VeeshanVault

This post is intended to discuss recent and upcoming changes to game balance. Some of these changes will be met favorably, others less so, but the goal of all of them is the same: to ensure a fun, challenging game that keeps players excited for years to come.

The changes discussed below will be seen in Live Update #3, which is on the Test server today and going to the live servers next week.

Damage Output

There has been a lot of discussion on the forums since launch regarding the relative power of each class when it comes to dealing damage. The intended order of damage output by archetype is (and always has been): mage, scout, fighter, priest.

Obviously that isn't the order currently present in the game. Right now fighters do the most overall damage, followed by scouts, followed by mages, and finally priests. This is a situation we are working to remedy, and Live Update #3 will make major strides toward addressing it.

Mages are intended to to do a lot of damage at the price of being frail defensively. With this major update, wizards and warlocks will see a damage output increase of up to 300% in the case of many key spells. These changes, affecting the classes from 20 to 50, should put them at the top of the heap when it comes to damage output. We are still in the process of evaluating changes to summoners and enchanters, but recent DoT stacking changes, bug fixes in this update, and buff timer changes (see below) should help the other mage professions feel more useful and powerful until their damage output can be thoroughly assessed.

The greatest imbalance currently in the game relates to fighters. Tanks are supposed to absorb damage, but they're also currently the best at dishing it out. This is due to the way our strength bonus works. Currently in the live game, a strength of 400 (achievable at the higher levels with buffs and gear) results in a 200% damage bonus. This results in fighters being the premier melee damage dealers, since they typically have the highest STR values.

Live Update #3 changes the bonus awarded by having high amounts of strength. The table below illustrates the effect of the bonus change.

STR Old Bonus New Bonus
100 125% 125%
200 150% 135%
300 175% 145%
400 200% 155%

As you can see, the soloer or small group player, who is unlikely to reach high levels of strength, will see little or no impact. The change has a considerable effect at the upper levels of the game when players can achieve extremely high STR in raid encounters.

While this change will have some impact on scouts, it should be minimal enough (due to the fact that they typically don't have STR at the same degree as fighters) that scouts will now have higher damage output than fighters. This helps scouts fill the role they were intended to fill as damage dealers through the use of their powerful arts.

This update by no means represents the final balance of damage output. We will continue to tune spells and arts to achieve the goals stated above.

Tanking

The last major update included a significant change to the way agility affected damage avoidance. Similar to the bonus given by strength shown above, agility had a major impact on how likely a character was to avoid an attack.

For example, if a monk or bruiser could be buffed such that his agility was 200 points higher than the opponent's to-hit stats, they would avoid all but 4% of the enemy's damage output. A plate tank with a shield also had 96% avoidance, and a scout with no shield had 90% avoidance.

Even an AGI advantage of 100 points allowed light and heavy armor tanks to avoid all but 14% and 15% of enemy damage output, while scouts avoided 77% of the damage. Since this stat advantage was easily reachable with typical buffs and debuffs, tanking was trivialized in many encounters.

The change we implemented was to raise the stats of NPCs that are level 30 and higher while decreasing the bonus given by agility. Higher-level encounters were no longer as trivial to tank, especially for scouts (who are not meant to be tanking heroic and epic content anyway).

After further parsing and analysis, we have decided that further delineation is needed between a fighter's ability to tank versus a scout's ability. As part of Live Update #3, we are improving heavy armor to mitigate 11% more damage and light armor to mitigate 35% more damage. In addition to making fighters tank better overall, this should address concerns raised by bruisers and monks. Light armor tanks still depend on deflection, but with increased mitigation their tanking ability should be less prone to streaks of damage.

Tradeskill Changes

While not related to combat balance, artisans need attention of their own. We've read the comments on the crafting boards about how some tradeskill classes are extremely dependent upon obtaining components from other professions while some are virtually self-sufficient.

In Live Update #3, all tradeskill classes can refine their own materials and components. While each subclass will still be needed to produce the final products, the interdependency for components has been removed.

This update also includes an added production cost to the crafting process: fuel prices. We feel this is a necessary step, both to remove money from the economy and to help establish costs and values for crafted goods. The fuel price will be used in determining the sell-back value to vendors, so artisans will not be penalized for producing goods to raise their skills and selling the items back to NPC merchants. However, the primary means of earning cash for artisans should be selling products to other players.

We will continue to tune the crafting system and address bugs and balance issues as they arise.

Mounts and Run-Speed Buffs

In Live Update #3 we will be decreasing the speed buffs given by mounts. Run-speed enhancements, especially at the entry level, should provide a way to travel faster, not act as a means to avoid every potential battle.

