I don't get this game anymore. I don't know if they just ran out of room to increase things in the next expansion and decided to just remove/weaken abilities and so they can add it back in the future?? In all of my 15yrs playing EQ, I have never seen so many negative changes to classes. Patches used to be something to look forward to, now I feel like they are just pulling a class out of a hat and seeing how they can weaken it. The worst thing you can do is give someone power and then take it away. We all play this game to get our characters bigger and stronger. That's really the whole point of the game. Putting in months/years of time and money to get your character where you are happy and having fun, finally getting to that level of power you dreamed about, just to go backwards,because someone wasn't paying attention in the design of an ability/spell etc. and for some reason it now, all of a sudden is a problem. I think the producer of this game needs to come out with a formal apology to their player base. This has been a very bad year for almost every class and most of the problems should have been detected and fixed before they were implemented and allowed to stay in the game for years. I used to love playing EQ. With the last few rounds of nerfs(especially the current pet debacle), I have let all my accounts go silver and have no desire to play right now. Really want to know where this game is heading??!! I can't keep wondering whatever class I am currently playing is going to be the next on the chopping block. I believe that one of the biggest catalysts to this current problem is, the devs are suddenly paying attention to every whining poster, who posts a parse and complains about another class. I never remember the devs ever listening to so many nerf requests, ever. They used to be very tight lipped about any changes they were looking at or changing. Listening to the player base is important, but you can't keep making negative changes every time someone feels that another class is better. Class x thinks class y is too good, then class y points to class z and says hey they can do this too etc.. Soon(like it is now) all you are doing is babysitting a bunch of crying players, because they know you will respond to a nerf request. The player base can't have that much power and control in the micro managment of this game!! WE need to know that YOU are in control and test things etc.. Otherwise, get used to having to continue the infinite nerfing and the tense environment that you are creating.
In the last year, maybe a bit longer, I can remember the following: Deathbloom Nerf Necro BP click Nerf Various Dot effects Nerf EM pet focus Nerf Sturdy Companion Nerf Pet Rune Nerf Necro AA slow Nerf RB Nerf And I am sure my class was far from the worst hit (although deathblossom might take the cake and its tbd how bad the necro tank pet and swarm pets turn out) with everything thats been going on this last year. Outside of Pet DA exploits, burstained and a few tweaks most of it has been a complete waste of time. You don't leave something in game for 10 years and then strip it away when big picture wise it wasn't that bad.
In last year all 3 pet classes got nerfed. Chanter got nerfed. Ranger, zerker, sk got nerfed. Now I see Wiz getting the nerf. Warriors = nerf. Can anyone say their class DIDN'T get some kind of nerf this last year? I will stick with EQ till they fold it (probably). But after that? No way will I go to EQ Next, or any other SoE game. Just as I refuse to try out Guild Wars 2 after hearing about the City of Hero fail.
Way the boosts have been going lately, I won't be surprised if the new level cap for the next expansion is 95. CoTF has been such a let down.
The only nerfs in the past year that seemed legitimate (in my eyes) were: -Dru/Shm Preincarnation 100% DA with Tribute -Warrior No Time to Bleed active 100% of the time
this is a problem you get when you have DEVS who read forums. look at WOW those devs could give a **** less about what the players want with classes they change stuff all the time without feedback hell they change GEAR if they think Mudflation is getting out of hand, however they have ALOT more subs and can lose a few without much panic. people always say they want more communication with DEVS , people have said that for years on SOE forums .so they do communicate more and i believe that they form associations with people they identify with on these forums and those people are given more attention just like in life in general its not a conscious thing it just happens. I never thought i would say this but i would take the verant days when you were lucky if you got a post saying "NO" .Also i have noticed F2P games are worse w ithout going into why i feel that way i will just say Give me a Subscription based game anytime over F2P.
Druids and Shaman are still awaiting the un-nerfing of Preincarnation disappearing upon use once the issue of tribute stacking was fixed, as we were promised. I guess it has turned into a multi-month problem without high priority. I can live with that but it sure would be nice to hear from a Dev every few months that this was not forgotten. But I'm once again asking for things not in the budget and/or policy for EQ (a list / database that players can view with current bugs / projects and their status). So I'm not going to sweat it. The Devs have a huge amount on their plate and, while it is a nerf, it just means a few more deaths for me, nothing I can't live with. Well, I can live with it, my character sometimes doesn't.
