Sniper Beta Patch Notes, June 1st 2019

JUST IN CASE...

We're bringing up a new server in order to test some major database backend changes before they're published on the Live servers, and to gather feedback on a revamp of the Snipe powers.

You can access this server by selecting the "Homecoming (BETA)" option in Tequila or whatever other patcher you're using, as long as you're pointing it to the right manifest URL: http://patch.savecoh.com/manifest.xml

Since the server is being brought up just in case it breaks everyhing, we're calling it Justin. That is definitly the only reason, and nothing to do with any writers or podcast hosts, don't be silly.

Because Justin got stuck repeating DFB over and over, I decided to give him a hand. Therefore, during this test, the following cheats are enabled just for Justin:

• Use the command /levelupxp 50 to instantly reach the level cap (or any other level.)
  
• Use the command /influence 2000000000 to instantly acquire MAXIMUM INFLUENCE (or any other amount.)
  
• Use the command /influence_add 9001 if you just want to get OVER NINE THOUSAND influence (or any other amount.)
  
• All Accolade powers are unlocked at character creation.
  
• All Incarnate slots are unlocked at character creation.
  
• All Incarnate powers are free to craft.
  
• All items in the Merit Vendor are free.
  

In other words: PVP Weekend! GM Jimmy will be posting an announcement later on to organize some PVP events and award some prizes that you can carry back to the Live servers.

It goes without saying, but Justin is a temporary server just for testing, and it will be wiped at the end of the test.

SNIPER BETA?

This patch contains a revamp for the Snipe powers, in Ranged, Assault and Epic versions. The main feature is that Snipe powers will now always be slow if you're out-of-combat (defined by not having attacked or been attacked in the last 15 seconds), and they will always be fast when in combat (defined as having attacked or having been attacked in the last 15 seconds). You no longer need to build up ToHit in order to benefit from Fast Snipe, it's just how the power operates now.

I can already hear PVP players reaching for their keyboards to furiously tell me how this change is <bleep!> since combat in PVP is a lot faster and this stops them from using Fast Snipe as an opener. Put down your pitchforks for a second, I got something for you:

Just slot one of these and all the Snipe powers in your character will never be slow. But don't discount Slow Snipes just yet! They are getting buffed significantly, their "wind up" time is being decreased from 3 to 2 seconds (6 to 3 for Epic versions) and the damage increased to Scale 4.5. Enemies hit by a Slow Snipe will flash "SNIPER SHOT!" above their heads while they ask for someone to write down the license plate of the truck that hit them. You can only use Slow Snipes once before being engaged in combat, so it better be worth it.

Now, some actual patch notes!

GENERAL

Massive database backend changes. The servers now support both ODBC and LibPQ, the former being recommended for Microsoft SQL Server and the latter for PostgreSQL server. There are major improvements all over that we expect will greatly help the servers when they're under load.

Added null pointer check to fix crash caused by enhancement getting moved before or during drag to the conversion window.

Changed the login screen somewhat in order to make sure everybody remembers they're in the Beta server and they shouldn't get attached to any characters.

BASE EDITOR

There are over 200 new items under Vehicles and Nature; those are considered ready for Live on the next patch. There's also several hundred other items in new tabs which have not been fully tested, and a "TESTING" that which contains stuff that definitely is not ready to use. This patch is coming straight from the Alpha server, so those snuck in as an early preview.

INVENTIONS

New PVP IO Set: Experienced Marksman. The main feature is the "Fast Snipe" Unique enhancement. Art concept by MysticXurina, final art by Flashtoo.

The art for the set Adjusted Targeting has been greatly improved by Flashtoo and is now actually visible.

POWERS

Pool > Leaping > Spring Attack: now does Containment damage when used by Controllers.

Pool > Sorcery > Enflame: Should now do damage for Sentinels

Kheldians: they should now see Sentinels the same way they see Blasters and Scrappers, for the purpose of their inherent powers.

