Been recently brainstorming some ideas for Madness/Balance. I don't think there is an urgent need for these as they might be too strong in the current patch cycle. So I would like to see any one of these in a future update past Onslaught cycle.

All of my proposed changes to Madness have been sorted three different categories; area of effect, single target and utility. With the Utility section being one that I would like to see happen sooner than later.

My goals with these is to make Madness/Balance a more enticing choice for players while strenghtening its Spec fantasy and smoothing out its rotation and playability. In its current form, there are interactions with abilities that Lightning has but Madness doesn't (Force Storm and Shock especially) and I would like to see that change. Volt Rush I am not that big on, but I did throw in some ideas for it as well.

If Devs insist on Madness being the choice for AoE on Sorcerers, I aimed to hypothesize some buffs to make that become even more of a reality.

Right now my issue with Madness being viewed as AoE spec comes from Death Field's small area of effect and infrequency due to cooldown, as well as Force Storm being a bit weak.

Lifesteal in this game also feels like a weaker mechanic in comparison to the Damage Reduction. Giving more of that to Madness sounds like a fine idea, but I wanted to venture further into what Lifesteal could do for this Spec. Lifesteal's biggest issue right now being that it does nothing beyong full HP, while DR if timed correctly can help dampen incoming damage at any given moment.

AOE:

-Targets with Deathmarks remaining on them get targeted by Force Leech within a limited search radius around the primary target of FL

-Channeling Force Storm now also builds Wrath stacks up to 4

-Affliction has a chance to spread to a nearby target not affected by Sleep Dart/Whirlwind etc

-Dark Echo does 5 to 10% more damage

Single:

-Upgrade to Shock (called Blightning) which inflicts the target with Affliction and Creeping Terror and has a high damage nuke component and with a fairly long 70-90 second cooldown

-Force Leech or Lightning Strike receives a small percentage damage increase on targets that are presently suffering from any of your DoTs and are below 30% HP

-Volt Rush has increased base damage and replenishes Deathmarks on a target

-Volt Rush has a chance to reset the duration of a DoT effect

Utility:

-When receiving Lifesteal at 100% HP, it contributes to your next Bubble cast as increased absorb value

-Deionized debuff slightly shortened for this Spec, to entice players with the Lifesteal "overshields" buff

-Empty Body utility point affects stolen life as well

-Using Seethe builds up Wrath stacks

I would also like to have more flashy buff effects for Madness to telegraph when they are 4 stacks of Wrath or other buffs present. Lightning has a handful of them which makes it a treat to look at.

Lightning Strike, Affliction and Creeping Terror could also use an animation facelift to make them pop some more.

As extra, I will commend the Devs on the execution of these two fantastic tacticals:

-Slow Mercy, makes the AoE situations on this Spec so much fun. I pretty much always have a Tank companion out and use their Mass Pull to clump a big pack of mobs for a juicy Death Field and then blast them away with Demolish. Such a beautiful sight to behold!

-Tempest of Rho, especially on weaker enemies this shows. The yellow text flying and the health bar ticking down fast is a very satisfying experience. Gives just the right amount of juice to Madness single that it needed!

Constructive feedback is preferred over "X is fine now" type comments. Thank you for reading!

Sorry, but can't agree with you.

Madness Sorcerer in 6.1.4 is one of the strongest single target dps specs in the game for capped content. Yet alone, it provides extensive AoE damage which does not affect the rotation.

So-called AoE tactical Slow Mercy is not currently playable since it decreases your DPS.

The only thing I really would love to see in this (my favourite, not gonna lie) spec is shortened CD on Static Barrier since the spec has the lowest amount of flat DR and DCDs in the whole game (and repositioning ability i.e. Force Speed being used in rotation).

I do kind of wish shock was more relevant for sorcs overall; even in lightning it only has relevance for the small window of a crushing darkness dot (convulsing currents); if it weren't for that I think we would have seen it getting turned into a Sins-only ability, like unload became a merc-only ability.

It would be nice to have Force Storm give certain bonuses to Madness, but I agree with the first reply that their AOE is already extremely powerful; the pure damage from Storm is icing on the cake for their double-dot spreading and any new upgrade for what Force Storm does for madness runs the risk of making the spec too OP.

