Some new area's of Concern

[pSINNa]

I'd like to mention a couple of relatively new developments that could use some attention.

1. You are not facing <insert enemy here>

This one crept in after U11 and is the bane of any caster that moves a lot. It can be as bad as standing still facing your enemy, then jumping straight backwards, cast during that jump, and you are "not facing your enemy", very, very frustrating, and fairly new.



2. Tira's Splendour does not confer silver weapons

It says it does in the description, but i'm afraid that casting silver weapons on myself (when i'm on my arti), will give me the orange numbers i'm looking for, but wearing my Tira's Splendour will not.



3. Whilst wearing a lvl 20 upgrade epic mabar cloak, getting "incorporeal" messages when attempting to hit imcorporeal beings.

Now i originally though this was random - it only happens sometimes, then i finally noticed it was when i was jumping again....somehow related to #1, and fairly new.



4. True seeing from the Tinkers Gloves set, nope, it doesn't give you true seeing, i've slotted an epic spyglass for that until this ones fixed - it's new items, so again, a fairly recent problem.



5. Wolves attack movement.

Go for a run in Splinterskull or Reavers Refuge - ice side. Watch some of the wolves and target them for attack, the visual of the wolf is in one place, but the attack wolf (that you can score a hit on) will be several movement tiles behind it during their "lunge/snapping jaws" attack. This is a very new problem - i'd say since U12 or the 1st patch after U12.



I understand that there are many other problems - some very long term problems, that we are all almost used to sadly, and i would rate #! as the worst of them all - it has reduced caster based "active combat" to a real stand still and cast, not the combat system i've learned to enjoy over the past few years.

Feedback from other players is encouraged, i have had much feedback from guildies already regarding these problems, they are persistent and new, and pervasive.

Coit out~

[Carpinelli]

I have noticed with #5, sometimes during the lunge movement, wolves will also disappear if viewed at a certain angle.

I think this may be similar to Monastery of the Scorpion where (if in 3rd person) the yellowish fog will sometimes cover the whole viewing area making it impossible to see. Changing the viewing angle will bring it back into focus. This is especially frustrating when trying to do the puzzle in 3rd person, however being in 1st person eliminates this problem.

[Postumus]

I have noticed with #5, sometimes during the lunge movement, wolves will also disappear if viewed at a certain angle.

Yeah ran tangleroot today and noticed the wolves were disappearing from the screen, but their health bar would stay visible. Really odd.

[Antheal]

3. Whilst wearing a lvl 20 upgrade epic mabar cloak, getting "incorporeal" messages when attempting to hit imcorporeal beings.

Now i originally though this was random - it only happens sometimes, then i finally noticed it was when i was jumping again....somehow related to #1, and fairly new.

Did you notice if your weapon had an Artificer's elemental imbue on it during the times you were getting the "incorporeal" misses, and not-imbued when you weren't?

[donfilibuster]

Somehow #5 helps me hit the wolf when it looks it'd miss :P

[Bakigrth]

I'd like to mention a couple of relatively new developments that could use some attention.

1. You are not facing <insert enemy here>

This one crept in after U11 and is the bane of any caster that moves a lot. It can be as bad as standing still facing your enemy, then jumping straight backwards, cast during that jump, and you are "not facing your enemy", very, very frustrating, and fairly new.

+1

This one frustrates the <beep> out of me.

Even if you're just standing still and the enemy runs right up to you, it can cause the "not facing your enemy" message. I'm still facing the enemy, but the enemy is right on top of me and I get the message and failure. More noticeable on my wiz than my sorc because of the casting speed.

I sure hope they look into this one.

Thanks for bringing it up.

B.

[Grenada]

+1

This one frustrates the <beep> out of me.

Even if you're just standing still and the enemy runs right up to you, it can cause the "not facing your enemy" message. I'm still facing the enemy, but the enemy is right on top of me and I get the message and failure. More noticeable on my wiz than my sorc because of the casting speed.

I sure hope they look into this one.

Thanks for bringing it up.

B.

Another thing related to this which i mostly notice with frost lance, is that i have had the spell go off and hit the enemy square and have
1: no damage on the enemy
2: no message saying anything about the spell failing due to angles or something
3: I still lose sp for the casting

Some quests where Im very mobile (and the enemies are too), i burn through 2 times the amount of sp that i should between these 2 bugs.The only sure solution is to switch to soft targeting (which is harder to do sometimes), and cast either AoEs from close range or fireball-esque spells near groups.

