Work In Progress GU 103: Powerset Pet DPS Balance

Discussion in 'Concluded' started by Batuba, Mar 12, 2020.

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  1. Batuba Developer

    Hello everyone!

    With GU 103, we are looking at shifting the power of permanent pets so each have a niche to where they are best in specific circumstances. We will be keeping close tabs to make sure pets do not over perform with these new changes, yet remain a viable play option for players.

    TL;DR
    • Damage buffs to Robot Sidekick
    • Damage buffs/alterations to Fury/Crystal
    • Damage buffs to Suppressor Turret
    • Buffs to Offering / Fortify Golem
    • Damage nerfs to Guardian
    • Threat generation buffs to Guardian
    • No changes to Brick
    • Increased healing to Watcher
    Goals

    Our goal is to have all pets to be viable for all powersets and each pet be "best" at something unique to them. To reach for this goal, we've changed pets to meet the following criteria:

    If you don’t actively try to apply PI’s or Buff pet with tray abilities, the best pets (#1 being strongest) in order will be:
    1. Robot Sidekick
    2. Suppressor Turret
    3. Sorcery/Earth DPS pets (Fury, Crystal)
    4. Sorcery/Earth Tank pets (Guardian, Brick)
    If you apply just PI’s:
    1. Suppressor Turret (when applying both PIs it benefits from)
    2. Robot Sidekick
    3. Sorcery/Earth DPS pets (Fury, Crystal) – Closely behind Robot sidekick
    4. Sorcery/Earth Tank pets (Guardian, Brick)
    If you use pet Tray Abilities
    1. Sorcery/Earth DPS pets (Fury, Crystal)
    2. Robot Sidekick
    3. Suppressor Turret
    4. Sorcery/Earth Tank pets (Guardian, Brick)
    If you use pet Tray Abilities and PI’s
    1. Sorcery/Earth DPS pets (Fury, Crystal)
    2. Suppressor Turret
    3. Robot Sidekick
    4. Sorcery/Earth Tank pets (Guardian, Brick)
    Changes
    The list of changes are as follows:


    Robot Sidekick (RSK)
    • Rockets (melee/ranged) now deal damage in AoE
    • Increased Ranged damage by approx. 50%
    • Melee damage remains the same.
    Developer Notes: RSK has very strong melee single target, however it's ranged component is fairly weak. We bridged the gap between the two to where melee should be at approximately 10% damage increase over ranged. We've also added a small AoE component behind RSK's rocket attack which should now make this pet comparable to other pets available to specific powersets.


    Suppressor Turret (ST)
    • Increased base damage by 30%.
    • Greatly increased damage on targets suffering from PIs (approximately 40% total damage increase)
    • No longer self-destructs out side of combat.
    Developer Note: Suppressor Turret was very much behind other powerset pets. With these changes, Gadgets players will see a significant damage difference, especially in AoE situations while PI's are applied.


    Crystal
    • Reduced base damage by 8%.
    • Increased overall damage increase when buffed.
    • Fortify Golem now buffs Crystal's damage by 15% for 6 seconds.
    • Cleaned up AI for less variance on types of auto attacks.
    Developer Notes: Crystal should be behind other powerset pets damage wise (equal to Fury) when you do nothing to buff it. However, should you apply "Crushed" power interaction and use Fortify Golem, this should be the best DPS pet (along with Fury) available.


    Fury
    • Increased base damage to match Crystal's base damage.
    • Offering now buffs Fury's damage by 15% for 6 seconds.
    Developer Notes: Fury should be behind other powerset pets damage wise when you do nothing to buff it. However, should you apply "Bad Karma" power interaction and use Offering, this should be the best DPS pet (along with Crystal) available.


    Guardian
    • Reduced damage by 25%
    • Increased threat generation on attacks by 200%
    Developer Notes: Guardian was over-performing in AoE situations to where its base damage was greater than other pets by a significant margin. With our changes, we've shifted the focus of Guardian to be more of a pet tank for Sorcery by generating more agro and having an easier time of holding enemies off the player. For a damage focus, Sorcery players will want to use Fury.

    ADDITIONAL CHANGE

    Watcher (Sorcery)
    • Increased Base Heal
    • Reduced Power Cost of Heal by half.
    • Offering now grants Watcher 10% of your Restoration for 8 seconds.
    ---

    We look forward to players testing these changes in a few weeks (details and dates soon) and will continue to adjust numbers as needed. Your feedback is extremely valuable to us and we hope together we can make a more enjoyable play experience for everyone.

