Dragon Ability feedback

[Guaran]

Thinking about it, you may be right on the breath of fire 1 and maybe 2 not being aoe (or the size of the effect we really small on the lower ones, like 2 or 3). The aoe was the one I think we got when we ascended to adult (breath of fire 3), or it had a larger area of effect so it was noticeable. Being aoe it wasn't a bad ability, even with the longer cast time. Flame Burst basically took its place. i also think the original bof3 had a much longer recycle that it does now that its single target (probably similiar to what flame burst is now). Which wouldnt be bad except now it costs hoard and misses half the time. When it didnt cost hoard it was worth using even when it missed half the targets.

All the breaths could be improved if they simply hit alot more often, and the plain bof3 did alot more damage. I've been asking for this for years now. please fix the Dragon's defining attack.

[LOVWYRM]

though Amon asked us not to discuss about the breathes,
I support Guaran and Dragonboy with that

[Mikaze]

hmm...where to begin...

Bite: I use it occasionally, if I have no other abilities available, usually however I save Bite and Ravage for fights I think will be dificult since the recycles on both are too long for frivolous use.

Ravage: Coupled with Silver Strike it almost makes up another Rage, I don't use it a whole lot though (see above)

Silver Strike: What is there to say? It's the dragon equivelant of power strike, if you don't use it you're asking for pain.

Tailwhip: I tend to use this as an opener when I'm soloing, almost never gets used if I'm in a group.

Galewind: Never gets used unless I'm desperate, takes too long to cast to be properly effective.

Menacing Presence: Also never gets used although I get told I should at times. In response to other peoples complaints about it, perhaps it should be changed to an on-self aura-like ability that periodically casts the effect on every enemy within range as opposed to an on-target.

Snarl: Used to get used as a second pulling ability, now almost never used. The decrease in attack skill doesn't really seem to change anything, perhaps because Dragons are SUPPOSED to get hit and just take it like a man.

Staggering Howl: Only really gets used if I'm grouped and it can be coupled with Dispirit, otherwise it gets ignored.

Perhaps I'll continue with the quest abilities later.

[Dragonboy]

though Amon asked us not to discuss about the breathes,
I support Guaran and Dragonboy with that

A dragon breathes fire/ice/lightning or Acid... and a dragon can be quite stuborn...

[Dhalin]

A dragon breathes fire/ice/lightning or Acid... and a dragon can be quite stuborn...

I know he said not to discuss the Breath attacks, but to be honest... I think that they DO need discussing, at least a couple of them.

I'm sorry, but... the pre-upgraded breaths I feel do need a bit of a buff. Or at least find a way that non-Spellcasting dragons can actually do damage with them. I remember leveling my hatchling, and scratching my head wondering why a dragon's signature attack barely even scratches a mob, and misses most of the time.

A big part of BEING a dragon, is to get to breathe fire on everything... but oddly enough, doing so does less damage than one swipe of a claw? That just doesn't sound right...

Also, the Be-All and End-All of my opinions on Dragons in Istaria:

I think Gold Rage should be nerfed a bit. *ducks lots of fire breaths*

No, hear me out here.

Dragons have 1 or 2 attacks that are "OMG!" and have 1 attack that's 'So-So' and the rest are 'meh, if I have to/have nothing else to use'.

We should nerf Gold Rage, but buff the other abilities so that the dragons end up doing the same damage over time (or, as other games say, DPS), but spread out amongst more abilities.

Also, cooldowns for some abilities could be shortened so that we use them more often, to make Dragon Combat more interesting instead of Pull, Gold Rage, Silver Strike, dead, next.

[Raeshlavik]

Also, cooldowns for some abilities could be shortened so that we use them more often, to make Dragon Combat more interesting instead of Pull, Gold Rage, Silver Strike, dead, next.

*chuckle* You're Lunus right?

It's funny because, well, I've got 95% of my training points in Primal/Power, wear Primal/Power teched scales for combat, all of my spells are top-tier damage and effect teched - and I do pretty much the above attack rotation.

And my breath of fire? Yeah, it hits for about the same as a well placed bite, if it hits, so you aren't missing out on much there.

Now, not being heavy T&C makes a fight last long enough to cycle the cool downs on gold rage and silver strike, so I usually get to use those abilities twice per fight - essentially leveling by spending hoard - but it's still several times faster than tickling something to death with spells.

The hoard cost for being a caster, generally being frustrated with other Dragons leveling at twice my pace, and most of our crafting being strength based and I therefore comparatively suck at it are the main reasons I want to reallocate my training points into T&C/Strength... But I'm not one to give up that easy and am sticking to my guns, and I will hit ARoP as a caster... Even if it takes a year or two just to reach 100/100.

But this, hopefully, is a topic for another discussion; Amon was asking for feedback on Dragon abilities, not the lamentations of a gimpy spell flinger.

