Sorry I'm late with this, work has been bogging me down and I barely have time to do dailies as it is, but this is important for shades to discuss this so I'm up at 3 AM writing this.
So what did we get?
We didn't get as much of a change as other profs, but that might actually be a bad thing since they're flat out buffs without any sort of loss on our part, on top of the fact that none of these address any of a Shade's true issues.
In an incredibly basic layout this is what we got:
- An update to the init debuff line to make it more significant and more reliable
- A smoke bomb nano to allow us to sneak in combat
- 25 AAD buff nano
- Spirit Siphon in nano form!
So let's discuss the elephant in the room here, you guessed it...
the init debuff. Anyone can tell this is incredibly overtuned currently, 1400 -init with a 5 second duration and a 100% hit chance. For this to be even remotely fair the values either need to go down or the duration needs to be 1-2 seconds so kiting relieves it.
That being said I like the idea of this nano, and I like the way they're taking procs overall with this. It allows for more calculated fights and not just RNJesus on stun or DoT procs. It also shifts away defensive focus from just pure evades.
The problem however is that we haven't lost anything for this, at all. If we want to shift our possible defensive focus elsewhere we need to diminish our current defenses, such as our evades to compensate for such a change.
As it stands this is just a ridiculous survival increase on a single target, no question. Although, what I'd also like to see with this is a bit more on the offensive front. For example a 1 second root with a 10 second target cooldown on a 100% proc would be quite nice for open pvp, or a 100% 5 second DoT with a 15 second cooldown on a specific target. Increase the proc arsenal to make it that much more interesting, also remove the stun proc while we're at it
Next up the smoke bomb.
I'm sure people are clamoring over thisBut maybe you should hold the pants pissing for now because this nano isn't perfect. Sure it may be an effective tool for city pvp but it doesn't address any of the problems with stealth itself. Stealth is still clunky, slow, interuptable by an AoE root and just overall not that good besides attempting to slink away at about 2 miles a century with this nano. What you get is an unfun utility nano for not only the opposition but for the shade herself.
That's why I personally suggest a little bit of a change for this nano: What if instead of just putting you into a normal concealment it puts you into a short duration "super stealth", unseeable, unrootable, unsnarable. Overpowered? Perhaps, but it'd only last for 2 seconds, enough time to either close the gap with a target or make an escape with your tail between your legs. Not only is this more interesting to use for the shade, it's not so black and white for the recipient, you will be coming back very shortly, but where?
The problem (again) with all this is we're not sacrificing anything for this, for the smoke bomb (especially my iteration) we'd need to sacrifice something for this kind of power, which just doesn't seem to be happening.
I'd talk about the others but it's getting late and they're not that big of a deal
What didn't we get?
Well these changes are dandy, but there are things we didn't get that I felt would have been more fitting for such an early iteration of the balance changes.
Sharp Object Buffs
This is something that shades have been asking for a while now, and it's something that could have been added with very minor (if any) balance issues. Reason being is that Sharp Objects can not be used while perking, so this would have been less of a benefit to shades that can perk everything as opposed to shades that have trouble perking most targets. As it stands shades can not use Tear of Oedipus without serious sacrifice.
Concealment Buffs for lower levels
Shades still can't hide from leets till tl7.
No weapon options for low level shades
And the options that do exist are too expensive, impossible to get yourself, and/or just aren't there till tl4. This is a serious issue for anyone who wants to start shade without just powerleveling or is just flat out new.
Not enough offensive options, or reasons to go fully offensive
With defenses so high and shades being so perk reliant, it's no wonder that atrox is the go to breed for many people when it comes to shades, especially since perks are so black and white when it comes to landing them. It's disheartening that we haven't seen anything concerning actually dealing damage as the other 3 breeds, just a boost in survivability to boost atrox shades even higher on the totem pole.
Other thoughts:
If you haven't noticed, the -init line seems to scale incredibly well throughout the level ranges, making shades excellent at 1 on 1 skirmishes starting as early as tl4 I bet, tl3 against some profs perhaps! Should keep an eye on this, low level shades may see a shred of viability, at least in dueling!
Originally Posted by Mamman
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