NEWS [UO.Com] Testing Combat Changes on TC1

[UO News]

Greetings All, Based on player feedback we have some combat changes ready for testing on TC1. These changes are currently active on TC1. These will not be deployed World Wide for quite some time and are subject to change. We wanted to give everyone interested a time to provide feedback, so head on over to TC1 and check them out! You can read all about the changes here. Don’t forget to send us your feedback here. See you in Britannia, UO Team

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[PwnySlaystation]

So, lets get this straight, all the deathstriking stealthers now do not need tactics to perform their non base damage special moves and as we have 200+ mana suits they can now have resist in place of tactics?

Putting Alchemy on the Focused Mage restriction list is a massive nurf to parry mages whilst giving dexers a boost with the tactics req removal.

Seriously, someone buy the devs a see-saw so they can work out what the word balance means.

 

[Merlin]

@Kyronix - Please don't make any changes to Hail Storm or Moving Shot. Leave them as is.

 

[PwnySlaystation]

@Kyronix - Please don't make any changes to Hail Storm or Moving Shot. Leave them as is.

Not exactly. Moving shot is OP and does require some small nerf, but it sounds like they've taken it too far.

 

[BeaIank]

@Kyronix - Please don't make any changes to Hail Storm or Moving Shot. Leave them as is.

The change for hailstorm is actually a good one. It is working as meteor swarm and chain lightning now.
Against a single target it deals normal damage. Against a group of targets, it's damage is doubled then divided evenly among all the targets. Makes it useful in PvM again.

 

[-Hey Arnold-]

Love the moving shot and necro changes

 

[PaithanTheElf]

So dexers don't get any penalty for having alchemy on their temps but pure mages do? There are already very few skills you can have to compliment a pure mage. Bad idea on this nerf.

Moving shot needs a small nerf. But you guys went off the deep end with this. I think you took 3 different suggested nerfs that would have worked and put all of them into one. Pick one of these.

Get with it, devs.

 

[Merlin]

Not exactly. Moving shot is OP and does require some small nerf, but it sounds like they've taken it too far.

I can live with the "always Physical" change. I can learn to manage my mana better with the cost increase. But I really don't like the hit chance penalty... that's the killer for me.

 

[drcossack]

I can live with the "always Physical" change. I can learn to manage my mana better with the cost increase. But I really don't like the hit chance penalty... that's the killer for me.

Moving shot isn't even used in pvm. Honest question: How often do you get gunned down by a group of moving shot archers? It SHOULD have a hit chance penalty, if only because it should be harder to hit a target while you're moving.

Not sure I'm getting this Saving Throw cost for ranged weapons though. Can we get a clarification, @Kyronix?

 

[DJ Diddles]

If moving shot is going to be gutted like that, it at the very least needs the to no longer cost mana when you miss. The fact that parry is untouched is pretty hilarious, it's clear the devs do not play this game.

 

[PaithanTheElf]

If moving shot is going to be gutted like that, it at the very least needs the to no longer cost mana when you miss. The fact that parry is untouched is pretty hilarious, it's clear the devs do not play this game.

Agreed. If you devs are going over the deep end with this- it better not cost mana to miss.

 

[DJ Diddles]

Also, can we get some explanation of what this means? @Kyronix @Bleak

• 70 Tactics is still required to receive weapon skill lower mana bonus for specials

Are you referring to the combat special mana cost reduction activated by these skills?

Swordsmanship, Mace Fighting, Fencing, Archery, Parrying, Lumberjacking, Stealth, Poisoning, Bushido, Ninjitsu, Throwing

Tactics isn't part of that list, and outside of tactics being required to activate specials since Pub 46 (which is pretty universally panned as a bad implementation) it has played no part in reducing the mana cost of specials. So presumably you're attempting to increase template diversity by removing the tactics requirement, but essentially still requiring it (only with 20 less base skill required) for any dexxer who doesn't want super expensive specials?

Also, is that 70 tactics affected by skill increase like tactics (and bushido) have always arbitrarily been affected by? I think if you're going to start changing things with tactics you need to make it so tactics skill increase is treated like everything else.

 

[PaithanTheElf]

Debuffing based on skill and not stacking at all.. there goes the few necromancers you saw. Could have just let corpse skin do -15 no matter what. Remove the "real skill" part. Most certainly not worth it now.

Pretty much all of these changes are head scratchers.

