The Focus Relic (Mage Tali)

AreYouKidden

AreYouKidden

Grandmaster
It's a common theme that many feel the Mage Tali is lackluster in a variety of ways, I've often heard it doesn't do enough damage (since the nerf?), the focus relic is garbage, it's boring to play due to the downtime between mana dumps. The talisman could use some love, and right now the Focus relic being the worst of the 4, is the focus of my attentions.

Currently Focus is anywhere from 1/2 as effective as Dispersion, to 1/20th as effective as Dispersion, depending how you are using it.

Focus:
  • Level 1 - 5% damage increase (one mob)
  • Level 10 - 50% damage increase (one mob)
Dispersion
  • Level 1 - 100% damage increase (one mob)
  • Level 10 - 1000% damage increase (ten mobs)

Focus Proposal:
lets take it a different path than just straight damage.

Focus:
  • Level 1 - 50% chance to increase active meditation by 10% speed
  • Level 10 - 50% chance to increase active meditation by 100% speed (double it)
This would sacrifice a slight damage increase upfront (current focus), providing less downtime between dumps and potentially more damage over all. (proposed focus). This would make the meta mage more fun to play, as waits between mana dumps would drop from 40 seconds down to 20 seconds, allowing you to get back to the fight quicker.

Note: Obviously when flagged for combat, it would not proc.
 
AreYouKidden

AreYouKidden

Grandmaster
Also if there is complexity in re-writing the focus talisman completely, could always introduce a 5th relic (Concentration). I know I'd happily rip my Focus out, and put in a Concentration relic..
 
Ludwig

Ludwig

Grandmaster
Focus isn't just lame, it is a worse version of Dispersion in literally every way and even level 10 Focus is only *half* as good as level 1 Dispersion. Think about that a moment.

Considering Shadow recovers mana and blasts the mob's resist (the more useful feature, actually), there is no reason to not buff Focus with a second feature although I struggle with what it should be. Mages, even with the downtime, do comparable damage to the other metas with Dispersion so is the answer to give them even more damage through less downtime? Maybe. Maybe not.

Should the mage maybe have all 3 stats refilled on a successful proc? Should it give a boost to max Intelligence? This feels more balanced as it addresses the downtime issue but would it be too powerful to gain, say, 2 int per level for 45 seconds? Should it insta summon a daemon for you or a clone of yourself? Sounds like a pain in the ass to code...
 
Ludwig

Ludwig

Grandmaster
How about the current Focus damage buff for the next (Focus level*1.0) seconds along with mana recovery of 1-3 mana per second for the same duration?
 
cups

cups

Grandmaster
I really like the proposal of a chance at improved mana regen rate. That would add more fun to playing the meta mage. I actually love my meta mage don't get me wrong but improved mana regen would make it even better. Good suggestion.
 
Lexington

Lexington

Grandmaster
I'd rather see it increased on one mob so its comparable to a zerker. I love seeing a zerker take down this months MOTM with one blow... its awesome.
 
D

Double Tap

Journeyman
Has shane said or commented anything about any of this? What is the current cost of a focus relic, Im making a meta mage and cant afford any relics atm so im just leveling the talisman.
 
Cash is King

Cash is King

Grandmaster
If the main concern here is the mana regen why not simply boost the probability of the "mana return" property of shadow disciple? Problem solved.

Focus would still suck it seems (I don't have mage tali) but there could be some other tweak done to it that doesn't involve mana regen/return.
 
AreYouKidden

AreYouKidden

Grandmaster
Shadowy is pretty decent if you are using the right spells, to recoup mana at the right times, however because of the 40 second cooldown, you still get into situations where you can be waiting 30 seconds to recover mana, at which point you're often just going to wait the other 10-15 seconds to get full mana before starting to cast again. One of the biggest problems with Shadowy is that it'll often proc when you have full mana, rendering it ineffective, otherwise it's a decent relic.

Focus just needs love, and to me, focused meditation, or focused casting, I could go either way with a relic named as such... But if you are looking to get more DPM out of the meta mage, and make it more fun, less down time is a good solution to that.
 
Ludwig

Ludwig

Grandmaster
-If not mana regen, maybe a reduced cooldown on all current ticking relic cooldowns including Focus? 1 second per level or 0.5 seconds per cooldown?

-Resistance to being interrupted by spells from mobs? Balron was great for meta mages but damn we blow at daemons so hard. Dexer really embarrasses us here.
 
A

andrewlcaudill23

Expert
I personally would like to see Int above 100 affect mana regen rate a small bit per level (if tali is active), as well as add like 12 seconds per level of focus relic toward the duration of the Bless spell. I find myself casting Bless way way way too often, approximately once for every 1.5 mana bars. Its definitely in need of some type of love. I would even sacrifice the damage potentional for better mana regen, especially considering the down time between burning a bar of mana and regening it is quite significant.
 
Ludwig

Ludwig

Grandmaster
andrewlcaudill23 said:
I personally would like to see Int above 100 affect mana regen rate a small bit per level (if tali is active), as well as add like 12 seconds per level of focus relic toward the duration of the Bless spell. I find myself casting Bless way way way too often, approximately once for every 1.5 mana bars. Its definitely in need of some type of love. I would even sacrifice the damage potentional for better mana regen, especially considering the down time between burning a bar of mana and regening it is quite significant.
Click to expand...

Int above 100 does affect mana regen. Try meditating with 111 mana after a bless at 100. That being said, an increased duration for buff spells (including protection) would be an amazing buff for Focus. That feels balanced.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top