18.7 things I'd like reviewed

[Traderjill]

I'm listing things in the order I encountered them and will update this post as I log additional toons.

1. In order to use grid nanos, beacons and I guess any of the transportation perks you must have completed a mission called "Certificate of Travel". Grant you this mission takes all of about 2 mins but it is a big annoyance for those of us that have a lot of toons. In this day and time where a good majority of the playerbase has multiple accounts, it would've been nice for you to just flag our existing toons with completion. At the very least, if you could put this NPC on Live prior to 18.7 so we can do the quest in our leisure.. it would be great.

2. You removed the ability to disable inspect. Ok, that's fine. Please also remove the message that someone is inspecting me. I don't need to know, nor do I care to be spammed by a notification.

3. The 20 second duration on drains is about 20 seconds too short. I understand cutting them down some but on my 220 Trader I was struggling to keep them up. The 5 min duration on their positive affect is great but I'm more concerned about keeping the mob debuffed. The short duration makes it really tough to use my other tools. I pretty much had to ignore AC debuffing as well because of that triggering of the global cooldown. So I guess my suggestion here is up the drain duration to 40sec and then reduce the recharge on the haggler and ac lines to 1 sec or do something about that global recharge cooldown mechanic.

4. NSD seems to have a 15 sec duration with a 1min cooldown. Even if it is landing on bosses (haven't confirmed that yet), that is a really long cooldown.

5. The trader shop now has 4 or 5 items in it. Put something useful in there, especially since you're selling access to use it now.

6. Why don't the neutral shops have pre-made implants but they remain in the sided?

7. So I logged my soldier because I've heard some pretty interesting things about deflect/glance and so I figured I'd go kill some simple stuff in Nascence and Ely to see what was up.. I stopped there. I feel like something is off with this deflect mechanism. This is really going to make large HP mob fights take even longer. I'd be curious to know the reasoning behind using it in pvm.

Nascence
You hit Swift Silvertail for 13809 points of Full Auto damage.
You hit Barking Chimera for 15000 points of Full Auto damage.
You hit Barking Chimera for 14147 points of Full Auto damage.
You hit Barking Chimera for 12334 points of Full Auto damage.
You hit Barking Chimera for 10933 points of Full Auto damage.
You hit Barking Chimera for 15000 points of Full Auto damage.
You hit Barking Chimera for 15000 points of Full Auto damage.
You hit Swift Silvertail for 15000 points of Full Auto damage.
You hit Barking Chimera for 15000 points of Full Auto damage.
You hit Barking Chimera for 15000 points of Full Auto damage.

Elysium
You hit Shiver Spider for 2017 points of Full Auto damage.
You hit Shiver Spider for 14881 points of Full Auto damage.
You hit Shiver Spider for 10478 points of Full Auto damage.
You hit Shiver Spider for 11433 points of Full Auto damage.
You hit Shiver Spider for 3455 points of Full Auto damage.
You hit Shiver Spider for 10458 points of Full Auto damage.
You hit Shiver Spider for 15000 points of Full Auto damage.
You hit Shiver Spider for 15000 points of Full Auto damage.
You hit Shiver Spider for 11249 points of Full Auto damage.
You hit Shiver Spider for 13103 points of Full Auto damage.

You hit Heckler of Stones for 8470 points of Full Auto damage.
You hit Heckler of Stones for 3388 points of Full Auto damage.
You hit Heckler of Stones for 13332 points of Full Auto damage.
You hit Heckler of Stones for 15000 points of Full Auto damage.
You hit Heckler of Stones for 5082 points of Full Auto damage.
You hit Heckler of Stones for 13541 points of Full Auto damage.
You hit Heckler of Stones for 15000 points of Full Auto damage
You hit Heckler of Stones for 10786 points of Full Auto damage.
You hit Heckler of Stones for 13398 points of Full Auto damage.

8. I don't get why the whompah from ICC takes you to Tir and not Old Athen. Tir can be an extremely tough place to navigate as a newbie and sending someone to a virtually empty place (since no one hangs out there anymore) seems a bit off.

