Hey there!
Let me start by clarifying that I’m not claiming Chorus of Spiritual Fortitude is “bad”
However, whenever I use it I kind of feel like I am not really playing the game for a few seconds. I just hold my thing up in the sky yelling “look at my thing! I have a thing” and walk around hoping my team is gonna be smart enough to kill those elites that I’m stunning. On top of that, I wish I was doing some damage to those elites too instead of just watching others having fun while I am simply holding my thing up in the air… you know what I mean?
What if… Chorus of Spiritual Fortitude applied “Burn” stacks per pulse (2 burn stacks per pulse, max of 10)
This would actually make me feel like I am doing some horde clearing or decent boss damage by using my combat ability.
How to implement:
Place the effects of Banishing light into the base Chorus
make Banishing Light apply 2 stacks of burn for a max of 10 stacks
if you think “Ecclesiarch’s Call” and “Holy Cause” are too good on top of the burn stacks I wouldn’t mind nerfing their duration a little bit (you get the buffs AFTER the Chorus has ended when typically things are already dead so they don’t matter too much anyway)
Again, im not saying Chorus is bad. I just think Fury of the Faithful is a much better combat ability to bring into a game and even Stealth has its niche uses that can have a huge positive impact on a mission.
Chorus on the other hand is a nice but lazy support ability which makes you feel like you are not really playing the game every time you use it.
Part of me wouldn’t mind a light damage tick but ive also saved some pretty hairy situations with good use of it.
I pretty much class it in the same category of stun grenades but with more emphasis on teamwork. If you know your team can follow up it can be invaluable to jump into a horde, hit your Chorus, and watch them melt things. At worst it’s a major buff to toughness and toughness regen which can temp stun monstrosities in a bad situations. On the better end ive used it to lead assaults into gunner blobs, lock up entire hordes of special enemies, save multiple incapped teammates because of Dogs/Mutants/potentional trappers.
The big thing is i would rather have Holy Cause and Ecclesiarch’s call stay the same since it’s good in situations where you have follow-up issues such as either dog hordes, high intensity shock trooper gauntlets, or the rare but fun scab only melee slug fest.
I wouldn’t be against making banishing light just a base feature. This might be a hot take but i feel like a lot of ability nodes are bloated with stuff that should just be a base feature anyways. I would also say that it really shines with a high hp martyr zealot that can use their extra hp damage as a resource and heal up using health packs after since from what ive seen health packs in general are somewhat underutilized at times.
I will agree that the other 2 abilities are far less niche and useable but in it’s niche it’s probably one of the best team support abilities in the game.
This is the big issue. It’s a teamwork focused ability. Pugs will either ignore it when you use it, or use it themselves at the worst possible times wnd help no one.
If you’re able to coordinate with other people it’s an amazing skill and can easily come in clutch.
I don’t think every ability needs to deal damage; it may not be to everyone’s liking because it’s not an offensive ability, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Prefered roles/playstyles are nothing new.
People failing to take full advantage can be a problem, but I don’t think that’s the fault or the ability itself or its lack of damage.
yeah, i dont mind sacrificing something as long as it doesn’t feel boring using it.
After making this thread I played another game of Chorus just to make sure im not talking bs and yes while i know it helped my team a lot my personal experience playing chorus was underwhelming - in other words, i was bored.
To clarify, I meant in the more absolute sense - not every ability needs the capacity (either in base form or upgraded) to do damage. Utility skills have… utility I feel like trying to make it more universally appealing isn’t necessarily a good thing. Would the ability to kill the groaners/poxwalkers around you with fire really make it less boring?
Is it any different to finding a weapon boring, for instance? I find Combat Axes/Tactical Axes rather boring - is that a problem? Should the weapon be changed to make it less boring?
While i understand your point I think you are comparing apple to oranges.
You have, say, 20 melee and 20 ranged weapons and all the possible combinations between them
You have 3 combat abilities and 3 keystones and all the possible combinations between them
Now having 1 combat ability being 100% defensive/supportive and nothing else pretty much locks out some of those possible combinations you could have had to choose from.
I don’t see how giving the option to Chorus to be able to do damage if specced for it makes the game “worse”
If anything it adds more options to play the game with
Even though you can apply it just about where - archetypes (or whatever the term for Veteran/Zealot/Psyker/Ogryn is), blitzes, combat abilities, keystones.
Not really, no; it is its own option, in the same way any other combat ability is. If that kind of option is not to your taste, then so be it.
It’s a different style of play, and as boring/exciting as you choose to make it. Marching headfirst into gunners without giving a damn, gathering up enemies to set up a friendly Krak Grenade, sliding around like crazy trying to get someone out of a really crappy situation, enjoying the sight of pack of Ragers stumbling around while burning from a flame grenade? Just a few ways to use the ability that I find fun, both defensively and offensively
What about Voice of Command, or Telekine Shield for example? While they lack the channelling component, they’re definitely all-in on the defensive/support side of things
I think it dilutes the ability, trying to make it all things to all players, and depending on what you would sacrifice for the damage (if you had to choose something, since you said you’d be comfortable with a trade-off), it could defy expectations of the ability - this obvious support ability suddenly becomes a lot less supportive, in the pursuit of “I want to deal damage” (despite having alternatives to do just that).
I prefer VoC’s design to Chorus. You pop VoC in an instant and play. You use Chorus and run around trying to nullify as much as possible but in reality you are not actually doing something (pulses do it, you just walk and watch)
I understand this is how I see it. Reason I made this thread is because I believe others feel the same (statistically I cannot be the only one)
In the case of weapons you have different marks per weapon type
in the case of abilities you have ability modifiers. I still don’t understand how this dilutes game design
I finally got around playing with zealot where I tried this ult and I kinda half agree.
Just standing there watching my shiny relic pulse and make enemies cry for a bit, kinda sucks. I found it pretty fun though if I used it to allow the team to push the pace. Because then we are actively driving forward. That was both fun and effective.
I didn’t find it fun as a “oh things are going bad, I should pop the relic” tool, which is too bad because that is effective. But it is boring just standing there.
I definitely think it’s a missed opportunity to not expand on the modifiers of the relic. Have them change both the relic model & what it does. Damage enemies, boost team damage, boost team toughness, drop the relic on the ground allowing you to continue attacking while it deals weaker pulses, etc.
Edit: a followup to changing the models for it I think would add a lot of replay value in terms of playing around with it. Imagine if one of the variants was an entire banner that you plant in the ground to act like a smaller ranged AOE. That would be so cool
Back when I was seeing if I preferred CoSF or Shroudfield, I used CoSF to push the enemies into any small corner whilst my friends chucked a couple of flame grenades at them. It was really fun, but you probably can’t do it as well with pubs.
those are some VERY solid suggestions. Some creative thinking there! nice!
Overall, i think adding more ability modifiers to the game that are mutually exclusive (lock each other out) is a plus for the game as it opens more possibilities
yeah, that’s what i do when i see a pack of elites. Throw fire grenade, run up to them, pop Chorus and move around trying to keep them all pushed into the flames.
This is the “only” way I can “somewhat” feel that I am not idling during the channeling time
It makes you feel like you’re doing more than just shoving a holy relic in their face whilst they kinda cower. Means you don’t have to rely ENTIRELY on your team to take advantage of the situation, but if they do it’s an added bonus.
Please don’t take my 
I feel like trying to make it more universally appealing isn’t necessarily a good thing. Would the ability to kill the groaners/poxwalkers around you with fire really make it less boring?