Actually, I stand corrected. After a hunt on the google, I found that apparently it WAS altered on several pieces of gear, until Crystallos. That one stayed at 80. SoD stayed at 85. Convorteum was changed to 90, I think mostly due to the fact that it was so buggy for so long. But I think that was the last time it was adjusted like that.
why don't melee focus effects like ferocity/cleave not have a level cap if the darkened sea is making spells need AAs to gain effectiveness why can't melee need to get new foci? __ felt I wanted to add something from 10 years ago about the time focus effect started to not just no longer work when you hit level that it stoped working for decay was added btw it used to be level 21 with a improved damage I effect means no foci http://www.elitegamerslounge.com/home/soearchive/viewtopic.php?f=179&t=70490
"why don't melee focus effects like ferocity/cleave not have a level cap if the darkened sea is making spells need AAs to gain effectiveness why can't melee need to get new foci?" As far as I know new gear should have better cleave/fero so I think melees will need to get new gear just like casters. Melee have to upgrade most gear because the focuses are better just like casters do. Melee and spell system is different in code so you can't just change to be the same. Point is all our focuses will be inferior/obselete to new stuff so all must upgrade or be inferior to those who do. Imo level 105 gear should be better than 100 gear. Should be forced to upgrade to level 105 gear to compete with others who do. Maybe some casters disagree and don't want to upgrade. I play a hybrid so not its not like I am trolling casters I still have to deal with same focus decay. I just have no problem just getting upgrades and think system is fine because it may be a month at most before I replace all my raid gear with 105 focuses.
So just to clarify your argument: Casters have inferior stats on older gear and inferior focus effects on old gear. They then also need focus decay to motivate them to upgrade as just getting better stats and better focus effects is not enough motivation for them(even though it is). Also they need to have their front loading reduced by locking away power behind AA lines which will require progression to unlock. Melee have inferior stats on older gear and inferior focus effects on old gear. However since they want better stats and better focus effects (as if casters don't) they need no further motivation and have no decay on effects nor don't have to unlock new aa lines to equip new weapons for their max benefit. We will ignore the power gains they get from increased skill caps and AA as they level (while not being equal to new spells its still a jump in power for just leveling). Again focus decay is stupid and even if some spells are on paper dps upgrades or improvements when you factor in spell haste decay, duration decay and mana prez decay they often are not. But fine its not going anywhere and alone we work around it. We don't know need yet another silly system to add another layer of power decay that only impacts casters. Even more so when even casters have major differences between them, like one only needing 2-4 spells and 3-4 focus effects, which are not even a major boost to them, to be ready to roll compared to another needing 10 spells and 8 focus effects, which are a major impact to them, to be up to speed. Treating them all the same for an issue that really isn't an issue at all ( we already want to upgrade our gear) is just making more problems for those that actually understand the game(this doesn't include the devs in many cases until after the fact or years later). If they want to solve the issue then stop making spells drop like candy and require faction, actual progression and work to get them like it was in SoF and older expansions. And make it so rk 2 spells power are not equivalent to raid weapon power for melee. There is zero reason rk 2 spells are 85% of a casters total spell power for an expansion from the group game when group weapons are like 50% of a melees weapon power for an expansion.
The official Dev position is melee don't do more damage just by gaining levels. PL a character to 60, 0aa, max relevant combat skills, parse with any weapon(s) and gear with either no rec level or a rec level 60 or lower. PL to 70, 80, 90 and 100 and 0aa, max relevant combat skills, parse with same weapon(s) and gear. Maxing relevant combat skills happens automatically as you normally level so doesn't require additional effort. The official Dev position on melee damage is the basis for focus degradation. If a Dev could spare 5 minutes for casters and hybrids and post "The soft cap for focus effects on T2 gear will be ___ after the launch of TDS." that would be really helpful in making loot related decisions.
locking AA lines behind progression ( progression that will likely require name killing / missions / etc) means caster have to go trough the same path melee do ( loot farming). focus decay just dosen't make sense... but the odds of dev changing their view on this are slim. In any case, that issue will be over within the first few week of the release ( or less).
When did they announce the focus AA line was locked behind progression? It's really getting old how 100% linear this game is now, from the progression to the scripts it's basically Simon says and not an open world mmo like it should be.
I doubt it will be an actual purchasable AA. It will probably be some glyph that you consume and grants an "AA" That's how I interpreted it anyway. It is similar to looting a new weapon on a melee toon. With beta starting Soon, I'm sure we'll find out
The soft cap for focus effects on T2 gear appears on the items. For example: This bonus will decay on spells over level 100. That should be useful in making loot related decisions. This discussion and the same arguments appear almost every expansion in an effort to get attention paid to something that been settled matter for years. Predictability so people can make sensible loot decisions? Stare decisis - reliance on precedent promotes predictability. We know what to expect because of prior decisions and the information appearing on the items. This thread is not about predictability so people can make sensible loot decisions. It essentially urging devs to change course and ignore the focus information appearing on items comparatively advantaging those who made decisions contrary to precedent.
