[News] DOFUS version 1.27: Rebalancing of classes DOFUS version 1.27 is arriving on 7 April 2009!

And it’s time to think seriously about modifications to several classes as part of a global rebalancing. Several spells have been modified and new ones added… opening the door to a new style of gameplay for all!

You’ll also find an introduction to Pain Shared and Felintion, the new Special Sacrier and Ecaflip Spells in the last part of this news!

 

 With each update, we try to reinforce the power balance between all classes and this time, we’ve gone further in this direction, with two main modifications: Sacrier spells have been redesigned and unhealable damage has been introduced.
Other more minor adjustments will accompany these significant changes.

Modifications to the Sacrier ‘Punishment’ spells:

Before version 1.27, a team could be built in a certain way to give excessive and definitive power to Sacriers, with almost no way to counter this tactic. This often leads to overly one-sided combat and negatively affected the strategic possibilities of the game. On the other hand, the Punishment spells did not offer enough bonuses in solo play.

In this update, we have redesigned the Sacriers’ Punishment spells with two objectives in mind:
- To reduce the power of Sacriers in optimised team (to make other classes equally attractive)
- To increase their usefulness in solo play, in varied teams and in PvP.

For these reasons, the Punishment spells now have a temporary duration. They can be recast when their effects wear off.
For the duration of the spells effect, all damage received by a Sacrier will bring bonuses, which also have a specific duration.
These bonuses will be fixed and will systematically grow weaker during a given turn (the first blow received will bring a high level of bonus, the second, a little less etc).

It is therefore not so interesting anymore for teams to focus all their blows on Sacriers during a full game turn: the Sacrier will have to find the right balance between maintaining power and attacking the enemy, especially since Sacriers will now be much more exposed in combat. Damage dealt by the opposition may be enough to make the Punishment spells worthwhile.

In solo play, Sacriers will now have significant and rapid characteristics bonuses once they have received several blows from the enemy.

The spell Wise Punishment which aimed to compensate for the great difficulty Sacriers had in gaining XP alone was rendered useless by new Punishment spells which made solo play far easier. It has been replaced by Vital Punishment.
This spell will work in the same way as the other Punishment spells, by giving Vitality bonuses to Sacriers, avoiding the need for healing in order to compensate temporarily for a loss in Health Points.

In a general way, the loss in power to teams optimized around a ‘super-punished’ Sacrier will not be entirely disadvantaged, because they will also benefit from the global re-evaluation of several other classes since the changes to spells and the addition of Special Spells which will make for considerably quicker combat.
Simply put, Sacriers will no longer be the only characters in teams with the ability to deal high levels of damage. They will even be able to lend their allies some of their power with their special spell Pain Shared.

Modifications to heals:

The heal system up to now has allowed characters who concentrated solely on healing to recuperate with each turn exactly the number of health points they lose. This system was open to abuse and PvP, as well as PvM, combat was sometimes interminable when characters didn’t focus on attacking at all, but rather chose to heal endlessly. This way, they couldn’t lose (or win!) and the fight only came to an end when one of the players gave up. In PvM, the power of heals was also far too high and removed much of the tactical element of the game where one character could return all health points to a group of others.

In order to give a shot in the arm to DOFUS’ tactical interest, while at the same time rebalancing classes and devaluating healing spells, we’ve decided to introduce a new element into the game: damage which is unhealable with each blow received.

The concept is very simple:
- A character deals damage to you, you can only heal a certain amount of it and the maximum number of health points falls even when you are healed.

This system will put an end to endless battles since it will now be preferable to invest in your allies’ protection instead of a character’s own healing capabilities.



The spell Pain Shared is a Punishment spell which Sacriers can cast on allies in close combat (i.e. between one and four allies). This Punishment gives a bonus of %damage. The spell works in a similar way to other Sacrier punishment spells. Each blow received by an ally under the effects of Pain Shared will give them bonuses. The spell may be recast as soon as its effects wear out. Instead of concentrating the damage potential of an entire team solely on a lone Sacrier, this spell can divide up the attack potential throughout the team, whatever the attack element of the members of the team are. This should reduce the duration of fights considerably. As a result, as well as Sacriers having the ability to receive high levels of damage, they can now increase the damage potential of their team while their own power increases with the damage they receive from adversaries.

The spell Felintion has not been changed, and it still allows Ecaflips to deal damage to enemies and to simultaneously repel them and heal themselves. When Ecaflips cast Felintion on an ally, they are repelled, but theft of life and damage is replaced by healing. This spell also reinforces the Ecaflip’s capacity as a healer and confirms their potential as an alternative healer.