I have a number of thoughts.
In no particular order:
1. Some general ideas, more after spells:
Paladins have both a very offensive sustained ability (r2) and a very defensive sustained ability (conduit). Essentially 'stances' that allow paladins great flexibility to fit situations. I would love to see some sort of equivalent for the SK class. Not sure how it would work off hand. SK's arent a healer class, so upping healing seems bad. A 'stance' that ups spell damage to mirror necros more closely? I am not sure how this would work usefully as SK dots and dps spells (outside of taps and the runic spear) are TERRIBLE. Like SKs dots at 65 are hitting for 100 a tick base, so I am unsure if they could be made to scale to a place that would even be passable. But it would make sense as a way to mirror the parent class in some way. There are many ways for both the 'offensive' and 'defensive' to be implemented. Suggestions welcome.
2. Spells:
It is a problem of SKs and Pallys going back to live, that levelling, the idea is they can tank and get some spells of the parent class, but the problem has always been that the spells don't scale usefully. Live ended up adding some spell lines in expansions at higher tiers and then retro applying them back to the levelling curve. This could work here.
Specific spells
Locate Corpse: Not much purpose on the server. These work now, right?
Shadow Step: Doesn't work, should be removed.
Grim Aura: Tiny attack buff, self only, with a super short duration. This was a problem on live as well, it is never worth the spell slot due to the need to recast it so often. Should be an aura
Banshee Aura: A very low level necro self only damage shield, good for the SK kit but duration is incredibly low, should be changed to 10minute/forever tick up duration.
Dark empathy and other hp transfer spells: Again never worth casting due to how hp scale per level and the lag between when necros get it and when sk's get it.
Deathly Temptation (trash sk lich): It regenerates 6 mana a tick at a lv 58 spell. Especially as it is self only and doesn't give a group recourse, unlike necro mana regen does now, and with the overall changes to buffs, can we PLEASE get an upgrade to this or at least make this slighly better. (minor complaint: Gets insta peeled by Jyre due to the illusion as well, so I cant actually use it most of the time). Note, also on live, SKs get a direct upgrade to this spell (Pact of Hate) for 15 mana a tick at 64 and its a full spell line after that.
Runes: Same as above, hp totals scaling and level lag make these less than useful. The reagent requirement removal did make them better though. I think an interesting alternative to runes would be something like this spell line that could ideally just scale in the same way as runes, but simply apply differently:
https://everquest.allakhazam.com/db/spell.html?spell=7005
Voice line of spells (aggro generation buffs): Really its the same problem as many sk spells, the spells last ten minutes, have a ten minute gem/recast time and eat up a buff slot. I never use this line of spells because I frankly have neither the buff slots open or the spell gems open, since you have to leave it on the spell bar in order to use it. Having to recast it every ten minutes is a HUGE pain. Also noted above, they don't scale with anything. Effectively there is an item requirement on this spell line since the only time I have ever seen these spells used reliably are when they are clicked from the Tur Ruj ear or the cita goblin item.
Terrors: Scale now with aggro mod, correct? I wont complain about this recent change, but you could have just blanket made them 10% better (or is it 12 w ember tome) and it would have done the same thing, since every tank will have a capped aggro mod. I'd like to have these spells able to scale in a way that was not hard capped by the server. Affliction enhancement perhaps since they trigger per tick with some multiplier? Also note, it was pointed out to me that the math on this scaling may have been borked out on (definitely on wizard, but maybe other) jolts, scaling negatively rather than positively.
The best three dots a SK has at 65 tick for 65-150 base. Even with focus effects those are never even close worth the time or mana to cast over a lifetap or spear. Too long to cast and too short a duration for xp, less aggro than and raiding there is even less reason due to debuff limits. I'd love to see some SK centric debuffs that maybe dont do huge dps but could debuff the mob appreciably and ideally uniquely.
The undead nuke line that sks and pallys get is always about two tiers of damage below where it should be, so are literally never worth casting either when leveling and at 65 are entirely useless as the best one sks get is at 55 and 270 damage (REALLY). Undead nuking is not really Sk's wheelhouse but it is a terrible spell line for either class with the cast times/mana cost to damage ratios. Also, for SKs, other than Word of Spirit (more on this below) is the ONLY evocaton spell we get, hence super hard to train the skill for no useful outcome other than sating my OCD need to having to have all skills capped.
