new balance changes discussion

[Ned_Reddavis]

Also, on the topic of balance: Soul flay might have been buffed to much? I know people aren't thinking about that skill and won't care probably, but soul flay easily outperforms wither, even for staves with wither boost. Hell it even outperforms flaming skull if your staff doesn't have skull +3 on it! And that's all without even mentioning that soul flay obviously takes less voodoo to even cast and maintain using. Perhaps it could be argued that it's balanced given it can't hit enemy groups quite as easily, but those circumstances seem uncommon enough that soul flay damage is excessive currently.

 

[Roger-Daniel]

Also, on the topic of balance: Soul flay might have been buffed to much? I know people aren't thinking about that skill and won't care probably, but soul flay easily outperforms wither, even for staves with wither boost. Hell it even outperforms flaming skull if your staff doesn't have skull +3 on it! And that's all without even mentioning that soul flay obviously takes less voodoo to even cast and maintain using. Perhaps it could be argued that it's balanced given it can't hit enemy groups quite as easily, but those circumstances seem uncommon enough that soul flay damage is excessive currently.

hmm, i personally think it's fine where it is. Wither certainly does have a much wider radius allowing you to hit any target nearby, whether you are looking at them or not, and it also decreases enemy damage output by 30%.

As for the flaming skull part, I'm not sure what you mean by this. For me, flaming skull is still dealing almost a thousand more damage than soul flay. That, combined with it's incredibly long range, huge area of effect, and minor damage over time effect, still make it a lot better than soul flay in my opinion. Maybe an argument could be made to remove soul flay's AOE and make it strictly a single target attack, and I would actually agree with that, but seeing soul flay be an actual useful attack makes me excited.

 

[Ned_Reddavis]

As for the flaming skull part, I'm not sure what you mean by this. For me, flaming skull is still dealing almost a thousand more damage than soul flay.

I was discussing DPS rather than a single attack. I meant that if you kept pounding something with high HP like a boss, really anything that takes more than one or two flaming skulls, then you'll have less damage over time than you would if you had just used soul flay. I just remembered that flaming skull will apply a DOT which brings them closer to even DPS, but even that bothers me. If nothing else, soul flay is 1/4 the voodoo cost for the same DPS output; that in itself is crazy to me.

 

[Roger-Daniel]

I was discussing DPS rather than a single attack. I meant that if you kept pounding something with high HP like a boss, really anything that takes more than one or two flaming skulls, then you'll have less damage over time than you would if you had just used soul flay. I just remembered that flaming skull will apply a DOT which brings them closer to even DPS, but even that bothers me. If nothing else, soul flay is 1/4 the voodoo cost for the same DPS output; that in itself is crazy to me.

That's fair, but given the mechanics of flaming skull, i think that it's also fair that there is another skill that out dps's it. Staff is a little bit unique in that regard.

 

[TheLastOfOne]

Regarding the mechanics of grenades, I don't have a fundamental problem with them being nerfed. I would also generally agree with the stance that "AOE attacks should be weaker than their single target counterparts". However, that ideology completely disregards having other downsides to the attack, like damage to the player. Damaging yourself is more than reasonable enough a balance for having high damage output to enemies.
That being said, I do understand if you feel the need to balance grenades, but a 50% damage reduction to ANY skill in ANY game is ridiculous, if that truly is the accurate number for the current Siege nerf. Halving damage output is not 'balancing', its relegating a weapon to irrelevance.