Response to the Update

[Syd_Vicious]

My two cents from a character leveling aspect is that it is definitely harder to level a character because after you kill a mob and have to rest, another mob respawns behind you and starts to attack. Increased difficulty without any increase in payoff.

Also I have never noticed a mob resisting powers as much as they do now, it is easier to kill a mob sometimes by regular attacks alone without using any skills.

All this boils down into a longer time to level, which is what I think NGD's goal was in order to influence ppl buying more xim.

I also will agree with makarios68 in that if you dont buff you tend to resist/evade more than buffing for archers which is pointless. I think SOTW has been made into an attack attractant because I havent been able to evade anything (even spells) with it and just utilize it as another form of mobility when mobility is on cool down.

As far as NGD getting rid of Xymerald I think they are flying by the seat of the "Good Idea Fairy." They probably had this idea they thought was so cool, woke up the next day and said forget it. The biggest part I didn't like about the patch is that they lowered the levels of a lot of items in our inventories and some of the items were paid for by in game gold, so when some folks had to work up to get said items after the patch they were worth a lot less.

All in all the application to which NGD pays attention too seems to be a perfect world where everything works. They do not fix glitches in the game that have been outstanding for long periods of time (ie Collision Issues that they have known about for months). They fix the game when it doesnt respond the way they want it too. Lastly they apply patches without taking into consideration realm balance and time zone differences. This leads to this patch rewarding realms that are active when no one else is, two versus one realm wars, and the realm with the least warzone active populace being repeatedly screwed over and over again without any real promotion to improve the realms chances to compete in invasions.

Like some in Alsius I'm at the point of exploring alternatives to RO with a high likelihood of leaving.

[makarios68]

I'd like to add, from a hunter point of view:

- Although i'm glad about the reduced effectiveness of the evasion tree (and the resulting quieting down of archers), hunters have been nerfed too much. This is evident in the distinct lack of enemy solo hunters in Alsius lately. I can now often patrol Alsius from meni bridge to pp2 without scanning a single hunter. Hunters have gone REALLY quiet, and altho we all 'hate' them i don't think this is good for the game - we need someone to hate!

- I strongly think that dmg reduction buffs for archers and warriors alike should be put back to a duration/cooldown parity. The only exception to this rule should be the marks buff Strategic Position, as this overpowers them when its duration/cooldown are the same.

- I believe that hunters should be given something to compensate for their loss of evasion, but not something that makes them as 'indestructable' as before.

- Several players i know whose main char is hunter (including members of my own clan) are quitting hunter because of the changes. They say the class is ruined. Altho i think this is overstaing the case, i think its fair to say that their effectiveness is not what it should be. I think many hunters now feel forced to fight at forts, because they feel they are too vulnerable in their true function: hunting. This is because most classes totally own them now.

- Mobs = crazy evade/resist rates. NGD please sort this out and soon!

- Realm imbalance: this needs sorting too. Alsius are too often on the back foot, defending their castle and forts for huge periods of time. They usually deal with this pressure admirably - i have been really impressed with their efforts of late. But hey, it would be nice to be attacking enemy castles and forts as often as we defend our own!

[save_the_trees]

what I don't like in this update:

1) I agree that some spells needed a change, but many spells got nerfed in a certain way I really don't like (I'm speaking of different classes): for example why the hell introduce standard protection/dmg buffs with longer cooldown than duration? And why are staff magnifications unchanged while warriors suffer from this? I would rather have less bonus on caution than the same amount with a gap in between. I skilled a lot of spells because I need them or because they are expected and not because I like them. High lv DI is somehow not worth the points at the moment but I don't want to overwrite high lv DIs with low lv either. The result is some kind of "I don't like this class" - feeling. Personally, I guess I won't play warlock or barb anymore since there is not a single setup which makes fun for me and is efficient at the same time and I still need some more thoughts on conjurer setup right now, maybe I'm even waiting for a new patch ^^.
2) as some people already stated before: lots of useless spells. I tried the new protection dome lately and it is a joke, I resisted about 15%... . Imo the spell was fine as it was. It was powerful but the -movement speed is actually very dangerous if melee classes are close and the spell is necessary to compete against areas at fort doors (even with the nerfs to most areas, I see a big advantage for the fort defending party now).
Since spell elude has even less points than dome now, I can fully understand archer's complaints.
3) changes in game mechanics towards more static gameplay: have a look at terror range: it is "0" now. combine with a range 30 staff and arcane projection and you end up with a huge range if you cast it while forward running. No possibility to cancel this with classical meteor/tremor. reaction duel between warlock and conjurer does not exist any more since protection dome is not worth the skill points as stated in 2). Any n00b can throw a nice terror like this and although it will "only" stun, it still does quite some area dmg. The excitement is simply gone !
4) items: I like the idea that players can get superior items by some means but this should be somehow related to skill or some an interesting aspect of the game and not to grinding/collecting very rare things. those two activities are just again two things an ambitious player would have to do.
5) Invasions destroy some aspects of fort fights, although they were introduced to give them a purpose.
6) even more "mysteries": I would like to see a place in this forums where all the game mechanics, especially formulas for stats and other ingame mathematics are explained by a member of NGD. For example it would have been nice if they wrote: "the gem pedestrals are located at xyz for realm abc" instead of "each realm now has a gem pedestral"

[octopus]

I feel that I should add to this thread, because I was one of the loudest complainers before the update. Last summer, I felt the game was no longer fun because of lack of balance between classes, high evades, stagnation due to lack of any purpose to taking forts, and utter uselessness of castles.

