"Charge" Suggestion for Skills

[dawgma]

So... this “charge-up” attribute would not be like the Assassin’s charge-up skills where charges accumulate due to successive hits within a short time frame. This is a different idea that would apply to a variety of skills and spells... and every character class would have certain skills that would have the ability to charge-up the longer you hold down the trigger button (could be the mouse button, could be a keyboard button). Charged attacks would consume additional Mana (or Rage) while charging. They could also be interrupted if you are hit while charging. And, depending on the skill, you may be able to move around while charging or you may be required to stand still.

For example, a Sorceress would have to stand still as she charges up a savage and lethal Lightning Storm... and as soon as she reaches a full charge the Lightning Storm is automatically unleashed. A Barbarian, on the other hand, could be allowed to move while charging up his Whirlwind skill. He could also hold this charge until he finds a group of enemies to engage… but, of course, this would consume additional Rage as long as he is holding the full charge.

Now here is the great thing about being able to charge up your skills... It’s not just about adding extra damage points to your skills. Charged attacks would have the potential to unleash interesting side effects while they are charging, deliver combo attacks when they are unleashed and introduce extremely unique and interesting animations for your characters existing skills!

Picture a Sorceress on an elevated platform in a dungeon looking down at a cluster of demon champions below… she decides this is an excellent opportunity to unleash a charged up Blizzard spell... and so you hold the trigger down and she starts to wave her hands slowly and chant something... and the atmosphere begins to grow darker as the spell charges... and there is a visible wind that begins to grow stronger and the room starts to look colder... any demons around the Sorceress begin to move slower as they are becoming affected by the chill… debris is sucked towards the Sorceress and spins around her violently... snow flakes appear and flutter around... then finally, suddenly, a meteoric **** storm of snow and ice is unleashed that fills up your entire field of view delivering heavy damage to any demons in view... even the most cold resistant monsters are left frozen solid!

Or consider the Barbarian charging up his Cleave skill. You see a group of demons just up ahead so you hold the trigger down and charge up your Cleve skill completely as you approach them. You reach the pack of enemies and release the trigger… and instead of a single swoosh that you normally deliver with your Cleve skill, you perform a devastating triple hit combo attack where each hit has it’s own unique animation. Beautiful and well worth the wait! Charged up attacks would be a nice simple way to introduce elaborate combo moves for the Barb.

Of course, the amount of time required to unleash a fully charged spell would have to be carefully balanced for each skill. There would have to be a long enough pause between charges so that you are not able to spam the charged attacks or use them too easily while engaged in close quarter combat. There might also have to be a slightly longer than normal cool down period after using a fully charged attack. However, if you fear that you are about to be attacked while in the middle of a charge (and therefore interrupted) you should still be able to release the trigger and engage in a more-powerful-than-normal attack. So ultimately you would have to decide when the best moment to charge up the spell would be...

I believe "charging", if executed properly, could be a nice addition to skills in general. It has the potential to introduce new gameplay techniques, it could add to the general atmosphere of the game world and would really enhance the uniqueness of each character with the extra variety to the attack animations.

So what do you think? Do you see any limitations or have any suggestions to implement it better? What other skills could you see having a "charge" attribute added to it... and what would it look like?

[Dimmu]

sounds like megaman to me.

[dawgma]

OK.. well I'll try to imagine what a Fireball charge-up for the Sorcerer could be like (obviously I expect this class to be returning)...

He triggers the charge up for the fireball spell and starts to chant... a small globe of fire appears in front of him as he rises slightly above the ground... the globe of fire becomes more intense and the Sorcerer's armor begins glowing red hot.. then white.. the Sorcerer spontaneously combusts into a raging fireball that ignites anything that touches him... tendrils of fire shoot out across the ground from below his feet.. suddenly there is a deafening explosion as the fireball surrounding the Sorcerer erupts outwards in a supersonic explosion crushing most of the demons within the blast radius... and setting on fire whatever remains...

On a side note... I want to add that even though the descriptions of a charge-up may seem long when you read it, you have to picture all of these events happening within a few seconds. I think it would be reasonable to expect most charge-ups max out in less than 10 seconds... especially for the Barb, probably less than 5 seconds.

[dawgma]

sounds like megaman to me.

Well.. what works for megaman could work for Diablo. Have you heard about the many different games that the developers have said to have influenced the design of D3? You might be surprised... apparently they even got a few ideas from Rock Band.

[raveharu]

sounds pretty lame, I think this is more suited for 2D games.

