They are coming soon...

So...Wild Hunters became tanks and can also provoke enemies. Lol? And they can even attack during Damage Reflect, wow.

And it looks like Mechanics became the "thieves" with nullifying damage altogether.
But oh god, Mechanic's Boosters gained the same annoying command as Hayato's upward slash skill.

(I'm confused about this part of Blue Aura HighOnMushrooms, the skill text says that it permanently increases status resist and element resist, but the status resist ect is listed as an active effect, not passive, while the re-distribution of damage and absorbing damage is listed as passive. Shouldn't it be the other way around like the way Blue Aura used to work?)

Whoops I completely botched those stats xD Here's the correct version:
Blue Aura: A blue aura is emitted around you, increasing you and your party members' resistance to statuses and damage absorption. Using the skill again will turn off the Aura, and if you use any other Aura, this Aura will be cancelled. In addition, permanently increase your resistance to statuses and elements, defense, and damage absorption. (max level: 20)

• Level 20: consumes 42 MP per second. Increases your resistance to statuses and elements by 20% and your damage absorption by 15%. There is a cooldown of 3 seconds. Passive effect: 30% resistance to statuses and elements, 100% defense, 20% damage absorption.
  

Battle Mage can use teleport to go up ladders. I'm pineappleing sold.
[video=youtube_share;jPf5Ee3eFDo]http://youtu.be/jPf5Ee3eFDo[/video]

Hellllaaaa~~

I got a level 7x BaM that is going to be waiting for this~!

Did they ever get around to fixing blue aura oneshotting your entire party when someone takes a 1/1 attack?
Making that damage distribution effect a passive Battlemages can't disable sounds fun.

Did they ever get around to fixing blue aura oneshotting your entire party when someone takes a 1/1 attack?
Making that damage distribution effect a passive Battlemages can't disable sounds fun.

Actually from what Max just posted it sounds more like damage distribution has been removed and replaced with damage absorption for the entire party, with the passive bonus only giving the battle mage damage absorption.

Did they ever get around to fixing blue aura oneshotting your entire party when someone takes a 1/1 attack?
Making that damage distribution effect a passive Battlemages can't disable sounds fun.

That bug got fixed ages ago I believe.
As Razmos said though, they replaced the "distribution" mechanic with basic % damage reduction like other jobs.

RIP BKB/SS spam; 9 sec cooldown. Instead of spamming 2 buttons, now we spam 1 :|. I feel they could have done something fun with BKB. Something along the lines of a charge up stack nuke a la Twisted Fate/Kassadin's E perhaps.
The bonus detonation effect on Dark Lightning is a start, but I don't think 650% damage would justify better DPS in most cases unless you do hit & run.

It's nice to see Hypers being set up slightly differently (never really liked how builds all end up cookie cutter). -> BaM skill Hypers apply to 5 skills rather than just 3. WH 170 active Hyper has 2 different attacks depending if you're on or off Jaguar. Wish there were as many Hypers as there are EX/TP skills in DnF, though sole effects per Hyper.

A friend of mine mains BaM, and he gave me his opinion:

"This is deeply flawed.
That's the only word I can use to describe it. It has its good parts, but the bad is so overwhelming, it's just awful.

1) If you want to (speed)cap, you're forced to use an estaff again. You'll only reach fast 4 natively with slow 8 staves. This is a huge dps reduction.
2) inability to stack auras makes most of the auras useless and wasted SP.
3) reduced incentive to party a battlemage because of the no stacking auras and the reduction in benefits to the party. We're already weak, this is just that much more reason to pass us up.
4) extremely reduced training experience. dodge rate is reduced to 15% from 80%. Blood drain is removed and replaced with an aura we cannot stack. BKB has a 9 second cooldown. Teleport range mastery removed, and teleport invincibility removed. All of this combines to make training very difficult, which was one of our only remaining advantages.
5) no new skill animations? Seriously? We're the only class left from preBB days (BaM's skill animations were introduced in pre-BB tespia) that still have our derp-level animations. We look ridiculous, especially when you consider the hitbox of FB is nearly twice as big as the animation image.
6) removal of the 15% max crit damage on battlemaster is more damaging than you think, especially for a class that relies so heavily on crit rate.

