wow this is kinda shocking so if you like your nice safe little eq world I might avoid reading this for a few days
Just like everyone else, we're people. People make mistakes.
Some mistakes aren't that unbalancing and are safe to keep in the game and work around. Others can sometimes yield gameplay that turns out to be even more fun than developers even imagined, as ingenious adventurers discover unrealized potential in their abilities. Yet others, even the best-intentioned ones, can cause an entire style of gameplay to shift dramatically in a direction that no one particularly enjoys.
Unfortunately, today, we need to address a number of the latter kind. For that, we sincerely apologize. It is absolutely our fault that certain abilities have been allowed to grow out of control.
In our last letter, we stated that our goal for large scale battles in EverQuest was never one of endurance contests. We'd prefer to actively return to the type of battles that everyone feels are more fun - Battles that require tactics and skill, as opposed to attendance and endurance.
Due to some specific abilities as they exist today in EverQuest, this unfortunately isn't possible. The mathematics simply cannot be made to work. In extreme cases such as that, the abilities themselves must be altered.
It isn't possible, for example, to ever make another fast-action, do-or-die-quickly style encounter as long as Manaburn exists in its current form, unless it is targeted solely at an entire group of people who have this ability, as it will otherwise be trivial to those who do.
Likewise, it isn't possible to create encounters that must be completed in a certain amount of time due to mana consumption, when Rods of Mystical Transvergence provide an essentially unlimited source of mana. Every challenging encounter must also be challenging for the massive raid of people who have infinite mana, and the encounter then becomes undoable to those who do not have the infinite supply.
Hypothetically, the only alternative to changing abilities such as these would be to inflate every other class up to the same tier of relative power (be it damaging power, or mana regenerative power), then inflate the rest of the world to compensate for the sudden rash of new found power. Drastic, world-wide changes of that sort, however, are a guaranteed way to do more harm than good.
The time has come to address these abilities. Fortunately, after doing so, EverQuest as a whole, and the encounters in Planes of Power, will be able to be tuned for forces who are interested in active participation in the game, as opposed to those forced to sit through yet another 45 minute encounter with a single NPC, as became the norm in Luclin.
Manaburn.
In addition to the problem described above, this ability was never intended to be a way for small bands of high level players to hold hostage the advancement of larger numbers of more appropriately leveled people. While this was not the universal case, it has unfortunately happened enough across most servers to where it became a large concern in recent months. The concept of someone looking to complete their epic quest via teamwork and overcoming the odds, only to have their attempts obstructed, in some cases, by small teams of players looking to profit financially from their power, quite frankly, is not a behavior that we wish the game to reinforce.
In the next patch, Wizards who have purchased Manaburn will find that their ability points have been refunded. Please make sure that you have fewer than 25 pooled Ability points.
At that point, they will be able to purchase a new Manaburn if they choose, which has most of the power of the old one. However, the new Manaburn leaves a temporary effect on its target when used that does not stack with other Manaburns. The delay that we will be tuning on the Test Server soon will allow a single target to be manaburned no more frequently than once every minute.
Hopefully, this will bring the ability back in line with the original intent -- A powerful ability that allows a Wizard to do massive short-term damage, but not a method for a group of wizards to destroy powerful creatures with zero risk.
Rods of Mystical Transvergence.
The description above shows how this spell has perhaps singlehandedly altered the balance of the end-game encounter by turning it into an event where the largest challenge is setting up a timed rotation of Complete Healing. Once that is established, in many cases, the event is just as playable by leaving AutoAttack on, and wandering away to watch television. This does not make for stellar interactive content.
We view Magicians as an excellent source of damage, especially with the many pet enhancements that have been made over the past year. To be honest, it is a more than a small shame that their full energies have been viewed as "needed" to be spent, full-time, purely on transferring their mana to others. Magicians are supposed to be the masters of elemental conjuration and highly respected as a damage-dealer, not the masters of mana transferrence.