Sentinel's Chilling_Ray: Should now accept Slow enhancements.

Dominator's Feral Charge: Fixed a bug where sometimes it would do no damage if executed from maximum distance.

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Insta-snipe revisions

ToHit is no longer required to achieve fast-snipe. Now, combat status determines if snipes are fast or slow.

If engaged (having attacked or been attacked in the last 15 seconds.)

Additionally, the snipe ring is now an indicator that you are engaged.

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Blasters/Defenders/Corruptors Snipes:

-Fast Snipe:

-Base Range 80ft (except Psi snipes, as they get bonus range)

-Base Damage scale 2.76 (this has not changed)

-Recharge time 15 seconds (up from 12 seconds)

-Endurance cost: 14.352

Slow Snipe:

-Base Range: 150ft (this has not changed)

-Base Damage Scale: 4.5 (Some sets may have special mechanic bonuses.)

-Recharge time 15 seconds (up from 12 seconds)

-Interrupt time is now 2 seconds (down from 3)

-Endurance cost: 14.352

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Dominator Snipes:

-Fast Snipe:

-Base Range 80ft (except Psi snipes, as they get bonus range)

-Base Damage scale 2.28 (down from 3.56)

-Recharge time 12 seconds (down from 20 seconds)

-Endurance cost: 11.856

Slow Snipe:

-Base Range: 150ft (this has not changed)

-Base Damage Scale: 4.0 (Some sets may have special mechanic bonuses.)

-Recharge time 12 seconds (down from 20 seconds)

-Interrupt time is now 2 seconds (down from 3)

-Endurance cost: 11.856

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Epic Pool Snipes:

-Fast Snipe:

-Base Range 80ft

-Base Damage scale 2.3 (this has not changed)

-Recharge time 24 seconds (this has not changed)

-Endurance cost: 17.94

Slow Snipe:

-Base Range: 150ft (this has not changed)

-Base Damage Scale: 4.0 (Some sets may have special mechanic bonuses.)

-Recharge time 24 seconds (this has not changed)

-Interrupt time is now 3 seconds (down from 6)

-Endurance cost: 17.94

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Misc

Mu Mastery Epic Pool: Zap now uses Melee Damage Modifiers

All versions of Beam Rifle's Penetrating Ray now has a 55% chance of spreading disintegration.

All versions of Beam Rifle's Lancer Shot now has a 100% chance of spreading disintegration.

Fixed a bug in the no-redraw version of fast-Archery's Snipe.

Psionic Lance's quick FX was completely broken and out of sync. FX has been resync but this required a slightly slower animation (1.33 seconds.)

The following fast snipe animations have been synced with their FX, no cast time changes: Moonbeam, Zapp, Sniper Blast, Proton Volley

When you're stuck at an airport trying to play Homecoming until you board, and you're stuck downloading beta server files over airport WiFi... #BestFridayEVER #brilliantidea

When you're stuck at an airport trying to play Homecoming until you board, and you're stuck downloading beta server files over airport WiFi... #BestFridayEVER #brilliantidea

Double-click on Homecoming to play on the Live servers without downloading the Beta files.

Always-fast snipes sounds a bit on the unbalanced end. :/ Or maybe the "if it ain't broke don't fix it" weird end.

Would it be possible to change the Fast Snipe IO into a dual-aspect IO? Such as Recharge/Fast Snipe, or Endurance/Fast Snipe? That way you don't feel like by slotting it you're giving up a slot just for a QoL improvement. That would be great for the Sudden Acceleration Knockback-to-Knockdown IO as well.

Always-fast snipes sounds a bit on the unbalanced end. :/

Play it before you draw conclusions! That's the whole point of a beta shard!

Play it before you draw conclusions! That's the whole point of a beta shard!

As a blaster, I'm not a fan of the idea of this Snipe change. That's way too much power in one power. Especially with Recharge Rate Reduction in that set.