 

[Nexus]

Not sure I'm getting this Saving Throw cost for ranged weapons though. Can we get a clarification, @Kyronix?

I'm more confused as to why they'd name a Skill Mastery in a (MMO)RPG, saving throw... I keep wanting to go look for a d20

 

[virem]

The alchemy and tactics changes are unnessary and just flat out dumb.

 

[randy]

First why are we rewarding players that run away? If you're doing pvp you shouldn't be rewarded for just being able to get away by running. Moving shot gives you an opportunity to finish someone who is doing just that. If they were going to make it physical damage I think that is a fair nerf but not only physical damage but now extra mana cost and still losing mana by moving shots that are missed. Anyone who has ever played an Archer realizes you miss a decent amount of moving shots now it pretty much makes moving shot a waste of even attempting. This is a horrible change.

Alchy why would a mage get nerfed for using a skill that we invest 100 skill points in for potions that are on timers. If you want to do such a drastic change than perhaps Mages should get a reduced timer on potions like Novas, Conflags, and Gheal. But instead of that just leave it the same.

The problem with this game is templates are always being nerfed we need more templates to play not less stop letting people who don't actively participate in fights call the shots on changes this is getting absurd.

 

[Great DC]

LOLOLOL. Only missing a parry and chiv focus nerf and UO pvp might be good again. Sorry to all those that relied on moving shot and alchemy but your gonna have to go find talent now. HAHAHAHA

 

[J. E. Tamer]

Why is hailstorm being changed to mimic chain lightning? Most mystics are mystic-mages, and if they wanted chain lightning, they would be casting that, right?

 

[CovenantX]

The only things I see that could be a problem in this publish are:

Moving shot: too many adjustments, but the "Always Physical Damage" is the biggest potential nerf. assuming the HCI penalty isn't a ridiculous amount... (I'll wait until after testing this to get into more detail)
Corpse Skin: affecting cap resistances regardless of "focus spec", Alchemy-Necro-Mage = one of the next big things.

Alchemy change, Finally....
It's funny because there isn't a person that's complaining about this that doesn't have alchemy in their template already.... sad day. -sucks you got used to having 30% SDI, the best defense & the best possible consumable bonus (heals/damage/utility)... now you gotta get used to something with trade-offs... better go flock from Alchemy to Poisoning... and hope that doesn't get any nerfs down the road (lol).


The objective is to allow people to play what they WANT to play and still be competitive, right now you're either extremely good with an underpowered template or your forced to play the same garbage everyone else plays. the easier option is always going to be what most people do/did play the same template(s) everyone else does.

 

[drcossack]

Why is hailstorm being changed to mimic chain lightning? Most mystics are mystic-mages, and if they wanted chain lightning, they would be casting that, right?

Chain Lightning is energy, Hailstorm is cold. Depending on the monster's resists, it's better to use Cold over Energy (Greater Dragons, Rikktor, Virtuebane, etc.)

 

[Bombastic Fail]

Breakdown IMO (I played/have played each of these templates personally)



Moving Shot Update:

• Increased Mana Cost from 20 to 25
• Increased Hit Chance Penalty
• Moving Shot damage is now always Physical regardless of other damage modifiers including quivers and Consecrate Weapon

Pro: People complaining about moving shot will NOT anymore.

Con: certainly butchered it. 2 of 3 them is enough IMO. Not all 3. I do like the physical regardless portion though. I would make that one of the 3.

Suggestion: Make 2 out of 3 of these, not all 3.

_____________________________________________________________________


Special Move Update:

• Tactics is no longer required to activate Special Moves
• 70 Tactics is still required to receive weapon skill lower mana bonus for specials

Pro: More template versatility for mages/dexxers alike

Con: Allows templates that are already a bit "OP" with extremely high end armor/jewls to be even more "OP". Perhaps a new meta here.

Suggestion: If you are going to remove tactics, allow the "holding" of special moves also, so you can cast spells and have specials procced.

_____________________________________________________________________




Mysticism Update

• Updated Hail Storm damage distribution to mimic chain lightning.
• Fixed Issue where Sleep was not using its base duration time of 2 seconds.
• Fixed issue where initial spell plague does not modify spell damage based on SDI etc.
• Fixed issue where Spell Plague didn’t use modified magic resist.

