I have spent the last couple of days reading
all the threads and posts by these very passionate players, my apologies for being late to the party. Thank you in advance for the effort on attempting to tackle such ambitious goals, this will be my attempt to give measured criticism, and hopefully not be overly critical. I enjoyed how Shakkara framed her feedback, so I will utilize a similar setup.
Weapon Revamp- Shakkara's feedback here was pretty much spot on in my opinion.
Pros:
- Weapon DPS had indeed been made more consistant. I don't believe you will get many complaints on this change.
Cons:
- The majority of two-handed weapons and slow weapons (3.75 and up) are still undesirable. The damage increase is certainly helpful, but I would reckon that swing speed is one of the biggest concerns in determining which weapons get used.
A 3.75 weapon with 40 SSI and 150 stam (relatively high value stats) swings at 1.75, which is half a second from the current max, and a long time in most combat situations. With the proposed changes to stam these values will become even more important and also increasingly difficult to maintain in the case of swing speed.
Suggestions/Comments:
- Shakkara's suggestions mirror what I have read from several posters and are fine suggestions in general. I
personally am not a proponent of random "procs", so my opinion would be to avoid that line of thinking if possible.
- I like the idea of giving two-handed weapons a slightly larger imbuing/intensities cap, but I would truely love to see balanced as an imbuing option as well.
*
I realize this idea may be contentious, but it is often the main reason I choose not to use two-handed weapons in pvp.*
- Consider lowering the cost of balanced for ranged weapons as it's become a nearly mandatory mod for archery, and is free for throwing.
- Would a two tile range for two-handed weapons be game breaking? -
Just thinking out loud on this one...
- Please
take one more look at some of the slower weapons (3.75 and up) and ask yourselves,
do they really need to be so slow?
Weapon Special Move Changes - This is a section I am very passionate about.
Pros:
- I appreciate the general direction you went with many of these changes, Double Strike/Shot, and Armor Pierce being the stand out changes in my opinion.
- Bleed, disarm, and mortal strike are seemingly headed in the right direction. -
Could we get some more information on the "effect reduction" mechanic for mortal strike and bleed?
Cons: A bigger list here, but you aren't that far off on many of the changes.
- Bladeweave: Still disappointed that this is random, taking tactical choices out of the equation, and relying mostly on luck.
- Crushing Blow: I completely understand the concept and can appreciate the bonus to an otherwise lackluster move, but I am more concerned with potential abuse at this time. Most casters run 20-30 stamina, two shots from this move could render someone immobile, this situation would be further compounded by the proposed armor/stamina changes, and the fact maces do extra stamina damage.
- Force of Nature: The damage increase seems better, but the move reads overly complicated (delayed damage, 12th hit, resist stun...), and not many people will appreciate receiving what will seem like a random stun either.
- Frenzied Whirlwind: The movement reduction doesn't seem a feasible enough addition and in my opinion doesn't fit with when I picture a frenzied whirlwind. Frenzied in my mind evokes images of a beserker, a wild element to the move, something with a bonus, but also an added risk.
- Talon Strike: Much closer to being improved, the 1-4 extra seconds will put the damage closer to 30-35 from the negative hp regen (as long as hp regen is low). Many pvpers run 10-18 reducing the effectiveness (I'm sure some monsters have high hp regen as well), not to mention this move is only available on one very underused weapon.
Suggestions/Comments:
- Bladeweave: I don't have a magic solution... Your current change is certainly an improvement, but something less random would be fantastic. Possibly consider a physical and magic reflect mechanic (percentages determined by you), another buff/debuff mechanic to improve damage, or ideally a move to compete with AI. I know it's not as simple as just suggesting a change, but being represented on four weapons this "magical" move deserves something a little more, in this posters opinion.
- Crushing Blow: Instead of the stamina drain, which at this moment would seemingly make the stamina issue far worse, how about considering having crushing blow lower physical resist by 5 for a few seconds? Currently there are only a few ways this mechanic can be achieved (pets). This would also give a slight damage boost to a move that can be close to AI damage, and dexxers a mechanic that mimics a mages curse spell, but for physical only.
- Force of Nature: I like the general direction you went with the move and can appreciate you giving it to a few other weapons, however if it is intended to remain elven inspired it should only be on wooden weapons. This move reads overly complicated and needs to be tweaked a bit...
On the 12th hit, in the 4th battle, against the 2nd opponent you shall cause a stun, which can be partially resisted if your opponent has recently sacrificed a hamster to Mesanna... hehehe.
- Frenzied Whirlwind: This move is currently only on 3 under utilized weapons and would benefit from a stronger ability, that will also hopefully fit more with the Frenzied theme. Mentiras put forth an interesting suggestion in the 7th post of
http://stratics.com/community/threads/weapon-special-move-review.285978/#post-2191160
- Talon Strike: Very close here, my suggestions would be to either give a slight bump to the negative hp regen, an increase to the initial hit's damage increase, or both.
- Overall many improvements, I would suggest in a couple situations where special moves were changed (leafblade in particular) to consider leaving the playerbase with their favorite "familiar" weapons, and buff the less utilized ones.
