Calling it now, OP is either trolling or a dev sockpuppet. Trying so hard to convince us poor fools that we don't understand it yet, but we will soon (condescending).
Reality is that most of us do see what they're doing and why (nerfing to reduce end game power creep), but what we the masses of players are seeing is that they missed the mark so badly they killed the whole game if you're not already loaded. Levelling is bad, midgame is bad, and most endgame shy of max BiS is atrocious.
They took a small problem, like a nail needing to be driven into wood, and instead of taking a Worn Ball-pein Hammer to it, they called a Starship Orbital Bombardment on it.
And we're trying to take shelter from the photon barrage.
Yes I mixed my Cryptic game metaphors.
Thing is, there are many who agree with the OP. Many who have been on preview testing are not seeing the same thing that others are seeing and they have yet to actually show anything to back up their claims. Watch some of the streams going on, they aren't having issues, or at least the ones I was watching last night weren't. The people in the chat weren't having these issues.
So I took my level 50 cleric into the Tower District to see if underlevel zones nerf you like vastano is worried about. There's no scaling down there. I was blasting everything apart almost as easy as before the update. Essentially, the higher your TIL, the harder you are going to hit and the harder you are to kill. I'm pretty sure the scaling down factor is in dungeons and certain areas (like in Neverdeath graveyard by the dragon) ONLY.
Yeah, I think maybe some of us were hearing some bad things and assumed a bunch of stuff that isn't actually true. And apparently I was wrong about not being unkillable at high levels. If you are a high level and you go to a lower zone, then yes, you are a demigod like before and will not really die unless you afk for a really long time. Sorry about that.
> @"ultramath#3953" said: > You have Daunting Glow. Blast the mobs with at wills from range, and when they get close but not up to you, cast DG right in front of you and then step back. Not dodge, just run back a few steps. Your DG will smash them in the face and a lot of them will miss you. You should have a fighter or invoker companion from like level 15 or whatever. Man at arms, Wayward Wizard, whatever... somebody to help do damage when you are repositioning away from mobs and then back into their purple combat advantage zone which is where a mob is between you and your companion. Use a hardhitting single target skill when you have combat advantage on a mob. I use Geas, because I'm healer spec, but you have Forgemasters Flame which is like ten times better. Smash them when you are in the purple zone around their feet and then reposition away from their attacks. Cast, move, cast, move, etc., you get the idea. > > If you get surrounded GET OUT. Don't ever let them surround you. Fall back, reposition, cast some at wills from range while they catch back up with you and then cast move cast move. When you get hurt -- and you WILL -- heal yourself! You have bastion of health, it's crazy good now. Don't wait until you're dying. I usually heal with an atwill called soothe (healer spec) or a bastion when Im around 50% or if my comp is about to go down, ill heal them so they keep fighting. When you do it right, it will seem like a dance, there is a kind of rhythm to it. Cast move, cast move, it's like a weird waltz or something. :)
Thanks for the reply. I'll try it and see how it goes, but that's not a whole lot different from what I'm already doing.
My experience today is that Forgemaster Flame now hits for as high as 70k when I have advantage (much higher than yesterday) yet does little damage to who it hits. I get rushed by mobs while using at-wills to try and regen my divinity which ends up getting me killed.
Daunting Light is now a single target skill because I chose the Focused Light feat and can't respec out of that without paying real money as I have no AD yet.
I'll swap something out for Bastion of Health, but that's only going to make me do even less damage and kill even slower, but I guess if it lets me survive, maybe it's a fair trade. The potions are a joke compared to the stones. I have 177k health and my healing potions heal for 10k. I get constantly hit for 10k+. The balance is all wrong.
I won't even go into the disaster that my Rogue is right now. Melee range is out of the question. He's constantly dead and unplayable now.
Honestly, I don't mind "adapting" in games, I've done it for years with every MMO or otherwise ongoing game I've played. But this isn't just adapting, they've scaled the monsters way too high. It's tuned severely out of balance now and that's clear. It's like I have a 20% damage increase and a 70% health increase, but the monsters are scaled up 200%. I've just been forced into Nightmare difficulty when I need the game on Normal, kinda thing. If you play Diablo 3, I feel like I'm geared for Torment 5, and they're forcing me to play on Torment 10. The game just isn't fun to me that way.
Hp didn't go up for tanks, we have a lower multiplier than before for hp and we have to remove a lot of hp companions to cap our stats. I saw a friend pally drop from 600k to 424k, asked if it was his tank spec or tank-dps spec, he said tank. My Hp as fighter went from 1.08m ish to 831k currently. Dps and healers should have generally jumped up in hp, but that's depending on how many radiants they had before and if they decided to drop item lv with these changes.
