Test Server Hotfix - July 14, 2017 - Game Update 73: The Stats Revamp!

The Stats Revamp!

The DCUO Stats Revamp is a total revamp of all numbers in the game and a major update to gameplay balance, combat, and progression. The revamp polishes content and powersets now, and builds a strong foundation for new systems, powersets, and features in the future. Ultimately, the revamp will make your stats and your skill determine your effectiveness in-game, not your combat rating.

Every powerset has also been updated specifically to reflect the broad goals of the revamp. Additionally, we have incorporated the community’s powerset feedback during the revamp process, in an effort to improve gameplay across the board.

CHANGES PREVIOUSLY ON TEST:

General

• Adjusted all player and item stats across all levels and combat ratings.
• Adjusted all NPC stats across all levels and types.
• Removed Combat Rating Differential.
• Removed Advanced Mechanic and Weapon Mastery bonus damage.
• Removed Advanced Mechanic power regeneration.
• Revamped the Skill Point Tree.
  • Removed the requirement to purchase weapon attacks to reach stat skill points.
  • Reorganized and redesigned skill point options to clearly present playstyle and stat choices.
  • Adjusted all skill point stats.
• Added Playstyle Focuses. Choosing a focus enables bonuses centered around that focus’s playstyle.
  • Hybrid Focus (Classic): Choose this to play using weapon attacks and superpowers. Weapon attacks regenerate Power.
  • Superpowered Focus: Choose this to play exclusively with superpowers. Increased passive Power regeneration. Weapon attacks do not regenerate Power.
  • Weapons Expert: Choose this to play primarily with weapon attacks. Increased weapon damage and decreased passive Power regeneration.
• Removed Power Points. Superpowers will now be granted automatically as players level.
  • Iconic powers can now be purchased with Skill Points.
• Adjusted, updated, and balanced all abilities in all powersets, movement modes, and weapon trees.
  • Updated all aspects of abilities to meet Stats Revamp balance standards, including damage, power cost, animation time, etc.
• Streamlined power interactions across all powersets.
• Streamlined crowd control abilities across all powersets.
• Widened the cones on many damage abilities.
• All combo abilities now cost power and use might.
• Enhanced supercharge abilities to be more impactful and to be used less frequently.
• Improved ability tool-tips with a wider range of information.
• Channeled abilities now always allow retargeting.
• Controllers now automatically trigger group power over time when activating any ability in the Controller role.

Acrobatics

• (New Ability!) Backflip Attack:
  • Flip away from your target, damaging and knocking back nearby enemies.
• Backflip Attack (supercharge):
  • Renamed to Devastating Flip.
• Forward Flip Attack:
  • Is now classified as melee.
  • Now hits enemies around the target.

Consumables

• CC from consumables should now properly apply to non-boss group NPCs when used by a Tank or Controller.

Iconic Abilities

• Super Strength has returned! In addition to allowing you to lift heavy objects, it will add knockdown to and increase the damage of your Weaponized Smash (smashing enemies with objects).

PvP

• Most normal stat vectors (such as Skill Points, Mods, etc.) will now work in PvP, but will be scaled to PvP item levels. Note that this is different from the hard-clamping on Live.

Research & Development

• Created a new Purify Power Interaction consumable for all tiers called a Holy Light Vial.

Tactical Mods

• Updated Tank power set Supercharged Tactical Mods to grant supercharge as a percentage of the cost for the associated ability and to grant it after one second instead of five seconds. Other roles to follow.
• Updated Healer power sets, Movement Mode, and Iconic Supercharged Tactical Mods to grant supercharge as a percentage of the cost for the associated ability and grant it after 1 second instead of 5 seconds.
• Updated Controller powerset Supercharged Tactical Mods to grant supercharge as a percentage of the cost for the associated ability, and to grant it after one second instead of five seconds.
• Accelerated Shielding is now Accelerated Light Weight and will reduce the cooldown of Light Weight by 10% when socketed into equipment.
• Added Fortified Assault as the mirror option to Fortified Block. Fortified Assault: Increases Defense while not blocking.