I would love to see more lower level spells that maybe felt less like filler but I understand an overhall of this magnitude is probably not possible.
Word of Spirit: Is the single pbae damage spell SKs get (I believe its the only one necros get as well), at lv 45 and hits for 104 damage base. At 45 this is not great, by 65, as our only PBAE, its obviously not going to even generate enough aggro to counter one heal. Maybe an upgrade to this line for SK's? It is just a weird one of spell that necros get, much like banshee aura, that is not at all good on a necro, but would have a lot more utility as an actual spell line on a SK. I don't necessarily think just giving SKs a PBAE dd or ae lifetap spell line is the creative or interesting way to solve the ae aggro issues SKs have, but it something like it would be at least in theme. Word of Agony? Word of Constriction? Power Word: Kill?
An upgrade could combine this and Wave of Enfeeblement.
The short duration debuffs w recourse (Scream of whatever, Touch of the Succubus, Shroud of Nightmares, Vortex of Death) are interesting but especially at 65 and raiding, almost no one has the buff slots open to warrant having them up. They should really be moved somewhere. It was suggested the song window, but somewhere else? Not sure, I quite like the spells in theory, but they all require a spell slot (not a nothing commodity), require near constant recasting (base 5 minute duration at 65) AND a buff slot. The downsides outweigh the benefits most of the time. How about...an AA to make them last like actual buffs? Not sure, I am trying to offer multiple solutions to what I see as the problems with the class.
Specific note: Vortex of Death is the one spell of the short duration/recourse line I use regularly. SKs on live instead get this:
https://everquest.allakhazam.com/db/spell.html?spell=3408 which was one of my favorite spells when I played. They are the same thing, but one doesn't eat up a buff slot/debuff slot. Maybe not change the current spell but an upgrade to Vortex that was just a DD would be wonderful.
Unholy Shield (silent spell): See below.
SKs get a single mez spell at 61, that hits lv 54 or less mobs. I don't think SKs should have great or even good mezzing ability, but I do think its interesting to have such a one off spell. I wish it wasn't level restricted quite as low as it was because I don't think I ever used it, because at 61, 54's are (IIRC) light blue. At 65 anything I can mez, if it wasnt grey, wouldn't even touch me so no need to mez. Just wish it had more utility but, unsure how to implement this without really infringing on necros and enchanters. Could also just look at it as a neat flavor spell and move on.
3. Pets and pet tome. I honestly LOVE the pet tomes. I really wish the SK pet as a base entity was useful however. It, like other sk spells, is never useful while levelling, and the final pet is technically an upgrade, but since its a lv 49 pet in a lv 65++++ game, it dies to most things, and does negligible damage even when buffed. Since we aren't an actual pet class in any way, we have no way to keep it alive, don't get any of the pet enhancement abilities (looking at you Miel B spell) or really any abilities to support the pet (which Im not asking for), which, along with its low numerical level, makes the pet extra fragile, especially when ANY ae is happening, or even just to ripostes, so again, not worth casting really even as a dot, since, it eats up a spell slot, is a very long cast time hence can't use in combat, and takes a lot of time to summon/buff it essentially every pull or two. Raids, no, never. On live and in Vanguard, SK's were given their own pet line eventually, unique from necro pets. This is something I would be very interested in. It could do something very different, not just moar deeps, like give a mitigation bonus....some other passive buff, or debuff the mob? I really think the possibilities would be wide open on this, and with the pet tomes/aa's below, it would become a legitimate strategy choice: Do I use my pet that does the cool thing, or do I blow it up for different AA things?
Focus effects are another thing to note, more just a passing thing that SKs don't have many good options for pet focus effects, both in terms of actual gear offered and also the necessity for other focus effects limited by the actual number of possible gear slots also hurts the ability for pets to be useful to the class.
