U51 Preview 3: Epic Destiny Overview

[AebroKomatme]

This reminds me of a question I’ve had for a while. What happens to that extra ED point tome some of us got for buying the big feywild pack? I’m talking about the one that gives all current EDs 25 points instead of 24. Does that carry over somehow, or are we getting shafted? I saw nothing indicating that carried over on my lam transfer.

[Lynnabel]

This reminds me of a question I’ve had for a while. What happens to that extra ED point tome some of us got for buying the big feywild pack? I’m talking about the one that gives all current EDs 25 points instead of 24. Does that carry over somehow, or are we getting shafted? I saw nothing indicating that carried over on my lam transfer.

It still applies, granting +1 Destiny Point. We mention this here:

This means that a player with Epic Completionist, all Epic Past Lives, the Tome of Destiny from Feywild, a +3 Tome of Fate, and all unlocked Destiny Trees, will begin level 20 with 23 Permanent Destiny Points (18 from fate, 4 from four copies of epic completionist, 1 from tome).

[slarden]

This reminds me of a question I’ve had for a while. What happens to that extra ED point tome some of us got for buying the big feywild pack? I’m talking about the one that gives all current EDs 25 points instead of 24. Does that carry over somehow, or are we getting shafted? I saw nothing indicating that carried over on my lam transfer.

It gives you one extra destiny point.

[AebroKomatme]

It still applies, granting +1 Destiny Point. We mention this here:

It gives you one extra destiny point.

Thank you both for setting the record straight in my frazzled brain matter.

[pjw]

Some final(?) observations since this is probably the last preview:

1. Tomes of Fate should grant Destiny points not Fate Points. They were powerful and valuable in the past, I would not buy them now.
2. Removing features from old EDs and turning them into spells makes sense. Adding new spells to EDs at the same time makes no sense.
3. Shiradi is NOT a fun way (for me) to get the best DPS on my Wizard. A return of lottery-based casting is dumbed-down play at its worst.
4. Shiradi damage should not proc on non-damaging spells like 'Hold'.
5. Draconic element should imbue all damaging spell casts, not just the same element. ie. your nature pervades all of your magic.

[MasterDragonan]

No improvements, no money. I refuse to spend any money on this game with new changes.
I have Canceled my VIP.

[Lencrennis]

No improvements, no money. I refuse to spend any money on this game with new changes.
I have Canceled my VIP.

You and the 10% per month leaving. Good on the lot of you!

[Cadveen]

No improvements, no money. I refuse to spend any money on this game with new changes.
I have Canceled my VIP.

The game is improving, period. Granted no one likes change, but if you look at the state of the game from its release in 2006 it’s staggering. All of it will buff out in the end.

[Theboss71]

The game is improving, period. Granted no one likes change, but if you look at the state of the game from its release in 2006 it’s staggering. All of it will buff out in the end.

The sad and unspoken truth of this ED revamp is when this goes live it will not hold. There will be significant changes from what they released and the game will stabilize within weeks. the question asked is why make it like it from the beginning? Listen to your players, apply changes according to them, game balance is important but the suggestions here didn't seem nowhere broken.

[DRoark]

There's a reason the server population went from an average of 23843, a high of 34554, and then tanked to 10750.

We know it, the tracker knows it.... but they're still driving the bus without brakes. Even with their changes, to the changes,
regarding some changes, nobody wants a Gated system on TOP of having to grind out every EPL to get points, by doing the
same XP quests non-stop for years.

At that point, it's not a game, it's a Will Save to avoid hitting "Menu >APP > Grindfest > (Delete)".

[Hawkwier]

The game is improving, period. Granted no one likes change, but if you look at the state of the game from its release in 2006 it’s staggering. All of it will buff out in the end.

Nonsense, period.

That's just my opinion though.

Yours is equally valid.

But it's not fact.

[Kvetha]

I love the concept direction this is taking!

