Modifiers I'd Like to See

Let's start spraying this with super sexy cool.


This is assuming that we've all looked at, fawned over, obsessed with and loved my ideas for categorization of boss modifiers. Isn't it so goddamn fun to read about categorizing things?!

My goal is, to the best of my ability, make suggestions that include data-only, or art assets that already exist (or could quite easily be created without a hassle, based upon pre-existing art assets). Some of these are just re-tooled versions of modifiers that already exist, and I've talked about some of these in other posts. I'll retain the names of modifiers that are already in the game.

I am using the following lexicon for this entry: Rares = yellow elites, Champions = blue elites, Superuniques = purple elites.

Offensive:


Fertile: The elite will place a spawning device on the ground which will summon 30-40 shadow vermin, ten at a time. This is almost crowd control, similar to the Iskatu encounter, but I would think it's more offensive. Incidentally, this would be a good mod to use the original graphics for spike trap, which I thought were amazing, and I'm still very, very sad to see it go. It could be the spawning device. The device is immortal, invulnerable, cannot be damaged. Every 40 shadow vermin killed gives the elite a stacking buff, increasing their damage by 5%. When all the shadow vermin are dead, a new device is spawned. Rares only.

Bleeding: Striking a monster with the bleeding affix will cause them to gush blood in a six yard radius. If the blood splashes on a nearby monster, they become enraged, increasing attack speed by 15% and damage taken by 5%. It doesn't stack, but lasts until death. To compensate, a bleeding monster will take 1% of their maximum health as damage every second. The gush of blood effect can occur once every two seconds.


Defensive:


Worming: Remember those mobs from LoD that would infest a nearby monster with some kind of larva, and if left unattended by the player, it would hatch?
A Worming elite, upon death, will infest any nearby normal monsters. The normal monster is stunned for the duration. If the monster isn't killed while the larva is incubating, then it becomes elite, taking on the modifiers of its parasite (besides worming, or maybe let it worm?). So you're fighting skeletons with knockback, and you kill one. It infects a nearby imp, the imp is stunned for some seconds (4-7?), and then transforms into an elite imp with knockback. The monster can only perform this ability once. Wormed elites do not drop extra elite-level loot or contribute to a stack of nephalem valor.

Extra Health: I'm sure I railed on and on about this in other entries. But here's what I would do to change it (for rares). You have a boss monster and his elite minions. Eliminate the minions, and roll 50% of their health into the health pool of the rare boss. Combine all that health, add it to the boss. Then it's actually a boss. I think that would be awesome.

Shielding and Jailer: I'm rolling these into one and fundamentally changing how they work. Let's look at the Monk's ability Inner Sanctuary. The elite casts this (but like a demonic version, like the runes Leoric uses when summoning or ones used in halls of agony/cellars in Act 2) and they are locked in place but are out of range of melee attacks. While the sanctuary is up, they regenerate 2 percent of their health per second. It would need a new name. How about shielding.

Shielding: If you absolutely insist that this modifier must stay, at least let us break them with enough damage. Give us the illusion that we didn't blow a two minute cooldown for no apparent reason, or spend 75 spirit, position with a teleport, drop a grasp of the dead, or whatever. And ffs let us regen spirit by striking a shielded opponent. The only thing worse than blowing a high-spirit attack like sweeping wind for no reason is not being able to regen that spirit while the shield is up. And please, please, please let the melee attacks count as refreshing sweeping wind. God I hate that.

Crowd Control:


Arcane Enchanted: I call it this so you know I'd be replacing the other one. It'd obviously have to change. You know how when you have a dog, you put a stake into the ground and then tie the dog to a leash, which is connected at the other end to the stake? Arcane Enchanted monsters would drop a stake in the ground, and you'd be leashed to it. So you could only run a certain distance in a radius around the stake. This makes many of the offensive abilities much more interesting than "well, I'm frozen, jailed, walled in, and getting my ass kicked by some fucking purple laser that I can't do anything about. For obvious reasons, rare elites only.


Teleport: Currently this mod has the monsters teleport directly into your face with their fists. They usually do it all at once. Occassionally, they'll teleport away from you which is just obnoxious. So I'd be changing this up quite a bit. Ever use occy from D2? Yeah baby! Once every x seconds, if a boss hits you with a melee attack (or any standard attack), they teleport the player to a random location on the screen. This way, it opens up options for the players, and doesn't nullify the point of a ranged monster (or your CC abilities) to begin with.


Stunner: A stunner elite will put a debuff on a random player, and after five seconds, they will be stunned for three seconds. However, the stun debuff explodes in a ten yard radius, and if the player has other targets hit with it, then their own stun is reduced. Every monster hit reduces the player's stun by one second. Basically you try to use the debuff to stun monsters around you so you aren't stunned yourself. Diminishing returns on the stuns. This would work with other debuffs but stuns are potent and devastating in D3.

