Hey all,
I was thinking that in order to avoid having “boring” passive but powerful runes, that maybe we could get set bonuses of sorts based on runes we have equipped.
They would be class based, and could be as simple as getting a specific bonus when all rune slots are filled (e.g. for Mages, “Increases your spell damage by 30% of your Intellect when all rune slots are filled” or something).
They could even give different bonuses depending on the type of rune. E.g. if our Mage has filled his rune slots with Frost type runes, the bonus could be for int giving Frost spell damage (more than in the previous example but only Frost), for all fire runes it would be int giving Fire spell damage.
And of course, there could be more exotic and creative bonuses.
This could help solve problems with classes at each phase, and still leave room for more exciting active runes.
I actually don’t like this idea, as I’d rather have a bit more “unexpected” or emergent custom rune setups.
Making specific “runeword” combinations provide set bonuses may end up making it less flexible and some of the wilder combos may become less viable because they are not giving said set bonus.
Or in reverse, Blizzard will decide on a completely dumb set that’s powerful but has a rune that’s disliked in it.
I’d say the best example is Hunter’s Lion (kings) rune - it’s a very generic rune, but Blizzard may decide to band together some “Marksman” runes and make set around competing Master Marksman chest rune. Suddenly, you have to make an annoying choice of either providing Kings or not having a set bonus.
1 Like
You have a point - which is why my first suggestion was merely getting a sort of generic passive bonus simply by having your rune slots filled.
This bonus would kind of fill in a class weakness in the phase, so for example casters could get int to spell damage by just having a rune in each slot and without having to sacrifice more fun runes for something boring but arguably strong.
Frankly, if the bonus would apply simply by having any runes equipped - something that is practically a default state in SoD, then just make it baseline, for example said int scaling.
The question now becomes - why overcomplicate something that’s supposed to be simple? And what purpose the whole “set” will serve given you complete it forever the 2nd hour after you start a character anyway.
The thing is, I don’t know if they can make baseline changes without affecting Era as well. I thought this was the case, but I saw numerous comments on the boards about baseline changes in SoD affecting Era as well - which we dont want.
So the first suggestion is more of a band aid for a problem in the game while the second is more creative but, as you say, could be convoluted and lead to greater balance problems.
Oh, they can, for example they just slapped on pet scaling and changed Deep Wounds to WoTLK version-ish (and made a bunch of trouble with those both). And they did these outside the rune system, baseline.
They definitely can, but they probably don’t want to go too far. INT → Spellpower for all casters is a huge change, for example - I bet it crossed their minds at least during brainstorming.
1 Like