The updated version of this petition is posted! Check it out here: https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/185226554/0/0
Sunsingers were intended to be the warlock support class, but due to players putting the focus on a few designs that are counter to this intent, Sunsingers are viewed either as being OP (Melee Tanks in PvP) or as crutches (Self-Res in Raids/Nightfalls). As such, I propose the following changes be made to the sunsinger to help expand their function as a support class. Please note that this is not a post about nerfing Sunsingers, but buffing them.
1) Remove and replace the Radiant Skin perk.
Of all the selectable perks for Radiance, this one is arguable the most useless. As career sunsingers can vouch, this perk is simply not worth taking at all. The damage reduction is not that significant over the innate effect of radiance (55% vs 50%) and it doesn’t really help the sunsinger or the party any more than Song of Flame or Fireborn does already. After discussing this at length with a good friend, we reached an agreement that the effect should be changed so that enemies damaged by your abilities while Radiance is active take increased damage from all sources for a few seconds. I feel that +20% damage for 5 seconds is a very fair Boost and would synergize well with perks like viking funeral and touch of flame as the DoT triggers after the initial damage. It would be a good idea to change the name from Radiant Skin to Marked by Flame.
2) Remove and replace the Fireborn Perk.
The Fireborn perk is go-to perk for Sunsingers exclusively because it allows you to revive yourself after die. Players currently use this to avoid a wipe during harder content such as Nightfalls and Raids, which is nice but often underwhelming. Preventing the wipe is quite the feat, but normally the situation you are resurrecting into is enough to kill you again shortly after you revive yourself. As a consequence, I feel that this perk diverts the subclass’s role away from Support and helps to fuel the perception that Sunsinger is a crutch class.
I am not foolish enough to believe that such a change would be viewed positively by the community, so rather than completely remove this effect from the game, I believe that the Fireborn ability should be innate to Radiance. This will help clear the way for a new perk that fits better in the design of Sunsingers as a Support class.
As for ideas for what this perk could be replaced with, while some of the career Sunsingers I spoke to favor a perk that would effectively allow you to revive others when you self-revive yourself with Radiance, I did not feel that it made for a good third perk and instead made for a better fix to another perk, which will be addressed later in this proposal. Instead, I feel that this perk should cater more toward the aggressive PvP Sunsingers: Enemies felled by your flames increases the duration of Radiance by 2 seconds. This effectively grants you 1 extra grenade CD per kill and would synergize very well with Viking Funeral and Touch of Flame, allowing for very aggressive and potent damage for the duration of Radiance.
3) Improve Radiant Will.
Radiant Will gives 3 extra seconds of Radiance, which currently serves little to no purpose. In fact, the Heart of Praxis Fire Exotic Chest armor grants a similar effect at the same duration, effectively allowing you to double-dip with this perk and it is still underwhelming as 6 seconds of extra Radiance effectively gives you about 2-to-3 extra grenades to throw out. However, like Sunburst, there is no reason to take this over Viking Funeral. Using some other existing perks in the game, I feel the solution to this would be simple: make it so downed allies who are affected by Song of Flame can be revived. This would expand Song of Flame to allow long-range revives and has the potential to be easily on par with the other Tier 1 Perks. The revive speed would be the same as you already have, which would drastically expand the potential of exotics like Light Beyond Nemesis and Crest of Alpha Lupi which increases the speed at which you revive others and are revived yourself. This would naturally be limited by revive timers such as the ones imposed by dying during raids and nightfalls. However, since this perk currently resides in the 1st slot of the Tier 1 Perk list, it would need to be moved to the 2nd slot, as Song of Flame isn't available until later. This would make Viking Funeral the 1st unlockable Tier 1 perk.
4) Expand the effect of the Sunburst perk to include grenades.
Right now, Sunburst gives you a chance to generate a single orb of light when you kill an enemy with Scorch, which is only usable about once every 30 seconds with maximum Strength. This effect is completely underwhelming and not worth using over a perk like Viking Funeral which makes anyone you set on fire burn for more damage per second and increases the burn duration. By expanding this perk to include grenades, the orb generating potential of Sunsingers will be greatly increased. It won’t put sunsingers on par with the orb generating abilities of a Nightstalker, but it will elevate them to be on par with Defender who has the 2nd highest potential for orb generating thanks to a tier 1 (Gift of the Void) and a tier 2 perk (Iron Harvest). This would also serve to synergize with Gift of the Sun, which gives Sunsingers an extra grenade, or the Upcoming release of Year 2 Sunbreakers which improve solar grenades and give players a second one.
5) Improve Angel of Light
There was a time where I thought this was the most useless perk in the game for both PvE and PvP. However, while I was playing in the crucible one fateful day, I encountered something that was deviously intelligent. A player was using this perk in conjunction with the Patience and Time sniper rifle... and absolutely wrecking everyone with it. While I still feel that this perk is very underwhelming, I also respect that people will be very creative if given the opportunity. With the arrival of the Empyrean Bellicose exotic Titan helm that possesses this same ability, I realized that there is still hope for this perk if it was capable of doing more.
With that in mind, I propose two changes for this perk. First, while held aloft, weapon damage should be increased by 15%. Second, kills while held aloft should automatically generate 1 orb. These two changes are intended to offset the massive problem with this perk: The fact that you are exposed and vulnerable. Normally, with Risk-Reward designs, the risk is offset by an element that makes it lethal in the hands of a master. These two improvements will not completely offset the risk that comes with just hanging out in the air, but it will reward those players who master it in both PvE and PvP.
Please sign if you agree. You can also suggest ideas of your own and I may add them to this list.
Edit: Holy crap, we're trending! Thank you everyone! I know the feelings this thread has brought forth are pretty mixed, but I am happy that we're even having a discussion at all. To those people who share my goal to see Sunsinger rise to be a strong support class and those of you who only see me as a "Huntard calling for nerfs", thank you for all the replies and to help make this thread trend!
Edit 2: 60 replies? Jeez. Thanks everyone!
Edit 3: Holy bacon on a sandwich! 200+ replies!? I am beyond words. Thank you all for being part of the conversation!
Edit 4: This thread got vastly more attention than I ever thought it would. I cannot thank everyone enough for being a part of it. It doesn't matter to me if you liked my ideas or hated it, you all contributed your views and feelings and made me realized that what I posted was but a rough draft of some amazing ideas that everyone helped give shape. Even my dissenters, many of which resorted to name juvenile tactics in an effort to avoid the conversation, provided valuable information in their own way. I will continue to refine these ideas with the information and ideas you have all shared with me and hope to have a new version of this thread posted in the next few weeks. Thank you again, everyone!
-
Stopped reading at enemies should take a 20% damage increase while radiance is active.