DCUO - Regarding the artifacts Cog of Mageddon and Tetrahedron of Urgrund

Would it be possible in the future to either:

a) Merge the two artifacts into one, with a considerable nth metal/catalyst gift to players who have both levelled

or

b) Get a new artifact that basically has both these effects in one single artifact

Having these as separate artifacts has in a way divided the community, as not everyone has both as a controller role and there is a pressure to run one or the other (usually a leniency towards Cog as there are a lot more precision DPS in the endgame). This has in turn either started a movement away from might DPS, or might players performing considerably less well than their precision counterparts in the more recent content releases.

It would be great if the game was more on a level where precision and might players can play how they choose without pressure depending on whether the controller in the group has one or both of these 2 artifacts equipped. If there was one artifact that buffed both precision and might it would be much better for the community in my view than having 2 separate artifacts for precision and might respectively.

I've already made a thread suggesting a merge of both artifacts back in December:

https://forums.daybreakgames.com/dc...tifact-suggestion-tetrahedron-and-cog.320120/

However, it didn't go over so well :/

I'm actually not against this particular merge, it should be tested first though.

For sure! Any artifact changes would go through testing on test server first before live.

I think this would be the better option. But I feel like the combined buffs from this new artifact should not surpass or match the buffs from the other two. Just so Cog and Tetrahedron remain viable options for players that want to run pure Prec or pure Might buff.

I think the way you pitched the idea could have been better.

Cog and Tetra are both very valuable artifacts to have as a controller, but they also can be an issue in themselves if:

1. A player has one levelled but not the other
2. The player isn't tac swapping to use both, therefore giving only might or precision buffs to the group rather than both.

Having the two artifacts as separate artifacts is

a) Penalising one of the play styles if the controller happens to not have one of these artifacts equipped or levelled at all. A player who levelled artifacts and invested time/money into their artifacts to play as that DPS play style shouldn't be held back because of someone else's equipped (or unequipped) artifact passive.

b) Encourages tac swapping, which in itself is a controversial topic on this forum.

As I said in the OP it would need to be done in a way that advertises well to controllers, and would of course go through PC Test first.

A) in my OP would be the better option, as just having a new artifact may mean controllers aren't motivated to level it through eventual means in-game or spending RL money on the MP, and so may not solve the overarching issue and we will continue to see controllers only buffing one play style and not the other.

Given that buff controllers have been the way for controllers for years now, having Cog/Tetra as one artifact would also help to see what balance issues there are in the game for each powerset, might or precision.

Yeah, agreed. If I knew certain things back then as to what I know now, my pitch would have probably been more aligned with yours. Folks seemed to get it toward the end, but it was already too late. Especially my goof with thinking that tet/cog were part of the OG artifacts (I started in 2018 so I didn't know). That really ruffled some feathers eheh. Tbh, I hate swapping (and wep combos) so much that I barely even bother switching to cog anymore (tetra and claw still help prec players regardless), and just tell folks to deal with it or get their own if they complain XD ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

A merge would be good, IMO.

I'm not a fan of the fact that controllers is the only role that kinda is pressured into the tac swapping meta. If one less artifact helps alleviate it a bit, I'm for that.

I have considered the option of having both of them give the effects of the other at rank 200, so that players could discard one of the two artifacts; but when I was working on artifact reworks I saw that both Cog & Tetra saw good usage across most levels and a high level of breakthroughs so I decided to work on less popular options.

While I won't claim that the artifact reworks really pushed the needle one way or the other; I will be doing more rebalancing in the future as there is time to support it.

As always my messages are open if you do not feel comfortable sharing to everyone and I do for the most part read most if not all the feedback on the forums so please do continue to give feedback and suggestions when able.

Any plans to rework eye of gemini?

While EoG is a very high performing artifact at all ends of the spectrum; it is quite the thorn in my side as well as content when you can have almost infinite running fields of SC generation & healing.

That being said, for a rework I would have to spend a long time figuring out what would be a satisfying outcome for everyone involved and not just a direct nerf.

So yes, it is on my radar to some degree but I honestly have no interest in direct nerfs of anything being a long time Dota player, I prefer a rising tide lifts all boats approach.

I'd be open to a merging of sorts.

I'm on PC and don't TAC Swap.

I've also had an increase of players that simply would rather have me run Cog, Tetra and Claw - which scraps my Rao Amulet.

We must be VERY CAREFUL of what the Controller Role is becoming......................

Why not just give Pollux Gaze and Castor's Watch a 30-second cooldown? That seemed like the intent when the 25% Super Charge abilities had their cool downs increased.

While I don't doubt that both artifacts are popular, more especially on EU server the majority of controllers in endgame mostly run Cog exclusively, and very few run or tac swap in Tetra. This is due to more players being precision DPS in the endgame.

While that is down to the controller player to decide, the issue here is players who have levelled their artifacts for Might, or just prefer to be Might DPS, are going to perform considerably less well and may be less considered against stronger Precision DPS especially if the content requires a damage check or a certain level of damage dealt. For example in SWE+ the majority of DPS are going to be precision as the controller will be focusing that with Cog buff, since already half the group are tanks and the group will prefer the highest damage from the 2-3 DPS and ideally with the same play style. (This plus the controllers will pull adds with lasso for those phases on second boss so there is less room for focus to tac swap in Cog/Tetra to keep buffing DPS)

The same could be said if hypothetically the reverse was the case and Controllers in endgame mostly ran Tetra and not Cog, penalising Precision DPS next to their Might DPS counterparts.

For me personally I don't want to be Precision DPS as I find Flurry Shot Mastery rather stale and I don't enjoy the game doing this combo over again. I shouldn't be penalised for this because Cog/Tetra are separate artifacts - but equally some players may not enjoy Might DPS rotations and prefer precision DPS, which again they shouldn't be penalised for because the controller player has only levelled an artifact that benefits Might players for the most part.

It would be great in the future to have a 'best of both worlds' approach where buff allies/artifacts buff both might and precision equally rather than one more than the other, so that Might DPS and Precision DPS can have more fair enjoyment of the content in-game without penalty - and who knows we can get a better idea of balance in the game with this.

As it stands currently the controller is deciding what the meta is, regardless of what artifacts the DPS have levelled and whether they are OK with doing less well in damage or more well in damage. Having separate artifacts/allies for precision/might respectively just makes it more divisive for the community than it needs to be imo.

30seconds in my opininon is too long. I am a GS user and I do love it but a 30second cooldown would make me want to just delete it It would become that obsolete. i wouln't mind a 12s then I wont use scrap with it and it would then double your time on the gains. cause you can reuse one every 6seconds to keep it going for another 6 second block period would limit that by half

Is there a possibility to revisit this option again? Just make sure to remove any possible stacking that can result in both giving the same type of buffs.

Im sorry this is offtopic (kind of...) But, there are plans to create artifacts to enhance other iconic abilities, something like was done with the heat vision and solar amplifier.

I appreciate not wanting to go to a direct nerf. Thank you for being transparent with us and offering a bit of insight from a dev standpoint.

While it has taken me some time to get up to speed in terms of artifact creation; I would say nothing is distinctly off the table in terms of artifacts; while I look to increase my production of artifacts you will probably see the emergence of new artifacts that focus on more niche options.

Thank you very much for your reply.