Aion Riftshade

As everyone knows, we've gone back to the origins of Aion with the classic release. While we’ve circled back to the beginning, upcoming patch 2.8 will introduce helpful new features like skill CD separation. Now I want to suggest some enhancements that might be included in a future 3.0 update that could benefit all classes. Let's start with the mage and its subclasses.

Spiritmaster:

The initial change affects the two stigma pathways for Spiritmasters. Here are my proposals:

• Dot Path

1. Swap out the stigma Hand of Torpor with Sympathetic Mind

• Spirit Path

1. Exchange Enmity Swap I for Spirit Wall of Protection
2. Remove the stigma spirit hypnosis and include Spirit Burn-to-Ashes/Explosion as the final skill in the path;

These minor changes enhance the character's performance significantly. Now, let’s review some skills that, if revised, could greatly enhance this class:

1. Elemental strike: Suggest removing cast time to make it instant, with increased MP cost;
2. Spirit Ruinous Offensive I: Add ethereal touch effect with each spirit, eliminate the earth spirit's slowing effect. Increase MP consumption from 200 to 700, keep damage the same;
3. Elemental Discharge: Introduce this skill with instant cast, increased MP consumption from 500 to 1020, spirit remains and stuns nearby foes for 4 seconds in range. CD unchanged or extend CD from 3 to 5 minutes;
4. Soul Torrent I: Reduce the CD to 1 minute;
5. Armor of Light/Darkness: boost Magic Boost from 700 to 800;
6. Cloaking Word I: Include this as a basic skill with a secondary cast level as a variant. Original CD remains. Initial cast level renders an entire group invisible with known penalties for 30 seconds, while the secondary cast level lasting 2 seconds provides invisibility only to the caster and their summoned spirit for 1 minute. This secondary level has an MP cost of 2020 and lessens the speed penalty to 20%; (Essentially, the secondary level is akin to HIDE 1, but with reduced speed penalties, requiring casting, and featuring a 5-minute CD);
7. Replenish Element: Besides restoring the spirit's HP, it now removes fear and sleep from the spirit; HP cost remains and adds MP consumption of 700;
8. Sympathetic Mind and Armor Spirit: CD shared; using Sympathetic mind ends the Armor spirit effect, and vice versa;
9. Sympathetic Mind and Armor Spirit: Same CD of 30 seconds and extend Sympathetic Mind duration to 5 minutes;
10. Armor Spirit: Raises the magic boost from 400 to 1500
11. Sympathetic Mind: Increases +10% magic damage with ignite ether, magic implosion, infernal Pain, cyclone of wrath;
12. Add Elemental Spirit Armor skill
13. Add Command BodyGuard

Sorcerer:

Certain skills will become basic skills:

1. Sonnolence: make this skill a basic skill at level 60
2. Lumiel's Wisdom: This stigma becomes a basic skill;

For scouts and their subclasses, I suggest these improvements:

Assassin:

1. Shadowfall: This stigma becomes a basic skill
2. Shadow walk: This stigma becomes a basic skill
3. Break Away: Introduce this stigma at level 60

Ranger:

1. Silence Arrow: This stigma becomes a basic skill
2. Call Gryphu: This stigma becomes a basic skill
3. Feint: Introduce this stigma at level 60

For Warriors and their subclasses, I suggest these changes:

Templar:

1. Unwavering Devotion: This stigma becomes a basic skill
2. Doom Lure: This stigma becomes a basic skill
3. Punishing Thrust: Introduce this stigma at level 60

Gladiator:

1. Unwavering Devotion: This stigma becomes a basic skill
2. Slaughter: This stigma becomes a basic skill
3. Magical Defence: Introduce this stigma at level 60

Lastly, for Priests and their subclasses, I propose these alterations:

Chanter:

1. Annihilator: This stigma becomes a basic skill
2. Promise of Aether: This stigma becomes a basic skill
3. Leaping Flash: Introduce this stigma at level 60

Cleric:

1. Punishing Earth: This stigma becomes a basic skill
2. Saving Grace: This stigma becomes a basic skill
3. Retribution Lightning: Introduce this stigma at level 60

Additionally, for the Cleric I propose further modifications:

1. Retribution Lightning: Instant cast
2. Sage of Wisdom: Instant cast
3. Amplification: Instant cast
4. Call Lightning: Instant cast
5. Substitute Grace of Empyrean Lord in the Atk Path with Sacrificial Power

Moreover, add skill basic at level 65 to each subclass as a basic level 60 skill.

You may notice that the significant changes I put forward are mainly for the SM, improving some features of the Spirit path because it's usually the go-to choice, granting the spirit greater protection capability during Spirit substitution. Thanks to separate CDs for Earth and Blade of Earth skills, considering shared usage of Sympathetic Mind with Spirit Armor could be beneficial. This allows players to decide whether to enhance MB, MA, and Elemental defense further for both the summoner and spirit, resulting in a useful buff for both, plus some skills get a 10% damage boost. Alternatively, a spirit-focused buff heavily boosts only the spirit, enabling formidable battle damage. For other classes, beyond updates already in Korea, I propose offering some stigmata as basic skills for completing combos or consistently having important buffs in their stigma set. Given that Templars and Gladiators are the only classes with resistance buffs, it makes sense to standardize them. Similarly, sorcerers should have access to Lumiel's wisdom outside the stigma branch for better MP management in battles, as Lumiel’s wisdom is distinct from other skill CDs. For clerics, I've suggested more changes because many people agree that skills used every minute (like amplification and Sage of Wisdom) shouldn’t require casting, so let’s make them quicker, along with other essential skills. I’d also propose making some stigmata basic skills.

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So basically change all classes to waht they are at retail currently?

That wouldn´t be classic.

Quote from Technique

So is the plan to make all classes like they are in retail now?

That's not classic at all.

Nope, since they have introduced some unique modifications not found in retail, like skills that shared cooldowns but now don't. I suggested making a few stigma skills standard for the enhancements I proposed for Spiritmaster. Remember, cloaking here isn’t identical to what you see in retail - it has a 5-minute cooldown as opposed to retail's shorter times. With the suggested tweaks for Spiritmaster, the character isn’t identical to retail since certain advanced skills like magic implosion and infernal pain or cyclone of wrath are unavailable, being replaced by soul torrent or body root to ensure limitations maintain the play style. Also, the magic boost cap is set at 2700, and the values for the spirit armors are adjusted to hit that cap when using a spirit. I didn’t propose any new combos, just made some skills immediate cast. I also suggested that clerics have an instant call lightning similar to the sorcerer's glacial shard, as it’s the only class with nearly all cast-time attack skills, so instant skills would be helpful. Similarly, some buffs with high cooldowns are made quicker to use. These are tweaks to refine classic-style gameplay. For sorcerers, I advised setting Lumiel's Wisdom as a basic skill because they're planning to introduce skill separations such as Vaizel's Wisdom, Zikiel's Wisdom, and Lumiel's Wisdom. Knowing that Lumiel’s Wisdom might not be in the skill branch, it’s different from the retail version where sorcerers recharge MP quickly with combos; here, they recharge and manage their MP better in part.

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