[voodoogroves]

Did a TR run as well - those worgs were all over the place from reality.

[somenewnoob]

Did a TR run as well - those worgs were all over the place from reality.

Yep, just ran through this on 3 different alts recently, the worgs are pretty jumpy and hard to hit with melee.

[Deathdefy]

2) For Tira's, you lose the silver on death; or maybe even on just zoning. Equipping a different rune arm and switching back always worked for me in part V shroud. You lose the deathward if you don't re-equip it too from memory.

3) You sure it's not your arti dog getting the incorporeal? Or a summon? I know the cloak always worked for me, but you could totally be right about jumping borking it.

5) Wolves so crazy.

[ThreeFinger]

I just started my first arcane. #1 is not normal? So, are you saying that if things work like they used to, I could be running the opposite direction of the enemy and still fling the scorching ray?

[BuyTiles]

One I've noticed and been really really annoying, maybe already noted somewhere else.

Earth savant 3rd tier inherent acid blast doesn't target like acid blast, or 2nd tier attack.
It appears to go line of sight instead of to target. So if I'm jumping and throwing my 2 attacks (melfs and acid blast), the melfs will hit and the acid blast will fly over their heads.
Normal acid blast hits correctly.

[danotmano1998]

I'd like to mention a couple of relatively new developments that could use some attention.

1. You are not facing <insert enemy here>

This one crept in after U11 and is the bane of any caster that moves a lot. It can be as bad as standing still facing your enemy, then jumping straight backwards, cast during that jump, and you are "not facing your enemy", very, very frustrating, and fairly new.


Feedback from other players is encouraged, i have had much feedback from guildies already regarding these problems, they are persistent and new, and pervasive.

Coit out~

Indeed, this is happening a lot as well. Thought it might have just been me.
This and the "Throw the spell, lose the sp, watch it hit the enemy", but do no damage and give no feedback. (Saveless spells like frost lance or polar ray)

[hyenaboy]

Anyone else on their arti seeing the enormous scroll lag or wand lag as the system tries to deal with our UMD or atleast that is how it feels to me anyways. Only seems to spike out badly and only on me (with my wife on same network a stones throw away) as I select a scroll or wand.

[oradafu]

I'd like to mention a couple of relatively new developments that could use some attention.

1. You are not facing <insert enemy here>

I don't play a caster very often (aka almost never), so is this new? I thought I'd get this message often when I tried playing a caster several updates ago. I know it's similar to the message that hirelings get when they are fighting, which has been around for as long as I can remember.

3. Whilst wearing a lvl 20 upgrade epic mabar cloak, getting "incorporeal" messages when attempting to hit imcorporeal beings.

I can answer this. The last update put your hireling/summon/pet damage numbers in with your damage numbers. The Incorporeal is from your hireling/summon/pet. If you are using an Artificer, turn yourself invisible and send your dog forward to attack in a ghost filled quest, you'll see it's the dog that gets Incorporeal.

I forget which hireling it is, but one of the midlevel healers has a Maldroit weapon so -1 Dex often pops up in your attack numbers when you use her.

[Cauthey]

+1

This one frustrates the <beep> out of me.

Even if you're just standing still and the enemy runs right up to you, it can cause the "not facing your enemy" message. I'm still facing the enemy, but the enemy is right on top of me and I get the message and failure. More noticeable on my wiz than my sorc because of the casting speed.

I sure hope they look into this one.

Thanks for bringing it up.

B.

Yes - this is extremely frustrating. Especially when the spell you are trying to cast has a high spell point cost or a long cooldown timer.

I understand that some spells are directional, and must be aimed at the target to hit. But, if I start to cast, and then I suddenly get a "not facing your enemy," I want my spell points and my cooldown back. At a minimum, if the spell didn't go off (fizzle?), give me my cooldown back.

And yes - I have notices the recent changes to canines and their occupation box. They are lunging so far and so often, it is often VERY difficult to figure out where their occupancy box is. Reel them back in some, please, Devs!

