Bloodmage Revamp

[Delfofthebla]

Balance Team

Here is the Bloodmage concept I am proposing.

Like the previous revamp with Runeblade, I think that, with the exception of a small few, every single skill that the Bloodmage should be reworked/removed. It would be a complete revamp of the entire class, with an entirely new system to accompany the new abilities.

New Proposed Skillset (Will break them down below):

• Antidote
• BloodUnion
• Infusion
• BloodBond
• Transfusion
• ExplodingCyst
• Despoil
• SeveringRital
• BloodGift
• StealEssence
• ThickenBlood
• RitualOfGelenia
• Awaken

Antidote:
--Same as before

BloodUnion (New Ability):
Passive: Your damaging abilities form a Blood Union with the target, allowing you to use different abilities and increasing the effectiveness of the others.


This is the basis of the new Bloodmage. BloodUnion is a counter of sorts that is built up by the Bloodmage when he uses certain abilities. This counter can go up to 5, and influences most of his skills in some way.

We will also be adding a new UI element for this system.

Infusion (Reworked):
Infuse your target with your blood, restoring their health and negating bleeding.

This skill will function the same way as it does on live/test. Large health cost, small health gain. However, the amount healed will be increased by 2% per level of blood union.

BloodBond:
Will function same as before. May reduce healing a bit due to their new skillset.

Transfusion:
Will function same as before. May tweak numbers as necessary.

ExplodingCyst (New Ability):
Forms a large blister on your target and explodes it, dealing dark damage. If you are Blood Union 3 or greater, it will deal additional dark damage over time.

This will be a warmup ability with instant damage. Will increase BloodUnion by 1. If the Bloodmage has BloodUnion 3 or higher, the skill will add a small DoT effect to the target as well.

Despoil:
Steal blood from your target, dealing 95 + dark damage and restoring 110% of the damage dealt back as health. Life stolen is increased by 4% per level of Blood Union. Increases Blood Union by 1.


This is basically a DrainSoul with a warmup. This will heal the Bloodmage for a large amount, and will be their primary source of self-healing.

SeveringRital (New Ability):
Sever the life of all enemies within 5 blocks, dealing 60 instant damage, and doing an additional 51 damage over 7.5 seconds. Requires 3 Blood Union to use. Reduces Blood Union by 3."

This is an instant cast AoE ability that does around moderate damage, and also adds a similarly damaging DoT effect on all targets hit. This will only be usable if the Bloodmage has BloodUnion 3 or higher, and will of course, reduce it by 3 as well.

(This ability will have no mana or health costs, and will rely entirely on BloodUnion)

BloodGift (Reworked):
You gift an ally with your own blood, restoring 200 health to your target and negating their bleeding. This ability cannot be used on yourself, and costs 85 health and 25 mana to use.

This will work similarly before, but will no longer be usable on the Bloodmage himself. It will only work on his allies. It will heal by an additional 2% per level of Blood Union.

StealEssence:
--Same as before.

ThickenBlood (New Ability):
Thicken the targets blood, halting their stamina regeneration for 3 seconds.

This will incorporate the new "Famine" effect that Kainzo has added to Heroes. The effect will prevent the target from regenerating stamina for a short duration.

RitualOfGelenia (New Ability):
Heals a target ally for 10% of their max HP per level of BloodUnion. Removes all BloodUnion when used.

(This ability will have no mana or health costs, and will rely entirely on BloodUnion)

Awaken:
--Same as before. Going to remove rose reagent however.

--------------------------
Naturally, numbers can be changed (and will probably need it), but this the skeleton of what I have planned.

The goal is to create a healer that is dependent on damaging others in order to adequately heal others. He takes life from opponents and funnels it into his team. He uses the abilities he's casted on enemies to heal his allies.

Additionally, his spells are costly, and force him to use Transfuse on a regular basis. This drives home the feeling of the class being a BloodMage, and also helps balance out his excessive amount of healing capabilities.

With this concept, there is a lot of wiggle room for tweaking. We can alter the effectiveness of BloodUnion, and perhaps make him more reliant on it if necessary. The other option is, of course, to make BloodUnion only have slight influence on his abilities, which is what I've currently got it closer to.

