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WalkinTall #2636
[2.4.2] Crusader - Akkhan - Famous last words(1)Category: PTR FeedbackJune-20-2016 3:22 PM PDT (8 years ago) Go to Blizzard forum post
Hey guys,

some of you might remember me from previous PTRs. I am a former crusader player and I mostly focus on crusader-related feedback and to be honest, I don't even know why I am writing this. I am not writing this for my own wishes and purposes, but I know that there are a lot of crusader-players that are wishing and waiting for class changes for a long time. Some just want to play a crusader instead of a wizard. Unfortuneately, only a few 'crusaders' raise their voice here but after talking to a lot of people ingame I know that the following feedback will reflect the opinion of the crusader com, I am 100% sure. Look at the barbarian community. They are working as a team and are always present. Sometimes they get lucky and see their requested buff/change.

This will be my very last feedback. I don't wanna act like a prima donna nor do I think my suggestions are the go-to and that the dev team must do something like the following. It is the community. We all made great suggestions that got, unfortuneately, ignored. Playing the crusader lately feels like a wizard. LoN bomb is not really a crusaderish build. It is cool to have but its not what the class is all about. There's more. Crusader class' skills are great. But performance is terrible.

For this PTR, my hopes been pretty high. I am pretty sure we were promised some changes to the Armor of Akkhan (during a previous PTR) to bring it on par with other sets or builds. I mean; the crusader community really made good suggestions for this particular set (and all other sets) in the previous PTRs (2.3, 2.4, 2.4.1). That is why expectations got big.

If nothing will change (or the Akkhan Set will just get a slightly buff in its current form) it will be all about LoN Bomb again. For the third time. No group invitations, no varity for high solo GR. And a huge waste of time; for the dev team and for us players giving feedback. I mean: why would you 'rebalance' a set, spend time on that and still allow it to be garbage? It just does not make any sense. Invoker, Seeker and Rolands won't compete anyway since they are not being targeted this PTR. But Akkhan is. For the second time. It is the last chance to change Season7, to bring back fun. If not, crusaders will face a hard, boring time.

The analysis why Akkhan is terrible has been given in 2.3 or 2.4 PTR by multiple testers, my thread got +120 up votes. I will try to keep it short. I ll go over the set bonuses and give some suggestions to improve the overall performance.

Before I start: I think the dev team is 'scared' of over-buffing Akkhans due to its interaction with Invoker2 and/or other complementary items of other sets (Johannas Shield + Flail, Drakons, Denial etc). I think if you just keep the 6pc as is you might risk that Akkhan is just the better SotL, the higher Shield Bash dmg build, the better thorns build. And yes, that 'fear' is legit. But there are ways to solve it.

2pc:
currently: 50% RCR while in Akarat's Champion.


Since the resource management of the class is broken anyway, this bonus is quite needed. To be honest, that bonus was the 'hotfix' for the class before RoS shipped. Without RCR or Laws of Valor:UF, spender builds do not really work because of this resource system.

Now, to bring this bonus to 2.4.2 standards (a world full of crazy multipliers and stuff) it should be changed to the following:

2pc:
new: 50% RCR and 200% increased Wrath generation while in Akarat's Champion.

This change would allow to drop LoV:Unstoppable force and/or Provoke. It would encourage to stack some Wrath per second which is quite useless right now. It would even encourage using a Generator!
Indirectly, it would buff survivability and utility since we could be dropping Shield Glare:ZG, LoV:UF, Provoke.

4pc:
currently: 50% CDR on Akarat's Champion.


This was one of the most discused topics among the crusader community. This bonus is really really REALLY outdated guys. Back in 2.0.5 it was cool. Back then, a damage multiplier of 35% (AC) felt amazing. Now you barely even notice it.
The set forces you to stack 56.65% cooldown reduction to actually benefit from it the whole time. If you have any less CDR, you will not be benefitting from the 2pc and the 6pc all the time which is not on 2.4.2 levels.
Also, gearing becomes extremely hard. Found epic ancient gloves with 950 str, 950vit, 10cc and a third, bad stat? Useless! You have to have 8% CDR, 10CC AND 50CHD to have a decent pair of gloves. This not only makes gearing very specific and hard, it also drains power. We could be having 1000 vita instead of the 8%CDR. But we can't!

