- Joined
- Nov 25, 2012
- Location
- United States
Many of you have already seen the Ninja Revamp in full, but I felt that a proper thread was a good idea so I can lay things out for Kainzo as well as the rest of the Balance Team.
I'm going to do this a little different than the previous revamp-based threads we've seen here before.
Ninja Class Assessment
Here is a snippet of the current changelog that details each of the changes so far:
I believe these to be relatively balanced, and I've made several tweaks along the way with the aid of both the community as well as fellow balance team members.
New Ninja Class Assessment
I'm going to do this a little different than the previous revamp-based threads we've seen here before.
Ninja Class Assessment
- The Ninja can stand toe-to-toe with most melee in any given situation.
- The Ninja has complete and utter dominance over casters within an enclosed space.
- The Ninja is weak against casters within an open area.
- The Ninja has trouble "catching" other players, whether they be casters or other melee.
- The Ninja has an emphasis on stealth / initiation, but does not actually need to do either to perform his role.
- The Ninja cannot use his stealth based abilities for PvE.
- The Ninja is dependent on the RNG factors of both Blackjack, as well as Backstab. Having favorable RNG guarantees his victory, while having an unfavorable RNG simply allows him to perform on an equal level as other classes.
- The Ninja does not have many traits that would be commonly found on the standard concept of a Ninja (such as Shuriken, high mobility, or other miscellaneous "tools".)
- The Ninja is a low skill, high reword class, with very few "combat" abilities. Players would often describe this as a "left click win class".
Here is a snippet of the current changelog that details each of the changes so far:
- Ninja
- (Ninja has received a direction shift / partial rework. Specific changes below.)
- Bow damage increased by 25%.
- Base damage with swords has been reduced.
- Wooden Sword damage (by level 65) reduced to 26 (from 45).
- Stone Sword damage (by level 65) reduced to 38 (from 62).
- Iron Sword damage (by level 65) reduced to 43 (from 82).
- Diamond Sword damage (by level 65) reduced to 50 (from 96).
- Gold Sword damage (by level 65) reduced to 56 (from 108).
- Backstab:
- Backstab chance to apply bonus damage when not sneaking increased to 100% (from 40).
- Backstab chance to apply bonus damage when sneaking increased to 100% (from 80).
- Backstab bonus damage while not sneaking increased to 170% (from 50).
- Backstab bonus damage while sneaking increased to 265% (from 80).
- Backstab description altered to be more...descriptive.
- Backstab is now available from level 1.
- You can now type /skill backstab to see how much damage you do while backstabbing. Yay~
- Smoke:
- Smoke description has been altered to be more...descriptive.
- Smoke expire text altered to be a bit more descriptive.
- Attacking another player while smoked will stun the target for 1 second.
- Smoke stamina cost reduced to 4 (from 8).
- Smoke cooldown reduced to 30 seconds (from 5 minutes).
- Smoke duration reduced to 5.5 seconds (from 10).
- You can no longer use "unstealthy" skills while smoked. Doing so will break the effect.
- You can no longer be targeted with abilities while smoked. (Smoked players can still be hit by AoE effects, weapon attacks, and projectiles however.)
- Monsters will no longer target a player who is smoked.
- Fade:
- Monsters will no longer target a player who is faded.
- You can no longer be targeted with abilities while faded. (Faded players can still be hit by AoE effects, weapon attacks, and projectiles however.)
- Backflip:
- Backflip cooldown increased to 6 seconds (from 4).
- Backflip stamina cost reduced to 6 (from 8).
- Sneak stamina cost increased to 10 (from 8).
- Removed Skill: Blackjack
- Blitz range increased to 6 (from 5).
- New Passive Skill: Shuriken Toss
- Description: Right click with a flint in hand to throw a Shuriken! Shuriken deal 30 damage, and can be tossed once every 0.5 seconds.
- Casting: Instant Cast
- Costs: 1 Stamina, 1 Flint
- New Active Skill: Grappling Hook
- Description: Apply a grappling hook to 1 of your arrows. Once attached, your next shot will grapple you to the targeted location! The grappling hook weighs down your arrows and reduces their velocity by 40%.
- Casting: Instant Cast
- Costs: 6 Stamina, 4 String
- Cooldown: 16 seconds.
I believe these to be relatively balanced, and I've made several tweaks along the way with the aid of both the community as well as fellow balance team members.
New Ninja Class Assessment
- The Ninja cannot stand toe-to-toe with most melee in any given situation. If he does not have favorable positioning, he must resort to using ranged attacks to keep his opponents at bay. If he is able to acquire a favorable position however, his ability to deal damage is superb.
- The Ninja will no longer have complete dominance over casters in a small space. He will still have the advantage, but he will likely take longer to achieve victory than he would in his previous state.
- The Ninja now has more tools to handle casters that are in an open area. While they still have the advantage, he is now more on an equal footing due to his increased mobility / evasive skill usage.
- The Ninja can now use his stealth based abilities for PvE.
- The Ninja still is not able to catch other players as much as he could, but I believe the situation is more favorable than it was previously.
- The Ninja has an emphasis on stealth / initiation, and must now actually use those tools to properly fulfill his role within a group.
- The Ninja no longer has any RNG abilities, and thus, his victory is not influenced by it.
- The Ninja is now, undoubtedly a "tool user". He must carry a bow, he must carry arrows, he must carry string, gunpowder, flint, and of course, a sword. The influx of required items will make him less potent when graveyard running, but also give him more interesting actions while participating in a fight.
- The Ninja is now a high skill, high reword class. He still has very few direct "combat" abilities, but that is offset by how he controls his character. He must be mobile, he must be agile, he must strike at key times. I believe this to provide a very interesting playstyle that is both fun and engaging. Players should no longer refer to it as a simple "left click win" class.