In the next update, Rods of Mystical Transvergence will be changed so that the spell summons an item that is still a valuable upgrade over the original Modulation Rod, yet does not provide an infinite amount of mana. The idea of sudden mana gain spells is only balanced if there is a net loss over time to counteract the rapid infusion. The initial version of the spell that we will be testing summons a Rod containing a single charge of 360 mana for 450 hit points, and can only be used by a person once each minute.
In addition, the Rods themselves will be non-droppable, and spell will turn into a "target based summon," such that the Magician summons them directly onto the recipient, as opposed to having to hand them out manually or create a stockpile on the ground.
Since there are definitely encounters in the game where this type of mana regeneration is mandatory for the encounter to be beaten by a reasonably sized force, a number of those encounters will likewise be re-tuned to shorten their duration, most frequently by lowering the hit points on the NPC in question.
Again, our intent here is provide Magicians with a desirable secondary ability that would ideally be used before a battle, not an ability which essentially compels them to suddenly transform into a full-time support role, transferring their mana to others, as opposed to dealing damage.
Complete Healing.
The concept of any class getting their single best, most efficient primary ability at level 39, has never sat well with most people. In the days of characters having a maximum of 2000-4000 hit points, the spell was absolutely not imbalancing. However, as time went on and characters progressed, now doubling that amount of hit points, it becomes obvious that the spell must be scaled back slightly.
This spell has, over time, become the defining cornerstone of the Cleric class. As such, it cannot be altered significantly. Taking that into account, and given that those with the most hit points in EverQuest have yet to hit the full 10,000 HP cap of this spell, the spell will remain nearly as useful as it is today, by being reclassified as a spell that heals for 7,500 hit points, down from its current cap of 10,000.
This will allow it to continue to be used as it has been in the past, while allowing for more dynamic types of heals to be introduced in the future. Making this change will allow us to providing more entertaining high-end encounters that require more active involvement than setting up a Complete Healing "Rotation" or "Chain," then repeating the same motions until the Large Thing you are facing, eventually falls down.
Monk Defense.
Finally, the issue of defensive ability needs to be addressed with respect to Monks. Monks in EverQuest were originally intended to be a class with excellent offensive potential, both with and without equipment. This ability came at the expense of having only passable defensive abilities, partially in the form of an extremely small, restrictive selection of equipment from which to choose.
This, of course, caused its own series of problems of how to adequately reward the person behind the character. It did not take long for universally equippable items (ALL/ALL items) to be considered by and large as "Monk Loot," as far back as before the launch of Kunark.
Over time, Monks' defensive abilities had been tuned up to correct a perceived weakness. This, taken in combination with a few years of universally equippable, low-weight, high powered items entering the game, slowly transformed Monks into what is arguably the strongest defensive class in the game. Monks get hit less than any other class, and due to the tuning over time, no longer take appreciably more damage when they do get hit.
This imbalance between the classes does need to be addressed in order for the Plate-wearing classes in the game to have their proper relative power. The Plate-wearing classes in the game take a serious penalty to their offensive abilities in order to defend as well as they can, and we cannot fix this problem solely by inflating their defensive abilities to compensate for this. Again, that type of change would harm EverQuest as a whole much more than altering the one class. Likewise, we have no desire to retroactively alter all of the equipment in the game that is contributing to this problem.
Monk defense will be altered somewhat. It is no secret that in EverQuest, a character's Armor Class does not compare equally across different classes. (A Wizard with 1000 AC defends differently than a Warrior with 1000AC, for example.) It's not the most optimal system, for sure, but it is the one that many people have had much time to get used to. As such, Monk defense will be altered such that they may continue wearing the same equipment, however, they will get a decreased benefit to their overall ability to take damage.
Again, we have no desire to make monks unable to take any type of punishment -- far from it. What we are primarily striving for is maintaining the defensive order of the Plate classes being able to take the most punishment, followed by the Chain classes and Monks. The latter being technically a Leather wearing class who will continue to make up the difference by being able to avoid more blows than the rest.