Now that I've gotten my griping out of the way, the good:

1) Better teleport and an extra 50% hp from conversion is much appreciated.
2) the reaper system helps give us a better overall theme and adds an interesting mechanic that sets us apart.
3) the change to dark lightning makes it infinitely more useful
4) FB's damage change to 330% is welcomed, considering that's about the same as chain lightning.
5) removing BB and GLA helps us by removing the constant rebuffing issues we have.


Again, this is a deeply DEEPLY flawed "revamp" to a class that's already struggling to keep up. Pretty sure Bishops match or beat our DPS if this is the final version.

Changes need to be made before this goes to the live servers. If you're a KMS player, I beg you to raise hell over this. They've listened to concerns over battlemages in the past."

A friend of mine mains BaM, and he gave me his opinion:

"This is deeply flawed.
That's the only word I can use to describe it. It has its good parts, but the bad is so overwhelming, it's just awful.

1) If you want to (speed)cap, you're forced to use an estaff again. You'll only reach fast 4 natively with slow 8 staves. This is a huge dps reduction.
2) inability to stack auras makes most of the auras useless and wasted SP.
3) reduced incentive to party a battlemage because of the no stacking auras and the reduction in benefits to the party. We're already weak, this is just that much more reason to pass us up.
4) extremely reduced training experience. dodge rate is reduced to 15% from 80%. Blood drain is removed and replaced with an aura we cannot stack. BKB has a 9 second cooldown. Teleport range mastery removed, and teleport invincibility removed. All of this combines to make training very difficult, which was one of our only remaining advantages.
5) no new skill animations? Seriously? We're the only class left from preBB days (BaM's skill animations were introduced in pre-BB tespia) that still have our derp-level animations. We look ridiculous, especially when you consider the hitbox of FB is nearly twice as big as the animation image.
6) removal of the 15% max crit damage on battlemaster is more damaging than you think, especially for a class that relies so heavily on crit rate.

Now that I've gotten my griping out of the way, the good:

1) Better teleport and an extra 50% hp from conversion is much appreciated.
2) the reaper system helps give us a better overall theme and adds an interesting mechanic that sets us apart.
3) the change to dark lightning makes it infinitely more useful
4) FB's damage change to 330% is welcomed, considering that's about the same as chain lightning.
5) removing BB and GLA helps us by removing the constant rebuffing issues we have.


Again, this is a deeply DEEPLY flawed "revamp" to a class that's already struggling to keep up. Pretty sure Bishops match or beat our DPS if this is the final version.

Changes need to be made before this goes to the live servers. If you're a KMS player, I beg you to raise hell over this. They've listened to concerns over battlemages in the past."

Thanks, Dev.

Anyway, yeah. I have just a tad more to add now that Max updated some more descriptions.
The extra status resist from blue aura is much appreciate, considering we had so little. The removal of the weird damage splitting is nice, too, and replaced with a solid % damage reduction.

Overall, I'm really dissatisfied with KMS's handling of this revamp.

A friend of mine mains BaM, and he gave me his opinion:

"This is deeply flawed.
That's the only word I can use to describe it. It has its good parts, but the bad is so overwhelming, it's just awful.

1) If you want to (speed)cap, you're forced to use an estaff again. You'll only reach fast 4 natively with slow 8 staves. This is a huge dps reduction.
2) inability to stack auras makes most of the auras useless and wasted SP.
3) reduced incentive to party a battlemage because of the no stacking auras and the reduction in benefits to the party. We're already weak, this is just that much more reason to pass us up.
4) extremely reduced training experience. dodge rate is reduced to 15% from 80%. Blood drain is removed and replaced with an aura we cannot stack. BKB has a 9 second cooldown. Teleport range mastery removed, and teleport invincibility removed. All of this combines to make training very difficult, which was one of our only remaining advantages.
5) no new skill animations? Seriously? We're the only class left from preBB days (BaM's skill animations were introduced in pre-BB tespia) that still have our derp-level animations. We look ridiculous, especially when you consider the hitbox of FB is nearly twice as big as the animation image.
6) removal of the 15% max crit damage on battlemaster is more damaging than you think, especially for a class that relies so heavily on crit rate.

