Master of Magic: Seems to have been adjusted.

frojack

frojack

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: Nov 2005

London, UK

Rite Of Passage [RP]

E/Mo

27 Oct 2006 at 07:41 - 1
The description has changed. It now grants energy for recharging skills that do 'not' share the attribute. Sounds like it might be worth using after all...

Stoneflesh Aura: Seems to also have been left 'un-nerfed' . How long this remains the case however remains to be seen.

Steam: The damage you deal when the condition isn't met has been lowered for some reason.

GlowStone: Got a subtle recharge increase (now 7 seconds instead of 5). Shouldn't make too much difference I guess.

Ebon Hawk: Got a significant and welcome buff. It now recharges in 5 seconds instead of 15. It now also triggers on attacking foes as well as moving ones. I'd still prefer a 1 second cast, but it is now much better than before. Nice one Anet.

Glyph Of Restoration: Another welcome buff. Health gain at 12 is now 90 and 350% of the following spell cost (instead of 78 and 270% respectively). Incidentally the scaler now synergises with Aura of Restoration.


Stone Sheath: Got a peculiar cast buff to 1 second from 2. Peculiar because I still fail to see the usefulness of this elite.

Blinding Surge: Got recharge increase of 1 second. Is now 4 instead of 3. Barely worth the time changing ^_^.

Chilling Winds: Significant buff. Firstly (and probably one of the most significant) the duration no longer scales. It is a fixed 20 seconds. The recharge has been buffed to 8 seconds from a former 15, which is awesome. Most strikingly of all is the percentage scaler has increased Dramatically. from 65% all the way to 85%. At 16 air, water hexes last 105% longer!
Water+Air combo eles should be very interesting now. Deep Freeze slow hex for 20 seconds? .

The only major downer is Ether Prism. It got nerfed something serious. It now maxes out at 50 energy. If that's the case, the cast should really be 1 second. Oh well. At least we have a lot more e-management options available so I guess this is potentially mute.


I'm sure there are other changes, but last I checked, I couldn't care less ^_^.

NinjaKai

Forge Runner

Join Date: Feb 2006

UK

Duality Of The Dragon

27 Oct 2006 at 10:09 - 2
So long as the damage reduction of Stoneflesh Aura doesn't change i'm happy. However, if they buff it i'd be happy.

TLLOTS

Academy Page

Join Date: Oct 2006

27 Oct 2006 at 12:45 - 3
Quote:
Originally Posted by frojack
The only major downer is Ether Prism. It got nerfed something serious. It now maxes out at 50 energy. If that's the case, the recharge should really be a 1 second cast. Oh well. At least we have a lot more e-management options available so I guess this is potentially mute. That is rather dissapointing. I believe with these changes it just edges out Second Wind which is the closest skill to Ether Prism. Unfortunately I can't see Ether Prism being worthwhile for its rather meager gains over Second Wind for a substantially greater investment in Energy Storage.

Mysterial

Mysterial

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: Aug 2005

Servants of Fortuna

E/Me

27 Oct 2006 at 16:14 - 4
Quote:
Originally Posted by frojack
GlowStone: Got a subtle recharge increase (now 7 seconds instead of 5). Shouldn't make too much difference I guess.
Energy now scales to 10 (was static 5).

Quote:
Stone Sheath: Got a peculiar cast buff to 1 second from 2. Peculiar because I still fail to see the usefulness of this elite. Now prevents criticals.


Glowing Gaze now scales to 10 energy at 16 attribute (was 8). Elemental Flame is now 5/1/5, so its effect is still pretty weak but now it works as a cheap cover hex like Parasitic Bond. Stone Striker now converts damage dealt as well as received.

The Great Al

Forge Runner

Join Date: Jun 2005

ALOA

E/Me

27 Oct 2006 at 19:21 - 5
ether prism is a terrible skill, mind blast didnt get nerfed and i cannot wait to capture it

LightningHell

LightningHell

(????????????)???

