Test Update 09/14/16 - Patch Notes and Discussions

Discussion in 'Test Update Notes and Bug Roundup' started by EQ Dev, Sep 13, 2016.

  1. EQ Dev Developer

    September 14, 2016
    _____________________


    *** Items ***

    - The particles on the weapons Dawn and The Warder have been adjusted.
    - Fixed a bug that caused the particles on the Battle Cat Mounts to not display.
    - The particles on the weapons Dawn and The Warder have been adjusted.
    - Fixed a bug that caused the particles on the Battle Cat Mounts to not display.
    - Vergalid Slave Manacles now stack up to 20. They now can not be worn.


    *** Quests & Events ***

    - Raid 6 in Discord Tower now has a more appropriate name.
    - Fixed a mysterious issue with the Dorina's Potion quest.
    - Look to the marketplace this October for the Big Cat in a Bag. Each one contains a random adoptable big cat familiar. Trade them to your friends or collect them all yourself, and keep an eye out for some rare and unique feline familiars!
    - Berserker Epic 1.5 Quest - You will no longer to be in a raid to get credit for testing all the axes against An Ancient Sebilite Protector in Sebilis. You do still have to kill the Ancient Sebilite Protector to get credit and you still have to kill his buddies first.


    *** Spells ***

    - Fixed a bug that would cause buffs that increase your movement rate to slow the run-speed of players with high amounts of run-speed AA ability effects.
    - Spells and abilities that trigger effects when you block will now function with Staff Block and Shield Block.
    - Fixed an issue where a number of spells and abilities that return health, mana, or endurance based on the amount of damage done were not properly capped.
    - Corrected an issue that prevented bard songs from costing endurance.
    - Bard - Raised the endurance cost of Dichotomic Psalm, increased the amount of damage it adds to spells and melee strikes, increased the amount it heals, and lowered the amount of mana and endurance that is restored.
    - Enchanter - Increased the mana cost and spell damage added by Dichotomic Reinforcement. Lowered the amount of mana returned to the group when it is cast.
    - Paladin - Changed Holy Guardian Effect so that it can now properly cast Holy Guardian Heal on successful shield blocks and ripostes in addition to bash attempts. Added a proc limit of 120 to the effect so that it is no longer as effective against large numbers of targets.
    - Shadowknight - Changed Unholy Guardian Effect so that it can now properly cast Unholy Guardian Lifetap on successful shield blocks and ripostes in addition to bash attempts. Added a proc limit of 120 to the effect so that it is no longer as effective against large numbers of targets.


    *** NPCs ***

    - Test Server only - In the Plane of Sky, Noble Dojorn, a thunder spirit princess, Gorgalosk, and the Eye of Veeshan will again spawn correctly.


    *** Tradeskills ***

    - The Aloe Tip will now show up on merchants even if the "Show only items I can use" box is checked.


