Alright first of all if you're someone who is unwilling to listen, lacks the basic ability to form/change their opinion based on data or just one of those people who was born, lives and will see their end completely miserable and only exists to try and drag everyone down into your hate vortex then just keep on scrolling.
I have neither the time nor the interest in entertaining your existence.
Secondly I really wanted to Quote each person as I help address/add context and balance to their questions/concerns but this is probably going to be long already so I'll just do my best. You know who you are. Also when you see this symbol *!* just insert what certain people would commonly shout out at this point. This post isn't for those people and I'm not going to waste time typing out their commentary. We've all seen it.
It will be in 2 posts cause long xD
So.. What are they trying to Achieve with Mod16?
*!*
Neverwinter hasn't evolved in a long time even Mod6 didn't exactly revolutionize the game meta, it brought change in the form of a Full Gear reset and an acceleration of what is known as Power Creep but little else.
Neverwinter as it stands and honestly, for a while now, is a you-know-what show. We all know it, even those of us who defend it to its core through (almost) every decision made during its life. I'm not just talking about what people spout as negatives but simply at a fundamental level:
- It's overcomplicated. - It's full of redundancies. - It's outdated.
The core game does and has for some time needed some kind of change and it has been coming for some time. Some of you may have already and others will soon realize that the groundwork has been progressively implemented over time for what is coming. In addition WotC has a certain influence over all things D&D and NW has been shall we say, out of line with current meta for a while.
With Mod16 a lot will change (obviously) but what will result is an renewed simplicity that allows more focused and easily identifiable targeting of issues by the Dev. team. As the game is now, even a single problem could be so intrinsically tied to other features that the slightest attempt at a solution could break half the game.
Don't laugh, it's happened several times and we've seen it.
They don't know what they're doing!
*!*
Okay, fair point/criticism and there are multiple instances that could be pointed out to support this.
However.
Mod16 is only being BUILT by the Dev. team. Unlike what goes on with most Module creation there are a number of community members who have been assisting in working on this for quite some time. Most of them have been with the game longer than some of the Dev. team and most, if not all, understand the game far better than anyone else. These members of the community will help see to it that the best possible outcomes are reached.
What will change? What about my stuff?
*!*
The answer to that is a bit ambiguous at this time. Some is known, some is not and the rest cannot be spoken about by those who know at this time.
The best general answer to give is: Much but not everything and You're gonna need some new stuff.
Character-wise:
*!*
For those of you who actually play D&D, some of the alterations will make more sense to you than to those who don't. In the vein of redundancy, let's not mince words; you can make a lot of different builds with what is available now but you can make at best.. about 3-4 GOOD builds with it. And that's being generous.
The new Character system will at first look more restrictive but despite less overall options to choose from, the functionality will be in many ways the same. A Class build will now have a Defined purpose rather than bleeding into the Hybrid mash of Stats, Gear and Feats that defines the game right now.
To give an example.
The DC, known henceforth and in canon as a Cleric. Now many of you I'm sure have attempted or do run a DPS build and some have found the optimal way to make it effective. But look at it as it is now, really look at it; you can very clearly see that despite best efforts, there is not actually a true DPS design implemented for the class.
Those of you like me who play D&D however are aware that a DPS Cleric is a real thing but is far from the imitation that exists in NW as it stands.
NW DPS DC as it is now is all about just tossing enough Damage Buffs on until your Damage becomes effective enough to qualify. You're not actually much different from any other DC, you just do a lot more damage.
An actual DPS Cleric is not a Healer. It doesn't even really qualify as one in an emergency. It is wrath and holy vengeance itself and as cliche as that sounds, it is the truth. It doesn't buff the damage components of it's Heal/damage Encounters, it just deals out raw Damage Encounters instead. Screw healing, you don't need Healing when the enemy is dead.
In Mod16, this will be closer to reality, as will the DPS Fighter (formally GF) which is the class' canon designation. While Hybrid builds are versatile, it really says something is wrong when they are particularly Effective in a game. Either the content is lacking in challenge or somehow the player has breached the point where anything matters anymore.
No more of that, no more confusion about Roles or Purpose.
DPS Classes will have option on How they want to express that Role. DPS Hybrids will be given their choice of which to become, abandon DPS for the Support Role or pursue DPS and leave the Support Role behind. And of course the Paladin will have the choice of what kind of Support it wants to become.
Stats:
*!*
For the most part, most Stats will behave the same as before but I know the removal of LS and Recovery have many people concerned so lets look at it.
As Stats they are going to disappear. As a function, they will not.