The changes to run-speed enhancements will be as follows:

Starter Mounts (2.5pp) - 24%, formerly 32%
Standard Mounts (5pp) - 32%, formerly 40%
Best Non Status Mount (8.2pp) - 40%, formerly 48%
Flying Carpets/Undead Mounts (50pp and status) - 48%, formerly 56%
Totem buff - 24% with a 30 minute duration, formerly 40%

The biggest change, however, will be to paladin and shadowknight mounts that are granted as one of their entertainment spells. The original intent was for the spells to grant a horse with no run-speed buff at all. The fact that there was a significant speed boost was an error on our part, and while we regret making a drastic change to an existing spell, in fairness to other classes we feel this is the best approach.

Crusader mounts are currently a 32% buff, which will be reduced to 10% (the same speed as Journeyman's Boots). While still giving a benefit, the horse will provide a relatively minor enhancement.

There have been numerous requests to increase the speed buff provided by Legendary Jboots. However, since the Jboot effect stacks with other run-speed buffs and the boots themselves provide nice stats, we have decided to leave the boots as is.

We realize this change won't be a popular one, but we feel it is better for the game that we make it.

Other Spell Changes

In Live Update #3, we are making a few overall changes to spells and arts that should be seen positively by most everyone.

First, spells that are blue, green, and grey will no longer fizzle (assuming your casting skills are maxed for your level). While I had previously reported that white-con spells would be included in this change, some issues arose that prevented us from including them. Instead, we will reduce the overall chance that white-con spells will fizzle. My apologies for the confusion.

Secondly, we have changed buff timers significantly. Short-duration group buffs will last 10 minutes instead of 3 minutes, and single-target buffs are being changed to last 15 minutes. This should provide increased utility to many buffs, both for soloing and group play.

There are many additional changes coming in Live Update #3, as you will see when reading the update notes in the Test server forums. Hopefully this post makes clear some of our goals and the reasons behind the decisions we have made. The long-term health of the game is our greatest motivation, as we work to ensure that EverQuest II is a fun and challenging game now and in the future.
Message Edited by Moorgard on 02-09-2005 07:22 PM

*** Headlines ***

- See your enemies in a whole new way with our new /con system!
- Short-duration group buffs now last 10 minutes! Single-target buffs last 15 minutes!
- No more fizzles on spells that are blue or lower to you!
- Shorter timers and less restrictions on instanced zones!
- Give your beloved house pets a name!
- All tradeskill classes can now refine their own materials and components!
- Wizards and Warlocks go nuke happy!
- Tanks now tank better with increased mitigation!
- Strike back at your rival city through new sabotage quests!
- More encounters added for soloers and small groups, including solo instanced dungeons!
- You can now store empty bags inside other bags!
- Two new level 50 epic raid zones have been added: Shattered Stillness and Echoes of Time!
- Now easier to search for potions, poisons, activated items, and food!


*** Consider System ***

- A new NPC consider system has been added that provides players with information on the creatures they encounter.
- When appropriate, your target's level appears next to its name.
- The target window varies based on the target's level of challenge. A weak opponent will have a plain target window with swords under the target's name, while the target window of an epic opponent will be much more ornate.
- While the new system still shows which opponents are linked in an encounter, the consider message is based on the challenge presented by each individual target. Players who prefer to evaluate their opponents' strengths for themselves may enjoy this option
- You can switch between the old system and the new one by selecting the User Interface tab on the Options window. Under the Name and Chat Bubble heading, you can toggle the NPC Evaluation drop-down between Simple (new system) and Detailed (old system).


*** City Sabotage ***

- Wreak havoc behind enemy lines! Sabotage missions are now available from agents in Antonica and the Commonlands.


*** Gameplay ***

- House pets can now be named while you are in your house by right-clicking on your pet in the inventory window and selecting Name Pet.
- Creatures that used to appear alive after being killed should now look properly dead.
- There is now a ding, accompanied by congratulatory text, when your guild levels up.


*** Mechanics ***

- The damage bonus given by extremely high amounts of strength has been reduced. For example, having a strength of 400 previously gave a 200% damage bonus; after this change, the damage bonus is 155%. There is no change to the damage bonus at a STR of 100, and only a slight reduction at 200 STR.
- Heavy armor now mitigates 11% more damage. Light armor now mitigates 35% more damage.
- Having stamina greater than 200 will now increase the character's maximum health pool.
- Maximum power will increase when the stats used to determine it (strength, agility, intelligence, or wisdom) go above 200.
- Melee combat arts will decrease in effectiveness when equipping a weapon that is green to the character. They will decrease even further if a grey weapon is equipped.
- If an epic opponent can only be hit by a certain quality of weapon, that weapon's level must be within 75% or 5 levels of the target's level.
- A bug that was giving some characters extra points in certain skills has been corrected. For example, Artisans will no longer receive 5 extra points in the skills they stop advancing when they choose a class or subclass, and Brawlers no longer gain extra Deflection at lower levels.
- Players will no longer receive a "mini-ding" at reaching 100% of a level if they are unable to gain a level due to a milestone requirement (such as the citizenship quest, class quest, etc.).


