Update 66 Preview 1 - Epic Destiny Refresh

[Kelledren]

Just tried the Exalted Angel change to the Flaming Blade Barrier that follows you after very fire/light/positive damage/healing is done.

And I'm not a fan of this particular change.

This change does absolutely nothing for solo or group play. In most cases you'll be lucky to get one "tick" of anything AND THATS IT.

So tests on how it works in Lam now, once active and triggered and kept up (say with an Archon), what do you get? The first initial tick of damage or healing to yourself or allies if you do not move.

Lets say we're solo'ing, so we stay mobile. We ONLY get the damage portion IF enemies are moving in and out of our barrier (either from them moving in, which is just the first time, or if we move out of the way to get them out of the way, but that will be harder to do easily due to speed differences). We only get the initial tick of healing when the barrier goes up. We ourselves, get nothing more as we can't move out of the barrier ourselves (as mentioned by a poster above this one).

If we're in a group and trigger this, we risk damaging enemies we don't want to and gaining aggro (again, mentioned by others) and of course, we only ever gain the first initial tick of healing whilst it is up. And if we're healing constantly, this Barrier does nothing of worth unlike how the Aura works right now on Live.

I would propose that the Mantle has two version, one a toggle for the Barrier that deals damage (which really needs more work on it really). And one for the healing "whatever", with my preference being a return to the old existing Live healing Aura; so that once triggered, it ticks every few seconds to heal everyone in the Aura AOE. This way you don't have it always on as in Live right now, but also won't make it super situational for use either.

J1NG

I have not gone through all 24 pages yet- but my suggestion was similar to this: offer two options on the same cooldown (not multi selector). One the ring heals and damages- for solo players or low R play. The ability heals allies and debuffs enemies in some way without damage (like old ED abilities). As long as the debuffing will not draw aggro which I am not sure about, this would be pretty cool.

 

[Ying]

Divine Crusader: Divine Sundering -- this appears to not be affected by melee power. When I use it, I only see base dice damage totals.

 

[Lazuli]

You mean, you don't even have to be a Dragonborn to get access to this?

@Tonquin Nerf the Draconic breath attack more please.! It's not enough!

Please, the entire forum will thank you for stopping talking about what you don't know. Do yourself a favor and save yourself the embarrassment of making a fool of yourself with these types of comments.

I don't say this with bitterness, but to save you the shame. The logical thing is to talk about the things you know. Asking for a nerf on a topic you have no idea about doesn't speak well of you.

 

[Kelledren]

So, what is your point exactly? You said casters nerf was long overdue, but yet you agree that melee out dps casters? So, why nerf casters? What exactly was the point or argument you were attempting to make in your initial post?

The dragon breath in DI was ridiculously strong and should be adjusted down. It should not be brought down by as much as it was in this thread however. Somewhere just over half seems correct imo.
On this debate- melee should have the highest sustained dps in the game- the bonus you get for being 5’ away from danger. If caster, ranged, and melee dps were all equal then why even have melee dps?

 

[QuantumFX]

Yes, I tried to make it work with a fey warlock, but it didn't convince me. For a bard the ED works, but for the warlock it left a bad taste in my mouth.

For a Swashbuckler. It's absolutely a waste of ED points for a bard attempting a nuker.

 

[Lazuli]

The dragon breath in DI was ridiculously strong and should be adjusted down. It should not be brought down by as much as it was in this thread however. Somewhere just over half seems correct imo.
On this debate- melee should have the highest sustained dps in the game- the bonus you get for being 5’ away from danger. If caster, ranged, and melee dps were all equal then why even have melee dps?

sustainable is not the same as burst dps (melees have always had the highest sustainable dps, as has always been seen in raids, where mana always falls short), but now melees have the highest sustainable dps, burst, and of all colors xD.

 

[The Narc]

Epic strikes should cap at 30 when epic levels end.

And in with my prophethood forecast, that all these changes are happening because they are planning to make epic destinies for epic and a whole new set of legendary destinies are going to be sold to us. This is what keeps the game afloat with massive income spikes and it will happen here again.

This all started happening back around the time of the IPS nerf and cargo hold buffs nerf and has progressively become worse, we as a community didnt stop it then and most of the people that would rally against these obnoxios changes have long left the game, more will leave from these changes, and more will close up their wallets. But the big spender end gamers will keep spending to stay out in front of the power curve and we should all be thankful for their contribution that is the fuel that keeps the engine going.

The Narc prophetised it here first!!

 

[Shear-buckler]

And in with my prophethood forecast, that all these changes are happening because they are planning to make epic destinies for epic and a whole new set of legendary destinies are going to be sold to us. This is what keeps the game afloat with massive income spikes and it will happen here again.

This all started happening back around the time of the IPS nerf and cargo hold buffs nerf and has progressively become worse, we as a community didnt stop it then and most of the people that would rally against these obnoxios changes have long left the game, more will leave from these changes, and more will close up their wallets. But the big spender end gamers will keep spending to stay out in front of the power curve and we should all be thankful for their contribution that is the fuel that keeps the engine going.

The Narc prophetised it here first!!

