Hide Vs. Detect - My Take

There's been some rumblings on the forums in recent weeks in regards to the Ranger's Hide skill.  Some believe it needs a complete revamping, others think it needs some tweaks, while others think that it's just fine as is.  On the flipside, almost everyone with any type of sense knows that a SharpShooter's Detect is essentially useless in combating/preventing a Ranger's Hide.

So what are my thoughts?  How would I change the two skills?  Read along:

Hide (currently):
Hide is a Ranger-only skill that is acquired at level 100.  It does not have any upgrades currently.  The skill allows the Ranger to become invisible and roam around freely. 

Hide has somewhere between a 30-50% failure rate, meaning you cast the skill, and nothing happens.  This is currently the only "missable" buff in Fiesta.  The cooldown of the skill has a base of 1 minute, empowerable down to a pretty quick 42 seconds.  I guess that's not so quick when you're running for your life though... Hide can be casted while running.

In addition to Hide's high rate of failure, it can also be dispelled by any AOE attack near the Ranger.  In a PvP situation, the use of any AOE near that Ranger is highly hazardous.  Even with a high evasion, a miss triggers the removal of the skill and the uncovering of the Ranger.  If the Ranger is targeted prior to casting Hide, he can still be followed by the opponent.  Marriage Hearts as well as the AutoPick glow from Pets can also give away a Ranger's location.

The Ranger is unable to cast any skills, attack, pick up any items, or summon their mounts until they cancel their Hide.  Their movement speed is unchanged, they move at their current running speed plus any speed scrolls they may have active.

Whether intentional or not, when casting Hide, the Ranger's evasion increases tremendously.

Detect (currently):
Detect is a SharpShooter-only skill that is acquired at level 100.  It also does not have any current upgrades.
Detect is an AOE-type skill that produces a targeting reticle the same circumference as the other Archer AOEs.  If the hidden Ranger is within this targeting reticle, after the skill is activated, the Ranger will be uncovered.  The cooldown of Detect is 30 seconds, I don't know what the fully empowered CD would be as, at this point, it would be moronic to empower it unless you have some sort of emotional attachment to its pretty animation.  It's pretty safe to guess that the fully empowered CD would bring it down to 21 seconds, but again, who cares.  Detect, as is, is the single most useless skill in the game.

Hide (Fatal's Version):
My apologies as this is not 100% my own thinking as many great minds have shared similar thoughts, but I think I've added some twists that not everyone has mentioned.

Hide[1] - Level 100 Ranger.  Keep the same CD time and Duration.  Increase success rate of skill to 100%.  Damage does not uncover the Ranger, but based on Evasion, he can still be hit by AOEs.  DOTs will also stick to the Ranger, with only Bleed showing a resulting graphic.  Hide can only be completely taken down by a SharpShooter's Detect skill, or those Totem-type mobs/object in Thorn Cave.  The increase in Evasion currently enjoyed by Rangers when they cast Hide would be kept and factored in.

Hide[2] - Level 110 Ranger.  This is a group AOE, buff-type skill.  The Ranger will be allowed to Hide all members of his party within the same target reticle distance with the Ranger as shown in the image above.  With that image in mind, all three Mages would also be invisible, but the Cleric who stands outside the circle, is not.  This is a one-time cast skill that continues to hide your party until the Ranger removes it, someone within the Hide casts a skill, or is Detected by a SharpShooter.  Any party member who wanders outside the range of the skill would become visible.  No skills can be cast while under the "blanket".    If they re-enter the circle, they become hidden once again.  Same rules for damage/uncovering apply as Hide[1].  The skill would employ a 4 minute Cooldown period and a 2 minute Duration, both can be empowered.

Detect (Fatal's Version):
I had proposed this before in one of three ways:

Detect - Version A:  Detect would change into a skill that radiates out from the SharpShooter, uncovering any Ranger within a 13m radius.  This eliminates the need to have to aim the skill and just guess at where the Ranger is hiding, which is pretty pointless now with such a long CD.  In this version, CD would be reduced to 6 seconds, matching the unempowered base CD of Piercing Shot and Nature's Mist.

Detect - Version B:  In this scenario, Detect will become a buff skill.  As a buff skill, it can be re-cast at anytime like a Cleric's buffs, but it will not translate into a party-buff like Nature's Aim, meaning the buff only affects the SharpShooter even if partied.  When Detect is active, the SharpShooter is able to see any Ranger on any map, not just in PvP situations.  The Ranger can be seen in the same fashion that they are visible to themselves, that clear, LabGhost-type visual, the same that you see in Guild Tournament.  The SharpShooter is the only class able to see, actively target and attack a Ranger in Hide.

