Let me first take some time away from the titular subject to lay down a few fundamental “Points of Interest”:
1.) I’m making a skill suggestion that is relevant only to the skill itself.
2.) This is not a thread for the [Build “A”] vs. [Build “B”] crowd.
3.) This is not a thread for the [Class “A”] vs. [Class “B”] crowd.
4.) Trolls, and non-trolls acting childishly or detracting from discussion relevant to the suggestion, how it could be implemented, what considerations it might require, or further well-mannered brainstorming will be promptly ignored without reply.
Now, regarding the skill: Arc Lightning (scepter), as it stands, is a very weak auto-attack with fairly mediocre #2 and #3 skills. Combined with different offhands, the scepter’s air attunement can have some utility here and there in very, very context-specific situations. However, in spite of this utility, air-scepter remains ultimately weak in comparison to other weapons and other attunements (or even its own attunement in many cases).
Arc Lightning currently “charges up” meaning the damage begins to progressively increase as you channel the skill, increasing incrementally in damage-ticks of three, with the final three ticks delivering about-average (compared to other weapon choices) damage. The channeling nature of the skill makes it extremely susceptible to interruption, which is problematic given that most air-based skills are movement-based, allowing for greater maneuverability instead of damage, meaning that damaging air skills are few in number, and generally weak. This, combined with the low damage-output of Arc Lightning even when compared to other air attunement attacks, makes Arc Lightning sub-par as an attack, which is crippling when air attunement already suffers from lower damage output, and one of the three air-scepter skills does no damage whatsoever, and the other is only an average (albeit reasonably fast-recharge) damage spike.
One simple alteration to Arc Lightning, which would befit the skill’s title and animation, would be to slightly alter the animation to have secondary arcs of lightning arc to foes in a cone-of-effect, making the skill an area-of effect attack, allowing the scepter a little more versatility in being able to harass groups with mediocre damage, whilst spiking single targets during the damage harassment.
Little, if any additional changes would be necessary, given the skill’s already low damage output, and the skill (and air-scepter as a choice) would be given more versatility/viability. As it stands, air scepter is significantly underpowered and very few players even bother with it, excluding niche build-makers having fun trying out new ideas whether or not they’re practical.
Given that staves are typically the more AoE-focused weapons for casters, “Chain Lightning” (staff air-attunement auto-attack) could receive a similar slight alteration to keep its role secure: Increase Chain Lightning’s target-bouncing range (i.e. the skill’s 1200 range stays the same, meaning the player can only initiate combat on targets within that range, but “bounced” lightning bolts can travel beyond that range, provided enemies are clustered close enough) and number of targets from 3 to 5, potentially lowering the damage output to compensate.
I think these slight alterations would make these two skills feel more appropriate to their names, with Arc Lightning being the prime skill that needs attention. These are just some initial brainstorm suggestions, and damage-value tweaking, balance considerations, etc. are the realm of the development team handling such matters.
Hope this gets some Anet attention, maybe a response from a developer?
Until then, game on and have fun everyone.
Cheers!
