Hmm, LU 24 looks like it will be..... interesting....

These changes may not be complete or accurate becuase Blackguard is gone to E3 right now. I have a 20s dirge on test so I'll have to log on there to see how it looks.

From http://patch.everquest2.com:7010/patch/eq2/motd/en/updates_test.html

Scout changes:
- Scout: Cheap Shot - Reduced power cost. Duration is 4s instead of 6 on standard or weaker opponents.
- Dirge: Lanet's Excruciating Scream - Changed into short duration daze effect that causes disease damage when it expires. The amount of damage was reduced. Reuse time increased to 30s.
- Dirge: Garsin's Funeral March - Recast time increased to 45s from 30s. Overall break chance reduced to 25%.
- Dirge: Sapping Shot - Recast time increased to 25s.

Othesus - Dirge - Lucan DLere
Vaspar - Fury - Lucan DLere
Message Edited by xOnaton1 on 05-10-2006 08:13 PM

Sapping shot?..what made em think this spell is to uber?:smileyvery-happy:

Im not going to cry yet, but im worried about what they did to Lanets. I loved that song, so I guess Ill just have to wait to see what it looks like now

"short duration daze effect"

Wonder what exactly that is. Same effect as Wail of Horror or...

Edit; nevermind, ive just read this:
- There is now a new control state labeled "daze." Daze effects replace pacify effects that were attached to some spells. When a mob is dazed it cannot auto attack.
Message Edited by spark on 05-10-2006 09:37 PM

no thanks we wanted the the timer shortend not longer.
ooooh nerf the bow skill thats worthless already
shorten cheap shot so dirge dont have enough time to sneak and SoD
and yay make our only form of broken CC longer recast
nope dont like this LU can i send it back for another

"Daze" is/will be similar to "Pacify"... disabling the target from auto-attacking.

Hmm I'm only lvl 23 but I can see this as being not so good. Just from the methods I use now I will be far less capable soloing ( yes its a grouping game ...but there are days soloing is the better option). Especially the cheapshot timer. I see our backstabs getting a one time use. The Tactical / active aspect of the class has just been reduced to open with our backstab then frontal / flanking attack the remainder of the duration. I rather enjoyed the manuvers and timing. Looks like more auto attack less manuvers now.

If Berzerker is a Tank, then we are a Humvee.

depending on how long daze on lanets lasts, this change will be uber for soloing

I agree, however we are still looking at less active involvement and more frontal / flank attacks. Even if daze lasts a good length of time I understand it will not prevent the mob from following us if we went for a backstab.

well i am not tooo much concerned about the reduced duration of cheap shot... against anything worthwhile it is a 2sec duration stun... so in order to get the back stab of you had to be pretty quick anyway.
and well... you can engage shroud and queue sneak attack (wailing strike or what ever). Bamm there he goes... No the biggest concern i have is with the reduced damage on lanets... on the other hand it says daze so i will get less damage maybe not so bad at all.... and for all the swashies out there... they have the hold direction AA for backstabbing.

it will get interesting...

That's getting shortened to 1,5s as well so you have to be even quicker now. Fortunately our "back stab" is actually a flanking attack.

EDIT: I'm assuming this will affect cheap shots against heroics as well. "All short knockdowns and many short stuns that were 2s in duration have been changed to a 1.5s duration."
Message Edited by Chefren on 05-11-2006 03:32 AM

If they are making Lanets a pacify type spell, will it effect epics? probably not....hopefully it will still damage the epic mob...and just not pacify it.

The changes they made are just pointless.
Dirge is already somwhat underpowered IMO.
So, make our useless crowd control (fear) even more useless, and take the useless bow song and reduce it as well.
SOE, seriously, W T H?
Message Edited by goyom on 05-11-2006 07:16 AM

My baby dirge on test is too low to have the other spell lines (she's only 14) but I can give you the exact wording for cheapshot.

Cheapshot
Briefly stuns the target for 2 seconds on a sucessful hit. On weak opponents, the stun effect applies again after the first 2 seconds expires.

