Upcoming changes to the KoS AA tree sounds interesting!!!

[p]Ok, this is not funny anymore. Since eof the only thing we got is nerfing.[/p][p]This is getting ridiculous. Toning down double attack from 76% to 60% is crazy. Espescially we as zerkers will be hit immensely hard. I was trying to get my zerk back as my main again in some months but i'm gonna stop bothering i think. Guardians are better tanks and prolly SK's will surpass us too now.[/p][p]Swashie, here i come!![/p][p]I have no idea why soe keeps hitting us so hard :s[/p][p] [/p]

[p]Yeah, this has me just a bit miffed as well.[/p][p] I espeically like how I read that the only reductions in some AA line's effectiveness would be due to the fact that a weapon requirement was being lifted. Chances of buckler requirement being changed into any shield (hell even round shield): I wouldn't bet money on it, considering it'd make stamina line even more of a requirement.[/p][p] Conclusion: Down to 60%, lose block bonus, lose 4.5% block/reposte, gain 8% reposte (its only 1%, not 2%, in the thread I'm reading). Also, we gain accel strike reguardless of weapon we choose.[/p][p] Postnote: Test server changes: no duel weild weapons? I'd say I dont appreciate the anticipated competition for weapons, but with changes to accel strike, no reason to use anything but crushing anyways.[/p]

Losing 16% double-attack is chump-change guys. It's about 5-10% of our auto-attack damage, which is already capable of getting well over 1000. Instead of 1200-1500 dps, we'll do 1100-1400. Not a big deal. We needed it. We're still going to be way up there. Our defenses will actually benefit if Gladiator's Revenge is still Riposte/Circle Parry (which it should be) Going from 4.5% block + 4.5% riposte to 8% riposte is at worst a -small- loss, and at best a small gain. Remember, riposte checks before Block, meaning 1% riposte is superior to 1% block. If it is still circular we'll be gaining 2.5% more circular avoidance for less than 1% frontal loss even in a worst case scenario. STA is still looking to be -king-, just not by as much of a margin. Where they messed up: They failed to make the +DEF option in AGI worth much of anything. They failed to make the +PARRY option in INT worth much of anything. They should've bumped up the STR CA, and made it such that the next 1, 2, 3, or 4 CAs (Depending on points in it) result in a critical hit. It is still too easy to consume this ability with auto-attack. Where they did well: Bumping up the AOE auto-attack in AGI was good. This ability was a little bit on the crap side for Zerkers, now it is a lot more compelling. They made Dragoon's Reflexes a lot more useful. They made Relentless Assault a lot more useful. It will now make a STA/INT build comparable to a STA/STR build in terms of DPS, though the INT build uses a lot more power. Mysterious things: The dual-wield changes stand to make DWs god-like in DPS. But they did NOTHING to help 2hs? What the heck? That's the #1 complaint, that 2hs are trash. Unbelievable. Acceleration Strike is now Warrior Sailwind, but it makes no sense how it is written. It says it gives 25% haste, casting, and recovery. So we still get haste, but now we get casting and recovery too? I doubt it... This was the most overpowered achievement we had for the cost, no way it'd be buffed. All in all I think STR STA and INT are all now viable. AGI is -almost- there. It needs to have the +DEF thing bumped up to something slightly better. WIS is in terrible shape, and needs to be overhauled in the 2, 3 and 4 positions. Belly smash needs to be replaced with a raid useful CA, DPS is -way- too easy to get to keep, and +MIT needs a big buff.

Its not even that, its the fact that they took away our block % making this line almost usless for a MT zerker. We dont have agro utilities like plant and reinforcement, our agro comes from DPS. Now with them basicly taking away a huge chunk of our DPS and almost making the STA line not usable for tanking i think we are pretty much screwed. On top of that they gave us nothing special. Wis line is junk and they think they are upgrading it by addind in penalty removal for hunker down. Are you serious?!?! Adding in taunt incrase to the end STR skill when its basicly only useful for solo or PVP. IMO the only line that got anything decent was agi and even that isnt huge. Sure accel strike is decent but its not a major change. Thanks SOE for beating us down with the nerf bat and further reinforcing the fact that guards are the most viable MT's.

[p]Yeah, I forgot to post about the lack of love for 2handers, thanks for mentioning that. I wouldnt want to re-open wounds about 2h vs DA, but I think we can all agree that 2h could have used some love, and they definatly recieved none.[/p][p] Also, they list a number for accel strike, yet neglect to mention how many points this 25% takes...[/p][p] Basically they made a few AA's a bit more appealing and then made our longtime staple AA's a bit less appealing, and test server changes will be interesting to say the least. I am curious to see how well the standard DW's we see scale up. But heres one little bit of confusion I have in the whole matter:[/p][p] They say that the offhand delay will increased so that the damage is the same. The same as what? The same as DW dps before? If so, what the hell was the point of changing the system if DW isnt any more appealing, minus the reductions to double attack.[/p][p] [/p][p]So, while these changes arent catastrophic, I'd say that given the goal of diversifying AA choices by making all trees a bit more equal, I'd have to call this a failure, as many aa choices will still be inferior, at best.[/p]

[p]Someone beat me to it.[/p]

"Stamina 4 - Fortissimo: Grants your group melee and ranged doubleattack at 1% per rank, and 2% per rank for allies that have a shield equipped." Lol group with a bard with stam4 and get your 76% back !

only if you're an OT, pretty sure most MT dirges would run crit line still Oh BTW checked out accel strike on test, its majorly changed. The buff now lasts for 24 seconds, you have to use the 3 CA's within that time, and then you are granted the haste proc which lasts for 17 seconds. The recast is 30 seconds

