test content
What is the Arc Client?
Install Arc
Options

A Message Regarding Neverwinter: Elemental Evil

1356716

Comments

  • Options
    spideymtspideymt Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 710 Arc User
    edited April 2015
    diogene0 wrote: »
    The only complaints about difficulty come from people who don't want to get the new gear with more hit points. OF COURSE you're going to struggle if you don't get up to 80-100k hit points. When you have that gear heroic encounters can be done solo again, even in icewind dale. And yes I did it...

    100% sign.

    Only thing i have to say about feedback:
    PLLLZZZZZZ make a double RP event...that will help a lot players incl. the players complaining about "i cant stand mod 6".

  • Options
    izatarizatar Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 1,161 Arc User
    edited April 2015
    The main thing that needs to be done is to add more new content. Recall that the players have access to the Foundry, and so we know exactly how much effort was put into this last module. I even noticed that some of the few new objects are based on freeware models.
    If resources for new stuff is low on your end, taking some of Eldarth's advice for Foundry could be a cheap way to extend the game.
  • Options
    traxsutraxsu Member, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Knight of the Feywild Users Posts: 51
    edited April 2015
    hustin1 wrote: »
    Hmm. Now I have a question. Now that I've done the grind with one character and gotten the various 16/16 vigilance rewards, I've concluded that I don't really need them if I already have Draconic Templar -- though Eternal is still needed one hitting 70, but that's a separate issue.

    So, my question is, is it possible to get the artifact mainhand and offhand at the end of the EE campaign without doing all 192 quests? Last week we were all wondering about it in guild chat and no one knew. That would *really* make the double-XP event useful.

    You can grind experience to 70 --- at 70 you get the offhand automatically.

    After that you'd only need to do the tyranny of dragons campaign for the artifact weapon, it gives the level 70 main hand.

    I should note currently, that I did all of the vigilance quests with my main character. But given that this method appears far easier, and faster I'm not sure that the clearing zone rewards are adequate.

    --- Eternal Gear for 15 fangs is superior to the zone clearing rewards, if you made the clearing zone rewards more adequate then players might be more motivated to do the vigilance rather then just doing dailies in other zones to get 70.
    baeyorn wrote: »
    A modest list of comments and suggestions in the Great Wall Of Text below.
    5. Lastly take a hard look at implementation of the epic dungeons.

    I've run Lair of Lostmauth and Valindra's temple as a level 70, ilvl 2200 swordmaster GWF and 68k health.
    I an decently good at dodging red stuff.
    I still used over 30 injury kits and close to 60 pots.. with a heal DC in the group
    It is not so much how hard the NPC's hit, just the sheer number of thayan blade swingers and fugly cat creatures that glomm onto you at once.
    If the NPCs attacks are to remain that hard, mayhaps reduce number of added mobs by say 10 %.
    I only present the 10% suggestion as a point of discussion, not a hard required item.

    Pretty much nailed my thoughts right here, I've been burning through gold chugging potions and healing kits with my character.
  • Options
    b3llist0rb3llist0r Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 191 Arc User
    edited April 2015
    GWF issues feedback

    - Weapon master is NON-ACTIVE when ranked to level four. The GWF NEEDS this power. Every GWF. It is one of the few good passive powers (GWF has only about 4 useable passives) and most GWF have their off-hand bonus linked to it for more crit chance. Please fix this!!! ASAP!

    - All GWF daily powers deal no damage. Please compare the damage with Oppressing Force or others... GWF is a damage dealer!!!
    - The announced GWF balance update (Determination, DPS, Defense... ?) ...
    - All GWF encounter powers except IBS that are for DPS are way too weak. Example: Mighty Leap -> wet noodle. Grand Fissure -> hello? any effect?
    - Reaping Strike is not working... not a bit... the idea to charge Determination while having high damage resist is NOT WORKING.

    General issues:
    - A dev feedback about Resistance Ignored from mobs against players would be NICE. Stacking def was never sexy but it would be totally useless now...
    - Any plans for companion active bonuses? My +300 power pets are DEAD. And my Dancing Blade is jealous about my Erinye. Is this diff intended?
    - CW DPS is too high. As usual. Oppressing Force is rendering all DPS classes useless.
    - Barkskin HP are fixed and not %-bound to max HP. Dead end.



    //Bellistor
  • Options
    vordraxianvordraxian Member Posts: 68 Arc User
    edited April 2015
    The Elemental Evil content is both overwhelming and tedious. There are a bazillion quests in each zone, but it limits me to how many I can take. The result is that I grab 4 random quests that aren't necessarily anywhere near each other, then have to keep trekking back to get new ones, often running through the very areas that the new ones will be in, and missing opportunities I would have had to complete those quests if I'd been allowed to accept them rather than being limited to four. But with four new zones and about 100 quests a day in each zone, I've kind of just given up. It's not clear to me what getting to level 70 does for me (my main should get there in the next day or so), and it's not clear to me what the new "ultimate" equipment was - it used to be the Dragon main and off-hand artifacts, plus T2 purple gear. What it is now I have literally no idea. Is my old lvl 60 Dragon scepter still viable at lvl 70, or is there some other item I'm supposed to be busting my *** to get? Or am I supposed to be busting my *** to get that old scepter leveled up to Legendary quality (yeah right) or mythic quality (not happening) by feeding it an endless supply of green and occasionally blue items and whatever refinement stones I can scrape up? Because that's boring as hell, too - I got some items on my primary characters up to Epic and swore I'd never even try to go beyond that, as it's just too frustrating. There must be some secret to it that I'm missing because I'd see people with 25k gear scores (back when there used to be gear scores - I have no idea what I'm supposed to make of Item Scores now), but what they did to get there is beyond me.

