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The update notes are here: https://forum.projectgorgon.com/show...es-May-25-2018
Discussion in this thread! (But please remember to report any bugs through the in-game reporting system as well.)
Edit: Rather than starting a new discussion thread for today's bug-fixing hotfix, we're just going to add to this ongoing discussion thread. The hotfix notes are here: https://forum.projectgorgon.com/show...es-May-27-2018
I saw some animation changes but nothing to suggest the new system is in place. Is this correct? If so, is there any ETA on when it will be ready? I thought the previous blog stated we would see it this patch. I could be mistaken of course, maybe wishful thinking! hah.Quote:
Originally Posted by srand
The AOE nerf rage is real. I am curious, because as I understand it hasn't been described very well:
Does the damage apply full to the first 3 targets, and then diminish beyond that, or is it as one person suggests and the maximum damage per target is simply spread out among the various targets if more than 3 are there? Is there any way we could see an exact formula?
What was the purpose of the nerf, exactly, and what are the expected side effects that might not be desired?
I have not tested all of the changes so far but I think the AoE nerf is a solid change quick fix. I hope mods/armor in the future loosen the 'drop off point' if it is very steep. For those that don't know, some classes were able to pull 15+ mobs and AoE them down Very fast. Like 1 person doing the DPS of 2+ full groups fast. I feel as long as the total damage per additional mob goes up past 3 NPCs, I don't think it'll be a big deal. We'll see though!
The knife changes look strong. Interesting choice that mez did not make it into the "not facing you" list, but I guess it would make the psych-knife combo too much of a 'must have'
Burst /AOE damage for both Archery and Fire was OP for high level players in max crafted with augmented gear even on mobs that dropped level 60 /65 gear (i.e. Gazluk mobs).
Personally, using a Fire /BC AOE build I have 1 or 2-shotted 17 panthers in Kur at once and 7 wolves in the Gazluk wolf cave in a single fight with very minimal danger of dying.
The number of mobs killed was only limited by how many mobs I could aggro for one fight.
This was a 'bit' unbalanced and needed to be addressed.
The current changes will no doubt be reviewed for potential change in the next patch, so it is worthwhile for people to provide considered and respectful feedback to the devs.
I'm really surprised more people haven't tried running KF/Necro or KF/AH. With Graz (whose special attack is a stun + self heal) you'll be able to do even more interesting things with AH though, including being able to use 'not facing' stuff even if you're holding aggro.Quote:
Originally Posted by Mbaums
Thanks for confirming what I pretty much figured but was insulted for assuming on the Discord, in regards to Gazluk, and late game AOE in general. It seems some people think that anything that affects their build, that they brag about being OP, is the end of the world.Quote:
Originally Posted by poulter
I think the balance also really puts crowd control into the running as something needed. If there's a room with too many pulls, your CC can mez/root/fear some of them, so the AOE can do its thing. It also creates other elements of strategy being required, instead of "Mod AOE into next week, all 6 party members use all AOE. GG dungeon cleared" which, again, I think is to the advantage to the game as a whole.
Awole_Isd I agree and what I dont get even more is why nerf shield and sword aoe when it barely does any like wtf I can understand nerfing bard bc and magic skill aoe but come on really you had to mess with my sword and shield
Whatever intill they increase the level cap I might as well hunt lower stuff for cash inless i have a badass group literly today just 10 minutes ago went into the slime room in gazkeep with my group and got ganked ra*** we all died only 2 lived also the power regen seems slower
This is the most hardcore half baked blanket approach I have ever seen
This patch looks awesome. Been starting out knife fighting myself, so this'll encourage me even more to level it up.
I do agree with awol_lsd. Unintuitive and potentially frustrating change that may nerf certain scenarios that shouldn't have been nerfed, despite other scenarios being problematic.
