Preview of Upcoming Changes to Combat Escape AA Abilities

Discussion in 'News and Announcements' started by Dzarn, Sep 30, 2019.

  1. kizant Augur

    Benefiting the game and making things easier for players are two different things and are often opposed to other another. Although, in this case, Wizards are receiving an upgrade to fade. Maybe that's why I like the change?

    The idea that Wizard AA nukes should be free because it's the only damage we can do once we're out of mana is something I disagree with. If anything, that concept was the mistake. It may have made a little bit of sense in old expansions but it no longer does in today's. It would be completely unacceptable for me to do nothing but hit AA nukes during a raid. I'd rather go back to guild hall and sit in the pool for two minutes and come back.

    Because of the limits on the number of AAs we can have it makes even more sense that they aren't going with the fixed cost approach and upgrading fade every 5 levels to update the costs accordingly. One AA to purchase is plenty.

    At level 85 it works on level 90 mobs and at level 115 it works on 120 mobs. That's increasing in power as you level. There's no way to twist that into what you're suggesting.
  2. Shakara Augur

    With Bard fade costing Maximum instead of a flat mana cost doesn't this make having more mana worst? for instance if I have 2k mana and 20 FT it will take me 12 ticks to fade again but if I have 1k mana it will take 6 ticks. So the more mana I get from gear the less fades I can do which seems really...punishing.
    PCSS likes this.
  3. ~Mills~ Augur

    Lost a much longer reply due to a crash and not typing it all out again. We can agree to disagree. When these AA lines started out they had no level cap and cost no resources. Now you are selling the level cap nerf aspect as a win since it scales with each level increase as a means to semi bootstrap support him now adding resource costs the second time around. Because you feel your class has made out on the deal.

    If spells and discs suddenly started following this logic of % cost verses flat cost and worst yet it was done retroactively at the expense of new or iteration increases to current spells and discs lines I am sure the game would flourish from that forward thinking. Sorry you won't be getting Ethereal Fire 115 this expansion because I went back and instead improved the game by making Ethereal Fire 110 and all previous versions now have a % based cost to them based on your growing resource pool. Lets say we have 3 expansions in a row with no level increase. When the first launched your fire nuke did 10k damage for 5k mana. By expansion 3 it does 10.5k damage from AA focus gains but now costed 8k mana. We should consider it a win or count our lucky blessings that it still does 10k damage to those new mobs that have more hp pools am I right.

    Or instead of any spells at 115 we just keep all our 110 spells but they will now cost more to use if you get better gear and buffs. The time he saved was used to alter or change how spells from 5, 10, 15 years ago work instead.
    PCSS and Wulfhere like this.
  4. Remien Master

    So everyone gains +5 level to fade that was previously only granted to a select group of classes. Out of that select group, rangers are being lumped into another group now in regards to mana cost and reuse timer without a tradeoff for the bonus we previously had?

    We have other tools in the pulling arsenal and having a faster fade reuse timer was more of a nicety when splitting camps but not a necessity. Like always we'll roll with the punches. Thanks for being open about the changes ahead of time Dzarn.

    Any chance of at least swapping the resource cost to use yellow mana(endurance)? :p

    PCSS likes this.
  5. kizant Augur

    Why are you arguing against a problem that doesn't exist? Nukes don't work like that, it would be dumb. There's no reason to compare a sustained damage ability with a fade that you're only supposed to rarely use.
    Sheex likes this.
  6. ~Mills~ Augur

    The problem does exist now because of these changes. Its dumb that this AA didn't have this problem and now it does. Its dumb that this AA didn't work like that but now does. Its dumb that resource costs are being added retroactively at the expense of time on other things instead. Its dumb that % costs are being added to anything and the precedent is being set or the can of worms opened. Its a slippery slope that already has caused harm for zero good.

    My argument was it should not have a resource cost at all but if it has to it should be flat even if that makes coding it harder. Second if AA's have to have resource costs now then also assure its being applied evenly and fairly to everything despite that being a colossal waste and detriment to time spent better elsewhere.
    PCSS and Yinla like this.
  7. code-zero Augur

    Fade has cost Bard's mana ever since it was first introduced and it was critical since bard meditation is permanently capped at 1 and they could only rely on items for mana regeneration. It was ridiculously unfair to hand out fade ability with no cost at all and a comparatively short reuse timer. These changes finally correct the colossal screwup that was the introduction of escape/fade AA's for all other classes outside of the original implementation
  8. ~Mills~ Augur

    Bards don't have a reuse timer so its a different case than all the others that do.