In closing, we would like to again apologize for the amount of time that we've allowed these abilites to remain in their current state. With Planes of Power on the horizon, in order to make encounters that most people would consider "fun," these abilities and class attributes need to be brought back into line as sane upgrades and logical progressions, as opposed to their current manifestations.
We appreciate the many well thought-out letters that have been sent in on these topics and more. As always, we thank you for playing EverQuest and look forward to seeing you soon in the Planes of Power.
- The EverQuest Development Team
SEE OMG
It's about time
Once again, the removal of the druid class is omitted.
LOL ching....they didn't even get nerfed
I agree with the changes... they were needed.
Manaburn
Obvious needed change... sorry but 10 manaburn wizzies coming in and killing dragons with ease is stupid.
Mod Rod
Well this one is a little weird, but whatever.
Complete Heal
Well it makes sense, though it shouldn't be called complete heal anymore :) After PoP comes out... with the new cleric buffs folks will start getting to the 10,000hp cap. So this will affect high-level game but makes sense. A lvl 39 cleric healing for 10k just seems weird.
Monks
I know they are in an uproar, but this is a change a long time coming. Sorry but I watch monks who can tanks as good and sometimes better then wars... that is just wrong. And yes I play a monk and I still agree with the changes. It is only fair to the gameplay.
patch next wednesday when these changes will be slapped on :)
I can give some perspective on these changes, as I see the issues that they're changing every day on my raids with HnE.
Manaburn is a Luclin AA skill that requires level 59, and 23 AA points to activate. 23 AA is the equivalent of completing level 59 about 3 times over. All this for a quick burst of damage every 2 hours at the cost of a wizard's entire mana pool. In the old world and Kunark, where mobs have no more than 32k hp, quick bursts of 8-20k(with crits) damage are tremendously overpowering. I'm not sure how prevalent it is on Saryrn, but I've seen from my browsing wizard forums that other servers have organized burn squads that can be hired out to kill mobs for you. You hire them for your loot, and they keep the droppables to do with as they please. This is what Verant is attempting to snuff out. Risk vs. reward is out of balance in these situations. Another aspect is that Kunark dragons are a natural progression in mob difficulty, and with manaburn in its current state, guilds have no chance to test their skills because the dragons are essentially permakilled or being held for ransom.
In Luclin, manaburn is almost worthless by comparison. A well equipped wizard with over 4000 mana and some flowing thought will do far more damage over the course of a battle from standard nukes than a quick burn. The fights are just too damn long. My engagements with Emperor Ssraeszha last almost 30 minutes from the time he spawns until he dies. It's a grueling test of concentration for clerics, and mostly a snooze fest for some melee. Manaburn from 6 or 7 wizards hardly moves his red bar at all.
Given these two contexts, I'm not quite sure what the point of manaburn really was. It's easily abused in the previous expansions, and ineffecient in the new ones. Wizards are intended to be the absolute masters of quick damage, and i guess manaburn is the ultimate dd spell. Wizards destroy things with a flick of a finger. It's flashy. People ooh and ahh when they see a crit for 19k damage. So what we have now is the quick fix. It's far easier to alter burn than it is to review all of the old world content to compensate for its power. Rather than flag the ability as 'That spell only works on Luclin' like they did for the initial wizard port spells, they nerf it universally.
It's late and I'm making no sense. I'll rant about mages and monks and clerics later!
Woot, they're not hitting me with the nerf bat this time! (One of my fellow SK's said that the only reason we "dodged" the nerf bat is because we're unconscious on the floor after the last few patches :rolleyes: )
Of course, knowing VI, they'll make a change they didn't even realize places a nerf on SK's, then they'll say, "oh well, its better off that way anyways"
If any of you knew what disease cloud was, you'd understand what i'm talking about :p
Or they could do to SK's what they did to Druids...not tell anyone, let you scratch your head and go wth???