I think giving its damage ticks a stack of Wrath or an active cooldown reduction for one of your offensive buffs or Death Field/Leech/Crushing Darkness with a rate limit and increased cooldown overall would be a good idea. A wrath bonus would spice up the rotation beyond one single cast of Lightning proccing your other abilities besides FL/DF

Sorry, but can't agree with you.

Madness Sorcerer in 6.1.4 is one of the strongest single target dps specs in the game for capped content. Yet alone, it provides extensive AoE damage which does not affect the rotation.

So-called AoE tactical Slow Mercy is not currently playable since it decreases your DPS.

 

The only thing I really would love to see in this (my favourite, not gonna lie) spec is shortened CD on Static Barrier since the spec has the lowest amount of flat DR and DCDs in the whole game (and repositioning ability i.e. Force Speed being used in rotation).

That's fine. As I've played more and more of the Spec, its strengths have come more apparent to me. It definitely isn't that far from the top even in Single. I think what is holding the spec back the most is actually the range, which alongside the lower APM gameplay makes this Spec less appealing than Lightning. And arguably the GCD disconnects with channeled abilities as well. Based on feedback I've heard other Sorcerer players in my guild, as well as my own observations.

Slow Mercy is fantastic, I am not sure what you're smoking and I want none of it.

Glad you mentioned Static Barrier, it would indeed be a great addition to this Spec's survivability!

These ideas were not entirely meant for the Onslaught patch cycle, more so towards 7.X but I suppose I could have been more clear about that.

I do kind of wish shock was more relevant for sorcs overall; even in lightning it only has relevance for the small window of a crushing darkness dot (convulsing currents); if it weren't for that I think we would have seen it getting turned into a Sins-only ability, like unload became a merc-only ability.

 

It would be nice to have Force Storm give certain bonuses to Madness, but I agree with the first reply that their AOE is already extremely powerful; the pure damage from Storm is icing on the cake for their double-dot spreading and any new upgrade for what Force Storm does for madness runs the risk of making the spec too OP.

 

I think giving its damage ticks a stack of Wrath or an active cooldown reduction for one of your offensive buffs or Death Field/Leech/Crushing Darkness with a rate limit and increased cooldown overall would be a good idea. A wrath bonus would spice up the rotation beyond one single cast of Lightning proccing your other abilities besides FL/DF

Shock indeed is very underwhelming and seems more like an Assassin ability this time around (Electrify, Ball Lightning, Eradicate) with only really Lightning caring about it. My idea for Shock upgrade on Madness came from Summoner's Tri-Disaster in XIV, which is a fantastic ability and could make the Spec more fun to play in the opener IMO.

Perhaps adding Force Storm interactivity for Madness would be too much. Something to think about for sure.

I like the idea of making Lifesteal more useful, I remember in a Hatred Sin thread a couple of years back someone suggested that stolen life should keep accruing over max HP, let's say to 110% for arguments sake, and could thus be used to mitigate damage instead of just going to waste.

Also like Force Storm generating Wrath stacks, would make for a nice AOE to single target transition.

Be nice to have Death Field's range bumped back up to 8m.

And yeah, Dark Echo needs a buff to it's damage an/or proc chance, it's current damage output is terrible.

I'd like a way to generate Wrath stacks on the move too, or just make Demolish castable while mobile as a compromise.

My main gripe with Madness though is the rotation, having to either clip dots or piss around clipping Force Lightning to keep things flowing kinda sucks, be nice if that was smoothed out somehow.

Slow Mercy is fantastic, I am not sure what you're smoking and I want none of it.

There is not a single PvE fight in game, where this tactical can be at least useful, not to say superior to ToR. Okay, probably some flashpoints? FPs are PvE too, though.

I did all the content in the game except for Apex NiM and Gods NiM in Madness in patches 6.1 to 6.2. I've yet to see this tactical being good anywhere, probably it is in those 6 encounters I've not yet done (except for Izax, probably, since Hull Cutters have AoE DR ).

But the Volt Rush tactical with EO set is kinda good for fights with extensive necessity to move! Unfortunately, very small amount of players consider this an option, since one's overall/sustained DPS suffer with that combo. BTW, it's great for PvP aswell.

Speaking of Shock, it has its current place as a filler during movement, just like VR. I'd like to see buffs to it, but it's not really needed. The only thing Madness really needs is some DCD/DR option.

Wouldn't mind an ability that makes the affected target go mad and attack their allies for x amount of seconds

That is fantastic