Totems making this game too easy?

I have one of the most popular totem builds in witch forums atm and I will tell you that certain totem builds/combinations is broken to a point where there is no fun in rolling other classes when you play a totem class.

i'd say around 15-20% cast speed nerf on spell totems would be enough to solve this problem.

Yeah, I am guessing it will get 50% cast speed like the other skill totem has when ob hits. That will mostly balance the single totems, then its just adding a downside to the dual totems or moving it to a central location.

ok i haven't read this whole thread, but i must comment on somthing that has popped up a few times here. if you think fire is too weak, then you havn't used it enough. fire is freaking awesome. kill a map boss with a single crit from fireball, firestorm, or molten shell with the ignite hitting them for more than 75% of their health alone and tell me it is underpowered. put "cold to fire" on frost spear with "elemental proliferation" and kill every single mob in the area with one spear and tell me fire is underpowered.

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loofabits wrote:

ok i haven't read this whole thread, but i must comment on somthing that has popped up a few times here. if you think fire is too weak, then you havn't used it enough. fire is freaking awesome. kill a map boss with a single crit from fireball, firestorm, or molten shell with the ignite hitting them for more than 75% of their health alone and tell me it is underpowered. put "cold to fire" on frost spear with "elemental proliferation" and kill every single mob in the area with one spear and tell me fire is underpowered.

Spoiler

http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAgMABAcFQg5ID8QRLxGWEmkW8xccF1QabB0UHwIigSY8J6kpTyycLL8tHy-dNsU22DrYO3w74T1fQZZDY0bXSRtN2FJTVytY9VqmXcZd8mBtZp5tGXBScNVxTXF5f8aCEIdliGuMdo48j0aPppeVmK2az5wtna6dxJ6hoqOnCKcrrrOvm6-3tQS297cxwFHBxcHzw23YJNzH3fPfsOL344TkIulz7DjsVfFs-tI=

you in the right thread man? I think you should at least read the title

Anyways, "spelltotem" and map mods is the op part, there is so many ways to be a jedi in this game but, spelltotem is a bit op..

like in every totem thread i have to response that i totally agree with the author.

summoned monsters need a cap and a cooldown. and mobs need to be controllable with 2 commands guard ad attack.

totems need to be changed to get less aggression (attention to mobs) deal less dmg and the dualtotem should be removed, if it cant get balanced or the second one should reserve 40 percent of your life or smth like that, it should have a cooldown a longer cast time and should be only possible to place 3 cm away from the character, aswell they should stop to attack if the character is out of range and a cap for totems in partys is needed. there are so many possible builds in poe but everyone plays totem guys or summoner:( like in every party i join. boring !!!! i think ggg will change this in future hopefully if not i make my own league. with 20 percent increased movement and cast speed for mobs in every further difficulti without totem builds allowed and if you die your character will be dead for 24 hours. to make it the real challange for everyone who think that the game is too easy. everyone will be welcome and can jjoin the league if he is contacting me. i will make a new thread about it once ggg make this option avalible

The issue is that to be a "totemancer" all you are is a templar caster with a dual totem node.

The issue with totemancer is that they can accurately apply damage from an entire screen away, or more.

Due to this specific issue, totems are hard to balance, because you can, if you play right, never see a mob for hours at a time, simply because your totem can clear things from 2 screens away at times. (Actually killing mobs from outside their aggro range, therefore you are in exactly 0 danger)

Another issue is how totems interact with Attack/Cast speed, one totem is effectively 100% increased cast speed, or 60% increased attack speed. For builds that stack status effects, spark comes to mind, combined with the fact that it has none of the normal cast speed mana issues, and the fact that cast speed is rather rare, spell totems become abnormally strong.

Apply the attack speed nerf from RAT's to Spell totems, then reduce the actual range from the character where totems can be placed. This mitigates the issue of casting totems and killing the mobs from outside their aggro range, and at least makes spell totems slightly less abhorrent

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EpsiIon wrote:

The issue is that to be a "totemancer" all you are is a templar caster with a dual totem node.

And thats part of the problem though Epsi

The Templar doesn't have the easy access to casting support nodes so any drastic re-balancing to Spell Totem will likely make the Witch the more viable starting point.

Totems are arguably the only good reason to choose a Templar, (as a caster), over a Witch and looking at where the Dual Totem node placed in the tree it seems to be the way that that GGG want this to be.

I'm just crossing my fingers that whatever forthcoming change we see to Spell Totem has a greater impact on Witches than Templars else may as well rock and roll with a Witch if you want to be a caster in OB.

As many have said, totems is... well i feel they need to stay in the game.
Though it feels like they are customizeable minions to me.
And as a Necromancer id rather have a wider choice of minions that are undead, but thats another issue entirely. :)

Totems does what they are supposed to do, the issue comes with balancing like many say.
If they are nerfed, people will simply not use them at all.
If they are kept as they are now they are the cookie cutter addon for any character with decent Int score.

So how does one change them to be *balanced*, RATs (Great acronym btw) have attack speed reduction which makes sense.
And i agree that SATs should have casting speed reduction.
(RATs = Ranged Attack Totem, SATs = Spell Attack Totem)

However, that doesnt make the issue of Shock/Freeze spreading less of an issue, thus Shock/Freeze condition needs to be rebalanced to be less effective when a totem inflicts it or something.
Theres many example with auras too that enables 1 build to use nearly all or all auras.

Totems are like a Cornerstone in path of exile, if one changes it then everything else is affected.
What id like to see is maybe a keystone that allows for 3+ totems, but disables ones own spellcasting entirely.
Then we can call that a "true Totemancer"! :)

I never played with totems but did watch videos and read forum posts.
So take my suggestion as discussion topics instead. :)

(Sorry, coudnt find the post with the person that made up the RATs acronym :v )

Some solutions which at least in part may have been given:

1- Reduce the spell damage coefficient on Spell Totem more.
2- Reduce the Casting Speed of Spell Totems (give it a coefficient based of the caster's Casting Speed).
3- Give Spell Totems a cooldown of 5-15 seconds. This will balance it all-around, create a strategic element to using it (instead of people spamming it mindlessly) AND ALSO balance Spell Totems as a defensive tool, a pseudo-Decoy.

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BazzV5 wrote:

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EpsiIon wrote:

The issue is that to be a "totemancer" all you are is a templar caster with a dual totem node.

And thats part of the problem though Epsi

The Templar doesn't have the easy access to casting support nodes so any drastic re-balancing to Spell Totem will likely make the Witch the more viable starting point.

Totems are arguably the only good reason to choose a Templar, (as a caster), over a Witch and looking at where the Dual Totem node placed in the tree it seems to be the way that that GGG want this to be.

I'm just crossing my fingers that whatever forthcoming change we see to Spell Totem has a greater impact on Witches than Templars else may as well rock and roll with a Witch if you want to be a caster in OB.

The issue is that a templar caster is not SO crippled, compared to a witch caster, that it warrants adding a mechanic that can completely circumnavigate damage, and subsequently defense, in it's entirety.

Most witchs dip very close to templar nodes, if not all of the way into them, Inner Force is simply a must for most witches, just to start. The reason why templars are "gimp" compared to witches, is that witches are "slightly" closer to crit multi nodes, although this ends up being a rather moot point, as in actuality, crit multi nodes themeselves, on the tree, are second class citizens compared to actual damage increases.