Skill Gem Feedback - Flicker Strike - Forum

I'm not even in the beta, but in my opinion it's better off with a damage nerf than tied to frenzy charges. As it is now, it is an amazing skill for mobility and chasing down annoying mobs for non-ranged heroes. It doesn't need to also be an amazing single target damage skill. Whereas if it becomes tied to frenzy charges, you force everyone who might want to use it(basically anyone who's not ranged) to also use frenzy charges. For a game that promotes customizability of builds it seems like a poor fit. Another possibility would be to greatly scale up the mana cost, or add a cooldown so that it's not something that can be spammed. Last edited by hysteresis on Apr 12, 2012, 1:01:33 PM	Posted by hysteresis on Apr 12, 2012, 1:00:01 PM Quote this Post
" hysteresis wrote: I'm not even in the beta, but in my opinion it's better off with a damage nerf than tied to frenzy charges. As it is now, it is an amazing skill for mobility and chasing down annoying mobs for non-ranged heroes. It doesn't need to also be an amazing single target damage skill. Whereas if it becomes tied to frenzy charges, you force everyone who might want to use it(basically anyone who's not ranged) to also use frenzy charges. For a game that promotes customizability of builds it seems like a poor fit. Another possibility would be to greatly scale up the mana cost, or add a cooldown so that it's not something that can be spammed. Agree partially. Options discused: 1. The nerf of the skill. So it would stay the same it is. 2. Making it diferent mechanics [cooldowns or other things] 3. Aditional to normal use it could consume frenzy or have benefits from frenzy: a) After normal use next uses needs cooldown or frenzy charges b) You can use it more times per frenzy charge. c) It could be stronger per frenzy charge.	Posted by Bakubylozajete on Apr 13, 2012, 3:14:55 AM Quote this Post
" hysteresis wrote: ... Whereas if it becomes tied to frenzy charges, you force everyone who might want to use it(basically anyone who's not ranged) to also use frenzy charges. For a game that promotes customizability of builds it seems like a poor fit. Another possibility would be to greatly scale up the mana cost, or add a cooldown so that it's not something that can be spammed. I can see the argument to keep if free of a frenzy requirement. If that's the choice I think the damage would have to be reduced dramatically. I mean really nerf the damage. Otherwise it could still be used for a mindless hold the right mouse button build with decent success. If the damage were really low then it would be used for the utility portion of the skill (teleport to archer) which is still very much worth a hotkey. I don't think there is a cooldown feature in the game code, and I honestly hope they don't use that mechanic. As for signigicant mana cost, I think that would be ineffective. There are a lot of ways to spec for mana regen, mana leech, and lower the cost of skills etc. Blood Magic builds wouldn't have an issue with decent life leech either. So there would still be a ton of builds that could use Flicker Strike as a one-hit wonder, the all-in-one skill package. I'm curious to see how this skill plays out in PvP. Anyways, there are still ways to tie it to Frenzy without making it a requirement to use the skill. I think they could make it a fun and powerful, albeit limited, skill if it did minimal damage but added damage per frenzy charge or discharged frenzy charges and added a bonus for the charges used this way. It would be a great finishing move or a way to destroy a ranged/fleeing monster quickly without being completely over powered all around.	Posted by ChaoticDecree on Apr 13, 2012, 12:18:26 PM Quote this Post
" ChaoticDecree wrote: " hysteresis wrote: ... Whereas if it becomes tied to frenzy charges, you force everyone who might want to use it(basically anyone who's not ranged) to also use frenzy charges. For a game that promotes customizability of builds it seems like a poor fit. Another possibility would be to greatly scale up the mana cost, or add a cooldown so that it's not something that can be spammed. I can see the argument to keep if free of a frenzy requirement. If that's the choice I think the damage would have to be reduced dramatically. I mean really nerf the damage. Otherwise it could still be used for a mindless hold the right mouse button build with decent success. If the damage were really low then it would be used for the utility portion of the skill (teleport to archer) which is still very much worth a hotkey. I don't think there is a cooldown feature in the game code, and I honestly hope they don't use that mechanic. As for signigicant mana cost, I think that would be ineffective. There are a lot of ways to spec for mana regen, mana leech, and lower the cost of skills etc. Blood Magic builds wouldn't have an issue with decent life leech either. So there would still be a ton of builds that could