Area of Effect abilities are the new nerf of the month (NotM) on the forums. It got me to thinking, what if there were no AoE abilities? That would include Damage, Healing and Crowd Control. What kind of game world would it be?
BOOOM. Siege weapons would be the only AoE in the game. As a result, they would be moved off of the pads and be usable anywhere there was flat land. Also, their damage would be increased, but their accuracy would be lessened. We would now see them used on the battlefield, and not just in keeps. I think this is a good idea regardless of AoE.
Poor Healers. With no AoE heals at their disposal, many healers would start to suffer from repetitive stress disorder. As a result, Mythic starts to market Warhammer brand arm braces.
Tab DoT. Tab DoT'ing will become the poor mans AoE. This could be addressed by increasing action cost or cast time and increasing damage.
Choo Choo. The tank train will run wild as there is no AoE CC (Slow's, Knockdowns, Knockback). Directional attacks will become more important, if a tank tries to bypass your melee to get to your casters... they should have to pay a price.
Keeps being kept. Getting to the Lord's floor will be quite the challenge in this AoE free world. Without AoE knockbacks, knockdowns and T4 damage morale's, breaking up that tank wall will be difficult. This is where you would want to start knocking down walls and opening up other avenue's of attack.
Less is more or less. With all AoE abilities removed, your action bar will look pretty sparse. Some new abilities could be added, but there is really only so much you can do with single target attacks. Is less abilities a good thing or does it just make for boring characters?
So what do you think of a world without AoE?
BOOOM. Siege weapons would be the only AoE in the game. As a result, they would be moved off of the pads and be usable anywhere there was flat land. Also, their damage would be increased, but their accuracy would be lessened. We would now see them used on the battlefield, and not just in keeps. I think this is a good idea regardless of AoE.
Poor Healers. With no AoE heals at their disposal, many healers would start to suffer from repetitive stress disorder. As a result, Mythic starts to market Warhammer brand arm braces.
Tab DoT. Tab DoT'ing will become the poor mans AoE. This could be addressed by increasing action cost or cast time and increasing damage.
Choo Choo. The tank train will run wild as there is no AoE CC (Slow's, Knockdowns, Knockback). Directional attacks will become more important, if a tank tries to bypass your melee to get to your casters... they should have to pay a price.
Keeps being kept. Getting to the Lord's floor will be quite the challenge in this AoE free world. Without AoE knockbacks, knockdowns and T4 damage morale's, breaking up that tank wall will be difficult. This is where you would want to start knocking down walls and opening up other avenue's of attack.
Less is more or less. With all AoE abilities removed, your action bar will look pretty sparse. Some new abilities could be added, but there is really only so much you can do with single target attacks. Is less abilities a good thing or does it just make for boring characters?
So what do you think of a world without AoE?
