Lol it would probably not work. But if a weapon has 4 different light attacks it would take the lowest damage hit and increase it a bit, but decrease the highest damage hit. Same with heavies. I don’t know how usefull it would be or if it could work, just an idea 
So you would get more uniform damage? Doesnt seem like a boost to me, just a redistribution. I am all for moderate traits and would prefer some more sensible nerfs. But if I understood this correctly, then it sounds underwhelming even for me.
I agree that a 50% damage increase is too much. On bosses, this talent would be a must pick. I wouldn’t up the damage taken any further, so reducing the damage increase to 30% would be more in line (if Swift Slaying was also nerfed, then I’d say 20%). I think it would only affect damage and not cleave. The actual % would probably depend a lot on breakpoints (wouldn’t want to see WHC running around with the Rapier one shotting Cata Maulers because they dared to attack).
For the stam regen, I had no idea how to elegantly approach the possible complexity of stamina recovery that varies on the enemy type staggered.
How would it stack (multiplicative or additive), would it have a cap, would it work too well on FK/Handmaiden/WHC/IB, would it vary per elite type or be based off the stagger resistance of the enemy at that time e.g. should already staggered enemies give less, should mid-overhead ones give more etc. It could be simplified to just elites, but then it’s a copy of FK’s staggering elites gives cooldown reduction talent. Trying to communicate all of this to player in a small paragraph for the talent gets tricky.
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We learn, balancing is difficult. Despite all the shouting, I hope this open balance beta shows people how complicating balancing is and that they are less annoying with FS in the future.
This is actual quite interesting. Buffs which are conditioned to attacking enemies like Opportunist are actually not that conditioned. Simply because enemies are attacking 90 % of the time. The only enemy which actively runs away from you is the Stormfiend. And some specials under circumstances.
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I think you may be surprised by how often horde enemies, and Stormvermin/Plague Monks in particular, don’t actually attack the player. For all the other enemies though, it’s pretty much non-stop. I’ve had many instances where I’ve been waiting for an enemy to attack so I could block and Riposte, only for them to stand there and stare at the distance. High mobility and dodge spam tend to bait a lot more running attacks (which is awful for a frontline), while low mobility or walking around tends to make backline enemies adhere to the slot system more. I’ll make some recordings of this tomorrow.
It’s a good thing to bring up though, because it basically means a nearly constant 20% damage boost, which would remove any of the fun of the trait. I suppose it could be only for the middle of the enemy attack, to increase the risk/make the timing tighter. It would be unintuitive for players, but it would be like learning the parry window timing, so it could work.
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Yeah, I was thinking more along the lines of a Billhook style of Tanking, where it isn’t the main purpose. It would probably only work against Skaven and Beastmen.
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Hm, I know enemies run around if they are repositioning and some hesistance if they are coordinating attacks when the player is holding block. I am also pretty sure that there is algorithm in the game which dictates that each player has to be targetted by at least one enemy at all times. This causes the effects when a horde or even single enemy are just running past you without engaging. In these cases I am not entirely sure if the condition would trigger. I think it is only attacking mode so it doesnt have to be the player specifically. Imagine slave rat running happily towards the rearguard and boom … shield bash from the side.
Hm, I think I would have to see this in action. Cant you program a mod quickly?
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I’m not a modder. 
It would probably end up just being a gimmicky ‘extra’ to whatever it’s used on, but that still has some practical use.
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Yea, but you know what? Better a gimmicky trait than just more dps in different forms (bleed, attack speed, power, poison which all interact with breakpoints).
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I think it might actually be useful on weapons that have quick response times in addition to shields (those that make it easy to time blocks against attacks) too thus i think that it might still work out.
Even if it wont be the most popular thing as you suspect, but personally i think i too might enjoy it as controlling multiple opponents becomes easier to do.
Heck if feeling cheecky one might just make it so the next attack/push gets improved stagger although attacks will be effective on fewer targets than a push.
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Well my thought was to make it work for the “armor class” instead of just a single enemy unit because otherwise it wouldn’t make any sense on difficulties below Cataclysm (because 1 shot headshots).
