Listening to Sage Merrill on the Crucible Radio podcast a while ago, it sounds like Bungie is working on Warlock balance at the moment. I'd like to offer my thoughts on the Stormcaller in the hope that it won't be nerfed as severely as the Sunbreaker (deservedly) was.
Stormcaller has a powerful super (read massively OP with Transcendence) with an average neutral game.
[b]What makes it powerful?[/b]
In my opinion the combination of Landfall + Transcendence + Ionic Blink is the most terrifying to face as well as the most rewarding to play as. Transcendence lasts for 24 seconds like this. I can landfall and pop a Titan bubble or counter any close range super and then can hold down the trigger and continuously zap, all without draining energy and I have a very powerful evade in ionic blink at the cost of a couple of seconds each time I use it. There is no downside.
[b]How would I fix it?[/b]
By mixing up the skill tree. Players need to be made to choose between Ionic blink and Transcendence, I'd do this by switching the Landfall and Transcendence nodes. Simple as that.
[b]What would switching Landfall and Transcendence mean?[/b]
Players would have to choose between a long duration super that can be team shot / sniped down relatively easily or a shorter super that can evade and still cause havoc in short skirmishes. Moving Transcendence to the super skill tree would have the happy bonus of buffing the neutral game, as the player can run Impossible Machines, keep landfall, and free up the Feedback or Pulsewave perks which are currently mostly neglected in favor of Transcendence. This also keeps Stormcallers relevant in PvE where the duration of Transcendence or even Superconductor are useful but Ionic Blink is expendable.
Please let me know your thoughts, agree or disagree, all I ask is that you reply with solid reasoning.
Thanks.
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I'd like to see transcendence, ionic blink, and electrostatic mind all in one column. Maybe swap perpetual charge with ionic blink and trancendence with the Arc Web perk. That way you have to choose between a longer super, an evade, or a significant increase to super recharge but you don't get all 3.