    *** AA ***

    - AA abilities that allow your melee attacks to trigger spells will no longer report spell casting failures if either you or your target does not meet the requirements for the spell.
    - - Ex: Strike of Ire as triggered from the warrior ability Infused by Rage 21 will no longer periodically display 'Your spell is interrupted.'
    - All - Several 'Hastened' abilities have been renamed to 'Improved' and several ability descriptions have been updated in preparation for Empires of Kunark.
    - Bard - Consolidated Hastened Deftdance Discipline to be ranks 2-8 of Extended Deftdance Discipline and renamed the line Improved Deftdance.
    - Bard - Consolidated Extended Thousand Blades Discipline to be rank 5 of Hastened Thousand Blades Discipline and renamed the line Improved Thousand Blades Discipline.
    - Bard - Consolidated Quickened Requiem of Time to be ranks 1-3 of Improved Requiem of Time.
    - Berserker - 'Furious Rampage' will no longer reduce the damage of the 1-4 hits triggered by the 'Rampage' activated ability.
    - Berserker - Furious Rampage will once again deal full damage to your primary target, the reduced damage per hit now applies only to other targets around you.
    - Cleric - Consolidated Hastened Bestow Divine Auras to be ranks 2-6 of Bestow Divine Aura Azia.
    - Cleric - Reduced the initial reuse time of Bestow Divine Aura Beza to match the hastening previously provided by rank 3 of Hastened Bestow Divine Auras. Added new ranks 3-4 to Bestow Divine Aura Beza to match the hastening previously provided by ranks 4-5 of Hastened Bestow Divine Auras.
    - Cleric - Consolidated Hastened Sanctuary to be ranks 2-7 and 9 of Sanctuary (Improved).
    - Cleric - Reduced the initial reuse time of Blessing of Sanctuary to match the hastening previously provided by rank 6 of Hastened Sanctuary. Added a new rank 2 to Blessing of Sanctuary to match the hastening previously provided by rank 7 of Hastened Sanctuary.
    - Cleric - Consolidated Hastened Wards to be ranks 9-13 of Exquisite Benediction.
    - Cleric - Added new ranks 13-17 of Ward of Purity to match the hastening previously provided by Hastened Wards.
    - Druid - Removed ranks 1-2 of Hastened Entrap and granted access to ranks 1-3 of the Ranger Hastened Entrap line that has been consolidated to be ranks 3-5 of Entrap.
    - Druid - Consolidated Hastened Spirit of the Wood to be ranks 19-24 of Spirit of the Wood.
    - Druid - Added new ranks 19-24 of Peaceful Spirit of the Wood to match the hastening previously provided by Hastened Spirit of the Wood.
    - Druid - Consolidated Extended Spirit of the Wood to be ranks 28 and 35 of Spirit of the Wood.
    - Druid - Added new ranks 28 and 35 to Peaceful Spirit of the Wood to match the extension previously provided by Extended Spirit of the Wood.
    - Druid - Consolidated Hastened Lycan Soul to be ranks 3-6 and 10 of Spirit of the White Wolf.
    - Druid - Added new ranks 3-6 and 10 of Spirit of the Black Wolf to match the hastening previously provided by Hastened Lycan Soul.
    - Druid - Reduced the initial reuse time of Group Spirit of the White Wolf and Group Spirit of the Black Wolf and adjusted rank 3 of each line to require rank 10 of the self-only line.
    - Druid - Consolidated Hastened Storms to be ranks 13-18 and 25 of Storm Strike.
    - Druid - Reduced the initial reuse time of Fire Storm to match the hastening previously provided by Hastened Storms.
    - Druid - Consolidated Hastened Convergence of Spirits to be ranks 13-18 and 29 and Extended Convergence of Spirits to be ranks 22 and 30 of Convergence of Spirits.
    - Druid - Added new ranks 13-18, 22, and 29-30 to Peaceful Convergence of Spirits to match the extension and hastening previously offered by Hastened Convergence of Spirits and Extended Convergence of Spirits.
    - Monk - Consolidated Hastened Scaledfist Discipline to be ranks 2-6 of Extended Scaledfist Discipline and renamed the line Improved Scaledfist Discipline.
    - Monk - Consolidated Hastened Speed Focus Discpline to be ranks 3-8 of Extended Speed Focus Discipline and renamed the line Improved Speed Focus Discipline.
    - Monk - Renamed Hastened Synergy to Improved Synergy and added the ability lines Improved Step Pattern and Improved Sting of the Wasp.
    - Monk - Consolidated Hastened Destructive Force to be ranks 4-12 of Destructive Force.
    - Monk - Added new ranks 4-12 to Focused Destructive Force to match the hastening previously offered by Hastened Destructive Force.
    - Monk - Destructive Force will once again deal full damage to your primary target, the reduced damage per hit now applies only to other targets around you.
    - Paladin - Consolidated Hastened Divine Stuns to be ranks 2-4 of Divine Stun.
    - Paladin - Reduced the initial reuse time of Force of Disruption and Disruptive Persecution to match the hastening previously provided by rank 3 of Hastened Divine Stuns.
    - Paladin - Consolidated Hastened Lay on Hands to be ranks 14-16, 20, and 25 of Lay on Hands.
    - Paladin - Reduced the initial reuse time of Gift of Life to match the hastening previously provided by rank 4 of Hastened Lay on Hands. Added a new rank 2 of Gift of Life to match the hastening previously provided by rank 5 of Hastened Lay on Hands.
    - Paladin - Consolidated Hastened Purification to be ranks 2-9 of Purification.
    - Paladin - Reduced the initial reuse time of Blessing of Purification to match the hastening previously provided by rank 8 of Hastened Purification.
    - Paladin - Renamed Hastened Sanctification Discipline to 'Improved Sanctification Discipline' and consolidated Extended Sanctification Discipline to be rank 6 of this line.
    - Ranger - Consolidated Hastened Entrap to be ranks 3-5 of Entrap.
    - Rogue - Consolidated Extended Frenzied Stabbing Discipline to be rank 1 of Hastened Frenzied Stabbing Discipline and renamed the line Improved Frenzied Stabbing Discipline.
    - Rogue - Rake's Rampage will once again deal full damage to your primary target, the reduced damage per hit now applies only to other targets around you.
    - Shadowknight - Consolidated Touch of the Wicked to be ranks 14-16, 22, and 25 of Harm Touch. Added new ranks 2, 4, 6, 13, and 26 to Leech Touch to match the hastening previously provided by Touch of the Wicked.
    - Shadowknight - Consolidated Hastened Explosion of Hatred to be ranks 3-4 of Explosion of Hatred. Added new ranks 2-4 of Explosion of Spite to match the hastening previously provided by Hastened Explosion of Hatred.
    - Shadowknight - Consolidated Quickened Demand for Power to be ranks 1-3 of Extended Provocation for Power and renamed the combined line 'Improved Demand For Power'.
    - Shaman - Adjusted the stacking on Pathosis and Wind of Pathosis so that it will better coexist with the Shadowknight Blight line of DoTs.



