Balance Update: official thread (stage 1)

[bigjim]

Originally Posted by Hamster_of_sorrow

this is what i have been saying for a long time. any game in this condition would be in early beta.

back on point:
if these nerfs continue, no one will be able to kill anyone. this game will be more social networking than a game. instead of nerfing an overpowered class, buff an underpowered class.

exactly!!! I just don't understand why the game has to be "nerfed" everytime. NGD could always make another class more powerful which in turn would cause classes to balance out in the long run.

I guess it's kind of the communitys fault for always asking for nerfs, and now look at what has happened.

[Minorian]

Originally Posted by Hamster_of_sorrow

this is what i have been saying for a long time. any game in this condition would be in early beta.

back on point:
if these nerfs continue, no one will be able to kill anyone. this game will be more social networking than a game. instead of nerfing an overpowered class, buff an underpowered class.

But the main problem is, it is much easier to lower a variable in a good spell than to find out a spell that could be useful and fix it. Nerfing is easy. Buffing is hard. So with a small staff it is clear what path they take. DOn't get me wrong I completely agree, but I'm stating NGD's view.

[Kyrottimus]

I just got home from work and read this, and it brought a smile to my face.

Every change listed so far is something I would welcome. Every last one.

Sure, I'd add a few more, (like reducing warrior's GCD time slightly ), but I think I'll hold and see where this goes.

Thank you Chlko and NGD for making the effort to communicate this to the community. It means a lot to us

[BigManOnCampus]

I dont mind the suggested changes as stated. However, I can't help but consider how one-sided they seem to be.

Yes, Locks are OP. However, two mentioned changes are removing greater evasion at distance (mainly affects hunters/marks), and reducing CC stacking/increasing GCD for mages.

It really seems like the proposed changes have not yet considered how OP hunters are. Yeah, fix how dominant locks can be in combat, but please dont turn them into a walking target for camoed hunters in one-on-one combat.

[_Enio_]

Im fine with tonign down (nerfing) obviously broken mechanics etc in order to fix them. Sometimes buffing others instead of "nerfing" a special thing is just way harder and eventually not bringing the right results.

Eg. when you look at camo + confuse + ambush + superior speed + Skin of the Beast + Sotw - how would you buff others in order to fix the imbalanced combination(s) these few spells/passives allow? No way to do that without big changes for the whole game, the tweak has to be where the problem arises and it will be something lowering the effectiveness of that combo thus its a nerf.

With the cast time "nerf" - well its needed somehow and a cap seems not a good solution in various aspects. the proposed change in castspeed -> cast time calculation is a good thing.

Nerfs are fine as long as they are justified. I dont want to play a whole new game just because some people fear they could lose superiority. There are some problems that cant be fixed without a nerf or a complete rework.

[SlackerLinux2]

the balancing changes is a start and i like that your looking at camo(i think it should be semitransparent like in savage 2). i dont really think confuse needs a look at. and yay royal ammy ignis gets some good jewelry for once

but will we be able to use other realm boss items now will i be able to use the stone token the sword etc?

[Hamster_of_sorrow]

Originally Posted by Need_More_Invasions

But the main problem is, it is much easier to lower a variable in a good spell than to find out a spell that could be useful and fix it. Nerfing is easy. Buffing is hard. So with a small staff it is clear what path they take. DOn't get me wrong I completely agree, but I'm stating NGD's view.

well think about it this way: if NGD nerfs constantly there will be no game left, no way for them to make income, they lose money. maybe they SHOULD make the extra effort.

maybe, and im just spitballing here, if they had some sort of forum or message board that the players could submit ideas for NGD to take under consideration.....

