Sia needs to be both better converted over for a good and fun gameplay experience for GMS and to restore core features that makes Sia fun which are her movement skills, the function of certain skills, and being a support are all important for a fun gameplay loop.
Also, rethinking what kind of bonus to apply for doing the Stellagram Fusions rather than direct skill use.
Pretty much, for Stellagram bonuses I think it will be better to apply the current bonus to the skill directly and instead each time you apply a Stellagram Fusion, that unique Constellation skill will grant a small Final Damage bonus for Sia herself for 30 seconds. Using the same Constellation in this way will only refresh the self-buff, using a different Constellation skill in this way will add additional Final Damage to the buff and refresh the duration (the hard cap is how many different Constellation skills there are).
Example: If you use the Stellagram for Stellar II - Algol you would receive a 2% Final Damage buff for 30 seconds, if you did that again it just refreshes the duration. If you use the Stellagram for Stellar II - Algol and Stellar V - Fomalhaut then you would receive 4% Final Damage and the self-buff refreshes back to 30 seconds.
This way, there is incentive to do the Stellagrams still, but does not feel like something that has to be done if the player is fine with dealing less damage since it does not drastically change up how the skill is used. Shine would do the same thing which is, for a duration, apply the Stellagram bonus even with direct casting the Constellation skills.
For the below, I will go into broad detail of improving Sia's gameplay for GMS to be more fun and enjoyable, while restoring her core identity because her current GMS iteration has no identity and just feels like scuffed Bishop with no support skills. Sia on Maple M was a very unique and fun class, a dedicated support, and had her own unique identity.
Beginner:
Starry Wave:
> Greatly increase the horizontal movement speed to match the speed of other glide skills.
> Increase maximum glide duration to "unlimited" like how other glides work.
> Allow to be spammed infinitely while in the air, on and off. This is mostly for fun, but also helps keep Sia fluid and smooth to play if you accidently use the glide at the wrong time.
New Skill: Sia's Flash Jump:
> Introduced immediately as a new additional skill at character creation.
> Important: Using Starry Wave's Glide immediately after the Flash Jump will carry over the momentum to make the Glide move even faster like how other Glides work.
To add: Sia's focus should as an unique Teleport and Glide class and emphasize this as her movement skills. So the flash jump for GMS I would make it very weak, as in the travel distance per flash jump is very short, and make the speed of the flash jump very, very fast so that with proper Flash Jump into Glide tech, Sia will move very fast horizontally when you don't touch the directional keys during the glide.
This makes the Flash Jump as a tool to enable Sia's movement and not rely on the Flash Jump as a core movement skill to get around and instead she needs to utilize her teleport and glide to move around maps.
With her spinning seashells attacking a lot faster (and having an easy 100% uptime) to combo with a fast glide, as she glides around she can mow down monsters on her way to her destination to set up her summons like the anchor, rabbit holes, and pole with a much longer duration so that this gameplay loop feels worth doing, and short enough to still feel active.
Minus the anchor should match the duration of Erda Fountain with 100% uptime so that these skills are used and setup together while mobbing. While Sia glides around with her spinning seashells around her as she quickly goes around the map horizontally with her glide and vertically with her teleport to set up the rabbit holes and pole stars.
Job 1:
Ray:
> Rework: Turn this into a rapid-fire skill [a.k.a a hurricane-type skill] where stars rapidly shoot out forward.
> Sia can freely move and jump while using this new skill.
> Markings for Ray apply every 0.5 second of continuous use.
This is to make it feel different to use than Boom. This allows for more personal playstyle options for attacking of what style of main attack the player wants to perform in any given scenario, outside of using it for marking. Plus it helps create a smoother gameplay for GMS.
Stellar I - Antares:
> Duration of the holes increase to 30 seconds at max skill rank.
> Recharge increases to 15 seconds.
Sia feels like she uses every thing way to frequently and every thing lasts to short. The rabbit holes being much longer at 30 seconds whether you Stellagram fusion or direct cast will make her feel better to set up her skills for mobbing and bossing, and not feel like a waste of time to use the skill.
Job 2:
Boom:
> Allow this skill to be cast while in mid air for a much smoother and more enjoyable play experience.
Stellar II - Algol:
> Duration increase to 120 seconds; Cooldown increase to 60 seconds.
> Because of the much longer duration, if you have not used an attacking skill in the last 5 seconds, Algol will stop attacking.
The Salamander's duration being so short, and currently feeling mandatory to only use the Stellagram fusion to summon, makes it feel annoying to upkeep him constantly while also having to worry about all of Sia's other skills as well.
Celestial Alignment:
> Make it apply to the entire party.
Job 3:
Pole:
> Remove the cooldown.
> Duration increase to 30 seconds.
