I have a Ranger on the FV server that I usually only play once a day when lesson is up. She got HS a few days ago and was flying through the light blue kills. HS usually worked before the mob got down to 70%. It was not unusual for it to trigger before 90%, and quite rare that it didn't trigger before 50%. She flew through 65 and 66 in the Barren Coast killing pirates and as soon as she hit 67, it fell apart. Same mobs, same bow, same buffs (other than the new DS she got), same everything. HS almost never works any more. At least 80% of the time, HS never triggers and she shoots the mob to death. It does still trigger sometimes, so I know it's still working, but something has changed. I also tried Gnolls in The Steppes. Same result. This is not just a run of bad luck. It took 3 full lessons to get through 67 and another one got me about 20% of level 68. I am still getting 2-3% per kill there with lesson at 68, but can only kill 7 or 8 mobs in the 30 minutes. I know I can get a faster bow, a dex buff, etc. But that doesn't explain the very clear drop off in the success rate as soon as I dinged 67. Anyone know why this would happen?
As you level up, the effects of heroic stats deteriorate in effectiveness. If you haven't upgraded your gear recently it could just be a static heroic dexterity number is losing its potency. HS/Decap/Assasinate are PPM now and not random chance on hit, so a faster weapon will not increase proc rates.
My gear had not been updated in a while, so I went shopping and got my heroic dex up from 9 to 24, which is the highest I could get it with bazaar gear. It definitely helped some, but it's still nowhere near what it was at 66, and not really any faster than just melee'ing the mobs. Thanks for the info.
This was discussed a little, and promptly dismissed here- https://forums.daybreakgames.com/eq...ate-bugs-6-20-2018.249931/page-3#post-3678101 Basically, after rank 5 or so, it's nerfed to hell. Noticed it when TSS went live on Phinny. I went from clearing the top floor, down the stairs, and most of the basement in a 30 minute lesson burn in Drunder to about 5 headshots in that 30 minutes. It's no where near the same proc rate.
I melee'd my way to 69 and nothing changed. HS 6 is no better than HS 5, and isn't worth doing any more. If it isn't broken, I wish they'd give us some clue what the secret is to making it viable.
I think that they removed headshot all together. I power leveled my son's ranger to level 81. Got it headshot and never once saw it proc in 2 hours. I thought it was an aa thing; so I then bought him a month to play so that he would go past the 250 aa's. Then I upgraded his ranger to a heroic character for the aa's and the gear. In 3 hours of play I have not seen headshot proc once. I am trying to headshot the Minotaur in dragon scale hills. I am pretty sure that these mobs meet the requirement since I first ran my rogue here and saw that he could assasinate them. Sadly I just wanted the kid to have a toon where he could run around, root things, and headshot some things. Trying to get him to play this game instead of roblox. Anyways; I have not seen it proc once and I am pretty convinced that it is now only for those who don't need it. With a heroic toon and proper level/type of mobs; headshot should trigger at least once in 3 hours. The things broke/please fix.
Just dropping in to make sure no one is prioritizing a older, faster bow like, say, Bow of the Destroyer from NToV over a slower, modern bow with better stats. Headshot rate is based on your heroic dex and nothing else, you need to be stacking that over bow speed or anything else.
I'm using a 27/24 bow with +1 hdex. I went back to the bazaar and got my hdex up to 36. Still no significant difference. I'm giving up on it. It's clearly either broken or requires more dex/hdex than is feasible at my level. Who knows, maybe HS 1-4 are OP and 5+ is how they intend it to be. It looks like my annual attempt to come back to EQ is over again.
HS is just the reason I gave up on the Ranger. I had hoped it would make leveling less of a trudge. The general unfriendliness to solo/molo past the 60's is the reason I can't seem to hang around past 70. EQ is the greatest game ever. I'm not dissing the game. Level 1 - 60 are generally a lot of fun, but damn, level 61 - 90 is just painful. Devs... I'm sure you know that there is no one to group with before 90. Beef up the mercs after 60 or something. Not all of us want to box or get PL'ed.
A necro, mage or enchanter can level themselves up to any level as good as it gets solo or molo. If you want faster you need a plvl or to find a group leveling up together.
From the upcoming patch notes: - Ranger - Fixed a bug where the trigger chance for ranks 1-4 of Headshot were not consistent with ranks 5-31. I'm glad I wasn't crazy, but all levels of HS are going to suck now.
you don't seem eager to get the feedback you posted for.. Look HS now hits for as much as 6mil! I've seen 4.5mil hits on my rangers and he's group gear and 15k aa. It's going to seem slow until you get better gear. Your bow, your arrows and you dex/hdex will all factor in how hard/often it hits. You gotta put in the work if you want to reap the rewards bud. GL