This seems a little odd to me. What's the reason behind this intention? This is another change that seems unintuitive and potentially frustrating, or at least odd sounding. I wouldn't expect a buff that someone gave to me to disappear because of what that person changed after they buffed me. I already have the buff, why take it away? It shouldn't matter that the other person moved locations or changed classes - they used their ability on me, I got the buff, that's that. Taking it away just feels bad and seems unintuitive. I can imagine a lot of "why is my buff gone?" questions. Is this trying to fix a specific problematic scenario?Quote:
Fixed a bug that caused some buffs to stick around for an arbitrary length of time after the caster had left the area (most obviously with Battle Chemistry mutations, since they last the longest). The intent is that any buffs that come from an ability (and that last longer than a few seconds) should abort if the buff's caster is not in the same server area as the person they buffed, OR if the caster switches to a different combat skill.
That's a disappointing change to AOE. From the beginning, the trade-off for BC was high AOE and poor single-target damage. For an advanced skill it now seems mediocre at best, and it'll become even less relevant for the increasingly group-oriented content. I'll need to see how it plays out, but the past year of development has put the game on a different trajectory than the one I had enjoyed greatly so many years ago. At this point I can only hope that the development pendulum swings back to the game's sandbox roots.
I find your statement to be indicative of everything that is wrong with entitlement in the gaming industry today. Thank you for so eloquently pointing it out.Quote:
Originally Posted by awol_lsd
Come on man, let's try to be glass half full today. My personal perspective is that gamers have often been passionate very much like that for decades. People are entitled to their opinions, and they're so passionate about things like awol_lsd is because they care a lot about the game they're playing, and that's awesome. Most professionals I've seen are aware of this - they're gamers themselves, right? For example, the game director of Overwatch has a particularly famous ridiculously aggressive hate post he made, targeted at the developers, due to a new raid at the time in... Everquest, I think it was. Feedback can be given in all forms, and weeded through and understood without taking offense to it, especially if you're a professional.Quote:
Originally Posted by Ortallus
Either way, let's leave the interpretation to the mods and admins. Even what I said here may be too unnecessary. Let's get back to talking about the update :).
I don't have a problem with the aoe nerfs mainly because my main source of damage is single target, so this buff didn't really effect me.
But even so the AOE nerf is something temporary until he nerfs the op AOE stuff (Atleast i hope it is). I also would like to know if he has set a date to implement the proper AOE mod nerfs for specific skills instead of this all around AOE nerf. If not i highly recommend reverting because of the amount of problems he has potentially created for the noobs, and alot of veterans don't see themselves playing the game until its properly tuned. (not good when the server population is slowly declining again)
Problems:
1)Running dungeons in which packs and nearby packs are present (Which is just about every dungeon in the game, even Kur packs consist of 4-5 mobs with another group of mobs always close by) will now almost always require a party member. From the changes he has implemented over the years and this one now i don't really see soloing as much of an option. It's certainly still possible but if you want to progress properly i don't recommend it. *Especially if your just starting out*
2)Forcing Vets (Geared players) to rotate to lower tiered zones to farm out necessary mats/gear. From the aoe nerfs the geared players who only farmed wolf cave because of the big pack pulls and can no longer clear it as fast (Therefore it is no longer the best source of income for them) they will migrate to the lower leveled zones so that they can actually 1 shot mass packs. (*i know because i am currently doing this*)
3)Forcing players to prioritize single target damage--- with the aoe nerf which is pretty big, there is really no reason to priortize AOE. With what he did he is better off just removing all AOE to prevent any future complaining about why AOE is so weak. With that being said, your better off getting single target mod abilities *There are alot more of those* and just 1 shotting every mob 1 by 1, it will be slightly slower but we should be able to bounce back and get past this if the AOE nerf stays. The plus side is we will kill bosses alot faster since now we don't have to prioritize AOE on our kits for farming. (That is until he sees people killing bosses to fast and buffs bosses)
I have many more in which i will make a post thread about(Assuming i don't forget). But these are 3 i came up with, the others i forgot them i'll get some sleep and i know ill remember them by tommorow.
Well as A 73 BC / 70 ICE all I can say is I support the AOE mechanic changes. AoE was always too powerful in its current state and this is a good start towards addressing its ridiculous potential. Perhaps it will allow for more thinking in gameplay, more variation among players, allow for things like buffers/debuffers/ccers'/healers to get some playtime. Even in high groups in GK I would run my AoE build and it was pretty effective single target or AoE target so the argument that BC had a trade off is rather silly. Unless you didn't play BC at high lvls then I guess I could understand your ignorance.
