taiconan

Ya they did warn us the talents were going to go and the skill spheres were going to be added, they very likely still tweak the skill spheres though. Tweaking is very much needed I think :D It's a big hit on the huntress especially since you've went from 3 very useful symbiotic talents to just one skill sphere that's been scaled down. That's my biggest concern, feeling like I'm now very limited in my ability to customize my build to a point that feels unique to my play style or really compliment my friend's build. I apologize for my wording around sneak since it makes it sound like you're trying to undermine the player preference for the sake of easier management. It just shocked me how limiting the new system is when we were told that the same talents would be available in the skill sphere system. I don't want this to sound like I'm trying to throw a fit, but this change is really pushing me away right now. If new, more unique, or more powerful versions of these orbs appear, (and maybe can be leveled from use?) I could get behind it. I'm just struggling with the change right now.

Looking back on it again, I can't help but feel this answer was thrown at me in hopes of placating my point. Not to bash on you IamIsom, but isn't there more you could have shared on this? Or at least hinted that it was going to be reviewed further? I spent almost an hour between writing an angry post, a frustrated critical post, and a pleading post, and I'm glad I took the time to rewrite it until it was properly worded. I 'm not trying to make waves, I just want to make my point clear and I want people to share their thoughts too so I can be sure I'm not the only one thinking this. I'm almost insulted that instead of addressing the issue I mentioned with the ranger's damage, I'm treated like I didn't even try to use the new system. I will take being wrong in a heartbeat... and I often am (cause I miss things, I'm human. XD) but I will not take disrespect. But this isn't about me. Isn't there any other input we could get from developers on this? Why 'sneak' this change into the build? Is a full rebalance on the way again? Input please! Input! "Need more input!" -J5

My friend went and found them for that reason, but the differences are staggering. I could see moving some of the super special effects from talents becoming Skill Spheres (like, chance on attack elements), but basic things, like increased damage from a distance or a chance of traps firing without consuming a charge, I think serve better as Talents. I do quite a bit of theory crafting on the side, so if you need someone who can run some hypothetical numbers and workshop some potential hybrid systems as well as their growth spread, let me know. ;D

I do not write here often so if I break some rule or etiquette, I apologize, that's not my intent. I'd like to get a response from everyone, especially on where you stand on the results of the current patch. Right now, I have a good friend who's really cut up over the most recent shift in power in the ranger's regard. So I'm going to do my best and be objective, but I'll be honest right now, I personally don't like the current skill-sphere changes. With a knight as my main I didn't notice too much of a difference, Defenses still armored adequately and my staying power didn't shift much. My friend however was fully specced in talents for raw ranged damage. He was the quintessential glass cannon. But after the removal of talents, he's got almost nothing. Where he was originally doing anywhere from 25k to 30k crits and power shots in the 15k range, depending on his distance. Now he can barely eek out 7.5k making his class and spec choice moot. "If I'd wanted defenses, I'd be a mage" sort of thing. I'd like to hear if any of you have also had this problem. I'm going to take a moment to break down the problem I'm seeing with this change. Talents = fixed Level based progression ~ What is nice about talents is they can help your character be unique among a sea of other characters, mostly by giving your character attributes that bolster your preferred play style. This gives the player a sense of personal investment by making their character fit the role they desire in the game and have accumulated over time. Skill Spheres = random Discovery / monetary based progression ~ Now while talents are a slow and steady investment to your play style, skill spheres provide notable changes at the drop of a hat. They offer the player the ability to change small sets of attributes around quickly, giving them flexibility when a scenario is slightly more challenging, or further bolstering their preferred play style. They also can have unique properties (like some of the talents) but are not easy to obtain and give the player a sense of pride and accomplishment upon finding them. This also gives the player deeper satisfaction when they find the Skill Sphere that feeds their playstyle and could conceivably even be discovered on enemies and bosses later on. ==== Here are my thoughts on the matter. = BOTH are fantastic systems. However, the previous talent system provided more variety to the individual characters and rewarded the player for investing time into the class and character. While this current system rewards the player for investing monetary value into the character, this aspect could have been introduced alongside talents. Instead of Simply raising attack damage, they apply small elemental effects to your basic attacks, to use an example. If FORCED to choose between these two, I would choose talents. I want to emphasize the focus on the people of the game, not the money. But hey, maybe that's just me. Thoughts? === TLDR: Both systems are good. I'd like to personally ask the developers, please don't give us individuality with talents then replace it with money based grinding. I want skill spheres WITH talents, not instead of... Otherwise just leave me with my talents, even if you have to rebalance them. Please? <=P