Devouring Plague

Submit hero or skill concepts for critiquing and potential implementation.
Post Reply
Message
Author
Rockness
Visitor
Visitor
Posts: 35
Joined: April 4th, 2009, 1:53 pm
Realm: Azeroth (U.S. East)
Battle.net name: Rockness
Ignastio

Devouring Plague

#1 Post by Rockness »

Firstly, let me say that I love the Defiler, he is in my top 3 favorite heroes to play, except I won't play him anymore because the plague is unreasonable plain & simple. It's to the point I won't even fight one, I'd rather not play. Even with a dispel it's either sit in the lane with no mana, abandon it or spend half your time traveling to heal, well there's always kill him, but not every hero is suited for that.

There are a number of solutions that I feel would remedy the situation:

1. Min/Max: Change it so the plague will cease to drain once the targets hp/mp is below 25% or so, maybe even add a talent to lower it more.

2. Proximity: Change it to an active buff on Defiler which drains heros in a radius around him (say 1000), this way you can escape from it.

3. Nerf: Increase the cooldown, lower the duration, lower the range.

That's all for now, please leave feedback.
Flames will be disregarded, so don't bother.

User avatar
Laser_Wolf
Regular
Regular
Posts: 94
Joined: June 19th, 2007, 7:36 pm
Realm: Azeroth (U.S. East)
Location: Ohio

Re: Devouring Plague

#2 Post by Laser_Wolf »

I like the proximity idea, but it should be larger than 1000, say around 3000?
I go by the name of Lazar_Wolf.
I am not a tailor.

User avatar
Lunargent
Regular
Regular
Posts: 72
Joined: August 8th, 2009, 9:49 pm
Realm: Azeroth (U.S. East)
Battle.net name: Lunargent
Location: Tir Tairngire

Re: Devouring Plague

#3 Post by Lunargent »

I'd be so much happier with Devouring Plague if it only drained health and no mana. Also, make it non fatal.

This would slow down the Stormhammer Defiler incredibly, and make it not such a pain to fight against the Defiler in your lane, because I absolutely hate it.

User avatar
Reaper
Retired
Retired
Posts: 647
Joined: December 20th, 2007, 3:00 pm
Realm: Azeroth (U.S. East)
Battle.net name: Reaper777

Re: Devouring Plague

#4 Post by Reaper »

It is pretty easily countered if you can't deal with it. There are plenty of dispells/potions/healing skills to counter it already

Giving it an aoe would be too strong, making it only health/non lethal is too huge a nerf and would riddle him pretty useless. I think it's pretty good the way it is, maybe lengthen the cooldown a tiny bit.

Edit: For the record I like the proximity idea, but it would be pretty rape against multiple heroes
[Reaper]

RSOG
Visitor
Visitor
Posts: 32
Joined: September 19th, 2006, 6:12 pm

Re: Devouring Plague

#5 Post by RSOG »

I'd be strongly against removing the mana drain from Devouring Plague. That's really what the spell is about to me - the health is just a bonus.

Making it so it can't kill would also suck.

I'd like to see it drain more as the target gets more wounded. I've always thought of diseases as preying on the weak and wounded. Someone with near-full HP should suffer very little drain (in health or mana) but someone near to death should be picked off quickly.

Possibly drain 1% hp/mp per second for each 33% HP the target is missing (50% health receives a 1.5% drain), with a minimum of 0.2% (talented: 0.3%, 0.4%, 0.5%), and be removed instantly if the target gets a tick while at 100% health.

It would make the spell more situational (cast on heroes at low HP) rather than a spell that the defiler simply casts every time it comes back from cooldown.

Rockness
Visitor
Visitor
Posts: 35
Joined: April 4th, 2009, 1:53 pm
Realm: Azeroth (U.S. East)
Battle.net name: Rockness
Ignastio

Re: Devouring Plague

#6 Post by Rockness »

I got a couple more ideas after reading the replies:

1. Proximity: make the plague an aoe but remove the mana component, this way it would be like an active aura on defiler that drains nearby heroes. The duration should be roughly 50% of the cooldown, so as to make timing a factor in choosing when to use it. It would have plenty of uses both offensively & defensively rather than just tossing it on any/every hero willy nilly. Plus it would have good synergy with blight, just turn it on, start channeling & heal away.