Servant Training tome/AA: I personally love this aa, as it gives multiple options for play, but the points raised above are pretty accurate. It REQUIRES a pet summoning item to be useful. I have pointed this out before, but most of the abilities are not affected by focus effects/aas or abilities. In theory it is supposed to be the pet that does these things, but we also literally have an aa that explicitly states that our pets share our focus effects etc. The pet tomes also do not affect any of these. specifically:
A. the PBAE ability, (not under their old names in the spell parser as far as I can tell, so I will use descriptions instead of names) does a set amount of damage, will never crit, despite having the pet crit tome done, etc etc. Note: the pet explosion is poison based, so golems are immune. As this is coded to come from the pet and not me, it generates no aggro for me unless I have the pet up, then veil, and then blow it up (not even positive I'm getting the aggro from the pet but when the pet dies I get the message that veil wore off of it, so I assume so) Note this will also only hit things that are on the aggro list of the PET, which means that I have to summon a very weak pet, get hit by everything for at least one more round and then try to use the ability. I have lost pets due to ripostes/aes during this window.
B. The mez ability, while not affected by my having control enhancement or the emberflow tome done, will STILL be almost fully mitigated by the mobs innate resistance, hence what would be listed in the ability as, say a 30 second mez, I have never seen last more than about ten seconds, therefore making this basically useless. It also cannot be overwritten by enchanter mezzes so it actually makes crowd control harder in many circumstances. This suffers from the same problems as above, whatever I am trying to mez has to be on the aggro list of the pet, so I have to take at least one full melee around after summoning the pet in order to mez something, which greatly eliminates its utility.
C. Heal. Again, damage not affected by lifetap bonuses, healing not affected by heal increment or anything else, never crits.
D. The splurt/dot. I believe it got heavily nerfed at some point to having a much shorter duration, but it starts out at about 100 and goes up 7 a tick. Can eventually tick for something like 350 a tick before it wears off but this not much better than just using the DD which is an ae. This one is coded so that I am actually casting it and can crit and affliction enhancement actually affects it at least, even if lorewise, the pet is supposed to be the one doing it. Damage, if it ticks for the full four minutes its active is greater than the pbae but not THAT much greater that it is worth using much. I honestly think this should tick up faster or perhaps debuff the mob's melee ability in some noticeable way to set it apart more from the first ability.
4. More general ideas about how the classes work in relation to each other:
I have also posted this idea before but I still think it has merit. SKs and paladins need to be differentiated more, and the approach I had thought of previous was to make them tank in slightly different ways, weapon wise. SKs being the 2hander and slightly more damage focused class and Paladins the weapon and shield focused more healing focused class. Give paladins for example, some cool and unique things when they are sword and boarding, like bash procs and tricks they can do with shields or some extra ac, that others cant, and likewise SKs would get like special procs or special defenses with 2handed weapons so they are an actual tanking choice or chance to triple attack or a huge riposte bonus. I would also offer, a proc bonus chance to 2h weapons only, similar to bards, but I understand this would cause a potential nighmare for itemization, so whatever mechanics that were added would potentially have to be divorced in some way from direct item stats. I think, once again, the possibilities are wide open here for a lot of creativity, not just more dps or more ac or whatevr. The current 2h stance SK's have is kind of bad, as the damage bonus isnt much, like to the point of I am not entirely positive it actually works and it's not even sustainable as it drains stamina. It's more or less the opposite of what you want. I am, in general opposed to weak stances that drain stamina just to drain it.
Rangers, for example get a unique passive parry type stance where they lose the off hand attack to increase defense and it drains no stamina. I would like to see more of those for many classes and this seems like the place for it to appear. Just something to set the classes further apart both from each other, and to make them both more than just 'bad necro/cleric with a sword' I'm not trying to make sk's or paladins a dps class, but paladins and warriors both have very offensive dps stances/spell recourses that SKs do not get, and being, lorewise the tank based on the dps class (necro), it is something that I feel is sorely missed. This would also make weapon choices for the various maybe a little bit more interesting. You have the dual wield classes, the sword and shield classes and the 2h classes, so it would feel a bit symmetrical.
4. General notes on SK aggro, also Unholy Shield thoughts:
The utter lack of any ae aggro outside of veil and the need to individually change targets and terror each target is rough on both my ability to do that, as well as just on my poor mana bar. I feel like the silent spell was sort of a bone in this direction but it also has many limitations (long recast, need to actually hit w bash to make it go boom, need to have a shield in) that make it not really useful for when you NEED to get ae aggro fast on an engage, rather its more of a neat tool where you can see a few numbers every few minutes. I AM a fan of the spell in general, but I am not sure it quite accomplishes what the design idea for it may have been.
(place where I will maybe put new ideas or not)