[dawgma]

I think this is more suited for 2D games.

Why..? Why would my suggestion be limited to 2D games?

[dawgma]

**bump**

Give it some thought, guys.

[Apocalypse]

things like this have a place in games, just not a diablo game

[dawgma]

things like this have a place in games, just not a diablo game

That makes no sense to me... can you justify your comment?

[Connekt]

Charge Ups and Cool-downs are a big part of any RPG. Whether they decide to put them in or not just changes the dynamic of the game and timing of skills. If you seriously think "charge-ups are like megaman", I don't think an RPG is the game for you. It would be a change of pace for Diablo, but I wouldn't completely write this idea off. People seem to be so set in what they want from Diablo, but they fail to realize its been 10 years since D2 came out. The dynamics for rpgs have changed.

[Orphan]

**bump**

Give it some thought, guys.

Please do not bump threads. Take a moment to re-read the rules (http://forums.diii.net/faq.php?faq=rules) of the forum, in particular #6. If a thread gathers enough interest it'll be bumped up automatically. Bumping a thread like this is a fast way to get it closed.

[Dimmu]

Charge Ups and Cool-downs are a big part of any RPG. Whether they decide to put them in or not just changes the dynamic of the game and timing of skills. If you seriously think "charge-ups are like megaman", I don't think an RPG is the game for you. It would be a change of pace for Diablo, but I wouldn't completely write this idea off. People seem to be so set in what they want from Diablo, but they fail to realize its been 10 years since D2 came out. The dynamics for rpgs have changed.

well...from the way he describes it, you would be standing still while "charging", this alone hurts the diablo gameplay by slowing down the pace. Now, if you could move and charge at the same time....it would be immensely overpowered and still painfully tedious. If it weren't overpowered, it would be underpowered. If it were underpowered, it would be cool for about an hour, then you would get back to the spamming.

Think about this beyond the cute little descriptive essays that only serve as an aesthetic justification, when we all know that game's visual features will end up being forgotten after enough play.

[Connekt]

For the record, I wasn't swayed by his "cute little essay" about what a charge-up would look like. I really don't reading about what a character might look like charging up. I was clearly stating that charge-ups and cooldowns ARE a big part of most rpgs, so it shouldn't just be written off. It obviously wouldn't be as dramatic if it was used in D3.

And how would you know what skills would be overpowered and underpowered just by --if they have a charge up or not? That is what balancing is. Skills don't govern themselves. That is what balancing is for, buddy.

You also clearly weren't listening to what i said about charge-ups and cooldowns playing a BIG part of managing skills. It would just add another dimension to the gameplay. No one actually sits and watches a charge-up in an rpg, they are more worried about not dying and getting the next skill off.

[Dimmu]

There is a huge difference between ARPG and RPG. Actually diablo comes closer to the genre of hack-n-slash than RPG.
That said, this is the type of game where combat reigns over all. I say that it will end up being either under or over-powered because diablo is a game that will almost always end up in only using only a handfull of skills because we choose the ones which are most effective. Like it or not there will always be one-point wonders and just plain useless skills in the franchise just by the nature of the game revolving around fast-paced combat and the most effective ways to wipe out your enemies. By having skills that can either be "charged" or not, they will end up either needing to be charged (which would be very annoying in a game like this) to be effective, or the charging wouldn't matter enough to use rather than the conventional spamming after realizing that it's not really worth it. Having a skill with both chargability and spamability will result in using only one or the other, it's like having two totally different skills.
You could imply that some skills could be exclusively charged, but aren't cooldowns on skills like meteor and forzen orb serving just that purpose?

[Apocalypse]

That makes no sense to me... can you justify your comment?


sure i can, each game has certain traits to it that differ it from all the other masses of games out there. a feature like the one you explain is good in other games, like holding back your bow string longer or charging a fireball til max, those kind of things are not what diablo is about though. diablo is about killing and killing fast, not standing there being smacked in the face while you charge a skill. i am not saying that its a bad idea, its just not something that i think would work well in a diablo enviroment

[dawgma]

well...from the way he describes it, you would be standing still while "charging", this alone hurts the diablo gameplay by slowing down the pace. Now, if you could move and charge at the same time....it would be immensely overpowered and still painfully tedious.

Actually... what I said in my original post was that there could be skills that charge while you are moving and skills that charge while you are standing still.