    I've been playing this game since beta. I quit for most of last summer and I'm most likely going to leave off on it again fairly soon. It's just not holding my interest anymore. There's too much to do, but too little of it is compelling to me. I could handle going to a zone like Sharandar or Dread ring, doing my 3-6 daily quests and a short mini-dungeon and then moving on. On a good day, I could get it done on more than one character. But four new (or retread) zones with 50 quests in each? Nah. I'm not even attempting that. And without campaign progression or something tangible to work toward, I find I'm not remotely motivated.

    Lastly, I'll tell you one huge disappointment for me - Lvl 60 Epic dungeons. I play with my sons, and the three of us had hoped that at Level 70 we could finally tackle some of the higher-end 60 dungeons on our own. We never made it past the beholder in Castle Never at lvl 60. Annnnnddd... nope. Everything's bumped up to 70, so we'll have to bring some flunkies along if we want to manage them. Which isn't the end of the world, but we were really looking forward to finally tackling that content on our own and then it was changed.

    So those are my thoughts. Others may or may not agree, but this is the current state of the game for me. I'm bored and I'm playing less and less with each passing day.
  • Options
    spideymtspideymt Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 710 Arc User
    edited April 2015
    b3llist0r wrote: »
    - CW DPS is too high. As usual.

    //Bellistor

    Sry...you are a GWF and you write this? Very interesting...

  • Options
    nazghul22nazghul22 Member Posts: 407 Arc User
    edited April 2015
    tousseau wrote: »
    So... his first act is to nerf the XP from the ToD dailies?
    Really?

    Considering there is nothing to do once you're 70, it's good news that we'll need more time to get there.
    ToD = ..........
    Tired of Dailies/Tyranny of Dailies/Timers of Doom/Tricked Or Duped/Tremendously Obnoxious Dailies/Try Otherwise, Devs
  • Options
    balthezar2balthezar2 Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 151 Arc User
    edited April 2015
    quote from baeyorn:

    1. Mod 6 is somewhat cluttered with continuity disconnects.

    A good example is getting eternal gear to level through the content with.
    Due to the nature of the hard hitting NPCs in the new zones, eternal gear is preferred to level with.
    Eternal gear is from a vendor in Well of Dragons , and maybe in protector enclave as well?
    The disconnect is as follows...
    --> You need 20k AD's, 15 Dragon Fangs, 50 dragon coins and 5 gold to get each item.
    --> the AD's, the dragon coins, and the 5 gold are attainable enough.
    --> the 15 dragon fangs per item are not so easily gotten.
    --> the mobs hit you too blasted hard, like you owe them money or somesuch.
    --> they are only given by completing the weekly well of dragons quest or the dailies that occur in WoD.
    --> Forget completing any of the mini-boss dungeon dailies as a ranked up level 70 from level 60.
    --> also don't bother completing any of the kill quests
    ===> exception noted on kill quests for gwf, TR(?), and combat HR.
    --> that leaves 3 maybe 4 quests you can complete to get dragons fangs, meaning unless volatile potion, lay of the land, zentarim spies, or thayan garments quests are up.. you may as well pass on getting fangs that day.


    this is well and good if you are not one of those that got screwed the first day of WoD. To this day I cannot do any of the daily quests there, only the weekly Elminster ones, despite the fact that they said it would be fixed. At one fang per week, it's safe to say I will never see any of the boons, let alone the gear.

    Oh, and as for the new gear, more hp sounds good, but at the cost of arm pen, crit, and power...I last a little longer, but then so do my enemies.
  • Options
    khimera906khimera906 Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 898 Arc User
    edited April 2015
    If you're gonna make the game harder, then for the love of gods, make sure the controls are actually responsive. If I'm always being hit for half or more of my HP then I would hope when I press a key to consume a potion that would work and heal me, but no. More times then not I don't get healed and have to press the key again, that's if I'm not already dead. Or even worse the potion is being consumed and goes on cooldown, but I'm not being healed, and I die.
    I would say healing potions are a pretty important thing, and it needs to work properly. This is a problem I had from launch, and I know others have it as well. I can't imagine how it could have been overlooked for so long.
    I hate dancing with Lady Luck. She always steps on my toes.
  • Options
    denvalddenvald Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 702 Arc User
    edited April 2015
    We have posted an update regarding Neverwinter: Elemental Evil, and how our team is gathering, assessing and taking action on community feedback. The full blog can be read here.

    Please feel free to continue feedback for Neverwinter: Elemental Evil here. We will update the community as we make changes to the game.

    Hello,

    I would like to point out that there are no Warlock class advocate/reporter, someone was supposed to be ellected to gather feedback on a weekly basis about the class from the player's to the devs.

