Work In Progress Update and Adjustments to Stat Flattening

My characters on the Test Server are either characters I already have on the Live Server or characters I wanted to create on the Live Server - however, on Test, I can see how sets I have on Live act on content I have not played on the Live server yet (that's one advantage/use of the Test Server for players). Oddly enough, the biggest use I've noticed among other players on Test is advance-play of new content, as opposed to actually checking out balancing of Game Updates (which is why I think that GU47 was under-tested, and especially the affect on T3 and T4 raids), as the oldest players had already moved WAY north of T4 - to be honest, how many of the older players even played Gates or Prime Battleground any more - and especially on Test?

Starting with the implementation of GU47 on the Live Server, I DID test out the ability to solo the bottle duos (since my top two Live characters were above CR90), and did actually solo all of them. Since then, I've soloed Outer Caverns and Sub-Construct (and got the only Sub-con feat I was missing - Total Eradication). Still, I DID find out what the hubbub was about in terms of the stat issues - and it had to do with those under-tested T4 raids; Gates and Prime Battleground.

It's one thing when a raid is difficult; it's quite another when a raid is well-nigh impossible, even when half the force is over-spec. That was EXACTLY the problem that befell Prime Battleground (which was not easy to begin with, even compared to FoS 2 - which has a rep as the nastiest pre-T4 raid in the game). That the same issue affected Gates (which had the exact opposite rep - the rep Gates had was being one of the EASIEST raids in the entire game) had me head-scratching.

I can only hope that the issues with those two raids get fixed (AFAIK, the wall went back up as of 12 July) - Gates and Prime REALLY needed testing, and didn't get it.

imo this is the single biggest problem, any player above t5 is/was too powerful and it is much better to crush the levels and reduce the tier on tier boost to player effectvieness (reset t7 to t5 levels then do the rest), this has the double bonus of allowing greater creative freedom for the creation of future challenges in that the game isn't pushing its ai too far, it also reduces the influence of power imbalances across the board (atm a small imbalance at T1 is a op'ed exploit at T7), and it allows older content to retian some degree of challenge for longer reducing or even removing considerations of stat clamping.

Ultimatetly the only thing that matters in content difficulty is the realtive stats bewteen player and npc enemy, rather than fit to the current pattern a normalisation of the levelving process should be done to set an upper limit on player effectiveness as we stand right now and content below should be realigned to this path...if you continue to set the upper limit as high as you are atm imo you are really making life more difficult for yourselves going forward, the increase is simply too steep and we are invalidating old content (notably so in the case of open world) prematurely.

I actually got to Brainiac in Prime, but forgot to equip a shield, had I done that I would have killed him, as far as the rest goes, I didn't have any problem with the 3 avatars or the adds, and I'm 124 in test.

i've had problems in paradox with a group of 5 full 126 and i'm a pretty decent player or so like to think it seems paradox still needs adjustment

Last night I ran a few more Challenges, because when I'm online there's a lack of Villains.

East End Regal Hotel

This time I wanted to test out the viability of a non-WM non-AM loadout as ECR 53. So I put some SP into Staff and Flight Movement Powers [Swoop Attack, Whirlwind Attack, Downdraft, Air Burst, High Pressure, Low Pressure] and battled like an Airbender.

Made poor tactical choices at the beginning by pulling too many NPCs (Low Pressure) and was swarmed to death.

Lost to Batman because he wouldn't let me turn off the device (kept on throwing batarangs). Perhaps I should've stunned him.

Bug: Before I could respawn, the Batman cutscene replayed, and then when I went back to the last room, it played again.

Other than that, everything went a lot better than I expected.

Circe's Stronghold

Same loadout. No problems because the NPCs are spread out, so no fear of being swarmed.

I was about to Circe's Trial, but realized I had to use the Circe Legend. I didn't feel like doing that.

Spark of Parallax

Again, to test out my Airbending, I geared to ECR 116 (the maximum before not getting Mark rewards), and tried this challenge. I relied on Martial Arts Weapon Mastery though. Only died once.

The wind-based loadout seemed to work out well. I doubt many players would tolerate a teammate that doesn't use the current conventional loadouts. It does help being a somewhat experienced player though.

So when does a player really start to learn how to work well with a team, when they face Hades (I'm being facetious, I think)?

I predict there will be a massive blockade once players reach a particular tier. They will have access to it may be unable to complete the content within it. They may be stuck an unable to really play with their friends since they may be severely failing the content.

Note: This may not bode well for the Tanking role. Arguably the most challenging role to know and the most punishing.