Armor Revamp part 1 - The fact that this is only part 1 makes truly accurate feedback difficult, but it's safe to say there are some attributes of these changes that many have found issue with. Shakkara hits most of the important points spot-on.
Pros:
- The ability to reduce stamina damage is a great starting point for an incentive to wear "heavier" armor.
Cons:
- The stamina damage taken is currently too extreme, especially on players with large stamina pools, even tiny damage can take huge chunks of stamina away.
- Leather armor stamina damage is too much currently.
- Mage armor property treats other armor types as leather.
- Studded and Bone armor are still not good choices.
Suggestions/Comments: Most of these are Shakkara's ideas with an addition (or correction) here and there, but damn they are well thought out ideas in my opinion.
- Make Studded/Bone half-med again, like it used to be pre-AOS. Possibly consider Wood/Plate at 25% med.
- Scale stamina damage closer to the amount we lose now on live for leather armor and make platemail users nearly immune to stamina damage. It is important in my mind to leave a more stable base for players, so they do not feel like they have to change all their armor. You
should can make it advantagous to change armor, but with less discrepancies in stamina damage from live it will feel less like being forced.
- Mage armor should be treated as the type of armor it is for purposes of stamina loss protection, and still allow meditation. After all it takes up a property slot and costs a load of imbue points, so it better do something good instead of hindering an item.
- Shakkara said it towards the end of the post, but don't forget about dragon armor please. It certainly is one of the cooler looking armors...
Armor Inherent Mana Phasing/SSI debuff - Shakkara again with the well put feedback.
Cons:
- Not an advocate of these types of mechanics, so
Pros does not apply in this case.
- Definately two overly complex systems to understand for many players.
- Very dependent on random "procs".
Suggestions/Comments:
- Making Studded/Bone half-med again, like it used to be pre-AOS, and Wood/Plate at 25% med, could in theory reduce the need to have a mechanic like mana phasing. I'm sure a substitute could be found for the SSI debuff if it was still deemed necessary.
Combat Changes - Arguably the second most negatively received changes can be found within this section. I believe if the stamina damage becomes less of an issue and a couple tweaks are made to a few of these changes, they will become better received.
Pros:
- Gargoyle hit chance
cap being reduced from 50 to 45.
I hope I am correctly understanding they still get the +5, so they only need 40.
- Hit lower defense becomes more effecient and difficult to negate.
- Animal form can now be interrupted.
- Necromancy: Evil Omen now reduces Mysticism Stone Form Immunity by 30.
I'm not sure I understand this completely, but anything that offers a feasible option to Stone Form, and isn't Mysticism based (purge) is appreciated. Would love more information here, so I can say I fully understand.
Need more information/Undecided:
- Throwing: Adjusted throwing sweet spot hit chance and damage reduction penalties. Throwing damage reduction penalties now scale based on player stamina and strength.
It's difficult to tell here if this change is truly for the better, or for the worse, please include more information if possible.
- Mysticism: Increased Cleansing Winds healing power reduction based on curses. Cleansing Winds will always heal for maximum potential when the target is the caster. Cleansing Wind power will now scale based on the number of targets when healing targets that are not the caster.
I like the fact that you compromised here with the caster receiving the full benefit, but extra recipients receiving a reduced effect. I will need to test this more to be certain myself.
Cons:
- All stamina potions now operate on a global cooldown. Total refresh potions apply a ten second cooldown, refresh potions apply a two second cooldown, and faction refresh potions apply a two second cooldown.
- Weapon effect: Hit stamina leech is now subject to diminishing returns based on max player stamina.
- Chivalry: Divine Fury stamina regenerated decreased to 2.5x duration from 4x duration.
* All these stamina nerfs are cons at the moment, because this publish currently has a far too dramatic effect on stamina.
*
Suggestions/Comments:
- The new (and improved) hit lower defense formula should be applied to hit lower attack as well, even if it's just to keep the mechanics acting similar.
- Animal form's casting speed should be "normalized"/set now that it's interruptible. I would suggest a faster casting speed (of at least 2) as dexxers can rarely afford the fast casting stat, and the dismounters are already jumping for joy.
- With how the publish looks at the moment of this posting, any and all stamina changes will make the general public cringe, so I will avoid delving into the subject too heavily, however if the stamina damage is lowered for leather (medable armor) some of these changes with minor tweaks, for example the cooldowns on stamina potions (might need to be lower than 10) could be very interesting proposals.
- I can actually appreciate and respect much of the direction these grand ideas were seemingly aiming for, however I believe that the myriad of stamina tweaks (stamina damage in leather most of all) added up to a stamina knockout punch to the community instead. In general when dealing with so many large systems it might be better off to start a little slower with the changes, as you can tell by reading the forums we have many different types of posters, some of whom see this publish as the sky is falling (I don't, but I can certainly understand it.) Thank you Dev team for the opportunity to give feedback that will be hopefully be received well.
Thank you all for your time if you read this extremely long post, I feel as if I just wrote an essay to the college of UO... I think my major will be pvp, with a minor in suit building, I'll also probably dabble around in treasure hunting.
