Early access balancing changes - August 2021

[CarnivorousDeathParrot.2]

BH
I'm not sure about boosting Explosive Shot and Tracer Ammo.
It will further enhance the Stalker/Sniper build already using Explosive Shot for Molten belt. Then Explosive Shot will be the only thing in the meta. The boosts to the Havoc set sound great. Let's see what the testers find out.

Mage
Arcanist needs a boost separate from perma-SOFT mechanics.
In fact, having to fight in two different states would make the class more interesting.
I don't know why the decrease in SOFT dmg reduction; Arcanist defense is very weak already.

[Heikki Gross]

Im just going to post a few bugs, will do a more detailed overview later.

1. Cosmic ripple does zero damage. Checked in tg and in trials. No damage at all. While fixi g that i suggest to increase the range of the blast at least to the level what vial has. Otherwise it isnt a particulary appealing buff except for arena. Given the changes to arc (soft dr reduction) even a well kitted arc mage has no business blinking into a mob at TL145+ so the ripple has to do its job outside the pack.

2. When i logged in i saw my old belt of arcane shielding have multiple lines of the bonus a total of 24000 (3x8000 and 4000) deflect rating and - 4000 (4x-1000) armor. Crafted belt had the normal single bonuses.

I would post sc's but there is no way of uploading the pictures here.

[Romme]

Please take this as constructive feedback. I want this game to succeed, but puzzled at most of the changes after reading through them.

Will the devs actually take feedback from then alpha testers? I would hope beta will be something with a whole new set of values and maybe have a lot of other changes. Or are these changes just going to stick no matter the results and feedback given?

Looking at the list of changes there will be no new meta for warrior. Here are my initial thoughts:
-Shield build was so far behind that I doubt these huge buffs will make it competitive.
-Shockwave won't be good again unless the cooldown is severely shortened or you buff alacrity..
-warlord 6 buff will do nothing for the set.
-juggernaut buffs will do nothing for the set. Not sure if devs know, but the 4 peice bonus that increases shockwave increases the base damage, not the multipliers from all the bleeds (where the real damage comes from).
-looks like the king of exp farm will potentially get even faster with fury buffs but do nothing to be competitive for push..

-Warrior needs some massive passive buffs to survive high trials since you know.. they can't kite and actually need to get hit... Dw needs ww procs for the 30% damage reduction and all the healing it gives. They need leap for the 50% damage reduction. They need itz for the 2000 parry. Without just 1 of these good luck surviving tl150+. Unless you want to massively increase warrior damage so they aren't forced to pull half the map. Or buff armor for warrior so it's possible to get like 98-99% damage reduction...because that's what it would take.

Also looks like stalker is getting buffed.. stalker is already somehow clearing 15-20tl higher than the other classes...unless those clears are not legit and will actually get banned for once this season.

Looking forward to testing some things out to see if my initial thoughts are correct.

[Jose Sarmento]

While I mostly agree with Romme, "Unless you want to massively increase warrior damage so they aren't forced to pull half the map. " is a particularity of the infamous Cleave build, no? Shockwave still has fairly short boss fights - at the expense of a tougher time getting there. This makes sense to me, intrinsically.

That said, I'm no Romme, but I feel that:
- Devastate needs a matching buff to rival Fury 2 bonus as the "big spark" into Shockwave damage. I would suggest to make it a mandatory Crit (a la Snipe), even at the expense of lowering its damage. Consider also the DPS (and Grievous Wounds stack) loss incurred by Devastate cast time

- ITZ lacks a "slot" right now if you want to do a Warlord 6 Shockwave build. Need Shockwave, need Charge or Leap for the Warlord 2 bonus, need Devastate to have sufficient single-target damage. Maybe extend Warlord 2 bonus to include ITZ also. Or, add a 4th skill.

