There are a lot of places where the power progression could be smoothed out

[Litestrider]

I'm sure we're all well aware that the power progression in AO isn't very smooth. You wouldn't want it to be too smooth, I'm sure most of you have played RPGs where you buy a new fireball every level that's identical except for slightly higher numbers, that's incredibly boring, and there will obviously be pretty substantial increases at title levels and significant milestones, but many of the profession see ridiculous leaps in effectiveness and flexibility, to the point where they essentially can't fulfill their role until they reach a certain level, then they become extremely powerful and desirable. I think it'd be good to compile a list of these, or at least of the worst offenders.

To clarify: this thread is not intended as a discussion of the balance, only a recognition of where issues lie. OP or UP, it still needs "fixed" either way. We're talking about places where there's a significant "kink" in how a profession plays or the amount of utility they bring.

Some of these are partially or fully addressed on testlive, but we can still list them here for completeness.

If we can get this rolling I'll try to edit this post into an organized list.

A few to start us off:

Keeper's Ward line, it block 1 attack every x seconds, getting faster until warden ward which blocks 1 per 30 seconds. Then watch ward blocks 2 every 25 seconds, effectively 1 every 12.5 seconds. This is a massive change considering how smooth the rest of the progression is.

Engineer's pets are in all kinds of disarray. There's no dog before 100, they use the same dog between 100 and 175, and the slayerdroid is castable very early (I've seen it at 60 in extreme examples), yet has to last until I believe level 201. (the 100-175 dog gap is addressed on the test server, and maybe the slayerdroid gap with it)

Bureaucrat has a massive shift in their gameplay toward the upper levels. When starting out they're heavily focused on charms and crowd control. At some point this is subverted by carlo and rampant CC immunity. At the same time powerful evades and init debuff toolsets which were previously unreliable become the focus of the profession.

Traders have RK calms throughout, but no SL calm until 209 (again addressed on testlive)

Doctor's HoT and short term hp buff (life channeler) lines are expensive, short-lived and hard to keep active on several people with all the nano spamming doctor does, until the penumbra quest and the DB quest give them team versions, at which point both buffs become extremely useful and easy-to-manage tools for the whole team's survival.

[Raelil]

Good well written post.

I just have to say that the engis will get a 150 dog, so that in particular isnt a problem anymore, once fixed.

Im just tossing it out there, but have you considdered it also might be a good thing, with the sometimes big leap in powerprogression?
Thats one of the things driving people forward on their toon, the next big fun bump of pure power for a while.

[Litestrider]

Im just tossing it out there, but have you considdered it also might be a good thing, with the sometimes big leap in powerprogression?
Thats one of the things driving people forward on their toon, the next big fun bump of pure power for a while.

Absolutely. That's the main reason I mentioned that having a progression that's too smooth is bad. There are already big jumps in the power of toons, particularly centered around title levels. Level locks and weapon requirements make up a lot of these.

What I'm talking about here specifically are the real game-changers. For example, someone might see a high level bureaucrat walk into a fight and toss some init debuffs on a monster, which changes a fight from an insurmountable one to an easy one. If that's what drives them to start a crat themselves, they're going to be disappointed when for most of the leveling process the init debuffs aren't a significant part of the toolset. With the changes on testlive bureaucrats can access both their red tape nano lines and the malaise line by the time they have 800 in their nano skills, and there is a significant amount available even before that point. Init debuffs have become a proper part of the bureaucrat toolset as they level up rather than coming in almost out of nowhere in TL6-7.

I love this change to bureaucrat personally, and I'd love to see more like it on the way. I know there are a ton of situations like this in the game, some being fixed by 18.7 and some not yet.

[McKnuckleSamwich]

MA gets fast attack at 215 (and early on with fear forged blades) and realistically IP's Fast attack all the way from very early through endgame to use flurry of blows. I'd like to see a Kyr'ozch nunchaku type variant utilizing type 992 which maintains the combined MA attack but adds fast attack to the nunchaku.

Many profs are limited with respect to lower-mid game weapons and could use some options

Agent - Peren sniper -> SPS/SE rifle/Joy of the hunt/Race
Advy(R) - CDR-> Jobe -> SE pistol -> PoP/Scout/other
Advy(M) - phase blade -> chiroptera -> crispy chiroptera ->Kyr'axe/SE kyr axe -> SoS/SSoS/SoC/SoW -> kyr Axe
Crat - CDR -> Dark Pistol of revoked -> GAP -> SE pistol -> dreadloch balanced Freedom arms
Doctor - CDR -> GAP -> SE pistol
Enf -> Neleb battlerod/ chiropteras/tiig beater/styg/hungry howlet/maul of gwyddawg/frost bound reaper/CC's/pained panther/kyr whatever/etc.
Engi -> CDR -> GAP ->SE pistol
fixer - GAP -> tiig beamer/peren beamer/Blackbird -> SMG -> GAP
Keeper - styg -> Panther (in 18.7)/SoTi -> FBR -> Kyr -> Excal/ Khione -> Khiones will
MP -> ??? creation/howlet -> GAP -> creation ?
MA -> fist -> FFB -> fist -> kyr' nunchaku -> fist
NT -> nuke/nuke/nuke
shade -> FFB -> Nippy -> kyr Rapier ->
Soldier - neutrino flash -> tiig blaster/peren blaster -> SE carbine -> Gap
Trader - anything you can find -> gap -> Kyr -> SE shotgun -> something else


Basically: Any prof with a tiig weap or peren weap is OK. If they have both it's better. Trader could use a tiig shotty or a peren shotty for levelling.
A tiig pistol or peren pistol which had no class req on it would be ideal for doctor/crat/engi to level with (or MP). Fixer kind of needs a weapon between the illegal Ofab weap and the first blackbird/tiig beamer. A Peren/tiig Bow for MA/MP could be cool but not necessary. A Tiig piercing weap would do wonders for a shade between levels 60 and 120ish if they can't afford a nippy (everyone).

Enf is obviously the best off for weapons. Advy is also in good position. shade/keeper is ok esp with panther opening in 18.7. Stun glove will be a decent addition for MA. Agent is a bit shy on choices. Trader has many sub-par options but nothing decent until SE kyr shotty.

In general my feeling is that levellers need weapons that aren't tradeskilled, and to anyone saying what about OFAB, don't be daft. Nobody uses OFAB weapons when levelling because they are mind bogglingly difficult to acquire/upgrade for how long they last. Even Kyr weapons are usually significantly overpriced and/or difficult to acquire the right level/upgrade for a casual player.