Either way, I'm sure there will continue to be rebalancing and changes to get things just right and I'm okay with allowing the development team the room and space they need to get this right even If it means nurfs here and there. Better now in beta than later live at launch. But I think this change makes sense to how AoE works in general. Individual class balancing around this new mechanic for AoE will surely follow and help bring the various AoE class playstyles in line with one another.
I used to 1 shot pretty much everything in Kur tower , caste haste gather as many as I could and done. We knew nerfs were coming what I found trying out new Battle Chemistry mechanics is you want to kill that group of critters it's not happening in 1 shot so you'll have to use a few more abilities. Let's think about this we are capped at lv 70-80 atm but we are not at end game level, makes sense to be able to to be "powerful" when your lv 100-120.
Was loving the aoe nerfing till my sword and shield abilities got nerfed and got rekt in gatzkeep
Yeah Im about to hog all the nooby areas as well If my growth is going to be stunted cuz of this half assed blanket fix then Im going toQuote:
Originally Posted by VanHelsing
dont get me wrong Im not doing this out of spite to get back at the admins or players but if its the only way to progress and for me to keep interest in the game then goddammit I will do it legit screw everyone else I want to have fun to
Quote:
Originally Posted by spider91301
Hey man, you need a time out and a chill pill.
I applaud you'r honesty.Quote:
Originally Posted by awol_lsd
Archer/BC here double Nerf on archery and on BC, things are bit rough, this is beta after all, adapt and move on this is they want the game to be it ain't that bad like I said can't kill everything in 1 shot but 3, how about giving it a few days/weeks to throughly give a constructive reviews than just whines.
I used lv 24-30 BC to lv up Priest yesterday in Kur mobs still go down, not 15-20 at once anymore, no more instant gratificlation kill but still achievable end result, difference now is you actually have to work for you kills not just push 1 button.
We asked the bandaid be torn off quickly. You should have taken the time to be part of that discussion if you wanted to drag out the pain over a long period of short nerfs and re-nerfs. Crying and raging like a child is one way to get your point across though.Quote:
Originally Posted by awol_lsd
Of course the nerf is too broad. If you'd taken the time to read about how this balance cycle was going to work then you'd have know that and there will adjustments to individual skill lines as necessary.
This. Right here, this.Quote:
Originally Posted by Aionlasting
The problem is, too many people want a single player game with a chat where they can brag about their accomplishments, and have no idea what an MMO, especially the likes of Pre-WoW MMOs, are all about. Well put.
Not raging just stating what Im going to do not like its illegal to farm in lower level dungeons when they fix this or make it banable to go in lower level dungeon and hog kills let me know then I will have to find another solution besides guys gotta eat cheese costs money and I need to find a way to pay for food someway lolQuote:
Originally Posted by Aionlasting
Also as a side note that I dont care about steam reviews just went from very positive to mostly positive thats not a good thing
Playing solo should be perfectly viable. Early MMOs, except EQ, offered flexible game play. The game already provides magic bonus xp just because you "grouped". I'm not sure how much more hand-holding incentive "groupers" need. Classic first gen MMOs made people split xp, not give them a bonus, for grouping because it's so easy to steamroll content the more people you have.Quote:
Originally Posted by Ortallus
AOE is out of control. People shouldn't be able to mow down packs of 5, 10, or 15 overland mobs without thinking. The same way groups shouldn't be able to steamroll group tuned content (as much as I think that shouldn't even be a thing). Players at all levels should need to use more than their AoE button DPS skill with the tank easy-mode faceroll taunting, and the priest one button healing them.
The point of balance changes, hopefully, is to tune game play so players need to approach content thoughtfully, no matter the party size not make one play style pay at the expense of another.
Feedback is good - even the bits that are perhaps a bit pointed. We understand that you are passionate about the game and upset about this change.
I will not, however, tolerate posters throwing insults at others.
I've deleted a couple of posts that didn't contain actual feedback. Everyone, please try to keep it polite and on-topic so that I don't have to delete any more.