LS resulted in exactly what the Devs. have pointed out; Healers aren't necessary, Tanks pretty much exist to soak damage but even they can sustain themselves with essentially zero effort. My Fighter can easily LS between 30-50% of the time he does damage and this is not right. DPS deal so much damage that even low LS chance doesn't matter and results in 300%+ Max HP heals each time it does Proc.
Health is always full or dead, because we made it necessary. Hate those random OSKs? They needed to exist because we'd be immortal otherwise.
Recovery made Encounters and Dailies as usable as At-Wills and that too, is not right. At-Wills, you get why they're called that, right?
Encounters and Dailies, while less Literal in their naming are not supposed to be as freely available as oxygen like they have become. My CW, for about 4-5 years now has been running a 0CD build. Yes, no Cooldowns, I can spam my Encounters as much as I wish and because of the way AP works with certain Feats my Daily would fill like a waterfall into a small bucket.
It's not lost on me how ridiculous it is for a Magic-User to be able to Omnicast without the appropriate circumstances and abilities.
As the Devs. said, it came to 2 choices:
- Make them deal less damage now and periodically in the future to compensate ad Infinitum. or - Return them to a state where their use isn't as readily prolific but they are more effective when they are used.
Now the two obvious things that come out of this are:
How can I Solo with no Healing? and How can I fight with (terrible) longer CDs on my Powers?
or
*!* from those people.
As I said: As a Stat, they're gone but as a Function, they will still exist in a controlled and more meaningful form.
Certain Powers, Attacks or Feat modifiers may have light LS properties, 1-2% of damage dealt for example. Certain Armor sets may confer the same effect. Outside of battle, Health Regen will be a more consistent and fixed effect rather than based on a stat, which will return you to good health between fights. When in dire need, yes that's what Potions/Stones of Health are for. Using them once was a thing and doesn't hurt to be a thing again.
You know, like that whole thing with the Bubble OP and when people forgot Dodging was a thing you could do and then had to relearn that. Yes, that.
In Groups/Party play well.. *whispers* That's what Healers are for.
Now to the Recovery topic...
Well as terrible as it sounds to say it, Getting Good/Better at the game helps for a start. I'm not going to start a whole thing but some of you know what I'm talking about. To address it fully requires more knowledge than is available/can be shared at this time. Suffice to say that even if an attack can't be used AS often, if it is considerably more effective WHEN it is used, it tends to even out more than you think in your panic/fears.
In terms of CD reduction and of course (and I'm still surprised some people are still unaware they're controlled by the same base stat) AP Gain for Dailies, as a Function will still exist.
- An attack that causes the CD of another attack to decrease (Synergy, YAAY). - A Feat that lowers CD in certain situations. - Just because the Stat won't exist, doesn't mean the OP's AoW can't still perform the same general function if it should remain a thing. CDs are 20% faster for your party. Not exactly complicated math gymnastics compared to calculating that with the inclusion of individual Recovery stats as it is now.
The possibilities are there. Wait and see.
And finally for Stat talk, about Crit. Chance capping at 50%.
There have been some great Analogies for this posted and I love that. Someone mentioned how they have 100% Crit. Chance and that pretty much applies to many of us and should to 99.9% of current GWFs (now Barbarian) and asked, I'll presume seeking an answer as to what becomes of that. Are they going to lose that effort?
Technically, nothing and no. We're losing nothing but Equivalence, if your Crit. Chance is 100% now then under new Gear the only change will be you will meet the new 50% cap immediately. You might even be able to scale back and improve in other areas.
If you're landing Crits. 100% of the time you're either cheating in some way or under the effect of a specially designed Spell/Power that allows it. This is within the slight level of realism that even games need.
I notice no-one particularly cares about the Deflect part cause of course few people do. xD
Let's cover some final things to close out:
Let's get the controversial stuff that we all knew was coming out of the way.
- Neverwinter like all F2P games is just that, Free to Play.
No-one forced any of us to pay for anything, NW has avoided a P2W culture in a fairly impressive fashion so not even that is a viable excuse. If you have spent a little, you likely won't be feeling any losses overall. If you spent some, you may suffer some regret but overall you probably won't be too bothered by any losses.
If however you have made money your answer of choice, well.. I'm sorry. I don't have any great sympathy for you if you feel deep regret over losses sustained and none at all if you somehow feel entitled to something you think you're owed because of it. You knew the risks, you made the choice to spend. And if you didn't understand the risks then perhaps you should consider putting someone who does in charge of your spending.
- Jumping to conclusions hurts more than your pride and credibility.
I've done it a few times and been proven wrong but for the most part my level of patience is beyond what is necessary to wait for actual facts. Try using some of yours before freaking out or worse giving the Devs. grief. They do mess up occasionally but you know what? They have improved far more than they have done in error and that's all you can ask of anyone.