If it wouldn’t reset it would probably be to strong and wouldnt reflect the wording “Duelist” at all, since you could just smash in a mixed wave and get it.
Well, my explanation here was not on point, the idea was to reduce the effort to break or open up shields significantly, which means you could basically cleave through wooden shields and just need 1 heavy or maybe 2 light attacks against heavy shields to open the guard.
…and since I have no idea about balancing I just keep it as a concept. 
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Yea it was just an idea It’s not a boost exactly just a redistribution like you said, which could be usefull for trash enemies from what i thought.
Yea, then I understood it correctly. Because just smashing into hordes was a doubt I had which would mean “less refined” gameplay.
I think I understood this also initially. Like I said, shields are situational. They dont appear that often, so taking an extra trait for it seems like a fair trade to me.
I should’ve linked this video yesterday: https://youtu.be/KkRWZrZjMCc
For the most part, I’m only attacked by a few of the enemies in the front line at any given time. If they all attacked at once, I would be unable to corner camp like that, which would be a good thing. As much as I love the Rapier, it’s a bit too good against hordes for a duelist’s weapon.
I also had another idea.
- Your attacks deal armour piercing damage but only if they cleave infantry first.
It doesn’t make sense logically, but it might be interesting mechanically, since it encourages a player to aim for chaff first.
Intimidate Killing an Elite causes non-elites around you to flinch away, interuping attacks
Great for slow high impact weapons, as you can now risk slow overheads into elites in crowds with confidence that you wont get punished.
Draw Attention Killing an Elite taunts non-elites in a small area
The radius and duration would need to only be fairly short to avoid being overpowered, but could make for interesting tank builds.
Lead by example 25% of THP gained is instead given to the ally with the lowest HP
Great for Tanks that are confident in their defensive play and can sacrifice THP gain to guard allies.
Heroic Strike Heavy attacks can overcharged to deal more damage at the cost of X%THP
A new way to reach breakpoints at the cost of temporary health, might mix up some builds- freeing up “damage vs” slots for other things.
Crushing strike Heavy attacks can be held for longer at the cost of stamina, each stamina consumed adds X% power to the strike
Similar to above, meant as a new way for stamina-heavy characters to have more power at a cost.
Bombadier Bombs are 50% weaker but come with 2 charges
Meant as a variant of bomb-duplication that doesnt rely on random chance.
Counterstrike Timed blocks give +100% attackspeed on your next attack
100% is a huge amount sure, but I think all block related talents are underpowered due to the lack of value that blocking has as a game mechanic. Pushing or dodging will almost always be better, a parry talent needs serious oomph to matter.
Nimble Dodge faster and further, but dodging now costs stamina
Make your shield build have mobility, turn handmaiden into sonic, but do so at a risk.
Reckless Fury hitting an enemy grants X% stacking attackspeed. Stacks deplete rapidly over time, being hit removes all stacks.
A variant of swift slaying that does not rely on crits and random chance
Overheal THP can be stacked over your maximum HP value up to a limit, THP drains twice as fast
Allows you to survive big single hits in Cata by having more maxHP, but only when you can maintain stacks at all times.
Shockwave A percentage of overkill damage* is dealt in an AOE around the target
Meant for ‘overkill’ weapons like the pickaxe, obliterate a slaverat with a supercharged overhead headshot and splatter his buddies alongside him.
*Overkill Damage is all extra damage beyond the hitpoints of the target.
Draw a Bead Whilst crouching and remaining still the accuracy, effective range and penetration of your next ranged attack increases. stacks several times, lose all stacks when you move or fire
An oddball one for sniper archetypes, with the potential of punching a shot through a crowd into an important target at the back.
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There are a few interesting suggestions in there. Not everything balanced as I would see it but I like how you conditioned every major power-up with some serious drawbacks which reign the effects in.
Personally, I would think that this trait
is more prone to be overpowered then this
Same for this
Not much of a fan for this one
As Zealot and Slayer regenerate THP like crazy and they could do even more face-tanking.
The suggestion I liked most though was
It is a nice example for team-oriented style which makes a feelable difference.
