Thats interesting, I didn't see that. He said that there would be no more AAs to increase the level at which these abilities work?? Do you have a link?
Headshots per shot, no, nothing but increasing my Dexterity. Headshots per minute, GotF, GGotF are two abilities that increase that. Getting a haste buff as well (because lets face it - headshot farming sessions often last longer than the bufs obtained in the Lobby). Using a faster weapon also increases the average Headshots per minute. Mysterious Belt of Daggers and Bow of the Destroyer seem to be the two best choices for Headshots, though why throwing works at all is a mystery to me. And while Headshot rate is a valid topic, that is not what I was talking about when I had earlier said that Berserkers cannot increase Decapitation's potency. No, I was talking about damage. Discs and abilities that increase the damage done by attacks will increase the damage done by Headshot (and, I imagine, Assassinate). A simple Headshot farming session demonstrates that Announced Shots boosts the damage per Headshot. The Killshot AA (I forget its name) also increases the damage done - I can basically go from 169k Headshots to 224k Headshots to 300+k Headshots depending on which combination of things applies during a standard Headshot farming session. Decapitate is going to be the 179k, 400k on crit, no matter what abilities or discs or buffs the berserker has on. Apparently, it was stated during the Fan Faire. I was not there, but it got some attention on at least two of the three affected class boards (eqoutrider.net and goberserker.com - did not check the rogue board).
Nice to get soemthing that goes along with the image of what a berserker is..An aggressive, enraged character fueled on fury and power. This ability didnt work until what? A month or so ago? With 3/3 levels of the decapitation aa, and no more levels to be added it will continue to be effective on mobs up to level 88. At level 100 it will basically become useless. Was nice to have something class defining for 2 months before RoF drops. Not even worth getting into the Ranger and Rogue ability comparison, aspect of this topic.
since headshot/assassinate/decap are not getting upgrades from what i've been told. they are all equally effected by the new expansion. additionally, decap does less damage but isn't restricted to humanoids... which means they have to compete significantly less for mobs (when's the last time you saw temples open in feerrott?).... seriously, you're complaining that game balance was screwed yet again but this time only for a couple of months? makes sense.
Possible silly question, but do ranks 2 and 3 of decap also increase the rate that it is triggered or does it only increase the level cap?
I agree headshot should be droped (not sure why rangers would get such a thing anyhow) but decapitate and assassinate line should be kept going. The Devs need to keep the real dps classes strong, it helps out everyone in the long run.
You've got the whole "dont need a healer" thing going for you. I'd really like to see Warriors get decap actually. Compared to almost every other class (especially the other tanks) we're horrible soloers.
They will get upgrades, eventually, but not soon. Those types of abilities were never intended to be used for xping, they were intended to quickly dispatch trivial mobs, aka mobs that give no xp and are more of an annoyance than anything. Rather than go back and remove ranks, they decided to let them stagnate until they no longer work on mobs that give xp.
Dre, I think his argument was that in a LFG scenario, monks are further down on the totem pole than a warrior, who every group needs if they want to kill the named that just spawned in their camp. Mercernaries can only take a few named, unless you're splitting your group and doubling up on healers. So while you may not be as good at soloing as a warrior, you're soloing less because you can find a group easier than the lowest dps class in the game atm. As far as mend goes? Yes, it's an incredible utility. I'm T4 Raid geared, and if I take more than 2 in House of Thule, Upper Floors at a time, Mend cannot keep up with the damage and I have to pop a merc. Plus it takes me what... 500% longer than a rogue, 750% longer than a berserker, and 1000% longer than a Ranger?
It takes you 8 to 10 minutes to kill a mob in House Upper? A helpful hint: Try swinging at the mob every so often instead of trying to kill it just with your damage shield.