use Flicker Strike as a one-hit wonder, the all-in-one skill package. I'm curious to see how this skill plays out in PvP. Anyways, there are still ways to tie it to Frenzy without making it a requirement to use the skill. I think they could make it a fun and powerful, albeit limited, skill if it did minimal damage but added damage per frenzy charge or discharged frenzy charges and added a bonus for the charges used this way. It would be a great finishing move or a way to destroy a ranged/fleeing monster quickly without being completely over powered all around. Again, since I'm not in the beta I speak from a position of limited experience, but I think the tie to frenzy without an actual requirement to have frenzy charges would be a great idea. There are tons of single target damage multiplying and increasing skills in the game with double/dual strike, elemental hit etc. But as far as I'm aware, flicker strike is the only true teleport in the entire game. So even if there was no damage bonus, eg if you just teleported to them and hit them for normal attack damage, it is still an incredibly useful and interesting skill for just about any non ranged character. The choice to then magnify it's power if you do happen to have frenzy charges is then a good compromise to allow an extra level of depth to the skill, without denying it's use outside of being a dps engine to other people who just want it's utility.	Posted by hysteresis on Apr 13, 2012, 2:31:05 PM Quote this Post
Have you guys even tried this skill? This game requires you to kill massive groups of enemies most of the time. A lot of them will kill you very fast. I haven't seen one flicker strike build yet that can survive in Chaos and do enough damage to effectively kill off a group. The problem is you do single target damage. Even by attacking a specified enemy instead of flickering around you flicker behind him and in range of other enemies. I played a flicker striker a few patches ago when everything was easier. While it is fun so kill off single enemies you still can't compare it to any skill that attacks multiple enemies at once(all ranged skills because of multiproj). This skill does not need a damage nerf in any way. To make this useful i propose an area effect at the target area that does 1ß-20% of you damage added.	Posted by Headhorr on Apr 16, 2012, 9:27:23 AM Quote this Post
I have switched my Duelist over to use this skill as his primary single target attack since it is way better than Heavy Strike. Now that he is in Merciless I can see that this skill isn't as overpowered as I thought in terms of damage. Maybe it's just the initial progression of the skill because of the really high base damage increase. The more I use the skill the more I like it and don't want to see it changed. That makes me wonder how well balanced it is. I don't have several lvl 50 characters to compare each single target damage skill at high levels. I know this one is really good though. Some of my initial complaint about the damage is that when I got Flicker Strike it was leaps and bounds better than my other single target attacks. This was on a Ranger in the teens and when I got it for my Duelist in the 30s. The skill at level one hits harder than the other skills I had at higher skill levels. I don't want to see the damage nerfed at high level as I'm using it now, but the progression and comparison to the other skills doesn't seem even from my experience.	Posted by ChaoticDecree on Apr 16, 2012, 10:56:25 AM Quote this Post
" BlastMonkey wrote: Gameplay Scenario In the screenshot the player is using Flicker Strike to fight a group at C. The situation turns bad and the player wants to pull back from an approaching horde at D. The player repositions the cursor and now only mobs A and B are viable targets due to a target radius around the cursor. Mob A is given priority as it is already within a strike radius around the character. The character flickers to mob A and the camera moves smoothly to center on the character. As the camera moves the player adjusts the cursor position to keep the target radius in the vacinity of mobs A and B. Subsequent executions of Flicker Strike target either mob A, mob B or any other mob now within the current target radius. Behaviour Details Take note the description below relates to skill behaviour when a player has not specifically targeted a mob. All references to a targeted mob relate to the next single execution of the skill and no mob becomes selected as though the player had clicked directly on it. The skill should work with two radii; a target radius centered on the cursor (shown in green) and a strike radius centered on the character (shown in red). These radii could be the same size or different sizes depending on what feels right in testing. The target radius allows a degree of control for the player. Each time the skill is executed a mob is targeted randomly from all mobs within the target radius provided it is possible