I'm just gonna end up going Snipe>Fireball>Blaze>Fireball>Snipe>Fireball>Blaze>Fireball>Snipe, etc...

I like the idea of having to save the Snipe for tactical purposes better. Picking out which minion in the crowd is the one most deserving to die before anyone else knows I'm there (and it's *always* the Sapper).

I worry now that this change is just going to let Blasters steamroll over everything, especially with the tweaks that seem to have been done to Endurance so I never have to stop already.

Quoting someone else for the 'why':

Because the existing system limits fast snipe to certain builds, and gives some builds perma snipe while others never see it at all. The current system demands taking certain powersets or power pools to leverage fast snipe, and requires most builds to use at least one IO.

 

The new system gives every build with a snipe the ability to use it quickly.

 

Fast snipe was created by the Paragon devs specifically to improve on the situation that basically all ranged damage sets except Ice and Fire are bad at single-target DPS compared to even fairly modest melee attack sets, because they cannot chain good DPA powers. So sets with snipes got a really good DPA power out of their snipe. (Improvements for sets with no snipe were planned - see Ice Blast.) Making that available only to very narrow or high-end build specs isn't a very effective improvement.

I'm more concerned with the change giving Dominators 12 second recharge when blasters are having it taken away from them. I'd like more explanation on why this was considered a good idea.

Hmmm, kind of makes /Dev a red headed stepchild again as takes its "gimmick" and makes it free

After a slow snipe when snipe goes into its fast mode its 80ft? not everything is a short range blapper and why in gods name does Psi get bonus range? Since the "emergence" of COH again AR/Dev was actually fun and fairly strong, now they are being forced to close range, have the most resisted damage type but psi gets more range.

I can apprecite the whole point of BETA is to try and see but it seems the fringe sets are being ignored, losing their unique capacities, actually being nerfed (with 80ft snipe as opposed to 150) while the "stronger" sets get a solid buff.

I dunno. back in the day I was sure of two things: Kicking arse and getting Impressive XP Debt with my elec/elec blaster.

With the changes with Nuke, now Snipe, I am still kicking arse but XP debt is just a distant memory.

Why are you killing my expetations of accumulating XP Debt???? I WANT TO KNOW WHO IS RESPONSABLE!!!

Oh look, the nice men in white coats are coming. Gotta go!!!

As a blaster, I'm not a fan of the idea of this Snipe change. That's way too much power in one power. Especially with Recharge Rate Reduction in that set.

I'm just gonna end up going Snipe>Fireball>Blaze>Fireball>Snipe>Fireball>Blaze>Fireball>Snipe, etc...

 

I like the idea of having to save the Snipe for tactical purposes better. Picking out which minion in the crowd is the one most deserving to die before anyone else knows I'm there (and it's *always* the Sapper).

 

I worry now that this change is just going to let Blasters steamroll over everything, especially with the tweaks that seem to have been done to Endurance so I never have to stop already.

All I'm reading is that Blasters might be a little less worse than melee ATs, who were gods among ants for years back on Live.

Both Cryptic and Paragon literally reduced the game's death penalty more than once because of Blasters, and blasters were the only AT with that kind of problem.  I don't think we're anywhere near them getting out of hand.

I think some issue may be that the whole reduced cast snipe with 97% tohit is "new" to most people while others have really had 6+ years of it so its going to feel like tweaking something that hasnt had a fair run to gauge its benefit (whereas for some it has).

I'm more concerned with the change giving Dominators 12 second recharge when blasters are having it taken away from them. I'd like more explanation on why this was considered a good idea.

Dominators are lower damage among other things, so they're not directly comparable to Blasters'.

I am kind of failing to see why the base damage scale of a dominator's fast snipe should be lower then that of a blaster/defender/corruptors? I mean I get why it should not be higher as it was I guess before, but it seems like it should be set equal to the others. Dominators have no less options in control sets as do controllers do. Or with pets, or attack options compared to blasters they have fewer really. Compared to defenders and corruptors both of who can boost their effectiveness with their buff/debuff sets it seems dominators should at minimum be equal to them not lower.

edited I kept typing controller not corruptor for some reason.

