I hope they know what they're doing.
(http://co.perfectworld.com/news/?p=1012441)
"We're excited for these changes, bringing more diversity to all players and reducing the gap between optimized and average builds — so we can balance future content to be more engaging to everyone. Now all heroes can help save Millennium City, Project Greenskin, Fort Steelhead, Vibora Bay, Monster Island, and even the entire Earth from any threat that might stand before them! As always, good luck and godspeed heroes!"
Well, I'm glad they are excited. I personally like a big fat gap as a reward for spending weeks+ to optimize a build in an original way.
Maybe it's still early but is this even a sentence? "Balanced content for the future, play more diverse builds and still have them be viable."
Must be time for more caffeine.
I'm just glad to see that the devs there are starting to shower attention on the game at all. Making Dex your primary super-stat shouldn't have turned the character into a combat monster due to high chances to both crit and dodge everything. (Dex doesn't grant Dodge naturally, but you can get it through the Quick Reflexes Specialization in the Dex Tree).
Really, the main thing right now preventing me from playing it more is that darn frame rate issue. I keep getting a hankering to play my pseudo-Mastermind.
The issue was never dex specialisation, which actually doesn't grant all that much dodge. The issue was dodge rating gear which would give any character at all upwards of 40% dodge and 60% avoidance without sacrificing much of anything to get it, and Quarry being better dodge than almost anything else since it gave a flat percentage buff rather than rating.
Thus, changing all powers to grant flat percentages and nerfing the returns on dodge rating, which now only comes from gear and specialisations. It's mostly well thought out, but time will tell if it proves to be a positive change in the long run. I just hope it won't be a return to how things were the first time I played CO soon after launch, where offensive passives were all but useless because a character with an offensive passive simply didn't have enough survivability to live through even solo content.
Lee is running at ~ 45% dodge with 57% avoidance which I have to think, along with bountiful chi + resurgent rikti, is helping to keep him alive a lot of times. As I was just reminded in a recent Goblin fight he's an agro magnet and I have nothing ranked for agro - no crippling/challenging or anything.
Can't do much re-rolling with him due to he is an (Unleashed) AT. I play him a lot. Crossing my fingers he doesn't get gimped in dps or survival.
Speaking of dps.. I have to find out what that ray-gun pulse-phaser looking attack power is. Maybe it's a device. Melts even huge hp mobs. Leaves me looking at my dull blades wondering if I shoulda stayed home.
That's probably Pulse Beam Rifle, from gadgeteering.
I've gotta try one of those Pulse Beam Rifles..
Well, I just hope they do a good job with whatever it is they've got planned and that my guys are still as fun to play. It's a touchy subject when you mess with people's builds like with the device nerf (luv it or not) and now this.
While they are tuning us up for this new content - maybe it's me, but it seems like loot tables of current content could use some major updating.
Quote from: Xev on October 27, 2013, 01:51:27 PM
Lee is running at ~ 45% dodge with 57% avoidance
Let's make that ~ 20% dodge.
Too bad I didn't write down crit chance. Down to 30% now. My Marksman got hit worst on that I'd guess. Can't wait to go check.
Quote from: General Idiot on October 26, 2013, 01:26:41 PM
The issue was never dex specialisation, which actually doesn't grant all that much dodge. The issue was dodge rating gear which would give any character at all upwards of 40% dodge and 60% avoidance without sacrificing much of anything to get it, and Quarry being better dodge than almost anything else since it gave a flat percentage buff rather than rating.
Thus, changing all powers to grant flat percentages and nerfing the returns on dodge rating, which now only comes from gear and specialisations. It's mostly well thought out, but time will tell if it proves to be a positive change in the long run. I just hope it won't be a return to how things were the first time I played CO soon after launch, where offensive passives were all but useless because a character with an offensive passive simply didn't have enough survivability to live through even solo content.
Is resistant defense even part of the equation?
I use defense on some toons, dodge on others, and sometimes a mixtuyre of both (Depending on concept). Now dodge, real easy to get good dodge numbers with normal common gear and mods. Resistance, a bit more incremental. Niether one I have survival problems solo or on teams. With dodge there have been cases where one gear with a mod, and I have about 34% dodge chance off the bat with no other dodge passives or spec tree dodge and this is even before level 35. Resistance, a few points here and there that may move the percentage up by 3-10% depending on level. Now if dodge were brought into line with how much the rest of the stats give out through gear and mods, then dodge nerf would be massive.
Although I think that maybe dodge shouldnt been allowed to be so easy to obtain and powerful. Because nerfs, are bad. If it's already made from the get go to be in line with the other powers then that is what peopel would build around and be use to. But when it get super easy and powerful people start saying "go to dodge or else ya gimped" as people been saying throughout the year, it brings the nerf light on the power. It's about as bad as saying "Nerf this power!" Usually because the "use this power or you are gimped stems from lack of knowledge that is being spread around. Even with dodge as powerful as it is, there were many viable sets. Hell, I think some of my resistance base toons are mroe powerful than the dodge ones, but I say I think because I havent actually ran the numbers. My regen toons always out perform any of my dodge toons and that is without a single sliver of dodge or avoidance and not very high reistance that is there as a side effect. But when people start saying "take dodge or else you are gimped and people start to believe it, then it's only a matter of time before it gets nerfed.
But nerfs are still a PITA because many people built around those numbers and the mechanic as is. While yes, "Well people should learn to be more versatile instead of depending on one power" yes that may be truth but there is alway a defense for and against anything down to whether the air is better 4 meters up the road or better here. But it fiddles with what people have gotten used to and what they built around.
Of course I estimate like most nerfs, there will be hoopla, angst, then after a while it will be like nothing even happened besides talking abotu the good old days of how it used to be. COX been through plenty, ED, oh man was people pissed and some still are, The Regen scrapper set nerf, people estimated it would ruin the game, no one would play scrappers anymore, Regen set is dead, the game will die within two years, and etc. Yet the game continued years after that and the regen nerf is a faded memory and there were still scrappers, still regen scrappers running around, in fact there were regen other sets runnign around later. And all of the other "this is the end of the world as we know it nerfs" that people barely remember like MoG, energy tranfer and etc. And same with the nerfs of the past in CO.
Ideally people say, well if one power is over powered why not up the game on the other power sets? oh yeah that would be great. But devs you know usually have too much to do but no time to do anything, will take the easiest route. Buff a bunch of stats, gear and mods, or just nerf one. Less work to nerf one and thus that is what they usually choose.
I don't have the benefit of playing the game since before whatever happened to it happened to it.
I mean, I guess there used to be a decent crafting system and from what I gather, the gear that got nerfed wasn't even around. Similar story with the devices.
What I *do* get to see is my dream of chaining as many Eruptions as I want (*snicker*), as well as other things, poofing.
It seems like for long time players things are going more back to normal. That's just the vibe I get. I've been chin deep in toonbuilding and I only get my news from in-game and here.
I'm glad they made a way to eliminate Friends channel logon spam with the log on a different toon option that got added in the last patch. My client doesn't hang if I exit the game completely and re-enter it now, either. It has done that since the first day I installed CO.
First thing I did after my chest sank when seeing Lee's stat screen is run an Alert. Imagine that, it was against my Nemesis, The Funatic - evil squasher of fun everywhere. It went pretty well with me tanking but as with all funkillers, he's pretty lame.