Spirit Tree

I've made this suggestion in the past, but I was discussing Plant Control with a friend who had recently made a new Dominator and he asked about powers to skip so this came back into my head.

In recent times the devs have made nice upgrades to certain powers to add needed mobility in what has always been a fast paced game and is only getting faster as we advance into trials.

Personally I feel it would be lame to have a magical floating tree following you around, so my suggestion for a revamp to Spirit Tree is as follows:

Keep the summon in place format the power has now, but change the buff. Make it work similar to the Reactor bubbler in the Terror Volta trial. The caster summons, and players stand next to the tree for X seconds. The buff granted by the tree stays with the player for an extended duration even if they move away.

If there's balance issues with the strength of the buff, then simply do as above only with 2 buffs. One buff close to the tree and one that travels. Both together are "full strength" and the single travelling one is as weak as the devs feel they need to make it.

On top of all that I'd kind of like to see the buff changed from a regen buff (that stacks its benefits to high HP ATs and away from the caster) to a Heal over time like we see in Time Manipulation.

If there's some response to this from other players (positive or negative, I'd just like to have some discussion) then I'll pass a link to this thread along to the Powers Guys. I just didn't want to drop it in their lap from the vacuum of my brain. So what do you folks think?

I find your suggestion quite intriguing. I think it would be very beneficial to a team and could even be more so with Poison as the secondary. The reason I say I think it could be beneficial is cause I currently have a Plant/Emp troller, 2 actually and I only have the Spirit Tree on 1 of them to help a friend who constantly runs into the fray. I also only have it 1 slotted at this time. I never took Spirit Tree cause of the immobility but with a buff like that I would definitely reconsider this power on the other 1.

Just my two cents...

The trees are quite useful in trials and other AV-heavy / big fight endgame content. Just plop them down in the middle of the action; they recharge rather quickly (I usually cast one, then before it's gone, cast another), so can be dropped again if the team/league moves on (such as at the end of lam).

That said, the HoT would be very helpful in many more scenarios, making the spirit tree more attractive to players. Personally, I have "trial" build and a regular build on my plant troll, and the "regular" build does not have spirit tree because it's rare that a mish or tf team will stand in one spot long enough to make it worth dropping the tree or even necessary to do so (she's plant/emp).

I do wonder how effective a "stand by the tree and get a buff that stays with you" would be if there were also a HoT element added, though. Another thing is that teams move fast, plowing through content, so it seems unlikely that a team is going to stand around a tree, even for a few seconds to get a regen buff. It would also make those annoying "GATHER!" messages far more frequent, a definite downside.

I'll be interested to see what others have to say; the ideas an intriguing one.

I wouldn't mind a buff of some sort for both Spirit Tree and the trap's Triage Beacon power.

Maybe a small Heal over Time would be nice if you're standing next to the power (in the radius of it) and if you're not next to it, then you just get some +regen instead.

I've called for Spirit Tree and Triage Beacon to be changed to heal over time for a while now, so that's a definite /signed.

I also like the buff-station idea as well. I've always disagreed with those that claim a static buff location is somehow useless, but it's a great compromise that doesn't involve putting both powers on rocket jets.

Thanks for the feedback everyone. It's good stuff. In my mind, the buffing process would take just a moment, but probably to balance with the convenience of placing it where you want, it would probably take a few seconds within range of the tree to get the buff. It definitely wouldn't take any longer than it takes to summon MM pets.

I admit the power does have uses, but in the modern game it tends to be really hard to track the 35' radius of a tree/beacon, and whether you're getting the buff. It is very easy to make sure you jump next to the tree for a few seconds, get the goodness, and move on. In my mind, it ends up being similar to buffing with AoE shielding now. Your minigame becomes picking times and places where you can hit a good number of teammates at the same time.

Additionally, thank you for mentioning Triage Beacon, everything I've said should apply to that power too, it just slipped my mind.

In the end, even on a fast moving Dominator I want reasons to take this power. I want the choices I make in my builds to be hard. Every power should be good in it's own time and place.

Id be happy giving the tree legs like the flytrap pet. But a HoT would be preferable. Or maybe make it a +end as well as +regen. At least then it would be more useful in the early game.

Your suggestion is well written. I will say however that I would probably not be a big fan of this. While Spirit Tree is not a game changing power in its current form, in terms of Plant Control as a whole I don't think that increased healing capability is really appropriate outside of a Controller's secondary. Of the various Control sets (or, really, all power sets in the game), Plant Control would also be one of the last I'd consider buffing.

I don't consider increasing the utility of a utility power by overcoming it's main design flaw to be a buff.

I'm not talking about making it more powerful, just more useful to the people who do take it.

*post changed*

Everything I said is absolutely made impossible by the current ability to get multiple auras out at once, as is the suggestion of this thread unfortunately.

I like the buff station idea, and HOT is a good improvement.

But if you don't like a floating Spirit Tree, why not have it walk on its roots?

Just a random thought, although as a Spirit Tree it would be ok for it to float.

I'd be perfectly happy if they just cut down the duration/recharge.

With it's current duration most teams have moved on long before the tree/beacon has expired, meaning that outside of an AV fight a large portion of what benefit the Tree actually does have is wasted.

I would suggest a 30second Duration with an ~70second Recharge.

That way you're able to resummon it as you move along, and still has roughly the same uptime if you're standing in one spot. Perhaps also cut the end cost from 13 to 7.8, and maybe shorten the casting time (since you have to use it more often).

I like the idea of having a portion of the buff "sticky". However...

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lemur Lad On top of all that I'd kind of like to see the buff changed from a regen buff (that stacks its benefits to high HP ATs and away from the caster) to a Heal over time like we see in Time Manipulation.

I don't think that would turn out the way you expect. You seem to be presuming that if it were turned into a heal over time instead of regen, that the healing values it would be given would be greater for squishies than they get from the regen now. My guess is that it would be equivalent or less (considering that healing is generally better than regen due to the amount of -regen that gets thrown around) for squishies, which would make it of much less value to higher HP ATs. Overall it would be a reduction in value aside from those situations where -regen is being thrown around.