*Update 1/19/2023*
I have another topic covering things that feel obsolete and Summon Golem is one of them. I think it urgently needs some revamping . I don't know about the devs, but I believe that all talents should be balanced and not that one is superior to another. I believe balancing talents is essential in games and makes them more fun and interesting. That said, here is my suggestion to make Golem not obsolete.
First of all, making the Golem usable with WASD controls would make it so much better. I have been playing this game long enough to say that 100% of the people I play with NEVER use Golems and it should be obvious that no one would want to sacrifice the many skills they have and the ability to use hotkeys to use a golem that is slow and useless and moves around by just clicking alone.
Second, the Golem could have its own set of Hotkeys with the Same skills as the original Alchemy skills, but enhanced (Because its coming out of a golem who doesnt need cylinders if they're built in to his hands/arms/mouth). To keep things balanced, this golem could be exclusive to the Elemental Wave Golem.
Thirdly, here are some ideas for what types of skills would be fantastic on a revamped golem.
Flame Burst
-FB Could cover a much longer distance or greater radius, but it should be superior to normal Flame Bursts coming from Cylinders.
Water Cannon
-Water Cannon can become more of a Water Beam cannon which reaches longer distances and maybe knocks back everything in its path.
-Alternatively, how about adding charges to the golem's cylinder (Like 30) and then allowing them to be fired rapidly like an automatic machine gun
Heat Buster
-The Heat busting can be used to Rocket-Boost the Golem towards an enemy for a fast charging strike hit, and to cause extra damage somehow
-Maybe have a much longer targetting range
Shock
-How about allowing the Golem to be Shocked?
-Another option can be controlling the flow of shock so that its one constant stream of electricity hitting nearby targets non stop, causing similar damage to the original shock, except condensing its power and duration into a smaller but more powerful burst.
Hydra
-Maybe instead of Hydras coming out from the ground, Hydras can come out of the Golems Mouth or Arms and directed at targets manually for enhanced damage or a powerful poison-like effect.
Rain Cast + Hydra
-How about if the Golem held one hand up with a Hydra-like poison gas coming out, and another hand up forming a Rain cloud, both combined to form a cloud of Toxic Rain (Combination of Hydra+Rain Cast).
Sand Burst+Wind Burst
-Golems Hands Spin around while launching a Sand Blast with one hand and Wind Burst with the other, Causing a Tornado-like Sand blast that spreads outwards (Like Sakura Abyss) and blinds surrounding enemies rather than just one.
Frozen Blast
-How about the Golem maintains an AoE of Cold Gusts (Maybe Frozen Blast+Wind Burst). The golem is in a casting state making it immobile while the Ice gusts slow down all enemies and slowly deal damage. After x number of Seconds, the enemies freeze the same way Frozen Blast does.
How about making 2 Obsolete things not obsolete in one go by combining Tower Cylinders with Golems?
-This could be done by adding new Tower Cylinders to the game, each adding certain damage or skills to Golems, then they would need to be equipped on the Golem
This would be extremely awesome in my opinion, having a Golem with a customized Tower Cylinder which can be
-Attached to its back to be used like Jet Pack for charging or something?
-Attached to its arm to use Alchemy?
-Attached to its back , to be used as an ultimate ability like a burst cannon?
Of course it would be nice if the Golem had its own Special Skills, like using those Claws that are currently useless or maybe acting as a static shield wall to provide cover.
Since Barrier Spikes are also pretty obsolete and useless in this time and age as well, let's come up with some ideas
What if the golem was able to erect a whole small ring of spikes, locking an enemy within that ring, and then the Golem can proceed with some sort of ability, this would mean the enemies locked in the ring cant escape, so this can be useful for an explosion or something.
Comments
====================
As for your other unique ideas, it sounds like maybe you don't enjoy alchemy much. Its role in the classes is to be a burst, magic damage dealing, utility skill set. With the new cylinders that came out and the erg system we can load crystals faster now, which helped the slowness.
Water canon shooting a beam that knocks back enemies in its path sounds really cool. I enjoy that idea.
====================
One thing you made me think of though, was having better animations that make alchemy feel less clunky. Ninja, chain blade and gunner all have very elaborate animations (even melee does).
