Guild Wars 2

Hey guys, I recently had a nice discussion with GoogleBrandon over in another thread about how to improve the Blood Magic line and the discussion lead to a few ideas;

-Barbed Aura; (Adept Minor Trait) When you are hit, you have a chance to cause bleeding.

-Strenght from the Shroud; (Replaces Deathly Invigoration) For the first 3 seconds you’re in deathshroud, the Life force you lose is given to you as health. 30s cooldown

-Lifebane Strike; (Replaces Vampiric Precision) Life Blast steals health equal to it’s damage. 10s cooldown

- New Grandmaster; Awaken the Blood; Your bleeds deal 20% more damage.

-Order of Pain;(Replaces Dagger Mastery) Enemies affected by Tainted Shackles take 10% extra damage from allies.

-Demonic Claws; (Replaces Quickening Thirst) Your Axe skills now also deal damage to enemies within a 180 radius of your target. Max 3 targets.

-Spoil Victor;(Grand Master Minor Trait) Do additional damage the lower your health is.
Below 90% do 5% more damage
Below 75% do 10% more damage
Below 50% do 15% more damage
Below 25% do 20% more damage

-Blood of the Aggressor; (Replaces Ritual of Life) When you lose more than 10% of your health from one skill Steal health from that foe and apply weakness (5s). 10s cooldown

-Vampiric Swarm; (Replaces Bloodthirst) Locust Swarm also steals health and has a larger radius. Radius increase to 180. Gain Locust Swarm at 25% health.

Bring Sexy back; Replace all your traits with good traits Make up for all the things you lack.

Let me know what you guys think. We also go on to talk about Sustain in death shroud and what it could mean for the Necro but you can go and read that whole discussion if you’re interested.

I wouldnt say that is improving the bloodmagic line that is completly reworking it.

And i am not sure if it would be for the better…

Muchacho.2390:

I wouldnt say that is improving the bloodmagic line that is completly reworking it.

And i am not sure if it would be for the better…

In that case, what would you change or modify?

Dirame.8521:

Muchacho.2390:

I wouldnt say that is improving the bloodmagic line that is completly reworking it.

And i am not sure if it would be for the better…

In that case, what would you change or modify?

Step 1: Make siphons and Regeneration boon (add Parasitic Bond and Parasitic Contagion, too) heal the Necromancer while in death shroud.

Step 2: Re-evaluate from there for additional changes.

The primary reason the Blood Magic line sucks is because it’s in conflict with our profession mechanic. Remove that conflict and it can actually be balanced properly.

Drarnor Kunoram.5180:

Dirame.8521:

Muchacho.2390:

I wouldnt say that is improving the bloodmagic line that is completly reworking it.

And i am not sure if it would be for the better…

In that case, what would you change or modify?

Step 1: Make siphons and Regeneration boon (add Parasitic Bond and Parasitic Contagion, too) heal the Necromancer while in death shroud.

Step 2: Re-evaluate from there for additional changes.

The primary reason the Blood Magic line sucks is because it’s in conflict with our profession mechanic. Remove that conflict and it can actually be balanced properly.

This would be a good start and maybe even enough.

…I’m not sure what the problem is.

I don’t mean that to mean “there’s nothing wrong with blood, what are you talking about”, because there definitely are problems with blood magic. But what are the problems with blood magic? As far as I can tell, there are three common complaints about blood magic:

1. The traits aren’t particularly good.
Yeah fair enough. It could get some of the dud traits removed; it has something like 5 or 6 of them. Bloodthirst, the two dagger traits, Vampiric Wells, Vampiric Precision. Fairly easy to start fixing; squeeze some of these crappy traits together.

2. Lifedrains aren’t particularly strong.
I’m kinda ehhhh on this? Maybe if we had more than a grand total of one lifedrain weapon skill, we might have a fairer point of comparison. Well, two; our best weapon (spear) has Vampiric Swarm.

3. Regen and leeches directly counteract our class mechanic.
Yeah true. Maybe put in some stuff that makes Death Shroud suck less to use. I dunno about leeches through Death Shroud, but regen through death shroud should be doable.

My actual suggestions to toss into the ring:

Vampiric Rituals and Ritual Mastery combined to form:
Vampiric Rituals (Blood Master Major):
Your wells will now drain life from enemies within them, and have a shorter cooldown.

