Quick feedback/suggestion on Power Reaper in high level PvE after recent patch

[Warscythes.9307]

Hey devs, I know you guys read the forum so good job on the last patch. I just want to provide some general stuff which I think might be worth a mention.

 

tl;dr:

 

1. Damage still need about 5-10% increase but try not to buff pvp damage.

2. Golem damage is a bit more skewed for reaper than other classes in terms of actual fight potential so that future buff might need to be a bit larger than estimated.

 

Right now the highest bench is 30700~. This is considered low but acceptable mostly because we as a community set a bit of arbitrary line of 30k dps. The average right now is about 32-33k.

 

I think we are currently at bit of a breaking point here. The damage is now very very close to average that around 5-10% increase is enough. There are a couple issues though as follows.

 

1. We are also very close to the point where any damage buff can potentially push the pvp damage to obscene levels. Yes I understand people say that reapers have no blocks or mobility or teleports and they are right. Although I am more concerned about fun level. Imagine if you design a melee class that kills everything in 1 hit but also dies in 1 hit. That class would be weak but also incredibly unfun to play against. So I am hoping that any subsequent buffs will try to avoid pushing the damage even higher in PvP.

 

2. The damage potential for a reaper in a real fight vs a golem might be a pretty big drawback. I know you guys understand this. For example the rifle deadeye benchmark is 39k. However the rotation is difficult to perform and requires using dodges and the damage might even get blocked by other enemies. So even though 39k is pretty much hotfix level of dps, nobody actually think it is the case because is very unlikely to be pulled off in raids. Whereas in comparison the old power chrono has incredibly consistent damage because you just summon 3 sword phantasms and rest can be practically afk. So even though the dps was around 30k in golem, it is higher relative to other classes who may have benched higher because they can actually pull it off in raid situations.

 

I think Power Reaper currently leans a bit close to the side of harder than not because a large amount of damage comes from autoing in shroud as long as possible before popping out. So taking damage is a pretty big damage loss. I think this is a great tradeoff because a player can choose to whether be tanky and resort to use shroud to be defensive; or they can tank the hits out of shroud and use shroud for damage. Playing poorly is also a punishment which leads to damage loss. This is good.

 

The issue then comes that it is unavoidable to take damage in shroud mostly because of boss aura so the realistic damage is going to be lower than people think. We don't really offer anything else besides damage especially now we have to think a bit of be tanky or be doing damage. Therefore when thinking about any potential buffs please try to aim a bit higher but not that much. I don't think any of us here want 38k dps. Just average is enough.

 

Suggestions:

 

1) Buff the damage of executioner's scythe under 50% and 25% in PvE only.

 

Here is an excel sheet done by the reddit user kamina91. All credit goes to him. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1PSRrYkvxP6C0QxuOt_xt1ETmccDjea83pAz0ODzTZZ0/edit#gid=0

 

As you can see, the issue right now is basically that R5 is still not worth using in any situation compared to just auto in shroud. The biggest reason is due to cast time. I do not advocate increase the cast time because it will spill over to PvP/WvW. So I think just a number buff is enough so it is at least worth using under 50%.

 

2) Attach any additional modifiers to traits that's unlikely to have an affect in PvP such as spiteful talisman or cold shoulder. Everybody will have boons in PvP and chill is typically very low duration so that if you do buff them by 5-10%. It will not really have bit of a problem.

 

3) Buff the damage on grasping darkness, locust swarm in PvE only.

So it won't affect PvP.

 

4) Consider tweaking signet of spite so it helps power build as the active and passive are not really on the same page.

 

5) I know this is probably too early but I figure is probably lay down ideas now than kneejerk it later. If Reaper do end up overpowered in PvP with onslaught and death perception. Consider tone down the quickness by change it from 3 second pule to 1-1.5 second pulse and 1-1.5 second duration so it will be much harder use it outside of shroud. Death perception can nerf ferocity in PvP only(150-200 instead of 300) so it won't spill over to PvE if needed to be.

 

That's all I got out of this lunch break. Hope you guys read it.