I decided to spend some time looking at our circle 100+ Barbarian crowd to see what they have assigned where.....

There was a really good mix of choices. So that is great! It was what I was hoping for. Some must-haves, but that is fine and makes sense given the tiered structure.

Must-have abilities of course are Dragon, Eagle, and Powermonger.

Owl, Monkey, Panther, Bear, Tornado, Turtle and Tenacity were also common.

Turtle was very popular, even more than Serenity. That surprised me. Swan should be sufficient to provide !100% protection from casting mobs. Only PvPers should need the added integrity of Serenity. Turtle is the more reliable potency barrier I guess?

Slash was unpopular, as it has never worked correctly.

Nobody had picked up Sacrifice - do Barbarians not need a lockpicking bonus, or does utility just pale in comparison to combat?

Nobody picked Duelist, Lash or Prediction. So I'll go back to the drawing board with them.

The SvS barriers and Dispel weren't terribly popular. They are pretty much a PvP-only thing, so I'm not too concerned. And well.. Dispel just isn't useful. I might propose we make dispel a meditation that gives you a dispel charge that could be used at-will to dispel something cast on you. Making folks meditate mid-combat isn't going to be viable for folks.

A handful of people had SCREECH. Do you find it unnecessary for affecting stuff with roars? Or is it just too costly given the other choices available?


Reducing slot costs isn't an option due to the formulas I've mentioned before. But it might be possible to discount the IF/voice costs for the less-popular abilities to provide them with a higher effective ranking. I'll ponder it a bit.

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"I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit theories instead of theories to suit facts."
- Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Sherlock Holmes

<<Nobody had picked up Sacrifice - do Barbarians not need a lockpicking bonus, or does utility just pale in comparison to combat?>>

We wanted/want a skinning bonus, not a lockpicking bonus, since the VAST majority of Barbs I have seen (inlcuding myself) are skinning dominant.


<<I might propose we make dispel a meditation that gives you a dispel charge that could be used at-will to dispel something cast on you.>>

Love that idea.

<<A handful of people had SCREECH. Do you find it unnecessary for affecting stuff with roars? Or is it just too costly given the other choices available?>>

I find it's just to costly considering I don't really use roars that much to begin with.


I might add that Wolverine might get some love somehow, as it doesn't really do anything.

Hahah, ok my bad. Sacrifice was never released and incorrectly refers to a lockpick bonus.

Any opposition to my proposing it becomes a 1-slot skinning bonus?

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"I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit theories instead of theories to suit facts."
- Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Sherlock Holmes

>I guess I missed this, could you tell me/remind others the rationale behind this?

I must have missed it as well, or just don't remember it. Although our Masteries are more akin to the magic feats than to spell buffs. Powermonger is more or less Deep Attunement, Titan is the same as Efficient Channeling, Tribalist is just Efficient Channeling + Debilitation buff (so I could understand 2 slots for that). For some reason Barbs are punished for being Barbs, deep prerequisite trees plus x4 multipliers on abilities that are mandatory while the MU feats require no prereqs and only cost 1 slot each. Doesn't matter if the mage is magic primary, secondary or tertiary, they all cost 1 slot.

>Slot costing is certainly something I will keep working on. Going to post my thoughts for the next refresh here next.

I know we come across as b*tchy, but thanks for trudging through it with us Kodius... we only b*tch because we care! I swear! Hope you're having a Merry Christmas though man!

>> Turtle was very popular, even more than Serenity. That surprised me. Swan should be sufficient to provide !100% protection from casting mobs. Only PvPers should need the added integrity of Serenity. Turtle is the more reliable potency barrier I guess?

I said this a couple years ago, but Turtle has higher utility in PvE and much higher utility in PvP. It blocks almost all annoying spells while hunting, plus +nolocate which is invaluable for avoiding people spamming locates at you. Serenity+Swan is somewhat easy to get around at the high end with the right combination of spells, and it hurts roars which makes it.... worse in comparison. It's nice at the low end, but by mid range I think most make the move.

On Slash, the only way I could justify it as a purchase is if it gave them RT as if you had pointed at the person, or something to that effect. It's not much of a help if you're stuck in RT and they just run away.

I picked up Focus recently(+Locksmithing) and have not regretted it.

Agree with the 3 you listed, they are not very useful. Lash has potential, but it's just not good enough as is.

SvS barriers are one of the best things the guild currently has going for it, IMO.

Screech is good when you need a little extra juice from your roars. Worth the slot cost, IMO.

The guild currently doesn't have much going for in the way of offense, it'd be nice to see some developments there.

With the way TM +damage foci is compounding damage, debil might end up a thing of the past for mages soon.

I don't know if this is on your radar, but Volcano is currently being comically to run away from battle much more than the berserker's 'dying breath' MO that it's billed as.

Another thing, which was mentioned on another part of the forum, is that a number of berserks spam from hiding, even when we aren't visible. As someone who occasionally dabbles in pockets, it's rather annoying to "whirl about in a bold, flashy manner!" to everyone in the room while trying to remain hidden. Might it be possible to chill that messaging out a little bit?

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IM: Dannyboy00001111

"Fool proof system do not take into account the ingenuity of fools, nor the power of numbers."

One thing to consider is that with our very linear prereqs, many people choose an ability because it only costs 1 slot - i.e. it is the cheapest way to unlock the next tier even though they have no plans to use said ability.

If you are pvping against a mage who knows what they are doing and you are 100th circle or less you are screwed. But chin up because end game is worse.

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