Yeah those are all fair points. I do think Bulwark might need more of a buff than that to be relevant, but it also depends whether it’s an additive or a multiplicative buff. Perhaps 10% bonus for enemies you put into stagger 1, 20% for those you put into stagger 2 (assuming it’s an additive buff). I don’t think that’d be too much but maybe I’m underestimating what a well coordinated team could do with it.
This is on top of what you already suggested, to be clear, 2 seconds is definitely too short.
I brought that point up again and again. So time to say it once more.
Randomly applied damage modifiers are not very valuable. 10%, or 20%, will most likely not change the amount of hits a target needs before it dies and you cant build upon it, because you cant control its uptime or popping up. The only situation that a buff like that is nice to have is during Monster, or Boss fights (and Iam not even sure if Bulwark does trigger on them).
There is lots of those nonsensical damage modifers that apply randomly in one way or another, like Engies 10% range power while huging him, or GKs Duty.
Bulwark in its current form is nothing short of a wasted Talent that is shared on far to many careers.
Yeah, why does that dinky little talent row even exist anymore? It’s the same generic talents available to all careers and it’s literally just free damage for nothing. Am I missing something and it’s actually somehow vital to the game? It just seems so random to me.
The talents would have to be edited for it to work. If Assassin was significantly less dps at low headshots percentages and only effected the first target hit, Smiter would come out on top for reliability purposes and for slower weapons.
Iirc Smiter didn’t get the normal stagger bonus on secondary and subsequent targets when WoM launched and it was super bad according to everyone? Personally I’d suggest something like this:
Mainstay causes enemies in the 1st stagger state to take 60% more damage instead of the current 40%. The 2nd stagger state would be the same as before, so this gives the damage one step earlier. This makes it better for anyone that doesn’t want to kite since getting the first stagger state should be reliable right?
Bulwark lasts for 6 seconds, enemies you stagger take 15% more damage. If it becomes “Oh if I stay relatively close to this guy I basically passively deal 15% more damage all the time” it should be alright I suppose. Might be okay for weapons that deal poor horde dps, like shields, 1h Hammer, 2h Hammer and maybe even the 1h Axes because they mix pushes a lot.
Smiter doesn’t give the stagger bonus on any target past the first one. Thematic for GK, Zealot, Slayer etc. and others who aren’t as headshot focused but do have good single target dps kits. This would be for constant killing.
Assassin doesn’t deal increase damage to staggered enemies at all, relying exclusively on headshots and has half the effect on crit bodyshots (so 40% headshots, 20% bodyshot crit, no interaction with stagger). This would be for the dedicated kiter I guess in a sense, or anyone that likes moving around a lot to reposition for headshot angles and to get specific targets.
Might make Mainstay op maybe? Idk tbh. Could also make it so that Mainstay causes less damage dropoff in cleave perhaps? I was thinking the same thing could be done for Limb Splitter as well to make it less useless.
Insert obligatory blah blah won’t happen blah blah blah here you know the drill.
Blah.
I appreciate that your suggestion are at least looking to tone down the current talent versions. Still don’t like the insane bonus of 40 % headshot damage bonus but taking away the usual stagger bonus from Assassin is going in the same direction I would go. Would do the same for every talent though which is not Mainstay.
Also 60 % for light stagger is … heavy. With a shield user on Bulwark you would increase damage by 75 %.
Also like the changed Smiter better than current version.
There are still some insane damage spikes in there but overall a better direction than most suggestions I have read.
That actually might be too strong, idk. 10% is a pretty solid damage buff for using a shield. It’s far more group damage than taking enhanced power or any other stagger talent. I think making it apply to all sources of damage is a really big buff. That means dots, bombs, ults, etc. would all do 10% more damage to debuffed enemies. Would be worth testing at least.