    Currently, the majority of warlocks feel the class has been overnerfed, and that there is a lack of defensive mechanics within the class in itself since the nerf to life steal affected us the most. More info about that in the warlock class forums...
    I am the monk, martial skill transcends the battlefield
    It is my my life style, my doctrine and my state of mind,
    You fight well, but without focus and discipline, you will fall.

    More threads by me / Click on it B)
    My Support Warlock/Temptation Thread
  • Options
    zvieriszvieris Member Posts: 1,261 Arc User
    edited April 2015
  • Options
    blanndeblannde Member Posts: 76 Arc User
    edited April 2015
    It's good to get some feed back at last on the forums from the Devs... but the campaign areas should be modified back to what they were. At least that way people could go back to what they were doing whilst the quest line issues are sorted. Would be better to do that than lose players, which seems to be the alternative if things stay as they are...
  • Options
    ghoulz66ghoulz66 Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 3,748 Arc User
    edited April 2015
    The game won't survive for much longer if it's designed to cater to hardcore princesses who ENJOY being punished with death for making just 1 mistake. With only specific builds and party composition being viable for T2s. It's not like you're being rewarded for this frustration, you're expected to grind it 100 times over to progress. That's real attractive to new players.

    I'd love to spend my hour off wiping over and over in ToS, then getting booted because I'm not cheese enough.
  • Options
    sasagerusasageru Member Posts: 269 Arc User
    edited April 2015
    I have so much in mind to say but i'll try and keep it short.

    The major problem with this module... its not an expansion, you removed content and recycled old content to create less to do than there was originally. You effectively took a step backwards whilst at the same time making things harder for everyone. Those of us who have been around for more than a month feel like we've been penalised. Worse if for those who just joined, because of course, the lvl 61 gear that makes grinding possible is only avaialble if you have quest rewards from WoD which is now lvl70 content and hard enough at lvl 70 let alone at lvl60... so yeah, that was poorly thought out.

    Rewards are also an issue, you changed the difficulty of these old-content areas but kept the rewards the same! You still get lvl60 gear from Icewind by turning in collectables from those areas... which makes no sense. Oh and drops from dragons at WoD... same as before, so despite being harder, taking longer and costing us more to defeat, we get the same stuff as before...

    It just feels overall that you've made the game harder, for less reward and removed a bunch of content, dungeons and skirmishes primarily, that gave us a bit of variety at end game.

    I'm glad someone has finally taken some ownership of these issues and has recognised the communities feedback -already this is more than I'd hoped to see, so I hope that we see some improvement on the back of this because as things currently stand, you're at risk of losing a lot of players.
    DPS Rogue | Heal/Buff Cleric
     
  • Options
    instynctiveinstynctive Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 1,885 Arc User
    edited April 2015
    Simply: Make new endgame content, and leave existing content in place.


    Thanks for the blog note. I don't think double XP is the answer. In fact, I think that's counter-productive. If anything, double refining points would be better.
    header.png
    "...I grab my wiener and charge!" - ironzerg79
  • Options
    katbozejziemikatbozejziemi Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 856 Arc User
    edited April 2015
    Better add more grind because the "new" zones weren't grindy enough!

    Haha, oh wow.
  • Options
    xiuhdragonxiuhdragon Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 77 Arc User
    edited April 2015
    Please Make Barkshield enchant take more dmg, it dosnt scale the new mod6 content at all !!
  • Options
    kaiserschmarrnkaiserschmarrn Member, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Hero Users, Neverwinter Guardian Users, Neverwinter Knight of the Feywild Users Posts: 390
    edited April 2015
    I think it should stand out of question that all the old dungeons need to be brought back after a balance pass and adding according rewards.

    A lot of them had decent boss fights, like the Aboleth, and removing them is like cutting out the heart of the pve end game.


    The Cloak Tower - aka Orc Tower was an well structured newbie dungeon and ideal to teach new players the ropes.

    Lair of the Mad Dragon - another good learning dungeon with a good boss fight that required proper add management. A shame that it's gone.

    Throne of Idris - a good "snack" dungeon when you didn't have time for the big ones. Idris could be nasty if the party didn't pay attention.

    Lair of the Pirate King - a fantastic setting high above the usual underground dungeons. The boss fight on the flying ship was a worthy finale.

    The Frozen Heart - A good dungeon, dangerous mobs, an interesting twist with the shield orbs and an impressive boss.

    Spellplague Caverns - one of the first really hard dungeons (back then) and some interesting mechanics in the last fight.

    Caverns of Karrundax - an epic setting on top of a Volcano, Karrundax always impressed me more than Lostmauth. Where Lostmauth is a fat oligarch of a dragon, Karrundax is the archetypical red dragon boss.

    The Dread Vault - Illithids and a brain boss, it does not get much scarier than this. With a proper balance pass this could be a premium dungeon again.

    Castle Never - the game is called Neverwinter and fighting Dracolichs in mmos never gets old. I have no idea how much alcohol was needed to pass the decision to remove this epic dungeon.

    Further:

    The xp nerf to the ToD dailies is a step in the wrong direction and not a way to encourage trust among the community which was already badly burnt by the lack of quality in M6. That your first step towards a new beginning is a nerf to the only decent xp income, is certainly not helpful in rebuilding community confidence.
  • Options
    onegaki101onegaki101 Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 327 Arc User
    edited April 2015
    Please focus on fixing powers and feats. Currently there are too many powers and feats that are currently not working properly such as Icy Terrain cooldown is increased by 3 seconds instead of reducing it by 2 seconds when increased to rank 4. Trickster Rogue's Shadow of Demise is not being applied correctly based on tool tip. There are many other powers like these but these two come to mind right away.