Perfection does not exist in reality, only our perception of it and those perceptions should never be made one's life goal. (see Mayuri's speech in Bleach).
Finally to those certain people who raced to Max iLvL and never stopped for what lay along the way.
This will be an opportunity to learn something. Don't pass it up.
TL;DR
Don't freak out without details. This is something the game needs. If I can write this, you can grab a drink, sit back and read it.
It was expected an expansion after seeing that in the last mods basically gave the team, the game already needs it. I will give my opinion to my way of seeing the game. With the expansion would have been great a new class as the Bardo being a class heal or dps, coming to cover the option of possible third healer. The SW would take away the option of being a healer, I think in my opinion it does not go with what we all understand by a warlock, in my opinion a warlock is a dps that relies on its damage with the use of demons (in this case with the puppet). Finally, what I think would improve a lot is to end the issue of the buff / debuff classes and that the game is based on the trinity tanke / heal / dps. The issue of classes buff / debuff seems to me to see something discriminatory because it forces people to play in a way and if they do not expel them or they are not accepted, in the same way it makes other classes do not have space to to be able to play
Don't freak out without details. This is something the game needs. If I can write this, you can grab a drink, sit back and read it.
Great post and good summary. Totally agree, just never had the time or patience to spell it out for those who don't seem to understand. So thanks for posting what I was thinking!
Main: Angels Scar Guild: Ruathym Corsairs
2
adinosiiMember, NW M9 PlaytestPosts: 4,294Arc User
About recovery/lifesteal...why are you assuming the replacements will be useless?
Also...there is a lot of info that has not been revealed (or leaked). I can think of 2-3 things most people will love, a few that some will love and others will hate, and one which I really hope will get changed this week.
As Stats they are going to disappear. As a function, they will not.
Recovery made Encounters and Dailies as usable as At-Wills and that too, is not right. At-Wills, you get why they're called that, right?
TL;DR
Don't freak out without details. This is something the game needs. If I can write this, you can grab a drink, sit back and read it.
The problem with the At-wills is two fold. One, spamming them over and over is boring and tedious. It gets old really fast and takes a lot of the "whiz bang" out of the game. And for a game than depends on "whiz bang" it's a boned head move, because let's admit it, NW is a really fancy slot machine. Taking away our stimuli and reducing it to pressing At Wills over and over will just be as fun as watching paint dry. Much of the fun of NW is from watching and preforming all our spells/skills. The second reason using them more is problematic is that if you are playing squishy toons and are in places like Chult where the mobs are already overwhelming not being able to lean on Encounters and Dailies to keep them at bay will make them incredibly frustrating (or more so than they are now) and people won't want to play them.
Maybe I'm wrong and there will be a new mechanics that let us do more damage with At Wills and/or take on mobs but still, just sounds boring to me. This all feels like some sneaky way to get us all to play in groups more, even for solo content but I can tell you, for a lot of us, it's not a feasible thing to do and will drive us away.
As Stats they are going to disappear. As a function, they will not.
Recovery made Encounters and Dailies as usable as At-Wills and that too, is not right. At-Wills, you get why they're called that, right?
TL;DR
Don't freak out without details. This is something the game needs. If I can write this, you can grab a drink, sit back and read it.
The problem with the At-wills is two fold. One, spamming them over and over is boring and tedious. It gets old really fast and takes a lot of the "whiz bang" out of the game. And for a game than depends on "whiz bang" it's a boned head move, because let's admit it, NW is a really fancy slot machine. Taking away our stimuli and reducing it to pressing At Wills over and over will just be as fun as watching paint dry. Much of the fun of NW is from watching and preforming all our spells/skills. The second reason using them more is problematic is that if you are playing squishy toons and are in places like Chult where the mobs are already overwhelming not being able to lean on Encounters and Dailies to keep them at bay will make them incredibly frustrating (or more so than they are now) and people won't want to play them.
Maybe I'm wrong and there will be a new mechanics that let us do more damage with At Wills and/or take on mobs but still, just sounds boring to me. This all feels like some sneaky way to get us all to play in groups more, even for solo content but I can tell you, for a lot of us, it's not a feasible thing to do and will drive us away.
They're not removing dailies and encounters. Just slowing down the rate at which they can fire. If you really get bored that quickly, maybe don't fire them all at once and leave one for that 4 or 5 second mark when your attention begins to wander?
And yeah, as to this all being a sneaky plan to get us to play solo content in groups, I think you're probably wrong.
I thought the premise behind the game was that I could play with just my character and a companion.... now I will need to make a friend so I can have someone to heal my "Barbarian"
"Crit cap is now 50%" I'm 100% crit, so what happens to all of my rank 11/12 brutals? There better be some kind of enchant exchange available. I can understand gear becoming obsolete, but enchants? Come on, now.