I agree with o.p. (except l.h.) fk them for nerfing that. For years it's always been about the big the better and so many people are Cross now that they can't solo content not meant to be solo or cant lay down 2 encounters and move on. If it's taking you longer you are still trying to employ old tactics to a new game. This is less kingdoms of almur and more dark souls now. Gone are the days of I'm lvl 80 with minmax and meta now it's about holy HAMSTER I survived and using your abilities to its highest effectiveness. Before it's was only about how you could string your abilities together to deal max damage numbers. That is on a back burner in favor of using abilities to maximize survivability and giving you more time to consider how to get through it un harmed. C.w. should be happy lol they finally have a purpose in life
Don't confuse skill with a little luck you daft fool
Daunting Light is now a single target skill because I chose the Focused Light feat and can't respec out of that without paying real money as I have no AD yet.
Didn't you get some respec tokens in that leveling chest you had to carry around until lev59? Maybe you used those already? I hope not. My whole point to using DG was because it was AoE. Not MUCH of an AoE --> but that's what we get as clerics. I'm always trying to grab more than one guy in the target zone, because the trash mobs are the ones that kill you. If you made DG into single target, then you won't miss anymore, but now it's gonna be tricky for you to clear the dangerous stuff. Aaaaaannnnd that might explain a lot of why you are having problems as well. Your only AoE is now the radiant at-will!
Damn. If only chains of blazing light did damage. I don't know what to tell you, bro.
You are focusing too much on the "one-shot", have you ever heard of hyperboles? :-) What I expect from my character is just being able to play(*) the areas it is supposed to be in and not die continuously in areas it left behind long ago. And although I have been away for some time, I started playing in 2013, I know how "old NW" was.
(*) where "play" means I am ok with struggling in those areas, I don't want to kill everything I see just by hitting a button
I can feel you coming around already, elmandakar. Something tells me you are going to figure it out soon. More careful pulling aggro? A little more caution near extra mob groups so you don't get overwhelmed by multiple groups? A willingness to tactically retreat from a fight to de-aggro some mobs when you are losing so you can chug a pot and turn the tide? I don't know what it is going to be exactly, but I feel like you are going to solve this soon. Something is going to click, and you're going to start winning all the time.
I am already overcautious, I never go headlong into mobs, actually I never even go close to mobs if I can help it. I Always retreat from fights when I can (sometimes you cannot unless you want to reset the encounter). That's how I play all the time. Now it's no longer enough and, I stress again, in a lower level area where I shouldn't have any problem fighting. If all this was happening in the area my PC belong to, I wouldn't be complaining.
Nobody is getting one-shotted. What is happening is you are taking more damage than you expected to from "unworthy" opponents like trash mobs that were never a threat before, and you are freaking out. What is "unbalanced" is your expectations of what you can accomplish with your character because you are still stuck in yesterday's mindset. You simply haven't gotten used to the new (actually old) game. Read my first post in this thread. Actually read it. Nobody is shaming anybody, you're not a "noob", it's just that Neverwinter hasn't been like this for a long time. Old Neverwinter was actually really fun before all the power creep made 99% of it a joke.
You are focusing too much on the "one-shot", have you ever heard of hyperboles? :-) What I expect from my character is just being able to play(*) the areas it is supposed to be in and not die continuously in areas it left behind long ago. And although I have been away for some time, I started playing in 2013, I know how "old NW" was.
(*) where "play" means I am ok with struggling in those areas, I don't want to kill everything I see just by hitting a button
So which is it? Are you not exaggerating about being one-shot or are you using hyperboles?
I am not exaggerating in what I am saying, still "one-shot" was an hyperbole. Does it really matter if a single mob is killing you in one blow or 5 of them are killing you with one simultaneous blow each? You're still dead.
C.w. should be happy lol they finally have a purpose in life
LOL I wonder how long it takes until the playerbase at large realizes what control abilities are actually designed to do? Maybe a week(?) until you see entire armies of brand new wizards running roughshod all over the supposedly "hard" content we have now. Thaumaturge control spec guides are about to hit the reddits by the dozens.
If you are a high level and you go to a lower zone, then yes, you are a demigod like before and will not really die unless you afk for a really long time. Sorry about that.
The two hours I spent yesterday in a place where I always one-shot everything I saw and I could clear a normal heroic encounter alone until yesterday, and now I cannot face a single group of mobs without potions and/or dying, say otherwise.
You make loadouts for rewarding content. So. For dungeons. Where you do not need control. They have done their best to strip CC from the game. Bosses (aka most rewarding content) don't need a CC loadout. Are you thick?
I am already overcautious, I never go headlong into mobs, actually I never even go close to mobs if I can help it. I Always retreat from fights when I can (sometimes you cannot unless you want to reset the encounter). That's how I play all the time. Now it's no longer enough and, I stress again, in a lower level area where I shouldn't have any problem fighting. If all this was happening in the area my PC belong to, I wouldn't be complaining.
