Feldon From EverQuest and EverQuest II Executive Producer Holly “Windstalker” Longdale on the EQ2 Forums:
Good day, Norrath!
This week, we are starting to beta test class changes for scouts, fighters, and summoners. We have wanted to tackle some high priority issues for these classes for a long time and we’ve been working on solutions. This includes improvements like increasing DPS for scouts and fighters, which goes along with a gear revamp for fighters’ defensive armor that makes playing the game more rewarding (i.e. using abilities will matter more). For summoners, we’ve addressed some lingering issues with pets and implemented a whole new pet AI, as well as the long-awaited summoner pet window that will display pet stats. We’ve invited some of our community experts and players to help us test on Beta for release as soon as we are all satisfied which will hopefully be in a larger update at the end of the month (more news on that really soon).
We are also focusing on and continuing to bring improvements to performance. We are aware of the lag concerns and are working hard to address them as quickly as we find them. We found some issues we patched out last week and we’re seeing improvements. Please continue to use /bug and /feedback if you are experiencing severe lag and aren’t using a third-party UI mod (which do tend to bog down clients).
Last, but not least, we wish you the best of the silliest of high holidays with Bristlebane Day events. We will continue to bring you infamous holiday fun throughout the year and, as always, will continue to provide frequent updates and bug fixes.
Spring has sprung and we’re excited to be on this journey with you all! We appreciate you all and the support you’ve shown us.
More news to come!
The Summoner Pet AI/UI has been on test since February. No test/beta notes have been posted for the remainder of the mentioned changes just yet.
Hopefully they post some patch notes soon. It’s hard to test well when we don’t know what needs testing…
Intriguing. I expect these “experts” are from the usual pet guilds and everything will be balanced around raiders.
Yes those evil raiders. How dare they understand the classes inside and out.
Yes, raiders tend to understand their classes inside and out.
But how many are going to be concerned with the effectiveness of the tank pet? They don’t deal high DPS, they don’t play a role in raids, they will not receive the same degree of testing as the mage or scout pets.
You do know that beta is open to everyone and this producer letter is basically an invite to anyone. So you can go test the changes too!
If only we knew what the changes were.
Like they listen to anyone but their pets.
I don’t get this complaint when it comes to class balance and quality of life changes. If the class plays better for a raider, it’s going to play better for everyone, except maybe pvpers. As it stands, all content outside of max level or pvp can be done by everyone of any skill level. With these changes, it’s more likely to help lower skilled players excel in in max level groups or raids than hold them back.
That’s exactly right and why it always gets outta whack because the people they use have their little pet projects they are working on etc.
Nothing keeping Joe Schmoe non-raider getting on and giving their opinions about the changes.
It’s not a closed beta. You might not get invited to specific raid tests as I expect those are easier to do with groups of people who are used to working together in that sort of environment, but you can certainly test any solo/herioc content or even raid content provided you get enough people together to do so.
Hmmm, releasing on the end of the month……so like, today? =p
Releasing? When is the last batch of tested stuff due to go live? Transmuting dailies, etc.
So is anybody working on drums UI now, some of the pet class stuff sounds like it might break what we have on drums and that might need to be updated. I been using drums for so long I would hate to give it up.
drum no longer updating his UI iirc
Drums is working on DrumsUI as per usual
Drums doesn’t even play anymore…per his comments.
That would be correct Outlaw
I knew that, I was hoping somebody else had picked it up and was working with it.
Just use DarqUI.
Traduction française en ligne sur http://www.guerrier-celeste.fr/lettre-du-producteur-avril-2015.html
French translated on http://www.guerrier-celeste.fr/lettre-du-producteur-avril-2015.html
I won’t argue that autoattack needs a tweak for the guys where > 50% of ask damage is from watching your toon. Still, I hope the net outcome will be better for those not blessed enough to be on the same half of the planet as eq2 servers.
Omg my thumb typing and autocorrect SUX!
I’m not hopeful at all about this. At a time where more and more things are going rough, they decide to make major damage changes. Speaking at a class that is serially ignored (troub), I can only see this being a huge nerf for me.
