cashew | Follow Up: More Mechanist Thoughts

OK, so I pondered on my previous post a bit more and here are some detailed changes that I think would make the Mechanist feel less like a horrible pet and more like a GUNDAM FIGHTER rarrrr!

Change Mech to be pilotable

As previously discussed, one of the easiest ways is to morph the Mechanist into a Jade Mech (narrative: Mechanist now pilots the Mech). Toolbelt skills are still accessible while piloting mech, but regular utility (6-10) are no longer accessible.

F5 - Summon Mech - Drops Mech at Mechanist location and deals 1s stun around the Mechanist, 180 radius.
F5 - Board - Mechanist rides the Mech and changes weapon skills to Mech attack skills. If Mech is out of boarding range (120), summons Mech to Mechanist location then board. Disable access to utilities (signet passives still apply). 10s cooldown.
F5 - Eject - Mechanist ejects out of the Mech and regains equipped weapon skills and utility skills. Mech now auto attacks until it deactivates or reboarded (with F5). 10s cooldown.

When the Mech deactivates (looses all HP), it goes away and Summon Mech (F5) goes on a 50s cooldown to dissuade from loosing the Mech.

Mech should have a default of 75k HP or 50k HP with 2000 toughness. Mech is immune to all conditions except burning. However it receives a 1s daze when its breakbar depletes. Breakbar resets when the Mechanist boards or ejects (F5).

Mech Skills

To make piloting the Mech more viable consider these changes:

Auto attack - Adopts Mech auto attack. Activation reduced to 1/4s.
Mech attack #2 - Adopts current F1 skill, drop damage by 20% (80% of current damage), reduce recharge by 50% (i.e. Rolling Smash 10s, Explosive Knuckles 7s, Spark Revolver 10s)
Mech attack #3 - Adopts current F2 skill, reduce recharge by 20% (i.e. Discharge Array 24s, Crisis Zone 24s, Core Reactor Shot 20s).
Mech attack #4 - Adopts current F3 skill, reduce recharge by 50% (i.e. Jade Mortar 10s, Barrier Burst 15s, Sky Circus 15s).
Mech attack #5 - Crash Down (current F4), leap to target enemy (1200 distance), damage enemies (same damage as current F4) in a 900 radius and deals 1s stun. 30s recharge.

Mace Skills

I honestly like the idea of a Mace Mechanist, but the Mace skills need to have some synergy with the Mech when not piloting it. Here are my proposed changes:

Mace #1 - Reduce activation to 1/4s on first two strikes, 1/2s on third strike. Each strike now also heals Mech by 5% of its Max HP. (15% for one cycle.) Also have each strike apply 2 stacks of confusion.
Mace #2 - Reduce activation to 1/4s, change confusion application to Daze (1s). Keep everything else.
Mace #3 - Reduce cooldown to 10s. If Mech is active, replace with Rocket Punch (with current 5s cooldown).

Dodging when piloting Mech

Mech will roll up into a ball on dodge to avoid damage, like a snail or clam shutting into its shell. Will be cute. Also easy to animate.

Mechanist Traitline

The traitline needs to have more synergy with core Engi utilities, too. Here are my proposed changes.