Simply untrue. I was running around with my aoe build absolutely fine. Even fighting up to 6 mobs. It goes slower, yes, but not completely obsolete. It just made it not ridiculously OP.Quote:
Originally Posted by awol_lsd
Furthermore, if you can't pull less than 4-7, then you'll just have to pull smart. Which I know is difficult for a lot of people.
Enchanter pulls with a mezz, you've got 20 seconds (6) left. Party of 6 should have 2 DPS. Peel off 2, and single target that's 4 left, which tank can handle. The damage on AOE is still enough to blast down those 4 after the 2 have been spanked.
There are other ways to handle this, too. Most of them involving more CC. Which people have been telling Citan is useless. CC is now useful.
Poor guy can't win for losing with players who take a sky is falling attitude. It's sad.
Sure. Playing solo should be perfectly viable. But not if you want the best rewards.Quote:
Originally Posted by ArkadyRandom
What's stupid is thinking developers should build the game how you personally want it, and not how they want it. This being a temporary rip off fix was, as someone else pointed out, announced. From here, it's going to take fine tuning.Quote:
Originally Posted by awol_lsd
Welcome to beta. If you can't handle it with a mature attitude, maybe you shouldn't play beta games anymore. That was a choice that you made. You also chose to play the game Citan wanted, not the game you wanted. Forcing you to play the game as he intended is EXACTLY his job. If you and others have found ways to play the game outside of that scope, fixing it is EXACTLY his job.
Your job is to continue trying to break it. Just so long as you're prepared to see the next nerf.
If you want to play a game where everyone is DPS rolling everything, I would strongly recommend GW2. It's free to play and seems to fit your play-style very well.
Changes to Other Skills' Treasure ModsQuote:
Originally Posted by awol_lsd
Note: in the newest developer blog, we discussed an upcoming adjustment to percentage-based-damage treasure mods. This change has NOT been made yet because it needs more internal testing; it will happen in a future update.
Your complaint is that Eric is expecting you to play the game the way he wants. That's what I'm getting out of you. The rest is meaningless babble, because that very statement is so incomprehensibly silly that it just negates anything else you might be trying to get across.Quote:
Originally Posted by awol_lsd
Drop that part of your line of thinking, start over, and I'll try discerning what you actually mean, as opposed to what you're saying. Because my mind reading skill is 50/100. I can totally discern what you're thinking when you're not saying what you mean, and your expectation of my doing so is 100% reasonable. </sarcasm>
What a spicy patch day
Despite common sense, people don't seem to understand that their builds are subject to change. My main build was heavily affected by this too, but I'm not taking a 'sky is falling' outlook. It's an opportunity.Quote:
Originally Posted by Stikes
Right? I just wanted to know everyone's first impressions on priest.Quote:
Originally Posted by Stikes
I think the change is reasonable. Even at three mobs the AoE is doing more damage than the single-target skills are. It gives us a sweet-spot to aim at.
And as far as I can read, the split of damage is such that every additional mob means the AoE is doing more damage, it's not like it's being split proportionally. You still do better with more mobs - you're just less likely to blow them out of the water.
Is it possible to see my pledge i game?
What up my glipglops!
I'm not sure where to even begin, but here goes.
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AE changes:
Firstly I want to point out that being condescending to other players about mechanics which you don't seem to even grasp or understand completely is not helpful. Nobody here wants easy mode. Most people that are being vocal about why this is a bad idea are doing so because they care about the game and want to see it succeed.
That being said, there are only 2 reasons why you would ever level and gear an AE build. The first reason is to make money, which is sort of needed because costs become extremely prohibitive later on in the game...especially when you are working on leveling your 15th skill to 70....so you do the work of leveling up an AE skill so that you can use it to speed up the grind of whatever new skill you want to level.( which is the 2nd reason to even level an AE build) and also pay for this new skillset. You might be asking yourself what's the rush? Welp after you play this for several thousand hours you might understand that a bit more, the slow way starts to lose it's charm. AE builds are utter crap in group content ( unless you severely outlevel the content in question)...because not only will you cause every mob being hit to rage on you at the same time ( thus killing you instantly) But you will also break all forms of crowd control your party is using to stay alive. It is important that you understand that AE builds only have those 2 uses, because without those, there is no reason to ever use one.
