Patch Notes 27/11/2020

[Orontes]

On Engi/magus pets: this change was noted for turrets: "- Fixed an issue which would cause your turrent to not visually move when using Redeploy." Magi pets have the same bug. This should be addressed as well.

The Pink Daemon and Machine Gun turret are the two most commonly used pets for both classes, but neither was given any AOE damage reduction help. This is a mistake. They also should have similar protection against AOE, otherwise magi and engi will continue to have to redeploy over and over, and over. The new pet heal ability is appreciated, but the core issue remains. One has to be healing their pet all the time from AOE and given the 10 second cool down on the heal, it's not uncommon for the pet to die and the whole process of building up one's damage starts anew.



Initial Thoughts on SH reworks:

-Squig Frenzy: squigs do generally around 20% of the toon's damage output (ideally). A 25% damage increase to 20% of damage is not impressive or really noteworthy. Compare this with SWs Vengeance ability that is a flat 25% damage increase to all damage. I think every single SH proposal addressed Squig Frenzy and all suggested a 50% damage increase. I think this would make the ability impactful and not irrelevant damage.

-The tactic "Da smell doesn't bother me" was not changed, despite the fact Devs in the past recognized this 120 heal every 5 seconds is nothing. I suggest this be addressed and increased.

On Pets:

Horned Squig: Can the tool tip in game be more clear on how much the target's armor is reduced. When checking in game it says '24'. What does that mean?


Per Big Shootin:

I don't understand why Finish Em Off was moved to Quick Shootin (so one mastery line now has two finishers and Big Shootin lost its distinctive finisher). This severely damages the Big Shootin mastery's killing ability by undercutting it's burst.

The new 13 Pt. Explodin’ Arrer doesn't seem like it warrants the 13pt level. It's damage is poor and the punt changes the focus of the tree from dealing burst to something else. That something else is being annoying during sieges? I suggest removing the punt and increasing the damage. Better still bring Finish Em Off back to the 13 pt. Big Shootin mastery.

Per Big Bouncin:

Sneaky Git : This tactic now increase your defenses while you are in Squig Armor. When in game before a reboot, this is a 10% increase to defensive abilities: dodge, parry etc.
This includes an increase in armor as Sneaky Strike used to? It's not clear.

Other SH changes need to be tested.

[Snigz]

Hi @Grunbag,

First, thanks for keeping the game alive, working on it and coming up with new stuff, patches and fixes every week. It is really amazing that we can still log on to our beloved WAR toons.

We have to try and test these squiggy changes, and give reasonable feedback. It is normal to have some fix cycles regarding the SH in the upcoming weeks, so I am not here to shout out 'Why nerfff'.
I am happy about the approach to make the pets more viable, and give a reason to keep them up. Thats definitely a good direction in my opinion.

But there is an other thing regarding the aoe. It was already mentioned here in the comments and I would be happy to hear a dev opinion about it.
Seems aoe dmg now will only come from mSH and rSH inteded to be ST, useful hopefully in scs and small scale (maybe even in oRvR wb vs wb fights and cities, fingers crossed).
Have you considered the current RDPS aoe pressure imbalance and the fort and keep def meta while working on these changes?
If not why?
Many thought that it can be at least some viable ranged SH aoe spec to help Destro during fort and keep fights.

Is there any future balance plan on the issue, that Destro is lacking ranged fire power and got funneled like hell with way superior RDPS aoe pressure and Slayers waiting to melt the tank line?

I am not a big fan of this aoe meta, and if there are some other works in progress to tone it down then I am happy and welcome these changes knowing that in the short future we wont need that ranged aoe spec that hard.

If there is no plan to do that, then I would like to reiterate and point you to the fort tracking post.
The current state is far from optimal in my humble opinion. I would like to have a thriving competitive game, and not crazy aoe buffs to destro btw.

Kind regards,
Sniqz

[Orontes]

Moving Shoot Thru Ya to a Morale 3 is also horrid. Bring back the old ability and make it core.

[Akalukz]

Spoiler:

After initial testing of rSH changes:

things I love:

• more versatility with builds thanks to two new step 3 tactics (Shootin' Quicka and Sharpened Arrers)

• squig beast is now m1

• interrupt is actually useful now

• behind ya as standard skill

things I like:

• squig frenzy rework makes it very useful utility (even if it removes previously accessible squig skill options)

• more burst options

Things I dislike:

• Tastes like Chicken increases wounds but does not heal making it good for squig rotations on mSH and benefits big shooting but impairs quick shooting.

• Explodin’ Arrer being 13 steps into big shooting with added knock back

• Not so Fast! being stationary (sic!) ini debuff with added knockdown. I'd gladly see poison arrer being range knockdown with added dot and NsF back to original on-the-move state.

• Shoot thru ya being morale3 essentially nerfes dmg output in funnels and close quarter encounters with zerg.

Things I hate:

• range nerf on quick shooting (and that's including burst from Shootin wiff da wind). Serious nerf to group utility and roaming spec. Even with gas squig buff and invader range buff quick shooting tree feels very, very clunky. Might be adjustment issue but for now I hate it with fiery passion.
  Spoiler:

  Run'n'shoot, Yer bleedin' and most importantly Rotten Arrer could use 85ft basic range

Overall: I'd give this rework 7/10 but range nerf is a huge kick in the balls worth -3 so 4/10.[/spoiler]

It matches SW now tho right? I mean I agree 65' is rough.

[mickeye]

Looking at the changes to SH career I have two questions:

Why did you nerf rSH range? Compared to rSW and all other ranged classes, rSH is really gutted.
Why did you completely remove rSH AoE abilities? This seems like a large problem especially in fort and keep environment.

I can't speak in regards to the other SH changes as I'd need to test them first, but I was hoping Yer bleedin'! will get same treatment as Broadhead arrow...

[Akalukz]

Spoiler:

Looking at the changes to SH career I have two questions:

Why did you nerf rSH range? Compared to rSW and all other ranged classes, rSH is really gutted.
Why did you completely remove rSH AoE abilities? This seems like a large problem especially in fort and keep environment.

I can't speak in regards to the other SH changes as I'd need to test them first, but I was hoping Yer bleedin'! will get same treatment as Broadhead arrow...

I thought we would see this as well.

[mickeye]

One quick idea. I also thought, that with new changes, SH would be able summon pets on the move similarly to WL. This would be big quality of life improvement for all SHs out there.

[spaceboris]

Sharpened arrers still bugged. When using at 24 lvl SH -> This ability is not usable at your current level.

[oaliaen]

@Devs

Can you explain the theory behind nerfing rSH range ?

[Grunbag]

Squig herder changes:

Interesting changes I would say. Testing and time will tell how effectiveness is affected. At first glance it seems to me that the concept is better thought out than was the case for SW changes.

Big bouncing for AoE capabilities
Quick shooting for mobility and hopefully relevant dps increase to justify range reduction (compared to alternative classes). SH fairly well equipped to survive in the relative short range of 65ft, but might be very tactic starved. Being solo, I guess you need two tactics for survivability, being grouped I guess it depends if your dps is good enough to compete for the guard target space.
Big shooting seems like it lost some oomph from finish em off, but long range turret spec is maintained and probably buffed by pen tact.

I like the attempt to make basic squig relevant.

Only thing that didnt make any sense was the "Scrambling quick like" tactic, what is the purpose where 2 of 3 pets are ranged?

Will be testing on my low geared SH

2 of 4 pet are ranged . It’s essentially useful for leveling with basic squig can move to targets more faster.