Would this version of Flame Burst require both a Cylinder and a Guard Cylinder? They could add an animation that has you using both arms. Like, you use the default version of Flame Burst when you only have a Cylinder or Guard Cylinder equipped, not both, and this version when you have both equipped.
I was thinking the Water Beam Cannon (ignoring my inner Special Beam Cannon monologue) could be used as an enhanced version of Water Cannon when we use Elemental Wave. As we Rank Elemental Wave, the damage, radius, and distance of Water Beam Cannon will be increased. Given my thoughts are firing a very high pressured blast of water, this skill would move us back a la Heat Buster.
No thoughts on this aside from the image of Rocket Golems.
As Amaraz pointed out, Golems can be shocked. I don't have much feedback on this version of Shock.
While I'm happy with the current version of Hydra Transmutation, this sounds interesting. With the Golem version it sounds like it could fire in a single direction a la Flame Burst, except it's a wider cone with a radius of 45 degrees in front of the Golem, and a distance of 900.
This one can be Acid Rain. With the combination effects of both Hydra Transmutation and Rain Casting, it would do damage over time and lower defensive the defensive stats of enemies under the cloud; Defense, Protection, M. Defense, and M. Protection (Have you seen what Acid Rain does in real life? No joke!). To make it viable, I think having it as the Elemental Wave Version of Rain Casting might make it less spammy.
Sandstorm Golem!
The first suggestion sounds like having Mana Crystallization revamped.
With the second suggestion, I would like to suggest we have the animation for Frozen Blast, or at the very least, the graphic effects revamped to mimic a mini snowstorm or blizzard. Excuse my griping, it looks bootlegged compared to the Elemental Wave Version. On this subject, I was thinking if Frozen Blast failed to freeze an enemy, it would still affect them by inflicting Frostbite (an idea from the Languhiris Chaser), and slowing them down for a time (Like Icebolt).
I think the Golem having the Tower Cylinder attached to its arm to use Alchemy sounds pretty useful. My thoughts on this is having the Golem with the ability to utilize its own Alchemy Skills. Not all skills, just like Water Cannon, Sandburst, or Flame Burst. The skills damage will increase with your rank of Summon Golem, Alchemy Mastery, and the Elemental Alchemy Masteries (Fire/Earth/Wind/Water).
Overall, I think you have the beginnings of some interesting ideas here. Thank you for sharing them!
The Idea is to make golems capable of using Alchemy skills as well as using WASD and Hotkeys and to make their version of Alchemy Skills more enhanced. I can only imagine some cool things like Jetpack/Rocket style Flame Burst, Water Beam Cannon, Acid Rain, These are probably the best ideas worth having.
Now that I can rethink things how about an AoE Sandstorm for for Golems Sandburst, that lasts a few seconds blinding everything for a short while (a few seconds with a chance to leave ones blinded the same way original sandburst would)
How about Golem can use a trident and by combining Shock and Rain he creates a Lightning Storm (to be more unique than Elemental Wave Shock, how about chance to do fire/burning damage on enemies)
How about Frozen Blast turns into a beam that (Ice) burns enemies.
Also maybe equipping the Golem with a Tower Cylinder could allow him to use Machine Gun type versions of original Alchemy skills.
For eg. for water cannon maybe being able to direct the (Water Cannon) Machine-Gun-Fired "Bullets" so that it could attack and pushback multiple enemies in the path of the firing.
Maybe if it has a Tower Cylinder equipped it allows more Long Range attacks, like without modifying flame burst, heat buster can be shot at a distance rather than having to close in on enemies to use it.
A Golem with a Tower Cylinder maybe can also shoot Shock bullets from far. For something balanced perhaps have Golems Tower Cylinder Shock limited to single target, but instead of doing low damage, do high damage while shocking them. If the enemy dies before the shock ends, it can be redirected to a new single target. Or maybe just fire a trident that can cause high damage shock (to make things balanced) have it do high damage with less duration, but able to be fired from afar. I hope this post remains relevant.
I still think Tower Cylinders need to be given a chance to play a bigger role in Alchemical skills and general battles. Thank you for your consderations and feedback!
Had some golem related ideas here (11th post from the top).