Zax can probably provide more background on the motivation for the change to mod rods. I suspect this change was requested by mages, so the cries of nerf are out of line here.
I think the spirit of this change is excellent. Mages should be defined by their utility via summoned focus items, pets, resist pieces and damage output. What I've seen is a class relegated to rod slave at the high end. Focus effects come from loot, and a surplus of mages on a raid means wizards get to use rods, not just clerics. Unless I've missed it, I don't remember the last time I saw a mage pet attacking a boss mob. It's really sad to see them be so one dimensional, but that's what Luclin encounters require.
Verant has lots of room to really break things as they scale battles to adjust to this new mod rod. Healers will have their mana regen per minute effectively capped without unlimited rodding, so encounters should be tunable to match this limit. What are the odds they succeed on the first patch next week?
Historically? Very slim....
Well I didn't see this one coming at all. I don't think that the average monk should be penalized for the very uber monks who should be considered the exception and not the rule. However, keeping true to VI's form they penalize all of us for the select few.
Furthermore, to even compare monk defenses on the same imbalancing field as manaburn and unlimited mana is absurd. If VI thinks that the monk "vision" is not what they intended, it is only because they made it that way by including items that appear to be for monks because of the low weight. The items are what are making the monk overpowered and not the defensive capabilities. The items that are in question are the ones that on the uberest monks could ever obtain. I for one will never see flayed barbarian skin legs or other items that are rediculous in stats.
I personally feel that the avg monk is balanced with the rest of the classes and therefore why should he/she get penalized? I understand that maybe at the very high end game monks could be seen as overpowered but how many monks in the EQ world are apart of that high end game? Therefore instead of nerfing the entire class why didn't they address the real issue which is the items that make the monk overpowering. The items are the real issue here and verant even says that. If the item is all/all and weighs 0 stones then it looks like a monk item therefore monks jump on the chance to get it. If the item was never intended for monks then don't put all/all on it.
As a 53 monk I can only weigh 18 stones without taking a huge hit. I struggle to stay below that 18 stones and with a 2hb I am at 20 and my ac drops more than 40 points. I have avg equipment and I feel that I am the majority and not the exeption and now I am going to be penalized for the overpowering of uber monks.
Maybe I am biased b/c I am a monk but I think that even if I wasn't a monk I would be mad at VI's decision to nerf the monks.
This change doesn't go far enough. Why did they skip over the chain classes? Rangers and rogues can have ac/hp similar to the monk class they're changing. Monks with over 6000 hp, and tremendous avoidance skills tank amazingly well. Well enough that a monk on rampage is preferred to a warrior because they need less healing attention. That's just wrong. I think it's logical that I should take a hit with my armor made of steel a bit better than someone wearing leather.
I agree with the changes as well and think they need to nerf Paladins and SK's as well. They can tank every bits as well as a warrior which is just silly.:D
I agree that a monk with over 6k tanks well but I am saying that only the uberest monks have that option and they have that option b/c of the items that VI put into the game. The majority of the monks who have far less than 6k hp's are being penalized for the minority of monks who do have that ability.
On a side note how often does a monk tank for HnE?
Nerfs, woo hoo, verant has been listening to me.
Seriously, the cleric change seems like more of a preemptive strike, looking to the amount of Hit points an uber PoP equipped Warrior will have, and I think Verant is wise to make it now rather then later. The way they are nerfing Manaburn is pretty wise (i.e. giving back the points and making the new skill still pretty attractive, but less prone to being unbalancing).
I really don't have enough experience with either uber-monks or T-rods, so I won't comment except to say that you know they won't get the monks defense right and it will be ping ponging up and down for the next year or so.
QuoteOriginally posted by Kamok
Furthermore, to even compare monk defenses on the same imbalancing field as manaburn and unlimited mana is absurd. If VI thinks that the monk "vision" is not what they intended, it is only because they made it that way by including items that appear to be for monks because of the low weight. The items are what are making the monk overpowered and not the defensive capabilities. The items that are in question are the ones that on the uberest monks could ever obtain. I for one will never see flayed barbarian skin legs or other items that are rediculous in stats.