    We can't properly build characters if we cannot rely on the tool tip as to what the powers supposed to do. Proper description is very important as some powers/feats/items have internal cooldown that players do not know about unless the do countless testing time or get the info from players that have via the forums.

    Overall, I personally enjoy the difficulty of the new content. It is definitely very hard in some areas, but not impossible. Many areas are solo-able and if one is not able to solo it, they need to either improve their skills/gear or find a group.

    The requirement of seal of the protector for elven armor is ridiculous. 600ish seals for each armor is crazy when we normally get around 6~10 seals per successful T2 dungeon run.
  • Options
    b0rkch0pb0rkch0p Member Posts: 383 Arc User
    edited April 2015
    Overall feedback -

    ....

    A mailbox in Well of Dragons please?

    ...

    How about a Passenger Pigeon Artifact like the shop keep.. now that would be nice. ;)
  • Options
    randomdiscordrandomdiscord Member Posts: 62 Arc User
    edited April 2015
    Well at least someone finally admitted this mod is horrible, thanks for that.

    No new content, in fact the same old content but new and improved with incredible difficulty, but worse rewards. *hint* we can tell that nearly all of the 'new' areas are the old ones with some new paint.

    If you had a favorite restaurant where you would get a wonderful Steak at a great price, then one day you went to the restaurant prices rose 500% but now you get a can of Spam, would you continue to go to that restaurant? Would you find a better restaurant and take your money elsewhere?

    I really hope someone is able to drag this disaster back from the brink, but I personally have stopped spending my money on Spam, and I am looking for a new steakhouse.
  • Options
    daddyman5565daddyman5565 Member Posts: 23 Arc User
    edited April 2015
    hustin1 wrote: »
    Hmm. Now I have a question. Now that I've done the grind with one character and gotten the various 16/16 vigilance rewards, I've concluded that I don't really need them if I already have Draconic Templar -- though Eternal is still needed one hitting 70, but that's a separate issue.

    So, my question is, is it possible to get the artifact mainhand and offhand at the end of the EE campaign without doing all 192 quests? Last week we were all wondering about it in guild chat and no one knew. That would *really* make the double-XP event useful.


    I can answer that one. I skipped 75% of the storyline on my second character. I found it boring and repetitive. What you must do is the last three cycles of 16 in Spinward. This may change along with the nerf of ToD missions. The final mission in Spinward for the Air Seed is what currently rewards the main hand weapon.
  • Options
    gruliagrulia Member Posts: 13 Arc User
    edited April 2015
    MOD 6 SUMMERY

    New Artifact Gear/ Same Old Enchants With Higher Ranks/ New and Old Artifacts With Higher Ranks = 30 - 40 million Refine Points.

    So, Mod 6 = 30-40 mil RP. nothing more..deal with it...

    this.

    while getting to level 70 takes some time and imo is generally a frustrating and an un-fun experience, it is doable. the real dreadful grind starts after the level cap. and it is not like that the game is suddenly fun again @ L70. at least it isn't for me.

    i for one decided to not do it for now. instead i'll take a look around and maybe fire up neverwinter again in a month or two to see if things changed for the better. the patch is a first small step in the right direction, though.
  • Options
    thunderlore2thunderlore2 Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 29 Arc User
    edited April 2015
    Greetings Scott Shicoff a very warm welcome to the neverwinter community hope u stay sane long enough ^.^

    Very nice communication thread hopefully it will yield some promising results :)

    First of all the content i would like to comment on is the first one of the list of your observances 'overall difficulty' just yesterday i ran a dungeon epic cragmire crypt now we all love dungeons thats why we love dungeons and dragon inspired neverwinter dont we, the dungeon took so long and the team died so many times that it was only with the force of sheer will that we were able to do it after the dung i was so tired couldnt even keep playing. Now some people will blame skills however the players in the team were quite skilled i assure you the difficulty level is kinda insane in dungeons at the moment at such a level that people actually look for bug exploits to do them when content becomes like that it saddens me to no end..

    Kindly have a pinpointed x -ray infrared look on the difficulty level and how it matches to the end game gear and people's playstyle having 3 extra hard dungeons does not make a game more challenging or last longer it makes it frustrating i would rather have lots of dungeons increasing in difficulty then 3 of extra hard ones as once u get the gear there is no need to run them then what do you do it not only frustrates current farmers but lessens future interest in the game.
  • Options
    blacksladdiblacksladdi Member Posts: 359 Arc User
    edited April 2015
    first thing in the your looking at part - overall difficulty i hope that pertains to being unable to do IWD on a "new fresh 60" since the mobs pretty much just faceroll you - like how we facerolled content in mod 5. (translation the mobs kill us easily we need to put alot of effort to just kill the world mobs solo, or have alot of gear which by the way doesn't scale well - my paladin for example has 50% damage resistance, steps in to IWD and its at 27%... not scaled to 70 at all i reckon more like threw the 70 in front and didn't up the defense at all to compensate for level 70 like gear even though he's wearing level 60 gear)

    apart from that, welcome aboard
  • Options
    thedemienthedemien Member Posts: 830 Arc User
    edited April 2015
    List of HR bugs - some linger from mod 3 with some bugs from mod 6.

