Gotta agree, I love the skill ceiling with Witch. Makes me feel like a real spellcaster when playing, and it feels rewarding to press them all consecutively as fast as possible.
I assumed the person you were responding to was being sarcastic.
Personally I come from fighting games. I can do rom inifinites with magneto in mvc2 I can and have played tons of fighting games learning combos with insane numbers of inputs.
The witch is needlessly complicated for no reason. That is the entire issue. Also if you believe the spell system is a skill ceiling it’s a false one. You can make anything needlessly complicated by doubling the amount of inputs needed to achieve the result but no one does because that’s bad game design. Well I say no one does then I tried witch.
I attest to this, being someone who plays a lot of fighters. I loved the Witch when I started playing her but once you get up to the higher levels online and you have a split second to enter the exact right 20+ button inputs or die, as well as needing to enter at least three different spells to even keep up with DPS, it just doesn't feel worth it at all.
If her overall damage and healing was buffed considerably, then maybe you could compare her to a charge character who has a lot of build-up for releasing big attacks, but as it stands, the insane APM you need to maintain in battle and the added hurdle of not being able to move while chanting makes her situationally good at best and outright useless at worst. It makes sense to have a methodical character in a fast paced game like this, but I feel like she needs an overhaul badly.
Some ideas off the top of my head include:
- Removing to the timer on held spells/pressing chant once instantly renews the timer
- Capping all spell input requirements at 4 buttons max or alternatively letting you hold buttons to "charge" spells into activation and removing the mashing entirely
- Moving while chanting (can't input spells while moving though to retain the feeling of the character)
- Dragon surge not actually draining until you cast something, PIE stat would then instead determine how much is drained per spell
- Spell failure animation lock reduced
- Healing based on INT so you don't have to dual spec just to be a decent healer. And also making healing a viable option, but that's a different can of worms...
I really do feel like she could be great, and I don't think it'd take much to balance her well. Sorry for the long reply.
Edit: formatting
Witch was my favorite character but I basically quit after the first patch came out and every time I see patch notes I'm also confused on why they don't make her better, she's already the most complex character to play and then they just pile on mechanics and difficulty that make her seem pointless unless you're a masochist.
You would think it would be more rewarding to play such an input intensive character, solo play is miserable past the early levels and online only feels fun when I can stand behind the tank shield, the CONCEPT of the witch is cool but she doesn't fit into the pace of the game at all
WHY are missions timed when Witch will ALWAYS take magnitudes more time literally just because of how they made her play?
But that's what makes playing witch fun
Gotta agree, I love the skill ceiling with Witch. Makes me feel like a real spellcaster when playing, and it feels rewarding to press them all consecutively as fast as possible.
I assumed the person you were responding to was being sarcastic. Personally I come from fighting games. I can do rom inifinites with magneto in mvc2 I can and have played tons of fighting games learning combos with insane numbers of inputs. The witch is needlessly complicated for no reason. That is the entire issue. Also if you believe the spell system is a skill ceiling it’s a false one. You can make anything needlessly complicated by doubling the amount of inputs needed to achieve the result but no one does because that’s bad game design. Well I say no one does then I tried witch.
I attest to this, being someone who plays a lot of fighters. I loved the Witch when I started playing her but once you get up to the higher levels online and you have a split second to enter the exact right 20+ button inputs or die, as well as needing to enter at least three different spells to even keep up with DPS, it just doesn't feel worth it at all. If her overall damage and healing was buffed considerably, then maybe you could compare her to a charge character who has a lot of build-up for releasing big attacks, but as it stands, the insane APM you need to maintain in battle and the added hurdle of not being able to move while chanting makes her situationally good at best and outright useless at worst. It makes sense to have a methodical character in a fast paced game like this, but I feel like she needs an overhaul badly. Some ideas off the top of my head include: - Removing to the timer on held spells/pressing chant once instantly renews the timer - Capping all spell input requirements at 4 buttons max or alternatively letting you hold buttons to "charge" spells into activation and removing the mashing entirely - Moving while chanting (can't input spells while moving though to retain the feeling of the character) - Dragon surge not actually draining until you cast something, PIE stat would then instead determine how much is drained per spell - Spell failure animation lock reduced - Healing based on INT so you don't have to dual spec just to be a decent healer. And also making healing a viable option, but that's a different can of worms... I really do feel like she could be great, and I don't think it'd take much to balance her well. Sorry for the long reply. Edit: formatting
Just halving the inputs of all 4 or higher combos and allowing her to move while casting would at least make her not a nightmare to play.
Witch was my favorite character but I basically quit after the first patch came out and every time I see patch notes I'm also confused on why they don't make her better, she's already the most complex character to play and then they just pile on mechanics and difficulty that make her seem pointless unless you're a masochist. You would think it would be more rewarding to play such an input intensive character, solo play is miserable past the early levels and online only feels fun when I can stand behind the tank shield, the CONCEPT of the witch is cool but she doesn't fit into the pace of the game at all WHY are missions timed when Witch will ALWAYS take magnitudes more time literally just because of how they made her play?