9. Why is there a 15 minute cooldown on the fixer "self" emergency grid line? I get having a cooldown on the team one but why the self only? The slow casting one has a 2.5min cooldown.. that seems about reasonable for the emergency as well.

10. Did Biological-Digital Conversion get removed and the remaining doctor meep get turned into self-only? I can't find B-DC on my doc and noticed that the encode dna sequence was self only now.

11. Why did you make the beacons such that they cannot be used while in combat? I can think of 100 different scenarios where I've used the beacon while I still had aggro from some random mob. So my damage is nerfed and now I'm stuck killing useless stuff because my beacon won't work while I have aggro. Please remove the "Must not be in combat" requirement.

-----------------------------------------

Anyway, overall a lot of really awesome changes. Even the trader change which I think needs to be tweaked isn't exactly bad as much as different. In some ways my trader feels a bit more powerful in PvM. I definitely plan to spend a bit more time on my trader and soldier messing around on test and will try to provide a more detailed/unbiased report in the appropriate profession area of the forums.

[Awikun]

Good questions...
I could answer some of those but then I would get perma ban on forums

[Baby]

In PvP, I *maybe* could live with the 1min CD of NSD, but in PvM it's outrageous. I mean, it's not like NSD lands on all bosses (which it should), but not being able to refresh it in PvM is just asdfghjkl. Has nothing to do with balance at all. Unless we MPs get such a boost that we can alpha any mob within 15 secs. Then I'll be cool with it.

[nanoforcer]

1. In order to use grid nanos, beacons and I guess any of the transportation perks you must have completed a mission called "Certificate of Travel". Grant you this mission takes all of about 2 mins but it is a big annoyance for those of us that have a lot of toons. In this day and time where a good majority of the playerbase has multiple accounts, it would've been nice for you to just flag our existing toons with completion. At the very least, if you could put this NPC on Live prior to 18.7 so we can do the quest in our leisure.. it would be great.

Really annoyng for ppl like us that have a lot of toons, just make if if player above lvl X skip this
waste of time, thanks.

3. The 20 second duration on drains is about 20 seconds too short. I understand cutting them down some but on my 220 Trader I was struggling to keep them up. The 5 min duration on their positive affect is great but I'm more concerned about keeping the mob debuffed. The short duration makes it really tough to use my other tools. I pretty much had to ignore AC debuffing as well because of that triggering of the global cooldown.

Vey retarded way of thinking from fc's side.
If it's a mob just use the old timer of the debuff, a much saner way of handling it, it's fine to have a 15-20 sec for pvp imo.

[McKnuckleSamwich]

Note that Genele said the old PVP trader nanos will become much more useful in PVM now.

The main shift is that you should now be using an AAD -crit drain FIRST to buff your own AAD and -crit (defense first), then once you're sitting at "high" evades for 5 minutes you can think about whatever else you want to do.

This change in PVM IS actually a good one, but you just have to wrap your head around the playstyle shift. It also makes traders evades dependent.

The only change I would say that will go nicely with the proposed changes would be to slightly boost the evasion on some of the trader perklines.

[Traderjill]

Note that Genele said the old PVP trader nanos will become much more useful in PVM now.

The main shift is that you should now be using an AAD -crit drain FIRST to buff your own AAD and -crit (defense first), then once you're sitting at "high" evades for 5 minutes you can think about whatever else you want to do.

This change in PVM IS actually a good one, but you just have to wrap your head around the playstyle shift. It also makes traders evades dependent.

The only change I would say that will go nicely with the proposed changes would be to slightly boost the evasion on some of the trader perklines.

Right I had that conversation with her and understood that. My comments are with that all in mind. I'm not saying my Trader has become gimp.. that is absolutely not the case. What I am saying is that 20 seconds is too short.. way too short considering the very diverse toolset that traders have in terms of number of nanos and their rather short duration. Hope that makes sense.

[Unkfix]

1. In order to use grid nanos, beacons and I guess any of the transportation perks you must have completed a mission called "Certificate of Travel". Grant you this mission takes all of about 2 mins but it is a big annoyance for those of us that have a lot of toons. In this day and time where a good majority of the playerbase has multiple accounts, it would've been nice for you to just flag our existing toons with completion. At the very least, if you could put this NPC on Live prior to 18.7 so we can do the quest in our leisure.. it would be great.