    *** Progression Servers ***

    - The Mount Key Ring will now be accessible on progression servers before The Darkened Sea, if you have purchased The Darkened Sea, The Broken Mirror, or the newly added Marketplace Mount Key Ring Feature Unlock.
    - Scribe Zikett will begin selling his wares in the Plane of Knowledge once Call of the Forsaken has unlocked on the server.


    *** Collections ***

    - Moved one of the collection locations in Exalted Life and Exalted Decay to prevent them from appearing out of reach.


    *** Miscellaneous ***

    - Added an option to the display tab of the options window that allows you to see pre-Luclin PC characters on mounts. The ability to summon and ride mounts is no longer disabled on pre-Luclin PC character models.
    - Non-melee damage dealt by player pets will now display to all players around the victim, rather than just the pet's owner.
    - Fixed an issue where fellowship vitality would drop to 0 when you logged out if you had a high raw vitality number stored on the character.
    - Fixed a client crash with shrouds when opening a merchant with spell scrolls.
    - Addressed an issue where LDoN leaderboards would show the same person multiple times in the list.


    *** UI ***

    - Added a third pane to the claim window that contains additional information about a claim (if there is any).
    - Fixed a tab title typo in the credits section on the login server.
    - Disabled the Welcome Screen and removed the ability to open it.
    - Added the ability to opt in or out of Guild Trophy Tribute when not currently in a guild hall.
    - Modified the Actions Window so it can support nested controls in custom UIs. The controls were originally only working on the top level tabs in the Actions window.


    - Changed -
    EQUI_ClaimWnd.xml
    EQUI_OptionsWindow.xml


    - The EverQuest Team
  2. Kutsuu Augur

    Interested to know how badly Dichotomic Psalm was nerfed... anyone have a chance to test it yet?
  3. Sindaiann Augur

    People have been saying this was coming for a long time, not surprised at all. Doesn't change that it sucks, but not surprised.
    Sancus likes this.
  4. roth Augur

    This was a bug?

    I for one would not like to see this change go live.

    I two box. I have a ranger main, and a berserker on my other computer. They do not have equivalent levels of Runspeed AA's, for obvious reasons. I have been using the Spirit of Eagle AA on my ranger to equalize their run speeds, permitting /auto follow to work.

    This "bug fix" will cause high Runspeed characters to leave anyone /auto following them in the dust regardless of buffs used to prevent it.

