Changes with the February Update: Developer Updates

Discussion in 'News and Announcements' started by Prathun, Feb 5, 2014.

  1. Mitsune Lorekeeper

    Please talk to the team to take another look at the proc rates for assassination and discuss the desired result. Due to the nature of the skill the results will most likely to be what you planned.
    - If the proc rate is calculated based on a rogue using the back arc, the new assassination will be some dmg when playing in a group setting. It will not be useful at all for soloing.
    - If the proc rate is suppose to be calculated based on a rogue using the front arc, even a 100% chance to assassinate with every backstab will not be enough for soloing. Chaotic stabs (=backstabs in the front arc) happen with a very low chance and backstab has a long delay, compared to most melee attacks. Atm a front backstab happens every few minutes. Anyway, tuning the skill for front backstabs would break the skill for the back arc by making it far too overpowered.

    Mitsune, Vazaelle
  2. Detra New Member

    You're not wrong at all Mit, but since we cannot tank anyway, let's not break it in group settings for an increase front BS/ chance. I'd rather have a bit more utility in groups rather than having it modified for front arc and still not being able to utilize it due to our piss poor tanking.
    Deloehne likes this.
  3. Mitsune Lorekeeper

    Oh, I don't want them to break it either. All I want is to point out the most likely result of the change for rogues. If "no soloing for rogues" is the intension, than that's what it is. But please no misleading marketing or simple misunderstanding. Say: "Assassination up the lvl-1 will be additional dmg for groups but it will reduce the few soloing abilities for the rogue class." and everyone would understand what's coming.

    Mitsune, Vazaelle
  4. Sneaksta Journeyman

    I must pay my respects to Piestro, And Eilidroth, and the other Devs. Don't get me wrong, I was as pissed as everyone, but thru and thru I see them taking the heat. Taking the insults, the threats to quit, and general rudeness. Other than a couple gauche replies out of irritation, they have stood up and taken hit after hit with Resolve. And taken our words, and i believe fought for changes for us. Made our points to the devs in an non aggressive way, which a lot of us failed to do. While the edits and proposed changes may still not be something we all like, I see a great bit of compromise happening.

    P, E and other devs, get a bow from me with respect. As they should from us all!


    PS. Is it possible to get a breakdown or list by class on what AAs or AA lines are Excluded from the AA grants, so it is easier for us to see what we really need to work on, rather than wading thru the lists? Thank you.
    Garshok and Gyurika Godofwar like this.
  5. Gragas Augur

    If no changes had been made to decap, headshot, assassinate abilities when/if the level cap goes to 105 they would have been made obsolete for XP/DPS purposes. At least now maybe they will stay relative and useful, now if they could go back and reverse the no more lines of finishing blow AA's life would be great.
    Gyurika Godofwar likes this.
  6. silku Augur


    If this is about pathing then why are we changing any of those abilities? Shouldn't we be changing the entire ability to train?
    rune00, Gloomfall and dreadlord like this.
  7. Brutus Journeyman

    Piestro,
    "To put it in perspective 3 hours a day is 21 hours a week or over a 1000 hours a year. That's a huge amount of time. "
    You are absolutely correct. It does need a correction. Management's correction has the possibility to alienate those who did EXACTLY THAT and maybe 10 fold. (How many remember playing hours just for one to three AAs).
    Those who have completed or nearly completed their archtype and class will now have the option to fill in the first tab just for giggles.
    There can be a third option. Compensate those who have put in those THOSE HOURS. Market research probably does tell you that a lot of players will not quit and forgot all about this. But some WILL. Someone in management can be the hero and recognize this, and fight and say...somehow if we compensate those who already "climbed the mountain" , we have an option to retain them.
    A compensation (scaled to the players AA amount) can be in a form of AAs only useable in the glyphs, and/or some additional AAs elsewhere. The AAs cap would have to be raised, but reset to the current amount before the next expansion. This way the AAs would have to be spent and not carried over.
    Barnwyr likes this.
  8. Coruth Augur

    The problem is why 3-5?
    You set the numbers for Beams at 12. So that seems a baseline acceptable number of mobs that server lag can handle efficiently. Rangers arrow at 8. Druids and Necros kite more than 3-5 at once all the time.
    I'd feel a lot more comfortable with Consistency here where the target goal was 8-12 mobs.
    Not 3-5.
  9. Melanippe Augur

  10. silku Augur


    I agree. If wizards and mages are gonna be able to beam 12, we should be able to mez 12, arrow should hit 12 etc.
    Gyurika Godofwar and moogs like this.
  11. Inga Elder

    Everyone gets 4k AAs for free is equal to everyone lose up to 4k AAs and they become Innate ability.
    Now all AAs are similar to Glyphs which will fade after certain period of time.

