March 2016 Patch Preview

Discussion in 'News and Announcements' started by Aristo, Mar 10, 2016.

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  1. AlmarsGuides Augur


    At long last we finally get news that hot zones aren't in effect on TLPs. This is by far the most common question I get people asking me in game and it was always about burning woods. I was adamant that "no", hot zones weren't in effect on progression servers but have to admit the XP in burning woods was kinda... proving me wrong.





    That's actually a good idea, you should post it on their bug tracker thingy.
    Trick likes this.
  2. AlmarsGuides Augur


    1. It will effect the whole game but only Beastlords are being altered first. Considering how much testing necros will need we won't see necro changes this patch or probably even next. I would expect the change to be pretty small for us to. Like Pyrocruor is 295 mana and 1280 delve - I expect a 25-50% increase in both (maybe even less considering Necros are the premiere DoT class)

    2. We can hope but chances are nope =P. They were looking for a method to automatically rotate hotzones years ago every 6 - 8 months and we haven't heard anything about it since up until right now. And this seems to be more of a "we're cleaning up our old mess" rather than implementation of new stuff
    Gyurika Godofwar and Trick like this.
  3. Sinzz Augur

    Imho exp mods have been messed up for the longest time , if you are taking on a light blue in one zone and it gives % per hour exp if you go to another outdoor zone it should be same exp per hour , don't base the exp on zones base it on cons , or say all exp in outdoor zones give 100 % exp mod where as indoor zones like dungions should give say 130% and newbie zones should be like 150%.
    Before all these constant exp changes and what not, that's what you could rely on on most occasions.
    the nerfing of exp in older zones when a new expac came out was terrible too they should be restored now that the game has gone so far , I mean sod exp was just horrid after it was nerfed to try to push folks into underfoot.
    I don't claim to know how you adjust exp although I have ran a and it was pretty easy to set base exp on a zone.
    there is however the problem that as content moves on there seemed to be way more outside zones then indoor ones.
    I also seem to recall some raid zones in later expacs were actually outdoor zones too so meh guess those would have to be tuned differently .
  4. Randragon Augur

    Tanksalot wrote:

    But in my opinion you are now alienating a few classes who excel in outdoor zones. Why not have a mixture of both. I started playing back in 1999 so I do remember (barely) how the system was. But they did change it to allow for some classes to do well in outdoor zones because they were stymieing certain classes from playing in their own EQ designed game mechanics.

    To revert that now to all outdoor zones are automatically lower experience than dungeons as their post suggests is unfair and shortsighted.

    I hope they see our concerns as a player base to their most recent statement and take that into consideration. Blanket changing zones to fit into their ideas will only make the outdoor zones more desolate and load up the dungeons. If that's the case why design outdoor zones at all.
  5. Ruven_BB Augur

    Perhaps I'm missing something, but it appears they are making changes to classes without a master plan of where they want those classes balance wise.

    And I'm not sure where beastlords should be, and not saying they should get a bump or a nerf, but these changes could considerably change how dot classes are played and their damage production.

    Given the past track record lately, chances these changes implemented correctly and appropriately is rather slim.

    Ruven
    Randragon likes this.
  6. mackal Augur

    I think it's pretty clear what they want. They want dot classes only have to cast their current dots rather than multiple dots from the same dot line.
  7. Zalamyr Augur

    For most classes, the DoT change will end up being a nice bonus, making their DoTs potentially usable. Necros are probably the only class where their entire gameplay will change considerably.

    I've been of the mindset that necros needed to be redesigned a long, long time ago, so part of me wants to see this, but I'm pretty afraid of how this may be handled. Numbers wise, it's going to be very easy to screw this up in either direction (too strong or too weak). I think more importantly though will be gameplay wise. Necros don't have much in the way of filler. If they end up with, say, 11 DoTs to use, then what do they do? To my recollection, their only spammable nuke is their basic lifetap. So they spam lifetap until a DoT fades? Load up a new spellset with multiple DDs to cast? That seems weird.

    I feel like they need a redesign that involves having much shorter duration DoTs (so keeping a full set of DoTs going is your primary activity), and more interesting fillers. But at this point in EQ, I really don't see it happening.