Weapons

• Weapon buffs should now show a Buff icon while active.
• Rifle - Grenade Launcher:
  • Now benefits from the single target bonus but splits damage after the first target. This is to maintain parity with Ranged Tap attacks from other weapons.

Powers

Atomic

• Atom Splitter:
  • The first Atom Fragmentation will again Pull enemies to you.
• Neutrino Blast:
  • Now has a small heal and cost 200 base power.

Celestial

• General:
  • Both abilities no longer need to be unlocked in order to use the Celestial Combo.
  • Many abilities' damage now stick with each other and opposite (Corrupted/Cleansed) versions.
• Benediction:
  • Now heals you based on a portion of the damage dealt from your attacks.
• Blessing:
  • Changed it so group members only get the shields if you are in Healer role.
• Cleansed Death Mark:
  • The effects that happen when the target is KO'ed can now stack with the effects from Death Mark.
• Cleansed Plague:
  • If the target is KO'ed near the end of the damage over time effect it will now spread the damage over time and create a glyph just like it does near the beginning of the effect.
• Corrupted Blessing:
  • Changed is so in Healer role three other group members get shields instead of one and in DPS role only the user gets a shield.
• Corrupted Divine Light:
  • Now heals you and 7 other group members instead of you and 3.
• Dark Pact:
  • This ability has been removed because we no longer have super powers Might buffs.
• Death Mark:
  • Now heals you when your target is KO'ed.
• Divine Light:
  • In healer role, this is now named Virtuous Light, has increased healing and no damage, and now cost 450 power. The heal over time effect will now last the full 6 seconds even if the target steps out of a healing glyph. Note that Corrupted Virtuous Light still has damaging glyphs.
• Haunt:
  • Now deals damage in an area.
• Retribution:
  • Now deals damage and Purifies up to 8 targets.
• Sacred Light:
  • New ability that generates supercharge, damages, stuns, and purifies enemies, and has a 6 second cooldown with a 200 power cost.
• Sacrifice:
  • Can now clip animations of other heals/Increased the range at which group members are healed.
  • No longer heals non-group member allies to ensure that group members are the target.
• Smite:
  • Now deals damage in an area.

Earth

• General:
  • Improved messaging of Aftershock duration with a defense “check engine light”.
  • Reinforce visual effects update
• Fortify Golem:
  • Power return will now fill the golem’s power bar.
• Pebble Blast:
  • Now a single target Taunt.
• Reinforce:
  • Changed the Particle effects.
• Soothing Sands:
  • Updated particle effects.
• Stone:
  • Now a multi-target cone, and no longer Taunts.
• Summon Brick:
  • Improved messaging of damage transfer with a health “check engine light” while in tank stance.

Electricity

• Electroburst:
  • While in Healer Role, now chooses group members based on lowest health percentage instead of distance. It should no longer feel like it misses healing a group member that is far away while other members are close by.
  • Now damages and heals in both roles with the healing going to you and up to 7 group members within a 25 meter range (the same as Galvanize).
• Overcharge:
  • Added healing to the explosion in Healer Role.
• Recover:
  • A new ability that will heal you and up to 3 of the most injured group members.
• Voltaic Blast:
  • A new ability that cost 300 power and deals burst damage, with extra to Electrified enemies.

Fire

• General:
  • Tank Role
    • Fire now gains the following bonuses in Tank Role:
      • +65% Health.
      • +65% Incoming Healing while not blocking.
      • +3 Perception.
      • Superpowers gain Taunt.
      • Fire Soul – New Passive - +25% while not blocking.
        • As you directly damage Burning enemies, this bonus increases to a maximum of +55% Defense while not blocking.
• Absorb Heat:
  • Is now mobile cast, with throughput slightly reduced as a result.
  • Now always heals you, with increased healing in Tank Role and vs. Burning targets.
• Detonate:
  • Now hits targets in an AoE, rather than just one target.
• Engulf:
  • New ability pull!
• Immolation:
  • Is now properly classified as a beneficial ability, allowing it to clip to other abilities.
  • Reworked into a Shield.
  • Applies Burning and damage over time to melee attackers.
• Spontaneous Combustion:
  • Now debuffs the primary target, and deals AoE damage when triggered.
• Stoke Flames:
  • Now deals additional damage in DPS Role and additional healing in Tank Role.

