Post
by TheDeathstalker » Fri Oct 16, 2009 9:34 pm
I don't know for a fact if I ever reviewed one of your heroes before, but this one looks pretty interesting to do so for... (Of note: I'm assuming this hero is designed for AotZ 2, and not Aot3, in which it's skills don't entirely fit, as the role of Mana has changed)
That being said, I think this hero breaks the rule I mentioned on Crayon's hero the other day: he works partly in the sense of ensuring that things do not happen, instead of making them occur himself. This is not an innately damning characteristic of a hero, but it is something to keep in mind as we go onward.
Let's see... Burden doubles mana costs, with a duration that increases with level. That's not *bad* per se, but it is flat, uninteresting, and really something I wouldn't see cast in any situations other than a set up, which is a problem. This skill can synergize, which is a good thing, a great thing even, but it needs to do so in a more dynamic and interesting sense. Additionally, there's nothing really that interesting in how this skill does what it does, you just point, click, and essentially cut their mana pool in half. If I may make a suggestion, why not try something like this:
Burden - Activated Passive Aura
So long as this aura is active, all units within some AoE of Sihir have the mana cost of their spells increased by X for every spell cast from within the AoE while it is active. When the aura is deactivated, enemy units with less than Y*the number of spells cast take Z damage.
It's more complicated, yeah, but it works in a neat way, or at least I think so. There's potential to use it in more than one way, which is what it takes to really make a skill shine.
Link, I don't really like. In general, linking spells don't work unless they're very creative in doing so. That being said, how's this?
Link - Linking Ward Summon
Summons a ward at target point, which links to the next enemy unit within some AoE that casts a spell. X% of the mana lost from this unit is added to the ward, and this mana can be used by any allied unit within some range of the ward as if it was their own.
You can add some more fluff about it playing with distances or units that cross the stream, but the core funtionality is there, and while it doesn't directly interact with Burden, it's still something.
Overflow is neat, but could be cleaner, smoother, and more interactive than damage for mana. How's this? (and please, don't think i'm remaking your hero, but just giving you directions to possibly go in, I guess...)
Overflow - AoE Channel
For every X mana expended within the AoE, a Spelling is created, which is a small, quick, short ranged unit with a Magick attack, and a Mana Shield that absorbs Y damage per mana.
Now we've got something going, as the Spellings (oh wow, spelling Spell-ling... oh well) benefit from the Link (btw, I'm just running through here to make a post before my flight leaves, there's better names out there, just look around and try to be witty) and more of them are created from Burden, and *that* is some synergy potential there.
Pressure works as is, actually. It's a beautifully simple pain in the ass spell. I like it.
Mark of Mana Destruction is a little funny, it's essentially a bouncing bomb, and I guess it could be made a bit more interesting, in the sense that it doesn't every *have* to leave a unit it's stuck on, but instead it could just accumulate all over the place until it's an epidemic, and then go pop at the end related to how big it is. Let me see what I can randomly come up with here....
Mark of the Forsaken - Spreading Debuff/Summoning Food
Target unit is unable to regain mana for the next X seconds. Any units affected by spells it casts are also debuffed, and so on. After X seconds, the total number of debuffs are counted, and removed, creating a Forsaken Magedrake with duration and strength proportional to the number of debuffs. The Forsaken Magedrake has a slow melee attack, but any strike it makes has a Y% chance to trigger one of it's spells at random, as if cast by the Magedrake, but costing the unit it's mana.
Ok, maybe a bit overcomplicated, but it would be epic at least! And very different than just juggling a debuff....
Well, I think I'm gonna get going, but let me know what you think about this, and I hope it helps!
And though you come out of each gruelling bout,
All broken and beaten and scarred,
Just have one more try—it’s dead easy to die,
It’s the keeping-on-living that’s hard.