Pro: Updates for mystics are always good. Spell Plague is a little strong when more than 1 mystic/spell caster is on one player though. (Group problem though, not 1v1)

Con: Not much. Other things need adjusted/attention.

Suggestion: More spells/damage need adjusted.

_____________________________________________________________________




Misc Changes

• Added Alchemy to Focus Spec restriction list

Pro: Honestly, this was needed with the added offense/defense of the skill.

Con: A lot of templates were built around this and will need swapped/changed.

Suggestion: Alchemy should be changed to act as 50% EP & EP should be capped at 50%. That way, people with good jewls can have more skill points in their template, and future builds can decide on skill points or EP on jewels. (This also make NON-EP jewls worth more). Otherwise, leave the proposed changes.


_____________________________________________________________________

• Resolved Issue where Saving throw didn’t work in PvM

Pro: Positive

Con: None

Suggestion: N/A


_____________________________________________________________________

• Increased Saving Throw Stamina Cost for ranged weapons from 25 to 35.

Pro: N/A

Con: N/A

Suggestion: N/A


_____________________________________________________________________

• Max Resist Debuffs no longer stack from Curse and Corpse Skin. The highest debuff for each max resist will be applied.

Pro: Less people complaining about it. Either way was fine with me.

Con: N/A

Suggestion: Only suggestion is make a way to drop physical resist to 60 as well (Either via curse, or corpse, or some other debuff.) It's 2016. Why can't physical go down?


_____________________________________________________________________

• Necromancers no longer need to be focused spec for corpse skin to modify max resist of target. Max resist debuff still scales based on real skill.

Pro: More necromancy templates should open up. (Not just Necro Dexxers/Archers. Necro Mages, Mystics, Tamers, etc)

Con: Less people need to use Necro Dexxer/Archers now

Suggestion: Perhaps don't need real skill to take advantage of it. You don't need real "magery" or "Eval" for curse.

_____________________________________________________________________


Added suggestion(s):



Archery

Still needed tuned down. "Moving shot" wasn't the only problem. The overall DPS with highest damage & possible speed, and the fact that they are the only items (Throwing also) that can have dual hit spells is the real problem. Moving shot fix is a bandaid.




Wrestle/Parry Combo

After an archery "tuning" this needs looked at as well. Defense is extremely high. Either needs to be adjusted accordingly, or the offensive possibilities need nerfed.


Chivalry

The big 3 (Heal, Cure, Remove Curse) should be looked at. Either via the 4 faster casting, or with mana increases. The biggest offender being the usefulness of remove curse, being so low of a mana cost, the extremely fast casting, and "ALL" curse removing all in one easy spell.



_____________________________________________________________________


Great job attempting to adjust things though!!



Ps: @Bleak - forgot to add that

 

[OREOGL]

Moving shot: I can live with with always physical and hci penalty depending on the amount. I suspect most people who are against the physical resist were relying the most on the stacked resists damage and evil omen. I wouldn't have increased the mana cost also though.


I don't get the tactics removal, but hey I'll take the extra points.

Don't care about hailstorm.

Alchemy nerf seemed like a pointless charge.

Corpse and curse stack is fine.

 

[Lord Arm]

ARE THEY REALLY GOING TO REMOVE THE TACTICS REQUIREMENT? ARE U KIDDING, MUST BE A JOKE. I always thought should be higher. 100/120. guess all about mages, like they need help lol. its ok, vvv, no reds had removed the fun I had anyway, do what u want.
remember all the nerve strike mages running around. making same mistakes, never learn.
have fun killing trammies even easier lol. less pvp.

 

[CovenantX]

ARE THEY REALLY GOING TO REMOVE THE TACTICS REQUIREMENT? ARE U KIDDING, MUST BE A JOKE. I always thought should be higher. 100/120. guess all about mages, like they need help lol. its ok, vvv, no reds had removed the fun I had anyway, do want u want.

If you don't want to remove tactics from your template don't drop it.... it's simple.

It's not a mage-only thing. Anyone with a weapon skill could benefit from it or choose to stick with tactics. It wouldn't be worth dropping tactics for a lot of templates anyway.

 

[virem]

The more I think about it the tactics change doesn't benefit anyone I don't think. Dexers can't drop it because they won't get LMC bonus anymore. The mage templates it would help are AI mages, which will still need tactics to get to 35 damage. Mortal is mostly useless, Poison doesn't need tactics already, dismount mages? Bleed mages? Ehh. Not to mention almost every semi decent combat mage is a pure mage, and they will all suck without alchy anyway.