    If you buy AA up to Underfoot now, it will be faded about 10 days later.
    Any HoT AA will be lost when the next expansion is released.

    So the problem is that if you work hard and earn more AA, you lose more afterward.
    In other words, something should be left even if the AA has become auto-granted.

    If auto-grant is done periodically, players should get some reward each time, depending on how much AA they earned.


    How about creating new currency for each AA player actually earned?
    I think it can be some incentive for players to stay Gold account.

    The rewards can be much better than Loyalist vender, as they are not given for free.
    Also, they don't have to be Prestige like HA, because you cannot gain more AA anyway unless you are Gold account.
    Velric likes this.
  12. Quilix Elder


    IMHO - Advertising which requires revenue expenditure, from a business point of view would be a short term goal to create a cash inflow spike from sale of HC's ( I personally feel that largest sale of HC's will be to boxers and that doesn't require revenue for advertising) .

    The game is going to be made a lot easier whether we like it or not ! - attracting new people into EQ would only be a short term goal. If you attract people into something that will take them years to reach end game, and they end up enjoying that (like at least some of us here did), then there is no incentive for them to move on to another game and you are left trying to support legacy computer code that will get harder and harder to tweak. I mean new designers looking for jobs today are less likely to be educated / versed in the old style coding and tools, I certainly know that my old Cobol / Fortran & Macro assembler qualifications don't get me much work while my Cisco networking qualifications get more interest than I want:rolleyes: .

    Meanwhile your new game put together with the latest game engines and design tools which cater for easier changes / updates now has a significant number of target players not playing that because they are enjoying EQ. From a business perspective EQNext is an exciting prospect - set up the basic world - set up a decent AI for the npc's to run from - then let the players to a large extent create the world for you. I mean honestly if anyone hasn't read up on EQNext yet then do - the concept is exciting. And also there would be the issue of the getting the old 'die hard' players to want to move (I kind of include myself in this - but was away for a few years in middle) as they do not want to abandon all they have worked for in EQ.

    Very obviously this is a lot of speculation formed in my head from looking at as much of the issue as I can see, and instead of thinking about it as a game I have loved for years, treating it as a business issue of how you maximize company revenue.

    The best thing of all is that when you do throw so many changes into the pot at once, peoples heads start to get ruled by emotion rather than logic, then people will create their own smokescreen by bickering over details (and the whole 'your wrong and & I am right' scenario) and possibly miss the bigger picture.

    Silly point, but I for one wonder how the servers (the hardware has been upgraded several times we were told) used to manage with far higher player numbers on them playing across almost every available zone with older hardware - calculating mobs moving is just that = CPU load. This is determined by number of mobs moving in game at any one point in time and should not be determined by where in game they are moving. This alone could point to server balancing issues or overloading - I mean it is all very well to tell people you have upgraded the hardware - but do you have enough of it? And does it make financial sense to put in more for an old game.

    There have been a lot of emotions expressed in these threads (by myself as well) but try looking at the whole picture from a purely financial corporate basis rather than just the in game changes. And do not expect answers from the Devs / CS on that basis - much as we love them for the great job they do keeping our EQ up and running - they are company employees who will do what the company tells them to do whether they personally like the changes / policy handed down to them or not, it is there job to follow orders from the top.
  13. dreadlord Augur


    I would concur
    (btw how many mobs can a chanter mezz with a beam? I thought it was all in the beam, but I know very little about modern encs)
    I don't think all classes should be the 'same', but it makes sense that if a mage can handle x amount, other classes at the top of their game (taking into account focus effects, AA, gear etc) should be able to handle approximately the same number - modified for level, of course - ie one should be able to deal with more LBs than yellows

