well, a similar thread was closed after my post, so let’s do this little trick again.
the thread asks for modding AAR in a way that would give it more solo damage at the cost of piercing/range.
and the arguments for it are …
I NEED BETTER RAVAGER KILL TIMES WITH IT! (a single person opinion). Neither other arguments were said, nor it was explained why AAR needs such changes now.
and the arguments against are …
it’s not possible technically without modifying the skill itself. and this is the main thing one should understand.
AAR w/o piercing was crap, even with greater damage values. Community was literally begging for improving it, so why should Crate reverse it?
we already have a lot of meme conduits so there’s no need to add one more. Better improve the existing ones.
yet again I wasted some of my spare time writing it and not hoping that a deaf-to-logic person would understand sth of it.
Rather than having a conduit that changes AAR it would be nice if there was an option to make a build that uses AAR + some single target skill nuke. Like Clairvoyant, but less of a headache to work with.
Honestly, I don’t mind dual damage type builds, but you have to be rewarded for going through all the effort to make it work, get both damage types up to 2000%, pick two -RR% devotions, all the compromises you have to make like losing Eternity, etc. The set doesn’t even work right, gameplay wise. I don’t think cooldown reset paired with a channeling skill is a good idea at all. I have a Harbinger Pyromancer that does monstrous amounts of damage, and yet, this set looks much harder to make and seems like it wont do as much damage.
Well, some people already said Clairvoyant is the weakest AAR build ATM, so maybe we can hope it gets buffed in a future update.
Argument: Well, it was already agreed upon that a single target damage AAR was PROBABLY not easily done - though we don’t have ANY official statement from the devs and must at best ASSUME that some modders assessed the situation correctly - and that a short range AAR would be even cooler. Haven’t read anyone here saying that a short range AAR wouldn’t be possible technically.
Misses the current topic completely.
If something is “needed” or not is a very subjective thing.
3/3 “arguments”, 0/3 is valuable. Logic points: 0/10 :8)
I’d argue with you but I haven’t seen any arguments from your side why should it get shorter range or bigger solo-damage (except Ravager, ofc).
not actually. if you suggest some changes, you better say who would like them, and here’s no one that wants shorter range or some other skill changes for ANY purpose.
changes in gear - yes. changes to the main skill after it being crap - no, thanks.
still I’ve seen nobody agreed with you, so I assume the things are pretty clear and objective.
I also suppose if some tweaks to AAR were needed after it getting pierce, it would had been sad about.
and well, I’ll even tag @Zantai for him to come and clear this nonsense of a thread.
Let it be noted that you only mentioned that in the middle of the thread when it was established that single target is impossible to make and I’m pretty sure you’re only labelling it as “cooler” instead of “a good alternative since single target is impossible” to not admit defeat when no one agreed with you.
Also, a range reduction for AAR on an item mod should be possible as it has been done on other skills, but it presents even more problems than single target AAR.
Range reduction is too small? Conduit might just become the best AAR amulet bar none, since the range reduction won’t matter for the damage it gives. This isn’t the purpose of the current conduit system.
Range reduction too big? Then we’re back to basically single target AAR levels of bullshit.
Damage bonuses too low? No one uses the amulet. Better have good old essence of the grim dawn.
Time for you to prepare more arguments in favor of your suggestion. As @afanasenkov26 has said, you’ve never provided more supporting arguments in your favor since the thread has started.
Also @zantai doesn’t typically participate in petty squabbles like this unless a certain mad individual who isn’t here with us now is involved. Who knows we might find the next drama queen of this forum
I’m not sure that a single-target super-boss is the best metric by which to measure the efficacy of AoE skills relative to other more single-target centric playstyles.
As has been pointed out, AAR used to be a single target skill a long time ago. It proved problematic to balance as it teetered between absolutely deleting single targets and not doing enough damage to also handle packs.
We experimented with making the beam penetrate targets and found that it became a more satisfying button to press, even if it meant Arcanist lost its one single-target ability. It kind of seemed thematic anyway that the caster wielding untamed magic energies would be all about AoE.
While there were some growing pains to get AAR damage to a good place since this change took place, we are very happy with the shift to a piercing beam. We could make a modifier to return it to single target or to reduce its length with some tech, but we would be right back to the original balancing problem we tried to avoid in the first place.
As for the range of the beam, feel free to experiment with that in mods. I personally don’t see the appeal of truncating the beam nor how that would be enough of a downside to justify powerful modifiers.
Ah, thank you very much for a statement, Zantai! <3
Although for the rest here: It seems it WAS NOT CONFIRMED that a mod was not possible technically, as Zantai explicitely motivated us to go for it in a selfmade one! So despite the over-confidence, it seems you were wrong? Lol! Subjective “truths” be gone.
Also, have fun watching the GRAND MASTER HC builder RektbyProtoss die with his Spellbinder:
Added tech is beyond the scope of the modder’s toolkit.
As Stupid Dragon and I originally alleged, a skill modifier like those found on items cannot adjust AAR’s range, nor can the piercing capabilities be altered by a skillmod.
You can, of course, edit the range of the base skill intrinsically in a mod if you desire, which is what Zantai suggested.
You know that annoying kid that runs around yammering around the adults knees constantly and always thinks they’re right? That’s basically how we look at you - no tears lost here.
You’re being needlessly antagonistic. Either way, you got your answer. The skill was changed because it was tough to balance and felt unsatisfying to most players, but you can mod the base skill to be single-target if you wish. You also have access to the modding tools, so you have the solution at your fingertips.
If you have enough time and energy to pick fights, you have the time and energy to learn a new skill, so I advise diving into the modding tools sooner rather than later
All offense intended, but if you’ve really modded the game that much you would’ve understood what Ceno and Dragon said the first time they did. Case would’ve been closed earlier smh.
On a more serious note, I would not use a vid of me missplaying the Spellbinder rotation and saving cluster & nullification for next char (that’s how bad I played there) as an argument that Spellbinder or AAR is bad. Also the build was using full clairvoyant set, which I wouldn’t say is a properly min/maxed version of aether AAR, there are certainly better ways to build this, which weren’t possible for me due to having limited access to gear in the community league.
Set that supports Aether AAR… is not good for Aether AAR? I am surprised, really. I thought the “Aether Clusters are useless in softcore” statement is epic .
I am surprised, really. I thought the “Aether Clusters are useless in softcore” statement is epic 
.