[Romme]

Im talking about ever since osmosis was a introduced. first it was itz leap build and now its cleave where you are forced to pull most the map so you can get enough osmosis stacks to have a chance to kill the boss.
Shockwave died with alacrity nerfs. After first nerf it was still good because itz cooldown reduction, but it's crap now. Unless they greatly reduce the cooldown or change ar/alacrity like I mentioned it's not going to be usable.
Right now you can't hold onto your charges unless you want to die. Without the 2 stacks going, 25% damage reduction each, and healing from shockwave good luck surviving. Because of this best case scenario you get 2 shockwaves off during tos.
So yea i think that warriors need a huge damage buff or a huge defensive buff to have any sort of build diversity because warriors are forced to use these active skills that give you huge defense boosts that you can't survive without. Or give them something crazy like an op molten belt effect.

[LodWig]

• Fury Battlegear 6 pieces set bonus - Using Charge or Leap now also increases the Warrior’s Power by 500 for 6 seconds, stacking up to 5 times.

Does not work, based on testing in the Training Grounds.

[LodWig]

• Demolitionist 6 pieces set bonus - Lethal Shot now deals 100% more damage per stack of Stick Bomb, up from 50%.

It does indeed gives 100% per stack, as it was already the case, see here. Also, the effect is still granted by Demo-2, or the Assassin's Belt. So nothing changed in fact.

[Tin Man]

This error has existed as long as I have played but Salvage does not unlock after completing "level 6" as stated in-game as that would require a hero level 20. Salvage unlocks after completing story level 5.

[Heikki Gross]

First, I want to greet the effort to balance the game. Long waited and now its happening. But the first questions, after reading the list of changes, that popped into my mind, were the same, as Romme was asking.

Is this the final plan?

Are there more phases to this?

Could you please elaborate, what is the outcome you expect of each and every change you made. So we as players can give the feedback if the goal was met.

Maybe you don't even need feedback, even that is unclear.


But on the matter, I have been playing mostly mage in this game and started when Arc became the meta. So my feedback will be mage themed. Currently I'm playing Stormcaller build and seem to be the only one who plays it in high (150+) trials. So I consider myself experienced in that matter and I was mostly waiting for the fps issue fix to this set with the upcoming patch. But it seems like that is not going to be the case.

May I ask, why are you not fixing this horrible issue? It is the only reason why people avoid playing the set.

If you are out of ideas how to fix it then I will give you one, put that into next alpha build and I will tell you if it is fixed or not.

What exactly is causing the fps drop? Its the sheer need for cpu power to get all those calculations done, because once event horizons spawn there is a hell of a lot going on in the background.
Currently, in the game, if a mob is lightning struck and a singularity is fired at it, then in average have seen 3 - 4 event horizons spawn from a single foe.
Each event horizon hits 3,8 times your attack speed - in my case, fully buffed, that number is around 30.
So from each mob you can get up to 120 hits.
In high trials there are usually 30-50 mobs in one pull, so it means that event horizons will hit up to a total of 50 x 120 = 6000 times in 5 sec.
Each of those hits can hit all the surrounding mobs, so in worst case scenario it is 6000*50 = 360000 hits total.
Each hit can crit or not and each hit will get applied your current buffs/debuffs. Meaning if I activate time warp in mid cast, then the rest of the hits will get the benefit, same goes for any proc.

You dont have to be a computer wizard to understand that this kind of computations require a lot of resources.

But why it doesnt happen in lower trials? It is because event horizon is so powerful there, that everything just dies before it can go full cycle. So the first initial spawns will kill everything surrounding them. Not the case at higher level, where it takes 2-3 casts to mow down a pack.

My suggestion to you, to fix the SCR fps drop issue, is this:

1) Once an enemy spawns an event horizon, it can not spawn another for 6 seconds.
2) To make up for lost spawns increase the damage of event horizon from 200% to 800% of singularity damage.

This way we get up to 4 times less spawns and up to 4 times less cpu strain.


Belt of Arcane Shielding - Deflect rating doubled.

