Savage Melee - Blood Thirst

[Ravenwulfe]

Seeing that the original intent of Blood Thirst was it was a spender, trying to flip it on its head and making it give an instant 5 Blood Frenzy I don't think has the intended effect to offset this particular powers negatives... namely its egregious cast time (2 second animation) and it's egregiously low tohit and damage bonus compared to other sets build up power (10/33 compared to 20/80 though tankers get 44% damage boost). The only other offset is the duration which is 15 seconds on brutes and scrappers and oddly 30 seconds on tankers.

 

Alternatively, can make this power a spender again, give it a small damage and tohit boost per stack of Blood Frenzy consumed. Say for instance 3% tohit and and 10% damage per stack of Blood Frenzy consumed on top of the current bases. You can keep the 100% chance to cause bleed with attacks as well. Can also give it two methods to work, when used with 0 Blood Frenzy can give 5 stacks instantly or save it to spend current stacks to increase its effectiveness. When spent to give 5 stacks it can keep its current 2 second cast, but when used to spend stacks it can get the 1.17 second cast. This helps to keep it unique at least.

 

As it currently stands the animation time and rather minimal boost it gives makes this power rather easy to just skip. The long animation time is just too noticeable to try and fit it into an average attack chain right now, and what little benefits it gives just isn't worth much when you can just build to four and spend to have better DPS up time. 

Edited September 26, 2022 by Ravenwulfe

[biostem]

The thing is, those 5 stacks of blood frenzy grant you a pretty significant end cost and recharge reduction, so you have to include those values when considering the other bonuses blood thirst gives you.  From what I've gathered, it also bypasses/cancels out the exhausted state, meaning you can build up to 5 stacks of blood frenzy, use a power that consumes those stacks, then instantly regain them, along with the tohit and damage bonus.

[Ravenwulfe]

6 hours ago, biostem said:

The thing is, those 5 stacks of blood frenzy grant you a pretty significant end cost and recharge reduction, so you have to include those values when considering the other bonuses blood thirst gives you.  From what I've gathered, it also bypasses/cancels out the exhausted state, meaning you can build up to 5 stacks of blood frenzy, use a power that consumes those stacks, then instantly regain them, along with the tohit and damage bonus.

It does, but it's not actually that significant not to mention it still smacks into ED for late game builds. While It can bypass Blood Frenzy, it still isn't that significant. Hence the suggestion to change it and give it something else. But I already address those facts in the original post. I mean SM is already a fairly fast recharging low end set, so once you even get into an endgame build it becomes even less so once you start taking into account ED.

[aethereal]

Its de facto damage bonus is higher than it seems: the most overlooked part of Blood Thirst is that it turns the bleed effects that Savage Melee attacks have from being 75% chance to continue (per tick) to 100% chance to continue.

 

So on say a level 50 Brute Vicious Slash, this goes from:

 

13.5133 * (1 + .75 + .75^2 + .76^3) = 37.1815

 

To

 

13.5133 * 4 = 54.0532

 

So a fairly solid increase in damage there (which is in turn affected by both the actual damage bonus of Blood Thirst and by Fury).

 

Is it still worse than normal Build Up?  I dunno, probably.

Edited September 26, 2022 by aethereal

[aethereal]

1 hour ago, Ravenwulfe said:

It does, but it's not actually that significant not to mention it still smacks into ED for late game builds. While It can bypass Blood Frenzy, it still isn't that significant. Hence the suggestion to change it and give it something else. But I already address those facts in the original post. I mean SM is already a fairly fast recharging low end set, so once you even get into an endgame build it becomes even less so once you start taking into account ED.

 

Enhancement Diversification doesn't affect the bonus recharge from Blood Frenzy, as it's, you know...  not an enhancement, it's a global recharge bonus.

[agentx5]

14 hours ago, Ravenwulfe said:

As it currently stands the animation time and rather minimal boost it gives makes this power rather easy to just skip. The long animation time is just too noticeable to try and fit it into an average attack chain right now, and what little benefits it gives just isn't worth much when you can just build to four and spend to have better DPS up time. 

 

Are they different for the different archetypes?  If so, how much.

Should the temp buff given just be increased somehow?  Like if not in number of damage bonus, maybe in duration of the buff and lower recharge time, and allow for stacking?

 

I don't find this power useless, but maybe that's because I'm use to adding a Build-Up of some kind into my attack chain when it seems like an opportune moment.

 

 

As for Savage Melee as a whole, it might be fitting to sing this part of a song, because savage likes to Rip & Tear right?

 

The life was quiet all around
A cute little island
Nice and non-violent
But everything turned upside down
When a new guy came to town

We got along, he showed me ways
To craft and test things
That cut intestines
Said we could party at his place
All the holidays

It's just what I need
To watch demons bleed
Their blood on my paws
Unholy hordes slaughtered
Now I feel complete

Our worlds collide on eternal horizons
A wild ride, every turn is surprising
We rip and tear until it's done
Then head back home and have some fun
Together we are
One! [4x]
Together we are
One! [4x]

 

Yeah somehow, that just fits what I envision Savage Melee could be...   Well... Within the "Teen" rating.  *Shrug*  Maybe some small bumps & improvements used here & there might be helpful for making Savage Melee feel a bit more... Savage?  It would be interesting to test it on the Beta server (assuming we can get enough people to test it on a weekend)