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Coordinated Strike: Attacks get +10%? cleave and you gain +10%? push strength/range per nearby ally (thinking maybe base FK aura range or a touch bigger). Should still apply to downed allies.
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Spiked Shield: pushing causes light damage. Charged shield attacks cause light armour piercing damage.
Eagle eyed (Ranged): the special attack button automatically tags the nearest special. Maybe with a 10 second cool down if too powerful.
Death stare: Elites that you tag take 10% more melee damage from your melee strikes.
Call 'em out: An aggroed elite that you tag will focus all attacks on you. Aggro lasts 5 seconds and can’t be reapplied to the same elite.
Take their eyes: You cause 25% more melee headshot damage to an elite you tag.
Thirsty for vengeance: Each elite you kill with a melee attack grants 5% ult cool down.
Special slayer (Ranged): killing a special with a ranged weapon grants 5% ult cool down.
Devastating shot (Ranged): tagging a special allows an additional arrow/bullet with your next ranged attack made within 10 seconds (like waystalker bloodshot). Purpose - to allow weak ranged weapons to 1 shot specials.
Slow and steady: melee weapon can no longer cause critical strikes but damage is increased by 15%.
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I don’t think the name fits the description :P. Though, coordinated strike makes for some interesting ideas which however in reality are so easy to use that it is overpowered or so hard to use that it will not be chosen. Something like
Coordinated Strike
Two players hitting an enemy weakspot within a timeframe of 0.5 s with a charged attack, it will kill this enemy (Chaos Warriors) or stagger it (bosses).
Both players would need the trait. But due to the low health of the enemies it would realistically only be beneficial for stagger locking bosses.
Wildering in WHC’s area of expertise? Does Eagle Eyed jump the screen to center the Special (like an aimbot) or is it really just marking them for visibility? The second one could be interesting if it just within viewing direction.
Also, I actually like Call 'em out. As this is an unique trait and makes some interesting plays to save or help allies. Or to get enemies coming towards you for circle farming.
Part of the others is for my taste to powerful.
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None of these ideas were well thought out. I was just brainstorming. Balancing is Fatshark’s responsibility.
For any new traits to be competitive with Swiftslaying they are going to have to be powerful - it’s hard to beat +20% attack speed. Rather than giving weapons traits that pretty much boost its behaviour in all/many melee contexts (increased stagger, elite killing…etc). I though it would be good to tie the benefit to tagging as this limits the number and type of targets that are affected (e.g., Take Your Eyes only affects elites not hordes and you can’t simultaneously affect all members of a patrol). I also like tagging as it keeps the player a bit more involved in combat and you have to make decisions about which threats to tag in which order. I think it makes combat a bit more engaging.
I think Eagle Eyed should just tag the nearest special in your field of vision and not be an aimbot. I could see it being useful on ranged careers that already have good ammo regen (Hunstman, Waystalker, RV) that don’t need Conservative Shooter or Scrounger. It’d make those ranged careers even stronger.
Similarly, Slow and Steady (no crit but 15% damage increase) would be most useful on careers that don’t need Swiftslaying because they have access to attack speed buffs through talents (FK, Slayer, Zealot, HM). It would also be useful on dual dagger or dagger builds that don’t rely on crits.
Special Slayer and Thirsty for Vengance are just re-works of Resourceful Sharpshooter/Combatant - Spamming for crits is brainless and tying cooldown to elites/specials limits the cooldown more logically than the current 4 sec rule.
Death Stare is just a weak, personalized, melee-only version of Witch Hunt. Take their Eyes is a slightly stronger version that requires finesse and a headshot weapon to use effectively.
Call 'Em Out is a weak version of the IB ult. It should only work on already aggroed enemies so players with their melee weapons equipped can still tag passive elites without pulling them. It can’t be reapplied because it would just be abused. Its intent is to give you party members a little breathing room. I kinda saw it being used by FK+shield or IB players mostly, to really lean into their tank roles.
I just tried to think of traits that are consistent with mechanics that are already in the game but won’t oushine some of the class talents/passives. Completely original traits might be fun but I’m sure the consequences on balance will be a lot harder to predict.
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