"The advanced solo/small group encounters introduced into Nektulos Forest, Thundering Steppes, and Enchanted Lands were more difficult than intended and have been adjusted." That might explain it except in my case its gnolls in antonica.
Well I didn't want to comment on this thread until I tested myself. As a 26 monk I did the following tests. I have all yellow/white armor and at least App3 in every skill (with most being Adept1) I soloed 25 solo rated green con mobs(not all at once). I never once got close to dieing, but I did take up to 50% damage during my worst fight. IMO that is how it should be. I soloed 10-15 solo rated blue con mobs (again not all at once). Three times I had to Feign to not be killed. IMO thats a little hardcore, I should be able to take them with little worry... I tried to solo 7 solo rated white con mobs (not all at once). Only one time did I not have to use Feign Death. Shouldn't this be a bit closer to 50%? I duoed (if you count my bot healer as a duo) 10 double up greens (buffed with level 20 Warden Spells). Of the 10 I fought only 2 hit me... and not for very hard - only had to heal once during all 10. I duoed (again with my bot healer) about 15 double up blues (again with level 20 Warden spells). Of the 15 or so I fought each and every time the fights ended with the healer completely OOP, the Monk completely OOP, and in at least 80% of the fights it came down to whoever got the last hit in. I attempted to duo (with that bot healer again) two double up whites, and got completely smoked both times. My obvservations... anything with a double up that CAN hit will hit. Greens seem to be too weak to hit, but the blues hit me virutally every time, for near max every time. Most of the time their alpha strikes got so close to killing me that I almost wet myself. In every fight against a white con mob (either double up group, or solo) their alpha strikes nearly killed me. The solo mobs were only doable after Face of the Mountain, while the group mobs were completely impossible to stay alive for... the healer couldn't keep up. If SOE wants the players to hunt primarily blues/greens with small groups and whites/yellows in large groups and run in fear from oranges/reds unless you have a raid group then this change is exactly what they were looking for. I however, think they went too far... A duo/trio group should be able to win against a double up white in most situations and that is just not the case. I wish I had my logs here at work you'd die from how much damage my monk took in the alpha strikes. I get hit as often as a Gaurdian now it seems, and I have no Mitigation.
Has anyone read the February 2, 2005 update notes? You'll find them in the very first bullentin in Forums. I would like to hear everyone's remarks, especially Gage's, on this update. Seems mobs were made more difficult than intended and thus reduced today. Please read and respond. Double post, sorry. Sensei Musashi 22nd Level Monk Message Edited by PrometheusO on 02-02-2005 11:37 AM
I'm going to try to put together a semi-constructive post here from everything I've read on this forum so far today and yesterday, and put it together via level. Please add to it if you have something to help us figure out what the actual problem is. Monks level 20 - 25 Most monks in this level range are reporting little or no difference in their abilities. I am going to assume it's because that the difference between mob stats and player stats is barely noticeable at this level. Monks level 25 - 30 Monks in the higher levels in this range (27+) are reporting some difficulties with solo encounters, and small to medium issues tanking group encounters. It seems that the agility change is starting to adversely effect monks at this level. It could possibly be because gear at this level is generally blue to yellow, instead of white to orange, but this is just a possible problem. It seems like the agility adjustments are starting to surface at this point. Possible solutions would be to decrease the change to the calculations at this level, or increase the effects of the monks primary tanking skills at this level, ie. Deflection, and parry. Monks Level 30 - 35 Many monks are reporting that in this level range their ability to tank has decreased somewhat, but it's not very apparent. They are still soloing the same mobs, but taking more damage. They are still tanking the same mobs, but it's a little harder to be healed. It seems that the agility changes are really starting to become apparent at this level range, and starting to effect the monks ability to tank in a way that will make them less desirable as a MT. Suggestions for this level range are the same as last, either decrease the change in calculations or increase the effects of monks tanking skills. Monks Level 35 - 40 More problems are occuring in this level range, soloing is becoming much more difficult, and tanking is really taking a hit at this level range. What I would definitely recommend at this point would be both a minor adjustment to the agility calculation changes, and a slight to moderate increasae in the monk skill effects. Monks Level 40 - 45 Huge problems being reported in this range, I haven't seen any reports from soloers in this range, so I won't comment on that. Tanking though seems to be becoming almost impossible at this level range, the agility calculations are definitely out of whack at this level range. I would think a moderate adjustment to the agility calculation changes, and a moderate to large increase in the monk defensive skill effects would be the best solution to the problem. Monks Level 45 - 50 Many monks in this range are reporting that they can not tank at all in this level range which is a huge issue. A moderate to large adjustment in the agility changes, and a large adjustment to the monk defensive skills effect calculations seems to be the best fix at this level range.
They are referring to the new "harder" solo mobs in those patch notes, not mobs in general from what I read.
At 40+, we cannot even tank blue encounters, healer goes OOP and we have to evac. It's dreadful 40+ when we cannot tank anymore.