As a serker, Decap is just stupid. It procs way !! to much. I was in "a HoT zone last night" with 87-90 lvl mobs, and pulling bunches...as soon as a mob is 89 it's like, hold the fort, have to kill it.....where'as an 87,88 mob, my GTT is "decap...decap....decap...dead". Next one is an 89 and it's painful again. Here's a nerf for the Dev's You know the 30 mobs that spawn in Shards mission #1?.....Decap , Decap, Decap... It honestly made the event silly for me - [Fri Nov 30 20:57:42 2012] You begin casting Decapitation. [Fri Nov 30 20:57:42 2012] A vengeful spirit is hit with a decapitating blow! [Fri Nov 30 20:57:42 2012] You begin casting Decapitation. [Fri Nov 30 20:57:42 2012] A vengeful spirit is hit with a decapitating blow! [Fri Nov 30 20:57:49 2012] You begin casting Decapitation. [Fri Nov 30 20:57:49 2012] A vengeful spirit is hit with a decapitating blow! [Fri Nov 30 20:57:49 2012] You begin casting Decapitation. [Fri Nov 30 20:57:49 2012] A vengeful spirit is hit with a decapitating blow! [Fri Nov 30 20:58:04 2012] You begin casting Decapitation. [Fri Nov 30 20:58:04 2012] A vengeful spirit is hit with a decapitating blow! [Fri Nov 30 20:58:04 2012] You begin casting Decapitation. [Fri Nov 30 20:58:04 2012] A vengeful spirit is hit with a decapitating blow! [Fri Nov 30 20:58:14 2012] You begin casting Decapitation. [Fri Nov 30 20:58:14 2012] A vengeful spirit is hit with a decapitating blow! [Fri Nov 30 20:58:23 2012] You begin casting Decapitation. [Fri Nov 30 20:58:23 2012] A vengeful spirit is hit with a decapitating blow! [Fri Nov 30 20:58:32 2012] You begin casting Decapitation. [Fri Nov 30 20:58:32 2012] A vengeful spirit is hit with a decapitating blow! [Fri Nov 30 20:58:35 2012] You begin casting Decapitation. [Fri Nov 30 20:58:35 2012] A vengeful spirit is hit with a decapitating blow! [Fri Nov 30 20:58:35 2012] You begin casting Decapitation. [Fri Nov 30 20:58:35 2012] A vengeful spirit is hit with a decapitating blow!
My gut feeling is that with all these abilities (headshot, decap, assassination, likely finishing blow and others too) that dex has a significant impact. Certainly I recall as a young rogue when I first got assassination (lvl 50ish?) it procced only rarely. Obviously I wasn't often killing things it would take out, but when I did it was always a welcome suprised to assassinate. Indeed I remember while levelling having a high lvl rog friend join us for nostalgia and being amazed when he assassinated (the first time I'd seen it) - it wasn't the instant he joined... Now I find myself feeling cheated if I manage to kill a low level mob the "normal way" before assassination triggers. What's changed? Some AAs to improve proc rates, and stats. Maybe a combination of the two. Anything else? I know it's a nice XP grinding thing, but to be brutally honest it seems over the top, hence why it's being nerfed over time to not work on XP mobs. I'd rather have a much lower proc rate and have it working on more current mobs, for a bit of random fun and entertainment during groups than have a mechanic that in time only helps me kill XP-less monsters incredibly fast.