Naturally, the benefits of charging up a skill while standing should be greater than than skills tha you can charge while moving around. Why? Because you can always run to a safe place to charge-up and then unleash the charge later into a group of enemies, so you do not want these skills to be too powerful. Skills you charge while standing give better bonuses because you have to do it near enemies and if you get hit while charging then the spell is interrupted and canceled.

To address balancing... the benefits of a charge would only be slightly greater than if you had spent that time using your skill normally. Let's say a Barb could pull off 3 Cleve attacks in the time it would take him to fully charge his Cleve skill. Let's also assume Cleve is doing +100% max damage. Therefore, when a charged up Cleve skill is unleashed it could be a triple combo hit that does +125% max damage for each hit. Now it doesn't seem so crazy, does it? There is incentive enough to use it.. but not enough to abuse it.

But don't think to hard about my estimated numbers. The point is that it would be possible to balance.

By having skills that can either be "charged" or not, they will end up either needing to be charged (which would be very annoying in a game like this) to be effective, or the charging wouldn't matter enough to use rather than the conventional spamming after realizing that it's not really worth it. Having a skill with both chargability and spamability will result in using only one or the other, it's like having two totally different skills.

No. Again, this is all about balancing. For some reason you keep coming up with scenarios where charging would not work, and then citing those scenarios as examples of how it can NEVER work. That's not very helpful. Instead, if you can think of a way that charging can be abused, then naturally you have to think of a way to balance that abuse out. But I'm starting to see you have some real trouble understanding what we mean by "balance".

Basically you have said you are worried that the benefits of charging will outweigh the benefits of normal use of the skill. Well, that depends how powerful you make the charge. As I explained above, the benefits of a charge should be slightly (only slightly) greater than if you had used the skill normally in the same time period.

sure i can, each game has certain traits to it that differ it from all the other masses of games out there. a feature like the one you explain is good in other games, like holding back your bow string longer or charging a fireball til max, those kind of things are not what diablo is about though. diablo is about killing and killing fast, not standing there being smacked in the face while you charge a skill. i am not saying that its a bad idea, its just not something that i think would work well in a diablo enviroment

As Connekt has already stated repeatedly "charging" is not new to the RPG genre. In fact it fits right in. But then I guess you could argue that Diablo is more of a hack and slash, fast paced action game than an RPG. But that doesn't mean Diablo can't benefit from MORE RPG elements.

In fact we all know that the developers of D3 have already stated they want to re-emphasize the RPG element of Diablo. They want to develop much stronger story elements and character attributes consistent with an RPG... but at the same time make these features easy to avoid if you don't want them. Charging fits RIGHT into that cataegory. In fact, the more I think about it, the more I believe charging would be a perfect little addition to Diablo.

With Diablo the action is currently: Hack, hack, hack, SLASH, hack, hack, SLASH... that's great. NOTHING wrong with that. Loved playing that format for the last 8 years.

With charges, you still get the faced paced action, but when the opportunity is right you can use your charges: Hack, hack, hack, veeeeeeeop! BOOM! hack, hack, SLASH, veeeeeeeop BOOM!

It can still be fast! Again.. this is just another balancing issue. It's only "slow" because you're choosing to picture it as slow instead of giving it the benefit of the doubt.

[konfeta]

As long as you give a reasonable (not to the point of where the spell is either IFAIL or IWIN button against everything alive) spell, this could rock. Imagine, the Sorc zipping around with teleport and then doing this:

http://www.anaitgames.com/wp-content/hadoken.jpg

[dawgma]

As long as you give a reasonable (not to the point of where the spell is either IFAIL or IWIN button against everything alive) spell, this could rock. Imagine, the Sorc zipping around with teleport and then doing this:

With proper balancing there should be no problems implementing charges. It would be quite easy to avoid the IFAIL and IWIN pitfalls...

Benefits: Increased damage, possible side effects (against monsters) while charging (side effect would be somehow related to the skill), additional skill animations, combo opportunities

Draw backs: Cannot easily be used in the middle of a big battle, skills that charge while you are still able to move do not provide as big of a benefit as skills that require you to stand still, charging can be interrupted if your hit, uses additional mana

[Apocalypse]

i still dont see the need for this though. whats the point behind it? like i said other games have it and thats great for them but its not needed in diablo. you are saying "give it the benefit of the doubt", why? its not needed at all the game world has been fine without it

[dawgma]

i still dont see the need for this though. whats the point behind it? like i said other games have it and thats great for them but its not needed in diablo. you are saying "give it the benefit of the doubt", why? its not needed at all the game world has been fine without it

This just sounds stubborn... Again, you haven't actually given a reason better than:

"If it ain't broke, don't fix it!" or,

"It sounds unbalanced, therefore it won't work... even though I didn't actually think about how it could be balanced."