You no longer just keep stacking Crit till it hits a certain score then leave it cos its at 100% so job done, Champagne all round.
Crit Chance is now capped at 50% + the base 5%. So 55%.
If you read the announcement, you'll see that Critical Avoidance is a new stat that opposes the Crit Chance. Every monster in a given zone will have a fixed Crit Avoid. You measure your "Critical Strike" stat against their "Crit Avoid" score to determine your Crit Chance %. (I can't remember the exact formula, but it's on the announcement and is fairly simple.)
So, if you are in a zone where the monsters have a lower Crit Avoid, you don't need as much Crit to achieve the 55%. But if you are in high end content where the standard Crit Avoid is much higher, you will need more Critical Strike score to beat the Crit Resist and achieve 55%.
That's the whole point of the change. "Opposing Scores" allow Power Creep to be manageable.
You will still need to increase your Crit stat as new content drops. As new monsters will have higher Crit Resist. Just like we always have with AP and Resistance Ignored vs monsters' ever increasing Def stats.
Most people won't NEED to stack the Crit score required to hit 55% in the highest level content, but that probably won't stop people thinking they do. It's kind of like how most people don't NEED 100%+ AP, but read it in a Build Guide or someone on here says "Oh, we all need 105 AP now..." and they go build a 13K toon with 105% AP. It's their choice, but it's a waste of resources.
Of course, because all monsters in a zone have the same stats and can't change theirs to match or beat yours, it works both ways, and one of the good things about this is that you will be able to stack your OWN Critical Avoidance to any specific level that will guarantee that the monsters in any given zone have no more than a 5% (the lowest basic chance) of hitting YOU with a Crit. (So, there's one part of that damage mitigation that will help squishies not get One-Shot as often, right there.)
Some people will just aim for whatever the highest needed is so that they don't have to think about redressing their toon for each zone. That;s up to them. Others will use load outs, or switch stuff about on the fly.
LOL i was out for a week and got hit by a flood when i got back, all i could see in the foruns was a resume of teh changes before the water came inside XD
Now i do Believe they should had Announced "NW online 2" new server from lv.1 and give old players some free stuff in the stores like some mounts and alt spaces...
Because would be much easier to start from scratch than change this much, i'm waiting a bugfest, hope i'm wrong but i'm not optimistic...
About recovery/lifesteal...why are you assuming the replacements will be useless?
Also...there is a lot of info that has not been revealed (or leaked). I can think of 2-3 things most people will love, a few that some will love and others will hate, and one which I really hope will get changed this week.
Seeing ppl still moan about this when its not even on preview is hilarious. It's true that most of the changes that have been made, especially with mod6 were kinda painful, but the question is. dint we move on? dint we adapt? imagine how much classes like tr and cw have had to adapt to changes through the years. we dint just go like, hey i just bought a warhorse mount and now there's something better, therefore i want my money back, nope, it doesn't work that way, its a game, you take what it offers you, otherwise try build one yourself. my only issue for ages has always been class balance and since mod13 they've really been trying hard to work towards it. Mod16 is set to actualize the game, as much as i may have got used to 9 mins cradle, there are some stats i had never seen in any other mmo, like 100%, a system where u almost dont need "healers", not saying dc cos for a long HAMSTER while now, they haven't been "healing", and a few other stuff, like IL scaling in dungeons, etc. Hopefully the next step they take is working on the loot system, i personally dont find it funny how random it can get, like you can be playing since beta and still not get any brilliant drop, then get new players get leg mounts, leg rings on first runs and blabla. yes, there has to be a better loot system that makes everyone feel equally rewarded, loot rerolls could be a possible solution to that or having a certain amount of runs/attempts where certain loots are guaranteed. but apart from that i think we really need to wait for it to even go on preview, test out everything testable, and if you aint into testing, there are a bunch of players willing to help u out with details, just ask, too early to moan.
Lardeson CW not Mage. Where's my fireball and my thunderbolt?
1
lantern22Member, NW M9 PlaytestPosts: 1,111Arc User
Like someone above mentioned, they have used actual veteran players to test this new mod. So while a lot of you seem to want to rant and rave about the changes coming and are expecting a total disaster, I am not.
The state of the game needs the change. Power creep is ridiculous, being part of a 20 min Castle Ravenloft is fun the first few times. After that, it's boring. I did a 2 man FBI the other day, one SW and me on my girlfriends CW MOF that I was testing. This should not be possible.
So bring on the change, it is long overdue.
Agree.
When your in a party that is essentially burning down Count Strahd in one rotation how can they make content that is challenging for that party as well as being doable for other lesser parties??
Bringing back healing as relevant - good.
