Work In Progress: Earth Balance

Iron Shield for the win. At least SOMETHING metal.

Save Ferris.




Ferris, the big acrobat iron golem.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golem
^Please read^^^^

I saying the same thing about rumble crush mostly cause I love the look of the giant rock makes you look like a super hero like superman the hulk etc ... This is how id love the power to be for its pi set up I believe bane automatically throws the rock in his legrnds load out ..... Striking stones however is the more ideal "crushed" pi set up as you're literally crushing targets between two rocks..... If the keep the cast time lengthy then make it a 60% dog mod if the quicken the cast time make it 50% and spa!marble let it do heavy burst damage

Something else I've been thinking about is if they combine crystal and brick a nice dps move would be a "bomb" type power singularity gravity bomb electrostatic bomb something along those lines .... They can make it hit multiple adds and adds that are crushed should take 3 extra ticks of damage over time ... It could be a rock bomb or something

Personally, I only would like to see a few things for Earth. Biggest one for me is a way to interact with encasements, especially for the Geokinesis tree. The reason for this is because most encasements also apply crushing interactions yet no Earth power is able to break an encasement without the help of his teammates. If left alone, by the time the encased opponent breaks free, the crushing interaction would have expired. An ability (thinking Striking Stones) that breaks the encasement first and then interact with the crushing interaction would be godsend.

Bug fixes for Rumblecrush, supposing it remains in game. Currently, Rumblecrush incorrectly splits damage when objects are around, even if there is only one possible target in the area. The throw mechanics are also wonky (doesn't always seem to throw straight towards the intended target) although this is more of a general issue than an isolated issue. A possible reason for this is that when throwing towards a target, the projectile appears lower than usual, thus hitting the ground right before the target. I need to jump or fly to hit the target directly.

Tectonic Break is way too expensive for a power that deals the same damage as Stone and as big a range as Jackhammer. Compare the following: Resonating Gale has the same cost and damage but is ranged and does not split; Mass Terror uses a little more power but has three DoTs to make up for it and is ranged.

Epicenter is almost an identical copy of Backdraft except for one thing: Backdraft has powerful interactions. This makes Backdraft superior in everyway, especially in Damage role, where not can it only heal the user but deal extra damage to burning targets as well. Epicenter's current state is that it's basically Backdraft without the interactions.

All else, I'm leaving to your capable hands. I'll be waiting for the day the changes come to the test server (if ever).

Just a comment for anyone that wants Epicenter to get aftershock to think about.

You can't have Epicenter aftershocks with the same cooldown it has now for obvious balance reasons. Do you really want your pull to have a longer cooldown so that you can't group adds as they spawn?

Some of the things I would love to see are

Rumble Crush should be one animation and should apply both dazed/crushed PI if you stick with two PI's
Unstoppable has to have the cool time lowered to the point where you can cast it again when the PI goes down and must be able to get me off the ground when I'm countered. And it doesnt need to do dmg, should just be a way to apply PI and be a true break out move. Oh and knock down is a must.
Aftershocks power cost reduced
Jackhammer should split a little less or do more dmg and should not be block countered in tank form.
Shards needs more dmg and shouldn't move me closer to the enemy, just have a longer range
Reinforce get rid of those dumb rock hands. Doesn't have to have an effect because you can see the boost under the life bar and you know to recast it when its ready to activate in your loadout. Should be a buff for dps role and a nice sefl heal for tank role
Striking Stones the animation time needs to be reduced, do some more dmg
Tectonic break should have reduced power cost
Upheaval should have reduced animation time and more dmg

I like the idea of one PI so that there are a lot of ways you can play your earth character and people can pick wich power they like rather picking a power because its needed to be a good dps but looks really ugly or doesnt fit the character. And some powers should be moved arround so that you dont have to spend power points on something you dont need to get a power.

this is true. i think a lot of people just want another option to aftershock tank. for me, this power is always in my loadout, thats why i chose it. but your point makes sense.

Idea for Rumblecrush: Bigger, cooler version of Brawling's hold range attack. Stomp animation -> Large boulder comes out of ground and hovers briefly in front of caster -> Hand Blaster's hold range animation (arms back then arms forward) for the "push" -> boulder gets launched at target whereupon it shatters, causing an AoE burst of damage and crushing to all nearby enemies.

Does it count as a new visual if it uses animations and objects already in the game?

Also, Totem should be a large shard of crystal. It would make marginally more sense for a crystal to heal our pets than a big rock spike. I'm also not opposed to summoning it under our target rather than right in front of us.