[bois]

Originally Posted by chilko

Network code / positioning system

New network code should provides a smoother experience and adds a lag compensation technique to minimize phantom swings, although you will experience hits from opponents being far away from you this is not because of an extra range (range has actually been reduced a little) but the result of the lag compensation. (THIS IS ON AMUN NOW)

Good, anything that makes the gameplay smoother is welcome. See how it goes

Map

• Move the Trelleborg Save and fix the mountain to Algaros so both forts are not so easy Accesible
• Move the Wall 2 Castle teleport in alsius so it is not so easy for the enemy to go to the Castle after taking Trelleborg.
• New teleport in Alsius to travel faster to Syrtis Castle Area

The positioning of the Trelleborg save would be key. Fix to the mountain at Algaros is a good improvement. Wait and see where the teleports are going to go. It would be a boon for Alsius to be able to commute to Syrtis castle easier.Much cheaper than the alternative which is to move the castles to a central location like where the central forts are now.

Equipment:

• RVR quest added to get Amulets and Rings that are only available in the opponent realm.
• Tunics will offer more protection
• A bug will be corrected in the armor/tunic protection system that is hindering the performance of certain armors against some damage types
• Armor performance increase in general for all classes.

RVR quest will hopefully silence the debate over the imbalance of jewellery and is a cheap alternative to adding the inventory to every realm. How this will be implemented would be very interesting.
Tunic bug fix is welcomed with open arms. I wait to see how armour is modified.

Combat System:

• Crowd controls of the same type will no longer be able to be stacked to minimize frustration of being rooted for long periods of time.
• A short immunity to crowd control of the same type will be added after the effect to provide some chance of counter action.
• Global cooldown on mages will be augmented from 1 second to 1.5 seconds.
• A feature will be removed that generated more evasions as the range of the attack was bigger

No more stack of sultars would make game much more tactical. The short immunity to same CC effect would be a game changer in the wars. Interesting.
GCD on locks would be okay, healers not so much. Difficult to fix as it is a Global cool down. If the healing tree could be separated at some point that might be a boon to healers. Other than that maybe the CD on heals could be shortened a little. That one may be for the next round of balancing. We see how it goes.



PVE:

• Fix in the evasion/resistance system for normal and challenging creatures

Once the evasion rate is not increased or the formula is changed downwards for calculation of the resistance/evasions I am all for it. Next up , very easy and lower mobs should not resist or evade at all.

Powers:

• Arcane Devotion nerf
• Sultar’s Terror Splash Damage Nerf

This one depends on how much the nerf is. I would have preferred that NGD hav a look at the socketing of gems of the same type of spec as a staff currently possesses. Example, a socketing of a CS boost gem would fail on a staff that already has a CS modifier on it. It might be too complex to code for example a maximal of 7% CS on a staff so that a 6%CS staff could take a 1% CS gem only.
For the rest I wait and see.

Stuff that we will look into in the near future:

• Pets
• Summons
• Confuse
• Camouflage
• And many more

I think this is a good start. It must be remembered that this is the initial balance update and as such they cannot cover everything in one go. What is heartening is that the map, powers , equipment, combat codes and others are all getting a look at in this initial phase. This could auger well for the future.
As always , good luck NGD. Some will like the changes , some will hate it. Hopefully at the end of it all we have a better gaming experience. For now I will look on and wait to see how it all pans out.

Artec

[Klutu]

Everything looks good

For the Balance & Nerfing.. ect

Why not just take a bit longer in the balance & Create a hole new list of spells and start over from scratch... instead of trying to balance spells that have been in game since the begining. The Games Dynamic's have changed alot! since the begining maybe a hole new Spell Book for Every Class is something needed.

Of course keep the basic spells but remove the constant nerfed & borderline overpowerred and rework new spells..

[veluchami]

I welcome NGD experimenting with changes to the balance. But I sincerely hope they have the resolve to finish this off once and for all this time.

If things go wrong dont be afraid to make some more changes, and experiment till we reach an ideal balance. I hope it is not like the last few half baked attempts where they changed one class screwed balance w.r.t some other and left it like that for another 6 months, come back and make some totally new set of changes.

NGD Take a resolve to get it right this time, no matter what. Please !