    Thanks!
    Batuba
    • Like x 15
  2. Sleepy Healer Steadfast Player

    Ty batuba
    • Like x 1
  3. Aggro Well-Known Player

    Will other players benefit from me if i apply PIs and they dont?
  4. Batuba Developer

    If it is the correct PI's that the pets require, then it should. Nothing has changed in this regards to what you find on live.
    • Like x 2
  5. Amanda Bailey Devoted Player

    The Watcher needs a buff too. I know it’s not a DPS pet, but for the first time in 8 years I dontuse it anymore and neither is Brick, that’s a Tank Pet.

    Give it a HoT or something. Give me my #1 fan back.
    • Like x 2
  6. p3rf3ctxxxdark Well-Known Player

    I will say I'm surprised to see these changes it was about time.
    On another note I was curious to know if Snow devil for ice is considered a pet and if so can it be worked in to some of these bluffs and pi bluffs, also will snow devil benefit from the new pet artifact??
  7. Batuba Developer

    Snow devil is not a permanent pet and can be summoned on top of other pets, so it will not be a part of these changes. The new pet artifact should target Snowdevil as well as trinket pets (with the exclusion of Turret Trinkets such as Snake Turret or Green Crystal)
    • Like x 3
  8. p3rf3ctxxxdark Well-Known Player

    Thanks for confirming this for me
  9. BUDOKAI101 Committed Player

    Well this is new I'm pretty shocked in a good way that someone is working on balance. But I must say it was either this or pet ranking. Ì don't see why pets can't just stay above ur head and give u stats instead of attacking and messing up combat with filler. But this will do for now
  10. yumyum sauce New Player

    The new pet artifact should target Snowdevil as well as trinket pets (with the exclusion of Turret Trinkets such as Snake Turret or Green Crystal)[/quote]
    Is a new pet artifact public knowledge or did he leak something?
  11. p3rf3ctxxxdark Well-Known Player

    Is a new pet artifact public knowledge or did he leak something?[/quote]

    Public knowledge
  12. MrMigraine Devoted Player


    About a week ago, several Birds of Prey Artifacts got leaked to Test for about a day or so. We were told by the Devs that they were not in their final forms (they hadn't gone through any rigorous testing at that point), but there was a lot of speculation at the time.
  13. Aggro Well-Known Player


    Artifact pet also work? grimorium verum mixed with source shard pets including fury/crystal are targeted by source shard?

    And is source shard a active? this regards earth and sorcery due to having both Fortify Golem / Offering in the loadout together with the new artifact power, vs gadget players which will just need PIs and the new power.
  14. AV Loyal Player

    Love this
  15. Liightmare dc Active Player

    I find it very interesting that pets are being buffed right before your releasing a new artifact that buffs pets even further. Seems like an under handed tactic to make more money.
    • Like x 3
  16. Jay Smeezy Dedicated Player

    All i care about...cause i dont use them..is that you MAKE THEM WHERE THEY CANT BLOCK US IN! Nothing infuriates me more aside from disconnecting in PCE/PC before the start of it than pets blocking my movement!
    • Like x 2
  17. Hraesvelg Always Right


    Aw, come on. That's half the fun of them. I love it when my tank starts yelling about my Grim, Robot sidekick, two snowdevils and Dark Robins out at once...LOL
    • Like x 2
  18. Cyro Committed Player

    And boy can he yell
  19. Cyro Committed Player

    Something i want to see changed about robot sidekick is when i switch armories(with RSK on both) he blows up and i have to resummon him whereas with earth and sorcery if i switch armories fury, crystal, brick, watcher, and guardian dont desummon. Is it possible RSK can get the same treatment?

    Watcher needs a buff, his heals are pathetic(obsidian already did a video showing how bad), the power usage is terrible you would think using devoting 2 spots and technically a third(watching, offering, 4 man heal) to this mechanic would net something amazing but instead its laughable, and what little heals it does to it heals itself which consumes the same amount of power as if it was healing someone in group. Using watcher isnt viable and not only a buff but a rework is required.
    • Like x 3
  20. Batuba Developer


    Normally I would not reply to these kinds of posts... however, this time I just want to give a little background on the process. When designing artifacts, I tend to dig deep into the systems they will affect in order to make sure the integration of the artifact will not break our current systems. During this investigation, when we see that there are inherent problems within those systems, or reports on the forums requesting us to look into specific areas (such as was the case with Finishers, Fire Tanks and Pets) this is a time where we can take advantage of the process to see how to make QoL improvements or general balance passes to those systems, regardless of players investing in the artifacts to enhance that kind of gameplay.

    Doing an overall balance pass of the game is a monumental task, and with this method, we can go taking it bit by bit.
    • Like x 21
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