Wildcard:


Hexing: The elite turns the player into a chicken for five seconds. The player cannot take actions during this time (except for defensive cooldowns and moving) but they move at 150% movement speed for the duration. Rares only, for obvious reasons.

Thief: An elite will steal a buff from a player. With exceptions. It's not cool to steal wrath of the berserker. But like energy armor, sweeping wind, war cry, things like that. It can only have one buff at a time. No cooldown on the modifier. Think about that. You can game that. It's incredible. You can tactically choose when to cast it to have it stolen to use it against them. It also encourages well-rounded builds that don't depend upon one sole factor (like force armor).

Treasured: Quite simply, the elite is guaranteed to drop a rare (either on boss kill for rare packs, or final kill for champion packs). If the player is at a full stack of nephalem valor, then a third rare will be guaranteed to drop. It's just a bonus modifier, something to reward the player for finding it. Not everything has to be about mega damage and crowd control. So you have a pack that's more rewarding and a bit easier than others, so what? It's still randomly assigned. Think of it like hunting around for gem shrines in D2.


Valorous: Pack awards two stacks of NV. What's so bad about that? Whole system is randomized. Inferno  only.

Sluggish: Each elite has the ability to increase spells/abilities on cooldown by one second. If you have a skill with a ten second cooldown, and are hit with this attack after you use the skill, it will then take eleven seconds to cooldown. The sluggish ability itself has a ten second cooldown. I'm just kidding. If you thought this was a good idea, then you need to dig deeper. :p





Co-Op Only:


I have heard the team's mantra during the four years of public development, about how the game is designed from crotch to sternum for group play. I believe that. It's especially prevalent when playing solo and facing off against bullshit elite combinations. It would be a different dynamic if you were playing with others, but you're not, so it just sucks.

So how about a design shift. Let's design stuff specifically (and only) for co-op play. YIS THAT IS A GREAT IDEA RISINGRED JESUS CRAP YOU ARE SUPER SEXY COOL.
Hey, thanks. I agree. This way you aren't jolly well rodgering the single player in the process, and also adding in some fun group dynamics.

To address a direct smackdown to some of these suggestions: if a mechanic is based upon you doing health to your allies, then just have it not do health to allies when they are at 25% health or below. This way you remove HC griefing potential, and SC griefing potential for that matter. I am not suggesting that I want to see legit passive PK in the game (OH GOD I DO BUT I SHOULDN'T).

Gung Ho: It's like health link in reverse. The players who are in range all share a common health pool. Defensive category.

Focused: Upon intiation of an elite encounter, the head elite will mark a player (like marked for death, graphically) and the elite pack will only attack the player who is marked. So if you went in with a wizard and three barbs, and the wizard was marked, the wizard would be the only one targeted by offensive abilities and attacks. Six second cooldown, will then re-cast and randomly choose a player. Rares only. Wildcard category.

Betrayer: The elite will curse a player, forcing them to attack another player for five seconds. The cursed player, controlled by AI, will use skills and abilities but won't pop a cooldown that's longer than ten seconds. The cursed player takes no damage during the duration, for griefing and other obvious reasons. Fifteen second cooldown, rares only. Offensive category. This is the only instance I could possibly imagine where I'd be okay with losing control of my character's actions, because it's for a specific purpose. You are forcing your allies to choose when and where to drop their CC. Monster or betrayer ally? Choices.

Living Bomb: Remember this debuff from Garr in Molten Core? I loved it so much. Made the fight interesting, you even had to change where you fought him if you wanted to live, because he also did melee-range AoE fire damage. That was a great fight. Anyway, I would think I wouldn't have to explain what this is, but you'd get the debuff, take fire damage every second (let's play to those resists), until eventually you explode, launching you up in the air. Naturally, in WoW, you take falling damage so you'd have to game this by going underneath an overhang in one of the rock alcoves or busting a cooldown. So just have it knock the player into the air at the end, doing damage to any ally in range while the debuff is in place. Offensive or Crowd Control.


Blooper Reel: 

Mods that didn't make the cut. These are "what the hell was I thinking?" mods. I'm keeping these here to focus myself and remain on goal.

Empathic: The monster is invulnerable to player damage. The monster only takes damage that it inflicts on the player or the player's allies (ie, Tyrael, follower, pets). Monster damage taken is increased by 20%. So if a monster hits a player for 100 damage, then the monster takes 120 damage itself. I do see problems with this, though. It wouldn't work with the current amount of insane health elites have in inferno. And whether or not the monster damage dealt to the player and then reflected counts towards mitigated damage or not. AoE damage, debuff damage, etc.

Proxy: Attacks made against the elite will reflect damage to the nearest ally. So if a Wizard attacks the mob with magic missile for ten damage, and a monk is standing close, then the monk will take 3 damage from the attack. Like reflects damage but reflects it to other party members. Sounds like it's just there to bone melee but think about how much movement and proximity is involved in elite combat with crowd control. Defensive category.