Ranger Proposal

[Shurrikhan]

If what you mean by channel is what I think it means then I think that might be a not very good thing. In my signature I have a link to my Geomancer idea. I originally had a channeled mechanic for GEO but after some talks in the thread the conclusion was that in a very dodge-heavy game like FFXIV a channeled ability is generally more of a hindrance than a boon. Yours sounds like a potentially quick channel depending on the amount of stacks you plan to be the average use and then of course the capped amount of stacks.

By 'channel' I basically just meant that the ability has dynamics that affect the total damage based on a variable cast time. You can choose to hold it down as much as you like, and break whenever you want in order to dodge, simply using fewer stacks. If anything, I might try to make it more punishing by wasting the remaining stacks, but as it stands, by only 'channel' ability listed is pretty movement-friendly. Heavy Shot and Puncture however, mechanics not listed above, will not be. They will either complete the cast or waste the progress, and maybe even a stack or whatnot with the attempt. In short, I want Ranger to feel that it needs its turret dps (at least a good portion of the time, while using 'Marksman' aspect), and should time things out to deal with the issue (rather than Bard 'non-issue') of movement.

I've reworked Bloodletter a bit, by the way, in order to make it less of a dps loss. (4 'stacks' for Hunter aspect would mean 4 more instances of 150 potency each, or 600 potency total plus the original Bloodletter, 750.) To keep potency from getting so high without further nerfing Bloodletter in Marksman aspect, I'll need to reduce the maximum stacks. I'll just be using 3 stacks as maximum, each stack reducing the CD by 6 seconds (two-fifths), increasing cast speed by 1 second, and increasing damage by 50 potency and 20% of new combined potency. 240, 348, 478. (Compared to Hunter's 300, 450, 600) This still runs the issue of potentially critting for some damn much though... About as much as a Flare crit when using every possible CD. (Under full CDs, a Heavy Shot can already hit for over 600, and this would be over 3 times that.) And it's still behind in dps, if the bonuses of the two aspects were to run the same. To try to round that out, I think I'll have Marksman provide no aspectual damage bonuses to Bloodletter, but Bloodletter can help with damage dealt on itself and other abilities through the <Grouping of Shots> mechanic. I'm still looking for Heavy Shot to actually be the general potential nuke of the Marksman aspect, with Bloodletter as an aside that fills in where Puncture's armor penetration fails and the Ranger would otherwise lose its roll / chaining spree / killing spree.