[Suggestion] Circle of Fire / Fire Nova

By Evanescent on March 16, 2009 5:38:08 AM from

From recent forum reading I have noticed some distaste for either or both of Circle of Fire and Fire Nova. This suggestion is very simple but would add a bit more depth to the very lacking Fire build for Torchy.

Here's an overview of the abilities:
Case 1: Circle of Fire surrounds the caster with a wall of fire that burns enemies that are standing upon it (damage over time)
Case 2: Fire Nova blasts out a wave of fire outwards from the caster causing instant fire damage.

Suggestion: As the Circle of Fire just burns around the casters feet and Fire Nova throws flames outwards like a gust of wind, it would be a nice idea to allow a synergy between these 2 abilities.

Step 1: Cast Circle of Fire, which leaves the flames burning around you
Step 2: Cast Fire Nova which blasts fire outwards from you.
Synergy The Fire Nova's blast, if cast while standing in the center of the Circle of Fire, will catch onto the burning circle and launch them outwards together with the Fire Nova.
Result: Enemies that get struck with the combination of these abilities will suffer their combined effects. Fire Nova will hit with it's standard damage but will leave a lingering flame on the Demigod causing Damage over Time. (The DoT would be based on the rank of Circle of Fire and could have the effect of standing on the Circle of Flame for 2 or 3 ticks of damage)

- Evanescent

+10 Karma | 9 Replies

So make using Fire Nova within ring of fire causes ring of fire to change to a much larger area DoT? Yeah that'd be pretty neat.

Quoting innociv,

reply 1

So make using Fire Nova within ring of fire causes ring of fire to change to a much larger area DoT? Yeah that'd be pretty neat.

Pretty much, whoever get's hit by this new enflamed Nova will take damage by a short effect of the Circle of Fire itself, even if they are not standing on the Circle of Fire. I was thinking that by using the Fire Nova within the Circle of Flame that the Nova will comsume the Circle itself to empower the Fire Nova, giving it a lingering Damage over Time effect which is directly related to the rank of Circle of Fire.

Basically speaking, the Fire Nova will "blow" away the Circle of Fire onto any Demigod that is in range, causing them to burn and take periodic damage.

I like this idea a lot, but I still think that there ought to be an additional change to make CoF more useful on its own, as Fire Nova is useful on its own already. Simply giving TB some sort of passive bonus while standing in the CoF (such as regen or damage reduction) would be enough to make it worth using on its own, and adding your idea to the mix would give TB some much needed synergy between the fire abilities.

Cool idea, Ev

only problem is this:

torchbearer is already really good.

he does not need any buffs imho

maybe fire nova would spread from him.. but get sucked into him and suck everything in the aoe a certain distance to him.. that way circle plus nova would practically pull enemies into the circle... i really hate circle its the only reason i dont play fire TB..

Quoting Ostragoth,

reply 5

only problem is this:

torchbearer is already really good.

he does not need any buffs imho

Irrelevant. Balance is transient; the relative power of a Demigod at a given time is not an adequate excuse to overlook individual abilities which are problematic, redundant, or poorly implemented. The same thing would go for a Demigod that is overall very weak but has one ability which is cheap or OP (not that any Demigods are like that at the moment).

Anyone have any otehr skill redesign/additions suggestions, or suggestions for new skills? I'm making a big thread..

Quoting Ostragoth,

reply 5

only problem is this:

torchbearer is already really good.

he does not need any buffs imho

So, buff other heros bad skills?..
Also, Fire TB isn't that great. Ice is the one that's imba.

I can't believe the "Don't improve the bad skills! Don't make skills design better! It'll mess up the balance!" people. How do you expect the game to improve if not willing to adjust balance when skills are changed?.. And anyways, this isn't really a buff. Not a big one at least, it's just an improvement to the mechanics of some skills. It's making them less simple, giving more depth. (Though I do think a click button 1, click button 2 combo isn't exactly in-depth..)

Guild Wars does this with 1400 skills. They've COMPLETELY CHANGED the function of more skills in january and december than Demigod even has . And that've been doing that for 3 and a half years along with THOUSANDS of balance adjustments.. And they aren't a big team. It's basically one guy that does the skill design/balance.

So I don't see why Demigod, with it's few dozen skills, can redesign a few of them to improve the gameplay, and add new ones.

Quoting innociv,

reply 8

less simple, giving more depth. (Though I do think a click button 1, click button 2 combo isn't exactly in-depth..)

Well, the shatter mechanic is decent, it's in a mid-range that is accessible yet more complex then a normal direct skill. Having a few more "combo" abilities like this may be only a slight change, but will offer different builds more variety. Demigod's redeeming factor to having so few to choose from is the diversity in skill trees, but when only 1 build has a combo ability and the other does not... it renders any skill tree diversity useless and makes the character 1 dimensional.

Now every Demigod doesn't need to possess a combo ability for each build, but if Torchy has a combo in the Ice build then it's only smart to have another such combo in the Fire build or it will rarely be used because of imbalance/shallowness/boredom.

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[Suggestion] Circle of Fire / Fire Nova