If they reduce the effectiveness of life steal, then maybe they can bring back incremental damage as a factor in fights instead of having to rely on massive hits to make things challenging. At the moment its either you get 1 shotted or you just lifesteal your HP back easily. Its probably impossible to code around.
Hopefully some of these changes will bridge the gap a little bit between the elites and the rest
Plenty of us end game players that are likely to cop the biggest whack should have enough resources built up by flying through the end game dungeons with ease for last few years to deal with it.
1
lantern22Member, NW M9 PlaytestPosts: 1,111Arc User
March 1? 10 days before and no preview test server? based on my experience, @everyone could expect 1 may.
3.1 is when they expect it to hit test not go live. at least that's my read
Don't know why they bother putting it on the test servers. All experience tells us they'll listen to nothing that is said, fix none of the bugs that are pointed out and launch it exactly as it is because that's how they want it to be. So personally I can't see why they can't just put it out on March 1st anyway, it'll be what we're getting anyway.
If they find a bug that enables players to generate lots and lots of AD during testing, they will fix that.
tbh i haven't found any of the bugs, that were allowed to go live, game breaking.
I thought the premise behind the game was that I could play with just my character and a companion.... now I will need to make a friend so I can have someone to heal my "Barbarian"
If right now you are running your DPS Barbarian with a DPS companion in order to most effectively kill things quickly and fear that you may need to make friends with a Cleric, let me offer this alternative.
Use a companion that can heal your Barbarian. Maybe you will find that you don't need a Cleric buddy for solo content after all.
I thought the premise behind the game was that I could play with just my character and a companion.... now I will need to make a friend so I can have someone to heal my "Barbarian"
If right now you are running your DPS Barbarian with a DPS companion in order to most effectively kill things quickly and fear that you may need to make friends with a Cleric, let me offer this alternative.
Use a companion that can heal your Barbarian. Maybe you will find that you don't need a Cleric buddy for solo content after all.
Don't know how many times I've said this though not in the exact same words. That's what those comps are there for though there was no reason to use them in the past after a certain point. Now there might be.
> @lantern22 said: > If they reduce the effectiveness of life steal, then maybe they can bring back incremental damage as a factor in fights instead of having to rely on massive hits to make things challenging. At the moment its either you get 1 shotted or you just lifesteal your HP back easily. Its probably impossible to code around.
This right here is huge if healing will be a thing again. Can't heal dead people who get one-shot by old boss mechanics and mod 16 stats.
0
arcanjo86Member, NW M9 PlaytestPosts: 1,093Arc User
LOL i was out for a week and got hit by a flood when i got back, all i could see in the foruns was a resume of teh changes before the water came inside XD
Now i do Believe they should had Announced "NW online 2" new server from lv.1 and give old players some free stuff in the stores like some mounts and alt spaces...
Because would be much easier to start from scratch than change this much, i'm waiting a bugfest, hope i'm wrong but i'm not optimistic...
lets see what happens when it hit preview...
they are changing old code with new code, so im expecting lesser bugs.
I have 1 question/suggestion. Do you plan on allowing us to have an opportunity to exchange our enchants in the new mod. If so, that will be a huge relief to my main anxiety about the changes. It is a little scary, but I love this game and will continue to play for many many years to come!
2
ghoulz66Member, NW M9 PlaytestPosts: 3,748Arc User
I thought the premise behind the game was that I could play with just my character and a companion.... now I will need to make a friend so I can have someone to heal my "Barbarian"
If right now you are running your DPS Barbarian with a DPS companion in order to most effectively kill things quickly and fear that you may need to make friends with a Cleric, let me offer this alternative.
Use a companion that can heal your Barbarian. Maybe you will find that you don't need a Cleric buddy for solo content after all.
Only problem, is that most of them have terrible AI and will not heal you when you may need it most.
https://neverwinter.gamepedia.com/Angel_of_Protection Will do, 5% damage reduction plus heals plus covering when revived, but I guess it was one of the worse KI.. aggro magnet. What about usefull controller companions, Are there any? Paranoid Dillusion maybe?
Comments
I have neither the time nor the interest in entertaining your existence.
Secondly I really wanted to Quote each person as I help address/add context and balance to their questions/concerns but this is probably going to be long already so I'll just do my best. You know who you are.
Also when you see this symbol *!* just insert what certain people would commonly shout out at this point. This post isn't for those people and I'm not going to waste time typing out their commentary. We've all seen it.
It will be in 2 posts cause long xD
So..
What are they trying to Achieve with Mod16?
*!*
Neverwinter hasn't evolved in a long time even Mod6 didn't exactly revolutionize the game meta, it brought change in the form of a Full Gear reset and an acceleration of what is known as Power Creep but little else.