When people reach the apex of their chosen skills and have explored all current content, the only thing that keeps them logging on is that they can level and try a completely different skillset and playstyle, slowing down that process does more harm then good ( aka prohibitive costs and unreasonable timesinks). When the "pain in the ass" factor becomes greater then the "enjoyment for time spent" factor, people stop logging on.
Another important thing to consider is the change would be reasonable if he stopped throwing 10-15 mobs at us at once. Go and try to fight in goblin annexes or on rahu plateau to get a good idea of what I mean, there are a million other places but both of those are simple examples.....So I guess there is a 3rd use for AE builds, and that is because it is forced on you for certain content. That is not our faults, it is by design. Another example of this would be how respawns in dungeons currently work, as in....10-15 things suddenly appear on top of you and then proceed to rape you. This is the main reason btw why people are forced to focus on DPS builds and skillsets, because if you are too slow at killing you lose the game, the respawn will make sure of it.
For reference for the newer players, respawns didn't always work like this...they used to happen singly.
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Archery treasure effect changes:
Just why? I have not been using archery for a while now and that is because the inventory space lost is already not worth using it over another skill, combined with the horror of fletching and the fact that every attack effectively costs money to fire it just isn't worth using over another skillset. Adding to that the "utility" that archery used to have has been rendered largely useless. I mean the only utility it ever had was hookshot and snare arrow. Hookshot is not only useless but it can actually kill you when a party member uses it on a monster that disables in an area when they pull it on top of everyone else ( or any mob that does any sort of PBAE). Snare arrow is okay for solo play but goodluck with that in groups. I cannot understand why archery damage was reduced farther, especially when you consider that the effected skill was mostly "heavy shot" a 40 second cooldown that at BEST ( as in with any and all buffs you can use for it including calligraphy) it hits for 4300 damage, which is comparable to the druid skill cosmic strike off the top of my head, which has not been changed.
For the newer people: Hookshot ( and the spider equivalent ) used to be the only way to single pull reliably besides proximity aggro ( body-pulling). Archery was 100% worth it when that was still effective, especially considering it sped up single pulling to the point where you could beat the dps check for respawns.
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DoT effects:
DOT builds have a lot more issues then the damage from them being sub-par. The biggest of which is that at level 50+ stuff starts being resistant or even straight immune to the damage type you are using, since we only have 3 damage types to choose from atm ( fire / trauma / poison). Building a spec that relies on DOTS will always assure that you are useless later on when this becomes an issue, because no matter how good your DOT damage is at least 1/3 of it will be irrelevant. From a solo standpoint however, DOTS are and always have been viable regardless for a defense or crowd control focused build....Where you really start to see problems are in group play...in fact the whole game falls apart when group play is introduced.
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Group play VS solo play:
I would go as far to say this game is pretty well balanced for solo play.
-Rage reduction is great for solo play.
-Heals are well-balanced for solo play.
-Crowd control is invaluable for solo play.
-Incoming damage is manageable for solo play ( due to heals and rage reduction and crowd control actually working).
-DOTs are great for solo play.
-Pets are fine for solo play.
-Being a defensive fighter is great for solo play.
In a group however, all of this goes to shit.
-There is no rage reduction skill in the game that can manage the rage from more then 1 player effectively, making it useless and a waste of mods to even try.
-There are no heals in the game that can consistently keep up with the incoming damage your party starts to receive....yes some of them can keep you alive for one big pull, but since you are essentially forced to keep going without stopping even for a second or you will eat a "game over multi-mob-respawn" to which there is zero defense against or warning it is coming....yea, not great.
-Most crowd control is equally screwed in group play, mezzing is a joke unless you are using it as the puller to separate mobs before they even get near you( unfortunately it is also unreliable weather it will successfully land on the mob or not). And mesmerizing a mob that is already in close proximity to your group is just laughable, if it stays mezzed for more then 2 seconds you better go buy a lottery ticket, because it is your lucky day.
