Test Discussion Augments

Transition Suggestions: What this boils down to is that the transition system should take into account the mods that a character has before the change.

I found the transition after the revamp to be generous and fair, so I encourage the development team to find a similar approach. I don't know what is or isn't technically feasible, so here are a few different ideas about potential approaches, divided between options that rely on having the equipment mods drop into our inventory after the change and options under the scenario that the mods will disappear.

• Equipment mods drop into inventory after the game update
  • Augments Box in the Mail - very similar to the revamp mod box, would include exobytes and conversion kits. The exobytes would allow players without mods to get a reasonable start on their augments, and the conversion kits would convert existing equipment mods into exobytes, allowing characters with these mods to progress their augments further.
  • Equipment mods can be used to fortify augments, and the XP is based on the level of the mod
  • After the game update, equipment mods are broken down back into their components, which drop into the character's inventory, and can then be used to fortify augments
  • Equipment mods can be converted to exobytes at a vendor or at the R&D station

• Equipment mods disappear after the game update
  • Provide leveled augments instead of augments and golden exobytes (it seems like this might not be feasible, but I wasn't 100% sure)
  • Provide golden exobytes that are only usable on one type of augment, and provide four of each type
    • This would prevent players from loading multiple golden exobytes into their four "main" augments to "get ahead" on XP
  • Provide 20 golden exobytes and limit the golden exobytes so that only one can be used in a given augment and they cannot be used in any episode-specific augments
    • Same basic idea/function as the previous bullet, just slightly different execution

Full disclosure, I have a mix of mods on my main toons and betas on most of my alts. I play both roles on all my characters, but don't PvP, so I will initially be focused on leveling 8 augments on each of my characters. On the whole, I would benefit some from this approach over what's currently on the test server, but not as much as most end gamers. My main concerned is that the end result is fair and reasonably generous to ease the transition.

I like the idea of having a Combat Augment and a Support Augment.
Support Roles get all necessary Stats.
Respec Tokens would be more flexible.
Might & Precision should be combined into 1 Augment.
Support Stats would vary according to Role of Tank, Healer, or Controller.
Different Roles activate different stats, in said Support Augment.
4 Support only Golden Exobytes
4 Combat only Golden Exobytes.

That is being fixed. The white mainframe mods & White TC's mods are still here. The devs stated that in the live stream and Avair said the mods issue was being worked on this weekend.

I think this is the best solution, especially if the respective Golden Exobytes can only be used in the correct type of implants to prevent any tomfoolery.

Just a question are we going to lose the time capsule tactic mods ehen this comes out ?

Tactical mods should remain unchanged. It's the need to craft to mod that has changed. So you should be fine.

No. Tactical Mods are here to stay. There's a bug on test which they are working on to fix the situation.

Thanks I was thinking about taking mine out now to make some fast money but I won't.

Something I found. On live, the gather feat counted each exobit we found. So when find a nodule to get exobits and there were 2 in them, the gather feat counted 2.

However, on test, when we get the new exos, it might have 2-3-4 of them, but it only counts 1. Since it's is a gather feat and supposed to count when we gather, not when we interact with. I think this should be fixed.

Im on live and my New Justice might mods are 178 might.

New Justice Might/Prec mod split is 97m - 61p.

Might/health split mod in chest is 244h - 97m +85 precision socket bonus.

Might/health split mod in legs is 244h - 97m +136 might socket bonus.

Might/power split in head is 367power - 97m +150 might socket bonus.

Might/power split mod in shoulders is 367power - 97m +107precision socket bonus.

Other socket bonuses 341h , 511 power



Generator Atlantean mods for might are 341 and 213 precision.

That's not correct. On live, we only receive credit for the node, not the number of exobits that come from it. (I've been farming this feat a lot lately and have been keeping track.) That might have been how it counted in the past, but for at least the last several months, it's been counted by the number of nodes, not the number of bits.

Hi Avair, thank you for taking the time to address our concerns. I just want to comment and reiterate Proxy's point regarding augment experience and specifically, episodic augments. In past DLC's, players were able to craft and equip relevant mods across multiple characters within a DLC's life spam. Will the augment system follow the same pattern? Of course, there are variables to consider, such as replayed content, activeness and so forth. But generally speaking, if a player logs in everyday and completes all the content, will they be able to maximise their episodic augments within that DLC's relevant life span?

Also, how will this augment system affect players with Alts? If I may be frank, the Artifact system isn't exactly Alt friendly and my concern for augments is that it will become increasingly time consuming to maximise other characters. Are there plans or systems in place that will grant experience bonus for players with multiple Alts?

Finally, I think its fair to point out that these new game systems are introducing a considerable amount of grind and while the grind is a major staple of this genre of games, I think a fair discussions is warranted on how much grind is too much. Part of the reason why the previous RND system failed was because at times, it was too much and unreasonable. My final question is, will players have an "off time" from grinding when they've maximised their augments?