Man, I have to ask: what class are you? What are you using for companion? Do you have a way of getting and maintaining Combat Advantage? It may not necessarily be YOU that is getting beat, it may be your build and character setup. Look at Aletheon up above -- he doesn't have any AoE encounter powers because of his feat setup! I can't speak for him here as to what exactly is going on in his battles, but there's no way that is helping him.
I just feel that there is a solution for you, we just need to figure it out. Are you a ranger?
I just returned to the game a few weeks ago after not having played for several years. I decided to start fresh and level some new characters to relearn everything. Those characters are a Fighter Vanguard (with a Dreadnought alternate loadout), a Warlock Hellbringer, and a Ranger Warden.
The fighter is 67. I take so much damage from mobs now that I have to use health stones just to survive a single spawn intended for one player. It does not matter if I am in tank or DPS spec, the result is the same. My abilities make the mob's health bars barely move at all. It feels like every fight is against Elite/boss level enemies.
The ranger is 68. He's a little better. I can still solo without nearly dying most of the time, unless I run across one of the larger trash packs. And by larger I mean more than 3 mobs. And we all know there are plenty of packs that size throughout the game. Then I have to run away. But my abilities barely do damage at all compared to before the patch.
Warlock is 55. His abilities are barely moving the mob's health bars at all. I have to go through 2-3 complete cycles of his encounter powers to kill normal, non-boss mobs.
On all 3 of the above, I have tried everything I could. I have used companions that taunt, healer companions, dps companions. I've fiddled with my abilities. None of it matters. I am at least 75% weaker on all characters than I was before the patch.
Something is seriously wrong. It's not about CC, it's not about "relearning how to play." Content that SHOULD be 100% solo-able because it is leveling content is now miserable and completely unfun. Last time I played Neverwinter it was harder than it was recently. But it was nowhere near this level of difficulty. If it had been I would never have even thought about coming back.
Man, I have to ask: what class are you? What are you using for companion? Do you have a way of getting and maintaining Combat Advantage? It may not necessarily be YOU that is getting beat, it may be your build and character setup. Look at Aletheon up above -- he doesn't have any AoE encounter powers because of his feat setup! I can't speak for him here as to what exactly is going on in his battles, but there's no way that is helping him.
I just feel that there is a solution for you, we just need to figure it out. Are you a ranger?
I am a Cleric dps with a wide choice of companions, usually a legendary Abyssal Chicken in tow, I do have AoE encounter powers (just don't ask me the names, I'm bad at remembering those and I'm not anywhere near my PC), and all of this shouldn't matter anyway since, again, we are talking of lower lever contents that my PC could manage single-handedly until yesterday, not of contents it should be in at its current level and stats.
Something is seriously wrong. It's not about CC, it's not about "relearning how to play." Content that SHOULD be 100% solo-able because it is leveling content is now miserable and completely unfun. Last time I played Neverwinter it was harder than it was recently. But it was nowhere near this level of difficulty. If it had been I would never have even thought about coming back.
It sounds from your post like all your characters are undergeared. Taking too much damage and not doing enough is when you have too low of total item level (TIL). There are lots of ways to get TIL higher, not just by getting a better weapon. Mount insignias, enchanting your gear (even HAMSTER or "wrong" enchants give you more TIL and higher combined stats), companions, companion gear, runestones for the companion gear, the list goes on. Every little bit of TIL makes you do more damage and have more HPs.
I would also encourage you to try using an active fighting companion of some sort that helps you get combat advantage, if you aren't already. It's been the meta for a while to use augment companions, but those days may be behind us. I think folks are still figuring that one out.
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arazith07Member, NW M9 PlaytestPosts: 1,719Arc User
It's almost like there are 2 groups of players, one that is adapting well (agree or disagreeing about changes) and another that is having a really rough time. We really need more info to try and help those who are struggling though. I know in discord, I helped someone who was badly undergeared as they just skipped whole areas prior to the update.
Something is seriously wrong. It's not about CC, it's not about "relearning how to play." Content that SHOULD be 100% solo-able because it is leveling content is now miserable and completely unfun. Last time I played Neverwinter it was harder than it was recently. But it was nowhere near this level of difficulty. If it had been I would never have even thought about coming back.
It sounds from your post like all your characters are undergeared. Taking too much damage and not doing enough is when you have too low of total item level (TIL). There are lots of ways to get TIL higher, not just by getting a better weapon. Mount insignias, enchanting your gear (even HAMSTER or "wrong" enchants give you more TIL and higher combined stats), companions, companion gear, runestones for the companion gear, the list goes on. Every little bit of TIL makes you do more damage and have more HPs.
