Changes to make spell blade more appealing

Puma

Here is my feedback to spellblade and changes that would make this class more appealing and not a bottom feeder on class selection popularity. Spellblade already does incredible damage at high end, possibly the best, but due to lack of utility, whether that be group utility or self utility, this class is very unpopular. Gate is a nice touch but I think it still needs more.

My suggestions :

Lower gate to like lvl 30. Give them self only ports shared with wizard starting at 44 to whatever.

Change static field to have different affects based on the currently activated infusion.

Arcane infusion - deals damage per tick (increase quite a bit from the current weak worthless damage)
Kinetic infusion - no damage, purges 1 buff per tick for 2 ticks to all mobs in the field (does not break cc)
Electric infusion - no damage, stuns for 0.5 seconds per tick for 2 ticks, as well as drains 'xx' mana per tick for each mob in the field with mana bars.

Ulf

I think gate at 30 is reasonable. Ranger getting SoW at 20 felt like such a big milestone, and was very rewarding. Self- port only would feel like a fun lategame capstone.

SpectralAnubis

Will say that I agree with the idea of Gate being provided a lot earlier than 50. It gives you the opportunity to escape, and you're not reliant on a druid or wizard in the group to teleport you out.

Once PC's hit level 30 the dungeon experience get's vastly different in pick-up groups. the Static Field direction because it gives us a reason to change Infusions based on the encounter rather than simply because Conduit kicked us out of one and gives us a CD between swaps.

That is the kind of stance dancing I'd like situational decision making. In groups I rarely lived in Telekinetic, but I absolutely used it when an add got on a healer/support and I needed to buy the tank a couple seconds to acquire aggro.

A Telekinetic version of Static Field built around battlefield manipulation would reinforce that role nicely. Arcane could remain the offensive version and Electric the disruption version. That deepens the existing Infusion identity without turning Spellblade into a generic utility.

Asayl

Even though I am an old EQ monk and think they have a kit that feels good in this game, I'll be playing spellblade since I play them in any game where a melee mage hybrid is available.

I think we need a core spellblade mechanic to weave spells in with our melee no matter the stance. I agree that we need infusion differentiation and like the OP's proposed static field changes. I have been thinking about this during my short time in the beta and want to throw my ideas out there for discussion.

I. Core spellblade mechanic

My proposed core mechanic will rely on a proc so I think the current procs need their damage scaled down and a 100% proc rate to make them an on-hit effect. I wouldn’t want all our class specific damage to be RNG. The damage will need to be normalized for dw vs 2h. Secondary proc effects get removed and will be added to the new spell below.
Bolt: A new main damage spell. This spell’s damage type changes based on active infusion. This spell should have a long cast time and inefficient mana cost on its own. Additional effects are added based on infusion which are basically our current secondary procs. This way I know when they are being applied and have a little control over the timing.
Eldritch Blade: A toggle buff that gives our weapon hits a chance to proc a buff. The proc buff lasts 5-7s and does not stack. It makes your next bolt instant cast and reduces mana cost to make it efficient to use. This could also be added to all of the infusions instead of being its own buff.

II. Infusion Differentiation

A. Arcane Infusion – DPS

On-hit procs become arcane damage and maybe get bonus damage compared to the other infusions.
Bolt becomes arcane damage and gets x% damage bonus
Still reduces the mana cost of arcane spear

B. Electric Infusion – Disruption

On-hit procs become electrical
Bolt becomes electrical damage and gets the 0.1 second stun
Reduces the mana cost of Discharge
Discharge becomes an interrupt or stun spell but has its cooldown increased accordingly

C. Telekinetic Infusion – Defense

On-hit procs become physical or maybe go away all together and instead generate barrier as a second health bar
Reduces cost of kinetic ward
If the barrier generation idea is being used, kinetic ward could have an additive boost to barrier generation that would still work if stance danced out of.
Bolt becomes physical damage and gains the kinetic siphon effect
It would be nice to have more of a reason to use this in a group setting sometimes. Maybe a long cool down taunt or mem wipe to pull a mob off the healer in an emergency until the tank can take aggro. Maybe kinetic siphon could have a slow effect instead.