One tweak that I believe that many people have said is move the access of T5 to level 29 to keep the leveling pattern established through the rest of epics.

Another change is to have the +1 critical multiplier on 19-20 to work with all weapons instead of the random requirements that they have now to have more variety in what possible T5 people can go into so a rogue using a staff can get the top on Shadowdancer and other similar issues.

The last thing that stands out to me is how many abilities use only stat a/b/c for DC calculations instead of just highest stat, and this is more of an issue to me because it's not consistent across abilities, so I think having that apply for everything would allow more build diversity.

[elvesunited]

---- Shiradi -----
Any offensive spell cast has a 30% chance ( increases on multi-hit spells ) to do random damage
3d100+100 damage of a random type ( average 252 )
Scales 100% of spell power
0.1 seconds cooldown ( prevents processing more than once on same spell )
---- and ----
Any offensive spell cast has a 30% chance ( increases on multi-hit spells ) to do either light or cold damage
3d100+180 damage of light or cold ( average 332 )
Scales with 200% of spellpower
0.1 second cooldown ( prevents processing more than once on same spell )
---- and ----
Additional 15% chance ( increases on multi-hit spells ) of random effect
---- and ----
Additional 15% chance ( increases on multi-hit spells ) of paralyzation or freezing

That's a lot of extra damage. If you use magic missile or some sort of multi-hit spell then the chance of going off goes up fast. I don't see this staying like this. Another round of reductions is coming. It's better it get nerfed now than after it goes live.

---- Draconic -----
Any offensive spell cast has a 25% chance to do
additional 1d6+6 damage per caster level of the draconic element ( average level 20: 190 level 30: 238 )
Guessing scales with 100% of spellpower
upgrade: Does same damage every 2 seconds for 3 ticks afterwards
5 second cooldown

The damage is significant especially if the target lives long enough to process extra hits but well behind Srihadi. Since this now processes on every spellcast can it be set up so that the extra damage does not effect enemies who would be healed by this sort of damage?

---- Exalted ----
A light, fire, or positive spell has a 15% chance to do extra damage or healing
1d4+4 damage of type per caster level ( average level 20: 130 level 30: 163 )
Guessing scales with 100% of spellpower
10 seconds cooldown however each type may have seperate cooldown

Well below draconic probably because it's possible to switch from light to fire and get the added damage from each. Possible yes. Likely no. I'd also like to see the lught and fire so it processes op every spellcast so warlocks can use this mantle. That may go a way toward justifying its much lower damage compared to draconic.

---- Primal Avatar ----
Fire/Light or Cold/Electric or Poison/Acid spells have ??% chance to do extra damage
1d6 per character level ( average level 20: 70 level 30 105 )
scales with 100% of spellpower
5 second cooldown with each type having its own cooldown

Weakest of the bunch. Needs a straight power up.

[Slanesh21]

This means that a player with Epic Completionist, all Epic Past Lives, the Tome of Destiny from Feywild, a +3 Tome of Fate, and all unlocked Destiny Trees, will begin level 20 with 23 Permanent Destiny Points (18 from fate, 4 from four copies of epic completionist, 1 from tome).

I don't understand this calculation, could someone please explain the "1 from tome" part? Does the one Permanent Destiniy Point come from the +3 Tome of Fate, the Tome of Destiny from Feywild or the combination of both? Does it mean only Feywild Ultimate Fan Bundle owners will get the additional Permanent Destiniy Point? What happens if I buy the Feywild Ultimate Fan Bundle after U51 is live? Will the tome still be delivered? Will it be usable? Will it grant an additional Permanent Destiny Point?

[rabidfox]

I don't understand this calculation, could someone please explain the "1 from tome" part? Does the one Permanent Destiniy Point come from the +3 Tome of Fate, the Tome of Destiny from Feywild or the combination of both? Does it mean only Feywild Ultimate Fan Bundle owners will get the additional Permanent Destiniy Point? What happens if I buy the Feywild Ultimate Fan Bundle after U51 is live? Will the tome still be delivered? Will it be usable? Will it grant an additional Permanent Destiny Point?