Either way, this is the idea. This will also need to be approved by Kainzo before I add any of it in, but most of it is already coded. Just waiting for the go-ahead.

 

[leftovers5]

So BloodUnion is a new resource? Are levels of BU lost somehow upon usage of an ability that is augmented by it (ex: Transfusion)? Is RitualofGelenia the only way to lose all 5 stacks so far?

 

[Delfofthebla]

So BloodUnion is a new resource? Are levels of BU lost somehow upon usage of an ability that is augmented by it (ex: Transfusion)? Is RitualofGelenia the only way to lose all 5 stacks so far?

Right, it's a separate resource for the Bloodmage, but it also augments his abilities while he has it "saved up".

Only two abilities will remove BloodUnion points, SeveringRitual and RitualOfGelenia.
Only two abilities will add BloodUnion points, Despoil and ExplodingCyst.

Despoil, Infusion, ExplodingCyst, and BloodGift will be affected by BloodUnion, but unless they otherwise say so, they will not lower or increase it.

Only abilities that state they lower BloodUnion will do so.
Only abilities that state they increase BloodUnion will do so.

Every other ability that does not mention BloodUnion, will not be affected by it.

 

[leftovers5]

Right, it's a separate resource for the Bloodmage, but it also augments his abilities while he has it "saved up".

Only two abilities will remove BloodUnion points, SeveringRitual and RitualOfGelenia.
Only two abilities will add BloodUnion points, Despoil and ExplodingCyst.

Only abilities that state they lower BloodUnion will do so.
Only abilities that state they increase BloodUnion will do so.

So potentially BloodMages could get their stacks to five, saving them up hours before PvPing? Is it possible to add something that makes the BUPs (Blood Union Points) deteriorate - slowly - over time?

 

[Delfofthebla]

So potentially BloodMages could get their stacks to five, saving them up hours before PvPing? Is it possible to add something that makes the BUPs (Blood Union Points) deteriorate - slowly - over time?

Yeah, I could see this being doable. I agree that it probably should be.

 

[yoIyo]

Gaining stacks before using better skills or combos.. I feel as if the class itself will not be able to have full potential during fights; as if you will die before you able to get your BloodUnion stacks to max or to the point of great use. And if the Bloodmage already obtains their stacks before a fight like leftovers5 says; they might have complete control of a fight? It's a great idea; but what if you make it so stacks are not obtainable from PvE? So you will still have the ability to kill mobs; but not boost before a fight.

 

[Delfofthebla]

Gaining stacks before using better skills or combos.. I feel as if the class itself will not be able to have full potential during fights; as if you will die before you able to get your BloodUnion stacks to max or to the point of great use. And if the Bloodmage already obtains their stacks before a fight like leftovers5 says; they might have complete control of a fight? It's a great idea; but what if you make it so stacks are not obtainable from PvE? So you will still have the ability to kill mobs; but not boost before a fight.

These are valid concerns. On the PvE thing though, when Kainzo initially proposed the concept change to me, he had mentioned wanting it to work in PvE, so that's out of the window.

In Vanguard (where this concept was taken from) BloodUnion was unique to your target. This meant that if you switched targets, you lost your blood union levels.

Now, I don't currently have it working this way, but it's a possible solution here. We could either make it target based, or make it decay over time, as leftovers suggested. My main concern with the target-based solution is that it's really hard to stick to a single target in the middle of a fight, so you may end up resetting your blood union level as you fight different players.

Thoughts?

 

[yoIyo]

Make it decay over time, but still have different targets gaining stacks depending on hit; We all have that trouble sticking on a target; something you have to learn to do.

 

[Warmachinexp]

So Bloodmage spells that will heal themselves are: Infusion, Despoil, BloodGift, RitualOfGelenia, (BloodBond???)