The items are the hardest thing to change, though. Verant really made a big mistake when they let the legs from Avatar of War into the game.
Flayed Barbarian Skin Leggings (http://www.magelo.com/eq_item_info.html?num=25212) By comparison, the best legs for a warrior in Velious were 46AC, 50hp.
Changing all of the old items to effect the change they want is much harder than altering the way that gear works when equipped.
Take a look at Vandrick (http://www.magelo.com/eq_view_profile.html?num=114282), HnE's best equipped monk. Of his 20 loot slots, only 6 are All/All. Several are monk/beastlord only, but many are usable by chain and plate classes as well. Changing the more general items will adversely affect the other classes that can equip those items, defeating the purpose of their mission to knock monks down a bit.
QuoteOriginally posted by Kamok
On a side note how often does a monk tank for HnE?
On every mob that rampages, a monk taking those hits is preferred to a plate class. When the melee is 1000+ per hit, getting hit less frequently is a big factor!
Don't think of it as tanking as in standing in front of the mob taking direct melee. Monks generally don't equip weapons that have taunt procs, so they won't be able to hold aggro. Can't truly tank if you can't keep the mob's attention.
But the fact remains that it is much easier for a war to get 1000 ac than a monk and even then the war has more hp's than a monk. I see the best equipped monk in HnE but what about the best warrior and if that monk is so on par with warriors why doesn't he tank the high end mobs? The armor is limited for monks and the high end armor is amazing but very very few monks will ever get that armor is all I am saying and to penalize the majority of the monks who can't get it is stupid. It is the items that make the monk overpowering not the defensive capabilities. I am speaking from my experience as a monk who has played for 2 years and still has not gotten anything ubuer. I play for fun and am not a power gamer and now I am being penalized.
Part of what made me make a monk was the fact that I could pull and that I could solo if I wanted too, granted it takes some skill to do but is doable. I am wondering now if I will be able to solo efficiently and if I can't do that I am going to be very dissappointed b/c I have put about 2 years into my monk and sure as hell don't want to start over b/c all of a sudden verant decides to change the so called 'vision' of what a monk's role is.
QuoteOriginally posted by Tonzafun IndyJok
I agree with the changes as well and think they need to nerf Paladins and SK's as well. They can tank every bits as well as a warrior which is just silly.:D
That's not true at all. Pal/SK hold aggro more easily than a warrior via spells, but knight defensive abilities are capped lower than a warrior. Depends on how you want to interpret 'tank' with a wild accusation like that. Is it holding aggro, or taking damage efficiently?
Warriors suck at holding aggro because taunt is worthless and broken on high end mobs. Verant needs to do something about this. Relying on procs from weapons to hold aggro is so lame. Warriors should have innate ability to make mobs angry at them, above and beyond taunt skill.
As for taking damage, warriors do it better because they have higher skill caps in parry/dodge/riposte than a knight, as well as useful disciplines.
QuoteOriginally posted by Kamok
But the fact remains that it is much easier for a war to get 1000 ac than a monk and even then the war has more hp's than a monk. I see the best equipped monk in HnE but what about the best warrior and if that monk is so on par with warriors why doesn't he tank the high end mobs?
Here's the profile of HnE's warrior with the most hp.
Aorin (http://www.magelo.com/eq_view_profile.html?num=97002)
Aorin gets close to 7900 hp with raid buffs, but look at his AC. It's 100 lower than Vandrick. I would say monks don't main tank because they don't have weapons to hold aggro, and they DO have less hp than a warrior. Warriors also have their useful disciplines of defensive and evasive.
What's special about a monk getting to 1000 AC? Do monks not get a bonus to their AC, such that 900 AC monk acts closer to the 1000AC warrior? Just picking numbers here....