Someone post a template that benefits from tactics change.

 

[Great DC]

The more I think about it the tactics change doesn't benefit anyone I don't think. Dexers can't drop it because they won't get LMC bonus anymore. The mage templates it would help are AI mages, which will still need tactics to get to 35 damage. Mortal is mostly useless, Poison doesn't need tactics already, dismount mages? Bleed mages? Ehh. Not to mention almost every semi decent combat mage is a pure mage, and they will all suck without alchy anyway.

Someone post a template that benefits from tactics change.

Umm Nerve strike Deathstrike.

 

[virem]

Are you talking about dropping tactics on a deathstriker? They will lose the LMC bonus... definitely not worth.

 

[CovenantX]

The more I think about it the tactics change doesn't benefit anyone I don't think. Dexers can't drop it because they won't get LMC bonus anymore. The mage templates it would help are AI mages, which will still need tactics to get to 35 damage. Mortal is mostly useless, Poison doesn't need tactics already, dismount mages? Bleed mages? Ehh. Not to mention almost every semi decent combat mage is a pure mage, and they will all suck without alchy anyway.

Someone post a template that benefits from tactics change.

It's all about opening options, that's all... (this is why the requiring tactics was a horrible idea in the first place) took long enough for this garbage to get removed....

Most of the people won't switch because they've become so used to "Spamming" specials endlessly they no longer have dexer timing. I only have one dexer that has the 300.0 combat bonus (Disarm Archer), the rest of my characters don't even have the 200.0 combat bonus, so it's all benefit for those templates.

According to the patch notes, you can't get the 300.0 combat LMC bonus if you don't have tactics.... that didn't exist back in the day, so it wouldn't change a thing now either =D

Every template that exists right now, will still exist after the publish... the only templates that really see a nerf at all are Alchemy-Mages (most of them have parry) and the nerf isn't much... probably not enough imo, the 2nd would obviously be Archers.

 

[virem]

It's actually a game changing nerf to pure mages. No one will play them anymore. There's no other skill to go in place of the alchemy. It was already easy to get alchy scribe and parry.

 

[virem]

Heal mages will drop alchy for scribe... won't be great.

 

[Cear Dallben Dragon]

Sorry, I have been away for a very long time. Can someone explain what the change to alchemy is / means? I used to be an alchemist and thought it was pretty cool to use a crafting skill in combat. I stopped after they nerfed explosion pots because they couldnt figure out how to stop scripters.

 

[DJ Diddles]

Sorry, I have been away for a very long time. Can someone explain what the change to alchemy is / means? I used to be an alchemist and thought it was pretty cool to use a crafting skill in combat. I stopped after they nerfed explosion pots because they couldnt figure out how to stop scripters.

If you have alchemy in your pure mage template (no mystic, necro, etc.), you will drop from a 30% Spell Damage Increase cap to 15%.

 

[Cear Dallben Dragon]

If you have alchemy in your pure mage template (no mystic, necro, etc.), you will drop from a 30% Spell Damage Increase cap to 15%.

Thanks DJ! Very interesting. I'm guessing they added some damage dealing potions? Anything besides supernova and explosion?

 

[DJ Diddles]

Thanks DJ! Very interesting. I'm guessing they added some damage dealing potions? Anything besides supernova and explosion?

Supernovas, explosion potions (rarely used), and conflagrations- that's it.

 

[virem]

Nope, they didn't. They are going to nerf something that really doesn't need nerfs.

 

[Lythos-]

Umm Nerve strike Deathstrike.

Tactics will still be needed for damage increase. I haven't tested yet but I would assume a nervestrike without tactics would be laughable and a waste of mana.

The only real pro to this change will be makeshift disarmers or mages that will swap between shield and heavy for on the fly dismounts.

 

[elster]

These changes aren't necessarily all going to stick are they? The alchy nerf seems unnecessary, I really don't know what I would fill that with on my pure. I guess I'll finally add healing on my mage, or maybe i'll just play an alchy deathstriker from here on out.