New GM trait:
Order of the Vampire (Blood Grandmaster Major):
Whenever your lifedraining effects benefit you, you also grant the healing to nearby allies.

These aren’t particularly better, or remotely balanced. Especially gaining significant damage as you go lower, because that procs while in DS, meaning if I waited till I hit sub 10% HP, I can life blast you for 10k+, which will then steal 10k HP.

Also bleeds have nothing to do with BM.

Bhawb.7408:

These aren’t particularly better, or remotely balanced. Especially gaining significant damage as you go lower, because that procs while in DS, meaning if I waited till I hit sub 10% HP, I can life blast you for 10k+, which will then steal 10k HP.
.

You should note that anything that sounds crazy and with the “MUHAHAHA!” exclamation is a joke.

Also don’t you see how awesome that combo you just thought of is? I know these ideas need work but man, just think of the possibilities if some of them were real.

Bhawb.7408:

Also bleeds have nothing to do with BM

If theme dictated where Anet puts things, then you’d have a point.

Sign me up!! I’m almost dead 4x lifeblasts and I am full health. Stuff that in your Healing Signet and smoke it warriors!!!

I’ve edited the OP to make it less jokey so people aren’t confused as to what I’m aiming for.

Life siphons working in death shroud could really have great synergy with the new unholy sanctuary. Too bad they didn’t do that. Could allow necros to trait defensively and not be terrible at it.

Dirame.8521:

Hey guys, I recently had a nice discussion with GoogleBrandon over in another thread about how to improve the Blood Magic line and the discussion lead to a few ideas;

-Barbed Aura; (Adept Minor Trait) When you are hit, you have a chance to cause bleeding.

-Strenght from the Shroud; (Replaces Deathly Invigoration) For the first 3 seconds you’re in deathshroud, the Life force you lose is given to you as health. 30s cooldown

-Lifebane Strike; (Replaces Vampiric Precision) Life Blast steals health equal to it’s damage. 10s cooldown

- New Grandmaster; Awaken the Blood; Your bleeds deal 20% more damage.

-Order of Pain;(Replaces Dagger Mastery) Enemies affected by Tainted Shackles take 10% extra damage from allies.

-Demonic Claws; (Replaces Quickening Thirst) Your Axe skills now also deal damage to enemies within a 180 radius of your target. Max 3 targets.

-Spoil Victor;(Grand Master Minor Trait) Do additional damage the lower your health is.
Below 90% do 5% more damage
Below 75% do 10% more damage
Below 50% do 15% more damage
Below 25% do 20% more damage

-Blood of the Aggressor; (Replaces Ritual of Life) When you lose more than 10% of your health from one skill Steal health from that foe and apply weakness (5s). 10s cooldown

-Vampiric Swarm; (Replaces Bloodthirst) Locust Swarm also steals health and has a larger radius. Radius increase to 180. Gain Locust Swarm at 25% health.

Bring Sexy back; Replace all your traits with good traits Make up for all the things you lack.

Let me know what you guys think. We also go on to talk about Sustain in death shroud and what it could mean for the Necro but you can go and read that whole discussion if you’re interested.

Some nice ideas, though I think a few of them could be a bit over the top in terms of power.

In particular Lifebane Strike (maybe make it a constant, but at a much lower , say 5-10), Strength from the Shroud (would be far too powerful vs multiple enemies), Order of Pain (make it a few stacks of vulnerability)& locust Swarm (make it a % based, say 40-50%) could be toned down a bit.

Good ideas though & love the idea of a more vampiric necro.

Ragnar the Rock.3174:

Strength from the Shroud (would be far too powerful vs multiple enemies),

You could cap the healing at 2 to 5k or 15% of your maximum health.

Ragnar the Rock.3174:

Order of Pain (make it a few stacks of vulnerability)

I actually have to disagree with you turning a damage modifier as situational as this into Vulnerability… Almost all the Hexes from GW1 that were meant to be damage modifiers have been unified into this one condition called Vulnerability, and this has cause a really dumbed down version of combat…
In PvE it is really easy to cap, and in PvP it is cleansed amongst all the other conditions… Reasons why Frost Spirit, Banner of Discipline, Spotter etc. etc. all work is because the party benefits from these “buffs” without them being a boon or a condition – they can be counted upon, and used in combat at a specific time (If combat wasn’t so dull in PvE)…
Applying Vulnerability is literally, fire and forget… There is no thought behind it, no need for communication (to burst) and no additional reason to take a Necromancer over another class… Many times have I meantioned both Mark of Pain and Barbs and with a good reason… These were class specific buffs which did not stand in the way of other Hexes (Though there weren’t many, if not any which did), and thus were excelent skills to take along with – The combinations and sheer team support with proper communication was endless, unlike Vulnerability, which again, is capped really easily…

