Update 66 Preview 1 - Epic Destiny Refresh

[CBDunk]

Unpopular Opinion: Removing the auto-heal aura from Exalted Angel mantle that requires zero interactivity by a player is a step in the right direction.

By that logic, you should have to hit a key or otherwise 'interact' to get AC, dodge, MRR, PRR, DR, healing amp, et cetera.

There are TONS of passive features in the game. There is no reason that periodic healing should be singled out as 'the one which is verbotten'.

 

[somenewnoob]

I got only 2 things to say here:

1) removing healing mantle is terrible for healers/divines and ALSO kills the solo game fun for many lower end and casual players (often forced solo, not enough population, healing hirelings don't work they are buggy and squishy).

What was the reasoning here? Who complained about exalted mantle?


2) Why do you overnerf things so much? Big nerfs are never popular.

Dragonstrike got 61% (!) nerf.

Primal DOTs strike got nerf by up to 50% or more with lower DCs.

Exalted mantle basically nerfed by 99% because a melee range AOE ring as a caster just doesn't work.



Please take a hint from other MMO games that do balance more in the +/- 5% to +/- 20% range.

If you are going to say only 2 things.........you hit the nail on the head 100% on both of them.

Couldn't agree more.

 

[droid327]

With 40 SA dice, this is +240 temporal HP. This doesn't feel useful playing reaper quests at all, can you replace this with something useful like +5 dddge and max dodge cap or +5 melee power?

Or better yet...make all temp HP sources scale with Heal Amp (or Repair/Neg amp, whichever is highest)

Most sources of tHP have the same issue of not scaling enough to stay relevant past low-tier content. There are already solutions in place for other systems that had a similar problem, so just use those.

 

[somenewnoob]

This! ^^^

I really wish that they could explain in detail about the reason behind what they're doing and why the nerfs are needed.

I'm a casual player that usually has to solo a lot. I've had so much fun with both DI and EA for a long time now.... and these nerfs will totally wreck my playstyle and my fun.

And these just aren't little nerfs, these are the nuke from orbit nerfs that we were all sure were going to happen because that's how they always do it. Don't adjust, nerf into the trash heap of uselessness.

 

[Lazuli]

Unpopular Opinion: Removing the auto-heal aura from Exalted Angel mantle that requires zero interactivity by a player is a step in the right direction.

I do not agree with you. It is not an op ability, and it cannot be that everything is focused on damage. Dps, dps, dps, that's all that counts in this game, all abilities have to be focused on damage. As soon as there is something other than damage that is popular, be it healing or CC, it has to be nerfed or removed.

And ironically, then people complain that everyone chooses dps as their first option. But how are you going to choose anything else, with this gaming philosophy?

While my cleric preferentially uses the sentinel mantle, since in high reaper the healing of the AE mantle is meh, the passive healing was useful in some raids. Honestly, I'm tired of seeing every non-DPS option being neutralized or eliminated.

 

[DBZ]

Bows for the win going forward boosted aoe dps to the 13'th degree while killing the last of the caster aoe make any sense

 

[Lazuli]

Exalted Angel: There's still no compelling reason to go T4 or T5 in this tree if your primary role is healer. Chain Heal, even if the targeting was fixed, isn't relevant when healer classes already have a litany of healing options at their disposal. As a healer, I'm just going to go T5 Unyeilding Sentinel because a pile of permanent and temporary hitpoints is a more compelling reason because it increases my chance of survival when things go pear shaped.

Things that could be added to EA to make it more appealing to the devoted healer:

* Make the cast speed of Mass Heal instant, like Mass Cure spells. No one takes Mass Heal because it's too damn slow to cast. Apply the same logic to Admixtures. There's a reason that Alchemist Apothecary healers aren't a thing: Admixtures suck to heal with because they can be interrupted (Quicken Spell doesn't apply) and they are sloooooow to reach their destination.

* Provide beneficial temporary protections to people that you heal: Alignment absorption/resistances, temporary hitpoints/spellpoints, increased HAMP -- you get the idea. Dare I say: Add Force absorption for a single target (tank). There's a hint of this in Angelic Soul (T3) with +5 AC, PRR, MRR. Extend that further.

They are making this nerf because the devs have been thinking for a long time that healing is too op in this game. I doubt they want to give the healers more toys.

I agree with you though.

 

[Ike]

There is an exploit involving deliberately inducing lag to allow it to multihit that one of the devs mentioned on Discord. That's all I know.

Do people just forget to not talk about exploits on a forum page?

 

[somenewnoob]

feather fall is literally as simple as hold block while falling. I just don't understand why people choose that hill to die on. There could not have been a simpler solution.

Because you're dying on a hill as a melee in high skull if you have feather fall on all the time.

 

[droid327]

Unpopular Opinion: Removing the auto-heal aura from Exalted Angel mantle that requires zero interactivity by a player is a step in the right direction.

