Fire Burst Damage-A Proposed Solution

[PerfectApproach]

Second off, about the damage increase you propose, well, it's not really balanced, is it? Hunters and Champs would go into neglect, and people would simply kick them and add more tanks in an attempt to make up for their new DPSers' squishiness.

Hmm. Possibly. But the idea is to give a nice reward (Highest DPS) for a high risk. It might involve making Fire RK's slightly more squishy (or in this case, leave us as squishy as we already are). Hunters and Champs will think twice about that extra 5% - 10% DPS if they have to worry about whether or not they will get one-shotted by a Grodbog Worker.

Thirdly, about hybrids, well, the thing is that both playstyles begin to suffer.

True. But Hunters and Champs are currently pulling it off. Jeez, even Burglars are pulling it off.

Fourth, about your FR revision...that'd make Fire RKs impossible to play at low levels.

Not sure I see how. When I leveled my noobie RK way back in November of 2008, I think the first 3 skills I got were Scribe's Spark (I think now replaced with CA), Fiery Rid, and Prelude to Hope. A spammable fire DoT and a spammable lightning skill that has decent crits (for a low level noob) sorta complement each other. I wouldn't anticipate any survivability issues. It would encourage kiting. I never used Fiery Rid DURING combat anyway... back then, it had an insanely long induction (3s? 4s?). I used it before combat as a pull skill. I'd do a prelude, set down a rock, throw a buff (if I had one), pull with FR, and start kiting. Actually, I just stood there like a noob, spamming Scribe's Spark and auto-attacking.

Having an instant-but-weakified FR would actually help low-level RK's because they could use it alongside CA during combat. It might CHANGE how low-level RK's operate, but I think "impossible" is a far stretch.

Fifth, making Fire all sustained DPS and Lightning all burst is kinda sorta counterintuitive to the whole 'RKs are the most flexible class' idea that we were sort of envisioned around.

I never really thought of RK's any more or less flexible than any other class. I don't think I ever remember it being marketed that way either. We could heal, or DPS. Admittedly, those are 2 major combat roles, so it is inherently flexible (especially more than a hunter), but MANY other classes can fill 2 combat roles. Wardens are being modified to fill 3 combat roles!

The main reason I'm so passionate about "no more burst in Fire" is because it takes away from the steady-DPS-ness of it. Essence of Flame is ALREADY a DoT that was converted to a burst skill. Smouldering Wrath is ALREADY 2 seconds shorter than it used to be. And again, those bursty lightning skills haven't gotten any less bursty simply because of being fire-traited. They're still there, freely available for use when a Fire-Traited RK needs to kill something quickly. No, they're not as effective as when lightning traited, but EC/Shocking Words/Essence of Storm will still 3-shot most trash. And in a raid, it's not like the RK is the ONLY DPS'er. There will be other people in the raid to depend on.

If we keep turning Fire skills into burst DPS, we won't have anymore steady-DPS skills. Wrath of Flame will simply be Fury of Storm with longer inductions and fewer crits.

And lastly, I'd like to finally make an up-front statement about why Fire needs some more burst capability:
I want to use skills that are thematically appropriate.

Simple as that. It's not as satisfying to use lightning when I want to be a Fire RK.

I can't help you there. Just because you don't want to use lightning skills doesn't mean we should change the class. Personally, I have no problem throwing out an EC or Shocking Words to help my hunter buddies with trash.

Edit: Aside from this, what do you think of my idea for Frost changes I added to the first post?

"...Sorry about that. Anyway, my proposal is:
1. Reduce Smouldering Wrath's channeling time to 5 seconds.
2. Have each (stackable) Master of Connotation buff reduce SW's channeling time by 1 second, and also make it give back 3% of max morale. (Stacks up to 5 times.) The buff could be wiped by using WoC or, possibly, Improved Sustaining Bolt.

So, from my napkin math on a level 53 RK using a neutral leg wep with 6 Fire traits, a hit with SW at 5 Master of Connotation would do 1984 damage, which is roughly the same as, for me, a T3 Essence of Flame devastating hit. This seems somewhat overpowered, which leads to part three.

3. Each Master of Connotation buff reduces SW damage by 3% and increases power cost by the same amount.

By adding this, SW becomes more situational. Rather than mashing it every time it comes on, we would have to save the instant version for times that require burst, and use the normal one elsewhere.

However, an incentive for using WoC would be needed to make wiping the buff possible. ( iSB could be used when low on power.) So, as I said in a later post's edit, it needs some beefing up.

4. WoC reduces Tactical Migitation by 5% per tier. Target range reduced to 1. Damage increased.
5. The Frost-burn trait makes WoC and Essay of Cold (see below) 3-target AoEs.
6. New skill: Essay of Cold-Places a tier 3 WoC debuff on the target and does 125% of WoC's damage. Gives nearby targets a tier 1 WoC debuff and does 33% of WoC's damage to them when using Frost-burn....."

Making the changes you proposed to Smouldering Wrath and all the Chill of Winter skills would require a lot of work, possibly some entirely new tech. From what I can see you want the following changes to Smouldering Wrath:
1) Progressive reduction in duration.
2) Progressive reduction in damage.
3) Progressive increase in power cost.

This is wrong on SO many levels. A 3s duration SmW that does less damage and uses more power is just... not right. Essentially, it becomes a cross between Essence of Flame and Epic Conclusion. Why not just use Essence of Flame and Epic Conclusion? And a reduction in damage? That's a pill I just can't swallow.

As to the Winter changes:
WoC reducing Tactical Mit is actually a really good idea. I like it. The range reduction is meh; would have no effect on targets that only do melee damage. I can see a range-reduction debuff being put SOMEWHERE though. I actually do like that idea. Just not tied to WoC.

WoC is already a 3-target skill.

Frozen Epilogue already applies a T3 WoC, in a frontal AOE. Not sure how many targets, but at least 3.

As to a new skill, Essay of Cold, I can conceivably see it as a counterpart to Essay of Fire. However, I never liked Essay of Fire from the beginning. It was a band-aid skill to begin with, and still is. And Essay of Fire and your Essay of Cold proposal contribute to an already-full skill bar. RK's have enough skills as it is: No New Skills!