Quote Originally Posted by Shurrikhan View Post
Honestly, I'm not sure Toxicon is crap, so long as one thinks there should be damage-refunding (only) for certain heals. It does more or less what you'd expect: softens the cost of shielding, while thereby further punishing any at-cost sustain that is not a shield.

I just think the (lack of) shield-stacking functionality is crap, and the lack of any other way to generate Addersting seems a bit of a waste (even if it were as simple as generating a stack every 20s passively, akin to Addersgall).

Had I my druthers, sure, I'd tear the mechanic out root and stem and replace it and its surroundings entirely, but...
But it doesn't soften the cost of shielding. I'll hide this since it's off topic...


Dosis + Dosis + Dosis = 990 Potency

Dosis + Barrier + Toxikon = 660 Potency

Dosis + Nothing + Dosis = 660 Potency

The only value Toxikon is trying to offer you is mobility, but let's analyze that for a moment. How much damage does Toxikon normally earn you that you would otherwise lose in any given example of content? What percentage of your total DPS is that? What percentage of the boss' HP is that? What does Toxikon actually accomplish for you?

I took a look at some examples of Sage players in Savage to gauge how much Toxikon offered them. Here's the results:
Sage #1: 1.56% - 3 casts
Sage #2: 1.32% - 3 casts
Sage #3: 1.05% - 3 casts
Sage #4: 1.56% - 4 casts
Sage #5: 1.23% - 3 casts

All but one of these Sages only cast Toxikon 3 times, the amount that you are given for free. And you have to ask the question, were those Toxikons necessary? Could each of those Sages have cast something else instead, such as using a Phlegma charge that was otherwise not important for the buff window, refreshing their DOT, or simply slidecasting Dosis? Even if those Toxikon casts were the only way of dealing damage, would each cast otherwise have resulted in a full loss of 2.5 seconds? So I ask again, what value does Toxikon actually have? What tangible value does it provide? Because I see nothing. In fact, I would argue that Addersting and Toxikon are an even worse system than Stormblood lilies, or at least just as bad. Any semblence of it feeling less garbage is probably due to it seeming less jank than the lilies did since it's not involved with something very easy to overlook in the form of cooldown reduction.