i have to ask, how are rangers LESS limited than rog/zerker? rangers have to have nonsummoning mobs with plenty of room to shoot at them (cant shoot a bow without being a ways away) as well as having to have them be humanoid. yeah rgrs can kill sometiems with 2 of their spells, but thats jstu 2 spells with longreuse. also, you cantriposte a headshot like you can riposte an assassinate or decap, and despite not havign to have a merc (many i see do for whatever reason) headshotting is not better than assassinate or decap by any means. firsto ff: rangers have the highest aa count in teh game to acquire, rog and zerker the 2 lowest. secondly, they cant do it on nearly 1/4 the mobs rog/zerkers can bc of thesummoning/range requirements. thirdly, they cant pull a whole zone pop a disc and 90% of the mobs are dead in seconds, without a merc either. people have complained about sk swarming for years but our swarmingdoesnt scale up. ittakes us 10x asl ogn to kil la mob thats got 10x the hps (as in 95 swarmin low 80s vs 100's swarming high 80s) whereas it takes yo uteh same amount of time to kill a 40k hp mobs as it does to kill a 200k hp mob, and with double riposte etc, 400k and 500k possible ot kill jstu as fast as 40k. going back to the limits on rgr vs rog vs zerker...a rgr for good xp, has the choice of 1 good camp or 2 half ok camps in the game, or go back and do waht sks are swarming for like 1/5 the xp. rogues have all teh summoners and close quarters humanoids opened up for them plus the riposte ability to masskill instantly (along with innate xp bonus, 2 if theyre halfling) andzerkers have the entire 88 and below game pretty much. both those classes can sit there and pl entire groups of moax level toons (ive seen some do it nightly) in zones like the Library by parking the group at the killtask npc which has no lockout and the same request word for all, while they run around killingeverything. The killtasks being right there in xp range of every mob in teh zone means they get double the benefit as a ton fo the xp comes from tasks which doesnt scale down by groupsize, and adding more to the gorup of leeches barely cahnges the xp rate
Hmm let me see. 1) Rangers have the option of being able to kill without being hit generally. Not true for ber or rog who MUST take damage. 2) Rangers can self heal a small amount even if they do get hit. It's not going to cut it during a fight, but it's enough to top up betweem mobs. I however have to keep popping the merc (kaesora) or have it up perma (HoT library) eating into XP. 3) The issue of not being able to shoot from close range isn't true. I assumed this too but was corrected only last week by a ranger - you have a few spells that allow headshot from point blank range, so the summoning thing just brings you down a step - equal to a rogue infact. Yes I know they have a reuse timer, so does backstab. 4) The numbers just back it up. Top ranger AA rates absolutely trounced top rogue AA rates, so whatever you say it would appear rangers have it easier. It's not coincidence our first lvl 100 char in guild was a ranger (followed by necro and then another ranger). 5) Ignore the rogue ripost disc thing - it's largely fluff and a bit of fun! Yes we can ripost an entire pack of say 50 light blues (good luck finding a zone where the lag is low enough to do much more) once every 40 mins, but it's minimal XP gain overall when you consider the long reuse vs constant killing. I'd agree that berserkers have better abilities though - works on any mob and off any attack type.
In case any rangers/rogues saw this and expected a similar experience, apparently none of the mobs are tagged as humanoids. Even the models that usually are, like Amygdalans, weren't triggering assassinates.
This mission isn't a problem because there is only 30 mobs and it's behind a long clearance of other mobs, but there is another RoF mission with Decapable mobs which continously respawn..........
I've never seen decapitation in action yet but no matter how much I read about these abilities on the internet almost nobody shoots straight about the information. The following is what anyone wondering is true via Headshot and Assasinate. Headshot in real world (game) usage is superior to assasinate. The reason for this is that Rangers get an AOE root to prevent them from being hit which prevents them from requiring a merc. The downtime for rangers using headshot then is virtually 0 in the areas they should be using headshot. Assasinate can still be decent but only used in a certain fashion. Because Assasinate does not work via melee auto attacks and only has a chance to proc off of backstab which is on a huge timer compared to ranger bow auto attack, using the ability in this way for fast XP is almost completely useless. There is only 1 way to consistently use assisinate to good real world consistent XP gains. That is to find yourself an item that summons stacks of 100 throwing weapons because throwing a weapon behind a mob has a chance to assasinate and you can throw 5x or more faster than you can backstab. This does require a merc though because a mobs back must be facing you (seized opportunity AA does not allow throwing attacks to assasinate from the front and besides even if it did rogues do not have an AOE root). Now to make up for this rogues can assasinate higher level mobs in relation to their current level. So despite requiring a merc they can offset the exp loss a bit with that. However I still don't think it compares to headshot. I have no experience with decapitate yet, but honestly if I was given a choice of having a similar ability as headshot or assasinate to a bezerker (decap) only better (it may or may not be I don't know), OR having assasinate and headshot nerfed I would choose the first option any day. I would be sorely dissapointed if these abilities never got upgrades as essentially it would be removing what is fun content to me in the game not adding fun content. So in closing everyone should be asking themselves and Sony, are these abilities fun to be in the game? To me the answer is yes, if the answer is yes for you also then we should all be wondering who is making the bad decision of essentially phasing out something that people enjoy. Forget about any reasons you might have, just think about the end result. Is the game more fun with these abilities being available to you if you want to use them, or is it more fun without them being an option?
