Class/Skill Removing Mana Cost for Hero's Will

This is a suggestion to remove the mana cost for Hero’s Will and its pirate equivalent, Pirate’s Rage.

The current mana cost requirement contradicts the purpose of the skill as we know, which is to save the player from fatal attacks while under seduction. I’m referring to the deadly “1/1” attack that exists for Horntail and Mu Gong. This change provides more flexibility in utilizing this skill as players can now save themselves if they were to be reduced to “1/1” instead of watching helplessly as their character succumbs to their death but their Hero’s Will is off cooldown.

I don’t really see any downsides to this change or ways that it can be abused. Just a simple improvement to save ourselves when we get hit by the “1/1” attack while being seduced.

 

it should remove mana cost and in addition to heal the player up to 100% hp & mp or up to the devs to decide the discrete %

 

While this is a good quality of life change, it removes one of the last challenging aspects of HT. With most players HP washed or obtained enough HP through quest, seduction is one of the few mechanisms that remotely threatens a player death and expedition failure. Imo, expeditions should be challenging to a degree, and I would vote to keep hero's will as it is.

 

I agree that expeditions should be challenging to a degree but I would argue that this change will not impact the difficulty of the affected expeditions. Rather, it challenges the player's reaction when they get hit with the deadly combination (seduce + "1/1") instead of having their fate sealed.

For Horntail specifically, this change would be more relevant to the mass seductions after dealing tremendous damage to either arm. These seductions occur approximately once every minute, while the cooldown of Hero's Will is six minutes. Thus, players will still have to use the skill wisely. Furthermore, Horntail seals the player frequently, preventing the use of Hero's Will. Players would also have to recognize potentially fatal attacks such as "1/1" to know when to use the skill and heal themselves immediately afterwards.

With the above reasons, I believe the challenging aspect of Horntail will still remain with this change. I would even argue that it makes Horntail more challenging in a sense as players can explore different methods of tackling the boss instead of leaving the arms for the last.

 

interesting idea but def need some more input! I was brainstorm what if we introduce hero will 20 book and re-balance the skill, so perhaps at lv20 will, it doesn’t cost mana

 

20 is too high. As a paladin, I don't even have enough sp for other skills at 195 with hero's will at 5. 10 would be a perfect spot, making it a sacrifice for other skills if you want to be that seduce lifesaver (Bishops and Shads). I think a good balance is having Hero's Will 10 be every 3 mins CD and cost -0mp. If this was done, might have to make the 1/1 work through Meso Guard again for balance reasons. even if 1/1 as a shad, you can still will out if you have it maxed, and could be an opportunity for another meso making skill book.

 

what!? look no further.
https://royals.ms/forum/threads/heros-will-10-sb-more.194832/

@GunzGaming i capped my suggestion at 10. i think HW 10 is a perfect and fitting vehicle for some high end meta skill tuning possibilities and would be a nice burst of flavor in the sb/bossing economy as well (depending who drops it. as of now i think von leon but we dont know the level or other requirements for him), and i believe i did suggest mp cost going down, but mp cost going up with a shorter cd is probably the fairer route that still challenges your management

 

+1 for removing the mana costs for heroes will because there is pretty much no counter play to being 1/1'd or mana drained and seduced other than relying on RNG.

 

bump!

maybe a poll would help expedite this feedback… but i have no idea how to add one.

poll added, thank you dasha!

 

Added a poll as requested. If you disagree with the suggested change, please explain why!

 

+1 this , actually discussed before
https://royals.ms/forum/threads/heros-will-mp-cost.168780/
@boredxz
https://royals.ms/forum/threads/i-think-heros-will-shouldnt-use-mp.176433/

 

I voted no. 1/1 and seduce is a unique and challenging mechanic.

Please do not make the game easier as it is. Press hero's will with no mana needed and getting out of seduce is just lame and gives 0 risk at all.

Thief have endure with their high avoidability and heroes/ paladin/ bishops have mp recovery to give the additional mana needed for hero's will. Likewise, warriors have also a block skill which blocks 1/1s , which emphasize 1hand vs 2hand importance of skill more.