In PvP it would even be more interesting – only in a short time-span does your team do a set amount of damage more, you could think of cleaving bodies when somebody resses, or simply trying to get that extra oomph to take down that bunker setup from the enemy – unlike applying Vulnerability which gets cleansed by the many other conditions in the game (Save from a Shatter Mesmer since he will have the burst to take advantage of the Vulnerability he applies)

Combat can use more skills like these, where an act makes you focus, where you need to communicate with the team to take the fullest advantage from it

On a said “Blood Necromancer”, a tank of some sorts, would be really interesting to pick within the team this way – a class that does not per se do a lot of damage, doesn’t give many boons, but keeps himself alive while constantly debuffing the enemy with actual dangerous debuffs…

GoogleBrandon.5073:

I actually have to disagree with you turning a damage modifier as situational as this into Vulnerability… Almost all the Hexes from GW1 that were meant to be damage modifiers have been unified into this one condition called Vulnerability, and this has cause a really dumbed down version of combat…

It might seem like it’s ‘dumbing down’ the combat but introducing elements which are functionally identical to systems existing in the game which are unrelated to them is a fast way to end up with a rules disaster.

Sarrs.4831:

GoogleBrandon.5073:

I actually have to disagree with you turning a damage modifier as situational as this into Vulnerability… Almost all the Hexes from GW1 that were meant to be damage modifiers have been unified into this one condition called Vulnerability, and this has cause a really dumbed down version of combat…

It might seem like it’s ‘dumbing down’ the combat but introducing elements which are functionally identical to systems existing in the game which are unrelated to them is a fast way to end up with a rules disaster.

If I was to interpret what you’re saying, it would come off as this; “Every skill that is functionally identical to Vulnerability existing in the game should be removed because it’s leading to disaster”.

I know quite a few people who wouldn’t agree.

On top of that, let’s take a look at Tainted Shackles shall we;
40s CD, 4s durations 600 range and applies immob and torment. If that boosted your direct damage by 10% it would do it in a short and very clutch period of time.

Dirame.8521:

Sarrs.4831:

GoogleBrandon.5073:

I actually have to disagree with you turning a damage modifier as situational as this into Vulnerability… Almost all the Hexes from GW1 that were meant to be damage modifiers have been unified into this one condition called Vulnerability, and this has cause a really dumbed down version of combat…

It might seem like it’s ‘dumbing down’ the combat but introducing elements which are functionally identical to systems existing in the game which are unrelated to them is a fast way to end up with a rules disaster.

If I was to interpret what you’re saying, it would come off as this; “Every skill that is functionally identical to Vulnerability existing in the game should be removed because it’s leading to disaster”.

I know quite a few people who wouldn’t agree.

On top of that, let’s take a look at Tainted Shackles shall we;
40s CD, 4s durations 600 range and applies immob and torment. If that boosted your direct damage by 10% it would do it in a short and very clutch period of time.

I dunno, what I took out of it was that this is not GW1 so please stop forcing GW! rules upon those of us who play it.

I can assure you, I can apply some “rules” from GW1 that would totally break each profession and such the fun right out of it. Trying to hamfist every thing you like out of an old game with a different design philosophy and combat in a new game is a bad idea. I mean your comparing two entirely different professions for goodness sake.

dancingmonkey.4902:

Dirame.8521:

Sarrs.4831:

GoogleBrandon.5073:

I actually have to disagree with you turning a damage modifier as situational as this into Vulnerability… Almost all the Hexes from GW1 that were meant to be damage modifiers have been unified into this one condition called Vulnerability, and this has cause a really dumbed down version of combat…

It might seem like it’s ‘dumbing down’ the combat but introducing elements which are functionally identical to systems existing in the game which are unrelated to them is a fast way to end up with a rules disaster.

If I was to interpret what you’re saying, it would come off as this; “Every skill that is functionally identical to Vulnerability existing in the game should be removed because it’s leading to disaster”.