By giving it the benefit of the doubt I'm asking that you to offer solutions first before flatly stating that it's not going to work just because you just don't like the sound of it.

EDIT: let's end this conversation here, between you and I, because it's not contributing to the original topic that I wanted to talk about. If you have good feedback, let's hear it.. otherwise you can just ignore this thread. Thanks.

[RTK]

So...I can post in your topic only if I have "good" feedback...
Yeah,right...

[Kiroptus]

I think its a great idea. Im all up for gameplay additions and different ways of using skills. I always thought that the mouse could offer many kinds of diferent ways of interpreting skills and with an isometric view where you have total control and notion of the battlefield around you, it certainly can be a very powerful tool that never gets its potential taped.

So far we have just one click and forget or hold to keep firing. With this we would have to hold to charge up skills. It could be a lot a fun, imagine a sorc using cold damage to slow her enemies, backing up a bit and starting to charge a lighting orb, while doing it, a cool effect of lighting spurts going in random directions can damage the enemy, then she releases it, damaging enemies in the area. It can certainly be very dynamic.

I would suggest some kind of click-and-drag skills, maybe a spirit that the WD can manipulate and it goes to where you drag the mouse and once you stop draggin, it explodes with in a spectral force.

Funny I see people saying that many people are against change just because the necro got replaced by the WD. Yet any new gameplay elements can could certainly blend well with Diablo's arcade-alike gameplay, adding variations to it, are simply taken down without any thought on it.

[Habilis]

This just sounds stubborn... Again, you haven't actually given a reason better than:

"If it ain't broke, don't fix it!" or,

"It sounds unbalanced, therefore it won't work... even though I didn't actually think about how it could be balanced."

By giving it the benefit of the doubt I'm asking that you to offer solutions first before flatly stating that it's not going to work just because you just don't like the sound of it.

EDIT: let's end this conversation here, between you and I, because it's not contributing to the original topic that I wanted to talk about. If you have good feedback, let's hear it.. otherwise you can just ignore this thread. Thanks.

He allready provided you with a very good reason;its detrimental to the Diablo-style gameplay.The series is known for its fast-paced action and you're asking for a feature that will make people wait in order to utilize fully.While you may enjoy picturing the whole effect (I do up to a point) its not in the spirit of Diablo.D2 had charge up skills that worked quite differently and guess what;they were not popular even in that style.There's a reason for that and that reason is that people don't enjoy preperation to optimize their potential in a game like Diablo.Paladins don't enjoy having to recast Holy Shield,Barbarians don't enjoy casting BO and BC over and over again in every single game.

Other than that,there's something else."Good" feedback is not a requirement for posting to any thread.Feedback is feedback whether you like it or not.Thats the essence of a public forum.

[dawgma]

So...I can post in your topic only if I have "good" feedback... Yeah,right...

Other than that,there's something else."Good" feedback is not a requirement for posting to any thread.Feedback is feedback whether you like it or not.Thats the essence of a public forum.

This is getting RIDICULOUS. I swear people around here are just looking for fights by willingly interpreting things in the worst possible manner just so they have an excuse to "correct" someone or stick it to them.

When I said "good" feedback it was not a demand for only "positive" replies. Not at all! "Good" was a qualification of the KIND of feedback I was hoping for... i.e. constructive criticism. Considering that my WHOLE post was about providing reasons for your opinions it should have been pretty apparent what I meant by "good". Comprendez?

The series is known for its fast-paced action and you're asking for a feature that will make people wait in order to utilize fully...

I addressed the speed and gameplay criticism in an earlier post... why don't you go find it? Also charging skills actually has the potential to speed up the game... not slow it down. It gives you something to do WHILE your moving to the next group of monsters. You don't have to stop, and when you reach the next demon, you have a nice opening attack.

D2 had charge up skills that worked quite differently and guess what;they were not popular even in that style.

And why are you trying to argue a point that you admittedly confess is irrelevant in the VERY same sentence that you bring it up in? "D2 had charge up skills that worked QUITE differently..." You're comparing apples to oranges, kid. Besides, my opening sentence in my opening post actually mentions this distinction. Right off the bat... it's the very first thing I said!

So it looks like you just charged into this thread head first without any intention to contribute something meaningful... please don't come back unless you have "good feedback". Thanks.

