Patch Notes 06/08/2020

[neviirien]

absorb change - balance question:
certain classes eg tank classes like the "bubble sm" (or maybe bg as well) depended more on absorbs for survivability than other tanks and were balanced around that.
now this absorb change may lead to a state of unbalance amongst tank survivability... is that a wrong assumption? and what do others (more knowledgeable players than me) think about this?

The absorb change has made it just like it was on live. Bubbles are getting the correct mitigation value from toughness now. As tanks, the SM and BG have a naturally decent toughness. What this change does is shift the effectiveness of absorbs a bit, as they were getting too much mitigation prior, being placed at the tail end of the combat formula and benefitting from high armor values. The initial change was to put them in front which was incorrect and would have impacted bubbles much more negatively. So the end result here is that tanks (and other of course) can no longer stack armor and benefit from bubbles getting that mitigation, but rather need toughness to improve the quality of their bubbles.

[Cornerback]

[City Siege]

- Number of bags now scale with number of participants.

Why not fix the queuer instead so inis are actually filled instead of having multiple half-empty inis?

Update: I'm in a 22 player ini right now. You are srsly removing a gold bag instead of a white bag when there are <24 players? Now thats some bad change. Sry folks.

[wargrimnir]

[City Siege]

- Number of bags now scale with number of participants.

Why not fix the queuer instead so inis are actually filled instead of having multiple half-empty inis?

Partially filled instances are preferred by some people. We initially assumed there was some playstyle preference, but it in the end it turns out they were basically exploiting the queue for more bags. I was terribly shocked as you might expect. So the bags were fixed for all queues. If you still want to try and get a 12v12, that's fine I guess.

[Cornerback]

Another person left. We're down to 21 people now, losing 1 gold and 1 blue bag. This is probably the one of the worst changes in a long, long time.

[City Siege]

- Number of bags now scale with number of participants.

Why not fix the queuer instead so inis are actually filled instead of having multiple half-empty inis?

Partially filled instances are preferred by some people. We initially assumed there was some playstyle preference, but it in the end it turns out they were basically exploiting the queue for more bags. I was terribly shocked as you might expect. So the bags were fixed for all queues. If you still want to try and get a 12v12, that's fine I guess.

I don't run 12man inis. But we often queue as a grp and the broken queuer often leaves us with <24 ppl, losing out on even more bags to widen the gear gap.

[Rydiak]

Another person left. We're down to 21 people now, losing 1 gold and 1 blue bag. This is probably the one of the worst changes in a long, long time.

[City Siege]

- Number of bags now scale with number of participants.

Why not fix the queuer instead so inis are actually filled instead of having multiple half-empty inis?

Partially filled instances are preferred by some people. We initially assumed there was some playstyle preference, but it in the end it turns out they were basically exploiting the queue for more bags. I was terribly shocked as you might expect. So the bags were fixed for all queues. If you still want to try and get a 12v12, that's fine I guess.

I don't run 12man inis. But we often queue as a grp and the broken queuer often leaves us with <24 ppl, losing out on even more bags to widen the gear gap.

Yea...this is exactly my fear as well.

[Wam]

[City Siege]

- Number of bags now scale with number of participants.

Why not fix the queuer instead so inis are actually filled instead of having multiple half-empty inis?

Partially filled instances are preferred by some people. We initially assumed there was some playstyle preference, but it in the end it turns out they were basically exploiting the queue for more bags. I was terribly shocked as you might expect. So the bags were fixed for all queues. If you still want to try and get a 12v12, that's fine I guess.

I think it's probably a bit of both "preference" and "maximum reward" ... because logistically its kinda hard to fill a 24 warband at off peak hours of the day (when most cities happen) can even be hard on primetime unless you are part of a big guild / alliance ... or overly rely /5 and /5 Quality control leaves alot to be desired... some are what they say, others have l2p issues /bad spec / rage quit / afk / no communication ...

Ive done pug, premade 24, and 12 man... 12 man is more interesting because everyone has to pull their own weight or it shows. 24 can come down to who pve better, or has the most /5 ... and bad rng. In the right circumstances 24 can be fun too but its very few and far between to make it worthwhile and the rng of cities/time of day just add to it.

a bit harsh on instances where its 23vs 24 though... if someone crash / afk on pop and then they are punished throughout for one person's actions.

[dalen]

[City Siege]

- Number of bags now scale with number of participants.

Why not fix the queuer instead so inis are actually filled instead of having multiple half-empty inis?

Partially filled instances are preferred by some people. We initially assumed there was some playstyle preference, but it in the end it turns out they were basically exploiting the queue for more bags. I was terribly shocked as you might expect. So the bags were fixed for all queues. If you still want to try and get a 12v12, that's fine I guess.

I think it's probably a bit of both "preference" and "maximum reward" ... because logistically its kinda hard to fill a 24 warband at off peak hours of the day (when most cities happen) can even be hard on primetime unless you are part of a big guild / alliance ... or overly rely /5 and /5 Quality control leaves alot to be desired... some are what they say, others have l2p issues /bad spec / rage quit / afk / no communication ...

Ive done pug, premade 24, and 12 man... 12 man is more interesting because everyone has to pull their own weight or it shows. 24 can come down to who pve better, or has the most /5 ... and bad rng. In the right circumstances 24 can be fun too but its very few and far between to make it worthwhile and the rng of cities/time of day just add to it.

a bit harsh on instances where its 23vs 24 though... if someone crash / afk on pop and then they are punished throughout for one person's actions.

I made a tweak for next patch/hotfix in the way the algorithm rounding numbers. That will mean a 23 man instance will get same as a 24-man. But a 22-man instance will get one green bag instead of two.

[agemennon675]

So in a 24v24 someone in the losing team decides to rage quit and than they will be able to reduce the rewards not only for his own team but also the opposing team ?

[dalen]

So in a 24v24 someone in the losing team decides to rage quit and than they will be able to reduce the rewards not only for his own team but also the opposing team ?

It checks the number of player on the team it is generating bags for. Not the total number of players in the entire instance.

So in other words: no.

[Acamano]

God Damnit. I **** love Zarbix but that tank top wearing xrealmer just outed us on his stream when he qued in that 12man and said its better because "We all get bags and your chances of getting a gold bag are higher". <3 Zarbix but he's to blame on this bag change haha:P
I'm all up for 1 gold bag, but cities are now 6v6 and 12v12 only. That would make it 10x more enjoyable, at least for a competetive player.
Like 99% of people though, we only care to get the crests to get the gear and GTFO. Cities suck, Cities are not fun, Cities don't even require much individual skill (unless its 12v12), Cities are the only place I get to see my guild leaders at...Cities are the only way to get best gear...Queuing city now...