    also general point of view on HR.
    Just a quick note about what I envision the HR as and my opinion + history on/of it - I started playing HR just before the Module 2 Tenacity patch, and made my HR my main (previous was TR) when the tenacity patch hit as I no longer enjoyed playing the TR class. I found the Module 2 playstyle extremely fun and quite challenging at times particularly since I was new to the class, even though it was a fairly OP class, yet again. Module 3 HR was quite fun as well, although quite OP with mechanics such as the PvP sets not having an ICD on the healing. I disliked the Module 4 HR meta, as it encouraged using one stance more often, and relied on procs for damage (module 3 HR could also be put in this category, although it was easier to tell a bad HR from a good HR in module 3). Module 5 HR is quite fun with the stance swapping and somewhat more active playstyle, but I dislike the fact that HR 1v1s are pretty much non-existent due to the undodgeable roots and yet again, the class relies on an procs to deal damage, coupled with the lack of the need to time skills properly since your opponents cannot dodge them most of the time (TRs, of course, being the exception). Out of all the HR metas, I liked the module 2 HR the most. I will also go ahead and say that HRs have been very good in PvP for pretty much every module, and have been the strongest class (1v1 wise at least), in several modules (modules 3-4 in particular, and module 2 as well). There were several things I didn't agree with in most modules, however, that's irrelevant and I'll move onto the main point of this post.

    Currently in Module 5, Trapper HRs reign supreme as the FOTM build for HRs. With undodgeable roots and heavy hitting bleeds that can kill pretty much every class in one application if not removed/resisted/deflected/other sort of protection such as Astral Shield from DCs, along with very short cooldowns against a visible target, HRs are deadly opponents, and are OP in their own right (just not as bad as DC/TR). Although other classes are equally or more unbalanced, it doesn't mean HRs should also be OP. Module 6 HRs are much the same as Module 5, although the balance of other classes have changed as well.

    In terms of how each HR path is atm in Module 5:
    Archery - while still fairly viable in PvE, Archery is just short of woeful in PvP. Lacking survivability, AP, and having subpar damage compared to the other two paths, there's no reason to go Archery. Although this path could work as a rotating sniper build, Aimed Shot's charge time is too long and the damage is too easy to dodge, and is not very reliable.
    Combat - build of self heals and single target damage, Combat comes in second in terms of teamplay/utility, and first in 1v1s (variable depending on opponent class). Although Combat HRs won't clear as fast as their Trapper counterparts, Combat is still a viable build, but lacks usefulness in team situations.
    Trapper - FOTM build right now, has some extremely powerful aoe and single target damage, and some useful CC for intercepting and holding opponents. This build will clear most things very quickly if you get a crit rotation/bleed ticks up and the opponent has no cc immunity/break skills or damage reduction skills such as Astral Shield, and is particularly good in teamplay.


    So right now, the order goes Trapper > Combat > Archery. I'll talk specifically about Trappers and 1v1ing other classes in this situation (again, not too important as domination is teamplay, not always 1v1s). This is assuming the trapper knows what they're doing, and the opponent also knows what they're doing:

    Trapper HR vs Healing DC -> stalemate
    Trapper HR vs DPS DC -> DPS DC wins
    Trapper HR vs Renegade CW -> whoever gets first hit in, or if HR has Forest Ghost (CW will usually win if HR does not crit - it's basically a game of whoever-oneshots-whoever-first)
    Trapper HR vs Sentinel GWF -> HR wins unless GWF gets crit rotation + daily in
    Trapper HR vs Destroyer GWF -> variable, HR will win if GWF does not crit
    Trapper HR vs Protector GF -> GF will kill the HR if targetlocking/HR cannot get behind the shield, otherwise probably a HR win
    Trapper HR vs Conqueror SM GF -> GF will kill HR if they can one-rotation (since dodging Crescendo is close to impossible most of the time), otherwise HR will eventually kill the GF
    Trapper HR vs Conqueror IV GF -> HR wins if GF cannot land CCs, GF wins if they can one-rotation
    Trapper HR vs Temptation SW -> HR wins, unless you're dumb enough to unload while they're sprinting
    Trapper HR vs Fury SW -> HR wins but can be one-rotation'd by SW (however there's still SF afterwards)
    Trapper HR vs Damnation SW -> lol these exist?
    Trapper HR vs Saboteur TR -> TR wins
    Trapper HR vs Scoundrel TR -> TR wins
    Trapper HR vs Executioner TR -> TR wins
    Trapper HR vs Archery HR -> Trapper wins
    Trapper HR vs Combat HR -> Combat wins
    Trapper HR vs Trapper HR -> whoever hits first/crits first wins


    Overall compared to the last few modules, the FOTM HR build isn't too bad in terms of balance, but nevertheless, the fact you can just spam things and kill most classes is pretty stupid. Anyway, I'd like to propose these changes to the HR class, in terms of balancing out the paths, as well as removing some of the more OP things, and making some previously unused skills viable.