However, I have to say that NGD had done a fantastic job with this update, in so many ways.

Class balance is again restored. Hunters are no longer the tanks they were never meant to be, and knights are again the ones leading the charges, as it should be. It seems all classes have been nerfed to some extend, but I believe they were done logically. I have a conjurer, warlock and marksman, and I do not have any complaints about how they were nerfed. They are all fun to play, each has something useful to add to the group, and each has its weaknesses as well.

What attracted me to Regnum in the first place was the way that a team can work together, and how a team of mixed classes is stronger than the sum of its parts. I think that was lost months ago, but is again restored, with improvements.

Previous to this update, when a lower level character casts a spell on a higher level character, it was evaded/resisted almost every time, even with a difference of only 2 or 3 levels. Now, level 30-something characters have a chance to be of some use in the warzone, because spell evades/resists are lowered. This is a huge improvement for those with less than level 50 charters.

The concept of invasion has breathed new life into the game. Now, castles are critically important, and people are encouraged to fight hard to regain them. Fort battles are a constant thing now, keeping the game interesting.

Fort and castle guards are much stronger, which is great. I used to capture forts and castles by myself with just my support conjurer because guards were so stupid and weak, but no longer. The ability to upgrade a fort or castle is a great idea, and rewards for capturing help to keep people able to play without the need to grind to pay for worn armor.

On the negative side, I've noticed mobs have much higher evasion, even Easy and Very Easy ones. This, in addition to the fatigue system, makes it difficult for people leveling.

When I felt the game fell apart last spring/summer, I stopped buying Ximerin, because I didn't feel the game was worth supporting anymore. Now, I'm happy to say that I again purchased Ximerin, and will continue to do so as long as the game stays fun, and continues to improve.

Good job, NGD!

-Mehgan

[e30G]

Originally Posted by save_the_trees

2) as some people already stated before: lots of useless spells. I tried the new protection dome lately and it is a joke, I resisted about 15%... . Imo the spell was fine as it was. It was powerful but the -movement speed is actually very dangerous if melee classes are close and the spell is necessary to compete against areas at fort doors (even with the nerfs to most areas, I see a big advantage for the fort defending party now).

I agree that protection dome isn't as effective as before given the movement speed penalty. It doesn't offer the same protection it used to against area spells. I would prefer if it were changed into a damage reduction or a spell duration reduction spell (depending on the level) than it is now (essentially still a luck spell).

The overall balance is now better than what it used to be and the game has become interesting again with the addition of invasions.

[Regnum_Online]

im trying to get interested in Regnum Online again, and i see the middle island and christmas stuff, but you say my hunter was nerfed? ._. nice welcome back present... ^^

[Panda_Bear]

Umm, the invasion system in regnum isnt excatly the hardest one out there, have a look at what you need to in Warhammer online to sack the other realms capital city.

Then you know what hard is

[Immune]

Originally Posted by save_the_trees

2) as some people already stated before: lots of useless spells. I tried the new protection dome lately and it is a joke, I resisted about 15%... . Imo the spell was fine as it was. It was powerful but the -movement speed is actually very dangerous if melee classes are close and the spell is necessary to compete against areas at fort doors (even with the nerfs to most areas, I see a big advantage for the fort defending party now).
Since spell elude has even less points than dome now, I can fully understand archer's complaints.

I can't stress how much I hate the new spell resistance system NGD has implemented. Being a conjurer I loved using protection dome in all situations. Mainly when I was a warjurer. But now? I'm better off putting the points into Dragons Blood and hoping for natural resists, because it's a waste of mana and points. Before the update I could kill pretty much anyone, even in 2 vs 1's. I actually think it worsens my resist rate. It went from +50% resist to +75...not 75%. "Is that good?" I first asked myself. The answer: No, it's beyond bad. This is a problem, because every time i run across a warlock I get a face full of sultar, there goes my zarkit and i'm finished. Same with mind squasher, If that hits bye bye zarkit and all attack buffs. This will carry over to fort wars as well, it won't change the tide of battle AT ALL. Before it was almost the perfect counterpart of a knight's Deflecting barrier, but now it's useless. End of story.

This is my only real concern about the update, although I do agree with the points made about invasion imbalances and unchanged mob rewards.

[ncvr]

IMO Protection dome was way too good before the update, but now it is way too weak.

[Znurre]

Protection Dome should become better again - but NOT luck based!
Maybe it could decrease duration of all negative spells casted on the players underneath it, as suggested by Katiechan.