for holy bolt, i think its definitely ok that it pierces targets, maybe even just pierces allies, cause that really was a pain on group play in the original. i have ptsd from maxing and using holy bolt on a paladin together with a summonancer, all up into hell, as a duo play. having to get so close i overlapped the other skeletons to get a few bolts in, removing the point of it being quick ranged and nice defensive, against say, lightning enchanted or fire enchanted. and it wasnt even the only offensive skill i used. its enough for me to see the point of piercing
with that being said, if they are meant to be so powerful now to make min maxers attracted to them, they should have mana cost that reflects it
as someone who isnt interested in putting down act bosses in less than 5 secs, and putting enemy groups through impossible bullet hell, all while capping player count… the draw of original holy bolt and original martial arts was, mainly, really cheap to use. aoe and ranged adds lots of safety in their own ways
og holy bolt is practically free cost ranged at higher levels, and functions well as an undead slayer for progression (note: singleplayer, small parties). all ranged offer great safety. some enemies can be high threat up close, but their threat can be eliminated by stepping back and attacking from far. if holy bolt is also supposed to damage a lot and damage demons, act bosses included, the mana cost has to reflect that. paladin has a lot of high damage ranged, and the mana cost as well as their drawbacks reflect well on those. yes, there are players that swear by leaving energy alone under stat selection, and always take +25 mana potions with them before they leave town, or carry abnormal amounts of mana leech (no use on fleshless undead)… which is all tried, tested, and functioning strats, but there are also those who are happy to experiment with energy and be self-sustaining for much longer, living on mana potions found and on natural mana regen. for us, the low-cost super ranged piercing killer holy bolt is way ridiculous. you are telling me at my high energy paladins prime he can fire 200-300 bolts and still not worry about running out of mana (mana regen). that he could lay the act bosses to rest over and over again without a visit to the potion store inbetween. why use sacrifice or zeal when you got the cost free safe slaying of holy bolt. or in comparison to vengeance for that matter, being 2 mana points more expensive and much less safe to use, as well as more synergy intensive as a main skill
ok so that was the rant for holy bolt. for martial arts its mainly how charges go down one by one when spent. a lot of the holy bolt talk covers my thoughts on martials arts too, only you just replace the safety of ranged with the power of aoe, low cost/no cost repeating aoe. there is also the power of multi-elemental. there are lots of unclear details why some skills work and function the way they do, and in context of class, that is getting ignored by the new devs here. an obvious example is that sorceress cannot cross-synergize skill trees. like, leveling lightning is not going to strengthen her blizzard or meteor skill. martial assassin has a huge luxury there, that fully maining martial skills invite her to break through resistances and even immunities by investing in 3-4 martial skills right next to each other. or, she can level one or two elemental martials and some traps, now she also got safety luxury, and still elemental diversity
and see how her traps also do spam aoe dmg, in a safe non-close combat way. and are very much reflected in mana cost, on par with sorceress skills. meaning her skills are much more expensive, warrior versus mage mana increase considered
to stick to the script of the og game, the devs have to take mana cost into account. if its increased damage to aoe, ranged, or something that passes through defense (spells and aoe), it must be reflected. to min maxers, those og skills get ignored, but for everyone else, those were an opportunity to kill weak targets for no cost at all, or to put down troublesome enemies with the skills inherent safety measures
if their damage significantly suffers on 8 player group play but works fine on singleplayer, consider going the opposite route of corpse explosion, increasing damage per player joining, even better if it only affects /player buffed monsters. mana cost is otherwise the way, and makes a visible change from a progressing startup group with a paladin or assassin killing away, to a paladin or assassin lending a hand, then running out of mana… as all of the slayers in groups out there continue to work around, in their own ways. either by chugging down bought mana potions, charging up mana leech and mana per kill, sticking around in the back waiting for mana drops, or investing in energy. mana cost matters! its the only thing that keeps early game from turning into a bullet hell for the enemy, and keeps teamplay from turning into solo play with some randos around