The second issue what Stormcaller set has, is single target dps. A while back l made a suggestion to join Belt of Arcane shielding and The belt of whispered secrets and to remove the armor reduction.
Deflect as a standalone defensive stat is useless in this game, no one ever runs it and it just makes the change you made, completely useless. But if you join those belts then the bonus makes sense and this belt could be the central piece on SCR and also on Arc. Currently I run the belt of the whispered secrets, but you can really go with nornal belt and not loose much, because the lightning struck from SCR set is the same debuff what you get from the belt, they dont stack. But they should in this case, so the easiest way around it would be to separate the buffs and let them add to eachother. That would help with SCR single target dps and not boost the mob phase damage because you dont deflect much for mobs but you do deflect a lot for boss.

So please join together the bonuses of Belt of Arcane Shielding and The Belt of Whispered secrets and remove the armor reduction.
Additionally separate lighting struck debuffs from SCR set and from the belt so they can add to eachother.


Stormcaller Regalia 6 pieces set bonus - Targets affected by the Event Horizon now deal 50% less damage for 5 seconds.

This change is like pouring gasoline into the fire. Like there was not enough to calculate for each and every foe, now there is also a debuff what resets with each Event Horizon hit.

But that is only half of the problem, this kind of damage reduction is hard to maintain and if you can't keep it up 95% of the fight, then it will not work. Scr bossfights are the longest in this game and relying on luck, in terms of defence, will not get you far. There will be many moments during that 7 minute bossfight, where you have all your defences down and the run is ruined.

What would help, is if you put that debuff to lightning struck instead event horizon. So if a mob is lightning struck, it does 50% less damage.

The uptime of that debuff can be nearly 95% and it would also make sense in mobphase, because once you have vortexed them together and thrown your blizzard, then for maximum dps you have to run near the pack and release the singularity into them. If blizzard will add lightning struck to the pack, the approach will be a bit safer and you dont rely so much on the FK bubble.

Arcanist Vestments 6 pieces set bonus - triggering the effect now only requires 7 Shards of Frozen Time down from 10, but the effect now only grants 70% damage reduction down from 90%.

Eridanus, Greatstaff of the Magi - the Ripple effect now deals 10000% weapon damage, up from 4000%.

Those two changes are clearly aimed towards making arc viable again but I can say off the bat, that they dont.
Although ripple doesnt work currently in alpha, i couldnt clear even 130 in reasonable speed with the soft changes.

It is hard to understand what kind of arcanist you are trying to revive.

Do you want to bring back the old spammy version or you want to get a new direction?

For the spammy version we need to think back how it was. It was able to clear around TL135 and that was before the nerf to singularity loh component and AR. Even if there are now some trinkets and elemental damage, that will not add +25 trial levels to its capabilities. It would need a lot more than just 2,5 x ripple damage and an "almost permasoft". Also the build will need a lot more defence to be able to play like it used to, if you could blink into a group at 135, with soft running, then in 145 that same action will be a 1hk for you. So the reduction of DR does not make sense, it should be added instead.

But if you want to stride to a new direction then this change to soft mechanic is somewhat ok. I personally would like to see a more assassin type of mage build emerge from arc, where you have to keep your distance for the charges building and then jump in for enormous damage spike, once soft lands or make it pull enemies in for 5 sec and then let the mage escape in the following 3 sec.

Overall the arc changes have fallen also flat, except in arena. The build will rule arena for sure.

Im unable to comment on other mage changes, because they just dont feel appealing or gamechanging to me.

I also feel, that some of the decisions or buff options are held back by arena. I suggest to fix pve first and focus arena separately, just make the needed future nerfs only in arena. Like you have done already on many skills and items. For example FK set bubble will not heal you full in arena but it does so in story. Same item and different interaction in arena.

[Quetzorian]

An absolutely excellent and comprehensive set of suggestions. Cheers! I also play SCR in ANB (although I don't finish in the top 100 with the build, it's definitely the most enjoyable set). I'm experimenting with various options for the SCR build to try and maximise how competitive it is, so I really hope your suggestions are welcomed by the Devs and acted upon. It would be great to finally see SCR become the new meta!