I know quite a few people who wouldn’t agree.

On top of that, let’s take a look at Tainted Shackles shall we;
40s CD, 4s durations 600 range and applies immob and torment. If that boosted your direct damage by 10% it would do it in a short and very clutch period of time.

I dunno, what I took out of it was that this is not GW1 so please stop forcing GW! rules upon those of us who play it.

I can assure you, I can apply some “rules” from GW1 that would totally break each profession and such the fun right out of it. Trying to hamfist every thing you like out of an old game with a different design philosophy and combat in a new game is a bad idea. I mean your comparing two entirely different professions for goodness sake.

If you can make a good case for why these don’t work then I’d be very inclined to listen. If all you’re going to do is tell me I’m wrong, then you might as well not have said anything.

Many of the ideas I’ve listed above have quite similar abilities on other classes (Strenght of the Shroud, pretty much Defiant Stance) but they’ve only been given a Necro theme.

I’m pretty good at evaluating myself but if you can tell me why any or all of these won’t work, I’ll be very happy to listen.

The blood magic line is actually really strong. It’s just that it doesn’t fit within the normal mentality of GW2 players so they fail to grasp how to build around it. Lifesteal doubles as both an armor-penetrating DPS boost and a sustain mechanic. It benefits from both healing power and attack power. Even a slight bump in modifiers has the potential to make it completely broken.

The major problem is that you cannot regen health through lifesteal traits while in DS. So when you go into DS, your entire trait line becomes useless. If Anet were to fix this and allow lifesteal to work in DS, blood magic would be a more desirable trait line.

dancingmonkey.4902:

I dunno, what I took out of it was that this is not GW1 so please stop forcing GW! rules upon those of us who play it.

I can assure you, I can apply some “rules” from GW1 that would totally break each profession and such the fun right out of it. Trying to hamfist every thing you like out of an old game with a different design philosophy and combat in a new game is a bad idea. I mean your comparing two entirely different professions for goodness sake.

Mind you, just because we mentioned “GW1” or skills from it, does not make us scream “this is so much better, so do it like this”…

Dirame aimed at making a unique buff to Necromancers to enhance the party’s DPS, this is something that is already within the game and does not translate in boons or debuffs… We think of Frost Spirit , Banner of Discipline , Banner of Strength etc.
Even traits such as Spotter and Empower Allies do roughly what we aim for with a Necromancer Trait… It is even tied to a 40s cooldown skill, making it nowhere still not as impactful as many of these other utilities and traits…
And the best part is, these skills are within this game, not talking about GW1 even…

So my question, why should these classes carry around something that enhances the DPS of a party that is not tied to a Boon or Condition, but Necromancers should not, while it thematically fits them looking back at GW1?

Dirame.8521:

If I was to interpret what you’re saying, it would come off as this; “Every skill that is functionally identical to Vulnerability existing in the game should be removed because it’s leading to disaster”.

And how many effects which are functionally identical to Vulnerability exist in the game? I’m not inclined to say any; at least, any which are available to players.

There are really good reason why boons and conditions are consolidated systems in the game; it makes the game simpler to read and makes condition removal less of an arcane art. As I understand, it’s a problem they expressly wanted to avoid because of their experiences in GW1.

GoogleBrandon.5073:

So my question, why should these classes carry around something that enhances the DPS of a party that is not tied to a Boon or Condition, but Necromancers should not, while it thematically fits them looking back at GW1?

For starters, that’s not the issue I raised.
Things which aren’t boons and conditions are fine, but they shouldn’t be completely identical to things which are covered by boons and conditions already in the game.

Sarrs.4831:

And how many effects which are functionally identical to Vulnerability exist in the game? I’m not inclined to say any; at least, any which are available to players.

This just sounds like a whole load of cop out to me.

Sarrs.4831:

There are really good reason why boons and conditions are consolidated systems in the game; it makes the game simpler to read and makes condition removal less of an arcane art. As I understand, it’s a problem they expressly wanted to avoid because of their experiences in GW1.

I understand that but this hasn’t stopped Anet from putting in; Rejuvenation, Tainted shackles (This skill is new in case you don’t remember), Stabilized Armour, Backpack regenerator, Unholy Sanctuary, Super Elixir. All functionally similar to something else.

And as Brandon has said, the trait is even using an existing skill. At this point it just sounds like you’re being pedantic.