*** Spells ***

- Spell casters will no longer fizzle on any spell that is blue, green, or grey to them, as long as their casting skills are maximized.
- Targeted persistent hostile spells (such as DoTs) should no longer drop if the caster summons a pet.
- Spectral Guard and Malefic Shroud will now last up to 10 hits before expiring instead of fading after a single hit.
- Flaming Agony and Fiery Doom should now show in the maintained window once they have been cast.
- Vexation upgrades are now available in from the appropriate merchants, recipe books, and loot drops.
- The stat bonuses given by Geotic Brand will no longer change when a player zones.
- Flameshield now does heat damage instead of divine.
- Wizard changes:
- Breath of the Tyrant and Immolation no longer share the same reuse timer.
- Ball of Flames and Ball of Fire no longer share the same reuse timer.
- Piercing Icicles and Icy Coil no longer share the same reuse timer.
- Ball of Flame now has a cast time of 2 seconds and a recast time of 6 seconds.
- Burning Intimidation now does 4 times its previous amount of damage.
- Immolation now deals 2 additional ticks of heat damage at 120% of the initial instant damage. The cast time has been increased to 3 seconds and the recast time is now 21 seconds.
- Ice Comet's damage has been increased 275%, and its reuse time is now 45 seconds.
- Freeze and Daenor's Lingering Frost now do 3 times their previous amount of damage.
- Icy Coil's initial instant damage has been increased 350%.
- Piercing Icicles now deals 200% additional instant piercing damage.
- Warlock changes:
- Negative Absolution no longer shares a reuse timer with Null Absolution or Nil Absolution, and the maximum number of targets has been limited to 5.
- Null Absolution no longer shares a reuse timer with Negative Absolution or Nil Absolution, and the maximum number of targets has been limited to 5. The spell now deals additional poison damage over time.
- Nil Absolution no longer shares a reuse timer with Negative Absolutionor or Null Absolution, and the maximum number of targets has been limited to 5. The spell now deals additional poison damage over time and lowers strength by 5.
- Dark Distortion no longer shares a reuse timer with Nil Distortion, and its damage has been increased to 150%.
- Nil Distortion no longer shares a reuse timer with Dark Distortion. Its damage has been increased to 240% and it has a reuse timer of 18 seconds.
- Flashfreeze now has a casting time of 1 second, and its damage has been tripled.
- Noxious Bolt now has a reuse time of 6.5 seconds, and its damage has been tripled.
- Dark Emanations no longer shares a reuse timer with Torment of Shadows.
- Torment of Shadows no longer shares a reuse timer with Dark Emanations. Its instant damage has been tripled, and its damage over time has doubled.
- Dark Nebula now does 3 times its previous damage. It is an upgrade to Grievous Blast, sharing a reuse timer with Grievous Blast and Putrid Cloud.
- Devastation will now affect up to 5 targets in a radius of 10 meters with a recast time of 45 seconds. Its instant damage and DoT effect has been reduced by 50%.
- Short duration group buffs now last 10 minutes, and single target buffs now last 15 minutes. This affects the following spells:
- Assassin: Bleeder's Talent, Merciless Villainy
- Bard: Bria's Stirring Ballad, Performer's Talent
- Berserker: Bloodlust, Battle Chant, Screaming Fury, Tides of War, Destructive Rage, Greater Fury, Uthros' Superior Tactics
- Brigand: Burgle, Rough Skin, Stealthy Burglary, Aegis
- Bruiser: Intimidating Orders, Rousing Cry, Velan's Nervy Order
- Coercer: Recklessness, Refresh, Annoying Demeanor, Empathic Link, Mind's Eye, Konious' Glowing Breeze, Glyssa's Emboldening Glyph
- Conjurer: Provocation, Fire Seed, Volatile Refuge, Vehement Stone, Flameshield, Blazing Presence, Varski's Encouraging Ward
- Crusader: Offering of Armament, Theron's Heartening Call
- Defiler: Dread Invective, Lucar's Grasping Tendrils
- Dirge: Death's Scent, Hyran's Angry Sonata, Lithe Disbelief, Tuyen's Chant of the Arcane
- Druid: Nettleshield
- Enchanter: Breeze
- Fighter: Call to Arms
- Fury: Bristlepelt, Savagery, Fae Fire, Porcupine, Brishan's Quillshield, Hammerwind's Zealous Frenzy
- Guardian: Form of Ferocity, Guardian's Call, Call of Command, Desperate Flurry, Do or Die, Call to Battle, Return to Battle, Briteblade's Command, Braksan's Desperate Rally
- Illusionist: Fleeting Thoughts, Alacrity, Scintillating Aura, Intensity, Kor-Sha's Adroit Seal, Fozzin's Propitious Visions
- Inquisitor: Act of Belief
- Monk: Wisdom of Zephyl, Everburning Flame, Quiet Purity
- Mystic: Avatar
- Necromancer: Boon of the Lifeless, Rending Frenzy, Opal's Aggravating Seal, Darkbriar's Corpseskin
- Paladin: Blessing of the Penitent, Divine Inspiration, Blessing of the Devout, Prayer of Devotion, Call to Glory, Caswon's Penitent Benediction, Theron's Call of Hope
- Predator: Hunter's Instinct
- Ranger: Steady Aim, Forester's Insight, Veil of the Forest, Tolan's Talent
- Rogue: Smuggle, Street Smarts
- Shadowknight: Unholy Order, Insatiable Hunger, Genux's Dark Embrace
- Sorcerer: Burning Radiance, Accord
- Summoner: Agitation
- Swashbuckler: Swarthy Distraction, Freeboot, Flight of Fancy, Feigned Bravado, Bootleg, Bladeweaver
- Templar: Vigilant Benediction, Glory of Combat, Resolve
- Troubador: Alin's Soothing Serenade, Elise's Ditty, Kian's Destructive Anthem, Daelis' Dance of Blades, Cassindra's Chant of Clarity
- Warden: Barbcoat, Primeval Instinct, Numbing Spores, Duststorm, Vesteri's Gorseshield, Salmekia's Pact of the Pride
- Warlock: Venomous Runes, Abhorrent Gift, Toxic Grasp, Nihilism, Palon's Burning Blood
- Warrior: Battle Tactics, Uthros' Defiant Cry
- Wizard: Flametongue, Concurrence, Frostbound Gift, Frostshield, Casthopur's Frostburn, El'Arad's Custodial Warding