Pole at such a short duration does not feel worth using and the frequency of use while needing to worry about everything else feels like a burden to constantly use. Plus for the GMS transition, most of the marking skills should not have cooldowns to have stellagram fusion creating feel better and more fluid to do.
Stellar III - Alchiba:
> Duration increase to 60 seconds; Cooldown increase to 120 seconds.
> Make it apply to the entire party.
> Remake: Apply a protection buff to self and party members for 60 seconds [increases with buff duration] that causes the next 5 (or more) Abnormal Status Effects to be ignored and increases healing received by 20%.
This would be more in line to the original party skill from Maple M, but with an effect that makes more sense for GMS to have.
Stellar IV - Bellatrix:
> Duration increase to 60 seconds; Cooldown increase to 120 seconds.
> No longer grants 10% Damage.
> Addition: Grants 30% Ignore Enemy Defense to self and party members as well.
> Addition: Grants 30 Weapon / Magic Attack to self and party members as well.
This is about making Sia need to buff up half the time, in addition to restoring her party buffing capabilities, to just make her less tedious to play with doing things less frequently since she has an overwhelming kit of needing to remember Stellagram fusions and a lot of skills to constantly use.
Stellar V - Fomalhaut:
> Rework: The spinning seashells around Sia will attack significantly faster, rapid-fire continuous damage in order to quickly mow down monsters you get in contact with as you glide around! At a slow attack rate, will fire off the ranged seashell attacks as well periodically.
> Damage retuned appropriately in response to the skill's mechanical change.
> Cooldown removed.
> Duration increase to 60 seconds.
Job 4:
Link:
> Make it apply to the entire party.
> Rework: At max rank, applies a healing buff to Sia and party members, healing for 20% HP every second for 10 seconds [increases with buff duration].
> Cooldown is removed.
A healing buff makes this skill proactive which is needed for two reasons for Sia and one reason that applies to all healers:
1: Boss design is so chaotic these days that reactive healing is a near-impossible thing to do and supports don't want to sit there and only heal all of the time, but we do want to always be healing the party while still reasonably playing out the boss fight like anyone else.
Support fun is helping others out, not dealing the most possible damage to the boss. And for buffer fun is seeing how big the damage you can make someone else deal, and at the same time, still being able to interact with and attack the boss in a realistic way while the focus is still being a support.
2: Sia has so many things she is constantly doing and upkeeping that a healing buff, especially for GMS, would help her be able to do GMS boss fights with upkeeping her skills and dodging boss attack patterns and not have to focus on her HP bar as well so heavily. It will just ease up on her gameplay and focus on playing as Sia, making for a more enjoyable experience.
Stellar VIII - Sadalmelik:
> Make it apply to the entire party.
> With no cooldown on Link, change the Stellagram Fusion to Link+Link (Link 2x) from Link 1x. This will better support stellagram fusion gameplay, either fully dedicated or a hybrid gameplay setup, by preventing accidently usage of this skill. Currently, it is best to always disable the stellagram fusion for this skill and use it for direct skill use only.
Hyper Skills:
Passive: Marking - Persist:
> Remake: Can have two casts of Pole in play at a time, but Final Damage for Pole is reduced to 60%. Link heals for +10% HP more.
Active: Stellar IX - Canopus:
> Duration increase to 60 seconds; cooldown reduce to 30 seconds; damage retuned as a result.
> Size of the summon gets reduced, increased later with 6th job mastery.
This anchor feels like it should be a summon that is always active and tuned to be that kind of summon, saving the wolf as the burst damage summon. Needing to burst with both summons at the same time is kind of annoying to do and this way the anchor can help Sia out with her moving around the map to set up her skills for mobbing gameplay as she glides around.
Active: Stellar X - Capella:
> Make it apply to the entire party.
> Duration increase to 40 seconds; cooldown increase to 120 seconds.
Having the buffing be to frequent gets tedious to do.
Job 5:
Shine:
> At rank 30: Duration increase to 50 seconds; Cooldown increase to 120 seconds at all ranks.
120 seconds cooldown Shine only with all of the buffs being 120 seconds cooldowns. Mainly to reduce the tedious nature of constantly having to rebuff as Sia.
Stellar XI - Sirius:
> Make the howl buff apply to the entire party.
> Duration of the wolf himself increase to 25 seconds; Cooldown increase to 120 seconds.
Having the wolf a part of the bigger 120 seconds cooldown burst will feel better to use with less frequent use since his appearance will be more rare and thus special, but also having the wolf last longer gives the player time to appreciate the wolf and gives a bit of a breather while mobbing with letting the wolf do the work while summoned.
Comments
She feels somewhat clunky having to Teleport + Attack constantly, especially when ranges may not be very significant.
In regards to Ray becoming a key-down type skill, I never even thought of that but I do like it. You're right that it would help it feel different to Boom and give her some form of safety when bossing instead of having to panic with teleporting around.
