First impresions after the NERFS

[Mellkor]

First impresions after the nerf. Try and keep it civil

Vanguard Pally: Took it hard. In EE quests, doing much less DPS taking longer to kill enemies, taking a lot more damage in the process. I think going THF will be the way to go now, since I can kill around 50% faster with a THF build now. Therefore the added protections from shield are no longer worth the loss in DPS, even against many enemies and ESPECIALLY against one or two. I really felt it was balanced before this huge nerf. Before the nerf I had much better defenses, and around 20% less DPS than when THF'ing. Now its the other way around. Revert this nerf please. S&B SHOULD be the paladins strongest stance, its Iconic to the class.


Rogues: Did not notice any real loss of DPS. Sneak is overwhelmingly the biggest part of my DPS, so a little less base DPS is hardly noticed. Nerf to MRR is hardly noticed either, since rogues typically take no damage or a lot of damage anyway.

Warlock: Still rip through heroics like a hot knife through butter. Now quite a bit less effective in Epics. Over all much worse than before, sine now there is little difference in heroic levels, and a big drop in DPS and survivability in Epics. I thought they were just right in Epics before this big nerf.


Haven t tried my other toons yet, but the above are/were the mains I currently play.

Please add your comments! Especially for other classes.

[Ykt]

So far the only character I played that is affected by the patch is my AA ranger ... doubling DPS so everything is cool.

[Basura_Grande]

Level 28 pure tempest. Other than manyshot being garbage on a non-bow-specced toon i didn't notice anything.

[JOTMON]

Well, at least we have the ability to TR.... adapt and change...

[CrackedIce]

So far the only character I played that is affected by the patch is my AA ranger ... doubling DPS so everything is cool.

What is your enhancement split?

[Systern]

Tried 2 characters today:

My completionist is currently a Swash-lock (ES)... Her melee damage is pretty much the same, the aura nerfs hit her hard. The thought building her was to use Utterdark and then the SLAs, but it's not like I'm beating things up with a caster stick, and Radiance and Radiance Lore are so completely under-represented in the loot tables that it's not like she had a lot of light spellpower and crit to begin with. Tough choice: Use Blasting Chime for all the sonic synergy with swashie and fey (spwr + lore), or Shamanic Fetish (spwr only)? ... okay, not a tough choice. The Warlock aspect of her doesn't seem fun anymore. Definitely 28-and-on-to-the-next-iconic-life. Spellpower and Lore need to come as Topaz augments as well as Rubies - because hybrid characters exist and they don't melee with caster sticks (and not all weapons, especially the good ones, have slots. i.e. when leveling).


Then I tried my Artificer. My god Arties are in a sad state. She's 2nd life, 7 bard/13 arti. Bard's Reckless Chant is bugged and doesn't increase doubleshot. So I'm running around with 3% from a primal ePL, and 2% ship buff. All the old doublestrike items are still doublestrike only, so it's not like an Epic Spare Hand helps. There's the Dynamistic Quiver for another 5% (ML 14) but I don't have it, or the Epic version is level 28 so that's useless for playing the TR grind. There's Epic Quiver of Alacrity, but Arties are casters too, and when I need a Tactical Detonation, I need it without -50 concentration. There's Trapmaker's crossbow or what ever, but that has no +enhancement on it, so no implement bonus. There's the "flurry" affix that only appears on random-gen armor and I'm unwilling to give up actual named armor for it. Same is true for "Rapid Strikes" random-gen weapons. So the best double shot I can get until level 28 and the destiny feat is 5%; but then I'd just er/tr immediately anyway. So, 5% Doubleshot scaled to 1.67% (is that rounded to 2% or floored to 1%?). Arties have been hurting since U19 and taking their one prestige and splitting it into 2 ill-conceived trees. My only hope at this point is that the Arti pass comes with U30 and Gnomes since that's the natural thought "Gnomes make good arties!" but that's another 6 months away and there's no guarantee. Way to nerf an already struggling class.

[Aletys]

So far the only character I played that is affected by the patch is my AA ranger ... doubling DPS so everything is cool.

