Straight away I'll admit that this is hardly the biggest balance issue around, and in fairness this is more a convenience thing, but I've always found it weird how the classes have been balanced when it comes to these highly desirable buffs. Let's face it: DPS-wise this is one of the most sought-after buffs, and ALMOST all the classes have access to it (when taking into account guild and weapon skills, everyone does eventually). So what am I going to talk about? Simple:
Why do some class skills provide one or the other of these buffs, and not both?
Whilst I can't speak for the developers, I have long thought that the best part of skill morphing is the fact that it allows the player to choose between two equally compelling choices, meaning that there are less cookie-cutter builds and more variety in the game. The fact that buffs such as Surge, Drain Power and Molten Weapons only give one or the other (pre-morph) out of Major Brutality and Major Sorcery means that one morph is the definitive stamina choice, and the other the definitive magicka choice. How boring! Even though morphs are increasingly going this way (and that's a discussion for another day) it seems silly to make people choose when these skills could just provide BOTH buffs to the player, as only one is going to be useful anyway! This means the developers could change the morphs to be a little more interesting, and actually create a choice for players.
Here are some ideas I had off the top of my head:
Surge: Now provides both buffs as per standard! Heals player on crits.
Critical Surge: Heal is slightly larger (20% or so) and heals any pets as well.
Power Surge: Now provides the Minor Expedition buff for the duration. Provides extra mobility instead of bigger heals/pet survivability.
Molten Weapons: Now provides the player (and only the player!) both Major Brutality and Major Sorcery.
Igneous Weapons: Now increases the damage of fully-charged heavy attacks by 40%. (Same as current, but also giving Major Brutality!)
Molten Armaments: Buffs all allies in range. Also provides the Minor Resolve and Minor Ward buffs for the duration to the caster. (Survivability/Group Utility over DPS, helpful for tanks perhaps! Buff your entire group and give you more armour/spell resistance.)
Drain power: Now provides both buffs to the player on cast, so long as it hits at least one opponent. Magic damage.
Power Extraction: Uses stamina. Disease damage. Does 20% more damage over unmorphed version. Snares all targets hit by 30%. (Clearly the stamina morph; the skill is good as it is IMO but needs a small damage boost to compete with other stamina AOEs, and the small snare helps.)
Sap Essence: Same as on live, except the heal only applies to the caster and one ally. Make the heal closer in value to the Dragonknight Inhale, whilst also providing buffs instead of interrupting spellcasting/returning magicka and a second much more powerful hit.
Now Templars are a special case, because they don't actually have a way to get either Major Brutality or Major Sorcery outside of weapon/guild skills, but they DO have easy access to both Major Savagery and Major Prophecy (Biting Jabs and Sunfire respectively) so I think it's fair.
Why do some class skills provide one or the other of these buffs, and not both?
Whilst I can't speak for the developers, I have long thought that the best part of skill morphing is the fact that it allows the player to choose between two equally compelling choices, meaning that there are less cookie-cutter builds and more variety in the game. The fact that buffs such as Surge, Drain Power and Molten Weapons only give one or the other (pre-morph) out of Major Brutality and Major Sorcery means that one morph is the definitive stamina choice, and the other the definitive magicka choice. How boring! Even though morphs are increasingly going this way (and that's a discussion for another day) it seems silly to make people choose when these skills could just provide BOTH buffs to the player, as only one is going to be useful anyway! This means the developers could change the morphs to be a little more interesting, and actually create a choice for players.
Here are some ideas I had off the top of my head:
Surge: Now provides both buffs as per standard! Heals player on crits.
Critical Surge: Heal is slightly larger (20% or so) and heals any pets as well.
Power Surge: Now provides the Minor Expedition buff for the duration. Provides extra mobility instead of bigger heals/pet survivability.
Molten Weapons: Now provides the player (and only the player!) both Major Brutality and Major Sorcery.
Igneous Weapons: Now increases the damage of fully-charged heavy attacks by 40%. (Same as current, but also giving Major Brutality!)
Molten Armaments: Buffs all allies in range. Also provides the Minor Resolve and Minor Ward buffs for the duration to the caster. (Survivability/Group Utility over DPS, helpful for tanks perhaps! Buff your entire group and give you more armour/spell resistance.)
Drain power: Now provides both buffs to the player on cast, so long as it hits at least one opponent. Magic damage.
Power Extraction: Uses stamina. Disease damage. Does 20% more damage over unmorphed version. Snares all targets hit by 30%. (Clearly the stamina morph; the skill is good as it is IMO but needs a small damage boost to compete with other stamina AOEs, and the small snare helps.)
Sap Essence: Same as on live, except the heal only applies to the caster and one ally. Make the heal closer in value to the Dragonknight Inhale, whilst also providing buffs instead of interrupting spellcasting/returning magicka and a second much more powerful hit.
Now Templars are a special case, because they don't actually have a way to get either Major Brutality or Major Sorcery outside of weapon/guild skills, but they DO have easy access to both Major Savagery and Major Prophecy (Biting Jabs and Sunfire respectively) so I think it's fair.