 

[chad]

This font = add
This font = remove

Moving Shot Update:

• Reflect physical does not affect moving shot.(ADD)
• Increased Mana Cost from 20 to 25.(REMOVE)
• Increased Hit Chance Penalty.(REMOVE)
• Moving Shot damage is now always Physical regardless of other damage modifiers including quivers and Consecrate Weapon

Special Move Update:

• Tactics is no longer required to activate Special Moves
• 70 Tactics is still required to receive weapon skill lower mana bonus for specials.(REMOVE)
• LMC bonus is innately available to everyone, regardless of combat points.(ADD)

Mysticism Update

• Updated Hail Storm damage distribution to mimic chain lightning.
• Fixed Issue where Sleep was not using its base duration time of 2 seconds.
• Fixed issue where initial spell plague does not modify spell damage based on SDI etc.
• Fixed issue where Spell Plague didn’t use modified magic resist.

Misc Changes

• Added Alchemy to Focus Spec restriction list(REMOVE)
• Resolved Issue where Saving throw didn’t work in PvM
• Increased Saving Throw Stamina Cost for ranged weapons from 25 to 35.
• Max Resist Debuffs no longer stack from Curse and Corpse Skin. The highest debuff for each max resist will be applied.
• Necromancers no longer need to be focused spec for corpse skin to modify max resist of target. Max resist debuff still scales based on real skill.

________________________________________________________________________________________

No one is going to pick mystic over 30 SDI. No one is going to pick ninja over 30 SDI. No one is going to pick bushido over 30 SDI. A couple people MIGHT pick necro for the 55 fire/poison debuff, but it still won't be as good as 30 SDI.

The devs need to understand that 30 SDI is just way too good to ever give up. If you're dead set on keeping focus specs in, allow pure mages to achieve the 30 SDI, but let everything else to go to 25 SDI. Pure mage will still have a damage bonus, but at least other templates can come into competition with a 25 cap.

 

[-Hey Arnold-]

Alchy: I dont play with alchy and i think this change is super dumb no clue why this is even a thing.
Moving Shot: Nerfed way to hard. I think the physical damage change and a small hci debuff nothing crazy would be great. Dont increase the mana cost and if you miss you get half the mana back or somthing like that.

 

[-Hey Arnold-]

No one is going to pick mystic over 30 SDI. No one is going to pick ninja over 30 SDI. No one is going to pick bushido over 30 SDI. A couple people MIGHT pick necro for the 55 fire/poison debuff, but it still won't be as good as 30 SDI.

The devs need to understand that 30 SDI is just way too good to ever give up. If you're dead set on keeping focus specs in, allow pure mages to achieve the 30 SDI, but let everything else to go to 25 SDI. Pure mage will still have a damage bonus, but at least other templates can come into competition with a 25 cap.

I feel like now that spell plague does 35 damage every time its a pretty solid bump in the right direction

 

[chad]

I feel like now that spell plague does 35 damage every time its a pretty solid bump in the right direction

Hm, yeah, not bad. Unfortunately, a focus mages ebolt does more damage than that, and casts significantly faster. Not to mention, the rest of your spells do more than a mystics. It's simply not worth it.

 

[virem]

If the alchy change goes through, pure mages won't be played.

 

[Gorath]

So basically it's parry scribe mage now?

 

[CovenantX]

If the alchy change goes through, pure mages won't be played.

If people feel they need alchemy to survive or get kills with they will still be played.

but either way, even if Pure-mages weren't played, there would be a better diversity in mage templates...
unfortunately since Corpse skin drops cap resists for any necro... most mages will go necro again is almost 30% SDI at 60 fire resist.

All I can say is... I'm glad I don't only play mages with Alchemy, I'd probably be lost like most of the people in this thread if I had to adapt to something else too...

 

[CovenantX]

So basically it's parry scribe mage now?

Yes, Parry/scribe or Parry/Poisoning.

 

[chad]

If the alchy change goes through, pure mages won't be played.

You don't need alchemy to sync dump. Alchemy is grossly overrated. I don't think it should be nerfed though.

 

[cobb]

I like the Tactics change. I feel it will open up many new template options. But I don't see a reason for the 70 Tactics requirement for the lmc bonus. I think it will be better without it.

 

[PaithanTheElf]

I think you should be able to stack curse and corpse up to a cap of -15.

 

[virem]

I am pretty sure necro alone will get you to -15........

 

[drcossack]

I think you should be able to stack curse and corpse up to a cap of -15.

It does that. A 120/120 Necro/Mage (in all 4 skills) will have 70/55/60/55/60 resists. At GM Necro/SS you go down to 58 Fire/Poison.