Breakfast Topic: Designing your own spell
This Breakfast Topic has been brought to you by Seed, the AOL guest writer program that brings your words to WoW Insider's pages.
When Patch 4.1 was on the PTR, Blizzard announced that shaman would be getting a shiny new toy, which turned out to be the new Spirit Link Totem. However, there was an interim between when the spell was announced and when we were finally given details on what it was and how it would work. During that period, even here at WoW Insider, the speculation ran wild. Some thought it would be a Stone Barrier you could place on the tank to mitigate physical damage. No, it would be a raid-wide, water-based spell that would decrease magic damage for 10 seconds. No, it was a talented buff to the Earth Elemental. No, it would be something entirely different.
I'm no stranger to creative thinking. I like to write. I like to dream of lands and worlds that don't exist. I like to come up with crazy ideas for that novel I'll probably never put to paper. So along the way, I've come up with a few ideas for spells I'd like to see implemented in the game.
The one currently at the forefront of my mind is a new AOE spell for affliction warlocks: Soulburn: Seed of Corruption's effects would become a baseline function of the spell, but Seed of Corruption would receive a 10-second cooldown. The talent would be replaced by a new ability, Unbound Corruption, that would allow Drain Life to automatically target every enemy within 20 yards that is currently affected by Corruption. It would be an AOE drain, sucking the life from everyone around you.
It's a suitably "warlocky" spell that would be fairly unique, have a cool visual effect and create an AoE rotation that is more engaging than simply spamming Seed. Unfortunately, I'm not a developer, and I have no say in these things. It's fun to dream, though. Am I right?
What would you do if you could design your own spell? What kind of crazy mechanic would you dream up to fit the theme of your class?