Well for one, anytime I see the word Golem, especially if it is implying a tank pet, that it should be a big *** Ben Grimm size behemoth, not some floating pile of stone. Earth, to me, also implies the use of the ground itself to do damage, not rely on flying rocks...which itself is silly. Stone pets should at the very least walk on the ground, not fly. Again, its just my opinion, but it looks silly and doesnt fit, and that is why I dont play Earth. For those that like it, rock on.

I have some ideas on how to change this power...

1) Make Reinforce and Damage Shift one power where, when you cast this power, player gets a bonus to Crit. Strike Chance and Precision and damage is shifted to a pet. While in Tank Role, protect the group member with the lowest health by transfering their damage to the player and get a +10 % Control Resistance.

2) Eliminate the power cost of Jack Hammer after the initial cost, and make it a 8 hit combo.

3) Have both Pets unlocked with one power point, but unable to be used at the same time.

4) Have a New Power "Mountain Side" where the Player Stomps the ground and creates a protective wall of earth that shields everyone behind the wall. Make this a combo where if the player Holds Range Attack afterwards, he punches the wall and sends it flying at the targeted foe, damaging everything in it's path. PI: Crushes enemies, making them vulnerable to crushing effects.

5) Tranform into a Golem, a 50 % Super Charge having all the all the Earth Powers available, and able to use both pets at the same time. A new weapon combo and renders you immune to most control effects. Melee attacks cause Crushing.

6) Epicenter shoud have aftershocks and should cause additional damage to enemies that are dazed.

7) Change the Animation for Localized Tremor to the animation used for Wither and make it an area range attack.

I like Rumble Crush... It fits my character nicely !

Earth's problems run a little deeper than we seem to think.
All trolls can set up Crushing PI through encasements, but trolls running with encasements have become rarer over time.
While Mental and Gadgets trolls set up PI for fire, ice, and electric as a matter of regular debuffing and/or pet turret, can we really expect a blue bar healer (the current but not ideal arrangement for trollers) to take the time to perform a few Mass Levitations? Probably not.

To be viable, Earth needs a more accessible (less costly power point wise) way to set up a multi-target PI. One would think that if the animation for Striking Stones were real, all adds/bosses in the area of the striking stones would be dazed.

Rumblecrush is the worst power/move in the game. Eliminate it or fix it…Maybe swap it with totem to get the crushing group PI going?

Maybe Upheavel and its 3 Aftershocks could start benefitting from the Home Turf Empowered Channeling mod? You are after all locked in place while throwing it...

Earth may never be the highest scoring DPS, but it really is the most fun to play with. Earth never had it's pre-nerf heyday as all of the other FOTM DLC powers had. I'm good with that, but please make it more viable.

I understand your and others' desire for Brick/Crystal to look more golem-y, but the size some are requesting just isn't feasible. A while back some people were suggesting Brick be the size of John Constantine's golem in Ruined Cathedral Duo which (while badass) is way too big for this game to handle. Plus I'd imagine a pet that size would cause plenty of line of sight and mobility problems.

Yeah Epicenter needs to do something. Backdraft (when enemies are on fire) pulls, pops up, and heals. Rage's Without Mercy works exactly like Fire's Backdraft (no pi required though, and healing based on damage instead of resto/dom). There's this animation I've seen a few times but cannot remember the exactly what caused it where either we or npcs "wobble" for a bit, like trying to catch our balance while remaining on our feet. I feel having Epicenter "wobble" enemies would be enough, as cooldown, power cost, and range are all excellent.

Very valid point. The only other power in Seismic tree that could have an aftershock without changing cooldown at all would be Unstoppable, which I wouldn't mind having an aftershock mechanic added if a usable while countered breakout was added to Geokinesis tree. For other Seismic powers to have aftershocks added cooldowns would have to be altered.

Time to grind gear on my old earth dps! >:3

I'm really excited about this change. Personally, any change is a good change to Earth. This gives me and others a chance at giving it another shot, I look forward to it.

I Love earth for tanking but needs a little improvement on the pet side , while on the other hand Dps wise, it needs a ton of help

i agree and have u even tried earth to say that it needs to be fixed its childs play to tlk about animations if they took the flying away then the golems would be able to fight certain bosses debris field makes perfect since concidering the fact that it looks like a miniature tornado is spinning stones but i do see ur point.

metal should be its own power

I'm not asking for a space mutant- sized golem. I'm suggesting a Clayface-sized golem. It's doable, feasible, and more appropriate. Otherwise, they're just a couple of fairies.