    And Feign Death originally did the same thing, faded off aggro but that didn't last long. And it instead was changed to like a 1-5% chance to wipe you instantly instead which still remains, otherwise you had to wait for mobs to path back to lose the aggro or play games with Circlet of Shadow. This was long before AA's and fading memories came to be.
  9. kizant Augur

    AA's don't have to increase resource costs. There's nothing wrong with picking and choosing when it's appropriate. My original comment was to expect more of this sort of thing but even I don't think they would make every AA have a cost. I only expect it to happen for things all classes have in common or for classes that generally have too much mana. I doubt the devs are so clueless that they would target enchanters, rangers, or beasts specifically for additional costs.
  10. Lianeb Augur

    Allowing for a non-fixed cost ie...percentage
    Allowing for a non-fixed level ie...+5

    Allows the Devs to not have to develop a new level and determine a cost every level increase so that it stays current. God Forbid they miss it on upgrades (which they have done in the past) and the community blows up. "OMG you didn't upgrade my xxxAA that should have increased, i'm going to cancel my 5 gold accounts over this"

    This AA will always stay current without intervention
    PCSS likes this.
  11. Bigstomp Augur

    Still not super keen on the cost, but with the reduced cost, combined with the other changes I am pretty ambivalent.
    I play a war and clr. With the exception of once way back in HoT where I ended up in a group with a bad monk I have never used the abilities for pulling. I'm happy with how things will be.

    One question: Raid mob Rampage. Before we could hit divine peace to drop to the bottom of the aggro list to take a cleric off rampage (since you can't fade a raid mob). Is there some way we can keep that mechanic with either another AA or something that doesn't cost 8% mana?
  12. Bigstomp Augur


    I didn't think you could de-aggro on a raid boss at all. You can lower your aggro, but not de-aggro (at least with cleric/warrior fades)
  13. Bigstomp Augur


    In an ideal world a cleric being able to fade it and give rampage to someone else we actually choose just because we're feeling mean? ;)
  14. Hadesborne Augur

    Welcome to dying due to lack of skill. This is the perfect expample of WHY these abilities need to be limited. People need to learn how to play the game effectively. Dying because you made a mistake is one of the OLDEST staples of the game. Let's remember this.
    PCSS and code-zero like this.
  15. Wulfhere Augur

    Sorry I don't buy your excuse.

    Monks get the class defining skill of Feign Death at level 17.
    Monks get Pacify ability at level 35 (in Gates expansion).
    Monks get Imitate Death AA at level 70.

    Beastlords never get Feign Death skill.
    Beastlords never get Pacify ability.
    Beastlords get Playing Possum AA at level 85.

    Beastlords lack any and all Monk pulling abilities while growing up from level 1 to 84. So for Beastlords to join the elite puller ranks of Fade AA, well it just doesn't hold water. So by all means grant them Feign Death skill, at say level 35, so they can learn the FD pulling role at least. If you're going to grandfather them in Devs, make it legit.
    PCSS likes this.
  16. Hadesborne Augur

    Post removed because, well, my issue has been resolved.
  17. Wulfhere Augur

    Exactly, I too wonder why. More deserving classes like Enchanter, Cleric, Paladin, Ranger, Druid, e.g the Pacify classes, are left out of this elite Fade group.
    PCSS likes this.
  18. Bigstomp Augur

    What are you talking about?
    With the exception of pathing (which is an issue) and at times lag spikes, the rest of your post is filled with garbage.
    PCSS likes this.
  19. Bigstomp Augur

    I don't think their fade should be improved.
    Pacify classes.
    Improve pacify to make it more useful don't make them into fade classes.
    Belkar_OotS likes this.
  20. Zunar Augur

    By your logic, SKs should be the weakest tanks cuz they were introduced later to the game than war/pal.
    Applying same logic to zerkers..they were added last of all, they should be weaker dps than the rest?
    All I can say is thank god you don't design this game.
    Beastlords became a more fun class with FD, simply cuz bsts were lacking any pulling utility. Still do
    (No snare, root, mez, paci, fling, push).
    Your crusade to get bsts nerfed even before this ability is added to test just shows how narrow minded you are.
    Get over it already. Get a life :p
    PCSS likes this.