[MOD]Skill Reworks - A Vanilla Masteries Overhaul

[Lavendarjosh]

Skill Reworks is a bounce mod that aims to overhaul the vanilla masteries, making formerly weak skills more interesting without nerfing the strong ones.

The goal is to make all skills worth investing points in, get rid of one point wonders, and have all classes stand on more or less equal ground. To achieve that, most of the skills have been reworked, sometimes even exchanged for entirely new ones, and the mastery bonuses adjusted. Ideally, this should open up new interesting mastery combinations and play styles.

Please note that Skill Reworks will most likely make your character stronger compared to vanilla and the overall game a little easier! But beware, some enemies will use these stronger skills against you, too!

The mod works with or without any of the DLC and can be safely used with existing characters!

It's up to date with the current v2.6 of the game and includes the new Atlantis skills as of v1.1!

Features of this Mod:
- The bonuses all masteries grant to Abilities, Health, and Energy were adjusted to match the strongest one (Defense) in overall value (on the basis of 1 Str/Dex/Int equals 10 Health/Energy).
- Many of the vanilla skills were adjusted regarding damage and other effects. Things that didn't scale before now usually do. Scaling of all values was reworked to have equal or increasing returns.
- Some skills have their maximum skill level reduced or increased. (If you use an existing character that has more ranks in a skill than the reworked version, the excess points can be bought back!)
- A few skills were replaced completely for (in my opinion) more interesting ones.
- Pet skills are now included!
- There is now a txt version of the mod that has edited skill names and descriptions (in english).

A full Changelog can be found here: https://pastebin.com/EzVLvW9T

While I have played with these changes for some time already, it's impossible for me to test all masteries on all difficulties, so if you think something is too strong, still too weak, or simply not working right, let me know.

Note: the download contains four versions, skillreworks (only this mod), skillreworkslp (a merge with LootPlus, my other mod), and an additional version of each with edited skill names and descriptions (-txt)

Download v1.12:

Spoiler for Hiden:

https://mega.nz/#!xuJxiSxT!lwvaFkvT20r82gyZOK3sW03KIIVJYp4DChmLdZqeigg

Legacy Downloads:

Spoiler for Hiden:

https://mega.nz/#!pyhx0ATA!8jHtOsA_eXjmyY_GQnuUesD4TVa5E8ubRywPtc0Z3PE (v1.1)
https://mega.nz/#!EuQkkADK!yx_qqofWwtMtQVG9oxa6d29hUdwG5yvZnaUFOVXmzjQ (v1.0)

[Bumbleguppy]

As far as pets in vanilla, here are my tips:

Wolves:
Make level 16 the level you get 3 wolves, it's easier for petmancers to get their army up and running early without +to skills to get 3.
Rework Maul, it needs more pierce/bleeding damage. I also like to add ADCtH to help with survivability.

Coredweller:
Increase his attack speed, he barely gets any hits in.

Liche King:
Increase his ADCtH on his basic attack. He doesn't get any health regeneration.

Nymph:
Change the distance profile in her basic attack to "Long" from "Maximum". This will prompt her to get close enough to targets that her arrows don't despawn before they hit. Alternatively, create a copy of her basic attack projectile and increase it's range by like 2m and put that in her basic attack projectile slot.

That's my two cents. Nightmare and Wisp are tanks and that's what they are for so they don't need any changes.

I really like the attention you put on Mastery stats, that's not something I've really thought about in my mods.

Keep up the good work! 

[Lavendarjosh]

Thanks a lot for your feedback, Bumbleguppy!

Alternatively, create a copy of her basic attack projectile and increase it's range by like 2m and put that in her basic attack projectile slot.

So far, anytime I tried to change an entry in a monster's or mastery Skill Tree, it broke that skill (that's why Rune's Energy Shield is buggy for enemies at the moment, I gave them a clone of the vanilla version to use, but they didn't). Not that I couldn't just make those changes to the default attack, of course, but I wondered if you know of any solution to that problem.

[Bumbleguppy]

I wish you were more specific about which skills.

As far as the rune shield skill, it could be the way skills are used in monster and pet files.

In the skill tree you list the skill like the player skill tree. But since the AI uses it, you have to add it to the skill configuration for the monster or pet to use a new skill.

Take a look at a monster skill configuration tab,

THe top is the basick attavk skill slot, that's where the Nymph's basic arrow attack is for example.

Next is the self buffs and buff other slots. Buff other AI isn't very good as you may know, buff self is good for the AI, this is the slot where I would list the new rune shield spell in a monster. Ignore rampage and rally skills, they don't work.

Then you have dying skill which is what green zombies use to make the poison gas clouds.

Next you have the initial skill which is a good slot for buffs as they cast it off screen that way instead of after they see the player/monster.

THen you have the special attacks. THese have a skill from their skill tree, a timeout value which is how long before they use the skill during a fight, then the delay timer value which is how long before they can use the skill again in the same fight. Then the chance the AI will select that skill during the AI cycle that "round" of fighting.

At the bottom is "chaining". The first skill must be in teh configuration slots listed above, but the second can be just in the tree. Once the first chain skill is used the monster/pet then immediately uses the nextChain skill and the drop down list determines the target. Cast buffs and attack radius "onSelf".

SO you can see that every monster/pet skill must exist in both the skill TREE AND the skill CONFIG for it to work on a pet or monster to use.

So for example, place the rune shield skill in a monster's skill tree. Next, click over to the monster's skill CONFIG tab and add it to the buffSelf 1 slot (there's 3 self buff slots). Save and build and viola, the monster uses the skill now.

If they don't have and animation for buff self or they have a spell cast speed of 0 or if they have no mana, then the skill won't work. But otherwise, that's the basics.