*** Items ***

- Empty bags can now be stored inside other bags. You can't put any items into a bag that is located within another.
- The run-speed benefits of mounts and certain items have been reduced:
- Starter Mounts (2.5pp) - 24%, formerly 32%
- Standard Mounts (5pp) - 32%, formerly 40%
- Best Non Status Mount (8.2pp) - 40%, formerly 48%
- Flying Carpets/Undead Mounts (50pp and status) - 48%, formerly 56%
- Crusader Mounts - 10%, formerly 32%
- Totem buff - 24% with a 30 minute duration, formerly 40%


*** Zones and Population ***

- Timers on most instanced zones have been reduced. Level and group size requirements have been removed, except for guild raids purchased with status points and certain quest-specific zones. The new timers are as follows:
- Level 10-19 zones - 1 hour fail, 8 hour reuse
- Level 20-29 zones - 2 hour fail, 12 hour reuse
- Level 30-39 zones - 2 hour fail, 18 hour reuse
- Level 40-49 zones - 4 hour fail, 18 hour reuse
- Level 50+ zones - 6 hour fail, 18 hour reuse
- The vertical doors in Solusek's Eye and the Obelisk of Lost Souls should work better.
- Keys that allow you to progress deeper into the Wailing Caves will now be found on their respective owners' corpses rather than inside treasure chests.
- Venekor's breath attack has been adjusted so that subsequent ticks of its damage-over-time spell do the same amount of damage as the initial hit.
- The Vision of Vox's breath weapon does less damage, but can now affect all members of a raid party. Her loot quality has been improved.
- The loot dropped by encounters in the Draconic quests has been improved.
- Foulgill the Rotten's loot has been adjusted to better match the challenge of the encounter.
- Raids cannot zone into the instanced dungeons in Enchanted Lands and Thundering Steppes.
- Solo versions of the instanced dungeons in Orcish Wastes, Enchanted Lands, and Thundering Steppes have been added. If you are solo or grouped with one other person, you will automatically enter these instances. Groups of three or more will enter the heroic versions.
- Entrances to the instanced dungeons in Orcish Wastes, Enchanted Lands, and Thundering Steppes will now appear more frequently.
- Advanced solo/small group encounters have been added to the Orcish Wastes, the Feerrott, and Rivervale.
- Two new level 50 epic raid zones have been added: Shattered Stillness in Antonica, where you may find Arch Lich Udalan; and Echoes of Time in Commonlands, where you will find King Zalak. Be wary, for these beings are rumored to be a challenge for a full raid of hardy adventurers.
- That greedy little rat Stiletto fired his scouts and is carrying out his orders alone now to maximize his profits.
- Bouncer Prud can now be found more frequently.
- Opponents that require two or more groups are now more likely to drop useful crafting components.
- NPCs in the Open Grave Heroic zone should now be between 25 and 27, except for the boss who is a higher level.
- Adjusted some of the abilities of the Drakota Niscanth.
- Level 40+ epic encounters do slightly more spell damage and heal for slightly more.
- Boss lifetap abilities now do more damage.


