrown weapons would be increased by 100%.
Toughts?
Meanwhile, both the troll priest racials and the regeneration racials are also very underwhelming, compared to other racials.
To begin with Berserking, my suggestion to fix this ability is as follows;
Berserking
Increases your casting and attack speed by 20% or 30%, and you critical hit chance by 3%. At full health the speed increase is 20%, while below 30% health the increase is 30% increase. In addition, activating Berserking below 50% health will now clear any stun or slows from the user. Lasts 10 sec.
This would make the racial more usable in PvP without making it OP, as well as giving it a more substantial buff in PvE.
Regeneration
The main problem with the regeneration racial is not it's effect, it's effect can be pretty powerful in both PvE and PvP if it's numbers are right. However, it's numbers are low and as such, it's just way too difficult to get any decent use out of it like Orcs do from their stun resistance, for example.
At 802 life and 118 spirit, my current health regeneration in combat on my level 30 troll priest is a whopping 2 life every 5 seconds. That is 0,2% of my total healthpool regenerated every 5 seconds. Simply put, that is bad.
The description is also not correct because the health regeneration in combat is increased per 5 seconds, instead of the every 2 seconds that it regens out of combat. But even if that was fixed to function correctly, it's still not enough.
So, to fix this, I suggest the following; fix the health regenerated in combat to every 2 seconds as it is out of combat as it should be. Then, buff the Troll's on-combat regeneration by a further 200%. Example:
Regeneration
Health regeneration is increased by 10%. 30% of total health regeneration may continue in combat.
With the abovementioned fix, I would now restore 6 health in combat per 2 seconds. That is substantial enough for it to be useful. In comparison, my untalented renew Rank 4 heals me for 49 every 3 seconds, equal to 32 every 2 seconds(rounded down).
Lastly, we have the Priest racials. As these racials are not good enough to be very useful either, I have some simple fixes prepared for them.
Hex of Weakness
Weakens the target enemy, reducing damage caused by 20 and reducing the effectiveness of any healing by 20%. Lasts 2 min.
Again, the idea behind this spell isn't bad. It's just weak in it's execution. By simply working on the numbers, we can make this simple, underwhelming racial more useful. Example;
Hex of Weakness
Weakens the target enemy, reducing damage caused by 100, and reducing the effectiveness of any healing by 40%. Lasts 2 min.
500% increase in damage reduction makes it significantly better at later levels and substantial enough now to actually feel powerful and worthy of being used when leveling. The higher healing reduction then is justified by the fact that, unlike Mortal Strike, it's dispellable. This would make the whole racial more useful for both PvE and PvP environments, but also for things like leveling and soloing stuff.
In addition to this, the Global Cooldown triggered by this spell should be set to 1 second, so it would make more sense to cast it on the go and when it gets dispelled. Afterall, it's supposed to be a minor racial spell, not as powerful as many other spells at the troll's arsenal.
Shadowguard
The caster is surrounded by shadows. When a spell, melee or ranged attack hits the caster, the attacker will be struck for 116 Shadow damage. Attackers can only be damaged once every few seconds. This damage causes no threat. 3 charges. Lasts 10 min.
Basically the problem with this spell is, that it's not substantial enough to be useful, and, in effect, it's basically just a weaker version of the Shaman's lightning shield. To make it more unique and worth using, I would suggest the following changes to this spell so it feels more unique than Shamans and to also make it more viable and worthy of using;
Shadowguard
The caster is surrounded by shadows, reducing melee damage taken by 2%, and increasing Shadow damage dealt by 5%. When a spell, melee or ranged attack hits the caster, the attacker will be struck for 116 Shadow damage. Attackers can only be damaged once every few seconds. This damage causes no threat. Lasts 20 min.
Instead of increasing the damage, we gave it an extra effect, wich mind if I say, stacks additively with Shadowform. The effect now should give a damage output similar devouring plague(although not with the same utility), while still maintaining the unique effect of the Shadowguard for damaging enemies. In additon, to differentiate it further from the Shaman's, this effect will no longer have set charges and will instead last for 20 mins.
***Edit: How could I have forgot about the Throwing Specialization?!
Trolls would now have an unique "Auto-Throw" ability, similar to the Hunter's auto-shot. In addition, the damage of Thrown weapons would be increased by 100%.
Toughts?