“When I find new information I change my mind; What do you do, sir?”
This retort is often attributed to the economist John Maynard Keynes, when challenged of changing his opinion too frequently. It is sometimes attributed to Winston Churchill or to another economist, Paul Samuelson - but what does this have to do with Eternium?
Once, long ago, when item level stopped at 70, before even the first balance patch that brought us ELR, playable Shield Warrior, Dual Wield Warrior, Arcanist, and all those lovely builds, I did Trial 115 in Assault gear on my mobile. Some would call it trivial by today's standards (even though Assault is not the perma-stun powerhouse it once was), but it remains my most remarkable achievement in my 5 years playing this game.
To me, at that time, the gesture interface was at its peak fluidity. I could draw my Rapid Fires my Snipes and my Smoke Screens *really* quickly, with small gestures that were almost unmistakably recognized. I could even "spam" the ability gestures when the cooldown wasn't finished - nowhere as effective as the PC keystroke, of course, but *usable and fluid* to the limit of my muscular coordination. Combined with 2-second alacrity, one peak trial was enough to leave your wrist in need of rest, but with the satisfaction of having played "at the limit" of your ability and been rewarded for it.
Then came the balance patch, for all the good things it brought us, and the introduction of the Global Cooldown 0.75seconds timer. I was against this from the start. Now, if you happen to draw your second skill too quickly - and it *is* quite possible to draw two symbols with less than 0.75s between them - the second one wouldn't get executed; it would get queued, but then - at least in what has always been my perception since day 1 - if you do, or the game thinks you are doing, ANYTHING else when the skill is queued, it "cancels" the queue. So the practical effect is that you end up having to draw your symbol *one more time* because the GCD prevents the first draw from executing. At peak trials, this can easily lead to death/loss.
But still we had fun playing mobile...
I could take my Arcanist to Trial 146, still able to execute the gestures fast / reliably enough for the perma-SoFT method that was Arcanist's original strategy. Of course, someone with the same skill level on a PC could have gone further; but who cares? In the community, on Discord and here in the forums, the Leaderboards were always separated. Mobile Assault 115 got me some praise. PC Assault 115 would not have.
Then alacrity was reduced to 1s per trigger, and Arcanist, perhaps, suffered the most. I took a fairly big disappointment then, to the point that I have not effectively pushed with Mage ever since. I played ELR in some ANBs, but only for the chance to craft better Arcanist gear for "some day" and because of the ease of reaping the non-competitive rewards with Frostbeam ELR (even on mobile).
( a parenthesis -> Finally, Arena was introduced,wherein the CoolDown Reduction formula was changed as we know, to a K of 750 but a halved effect. To "follow suit", skill cooldowns were (mostly) cut in half, and the already-struggling 1second alacrity was nerfed to an almost-meaningless 0.5seconds per trigger.
In this I must raise a question about the underlying math. Let's say I had a conservative 2K AR in the old system, which would be 2500 with Integralas Mantle; that's a 62.5% CDR. So a 20seconds cooldown skill gets down to 7seconds, which effectively correspond to 2.55seconds average cooldown time with 1second Alacrity (let's consider an attack speed of 6.0).
Under the new formula and Alacrity, that AR now corresponds to 38,5% reduction, and my skill now has a 10seconds cooldown, which thus becomes 6.15seconds - instead of 7. But with 0.5seconds Alacrity, those 6.15seconds are going to take approx 3.3 effective seconds to elapse on average - that's how long it takes me to accumulate enough Alacrity triggers to reduce the remaining time. Anyone playing peak trials knows this is huge. With 1second Alacrity (but the new AR), that would become 2.25seconds, much much closer to the original time.... )
I should say, I don't actually "blame" or resent the developers for making these changes. I know they meant well. But at a time when we are on the brink of actual Leaderboard separation, when most of the "bridge the gap between PC and mobile" necessity can be - at least - re-examined, I can't help but wish Adrian (Developer) and Red (Developer) would consider, at least consider, going back to the old pre-balance-patch system.
It would likely be enough to reinstate perma-Soft Arcanist to playable level.
It would address the difficulties with saving skills for ToS procs (e.g Shockwave, as Romme mentions in the Early Access thread)
It would be more rewarding to builds where skills actually matter, vs. those that rely more on "pounding attacks".
It would let mobile play "stand ground" on its own merits, instead of the constant feeling of "I wouldn't have these problems on a PC"
When I find new information I change my mind; What do you do, sir?
Or to quote a more recent movie, which in turn echoes Newton's third law of motion: "To go forward, you have to leave something behind..."