    Currently, most of HR damage is coming from feats - as Trapper, about 40-50% of my damage is from Thorned Roots. As Combat, barring Piercing Blades as it's a flat 40% damage bonus, most of my damage is from Careful Attack and Blade Hurricane and Fox shift. As Archery, most of my damage is from Thorn Ward. Again, especially in the case of Trapper and Combat, a lot of damage is coming from procs and feats - in my opinion, I think the base damage should be there with the encounters and at-wills, with feats reinforcing the playstyle and damage of those encounters and at-wills, but not providing OP procs that become the basis of the path. I think feats should still leave you open to using any encounters you like, while making the ones more specific to your path more effective. While this is partially achieved right now, I feel like most encounters or at-wills are not effective enough, which causes HRs to rely on procs for damage. This includes module 6 additions.

    At-Wills
    Ranged: Rapid Shot - for what it is, Rapid Shot works quite well. Would be nice to be able to move during the skill, however, I think that would be fairly broken and OP. Overall, needs no changes.
    Melee: Rapid Strike - also works quite well, and needs no changes.
    Ranged: Split Shot - Split Shot does not get used much in PvP due to lack of damage, and even as an AoE skill it is lacking in terms of damage. It used to be very good in Module 2, but was nerfed because the damage was over the top. I would suggest having 3% damage added to this skill per target in the cone, up to a maximum of 15%.
    Melee: Split Strike - comparatively to Rapid Strike, this skill does woeful damage, which is fine since it's an AoE. However, it would be nice to have some utility added to this skill, such as a small movement speed buff after its use. The artifact weapon bonus does help with the utility of this at-will, though (10% stamina per use of Split Strike).
    Ranged: Aimed Shot - high damage but interruptable. I think this skill is relatively balanced, however to help with Archery HRs, I think a slow could be added to the shot if the target is hit for a short duration (15% for 3 seconds could be nice).
    Melee: Aimed Strike - very good bleed damage and works well when chained to other encounters. I don't think this at-will needs any additional buffs lest it becomes OP.
    Pathfinder: Ranged: Hunter's Teamwork - slightly more damage than Rapid Shot, but with a slower attack speed, which is fine, and also debuffs target damage by 5%. I don't think this needs any changes.
    Pathfinder: Melee: Careful Attack - I think this synergizes pretty well with a lot of HR skills, particularly with Combat HR feats, however, the multi-procing needs to be fixed or the damage of this skill reduced. Additionally, it should only proc off encounters, dailies and at-wills - it should not proc off weapon enchants or glyphs or other similar DOTs.
    Stormwarden: Ranged: Electric Shot - pretty cool animation, however the damage and animation speed of Electric Shot is woeful. I suggest speeding it up to be around the animation speed of Hunter's Teamwork.
    Stormwarden: Melee: Clear the Ground - very good PvE AoE skill for Combat and Trapper HRs. Useful in PvP for finding TRs as well. However, to bring this in line with the Pathfinder equivalent, in PvP, this skill could push the opponent back slightly on a crit, similar to CW's Severe Reaction.