I would also encourage you to try using an active fighting companion of some sort that helps you get combat advantage, if you aren't already. It's been the meta for a while to use augment companions, but those days may be behind us. I think folks are still figuring that one out.
I'm afraid you're wrong about my gear sir. All of them are in the best gear I could find on the auction house. Their gear is significantly better than any quest reward/drop they get from any of their quests they are doing. And their active companions are Legendary because I had a significant amount of AD from the last time I played and I spent it to upgrade their companions quite a bit.
And I have tried using different types of companions. I tried tanky companions that taunt, healer companions, and DPS-style companions. The tanky companion helped with my warlock's survivability, but killing mobs is still a slog. And I re-iterate: before the patch, I had no problem soloing at all. None. I was not one-shotting everything, mobs still took a little bit to kill depending on which character I was talking about. But it was not miserable. Now it is.
Also there is one thing I want to point out about your post: You mention companion gear. Where, exactly, other than the AH are players supposed to get that while leveling? I have not seen a single drop or quest that rewards it yet. If in fact that is required now just to level, shouldn't it be available to lower level characters.......somehow besides buying it on the AH? But then I do have it in my companions, and it isn't helping.
It's almost like there are 2 groups of players, one that is adapting well (agree or disagreeing about changes) and another that is having a really rough time. We really need more info to try and help those who are struggling though. I know in discord, I helped someone who was badly undergeared as they just skipped whole areas prior to the update.
Probably those who are adapting well are those who were overpowered to begin with. I know I did not skip any single area in game and I am definitely struggling where I shouldn't be. No doubt my gear could be improved, but it's not so bad as to justify this. If to keep up with an area you need higher gear than the one you're supposed to have after the first time you've gone through that very area, something is definitely wrong.
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arazith07Member, NW M9 PlaytestPosts: 1,719Arc User
It's almost like there are 2 groups of players, one that is adapting well (agree or disagreeing about changes) and another that is having a really rough time. We really need more info to try and help those who are struggling though. I know in discord, I helped someone who was badly undergeared as they just skipped whole areas prior to the update.
Probably those who are adapting well are those who were overpowered to begin with. I know I did not skip any single area in game and I am definitely struggling where I shouldn't be. No doubt my gear could be improved, but it's not so bad as to justify this. If to keep up with an area you need higher gear than the one you're supposed to have after the first time you've gone through that very area, something is definitely wrong.
Yet those who don't have issues bring an under geared toon to try and see what the issue may be, but just don't see the issue.
> @"ultramath#3953" said: > Man, I have to ask: what class are you? What are you using for companion? Do you have a way of getting and maintaining Combat Advantage? It may not necessarily be YOU that is getting beat, it may be your build and character setup. Look at Aletheon up above -- he doesn't have any AoE encounter powers because of his feat setup! I can't speak for him here as to what exactly is going on in his battles, but there's no way that is helping him. > > I just feel that there is a solution for you, we just need to figure it out. Are you a ranger?
Well, we didn't really talk about it, but just to be clear, I've been using 4 AoE skills, Sun Burst, Searing Javelin (more multi-target than AoE really), an artifact power that pushes enemies away and does damage (not sure what it's called), Celestial Prominence daily, and my mount skill called Divine Intervention. My only single target skills are Forgemaster's Flame and Guardian of Faith daily.
The artifact skill has a 3m cooldown and the mount skill is a 1m cooldown, so I don't get to use those very often and same with the daily as I have to build up AP for that one. So the bulk of the rotation is building stacks with Lance of Faith or Scattering Light at-wills, Sun Burst, Searing Javelin and Forgemaster's Flame.
The feat Focused Light makes Daunting Light a single target, but I don't use that skill as it doesn't seem nearly as effective as Forgemaster's Flame. Focused Light feat also gives Forgemaster's Flame the effect of Focused Light so it seems to go well with what I've been doing.
I am a Cleric dps with a wide choice of companions, usually a legendary Abyssal Chicken in tow, I do have AoE encounter powers (just don't ask me the names, I'm bad at remembering those and I'm not anywhere near my PC), and all of this shouldn't matter anyway since, again, we are talking of lower lever contents that my PC could manage single-handedly until yesterday, not of contents it should be in at its current level and stats.
DOOD... another cleric! LOL
You got Daunting Glow, Searing Javelin (good one!), and a radiant at will for AoE. HOW ARE YOU NOT WRECKING FACE?
