AS most of us know that lightning/telekinetic spec for pvp is not as viable as madness/force in balance because of the fact that everything is casted and therefor very easily can be interrupted. I was thinking, what were to happen if we lowered the CD timer for mental alacrity/polarity shift to like 30 or 45 secs instead of its current CD timer of 2 minutes. You could still get knockbacked or stunned but you can just not be interrupted by the actual class ability and force charge. The reason why I'm even questioning this is because i really don't like how for dps, sorcs/sages have no high/bursty damage abilities (except for force in balance/death field and mind crush/crushing darkness) and personally I just don't like the dots. Thoughts?

I like dots.

AS most of us know that lightning/telekinetic spec for pvp is not as viable as madness/force in balance because of the fact that everything is casted and therefor very easily can be interrupted. I was thinking, what were to happen if we lowered the CD timer for mental alacrity/polarity shift to like 30 or 45 secs instead of its current CD timer of 2 minutes. You could still get knockbacked or stunned but you can just not be interrupted by the actual class ability and force charge. The reason why I'm even questioning this is because i really don't like how for dps, sorcs/sages have no high/bursty damage abilities (except for force in balance/death field and mind crush/crushing darkness) and personally I just don't like the dots. Thoughts?

 

Would this change be good for PvP? Probably

 

PvE? You just made a solid class pretty damn op

Lightning strike is essentially a useless spell and has been since launch. The reason is the ****** 1.5 second cast time. It should be instant. It's damage isn't even that good ffs. Why does it need to have a cast time? Every other ranged class has a free auto attack. Where's the sorcs equivalent? This pretty much forces everyone down the madness tree because you need a mobile "filler." Edited January 9, 2013 by JackNader

Lightning strike is essentially a useless spell and has been since launch. The reason is the ****** 1.5 second cast time. It should be instant. It's damage isn't even that good ffs. Why does it need to have a cast time? Every other ranged class has a free auto attack. Where's the sorcs equivalent? This pretty much forces everyone down the madness tree because you need a mobile "filler" and lightning strike just doesn't cut it.

 

Doesn't lightning strike when talented boost your force regen? Anyways I agree that they could use a free ranged attack as a filler, currently leveling a sorc now because I like madness with my sin but really want a sorc because I feel they do it better but even though my sorc is low (not even 20 yet) I feel force management will be an issue down the road.

Force management on a Madness sorc is no more of an issue than heat management on a BH, energy management on an Agent etc. The reason it gets a lot of attention for being hard to manage is because of the Lightning tree. In PvE a full lightning built sorc NEVER EVER has to worry about how much force they are using. ever. Whereas in madness, you have to think about it every once in a while.

 

Having Polarity shift on a shorter cooldown would help alongside making Lightning strike insta cast, in making lightning a viable PvP spec to be in. However, it would make sorc DPS completely OP in PvE. I can only imagine what my DPS would be in a raid if i could spam LS 3-4 times as many times as i do now, on top of the increase i would see in chain lightning insta cast procs. This is one example where I am going to say I dont want them to make a class i play stronger.

 

I find it kind of fun to use a different spec for pvp than pve as well, breaks the monotony up a bit

Madness sorc run out of force in big battle. The dot are too much costly for what they did. I want my hybrid sorc patch 1.1 back ...

AS most of us know that lightning/telekinetic spec for pvp is not as viable as madness/force in balance because of the fact that everything is casted and therefor very easily can be interrupted. I was thinking, what were to happen if we lowered the CD timer for mental alacrity/polarity shift to like 30 or 45 secs instead of its current CD timer of 2 minutes. You could still get knockbacked or stunned but you can just not be interrupted by the actual class ability and force charge. The reason why I'm even questioning this is because i really don't like how for dps, sorcs/sages have no high/bursty damage abilities (except for force in balance/death field and mind crush/crushing darkness) and personally I just don't like the dots. Thoughts?

I ran Telekinetics for one match, and said never again. I don't think there is a worse spec in the game for PvP (and yes I am including Commandos in that statement).

I've been trying Lightning some lately. It's fun, but not as powerful as madness. Maybe make Thundering Blast instant? The cast time on it seems to make it less powerful than other top tier talents. I also think lightning storm doesn't proc enough, maybe I've just been unlucky with RNG though. I did quite a bit of Strike spamming last night and only got the instant chain lightning once out of every 5 or so casts.

 

I agree that lightning strike damage is pretty mediocre for a casted talent. I do pretty decent but I feel like other classes like a Power Tech peform much better. Rail Shot procs more often and the means to reset it's cooldown are much faster and more reliable than spamming strike. I find where I struggle more is when I fight a ranged class and a melee class at the same time. In that situation I really miss Creeping Terror's root and instant whirlwind. I'm tempted to try a full lightning spec that drops Thundering Blast for Death Field. It seems like a much better talent since it's instant and AOE.

I will also say that when the stars align correctly it's fun. Casting affliction at range, getting off a lightning strike and having storm proc, then thundering blast, chain lightning, strike + forced lightning hitting all at once does some pretty crazy damage. It just happens so rarely.

I find it kind of fun to use a different spec for pvp than pve as well, breaks the monotony up a bit

 

but thats the thing, madness hybrid can still put out better sustained dps than lightning. One of the problems this game faces with specs is that there is no divide between pvp use and pve use. If there was a different effect that polarity shift gave in pvp then it did in pve then im sure the lower CD would be viable for pvp. It sucks because of a lot of the nerfs that happen in this game not only affect pve but also pvp at the same time.

It can be used, its just very difficult to kite in. Personally I don't' see anyone being successful in this spec (aside from one other player) and it certainly does need some pvp optimization to be viable. Get around 7.5% alacrity and that should help. The burst is pretty impressive and teh force management is good as well.

 

I rarely see anyone outdps my sorc and I've been running full lightning for weeks. Just remember its not a 1v1 spec at all

Lightning strike casts every 0.8 seconds if u l2p.

It can be used, its just very difficult to kite in. Personally I don't' see anyone being successful in this spec (aside from one other player) and it certainly does need some pvp optimization to be viable. Get around 7.5% alacrity and that should help. The burst is pretty impressive and teh force management is good as well.

 

I rarely see anyone outdps my sorc and I've been running full lightning for weeks. Just remember its not a 1v1 spec at all

I have very similar experience running Telekinetics myself. It is far from optimal but it can be very succesful. Your major weakness is 1v1 vs melee though. The most fun thing about the spec if having your CD's up and out DPSing a Sniper as the two of you target each other at the same time.

 

It feels to me a lot like playing a Sniper with slightly less reliable burst DPS but more other tricks to use and utility to command when DPS is not the main target of your objective at the time. Also, the amount of AoE you can do in the midst of battle if the enemy has many melee is a lot of fun to do. Best answer to packs of Smashers Sages have is the AoE burst a Telekinetic Sage can put out combined with the bubble stun they need to handle when they decide to target you.

 

I do agree though, all possitives and negatives balanced out.. Balance is still the better PVP spec. I merely play Tele for PVP because I wanted to switch up my playstyle for a while because I feel doing something different with your class once in a while will, eventually, make you a better player.

Edited January 10, 2013 by Devlonir