    Encounters
    Ranged: Marauder's Escape - very useful for positioning, however not being able to use it from the air is quite annoying and should be fixed. Additionally, I think either a) a CC break could be added or b) skill could have CC immunity for the duration, but cannot break from CCs.
    Melee: Marauder's Rush - this skill is fine as it is.
    Ranged: Hindering Shot - does decent damage, and is fine as it is, however, recovery/cooldown reductions should be affecting the refill time, not the recharge time (aka should not be affecting the 3-second cooldown between each charge's use, and should be affecting the cooldown of the charges themselves). The roots from the skill need to be dodgeable.
    Melee: Hindering Strike - fine as it is, however, the bug where the encounter activates but does not do damage or CC even though it hit the target should be fixed, and the roots from this encounter should be dodgeable.
    Ranged: Rain of Arrows - could do with a slow if the target is hit. Not really used much in PvP because of how hard it is to hit the target with the attack and the fact they can just walk out of it. I suggest giving the encounter a bleed per hit, and widening the encounter range (in PvP only, this would largely unbalance PvE).
    Melee: Rain of Swords - should no longer multiproc Blade Hurricane (Combat capstone), however, it should tick twice as fast at least and damage should be increase. Duration should remain the same. Animation could also be sped up, while reducing the range.
    Ranged: Thorn Ward - although a lot of people probably have bad memories from the HRs faceplanting in the middle of the big red circle and going yoga-mode in module 3, I think this skill is fine as it is. Being able to stack it would be so broken in this module, due to Trapper cooldown reductions.
    Melee: Thorn Strike - animation is clunky and does next to no damage, is basically just skill to waste to reduce your ranged cooldowns (as Trapper). I suggest adding a DR debuff or bleed to this attack, or increasing the damage.
    Ranged: Constricting Arrow - I really miss the module 2/3 stun from this skill, although I'm pretty sure it was a wee bit broken, so no. This skill's root mechanic should be dodgeable, but other than that it's fine. In line with the module 2/3 mechanic, I think this skill could also do the vines-stun thing for one tick only (as opposed to the 3 ticks that were 3 seconds apart in module 2/3).
    Melee: Steel Breeze - useful for stamina refill. This skill is fine as it is.
    Ranged: Boar Hide - should not be removed by dots, and the 50% reduction on party members should be removed.
    Melee: Boar Rush - the small stun after the animation lands should be reduced or removed, or the prone time increased.
    Ranged: Hawk Shot - damage is woeful and pretty useless. On live, the damage range is from 200-5000 damage-ish, I think the base at minimum range should be increase to at least 3k, with the damage bonus starting when you're at least 25ft from your target. At max range (i.e. 80ft) this skill should do only a bit less than Aimed Shot.
    Melee: Hawkeye - damage bonus is terrible because it procs off dots. This damage bonus should apply to encounters only, and the 50% reduction on allies should be removed.
    Ranged: Binding Arrow - skill is fine as it is, however the fact the roots don't work if you're past 40ft should be fixed. Also the roots should be dodgeable.
    Melee: Oak Skin - heal should be affected by power/damage bonus, and should be able to crit. Duration should be reduced slightly, and the 50% reduction on allies should be removed.
    Ranged: Commanding Shot - either should be changed so a) HRs are cc immune during this attack or b) animation time should be decreased to be the same as Hawk Shot. Damage should also be increased to be similar to Binding Arrow/Constricting Arrow.
    Melee: Stag Heart - should be stackable and the 50% reduction on allies should be removed.
    Ranged: Fox's Cunning - this encounter is fine as it is.
    Melee: Fox Shift - is mostly fine, although possibly could do with a slight damage reduction so other encounters are more viable. Would need to be careful to not over-nerf it.
    Ranged: Cordon of Arrows - TBA
    Melee: CoA Melee - TBA
    Ranged: Plant Growth - TBA
    Melee: Gushing Wound - TBA
    Pathfinder: Ranged: Ambush - the bug with Trapper Swiftness of the Fox should be fixed (along with the DC artifact). Damage bonus should persist for all attacks during Ambush. Ambush should additionally grant 5-10% crit chance.
    Pathfinder: Melee: Bear Trap - "throw a huge bear trap..."; Bear Trap should live up to its description - the size of the bear trap should be increased, additionally, the charge time should be decreased to 8 seconds and should be affected by recovery/cooldown reductions. The animation time should also be decreased so you're not standing there like a trap waiting for the bear trap to finish rolling on the floor. Also, Bear Trap should not break Ambush's stealth.
    Stormwarden: Ranged: Split the Sky - completely subject to RNG and so on. The insane multiprocs should be fixed, however, STS should hit the opponent you deal damage to if they're under the cloud. This may warrant a damage reduction, though.
    Stormwarden: Melee: Throw Caution - should affect allies, and the damage increase on you should only be for the first hit.


    Dailies
    Seismic Shot - is fine as it is. Animation time could be decreased in PvP.
    Forest Ghost - I think this daily is fine as it is, as stuns remove it. In terms of balancing, possibly any CC should break it, including dazes. I.E. If a CW uses Oppressive Force currently after you've entered Forest Ghost, you are immune to the daze - this proposed change would mean that the daze would affect you and CC you during Forest Ghost.
    Forest Meditation - could add a CC break effect to the initial activation.
    Disruptive Shot - cooldown could be increased to about 11-12 seconds, possibly even 15 seconds (current cd is about 9.5 seconds).
    Pathfinder: Slasher's Mark - decrease AP use to 75%, and add a 15 second cooldown, along with a slight damage reduction.
    Stormwarden: Cold Steel Hurricane - Suggestion a) should summon a ball of lightning around the HR, similar to CW's shield, and it should attack and snare any targets you come close to. Duration: 5 seconds. OR Suggestion B) should function like it currently is, however, the ball should stay where it is summoned rather than moving in a line. CSH should also be reduced to 75% AP. 15 second cooldown.


    Class Features
    Aspect of the Falcon - Critical Strikes give you a stack of "Falcon something-or-other". Max 5 stacks. Each stack lasts 3 seconds, and increases the range of your ranged encounters by 3ft, and your melee encounters by 1ft. Falcon stacks are not refreshed by new critical strikes, and when each stack expires, your cooldowns are reduced by 0.5 seconds. This is at max rank (can change the ranges/cooldowns for the lower ranks or something).
    Aspect of the Lone Wolf - fine as it is, although considering it gives 20% deflect at rank 4 in Module 6, I think it may need to be reverted back to 15% deflect.
    Aspect of the Pack - increase the base range by 5'.
    Aspect of the Serpent - fine as it is.
    Seeker's Vengeance - change to Combat Advantage damage instead of attacks from behind.
    Crushing Roots - Strong Roots daze your opponent for 3 seconds at max rank (this is assuming tenacity reduces it to about 1.5-2 seconds). This has a cooldown of 10 seconds. Weak Roots daze/interrupt your opponent for 0.25 seconds at max rank.
    Pathfinder: Battlehoned - deflects now have a 50% chance to heal you for 1% of your max HP (at max rank). This effect can only occur once every 2 seconds. Additionally, your incoming healing is increased by 5% (max rank).
    Pathfinder: Pathfinder's Action - bugs with this should be fixed (particularly first rank not giving deflect). Other than that, I think this feat is fine.
    Pathfinder: Cruel Recovery - should be stackable.
    Stormwarden: Blade Storm - should activate on both melee and ranged skills.
    Stormwarden: Stormstep Action - is fine as it is. Should also provide similar deflect to Pathfinder's Pathfinder's Action to bring it in line. Possibly should be a bit less since cooldown reductions are a bit better than movement speed.
    Stormwarden: Twin-Blade Storm - is fine as it is.