Archers and Pirates are not meant for tanking and this should make them the lowest priority as seduce targets.

If one change has to be made, perhaps instead of using mana, this uses hp instead which encourages the bishop for heal and also for warrior's Achilles skill to shine out for the % damage protected instead of other unintended classes for seduce

 

I might be mistaken but your reasonings seem to revolve around the idea of the change affecting the role of the seduce target in Horntail. However I speculate that with or without this change, Shadower Mule/Main will remain the seduce target as the cooldown of Hero's Will (6 minutes) is much longer than the frequency of the single target seduce (3 minutes).

I am pushing for this change with the idea of introducing more flexibility to Horntail runs. From my understanding, most runs nowadays are done in a standard manner; leaving arms to the last, with the exception of Shadower parties.

Will this change make Horntail expeditions less challenging? As mentioned above, I firmly believe this change will not impact the difficulty as I foresee no change to the seduce target role. Parties will still avoid running without a proper seduce target (Shadower Mule/Main) or a Warrior if there is a Bishop main (might be slightly easier for the Warrior ngl, but minimal).

Will everyone ignore the seduce mechanic and start going yolo on arms? Probably not, given that the cooldown of Hero's Will is 6 minutes and the frequency of the mass seduce is 1 minute.

 

i left a link to my thread explaining my take on this suggestion before the poll was added, which i voted other, but on topic here, ill say that i think level 5 HW shouldn't have zero MP cost.

i think that above level five, mp cost should lower, eventually to 0, but the CD to cast will increases again. some skills do this, get slightly worse as you level them (such as savage blow), and its a simple, clever capping that prevents players from sp dumping from over leveling, or making them choose which direction to take their character at the time, or ultimately.

i think in the case of HW, it could have the current cd at 5, but current mp cost. or you could choose to develop will to cost no mp, but cast it less often (a tbd time could be reached)

also i say this with the personal interest that i think raising the max level of will is a way to develop end game meta from being stagnant, and develop future content around that isn't purely gimmicky, but as a way to deal with some upcoming challenges without just sitting back and taking it and waiting a phase out, or raising your hp. the idea has a lot of potential.

but also specifically for HT, you could also just make him possibly have a chance to cast mp drain less often just moments before and after a sed, to make it more player side (paying attention) than shit RNG. however, players know exactly when a sed is coming.

and specifically for sed mules, each popular mule class (shad, wk/paladin) have skills that buff their passive mp recovery AND passive chance to ignore all attacks with shifter and guardian respectively. bandit's get endure, wk gets mp recovery. it's pretty unlikely you will get drain the instant after you passively recover. its possible, but more likely you wont have to wait a full 10s interval.

if this is mostly aimed at them, there are still preventative measures in endure/mp recovery and shifter/block respectively.

like in my thread linked, will over six giving a chance to resist sed is also a big advantage to these classes and all players, even though its rng, and it should be, so sed is dangerous but not strictly a death sentence if you're lucky or know when the right time to save/use your will (as well as some other suggestions)

sed is what it is and in ht specifically the challenge is reduced to a science except for the very unlikely and unlucky chance you dont have the mp for a life saving will. but dying isn't always the end of a run either, with res and TL, so sometimes, its just expected that accidents happen, and I think that's a good thing, it keeps runs from being a science or speedrun.

i think a challenge so far untapped is gimping/preventing pets. as well as potion lock. both would be great future challenges.

anyway all this to again say, im for a zero mp will, if its locked behind a difficult to acquire/purchase sb, with 5 additional precious SP invested to it, and at the cost of a reverted, higher CD time. preserving some difficulty and balance is important, and so is giving players agency and choice as to how they will choose to handle it on certain characters

edit: or have level 1 will cost 0 mp, but remain at 600s cd, and progress normally to lvl5, causing you to choose. keep in mind the chosen sed should also be temporarily backed up when in sed by the bishop, spamming heal, and other counters such as a well timed smokescreen can help the proposed situation.