Gadgets

• General:
  • Dazing Gadgets
    • Stealth:
      • Now detaunts and Dazes surrounding enemies, setting up for immediate PI exploitation.
  • Electric Gadgets
    • Gauss Grenade:
      • Now 100 cost, stuns in Control Role, and returns as a Defense Debuff.
  • Fire Gadgets
    • Napalm Grenade:
      • Now 100 cost. On Live, this ability benefits from Electrify and Frostbite, but we switched the Electrify exploit to Daze to better fit the model. Knocks down in Control Role and remains a Healing Debuff.
    • Thermite Mine:
      • Now 100 cost and knocks down in any role. Because of its cast time and its point-blank delivery, its damage output is greater than Napalm Grenade.
• Fear Gas:
  • This is no longer channeled and will set up the damage over time even if your character jumps at activation time.

Ice

• General:
  • Winter Ward and Shatter Restraints should Now show defense icons while the shield is active.
• Cold Snap:
  • Applies a 12s DoT to enemies within 13m.
• Frost Blast:
  • Is now mobile cast.
• Ice Elemental:
  • Now uses Brawling Weapon attacks.

Munitions

• Biggun:
  • To keep the potential bonus damage for this ability the low rank enemies that can be obliterated must be at or below 35% health.
• Killer Instincts:
  • The head band visual effect will now show in Controller role as well as DPS role.

Nature

• Blossom:
  • No longer consumes Pheromones but continues to exploit for group healing (tooltip still needs to be updated).
• Flourish:
  • Now a burst heal.
  • No longer consumes Pheromones, but spreads and refreshes them.
• Form Changes:
  • Form changes have been converted into Supercharges, to increase the passive bonuses they provide. We chose this route since, as a normal power-consuming ability, some stats must be decreased on Insectoid and Primal Wolf to keep them balanced otherwise. We also wanted these forms to be optional, instead of being the absolute most effective way to perform the role.
    • Primal Wolf: +10% Damage, +15% Critical Attack Chance, +30% Critical Attack Damage.
    • Insectoid: +10% Healing, +15% Critical Healing Chance, +30% Critical Healing Magnitude.
    • Gorilla: +30% Defense, +35% Damage, +35% Healing.
• Harvest:
  • No longer consumes Poisons, but spreads and refreshes them.
• Roar:
  • Now deals burst damage in DPS Role and burst healing in Healer Role.
• Savage Growth:
  • Now performs healing over time in Healer Role.
  • Savage Growth now deals instant damage and consumes remaining Poison for additional damage.
• Thorn Burst:
  • No longer consumes Poisons, but spreads and refreshes them. These effects will not show until next build.
  • PBAOE burst.
  • Now does damage in DPS Role and Shields in Healer Role.

Quantum

• Temporal Extortion:
  • In addition to its power heal, now applies the new Controller Raid Buff (%Precision and Weapon DPS buff).
• Time Bomb:
  • Now benefits from any damage you deal, rather than specific powers.
  • No longer suppresses enemies during its lifetime, but still knocks them down on detonation.