Join Date: Aug 2005

Hong Kong

Guildless

Mo/

28 Oct 2006 at 10:09 - 6
Quote:
Originally Posted by The Great Al
ether prism is a terrible skill, mind blast didnt get nerfed and i cannot wait to capture it Became a terrible skill.

The Great Al

Forge Runner

Join Date: Jun 2005

ALOA

E/Me

28 Oct 2006 at 17:24 - 7
yeah, that's what i meant....'is' as in, 'currently is'

anyway, we dont need an energy elite anymore! attune + glyph...searing flames is an awesome elite

Phades

Phades

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Jun 2005

28 Oct 2006 at 18:36 - 8
I dunno why you would be worried about the 50e gain cap on it. I seriously doubt anyone was running a ~120e build to try to take advantage of it.

TLLOTS

Academy Page

Join Date: Oct 2006

28 Oct 2006 at 21:51 - 9
Quote:
Originally Posted by Phades
I dunno why you would be worried about the 50e gain cap on it. I seriously doubt anyone was running a ~120e build to try to take advantage of it. The 50 energy cap is a significant issue. Really the best way to use it was to have your first weapon set as a negative energy set and drain your energy to a certain point, then switch to your dual +15 energy sets, cast Ether Prism and bam you're full again.

As it is at the moment, you have to be casting it constantly to keep up with Second Wind, a skill which requires no attribute point investment and is much easier to manage.

Phades

Phades

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Jun 2005

29 Oct 2006 at 00:49 - 10
Back to full again under your negative energy set, not your actual energy. The quantity of the hard cap is rather irrelevant considering the gain, unless you were planning on having 16 energy storage in addition to your focus swap as the excess energy that could have been gain becomes wasted. I seriously doubt that you were trying to keep casting this skill at more than 50e regularly and expected full returns.

Zuranthium

Zuranthium

Jungle Guide

Join Date: May 2006

Los Angeles

Black Rose Gaming [BR]

29 Oct 2006 at 00:54 - 11
I think there could be a way to make the skill useful with Matra of Resolve. If used properly it's still giving you 25 energy every 12 seconds...that's huge.

Grammar

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: Aug 2005

29 Oct 2006 at 05:15 - 12
Too bad they didn't fix the attunements, which remain bugged.

You still don't get the extra +1 energy per cast like the new desciptions says. You only get the 30% like before.
For example, if you cast a 10 energy spell, you should get back a total of 4 energy (3+1), but right now all you get is 3.

Even guildwiki mentions this skill as being bugged after the update. Although it would appear they fixed the -1 energy issue, thank God (not only did it not give the +1 energy per cast, it actually gave you -1 energy per cast instead).

fix it fix it fix it fix it fix it..........fix it fix it fix it...

frojack

frojack

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: Nov 2005

London, UK

Rite Of Passage [RP]

E/Mo

29 Oct 2006 at 12:06 - 13
Oh man. Forget I said anything about Ether Prism. Why you ask? Well it doesn't actually work as advertised :P.

It also, seems to work on the energy you have before you cast. So the 25 energy spent casting it is factored into the gain. Works very nicely. I personally like it a lot. Here are some test results:

Cast with only 25 energy (so, now energy in the bank while casting)...



Results (The hp gain is Aura of Restoration + Glyph of Restoration)...


Cast on 25 energy with +30 weapon switch...


Cast on full energy. The cap is obviously not working, but I think it should not be put in place. Even if the energy gain is monstrous ^_^.



Even if they put the cap in, I don't think it will impact the skill to much. Looking at the results of normal usage (second and third pic) the mp difference isn't huge. The cap will however reduce the effectiveness of it at higher levels of energy and thus it won't be as flexible. If they ever implement it ^_^.
I'm sure the balance guys left it unchanged intentionally to see how the skill fares with it's original design. Letting it float around to see if their proposed change is indeed necessary.

