Edited as of August 7th
In general, all percent-based damage reductions should apply an "overshield" to your health bar instead, displayed as cyan bars. This opens up more options for skilled play and also makes skills that boost defense more useful. In addition, cooldowns should not be universal, instead giving the used skill a full cooldown but other skills half of their normal cooldowns (if a skill has more than half of its cooldown, and another skill is used, nothing happens to that particular skill, of course). The cooldown changes are to give Sprites more of a presence in gameplay without making them totally spammable, since the skill-specific changes I've listed are gonna make them more powerful to begin with. Harnesses should also boost your Sprite a little more than they do now; 160k crowns for 15% cooldown reduction is kinda excessive. Maybe ramp it up to 10% at Advanced and 25% at Elite. I'd also like to see some way to give our Sprites certain appearances without having to work our skills around them or being an eyesore for it. Hulk arms on my Drakon just don't fit when I didn't take Concussive Firebolt for the nose spikes and Scorching Barrier for the beard.
So let's talk Drakon. His abilities don't deal enough to surpass my own weapons and I actually deal less damage by stopping for a second to cast an ability instead of continuing my spam of put-weapon-here. His main uses so far are using Backfire Barrier for bursts of speed and Frenzied Firestorm to buff my team's attack speed (the damage boost is negligible; stuff still dies in the same amount of hits with or without it). I only ever use Firebolt when I have multiple enemies vortexed and I want to set them on fire. I think he should be the most offense-aimed sprite, but he should be able to buff your attacks too instead of just substituting them.
After some discussion with people in-game and according to my own opinions, this is what I'd like to see for Drakon:
Firebolt: Increase in damage. Guaranteed chance of Fire.
Concussive Firebolt: Guaranteed Stun, stagger, and slightly more damage.
Meteoric Implosion: Same as it is now, but also adds some damage and pulls enemies to its center.
Flame Barrier: Works with the "overshield" mechanic mentioned above. Changed to an area-of-effect move instead of being limited to orbs. Backfire Barrier's initial speed boost is now part of the base skill. If the overshield breaks, the skill ends prematurely.
Molten Armor: The fire effect is now guaranteed, and the health of the shield is increased.
Backfire Barrier: Extends the duration of the speed boost while also giving an ASI boost.
Firestorm: Now deals Strong Fire, and some initial damage when each circle is created.
Explosive Firestorm: Now has consistent explosions that stretch across the whole area of effect.
Frenzied Firestorm: Damage buff replaced by a slight boost to CTR. ASI retained.
The goal of these changes is to provide two clear themes for Drakon. The first is heavy flat damage and defense with crippling Stun and a way to force an enemy out of the group, appealing to players who want a simpler playstyle or one suited for getting in things' faces. The second appeals to players who want to amplify their own damage and approach fights more tactically, with tools to crowd up enemies and reposition yourself more quickly.
Next up, the Seraphynx. There aren't too many problems with Sera fundamentally, but there is some stuff that needs to be tweaked.
Ray of Light: Removed hit limit, but deals less damage over the course of the skill; it shouldn't be too powerful but it needs to be able to consistently interrupt enemies.
Dazzling Light Ray: Range and width increased, knocks enemies to the side a fair distance.
Disintegration Ray: No change.
Heart Attack: Highlight hearts that drop as a result of this ability... just so we know how much it actually helps, and so Seraphynx users stop looking useless when they're not.
Iron Heart Attack: Now works with the "overshield" mechanic, applying it instantly to your team (individually) when a marked enemy dies.
Violent Heart Attack: When a marked enemy dies, your team gets a bonus to attack power and speed for a short time.
Angelic Aura: Duration and shield amount increased. The skill now gives teammates individual overshields. Friendly fire removed.
Seraphic Aura: Effects persist after the overshield breaks.
Valkyrian Aura: Effects persist after the overshield breaks.
Dazzling Light Ray got changed so it can now be used as a portable wall. Iron Heart Attack got changed because it's silly to have to pick up your defense boosts, and because flat damage reduction is more useful than percent reduction. Violent Heart Attack is changed because it's pretty much the same thing as Haunting Haze and so it fits with Attack/Defense. Angelic Aura's removal of friendly fire is obvious, and individual overshields are there so someone can't get greedy and "steal" all the protection and kamikaze with it. It's got a longer duration and damage cap now because it's pretty wimpy as is, and it'll especially be if it's individualized.
Maskeraith, again, not too many comments. He's probably one of the best starting out.
Caustic Quills: No change.
Vengeful Quills: Damage lowered, but they can continually rebound.
Virulent Quills: Now have 100% chance to explode.
Shadow Cloak: Overshield with a large amount of defense reduction. Cloak doesn't break when you take damage, but everything else still breaks it.
Deadly Shadow Cloak: No change.
Vengeful Shadow Cloak: Inflict moderate Poison on enemies that you walk by. The explosion now has a guaranteed Stun, a little bit more range, and can break blocks.
Hexing Haze: Radius reduced and duration increased, map-wide purple haze effect removed.
Haunted Haze: Spawns a ghost whether the Haze was the cause of death or not. Ghost damage fixed; no longer does 7 damage.