So what I remember from playing Bloodmage was before the revamp. But I've heard that Infusions barely healed the BM and had a regent, also is it going to be usable in combat? It was talked about before but I haven't exactly tried it yet. Despoil is a reworked Drainsoul I take it? Drainsoul is Bloodmages bread and butter pretty much makes them stay in a fight even longer. BloodGift back when it was chant was what made the BM able to stay in a fight long enough to get more spells off.

These last two I wanna hear more on self healing.
RitualOfGelenia (New Ability):
Heals a target ally for 10% of their max HP per level of BloodUnion. Removes all BloodUnion when used.
Is that 10% per stack of BU? Can it be used on the BM them self?
Just wondering if it's going to be able to stack up to a 50% heal to others or even a great heal for the BM.

As for BloodBond I've always been confused, before it didn't heal the BM, but recently I heard it does since revamp. Can there be some clarification on whether or not it is going to heal the BM or not?

Thanks for reading overall love the ideas sounds great.

 

[Delfofthebla]

So Bloodmage spells that will heal themselves are: Infusion, Despoil, BloodGift, RitualOfGelenia, (BloodBond???)

So what I remember from playing Bloodmage was before the revamp. But I've heard that Infusions barely healed the BM and had a regent, also is it going to be usable in combat? It was talked about before but I haven't exactly tried it yet. Despoil is a reworked Drainsoul I take it? Drainsoul is Bloodmages bread and butter pretty much makes them stay in a fight even longer. BloodGift back when it was chant was what made the BM able to stay in a fight long enough to get more spells off.

These last two I wanna hear more on self healing.
RitualOfGelenia (New Ability):
Heals a target ally for 10% of their max HP per level of BloodUnion. Removes all BloodUnion when used.
Is that 10% per stack of BU? Can it be used on the BM them self?
Just wondering if it's going to be able to stack up to a 50% heal to others or even a great heal for the BM.

As for BloodBond I've always been confused, before it didn't heal the BM, but recently I heard it does since revamp. Can there be some clarification on whether or not it is going to heal the BM or not?

Thanks for reading overall love the ideas sounds great.

I think BloodBond did not heal the bloodmage himself originally, but it has been healing the Bloodmage since revamp #1. This is crucial for the new concept. If he cannot heal off of his damage, he will not be able to sustain himself in a fight.

Due to the high health cost of Infusion, it does not heal the bloodmage for very much health. This is intended, and desired. If the Bloodmage wishes to efficiently heal himself, he should be forced to do so via Despoil/BloodBond/RitualOfGelenia.

And yes, RitualOfGelenia will work on the bloodmage. The amount healed is 10% per level of blood union, up to a total of 50% HP. The self-heal nerf will naturally apply here, so it won't be quite as potent when used on the BM himself.

I'd also like to once again stress the fact that these numbers are just initial thoughts. Everything can, and would, be tweaked as we playtested it.

 

[leftovers5]

The amount healed is 10% per level of blood union, up to a total of 50% HP. The self-heal nerf will naturally apply here, so it won't be quite as potent when used on the BM himself.

Good to see that at least. This will be devastating if the Bloodmage uses his RitualofGelenia on a high HP ally, esp warrior specs like Paladin.

Extra note - what is the name "RitualofGelenia" from?

 

[Eldrylars]

I am feeling as though I have some thoughts on this.
Unfortunately my brain is spent thus far and I must take a break to reread and critique.

 

[Kainzo]

Consider renaming of these abilities - they don't fit well with the limited naming for skills.
We don't want to straight copy from any source, but rename and alter for our own lore, etc.

Good to see that at least. This will be devastating if the Bloodmage uses his RitualofGelenia on a high HP ally, esp warrior specs like Paladin.

Extra note - what is the name "RitualofGelenia" from?

Vanguard - we wont be stealing names word for word

 

[yoIyo]

So Bloodmage is a straight rip-off from another game?

 

[Licksterboy]

This seems like a really exciting revamp. I love the unique passives and healing skills. Will we be able to get the mana costs/damage output for all of these skills on a later date?

Also, I am a bit sad to see that bloodmage lost constrict and silence, do you plan on adding these skills back? I suppose they don't really match the class so it would make sense if you didn't, they were just really nice counters to several classes.

