As the endgame progresses expand rather than stagnate gameplay. Put special abilities in the endgame that drop as loot. Rather than being slotted on extra buttons they can be slotted in a containment structure tied to one of the pre-existing non- basic or core ability buttons (or any not frequently used ability button selected by a player). So say when you press Q the normal ability mapped to it executes but as opposed to the button going on cooldown you enter the containment structure. Each level of the containment structure remaps 4 ability buttons (e.g. 1-4) to the corresponding special abilities at the particular level of the containment structure. You execute one ability per level to progress until you complete the last level of the containment structure. Each level has three ability slots with the last button being reserved for exiting the containment structure that you will still need to reenter and complete.
One example of this concept I’ve attempted is for Rogue. The first type of item you’ll need is the containment structure itself. Like the other types of items these should drop as loot in the endgame.
Containment Structure
Introductory
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1 level, 2 special ability slots
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1 level, 3 special ability slots
Intermediate
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2 levels, 3 special ability slots [per level]
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2 levels, 3 special ability slots, 1 common inter-level effect
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3 levels, 3 special ability slots
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3 levels, 3 special ability slots, 1 common inter-level effect
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3 levels, 3 special ability slots, 2 common inter-level effects
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3 levels, 3 special ability slots, 1 common and 1 rare inter-level effects
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3 levels, 3 special ability slots, 2 rare inter-level effects
Advanced
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4 levels, 2 rare inter-level effects
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4 levels, 3 rare inter-level effects
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4 levels, 2 rare and 1 legendary inter-level effects
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4 levels, 1 rare and 2 legendary inter-level effects
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4 levels, 3 legendary inter-level effects
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4 levels, 3 legendary inter-level effects, level 1 is of level 2 special ability slots, levels 2 and 3 are of level 3 special ability slots
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4 levels, 3 legendary inter-level effects, level 1 is of level 2 special ability slots, level 2 is of level 3 special ability slots, levels 3 and 4 are of level 4 special ability slots
Ultimate
- 5 levels, 3 legendary inter-level effects, variations of special ability slot levels with the last reserved for two level 5 special ability slots
The special abilities drop as individual items. You’ll need the necessary containment structure to use higher level special abilities.
Special Abilities
Level 1
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Only Fans - Basic marksman skills are 3 projectiles in a spread each dealing 35% of base damage for the next 4 seconds.
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Two-timer - Basic cutthroat skills apply twice on each cast for 4 seconds.
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Combo Master - Basic skills generate 3 combo points for the next 3 seconds.
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Habitual Evader - Gain two charges of Evade.
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Reposition - Gain 40% increased movement speed for 3 seconds.
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Stun Grenades - Drop a cluster.
Level 2
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Bonus Imbuement - Apply the imbuement of your choice for a single skill use.
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Agile - Use any of the agility skills. (Bonus Imbuement and Agile will be configured to one selection outside of combat.)
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Malicious Concealment - Reduce the cooldown of concealment by 4 seconds and the next time you enter it dealing damage during the first 3 seconds will not break it.
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Cluster Smoke Grenade - Smoke grenade fragments on impact with secondary explosions outside the normal radius.
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Shroud Permanence - Dark shroud protective shadows are not consumed for the next 10 seconds.
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Poison Trapper - Your next 6 poison traps have a 25% greater area.
Level 3
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Assassin’s Escape - Enter stealth that cannot be broken by received damage for 3 seconds, gain unstoppable for one second, pass through enemies, and recover 35% health.
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Charade - Spawn 4 shadows that taunt enemies, exploding after 2.5 seconds for moderate damage, and applying vulnerable for 2 seconds.
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Heavy Payload - Shoot a projectile that explodes outward in front of you dealing moderate damage and stunning enemies for 3 seconds in a large cone.
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Recovery - Standing still without attacking generates energy, up to 100 over 3 seconds, and applies 75% damage reduction. Lasts 6 seconds, maximum energy recoverable is 150.
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Eviscerate - Deal severe damage over time to an enemy.
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Zipline - Climb an adjacent wall or terrain feature, shoot a connecting arrow to another wall or terrain feature within 20 meters, and zipline across dropping cluster bombs that deal moderate damage and slow enemies by 25% for 8 seconds.