Do you not use mount insignias? What about mounts at all? Cram all your mounts full of insignias. Even HAMSTER ones boost your TIL and that means more damage and HPs. When you can, set up a couple of Gladiator's Guile for speed, get some Barbarian's Revelry and Survivor's Blessing for self autohealing. Green insignias drop like pinata candy everywhere. Chests, skill nodes, mobs, etc. They are cheap on AH as well if you have some spare change. You can buy POWERFUL comp gear (904, i think? 940?) to put on a companion at any rank that is cheap as dirt on the AH. Look for green stuff without rune slots if you are starting out. Prefixes to search for in AH are "cracked" "pearl" "pointed" "charred". One of those. Companion Belts give defense stat last time I checked.
You should be blasting the living HAMSTER out of everything, you have a legendary chicken for gods sake!
You got Daunting Glow, Searing Javelin (good one!), and a radiant at will for AoE. HOW ARE YOU NOT WRECKING FACE?
Do you not use mount insignias? What about mounts at all? Cram all your mounts full of insignias. Even HAMSTER ones boost your TIL and that means more damage and HPs. When you can, set up a couple of Gladiator's Guile for speed, get some Barbarian's Revelry and Survivor's Blessing for self autohealing. Green insignias drop like pinata candy everywhere. Chests, skill nodes, mobs, etc. They are cheap on AH as well if you have some spare change. You can buy POWERFUL comp gear (904, i think? 940?) to put on a companion at any rank that is cheap as dirt on the AH. Look for green stuff without rune slots if you are starting out. Prefixes to search for in AH are "cracked" "pearl" "pointed" "charred". One of those. Companion Belts give defense stat last time I checked.
You should be blasting the living HAMSTER out of everything, you have a legendary chicken for gods sake!
That is EXACTLY my point. I SHOULD, but I DO NOT. All of my 5 stabled mounts (two of which are legendary) have at least blue insignias (actually that means 2 blue, the rest is purple, and yes, I mean all of them have 3, with relevant powers on). I honestly have no idea what Gladiator's Guile, Barbarian's Revelry and Survivor's Blessing are (or rather I guess they might be companion's powers but I do not have those companions, but all of my active companion powers are either 300 or 500 IL). I do not remember how high is my companion gear but for sure that's all purple with two rune slots, all filled with 9+ level runes I've got Avernus weapons all upped to legendary with armor and weapon enchantments on, as well as normal ones. So yes, I definitely SHOULD go trough river district without a second thought, and I used to, but now I don't.
It's almost like there are 2 groups of players, one that is adapting well (agree or disagreeing about changes) and another that is having a really rough time. We really need more info to try and help those who are struggling though. I know in discord, I helped someone who was badly undergeared as they just skipped whole areas prior to the update.
Probably those who are adapting well are those who were overpowered to begin with. I know I did not skip any single area in game and I am definitely struggling where I shouldn't be. No doubt my gear could be improved, but it's not so bad as to justify this. If to keep up with an area you need higher gear than the one you're supposed to have after the first time you've gone through that very area, something is definitely wrong.
Yet those who don't have issues bring an under geared toon to try and see what the issue may be, but just don't see the issue.
So you are saying those who are struggling are undergeared but then the people who is adapting plays with undergeared PCs and has no problems? How's that even making sense…? O__o
...snip... The feat Focused Light makes Daunting Light a single target, but I don't use that skill as it doesn't seem nearly as effective as Forgemaster's Flame. Focused Light feat also gives Forgemaster's Flame the effect of Focused Light so it seems to go well with what I've been doing.
You've got wings! Make sure your mount powers are on right. Your wings should give you a nice power boost and some movement speed as well as the divine intervention power.
I always forget about sunburst LOL. That's a bad habit, because maybe it could be good now. I haven't messed with it since the update. I almost wonder if searing javelin is a trap now. it was awesome when you could initiate combat with it and take a huge chunk off all your enemies lined up before they scattered around after combat started. Since we aren't doing huge % on our enemies with single encounter powers anymore, it stands to reason that linear blast powers like searing javelin or some of the ranger skills might be wasted as AoEs since they won't be able to hit entire groups as frequently as PBAoEs (wizards Icy Terrain) or targeted area skills like our Daunting Glow --> unless maybe you can kite the mobs into chokepoints or around corners where they are all on top of each other or in a skinny hallway or whatever.
Hello players, I just dropped in to see the changes go live for combat. I spent most of my day handing out free stuff in chat from my guild bank. Kind of difficult to do that with so many people in chat going off about the changes and the rest repeating +event. Now I came here and I find it very sad most of you are bashing on @ultramath#3953 here for attempting to see the silver lining, help those in need, and do the positive thing.
I stopped trying to get ahead of this game long time ago. I know all of you have heard me whine about the Foundry, but the day they removed that part of the game, I knew I was done playing to get ahead. I read on here @blargskull said, this is cavemen vs. astronauts. The real problem is Cryptic is too adversarial with the players. Many players are spoiled by low level tactics and greed. The best games are fun, creative, allows players to be part of the game, and not feel like they are intruders.