The system is broken for more than just monks. Perhaps this is just the first adjustment.
Here's an example of rampage from my logs.
Quote[Tue Sep 24 22:08:26 2002] Aten Ha Ra goes on a RAMPAGE!
[Tue Sep 24 22:08:26 2002] Aten Ha Ra was hit by non-melee for 8 points of damage.
[Tue Sep 24 22:08:26 2002] Aten Ha Ra was hit by non-melee for 15 points of damage.
[Tue Sep 24 22:08:26 2002] Aten Ha Ra hits YOU for 614 points of damage.
[Tue Sep 24 22:08:26 2002] Aten Ha Ra was hit by non-melee for 8 points of damage.
[Tue Sep 24 22:08:26 2002] Aten Ha Ra was hit by non-melee for 15 points of damage.
[Tue Sep 24 22:08:26 2002] Aten Ha Ra hits YOU for 934 points of damage.
[Tue Sep 24 22:08:26 2002] Aten Ha Ra was hit by non-melee for 8 points of damage.
[Tue Sep 24 22:08:26 2002] Aten Ha Ra was hit by non-melee for 15 points of damage.
[Tue Sep 24 22:08:26 2002] Aten Ha Ra hits YOU for 934 points of damage.
[Tue Sep 24 22:08:26 2002] Aten Ha Ra tries to hit YOU, but misses!
[Tue Sep 24 22:08:26 2002] Aten Ha Ra tries to hit YOU, but misses!
Rampage is weird stuff in Luclin. I was off healing clerics from mod rods, then suddenly Aten is wailing on me. Lame!
Notice that she's doing 5 attacks on me in a single round there. I was lucky to avoid two of them that time, but this is the sort of thing where monks are more appropriate today. Having Aten miss more often is 900+ hp that doesn't need to be healed.
This discussion of melee in fights could all be moot when they change the encounters as a result of the mod rod change.
Manaburn was unbalancing, pure and simple. No other class could assemble a single group even with top aa skills and KS entire raids.
The other issues, aside from the t-rods, I really don't know enough about to have a definitive opinion. Some of it sorta makes sense, some of it smells like crapola.
I'm still mulling over the t-rod issue. I can try to shed some light on it, but I doubt I will be able to provide any great insight.
The change is almost certainly to some degree a response from the Mage community. Now whether the mages that complained represented the majority is another story. The fact that mages are not having fun at the end game doesn't concern me for a second.
Will this fix somehow change the way mages fight at big encounters? Will the rest of their guild suddenly gain insight into what a mage does?
Mages being turned into nothing more than mana fountains is a screw up on more than one front. The mage boards are full of posts of guys/gals that are begging to be mana fountains. Personally I think they are just as stupid as the mages that whine about being forced into that role.
I have no intention of doing nothing but dropping rods at any encounter unless I really want to do that. If the encounter is that screwed up, and I don't want to just drop rods, then I'll find something else to do. If that means I miss all the super neato gee whizz boss mobs in luclin, then C'est la vie.
VI doesn't like the way the uber guilds are fighting the uber mobs?
Ask me if I really give a crap. Then find a way to address the problem without effecting the way the other 95% of us that play the game.
Personally I see it as a nerf, for much the same reason as Kamok's complaint. There are so many other ways to address the problems with the very high end game, that this approach seems particularly poorly thought out or perhaps lazy.
But who knows, it could all change again in a week, including my opinion.
my problem with the monk fix is they are trying to fix problems with twinks and high end monk and in the proess people who have a monk as there first character aka main are being screwed to as stated monk can only carry x wt. so for thous people its kinda hard to get good equipment making it even hard on the new monks that arent twinked.
I understand that example and I don't have any facts to back up my argument nor am I going to get some b/c it wouldn't make a difference. All I am saying is that the monks that this nerf targets are the minority of monks. The monk and the war that you have used as examples are great examples supporting a nerf but how many monks on any server are that well equipped?