Chaotic Haze: The status is still random, but you're guaranteed to deal one.
Vengeful Quills make multi-hit weapons even better for Quills. Virulent Quills will surpass them in smaller groups of enemies, though. Cloaks now have massive overshield and don't break on damage because they're extremely frustrating to use in group play, especially in T3 where almost everything has more AoE. Vengeful Cloak now allows you to debilitate more enemies instead of completely obliterating specific enemies with Deadly Cloak. Hexing Haze seemed too easy to use to its full potential, so its radius is reduced but it deals more damage and lasts longer in return. Haunted Haze gets bugfixed and made viable in group play. Chaotic Haze has less consistent damage than Haunted Haze, but makes them play the Status Roulette.
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EDIT 2, as of SEPTEMBER 7th
After some more thought I've decided this is worth posting: the concept of Sprites getting their ultimates at the highest levels is awful design. With my proposed changes aside, I'm going to look at Sprites again with this in mind.
Ask yourself this: how much do Sprites really add to gameplay until they get their ultimates? Very little. Maskeraith has the most gameplay depth amongst the three, but the others need to get to 90+ in order to add something new to the game.
Drakon: Almost completely useless until 90+, where he's just okay. Firebolt is no better than a Magma Driver bullet, arguably even worse. Flame Barrier is fundamentally flawed to begin with and is only remotely useful when you get Backfire Barrier. Firestorm is pathetic until you get to Explosive Firestorm wherein it's difficult to use to meaningful effect, and Frenzied Firestorm may as well just be a team buff (of which only the ASI contributes much, while also potentially getting your teammates hurt). All three of his abilities are boring until 90+, two of which just being "okay" and the other being extremely good while being useful for totally different reasons than what the skill was intended for.
Seraphynx: Decently useful, but extremely bland. Ray of Light deals decent amounts of damage even with its hit limit in place, and picks up a defense debuff that, similarly to Frenzied Firestorm, doesn't do all too much except for multi-hit weapons or guns. It's still much better than Frenzied because it isn't totally useless as a base skill and has a comparatively lower cooldown. Heart Attack is bland and boring to use- run inside the enemies, use it, run away and kill them normally. Its ults don't change up the game too much, either. Angelic Aura is a fairly useful ability that opens up some otherwise-stupid tactics, like sitting in the middle of enemies while bombing. Valkyrian Aura and Seraphic Aura both allow for more aggressive play to a greater extent. Two of Seraphynx's abilities are bland until 90, where one is slightly less and the other barely changes.
Maskeraith: The dangerous balloon ghost is by far the most skill-intensive and game-changing Sprite, and is extremely fun to use because of that. Whoever designed this one needs to rework the other Sprites. Caustic Quills are fairly powerful, but are exponentially more powerful with multi-hit weapons. Vengeful Quills further improve its multi-hitter's-dream properties (and is a much better choice than just giving the quills more spread-fire), but Virulent Quills don't change him up all too much. Shadow Cloak is fairly useful on its own, and Deadly Cloak gives it a lot of assassination power. Vengeful Cloak doesn't do all too much, but helps when you're using it to get out of nasty situations (I.E. you can't just cloak away, and you get hit anyways). Hexing Haze feels like what Flame Barrier could have been, albeit without a damage delay. I think it's a little too easy to use, though. Haunted Haze might as well not even exist right now, and Chaotic Haze is a tradeoff for power at the cost of certainty.
So why is Maskeraith "the best design"? Because he actually adds something to the game before he's 90+, where he adds even more.
The concept of acquiring skill points to use on skills to decrease their cooldown/increase their power/duration/range is a façade; you have to upgrade everything completely in order to make them actually change through ultimates.
"So, Draycos, if this system is so crappy, how would you do it?"
Well, here's what I would do if it was possible to totally rework Sprites. I'd remove "ultimates" entirely and build them into skills at their base, while buffing the basic skills to their "maxed" stats (I.E. what a skill's stats are when you've pumped 9 SP into it for all three of its options). You'd have three options for each ability- and as opposed to having two gamechangers, you have three. Here's the catch, though- you can pick two. You'd need to use an Ultimate Catalyst for each option, though, meaning you'd need double the UC's total. You'd get power increases and SP as normal, though, so you won't be able to hit like a truck from level 1, no matter how rich you are. At first, you can only pick one ultimate per skill, but you can unlock a second one after a certain level.
Currently, your Sprite unlocks its abilities at level 1, 15, and 50. It then gains its ultimates at 90, 95, and 100.
I propose this instead: first ability at 1, second ult for first ability at 15, second ability at 30, second ult for second ability at 50, third ability at 75, and second ult for third ability at 100. In a less-wordy string of numbers, milestones would be at 1/15/30/50/75/100 instead of 1/15/30/50/90/95/100. Additionally, you won't be able to level your Sprite's abilities past rank 1 until level 30, and rank 2 until 75.
