Big pain points for current Special Skill Nodes:
1. They have the annoyance of having to remember to refresh the duration constantly.
2. There is a bunch of options, but there is only one real option.
3. They could be done in a much more interesting and fun way, and have more effects to really improve on one's bossing.
The broad concept here is completely overhaul the system, have a lot less options, but every option is actually meaningful creating a real choice of which Special Skill Node you want to equip.
! There will be no more duration, it will just be permanent.
! You can still only equip one Special Skill Node at a time.
! Special Skill Nodes would need to be leveled up, but all the way to level 95 + 5 from being on a leveled up hex for level 100 max. The EXP curve will be the same as Skill Nodes, which means this will consume an insane amount of nodestones to get to high levels / max level to create a sense of constant progression with nodestones, but not actually hitting the end.
! There will be 8 Special Skill Nodes split into 4 categories - Healing, Defense, Offense, and Movement. The categories will have a super powerful "burst" option and an always active "sustain" option that the player can decide what they want and/or need based on personal playstyle.
! These Special Skill Nodes cannot be unequipped / changed out among a different Special Skill Node during a boss fight. This is to prevent abuse case scenarios for players cannot have multiple powerful effects within the same boss fight, you have to pick one for that boss and live with your choice!
Conceptional Ideas Below:
(Each skill levels separately to each other for clarity.)
Offense:
Node 1 "Burst": Upon using an attacking skill with a cooldown of 100 seconds or greater, gain 10% (+1% per skill rank) Final Damage for 5 seconds.
Cooldown: 100 seconds
Level 100: Gain 110% Final Damage for 5 seconds.
Node 2 "Sustain": Every 10 seconds, gain 2% (+0.1% per skill rank) Final Damage for 5 seconds.
Level 100: Gain 12% Final Damage for 5 seconds.
Defense:
Node 1 "Burst": Upon taking lethal damage, prevent death from occurring, fully heal, and become invincible for 10 seconds.
Cooldown: 1,800 (-15 per skill rank) seconds.
Level 100: 300 seconds cooldown.
Node 2 "Sustain": Upon taking damage, take 10% less damage, including attacks that deal % HP damage, for 5 (+1 per skill rank) hits for 60 seconds.
Cooldown: 60 seconds (cooldown begins immediately).
Level 100: Take 10% less damage for 105 hits.
Healing:
Node 1 "Burst": When dropping below 25% HP, rapidly heal for 50% (+4% per skill rank) HP over 10 seconds, ignoring all anti-healing mechanics.
Cooldown: 120 seconds.
Level 100: Heal for 450% HP over 10 seconds.
Node 2 "Sustain": Heal for 2% (+0.1% per skill rank) HP per second.
Level 100: Heal for 12% HP per second.
Movement:
Node 1 "Burst": Hold the jump key for 2 seconds to activate, granting you 200% increased (300% total) total movement speed and jump height, exceeding the movement speed and jump height limit, for 10 seconds.
Cooldown: 180 (-1.5 per skill rank) seconds.
Level 100: 30 seconds cooldown.
Node 2 "Sustain": Double tap a directional key to dash 200 (+5 per skill rank) units in that direction.
Cooldown: 3 seconds.
Level 100: 700 units dash.
Greatest worry for this is that offense will be the most overwhelmingly dominant no matter how weak it can be and how strong the other 3 categories can be.