Thanks again Avair,

Yup. I re-confirmed it as well. I don't know what happened. I had the numbers written down and double-checked it when I was calculating things up. As I looked at the stats today, there isn't even anywhere were I could mistakenly seen the number 382 showing as might on the equipment mod stats or any of the stats. As a result I requested for a mod to take down most of my posts, so that the wrong info is not put out and spread further conflict on the issue.

My apologies.

Thanks Avair, I really do look forward to see what comes of this on Monday

You're not wrong, it's just you got buffed (maybe you were in Deluge, E3).

Finally got on test after the update. And I have the usual list of questions, bugs, & suggestions.

Bug:

1. First thing I noticed when scrapping out my old gear for current is that the Exobytes are not stacking automatically (yes I was watching color and MK value) I was able to manually stack them but inventory filled up very quickly as there are a lot of different types of exobytes. We will need to keep that in mind and when farming gear for salvage it will likely be frustrating to get used to the new salvage limit per your inventory space available.

Accessibility and clarity suggestions:

1. It might be better to have the name type (mighty, precise, vital etc.) come before the exobyte level information (pristine, solid, flawed etc.) for quicker to notice distinction between the exobyte types while feeding your augment as they do not have a different shape or design to make it easier on those who are color blind. Alternatively, each exobyte type could have a different shape or symbol in the background.
2. Similarly having text on the exobyte saying what type of augment they work best with would be helpful for new players.

Unanswered questions:

1. What are the black general exobytes best used for? the dlc specific augments?
2. What is the Exo-Material for that you get from farming the old exobyte nodes? I noticed it can't be used to level augments.
3. Can someone confirm that all augments stats go up by 3 points per level? If so is there any value at trying to raise 4 identical augments at once vs raising them one at a time to max?
4. Where do you get new augments from? General and DLC specific?

Suggestions:

1. Personally I would rather have Health and Power as individual augments for greater customization to our build, but i'm not against the current path of including them with every augment I do see the value of everyone having those stats no matter their build.
2. Please sort exobytes by color/type first.
3. It will take awhile to figure out the best way to build augment loadouts for our roles as we try to figure out how to replace mods like Might/Vit or Res/Dom. Really any of the combinations that would no longer be available. When we completely build wrong and realize this it would be beneficial to have the ability to feed an augment to another augment like artifacts so all of that experience is not lost.
4. It kind of seems like we are losing the ability to respec with not being able to transfer even if there is a penalty cost for doing so.
5. Leave recovery options on R&D Station players who don't know about augments in advance need to be able to pull old equipment mods from gear, and it's going to be needed anyways to recover White tactical mods.
6. Do not just erase our already equipped equipment mods. Either let us recover them on our own from invalid slots or place all mods automatically in our inventory.

The gold exobyte issue:

• So we don't get to play the mission for this unless we make a new character?
• I felt vastly underleveled trying to split 4 gold exobyte xp between two different roles augments.
• More than 4 at level augments is going to need to be provided for the transition.
• Providing 8 (or more) gold exobytes to someone who is only going to put them into one role to max their level isn't fair either. Players who play both roles would still be behind in progression.

Suggested fixes for Gold Exobyte issues:

1. Make it so you can't put more than one Gold Exobyte in a single Augment. This would ensure that players could not make overpowered Single Roles and would encourage them to branch out into alternative Augments intended for roles with the hopes they give it a try. This seems like the best option if possible as it would encourage dual role game play and be alt friendly.
2. Have us trade our existing equipment mods for a Exobyte whos xp levels according to the level of the mod being exchanged. This would be the most fair option to give players exactly the worth of their previous time crafting. (to do this our mods in gear currently would need to not be deleted when augments goes live.) Detrimental to alts.

==Exobits==

Why make the Exobits disppear from the game? They are a major anchor of the DCUO storyline.

P.S.: If you don't have the R&D assembly feats yet, start farming producing alpha mods now and before the augments come out. I don't think disassembling mods will still be in the game after the augments update, so you really would need to build 10000 items with their assembly parts used and gone for those feat(s). I checked on the test server and those feats seemingly will not be granted.

==Affinity Generator Mods==

Given that Generator Mods will vanish to Earth-3 (or whereever), will Affinity Generator Mods go too?

Those were - at least for me - always a good reason to assure their support role buffs and thus to go for elite gear.

If Affinity Generatror Mods were no more, my motivation to get elite gear would shrink considerably.

==R&D Plans==

Why did R&D plans lose their prestige value? (Already on live.)

Cheers,
AP

SOnovagun, That was it!!! It just so happened my main was in doomed metro while i was looking at the mod stats. I didn't even think about it since my main is 238 cr. Yeesh!! I'm glad, now at least I know I wasn't going insane.

I agree with your points completely.

The Augment-Exobyte dont stack automatically