[rizo/nawkia]

Correct me if im wrong but doesnt menacing presence allow you 50% to avoid being hit?

[Veruliyam]

Fifty percent chance of intercepting target's attack.

Range: 15

Area: 8

Type: crush

[Morphaz Bladewing]

Snarl: I use this ability whenever I can. For the debuff or just for pulling. I like it a lot actually. And it's effect IS noticable, especially when combined with arcane refusal/etc. against elemental monsters.

The only thing I don't like about it is it's graphics. A wave emote and red blods on the mob?

Staggering howl: I use it only as a filler between other attacks. It's debuff is practically useless due to Gold Rage, which has the same effect, just way more powerful.

Menacing Presence: I never use it unless I am trying to tank in a group or if I am with a lower level player. It is about the only half-decent tanking ability we have. It would be more useful if it forced the mob/s to attack me instead of a 50% intercept chance.

-----

Galewind: Never use it. But that might be because I'm Lunus and for me it deals less damage than an auto attack...

Besides those, there aren't any abilities I find silly or useless. I can't speak about spells since I don't have a spellcasting dragon yet.

I'd love some decent animations for Ravage and Gold Rage though.

Ravage should make my dragon get on his hind legs briefly and -ravage- the target with both his paws in some quick left-right-left combo.

Gold Rage... needs something golden and flashy... Hehe.

[Shur]

I agree with most of what has been said here.
Spiked scales sucks hard when i can stand in bristugo for 30 seconds and have cloak of thorns, which does more damage and lasts 15 times as long.
galewind far too long to cast for the damage dealt, seems like a wind-attack should be front-area AoE as well
breath attacks never freaking hits anything, and when they do not enough damage for time to use, might be nice for BoF to get AoE, make it a bit more useful
debuffs nifty, but rarely usefull thanks to long timer. maybe a larger AoE on them would help some as well

[Morphaz Bladewing]

Oh, I totally forgot the most useless dragon abilities ever: Combat stances.

They don't do anything except for looking stupid. Long time ago, the mobs used to use combat stances too, forcing you to stance dance along with them, but they don't anymore.

However, I LOVE the idea of actual combat stances. They could go somewhat like this:

Red: Offensive - Damage dealt increased in some way, damage received as well (less evasion, less armor or somesuch)

Blue: Defensive - More armor/evasion? Higher threat generation!

Green: Something caster related. Should be great to give spellcasters a bit more viability than they have now.

But please, whatever you do, change their graphics. ;p

[Firebrand]

Spiked scales sucks hard when i can stand in bristugo for 30 seconds and have cloak of thorns, which does more damage and lasts 15 times as long.

Spiked Scales deal much more damages than Cloak of Thorns. Work on your Primal Skill. As the skill is Primal, maybe Power helps as well.

galewind far too long to cast for the damage dealt

Same here: it deals pretty nice damages if you Primal skill is high enough. Even better if target is weak to Pierce damages.

breath attacks never freaking hits anything

I agree the accuracy is low, but "never" is not true. It's magic, so I guess Focus helps. Accuracy Breath quests should be pushed to lvl 100 instead of lvl 40 currently.


For Snarl and Menacing Presence, I hardly see a difference when I use them.
Some quests abilities should have a lvl 100 version:
- Accurate Breath: it would maybe fix the accuracy issue with breath attacks.
- Hardened Scales: it would have +30 Armor at lvl 100; this wouldn't change our life but we would have a feeling of completion.
- Dragon's Reach: maybe a little boost on damages; it's not that bad however.

I won't comment Breath Attack as Amon is not interested in them.

[Guaran]

On Dragon's Reach:

I don't even have this hotkeyed. I use a range teched prime bolt in its place. More Damage and only 10 second recycle.

To make dragon's reach more useful, I would say increase the range by 5 or 10.

[Silverblaze]

snarl - good for pulling rarely draws extra agro.

Menacing presence: this is how a dragon draws and keeps agro, a shorter recycle on this would be awesome for groups and epic battles where you wanna keep the hate on the tank. Maybe increase the hate/agro it generates for the tank? How? Add damage to it (small amount maybe a dot?) Make it enact a small debuff? Not sure how agro is determined, but this ability could use an upgrade along those lines. I actually love this ability.

Staggering Howl: is pretty nice in my opinion.

Dragon Reach: while we have bolts (drain bolt, prime bolt) and AoE's this is becoming obsolete. I reccomend range additions beyond 55 the maximum of a bolt or an incentive to have it see use. Perhaps a small chance of DoT? erm, yeah Guaran mirrored my thoughts on that one.

Also: stances - red, blue, green : have these effect abilites like they do for bipeds to make them relevant again? Just an idea.

Thoughts?

[Shian]

On Dragon's Reach:

I don't even have this hotkeyed. I use a range teched prime bolt in its place. More Damage and only 10 second recycle.

To make dragon's reach more useful, I would say increase the range by 5 or 10.