    At any rate, I'm highly curious where they go with this.
  8. Crystilla Augur

    My question for this -with all the additional aggro that the boosted dots will now take ... will the team relook at the nerf that was done to fades and things? As those are going to come much more into play and be needed if you want players to use these updated dots.
    Fanra likes this.
  9. wiha Elder

    As a necro we should get a bigger DPS for are DoTs then other classes seeing that is what we do and if every one else goes up they well be doing more or the same DPS as a necro and this is like a enchanter doing the same DPS with a spell as a wizzy its just not right necro pets did not get the same pet boost as the mage but shammy is getting a bigger boost then a necro on their DoTs not right not right
  10. Utaerx Elder

    While in theory reducing the complexity of the class in some way is pretty sorely needed, implementing these DoT changes for necros is going be really tricky. It's likely that they are going to overdo the base damage and everyone is going to be crying about how necros are OP again, or they're going to undershoot it and the class will be even worse shape than it is now post-nerfs. Also, any increases in base damage are going to seriously run the risk of inflating our burst higher than it should be (I hear that was a problem in the past?), and increasing mana cost on DoTs might be a huge problem for sustained if it turns out to be as big of a jump as it is for Beastlords right now.
  11. skien Journeyman

    As a Beastlord they're probably doing us first as I don't know a single Beast that actually use our totally ineffective DoTs in the group/solo game. DD all the way. So as a test bed, if it doesn't work out no big deal to go back to the drawing board before moving on to the classes that really use DoTs as a fundamental DPS mechanism.

    Serious question: What beast would EVER historically waste mana, casting time and DPS stacking DoTs? Certain ranged scenarios clearly but generally it is a "smash it in the face/back of the head and nuke" combat event.

    P.S. I'll definately give the changes a fair go.
  12. Forcallen Augur

    I just don't see this working out well for necros. To me the class is one of the most balanced and rewarding classes in the game as it is was prior to the gift of deathly resolve nerfs. We even had the dev team say "necro dps is where we want it" as little as 5 months ago prior to mana burn. Will have to wait to see how it plays out but at this point its happening and probably without any input or feedback having any impact on the choices being made.

    They will either favor necros to begin with which will drastically boost our burst in both group and raid settings while maintaining our sustained. Unless they totally destroy our mana efficiency in the process. Which we all know will eventually lead to more necro nerfing because necros can't be good at all things dps see swift dots on raids a few years ago and mana burn on raids very recently if you think its hyperbole.

    Or err on the side of caution and the class will purposely be limited in burst for both and group still, which means linking dots will only serve to drastically limit our sustain to free up debuff slots for other classes to enjoy. So while we gain some in burst it won't be at the level of true burst classes and for that small grant we will have to give up our classes niche of sustained dominance in the process.

    Frankly there is no way with the limited time, resources and knowledge that is left that I have faith that they will properly handle this change. IE that 100's dots will be consolidated and tuned properly in both damage and mana, that dot AA lines will be tuned or left alone, and that some dot related items will make it through this process unscathed. We are going to go through months or more of this 'changing' to more than likely end up in the exact same spot relative to others but with less fun, flexibility and reward from playing the class as the class was simply dumbed down but left as it was.
  13. mackal Augur

    Just because they liked where the DPS was doesn't mean they liked how they got that DPS.
  14. Forcallen Augur


    The problem is the means it took to get there is what limited the class to a balanced level. Ramp up time, delayed burn for maximized benefit, no real ability to dump our high mana regen is what kept the class in check. If they remove most of those ie drastically lower ramp up time, make it so burning everything at once no matter the situation or make it so we can dump our mana into massive burst dps then the class becomes a new animal and you can't put the genie back in the bottle so to speak.

    And if the real intent is simply to leave us where we are but drastically change how we get there IMO at this stage in the game this is a MASSIVE waste of time and resources.
  15. Aurmoon Augur

    I view this as highly beneficial for necros. Not only will DPS ramp up significantly (great for grouping and raids), but necros will be able to contribute significantly better in fights with more than one target.
    Xianzu_Monk_Tunare likes this.
  16. Basolisk New Member



    So does this mean the BW exp has already been dropped or it is still active until the patch goes live on ???
  17. wiha Elder

    I would not mind if they would give a HoT zone for lvl 100 to 105 where we can kill and get some good AA other then HA's
  18. Numiko Augur


    it's already been dropped in a hot fix, people have noticed the difference in exp on the TLP servers already.
  19. Indrigoth Journeyman

    So, nerfing XP in low to mid level outdoor zones....WHY?

    Every alt I have played in the last few years has made a stop in Burning Woods to kill Sarnaks outside Chardok because of the great XP. Who exactly did this hurt? How did it unbalance things?

    I just don't understand why any resources, no matter how small, are put towards things like this. If anything, other low to mid level zones should be brought UP to what Burning Woods was.

    The majority of the outdoor zones from 1 to 100 are mostly if not completely empty as it is. So I guess this is the deathblow....again, why?
  20. segap Augur

    Because it caused problems on TLP. Probably the same reason for the sudden interest in revamping dots rather than the spell/itemization guy actually working on completing TBM itemization.
    Nenton and Indrigoth like this.
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