Shadow demon nerf was the worst solution to the problem

krzrsms · January 2017

I logged in today to hear from 2 guildies (an OP pally and a DC) that their pets had been nerfed. They are a couple that plays together and both used the shadow demon as their pet. I logged on my alt OP and discovered it was so, and went to read the patch notes for the day. Bringing the shadow demons damage 'in line with other pets' is a bad solution.

Its a bad solution that punishes those who used the shadow demon in a non-exploitive manner. That would be mainly DCs and OPs that have solo or dualing questing to do on a daily basis. The demon, normally used was not BIS for these classes and would be traded out for more suitable pets in group play. For dailies however it did a reasonable amount of damage, not out of line with other accessories you could get, like the ring of orcus to tick your damage up into non-boring range. The main affect here to those who continue using this pet will be standing there hacking on the same mobs for longer. ..and eventual boredom which is death for a player's willingness to play.

I was recently made aware that it was possible to make the shadow demon do absurd amounts of damage. It wasn't worthwhile for me to change my entire build for it, as my OP is primarily a tanking character. Thats the case with my guildies mentioned above as well, one is a tank and the other a healing cleric. The correct answer here is to prevent the abuse, with no need to additionally punish innocent users. Yes you demoted his damage, you even demoted his minor power so it does 3 digit love taps, that is completely useless.

Change this change please. All thats necessary to do is add a cap to the damage that this pet can do. You have turned a niche pet that had legitimate use for a few classes into a useless idle slot filler.

ghoulz66 · January 2017

Strikers need buffed. Indomitable runestone needs another buff. Crappy lowbie non-DPS need a helping hand with clearing dailies. There's so much damn grinding in this game that it punishes the hell out of people who aren't DPS.

krzrsms · January 2017

This is often the case I agree. With the shadow demon though its slight different to me. Top DPSers werent using a shadow demon because there are better options. There are a few that were super amping it in a way that apparently wasn't foreseen, even though any actual testing would have brought that to light.

It was a niche item.. that added some quality of life to regular players lives. Yes the solution they came up with notched down its damage for the few that were using it that way. It hurt far more normal users of it though, and one that had specifically paid a hefty price tag for that one feature to supplement what they couldnt do. Like a companion should. As it is currently the shadow demon is nearly useless because there are better cheaper options for what it can do now.

Putting a max cap on the damage would have solved the same problem and not harmed the regular user.

thrilla · January 2017

This is exactly like the real world. The 1% owns it all, supplies it all and manages it all while the rest of us are stuck grinding a never-ending mediocrity.

In here, the 1% who are spending their entire month's salary on buying ZEN is ruining the game (no offense, it's true with all micro transaction ftp games). The devs don't need to make a good game nor continually strive towards a good game, because they are being paid by individuals who choose to dwell in a fantasy where they HAVE everything. So now the devs can just sit on their fat bums all day and just make needless changes that harm new players and force them to spend cash as well in order to continue grinding their mediocre lives too, what a vicious cycle am I right?

demonmonger · January 2017

#thinkaboutthefuture

thrilla · January 2017

#papermoney

bvira · January 2017

I'm really mad as well! Spent a lot on companion gears + upgrading.
Nerf? Fine. Gives me fair compensation and I won't complain.

treesclimber · January 2017

It gets really expensive but we can still squize some decent dps out of a honey badger, enough to make it worth for a full support class.

mentinmindmaker · January 2017

If it performs considerably better than other options, you should expect it to be adjusted at some point. Cryptic need to have room to do the occasional mistake and to fix it.

The one big balance nerf Cryptic still need to do is to bring GWF dps in line with the rest of us

Now THAT is going to create a shitstorm on the forums

But it is really needed.

hustin1 · January 2017

I'm actually not surprised at all about the nerf. I never got into using the shadow demon precisely because it seemed "too good to be true".

(And I have a soft spot for redcaps...)

santralafax · January 2017

Seems odd to me that after, what, a YEAR, someone suddenly thought--"Those Shadow Demons--must be nerfed!" I guess we'll never know the thought processes behind that....

sandukutupu · January 2017

mentinmindmaker said:
If it performs considerably better than other options, you should expect it to be adjusted at some point. Cryptic need to have room to do the occasional mistake and to fix it.

The one big balance nerf Cryptic still need to do is to bring GWF dps in line with the rest of us

Now THAT is going to create a shitstorm on the forums But it is really needed.

I am going to assume you meant this as sarcasm... and not tell anyone you said this. I really don't think my GWF would give it a second thought before she inserts her polar bear into your south pole.

snotty · January 2017

Nope, sorry, but at this point we all know that if something is over powered it will at some point get a nerf. Lostmauth set being a good example. Im expecting bonding stones to be nerfed soon, Fire archon will probably get one too at some point.

As for GWF, hey if they make other builds viable I'd be fine with a nerf. But right now the Lia Knowles build is pretty much the only useful build there is. But once just remember, once they nerf GWFs another class will become top DPS and everyone be claaing for that class to be nerfed.

You might think im joking but I've been playing for 3 years and this is how it goes, I've seen it too many times.

abaddon · January 2017

snotty said:
Nope, sorry, but at this point we all know that if something is over powered it will at some point get a nerf. Lostmauth set being a good example. Im expecting bonding stones to be nerfed soon, Fire archon will probably get one too at some point.

As for GWF, hey if they make other builds viable I'd be fine with a nerf. But right now the Lia Knowles build is pretty much the only useful build there is. But once just remember, once they nerf GWFs another class will become top DPS and everyone be claaing for that class to be nerfed.

You might think im joking but I've been playing for 3 years and this is how it goes, I've seen it too many times.

honestly your right. the nerf cycle continues. its a matter of being objective as to what needs nerfs and doesnt. and players are usually unable to do that.gwf players will defend no matter how broken and those competing with them will always ask for nerfs.

jonkoca · January 2017

I'm sad too, I liked the general look of my shadow demon, had him at legendary, the dps was nice but now, since I depend on lifesteal and not deflect, the active isn't worth it either. Back to boring old fire archon again. Good for my paingiver score, but not exactly individual.

santralafax · January 2017

jonkoca said:
I'm sad too, I liked the general look of my shadow demon, had him at legendary, the dps was nice but now, since I depend on lifesteal and not deflect, the active isn't worth it either. Back to boring old fire archon again. Good for my paingiver score, but not exactly individual.

The same. I never even depended on deflection--just liked the look and feel of the Shadow Demon, and the added dps. I had to switch due to issues in FBI recently, so does not affect me at the moment. But a Legendary level companion rendered useless, nonetheless.

bigredbrent · January 2017

Instead of nurfing it they should have fixed the bug with it doing too much damage, because for the most part the damage was fine the way it was and made it feel like it was actually doing something instead of love tapping everything.

They should have also buffed every other pet to be just as useful.

cscriv79 · January 2017

grrouper said:
If the person that made decisions like that watched and seen what players use. I think they would have found out pretty much all high end DPS do not use shadow demon.It really just goes to show how little the person's in charge with this game really knows about the game and it's players.

Last time I watched a dev play this game on a stream he had to put god mode on to play it.

btairborne · January 2017

@Mimicking - It would have made more sense to nerf the Fire Archon in some way so that 90% of players at 3K+ don't feel like that's the only option then nerf the Shadow Demon a minority people only use for fun because it breaks nothing.

Shadow demon nerf was the worst solution to the problem

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