Dirame.8521:

This just sounds like a whole load of cop out to me.

This sounds like a non-answer.

There is no player debuff which is applied which functions like Vulnerability.

Dirame.8521:

I understand that but this hasn’t stopped Anet from putting in; Rejuvenation, Tainted shackles (This skill is new in case you don’t remember), Stabilized Armour, Backpack regenerator, Unholy Sanctuary, Super Elixir. All functionally similar to something else.

I did not say ‘similar’. I said ‘identical’.

Sarrs.4831:

This sounds like a non-answer.

Didn’t feel listing skills twice.

There is no player debuff which is applied which functions like Vulnerability.

I’ll give you that but, this doesn’t mean every other trait, skill or debuff that gives you a damage boost should be scrapped from the game does it?

Sarrs.4831:

I did not say ‘similar’. I said ‘identical’.

How is Rejuvenation and Unholy Sanctuary not identical to Regeneration? Each of them regenerates health at the same rate as regen does but just have caveats that are exactly the same as my idea for Tainted Shackles, it only functions for 4s whilst TS is up.

Dirame.8521:

I’ll give you that but, this doesn’t mean every other trait, skill or debuff that gives you a damage boost should be scrapped from the game does it?

No, it doesn’t mean that.

Dirame.8521:

How is Rejuvenation and Unholy Sanctuary not identical to Regeneration? Each of them regenerates health at the same rate as regen does but just have caveats that are exactly the same as my idea for Tainted Shackles, it only functions for 4s whilst TS is up.

For starters, Rejuvenation restores a different value from Regeneration, and Regeneration doesn’t work while in Death Shroud while Unholy Sanctuary does.

Your idea doesn’t really have any caveats. It’d be functionally identical to “Apply 10/4s stacks of vulnerability to enemies hit by the initial strike of Tainted Shackles”- And this implementation would be far better because it interacts with every other system revolving around conditions in the game.

Sarrs.4831:

Dirame.8521:

I’ll give you that but, this doesn’t mean every other trait, skill or debuff that gives you a damage boost should be scrapped from the game does it?

No, it doesn’t mean that.

Dirame.8521:

How is Rejuvenation and Unholy Sanctuary not identical to Regeneration? Each of them regenerates health at the same rate as regen does but just have caveats that are exactly the same as my idea for Tainted Shackles, it only functions for 4s whilst TS is up.

For starters, Rejuvenation restores a different value from Regeneration, and Regeneration doesn’t work while in Death Shroud while Unholy Sanctuary does.

Your idea doesn’t really have any caveats. It’d be functionally identical to “Apply 10/4s stacks of vulnerability to enemies hit by the initial strike of Tainted Shackles”- And this implementation would be far better because it interacts with every other system revolving around conditions in the game.

I really don’t care how it’s implemented, I’m just wondering why you think because Vulnerability exists we always have to have it as the end all be all damage booster for the group.

The reality is, it isn’t and I don’t think it should be the only thing that can act as a debuff for damage boosting. Then again, that’s just my opinion.

I, for one, would love something like Order of Pain to be back in the game; although we already have Ranger Frost Spirit for that, as GoogleBrandon has mentioned.

I do think that GoogleBrandon’s point of an implementation of Mark of Pain would be a better implementation of things; especially in teamfights.

Similar to Zilean’s Time Bomb from League of Legends, having a well telegraphed debuff over an enemy’s head that screams “get away from me!” to his allies would really add a new dimension to Necro and add a new combat mechanic that forces enemies to disperse over a marked target; thus isolating it.

It’s something that the Mark design should have been in the first place instead of these zero travel time condi-applying AOE attacks we have on Staff Necro and add that offensive support that Necro doesn’t really get outside of Wells.