A question for the prophet. What exactly is the problem with a legendary progression system?

 

[voenixa121]

And in with my prophethood forecast, that all these changes are happening because they are planning to make epic destinies for epic and a whole new set of legendary destinies are going to be sold to us. This is what keeps the game afloat with massive income spikes and it will happen here again.

This all started happening back around the time of the IPS nerf and cargo hold buffs nerf and has progressively become worse, we as a community didnt stop it then and most of the people that would rally against these obnoxios changes have long left the game, more will leave from these changes, and more will close up their wallets. But the big spender end gamers will keep spending to stay out in front of the power curve and we should all be thankful for their contribution that is the fuel that keeps the engine going.

The Narc prophetised it here first!!

But the people here love this kind of thing. Many on this forum went nuts when it was just suggested to get rid of the reaper trees. And all these past lives? People are crazy about collecting them and go all in on triple completionist.

 

[Meowcifer]

Casters have been OP for a very long time and yes it affects me because I basically don't even play the game when a well specced endgame caster is in the party. You are literally taking away my enjoyment by being so OP.

You could just, you know... not play with those people? Find a guild you enjoy running with? Not saying you're wrong per se, but what have you done to increase your own enjoyment of the game in the face of this glaring and obvious problem?

 

[Kelledren]

sustainable is not the same as burst dps (melees have always had the highest sustainable dps, as has always been seen in raids, where mana always falls short), but now melees have the highest sustainable dps, burst, and of all colors xD.

I agree with what you are saying, but mana issues are far less now than they used at be at end game with RoSS and mana saving ED abilities. Not to mention you get two RoSS. I rarely run out of mana with blasters or healers. I half the time I don’t even bother to pick up souls when dropped.

 

[DBZ]

Stamina bars for all melee and ranged abilities and defenses then to balance that

Monks have bars those never run out either

 

[Elminster]

You could just, you know... not play with those people? Find a guild you enjoy running with? Not saying you're wrong per se, but what have you done to increase your own enjoyment of the game in the face of this glaring and obvious problem?

So basically restrict my access to the game or at the very least play with a limited static group in order to cater to your desire to be OP? That's what you're telling me. It's insane. This is insane.

 

[glass_jaws]

One small suggestion for the next Lam. Can we get separate threads for each of the destinies being changed? It's a little painful with all the ED discussions in one thread.

 

[The Narc]

A question for the prophet. What exactly is the problem with a legendary progression system?

Absolutely nothing, it will be coming and is part of the planning as yo why these adjustments have been made to the epic destinies as to make the legendary ones even more appealing, and since they have a selling model for new candy they really should release one tree at a time and sell them for big bucks just like macro with the fluff.

 

[Elminster]

Stamina bars for all melee and ranged abilities and defenses then to balance that

Monks have bars those never run out either

It wouldn't work. Just end up creating more lag due to the servers now juggling more numbers around.

 

[Lazuli]

I agree with what you are saying, but mana issues are far less now than they used at be at end game with RoSS and mana saving ED abilities. Not to mention you get two RoSS. I rarely run out of mana with blasters or healers. I half the time I don’t even bother to pick up souls when dropped.

It depends on the content. In the raids the casters are very short of mana, you just have to see how they are not welcome in the raids if they are done with a little difficulty, or even how the skellies pugs fail on hard when they are very caster heavy. Who have completed FOM alone? Only melees, zero casters. And then there are quests that are really very hard in terms of mana, like Just business.

I'm not defending a nerf to melee dps, mind you. I'm not like other jealous people who seem to take pleasure in ruining other people's fun. But enough of nerfing the casters when they are now not in a dominant position, and not even close.

 

[Tonquin]

One small suggestion for the next Lam. Can we get separate threads for each of the destinies being changed? It's a little painful with all the ED discussions in one thread.

I think we could probably do that, but I'm worried that'd end up with, like, a LOT of threads. The big thing I'm looking to solve is that newcomers to the thread aren't seeing our dev responses. I hate to commit to this since it's a TON of work but I'm wondering if I should be editing the original post with links or something when we make feedback-based adjustments?

 

[rabidfox]

I think we could probably do that, but I'm worried that'd end up with, like, a LOT of threads. The big thing I'm looking to solve is that newcomers to the thread aren't seeing our dev responses. I hate to commit to this since it's a TON of work but I'm wondering if I should be editing the original post with links or something when we make feedback-based adjustments?

They're all in the staff tracker, but I also know lots of people never check that.

Edit: maybe put a link to the staff tracker in the 1st post so people can be redirected to it?

 

[The Narc]

I think we could probably do that, but I'm worried that'd end up with, like, a LOT of threads. The big thing I'm looking to solve is that newcomers to the thread aren't seeing our dev responses. I hate to commit to this since it's a TON of work but I'm wondering if I should be editing the original post with links or something when we make feedback-based adjustments?

The original post link is a great idea!

I tend to be pretty harsh on the devs/ssg but you are definitely a shining star in a cloudy sky, kudos to you. I hope whoever is doing future hiring for ssg takes you as an example of what they should be looking for in future employees.