Efficiency is not always the most important factor. DPC (per cast) in an infinite resource environment or when there's a small window of opportunity is far more important than DPR (per resource).
As for feel, I haven't been able to get to it yet, but that may need tweaking; just like Bola Shot was tweaked for destructibles.
Wave of Light is (partially) a ranged AoE skill, unlike Lashing Tail Kick. There aren't many other ranged attacks for the Monk, and none of them are as powerful as Wave of Light.
Also, don't forget about Transcendence. Wave of Light spends spirit faster than any other skill, therefore healing you much faster with it.
I'll definatly give it a shot, wave of light is the monk's kamahameha. There needs to be a lot of focus on making the generators powerful enough on there own while you generate 100 spirit. If the unruned skill is good enough then empowered wave will bring the cost down to a reasonable 60spirirt.
Spinning Flame Kick (Lashing Tail Kick rune) is ranged... it does 240%dmg and it only costs 30 Spirit. Even with runes WoL is worse. So I dont see the point. If you rune WoL it will still only do its 150% at range... you can only increase the first part that is a melee range AoE.
So I guess you can cast 2-3 LTKs in the time you need to finish one WoL Oo
I wasn't aware of how Spinning Flame Kick worked, but now that I've seen it, it definitely seems better for doing ranged damage to a single target. However, WoL wave seems much wider than the tornado of Spinning Flame Kick, making it better in situations where a lot of enemies are spread out along the target line... and even more so if you also have targets in melee range when casting WoL.
Trying the skills in-game, it seems that WoL indeed has a bit slower cast time than Lashing Tail Kick, but it's nowhere near three times as much as the cast time of LTK, maybe 50-100% higher or so. So it in fact does spend spirit faster than LTK, making it heal you more with Transcendence over long periods of time, because you'd be spending more time generating spirit in comparison to spending spirit. It's just another pro for the skill in certain situations, not something to always go for.
Now I'm wondering why doesn't Blizzard include cast times in skill tooltips... It'd seem like somewhat vital information. >.>
I'm not saying the skill is perfectly balanced, but no one had yet mentioned these points that make it less bad than what was assumed earlier in the thread. I also don't like the effect of the skill at all, so I wouldn't care if it was horribly underbalanced unless they fix the graphics.
The larger issue I think is that spinning flame kick isn't balanced, not that wol is underwhelming. Ltk base is quite awful with the knockback and one of the highest damage for spirit spenders. With no unpredictable knockback, range, and more damage for the same cost, it's ridiculous.
I don't like WOL at all and i never insert it in any of my builds. This could change when D3 goes live but as far as theory goes, it is really bad. I would rather use CS, followed by LTK. This combo seems way better than any WOL.
Overall its just that LTK with Transcendence heals you more steady vs a spikey heal from WoL. Because its from a "per Spirit spend" basis both heal the same amount in the long run... just in diffrent ways.
If I spend let's say 5 seconds generating 100 spirit (might not be a realistic example but it doesn't matter), and then I spend the spirit in 0.6 seconds with one WoL (another estimate for attack speed), I get healed for 100 spirit worth of life in 5.6 seconds with Transcendence. If I spend the 100 spirit in 1.0 seconds with three and one third of LTKs, I get healed for 100 spirit worth of life in 6 seconds, which is slower than 5.6 seconds. It's not a big difference, but a difference nonetheless.
I agree that WoL is pretty bad. I'm merely pointing out things that make it slightly better than what's assumed.
I see that later on you can acquire a ruin to reduce the spirit cost of the spell, although I don't know by how much.
Wave of light does seem to be quite the heavy hitter, but wouldn't it be more efficient to use like 4 lashing tail kicks instead?
It is obviously hard to judge from only the beta , which excludes high level play and higher level difficulties, but what do you guys think?
D3 Channel: OnetwoD3
As for feel, I haven't been able to get to it yet, but that may need tweaking; just like Bola Shot was tweaked for destructibles.
Also, don't forget about Transcendence. Wave of Light spends spirit faster than any other skill, therefore healing you much faster with it.
I wasn't aware of how Spinning Flame Kick worked, but now that I've seen it, it definitely seems better for doing ranged damage to a single target. However, WoL wave seems much wider than the tornado of Spinning Flame Kick, making it better in situations where a lot of enemies are spread out along the target line... and even more so if you also have targets in melee range when casting WoL.
Trying the skills in-game, it seems that WoL indeed has a bit slower cast time than Lashing Tail Kick, but it's nowhere near three times as much as the cast time of LTK, maybe 50-100% higher or so. So it in fact does spend spirit faster than LTK, making it heal you more with Transcendence over long periods of time, because you'd be spending more time generating spirit in comparison to spending spirit. It's just another pro for the skill in certain situations, not something to always go for.
Now I'm wondering why doesn't Blizzard include cast times in skill tooltips... It'd seem like somewhat vital information. >.>
I'm not saying the skill is perfectly balanced, but no one had yet mentioned these points that make it less bad than what was assumed earlier in the thread. I also don't like the effect of the skill at all, so I wouldn't care if it was horribly underbalanced unless they fix the graphics.
This is Vulture Claw Kick:
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-o-
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This is Spinning Flame Kick:
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This is Wave of Light:
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Which area can contain the most enemies within it?
They all have their uses, depending on the situation. It's just a matter of which of those situations occur most often.
If I spend let's say 5 seconds generating 100 spirit (might not be a realistic example but it doesn't matter), and then I spend the spirit in 0.6 seconds with one WoL (another estimate for attack speed), I get healed for 100 spirit worth of life in 5.6 seconds with Transcendence. If I spend the 100 spirit in 1.0 seconds with three and one third of LTKs, I get healed for 100 spirit worth of life in 6 seconds, which is slower than 5.6 seconds. It's not a big difference, but a difference nonetheless.
I agree that WoL is pretty bad. I'm merely pointing out things that make it slightly better than what's assumed.