Level 4
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Vault - Evade becomes Vault, gaining an extra 200% range, unstoppable, and three charges. You deal 10%[x] more damage for 2 seconds after vaulting and drop caltrops when you vault. (Could be limited to say 20 seconds in addition to the three charges.)
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Corral - Gain 100% movement speed and lodge a series of 5 connectedly roped daggers into enemies. If a loop is closed pull the rope to cluster all enemies caught within the perimeter, stunning them for 2 seconds and making them vulnerable. Lasts a maximum of 10 seconds.
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Butcher - Gain 100% movement speed and lodge a series of 5 individually roped daggers into enemies. Activate to pull the daggers dealing substantial immediate as well as bleeding damage to every enemy in their paths. Multiple daggers can be used to impale a single enemy. The daggers are then flung back out and pulled back in a second time in between their previous connections. Lasts a maximum of 8 seconds.
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Rogue Cannon - Taunt enemies from afar, become immobilized, and begin shooting individual projectiles the direction of which has to be pointed at an extremely rapid rate. Collectively the projectiles can mow down enemies and knock back within a certain range but do not pierce. Lasts 6 seconds.
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Kinetic Momentum - Dash. Gain 40% damage on dash as well as 10% length and width. You have 3 seconds to dash again. If you kill more enemies than you did on the previous dash the bonuses are applied again. If not enter a 3-second cooldown retaining accrued bonuses. Repeats and lasts a maximum of 12 seconds.
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Hell’s Kitchen - Cover your boots in tar, gain 50% increased movement speed, 25% damage reduction, and you can move through enemies. You have three flaming arrows to ignite contiguous areas of tar. Tar slows enemies by 50%. Ignited tar deals heavy over time damage and slows enemies by a further 15%.
Level 5
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Strafe - Rapidly shoot at enemies (animation - this is from Valla of Heroes of the Storm) dealing devastating damage over time across much of the screen. Lasts 7 seconds.
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Incensed - Gain full energy, reduce energy costs by 66.6%; double attacking, general skill performance, and cooldown reduction rates; increase damage by 20%[x], and increase movement speed by 40%. Lasts 7 seconds.
Lastly there are slots for inter-level effects in most of the containment structure variations. These are bonuses that passively activate after you progress through a containment structure level. They also drop as items.
Inter-Level Effects
Common
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Extend duration of effects of following level special abilities by 10%.
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Reduce cooldowns by 2 seconds.
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Deal 5% more damage for 2 seconds.
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Gain 20 energy.
Rare
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Extend duration of effects of following level special abilities by 20% or at minimum 1 second.
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Reduce cooldowns by 5 seconds.
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Reduce ultimate ability cooldown by 10 seconds.
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Deal 10% more damage for 4 seconds.
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Gain 50 energy.
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Increase elemental damage by 20% for 4 seconds.
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Extend ranges of effect by 20% for 4 seconds.
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Increase damage reduction by 20% for 4 seconds.
Legendary
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Extend duration of effects of following level special abilities by 30% or at minimum 1.5 seconds.
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Reduce cooldowns by 10 seconds.
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Reduce ultimate ability cooldown by 25 seconds.
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Deal 15% more damage for 5 seconds.
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Gain 100 energy.
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Increase elemental damage by 30% for 5 seconds.
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Extend ranges of effect by 30% for 5 seconds.
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Increase damage reduction by 30% for 5 seconds.
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The chosen ability of the following level gains a second charge.
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The following level requires two abilities to be used.
Keep in mind this is a first draft to demonstrate the concept. If it doesn’t make enough sense it can be improved.
With Path of Exile 2 coming out next year with 240 active abilities (not to mention the 1500 passives) I don’t think Blizzard have any excuse to keep doing nothing new within this genre. After expectedly selling well just on name alone this game has been a flop, and the competition will soon surpass it in gameplay with modernized graphics. All the goodwill toward this company has been spent - the name is tarnished and gamers have come to expect very little with no hesitation to move on in droves. Blizzard needs to start innovating rather than just adding incrementally.