New AA for April Discussion (Currently on Test)

[Kinadorm]

In case you missed the list from the CC thread in general here is what is currently on test for us as far as new AA for April. I thought the list had to be incomplete but apparently not. I added in my own comments from testing things out.

General (7 New AA)
Earthen Alacrity - AGI Cap Increase
Earthen Allure - CHA Cap Increase
Earthen Artistry - DEX Cap Increase
Earthen Brawn - STR Cap Increase
Earthen Brilliance - INT Cap Increase
Earthen Sagacity - WIS Cap Increase
Earthen Stability - STA Cap Increase
5 ranks of each and the cost starts at 5 per rank.
Nothing really to say about these. I think everyone gets them.

Archtype (1 New AA)
Destructive Fury - Bigger DD Spell Crits (3 Ranks, Cost starts at 12aa)
I like bigger nukes as much as the next guy but is that really the best we can come up with for archtype AA? I guess it is better than nothing.

Class (3 New AA)
Bear Patriarch - New Rank of Rabid Bear but it is a separate AA (1 Rank, 12aa)
It greys out rabid bear and it doesn't get the benefit of the hastened rabidity AA. What is the point of this?
Extended Languid Bite - Extends Duration of Languid Bite 1 tick (3 Ranks, 7aa each rank)
Another one I really don't see the point of. Extending Languid Bite 3 ticks is fine but really what does it matter. From my testing it doesn't even currently do anything. It neither extended the duration of the buff or the DoT with rank 1 or 2. I haven't had a chance to get the third rank yet.
With zero ranks of Extended Languid Bite (ELB) the buff lasts 4.5 mins for me and the DoT lasts 30-36 seconds depending on when the DoT hits with the server ticks. With ELB rank 1 I get the exact same results and with ELB rank 2 I get the exact same results.
Hastened Malosinete - Reduces Cast Time of AA Malosinete .2 seconds per rank (5 ranks, Cost starts at 5aa)
This one could be useful but 0.2 per rank for a whole decrease of 1 second with all ranks? Is that the best we can do? How about adjusting the recast time which is the real issue with Malosinete.

[Huurgh]

I really have the impression, some of these are an April Fools joke, albeit an elaborate one. Like the Safe Fall cap increase for BST (they have instacast levi at lvl 75..) and the pet FD for mages ( I am sure that will be used REALLY often..).

If not woe us..

[Aynar]

I have to agree with you Kinadorm, these seem really weak.

Here are some- we'll call them ideas. More of just some random thought, not that I expect we'll ever get anything we ask for.

I'd like to cast 2 less things per minute :) How about something to extend our HoT's, Lynx etc.., and yes I realize we have AA and focus that take care of this, I'm talking about somthing more. I'm not talking about anything crazy like 50 or 75% extension, just something to add even 2 more tics to them. On that note, we could use something to lessen cast time on Dannal's since it's our only heal really after we've blown our AA and emergency heals, our weak-ish group heal can't keep up, the cast time on Dannal's on a nasty mission or raid just seems really really slow to me. Again, I'm not talking about big changes. Move the silly hastened aa malo to be hastened Danal's.

Shaman do not have a targetable perfected invis, and I've never understood this.There are several classes that do have it, we are a invis casting class and we have a self fixed invis but no targetable fixed invis. I know we're talking AA here, so skip the spell and just give us group perfected invis? We had group spirit walk in beta, I'd be fine with having that back. I can't see how this would be game altering or breaking in any way. It still boggles me how peeps can't make it anywhere without fixed invis, but that's the way it's always been. This would be a welcomed addition to me.

How about something more along the lines of DoT power instead of DD power? We could use a dps boost somewhere, we are a DoT based damage class, Ice, Poison, Bite DDs or not. Again, not game breaking. Considering the increase in power and HP this expansion in the group game alone, a little more damage output from us - somewhere - would be nice. How about a better pet? Even with AA our pets blow. This could be an AA pet, and something we can get new "levels" of each expansion. I'd forget all about the dot stuff with a pet that could take more than a swipe from a mob, and maybe hit for 200 or more on a regular basis.

I think the return from Canni should be adjusted as well, on both massive and spell versions. Not typically a huge issue for me in a group, but could come in handy raiding. I'd pay AA (even though we really shouldn't have to, it should just be more than the 4k-ish we're getting now, for 8k hp) for this.

How bout an Aura that gives everyone in the group a Preincarnation type buff, with the same type of restrictions, maybe a bit better chance to proc? Knock off the nonsense and add Champion to that aura, get rid of the crap that no longer boosts anything. Then we could scrap champion and get the spell slot back that Healing Counterbias took :) Or give me an AA to cast every 20 mins that does exactly what I just described. Whatever. I'll pay 20AA for this. Hell I'll pay 30.

Really though..more DD on crits? Another crappy rank of crappy rabid bear? I VERY rarely use rabid bear..very situational. Even on a burn its just a nusciance. Make rabid bear into a 30sec group buff, remove the silly looking bear illusion (1 race that it actually would ever apply to), and you've got something good.

I do use Languid Bite, and the extension of it is probably a decent AA..if it actually worked like Kinadorm says.

If you want to hasten malo of any kind...hasten our Malos line for heaven's sake. The cast time just blows on it. Malosinete is really a group only thing. I rarely use it on raids cause it really has no place there, unless you need a quick debuff for a trash mob (healing counterbias has helped tons with this, don't have to use BoD anymore really). While the cast time does suck on it, I could really care less when we're talking 1 second. That kind of change to Malis would be $$.

I think something a bit more original is in order here. How about something that actually benefits us-the Shaman, either self dps wise, self utility wise or something. I tire of making everyone else look good all the time, while they bitch and complain that we didn't hit epic at exactly the refresh..to the millisecond..while pulling their silly (insert melee dps class here) fat out of the fire cause they can't just wait for the tank to agro for another .223 secs.

Sorry was a bit long winded. Had a bit of spare time at work today :)

[GraemeFaelban]

Yeah, I read them, and just thought "WTF is sony thinking?" But then I realized, it is Sony we are talking about...

[eqjunkie]

Wish they'd give us a Malo Totem AA that would be $$