[Heikki Gross]

I dont want it to be the new meta, but I want it to be equal to ELR and I want Arc to be equal to them as well. So in the hands of a skilled players we would see top 10 equally divided between the builds. Btw I had started writing a guide for SCR, before the alpha. Once we have live version and I know what will be the final changes, I'll finish it. Maybe you can enter top 100 then.

[Quetzorian]

Agreed! I'd certainly prefer to see various competitive builds, rather than a single meta.

If different builds were competitive, I'd choose to play SCR. I've tried experimenting with using plenty of Block and Deflect... I even tried adding Parry onto trinkets, cape, Deirdre's, Rylocke's and the Parry enchantment on the gloves but those didn't prove to be a breakthrough for the build either.

I'll now try using Encrypted Shield again and see if I can build a better character using that. I remain hopeful that a future balance change will finally make SCR more competitive with ELR.

[Heikki Gross]

I was mistaken about the SOFT change, you cant even go to TL130 with it. I equipped double the defence the ARC used to wear and a lot more loh and as you can see from the video, mobs kill me through the SOFT buff.

This leaves me even more puzzled and makes me want to know what are the expected outcomes of those chages. This one is definitely not for making Arc viable again in trials, makes me lean more towards making it viable in arena and that also explains the Eridanus damage buff.

[Romme]

Yikes...

[kurtcabage]

oof

[Finn42]

Regarding the CT's in this beta ANB:
1) will we get the CT's in the beta to use to push to higher trials?
2) will the non ephemeral items transfer to main account ? (aka, if I craft a ilv77 item, and use a CT on it.. I'll get the max stat item on main account after , but I just won't get the CT to "re-ct" it, correct?
3) when exactly are the dates of this beta? AKA, I'd like to participate, but don't want to lock my PC out of my account for too long.
thank you.

[Nhat]

1. There's NO CT for the ANB: 90 gives Master crate, 110 gives Legendary crate
2. Since there's no CT, no way to transfer crafted item back to main account
3. ANB already running, ends in 8 days... no idea how long it'll actually take for final release... depends on how many issues found...

[Finn42]

Thanks.. I might make a char 7 days in, just level to 70 so I get get a "cheap" new char for crafting some 77's, and a legendary crate is no scoffing matter.
only downside is once I install the APK on phone, I can't use PC to play anymore

[CarnivorousDeathParrot.2]

Random obvious comment but giving back LoH to Singularity should have been one of the changes. . .

[Heikki Gross]

They cant, this was the effort to fix the ROTS, not like they could have made it also ppm based

[Heikki Gross]

I was puzzled for a long time about those changes but I think I cracked it.

The Devs changed the legendaries drop rate, in effort to increase gem spenditure in Anb or story mode, but that probably didnt give the needed result. So they are focusing the other place, where people can spend gems, The Arena.

Those alpha changes are not for PvE, this is an Arena balancing patch. Once I put all the changes into relation for Arena, everything from Mage point of view starts to make sense.


0. Belt of arcane shielding is just a troll item, nothing can fix it and it does not have any use in or out of arena. No matter how much deflect you put on there, there are always better options.

1. Arc requires less charges but you are not immortal, helps a ton, but doesnt make you a god like it did previously. This change makes Pve worse and Arena a lot stronger for the build.
2. Ripple damage buff helps a lot in arena and makes the weapon set more appealing. In Pve it doesnt do almost anything, because no one can go close enough to reap the benefit.
3. Stormcaller defence buff, same as Arc. This change boggled my mind the most, because it made the Fps issue even worse and the only sensible place to put that debuff would have been Lightning struck, but in Arena you can keep that debuff up all the time and it would be too op. Getting an event horizon on enemy requires more work, kinda like SOFT on Arc.
4. Fireball buff fits well into the arena for bigger thermal shock damage. In Pve the change does not make a lot of sense.
5. Apprentice changes will give it a place in Arena, not in Pve though. But can't test it, the 6 piece bonus does not work. Its still the old way.
6. Both trinket changes are good for arena, not so much for Pve. Vial will still be better than Brooch because it is an aoe and doesnt fall off after 4th target and Life regen is not needed at all in trials, but in arena it is.