Now that I've gotten my griping out of the way, the good:

1) Better teleport and an extra 50% hp from conversion is much appreciated.
2) the reaper system helps give us a better overall theme and adds an interesting mechanic that sets us apart.
3) the change to dark lightning makes it infinitely more useful
4) FB's damage change to 330% is welcomed, considering that's about the same as chain lightning.
5) removing BB and GLA helps us by removing the constant rebuffing issues we have.


Again, this is a deeply DEEPLY flawed "revamp" to a class that's already struggling to keep up. Pretty sure Bishops match or beat our DPS if this is the final version.

Changes need to be made before this goes to the live servers. If you're a KMS player, I beg you to raise hell over this. They've listened to concerns over battlemages in the past."

?
But the auras give passive effects which are more than worth the SP spent. BAMs heal 1000 flat HP every 4 seconds, which is huge, on top of having 1% heal on every single enemy killed, and that is just passively, so you can use another Aura on top of that.

The passive effects of the new auras are already better than the combined effects of the old auras, and that's before you actually choose an aura to use in battle.

The short cooldowns mean you can switch between auras at will to match the situation too, and as seen in the video above, they are cast instantly and don't pin you to the ground like they used to.

?
But the auras give passive effects which are more than worth the SP spent. BAMs heal 1000 flat HP every 4 seconds, which is huge, on top of having 1% heal on every single enemy killed, and that is just passively, so you can use another Aura on top of that.

The passive effects of the new auras are already better than the combined effects of the old auras, and that's before you actually choose an aura to use in battle.

The short cooldowns mean you can switch between auras at will to match the situation too, and as seen in the video above, they are cast instantly and don't pin you to the ground like they used to.

"passive effects are already better than the previous auras combined"

No, they are not.

Passively, you get 30% damage (+30% if you wanna count spell boost), 1 attack speed, 15% dodge (if you wanna count nerve stimulation), and 15% damage reduction.

You're completely ignoring the dodge rate and attack speed decreases. I'll give you the 1000 hp per 4 seconds and 1% hp regained, but that does not make up for everything else. And my point about the auras being pointless still stands. There is no use for debuff, yellow, or drain auras. And there's no use for blue aura at bosses other than hard hilla. This is bad design.

We had unstackable auras in the beginning and they changed it because they finally realized there was no point in it.

A friend of mine mains BaM, and he gave me his opinion:

"This is deeply flawed.
That's the only word I can use to describe it. It has its good parts, but the bad is so overwhelming, it's just awful.

Snip.

1) True, can't deny that. Fast 5 actually, fast 4 with Yellow on. I'm pretty sure the Korean community isn't happy about it either.

2&3) Good base concept, bad execution if you ask me. If the problem is with Auras stacking and parties, they could add additional effects such as: (Not realistic numbers, but the idea is there.)

• Dark Aura
  • Passive Effect (Self) - Damage increased by 30%
    
  • Passive Effect (Party members excluding yourself)- Damage increased by 10%
    
  • Active effect (All) - Additional 50% effectiveness.
    
  
  

With this setup, you get the 30% passive increase, the party gets 10% increase a la Beast Tamer cat buffs when Dark Aura active is off. While Dark Aura is on, you receive 45%(30% passive + 15% active), and your party members receive 15% (10% passive + 5% active).

5) Animations are long overdue. They still retain their "dark" theme much more than almost any significant "arcanepunk" theme. The scraped BaM revamp had nice animations, but were too metallic and modern IMO. When I think steampunk/arcanepunk, I see mechanical with somewhat of a brown haze on gears and metals. Mechanic would be a good example of this thematic color probably.

\

• Dark Aura
  • Passive Effect (Self) - Damage increased by 30%
    
  • Passive Effect (Party members excluding yourself)- Damage increased by 10%
    
  • Active effect (All) - Additional 50% damage increase effectiveness.
    
  
  

With this setup, you get the 30% passive increase, the party gets 10% increase a la Beast Tamer cat buffs when Dark Aura active is off. While Dark Aura is on, you receive 45%(30% passive + 15% active), and your party members receive 15% (10% passive + 5% active).

That might be a bit too complicated, but I would like very much for them to do the auras for party members like beast Tamer. It's a crying shame that party members have to practically grind on my butt to get them.

