R
Roo Stercogburn
Guest
Spirit Master - Year Zero
-------------------------------
A summary of Spirit Masters on release compared to now from my perspective. I haven't fine-honed it, I've just put down various points and observations.
At Release
---------------
Darkness: Lifetap, dex/qui debuffs, pbae mez
Suppression: str/con debuffs, life transfer, attack speed debuff, self bladeturn, self shields, single target ranged mez, single target root.
Summoning: Pet heals, pet str and dex buffs, focus damage shield.
All debuffs were 2 second cast.
The pet damage shield had very low output damage and had a variety of bugs associated with it.
Spirit Master debuffs were (and remain) most effective in realm, but Spirit Masters were generally considered a solo class as they had nothing obvious to directly offer groups. The effect of debuffs was (and still is) difficult to explain to a lot of players as you can't see easily what they do to benefit a group. The pbae mez itself was difficult for other players to see if the mobs were mezzed, as all you got to see was a blue wave effect emanating from each mezzed mob, so mez-breaks were common when SMs were doing crowd control.
For RvR, darkness was considered the only viable spec-line as it was the ONLY line with any direct damage output on it - the other 2 lines only had support functions on them. This meant that Spirit Masters that wanted any kind of effect in RvR were forced to take darkness into the 40s, and normally to 47, with leftover in suppression and very little summoning.
At this time, Spirit Masters in RvR were good at providing backup firepower to runemasters in groups, or for killing assassin classes that didn't manage to one-shot them (pbae mez, retreat, heal, send pet, kill). Keep assaults/defences they had advantages as pets could pass through both doors in keeps and attack enemies; could not usually kill player defenders but could take out NPC defenders. Pets can also attack keep doors, giving an effective advantage over non-pet class casters.
The advantages of the play style in PvE for Spirit Masters, was that you could explore the entire game realm you were based in, without need to wait around common group spots since you could level effectively without groups. This counterbalanced the less group friendly aspects of the character. Most players with Spirit Masters as main chars knew their way around the realm from very early levels rather than just the routes between common grouping areas.
Now
------
Darkness: Lifetap, dex/qui debuffs, pbae mez, ranged area mez, spirit debuff, resist debuffs
Suppression: str/con debuffs, life transfer, attack speed debuff, self bladeturn, self shields, single target ranged mez, single target root, pbae blast, cure mez.
Summoning: Pet heals, pet str and dex buffs, focus damage shield, resurrect.
All debuffs are now insta-cast except for the resist debuffs which are 2 second casts.
So what's changed?
Spirit Master mez now has the same visual effects as other mezzes, leading to less confusion amongst players in crowd control situations. An aesthetic perhaps, but an important one.
The pbae nuke is the fastest casting and most damaging in the game, but its use is limited to group based play, either in PvE or RvR and in both cases needs a well balanced group to be effective. Though you could say this about most abilities, pbae especially is dependant on a balanced group with appropriate support abilities like area stun and mana regen.
Spirit Pets can no longer enter keeps. Once the outer door is down, they can enter, but not until then.
Spirit pets have trouble climbing stairs. Send one up at a milegate and it often goes into attack mode at the bottom of the stairs without attempting to close on the enemy, rendering it useless.
Full Summoning specced Spirit Masters are appearing as alt chars, though never as main chars. The players that spec them openly say they want a good solo PvE class and have no intention of RvRing with it. They are basically farm-bots.
There are a lot of full suppression specced SMs appearing also, for the lvl49 final blast spell. Its worth noting, that though the SM pbae blast is more powerful than the other realms, it is more expensive in training points for the Spirit Master than its Hib or Alb counterparts rendering the Suppression SM very much a one-trick pony.
Hybrid Darkness/Suppression Spirit Masters seem to be reasonably effective for generic RvR and most that do this now bias towards suppression, only keeping darkness reasonably high to keep ranged damage output fairly consistent.
Ironically, Spirit Masters have gone from amongst the least wanted group characters to the most wanted because of the pbae nuke, as this is the fastest levelling tool in the game for all realms.