Interesting. My experience is the opposite on my AA. Her DPS is the close to the same as before the update, except when I'm using Manyshot, and then it's really sad. So my overall damage is down. Not a happy camper.

[schelsullivan]

Manyshot is now pewing results like 3, 2, 2, 1, 1, 3, 2 ,2 1 ,2, 2, 3, 2, 3, 2, 2, 1, 3, 2 for 20 seconds, instead of 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 ect then double shot cool down. Makes my AA play very disappointing. My AA is 7 years old and has always been my fav most playable EE toon, now hes in the toilet.

[RapkintheRanger]

Manyshot is now pewing results like 3, 2, 2, 1, 1, 3, 2 ,2 1 ,2, 2, 3, 2, 3, 2, 2, 1, 3, 2 for 20 seconds, instead of 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 ect then double shot cool down. Makes my AA play very disappointing. My AA is 7 years old and has always been my fav most playable EE toon, now hes in the toilet.

I agree. The AA is not a catastrophy, but not good either. the best thing about my character was burst dmg. I dont think the overall increase in DPS makes up for the loss of burst DPS.

math wise, i think it is less dmg
fun wise, it is certainly less fun

I wish i could get greater burst out of many shot.... AND SO DEAR DEVS ... if i can't have a better many shot, when you look at the AA tree, can you find me some more burst DPS?

[der_kluge]

My longsword-wielding cleric still sucks in the DPS department, but I don't think anything changed there.

But the ranger in our GH group last night was just killing it. Like, nearly one-shotting a lot of mobs. So, I wouldn't be surprised to see Rangers become the FotM now.

[slarden]

Warlock: Still rip through heroics like a hot knife through butter. Now quite a bit less effective in Epics. Over all much worse than before, sine now there is little difference in heroic levels, and a big drop in DPS and survivability in Epics. I thought they were just right in Epics before this big nerf.

.

Warlock nerf wasn't as bad as I thought since energy burst, divine wrath and avenging light weren't impacted - but still too far.

I think a better way to fix the heroic problem is to only allow maximize/empower on SLAs UNTIL they reach character level 20. Getting 225 spellpower in heroics on those is too much. If they do this they can safely move spirit blast and eldritch burst up to 115 scaling with spellpower.

I think it was a mistake to nerf consume and stricken. Warlock single-target damage is below what the top melees put out significantly, although AOE is decent overall because of divine wrath and energy burst from ED.

I would only run warlock on a maxed out toon after the changes.

[unbongwah]

I think a better way to fix the heroic problem is to only allow maximize/empower on SLAs UNTIL they reach character level 20. Getting 225 spellpower in heroics on those is too much.

That's completely inconsistent with how all other PrE SLAs work, though. If the problem is level scaling - too powerful in heroics, too weak in epics - they should fix that without breaking consistency (IMO).

I would only run warlock on a maxed out toon after the changes.

So, just another caster, then?

[patang01]

That's completely inconsistent with how all other PrE SLAs work, though. If the problem is level scaling - too powerful in heroics, too weak in epics - they should fix that without breaking consistency (IMO).

So, just another caster, then?

That was stated numerous times but it seems they tried to fix the issue of heroic (which is easy in almost all classes) quests and Warlocks by hurting Epic. It's not a smart move. It would be better if they coded it so Epic levels increases it while keep it reasonably lower in Heroic. Yes, that would hurt hybrids somewhat unless they invest deeper but it seems the real reason for the Warlock nerfs was the heroic situation AND the powerful hybrids anyways.

[Ghoulstorm]

I haven't checked out all of my toons yet, but my vanguard pally took it on the chin hard. My vaunted survivability took a big hit with my MRR now in the gutter and dps is markedly lower. I'll probably end up doing what they clearly want me to do and swapping to thf, but I never really liked thf and I'd have to farm out new gear, so maybe I just end up shelving him to collect dust instead.