I think its a great idea. Im all up for gameplay additions and different ways of using skills. I always thought that the mouse could offer many kinds of diferent ways of interpreting skills and with an isometric view where you have total control and notion of the battlefield around you, it certainly can be a very powerful tool that never gets its potential taped

Cheers, mate...

...while doing it, a cool effect of lighting spurts going in random directions can damage the enemy, then she releases it, damaging enemies in the area. It can certainly be very dynamic.

Right.. these could be known as side effects. So certain spells, especially elemental ones, could spawn off little side effects that are related to the main spell being charged. Lightning sparks for lightning spells... self immolation for fire spells... and slowing enemies down while charging an ice spell... these are just brainstorms of course. The main point is that some nice side effects could definitely be integrated.

I would suggest some kind of click-and-drag skills, maybe a spirit that the WD can manipulate and it goes to where you drag the mouse and once you stop draggin, it explodes with in a spectral force.

Wow.. now you're thinking. Neat idea to maintain control over certain spells after they are cast by using the mouse cursor. As a general gameplay mechanic it has potential.

Blizzard has always said about the Diablo series that they want to make a complex game with simple controls - simple enough that you can play it with just the mouse. But that doesn't mean the characters have to be limited to hack and slash gameplay! You just have to get creative with other ways you can manipulate the mouse to think of new gameplay ideas...

Thanks for your input Kiroptis. A breath of fresh air...

[Apocalypse]

my reasons for not wanting this added to the game are just as good as your reasons for wanting it, just cause i dont agree with you does not in any way lessen what i have to say about it

[Habilis]

This is getting RIDICULOUS. I swear people around here are just looking for fights by willingly interpreting things in the worst possible manner just so they have an excuse to "correct" someone or stick it to them.

When I said "good" feedback it was not a demand for only "positive" replies. Not at all! "Good" was a qualification of the KIND of feedback I was hoping for... i.e. constructive criticism. Considering that my WHOLE post was about providing reasons for your opinions it should have been pretty apparent what I meant by "good". Comprendez?

Si.

[/QUOTE]I addressed the speed and gameplay criticism in an earlier post... why don't you go find it? Also charging skills actually has the potential to speed up the game... not slow it down. It gives you something to do WHILE your moving to the next group of monsters. You don't have to stop, and when you reach the next demon, you have a nice opening attack.[/QUOTE]

Right.Except for the part where you said that some of them can only be charged by standing still.So reading comprehension right back to you.


[/QUOTE]And why are you trying to argue a point that you admittedly confess is irrelevant in the VERY same sentence that you bring it up in? "D2 had charge up skills that worked QUITE differently..." You're comparing apples to oranges, kid. Besides, my opening sentence in my opening post actually mentions this distinction. Right off the bat... it's the very first thing I said![/QUOTE]

One i'm not a kid.Two if you can't figure out why I mentioned D2 Charge-ups then I can help you with that "old man";its because in essence they did exactly what you're proposing.They slowed down the killing pace in order to be fully utilized attacks.They're not apples and oranges.While they mechanically work differently they still have the same point,thus the comparison.

[/QUOTE]So it looks like you just charged into this thread head first without any intention to contribute something meaningful... please don't come back unless you have "good feedback". Thanks.[/QUOTE]

Something meaningful being me agreeing with you?I can't do that.What I can do is explain to you why I think its a bad idea.Which I did,but apparently its not your kind of "good feedback".

P.S.:Hurray for discovering the multi-quote button after posting.Joke's on me I guess.

[Gorny]

Folks, please keep the discussion civil or some people might get a vacation from the forums here.

[dawgma]

Right.Except for the part where you said that some of them can only be charged by standing still.So reading comprehension right back to you.

Like I already said, standing still could be used to balance charge-ups that have powerful benefits. Weaker charge-ups would still allow mobility. Why are you still cherry picking my posts to make up these phantom arguments? It's like arguing with yourself.. what's the point?

Two if you can't figure out why I mentioned D2 Charge-ups... its because in essence they did exactly what you're proposing.

No, they didn't do exactly what I was proposing and, two, you already said they were different. The only things they share in common are that they both use the word "charge" to describe what is happening... and both provide a damage bonus. But the most important difference between the two is in the execution... and by your own admission, it was executed poorly in D2. Therefore why not try to improve it? If it didn't work before... it won't ever work? Is that what you're trying to say?