 

[Delfofthebla]

Consider renaming of these abilities - they don't fit well with the limited naming for skills.
We don't want to straight copy from any source, but rename and alter for our own lore, etc.


Vanguard - we wont be stealing names word for word

Tch, you mean I have to try?

So Bloodmage is a straight rip-off from another game?

Mmm, pretty much, but to be honest, so are most things in MMO's, and Herocraft is no exception. The concept I wrote up uses a lot of the Vanguard Bloodmage abilities, but it is in no way the same class. It's missing several core abilities, and relying on tweaks of others to fit into the Herocraft system.

ThickenBlood wasn't in Vanguard, and neither was StealEssence. Awaken technically was, and the old Infusion/BloodGift were also Vanguard abilities. Even DrainSoul could be considered a Vanguard Bloodmage ability.

So yeah, you could call it a "rip-off", but I've modified most of the abilities in some way. It won't be quite the same as the Vanguard Bloodmage, but it is heavily relying on the concept.

This seems like a really exciting revamp. I love the unique passives and healing skills. Will we be able to get the mana costs/damage output for all of these skills on a later date?

Also, I am a bit sad to see that bloodmage lost constrict and silence, do you plan on adding these skills back? I suppose they don't really match the class so it would make sense if you didn't, they were just really nice counters to several classes.

Constrict is going in favor of ThickenBlood. Silence...well, I worry that it will be too strong on the class. I do not wish for them to have -too- much utility, as that makes them too viable against other classes. The goal is to create a damaging caster that heals through his damage. Adding in too much fluff on top of that will make it too strong.

It's possible we could let him keep silence, but I'm against it at the moment.

 

[Delfofthebla]

The Bloodmage rework has been completed and is now on Test, available for playtesting/balance tweaking.

I have put a lot of work into playtesting it since it's creation, and have been tweaking it extensively over the past two days.

I've tested the class in the following situations:
1v1's
2v2's
3v3's
4v4's
and 5v5's.

I believe it is in a good place, but naturally, I need to gauge everyone elses thoughts on the current balance.

I have made a few major changes to the original concept.

• Maximum BloodUnion has been reduced to 4 (from 5). This was primarily done to lessen the maximum potential of BloodRitual (previously named RitualOfGelenia).
• Having BloodUnion remain unique to his target proved to be a terrible experience all around. As an alternative solution to the proposed problems, BloodUnion will now reset if the Bloodmage switches targets from Monsters/Animals to Players, or vice versa. This prevents him from "building it up" on monsters before a big fight. While yes, he can technically do the same thing on allied players, I do not think this will be a major issue due to:
• If BloodUnion is not increased for 20 seconds, it will decrease by 1.
• ThickenBlood now decays stamina by around 5 over the course of 2.5 seconds. This was initially an accidental change, but I think it worked out for the better.
• A large amount of damage numbers, healing numbers, mana costs, health costs, and cooldowns have been altered/tweaked in some way.

Now, I know a lot of you are probably wanting a list of the numbers here, but I don't really have the time to compile that right now, and I feel as though it will be detrimental to balancing the class. The Bloodmage concept is quite different than the other Herocraft classes, and thus, I do not believe his numbers can be taken at face value. I strongly encourage everyone to hop on and playtestit in as many situations as possible. Test it against as many different classes as you can, and gauge it's effectiveness.

When you playtest, ask yourself these questions--What is the Bloodmage able to do? Is he good at it? Is he too good at it? What can't he do? Should he be able to do that? When you get your answers, post them here.

The Bloodmage is a healer that is focused on stealing health from others. If he is healing allies, it should come from him, or his enemies. If he is healing himself, the same rules should apply. Remember to keep these things in mind.

 

[Warmachinexp]

Playing the bloodmage on test it's really freakin good. Not ever class should be able to 1v1 every other class, which Bloodmage can't. In teamfights the thing is a manawhore for sure but that's to be expected and with transfuse how can you complain? The main thing that screws bloodmage is silences, which I guess bloodmage is a support healer/caster, so it only makes sense. Overall it seems great, not op in 1v1s, decent in teamfights.