Test Update 03/07/2023 - Patch Notes and Discussions

Banestrike change sounds like an indirect nerf to pet damage, by boosting all other damage. Just an observation, it would be nice to see Wizard players again, currently zero wizards on the team I raid with.

There is a few of us out there slinging spells, we are just spoken for.

Not sure I totally understand this.

If Banestrike triggers off a low damage spell it is less than if it was a high damage spell?

If that is the case can we have it back as being triggered.

No fix for "In the Shadows" DoN raid and Vishimar not spawning?

It is blocking completion of the Dragons of Norath AAs.

Why?
Do we need to repurchase these?
If they are not repurchaseable has the AA release expansion been adjusted for TLPs?
If these are not repurchaseable has the AA limit been increased so players can actually get on and play without being forced to purchase fireworks?

That is a lot of AAs for a class who had very few AAs compared to other classes to purchase in the first place.

While I'm unfamiliar with the Wizard specific lines having never played a Wizard... I'm fairly confident the changes to Gift of Mana are like banestrike: to simplify combat calculations and reduce lag.

On the test server, my AA's were reimbursed for Gift of Mana, there are now only three ranks of it compared to the 13 ranks on live. Instead of having to calculate whether or not I get a gift of mana, and which level of gift of mana I get... it's just one universal level agnostic Gift of Mana.

By which level, I'm meaning there's really 11 different "Gift of Mana" effects: Gift Of Mana (70), 75, 80, 85, 90, 95, 100, 105, 110, 115, 120 prior to this change.

The third rank of the AA is listed as unlocking in Depths of Darkhollow on test, which shouldn't negatively effect TLP players.

If im understanding correctly, it will now be a flat % base damage increase all the time if you have the slayer achievement for the mob type you are killing. the % being based off of the major 4 slayer achievements that use to reduce banestrike cd. This is a fairly significant dps increase to all classes and should also cut down on lag in a likely minor way, but hey its in the right direction.

Mob type will no longer matter... only how many of the four slayer achievements you have. As Kizant pointed out earlier in the thread, it'll be like having another passive focus AA to boost overall base damage and healing. The more slayer you have completed, the higher the percentage boost to your base damage/healing will be - at the intervals mentioned in the patch notes to a 10% total. It is no longer a proc - there is no "chance" - it's just a flat bonus off every action taken (melee swing, song sung, spell cast, combat ability used).

Has anyone done able to do any true A-B parsing comparing the change in banestrike?

Often those 2-4-10% mods end up being a 0.02% difference in actual damage.

If it really is a major effect that everyone needs to go get then we're going to see some old zones get trashed as people plow through 100's of grey con mobs just to get their 50,000 kills.

1. Because they served no purpose other than to increase the level of the ability.
2. I didn't need to re-buy Improved Familiar, but did need to rebuy the reduced ranks of the others, but the refunded AA was more than enough.
3. The expansion should not need to be changed.
4. They have not been replaced with anything so the overall AA count will go down until new AA are added.

As I understand it, race or mob types still do matter; the initial 2% bonus will only apply if you have completed the "skill slayer" achievement for that race or type. There are a little over 100 of these achievements; not every mob in the game will be counted. The slayer achievements are grouped into three tiers, "skill", "special" and "conquest", with higher kill totals in each tier. Not every mob type with a skill achievement will have a higher tier special or conquest achievement, either. There are three ranks of passive AA which are awarded if you complete all of the achievements in each tier. It is possible to complete all the specials before you complete all the skills, since there are fewer of them. Whichever tier you complete first gives you one level of the three-level passive AA. There is also a master achievement for completing everything else, called "Megadeath"; all this does is award you a title, it has no bearing on stats.

Previously, the passive AA worked by reducing the cooldown timer for the proc, which is what they're eliminating now in an attempt to reduce lag. Now it will be a simple bonus % increase for each mob type that has a skill slayer bonus to begin with. As I said previously, I don't think the 2% is going to be noticeably different from the original proc. The magnitude of the 10% bonus is something parsing experts will have to analyze.

(Side note: There is one conquest tier achievement, "Table Flipper", which has no lower-level skill slayer achievement and therefore no banestrike. You earn it for destroying inanimate objects. The easiest way for me to get this one is to kill/open 5000 barrels in the tutorial. If you don't do it then, it is a PITA to do in the open world.)

Which is still two weeks away at the earliest since this patch needs to go to live first.

They have a probably fix in the patch for vaniki for this

Small fix, but it has irked me for years seeing the old ach go off.

How do you get the first rank now? Or all still based off of mob type? I'm confused!

Is there an easy way to know if Banestrike is applied or not?

Like many other AAs we have. I don't see those being changed. Spell focus and AA focus are the most stupidest of the lot.

I will not be happy if I log in and find I lose hundreds of AAs that have been grinded out as I have nothing to spend them on anymore.

If they are going to remove AAs like this it should be done at expansion release so at least we have something we can spend our earned AAs on.

A++ change on banestrike. Reducing lag from that silly spell is great, making it so banestrike doesn't cause you to accidentally annihilate low-level mobs you're trying to damage but not kill for old quests is great.

Would love to see numbers on how much that +10% damage does. Some of the slayer achievements are kinda exhausting so I hope it doesn't confer a huge benefit. I'm not looking to flip 5000 tables for a 0.01% DPS increase, but maybe I would drink my way through it for a 1% increase. https://everquest.allakhazam.com/db/quest.html?quest=6367

Seems like a solid bump to spells and heals. Will this be an equal gain to melee dps which is already behind spells?

Not sure how this happens behind the scenes but if its just another 10% to innate prowess I don't believe that will be an equal return with how the melee damage formula works and this will only further widen a gap that shouldn't be there. Understanding very little about weapon stuff or spa's I think to be equal this would need to be something like the spa Increase Base Hit Damage by 10% to be an equal return instead of the watered down Increase Hit Damage by 10% (v185).

Comparing to the live UI I don't see any differences in EQUI_OverseerWnd.xml.
Was this actually changed ?

Score!

1. Very cool for both the fight against lag and DPS
2. Does this mean I need to care about these achievements now? Ugh!

Nice quality of life boost!