III. Fun stuff / nice to haves - Maybe over powered but thematically fun ideas for discussion

I would like to lean into the psionic aspect a little. It would be cool if we could summon a floating sword pet to represent a weapon that we control with our mind. It would not be able to take aggro since it is not really a pet. Chance to hit would scale with intel. Its damage/delay could be based on our primary hand weapon, maybe it lets us equip a melee weapon in our ranged slot and uses that, or we cast the spell on a weapon in our inventory. The upgrade path could include bonus parry chance and double attacks that also scale with intel.
Battle Meditation – Lets us mediate while in combat but uses 50% or 25% or whatever lower % of our meditate skill. It would not be as good as meditating for real but better than normal to give us a little mana sustain since we get less opportunities to med if chain pulling.
Some spell caster utility. Reduce the level on gate. Bind and/or invis would be nice for quality of life even if the bind is self only.

Krycek

Spellblade needs a kick and invis imo

Raybane

Personally so would the main thing I would like for Spellblade is to make it so that you need to press fewer buttons to swap stance and use conduit.

Ophrikk

The gameplay is fine. We need an ability to get to a group when they need a DPS rep. Need some kind of invis. I don't care if it's a fixed self only 5 min fixed duration invis, With a 15 min cooldown. Something that will let you run from the zone line into the group. Being able to rep another DPS without the whole group having to stop and go get you is going to suck. Or make Alchemy invis potions somewhat reasonable to make. ( IE somewhere in the 10 - 20 silver range in rarity / difficulty to make ).

Xhieron

Ophrikk This is a really interesting point. Who has the get-to-camp-easily utility? Rogues via rogue invis; necros, monks, sks via FD, wiz, enc, ele via invis...

Ranger invis is outdoor only, and like SPB, BST doesn't get it at all. Am I missing anybody?

I won't lie: this is exactly the kind of convenience I think about when making class priority decisions, and I know I'm not alone. "How many times will I die otw to camp" doesn't seem like it should be a factor when deciding on a main class.

Ophrikk

Xhieron And Frankly, if i'm repping a dps in a normal group in a reachable location that just requires invis, i'm for sure picking the rogue and anyone else that can get there without help before the spellblade that needs an escort / invis. Like I said make invis pots somewhat common, not 4 moonveil ( kinda rare ) to make and then probably subject to that idiot bug where it immediately drops off randomly.

Zar

I mentioned that gap when discussing class options with my friends. SPB is great but needs an escort.

SpectralAnubis

Personally, I'm most likely in the minority here but the return of invisibility is doing the opposite of what the dev team was specifically trying to do with the rework. Having more "generic" wizard spells isn't the solution.

I’d rather see our mobility expanded in a way that reinforces the class identity. Allow Spellblade's to solve travel/escape problems through phasing, teleportation and telekinetic movement, not invisibility.

Something like letting Phase Strike/another Phase ability target allies again, or giving us a limited forward blink/escape, would feel much more unique to the class. Getting to camps outside is really not that difficult on mount or with a SOW.

Inside of a cramped dungeon or deep in Tel Elkir, yeah I can see it being a challenge, but thats why you bring supplies and with the Ranger rework, you can effectively stay camped for awhile now. Plus you have a full aggro dropper in your kit. SPB has a decent amount of escape at the moment. A short range blink, would be nice for an emergency distance utility.

Tadorm

SpectralAnubis Related to telekinesis and teleportation give him a CoH like the magician, but for him, so he can move to a member of the group in the same area. Maybe is too OP and could be use to exploit to get loot from inner dungeons or so...

Krycek

Krycek They added kick back in. That's a start.