Forums » Pantheon Classes

Taunt spells?

    • 432 posts
    August 15, 2017 12:14 PM PDT

    Hello all,

    what do you all think of tanks taunting spell casters during their spell casting and forcing the enemy to switch the target of the spell to the tank? For the purposes of cone-type or area spells it could also force the npc to turn towards the tank so the blast is towards them and not the party.

    I was just randomly thinking of tanking and core principles. Preventing a spell from being cast seems like control. But redirecting damage or spells is more tank themed. Tanks are a bottleneck of incoming damage. Tanks also provide opportunity for safe damage. So i guess whats the forums opinion?

     

    -Sent mobile

    -Todd


    This post was edited by tehtawd at August 15, 2017 7:05 PM PDT
    • 633 posts
    August 15, 2017 2:16 PM PDT

    While it seams like a cool idea, just remember when you're wizard is casting spells trying to get rid of adds in an encounter and they get taunted to another target it will get very annoying.  Or your control person is attempting to mez, root, snare, etc adds and they end up targetting some other mob because they get taunted off their target, it may get really bad.

    • 432 posts
    August 15, 2017 7:05 PM PDT

    kelenin said:

    While it seams like a cool idea, just remember when you're wizard is casting spells trying to get rid of adds in an encounter and they get taunted to another target it will get very annoying.  Or your control person is attempting to mez, root, snare, etc adds and they end up targetting some other mob because they get taunted off their target, it may get really bad.

     

    Sorry, miscommunication. This is affecting enemies, not allies. 

     

    -Todd

    • 633 posts
    August 16, 2017 4:03 AM PDT

    I know what you were talking about.  But I always assume that if the players have an ability to do something, then the enemies will have access to the same abilities.

    • 422 posts
    August 16, 2017 4:42 AM PDT

    The idea of a taunt changing the casters target is problematic for me, not because it will be "harder" but because..... it shouldn't work.

    When a spell caster is casting, they are concentrating on the spell only. Blocking out everything else and focusing their mind on the spell and their target. Someone insulting his mother in the middle of battle wouldn't break his concentration. The flat of a blade to the nose would, but not a "taunt". 

    Plus it would make casters much to easy to control. Not all targets should respond to taunt the same way. A caster taunted in the middle of a cast should finish the cast on the original target, then swap to the tank. Stuns should really be the defense for spell casting.

    • 2752 posts
    August 16, 2017 9:29 AM PDT

    I don't think taunt needs any more power, there are already counterspells, stuns, silences, fears, mez, and whatever else to deal with spellcasters casting things. 

    • 432 posts
    August 16, 2017 8:10 PM PDT

    Really interesting replies, I can see there is a lot of avoidance here, hehe. Kelenin I really love the idea of enemies being able to do that, it adds to combat in my opinion. It would cause casters to want to care about mobs that do that and also stop casting spells quickly and being overall mindful of tank-style enemies that may have this ability (which could be rare)

     

    Kellindil I think a weapon attack causing this effect would be a good thing, and I agree. 

     

    Iksar it wouldn't need to be taunt, it could be a long cooldown ability. 

     

    I honestly think this thread was made due to the limited information we have on tank gameplay and how it works. My concern is reactive play and the overall toolkit.  Thanks for the replies.

     

    -Todd

    • 422 posts
    August 17, 2017 7:49 AM PDT

    As a separate ability from taunt, maybe as some inate magic, that would allow a tank to "shield" the intended target of the caster I wouldn't have an issue with that as long as it was on a long enough cool down. 

    As Iksar said, taunt is already inherently a powerful ability. Retargeting mid ability should be a weakness for taunt. That goes for casted or melee abilities. If someone is about to land a blow with a sword I shouldn't be able to just change the target of that blow. All future attacks, but nothing that is already in motion.

    As you say we do have very limited info on the combat system in general. They have said that everything we have seen in the stream is much like a "place holder" combat system. We haven't seen all of their tricks yet. They say they want combat to be some complex and involved that boxing will be hard. They have said they want combat to be fun and complex. The current system seen in the stream is not complex or involved at all. As it stands the combat system is very, very simplistic and would be easily boxable and fairly boring imho. I think we have yet to see the real combat system. I am betting on them giving us some nice surprises when they get further in depth.

    • 769 posts
    August 17, 2017 12:27 PM PDT

    Agreeing with the replies here. Maybe some sort of "Bodyguard" ability would be a good redirection. Tank leaps into the direction of the spell, taking on a portion of the damage from the intended target.

    Just like Kevin Costner.