Test Update 03/02/21 - Patch Notes and Discussions

Discussion in 'Test Update Notes and Bug Roundup' started by EQ Dev, Mar 2, 2021.

  1. EQ Dev Developer

    *** Items ***

    - Proc chance increase is now correctly applied to Surge of Ice on the Velium Threaded Arcane Staff.
    - Volcanic Billow Shard can no longer be placed in a bank.


    *** Quests & Events ***

    - This Can't Be Good - animated spell books will have Glowing Pages again.
    - Fixed an exploit in the Zlandicar Reborn mission that could grant an unearned chest.
    - Aaryonar Raid - The Echoes will no longer be removed when they block a spell. Consider that this will force a change of tactics to control which person has the highest rank of these spells.
    - - Aaryonar Mission - Made the aura punishment effects less harsh. Root balls will no longer explode and will go away much faster. Reduced the damage caused by Pull of Sleet. Only one fireball will be fired at the target(s) with the highest rank of Echo of Fire.
    - - Aaryonar Raid and Mission - added a message when the smaller golems spawn.


    *** Spells ***

    - Necromancer and Shadowknight - Restored the effectiveness of Spell: Summon Corpse. Lowered its mana cost but it now only summons corpses up to level 60.


    *** AA ***

    - Wizard Fury of Magic has been updated to automatically grant 1/2/3% spell crit chance at levels 12/30/50. The spell crit chance of all preexisting Fury of Magic ranks has been subsequently increased by 3%, with the current max rank now granting 53% total spell crit chance. This change both surfaces and replaces the spell crit chance formerly granted to Wizards innately, which was exactly 1/2/3% at levels 12/30/50.


    *** UI ***

    - Players should now only have to confirm the server ruleset on Aradune and Rizlona once per login.
    - Attempting to /consider the corpse of a player who has not yet returned to their bind point will no longer report that the corpse is invalid.
    Jumbur likes this.
  2. kizant Augur

    Whoever made this change is a lovely person.

    [IMG]
  3. Cragzop Cranky Wizard

    Are they?

    So we now have 38 ranks of Fury of Magic to get to 53 percent (I did check on Test). While clerics, druids, shamen, necromancers, mages and enchanters have 30 ranks to get to 57 percent.

    I mean ... if they are going to all the trouble to change this ... they might have looked at the GLARING INCONSISTENCIES for Fury of Magic for wizards vs all other casting classes.

    I'm pretty sure this is actually a very tiny loss of dps for wizards since the old 3% could have weird stuff critical ... which we will not get anymore. It just seems like bookkeeping ... not real change.

    Maybe there's a part two to this. Maybe the necromancer revamp will finally be finished. Anyone want to bet that after the June patch, nothing else has changed in a positive direction for wizards?
    Yinla likes this.
  4. kizant Augur

    Yes

    You really shouldn't compare two classes based on a single stat when damage/DPS isn't that simple.
    Sancus likes this.
  5. Cragzop Cranky Wizard


    Why not?

    Are you saying that they are basing our spell upgrades each expansion while taking into account the 4 percent difference in critical rate between the classes? Based upon what I've seen over the past two expansions, that difference is not part of the calculations. Personally, I think they just throw darts and wherever it lands, that's what the spell upgrade is for the expansion.

    One of the big issues with damage in this game is the ridiculous inconsistencies that have cropped up over the years. There is *zero* reason why the wizard aa crit rate should be lower than all other classes. There is *zero* reason why the aa direct damage crit damage multiplier is lower now that the dot crit damage multiplier.

    It's the n-body problem in EQ form ... you cannot come close to balancing classes if every single input in the damage equation varies between classes. Spells need to be where the difference are located. Classes can have special abilities to "be different" but the friggin' archetype tab should not be where so many differences are located.

    This was the perfect time to fix the percent difference.

    I have no problem with the change itself ... but unless something else is done, it's meaningless for the dozen or so wizards left on Live who are seriously considering leaving a class they've played for over a decade ... or worse, leaving EQ entirely .. .based on the tells I get from folks I don't know who are looking for a sympathetic ear who will understand their dissatisfaction.