Learn this lesson, you will never "win" this game. They can claim all they want they pulled the plug on the Foundry because of exploits and botting. What? Why exploit the Foundry back in those days. My character could have God mode in the editor, was allowed to play the full game, and at one point I found myself flying (yes like superman) around the Well of the Dragons one-shotting the Heralds and thought, "Why couldn't a person just play this here instead of creating an exploit?". Before they shut down the Foundry, they removed the ability to travel to other zones within the editor. There is your real answer to the whole question.
For the last 21 months, I tried to make some fun for myself and others with Halloween parties in Barovia, give aways, and contests. It is a lot of work, but a labor of love. I really love you guys. Right now I am not caring for what I see, attacking people over saying there is a better way to play. I still have no immediate plans and you can click my signature to see my wall of text about it. I am going to assist as many people as I can, to get into Sharandar before they lock it down. If you plan to remain here playing the game, I suggest you help as many as you can to get to level 80 so they can play at item level 40K for the remainder of the game.
Try to remain positive and have fun!
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arazith07Member, NW M9 PlaytestPosts: 1,719Arc User
You got Daunting Glow, Searing Javelin (good one!), and a radiant at will for AoE. HOW ARE YOU NOT WRECKING FACE?
Do you not use mount insignias? What about mounts at all? Cram all your mounts full of insignias. Even HAMSTER ones boost your TIL and that means more damage and HPs. When you can, set up a couple of Gladiator's Guile for speed, get some Barbarian's Revelry and Survivor's Blessing for self autohealing. Green insignias drop like pinata candy everywhere. Chests, skill nodes, mobs, etc. They are cheap on AH as well if you have some spare change. You can buy POWERFUL comp gear (904, i think? 940?) to put on a companion at any rank that is cheap as dirt on the AH. Look for green stuff without rune slots if you are starting out. Prefixes to search for in AH are "cracked" "pearl" "pointed" "charred". One of those. Companion Belts give defense stat last time I checked.
You should be blasting the living HAMSTER out of everything, you have a legendary chicken for gods sake!
That is EXACTLY my point. I SHOULD, but I DO NOT. All of my 5 stabled mounts (two of which are legendary) have at least blue insignias (actually that means 2 blue, the rest is purple, and yes, I mean all of them have 3, with relevant powers on). I honestly have no idea what Gladiator's Guile, Barbarian's Revelry and Survivor's Blessing are (or rather I guess they might be companion's powers but I do not have those companions, but all of my active companion powers are either 300 or 500 IL). I do not remember how high is my companion gear but for sure that's all purple with two rune slots, all filled with 9+ level runes I've got Avernus weapons all upped to legendary with armor and weapon enchantments on, as well as normal ones. So yes, I definitely SHOULD go trough river district without a second thought, and I used to, but now I don't.
A screenshot of your character sheet would help, and/or a damage log.
0
arazith07Member, NW M9 PlaytestPosts: 1,719Arc User
It's almost like there are 2 groups of players, one that is adapting well (agree or disagreeing about changes) and another that is having a really rough time. We really need more info to try and help those who are struggling though. I know in discord, I helped someone who was badly undergeared as they just skipped whole areas prior to the update.
Probably those who are adapting well are those who were overpowered to begin with. I know I did not skip any single area in game and I am definitely struggling where I shouldn't be. No doubt my gear could be improved, but it's not so bad as to justify this. If to keep up with an area you need higher gear than the one you're supposed to have after the first time you've gone through that very area, something is definitely wrong.
Yet those who don't have issues bring an under geared toon to try and see what the issue may be, but just don't see the issue.
So you are saying those who are struggling are undergeared but then the people who is adapting plays with undergeared PCs and has no problems? How's that even making sense…? O__o
Well the people who are struggling aren't giving any information in which to help...for all we know it could be a bug.
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Yeah, I think maybe some of us were hearing some bad things and assumed a bunch of stuff that isn't actually true. And apparently I was wrong about not being unkillable at high levels. If you are a high level and you go to a lower zone, then yes, you are a demigod like before and will not really die unless you afk for a really long time. Sorry about that.
> You have Daunting Glow. Blast the mobs with at wills from range, and when they get close but not up to you, cast DG right in front of you and then step back. Not dodge, just run back a few steps. Your DG will smash them in the face and a lot of them will miss you. You should have a fighter or invoker companion from like level 15 or whatever. Man at arms, Wayward Wizard, whatever... somebody to help do damage when you are repositioning away from mobs and then back into their purple combat advantage zone which is where a mob is between you and your companion. Use a hardhitting single target skill when you have combat advantage on a mob. I use Geas, because I'm healer spec, but you have Forgemasters Flame which is like ten times better. Smash them when you are in the purple zone around their feet and then reposition away from their attacks. Cast, move, cast, move, etc., you get the idea.
