So, this is my broad stroke take on a Scrapper rework. I know that it is high on the list for a rework in KR according to a few sources, and for the NA/EU launch it’s popularity is at the bottom. This is all based on my opinions toying with the classes on the KR/RU servers prelaunch and taking Scrapper to mid T2 until I switched to something else (GS) while I wait on LM. But I wanted Scrapper to be better than it played. If I’m wrong about it being better in T3, the experience to that point hasn’t given me a hint toward that.
Why does Scrapper need a rework IMO?
- Inevitable: It’s already supposedly coming to KR anyway
- Popularity: Scrapper ranked among the lowest in popularity for both EU and NA on launch. Now those metrics only really can show what is being created, not mained, but it can still account for something
- Underwhelming to play: Visually, there are only a few skills that even look like they are in the same game as the other classes. They have a bunch of skills that could be confused for another classes’ auto-attack. Death Sentence, their big damage shock dump skill, is so tiny and far less impressive than your teammates regular skills. The few skills they have that do look good that aren’t the big punch lock you in place and the big damage is delayed while bosses walk away or trash isn’t knocked away by your allies, then you have a long CD to wait on. Yes mechanically they may be fine but Lost Ark is this beautiful game so why can’t my attacks look good and impressive.
- DPS: Now, Scrapper not being top tier DPS is not a problem on it’s own. It sacrifices DPS for being better at stagger damage and destruction. This is fine for boss fights. This issue when it comes to clearing trash. Few abilities cover an area outside of the tiny space right in front of you, meaning your low damage is hitting fewer targets, so you just aren’t effective outside of a few skills. It means that you are then limited to those few skills and when they are on CD you are stuck, and you can’t be more creative with builds.
- Identity: This is going to be the main goal of this rework pitch. They have an identity that is supposed to replace mana use, but that doesn’t mean anything compared to most other classes who don’t have mana issues. And if they do, just potion or food. So their identity defines the costs of their skills, but what else does it do? Other classes get either an occasional buff, or access to additional skills at some point. Scrapper gets… nope, just that different resource to spend for their regular skills. That is incredibly lame. Wardancer/Striker get something close with their esoteric, and I’m not going to say it’s that much better, but at least some of those esoteric skills feel like mini specials (they probably should have better options). Scrapper just gets regular attacks.
So what would I like to see instead:
- Design Mantra: Scrapper has Yellow skills and Green skills, and the game wants to incentive you using them back and forth. So lets design actual incentives rather than restrictions in resource. Incentivize alternating between categories of skills
- Skill Count: Do we introduce a swap mechanic between Yellow and Green to increase the number of skills a build has access to? Lets not. I want to carve it’s own path rather than pushing it to be another weapon swapper. So lets work with the 8 skills we have that will need to be a mix of yellow and green, but lets also make use of the fact that we have identity skill buttons that are currently going unused…
- Reworking Individual Skills: I think a lot can and should be changed drastically. I think the only skill that even should be kept is the big punch (roundhouse sweep) except even then the giant fist should be default with more options to tweek what it does. But I won’t go into any individual skill changes, but a lot of drastic work is needed here as well.
- Mana or no mana: I don’t know if it even matters at this point, but since we want to incentivize rather than restrict, either reintroduce a mana bar or not, it is not really important to what the class should be. We want to reward, not restrict.
- Damage: lets maintain the destruction and stagger specialist aspect and make the skills and gameplay more exciting. Probably needs a minor damage buff but I think instead the skills should just cover larger areas for trash clearing. But that goes into modifying skills and balancing, which is not the purpose of this pitch. This is for the general feel of playing the class.