This being the arena balancing patch also explains, why Stormcaller set is not fixed, it works perfect in arena, no fps drop or anything. So its golden.

And this is also probably the reason, why we were not given the reasoning for each change, the community does not like Arena. An anb was started, because that would lure experienced players to play the alpha and give them feedback. Even if it is all negative, devs will still get the info, if advertized stuff work or not. Well, most of it doesnt, so here is your feedback.

My guess is that after this patch, there will also be bigger rewards for being Rank1 in arena lb and then the money will start to flow. It is purely a business decision I get that, but why fool your loyal player base?

Players of other classes, just go over those changes, in light of Arena, and see if you find logic there?

[Romme]

Hmm...looking at the changes for warrior. I was thinking the same thing...

[LStab]

In fact，ANB is more cheaper than before.We don't like Arena just because it is imbalance(as a hunter).Balance Arena will be good. I don't think they want people to spend more gems.Those changes is so "useless" just because they don't play their own game,They don't know what is the real problem is.

[Romme]

Shockwave also has 3 charges, up from 2. But still is not usable

[Romme]

Jose Sarmento and what skills would you recommend for a quick boss fight that doesn't require many stacks of osmosis, but also won't take more than 10m to clear mobs in say tl 150? Let me know when you have tested and have results.
I'm not going to repeat all the points I made, if you want to review anything I said before just scroll up.

[Jose Sarmento]

Shockwave is the only candidate there.

[Romme]

So I can see you still haven't tested this out then...You're as delusional as the dev team in one of their balance patch meetings. How can you still argue that this skill, in its current state, is going to change anything?
Yes, I have tested it out, and yes it still sucks. So again, if you want to keep arguing please come back after you have tested and have results. If not, don't comment and give the devs a shimmer of hope that they actually did something right, when this entire balance patch was a joke.

[LodWig]

• Warlord 6 pieces set bonus - Damage dealt to low health targets is now increased by 200%, up from 100%.

Does work, damage is indeed tripled (a 200% increase), I can't confirm the 35% health threshold but it seem accurate. (Tested, with Floating Numbers ON, against The Broken Dragon on map 1.16, using a Lily and bare hands for constant damage, then weapons to lower her health, then again bare hands.)

Edit: And it's a real buff, the increase is indeed only 100% with the stable release.

[LodWig]

• Fury Battlegear 4 pieces set bonus - Tornadoes spawned by Whirlwind now deal 10000% weapon damage, up from 8000%.

Does work, there is a 20% increase in damage dealt, based on TG tests. But it seems the damage is not 10000% WD each second for 3 seconds, but 10000% damage over 3 seconds, with damage inflicted each half second. So the Damage/Cast reported on the Details Sheet is, without damage enhancements, 100/6 Weapon Damage (and is 80/6 WD with the stable release).

[demoin666]

Buft？
Is just a late april fool joke right?

Buft something even cann't play?

From the 1st, please balance and re work all the set item, and unique item,skill.

Like mage the 1st set item people like before ,
the apprentice set, the powerful is unlimited cast immolate.

Now? Buft to Rank 50 skill(520dmg?)?but only 3cast? What meaning?

you guy no nert the apprentice set, is totally broke the set item.

Warlords 6piece set buft? 100%to200%? Who want to used?
because of only ativive when enemy low 35%life?

Demolitionist 6 pieces set,50% to 100% .the skill is totally crap, full stack also just 500%more dmg. And the set item problem is the boom attive time too long and only attive when use exoplose shot. Than late skill need use lethal shot??

who the designer?

He use the brain or other things to make this?

Is you team want to player pay, please do the good things to make it.

Sorry for my terrible English.

thank you who seeing this