It's a pretty significant change to the skill, so I doubt it will be met with approval, no harm in throwing the idea out there though.

2. Dispel: If when dispelled some of the lost hp/mp were restored it would be much less of a nuisance to counter a Defiler. After all, dispelling a disease is like a cure, right? There should be some benefit to dispelling something other than adversely affecting your enemy, even if it is just losing a little less. Anyways I don't really wanna get into the whole buff vs. dispel semantics so that's all about that for now.
RSOG wrote:Possibly drain 1% hp/mp per second for each 33% HP the target is missing (50% health receives a 1.5% drain), with a minimum of 0.2% (talented: 0.3%, 0.4%, 0.5%), and be removed instantly if the target gets a tick while at 100% health.

It would make the spell more situational (cast on heroes at low HP) rather than a spell that the defiler simply casts every time it comes back from cooldown.
I like this idea.
Reaper wrote:It is pretty easily countered if you can't deal with it. There are plenty of dispells/potions/healing skills to counter it already
Turning it off does not equal countering it. More like cutting one's losses.

[Reaper] Easy on the triple posting please

User avatar
Reaper
Retired
Retired
Posts: 647
Joined: December 20th, 2007, 3:00 pm
Realm: Azeroth (U.S. East)
Battle.net name: Reaper777

Re: Devouring Plague

#7 Post by Reaper »

If the mana drain is taken away, defiler will be trash

And if it isn't clear, I am strongly against changing DP in any way suggested so far, much less at all
[Reaper]

User avatar
Discombobulator
Retired
Retired
Posts: 710
Joined: September 19th, 2006, 4:16 pm
Battle.net name: Karunecm
Contact:

Re: Devouring Plague

#8 Post by Discombobulator »

Only change to plague I would support is making it more skill dependant. Currently, high level plague is just point&click (&forget) for the defiler, and dispell is all the target has to do.

It would be cool if it worked best at specific % of HP, or had an effect that depends on how long it's channeled (0-3 secs), or synergize under specific conditions with his other skills, or anything else that would differentiate a trained noob from a pro defiler.
I'm this forum's MVP.

User avatar
Dekar
Jelly Doughnut
Posts: 1433
Joined: May 27th, 2006, 8:13 am
Realm: Northrend (Europe)
Battle.net name: Dekar
Location: Germany

Re: Devouring Plague

#9 Post by Dekar »

^this
<EotA@Azeroth> YAKS GO MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Dekar: the ultimate ocean themed hero should buff and depend on spawn waves!
DarnYak: why is that
Dekar: WAVES
Dekar: :D
DarnYak: i was afraid that was the answer

User avatar
Lunargent
Regular
Regular
Posts: 72
Joined: August 8th, 2009, 9:49 pm
Realm: Azeroth (U.S. East)
Battle.net name: Lunargent
Location: Tir Tairngire

Re: Devouring Plague

#10 Post by Lunargent »

So you're suggesting something like if the target is also subject to Frailty and is then hit with Devouring Plague, it could have a synergistic effect of further lowering the target's Strength over time, in addition to the HP loss, for a truly nasty plague.

User avatar
Reaper
Retired
Retired
Posts: 647
Joined: December 20th, 2007, 3:00 pm
Realm: Azeroth (U.S. East)
Battle.net name: Reaper777

Re: Devouring Plague

#11 Post by Reaper »

Pro defilers never die
[Reaper]

User avatar
Dark_Nemesis
Addict
Addict
Posts: 480
Joined: July 13th, 2009, 11:36 am
Realm: Lordaeron (U.S. West)
Battle.net name: Dark_Nemesis
Location: Washington

Re: Devouring Plague

#12 Post by Dark_Nemesis »

So true if you're like me and stack str.
Image

America!

User avatar
Reaper
Retired
Retired
Posts: 647
Joined: December 20th, 2007, 3:00 pm
Realm: Azeroth (U.S. East)
Battle.net name: Reaper777

Re: Devouring Plague

#13 Post by Reaper »

No, that is called compensating for lack of survival ability
[Reaper]

Post Reply