Patch Notes 31/1/2017

[Grunbag]

@Aza : does the aoe change apply on napalm , or napalm is not an aoe direct damage ?

[Luth]

@Aza : does the aoe change apply on napalm , or napalm is not an aoe direct damage ?

I don't think that napalm ticks can proc anything, so it shouldn't be counted as direct damage.

[Komode]

Man, large scale is not spamming M2 in sync, its much much more, im inviting you to participate in our organised wb combat. Seriously, you will like it, its not as primitive. I promise you will like it:D And you will teach us some tricks aswell why not? Most of the strategies and formation changes is impossible to use atm due to descent amount of factors, mostly cause: you are facing collision and perma snared.

[Grunbag]

@Aza : does the aoe change apply on napalm , or napalm is not an aoe direct damage ?

I don't think that napalm ticks can proc anything, so it shouldn't be counted as direct damage.

Ok thanks , so not concerned by the patch .
I'll wait for Glorian feedback on lightning rods

[Haojin]

Aza, we still trying to understand what caused that patch ?

-Is it for countering zerging ?
No and it definelty won't. Zerging is about mentality/community and game desing issue which you never avoid.

-Is it countering blobbing ?
Basically we or order could bring 2-3 ST warband anytime like a real fat blob while sweeping everything front of us/them.

-Is it for increasing the survivability of small groups agaist warbands ?
For the beginning there will be difference agaist pure bomb groups but in there future they gonna get smashed by hybrid warbands. Badly.

-Is it for the make combats more longer ?
We tested it yesterday [ we feel the damage reduction from rdps classes-and hardly see the damage buff with non pug fights ] and without reworking morale damage + buffing defensive group buffs + buffing CC's the zerg fight gonna be always bursty and chaotic.

[Penril]

Man, large scale is not spamming M2 in sync, its much much more, im inviting you to participate in our organised wb combat. Seriously, you will like it, its not as primitive. I promise you will like it:D And you will teach us some tricks aswell why not? Most of the strategies and formation changes is impossible to use atm due to descent amount of factors, mostly cause: you are facing collision and perma snared.

That's weird, since i have had a bazillion discussions with your guild leader (always on good terms) and he insists all WB fights revolve around pumping morale on everyone and then M2 bombing.

[roadkillrobin]

I'm no fan of these changes, myself, but you are speaking gibberish. Most of the balance changes I have seen are because of ORVR and pugs, which is understandable since that is the largest part of the population.

IMO the game will never be balanced until you can balance 6 man group mechanics (I'm not talking about competitive 6v6). People always seem to forget that warband composition is based on a set of 6 man groups.

No its not. Its a composition of 18-24 people. Not 3-4 6mans.

And that thinking is why it will never get balanced. 4 coordinated 6 mans > 18-24 pugs. I have yet to see a 24 man group heal or cleanse...have you?

Its coz you don't think outside the box of 6man groups You need several compositions in a warband. You need to have raw damage. To little of this and you can't kill anything. You need defensive debuffs to withstand a blast from opposing warbands such as morale drains, CD increasers stat debuffs etz. This is provided from combination if tanks and dps. Already here you can see that the way you compose a warband is different from composing a group. You're using groups within the warband to fill a cerain role within the warband. Its basicly how you compose a 6 man of individual players in small scale. For a example
They way to counter a Destro morale drop is by combinating Archmages Morale pump with a Kotbs m4. Then you start adding peices to that group to optimize its purpise. Since alot of single target focus healing is goin to the Knight here its gonna need dps classes thats in less need of grouphealing. Then you have built a group rather then the purpose to kill is by keeping your warband alive.

[Glorian]

@Aza : does the aoe change apply on napalm , or napalm is not an aoe direct damage ?

See pumatouches testing some pages ago:
Napalm and Landmine are unaffected.

[Komode]

Man, large scale is not spamming M2 in sync, its much much more, im inviting you to participate in our organised wb combat. Seriously, you will like it, its not as primitive. I promise you will like it:D And you will teach us some tricks aswell why not? Most of the strategies and formation changes is impossible to use atm due to descent amount of factors, mostly cause: you are facing collision and perma snared.

That's weird, since i have had a bazillion discussions with your guild leader (always on good terms) and he insists all WB fights revolve around pumping morale on everyone and then M2 bombing.

I should say "its not only". Spamming m2 in sync will not give you 100% recipe of victory, you should observe a bunch of factors, using a lot preparatory things for that, which making sense.

[Azarael]

Aza, we still trying to understand what caused that patch ?

-Is it for countering zerging ?
No and it definelty won't. Zerging is about mentality/community and game desing issue which you never avoid.

So they say, so they say.

-Is it countering blobbing ?
Basically we or order could bring 2-3 ST warband anytime like a real fat blob while sweeping everything front of us/them.

Depends on the calibration. Can you blob if you're taking 4x the damage from cleaves? How about 5x or 6x? What about if I refine the mechanics into a shockwave-type attack which propagates through dense mass and will hit more loosely defined masses? What then?

For me, the game should resolve to groups as units, not warbands as units. MMO ability systems are small scale designs and go to **** in large scale.

-Is it for increasing the survivability of small groups agaist warbands ?
For the beginning there will be difference agaist pure bomb groups but in there future they gonna get smashed by hybrid warbands. Badly.

I will take any shift over the current situation, which is either charge and bomb, pump and bomb, victory through superior mass or victory through circumstance (coordination on a secondary school level vs uncoordinated PUGs).

-Is it for the make combats more longer ?
We tested it yesterday [ we feel the damage reduction from rdps classes-and hardly see the damage buff with non pug fights ] and without reworking morale damage + buffing defensive group buffs + buffing CC's the zerg fight gonna be always bursty and chaotic.

I explained quite clearly that the intent is to break larger combats down into smaller scale ones by making mass a weakness rather than a strength. That won't happen unless I get the calibration and mechanics right. I don't quite understand how you could view it any other way, or do you think that I think two warbands blobbing and cleaving into each other is any more skilled than M2 trash?

It's astonishing how many people don't understand the concept of a punish mechanic - one that overperforms if and only if you make some elementary error to allow it to work. In this case the aim is to make massing and blobbing the error in question.