What you think of Roar of Thunder

[Bengali]

I don't think it will be DPS.  I'm not impressed with a 1500 nuke because I crit for that all the time with my nukes and procs, and that will only go up with Fury of Magic (although by the same token I'd have the same chance to crit for 3000 with this).  But we know from experience that people are super-pissy about their "class abilities".  Clerics are already whining that someone else might get a 0% "rez" and that is so much worse than their ability it's not even funny.  If they made Roar have a really low reuse time in  its current form it would be more dps overall than Harm touch.  If they got rid of the DD and put the stun on a fast reuse timer then paladins throw a hissyfit.

I'm really only explaining my predictions for what SOE will or won't do.  I'm not saying that the ability makes me happy in my pants the way it is now.  But I can feel it in my bones that they aren't going to make major changes in the lines of some of the suggestions here, because if they do then people would flip out like a truck full of ninjas who just stepped on thumbtacks.

If they changed it completely or came up with a new idea, well that's a different story.

[Savrik-Karana]

A good, viable warder form/merge would be perfect for a replacement.  How about something that gives our pets an AE attack like rampage for war/zerks?  Pet Affinity 2, instead of being hit by group buffs, your warder shares all the buffs you have on.  How about a reverse version of the Shaman frenzy line?  Give us increased mana regen and spell haste for X tics at the cost of not being able to attack (Great for the pet clerics).  Hell, how about a Pet Healer ability that lets us cast our heals on Mage/Necro/Shaman/Druid/SK/Chanter pets?

There are so many options that would be fun and useful where as this is not.  A stun once every hour and a quarter is worthless, because you'll always be saving it for desperation.  Same with a 1500dd every 72.  Saved for emergencies only.  Combine the two and it's even less because you're thinking "Gosh, I'm low health, but if I burn the nuke I could survive and the next guy be a caster who gates on me and brings a train when I have no stun left, oh gosh, what do I do?"

[Doomringer]

I am catching the drift on not wanting to stomp on the SK ability. I do see the similarities between HT and RoT and the dangers of unbalace by giving a hybrid class the ability to cast a mana free nuke.

But as with most of our abilities that we pay more AAs for less performance and less potential than other classes, why can't this follow the same lines. Make it fairly expensive maybe around 30 AA and make another AA for say 15 the shortens the timer on it to 30 min being the lowest.

So with it all being said and done the SK HT whacks a mob for 7200 and ours might hit em up for 3600 if all the stars align and you have paid your tithe and all that.

45 AA's spent for ours and 42 spent for theirs and we get something we can use more often but it still does not even come close to outshining the SK HT.

[Bengali]

Unfortunately, you can't use aa cost as a means of balance because once you purchase the aa, you have it forever.  To use an extreme example, suppose druids had an aa that cost them 30 per level, and gave them a 25% res per level, so that at level 3 (the max) they would have paid 90 points for a 75% rez.  While that is a lot of work, the end result is that over a long period of time you will have a bunch of druids with a 75% rez which could cause balance problems.

In other words, aa cost can slow the time it takes for things to become unbalanced, but it doesn't stop them from becoming that way.  Only the relative power of the abilities themselves can do that.

[Doomringer]

That is a good point on the cost issue to an extent, however as you said that is an extreme measure. The issue I was trying to address was the SK community seeing the RoT as being another means mudflation.

Where if we had a 30 min 12 AA 3600 critable nuke they might have some room to complain that we are being given some too easily.

And the other argue ments were that if the AA count was too high it would not be worth the time for the effort for the reward.

Yes you are right that once you have invested your 45 AA you have the ability forever. But in the interest of balance what have we gained? A 1500DD 5 sec stun that may be just as easily be resisted as it might crit once every 30 mins. (IF the AA's were put into action as I have previously suggested.)

IMO that is not too shabby. But I may be a little short sighted, and I would like to read other thoughts on this topic.

I for one like it, but more for the eye candy than anything. But all in all it feels like another BA tool. It looks fun but 72 min reuse is a bit steep for a flash in the pan ability.

[Choppin]

I dont know what looks fun about a 1500 nuke once per hour or whatever, it will be piddly dps, who brags with 0.34 (72 min) or 0.7 dps (36 min) extra.

Its a BS AA to begin with, yet we only get 2 class specific ones, so 50 pct bein shite and we got to careful look if we DARE to step on anyones shoes when tryin to get something useful /boggle.

