Quote Originally Posted by Zairava View Post
Alright I believe I've reached a result with the Blood Gauge version after some heavy thinking. Here's the link, I will also update the OP with this after posting.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1...it?usp=sharing

The notable changes:
  • Edge and Flood of Shadow are both introduced at lvl 74 and are our Blood Gauge spenders. I did not include Edge and Flood of Shadow here. They both cost 50 Gauge.
  • Scourge is now a GCD DoT we maintain, near identitical to the HW version except it has a higher base potency and longer duration.
  • The Dark Arts combo bonus from Power Slash, Stalwart Soul and Bloodspiller (formerly the placement of Scourge), now increases the Blood Gauge by 25, to keep it in line with 2 combos equaling 1 use of my Dark Descent version.
  • Bloodspiller now is the upgrade for Souleater and Quietus is now the upgrade for Unleash. Both while Darkside is active, of course.
  • Dark Mind has been reverted back to it's original form. You get it at lvl 48 now, since Shadowskin remains as a lvl 45 unlock.
  • Blood Price is removed and Sole Survivor is now back. Sole Survivor functions near identical to how it did in latter Stormblood. The only difference is it solely is HP recovery, and not HP and MP recovery.
  • Salt and Darkness will now spread Scourge to all enemies inside Salted Earth

The reason I didn't include Edge and Flood of Darkness is because there simply isn't room for them at a low level, and I don't want to introduce the Blood Gauge too early because that would mean pushing other abilities back, making the leveling experience worse.
Overall like various of the revisions, especially the Scourge-spread, that one is sexy. However other points of criticism I'd like to forward - as before, no hard feelings, just pointing out glaring issues in the design.
  • Dark Arts potency gain on Single Target is inconsistent. If you enhance Bloodspiller its +150p, if you use it on Powerslash its +90 only.
  • Disregarding that Powerslash can be DA'ed, it generates +25 Blood vs Souleater generating 0 Blood. Given your spammable Blood spender is Edge of Shadow on OGCD, that means Powerslash is actually worth 360p + (360/2), so 540p vs Souleater's measly 410p. This means you'd never use Souleater combo.
  • The way Dark Arts interacts with Bloodspiller means your Darkside Window is extremely combo line-up reliant. The amount of value your Bloodspiller brings is off the fucking charts. +150p per Dark Arts and the +180p for gaining half an Edge's worth of Blood means executing that skill is worth a ludicrous amount of damage. It is so strong you want to go into Darkside with Souleater Ready so you can do a 8-gcd line up and around 75 blood gauge of:
    >> DArts + BWeapon > Syphon > DSide > Spiller > Delirium + Edge > Spinning > Shadowbringer > Syphon > DArts > Spiller > Edge > Spinning > Dark Arts > Syphon > Spiller > Edge > another full DA Bloodspiller combo + 1x Edge > Scourge*
    * move Scourge anywhere in that window to adjust for the previous DoT alignment.
    ** combo is not accounting for non-aligning CDs like Carve, Drain and Salted.

    This is very napkin-y, but essentially you want to begin and end the entirety of Darkside with Bloodspiller. I get the novelty of Darkside, but holy cow is the gain of Bloodspiller insane on top of the damage boost, but the power feels restrictive.
  • Shadowbringer/Dark Passenger at 30s means you will hold the skill rather than use it on cooldown, otherwise you will drift it out of Darkside and lose a Shadowbringer use, so anywhere from 30s to 40s makes no difference. I recommend 35s so there is some leeway for drifting, otherwise stick to 40s.
  • The lack of MP recovery on Sole Survivor makes the 120s CD no longer justified given it has no reset mechanic for killing enemies either (see PvP Sole Survivor from Plunge). It is a rather lacking delayed Equilibrium - unironically would be more relevant if DRK gets Bloodbath from the melees instead at 120s CD.
  • Dark Mind is fine at 60s, no need to make it 40s according to the google Doc.

I don't mind high potencies as they can always be scaled up or down, but the relative potencies between skills need to be kept in check.