Edit: For some reason it doesn't like weapon switching heh. It won't factor in the new maximum energy number into the gain (I thought the switch picture number looked weird) so there you have it.

Mysterial

Mysterial

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: Aug 2005

Servants of Fortuna

E/Me

29 Oct 2006 at 12:27 - 14
Quote:
Originally Posted by Grammar
Too bad they didn't fix the attunements, which remain bugged.

You still don't get the extra +1 energy per cast like the new desciptions says. You only get the 30% like before.
For example, if you cast a 10 energy spell, you should get back a total of 4 energy (3+1), but right now all you get is 3. Actually, 10 energy spells are the only ones that are still unlike the skill description - all other costs are +1 of what they were before. (5 energy returns 2, 15 returns 5, 25 returns 8). I'm actually wondering what they really did is change it to always round up and the current behavior is intentional, but if so it seems like it'd be simpler to just say "rounded up" on the skill description so I may be wrong.

Former Ruling

Grotto Attendant

Join Date: Oct 2005

Cedartown, Georgia

R/

29 Oct 2006 at 16:55 - 15
If Ether Prism works off of the energy you had BEFORE its energy cost is factored in like your picture suggests...then its useful.

BUt if it does work like that its probably a bug like the no cap thing...

Xpl0iter

Xpl0iter

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: Dec 2005

Just A Digital Pimp Slap [DPS] - Guild Co-Leader

E/

31 Oct 2006 at 15:28 - 16
frojack, i like your skill set, just not the aura of restoration part , secondly, if your using all ele skills, why not go secondary ritualist or mesmer to have a rez with recharge? ^_^

Elaine Donnerbalken

Academy Page

Join Date: Mar 2006

Germany

A Three Headed Monkey Behind U [loOk]

31 Oct 2006 at 17:16 - 17
tried ether prism with 0 energy storage and got 50 ene ... maybe they ment minimum 50 energy?

Elaine Donnerbalken

Academy Page

Join Date: Mar 2006

Germany

A Three Headed Monkey Behind U [loOk]

01 Nov 2006 at 09:21 - 18
well, they fixed it.

now it's
maximum energy gain +50
check on energy level after casting
energy gain according to attribute level

as stated in the skill descriprion

prism2525

prism2525

Forge Runner

Join Date: Nov 2005

Among dead bodies.

The Republic of Sky Pirates

E/

01 Nov 2006 at 13:13 - 19
ie sucks?

frojack

frojack

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: Nov 2005

London, UK

Rite Of Passage [RP]

E/Mo

01 Nov 2006 at 21:01 - 20
Well that's just my pvp test character. I just threw some skills on to check out Ether Prism, and incidentally, also check out the Aura's, for synergy and healing comparisons (always prefer actually 'seeing' it in action than looking at tables. I'm an artist not a calculator ). I suppose it's something like a usable build. Tactical brain always working ^_^.
That's not to say I never use Aura. Occasionally if I run a high spell cost build, I run Aura for the ok (free) healing. Especially when monks are scarce (can happen every now and then). It also makes for a cheap cover enchantment if you have another you need protecting.

Oh well. I knew it was too good to be true. While I haven't tested it again, the initial result's I got still cause me to believe the nerf isn't too much of a big deal. The energy gain under typical usage would put you at around 50 energy gain anyway. As long as the factoring of initial, pre-cast energy is still present (huge deal) then I still see a lot of practical use here. Especially with a 10 second recharge.
The way I see it, any skill that can provide decent energy management that is not an enchantment, is a huge boon for elementalists.

I'll be doing some more tests I guess...

Incidentally, any other players doing Nightfall pve noticed the high amount of enchantment hate? Fun times... ^_^

Edit: Yep. They even cut off the other testis to (initial energy factor). It's ok as it is. It would seem EP still takes home the bacon in any situation where enchantment removal isn't a great concern. How typical eh ^_^?