Now for the pitch:
New Scrapper - Punch Weaving Combo Specialist
Overview: Scrapper will still have yellow skills and green skills, and both skill types will have skills of varying strength and uses, rather than the strongest skills all being green. The skills themselves will now be stronger if the skill used before it within a period of time was a skill of the alternate color. This would be the meat of your “combo” The first skill used will not have a bonus effect, but the following skills will as long as it follows a yellow->green->yellow->green pattern or a green->yellow->green->yellow pattern. Finally your identity skill will be a combo finisher. Access to it will be granted as you perform combos, and depending on what color precedes it’s use will determine what that finisher is. Both engravings will still incentivize combos, but in different ways.
Identity Mechanic: Weaving Punches: Each scrapper skill will be either a green or yellow skill. Naming them Stamina and Shock may need to be changed to a different name. Now each skill will have a Weaving Bonus effect. When you use a skill, you get a temporary Weaving buff for a few seconds of the type of the skill used (Y or G). That Weaving buff has no inherent bonus, it is just generated to be consumed by other skills. Then you activate a skill of opposite color next, it consumes that Weaving buff for that Weaving Bonus effect, and then applies another temporary Weaving buff for this new skill color, allowing the next skill to consume it if it is the alternate color. Using a skill of the same color in succession, will only refresh the Weaving buff, but will not consume it for the Weaving Bonus. So a string would look like: Y Skill (no bonus) → G skill (bonus) → Y skill (bonus) OR
G Skill (no bonus) → Y skill (bonus) → G skill (bonus) OR
Y Skill (no bonus) → G skill (bonus) → G skill (no bonus)
Weaving Bonuses, in addition to the bonus effect, will also increase your identity meter.
Identity Skill: Combo Finisher: Once you have built up your identity meter, you can activate a combo finisher. You can only activate a combo finisher if you have an active Weaving buff. You have two distinct Combo Finisher abilities. The ability you activate is based off of which Weaving buff color you consume to activate it. Finisher’s will not generate a weaving bonus themselves, ending that combo. I think also the Scrapper should have maybe two or three finisher skills of each color that they can slot into their identity skill slots, so they can customize what combo finisher they want for each of the two colors. Yes this means that they technically have 10 skills, but in a way that is different from Gunslinger or Shadowhunter for example. These could be skills with the ability to level them or with that, like the shadowhunter demonic form skills, but that is a balancing part outside of this pitch. But they should be impressive, useful, and satisfying to use.
Engraving Idea 1: Boosted Weaving: For this first engraving, it should just build on the mechanics as they are presented. So this weaving will provide a stackable boosted weaving buff each time you consume a weaving buff for a weaving bonus effect during a combo. Lets say it stacks up to 3. It ends when you use a combo finisher or when you use a skill matching the type that preceded it or if you wait too long. This bonus could be a static boost to your attacks while it is active, or it could have no static effect but boosts the combo finisher that you activate while it is active based on the number of stacks, or it could be both. That can be determined by balancing, but I think would make a good engraving to reward this new Scrapper’s gameplay style.
Engraving Idea 2: Jab Jab Jab Upper: Now for the engraving that flips the script. This engraving will make it that the weaving bonus of your skills is activated by consuming the weaving buff of the same color rather than alternate color. This will instead lead to strings such as:
Y Skill (no bonus) → Y skill (bonus) → Y skill (bonus)Y → CF
G Skill (no bonus) → G skill (bonus) → G skill (bonus) → CF
Y Skill (no bonus) → G skill (no bonus)
This engraving should also generate a repeating color buff or bonus effect per attack that give a bonus distinct from the 1st engraving. But now you have an engraving that incentivizes an alternate build of prioritizing one color over the other, but it doesn’t care which color you choose. So now you can have builds that are a mix of both colors, or primarily green or primarily yellow. This engraving will still function well if you want to have something like 6 yellow skills and two green, so you have options to have a long or versatile yellow string, but still have a quick two skill green combo (and finisher) to toss out.
Closing: This is my broad pitch for a Scrapper rework. I hope it meets the goal of carving out the same unique design it’s original design intended for it, and improves it while keep it unique and not pushing it’s design closer to an existing class.
