A detailed listing of my thoughts on the passive tree(Updated: may 13th, revision 2)

Like my other post, I'll be keeping this current as more and more changes are implemented.  With the 4-26 update it brought with it a few changes to the passive tree and some of the changes made were enough to cut the final thread holding back my OCD from going Spanish Inquisition on it's ass (didn't expect that, did you?). With that out of the way, lets jump right on in! (again)

Currently in the middle of revision. I'll finish it soon(tm)

General:
1:Tool tips are still missing numbers.  
1:As an ease of use, position of skills should follow a format: Offensive, Defensive, Support, Utility.
2:Anything marked with three dashes(---) are new to the current revision. Listings preceded by a number coincide with the revision number that it was added since they are general opinions.
2:A rule of thumb; the power gained from moving up in skill tree should be equivalent to the amount of effort it took to acquire said bonus. What this means is the bonuses from lvls 1-5 should be token power ups that offer something useful, but nothing game changing (as the ones that should be kept are) lvl 7,9 and 11 should offer up real bonuses that are helpful and 13 and 15 should offer up bonuses that say "oh shit, I just hit lvl* this actually means something"



Level 15: These are currently the final unlock out of all the skills/passives.  Because of that, they should offer a boost that compares to the achievement.  Taking a look, lets see what we have.
---Indestructible: Defense, much better, but considering it only applies to base HP rather then total hp it's left terribly underpowered. Also, it doesn't even apply to my 90 bonus hp. Increase this bonus to 30%, make it apply to bonus hp (even if it applied to itself it'd still be fine. That'd make it an increase of 1/3rd then) then switch it with Relentless
---Brutality: Offense, massive improvement compared to what it used to be... but the 10% rate leaves this skill being as much of a disappointment as the previous skill. Also, it doesn't receive bonus damage. Suggested changes would be 3x damage at 50% rate, or still 2x damage but with it receiving bonus damage. 3x would be best since it would benefit casters and dpsers equally.
---Enslaver: Offense, The only time I would choose to use thisis to combo it with juggernaut when fighting Silvan.  As a recommendation, change the buff to last for 5-10 seconds, stack to 50, and refresh with additional stacks.  Also, it should switch positions with heroic might.
---Ascension: Offense, really just needs to go. At a rate of 5% increase the total bonus from this skill is outclassed by the total amount of bonus that can be received at lvl 3. 10% spell damage and 17% weapon damage
1:Needless to say, when I first reached level 15 I was very disappoint.
2:Still disappointed with the power output of these skills. There is no feeling of "holy crap I made lvl 15" from any of these, with the lone exception of Enslaver while fighting Silvan.

Level 13:
---Bandit:Utility, rather pointless considering when in the game you're able to obtain it. I haven't been able to test it, but if others can pick up the bonus cash it could be both a good thing and a bad thing depending on if you actually want the money.
---Relentless: Utility, not as good in concept as I once thought due to the nature of the game. I recommend changing it to an auto revive after a period of 3x the time it takes you to revive others then switching it with Indestructible.
--Slayer: Offense, Not really useful when you can 1shot practically all minions anyway.  Change to a supportive skill, something that boosts outgoing healing would work well here.
--Heroic Might: Defense, Switch places with Enslaver and give it along the lines of a 25% boost to total damage reduction.

Level 11:
--Marksmen: Offense, increase to 2 range
--Resurrection: Support, Spelling error in spell name, increase to 2 seconds
--Light of Auir: Utility, switch locations with Scythe
--Deception: Utility, Only possible use is if it would work on irradiate, which it appears not to.  This should be changed to a defensive skill.

