A plea to the devs: We don't want dramatic changes to the game mechanics

I think I can speak on behalf of a lot of long time players, both long time PvPers, and long time PvErs. We do not want constant dramatic change to the game mechanics. It is one thing to do revamps to power sets and minor tweaks to powers that glitch out due to updates, but it is something entirely different to take away the things that we have come to know and love through years of playing, which is what has been happening continuously in the past year. Many players had come to love the diverse action packed game that DCUO offered, and not only is the game "not what it once was," it seems like its going to get a lot worse.

In the past year, there have been constant and dramatic changes to DCUO, and it seems like the developers plan to make even more drastic changes in the future.

Right before Origin Crisis, almost every single high end damage dealing technique was removed from the game after players had already made themselves familiar with them for over 2 years. Just to name a few, they reduced the damage of fires main move, fire burst, by half, made whirling dervish an unviable power, and reduced earths effectiveness by cutting the damage of jackhammer in half.

From the Devs side of the discussion, they said they were balancing the power sets, but, from the point of a view of a player who was an experienced DPS, and who formed a league that revolved around taking the game to its limits,(which included creating the most optimal rotations for dps possible), I can safely say that almost every power set was the same in terms of damage out. The exceptions being powers that were glitched, like stacking mass terrors/stasis fields, which I might add, were almost always promptly fixed.

To veterans, it felt like the devs, were attacking us. We developed rotations over the years, and had come to love certain powers. Of course we could and were able to adapt, but we were left with a bitter after taste. What did the developers really have to gain by taking away our fun? There wasn't huge out cry back then(fire users excluded), because people were more so focused on the first new raids in years, but imagine how much fun we could have had using our old rotations instead running through raids holding/tapping triangle and popping powers.
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And just as new content is coming out, it seems to be happening again. We just received massive nerfs to clipping, and many animations were made longer, taking the fun out of powers we had come to love. Hard Light for example had been a community favorite for years, and the things we came to know and love about it were destroyed. And for what reason?

To top it all off, people who explored the PvP aspect in the game, often referred to as the "PvP community" are about to have their safe haven of fun destroyed as well! PvP arenas, a place where part of the player base has competitive battles, utilizing complex strategies and skill, are now in danger too. Yet on yet another whim, they are removing a mechanic that has become a fundamental part of our play style.

What is there to gain, and aren't the negatives so much worse?

So devs, I ask and plea, don't take our fun away from us, it may sound obvious but thats the main reason we play. If these next updates go through, there will only be so much more that we can take.

Personally I like the change ups. Keeps things fresh. I've had to change my load outs and rotations quite a few times since I first started playing. Keeps me on my toes.

I am a long time player, and no, yout DONT speak for me. Its a mmo. It changes with time. Every mmo does. That the point of it.Thats why i play it. You can either accept that fact, or leave for a single player game..

I'm sorry "we"?

im glad they change things up, I would get tired of playing every thing in the game the same way, gives a new take on stuff.. some people need to learn how to adapt to change, because those that don't usually end up extinct.. overcome and adapt.

I think I can speak on behalf of a lot of long time players, both long time PvPers, and long time PvErs. We do not want constant dramatic change to the game mechanics. It is one thing to do revamps to power sets and minor tweaks to powers that glitch out due to updates, but it is something entirely different to take away the things that we have come to know and love through years of playing, which is what has been happening continuously in the past year. Many players had come to love the diverse action packed game that DCUO offered, and not only is the game "not what it once was," it seems like its going to get a lot worse.

In the past year, there have been constant and dramatic changes to DCUO, and it seems like the developers plan to make even more drastic changes in the future.

Right before Origin Crisis, almost every single high end damage dealing technique was removed from the game after players had already made themselves familiar with them for over 2 years. Just to name a few, they reduced the damage of fires main move, fire burst, by half, made whirling dervish an unviable power, and reduced earths effectiveness by cutting the damage of jackhammer in half.

From the Devs side of the discussion, they said they were balancing the power sets, but, from the point of a view of a player who was an experienced DPS, and who formed a league that revolved around taking the game to its limits,(which included creating the most optimal rotations for dps possible), I can safely say that almost every power set was the same in terms of damage out. The exceptions being powers that were glitched, like stacking mass terrors/stasis fields, which I might add, were almost always promptly fixed.

To veterans, it felt like the devs, were attacking us. We developed rotations over the years, and had come to love certain powers. Of course we could and were able to adapt, but we were left with a bitter after taste. What did the developers really have to gain by taking away our fun? There wasn't huge out cry back then(fire users excluded), because people were more so focused on the first new raids in years, but imagine how much fun we could have had using our old rotations instead running through raids holding/tapping triangle and popping powers.
___

And just as new content is coming out, it seems to be happening again. We just received massive nerfs to clipping, and many animations were made longer, taking the fun out of powers we had come to love. Hard Light for example had been a community favorite for years, and the things we came to know and love about it were destroyed. And for what reason?

To top it all off, people who explored the PvP aspect in the game, often referred to as the "PvP community" are about to have their safe haven of fun destroyed as well! PvP arenas, a place where part of the player base has competitive battles, utilizing complex strategies and skill, are now in danger too. Yet on yet another whim, they are removing a mechanic that has become a fundamental part of our play style.

What is there to gain, and aren't the negatives so much worse?