The not big difference is that the soft cap for focus effects on T2 gear already appears on the items. People may have elected to pass on items based on the information. Others who did not aren't entitled to a not printed on the wrapper unexpected unpredictable comparative bonus. Information that has been appearing on items and precedent should be a more dependable guide to making thoughtful loot decisions than "Woo woo, let's change things after people have been looting them" threads.
https://forums.station.sony.com/eq/index.php?threads/laminated-spaulders.209996/ See look, 5min to make a post and people have the relevant info if they want to spend 1200 Medals, 360 Fists, DKP and/or Merit on CotF evolving shoulders. We know what to expect because there is information from a Dev. bona fide - genuine information We can make educated guesses based on T8 UF, Tacvi and Vex Thal going up by 5, Solteris, DK and LDoN going up by 2 and no soft caps being raised when the level cap increased to 85, 95 or 100 but it seems silly to guess when 6 weeks before TDS launch a decision has most likely been made which could be communicated to players very easily. assumptio est mater erroris - why guess?
1 Item. An exception. Everyone knows this change was made in response to player requests given that this was a rather special evolving item acquired at a relatively high cost. A decision about T2 gear was made. It appears on T2 gear. You simply don't like the decision. One can't both ask for dependable predictability in making loot decisions and ask for late changes to items already looted or not looted based on what they asserted. Frankly, IF devs raised the focii to 105 after the next expansion was released and I had been passing on these items based on what appeared on them while others snatched them up I'd be highly and rightfully very annoyed. Ex post facto changes don't promote sensible looting decisions.
Some people just really love to hear themselves talk or chime in to throw whitty expressions around to make it look as if they know what they are talking about. The rules all changed when a second penalty, delay, feature was added in so this is hardly yet another thread on the matter. Focus decay is dumb. Focus decay at 100 rather than 102 is dumber. Focus day staying exactly like it is while then changing the rules is even stupidiereer. Just stating your spells will be better like they were in the past, when in most cases they are not as base damage is not the end all be all of figuring that out, does not quash anyone's concerns and only shows us they still don't get it.
Except the decision doesn't appear on Laminated Spaulders. All RoF and CotF shoulders except for a few class only ones for non-casters have Detrimental Mana Pres 22 L100 at present. We know barring changing his mind since that post that Laminated and presumably 11 other evolving shoulders will have Detrimental Mana Pres 22 L105. Will PoWar gear get a soft cap raise to 102 or 105? There is no public information. Will T2 gear get a soft cap raise to 102 or 105? These is no public information. What I don't like is people assuming things that could be clarified in 5min. Nov 13th, 2007 - SoF launch, level cap to 80 Nov 16th, 2007 - Changed effect3 from 'Draton'ra's Boundless Preservation' to 'Irrissa's Boundless Preservation' That specific change is from the Orb of Darkness, increasing the soft cap on Det Pres from 75 to 77 after the launch of SoF. The same thing occured on many other Solteris items on the same day. Soft cap changes don't necessarily appear on items until a new expansion comes out. Whether it's sensible or not during TBS players did not know if the focus was superior to a TSS focus when casting SoF spells. Whatever guesses you based your looting decisions on are immaterial, if you were a long term player who payed attention you would have already known of the possibility of an ex post facto change on focus effects. The price of being new and/or not paying attention is you have less basis for making loot decisions, I try to eliminate that price by asking a Dev to post the bona fide information.
another point is dev stating that caster can '' just jump in and buy new spells'' to be efficient while melee need to farm gear... Casters need to replace their focus ( arm-glove-head-shoulder-bracer-leg-wathever, pick and choose according to classes) while melee cleave/ ferocity dosen't decay ; they only need new weapons. Of course, the newest cleave is stronger than the older cleave, but the older cleave dosen't become -weaker- at lvl 105 ( or in the case of raid caster, group focus of the newest expansion being better than raid focus of the newest expansion). Devs did claim that new spell + old focus > old spell + old focus... however you can understand why caster, based on the past experiences, are extremly suspicious about that claim, especially when Elidroth in the AA chat repeated a bunch of time that '' he don't want us to get too much damage this expansion'' ( on a totally unrelated note, Wizard lvl 100 CoTF splash spell cost more mana and do less damage than the lvl 95 VoA one of the same spell line).
heres hoping that they give new levels of the spell line power aas to people on non level + expansions then to mean that casters GET a gain on them vs only melee classes getting new weapons
i don't play casters or know how they work... will a caster do less dmg in new content because of npc mitigation like melee and then have focus decay on top of it?
New mobs will resist more until casters level up. They also have more hp so they take longer to kill.....so in essence, yes.
The devs have made it clear that focus decay, which I consider to be a horrible mechanic is important to their vision of the game. It comes up every expansion and they seem adamant to keep it. Based on this fact and the annoying 14-spell rotation playstyle that necros evolved to with the death of fast DoTs, I choose three years back to main-switch from my 11-year necro main to my monk. It's been a great decision. Playing a melee character is more fun and engaging while at the same time much less annoying.(for me at least). I highly recommend it! In addition, there's none of this annoying degradation to deal with.