Level 09: Now we've gotten into passives that take some effort to acquire.  Ergo, they should begin offering up some real value.
--Bio Regenerative: Support, the time between heals should be about 4 seconds, and should heal somewhere around 20% max hp with a range of ~6.  It should also switch positions with cooldown reduction.
--Stealth Combat: Utility, pointless.  Replace with an offensive option.
--Reactors: Defensive, only good if you have armor scale into a % damage reduction.  In general, it would be much better to have the buff proc at ~95% rate, but only last 3 seconds.  Without armor scaling, it would be useful if it gave 2 armor and stacked 50 times, with the buff refreshing on newly acquired stacks.
--Shockwave: Utility, Let it effect bosses.  Two options would be to A: have the stun chance on bosses be around 5-10% or, B: Change the stun to 50% chance, the stun lasts 1 second, and the target is then immune to stuns for the next 5-10 seconds.

Level 07:About half way through the levels, but still only takes a boss or 2 with full build to get here (depending on boss and time spent in battle).  As you can see though, most of these skills offer Utility.
--Concussion: Utility, absolutely pointless.  Replace with a defensive skill.  I recommend moving Reactors to this location.
--Scythe: Utility, increase the healing to 20%.  Even with Light of Auir the bonus is then only 26% of damage dealt which is perfectly reasonable, especially with it only applying to weapons.  Also, this skill should switch places with Light of Auir due to the nature of the bonuses and what they provide.
--Juggernaut: Offense, Acceptable. I'm not sure what the max stack number is, but something like 5 would fit for this level. 10 if the duration doesn't refresh on additional kills. (it should refresh the duration)
--Bloodlust: Utility, This is an ability that is far too situational to remain and I only ever used it on Silvan.  It should be replaced with a supportive skill.

Level 05: Still in the low end of skills, so still not much to expect from this level.  
--Survivalist: Defense, Acceptable
--Revenge: Pointless, replace with a skill that offers support value.  
--Experience: Utility, Acceptable
--Reaper: Offense, Acceptable

Level 03: It takes about 10 seconds of boss fighting with full gear to get to this level.  
--Specialization: Offense, Acceptable
--Shields: Defense, Acceptable
--Medical Supplies: Utility, Acceptable
--Reduced Cooldowns: Support, Acceptable with diminishing returns how they are(offers a value of 8% on it's own, reduced to 4% at 80% cdr)

Level 01:With these being the lvl 1 passives, there's really not much to expect from them strength-wise.
--Regen: Utility, Dodge or die game makes regen all but pointless.  I'd recommend changing this to a %hp increase
--Armor Enhancement: Defense, relatively pointless for as long as armor offers a flat reduction.
--Swiftness: Support, a .25 speed boost, while acceptable for this level, is fairly pointless.  I believe doubling it would be enough of a boost to make it viable, without making it a clear choice to always pick for this level.
--Wrath: Offense, Acceptable, but it's the strongest and currently the only legitimate choice because building damage is fundamentally better.

I have some ideas that could replace some of the passives.
Prodigy: replaces glass cannon. increases spell damage and spell cooldown. also grants an additional point at the cost of some damage. required 1 free point to deselect.
Emergency Shields: replaces deception, when you get struck by a blow that would have normally killed you, take no damage and instead gain 100 shields for 12 seconds.
Slayer rework: enemys explode for 5 damage on death. 
Deception rework: any attacker(excluding bosses) have a chance to temporarly fall under your command.
Precise striking: replaces stealth combat. increases damage and range at the cost of attack speed.
Data linking: Replaces Bloodlust. Linking knowledge to each other allows 25% of the XP gained by someone to be also shared with every one else.
Chronous mind: replaces revenge. speeds you up by 1.05X the normal speed.

Now there's an idea... Didn't even cross my mind to have a passive that provides bonus stats... I have a few modifications to make to my main post now.

Okay I printed off this article and will be reviewing it. Once I get home I can start working on it thanks!

Also, some of the skills have been changed more than level 13 and level 15 skills.  You should check them out too.

comfromal wrote:Also, some of the skills have been changed more than level 13 and level 15 skills.  You should check them out too.

I know. I haven't been able to go back in to finish my updates yet.

as a side note, bloodlust works with kills, while slayer only works with weapons. therefore, bloodlust is bested used on heroes with good AoE.