    I would still really like a Dev to tell us what they consider swarming - ie how many mobs?
    And is there any difference to the negative effects which have been outline from swarming vs trains?
    (if not, then getting rid of a bunch of SI mobs would help - most non-deliberate trains I see are all about SI mobs as someone tries to cross a zone)
    Gyurika Godofwar likes this.
  14. Leifen Augur

    I agree Sneaksta, they are handling themselves like the pros we have gotten to know over the YEARS they have invested in EQ ! I don't know about anyone else but the sense I get from the Devs on this post is they LOVE EQ and want to make this change as painless to the majority as possible. Their hands are tied though in the sense that they have been told this will happen, PERIOD, end of discussion no chance it won't. Give them a break folks and realise the bottom line is they are employees of SOE and they do what their bosses tell them to do, they have NO CHOICE.

    Piestro, I am still grateful for your return to us, and all the rest know there are some of us that appreciate the hard work you put in on our behalf!
    Gyurika Godofwar likes this.
  15. EQTrixy Elder

    I would like to know if this is getting upgraded too. I really like this ability.

    I got a Monk to level 85 and maxed out finishing blow for that level (included some HoT ones) and was able to land finishing blow on lvl 86 lizards in ferrott2. Was so much fun!!
    Gyurika Godofwar and moogs like this.
  16. EQTrixy Elder

    I have played several different toons to 80/85+, but not all classes. I don't know how to play every class.

    I have grouped/raided with every class in all level ranges. I'm confident that I know what each classes strengths and weaknesses are.

    What I plan on doing when we are able to is.... Make a Wood Elf Beastlord, Heroic to 85 and push my easy button to grant me 4-5K AA. This is going to be my "I'm lazy off night" toon. I will try to moloing or just find a PUG. I feel that within the first hour or two I will be able to play half way decent to start LFG. I may start moloing in SoD then when I'm comfortable start LFG within house of thule zones; I really like HoT. This wont be a toon I play a lot; maybe just one or two nights a week. I'm actually kind of excited about it!

    I prefer to make a different class/race. But we (we as a community) voted on Wood Elf Beastlords, so that's what I'm making.
    Gyurika Godofwar likes this.
  17. Kolani Augur


    I have over 12000 aa on my main, 6000 on my secondary toon. I've been here since before 1999. I don't care that newer or lower aa count players are getting this autogrant, and I don't expect or think I deserve anything in return for having them before the autogrant goes in. Worry more about your characters and your personal enjoyment than you worry about other people's characters and how many aa they have and the game will become a lot more fun for you again.
  18. Son of a... Augur



    SK's are a bottom feeding class? Now that made me lol. Let me introduce you to some Warriors I know...
    Did you happen to look at the current BP? Baleful Rapacity? yes...and its 50% per hit.
    Now look at some of the melee BP, healers BP..and lets talk.
    The SK class, was the most notable class in swarming.
    The nerfs SOE originally implemented were spot on...now they are backtracking and easing up. You should be glad.
    I never complained about a nerf to my class, and never used any of my pre-nerfed abilities to exploit. You just have to learn to adjust your class if you're so dependent on something.
  19. Sumar New Member

    So the WK missions and the Heroic Adventures aren't considered "regular grouping" then? These are just examples, but I'm sure there are more of them.
    ^This
    Gyurika Godofwar likes this.
  20. Brutus Journeyman

    Kolani,
    re: have over 12000 aa on my main, 6000 on my secondary toon. I've been here since before 1999. I don't care that newer or lower aa count players are getting this autogrant.
    would you care if most of the clickies that you spent weeks if not months camping get autogranted to newbies so that they can catch up, or as a "value added" bonus to sign up (even tho these clickies came from underfoot or previous expansions?
    would you care if it is decided to autogrant 3/4 trade skills in pottery, blacks mitting, jewelary
    as a bonus after you spent a year, if not several years, collecting and combining.
    you and others may not concern.
    but there is a camp of others who have concern and the two opposing camps have filled up 1/4 of these pages.
    Management seems to be on your side. You will continue to play the game. I feel differently, and thus feeling differently, have to entertain the idea of not continuing (and maybe a percentage of those who think differently from you). It seems management is willing to take that risk.