Was quite confused about light using sticky bomb and taser pull. I guess the Gadget name is hiding in lights abilities. Though I admit I jumped to quantum first then noticed the typo in light's Innate Power with hidden gadgets among them. That's what I get for skimming instead of reading the whole thing the first time. lmfao

Nevertheless, liking the looks of nature. Might get excited about using the dps role again. Thanx.

I took my Test Healer into Prime (tried my Muni Troller as well); while both are above the settings for the same characters on the Live Server, only the Muni Troller is way above (my Live Healer is CR108, and the Muni Troller is actually the prototype of the Muni Troller on the Live Server.

Muni Troller - way too much NPC issues (played as Damage, but with Troller gear) - possibly Troller issues (since I haven't gotten the hang of being a true Muni Controller yet) - couldn't get past the adds to take down one Avatar.

Electric Healer - this one I played AS a Healer (not Damage), since I actually had some experience using Healer powers and debuffs and took Magic down and was working over a weakened Tech when I got whacked by a BSOD (Windows error) that link-killed me.

Both the Test Healer and Test Muni were CR124; therefore, it may actually be soloable at CR126 with better adjustments (of the player character - I willingly admit I haven't got the power mix tuned properly with either).

I took the Healer to Gates and got through the first part, and BARELY missed taking down the Swarm Master (despite losing all the Defenders); again, like Prime, I think the issue was more inexperience/SP misadjustment on my part. Still, because you really need at least ONE Defender to get past the Swarm Master, I'd advise against attempting to solo Gates (which is also why I'd advise against soloing Inner Sanctum since you simply CANNOT get through Cat Under Attack because of the four-switch puzzle; I know because I tried).

Healers and Prime Battleground overall - Having done this raid both pre-47 and post-47 as an Electric Healer, I have some ideas for other Electric Healers as far as how to handle your role in this raid (Electricity is not as flashy as Nature or Sorcery; however, it can be useful).

Overvoltage as a Debuff - while certainly useful in the Damage role, it shouldn't be overlooked in the Healer role, either (I have Bioelectric Spark as my only other debuff - again, useful in the Healer role against adds/NPCs for self-defense).

Healer Weaponry - Healers shouldn't melee - that is regardless of power set. However, Healers SHOULD be able to defend themselves; it's why I recommend dual-pistol (NOT dual-wield except as a tertiary) for Healers. So what weapon as a secondary for Healers? Rifle/shotgun, naturally - the secondary mode is a grenade-launcher/artillery; combine it with the Overvoltage debuff and you can do a number from long range on anything and everything from adds/minions to bosses (especially if the boss is dealing with your group's heavier hitters). Once you max out dual-pistol, work on maxing out Rifle, and especially Precision (not Might).

GU50 Powers Update | Page 4 | DC Universe Online Forums https://forums.station.sony.com/dcuo/index.php?threads/gu50-powers-update.255610/page-4#post-3332829 can someone please comment on this i would like to know that i am not alone in this b4 i give up on hL after 4yrs mepps spytle tunso loche devs anyone a reply would be nice i want to know if this is a topic of interest

Personally, I'm unconcerned with this whole GU50 balancing nonsense (it will always fail because players play differently). That's great and all for non-Modded non-Buffed high-CR one type of Loadout AM Rotation end-game players, and whatever they want to believe works in PvP, however for Stat Flattening Adjustments I'm more concerned about the new-to-average player in Low Tier instances.

New-to-average players aren't experienced enough or don't care about min/maxing their characters' stats. They're not going to use the Dev's preferred AM Loadout, maybe use WM Combos, and have mixed gear.

I use Loadouts and tactics that are effective for me, not for the Devs, not for the end-game players. I'll certainly do my best in a team, whether its PvE or PvP, but I'm not willing to re-adapt to a loadout/tactic I dislike using. The game mechanics wants to funnel players into certain play styles instead of letting players truly be their own unique superhero/villain. I don't like that.

As far as I know, the whole point of Stat Flattening is to make the earlier parts of the game more inviting to new-to-average players. Therefore they aren't frustrated with instances, and willing to play them again. It should be challenging enough to have a real sense of achievement completing the instance, but not so much it becomes a chore.

So I might just stick with my "wind-powered" character and just enjoy the game regardless if the Devs and/or End-Game Players tell me I'm playing the game wrong. Or... not play at all. Either way.