Neverwinter as it stands and honestly, for a while now, is a you-know-what show. We all know it, even those of us who defend it to its core through (almost) every decision made during its life. I'm not just talking about what people spout as negatives but simply at a fundamental level:
- It's overcomplicated.
- It's full of redundancies.
- It's outdated.
The core game does and has for some time needed some kind of change and it has been coming for some time. Some of you may have already and others will soon realize that the groundwork has been progressively implemented over time for what is coming. In addition WotC has a certain influence over all things D&D and NW has been shall we say, out of line with current meta for a while.
With Mod16 a lot will change (obviously) but what will result is an renewed simplicity that allows more focused and easily identifiable targeting of issues by the Dev. team. As the game is now, even a single problem could be so intrinsically tied to other features that the slightest attempt at a solution could break half the game.
Don't laugh, it's happened several times and we've seen it.
They don't know what they're doing!
*!*
Okay, fair point/criticism and there are multiple instances that could be pointed out to support this.
However.
Mod16 is only being BUILT by the Dev. team. Unlike what goes on with most Module creation there are a number of community members who have been assisting in working on this for quite some time. Most of them have been with the game longer than some of the Dev. team and most, if not all, understand the game far better than anyone else. These members of the community will help see to it that the best possible outcomes are reached.
What will change? What about my stuff?
*!*
The answer to that is a bit ambiguous at this time.
Some is known, some is not and the rest cannot be spoken about by those who know at this time.
The best general answer to give is: Much but not everything and You're gonna need some new stuff.
Character-wise:
*!*
For those of you who actually play D&D, some of the alterations will make more sense to you than to those who don't. In the vein of redundancy, let's not mince words; you can make a lot of different builds with what is available now but you can make at best.. about 3-4 GOOD builds with it. And that's being generous.
The new Character system will at first look more restrictive but despite less overall options to choose from, the functionality will be in many ways the same. A Class build will now have a Defined purpose rather than bleeding into the Hybrid mash of Stats, Gear and Feats that defines the game right now.
To give an example.
The DC, known henceforth and in canon as a Cleric. Now many of you I'm sure have attempted or do run a DPS build and some have found the optimal way to make it effective. But look at it as it is now, really look at it; you can very clearly see that despite best efforts, there is not actually a true DPS design implemented for the class.
Those of you like me who play D&D however are aware that a DPS Cleric is a real thing but is far from the imitation that exists in NW as it stands.
NW DPS DC as it is now is all about just tossing enough Damage Buffs on until your Damage becomes effective enough to qualify. You're not actually much different from any other DC, you just do a lot more damage.
An actual DPS Cleric is not a Healer. It doesn't even really qualify as one in an emergency. It is wrath and holy vengeance itself and as cliche as that sounds, it is the truth. It doesn't buff the damage components of it's Heal/damage Encounters, it just deals out raw Damage Encounters instead. Screw healing, you don't need Healing when the enemy is dead.
In Mod16, this will be closer to reality, as will the DPS Fighter (formally GF) which is the class' canon designation. While Hybrid builds are versatile, it really says something is wrong when they are particularly Effective in a game. Either the content is lacking in challenge or somehow the player has breached the point where anything matters anymore.
No more of that, no more confusion about Roles or Purpose.
DPS Classes will have option on How they want to express that Role.
DPS Hybrids will be given their choice of which to become, abandon DPS for the Support Role or pursue DPS and leave the Support Role behind.
And of course the Paladin will have the choice of what kind of Support it wants to become.
Stats:
*!*
For the most part, most Stats will behave the same as before but I know the removal of LS and Recovery have many people concerned so lets look at it.
LS resulted in exactly what the Devs. have pointed out; Healers aren't necessary, Tanks pretty much exist to soak damage but even they can sustain themselves with essentially zero effort. My Fighter can easily LS between 30-50% of the time he does damage and this is not right. DPS deal so much damage that even low LS chance doesn't matter and results in 300%+ Max HP heals each time it does Proc.
Health is always full or dead, because we made it necessary. Hate those random OSKs? They needed to exist because we'd be immortal otherwise.
Recovery made Encounters and Dailies as usable as At-Wills and that too, is not right. At-Wills, you get why they're called that, right?
Encounters and Dailies, while less Literal in their naming are not supposed to be as freely available as oxygen like they have become. My CW, for about 4-5 years now has been running a 0CD build. Yes, no Cooldowns, I can spam my Encounters as much as I wish and because of the way AP works with certain Feats my Daily would fill like a waterfall into a small bucket.
It's not lost on me how ridiculous it is for a Magic-User to be able to Omnicast without the appropriate circumstances and abilities.