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> If you get surrounded GET OUT. Don't ever let them surround you. Fall back, reposition, cast some at wills from range while they catch back up with you and then cast move cast move. When you get hurt -- and you WILL -- heal yourself! You have bastion of health, it's crazy good now. Don't wait until you're dying. I usually heal with an atwill called soothe (healer spec) or a bastion when Im around 50% or if my comp is about to go down, ill heal them so they keep fighting. When you do it right, it will seem like a dance, there is a kind of rhythm to it. Cast move, cast move, it's like a weird waltz or something. :)
Thanks for the reply. I'll try it and see how it goes, but that's not a whole lot different from what I'm already doing.
My experience today is that Forgemaster Flame now hits for as high as 70k when I have advantage (much higher than yesterday) yet does little damage to who it hits. I get rushed by mobs while using at-wills to try and regen my divinity which ends up getting me killed.
Daunting Light is now a single target skill because I chose the Focused Light feat and can't respec out of that without paying real money as I have no AD yet.
I'll swap something out for Bastion of Health, but that's only going to make me do even less damage and kill even slower, but I guess if it lets me survive, maybe it's a fair trade. The potions are a joke compared to the stones. I have 177k health and my healing potions heal for 10k. I get constantly hit for 10k+. The balance is all wrong.
I won't even go into the disaster that my Rogue is right now. Melee range is out of the question. He's constantly dead and unplayable now.
Honestly, I don't mind "adapting" in games, I've done it for years with every MMO or otherwise ongoing game I've played. But this isn't just adapting, they've scaled the monsters way too high. It's tuned severely out of balance now and that's clear. It's like I have a 20% damage increase and a 70% health increase, but the monsters are scaled up 200%. I've just been forced into Nightmare difficulty when I need the game on Normal, kinda thing. If you play Diablo 3, I feel like I'm geared for Torment 5, and they're forcing me to play on Torment 10. The game just isn't fun to me that way.
Damn. If only chains of blazing light did damage. I don't know what to tell you, bro.
I just feel that there is a solution for you, we just need to figure it out. Are you a ranger?
I decided to start fresh and level some new characters to relearn everything. Those characters are a Fighter Vanguard (with a Dreadnought alternate loadout), a Warlock Hellbringer, and a Ranger Warden.
The fighter is 67. I take so much damage from mobs now that I have to use health stones just to survive a single spawn intended for one player. It does not matter if I am in tank or DPS spec, the result is the same. My abilities make the mob's health bars barely move at all. It feels like every fight is against Elite/boss level enemies.
The ranger is 68. He's a little better. I can still solo without nearly dying most of the time, unless I run across one of the larger trash packs. And by larger I mean more than 3 mobs. And we all know there are plenty of packs that size throughout the game. Then I have to run away. But my abilities barely do damage at all compared to before the patch.
Warlock is 55. His abilities are barely moving the mob's health bars at all. I have to go through 2-3 complete cycles of his encounter powers to kill normal, non-boss mobs.
On all 3 of the above, I have tried everything I could. I have used companions that taunt, healer companions, dps companions. I've fiddled with my abilities. None of it matters. I am at least 75% weaker on all characters than I was before the patch.
Something is seriously wrong. It's not about CC, it's not about "relearning how to play." Content that SHOULD be 100% solo-able because it is leveling content is now miserable and completely unfun. Last time I played Neverwinter it was harder than it was recently. But it was nowhere near this level of difficulty. If it had been I would never have even thought about coming back.
I would also encourage you to try using an active fighting companion of some sort that helps you get combat advantage, if you aren't already. It's been the meta for a while to use augment companions, but those days may be behind us. I think folks are still figuring that one out.
And I have tried using different types of companions. I tried tanky companions that taunt, healer companions, and DPS-style companions. The tanky companion helped with my warlock's survivability, but killing mobs is still a slog. And I re-iterate: before the patch, I had no problem soloing at all. None. I was not one-shotting everything, mobs still took a little bit to kill depending on which character I was talking about. But it was not miserable. Now it is.
Also there is one thing I want to point out about your post: You mention companion gear. Where, exactly, other than the AH are players supposed to get that while leveling? I have not seen a single drop or quest that rewards it yet. If in fact that is required now just to level, shouldn't it be available to lower level characters.......somehow besides buying it on the AH? But then I do have it in my companions, and it isn't helping.
> Man, I have to ask: what class are you? What are you using for companion? Do you have a way of getting and maintaining Combat Advantage? It may not necessarily be YOU that is getting beat, it may be your build and character setup. Look at Aletheon up above -- he doesn't have any AoE encounter powers because of his feat setup! I can't speak for him here as to what exactly is going on in his battles, but there's no way that is helping him.