So devs, I ask and plea, don't take our fun away from us, it may sound obvious but thats the main reason we play. If these next updates go through, there will only be so much more that we can take.

I think it depends on each individual change, rather than lumping them all together.

There was tons of raging when WM was announced, but after its release it has become far more liked than you would have thought if you had checked the forums in the days right after it was announced. People still have concerns and problems with aspects of it, but it has clearly been far more fun than many people thought.

On the other hand, the speeding up/slowing down of powers has had more mixed results, depending on the power/powerset. And then some changes, like the changes to Jackhammer, have been downright unpopular. Things like the planned PVP changes haven't gone live yet.

Saying that people don't want dramatic changes is a bit of an overstatement, IMO, since it really depends on the change rather than saying everything should always stay the same. Sometimes things can be improved.

I agree to an extent.

On one hand, I think most people will agree that the old combat system was a major draw. It was tremendously fun and there was a certain skill level that you needed to put yourself in a higher class of DPS. Unfortunately for the players that enjoyed that system, they decided that they wanted to scrap it and bring in WM. I think an MMO should look to add onto its best features, not completely change the way things are done.

I would be okay with Weapon Mastery if there was an actual viable alternative, but as it stands there is no "awesome mechanic" that you can execute (awesomely!) to keep up with a DPS using WM. They told us that a clipping DPS would still be able to hang with a WM DPS, but that was a flat out lie. Using my old rotation compared to my new one is laughable. There is nothing more boring then sitting there doing the same exact Weapon Combo over and over and over and over again. At least with my old rotation, while it was technically the same things over and over, it was faster and it had a lot more thought into it. Now everything is simplified to Arrow fling>Hardest hitting power>Arrow Fling>Hardest hitting power.

Adding onto the combat system should have been the goal. If I want to clip, I should be able to clip and compete with a DPS using WM, but I cant.

The Royal "we", right?

I'm sure loving the changes that have been happening. We now have... OPTIONS... for our powers.

You're about three years too late for this plea my friend.

WE? AS a long time player I think these changes are long overdue. Great job Devs!!!!

while i agree there changing some for the good and wm not bad they just need to go threw with there promise of clipping being on level ground with wm. As it stands right now wm is the most op thing this game as ever seen imo. Theres no reason at all for the devs to say they are equal when the hardest hitting powers and none wm combos do a faction of the damage of wm. Cut wm by about a thrid of the damage and buff the might to damage ratio would go a long way.

I agree and strongly disagree. I agree we need more content and new places than gameplay revamps. However, I like the changes and if gu goes back to pre pvp mechanics bullcrud then I am all for the changes.

Another thing, not to sound brown noisy...most of the changes have been to solve some gameplay compliant...

In a 3 month stretch, all 3 of my toons got or will get re-vamped. My main since launch has been a HL Controller (well originally Gadgets, but HL shortly after it's release) since back when people swore HL was not viable for trolling. No weapons controlling was very good to me for a long time...because I enjoyed bending the established subtle mechanics of the game to my will. WM put the kibosh on that and I haven't really played with that toon since the launch of WM.

The developers did Earth toons a solid by adding dazing PI to iconic Gag Glove, but the revamped Earth seems to be a step up for tanking and a giant step back for DPS. Losing interest fast.

And now Electric and HL are getting turned over in GU 38. Who knows, maybe the developers will get one right? HL trolling is about to lose all uniqueness and become a ranged POT? If I wanted a brainless easy mode, I'd have switched to Quantum a long time ago.

For a long time I used to mock cookie cutter rotations and YouTube copycats of blowhards such as Kaiser. With WM, the game has really been reduced down to the least common denominator...so now this is all we have.

I think I'll save up for a PS 4 and download/subscribe to a new MMO (hello ESO) when the summer ends.

And no, you can't have my stuff.

Oh, Derio... wait until you see the new Electric. You're gonna die!!!

I'm making video of a battle healing spec right now. Just want to run TD to add some footage from that, too.

wrong. you can and do speak only for yourself.

I cringe when people say photon is "op"..it really is all gadgets has left that's uniquely useful. Also I think I speak for many when I say WM was the easy way to solve the gordian knot that was power balance..obviously nerfing everything except the new power they were going to make new money on was disastrous for many players. God I wish Champions Online was a better game...they have character creation perfected..now if there was something to do with them there.

no it didn't have a lot more thought put into it. It was faster. That's all. The singular, only difference is that you had to hit the buttons really fast. Thats it. That's all.

I understand that a bunch of guys spent the previous year getting it drilled into their heads that hitting the buttons fast was some sort of uber-leet skill that they could feel really special about. That was never true. Clip-spazzing was a stupid form of gameplay and DCUO is glad it's dead.

Hitting buttons fast is not leet gamer skillz.

Some people get it but some people don't. I am all for weapon mastery, and I was all for the majority of power set revamps.

Speaking on behalf of every experienced player, we know that we once had options, we know that we once could play with any power set and deal the same damage. However that is no longer the case. Every time the devs introduce the new, they completely destroy everything that once was and that is what many long time players do not like. We missed the old skill and fast paced rotations we once had instead of cookie cutter load outs we are now forced to have.

I know many of you guys are biased, but just think about it. When they introduced weapon mastery, what purpose did it serve to also destroy the old HL dps methods?

Dude I've been waiting for you to get in a TD run with the new electric. The new visuals and mechanics are awesome.