Fighter Feedback – Vengeance & Ability Suggestions
My fighter is lvl 29, and so far I've really enjoyed the class. After reviewing Xilith's intent for the fighter and community feedback, it feels like the Fighter is close to where it needs to be, but still needs some more depth.
Most of the following feedback revolves around making Vengeance a more engaging and rewarding resource while giving several underused abilities a stronger identity.
My goal isn't simply to make the class stronger. I think the new Vengeance system has the potential to become the defining mechanic of the Fighter, but I'd like to see it reward more meaningful decisions. Whether you're choosing to spend Vengeance to improve your offense, strengthen your defenses, or hold onto it for a more impactful ability, there should be interesting choices to make throughout every fight.
The more abilities that meaningfully interact with Vengeance, the more Fighters are rewarded for understanding the class. It becomes less about pressing abilities on cooldown and more about knowing when to spend Vengeance, when to build it, and which abilities benefit the most from it.
I also think Vengeance could use a small increase to its passive generation from being hit, although I know this has already been brought up several times elsewhere on the forums. My focus here is more on expanding how Vengeance interacts with the class. By adding more layers to how it modifies abilities, Fighters are rewarded for taking hits (which seems to be the intent behind the redesign), while still having meaningful ways to generate Vengeance when acting as an off-tank or DPS. It may be slower than main tanking, but there should always be ways to actively build toward your next decision.
Abilities That Feel Good As-Is
- Disarm: No changes.
- Feint: No changes. I like having a DPS ability that doesn't consume Vengeance.
- Frenzy: No changes.
- Rend: No changes, assuming the missing second attack isn't a bug. If it is, I'd love to see it restored.
- Shield Bash: No changes. It's healthy to have useful abilities that don't consume Vengeance.
Abilities That Could Better Reward Vengeance
- Armor Break: Grant 1 stack of Vengeance when applied. This rewards maintaining Armor Break while giving off-tanks another source of Vengeance generation. If that's too much, only grant Vengeance once the target has 3 stacks of Armor Break.
- Battle Cry: Add Dexterity per stack of Vengeance in addition to its current bonuses.
- Cleave: Reduce the base cooldown to 15 seconds, then reduce it by 1 second per Vengeance stack (up to 5 seconds), allowing it to reach a 10-second cooldown. This gives Fighters another meaningful decision on whether to spend or maintain Vengeance.
- Clobber: Reduce the cooldown by 6 seconds per Vengeance stack, allowing it to reach a 30-second cooldown.
- Cross Cut: Add a bleed that scales its damage based on current Vengeance stacks.
- Juggernaut: Reduce the minimum charge distance so it can be used more naturally for threat generation and damage reduction. Also reduce the cooldown by 2 seconds per Vengeance stack, allowing it to reach a 10-second cooldown.
- Second Wind: Scale the health regeneration based on current Vengeance stacks.
- Shield Block: Scale the absorb amount based on current Vengeance stacks.
- Taunt: Grant 1 stack of Vengeance when used.
- Tactician Stance: Allow offensive attacks in this stance to generate Vengeance. The tradeoff becomes giving up Assault Stance's 10% damage bonus in exchange for Vengeance generation. This creates a meaningful identity for off-tanking, PvP, or Vengeance-focused gameplay while keeping Assault Stance as the primary damage stance.
- Unnerving Shout: Increase the current 5% damage reduction by 1% per Vengeance stack, allowing it to reach 10% at maximum stacks.
Abilities That Need Tuning
- Challenging Arrow: I don't think this is tuned well enough yet to justify a hotbar slot.
- Intimidate: Reduce the cooldown from 5 minutes to 1 minute. At five minutes it's difficult to justify bringing.
- Kneebreaker: A 60-second cooldown for an 8-second snare feels excessive. Either reduce it to 30 seconds, or (my preferred option) reduce it by 10 seconds per Armor Break stack, allowing it to reach 30 seconds at three stacks. This rewards staying glued to your target instead of encouraging random snaring targets in PVP or PVE.
- Merciless Assault: It feels odd that this has a 30-minute cooldown while Defense is only 5 minutes. I'd simply make them match.
- Vanguard: Increase the duration to 1 hour. This clearly isn't intended to stay on the hotbar, so the current 5-minute duration just forces players back into their spellbook every few minutes.
New Ability Suggestion
- Revenge: I'd like to see this become the offensive counterpart to Vanguard. Instead of reducing threat, have it increase threat generation against the target by 10% and give attacks against that target a chance to generate Vengeance. The proc chance could be lower than taking direct hits, but it would provide another engaging way to build Vengeance while not actively tanking.
Vengeance Quality of Life
- Passive Vengeance Gain: I think passive Vengeance generation from taking damage could use a slight increase. Others have already covered this well, so I won't go into detail, but I do agree with the general sentiment.
- Maximum Vengeance Audio or Visual Cue: Add an audio cue when reaching maximum Vengeance, a roar, grunt, battle cry, weapon impact, etc. Or the fighter could have a soft red glow (so other's know you are at max veng). Right now I spend more time watching my Vengeance bar than the fight itself. An audio cue would let players focus on combat instead of constantly checking the UI.
Overall, I think the redesign is headed in a great direction. My hope is that Vengeance becomes more than just a resource you occasionally spend. It should become the core decision-making mechanic of the Fighter, rewarding knowledge, planning, and adapting to each encounter, whether you're the main tank or supporting as an off-tank.