I just don't like how the majority of the monks on every server are going to be hindered b/c of the equipment of a select few on each server.
I wish that VI would simply put more thought into their actions and think of the reprocussions on the majority of the EQ community and not just the very high end game people. The game is different for every person and I am not in it for the uber loot and I chose to play a monk for reasons that are now slowly being taken away. If I would have known 2 years ago that my defensive capabilities would have been lowered and therefore I could not solo when I needed too I would have played a different character. I just get so frustrated with VI and people who cry out for nerfs to suit their needs when their needs are not the needs of the majority of the people who play the game.
It hurt to admit it, but when trist was around, he was a better tank than me, even before he was 60. I think the changes are reasonably appropriate, but we'll have to see just how far they go.
/rant
NOTE: I have never seen VI nerf enchanters CUZ WE SUCK!!!!!! as is our mana abilities are becoming useless as more and more mobs become unmezzable unstunable uncharmable and hmmm with flowing thought items and mana pumping necro and mod rod shaman haste and slow who the heck needs us. so you can feel a little better know your still be better than someone.
/rant off
I think what people need to do is wait and see how the changes really affect you.
I still fully agree with the monk change, but that is just me.
Yeah I can't complain too much until I actually log in and see how it effects me. I do know that I could solo the entrance to the hole before; and I logged there last night thinking that I could come back to the xp grinding. So lets see how well I can solo a mob that I could solo before the nerf.
I agree they need to fix taunt so warriors can keep agro better.
I will concede your point, but I still think they should nerf all Paladins named chingerz at the very least.:D
don't pick on ching I'd never lvl if he didn't take pity on me
occasionally...if they nerfed him and soul who'd group with me for xp? hmm hmm that's what I thought
Nerf Pally's!
Nah just Chingerz!
Well something all melee folks will enjoy... a new magician spell... but now the mages will be getting bombarded with requests heh.
A summon spell added with 1 Charge of Gate: Talisman of Return
Is it a mage spell or a shaman? I haven't seen anything definitive yet, but with the talisman name I would think its a shammy spell.
Well if it's a mage spell does that mean I have to be nice to Zax?
NOOOOOOO! I dont want gate that bad.
As a warrior you can always just use your innate gating ability (die) :p
About the upcoming changes: used to partner up with Trist alot and healing was literally non existant. Had to heal him like once in 2 hours when we tried out the Rockhopper cave in DP, and that was thanks to an overpull which ate my pet and sent me meeleing too. But then, it's Trist.. maybe he's just too good to be used for a valid comparison :D
I guess time will tell if the changes will be any good..
P.S.: grats to all the clerics that finally got their click-sticks
After the latest pass thru the mage boards, it seems some of them are claiming the summon gate spell for mages. Seeing as how they have already removed several spells from the test server, this would be a just a little premature imo.
They have also added a few more summoned toys, 2 belts and 3 weapons. Whether these items are pet only, like the muzzle of Mardu (haste) or PC equippable, nobody knows yet.
The three weapons supposedly proc ( up to 150dd? ) based on Fire/magic/cold resists.
When is PoP supposedly shipping?
Scheduled for release Oct 21st
Chanters get a new illusion
New Enchanter Spells: Illusion Froglok
so cool :)
FROOOOOAAAAK!
great i can be a frog :(
hehe finally something to look forward too
As a 60 wizard, I have mixed feelings about the manaburn nerf.
I think Chingerz' post on manaburn is spot on. It is far too powerful for old-world style encouters, but then so are most level 60 characters with enough AA points to to get manaburn in the first place. In the post Luclin world it is just a big aggro magnet with comparatively little damage for the mana expended (as it only does between 2.5 and 3.5 times the caster's mana in damage, it is not much better than a big lure spell).