The +1 from tome would be from the Tome of Destiny (it gives a DP directly). The +3 Tome of Fate (or +1/+2 tome of fate) would be under the "18 from fate" portion; someone with a full +3 fate tome would effectively get +1 DP from it when fully converted over as one gets 1 DP per 3 fate points. So a players with Tome of Destiny & +3 Tome of Fate would have +2 DP total off them combined.

[Blerk]

I have three concerns about the U51 changes in general, aside from how the trees themselves are turning out.

The first is the lack of value being given to old fate point tomes. They were not easy to find in game nor were they cheap to buy. Yet SSG seems to think that because they are the old thing they should only be worth at most about a third as much as the new thing they want to sell us.

This is clearly aimed at milking more money from players, but there are better ways to encourage people who have the old tomes to buy the new ones. This could be by allowing them to stack on an equal basis or reducing/eliminating the cost of the newer tomes for people whose characters already have the old ones.

The devaluation of the old tomes is just not acceptable. It sends a very bad message to customers, ie, be careful about spending money on our products because we might pull some completely arbitrary rules change in the future that makes what we're offering you now much less valuable then. It is an act of bad faith and may have consequences for customers' spending patterns. Don't cross that line.

And before the inevitable contrarian appears to point out that the ToS says we don't own anything and the company can do whatever it wants to us this is primarily an issue of maintaining the good will of customers. Community good will seems in very short supply at the moment for the u51 changes, so doing more for your customers in this area is an opportunity to claw some of it back. For some of us u51 is shaping up to be the mother of all failures as an update and the bitter taste in our mouths will only be made worse if we feel it is being used to take advantage of us commercially as well.

My second concern relates to the additional value of epic completionist in the destiny point calculation. I'm curious if a character will simply be granted an additional point per any 12 epic past lives or there is additional requirement that you need three lives per sphere for each one of these additional destiny points. There will be people whose efforts have been mainly focused in two or three spheres with 12 or more past lives who technically aren't epic single, double or triple completionists and I would like to know how that will be handled.

The third issue is how respeccing our characters will be handled with the update. My advice is just do the right thing and give everyone a BTC +20 LR heart for each character they have at the time the update goes live. That will do a lot to alleviate the concerns of people who find the characters they have at cap or are in progress are severely affected by the update.

There's no reason community members should have to shoulder the burden of adjusting their characters to a set of rules changes they did not ask for and/or did not turn out the way they wanted. Issuing +20 hearts to every character will not cost any more than giving some +5s out and may mean some of those people that are considering leaving the game over this will instead remain behind and possibly continue to spend in the future.

[Seph1roth5]

I don't have any tomes of fates on any of my guys, but it definitely sounds like a big ripoff/downgrade with the new system.

[DRoark]

I don't have any tomes of fates on any of my guys, but it definitely sounds like a big ripoff/downgrade with the new system.

No surprize there.

As I said before Fate Tomes came out, which happened, they'll be selling EDP Tomes afterwards.
Every move they make, has an obvious endgame to sell something later to "upgrade" the patch.

[shores11]

Still nothing at 29 and all the 'epic' moments are level gated for 30. Can you at least re-name them to be legendary moments?

As someone who barely spends any time at cap because I am on the TR hamster wheel (and I find play at the cap to be boring), I will rarely get to use these for any real length of time.

Isn't being on the TR train, not staying at CAP a choice? I TR a lot as well but also maintain a few characters at level 30 to enjoy the feats and raiding.

I agree that legendary feats should only be granted at level 30.

[shores11]

No surprize there.

As I said before Fate Tomes came out, which happened, they'll be selling EDP Tomes afterwards.
Every move they make, has an obvious endgame to sell something later to "upgrade" the patch.

I never thought that a private company in the USA (capitalist's nation) would want to make money (profit). How dare they!