Detect - Version C:  Similar to above, but it becomes a passive skill.  SharpShooters would be able to see Rangers at any time, on any map, without the use of casting a buff.

Now how would these two proposed changes work in conjunction with each other?  If the passive version of Detect is adopted, the SharpShooter should still have a skill that allows them to completely negate the Ranger's Hide and remove it in PvP situations.  On a normal map, the SharpShooter is only able to see the hidden Rangers and not actively remove their buff.  So perhaps a passive plus the current version of Detect with modifications to the Cooldown?

Class Rebalancing - Archers

As most of you know, class rebalancing in regards to the Archer class has been a hot topic for the last 2 years (Archers were actually really good @ 59 and early 79 cap before people starting enhancing armors and buying extenders).  You can find threads on a near daily basis by those of us with archer mains asking for help from OutSpark and OnsOn to at least bring us up to par with the other 2 offensive classes, Clerics are another story.

So after much urging by both the playerbase as well as OutSpark, we finally have our first steps toward achieving a bit more balance to the Archer class.  Here is a breakdown of what's to come and what I think can still be improved.

So here's what was announced:

- The Archer's skill, Nature's Mist, will now be extended to include levels 6, 7, 8, and 9. The current level cap will allow tier 8 to be received at level 107.

My thoughts:  This is great!  This was much needed ever since the 89 cap was raised.  Archers capped out on this skill at level 83 [Tier 5], so aside from more damage from leveling up and a better weapon, the skill remained unchanged all the way through Prestige.  I'm extremely happy that this skill will get the attention that it deserved.  I'm guessing at 105, I'll have up to [Tier 7].

- The Archer's Skill, Entrap, will now be extended to include tiers 2, 3, 4, and 5. At the current level cap, tier 3 will be the highest attainable at level 110.

-  The damage for Entrap will be increased significantly and its cooldown will be reduced.

My thoughts:  Since I'm not a Ranger, I don't have much experience with this skill.  Keep in mind that this is the 'Invisible Flower Traps' skill and not Entangle.  From talking with friends and witnessing a bit in FBZ, the skill as it was was pretty useless.  It did minimal damage, similar to the damage the SharpShooter skill Slow Shot does.  We're guessing that with each tier, an additional flower will be dropped.  This skill is kitable, and with increased damage and shorter cooldowns, it may be pretty useful.

- The Archer's skill, MultiBloodShot, will take 50% of the original Spirit Points needed to cast the spell. Tier 1 will now take 451 SP, Tier 2 will take 533 SP.

- MultiBloodShot will be a skill that can be cast while moving. (still being worked on)

My thoughts:  This is also a welcome change.  However, as it is currently, the DOTs for MultiBlood and Piercing Shot are not stackable.  One cancels out the other which makes no sense as Piercing does 'Disease'-type damage and MultiBlood does 'Bleeding'-type damage.  The single target equivalents of the two skills can be stacked however.  Hopefully this is addressed when they implement these changes.  This skill also had a nasty habit of locking up all of your other skills if you cast it too often.  This skill-bug required a full log out to correct and oftentimes resulted in your death.

- The Soul Stone limitation for Archers that are below level 100 will be increased.


My thoughts:  This is a good thing for Archers, our stone capacity was really low, often requiring us to restone every 20-30 minutes depending on what we were kiting.

- The Soul Stone limitation for Mages that are below level 100 will be increased.

My thoughts:  Nice bonus for the mages too.  Mages were capped at only 72 HP stones all the way up to 99, if you were duoing or soloing in a far off place, like TOS Boss Room, your HP stones got wiped out really quickly, especially if you didn't have a Cleric available.

So those are the announced changes so far... not bad, at least it's a start.  There is just so much more that can be done though....  Here's what I would do, feel free to debate any of this:

1.  Increase base damage of both Archer weapons.  If base damage is not increased, we need a serious upgrade in the skill damage instead.  Either way, our attacks are really weak.

2.  Aimed Shot & Power Shot:  Once a Scout chooses SharpShooter, the level 100 upgrades should have a no cast time upgrade as well.  Having to wait to cast these skills is ridiculous, we're better off just standing there auto-attacking.

3.  Multishot:  Kitable after Prestige also with no cast time.  More base damage than Piercing Shot.

4.  Increase in Evasion.  No reason a fighter's evasion should closely rival that of an archer.

Will add more in a bit........