Not to be picky, but you aren't actually a monk yet, that's why your level range wasn't included on the list, but thank you for adding, maybe it will help track down the problem. On a side note to this it seems that the extra deflection that monks get at level 20 seems to be what is helping the 20 - 25 crowd not see a difference, so maybe if they upped the deflection calculations for monks post 27/28 that would be the best solution for us. Message Edited by Coterei on 02-02-2005 12:06 PM
This oddly wasn't the case for me last night when I tested this. I was attempting to solo the blight rats in RV (blue++ group to me at 40) and while they're impossible for me to solo, they would be extremely easy with a couple of heals. I managed to get them to 60-70% before I had to FD or die. I did notice that one of their specials took half of my life away, though. I'm not debating that there aren't issues, I'm sure there are.. there are too many monks posting for it to be random. It seems strange that there is such a large disperity between a single mob step. Message Edited by WackyDakky on 02-02-2005 02:12 PM
Thanks for the replies. I hope a solution is found soon for all our brother and sister monks who are having greater and unjustified difficulties because of the patch. Sensei Musashi 22nd lvl Monk
Sigh.. I'm sorry guys. Somehow my wife must have snuck into the SOE development team and worked on this agility nerf personally. I saw it coming with the patch notes, (i.e.: "HUGE" change in agility) Yes, it's true. She does NOTHING in moderation. We may be driving in the car on a nice day, and she will be slightly cold. What does she doe? Turn on the heater. Now that's fine... except she turns it on all the way hot! 5 minutes later she's burning up and instead of turning down the Heat, she turns on the AC ... but you guessed it, all the way cold! As Happy Gilmore would say... "tap it in"
There in lies a problem. A solo mob, conning Green, as described is "Yawn....defeat it with ease" where a White conning solo mob is "Should be a good fight" and a Yellow conning solo "There is a chance it will defeat you". These are solo mobs where myself, testing more and more in TS and talking with others is where we have a problem. Following the con labels, greens should take nothing more than 10% of your health, a white up to 50%, and yellow 50-90%, of your health. That is they way I understand the con labels to mean. I don't want to even begin to reiterating what a gray con mob is described as. So here is where we are. They changed the mechanics in general, not specifically. Monks are limited to AC because of light armor, we have no mitigation, and wait until your deflection skill evens out to 130/130 and then take another look at how much you are getting hit. Honestly, if AGI buffs were causing the problem, why didn't they tone them down instead?
Just so you know at 26 it was obvious... blue+ mobs hit me something like 87% of the time now instead of the old 40ish% So it was a huge affect. *edit to add* and my Agility isn't all that great 95 unbuffed usually 130ish while grouped with my Warden. Message Edited by Apathetic on 02-02-2005 12:45 PM
OK - Just to pile on. I had been having a wonderful time the past few levels, running around TS, soloing some, duoing with a healer or paladin friend some, grouping and tanking some. I only died maybe twice between 21 and 25. Two days before the patch I was with a group of 24-26s camping Bloodtalon. I was the tank. It was a good group with balance, only one healer. I tanked Mighty Griffons (yellow^^) all night long. Never got close to dying. Probably 40, 45 Mighties. Didn't get Bloodtalon, though. (Darn scaredy-griffon) Last night, after dinging 25 in the interim, went back out to TS and hooked up with another group to try for Bloodtalon again, also 24-26. I was tanking again. Went to pull a GRIFFON, not a mighty, and by the time I got it back to the hill, I was under half. We survived, but the healer was nearly OOP by the time we were done. This was a white^^ against a full group, with healer and plenty of DPS. I said "whoa, that griff got lucky," and pulled a Mighty. Within about 5 seconds, I was red, the healer said "I can't keep up" and we evaced. In other highlights from last night, I ended up dying 6 times, as MoBs that I handled easily on Sunday blasted me out of my Chain Weaves. We have been nerfed MAJORLY. There was NO indication this would be the case. Bad, bad deal SOE. Message Edited by Morrolan V on 02-02-2005 02:33 PM
I may not be in the monk sub class yet, but I -am- in the BRAWLER class.. and I -did- notice a difference... though to be even pickier, I am a monk, I completed the quest.. I just dont have the title or time in grade to get that title. It isn't just monks though. My serker has been affected similarly, just not as obvious a difference. I will be loading up my level 22 swashbuckler (with higher agi than my monk(brawler)) tonight and seeing what has or has not changed on what I can take solo..
I saw that, Ariven, and like I said the input is helpful, and I thank you again for it. What I'm really starting to think here is that the huge deflection boost monks get at level 20 130/100 is what is really helping the 20 - 25 crowd not see any difference after the patch, so it would stand to reason if they adjusted how the deflection calculations work post 26 - 28 to be inline with how the boosted defense works for monks 20 - 25 it would at least temporarily solve the problems that monks past 26 now it seems are having. The "best" fix would be to fix the bugged 130 deflection skill for level 20 monks, and rework the calculations for 20+ monks, and the under 20 brawlers.
Well if they have changed agi so the more you the less it does, it is logical the higher lvls would be affected more since they will have higher stats from gears buffs etc. Its pretty sad it affects the under 20s though cos that basically means they fried the affect of even small amounts of agi.
No, we STILL can solo orange and red con mobs. I was doing so last night in EL just as prior to the patch. That's the part that confuses me. We can solo an orange or red, yet can rarely take a double arrow green. The /con system in itself has problems.