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> I just feel that there is a solution for you, we just need to figure it out. Are you a ranger?
Well, we didn't really talk about it, but just to be clear, I've been using 4 AoE skills, Sun Burst, Searing Javelin (more multi-target than AoE really), an artifact power that pushes enemies away and does damage (not sure what it's called), Celestial Prominence daily, and my mount skill called Divine Intervention. My only single target skills are Forgemaster's Flame and Guardian of Faith daily.
The artifact skill has a 3m cooldown and the mount skill is a 1m cooldown, so I don't get to use those very often and same with the daily as I have to build up AP for that one. So the bulk of the rotation is building stacks with Lance of Faith or Scattering Light at-wills, Sun Burst, Searing Javelin and Forgemaster's Flame.
The feat Focused Light makes Daunting Light a single target, but I don't use that skill as it doesn't seem nearly as effective as Forgemaster's Flame. Focused Light feat also gives Forgemaster's Flame the effect of Focused Light so it seems to go well with what I've been doing.
You got Daunting Glow, Searing Javelin (good one!), and a radiant at will for AoE. HOW ARE YOU NOT WRECKING FACE?
Do you not use mount insignias? What about mounts at all? Cram all your mounts full of insignias. Even HAMSTER ones boost your TIL and that means more damage and HPs. When you can, set up a couple of Gladiator's Guile for speed, get some Barbarian's Revelry and Survivor's Blessing for self autohealing. Green insignias drop like pinata candy everywhere. Chests, skill nodes, mobs, etc. They are cheap on AH as well if you have some spare change. You can buy POWERFUL comp gear (904, i think? 940?) to put on a companion at any rank that is cheap as dirt on the AH. Look for green stuff without rune slots if you are starting out. Prefixes to search for in AH are "cracked" "pearl" "pointed" "charred". One of those. Companion Belts give defense stat last time I checked.
You should be blasting the living HAMSTER out of everything, you have a legendary chicken for gods sake!
All of my 5 stabled mounts (two of which are legendary) have at least blue insignias (actually that means 2 blue, the rest is purple, and yes, I mean all of them have 3, with relevant powers on). I honestly have no idea what Gladiator's Guile, Barbarian's Revelry and Survivor's Blessing are (or rather I guess they might be companion's powers but I do not have those companions, but all of my active companion powers are either 300 or 500 IL).
I do not remember how high is my companion gear but for sure that's all purple with two rune slots, all filled with 9+ level runes
I've got Avernus weapons all upped to legendary with armor and weapon enchantments on, as well as normal ones.
So yes, I definitely SHOULD go trough river district without a second thought, and I used to, but now I don't.
I always forget about sunburst LOL. That's a bad habit, because maybe it could be good now. I haven't messed with it since the update. I almost wonder if searing javelin is a trap now. it was awesome when you could initiate combat with it and take a huge chunk off all your enemies lined up before they scattered around after combat started. Since we aren't doing huge % on our enemies with single encounter powers anymore, it stands to reason that linear blast powers like searing javelin or some of the ranger skills might be wasted as AoEs since they won't be able to hit entire groups as frequently as PBAoEs (wizards Icy Terrain) or targeted area skills like our Daunting Glow --> unless maybe you can kite the mobs into chokepoints or around corners where they are all on top of each other or in a skinny hallway or whatever.
I stopped trying to get ahead of this game long time ago. I know all of you have heard me whine about the Foundry, but the day they removed that part of the game, I knew I was done playing to get ahead. I read on here @blargskull said, this is cavemen vs. astronauts. The real problem is Cryptic is too adversarial with the players. Many players are spoiled by low level tactics and greed. The best games are fun, creative, allows players to be part of the game, and not feel like they are intruders.
Learn this lesson, you will never "win" this game. They can claim all they want they pulled the plug on the Foundry because of exploits and botting. What? Why exploit the Foundry back in those days. My character could have God mode in the editor, was allowed to play the full game, and at one point I found myself flying (yes like superman) around the Well of the Dragons one-shotting the Heralds and thought, "Why couldn't a person just play this here instead of creating an exploit?". Before they shut down the Foundry, they removed the ability to travel to other zones within the editor. There is your real answer to the whole question.
For the last 21 months, I tried to make some fun for myself and others with Halloween parties in Barovia, give aways, and contests. It is a lot of work, but a labor of love. I really love you guys. Right now I am not caring for what I see, attacking people over saying there is a better way to play. I still have no immediate plans and you can click my signature to see my wall of text about it. I am going to assist as many people as I can, to get into Sharandar before they lock it down. If you plan to remain here playing the game, I suggest you help as many as you can to get to level 80 so they can play at item level 40K for the remainder of the game.
Try to remain positive and have fun!