So, when WOTC previewed the Druid, I must admit that my first thought was “They finally did it – they’ve finally legitimized stat substitution for calculating AC.” That is probably not the first thing most people zeroed in on. Things like the triple at-will powers, the fact the Druids are all Shifty and the various questions surrounding unarmed attacks might be more likely to suggest themselves, but it’s something I’ve kind of had my eye on since the Swordmage came out. It’s a door I’ve been resisting opening, but that resistance is definitely strongly undercut.
Anyway, the other thing the Druid did is remind me it might be worth talking about the great feedback we got on the Witch Doctor. There was enough of it that there’s no real way for me to address it all point for point, but there were a number of questions and issues that came up, and I want to run down through them a bit.
- ‘Range Blast 2′. This is easy to describe in conversation – it’s just a 2×2 square – but it gets profoundly more convoluted when you get into the specifics of terminology of 4e. This is basically going to need a sidebar the same way close walls do. This will also probably re-open the question of whether or not we should just define a ray/bolt type for walls that go in a straight line and call it a day.
- Defenses – Yes, the Witch doctor has very high defenses, with the mask providing slightly better bonuses than any other class. The exception to this is AC, where the Witch Doctor totally bombs. That initial idea – low AC but high scores in other defenses – works out interestingly in play, but may be too clever for its own good, and this will probably need to get smoothed out.
- Masks, Implements and Weapons – The interplay between masks and head slot items badly needs clarification, and I need to make weapon and implement juggling a little more graceful. The masks also need some general tweaking.
- Cage of Lighting – This one is very clear in my head, but I apparently do not yet have the language clear on the page.
That said, there’s one big issue that came up in a small number of feedbacks, but which has really grown on me as I’ve worked on things, and that is the question of two primary stats and the impact it has on powers. Right now, about half the WD powers take Charisma as their primary stat and the other half take Constitution. This is not unique to the Witch Doctor – the Warlock, Cleric and Paladin are similarly split – but I have grown less enamored of this approach over time. I haven’t liked the things I’ve seen in play, especially the strong sense of ‘either/or’ that comes out of the needs of optimization (and I won’t pretend 4e doesn’t depend on optimization.)
What really has impressed me is the rogue (and to a lesser extent, the Warlord) for having a crystal clear central stat but for having a really strong thematic difference based on your second best stat. It creates a difference without feeling like you’re having to either discard half your class or take some middle-of-the road approach. Certainly, some powers are better for one build or another, but the difference is that for a rogue, those powers are all still available and useful, rather that pretty much entirely off the menu, as they might be for a low strength cleric.
So I have the knife and the scalpel out, and I’m seeing what I can do to retool it with that in mind. The logical thing to do is make it charisma based, with Constitution and Wisdom as the branches, but that has two problems – I would need to add or remove a mask, I suspect, and one combo doubles up on a defense (Will in this case). As such, the more difficult but possibly more interesting option will be a triple branch – Con, Wis and Int, with each secondary tied to a mask type. It’s still experimental, but I think it just might work.
Subscribe to RSS