A design like:
Order of Pain

• Your Tainted Shackles and Dark Path inflict a unique debuff on foes called Order of Pain for 10 seconds. Each stack of Order of Pain stacks in Intensity.
• Attacks on a Foe marked with Order of Pain cause an AOE pulse of unholy energy centred around that foe. (180 radius, ICD 0.5 seconds) The foe itself does not take damage from Order of Pain, unless another foe in the area is also marked and attacked.
• Having Tainted Shackles thus apply Order of Pain – on up to 5(!) targets could well be a fight turning Wombo Combo; especially when allies cleave to double down on damage.
• I think in this case the damage should be flat without possibility of scaling; yet ignores Toughness and Protection. The damage formula instead would be 100+5 damage per level (500 damage per 0.5 seconds at level 80, per hit which is 1000 DPS without any investments in stats) which is pretty kitten strong for armour piercing damage; yet it can only ever peak at 10000 damage.
• Obviously, doubling down with Tainted Shackles in teamfights would be quite strong. Presuming 2-3 targets, each marked and cleaved every 0.5 seconds, all standing within 180 units of each other, that’s 3000DPS per target for 10 seconds, armour ignoring, peaking at 30000 damage total. If that isn’t enough to body someone (healing excepted) then the targets would have been running away instead.

On a trait, this already sounds strong, as a Dagger wielding Necromancer can Dark Path to a target; with Order of Pain causing the cleave that the Necro so craves; yet in itself not damaging the target any faster. This kind of offensive support that the Necro so lacks may therefore be somewhat reduced by this trait; yet the trade off is that the Necro must enter Melee range, which is a risky proposition. The flat damage ensures that balance can be highly granular, with no possibility of altering durations, or coefficients, or scalings that could throw it out of whack.

MonMalthias.4763:

A design like:
Order of Pain

• Your Tainted Shackles and Dark Path inflict a unique debuff on foes called Order of Pain for 10 seconds. Each stack of Order of Pain stacks in Intensity.
• Attacks on a Foe marked with Order of Pain cause an AOE pulse of unholy energy centred around that foe. (180 radius, ICD 0.5 seconds) The foe itself does not take damage from Order of Pain, unless another foe in the area is also marked and attacked.
• Having Tainted Shackles thus apply Order of Pain – on up to 5(!) targets could well be a fight turning Wombo Combo; especially when allies cleave to double down on damage.
• I think in this case the damage should be flat without possibility of scaling; yet ignores Toughness and Protection. The damage formula instead would be 100+5 damage per level (500 damage per 0.5 seconds at level 80, per hit which is 1000 DPS without any investments in stats) which is pretty kitten strong for armour piercing damage; yet it can only ever peak at 10000 damage.
• Obviously, doubling down with Tainted Shackles in teamfights would be quite strong. Presuming 2-3 targets, each marked and cleaved every 0.5 seconds, all standing within 180 units of each other, that’s 3000DPS per target for 10 seconds, armour ignoring, peaking at 30000 damage total. If that isn’t enough to body someone (healing excepted) then the targets would have been running away instead.

Heh, yea that would escalate really quickly. The idea behind Demonic claws is along the same vein, only I derived it from demonic flesh in GW1 and I think the Axe would do great in PvE if it had an AoE modifier and it would also give the Necro cleave in PvP that has nothing to do with the staff.

I don’t think we should go too exponential with the damage for Necro AoEs though, that cleave would be monstrous otherwise.

Eh, I was just spitballing.

Regardless, Necro really does need something outside of Staff or (next Tuesday) Dagger for cleave (It’s not even a real 3 target cleave!). Tying something to a DS skill like TS or DP makes it relatively agnostic of builds.

The design goal for Necro cleave should ultimately be:

• Moving Necro away from single target focus (and single target survivability, since DS doesn’t scale too well) although a Necro should be able to build exclusively for the 1v1. That’s called build diversity.
• Making DS less anti-synergistic with Siphoning mechanics. I understand its removal was necessary in BWE due to the horrific endless DS siphon tank, but to not re-explore the mechanic at all? In 2 years of the game’s life? That’s a little too conservative.

Drarnor Kunoram.5180:

Dirame.8521:

Muchacho.2390:

I wouldnt say that is improving the bloodmagic line that is completly reworking it.

And i am not sure if it would be for the better…

In that case, what would you change or modify?

Step 1: Make siphons and Regeneration boon (add Parasitic Bond and Parasitic Contagion, too) heal the Necromancer while in death shroud.

Step 2: Re-evaluate from there for additional changes.

The primary reason the Blood Magic line sucks is because it’s in conflict with our profession mechanic. Remove that conflict and it can actually be balanced properly.

Could have not said this better myself. If an entire trait line ignores our main class mechanic, it makes that trait line useless to all but a very few builds (MM). Even if it were to be re-evaluated to the % of healing we are given in and out of DS it could still be a benefit to us.