    Heroic Feats
    *Note: Since most of these are the same across classes, I will only list the HR-specific ones that I think need changing.
    Nature's Enhancement: provides 10% deflect severity after swapping stances.
    Extra Action: 15% more movement speed instead of AP gain.


    Paragon Feats
    Archery
    Tier 1:
    Ghostwalker - fine as it is.
    Keen Eye - your ranged powers generate 10% more AP.


    Tier 2:
    Broadhead Arrows - fine as it is.
    Stormwarden: Stormcaller's Arrow - fine as it is.
    Pathfinder: Quarry - fine as it is.


    Tier 3:
    Bottomless Quiver (moved down from T4) - fine as it is.
    Hasty Retreat - fine as it is.


    Tier 4:
    Longshot (moved up from T3) - Your ranged critical attacks also deal a bonus 100% (up from 50%) of your weapon damage as physical. This bonus is tripled for encounter powers and is multiplied by 5 for dailies. Your melee critical strikes cause your next ranged critical strike to deal a bonus 50% of your weapon damage as physical. Note: this could be fairly OP depending on your critical chance, and I still dislike the idea of these procs. Hence, this could also be changed to: Your ranged critical attacks cause your next encounter to have a 10% higher chance to crit, as well as 20% more critical severity (this severity bonus is not removed if your encounter does not crit). This effect does not stack.
    Unflinching Aim - fine as it is.


    Tier 5:
    Rising Focus - stack duration increased to 15 seconds.
    Stillness of the Forest - Your ranged damage and critical chance increases the further you are from your enemies, for a max of 10% damage and 25% critical chance. This maximum is reached when no enemies are within 30ft of you.


    Capstone:
    Predator - 50% reduction on players should be removed.




    Combat
    *Note: if Careful Attack is fixed, combat DPS actually does suffer in PvP, which warrants some damage buffs.

    Tier 1:
    Bloodletting - is fine as it is.
    Serpent Weave - is fine as it is.


    Tier 2:
    Fluid Hunter - 2.5% base deflect chance, and you also gain 0.5% deflect chance for every opponent around you, up to a maximum of an additional 2.5% deflect chance.
    Pathfinder: Ambush Stalking - fine as it is.
    Stormwarden: Warden's Courage - fine as it is.


    Tier 3:
    Lucky Blades - critically striking or deflecting an attack grants you 10% AP over 10 seconds. This effect does not stack.
    Skirmisher's Gambit - critical chance is reduced by 5% while critical severity is increased by 25%.


    Tier 4:
    Piercing Blades - fine as it is, but probably just change it to "your melee damage is increased by 40%" to stop people from complaining about piercing damage.
    Wild's Medicine - this should go off max HP, not base damage.


    Tier 5:
    Scything Blades - melee attacks grant you a stack of "Scything Blades", which increases your melee damage by 2%. Scything Blades stacks up to 15 times, and lasts 3 seconds.
    Battle Crazed - grants 2% lifesteal per stack (down from 3%).


    Capstone:
    Blade Hurricane - fine as it is.




    Trapper
    Tier 1:
    Fleet Stance - fine as it is.
    Readied Stance - fine as it is.


    Tier 2:
    Deft Strikes - fine as it is.
    Pathfinder: Slasher's Speed - because of my proposed change to Slasher's Mark AP (down to 75% base), Slasher's Speed should only reduce the AP by a further 15%.
    Stormwarden: Nature's Fury - Cold Steel Hurricane increases your deflect severity by 20% while it is active.


    Tier 3:
    Forestbond - fine as it is.
    Trapper's Cunning - fine as it is.


    Tier 4:
    Ancient Roots - fine as it is.
    Swiftness of the Fox - reduced to 7.5%.


    Tier 5:
    Thorned Roots - (PvP only) ticks once every 2 seconds. CC immune targets take 300% damage.
    Serpent's Bite - fine as it is.


    Capstone:
    Biting Snares - fine as it is, but the AP bug needs to be fixed.



    Aaaaaand that's about it. I think there may be a bit too many buffs in there, which would warrant for some numbers adjusting, but again, I think that allowing HRs to make full use of the arsenal of encounters they have would be better, while removing the heavy reliance on procs from feat paths.

    Finally, I'd also like to propose a change to HR dodges. HR dodges are very unreliable (anyone who complains about HR dodges can go play one and try dodge attacks without spamming). I've had instances where I've dodged an attack and taken the damage still, or instances where I've been rubbered back into an attack at an end of a dodge (this doesn't happen as much with classes with reliable dodges or sprint).

    HR dodges should have a larger immunity frame, or the distance increased slightly (not much, or it'll remove the class feel) so the immunity frame is longer. Additionally, I think an increase in stamina gain would work, as HR stamina takes 30 seconds to regen back to full. I remember a feat in Module 2/3 where 1% stamina was restored when hitting with a melee attack. Possibly adding this as a class mechanic - At-wills restore 1% of your stamina, or something similar, and encounters increase your stamina gain by 10% for 5 seconds (not stackable).

    Anyway, I'm also open to suggestions to modifying this. If you have better suggestions, please let me know.
Sign In or Register to comment.