Most of my spells and CAs are so decrepid and not touched in over 5 years, what improvements I have seen have either been scout-wide changes (ie autoattack, flurry, dps, etc) – or have been off the back of dirge complaints and subsequent improvements.
Heres the thing, yeah ideally all the classes would make use off all their specific tricks and style to do their damage. Now raise you hand if you think eq2 is going to do a good job of doing that right AND staying on top of it moving forward. Autoattack dmg isn’t the best, but at least that broad brush let them address everyone, instead of creating more workload for an already heavily small (and continually dwindling) staff.
I just parsed my dirge on a training dummy and nothing at all has changed. I am identical on beta and Live, so I guess the scout changes don’t apply to bards!
I am just curious if the scout changes will completely screw up and make mages not as nice anymore., lol. It always seems to go back and forth.
Scouts need more dps NOT. Lets break summoners even more.
They dont know how to balance anything, every expac some specific class is OP and they eff up others that they thought were OP that werent in the first place. They are all idiots.
Let’s set something straight: Game balance in EQ2 is a colossal pain in the hindquarters, most particularly for the developers.
One of the reasons EQ2 has endured is because Sony/Daybreak managed to create mechanics that are effective and rewarding, while remaining sufficiently complex and interrelated that it’s hard to come up with a hard and fast “best build ever.” Witness the continuing debates about how much crit chance is enough without going overboard. They’ve done a remarkably good job of making things simple enough to use but complex enough to remain interesting.
When a new expansion’s itemization and AA’s (inevitably) throw the balance off in one way or another, they have to scramble to patch the holes. They also have to respond, reactively, to the discoveries players (inevitably) make regarding overpowered specs, gear combinations, etc. They ALSO have to accomplish this re-balance without breaking something else worse, which is increasingly difficult while working with design, mechanics, and coding from over a decade ago.
Stuff happens. Thousands of players poking at the mechanics of a game will eventually find ways to bend or break the devs’ intent on how it should work. This is a fact.
I’m not saying EQ2 is perfect, far from it. I am saying that you are attacking one of the very reasons you’re still playing the game in the first place. Cut’em a little slack.
Excellent post.
Cut them some slack? They have been screwing up the classes for 10 yrs its time to stop cutting them some slack. My summoner is the worst for it. Until they realize a summoner is not a utility class its a dps class then I might finally cut them some slack until then my statement stands. They are still all idiots.
Also, this isn’t about giving scouts more damage per se, it’s about changing where the damage comes from mostly. Right now, many scouts apply a poison if their class allows and then autoattack most fights. To add in a lot of CAs tends to lower their dps. I’ve heard tons of complaints of afk fighting boss fights just because there was nothing for them to do. I imagine some of those were highly exaggerated, but it still…
I raided end game content last expansion and even then with all of the self and group effect Weapon Damage increases a scout could spec and gear for full auto attack damage and parse over 7 mil DPS from auto attack alone. Then factor in Dirges VC from that auto attack damage and things got crazy.
I tried telling some of the Devs last expac that auto attack damage was way out of hand and not in balance with combat arts but yea…
I am all for rebalancing away from ato attack. I am just curious how the best laid plans of mice and men will go awry this time. 🙂 Hopefully it will not make it so we have to wait another 10 years for them to rebalance to fix the items that get messed up from this rebalance. 🙂
I thought autoattack damage ALWAYS was out of whack and not an intended game mechanic. That was said in TSO era. And now they are finally changing it.
Nice job twisting what I said Feldon, I expected more from you. I didn’t say Raiders were evil, but the assumption on your behalf that casual players don’t understand mechanics is very telling.
Your comments are accurate if your talking about instances/encounters. But is not accurate if your talking about gear, if the class or gear is tuned around raider, then all encounters below raid level should be easier. Unless your theory is that if they tune characters to raids then bump up heroic encounters will now be tuned to that raider, which could happen. Either way you made a blanket statement that provided no facts, so Feldon came back with something of the same.
If you understand eq2’s mechanics and put that knowledge to use, then you are not a casual player. That’s like saying you do calculus in your spare time but aren’t really into math.