As the Devs. said, it came to 2 choices:
- Make them deal less damage now and periodically in the future to compensate ad Infinitum.
or
- Return them to a state where their use isn't as readily prolific but they are more effective when they are used.
Now the two obvious things that come out of this are:
How can I Solo with no Healing?
and
How can I fight with (terrible) longer CDs on my Powers?
or
*!* from those people.
As I said: As a Stat, they're gone but as a Function, they will still exist in a controlled and more meaningful form.
Certain Powers, Attacks or Feat modifiers may have light LS properties, 1-2% of damage dealt for example. Certain Armor sets may confer the same effect. Outside of battle, Health Regen will be a more consistent and fixed effect rather than based on a stat, which will return you to good health between fights. When in dire need, yes that's what Potions/Stones of Health are for. Using them once was a thing and doesn't hurt to be a thing again.
You know, like that whole thing with the Bubble OP and when people forgot Dodging was a thing you could do and then had to relearn that. Yes, that.
In Groups/Party play well.. *whispers* That's what Healers are for.
Now to the Recovery topic...
Well as terrible as it sounds to say it, Getting Good/Better at the game helps for a start. I'm not going to start a whole thing but some of you know what I'm talking about.
To address it fully requires more knowledge than is available/can be shared at this time. Suffice to say that even if an attack can't be used AS often, if it is considerably more effective WHEN it is used, it tends to even out more than you think in your panic/fears.
In terms of CD reduction and of course (and I'm still surprised some people are still unaware they're controlled by the same base stat) AP Gain for Dailies, as a Function will still exist.
- An attack that causes the CD of another attack to decrease (Synergy, YAAY).
- A Feat that lowers CD in certain situations.
- Just because the Stat won't exist, doesn't mean the OP's AoW can't still perform the same general function if it should remain a thing. CDs are 20% faster for your party. Not exactly complicated math gymnastics compared to calculating that with the inclusion of individual Recovery stats as it is now.
The possibilities are there. Wait and see.
And finally for Stat talk, about Crit. Chance capping at 50%.
There have been some great Analogies for this posted and I love that. Someone mentioned how they have 100% Crit. Chance and that pretty much applies to many of us and should to 99.9% of current GWFs (now Barbarian) and asked, I'll presume seeking an answer as to what becomes of that. Are they going to lose that effort?
Technically, nothing and no. We're losing nothing but Equivalence, if your Crit. Chance is 100% now then under new Gear the only change will be you will meet the new 50% cap immediately. You might even be able to scale back and improve in other areas.
If you're landing Crits. 100% of the time you're either cheating in some way or under the effect of a specially designed Spell/Power that allows it. This is within the slight level of realism that even games need.
I notice no-one particularly cares about the Deflect part cause of course few people do. xD
Let's cover some final things to close out:
Let's get the controversial stuff that we all knew was coming out of the way.
- Neverwinter like all F2P games is just that, Free to Play.
No-one forced any of us to pay for anything, NW has avoided a P2W culture in a fairly impressive fashion so not even that is a viable excuse. If you have spent a little, you likely won't be feeling any losses overall. If you spent some, you may suffer some regret but overall you probably won't be too bothered by any losses.
If however you have made money your answer of choice, well.. I'm sorry. I don't have any great sympathy for you if you feel deep regret over losses sustained and none at all if you somehow feel entitled to something you think you're owed because of it. You knew the risks, you made the choice to spend. And if you didn't understand the risks then perhaps you should consider putting someone who does in charge of your spending.
- Jumping to conclusions hurts more than your pride and credibility.
I've done it a few times and been proven wrong but for the most part my level of patience is beyond what is necessary to wait for actual facts. Try using some of yours before freaking out or worse giving the Devs. grief. They do mess up occasionally but you know what? They have improved far more than they have done in error and that's all you can ask of anyone.
Perfection does not exist in reality, only our perception of it and those perceptions should never be made one's life goal. (see Mayuri's speech in Bleach).
Finally to those certain people who raced to Max iLvL and never stopped for what lay along the way.
This will be an opportunity to learn something. Don't pass it up.
TL;DR
Don't freak out without details.
This is something the game needs.
If I can write this, you can grab a drink, sit back and read it.
> Just hope this means we don't have to be chugging potions like a drunk. o.o
Yup and they don't drop anymore.
Guild: Ruathym Corsairs
Also...there is a lot of info that has not been revealed (or leaked). I can think of 2-3 things most people will love, a few that some will love and others will hate, and one which I really hope will get changed this week.
Maybe I'm wrong and there will be a new mechanics that let us do more damage with At Wills and/or take on mobs but still, just sounds boring to me. This all feels like some sneaky way to get us all to play in groups more, even for solo content but I can tell you, for a lot of us, it's not a feasible thing to do and will drive us away.