Target Enemy
Power 8
Casting 0.2 seconds
Recovery 0.5 seconds
Recast 20 seconds
Duration 2 seconds
Range Up to 5.0 Meters
Level 4

Effects
- Stuns target
- Applies Cheap Shot on termination. Lasts for 2.0 seconds.
-Stuns target
-Duration is reduced by 66.7% against Epic targets.
-Epic targets gain a 6 second immunity to this ability's effects.
-Certain creature strengths only
-Does not affect Epic targets

Yeah so that description is nice and confusing... I think that they forgot to remove some lines from the oribinal description. At anyrate, being only 14 the little one is at a loss for finding an epic to go test this out on. I'm probably not going to be leveling her up any before the next LU though. I'm still playing catch up for the 3 months I was gone while I was sick =/

Some of these changes can be a good thing... But most likey ummmm
CC is being completly revamped in LU24 where chanters can do more than being just a power battary in raids. The CC will now everyone everyone to Stun, mez, pacify, etc... Epic mobs. The catch is this after the mob has been CCed the effect on the mob will be less than stated on the CA/Spell and after the CCed has expired the mob will have a Cooldown timer on it that will make it immune to CC before it can be CCed again.

If the NPCs get the same changes as the player characters, then it might not be so bad to solo'ers. For me, a lot of my deaths come from getting stunned while fighting non-heroic groups when I really really need to get a life tap in.

Stuns are getting a nerf across the board, so we aren't the only ones. Sapping Shot was useable as an extra range attack, now it will be all but useless. Lanets is a decent change, esp for PvP...I like the daze effect over the agi debuff, but reduction in damage? that sucks.

edit: Why the heck would they increase timers on ANY of these? Our DPS already got a hit recently.
Message Edited by Bjerde on 05-11-2006 09:14 AM

This is going to hurt us; not critically, but substantially, I think. We didn't need it.
I solo as much as I group; I'm starting to wonder if I need to change deodorants. Lot of my thoughts are related to solo, which to my eye is more demanding than group or the usual dirge raid role.
Cheap Shot requires good coordination and no lag to get off the flanking attack, let alone trying for a stealth thing. I was just getting used to having a shot at doing both with Bump every 60 sec. Four sec is going to leave little room for error. I almost never get off even a flank attack against heroics with 2 sec, am I doing something wrong?
Does the 'daze' effect for Lanet's break on attack? If so it's almost entirely useless. I suppose it doesn't. It'll be interesting to know if 'short duration' is the existing 20 sec or shorter -- 20 sec of no autoattack is a big help, my solo battles average about 30 sec. I'd take a modest drop in damage output from Lanet's for that. And, if it's shorter, well, at least it becomes more useful in fast-killing groups. I never get it off twice in one battle anyway, so increasing the refresh isn't huge -- this seems to me to be aimed a bit at nerfing kiting.
How do people sort out the decreased break chance versus the increased recast of fear? I only use it in emergencies, though I'd should use it more if I had any sense, I think.
Do you think the Sapping Shot change goes through the whole line? Basically, increasing the reuse timer on a lame spell that never gets reused in a given battle seems like a sign that some developer needs better things to do with her time. I suppose this is their attempt at another kiting nerf, the creatures. Who thinks up this stuff?
Like kiting's any fun.
Whysprr
Whysprr Wyrdwynd (born during a severe vowel shortage) the Sultana of Splat
Brethren (And what about the sistren, may I just ask?)
Qeynos (but not ridiculous about it)
Dirge & Bespoke Jeweler to the Scouts of Norrath (at least the ones who are willing to put their rares at risk)
Some level or other (who knows when you're reading this)
Kithicor server (when it's up and lag isn't too dreadful)

If you noticed, the mages are the only group that arfe immue to some effect from this nurf.
What gets me most of all, is that one of our main attacks is getting nurfed. As is, I mostly use my stun to reduce the disease mit for the mages as it is.
All I can see here on what they did to the Dirges (and many others) was show the game just how arrogant these people can be.did not see one thing in there that was actually useful. Stupid excersizes of power, yes, but deffinately not done with any intelligence at the helm.

Whysprr, the secret for me is cheapshot while already moving at a slant toward the mob, then hit your flanking (put it in que)...the deal is, even if the mob appears on screen to turn with you, it usually hasn't, so you get the flanking shot off. If you don't slant on a heroic, just barely bumping them can slow you enough to not get the flanking shot off. Certainly, soloing green heroics, when you find one you have a shot at, is greatly aided by getting cheapshot and flank off at least once and maybe twice in the fight. Especially since Cac of Blades was nerfed. (or maybe going to shield in offhand is viable now?)

I am not really enthused with the changes. Its not gonna spoil the dirge with this one change, but I really do not like the direction I see them going...ie downhill, albeit slowly. I think I spend a little more time leveling my pet classes as a hedge against the future.