-Incoming damage starts to get utterly ludicrous , with 1k health and 900 armor I can survive maybe 6 hits in gazluk keep...thus you are forced into building for damage, aka kill them before they kill you.
-DOTS are useless because nothing can be allowed to live for more then 5 seconds, aka one dot tick....or else you will die.( again because of the forced dps check respawn timer and the incoming damage).
-PETS ....see DOTS explanation above, same issues, except you also have to deal with "assist mode" not working correctly and accidentally pulling 10 more monsters onto your group.
-Defensive fighter ( aka tanking)...there is no skill in the game that has a short enough recast timer that you can use it to aggro more then one mob at a time ( for bosses or solo pulls tanking is great, but if all you do is solo pull you run the risk of the ever-popular multi-respawn-rapefest. And even if there WAS a good AE taunt, you could never survive it unless you use ONE specific skill to make yourself immune to incoming damage for 10 seconds, and when that fades( or is on cooldown) you die like anyone else.
My main problem I guess, is I play this game to be social and group up with friends and explore and conquer new stuff. And right now group play isn't fun at all besides the first time you explore a new area.....I realize it is super easy to complain about things then to come up with workable solutions, so that being said....
------------------
Some suggestions to fix group play:
-Give all mesmerize type abilities an invulnerability window where mesmerize cannot be broken by anything for at least 5 seconds. Fix pets so they stop breaking them also.
-Make all taunt effects in the game a flat amount instead of being % based, 300 % of "no damage" because you didn't penetrate their armor is still no taunt ( this includes pet taunt effects) also raise the flat amounts to reasonable levels where they can actually take aggro off someone else hitting for 3k spike damage.
-For all elite ( group) mobs and bosses, reduce their outgoing damage by a large margin, at least 50%. Increase their health pool by an even larger margin, 500-1000%...basically slow this shit down and make it interesting instead of the spam strongest attacks fest it currently is. Group fights that last a maximum of 10 seconds because you have no choice, as in if they aren't dead by then...you will be, are not fun.
-Change the respawn mechanics for elite mobs to either respawn one at a time or in small groups...In fact It would be perfectly fine to link 3-4 mobs together, as in pulling one aggroes the other 3 every time, but they also respawn the same way, with that group counting as a single mob for that purpose....space them out a bit more so that this is possible. Basically make them harder more challenging fights, and allow us to see the respawns "catching up" behind us so we have a fighting chance.
***I cannot stress enough how badly the respawn system needs to change, it is 100% un-fun in it's current form....there is nothing fun about forced dps checks in every single fight, and even less fun in instantly wiping 2 hours deep in a dungeon because someone had to afk for 30 seconds and we didn't beat the timer for the respawns.***
Longer fights will have a few benefits. Tanking will be more important ( but still not required to the point where you have to have a tank). Dots and pets will have a chance to shine and do what they are supposed to ( but I would also suggest fixing pet assist mode and removing immunities to dot types). Also it will stop people from soloing elite content that you do not wish them to solo...because power will run out in longer fights. Lastly, changing fights and respawns in such a way will give us OPTIONS besides building for straight killing power....right now we don't have them , if we want to succeed it's damage or bust.
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@ Citan I hope you realize that I am only taking the time to write this stuff out because as always, I want to see you succeed....you have done a lot of good, and I know it can feel like you are being attacked for what others perceive as being wrong..... But this is not my intent, my goal is to see a game that's fun to play and will have staying power. You have been moving farther and farther from the "fun" side of the pendulum to the "this is more trouble then it's worth" side. As a developer and not a player, there are some things that look good on paper or mechanically, but in actual practice aren't fun.
If you want a different sort of feedback then tell me what your vision is, and I can try to tailor feedback towards making that a reality....atm all I can do is 'guess" that having fun should be the top priority. Remember that I am the guy that leveled several skills that I had zero interest in just so I could try to give good feedback for them back in the early days.
@ Everyone else, if you read all this you have my thanks. If your opinion differs feel free to give your own viewpoints...just be respectful when you do so.