4pc:
new: Whenever you deal damage the cooldown of Akarat's Champion is reduced by 2 seconds.
Akarat's Champion gains the effect of the Hasteful rune.*


Dealing damage includes Phalanx and Generators. If it would be about wrath-spending, those skills would not fit into the build and would limit build choices. This bonus would solve the cancerous CDR stacking and would passively buff survivability. Having the buffed Hasteful rune (see below) would synergize extremely well with the 4pc it self (faster uptime) with the 2pc (more Wrath generation) and the 6pc (more damage from Generators, more spending from spenders and generating again)

6pc:
currently: While you are in Akarat's Champion, you deal 600% increased damage and gain 15% damage reduction.


Yes, a buff. But that buff is on 2.3 levels. The powercreep is about 3-5 times higher. Just compare the multiplier with other classes. Most class sets start at 1500% PLUS complementary items that have an even higher multiplier. 15% damage reduction feels too much like RoS release, when the crusader only got 15% damage reduction while the barbarian and monk got 30%. ''Crusader has block''. That got changed quickly to 30% after RoS shipped and people complained about how squishy and ridiculously weak the crusader was.

What is happening right now? Basically the same thing. 'But you have a new life every 20 seconds!'
That does not help if you lose it every other second. Since most Akkhan build are mid-range or melee-range this multiplier should be at 60% damage reduction. No jokes. That might be even too low if you let it compete against a LoN bomb that kites 24/7.

Another thing is the damage multiplier I mentioned earlier. There might be unwanted interaction with other sets. But because of that the Akkhan Set should not be left in the dust. There is an easy way around it.

6pc:
new: While in Akarat's Champion gain 60% damage reduction and your Heaven's Fury, Fist of the Heavens, Blessed Shield, Phalanx and Condemn deal 1500% more damage. Your Generators deal 3500% more damage.


Yeap, as simple as that. Those skills include all famous Akkhan builds and even could make Generators more attractive. The dream.. There would be no unwanted interaction with SoTL, Rolands or Thorns/Invoker. Just our old, beloved and missed Akkhan builds + some extra toys.

Numbers might seem high but keep in mind what is needed to clear 95-105. Keep in mind what other classes can do. Numbers can be tweaked according to testing. But there is no testing right now!

*Akarat's Champion skill could see some buffs aswell, increasing the overall crusader performance and passively buffing Akkhan's Abendum flail. Every build every set uses AC. So this would be a good chance to buff the crusader in general.

Base skill: 50% increased damage (up from 35%)

Hasteful: 30% IAS and 25% movement speed
Rally: decrease the cooldown to 70 seconds (buff to all other sets)
Firestarter: Dealing damage increases your damage by 5% for 3 seconds stacking up to 5 times.
Prophet: keep as is
Embodiment of Power: keep as is


That is all. Since my last thread might seem a little whiny and toxic and was without any suggestions I wanted to be fair and voice my opinion. For the very last time though.

Thanks for reading.

PS: Don't worry if your posts get downvoted by -4. That is some troll downvoting any post in any crusader-related thread.
Avatar of Nevalistis
Nevalistis
[2.4.2] Crusader - Akkhan - Famous last words(221)June-30-2016 10:50 AM PDT (8 years ago) Go to Blizzard forum post
Posted by: Jako

But we were told back at 2.4 and 2.4.1 PTR that Akkhan would be made relevant. The fact that we still aren't is what annoys me. I don't need another "we agree Akkhan's isn't where it should be" post.


This is one of the reasons as to why we are very wary of making such comments in the first place. When plans change and priorities shift (in this case, to focus on the issues with group play compositions, which we considered a larger issue to our player base as a whole), we're held accountable for something that no longer makes sense to address in the immediate future.

To be clear, our stance hasn't changed. We still agree that Akkhan's needs improvement. While we're tossing around ideas and continuously pouring your feedback into these internal discussions, we're wary of taking immense measures until after we see how the changes we've made that are targeting group play impact each class. Tossing in another set of variables would make tuning much more difficult, which is why large sweeping changes rarely come in tandem with large sweeping class (or set) changes.

We do want to take a very detailed pass at Akkhan's. This will not be the focus of 2.4.2, but it is one of the many things we'd like to tackle in the future.
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