This retort is often attributed to the economist John Maynard Keynes, when challenged of changing his opinion too frequently. It is sometimes attributed to Winston Churchill or to another economist, Paul Samuelson - but what does this have to do with Eternium?
Once, long ago, when item level stopped at 70, before even the first balance patch that brought us ELR, playable Shield Warrior, Dual Wield Warrior, Arcanist, and all those lovely builds, I did Trial 115 in Assault gear on my mobile. Some would call it trivial by today's standards (even though Assault is not the perma-stun powerhouse it once was), but it remains my most remarkable achievement in my 5 years playing this game.
To me, at that time, the gesture interface was at its peak fluidity. I could draw my Rapid Fires my Snipes and my Smoke Screens *really* quickly, with small gestures that were almost unmistakably recognized. I could even "spam" the ability gestures when the cooldown wasn't finished - nowhere as effective as the PC keystroke, of course, but *usable and fluid* to the limit of my muscular coordination. Combined with 2-second alacrity, one peak trial was enough to leave your wrist in need of rest, but with the satisfaction of having played "at the limit" of your ability and been rewarded for it.
Then came the balance patch, for all the good things it brought us, and the introduction of the Global Cooldown 0.75seconds timer. I was against this from the start. Now, if you happen to draw your second skill too quickly - and it *is* quite possible to draw two symbols with less than 0.75s between them - the second one wouldn't get executed; it would get queued, but then - at least in what has always been my perception since day 1 - if you do, or the game thinks you are doing, ANYTHING else when the skill is queued, it "cancels" the queue. So the practical effect is that you end up having to draw your symbol *one more time* because the GCD prevents the first draw from executing. At peak trials, this can easily lead to death/loss.
But still we had fun playing mobile...
I could take my Arcanist to Trial 146, still able to execute the gestures fast / reliably enough for the perma-SoFT method that was Arcanist's original strategy. Of course, someone with the same skill level on a PC could have gone further; but who cares? In the community, on Discord and here in the forums, the Leaderboards were always separated. Mobile Assault 115 got me some praise. PC Assault 115 would not have.
Then alacrity was reduced to 1s per trigger, and Arcanist, perhaps, suffered the most. I took a fairly big disappointment then, to the point that I have not effectively pushed with Mage ever since. I played ELR in some ANBs, but only for the chance to craft better Arcanist gear for "some day" and because of the ease of reaping the non-competitive rewards with Frostbeam ELR (even on mobile).
( a parenthesis -> Finally, Arena was introduced,wherein the CoolDown Reduction formula was changed as we know, to a K of 750 but a halved effect. To "follow suit", skill cooldowns were (mostly) cut in half, and the already-struggling 1second alacrity was nerfed to an almost-meaningless 0.5seconds per trigger.
In this I must raise a question about the underlying math. Let's say I had a conservative 2K AR in the old system, which would be 2500 with Integralas Mantle; that's a 62.5% CDR. So a 20seconds cooldown skill gets down to 7seconds, which effectively correspond to 2.55seconds average cooldown time with 1second Alacrity (let's consider an attack speed of 6.0).
Under the new formula and Alacrity, that AR now corresponds to 38,5% reduction, and my skill now has a 10seconds cooldown, which thus becomes 6.15seconds - instead of 7. But with 0.5seconds Alacrity, those 6.15seconds are going to take approx 3.3 effective seconds to elapse on average - that's how long it takes me to accumulate enough Alacrity triggers to reduce the remaining time. Anyone playing peak trials knows this is huge. With 1second Alacrity (but the new AR), that would become 2.25seconds, much much closer to the original time.... )
I should say, I don't actually "blame" or resent the developers for making these changes. I know they meant well. But at a time when we are on the brink of actual Leaderboard separation, when most of the "bridge the gap between PC and mobile" necessity can be - at least - re-examined, I can't help but wish Adrian (Developer) and Red (Developer) would consider, at least consider, going back to the old pre-balance-patch system.
It would likely be enough to reinstate perma-Soft Arcanist to playable level.
It would address the difficulties with saving skills for ToS procs (e.g Shockwave, as Romme mentions in the Early Access thread)
It would be more rewarding to builds where skills actually matter, vs. those that rely more on "pounding attacks".
It would let mobile play "stand ground" on its own merits, instead of the constant feeling of "I wouldn't have these problems on a PC"
When I find new information I change my mind; What do you do, sir?
Or to quote a more recent movie, which in turn echoes Newton's third law of motion: "To go forward, you have to leave something behind..."
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