I don't use spells. Many times my dragon gets stuck in the animations and don't cast the spell. (Yes, I'm sitting still)

I tried making a spellcaster once and I really didn't have the patience to sit there and wait for a spell to be cast, especially when it got stuck 50% of the time and the enemy was whomping on me. Abilities are instantaneous and don't bug out constantly.

[Fyrethorne]

Debuffs- Snarl and staggering howl, I use at start of every fight.

Menacing presence- So that's what it's for. Will be using that in group hunts from now on. Thanks!

Breath Weapons- the constant misses with higher lvl fights render them useless. I have this shiny new acid breath, but can't hit anything in the doom with it- rather disappointing really.

Silver Strike- I like, no touchy.

Bite- Good to use at start of tough fight for DoT. I like.

Tail Whip- excellent to use to stun enemy while you set up your breeze spell. Good cooldown too. I like.

Ravage- Good damage. Very long cooldown. Can't use more than once per fight, and annoying when it misses.

Galewind- I agree with what's been said => damage is too low for such a long cooldown. Can we please up the damage if cooldown that long?

Spiked Scales- awesome. No touchy.

Drain Strike- I like. Good top up for your health with reasonable damage.

Drain Bolt- damage amount is a little disappointing. But otherwise ok.

Shield of Gold- I like. Just have to get used to using it now I have enough hoard. *grins*

Dragon Fear- Awesome! Excellent to assist with crowd control.

Primal Rebirth- I understand that the long cooldown is to help balance the game. Otherwise dragons would find everything too easy. However, I like the idea put forward earlier of having a lesser res for dragons- primal revive someone called it. Lesser res with dp earnt and only 25% of health restored. Give it a 10 min cooldown maybe? Would this throw the balance out too far?
Also a dedicated high lvl quest (> lvl 90) to obtain it would be cool.

Gold Rage- Awesome. Don't touch it! Or else!

Drulkar's Wrath- Awesome!!!! No touchy. A big breakthrough for casters. Need to work on more caster abilities.

Stances- waste of time. Get rid of them, and replace with more useful abilities please.

Primal instant heal- good. Any chance of a shorter cooldown given that dragons have such limited healing ability?

Determination and Primal Roar- good. Excellent ability to boost melee vs casting. Maybe we could have a couple more abilities like that to boost casting vs melee damage, and vice versa. eg. Dex and evasion vs Focus and Primal. Just a thought.

Dragons Gift- Good. No touchy.

Dragon's Reach- I agree that decreased cooldown with decreased damage would be good.

Refreshing breeze ability- Awesome. Acts as an excellent heal for difficult fights. No touchy.

Sprint- A must have for hatchies. No touchy.

That is what I think in summary. I'm excited about what this may mean for future content......Hope it turns out well whatever you are planning.

[Dragonboy]

Spiked Scales- awesome. No touchy.

You are probably a Helian or at least a dragon caster. For me as Melee dragon it is actually lousy... so preferably yes touchy

[Raeshlavik]

You are probably a Helian or at least a dragon caster. For me as Melee dragon it is actually lousy... so preferably yes touchy

As a Helian caster, yes, spiked scales are 'the bomb' (to use the vernacular of the kids). If it wasn't for the fact I need to hunt at or above my level for quests, comps, and trophies, I'd spend all of my time in the middle of a huge pile of just-high-level-enough-to-hit-me Withered Aegis.

With stuff at or above my level, it's sort of an additional DoT that I try to save, along with the ability breeze (not the spell versions), for those times where I'm simply going to pull more than one thing no matter what I do, or if my spidey-sense tells me I'm fighting in the middle of a huge spawn that just hasn't appeared yet.

Ultimate Helian fun is fighting one even to +5 con golem, having a whole spawn suddenly appear (ninja golems!), popping the big HoT, spiked scales, gold shield, cycling AOEs until everything fades, popping Primal healing and trying to time flight between roots to get away from the 2-3 left standing.

The risk versus reward on that is a bit lopsided, but it has it's moments - kinda like bear wrestling I suppose.

[Guaran]

On Spiked Scales:

Currently this damage shield works like all damage shields in the game: It's based on the "Power" statistic of the caster. So a dragon with alot of Power, will get alot of damage from spiked scales. Conversly, a melee aligned dragon will get better benefit from cloak of thorns cast on them by a biped with high power stat.

Spiked Scales would make more sense if it was based off the strength stat instead. But this could be seen by casters as a nerf to them, which I would not want. I would propose that it be based off something like the average of strength and power stats. Basically preserve it's effectiveness for high power players, but improve the function for high strength players.

[Shur]

heh, add another to the list of undwerpowered for the effort: Drulkar's Wrath. Does about as much damage as my breath of lightning, takes three times as long to go through the animation, has a ten minute cooldown, and a week-long quest to get it.

fail.

oh, and before someone says "raise your power", my power and strength are both base 958