If I hadn't already quit for other reasons, this would be the thing that makes me quit. No way I'd spend 2+ hours just to gain the ability to travel on all my alts.

[Esssch]

The teleportation quest tells you to go to Antiques N'Stuff, but if you click on the door it sends you to it says "Risky Business". It does say "Antiques N'Stuff" above the door, but it's extremely hard to read, I had to put my camera right next to it.

Composite nanos don't seem to have a nano cost. Intended?

Can you rotate OA's wompas? Previously, Tir wompa faced the billboard, now it faces the direction that Jobe wompa used to be in. I think it'd help if it was just rotated 90 degrees counter-clockwise.

Why was Newland's ground changed from a nice defined texture to a gross gravel/dirt texture? The pathway to Newland's grid access could probably be made less wide, it looks way too large at the moment.

[Traderjill]

I'm really curious to see how all of this stuff 'fits together'. So far I really only had an indepth look with my trader and messed around a few min on my soldier. I logged my Crat and she had 2 missing debuffs (looked like the LE.. where's my VP refund?) and the remaining 2 tapes debuffed skilllock modifier. I didn't even bother messing with her.. I think just the two toons was enough.

When Auto is up and running I'm going to try to get some raids going because as smart as I think I am.. I can't put this all together in my head to see the impact in an actual raid group.

[Emma]

I have a few questions based on the Test-Live Update Notes ... I have not tested these yet.

1. The list of rare nano's now for sale in Pande Garden by the Greedy Shade seems to include all the Weird Nano's, but at least Weird Nano Repulsor is missing, perhaps others. I did not see patch notes saying INR was being removed and the regular nano is still here.

2. The requirements to buy rare nano's from the Greedy Shade indicates that you must have All the garden keys, regular and sanctuary. Does that mean either All the Redeemed keys or All the Un-redeemed keys depending on your faction? What about Neutral toons ... can they buy from the Greedy Shade if they have a complete set of either Redeemed or Un-Redeemed? Or, a regular and sanctuary key from every playfield?

3. I would also like to know why Pre-Made Implants are no longer available in Neutral shops? Or, have the Clan/Omni shops been changed so that Neutrals can buy Pre-made Implants there?

edit: There are two identical "new" neutral shops in Newland City now ... revert one of them back to the Old Basic Shop with Pre-made Implants still available for neutrals to purchase.

4. I would also like to know why this Transportation Quest is necessary? Can't all existing toons be "flagged" somehow and all new toons be "flagged" once they zone out of the new area? Is this new quest possible to complete with low level toons ... say level 6, or 10, or 15?

edit: Apparently there is a comp/lit requirement on the Transportation Quest ... WHY! My small toons have veteran shop beacons and now they can never use them? Reduce the Comp/lit required to do this quest or change it so small toons can complete it!!!!!!!!!!!

5. Why are the nano vendor shops in Newland profession locked?



Emma

[Demoder]

Right I had that conversation with her and understood that. My comments are with that all in mind. I'm not saying my Trader has become gimp.. that is absolutely not the case. What I am saying is that 20 seconds is too short.. way too short considering the very diverse toolset that traders have in terms of number of nanos and their rather short duration. Hope that makes sense.

I'd like to point out that it's the component which runs on the target which lasts 20 seconds.

Let's take Divest Skills (Nanite Improved) as an example: The nano cast on target lasts 20 seconds and debuffs -275 of the usual suspects, while the nano cast on user (the trader) lasts 5 minutes and buffs the usual suspects by 275.

Those durations are true for all the deprive and ransack nanos.

[Traderjill]

I'd like to point out that it's the component which runs on the target which lasts 20 seconds.

Let's take Divest Skills (Nanite Improved) as an example: The nano cast on target lasts 20 seconds and debuffs -275 of the usual suspects, while the nano cast on user (the trader) lasts 5 minutes and buffs the usual suspects by 275.

Those durations are true for all the deprive and ransack nanos.

Not sure why you're pointing this out. If you look at my original comment on the drain duration I am asking for the 20 seconds to be increased while expressing appreciation for the 5 minute buff.