to flicker to them (ie not blocked by walls). Priority is given to mobs within both the target radius and the strike radius. The strike radius is the skill's range. The character can immediately flicker to any target within the strike radius. If a target is outside the strike radius the character will run towards the target and flicker as soon as it is within, provided the button is held down until the target is within the strike radius. If the button is released the character will stop moving. If there are no mobs within the target radius when the skill's bound key or button is pressed, the character moves towards the cursor position but will immediately target the first mob to enter the target radius while the button is held. The character will immediately stop moving towards the cursor position if the button is released. If the player clicks directly on a mob it will be targeted repeatedly for so long as the bound button is held. If the mob dies and the button is still held the character will immediately target a new enemy according to the behaviour detailed above. Camera Reaction When a character flickers to a new location the camera should accelerate towards them and decelerate as it centers on them. This serves firstly to reduce player disorientation and secondly to prevent the target radius from changing position in the world too quickly. In this way a player can react to the change and keep the target radius within proximity of the mobs they wish to fight. It also prevents the player from flickering too quickly across great distances within the game world. Summary This behaviour allows the player to effectively kite the edges of a swarming horde, disengage from a suicidal fight or focus attacks on specific events in the battle like stray mobs harassing ranged party members. It achieves this while maintaining random targeting of individual mobs. Advantages - The player must now influence the character's position in battle and has more to do than just hold a button and chug flasks. Subsequently the player feels more involved in what the character is doing and has more fun. - The player cannot be displaced to a random far off location in an instant, normally in the middle of an overwhelming horde of angry mobs. - The player does not get disoriented or feel ill attempting to follow rapid screen changes. Closing It is now noon. I have been up all night playing this game, using this skill and have spent since 6 am considering and producing my feedback. I would greatly appreciate some comment on whether this proposed behaviour might be possible in game. If you read this far, thank you for your time and for a great game. I hope PoE realises all it could become and sees the success it deserves. Absolutely agree from my use of this skill. When I first found out about it I planned to use it as a utility skill for taking out ranged enemies but had no idea how much damage it would do! Also the constant rapid changes in screen position are so disorienting. I would even go so far as to say that this skill would be better if it did nothing when you didn't target an enemy with it. I would feel a lot more in control and would have more fun with it.	Posted by switch_blade_670 on Apr 17, 2012, 2:27:07 AM Quote this Post
" Headhorr wrote: I haven't seen one flicker strike build yet that can survive in Chaos and do enough damage to effectively kill off a group. To be fair, Maelstrom of Chaos isn't the entire point of this game. I don't know if it's within the game engine's capability to do so, but some sort of accelerating cost would help make flicker strike stay a powerful skill that you can't spam. As in, if you use flicker strike within two seconds of the last time used it, the mana cost is increased, or it steals some of your health. Then have that cost increase every time, so that you'd need a truly massive health / mana pool to cast it 5 times in a row. This is just as an alternative to it consuming frenzy charges on cast, which could be an entirely workable solution. In any case, I think there needs to be some sort of cap to prevent people from using the skill endlessly.	Posted by Softspoken on Apr 18, 2012, 1:04:06 AM Quote this Post
Too many goodies (like auto aim, big damage increase, attack speed increase) on this skill make it a bit op. lvl 30 2h axe marauder with 1.3k dps is a bit too much I suggest: -removing teleport (or one has to at least aim a monster to use the skill) -adding a cooldown -reducing accuracy rating -1h weapons only (e.g. daggers, claws, wands) 99% of PvPers will use it to 1 hit KO others if the skill is not balanced. The wait is over.	Posted by Shirotashi on Apr 18, 2012, 8:35:57 AM Quote this Post
I would give the Spell a Cooldown, and make it to a good opener Attack Like: Teleport to the Target, do a good amount of Damage and Stun or Blind all Enemoies Around the Target for 2sec. 10sec Cooldown. IGN: kReiZy	Posted by sYkoDe4d on Apr 21, 2012, 11:30:18 PM Quote this Post