Spells: Mark of Karn

[Ele]

A few months before Velious, Mark of Karn should be nerfed to have a 5 minute recast time. Trying to find details on the changes over the relevant time span to "heal per hit" values. Also trying to find more details about any recast corrections.

Original heal 10hp/hit. From a thread posted May 19, 2000.

http://www.eqclerics.org/forums/showthread.php?t=6290

I played with this spell a lot in beta. Its cast on the MOB, heals 10hp for anyone that hits the MOB, and best of all, it gets rid of whatever damage shield the MOB had up. High MR MOBs will resist it quite a lot though.

Nerf #1

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September 19, 2000 7:00 am
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After a great deal of consideration, we have concluded that the Mark of
Karn spell is imbalanced and requires correction. This spell's current
function makes melee classes without dual-wield far less desirable
members of the group. As such, the spell has had its duration
decreased, its recast-time increased, and its "heal per hit" value
decreased.

Thread from EQClerics discussing the nerf: http://www.eqclerics.org/forums/showthread.php?t=1227

Hi all,

I spent a little time with both MoK and CE when I got on tonight.

As expected, MoK has a 5 minute recast along with the other changes speculated earlier today.

Celestial Elixir has been altered to heal 1200hp instead of 1000hp + cures. Not enough compensation in my opinion, but it fizzles tons less than divine light and has a better ratio, so it will probably replace MoK in my mem'd spells from now on.

I'm tiring of this...

/salute my trampled brothers and sisters

http://www.eqclerics.org/forums/showthread.php?t=1186

http://www.eqclerics.org/forums/showthread.php?t=1173

Posted on Whineplay by me and anywhere else I can post it...

http://boards.station.sony.com/everq...ML/015544.html

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I personally suspected it might be nerfed, but never to this degree. I believe this is an extreme overreaction.

1. 6hp/hit. Now 60% of effectiveness.

2. Haste bugs fixed. Hard to quantify this, let's say people hit roughly 70% as fast as they used to.

Now 42% effective.

3. 5 min recast. Giant nerf. Let's say your average fight lasts 1.5 min. You can only cast this spell about 33% of the time now.

Now 13% effective.

But...the spell is also resisted a lot. I don't know the exact figures here, but I'll take a potshot guess and say 40% of the times you cast it, you are out another 5 min instead of being able to recast immediately.

Hard to put a number on this one, I'm guessing this is about a 50% effectiveness problem.

Leaving us with...6-7% of its original usefulness.

Which now why I say that, Verant, nerfing one of the most original and useful cleric spells by approximately 95% is an overreaction.

I can understand the reduction of the healing component. But the simultaneous haste fix also affects the nerf. And, most importantly, the latter in combination with the recast time totally destroy Mark of Karn.

If I were to fix the spell, I would simply:

Reduce the healing component to 5 or 6 hp/hit.

And optionally:
Tie the healing component to the damage output of the person hitting the mob, rather than per hit.
(side note: the current fix, as it stands, does nothing to address the dual-wield vs single-wield problem stated in the patch message. Very strange. This solution would.)

Finally, I would like to remind your team of something that you have quoted to us players often.

"Balanced does not mean equal."

The fact that non-dual wielding melee don't heal as fast as dual-wielders is not, in and of itself, a compelling argument to nerf this spell.

If the team thought the spell healed too much, just say so. I thought it might be, and I won't complain about a reasonable nerf. The change to Mark of Karn as it stands now, however, is a gross overcompensation to something that could be dealt with more sensibly.

I sincerely hope that you revisit this particular issue quickly and allow clerics to continue one of their most valued, interesting, and innovative skills in the post-50 game.



[This message has been edited by Heihachi (edited 09-19-2000).]

Correction Post Velious

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March 14, 2001 3:00 am
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- The spell, Mark of Karn, has been enhanced to heal more per hit.