    With the ability of high Runspeed characters to simply buffblock Runspeed buffs such as Spirit of the Wolf and Flight of Eagles, I see no reason to fix this "bug" and /autofollow as a reason not to.
    Gyurika Godofwar likes this.
  5. Sindaiann Augur

    I like this change. Weeeeeee
  6. Razorfall Augur

    I'm just glad they boosted the damage and healing components of dichotomic psalm as well instead of just reducing the mana/endurance regained.

    Depending on the percentages it may even be a net boost (it's daybreak though, so probably not)

    It really grills my cheese that the secondary stats on TBM gear is still awful though.
  7. Sancus Augur

    For those who are curious (old value->new value):

    [49148/1665] Dichotomic Psalm
    Endurance: 6592->7746

    [49160/1667] Dichotomic Psalm of Empowerment 6
    1: Increase Current HP by 5389->5712
    2: Increase Current Mana by 2586->1139
    3: Increase Current Endurance by 455->402
    10: Increase Hit Damage Bonus v2 by 118->138

    [49154/1666] Dichotomic Psalm of Potential 6
    1: Increase Spell Damage Bonus by 4423->6059

    [49265/6671] Dichotomic Reinforcement
    Mana: 9422->10458

    [49271/6672] Dichotomic Reinforcement 6
    7: Increase Current Mana by 4877->2811
    8: Increase Base Spell Damage by 3167->3959

    Edit: looks like EQResource just updated it too.
    Edit 2: Edited to just show the changes so it wasn't insanely long.
  8. segap Augur

    Not in the patch notes, but reflected at eqresource's test data, monk and zerker AE abilities regained 100% primary target damage. Rogue Rk I. and Rk II. also were restored to 100%. Rogue Rk III. remained at 100% (was the only one that was post patch). That at least makes the ae abilities not a complete waste of ever using.

    Eqresource for Destructive Force III:

    09/14/2016 - Slot 2 changed from 'Perform Double Weapon Hits from Primary Weapon Slot for 25% Damage' to 'Perform Double Weapon Hits from Primary Weapon Slot for 100% Damage'
  9. gnomeboss Augur


    !!!

    /subscribe
  10. Behelit Augur


    Psalm of Potential has 3 cast counters at 6059 spell bonus dmg, or 18177 total dmg. Or roughly ~300 dps for each caster/hybrid. Somewhat underwhelming if this is meant to make up for the lost mana, and compared to the relative power of other Dicho's not exactly in line with where it should be.

    Psalm of Empowerment is even worse at 12 hit counters at 138 bonus hit dmg, or 1656 total dmg. Or roughly ~27 dps for each melee/pet. Just to bring it up to the current caster benefit it would need to be ~1514 bonus hit dmg with the 12 hit counter.

    Realistically both should be further increased if the ability is meant to be meaningful ADPS. As it stands if the group is pure melee and the event is under 6-8min, there's really no point in the Bard ever casting Dicho. It was pretty much only used for its restorative uses, with that diminished it needs alot more ADPS power to still make it a strong ability.

    At least with the Enchanter Dicho, you can somewhat overlook the lackluster spell dmg bonus because it also has the proc which does solid damage and lowers agro. And it's always been used as ADPS, not so much for its mana-return so this nerf hurts it much less.
    RPoo, Brohg, Sancus and 1 other person like this.
  11. Riou EQResource


    Make your ranger follow your berserker instead, problem solved :p
    Xianzu_Monk_Tunare and Rorce like this.
  12. Sancus Augur

    Also worth noting that the spell damage bonus on the Enchanter Dicho crits (SPA 303 vs 286). I did a double take when I read your post as I thought the same was true for Bard Dicho, but it's just an abysmal flat damage addition like you said. The potency of Bard Dicho as ADPS is a lot lower than it should be.
    Gyurika Godofwar likes this.
  13. valiantSeven Elder

    Before anyone goes off the handle, we all need to acknowledge how broken this was. There wasn't a single person that didn't see this coming or think that it needed to be fixed. It was hitting everyone in the group equal to the group's size (so a full group would have each of its members hit six times), and that obviously made the mana regeneration insane. No one's arguing that and I don't really think anyone's questioning why it was fixed.