With the introduction of Realm Abilities, assassin classes are no longer as vulnerable to Spirit Masters. Purge, Avoidance of Magic, and increased damage output means Spirit Masters go down like all other casters.
In the same patch Spirit Masters were given ranged area mez, the duration of the various mezzes was reduced and abilities to protect from mez or avoid it altogether (via Realm abilities) were increased. This isn't entirely a bad thing, as it increases the chance for varied fights in RvR if one group doesn't get mez off first.
Spirit Master specific realm abilities are not used by anyone, or if they are, they respec as soon as they can. (Wild Minion is a generic pet-class RA, not SM-specific).
RAs such as Sever The Tether make the Spirit Master's life harder, without anything effective being given to the class RA-wise to counterbalance things like this or even taking the paper-scissors-stone approach, for Spirit Masters to affect another class, or alternatively particiclarly able to defend themselves.
The Future and General Opinions
-----------------------------------------
By the time 1.59 and 1.60 are implemented, there are going to be some very large changes in the game regarding RvR. Since the game has now been live in Europe for a year, this means a lot of people will be affected immediately.
Its hard to say exactly how they will affect Spirit Masters, as the changes are mainly aimed at Albion players and we are looking at knock-on effects rather than direct.
The Spirit Master will be the only caster pet class without a pet with ranged ability.
It is my firm belief that dark spec SM will no longer be particularly viable for the endgame and the direction that Mythic appear to want us to take Spirit Masters is the mana bomb route, effectively changing the class from CC and ranged DD to pbae DD with little or no CC.
Summoning spec SM never was viable for endgame RvR and this line remains badly in need of fixing. There is little or no variation on the spec line, its only function being to buff the pet rather than doing anything that adds colour to the game.
We will have come full circle: from having one viable specline for RvR (darkness) to two (darkness and suppression) and back to one again (Suppression this time).
The coming changes themselves won't even affect all Spirit Masters, as many are now pure suppressionists.
One of the interesting things I've noticed with the advent of Shrouded Isles, is that nearly all the new character classes have been given lifetaps in one form or another, and many of them insta.
Another of life's little ironies that the pet based classes that are appearing in that add-on have abilities based on ideas that SM players have been asking for to fix the summoning line for a year now and yet the only addition to the line is the infamous ghetto rez which has no utility value of particular note to a class that plays solo if they spec that line in PvE and cannot compete in RvR.
Flying pets, ethereal main char, bomber pets, multiple pets, different types of pets, healing pets, etc. All have been proposed as a way to fix the Spirit Master class, specifically, the summoning line. Even the ability to transfer mana in a similar way to transfering health has been proposed, or the ability to drain mana from enemies, pbae lifetap etc.
I think part of the problem lies in the generally low population of Spirit Masters until the advent of the pbae nuke and that basically there haven't been enough people to 'fight the cause', if you can use such a dramatic term regarding something that is just an element of a game.
Summary
------------
Is the Spirit Master class better than it was a year ago?
Yes, absolutely. Greater variety of things it can do, group friendly features and still a lot of fun to play.
Is the Spirit Master the same class as it was a year ago?
No. People that have specced for endgame in certain ways are going to find the coming changes invalidate their chars unless they have gone certain routes with it and they have successfuly been able to predict how the game will go.
Is the Spirit Master a viable RvR Class?
Its becoming more biased to pbae, but yes, it is currently still viable. However, if you want to keep playing your SM for RvR, you are going to have adjust playstyle quite heavily with the coming changes and the class's dependance on balanced groups will be increased very heavily indeed.
----
I will have probably left out a lot of things and some topics are skimmed heavily (realm abilities, bugs and so forth) but this is all from the point of view of someone who has played the class a long time (I'm told I was the 5th SM to hit 50 on the server, though I'm not sure if I really was) and I've tried not to get too bogged down.
I personally am unsure I will keep playing. I'm afraid the Spirit Master class is becoming basically a watered down Enchanter class with many stealth-nerfs stacking up over the last few patches and some of the stuff that is coming.
I will watch the next few patch releases and see what Mythic get up to before I decide.
