New Skill Development - Part 1

We tried to come up with some Strength-themed skills, after considering that most utility Strength gems were not as beneficial for melee characters as they could be for other builds. We started by looking at Totems - a Strength-themed spell mechanic that often worked better for ranged characters than the Melee Strength builds.

The idea started with a pair of totems, one that increased damage of you and your allies while slowing enemies, and one that reduced the damage of enemies while increasing the movement speed of you and your allies. Though the totems did give some interesting ongoing effects, they still lacked a close-combat focus. We played with variations until the obvious design space was exhausted, then started brainstorming other ideas so we could broaden our options when it came time to select a prototype.

This patch seemed like a perfect time to introduce more skills like Enduring Cry, and introducing "Warcry"-themed skills ticked the boxes of optional utility and an effect that rewarded being in melee range. We discussed which parts of Enduring Cry could be used to create the "Warcry" identity for new skills, and this is what we came up with: A Warcry is a spell that doesn't deal direct damage but instead checks the number of enemies in a radius around the player when used, and provides an effect that is enhanced by that number. In addition, all enemies in the radius are taunted to attack the caster.

We looked at applying some of the effects we liked from the totems that had been discussed, and came up with a few options. Two stood out above the rest to me, so I selected those for prototyping.

One of these prototypes, which I am pleased to able to introduce, was:

Inspiring Cry
Warcry, Spell, AoE
Taunts enemies, and increases the damage and flat mana regeneration (like Clarity) of you and nearby allies. Increased effect for each nearby enemy.

Once we were happy with the concept, we began iteration by prototyping and making changes to the design. You will be able to read about this in Part 2!