I really hope Nexon reads these because stuff like this is very important, especially when it comes to a new class. Very good read and well organized.
More like, she needs her glide to actually be a glide and her seashells to have 100% uptime and attack faster so she can helicopter around as she places down her summons. The flash jump should be weak and mostly there just to make the glide move even faster with flash jump into glide tech - the focus should be her movement is an unique glide and teleport class.
This was kind of how she played on Maple M, more-less, while being a true support - her identity was very unique and her role was defined, right now on GMS she is an underpowered, not very fun, nothingness - mostly having the lord of the deep sea shells skill with 100% uptime and proper glide, while the Salamander was 100% uptime and did his own thing (Salamander is pretty similar to how he is on Maple M).
But the last part, her GMS form has to much going on to frequently which is to much for an enjoyable mobbing and bossing experience. And I would like Ray and Boom to stand out more against each other, but be equal in damage to each other, so that players can decide which they like more for varying circumstances - outside of creating Stellagrams.
I agree. The first time I used her "Glide" I was baffled. I thought for sure it was bugged because it felt completely wrong. There are so many improvements they could make to this class so she can be more enjoyable, so I sincerely hope they listen to feedback asap.
I made a little bit of an oopsie after refreshing my memory by going on Sia on Maple M...
Appear should just remain as a self-only buff and act as Sia's version of the "Infinity" skill. This is how it is on Maple M, I was mislead by hearing other Maplers speak and for some reason thinking the same and I thought this was a party buff on Maple M, it was not.
Also made adjustments to what I would rather see, aside from restoring Sia's support side, but making Sia more of a protector and less of a buffer as this is more fun to play as from a support perspective.
Stellar III - Alchiba:
> Duration increase to 60 seconds; Cooldown increase to 120 seconds.
> Make it apply to the entire party.
> Remake: Apply a protection buff to self and party members for 60 seconds [increases with buff duration] that causes the next 5 (or more) Abnormal Status Effects to be ignored and increases healing received by 20%.
This would be more in line to the original party skill from Maple M, but with an effect that makes more sense for GMS to have.
Stellar IV - Bellatrix:
> Duration increase to 60 seconds; Cooldown increase to 120 seconds.
> No longer grants 10% Damage.
> Addition: Grants 30% Ignore Enemy Defense to self and party members as well.
> Addition: Grants 30 Weapon / Magic Attack to self and party members as well.
All of Maple M classes has what I call the Maple M jank, Maple M Sia has it too.
The reason the stellagram system was made was because Maple M has few slots to use skills on and Sia has a lot of skills, it was never created to be a fun system, but is there to be a needed system.
For GMS, Sia needs the stellagram system to only exist and the bonuses need to be rethought to feel optional instead of mandatory to do since real maple has the keyboard slots for all of her skills to be used directly. The stellagram fusions should just be there, for GMS, to further enhance the Sia experience with hybrid controls of direct skill use and some stellagram use, but design her around direct skill use in mind.
Plus there are three core aspects to Sia's identity to have:
1. Be a proper support. Focus her as a healer-protector support with some party buffs, Link as a party healing buff with no cooldown is proactive which is needed for GMS boss design and strong enough to actually heal the party as a solo-healer with the protection skill operating like holy magic shell to help prevent the party from dying.
2. Her movement skills is core as being a glide and teleport class is unique and should be embraced and build gameplay around getting around the map quickly horizontally with a fast glide and vertically with a teleport. Flash jump should be there as a very weak and very fast one where you go no where using the flash jump, but it is very fast so that with proper flash jump into glide tech, you make the glide move very fast.
3. This is with restoring Sia's movement to be very fun and fluid to use, the seashells needs to be at least a 60 seconds duration and attack at hurricane speeds in function not in animation with no cooldown for GMS. This is critical in a fun mobbing gameplay of gliding around while lawn mowing down monsters as you go from place to place setting up your summons with the anchor, rabbit holes, and pole stars meanwhile Algol the salamander does his own thing.
- Higher durations and higher cooldowns is needed for this playstyle as well so that the stellagram fusions feel worth doing if the skill lasts way longer, and moving all of her buffs to 120 seconds cooldowns (durations increased properly) just to be more enjoyable to boss and especially mob on with less frequent buffing. Plus only having a 120 seconds cooldown burst can focus Sia into a sustain damage class with positioning and upkeeping her summons, which is more engaging and less annoying / tedious since it will feel like a more focus and natural playstyle to do.
- And I would just make Algol 120 seconds duration and 60 seconds cooldown so that he feels like Bishop's Bahamut, a comrade summon that is easily always active that follows you around like a pet that attacks monsters on his own. Cooldown needed so that you are not constantly resetting him and preventing him from attacking with stellagram fusions, and duration long enough where he does not feel like a burden to keep him always alive.