-------------------------------
A summary of Spirit Masters on release compared to now from my perspective. I haven't fine-honed it, I've just put down various points and observations.
At Release
---------------
Darkness: Lifetap, dex/qui debuffs, pbae mez
Suppression: str/con debuffs, life transfer, attack speed debuff, self bladeturn, self shields, single target ranged mez, single target root.
Summoning: Pet heals, pet str and dex buffs, focus damage shield.
All debuffs were 2 second cast.
The pet damage shield had very low output damage and had a variety of bugs associated with it.
Spirit Master debuffs were (and remain) most effective in realm, but Spirit Masters were generally considered a solo class as they had nothing obvious to directly offer groups. The effect of debuffs was (and still is) difficult to explain to a lot of players as you can't see easily what they do to benefit a group. The pbae mez itself was difficult for other players to see if the mobs were mezzed, as all you got to see was a blue wave effect emanating from each mezzed mob, so mez-breaks were common when SMs were doing crowd control.
For RvR, darkness was considered the only viable spec-line as it was the ONLY line with any direct damage output on it - the other 2 lines only had support functions on them. This meant that Spirit Masters that wanted any kind of effect in RvR were forced to take darkness into the 40s, and normally to 47, with leftover in suppression and very little summoning.
At this time, Spirit Masters in RvR were good at providing backup firepower to runemasters in groups, or for killing assassin classes that didn't manage to one-shot them (pbae mez, retreat, heal, send pet, kill). Keep assaults/defences they had advantages as pets could pass through both doors in keeps and attack enemies; could not usually kill player defenders but could take out NPC defenders. Pets can also attack keep doors, giving an effective advantage over non-pet class casters.
The advantages of the play style in PvE for Spirit Masters, was that you could explore the entire game realm you were based in, without need to wait around common group spots since you could level effectively without groups. This counterbalanced the less group friendly aspects of the character. Most players with Spirit Masters as main chars knew their way around the realm from very early levels rather than just the routes between common grouping areas.
Now
------
Darkness: Lifetap, dex/qui debuffs, pbae mez, ranged area mez, spirit debuff, resist debuffs
Suppression: str/con debuffs, life transfer, attack speed debuff, self bladeturn, self shields, single target ranged mez, single target root, pbae blast, cure mez.
Summoning: Pet heals, pet str and dex buffs, focus damage shield, resurrect.
All debuffs are now insta-cast except for the resist debuffs which are 2 second casts.
So what's changed?
Spirit Master mez now has the same visual effects as other mezzes, leading to less confusion amongst players in crowd control situations. An aesthetic perhaps, but an important one.
The pbae nuke is the fastest casting and most damaging in the game, but its use is limited to group based play, either in PvE or RvR and in both cases needs a well balanced group to be effective. Though you could say this about most abilities, pbae especially is dependant on a balanced group with appropriate support abilities like area stun and mana regen.
Spirit Pets can no longer enter keeps. Once the outer door is down, they can enter, but not until then.
Spirit pets have trouble climbing stairs. Send one up at a milegate and it often goes into attack mode at the bottom of the stairs without attempting to close on the enemy, rendering it useless.
Full Summoning specced Spirit Masters are appearing as alt chars, though never as main chars. The players that spec them openly say they want a good solo PvE class and have no intention of RvRing with it. They are basically farm-bots.
There are a lot of full suppression specced SMs appearing also, for the lvl49 final blast spell. Its worth noting, that though the SM pbae blast is more powerful than the other realms, it is more expensive in training points for the Spirit Master than its Hib or Alb counterparts rendering the Suppression SM very much a one-trick pony.
Hybrid Darkness/Suppression Spirit Masters seem to be reasonably effective for generic RvR and most that do this now bias towards suppression, only keeping darkness reasonably high to keep ranged damage output fairly consistent.
Ironically, Spirit Masters have gone from amongst the least wanted group characters to the most wanted because of the pbae nuke, as this is the fastest levelling tool in the game for all realms.
