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 (Improved base damage)
-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 boost [albeit lower than Backfire] is now part of the base skill, 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. Higher levels increase the ASI and duration of the buff.
-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.

The speed boost shouldn't cause you any problems once you get used to it, but I do admit it makes it harder to stick to enemies properly. However, I don't mean to give Flame Barrier Backfire Barrier's MSI at base; it should be quite a bit slower than that unless you take Afterburner, but not low enough to prevent it from having any base utility, I don't think.

As far as the raw-number tests I've done have shown, and from my experience using it with even the strongest of setups (yada yada "it needs a vortex to work properly" etc.) just doesn't feel powerful. Maybe it does improve my damage a bit, but it really doesn't feel like it.

I will say, however, that Explosive Firestorm comboes pretty well with a Maskeraith's quills, Vengeful or not. The individual fire ticks and the explosions themselves pop the quills almost right after they stick.

I'd like to hear what you have to say, since you always offer good points of discussion (and criticism).

Oops, I completely forgot to reply to that last bit, Zeddy. :<

"Can you clarify what you mean when you say that firestorm's autowin vortex only works on enemies that can be knocked back? Because vortex bombs also only works on enemies that can be knocked back."

Vortex bombs' "knockback" is pretty massive and can affect enemies like Trojans, who are really resistant to being pushed around. Then look at something like a Volcanic Pepperbox- several small-strength instances of knockback. Since some enemies totally resist weaker KB, Pepperbox doesn't budge them an inch. The same ideas should apply to that revamped Firestorm.

I wouldn't really call it an "autowin vortex", because it should only affect certain enemies. Using "weak" knockback is a good way to do limit it quickly. I think making it push enemies on the edge into the middle of the Firestorm instead of pulling them radially would be a good thing, too.

Interesting, Masterreeve. I like your idea more than mine.

Well, now that this is seeing the light of day again, I might as well keep going.

Over time, Zeddy has shown how Flame Barrier's defense boost works: it boosts your total armor by 70%. So, I'm now admitting that it isn't totally fundamentally flawed, and would like to revise the 3-ult design for it.

At base, the armor boosting is removed, replaced by the overshield mechanic.

Afterburner- gives a Backfire Barrier movespeed boost. Levelling it further will give you a smaller, longer-duration MSI boost, applied after the Backfire boost.

Dragon Armor- Gives you the old percent-based armor boost.

Overheat- No change from last time.

And my reasoning for these changes:

Base- Zeddy mentioned that giving it an MSI buff at base would make it more difficult to use the orbs offensively. Additionally, after looking back, I think that restricting the MSI boost to the Afterburner pick makes it worth picking in the first place. Concerning the armor changes, I wanted to make Dragon Armor more appealing while toning down how powerful the basic Flame Barrier could be.

Afterburner- The crazy MSI makes it difficult to make pinpoint movements and better for getting where you want to be. I changed it around a bit so that you can get where you need to be, then have an easier time dodging for a while, sacrificing offense or defense for a more skill-intensive approach. With these changes, it's now balanced against the other two more reasonably.

Dragon Armor- Now it's got more of an impact instead of being completely boring. Woo.
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Thoughts? Criticisms? Concerns? Death threats?

Well, of course, otherwise it'd be even worse than the first revision.