If you agree with anything I mentioned though ( or even disagree)....please do not remain silent about it. From the 30 or so people I have had lengthy conversations with about these issues ( either in-game or on skype or discord) Almost all agreed with every point I have made here. You are not doing the game any favors by just reading it, saying "yep" to yourself, and moving on....they need to know that these are actual issues and not just "ErDrick issues".
Thanks for reading the wall of text...sorry about that but I feel like all of this is important or I wouldn't have bothered.
@ErDrick great post. Agree with all of it.
I support making Elites weaker and with more HP to prolong the fight, I sent a suggestion for this before, but it truly is stupid, when a mob can kill me in 3 hits. Getting so much dmg that I cannot even click the fighting abilities but just the 2 heals I have and die anyway cos the delay between when I click and the heal/armour is applied is so long.
@ErDrick 1k health and 900 armour - how is that even possible, I have nearly half less and I am actually lvl 70 with full yellow gear -_-
Anyway @ErDrick, thanks for a great post, I agree with all the parts I read from it :-)
Shamanic infusion on "red" gk armor and mods for druid skills fill with bile and brambleskin that increase max hp / armor, also top tier foods.Quote:
Originally Posted by Erthiel
Agree with Sudo, and pretty much every word ErD used with the exception of Welp, I'm sure I could of used something far more deserved than that.
I really don't like game mechanics that push me back to lower lvl dungeons to be under the feet of the up and comings to be honest. Must suck for them to battle bravely as a group past fog just to find some old timer bashing on endless spawns of elementals.
Never been the min max gamer that Awol and ErD and others are, my builds tend to just be some semi workable things to have some fun with whilst I grind the lvls before moving onto the next or newest thing. So I'm not overly attached to much.
Have seen how dramatically broken Bard was/is, Hammer I understand can hit 3 things for 10k or so damage, also think wolf had an issue that it could buff its damage to a stupid point.
Were any of these actually addressed or are they to be left as is?
Still can't understand why the 2 most important things have not been added.
1 Where is the Spider Crossbow Harness?
2 When do I get a Harmonica (preferably with a neck rack and bard enablement) ?
<Post>
<Knife_Fighting></ Post>
As a psycho knife killer, I welcome the damage mod changes and ability changes that made knife a lot more fun, but also more viable at higher levels. The expansion of "not looking at you" to include stuns and fears was much needed, and opens up new combo possibilities where before it was *always* the same (mes, then backstab or surprise throw). I especially love the bleed mods for DoT trauma and poison, which bring my bleed abilities up to a useful level for Venomstrike and Backstab.</ Knife_Fighting>
The buff for throwing knife abilities makes my heart sing, as those are my bread and butter knife damage. The damage might need a little reigning-in, but I have not tested extensively and I was not taking more than 40-60% of the kills over an archer/druid while in Gazluk Keep (with all useful mods on her suit). It's still not terribly overpowered because metal slabs are required for the throwing knives, and that seems loosely-akin to archery's fletching.
Adding the offhand knife was a great way to introduce knife in combo with other skills with a wield requirement in the main-hand, although I have not seen any with skill wield requirements (they were all no wield) and they do not seem to be dropping on Gazluk Keep mobs aside from a select few bosses. This means that unless you are lvl 1 Knife, the offhand knives are not viable at the moment since you cannot get the full whack of offhand mods necessary for a build.
<AoE_Damage>
I am guilty of at least partaking a few times in the Kur AoE farming gig (although I never did so when anyone else was out there) and Knife does have an AoE, That being said, I can see where a diminishing return on damage for AoEs is necessary or one risks everything high levels camping low dungeons and areas using these attacks, leaving little to hunt for the lowbies. Personally, I never really use burst attacks on more than 3-5 mobs, and its usually just to grab their attention away from a group-mate about to get toasted. Sure you will have complainers, but I think that is a necessary growing pain for a game in development.</ AoE_Damage>
<Performance>
Serbule still seems bad during peak times, but I have noticed a decrease in bottlenecks and increased response time during these times of server stress. Oddly, even though the peak times seem better, there is still a little stuttering even with <120 players logged in. This is somewhat perplexing but since I am not privy to the inner workings of the server it would be inappropriate to comment much further. Keep the performance fixes and changes coming, because they seem to be working.</ Performance>
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