Game Update 36 and Balancing DCUO

These new mechanics... Will they be part of updates or DLCs ?

The race is on! Will DCUO get it together and introduce "Power Mechanics" to even the playing field or will EQNext launch and turn DCUO into a ghost town? Stay tuned for the exciting results. In a few months.

So what your saying is, "these three will be top dogs until we can ramp up the mechanics of the other powers". What is this update for if the 3 advantageous powers are still superior to the rest? If this isn't a long term thing then why is it even short term?

Any chance you will be sharing any of that internal testing methodology with anyone that could poke holes in it? I've spent the last several days on TEST with what i would consider authorities on Light trying to come to those same conclusions but its not adding up for me.

We need a time frame here. It doesn't have to be accurate, but something to let us get reassured that it is being worked on. This just seems like, oh we started but these 3 will still beat you.

It just sounded to me that was the intention in the topic. Especially since it's the precision powers listed as the top 3.

Because to throw all the changes needed to achieve some kind of power balance into one update would be huge.

Think on the scale of one of the power revamps we had, but for everyone at the same time.

Did you notice the asterisk next to Earth? They might have something cooked up for that power already. It might be the Big 4 sooner rather than later.

What are you comparing the results too?

Just curious, do you have a time table or estimate on when the other powers might be balanced



(It might influence my purchase of a respec token )

I anxiously await the demonstration of this difference of potential in action.

So the "Top 3" will remain(excluding HL?) the top until the other 9 get combos added to their powers?
I hope Im not reading it right, because this whole thing is about balance, but even after the update AND DLC there will still be balance issues?

Sigh

This all sounds great but going by how long other revamps have taken I don't expect this to be ready before the end of the year.

Can we PLEASE get a damage pass for the non-"awesome" powers in the meantime? Like soon?

I've been taking Light against nature, ice, and fire through nexus, a&b, and paradox.

Significantly smaller but still there for people to exploit. I really don't see the risks associated with those powers as every power set you clip with your weapons has comparable rotations vulnerable to interruptions and the like. Weapons can be blocked and interrupted all the same so those clips and such seem to be forgotten on the other powers. Clipping with HB into any power can get you blocked or interrupted depending on the situation. Simply having a power that can be blocked or interrupted isn't enough to warrant any advantage considering your mastery of your power set should be advantage enough.

One more thing, I appreciate what you're trying to do with Weapon Mastery but if you guys had focused on Advanced Power Mechanics instead I think a lot of us would be so much happier.

You answered it yourself there mate, the big 3 dont have the same potential.

If you go back and look at the WM preview stream they show you that if you clip a power into the end of the WM combo within 1-2 secs, you basically get boosted power dmg. It has a higher rate of crit hitting than anything else you can do. But its Might dmg.

Now look at the Big 3, Hard Light - Rage - Celestial, all have (slightly) different mechanics but 1 thing in common, they all get max dmg if they're Precision Modded. Most ppl, not all, but most would go full-blown precision with these powers so this extra might dmg off the end of the WM combo probably does a lot less dmg than any other power.

The third thing to keep in mind too is that Amazon Fury is full of small content (eg. solos, duos and 4mans) so its extremely likely that this DLC in particular will be more Melee combat than the likes of Paradox/Nexus' distance fighting. This means WM will probably be utilised more.

If you account for all 3 it means that any Might power toons will be using WM to get that dmg boost, but the Big 3 will probably need to mix WM with current rotations just to keep up. After all, it IS true that any of the big 3 could re-mod to full Might mods, but that will ultimately leave them with less dmg in those Distance Fights.

I'm assuming this means Celestial/Rage/HL/Earth as well?

Also, this is gonna bug me until I know what it is lol.

EDIT: Never mind I went back and reread. I understand, sorry about that.

Very interesting read;

I would argue HL' potential was only realized through speed and relying on the iconic let to get its Awesome potential. Since it's speed is taking a very large hit in gu 36 I would put HL is with the other 9 powers .

Secondly l, you leave off sorcery which after the revamp the sorcery pets have been laying waste to quite a few things. I have seen more then 1 celestial and rage DPS get shown up by a sorcery DPS. From what I've seen I would definitely place sorcery in the top three or four.

Thirdly, I find myself very curious about the possible mechanical additions to the other powers to give them a bonuses. I defiantly hope they are original. Although coming up with 10 new unique ideas or power seems quite daunting I say 10 because I include HL in needing something after gu 36.

I hope the devs realize that many players chasing down the top powers in damage are using everything they have at their disposal and still needing to come up with innovative weapon/power combos just to keep up. Is it riskier for an ice dps to be vulnerable while using a block breaker with their weapon than a rage dps using their rotation that is vulnerable to be blocked? Risk and reward is strictly up to the player. Take 2H for example, if you could consistently land the doom spin or mega smash combos you should get this advantage because you're putting your neck out by remaining in a volatile situation for being so close.