NOW you see that wizards are getting nerfed? So the straight 20% nerf to Ethereals (our main rotational spells) at the release of CotF wasn't noteworthy? We just had Arcane Fusion nerfed to oblivion a couple months ago. Wizards have gotten crushed in CotF. To whom it may concern: getting nerfed is not enjoyable.
And yet there's always a loud, panicky group here calling for hunger strikes and mass account cancellations even when ridiculous things are in place even for the shortest of time periods. The 2 examples above there were huge threads defending the original versions even when they meant things like borderline immortality. Most recently the test notes say rage of the forsaken's 3000% aggro mod was changed to 165% because of a "typo". And yet there were warriors defending it quite regularly. The devs don't do what players tell them to do or they'd be doing nothing but chasing their tails endlessly, nor do they target specific classes just for kicks or out of some hidden agenda, and threads like this only add needless fuel to the fire. There's just nothing they can change at all without mass revolt and anger, short of increasing everyone's power constantly or giving double exp weekends out the wazoo.
Axxius: OMG Axxius, you know you can get banned for releasing the next expansion! The Age of Nerf!! All spell graphics are foam balls and darts, and all weapons and shields are colorful compressed foam rubber!
Very Mage heavy "modifications" - Magician - Higher ranks of Call of the Heroes now use less mana. - Magician - Air pets that previously stunned targets up to the current level cap will now stun targets up to 3 levels above the current level cap. - Magician - Earth Elementals will now use Earth Elemental Strike when summoned at or above level 89. - Magician - Earth Elemental Strike will now add more hate for its caster when it lands. - Magician - Earth Elemental Strikes IX and higher will now correctly recourse Earth Elemental Strength back on the caster. This buff will absorb incoming damage above a threshold. - Numerous changes have been made to the way pets deal and receive damage: -- Magician - Ruthless Servant and Facets of Air, Water, Fire, and Earth will now summon pets with higher HP and AC, but each focus level will add less HP and AC than previously. Low focus levels will be stronger, but high focus levels will be weaker. -- Magician - Relentless Servant and Shards of Air, Water, Fire, and Earth will now summon pets with lower HP and AC than before. -- Magician - Steelbound Bodyguard will now summon pets with more HP and AC. Groundswell Bodyguard will now summon pets with more HP but less AC. -- Magician - Ruthless Servant and Relentless Servant now have a wider range of melee damage they can deal, but should deal roughly the same damage over time as they did before. -- Magician - Facet of Air and Shard of Air have lower maximum hits but should deal similar overall damage within a smaller range. -- Magician - Facet of Water and Shard of Water have higher maximum and minimum melee damage and should deal more damage overall. -- Magician - Facet of Earth and Shard of Earth have lower minimum and maximum hits. They will deal less damage than before but should hit more often and more consistently. -- Magician - a "Cancel Membership" button will be added as an Active AA for your convenience
Some strange things going on for sure. And so far, we've not seen a 'vision' post to explain any of it. Blah.
Perception is reality.....and while SOE may not have intended it to be this way, what the player base perceives is true is true. Nerfs in the game while sometimes necessary are never fun for the game. Nerfs in this quantity over the past year are even worse and makes the majority of the player base feel the way most feel right now. It certainly appears abilities are added on expansion release only to get all those abilities nerfed months later.
I'm glad they're attempting to reign things in instead of letting them get out of control, but if you want to go Chicken Little on the boards, I guess that's your prerogative. Personally, I've been nerfed, boosted, or otherwise changed throughout the years, and I just adapt to it. This game is fun to me because of its content, mechanics, and the friends I have in it. Not because abilities of mine have their percentages and modifiers adjusted.
in the last year: wizards still do more damage than basically everyone. mages and necros are still two of the most powerful solo-capable classes in the game. SKs and pals are still amazing tanks and some of the most well-rounded classes in the game. wars are doing better than they ever have at any other point in the history of the game. encs are utterly amazing when the content caters to them - which is how encs have always been. none of the tweaks they've made to any class in the last 4 years has had any real impact on the relative power of the class within the game.