    However, I hope there's going to be some changes (either now or in the near future) to accommodate some of the absolutely ridiculous resource costs that some spells and abilities have. If you play with good Rangers and Beastlords, it's still incredibly easy for them to go out of mana even with a Bard using Dichotomic on refresh. In fact, you pretty much need to use Dichotomic the moment you see them hit around 75-80% mana, because if you don't they're going to be pretty much out of mana (or within 20% of it) if you wait the 60-seconds it takes for your /melody hotkey to activate the song. Some of the resource costs are just ridiculous, and it doesn't help that this song was introduced broken in Beta and kept broken for pretty much 95% of The Broken Mirror's lifespan. Pretty much everything was balanced around Dichotomic.

    It also doesn't help that we weren't really told anything about Dichotomics when they were introduced (we weren't really told anything about the expansion period, but that's besides the point). If this was meant to be an ADPS tool right from the start, then it has failed terribly. If it was meant to be a H/M/E tool right from the start, then it did a fantastic job up until the nerf. However, now that the fix is in, one isn't really being promoted more than the other and I'm not quite sure how much longer I'm going to keep this on my song bar.

    Why? Rangers and Beastlords are going to be completely throttled in what they can do and will probably have to use their DOTs sparingly if not remove them all together -- there's just no way to keep up with them otherwise. The mana return on Dichotomic was pretty much the only thing that made us wanted in Wizard groups, and now that it's nerfed, they'll go back to not caring about Bards. The Magicians were pretty much the same way, because lets be honest, their Heart of Flames is LOL'ing at Dichotomics spell damage boost, and Wizards pretty much never cared Bard spell damage boosts either thanks to their Fury and Familiars. Dichotomic was pretty much the only thing that really set us apart and made us coveted for different groups outside of just Aria and an epic click every three minutes.

    Yeah, it's cool that there was some kind of compensation for the H/M/E reduction, but it's nowhere near where it needs to be if it's going to offset the loss of mana. I really don't even know that it's going to be worth keeping on the song bar to be honest. It'd be cool if we could just take this slowly because of how much was balanced around it and keep the values on the returns the same but just make it hit each person once instead of however many times equal to that of the group's size. If it still needs to be tweaked further, then tune down the numbers themselves.
  14. Randragon Augur

    ValiantSeven said:

    I couldn't have said this any better. Some of the Ranger spells chew up soo much mana that we will run out on some of the TBM raids without a Bard in the group. Its just ridiculous because a lot of a Rangers dps will come from the spell casting as well as the abilities and the melee. All of this combined. But at times I just plain run out of mana and the dps suffers. Either lower the cost of the spells or raise the damage that they do significantly to make it worth casting them on long events.
    Gyurika Godofwar likes this.
  15. josh Augur

    Ok, but seriously, everybody upset about dichotomic psalm needs to read behelit's post. The spell damage doesn't crit, it doesn't focus. it is exactly 6059 damage no matter what and it has a 3 hit limit per person. It isn't ADPS in any way shape or form. If the mana regen part of it needed to be nerfed then the ADPS part of it needs to actually do something.
    Gyurika Godofwar likes this.
  16. Siddar Augur

    Bard dichotomic is all about the mana endurance regen because it is focused by bard song mods. mana regen got cut 60% it will now return around 10% of mana pool to most casters instead of 25%. Enchater dichotomic actually hasn't really been nerfed the increase in base damage is far better then the minor drop in mana restored. For enchanters these changes increase the spells personal and attributed DPS for no real cost while having marginal impact on group utility,

    The difference between the bards songs +spell damage and the enchanter spells + base damage mods is just laughably out of proportion.

    We seem to have finally embarked upon the greatly anticipated round dichotomic nerfs most have been expecting.
  17. josh Augur


    nope, you are mostly right but you are missing the real reason why it gave 25% in the first place. it was a bug that caused it to affect people more based on the number of people in the group. if you were in a group with just one other person it would only add something like 10%. They have fixed that bug and they obviously should have, but then they went a step further and nerfed it even more. On the test server right now it is increasing mana by about 2k.