Just slowing down the rate at which they can fire.
If you really get bored that quickly, maybe don't fire them all at once and leave one for that 4 or 5 second mark when your attention begins to wander?
And yeah, as to this all being a sneaky plan to get us to play solo content in groups, I think you're probably wrong.
Crit Chance is now capped at 50% + the base 5%. So 55%.
If you read the announcement, you'll see that Critical Avoidance is a new stat that opposes the Crit Chance.
Every monster in a given zone will have a fixed Crit Avoid. You measure your "Critical Strike" stat against their "Crit Avoid" score to determine your Crit Chance %. (I can't remember the exact formula, but it's on the announcement and is fairly simple.)
So, if you are in a zone where the monsters have a lower Crit Avoid, you don't need as much Crit to achieve the 55%. But if you are in high end content where the standard Crit Avoid is much higher, you will need more Critical Strike score to beat the Crit Resist and achieve 55%.
That's the whole point of the change.
"Opposing Scores" allow Power Creep to be manageable.
You will still need to increase your Crit stat as new content drops. As new monsters will have higher Crit Resist. Just like we always have with AP and Resistance Ignored vs monsters' ever increasing Def stats.
Most people won't NEED to stack the Crit score required to hit 55% in the highest level content, but that probably won't stop people thinking they do.
It's kind of like how most people don't NEED 100%+ AP, but read it in a Build Guide or someone on here says "Oh, we all need 105 AP now..." and they go build a 13K toon with 105% AP. It's their choice, but it's a waste of resources.
Of course, because all monsters in a zone have the same stats and can't change theirs to match or beat yours, it works both ways, and one of the good things about this is that you will be able to stack your OWN Critical Avoidance to any specific level that will guarantee that the monsters in any given zone have no more than a 5% (the lowest basic chance) of hitting YOU with a Crit. (So, there's one part of that damage mitigation that will help squishies not get One-Shot as often, right there.)
Some people will just aim for whatever the highest needed is so that they don't have to think about redressing their toon for each zone. That;s up to them. Others will use load outs, or switch stuff about on the fly.
It gives options.
Now i do Believe they should had Announced "NW online 2" new server from lv.1 and give old players some free stuff in the stores like some mounts and alt spaces...
Because would be much easier to start from scratch than change this much, i'm waiting a bugfest, hope i'm wrong but i'm not optimistic...
lets see what happens when it hit preview...
When your in a party that is essentially burning down Count Strahd in one rotation how can they make content that is challenging for that party as well as being doable for other lesser parties??
Bringing back healing as relevant - good.
If they reduce the effectiveness of life steal, then maybe they can bring back incremental damage as a factor in fights instead of having to rely on massive hits to make things challenging. At the moment its either you get 1 shotted or you just lifesteal your HP back easily. Its probably impossible to code around.
Hopefully some of these changes will bridge the gap a little bit between the elites and the rest
Plenty of us end game players that are likely to cop the biggest whack should have enough resources built up by flying through the end game dungeons with ease for last few years to deal with it.
tbh i haven't found any of the bugs, that were allowed to go live, game breaking.
Use a companion that can heal your Barbarian.
Maybe you will find that you don't need a Cleric buddy for solo content after all.
House Miliskeera in exile (NW)
Sereska Miliskeera, Lvl 70 OP - Devotion (Just.)/Protection (Just.)
Shizlee Miliskeera, Lvl 70 DC - Divine Oracle (Right.)/Anoited Champion (Faith.)
Finithey Miliskeera, Lvl 70 HR - Stormwarden (Combat)/Pathfinder (Trapper)
Maya Sik-Miliskeera, Lvl 70 CW - Spellstorm
Irae Sik-Miliskeera, Lvl 70 TR - Master Inflitrator
Member - Houseclan t'Charvon (STO)
Shiarrael e'Tal'Aura t'Charvon, LvL 60, Rom Sci
S'aana ir'Virinat t'Charvon, Lvl 60, Rom Eng
T'Lyra, LvL 60, Fed, Vul Sci
Ta'el, Lvl 60, Rom Tac
> If they reduce the effectiveness of life steal, then maybe they can bring back incremental damage as a factor in fights instead of having to rely on massive hits to make things challenging. At the moment its either you get 1 shotted or you just lifesteal your HP back easily. Its probably impossible to code around.
This right here is huge if healing will be a thing again. Can't heal dead people who get one-shot by old boss mechanics and mod 16 stats.
Will do, 5% damage reduction plus heals plus covering when revived, but I guess it was one of the worse KI.. aggro magnet.
What about usefull controller companions, Are there any?
Paranoid Dillusion maybe?