Rage

• General:
  • Abilities that leech health have been standardized: DPS Role = 25% leech and higher damage. Tank Role = 100% leech and lower damage.
  • Tank
    • Tank Passive now grants 50% Defense while not blocking, as well as Scar Tissue.
    • Scar Tissue now grants a scaling Dominance-to-Health bonus, starting at 50% and scaling up to 130%, based on your Combo Meter (which now triggers off hits from powers and weapon attacks). This was to fix the infinite health glitch from Live while giving Rage more consistency in its max health and encouraging Rage Tanks to attack to build up their survivability, rather than blocking. As a reminder, Tank Dominance is much higher in the Stats Revamp than on Live, so this represents an increase in the average health bonus granted by this passive.
    • Several abilities in Tank Role now grant Fervor, a buff which increases Defense by 55% while not blocking. When combined with the Tank Passive Defense buff, this yields the same mitigation as (fortified) blocking. This enables Rage Tanks to actively attack while this bonus is on without losing survivability from not blocking.
    • The “Heal back damage taken” mechanic from Severe Punishment and Vindictive is now a buff called Enrage. It will now only restore a portion of damage taken (currently 75% in Tank Role), rather than 100%. Since Rage’s base survivability has increased, this allows Rage Tanks to still benefit from having a Healer during Enrage, and allows for a better balance in content rather than the binary “immortal or dead” paradigm that exists on Live. The vulnerability period after Severe Punishment ends has also been increased to 4 seconds, creating a little more space for NPCs to put pressure on Rage Tanks without mandating 1-shot mechanics to compensate for Rage Tanks’ survivability.
• Frenetic Bombardment:
  • New ability added (unlocks at level 21, replacing Ferocity).
  • Frenetic Bombardment functions as a ranged aoe spammer combo with a rapid attack rate (think ranged Frenzy).
• Outrage:
  • Added a Tap melee combo piece that repeats the base ability. both This ability and the base ability can transition into the Hold melee combo.
• Relentless Anger:
  • Cost 200. Cooldown 6s. Leap forward at your target enemy, dealing damage and knocking down enemies in an area while generating Supercharge. Applies Plasma Burn.
• Severe Punishment:
  • Now grants a damage aura in DPS Role.

Sorcery

• General:
  • Soul aura visuals will now display on players with Pets out, depending on their Role.
• Karmic Suspension:
  • Is now a Long Range Target AOE (25m distance and 7m radius), rather than a Midrange PBAE (was a 13m radius around self).
• Shard of Life:
  • New Ability! Unlocks at level 19 – Cost: 300. CD: 6s. Range: 25m distance and 7m radius. Deals burst damage and damage over time to the target and nearby enemies. Benefits from Bad Karma. Healer Role: deals reduced damage but heals allies near the target over time.
• Soul Bolt:
  • New Ability! Unlocks at level 22 – Cost: 100. CD: 0.5s. Range: 25m distance and 7m radius. Projectile attack that deals damage to the target and nearby enemies. Benefits from Bad Karma. Healer Role: deals reduced damage but heals allies near the target.

CHANGES NEW ON TEST TODAY:

General

• Playstyle focuses selected with skill points are now called focuses and have been renamed:
  • Power Mastery is now called Superpowered
  • Hybrid Mastery is now called Hybrid
  • Weapon Master is now called Weapons Expert
• Power tree rearranged for Gadgets, Mental, and Nature.
• Fixed the following weapon attacks not returning power/supercharge in the correct amounts:
  • Brawling - Haymaker, Launching Uppercut.
  • Dual Wield - Dual Flurry, Flying Spin Attack, Whirlwind Strike, Encircling Throw, Stunning Swipe Mastery.
  • Martial Arts - Tornado Kick, Smoke Bomb.
  • Rifle - Overhead Smash.
  • Shield - Overhead Plate Smash, Shield Uppercut, Two Footed Slam, Handspring Kick.
  • Staff - Downward Smash Combo.
  • Two Handed - Melee Attack.
• Damage to an entity of the same faction will no longer be added to the scorecard.
• Controllers
  • Increased relative Power Healing.
• Items
  • Fixed stats and quality on Choker of Endurance items.
• Legends
  • Fixed a bug that was giving Legends characters max damage reduction in PvP and PvE.
• Pets
  • Now spawn at the correct level.
  • Known issue: Pet displayed Combat Rating will be lower than Player CR.
• PvP
  • Updated critical stat clamps for PvP.
  • Reduced the damage/shielding/healing/power healing of all supercharges while PvPing.
  • Reduced the effectiveness of Shields in PvP.
• Skill Points
  • Did a pass to ensure each skill point guarantees stat progression (a few rare edge cases were granting 0 stats for a skill point at low levels).
• Stats
  • Increased Healer Role bonus Restoration to 35%, up from 25%. We are continuing to review overall healing strength and healing power costs and will be making future adjustments as needed.
  • Increased Roleless Buff bonus for missing Tanks and Healers.
  • Updated stat growth curves and starting values. Health, damage, and healing relative to NPCs and other players should remain unchanged. Relative Power Healing should be increased for Controllers. This change narrows the gap between the top and bottom CRs, both for players and NPCs. It should also help reduce perceived issues with power cost scaling.
• NPC Stats
  • Reduced health of non-boss NPCs in alerts and raids.
  • Increased damage of NPCs in alerts.
  • Significantly reduced damage of NPC minions and matches in raids.
• Stealth
  • Reduced the effectiveness of the Stealth shield provided by the Improved Stealth mod.
  • Reduced shield absorption for Stealth and Invisibility.
• Shields
  • Increased 6 second shields to 12 seconds in PvE The following abilities were not affected by the increase in shield duration:
    • Munitions - Rocket Retreat, Rocket Jump, Survival.
    • Celestial - Corrupted Blessing.
• Tactical Mods
  • The Blast Adapter mods will now properly deal damage.
  • The following mods have been changed to work on different abilities because the previous abilities are no longer in game:
    • Accelerated Intimidation is now Accelerated Battle Display
    • Critical Intimidation II & III are now Critical Battle Display II & III
    • Critical Hive Mind II & III are now Critical Primal Wolf Form II & III
  • Relentless Precision II's tooltip is now shown correctly once socketed into a piece of equipment.
  • Updated the tooltips for Supercharged Vindictive II and Supercharged Vindictive III to state that the supercharge returned is every one-half seconds.
  • Supercharged Devastating Flip II's tooltip no longer states the supercharge is returned over time.
• Weapon Mastery
  • While having the Hybrid Focus chosen, the following cross weapon mastery attacks no longer return power:
    • Dual Wield - Ground Pound Mastery, Explosive Shot Mastery.
    • One Handed - Solar Flame Mastery.
    • Rifle - Flurry Mastery, Slip Shot Mastery.
    • Staff - Mortar Mastery.
• Icons
  • Updated icons for Home Turf trinkets.

Powers

Earth

• Debris Field:
  • Fixed Crushing FX.
• Envelop:
  • Will no longer make your camera unresponsive after using it.
• Jackhammer:
  • Reduced the cooldown to 3 seconds from 6 seconds and increased the damage output.

Gadgets

• Improved Gauss Grenade and Napalm Grenade reliability.
• Cryo-Field:
  • Power Interaction application fixes.
  • Fixed Cryo-Field's undo stealth effect. Now persists for Cryo-Field's duration.
• Flamethrower:
  • Benefits from Dazed or Frostbite.
• Suppressor Turret:
  • Stun Grenade is now Frost Grenade, and benefits from Electrify or Burning.

Ice

• Hibernation:
  • Will no longer make your camera unresponsive after using it.
• Snow Devil:
  • Fixed an issue where Snow Devil was splitting its damage incorrectly, resulting in reduced damage for multiple targets.

Nature

• Shapeshifting:
  • Insectoid Form now performs AOE healing on form change.
  • Wolf Form now deals PBAOE damage on form change.
  • Gorilla Form - Persistent transformation and temporary buffs.
  • Canine Form now summons two dog pets on form change, and now has the Pack Leader ability (which summons two dog pets).
  • Fixed bugs with form change loadout bars.
• Thrash:
  • Now deals damage over time and stuns.

Rage

• Severe Punishment/Violence:
  • The damage auras from Severe Punishment and Violence now stack properly with each other.

Sorcery

• Removed the Return Form ability from the Sorcery powers UI.
• Watcher:
  • Increased healing from passive heal aura.

Known Issue:

• Some stat numbers for stat clamping and stat boosting are not functioning properly, most noticeably for defense. We will resolve.