With the introduction of Realm Abilities, assassin classes are no longer as vulnerable to Spirit Masters. Purge, Avoidance of Magic, and increased damage output means Spirit Masters go down like all other casters.
In the same patch Spirit Masters were given ranged area mez, the duration of the various mezzes was reduced and abilities to protect from mez or avoid it altogether (via Realm abilities) were increased. This isn't entirely a bad thing, as it increases the chance for varied fights in RvR if one group doesn't get mez off first.
Spirit Master specific realm abilities are not used by anyone, or if they are, they respec as soon as they can. (Wild Minion is a generic pet-class RA, not SM-specific).
RAs such as Sever The Tether make the Spirit Master's life harder, without anything effective being given to the class RA-wise to counterbalance things like this or even taking the paper-scissors-stone approach, for Spirit Masters to affect another class, or alternatively particiclarly able to defend themselves.
The Future and General Opinions
-----------------------------------------
By the time 1.59 and 1.60 are implemented, there are going to be some very large changes in the game regarding RvR. Since the game has now been live in Europe for a year, this means a lot of people will be affected immediately.
Its hard to say exactly how they will affect Spirit Masters, as the changes are mainly aimed at Albion players and we are looking at knock-on effects rather than direct.
The Spirit Master will be the only caster pet class without a pet with ranged ability.
It is my firm belief that dark spec SM will no longer be particularly viable for the endgame and the direction that Mythic appear to want us to take Spirit Masters is the mana bomb route, effectively changing the class from CC and ranged DD to pbae DD with little or no CC.
Summoning spec SM never was viable for endgame RvR and this line remains badly in need of fixing. There is little or no variation on the spec line, its only function being to buff the pet rather than doing anything that adds colour to the game.
We will have come full circle: from having one viable specline for RvR (darkness) to two (darkness and suppression) and back to one again (Suppression this time).
The coming changes themselves won't even affect all Spirit Masters, as many are now pure suppressionists.
One of the interesting things I've noticed with the advent of Shrouded Isles, is that nearly all the new character classes have been given lifetaps in one form or another, and many of them insta.
Another of life's little ironies that the pet based classes that are appearing in that add-on have abilities based on ideas that SM players have been asking for to fix the summoning line for a year now and yet the only addition to the line is the infamous ghetto rez which has no utility value of particular note to a class that plays solo if they spec that line in PvE and cannot compete in RvR.
Flying pets, ethereal main char, bomber pets, multiple pets, different types of pets, healing pets, etc. All have been proposed as a way to fix the Spirit Master class, specifically, the summoning line. Even the ability to transfer mana in a similar way to transfering health has been proposed, or the ability to drain mana from enemies, pbae lifetap etc.
I think part of the problem lies in the generally low population of Spirit Masters until the advent of the pbae nuke and that basically there haven't been enough people to 'fight the cause', if you can use such a dramatic term regarding something that is just an element of a game.
Summary
------------
Is the Spirit Master class better than it was a year ago?
Yes, absolutely. Greater variety of things it can do, group friendly features and still a lot of fun to play.
Is the Spirit Master the same class as it was a year ago?
No. People that have specced for endgame in certain ways are going to find the coming changes invalidate their chars unless they have gone certain routes with it and they have successfuly been able to predict how the game will go.
Is the Spirit Master a viable RvR Class?
Its becoming more biased to pbae, but yes, it is currently still viable. However, if you want to keep playing your SM for RvR, you are going to have adjust playstyle quite heavily with the coming changes and the class's dependance on balanced groups will be increased very heavily indeed.
----
I will have probably left out a lot of things and some topics are skimmed heavily (realm abilities, bugs and so forth) but this is all from the point of view of someone who has played the class a long time (I'm told I was the 5th SM to hit 50 on the server, though I'm not sure if I really was) and I've tried not to get too bogged down.
I personally am unsure I will keep playing. I'm afraid the Spirit Master class is becoming basically a watered down Enchanter class with many stealth-nerfs stacking up over the last few patches and some of the stuff that is coming.
I will watch the next few patch releases and see what Mythic get up to before I decide.
Don't know why :/