First, I feel I should link to a topic, because it touches on plenty of things that would take too long to get into here. There is the caveat that I was talking about mainly Corruption Builds in general (but more geared towards fighters), but a lot of the info still applies. This is especially true when talking about the current Stamina situation.
Now, you mentioned that there is nothing you can do about half stamina… And if you’re on EL, you’re pretty much right on the money. It’s a very cut and dry loss. Siptah has its methods like Sigils that can definitely help mitigate but not fully alleviate the loss. This is worth noting, but not really a solution. It also doesn’t change the fact that you’ll still only have 50% Stam/HP
Trust me, this gimmick can indeed be one worth having… but it is indeed a gimmick and has relatively low use case outside of chance opportunities and making escapes if necessary. One use I have found is using a Spear and when the enemy gets too close to fight effectively, kick them off into oblivion to “reset” the situation into a more comfortable one.
…But when it comes down to it even this perk (among the others you list) has aspects that still hurt. I’m also not in love with the fact that everybody can now kick you down - even those who are not Corrupted. Mule Kick does have a boost but it definitely feels like less of am exclusive perk now than it did.
Let me provide a pause here. This a great perk in its best moments!
By the way, I’m only equipped with the Bestial Regalia and the Leggings of Kurak in this clip, so this would have even more damage if fully STR buffed with STR Damage Armor. The rest of the armor is transmog from the mod “TOT ! Custom 1.5.16”
…And that’s what is so aggravating. It is such a good perk… When it procs. Its proc % is beyond far too low. I know that the chance is a 5% and should expect only one proc every 20 hits or so, but you should not be hitting somebody over 40 times. It took me 44 in the following instance, and I captured some of that unlikely chance here:
Okay, so at least if it procs it should always be awesome, right? Of course not, you could not be that lucky!
Sometimes when it procs, the opponent will only receive damage, but not be launched.
That’s a big deal, because the damage is the most subtle part of what the ability allows. It the proc chance could be raised (even just doubled!) and the ability fixed so that targets and surrounding enemies would always launch on a proc, I think I would find Desecrate to be one of the best perks in the game.
Let’s move on.
This is another gripe of mine, although perhaps not for quite the same reason. The Developers have put Corruption at a point where these Builds are inherently at a disadvantage. That is relatively painful to face sometimes when you realize that not only is the gameplay likely “harder” due to having to play better to compensate for your weaknesses, but there is also a barrier of entry. It’s not to say that this doesn’t fit thematically, because some sort of “trial” and/or ritual really does fit the bill, but to have to work longer just to play the way you want to play leaves a bad taste in the mouth. It’s important to mention here that Corruption/Sorcery Builds are not bad necessarily, and there are perks worth getting, but the need to actually play better afterwards is real. For example, @Tephra’s Build listed above has taken a subtle approach to the Corruption aspect and has received exclusively relatively good perks from the Corruption Perk list at a perhaps overall gain given that some health and stamina have been kept afterwards… And yet…
Even players that enjoy their time in their Corrupted Builds would never honestly say that they did not feel at some sort of disadvantage.
Also, thanks for reminding me of this:
I need this not as the full fix but as my temporary compensation for the state of these builds. Finisher for the staff perhaps?
For this
I hear what you’re saying here, but the spells lack a lot of practicality. most of these spells feel lackluster even given the current “low” cost. Let’s not forget that you need to already be at certain level of corruption to cast some these spells, so you’ve already put yourself at a disadvantage even if not in a Corruption Build. As I mentioned before, the lore implications of having no “entry fee” is not very kind to the concept. In that sense, I agree with you… But there’s still a barrier of entry in the form of the Souls that Non-Corrupted Builds simply don’t have. These other builds will not likely hit that mark of Corruption either. Hey, if they do go to that length just to cast a spell then they are at a disadvantage too, so I’d be happy with them using a spell -even a relatively strong one- at that point too. In this case I’m talking practicality over and and even a bit against the lore aspect at this point.
I feel that this makes for a good story and little else. This would likely happen in an RP server but next to never in a non-RP server let alone an Official server. The spells are not fascinating and currently add next to nothing in more cases unless executed flawlessly.
I would agree that a Sorcerer should perhaps not trade blows equally… But in the given the state of Corruption Perks, it certainly seems to look like they are intended to. If we look towards the perks, what do we see? Let’s look at the top-level Perks since they should best reflect the concepts being pushed:
And then you had to go and hit me with the truth nugget and pull me back into a harsh reality:
And that’s just it, isn’t it? The gameplay would be easier if you weren’t Corrupted. There are benefits to these Builds but the tradeoffs heavily outweigh them. I will say that playing this way does make me feel better after every victory. It feels like I’ve fought the odds and come out on top. Unfortunately, that’s not as good as it might sound. That means that even after a victory I feel like my build is worse and I just picked up its slack. This is also after extreme amounts of time have been spent fine-tuning as well, so consider that just another barrier of entry.
These two parts you mentioned are something I too would like to see happen. I feel like these two options have really the same meaning in terms of what a rebalance would look like. I think that Funcom would do well to hear these propositions and act on them.
Glass cannon, you say? You’re going after my heart.
Another home-run idea here and adding onto the rebalancing/addition of Corruption Perks idea. People are asking for these things, and so long as people are still trying Corruption the desire will live. It has been years and several nerfs to many aspects of combat that Corruption Builds use since they’ve been properly balanced:
I bring these two points up together to show a bit of contrast that can absolutely both be true.
The most succinct point @AngryPotato made here is the most fully correct one, at least as far as I’m concerned. This IS a video game. It’s something we do for fun, and the systems in it (while tedious at times) should overall be fun above all. This includes when it comes to lore. Devs should capitalize on lore infusion whenever possible, but if it violates the fun players can be having, a line is being crossed. Both of these things are possible… They could just both be done better here.
And that brings me back to the quote of @Tephra. The spells should absolutely be better. Curses, blasts of corruption onto those who likely would not want it, enchantments or debuffs like spells to buff followers (kind of already in-game in the form of Frenzy), AOE spells that cause debuffs like a slow effect which would act similar to cripple but only in the area surrounding the caster for a period of time, or even spells that the caster would buff their damage with by using their own health as a further cost (as in something like taking damage once and then have a damage buff for an amount of time).
This, while still effectively being melee combat, would at least be a small step towards the options I believe Tephra is looking for.
I want to like this idea, but I think that spells of this sort would have to be the ones like those we have at bottom level currently. They cannot be very powerful if so. The utility spells would be okay for this kind of situation and not much else outside of perhaps rather weak offensive spells of some sort.
And that’s it. I go on a lot but I think the topic of Corruption Builds is extremely fun and I would love to see more people get into it so the cries for a rebalance would have more of a voice. Thanks to anybody who read all of what I offered.