[Mahes]

Here's what concerns me, and I really, really hope the Beta BSTs mention this:

Range: 50

I didn't notice that til today and was looking forward to the utility aspect of a 5 sec stun up to level 70.  Now...forget it.  Feral Swipe 2.0.  FS being one of the crappiest AA ever given to BSTs.

Please feedback that, at the very least, if you're in OoW beta.

[Tastian]

So many things I can't say, but what I can say is I'm truely hopeful that this will be changed.  There have been a lot of good ideas passed along and many things explained.  I'm not sure what will come of it, but I can atleast assure you that concerns and suggestions have been brought up.  *shrugs* It's not much, but it's all I can do atm unfortunatly.  8(  Please keep talking about the AA and what you'd like to see, but don't break the NDA or anything.  Roar has a lot of potential and I am hopeful that by the time omens goes live many beastlords will want to pick it up fairly soon.

[TalleyRN]

Changes i'd like to see to roar:

A) change recast down to 30 sec., which is about the same recast time as our nukes, I believe.
B) Replace stun w/ deaggro = 1.5-2 times the dmg caused by the AA. So, if we crit it for 3k, it erases 6k of aggro, which i'd assume would give the AA a net decrease of aggro approx. equal to the dmg caused.
C) Make it unresistable.

This makes the AA dependable, consistant, usefull, and will help us balance our class out dps wise in the high end game when compared to other dps classes.

[Tastian]

That's just making it way too good for the AA.  A refresh time of 30 seconds and still doing that much damage is just insane.  I mean that'd be ~50dps boost hehe.  

Also the aggro of a 1500 base damage nuke for us isn't near 6k in aggro.  That'd result in a net reduction of around 4k aggro.  

The idea of making this a deaggro AA, or actually adding a pure deaggro AA has been brought up.  Shortening the re-use time has been brought up, etc.  I'm certain the AA will change from what was originally discussed in this thread, so just have to wait a bit more and see.

[Graace]

Something to keep in mind... our level 70? nuke is supposed to be 1073? damage... So, adding 400 points isn't that big of a deal really, esp when it's magic based and probably highly resistable, and I'm sure the stun will be resistable innately by some mobs... It is manaless and instant, so thus should have a semi-long reuse, but I'd be more inclined to say 12-15minutes.  I'm in beta but haven't had the time to actually play it as planned, I'll get it /fedback though.

[Kreseth]

Just what we need: an AA that doesn't do much for us whil simultaneously pissing off paladins, SKs, and nuking classes!  Weee!

Until I played my beastlord my mains were a paladin & cleric so I know a bit about stunning :)

In an xp group you use stuns to interrupt a spell, usually gate, or to pull fast aggro.  We don't need help pulling aggro and a 72 minute refresh is useless for spell interrupts.

In a raid the targets are almost always immune to stun and, if they aren't, you have enchanters, clerics, and probably 3 dozen bored paladins who could do the stunning for you.

So we don't need a stun at all IMO, but no one needs THIS stun.

The damage component is too similar, on paper, to harm touch.  A mana-free nuke is fun but when the total DPS it adds is so low and it's tied to a massive aggro-generating effect like stun for a class that wants less, not more, aggro we just don't need it.

Throw this out.  Make Roar of Thunder a jolt as others have suggested: The beastlord summons spirits of thunder that confuse his foe, making it forget about him.  That would be useful and I can't think of any sane reason to complain about it if I were another class.

--Kreseth

[Gourgeous George]

I have mixed feelings about this skill. In theory I like the idea. Being a Troll, I have often remarked at how I would like to look fiercer and more evil like the mobs in LDoN with the sharp teeth and fangs. The Orcs in LDoN are spot on for what you would expect of them!

So on that line I like the idea of being able to ROAR! I wouldn't mind seeing us get 2 types of Roar. One that is this 1500 DD reuse 3 mins that knocks opponents to the ground or makes them FD like the Cursed in Ssra. That way they aren't stunned as such they are simply delayed which will stop casters but not create agro like stun. Now, cos I said 2 Roars, I would love to see us get a Roar that does DD to all mobs AE style for say 250 DD reuse 3 mins and makes low level creatures run in fear of their lives. Maybe they could just make these into Discs so that we are limited on total use by our endurance level. This would furthermore add benefit to having a Shaman around with Endurance buffs.

[Liga]

GOD NO!

Youre asking for an AA similar to Turn Undead!  And that hasnt worked in... forever!

[Savrik-Karana]

How about instead of the fear one a unresistable AE 2-3 second stun (no DD) reuseable every 30 mins?  Kind of an "Oh crap, I'm surrounded and I can't outrun these guys" situational spell