[Cauthey]

I don't play a caster very often (aka almost never), so is this new? I thought I'd get this message often when I tried playing a caster several updates ago. I know it's similar to the message that hirelings get when they are fighting, which has been around for as long as I can remember.

Not really new. Though, I believe with some of the AI changes, mobs have a greater tendancy to circle their opponents (in motivation to attack your back, maybe?) a frustrating number of times which ultimately makes it impossible to cast at close range.

[Kinerd]

There has always been the "you are not facing" message. The recent development is that it is occurring even when you are clearly facing the target. One somewhat plausible explanation I have seen is that it is lag-related: what is clearly the case on your screen is not what the game is looking at. I don't think that's the full explanation, though, as everything else is still very much in sync. I get damaged when the enemy swings, not before or after. When a spell does go off, it hits the enemy now, not before or after, and so on.

[Vanshilar]

One somewhat plausible explanation I have seen is that it is lag-related: what is clearly the case on your screen is not what the game is looking at. I don't think that's the full explanation, though, as everything else is still very much in sync. I get damaged when the enemy swings, not before or after. When a spell does go off, it hits the enemy now, not before or after, and so on.

Thing is, what your client is displaying is always slightly delayed from the server state. Your actions are being updated more or less instantly on your end (the client), but there's a delay between that and the server's end. There's also then a delay from the server's state to each client's state. So what this means is that to your client, you will always be slightly ahead of where the server thinks you are, and you are seeing the server state of what actually occurred say half a second ago according to the server, not the current server state.

One way to see this for yourself is to find a long stretch of hallway (such as partycrashers), and have your groupmate start behind you and then run forward. Right when he reaches you, you run forward as well. To you (if you timed it right), the two of you will be running together. To him, however, you will be far behind him. In fact that's how I first encountered this, when trying to test run speeds (by having two people run together).

You can also see this phenomenon for example when you try to hit a mob that's busy chasing someone else. According to your client, you are right next to the monster, even bumping up against it, and so it should've been a hit. According to the server though, because the monster is chasing someone else, by the time it gets your "client A at location B is trying to hit monster C" signal, the monster has moved to location D, and if locations B and D aren't close enough, it won't register that as a hit; you're basically just swinging at where the monster was half a second ago. It is also partially why it's relatively easy to melee kite monsters when they're chasing you. According to your client, you and the monster are impossibly far away to be hitting, but by the time the server gets your client data, the monster has moved closer to you. In other words, when the monster is chasing you, the actual distance between you and the monster is closer than what is being displayed on your client. When you are chasing a monster that's running away, the opposite is true: the monster is farther away according to the server than what is being displayed on your client. Call it DDO's lag-based relativity if you want. Actually, I think it's just simply called latency, or, you know, lag, even though I tend to think that word is generally not very informative (since there are many types, and people generally don't clearly or accurately describe what they're experiencing).

My hunch is that some of the code that takes this into account got a bit screwy recently, resulting in things like boxes not breaking properly, although I never really investigated them on my own (for all the reports of boxes not breaking properly when melees swung at them: were they while you were on the run, or did they not break when you stopped for a second and then swung? It may be due to a difference in attack latency versus movement latency allowances between the server and the client -- in which case (what I would've tested) the proper way to get around that may have been to swing at the box prior to reaching it or perhaps after already running past it). If you are constantly running around and facing different directions and getting the "not facing target" error message, this may also be a reason (and is also more likely a reason if this happens more when you're close to the target, since a small distance forward or back is a large angle difference). I would be curious to know if the "not facing target" error happens when the client is just standing still with a target that is clearly staying in front of them the whole time, i.e. say Shroud part 4, as opposed to when the client and the target are constantly moving around and changing orientations.

[Kinerd]

All those points make sense, and I consent to them without argument.

The problem is that the bug occurs when I am kiting a monster straight backwards. The first spate of this I remember was in the most recent Crystal Cove, when I was trying to drag Greigor back to the center. No matter how slowly information was reaching me, Greigor was never close enough to hit me; that is to say, I took no damage. Unless he was sprinting well past me, then doubling back around and sprinting past to end up in front of me again (ignoring all opportunities to attack), there is no way I should have been able to generate "not facing" errors... but they occurred nonetheless.

Any inexplicable bug is frustrating. This particular error causing cooldown, especially with the big boy DoTs, is extremely frustrating.