Jul 1
Rework Gleam: Replace Energy Cost with a Charge System
Right now Gleam just costs a flat 40 energy, which feels off for a mage in the first place — mana would fit the class better long-term, but that's a separate conversation. The bigger issue is how disconnected Gleam feels from the rest of the kit.
Proposed change: Charges instead of energy cost
Gleam no longer costs energy directly. Instead, it costs 1 Charge per cast.
You can hold a maximum of 5 Charges at once.
Charges decay over time — 1 charge falls off every 20s if unused.
How to gain Charges:
Fireball: every 3rd cast grants 1 Charge.
Ignite (DOT): each tick has a 10% chance to grant 1 Charge.
Firestorm (DOT): since it's AOE and can hit multiple targets, each tick has a 2% chance to grant 1 Charge (lower rate to balance out multi-target ticking).
Super Charge payoff:
Reaching 5 Charges grants a stack of Super Charge.
Casting Gleam while Super Charged consumes all Charges and deals 10x Gleam's base damage in one hit.
Why this is better:
This turns Gleam from a generic energy dump into a payoff spell that rewards weaving fire spells together — Fireball for reliable charge generation, Ignite/Firestorm for bursty bonus charges — and gives the spec a satisfying burst window with Super Charge instead of just spamming Gleam whenever energy allows.
Disclaimer: This suggestion was created using AI to better word my original suggestion.
Pending