Again, I understand the idea of having different "modes" of gameplay with different auras, but that only works when you really make each one have very good pros and cons. Originally, it was defense, speed, or power, choose one. That had a solid idea. This one is more scattered. If the made the auras really make a huge difference rather than just a little buff, maybe i wouldn't be too upset, but as is, it's just wasted SP. The game is so damage-oriented, unless it's huge, a defensive buff or an HP-draining buff isn't something anyone chooses over more raw damage.

The game is so damage-oriented, unless it's huge, a defensive buff or an HP-draining buff isn't something anyone chooses over more raw damage.

So true. That's a problem within the core mechanics of this game though. Who needs anything as long as you have damage and able to survive a single hit generally speaking, nowadays.

While I don't want to do a complete 180 on the game itself. I do wonder sometimes, what if potions had significant cooldowns? What if dedicated healers and tanks were required? What if Maple was more like other MMOs, and not this lame power creep pay to win potion spam joke? MMOs with these types of restrictions feel much more satisfying and rewarding to play when you actually put effort instead of cash into doing well IMO.

Those of you/us who enjoyed 25-30 man normal Zakum & Horntail back in the day probably know what I mean.

I was trying to Reply to Thread but ended up giving the negative fruit, then the positive fruit to the post above. -.-

I don't have intimate knowledge of a Battle Mage above 12X, but it feels like it is now a melee I/L without Elemental Reset. That is to indicate that it is a nerf, but not nearly the nerf that is being expressed. While I don't advocate taking backward steps for any class, it doesn't look like a demotion below the mean considering the state of the game (KMS).

The speed reduction is the biggest problem I see. Party buffs are hardly a sticking point, too many indicates that you should be support/weaker, most classes only have a couple. Training using the new skills and without old skills still seems the same. Is Dodge that much of a sticking point too? I don't consider it so, what Battle Mages get is already more than most. The Reaper feels like it should negate the BKB cooldown.

I like what they are doing with Hyper Skills, it makes you think (a little bit) about what you actually want to do.

I'm not really that upset with the BaM revamp, it could have been cooler but I'm mostly just glad I no longer have to spam two buttons for my basic attack, and that lag doesn't screw me over as much. Drain Aura sounds really Stronghold-friendly, so I'm happy with that. If they just buff the numbers I'd be 100% fine with it. Oh, and add new animations for the blows.

The reaper skill looks cool!

Honestly, I'd prefer if they let us stack just two auras out of 5.

6) removal of the 15% max crit damage on battlemaster is more damaging than you think, especially for a class that relies so heavily on crit rate.

If it feels any better, I just looked this up. They moved the Max Critical Damage into Staff Expert. While it's not entirely lost, it's a nerf of 5%. Battle Master gave 20% Max Critical Damage, Staff Expert now gives 15% Max along with the original bonuses.

So true. That's a problem within the core mechanics of this game though. Who needs anything as long as you have damage and able to survive a single hit generally speaking, nowadays.

While I don't want to do a complete 180 on the game itself. I do wonder sometimes, what if potions had significant cooldowns? What if dedicated healers and tanks were required? What if Maple was more like other MMOs, and not this lame power creep pay to win potion spam joke? MMOs with these types of restrictions feel much more satisfying and rewarding to play when you actually put effort instead of cash into doing well IMO.

Those of you/us who enjoyed 25-30 man normal Zakum & Horntail back in the day probably know what I mean.

Not sure if its because everyone here are OP as hell and hit cap all the time or what, but party buffs are actually useful for us "regular" players... Party play is not dead, just because you dont doesnt mean others dont too.

And damn those were the good old days... I had to spend more mesos on HP gear on my bishop than INT because of my weekly zak squad. And each run would make quite alot of money too wtp.

For Mechanics changes I'm seeing the following extra passive buffs:

+10% status/elemental resist (we warriors now)
+30% additional HP/MP
+30% chance to flatout NOPE damage on top of the +20% Guard we already get
+15% avoid
+30% MORE damage reduction
+10 speed
+1500 more physical/magical defense

Going on to the goodies:
-Rolling 3 robot summons into 1
-No more Siege mode required, mobility is back!
-Motherfugging homing missile system
-New missile sentry (moar automated damage!)
-Tank mode sounds like it's for primarily for training now, while regular Mech mode is for bossing

>Bomber Time lets you shi't out even more missiles, as if 6 missiles per enemy wasn't enough.
>Mechs in a nutshell now


I am very excite.