*** Quests ***

- Sir Tatters will now give the Small Matter of Bristles quest to those adventurers who declined or were unable to accept the quest before.
- Nillipuss will now only reward adventures upon completion of his quest.
- Varski, Part III can now be completed and the appropriate rewards will be given.
- Drodo will now let you complete Drodo's Goodies if you completed Curse of the Bloody Shank beforehand.
- Completion of The Lost Legend of Lavastorm heritage quest will now award status points.
- Targok will now give you another chance at accepting the third part of his quest if you initially declined the invitation.
- The items Bendik Jonkers seeks can now be found in the Edgewater Drains.
- Language quest items will now drop as corpse loot to allow those who have outleveled the creatures to complete the associated language quests.
- Additional dialog responses have been added into the Bitter Brew quest.
- Players will now receive a title reward for completing the "Deception" quest.
- Fixed some issues with the Hostile Forge instance and lowered its reuse timer.
- Corrected an issue with the access quest to the Vestibule.


*** Tradeskills ***

- Four new crafting abilities have been discovered: apothecary, weaving, timbercraft, and geomancy. These skills allow all artisans to refine the materials and components needed to make final products. New recipe books can be found on merchants or scattered throughout Norrath which teach you how to use these skills. Artisans automatically gain 5 points per level in these skills.
- New events and reaction arts have been created for apothecary, weaving, timbercraft, and geomancy. Reaction arts for these skills are based on thaumaturgy, binding, woodcraft, and geocraft. These skills increase through use. The higher your skill level, the better your chances of creating higher-quality items.
- All tradeskill recipes now require a new type of fuel at each tier. Fuel cost increases with level.
- A bug causing certain artisan-related skills to be 5 points too high has been corrected.
- The Advanced Scholar 15 book has been added to the appropriate loot drops.


*** Controls, Commands, and UI ***

- Examining a spell or art now gives you more detailed information on the exact effects of the ability. Some refinements will be made to the examine data before this feature is moved to the live servers.
- Heal amounts are now sent to the chat window, as in "You heal for X hit points." A Heal subcategory has been added to the chat options.
- A Combat General chat option has been added to filter start/stop fighting messages.
- Dragging a recipe icon into the chat window should no longer cause a crash.
- Checking and unchecking categories in Chat Options now work more logically.
- Merchant UI: New categories have been added for Potions, Poisons, Lore, and Attuneable items.
- Merchant UI: Searching for Activateable items works properly.
- Merchant UI: Searching for food by con color works properly.
- Merchant UI: The names of unusable items now appear in red.
- The scroll speed of the recipe examine window has been increased.
- The chat tab frame now fades along with the main chat window frame.
- Various issues with chat scrolling have been addressed.
- A keymap has been added for the Implied Target window. You will find the option to bind a key to this window in the Controls tab of the Options menu under Window Keys.
- Chat tabs no longer share the same buffer. You can now view up to 1000 lines of text in each chat tab.
- Chat tab titles can now be up to 20 characters long.
- Shift + Page Up and Shift + Page Down now let you scroll through responses on the primary chat window (defined with "Always Chat Here").
- Your guild will no longer show up at the bottom of the social structure list.
- Quest update messages now tell you the current/needed target numbers. The wording on many quest update messages has been clarified, and colors have been changed for emphasis.
- The tooltip on ranged weapons should now report the correct damage information for when the user masters the weapon.
- Item con colors in the broker, merchant, trade, and examine windows should better indicate whether someone can use an item.


*** Art ***

- Riders should no longer float above their horses.
- Fixed the tail on fancy horse LODs.
- Improved the horses' idle animations.


*** Audio ***

- You can no longer change the speaker type from within the game.
- Many city folk who were quiet before have found their voices.

Note: There is a new optional audio download available via the launchpad.