[Misat0]

To my understanding the changes to trader drain changes is to allow more multitasking (from the patch notes). In that light I also think the 20s duration is a bit short as trying to keep skill drains up leaves little time to keep up other drains cast other stuff.

[MachSchau]

8. The ICC whompah has always taken you to Tir. If its not broken dont fix it (or in this case change it).

9. Too many times Fixers/teams with Fixers have been griefing towers. Going to towers killing a tower then meeping when opponents show up.

11. Same reason as above. The beacons also have a faster cast time.

[Esssch]

This is just truly unacceptable

[Triadninja]

For the deflection on mobs, I feel 1 of 2 things is going to happen

1. AO Devs add in a nano to one of the professions/some of the professions that cuts down deflection, so that big HP mobs like Beast or AI Gens don't take a ridiculous amount of time

2. Classes that use Full Auto are going to have to be more particular about what they want now in terms of a setup. There is no longer going to be a "one set fits all", sort of how it is now with CC/CSS, rather we might end up having to build toons to do as much damage as possible for raids while sacrificing evades/survivability, and then if you want the latter two, you have to sacrifice damage.

At this point I don't know which is better, if they added a nano to help cut down the deflection of big HP mobs or if they leave it be so that you have to pick damage or survivability.

[Baby]

10. Did Biological-Digital Conversion get removed and the remaining doctor meep get turned into self-only? I can't find B-DC on my doc and noticed that the encode dna sequence was self only now.

Any updates on this? When I found Windcaller Kerrac, I accidentally clicked the portal and then found myself stuck at Totw, because I couldn't find BDC.

[Demoder]

Any updates on this? When I found Windcaller Kerrac, I accidentally clicked the portal and then found myself stuck at Totw, because I couldn't find BDC.

Biological-Digital Conversion is deleted. The other two nanos in the line seem to have been kept, but modified. (Encode DNA Sequence and Digitizing Sequencer)

[Baby]

Biological-Digital Conversion is deleted. The other two nanos in the line seem to have been kept, but modified. (Encode DNA Sequence and Digitizing Sequencer)

Thank you! /goes shopping

[Anna]

8. The ICC whompah has always taken you to Tir. If its not broken dont fix it (or in this case change it).

9. Too many times Fixers/teams with Fixers have been griefing towers. Going to towers killing a tower then meeping when opponents show up.

11. Same reason as above. The beacons also have a faster cast time.

The nerf to the basic fixer toolset is really absurd. Ok, so some fixers have played with towers. I have also seen crats, enforcers, soldiers, traders, MPs and even a engi or two do the exact same thing. While some fixers may do it frequently, most of the griefing I have seen has not been by fixers. There already is a cool down on meeps, and there has been no explanation why the longer duration needed or the basis for the long duration. Same with beacons. Not in a fight or any member of the team in a fight. Really. This is the same solution they tried a few years ago with the can't zone with having agro. So some random punk a** lesser anun tearer halfway across a playfield will once again keep you from playing. To a very limited degree, I can see where this could be seen as a solution to tower, but it won't work. All people have to do is leave the area - before or after defenders show up. Zoning for instance - also other professions meeps do not have a similar cooldown period. This smells a lot like another "fix" to what is really a non-problem that will not work as intended and have really negative consequences for the game. Really hope they reverse this one.

I believe a saw one thread or chat discussion which already had a couple solutions. Team with an engi in another playfield and beacon warp, have two or more fixers in the team and alternate who meeps. There were a couple more "workarounds" that will allow those inclined to grief to their hearts content.

Since this is so integral to the fixer toolkit for pvm, maybe they should also neft Doc healing ability, enforcers hitpoints, soldiers attacks, MP, Crat, and Engie Pets, everyones roots and snares (as they can escape while you are breaking the roots for instance). The excuse is lame, the solution is even more lame and worst of all at best it will only only work for a short time until people figure out a way around it. real solution is to go back to the 4 hour flag for every toon that hits a tower. And I would say add a timer so that flagged people can only stay in the grid for 30 seconds then are dumped out their sides emergency exit.