I agree! Now if we could just get Dzarn to take a look at modernizing the shroud system to make tiers for 75, 80 and 85. Maybe get Fellowships looked at to make them bigger such as 18 to 24 members, modernize the buffs for the buff fires and extend the fires from 4 hours to 8 for regular and 1 hour to 4 for the buffs and for the love all all that is holy or unholy depending on your world view PLEASE GIVE US SOME NEW HOTZONES! Some that make sense at all current tiers and one for 95 and one for 100 would be great too. No need for augs if you are too busy for all that. The revolving daily HAs are good and all but a static zone would be nice too. Eventually the TLP players are going to be in the 75+ level range and will be able to use this so it will help every server in the long run. Just some ideas I have as a long time player that I would love to see implemented. Shout out to Dzarn, Prathun, and Windstalker too. Thanks for all the work you put into EQ and thank you Windstalker for helping to keep this great game alive.
I'm with you Baramos as I imagine most mages were based on posts here and other EQ related forums. I have a multitude of mages that I like to play in various combinations and for them to not be able to rely on their pet made them virtually unplayable in a solo/molo situation or any group without a tank of some sort.
How about an AA switch to toggle between current bard aggro and the amount that they normally would generate without the nerf. Something like what you gave to pets maybe? Before you guys ask me why the hell I'd want that, it's because the out of group sitting druid that is just chilling there and hasn't even aggroed the mob is on the hate list before a bard. In all seriousness though, I'd like to be second on the list when the tank drops instead of the cleric or wizzy, and I find myself he only melee in groups at times. (Disclaimer: I am on Phinny, yes, bards can tank some of the stuff in classic )
Currently last stand and defensive proficiency are SPA 168. With the changes is there going to be a new SPA? Will these stack? Use (-) on SPA 391?
Pet mitigation on TLP. Any chance you guys could weigh in on that, other than ignoring the topic altogether? I've already put my mage in the rearview, but for any surviving TLP mages, that would probably be helpful.
Roshen or Dzarn - A no damage weapon set up - Aged Left eye of Xygoz in main hand and a shield in offhand should use defensive proficiency everything else sounds good . Will Rampaging servants be the same aggro they were before the recent change or somewhere in between as in where they won't cause issues with positioning on raids for low endurance tanks or tank lines in a recovering situation ?
I appreciate the dev team finally taking a stab at some long-standing tank issues (particularly with taunt) but the direction you seem to be going with Proficiencies looks to be quite some distance off target. FS/DP stacking is pretty trivial compared to 2H proficiency clashing with Flash of Anger and Master's Aura. I hope the latter were also considered. This tells me 2H proficiency can no longer stack with Shield Specialist when activating skill attacks. This is a sizable nerf to Heroic Blade (the main source of Warrior DPS in most burns) and the already-terrible Shield Topple, Calculated Strike and Stormstrike blades. It also doesn't address the pointlessness of using the pure damage abilities in our "other" damage stance - Dual Wield. But let's get to it, shall we? The clunkiness of Proficiencies is the minor issue. The conceptual failure of the Proficiency system is the application of positive and negative modifiers via a spell-type buff. It is the core design of the system that results in stacking issues, limited weapon choices, collateral damage and frustration with the abilities. It is the buffs themselves that are the problem, not what buttons a Warrior has click to put the buffs up. Removing the buttons and making them auto-activated is akin to upgrading brakes on a car that has a blown engine. Proficiencies should be a system of purely passive modifiers. Here's how you ACTUALLY fix Proficiencies: Replace Shield Specialist/DW Proficiency with a comparable, passive damage mod to all 1H attacks (not a buff) Merge Merciless Grip and 2H proficiency into a comparable passive damage mod for all 2H attacks (not a buff) Move Defensive Proficiency's mitigation mod back to the old 'Phalanx of One' passive AA line (not a buff... see a trend?) Finally, there is a place for one of these auto-activated buffs - and that's Improved Shield Specialist. ISS has never matched its description and spams the warrior with interrupt messages when they aren't using a shield. Easy fix here - Rename Defensive Proficiency to 'Shield Specialist' and make it's do what ISS says it's supposed to do: apply a swing agro and proc bonus. You can even leave the Strike of Ire proc in as a sort of "apology" for needing a buff slot to finally make this passive AA work the way it was intended.
Can you please assure us that the quests that were messed with and broken in TBM will be fixed? Like Fate Rewards the Bold in Demi-Plane of Decay for the Lesser Spirit Armor?
The only reason the Proficiency buffs even had weapon type penalties on them was to prevent Warriors from trying to game the system. Now that the buffs will auto-cast on swapping weapon setups, there's no need to keep the weapon type penalties. You're thinking that the Proficiency buffs will stay exactly like they are on live right now, but I very much doubt that's the case. The only remaining stacking issues will come from the defensive penalties, if they remain in. Dual Wield still needs something with "oomph" to set it apart from the other two stances, and this would be a good opportunity to look into that. I'm looking forward to the testing and feedback.
Shroud system: I would be happy with them simply adding 16 shrouds (1 for each class) that are identical to the actual classes; no Shroud AAs to choose or be sorta like 5 different classes. The shroud would have max skill in all abilities and all AAs that are currently auto-granted for that level. This way then I can play with my low level friends as an actual monk instead of one of the random pseudo classes which I know little about. With these new shrouds you could easily give everyone access to them at 5 level increments up to 100 (assuming you are 100 or higher). If they want to still have certain things to unlock for these shrouds, the ones which are not your actual class you could have to 'level' up to gain access to the higher level versions of them; while you instantly have access to all levels of your true class which are lower than your current level. Fellowships: Personally, I think that 12 is fine, but I do not have a ton of alts or bots, that I would want in the spots along with my friends. I suppose going up to 15 or 18 would not be all that unreasonable though, anymore than that though you may as well make a guild imo. Hotzones: Yes, it would be nice for them to be changed. Don't even need any new itemization or quests other than the Dailies. I think 2 level 95s would be fine, but if they want to do 1 level 95 hotzone and 1 level 100 hotzone then I wouldn't complain either.
That is a point I did not consider, but if you can illustrate how a "passively-activated buff system" can be superior to the more-passive and more-flexible system I've described, I'm all ears. I really feel that Dual Wield should be better "vanilla" DPS than 2H: DW > 2H > 1H more consistent with EQ design history. 2H also has a niche in riposte/rampage damage. 2H takes better advantage of triple/flurry buffs. Provide a reason to loot additional weapons. A super clean way to do that would be a hundred-hands proc. DW would naturally result in an increased proc rate, boosting sustained damage without creating multiplicative increases with sync'd burns. AFAIK Warriors are the only pure melee without an ability like this, though IIRC Berserkers weren't particularly happy with the way theirs procs.
Inspiring! Was anyone else reading this with a slight renewed sense of hope for our beloved game? TY for the professional dissemination of communication. Having some light shed on the workings of your team really helps squash SOME of the gloom and doom so prevalent in these forums... It's much obliged <3
