Test Update 11/22/2022 - Patch Notes and Discussions

Thank you Sancus for posting the information for the Enchanced Decay changes. I knew that as a necro there was NO way it was a simple drop from 41 to 38 ticks. I called BS on that the minute I went on Test to check out the outcome on my 120 necro. Although strictly anecdontal, doing the same camps or Named I did before, it "felt" like a good 20-25% drop overall in DPS (just using the increased TIME it took me to kill specific mobs/camps which I have done 1000 times over in the past). Now, of course this is with everything else being equal, no new focus AA's or worn foci. If someone is not maxed, or will not be purchasing the new expansion, it's going to be a much larger drop overall.
Based on the duration "BINS" as you put it, it would seem pretty much all the larger best DOTS lines were the MOST negatively affected (5-8 ticks 21% drop). Dang what a shock! Yet the mana cost certainly did not decrease at all.

Nice class balance update.

For the pet classes I appreciate that one:

Wow, that's a pretty heavy handed nerf!

As I said people should not comment until they've seen the over all effects.

The combination of a ~20% decrease to necromancer and a ~15% increase to physical should get us a lot closer to physical being at the top again.

Of course that's only relative to damage over time classes, magicians are probably going to be the top damage class after this, but there's still time for changes; wizards in particular could make up for lost time soon.

So this is to make classes that can dps multiple targets at once, do less damage than classes that can only dps one target at a time?

No, this is targeting classes that get a boost to DoT's and there are other things that can do damage to multiple targets at once that are not getting touched.

They explained in the original post. Everyone knows that certain classes are far far far ahead of others whether multiple targets or single target. Now they'll only be far ahead after this relatively small change. If you cut 2000 by 20% you get 1600. If you increase 1000 by 20% you get 1200. It takes a much bigger change to even things out let alone break things for any of these classes getting a small reduction.

Really appreciate this type of boost. It's a safe, incremental, non-overpowering change and definitely parseable.

Anyone else's eye glaze over trying to read Sancus's post?

Very thankful for picture at the end.

So, as I understand this, these AAs have been nerfed so that at some unspecified future date they could be 'upgraded' to something approaching their current values ?
Not exactly 'healthy upgrades for the foreseeable future.'

Don't you know how expansions work ? Every time, any imperceptible 'increase' we get as players is wiped out by the over the top increases that the mobs we are fighting receive.

Haven't you noticed, as we get more and more levels, and 'better' spells/aas, more gear, etc the chances of us melee types being one shot killed INCREASE!

Just think back to fighting at say level 100 ? Would you have looked at a blue con mob and thought "I wonder if I can take that ? Do I have all of my discs available ?"

Now, at 120, would you even attempt a blue con ?

So, let me see if I got this part right.
Increasing the focus AA from 37% to 43%, increasing worn foci from 110%-145% to 120%-160% results in 9.2% LESS DoT DPS ?

So could someone please explain what is the point of a new expansion where getting new spells, new AAs, new focuses, etc makes you WEAKER?!

Nerfing classes to fix a power imbalace the devs themselves created is not good. I would much prefer they boost other classes/abilities up to those levels, and THEN, with a level playing field, start tuning/keeping things in balance from that point on. Retroactive nerfing (which is what this is) just makes players mad.

That sounds great in theory until they also increase NPC power to offset the increase in PC power leaving people in the exact same spot as before if not worse off.

Which is what is done every single expansion for say the last 10 years
PC power is increased fractionally and NPC power is increased by the bucketload. Anything 'new' that players get is immediately made redundant by new NPC abilities.

Honestly, when was the last expansion where anyone actually felt more powerful ?

Yes, I understand that but if PC power is increased in a current expansion trivializing things couldn't it also be considered to increase NPC power to compensate?

Because you'll be even weaker without the expansion. That's the intention. Necromancers are getting changed so that they are weaker.

If PC power is 'increased' and NPC power is also increased (thus neutralizing the PCs increase), what exactly is the point ?
How about, since the current expansion has been out for a year, giving the PCs a boost over current content could be a good thing ? It would allow those who are not at the bleeding edge, top end guilds, a chance to actually experience the entire expansion instead of being relegated to the 'easy parts'.

This is a game after all, we play for enjoyment and fun.
Letting more people experience more content is a good thing, surely ?

And people actually think this is a good thing ?
Some classes get a huge nerf, but once they have worked hard and got all the new AAs, all the new focuses, all the new rank 3 spells that becomes merely a large nerf ?