[AbyssalMage]

First impresions after the nerf. Try and keep it civil

Drow TWF 17/2 Paladin/Monk - Alt , Created a long time before the initial enhancement pass (U14?, maybe)

So the character has seen a lot of changes. She basically played like she did prior to the Paladin pass, which was basically horrible. I'll be switching to 2HF in the next 36 hours (which she never was in all of these updates) and TR'ing after grinding a Smoke II GS item. Too many deaths. Thankfully I wasn't the only Paladin dying on our HE runs.

Elf TWF Barbarian - Alt, 1 x Cleric PL
This was a flavor character, always has been, and I wanted to play Barbarian. Immediately switched to 2HF because of the nerf (I see a pattern forming ). Well actually nerf's, Blood Strength was the real reason I originally went 2WF for 2x the healing so I could stay alive. I didn't really see a difference in HH content but that was to be expected. HE will be the real test which I will conduct later this weekend. My guess is the spell damage will be too much but that is still theory, which will either be confirmed or denied.

[Robbenklopper]

I thought the balance-pass would hit harder, but it doesn´t seem to be to me.

LVL28 Pure Barbarian THF: Little loss in PRR+MRR, no noticable change in DPS or Blood Strenght. Was there really a change to? Plows through, stays alive.
LVL28 Pure Fighter S&B: Little loss in PRR+MRR, maybe readjusting feats for better PRR+MRR but still high, but definetly wanna get the DC-Candy. Stunning Blow worked fine already before in EE. DPS still ok, stays alive.
LVL28 Pure Monk TWF unarmed: I read about the crit-bug, but didn´t noticed to say. Still working fine like before. Loss of +6MP from GTWF is not that much. Loss of PRR+MRR not noticable DPS. DPS ok, stays alive
LVL28 Pure Monk THF Qstaff: Untouched, nothing to say. DPS mediocre, survives.

So all in all, what has changed?

[HernandoCortez]

So all in all, what has changed?

Lvl 28 Arcane Archer: non-manyshot DPS pretty much the same, except for some 6k plus crits which I got by not taking some AA stuff and spending points on the extra crits from Deepwood. Manyshot not good. MRR loss = a few deaths adjusting to the learning curve of taking 350+ elemental damage from abishais on a 850hp character. I thought ranged rangers would be getting some needed love. No candy.

[Dhalgren]

Haven't gotten my warlock life to epic levels yet (hopefully in the next couple of days), but I can say that in heroics, the difference is negligible. Warlock is still ridiculously overpowered in heroics.

I'll take it as read that I'll be missing out a bit when I hit epics, but hell, I usually don't min-max my toons anyway (often I don't even plug them into the planner, and just wing it), so who knows. We'll see how far I can push the DCs and spellpower.

All in all, I'm not worried.

[Edit: wow, apparently it's been a while since I posted. That sig is seriously out of date.]

[Saekee]

my assassin is only level 13 now. Lost a little MP from TWF feats BUT I really like the boost to the TWF animation. Also is using kukris...

[Coyopa]

I took my 28th level 18 bard/2 rogue out and she performed about the same.

I took my 25th level paladin out (admittedly, poorly equipped weapon-wise to start) and was underwhelmed with her performance. I'll be changing this character to THF from S&B this weekend.

Took my thrower build out and, as expected, I'm delighted by its performance. I expected this because I was relying on Improved Weapon Finesse for dexterity to damage, which hadn't been working for thrown weapons until yesterday's patch. Now, it's working and the character can finally switch from using bows to using shurikens. My doubleshot is up to 13% right now. When I get the next 2 AP, I'll have a 30% doubleshot boost (instead of just 20%).

I haven't tried out my arti/rogue, yet. I'll do that either tonight or Saturday. The only other character I'm going to have a look at is my (what is supposed to become) 12 wizard/5 cleric/3 fighter, which is currently level 7. I want to see what I can do with that character to make leveling in the low heroics more fun. The rest of my characters are considered parked for the foreseeable future and I'm neither going to take them out for a spin nor worry about making any changes to them.

EDIT: I will be taking my 26th level rogue out and seeing what's up with him. Haven't played him a lot lately, but I don't consider him parked, either.