[p]Tested the changes and found that the STA line 4 is almost the same as before as rispote boost your base avoidance, the 16% of double atk is not that a high nerf and all line 2 are now useable with any weapon but recast 30s and all on same timer.[/p][p]But yes 2H weapons are still junk weapons...[/p][p]( DW changes doesn't seems to be working on pvp test server )[/p]

[p]not fond of the reduced double atack, lil sucky, i claim its the SOe nerf i felt coming.[/p][p] [/p][p]but the duel weild into 1handers. if i'm thinking right, they'll buff them up on par with current ones right? stat wise and dps wise. if so would that not mean:[/p][p] [/p][p] [/p][p]will be come one of the best crit 1handers? even if it is a dagger, we'll not need to worry for the haste, the double atack, or crit, so u'll get all those benefits with a 4 sec delay weapon. [/p]

[p]No it won't be the best crti wep :[/p][p][/p][p] [/p][p]The best one is :[/p][p][/p][p] [/p]

Darkhain@Venekor wrote:

well it wont be the best, but look how easy it will be to get compared. lyceum isnt the hardest to farm to get one. so what i meant is it will be one of the best to get until you get that or comparable. especially since its from first boss in lyceum right?, dont forget also, it might get stats buffed to be comparable to 1handers, so who knows if it will get bette ror worse in some aspects.

well stats on a weapon are minimal at best, i would take a weapon with 0 stats and no health power if it has a wicked spread and awesome topend. I also retract what i said earlier, this is a nerf to us but its not as bad as i had thought orig. Losing base block hurts but i can live with it and i guess i am willing to trade 16% double attack for the new accel strike w/ my brimstone.

That GDH link is old, current rating is around 60.

No it's the new one on test server 1H version.

Wis line should really get a nice boost. Wis 2 could be changed to add if stunned/stifled/dazed so at least it has some additional times it could go off in raids...still isn't terribly useful, and wis 4 should add a damage proc on successful attack that scales in damage per level and points spent. The changes to acceleration strike are nice, but currently it only lasts 17.6 seconds and has a 30 second recast with 1 point spent. I think at 2 points it lasts for 19, so it would scale close to the 30 second recast with 8 points spent. You could probably throw out some good damage with int5 and int2 maxed, but at a min of 24 aa points spent, the damage would still probably work out to less than 4/4/8 str, and those extra points might be needed for hate increase now that hate transfers have been generally nerfed. The increase to AE auto attack and the AE immunity from the agi tree are interesting as well, but for me at least ae aggro has always been fine, and the toughest fights where i want as much damage as possible are against single target named mobs. With each point spent in defense giving less benefits than the parry in int, this line looks even less attractive (considering my dirge buffed parry is about 20 higher than my defense anyway). I played around on pvp test for a bit, and my character (str/sta spec) still felt the same to play, so I'm going to wait and see how everything plays out before crying foul on the dps reduction of the sta spec.

I think it equals out to about 100 DPS loss and 1-2% avoidance. I can handle that... i just wish they made any other lines viable like they intended.

The thing that really chaps my hide are the nerfs to hate transfers/reducers. Sure, nerfing our DPS by 100 or so isn't that big of a deal, but when they're ALSO making it alot easier for our DPSers to pull aggro, we're kinda getting screwed. Aggro is going to be insane after this update. It's already harder for us to hold aggro then it is for a Guardian, now it will be a ton worse. If the DW changes go live.... yeah that will make it even worse since it will up DPS for dual wielders while essentially nerfing those of us who have to use a shield. They SERIOUSLY need to think about the impact of changes like this before they go live. I know they don't have high end raiding on Test (raiding Labs on occassion doesn't count) which is where alot of these changes will have the most impact. As a result we end up "testing" them on live. IMO they really need to let us transfer characters to test so we can test this stuff out with an actual raid force.

They actually let a few of the top end guild over on pvp test yesterday to test out the new raid zone. But yeah after this LU i predict alot of deaths while people relearn thier class, raid strats, and AA's.

Darkhain@Venekor wrote:

[p] [/p][p] [/p][p]In order to reposte, you have to block or parry - neither of which is a part of the "base" avoidance, so I don't see why your base would increase with this ability. They took away the block in this ability, so I'm guessing it should increase your parry, if anything. I'm not saying you are wrong, I'm just saying that if you are right about it increasing the base, that soe screwed up somewhere. Increasing reposte is kinda fishy anyway...there's no check for reposte. Reposte is a % chance of your parry/block, which is also a % chance. The reposte adornment doesn't change our avoidance in any way, etc.[/p][p]Edit: As I think about this more, adding a higher % reposte should not change your avoidance in any way. Reposte is kinda crappy. It's not gonna help you avoid any more than before. It's just gonna do a tiny bit more damage as this % increases IF you parry or block. In other words, if we get 4% higher reposte chance, than out of 100 parries or blocks, we will return damage 4 times. Total crap imo.[/p][p]Which also makes me think about how this reposted damage shows up in the log files, or in a parser. What type of damage would this be, and without going through a log file line by line, how can we compare to see if we are really reposting more at all?[/p][p]For the tiny bit more damage that comes from 4% reposte that we can get in the new 4th ability, makes it kinda stupid to go beyond the 60% double attack in this line. Doesn't it? Am I some how wrong thinking that reposte does not equal more avoidance? I mean the only real reason I am using it now, is for the uncontested block. Take these points and head down agility line to get defense and agility, and get alot more avoidance than this new 4th ability will give you. Granted either way will be contested, but atleast there's other attractive things in agility line to pick up along the way. I'd much rather avoid more, than reposte more. ..[/p]