Test Update 01/11/17 - Patch Notes and Discussion

Thank you for the reply.

I don't understand the thinking behind this change in regards to Pets. They need buffs at this point. Not more nerfs. I don't expect a pet to be swarm tanking 5-20 mobs at a time like players can currently do, but I also don't expect you to even further nerf their current very limited ability.

I am relieved that it was unintentional, sad that they actually decided to nerf pets, hoping that it is because they are preparing for what all pet classes want the most for their pets (persistent gear), and then again, I think it is really comic that they actually nerfed pets. Come on!?!?!? Really? The standing joke of most threads, and they actually did it? I almost cant believe it. Oh well. Hopefully the impact will be handleable . 500 less AC for full buffs might be playable, we will see.

More pet nerfs? Again?!
What the HECK! WHY?!

As a warrior I have no idea why they would nerf pets/mercs. On live today tanks are currently golden gods, and mercs/pets are speed bumps for a lot of mobs in EoK.

Have to agree with the others about the pet/merc nerfs, you stagnated pets/mercs for a number of expansions, while monsters hit for a lot more than when TDS got out and there were pet/merc increase.

Would suggest for you to let the pet/mercs be as they were, but when there comes a level increase, THEN put the lowering of the Things in there..

Otherwise, you going to hurt way too many people with this abrupt change.

Another way could be to make new AA for mercs + pets.
Where pets get mitigration AA, for the level 101-105, then when they get level increase, the aa are puff gone, as people get new pets.
And merc will get less mitigration, when level increase.

That should make people happy, and be able to play.


BUT I however do see a problem with that a LOT of classes have got pet AA, in abundance, where they really should not have got.
There should Really be ONLY 3 classes WHO got all those pet aa there is, and thats necro, magician and beastlords.

So shamans, and such, should not have got all aa they got. As far I know, shaman pets have no problems in tanking named. Compare to that just 5 years ago. Those AA have in such cases got out of hand.

Please take a step back and take a look at the mile wide gap between player and pet tanks.

Pets and mercs need buffs, not nerfs. Did no one read that 12 page thread balance where art thou?

wow make mercs even worse than they already are? just not cool at all.

They havnt been upgraded in what 3 years and now seeing a nerf. boy they should be really good in EoK now.

Please note that pets did not specifically get nerfed, but they fixed an oversight where pets were unintentionally receiving more benefit as intended.

However it DOES magnify the issue that mercs and pets are not being properly tuned to handle the power creep of current content.

@smash, Not Sure what kind of group your running, maybe 2 or 3 real healers and a healer merc or two, but my maxed aa'd shammy pet is not tanking named and is not able too, with full aa's and mage gear he can tank a trash mob with shammy and merc healer support, take away one of those healers and the dogs flat. quick. and that's a trash mob, maybe you meant to say mage or beast pets, or maybe you know someone outfitting the dog dog in eok t2 gear or something but I assure you the dog dog is not tanking eok named unless there are more at least 2 real healers not merc healers, could be a good real cleric could keep him upright but I have yet to see a shaman that can with no other real healer support.

Thank you for taking the time and consideration to address this topic. I am glad that it was recognized that what pet classes were experiencing on Test was an oversight. I am also glad that pets will be receiving equal effectiveness of buffs just like players. As a pet class, I have never asked or wanted to have a pet that is superior to a player tank, just a pet that is capable of handling its role the way it needs to.

However, I am concerned about the reduction of AC a pet is going to experience. The intent of this patch was, to my understanding, strictly to separate AC and attack values into two separate parts. From the AC part, the numbers for avoidance and mitigation were to be seen visually. Nowhere did I read or see any mention of increases or decreases to AC, rather just a display.

And yet we have come to a point where, as you illustrate, there is a decrease being given to pets. As a pet class, this honestly does not seem fair at all. My magician is going to have no AC change pre and post patch. Neither is my alt monk. Why is my pet having a negative change?

I know magicians like Sancus will be able to provide post patch data on the tanking abilities of magician pets. He does not do this to ask for increases to pre patch AC, but rather for equality. At the end of the day, that is all we really want- for pet tanking to be equal post patch and pre patch. There will be a time and a place to ask for improvements, but not today.

I implore you to consider increasing the AC of raid buffed pets to be the same pre and post patch. Unless we are going to be told that all 16 classes are experiencing a decrease in tanking effectiveness post patch, in which case please announce said changes so all are on the same page.

Thank you for your time on this matter.

Not sure where you're getting that this isn't a nerf. If they were balanced around that AC boost and are now losing it, thats a nerf.
I also feel I should point out, this 300+ ac is on the new UI system. On the old system, that 300 ac would easily be closer to 1000.

Seriously you guys are going to nerf pets again? Are you all completely off the reservation? When are you going to nerf real tanks? This is getting to be comical!

I have 6 accounts all gold!!! 5 of them pet classes and I will be quiting..I spend tons of money on this game.. look it up.. If you nerf pets again I am gone.. I know I am not the only one, kill the game you morans ( lack of a better word to desribe everquest staffs dumb actions).. I dont play your lame new servers and dont care about them at all... Better forward this to Holly!! I am not spending my time looking for a tank.... I have a tank its my pet..

lame

Oh and who ever looks at the answers to the canceling of gold questions stole my ideas for this expansion... and alot of them... A simple ty would have been nice...

Stop it!! Seriously! All of our Mage and Necro friends are coming back to the game - to another nerf...I hope this is not more TLP poison.

Good.

Should we assume you finished the job and made effects that previously didn't effect pets as well as players equal as well?

Did you figure out and implement a way to make avoidance AC work and scale the same for pets as it does for players? This has been an issue forever and causes pets to get hit a lot more often than players and has required much higher mitigation AC to compensate.

Then the issue with Mod2s and Heroics. Did you manage to figure out a fix for pets with that too?

Ok, but why does buying ranks 21-25 of Companions Sturdiness AA from EoK decrease my warders ability to mitigate incoming damage?

And,

So which is it 300 or 400%? Because that sounds like a pretty big disparity to me. If 300-400% isn't making a 300-400 or even 5% difference in tank ability, then who cares and why? Pets where still lagging behind players. That is perfectly acceptable and reasonable, it just makes good sense. And, when Surety Rk. II hits my pet I definitely don't see that thing going OOOOH MAN ITS ON NOW! I got the THE BUFF! Yea, cuz its not. As far as my understanding goes AC isn't calculated the same way for pets as it is for players. You wanna make a neat UI adjustment? Get rid of the speedometer and give us a pet statistic UI. I'm sure after that you'll see enough player made data to ensure you never have any trouble tuning them ever again.

And,

I say if you've got the manpower time and resources to go and change every single solitary pet template to resemble player gear for its current era and rewrite the way pet AC is calculated to resemble player AC for its era and then go about the business of testing and tuning the new models to fit into the tanking / dpsing / utility worlds that they belong to in their respective eras. Then by all means make the buff AC calculated the same way too. But if things aren't equal, and for a very good reason, don't mess with it.

Lame

This x1000.

Devs, thanks for the response. Next please either admit that you only play SK or that you don't ever play at all, because you guys are totally out of touch with the modern game. Tank merc and pet mitigation needs to be boosted by 15% of current values, not slashed by 8%. The gap is already far too wide and not everyone has an SK at their beck and call. Please rethink this.