EDIT: As far as Sylvan Numph, the quickest easiest fix is to import her basic attack skill, open it up and change the "distanceProfile" from "Maximum" to "long". You know how sometimes you canst a skill without targetinng and you run up a little way automatically? That's distanceProfile. Pets and Monsters use that exclusively and not in any increment of selected distance like a player. The values for distance profile are hard coded in the engine I think. But the distances for how pets/monsters will use a special attack are listed in the skill config tab. the values at the bottom of the skill config for short, medum and long range are at the bottom of the tab and you can change them, then add a value at the bottom of a special attack slot. Leaving the range blank uses all ranges.

[Lavendarjosh]

@Bumbleguppy
Thanks for the explanation, I was aware of this more or less, though.
The problem in detail is that when I create a copy of a skill (Forceshield) and redirect to that skill in the runemaster_skilltree.dbr (so the player would use the modified and the enemy the regular one), the whole skill breaks.
This is the setup:


And this happens:


If I go the other route and place a copy of forceshield.dbr and forshieldbuff.dbr in the monster folder and redirect all paths to there, the enemies don't use that skill at all.

[Bumbleguppy]

Oh, okay I understand the issue now.

You have to import Records/XPack2/UI/skills/mastery10/skill03.dbr (and create the necessary directories of course)

Once done, open the file and click on the "Config" tab.

Add the file path to the new skill to the "skillName" slot.

This connects the player skill tree to the skill buttons.

However, since the Atlantis update, the Runemaster UI buttons have become locked for me and no longer accept changes. All the other mastery UI button configs still work though.

Give it a try and see if this helps.

If the Runemastery UI is still locked, instead try using the original ForceShield.dbr file name in the skill tree and connect the file ForceShield.dbr to the new forceshieldbuffmod.dbr. The new skill will work by bypassing the skill button lock and you still get a new buff.

[Lavendarjosh]

@Bumbleguppy
Man, thanks a ton for your help, everything work as intended now!
Editing the skill03.dbr was all it took 

Time to work on the pets.

[Bumbleguppy]

All right, good job!

You gave me an idea I hadn't had in the over 10 years I've been modding.

If you look at the mesh and textures for the Wolves, they have a file path to the Hunting directory, which leads me to believe they were originally intended for the Hunting mastery.

I think that's why teh Maul skill has pierce damge. The problem being that Strength of the Pack doesn't afffect that type of damage. So I cut the array from the pierc damage in the Maul skill file and pasted it in the physical damage values. I also added a pierceRatio of 15% so it st6ill gets a boost from the hunting skills if you play that way.

I also went a little nuts and added increasing angle and target number to the skill at later levels.

It's funny how I never thought of doing that until now, it's just my vanilla game bias of ignoring the skill while playing lol

[Lavendarjosh]

@Bumbleguppy
Heh, I actually gave the wolves 15-34% Pierce Ratio (scaling with level) on their basic attack for now.
I'm also contemplating to add a pet aura to blade honing that increases pierce damage (for interesting synergies with nature pets) but I'll have to see if that doesn't make traps too strong.

[Bumbleguppy]

Traps are tricky, good luck.

I gave them a passive skill that nerfs every kind of damage but pierce by -50%.

[wolpak]

I didn't see this thread and I have been contemplating/messing around with doing a similar overhaul. 

My main goal is/was:

-Change Atlantis xpack to make the level cap ~64 and have that as a single-class.  Then, 3 skills at the top that enhance the gameplay of that class/skills.
-Remove stat modification from the mastery button and give more class specific buffs to it (like maybe fire res for Earth)
-Give more stat points (equivalent to what you would have gotten from the mastery) per level up to allow people to customize their characters rather than just take some buffs that the mastery applied

Maybe you'd like to consider these changes as well

[botebote77]

-Change Atlantis xpack to make the level cap ~64 and have that as a single-class.

just curious.. does your plan lock the builds to single class only or does it still include the option to dual class? because it sounds interesting to see a character with very little points on actual skills, but have 128 pts on mastery skills

don't know how that would fare but it's interesting, right?

[wolpak]

-Change Atlantis xpack to make the level cap ~64 and have that as a single-class.

just curious.. does your plan lock the builds to single class only or does it still include the option to dual class? because it sounds interesting to see a character with very little points on actual skills, but have 128 pts on mastery skills

don't know how that would fare but it's interesting, right?

Allow you to still dual class, so, it's feasible to max out one class and skills and then take a couple things from another class, but that's if someone really wanted to do that.  There doesn't even seem to be any capability to lock out masteries anyway.  Very little can be done with one skill manipulating another other than to have it as an upgrade option. 

[Lavendarjosh]

@wolpak
These are some pretty interesting ideas, but I think they're too 'advanced' for my purposes. I like to keep the mod simple enough that you can switch it on and of at your leisure without breaking anything about your character.

[soa]

Nymph:
Change the distance profile in her basic attack to "Long" from "Maximum". This will prompt her to get close enough to targets that her arrows don't despawn before they hit. Alternatively, create a copy of her basic attack projectile and increase it's range by like 2m and put that in her basic attack projectile slot.

The projectile effect has a projectileDistance value, in case of the Nymph it is 19m. Is it the exact range of the skill or does the "projectileHit/MissTimeToLive" lines play any further role ?
In the case of the Nymph, Normal AI controller has 17m vision and aggressive has 22m. I suppose the Maximum distance profile means the pet can attack at maximum vision range, so the Nymph would position at 22m using it basic attack (if it is set on Maximum distance profile), then shoot its 19m range arrow in the wind.
So if you increase max long range value to 19m (or maybe less if you want to reach a moving target), and set basic attack to Long profile, the aggressive Nymph would benefit from a 22m vision range and position at 19m or less before shooting. Is that correct ?