Whenever Verant introduce changes that appear good on the surface, there will always be a group pushing the envelope till it breaks. Any group of characters holding Epic mobs for ransom are quite clearly acting agains the spirit of the 'play nice' policy. The players should be penalised not the class. I have seen level 60 rogues assasinate for 32K of damage, but no one is talking about allowing only one successful assasination attempt on a mob per minute.
Well in defense of rogues... assassinate only works on mobs lvl 45 and under :)
It has little real use, only really to impress newbs if your lucky enough for it to go off in front of others :)
I really just don't get VI sometimes. Here is the latest on the trans rod issue...
QuoteThe original plan we outlined for the Mod Rod change didn't have the intended effect (you can see the original plans in the Development Update). We've changed the plan a bit. The new changes (listed below) will be Live tomorrow. Obviously we want to address the issues mentioned in the Update ("...perhaps single-handedly altered the balance of the end-game encounter..."), and this change still does that. But at the same time we wanted to allow mages to contribute using Mod Rods without reducing their ability to contribute damage
So, without further rambling from me, here are the changes that will be going in tomorrow:
The Rod of Mystical Transvergence spell will be renamed "Mass Mystical Transvergence". When cast, this spell summons a Rod of Mystical Transvergence for everyone within 300 feet. This rod is no drop and contains 3 charges of Mystical Transvergence. Each charge restores 360 mana at the cost of 450 health. A player may only use a charge from the rod once every 5 minutes.
Additionally, there will be a new "Rod of Mystical Transvergence" spell for sale in the Bazaar. This is a single target spell that summons a rod with 3 charges of Mystical Transvergance. This rod has the same abilities and restrictions listed above. This spell is a targeted summon that costs 400 points of mana to cast.
/boggle
The first change was poorly thought out in one direction. This change, at least on the face of it, screams unbalancing in the other direction. Like before I'll wait and see, but I'm thinking VI is suffering from some sort of developer's Bi-polar disorder.
Jeez rods for tanks too? This is going to be insane
QuoteJeez rods for tanks too? This is going to be insane
Only benifit to this that I see is if the Rod is targetable. If it is, Tanks can then help refresh the casters, ie Clerics, during lulls in the action such as "Wave" cycles like the Plate house in Kael. Only benifit I can see and only if the effect is tagetable.
Hmmm, you want 5 tanks with targetable 450 damage nuke rods standing near the cleric when they say "LOM"?
The mana ain't free, there is pain involved.
Seriously though, the pure Melee will just destroy them (No drop), the hybrids will say "Ah HA! I'll hang on to this for a little solo action later..." The casters will be searching through their bags, saying "arggh wtf is that damn thing, I need it now!!" and the Mage(s) will be straining his neck, trying to look at his watch and over his shoulder at the same time, knowing the nerfbat is looming near.
EDIT: How long will it take some knucklehead mage to cast that spell at the Orc lift, and wait for the mass semi-self inflicted newbie wipe? How many petitions will that generate?
grr now i really need a timer at my desk crap that giant is killng my frineds has it been 5 min?
QuoteHow long will it take some knucklehead mage to cast that spell at the Orc lift, and wait for the mass semi-self inflicted newbie wipe? How many petitions will that generate?
hehe now I want a mage great idea Zax :D
Hey Zax! Send me a tell in game so we can go try that out roflmao. Better yet lets do it at the Mill in Ill Omen where most people cant bind close :D lol Mass death AND mass Corpse runs ROFL
kiassa cast it in the bazaar this morning causing many what does this do's from the newbs...I did try telling them if they didn't know they were prolly better off destroying it but there were a few rounds of laughs at newbs that roded without the hp to back it up :)
oh if you haven't had it cast yet the rod lands on your cursor
And they forgot to actually put the single use version of the spell into the game. Actually they didn't forget, they put some 29th lvl cleric spell on the vendor in mistake.
btw the spell costs 3250? mana to cast.
hey if tanks took the damage and the caster they had targeted got the mana that'd be cool
ooo and that spell's been there for ages zax the one cleric spell on the gnome vendor