    So, on the test server right now, it adds practically 0 dps, 2k mana, little endurance and it consumes 10% of my group geared bards endurance to cast it. That is one heck of a nerf if you ask me.
  18. Zalamyr Augur

    Looking at the spell data, it got double nerfed. It was laughably bugged before because it was a group buff that recoursed a group buff (meaning the regen portions triggered for every group memeber and buff eligible pet). Because of that, it could regen 15k+ mana per cast. They cut the regen portion in half and (appeared) to have fixed recourse being a group buff, so now it will regen 1.1k mana per cast (plus any mods, don't remember if it's modded). I *did not* verify this in game, this is merely looking at spell data, but it appears to be the case and the above poster seems to be confirming it.

    I couldn't help but laugh at the change to the melee dps portion. It has a 12 hit limit. It got increased from 118 to 138. So it will add an extra 240 damage per cast per person than before. Used once per minute that's 4 dps. So like, 20 dps if it's all melee in the group. Yes...in a game where dps parses are measured in 6 figures, they just "buffed" an ability by 20 dps. You read that right. Do they play this game?

    Given the adps it adds is irrelevant and the mana regen is now nearly irrelevant and it's no longer free, it's garbage beyond belief.
    Sancus, Kunon and Behelit like this.
  19. josh Augur

    I speculate that given the amount that it is being increased that it is being focused by the aa singing mod but not by the worn focus.
  20. Sirene_Fippy Okayest Bard

    The changes were already posted, but I'm bringing them up again to make a point -

    [49148] Dichotomic Psalm (BRD/101)
    END: 6592 7746
    Cast Time: 3s Recast Time: 60s
    Target: Caster Group

    [49160] Dichotomic Psalm of Empowerment 6
    Target: Caster GroupSingle
    Max Hits: 12 Outgoing Hit Successes
    1: Increase Current HP by 53895712
    2: Increase Current Mana by 2586 1139
    3: Increase Current Endurance by 455402
    10: Increase Hit Damage Bonus v2 by 118 138

    [49154] Dichotomic Psalm of Potential 6
    Target: Caster Group Single
    Max Hits: 3 Matching Spells
    1: Increase Spell Damage Bonus by 4423 6059
    2: Limit Effect: Current HP
    3: Limit Min Level: 96
    4: Limit Max Level: 110 (lose 5% per level)
    5: Limit Type: Detrimental
    6: Limit Target: Exclude Caster AE
    7: Limit Target: Exclude Caster PB
    8: Limit Target: Exclude Target AE
    9: Limit Min Mana Cost: 10
    10: Limit Resist: Magic
    11: Limit Resist: Fire
    12: Limit Resist: Cold

    Dichotomic Psalm was powerful because the spell cast on each group member (and pet) was an additional group HP/M/END heal. So instead of getting healed once for 5000 HP, 2500 M, 450 END, you got 5000 * 6 HP + 2500 * 6 M + 450 * 6 END.

    There is a post I wish I could still see, on the TBM beta forums, where this was brought up.

    The Dichotomic Psalm on Test is more than a fix - it is a further reduction to what it would have been had the song worked as intended on beta. Meaning, what should have been 2500 M for the group has been reduced to 1139.

    As for the damage bonus increase, what Behelit mentioned is correct. The melee portion is vastly smaller than the caster portion at 1656 total damage per character, while the caster is potentially 18177 total damage. We could say this is a respectable amount of damage but with how much DPS any caster or hybrid puts out with their spells, the bonus they get from this bard song is going to be a very insignificant portion.

    To do a rough comparison to Dichotomic Reinforcement (ENC spell), their spell has a chance to add a 22k additional nuke to any resist type (BRD limited to F/C/M) which crits for ~100k without discs, up to 8 times (not 100% chance though), as well as adding an average of 4k (or 16k+ upon crit) damage to a regular nuke. The actual bonus damage from the ENC dicho is highly variable, but in every single case it is way more extra damage than the bard Dichotomic, which will only ever do 18k total damage (assuming there is even a BRD in the caster group). I am not saying that bards should have the same or better than the ENC dichotomic - but that there is a big difference in power of these two spells.

    As an aside, bards don't get Rest/etc. and the heavy use of END on this song makes it even more unappealing.