Anyway, I wouldn't even say I was trying to "improve" upon the old charge-up skills. My suggestion was not even inspired by the Assassin's skills... But just before I made my first post, I realized that someone might get confused about what I was suggesting... so in my very first sentence I made sure to point out that my suggestion was supposed to be different than the charge-up skills in D2.

...but apparently its not your kind of "good feedback".

And now you're being facetious... because you know what I meant.

[lionheart]

Sorry for the OT post here, i just wanted to say this.

To dawgma, i find it funny how you defend your point and fight for it against ppl that dont like it as if something important would come out of it. Even if everybody here agreed with you, the chances of it being in the game are still the same as before...

[Habilis]

Like I already said, standing still could be used to balance charge-ups that have powerful benefits. Weaker charge-ups would still allow mobility. Why are you still cherry picking my posts to make up these phantom arguments? It's like arguing with yourself.. what's the point?

And like I said before thats exactly whats wrong.Standing still to use powerfull abilities.Even if some of them (the ones with the not-so-powerfull abilities if you prefer) are going to be able to be charged while moving,thats still means that the powerfull ones will not,thus detrimenting the fast-paced gameplay,or even worse creating an unbalancing factor if some builds requiring those skills are simply more boring than others who do not,which is the exact opposite of your intention (that is to add a fun element in the game...I hope).Its not a phantom argument.Its an argument which you refuse to acknowledge by closing your eyes and telling to yourself "Its not there".

No, they didn't do exactly what I was proposing and, two, you already said they were different. The only things they share in common are that they both use the word "charge" to describe what is happening... and both provide a damage bonus. But the most important difference between the two is in the execution... and by your own admission, it was executed poorly in D2. Therefore why not try to improve it? If it didn't work before... it won't ever work? Is that what you're trying to say?

For the third time.They're similar in essence!They do the exact same thing in the end:force you to waste more time in order to make your abilities more powerfull,for one strike.Thats what your Charge up system proposes,just like what the Charge-up skills in the Martial Arts (and to some lesser degree in the druid shapeshifting and Barbarian Combat) do.

Anyway, I wouldn't even say I was trying to "improve" upon the old charge-up skills. My suggestion was not even inspired by the Assassin's skills... But just before I made my first post, I realized that someone might get confused about what I was suggesting... so in my very first sentence I made sure to point out that my suggestion was supposed to be different than the charge-up skills in D2.

And I realised that from the very start.Contrary to your beliefs about my person,I do read the posts I want to argue about or add to.My argument is that while they work differently than the Assassin charge-ups (and I'll admit the assassin martial-arts would be better if they utilized your system instead of the crapstorm that is the current charge-ups,but I still disagree with a charge system in any crpg) in the end they accomplish the same thing; wasting time in order to buff your attacks.


And now you're being facetious... because you know what I meant.

No I seriously doubt that.I know what you meant and yet you fail to implement it both ways.I did provide arguments against your idea and you concluded your reply with a nice big "Unless you have something constructive to add don't post in my thread".All I've seen from you is lashing back at any negative critisism regardless of the arguments there.And ofc its natural that critisism that is opposed to the idea as a whole will contribute to it by adding stuff.What can negative critisim provide is the reasons why this might be a bad idea.Yet you refuse to recognize these arguments as valid.That is facetious.

[dawgma]

lock this thread up and send it to the depths of hell...

[Ozz]

I think the idea of charge ups is great...as long as it doesn't hinder pace of the game too much..one of the best things about playing the sorceress in D2 was that you could literally stride through acres of monsters and scythe them all down with the frozen orb or chain lightning. If you had to charge up to get max effect wouldn't you have to either stop or run away for a bit?...could make gameplay a bit stop/start.

[raishi]

zelda comes to mind...charging his whirling attack for max damage...fighting games...charge up the energy attack for more damage...its a possible idea...though the ability to fire it off without charging also...just extra for charging...its an idea...

though could you imagine trying to take the time to charge when a giant beast can walk over and rip your head off and toss your bloody carcass to the groung like what happened to the barb in the gameplay video...that was classic...

[Kiroptus]

I do hope that if an Asn-alike character is back, the charge-ups are back as well. Its the style of the asn/rogue, to do little damage and then suddenly, huge damage. It is working fine in WoW and I does work somewhat ok in Diablo2, it just was never really explored because spamming traps is much easier and more pratical but much less fun imo.

But certainly charge-ups have to come back for the asn character, its a diferent playstyle so if you dont like dont play as one, play as a trapper.