Minor Proficiency - Mace Proficiency - You can wield mace mainhand. Tool Kit auto-attack now heals Mech by 5% Max HP for each strike.
Minor Adept - Mechanical Genius - Gain access to Signets. F5 now replaced by Summon Mech skill. Mech adds 50% of your stats to its base stats.
Major Adept
- Mech Arms: Single-Edge Cutters - In addition to current effects, add additional bleed per hit by Mech.
- Mech Arms: High-Impact Drivers - Change might application to 5s of Might per hit by Mech.
- Mech Arms: Jade Cannons - Change default attack range to 1200 and apply 5s Vulnerability per attack. Mech attacks now pierce (up to 3 targets).
Minor Master - Mech Fighter - Change toughness and vitality gain to 1000 flat. Boost base HP to 50k. Experimental Turrets will now affect Mech and cause it to pulse Aegis (3s) every 10s.
Major Master
- Mech Frame: Conductive Alloys - Instead of inheriting stats, increase condi duration by 20%. Stacks additively with other condi traits in core Engi builds. (E.g. Firearms: Chemical Rounds + Conductive Alloys = +53% condition duration on pistol poison.)
- Mech Frame: Channeling Conduits - Instead of inheriting stats, increase boon duration by 25% and stacks 1 extra stack of stackable buffs. (E.g. Firearms: Sanguine Array + Channeling Conduit = 2 Might for 5s instead of 1 Might for 4s on bleed application; Explosives: Short Fuse + Channeling Conduit = 5s Fury instead of 4s when using explosives.)
- Mech Frame: Variable Mass Distributor - Instead of inheriting stats, boost Precision and Ferocity by 20% (to Mechanist and Mech). Give 1s Distortion on crits (to Mechanist when not piloting Mech, to Mech when piloting Mech). When piloted, Mech hover-flies out of battle, movement speed increase 50%. Mounts are disabled while piloting Mech out of battle.
Minor Grandmaster - Exigency Protocols - Auto-eject pilot when struck at half HP. Mech gains immunity for 5s. Mechanist's next mace or Tool Kit strike heals Mech for 10% Max HP.
Major Grandmaster
- Mech Core: Jade Dynamo - Instead of chance of explosions, all Mech attacks cause secondary explosive damage and triggers Explosions traits.
- Mech Core: Barrier Engine - Add 1s of Aegis along with Barrier boon. Gains boon duration bonus from Mech Frame: Channeling Conduits.
- Mech Core: J-Drive - Change skill to: when Mechanist ejects, Mech will now become airborne and only susceptible to ranged attacks. Airborne Mech will bombard area within 600 radius with scattering of grenades (activation 1s), triggering Explosives and Grenadier traits.

Signets

Oh man, every signet now needs a toolbelt skill. Let's goooooo.

Healing

Rectifier Signet - Fine as is.
Air Filtration - Toolbelt now purges 2 condis and gives protection to self and allies (600 radius). Compounds with Inventions: Anticorrosion Plating (purge 3rd condi when applying protection). 15s recharge, instant activation.

Utility

Barrier Signet - Passive: Instead of reducing condition damage, change it to purge 1 condi every 5s. Active is fine.
Raise Barrier - Drop projectile reflection dome around self (or Mech when piloting mech) that lasts 5 seconds. Apply protection to self for 10s when dome dissipates. Removes 1 condition upon protection application with Inventions: Anticorrosion Plating trait. Recharge 15s, instant activation.

Force Signet - Passive: In addition to power, add Might (5s) every 5s. (In other words, pulse 1 stack might.) Active is fine.
Repel Field - Launch foes within 120 radius of the Mechanist. Recharge 20s, instant activation.

Shift Signet - Fine as is.
Beam Me Up, Scotty - User shadowsteps to target location (1200 range). Enemies within 120 radius of location are blinded for 5s. (Max 10 enemies.) Stacks with condition duration traits. 30s recharge, instant activation.

Superconducting Signet - Fine as is.
Short-Circuit - Create a field of fire (900 radius) that pulses 3 stacks of burn (5s) and 600 damage every second for 10 seconds. 30s recharge, instant activation.

Elite

Overclock Signet - Passive: Reduce all equipped skills' (includes Toolbelt and Kit skills) recharge by 20%. Stacks with other skill recharge reduction traits. Active: Change signet recharge based on Mech availability. If Mech is deployed at activation, recharge 25s. If Mech is unavailable, recharge 90s.
No toolbelt skill, because F5 is used for summoning/boarding Mech.

OK, that's a lot of thought about a game I'm not playing. Back to a game where I'm not so frustrated with the developers.