Alright, I know what you're thinking. How the heck are ultimates going to change up visuals for Sprites if they're currently meant to appear at their T3 forms? Simple. They won't. Instead of forcing players to choose between aesthetics or effectiveness, we'll put to use those 3 empty slots in the Sprite Info page. Yeah, you heard me. Sprite accessories. You'd get accessory tickets for free when you choose the respective ult, according to the ult. You'd only get the ticket once you max out the ult, too, so you don't get them at level 20 or so and go "what in blazes am I supposed to use this thing for, it isn't working!".
Let's use Drakon as an example, since we all know how much I love him.
Firebolt (Base damage increased)
-Excessive Firepower: Boosts the Firebolt's damage by 10% per level. Also boosts the power of its Fire status.
-Concussive Impact: Adds a chance to cause Stun, and increases the odds of causing Fire. Boosts both chances further with additional levels.
-Meteoric Blast: Increases the distance the Firebolt can travel, and gives it a larger explosion radius. Distance and explosion size even more with more levels.
Flame Barrier (MSI from Backfire Barrier is now part of the skill at base [albeit with lower MSI], uses overshield)
-Afterburner: Increases the amount of movement speed you get, and how long it lasts.
-Dragon Armor: Boosts the amount of shielding you get.
-Overheat: Increases the amount of orbs to 3 and boosts their offensive power. Further levels don't add more orbs, but increase their size and power more.
Firestorm (Flat damage on creation of each circle of fire)
-Spontaneous Combustion: Increases the power of the Fire status and adds explosions. Higher levels mean more explosions!
-Burning Anger: On activation and for a short time after the Firestorm ends, you and your teammates gain ASI and +15% damage.
-Scorching Winds: Increases the range of the Firestorm and sucks in enemies not resistant to knockback.
Reasoning for each choice, maxed out options, etc.
Firebolt: Let's face it. No one in their right mind would ever pick Concussive Firebolt over Meteoric Firebolt.
With three choices and two picks, you have three potential maxed out Firebolts: massive damage with great Fire/Stun chances, massive damage with high range but more inconsistency, or a lower damage but high-range Stun/Fire tool.
Flame Barrier: Scorching Barrier has little to no use compared to Backfire Barrier. I expanded on the uses of Backfire Barrier's MSI while giving Scorching Barrier's effects more viability by adding a defense-boost choice.
Your three choices of Barriers are: high speed, high defense (perfect for taking out key targets and getting out of nasty situations)/high speed, high damage (taking out key targets with speed rather than safety)/high damage and high defense (lets you take a few hits while landing some nasty attacks you wouldn't be able to safely land otherwise).
Firestorm: The initial-damage buff was obvious; you've seen me talk about that enough times already. Frenzied Firestorm was adding too little to be viable, and Explosive Firestorm was "just right" but not enough to be more useful than our Knights' actual weaponry. A mini-vortex that can't pull enemies as effectively as a Vortex can while still offering some crowd control offers some nice utility while not invalidating the Vortex bombs' existences (which is only important because Vortex bombs are pretty weak and outright dangerous to use in some situations).
Your three Firestorms are: a powerful AoE damage tool that buffs your teammates, a powerful AoE tool that doesn't require a Vortex to land consistently, and a team buff/CC tool that sets up other attacks for your team.
How each choice might affect ability appearances...
Excessive Firepower: Makes the Firebolt a lot redder, as opposed to orange.
Concussive Impact: Adds stars, like Concussive Firebolt.
Meteoric Blast: Adds whites and blues, alongside a more pronounced explosion, like Meteoric Firebolt.
Afterburner: Adds blues, like part of Backfire Barrier.
Dragon Armor: Adds some whites, like the other part of Backfire Barrier.
Overheat: The oranges turn much redder, like Scorching Barrier.
Spontaneous Combustion: Explosions. Just... explosions. Like Explosive Firestorm.
Burning Anger: Adds some blues and whites, like Frenzied Firestorm.
Scorching Winds: A ring of fire effect akin to the Fang of Vog's charge attack (except more constant).
How each ult might change the Drakon's appearance...
Excessive Firepower: Adds spikes to the Drakon's tail.
Concussive Impact: Adds nose-spikes like Concussive Firebolt.
Meteoric Blast: Adds longer horns like Meteoric Firebolt.
Afterburner: Adds spikes to the back of its neck, like Backfire Barrier.
Dragon Armor: Adds spikes to its tail.
Overheat: Adds a beard, like Scorching Barrier.
Spontaneous Combustion: Wings, like Explosive Firestorm.
Burning Anger: Arms, like Frenzied Firestorm.
Scorching Winds: Adds a spike to the end of the Drakon's tail.
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If any of this interests you folks, I'll do this same sort of thing for Seraphynx and Maskeraith, too.
Feedback on Maskeraith
Caustic Quills seems like the least useful ability ever made, at least on its smaller level. You see, it adds around 5% extra damage when you attack poisoned enemies. Maybe a little more if you add damage from quills breaking when you attack your target. But its still around 5% extra damage tops.
For comparison, poison needle gun (toxic something?) had a significant damage boost (15 to 30% if I remember correctly).
Didn't reach any other abilities yet so can't say much about them.
I don't play PvP. Its too laggy for me. This only concerns arcade, and I mostly do Vanaduke runs.