Blood Mage overhaul idea

Currently Blood Mage feels more like a small insert from the passive tree with a massive debuff to start with, while the other ascendancy has a whole new mechanic , synergy and look to it.

I propose to give honor to the Blood Mage ascendancy and make it feel unique through a couple ideas.

Let's talk fantasy, say your spells cost both life and mana but the lost life is added as flat damage to the spell by a percentage, which percentage increases through skilling further. This way you truly feel that you give up "your blood" and get something in return, you're not just looking to fill that hole with lifesteal to recoup the loss. The more you're willing to risk and loose your lifepool, the stronger your spell hits and then you can have those combos where you can affort at most two or three big shots of huge damage then step back and regain life or other builds.
Something could also be done for minions which so far feels completely useless, unless you go for the raging spirits that are technically a spell.
What if say you got a temporary buff "your minions draw from your blood and get increased damage/life/speed for 30 sec" something where you can sit far back hiding under a tree with 10life whilst your enraged boys can handle a boss without dying every hit.

Build further and make it fun, add like an experimental buff , "for x seconds, your spells cost twice as much life but they deal between 2-5x damage" , where one can feel himself taking a huge risk for a huge reward.


I think the Blood Mage should be done justice and feel like an actual ascendancy ,you feel that you ascended TO something, it's not just another branch with more critical chance and abysimal life leech, also the blood orb spawns that are suited for a melee not a caster since they spawn within the monster dying, lol .

What we got now is a forced huge debuff to start with and a huge grind to get 6 more ascendancy points 60 hours later in order to be able to recoup the loss created by the first node.