The new "buffs" (changes) given to sage in this new patch, change the overall play style of sage; making him hard to play. 

- The skill Impaling flash before the patch was better before the latest. It's main use was to engage and disengage but now it barely maintains that function. 

- Rift chain being attached to bolt; makes it really hard to preserve stamina. As you know Sage's movement  consumes a lot of stamina, but it was manageable before the patch. There should be a choice, on how sage players use the skill and it shouldn't be locking the skill.

There are so many other issues that puts sage at a big disadvantage against other classes, but sage was still ok or somewhat playable. Now the latest patch has just crippled it further. Please revisit sage and rework its kit.

The only 2 real good things about this patch are :

- Protections on Spear Bolt ;

- The ability to pocket Void Gateways into Rift Chain.

The other stuff is very meh at best, a nerf at worst :

- The change on Impaling Flash makes it very situationnal, and makes it unusable as a mobility / catchup / opening skill from now on. There should be an option like if you hold E or forward, you use the old version, if you don't, you use the new version (or the contrary) ;

- The loss of FG on Shock relay is what it is, a loss ;

- The change on Spear Bolt Core is not that good : loss of the stiffness on the normal skill with KD on its core vesion to compensate, but doesn't work with the flow (so no CC on RMB into Forward + F since it's the flow that activates in that case) ;

- The abilty to Bolt into Rift Chain is not that convenient, on the contrary it makes you go into Riftchain at times you dont really want to and is a stamina eater.

all i can say is they taken sage completely out of the game now was bad before now its even worse 

#MAKESAGEWORKAGAIN?

The devs notes from the GL patch

The more it goes, the more I tend to think that the current devs didn't use Sage for anything else than killing grass beetles.

Sage’s Impaling Flash is one of the skills representing awakening. In order to use this skill more actively, we have given the option to return to the original position (where the first cast was performed) after using Impaling Flash. As a result, it has been improved to return to the original position or use finishing skills near the target as before.

This is NOT an improvement ! It would be if we had the choice of where we land after using the skill, but there is actually none. Great job if your goal was to make the skill even less iconic by making Sages not using it anymore. (and the range has been nerfed too)
In addition, to deal damage in a more stable state, a defense check has been added to the Spear Bolt and flow: aftershock skills. (However, as the two skills are added, the defense judgment effect of the existing Core: Spear Bolt has been removed.)

If the protection is actually good (thanks for that), the changes on CC isn't really and f... up combos more than anything else on top of sacrifing another core to keep having a CC on the skill. Plus, the protection on the skill has been given by taking another protection away.
In addition, when Bolt is on cooldown in Kibelius state, the Rift Chain skill can be used immediately, adding a bit of survivability.

It doesn't add much more than eating stamina like a starving beast on top of making you swap stance when you don't really want to

i just hope they give wep change coupons so sages can swap class since they destroyed sage :)

Sage doesn't need a rework he needs a complete revert. The class was playable at launch, of course it was powerful then but power is measured by comparison of other classes. The more changes they make to the class the less appealing it has become. In a game where succ zerk and awa musa exist I do not understand why they tiptoe around sage buffs as if sage would be suddenly destroying planets if they made him somewhat playable.

They do not buff, rework, give free coupons to your prayers for sage cause clearly this forum would be half empty if there wasn´t a steady flow of sage topics each and every week. Evil PA knows your dramatic suffering must go on.

Sage launch felt like god mode, and I miss it so much. I'll admit it was a bit overtuned, but its current state is brutal, and not in a good way. Really hope they revert the Rift Chain changes as well as add Frontal Guard back to Shock Relay, then completely overhaul the class more precisely at a later date. 

Sage's kit is incomplete. Too much focus on dealing with the long cast times, and nothing offered in return. We need some group utility, and revert the damage nerfs on succession, which literally no-one plays anymore. We also need better stamina management.