Biggest issue with stat flattening is the devs have their numbers terribly wrong and even a t7 player cant solo a t4 raid, when in t6 it wasn't a problem. Damage reduction when you are over geared isnt working as it should in pve due to the cap the devs placed on it, which is why GU47 with its stat flattening makes it almost impossible to solo raids that are t4+ due to players having significantly lower hp pools due to the flattening and damage reduction not working as it should. Also to top it off it seems like in t4+ raids, you really aren't doing too much damage on the bosses with their absurd hp pools due to stat flattening once again. All in all with the mechanics and how the numbers of this game work, the addition of stat flattening was by far the worst update to date if you are an over geared player going back to old content. Restraining a population of players to not even consider doing things below their tier because of it taking too much time to form the group, since they cant solo that content anymore has ruined the entirety of the game. Whats the point of a game that forces you to strictly stick to "12 pieces of content". #1 reason why this game keeps going on the decline to bottom, besides the fact the content is becoming trivially easy and boring to the point that devs had to make "elite" raids that limit you on deaths....

I sololed prime yesterday on live with my 125 cr nature healer in human form using 1H melee, it wasn't very challenging.

I don't see why you think healers should never melee, especially when trying to solo content with them, they have personal shields and the second highest health of all roles.

Personally, I melee everywhere except top end raids, but when I do range, I don't use dual pistols or rifle as you suggested, those are honestly my 2 least favorite weapons to heal with.

We ran into a little trouble in thrones just hades and adds seemed to be doing way too much damage to higher cr players my 125 got one shotted thru a shield and a reasonable distance away. We even had a 2-2-2-2 setup at last boss. I mean its not that hard but harder now since a additional update came out to adjust stat flattening.

Tried ST. There were 3 of us on the last boss DPS 112,122 and 123. We had to go tank,troll and DPS to finish it cause Bosses killed us in couple shots. Doesn't look like it's intended :/

This is feedback on T1 Duos and alerts after running instances with other T1 teammates after GU 50 dropped.

Please......... while testing.... spec for that tier you are testing . Going in OP and trying to solo or carry a group does nothing but give skewed test results. I have had a chance to run through all the T1 duos and alerts. T1 is a bit funky now. All the T1 Duos and T1 alerts are affected. I have not had a chance to run any other instances with my T1-T7 characters. . I ran the duos's and alerts with all T1 guys and we could not make it on most of them. These same instances were not this way before GU 50. The NPC's stats are crazy high now or the numbers of NPC's spawning is ridiculous (Shades of T4 instances after GU47) Before GU 50 I could use my T1 toon and help pick up the slack for new T1 players that are still learning. Not the case now. We were all being crushed. I don't mind it being harder but for new players. This will be very discouraging and they will not keep playing because of the difficulty. As it stands now. With all the issues stat flattening has had since GU47.....Stat flattening needs to be dumped. ...... Should have left well enough alone. Why people insist on wasting time and man hours to fix something that was not broken in the first place is beyond me.

I cannot speak about all tier 1 duos, but Gotham University did seem to hit pretty hard. My 51 Earth character had his health drop to 10-15% before I called out a sidekick to heal/shield/provide power to him. The enemies did seem to hit a bit harder than they did a couple weeks ago.

Tonight, on the live server, I tried League of Assassins Alert. I'm using a PvE-CR56 character. Teammates included CR60-something, CR70-something, and CR112.

CR112 guy decides to skip all adds and go straight to the bosses. All the NPCs are now CR80. Obviously, I'm unable to do much other than planning on repairing my gear after the instance is over.

Obviously, since I haven't played in a while on a team, I can only assume this is "Stat Flattening." If it is, this is way worse than it was. At least before, if some Overgeared character went straight for bosses, I could at least do something with the Adds.

If I was a brand new player, I would quit this game on the spot.
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I also tried the Gotham Subway Duo, same character, teammate was CR96. I felt useless in that Duo too.

So someone really needs to explain to me how this is supposed to help new players at all.

I like this change because now when I queue for and instance like Prime Battlegrounds and see a few 110+ CR players in the instance I'm not automatically thinking it's going to be a wipefest like it has been since GU47. Hell, this might fix Tier 4 as a whole because the 90 minute queues (because of poorly tuned raids) followed by 30 minutes of waiting for the raid to refill totally sucks.

Well, that just sucks to hear. I was hoping I could finally get through Tier 4 content without it having to take 3 hours per raid.

I think Mantis in League Hall: Security Breach is healing himself too much. I was able to wear him down and interrupt his healing, but I was on 115 dps alt. I'm not sure I would have managed it at 104ish.