Let me rebut with this:

Micromanagement is not gameplay

Auto heal aura didnt remove any element of skill from play. Its not enough to offset spike damage that actually presents a lethal threat; you still have to pay attention and manually heal for that

All it does it automate some of the routine "top off" healing that doesnt really require any skill at all, its just (usually) automatically pushing a heal button after combat, or throwing a spot heal whenever someone is not at 100%

I think any system that allows you to automate the mindless and routine, to remove low-impact button presses, and lets you pay more attention to what actually requires skill and quick reaction, improves gameplay and is a QOL positive

I'd compare it to, say, being able to combine all your pre-buffs into one button. There's no skill in pressing all the buttons manually, and there's no real skill in low, steady "maintenance healing" like EA provides

 

[Eme]

Drifting Lotus Epic strike now deals +10/20/30% damage

sounds flat and dull, to me

 

[Shear-buckler]

Let me rebut with this:

Micromanagement is not gameplay

Auto heal aura didnt remove any element of skill from play. Its not enough to offset spike damage that actually presents a lethal threat; you still have to pay attention and manually heal for that

All it does it automate some of the routine "top off" healing that doesnt really require any skill at all, its just (usually) automatically pushing a heal button after combat, or throwing a spot heal whenever someone is not at 100%

I think any system that allows you to automate the mindless and routine, to remove low-impact button presses, and lets you pay more attention to what actually requires skill and quick reaction, improves gameplay and is a QOL positive

I'd compare it to, say, being able to combine all your pre-buffs into one button. There's no skill in pressing all the buttons manually, and there's no real skill in low, steady "maintenance healing" like EA provides

If you have multiple auras in the party and are not running cutting edge difficult content the auto-heal absolutely diminishes the gameplay for healers. It takes away far more that "the mindless and routine".

With that said, they should just have made it into a non-stackable aura buff.

 

[Monkey_Archer]

Unpopular Opinion: Removing the auto-heal aura from Exalted Angel mantle that requires zero interactivity by a player is a step in the right direction.

I agree, but this just gave me an idea. How about adding it back but in tier5? possible instead of chain heal.

 

[Ying]

Yeah, they do, i did it last life, repeatedly, again not intentional

Greater Ruin with T5 Draconic isn't one-shotting Dooms in R10, even on a Warlock with max spell crit dmg.

 

[somenewnoob]

They are making this nerf because the devs have been thinking for a long time that healing is too op in this game. I doubt they want to give the healers more toys.

I agree with you though.

EA has always been a tree that has tried to do 2 things, and as a result does neither very well. I have a raid/high skull healer and have NEVER spent more points in that tree than enough to get 3 cores, mass cmw, mantle heal.

Most points go into sentinel for survivability since there is nothing in t4/5 of ea to be worth points.

Now the mantle is absolute trash. There is a ZERO PERCENT chance that any healer who actually knows what they are doing is taking this.

The healing effect from the current aura has too long of a cd to be OP. It's good, sure, nice to have, but not game breaking. It's a great quality of life feature for people leveling.

Are they upset that a lot of people use it? I think the "everybody can self heal" cat got out of the bag a long time ago, and this is them trying to put that cat back in.

So where is the HEALER TREE? It's not EA.

 

[DeadAlready]

Almost all of these changes are too extreme or just don't make sense.

I have literally never seen a single person use Cutter and you're nerfing it? Huh? Dragon Breath is out of control but a 61% nerf of it's damage after taking t4 IImproved Dragon Breath is completely over the top. No good caster players will use it now. 20-30% would be much reasonable. EA mantle change won't do anything to slow down the top 5-10% of players (1% just isn't accurate here) who are the ones pushing reaper raids or speedrunning solo r7-10s in the slightest but will significantly hurt new players trying to survive the massive increase in difficulty going from heroic to epic r1 groups, as well as players who choose or are forced to solo due to personal struggles, underpopulated servers or playing from a non-peak timezone. Holy fireball change just makes no sense for a t5 ability in a tree that again, very few top players use past the 3rd core. Although I don't like it I will acknowledge drifting lotus scaling bugfix makes sense, especially in light of obsoleting Dragon Breath since Drifting lotus would be most caster's next choice if they know about the bug.

All in all: I just don't understand where y'all are coming from on this SSG. I really suggest bringing back player working groups and making balance changed based on the lived experience of folks on the ground, because I believe you are well intentioned but all but a couple of these changes seem to come from a place of ignorance.

 

[Lazuli]

If you have multiple auras in the party and are not running cutting edge difficult content the auto-heal absolutely diminishes the gameplay for healers. It takes away far more that "the mindless and routine".

With that said, they should just have made it into a non-stackable aura buff.

In difficult content the healing of that aura is meh, It's the reason why experienced healers use sentinel mantle in high reaper. And if someone wants to use it on low difficulty, who cares?

In easy content, healers contribute in other ways, there no one needs healing. My cleric, for example, is dedicated to casting instankills.

 

[DBZ]

You'll get more reliable healing with fate singer shouts and cc and better insta kill dcs

 

[Falkor]

It's called logging in.

 

[droid327]

If you have multiple auras in the party and are not running cutting edge difficult content the auto-heal absolutely diminishes the gameplay for healers. It takes away far more that "the mindless and routine".

With that said, they should just have made it into a non-stackable aura buff.

If you're running lower-tier content then healers are largely redundant anyway, they're just relegated to that mindless "maintenance healing" role at best

Dedicated healers, like tanks, are a role only really necessary for high-leverage situations, and that's OK