    Demand better from your developers.
    Coagagin and Mongol311 like this.
  6. Cimbaeth Elder

    ^ I actually liked the weird stuff innate critting, although it's sometimes silly. So- I'm not quite understanding what this patch will do- remove the innate crits, and then ? replace them again but removing 3%? Does this affect the innate 1% from DoN achievs? What exactly does this do? Lower our dps generally or just lower our dps chance to crit. I mean wizards are already far far less powerful than we were a few expansions ago and we were beaten with a nerf stick then too. I'm the consistently highest dps parsing wizard in my guild and I have to try with all I've got to beat parse on practically all our bards. That's not right. Much of the time the other wizards don't beat the bards. Let's not even get into zerker and necro dps. Wizards need fixing badly.
    Yinla and Mongol311 like this.
  7. kizant Augur

    It's not going to lower your parse. The innate crit was broken and whenever it happened you were doing nowhere as much as a regular crit should have been doing. Alliance or mana burn not being able to crit once a week is hardly something to be concerned about.

    Nobody is saying that this is all Wizards need or that it even had anything to do with adjusting class balance. It's just a nice bug fix that could have been ignored for another 10 years but it wasn't. Improvements happen one step at a time and this one is definitely not something to complain about.
  8. Gyurika Godofwar Augur

    So what's up with the Quarm achievement in game on Test on the top of the Achievement list? Is there a 22nd anniversary achievement that didn't make it into the patch?
  9. Beimeith Lord of the Game


    ^This.

    Innate crits gave 1-50% base damage bonus, while an AA crit gives (100+340)% base damage bonus, more when you count additive things.

    We're still less than all the other priest/caster classes for crit rate, but this is definitely a step in the right direction.
    RPoo likes this.
  10. Jumbur Improved Familiar

    So can wizards earn AAs at level 12 now? I get this is a change the replaces our old velious-era "proto-crits" with "modern crits" at high levels. But how will this affect low level wizards? :confused:

    Is "rank 0" giving a passive increased crit-chance based on level?
    Yinla likes this.
  11. Cragzop Cranky Wizard


    The first 3 ranks will be autogranted and cost 0 aas. Much like a ranger's Innate Natureblade at 12/30/50. At least that's the theory. I'm not sure anyone is going to level a wizard from 11 to 50 on Test to actually make sure it will work as promised. Probably have to wait until it goes live and folks double check.

    A max aa 115 wizard now has 38 ranks of Fury of Magic with listed crit rate of 53 percent on Test.

    I cannot remember a line that is autogranted partially then switches to purchased aas right now ... but there is probably one.
    Jumbur likes this.
  12. Wulfhere Augur

    I think it's merely a server-side optimization that removes special case wizard-class checks (on every spell cast) from the spell engine. Goes along with the caster proc rate reductions in the previous patch. Nothing to see here.
  13. Cragzop Cranky Wizard


    No, it's also an entire redo of the Fury of Magic aa line for wizards because they have to redo the percentages at every level, redo the descriptions at every level and add three ranks of the line. They cannot just copy another class line for this ... wizard Fury of Magic is unique in the game ... before the change and after.

    There's no misunderstanding on what was done and why it was done. Although the early returns for lag reduction from the proc change are minimal at best from personal observation and others reporting.

    The disappointment is that this was the perfect time to change wizard FoM to just match the rest of the caster classes ... that's all. There would have be *zero* more work to do to fix this now.

    The fact that they didn't means that they think wizards should critical 4 percent less than the other classes. I have no idea why.
    Cimbaeth, Mongol311 and Svann2 like this.
  14. Mongol311 A really bad wiz

    Why? Because the devs hate us and literally wanna run the last few wizards out of the game...
    -----Cinexa----- and Yinla like this.
  15. kizant Augur

    To be fair, I hate most wizards as well. They're not a very likable group.
  16. Mongol311 A really bad wiz

    It's true we are the worst.
  17. Cimbaeth Elder

    So much love
  18. Axxius Augur

    Are there missing patch notes about the Aaryonar raid? Specifically, certain bug fixes. They are coming, right?
  19. Ibadan Kun'Tirel Augur

    I mean, I told them to take the wizards' staff... but they still let you guys have them... Big mistake
    Fanra and Mongol311 like this.
  20. Jhenna_BB Proudly Prestigious Pointed Purveyor of Pincusions

    Are there any more of the further game stability fixes in this patch?
    Metanis likes this.