I'm disappointed to see the increased recharge time on corr/blaster snipes. As a current corruptor player that made a build with enough ToHit for insta-snipe, this change is actually going to mess up my rotation dramatically and likely lower my damage output. The fact that dominators can now have an easier time fitting it into their rotations is just salt in the wound.

My recommendation would be to keep the recharges at 12 seconds so people who have already built for insta-snipes aren't negatively effected. Since those with insta-snipe now will also gain the slow snipe, a suggestion to balance it would be to decrease the damage of the insta-snipe. Players who already have insta-snipe will still feel mostly the same with the same recharge, decreased damage in fast-snipes, but larger burst at the beginning of a fight with the slow-snipe to balance.

I have mixed feelings about this. I like the idea on paper but a few things come to mind;

1) It feels like a slight nerf to those of us who already achieved Perma fast snipe. We already have fast snipe, but now our snipe not only loses *half* its range (which was useful for picking off runners or stragglers), but recharge was also increased by 3 seconds. The "Slow Snipe Bonus" may or may not make up for it depending on one's play style.

(However the increased recharge should make it proc a bit more, so that might even out if you use damage procs)

Having carefully planned to get Perma fast snipe, I feel like the carpet is being pulled out from under me. Not only does everyone get it now (Which I can live with), but I'm worse off for it as well from a power perspective.

2) DPS studies on Live Beta showed that the old fast snipe really messed up the "status quo" and sets without Snipe fell far behind in min/maxed single target damage. Ice notoriously fell from "top tier" to near the bottom. This is only going to serve to exacerbate that effect, and without any planning or IO investments. Are there plans to look at Ranged sets without Snipe and give them a few buffs to compensate?

Thank you for your time and everything you guys have been doing for this great game! This was just my 2 cents.

I'm disappointed to see the increased recharge time on corr/blaster snipes. As a current corruptor player that made a build with enough ToHit for insta-snipe, this change is actually going to mess up my rotation dramatically and likely lower my damage output. The fact that dominators can now have an easier time fitting it into their rotations is just salt in the wound.

Exactly, it's really going to mess up my ST rotation. I feel as though I'm being punished lol

Since we’re altering balance, could we allow basic “attack target/stay” function to all pets the way Lore pets have? Bodyguard mode should remain exclusive to Mastermind.

A few questions just to be absolutely clear:

1) By Epic Pool Snipes, do you mean Munitions' LRM? It's currently not capable of slotting Snipe sets (it's a targeted AoE) nor of going 'fast'.

2) This 80ft limitation, does this mean that even any time you shorten your snipe (such as this new fast-snipe IO) your snipe's range drops and can no longer target beyond this?

Edit: Other than that I would point out to those who might have missed it that fast snipes in general are having their value to a Blaster's DPS lowered a bit with an extra 3s base recharge. This might help compare to sets like Ice.

Also Massive buff to Beam Rifle: Auto-Spread from Lancer Shot is going to be a gamechanger.

 

 

 

Edit: Other than that I would point out to those who might have missed it that fast snipes in general are having their value to a Blaster's DPS lowered a bit with an extra 3s base recharge. This might help compare to sets like Ice.

 

 

I did overlook that yes, good point!

Played it a little on dev, its a complete nerf to anyone unfortunate enough to have rolled AR/Dev, there is zero benefit in this change significant detriments to it and the bonus range to psi is just galling.

Its cool that you are trying stuff, kudos, and I can see this having some benefits in the "vanilla" formula blaster sets but given that all things are not equal a sweeping change across the board is a terrible way to do things.

If you do go ahead with things in this vein, and I personally thing you should try things with a wider audience to see what happens, I have faith that should it be a negative change it wont go ahead or will be changed, but then I still think things can slip through the cracks which are unintended, I know this from my own experience in this field.

I would strongly suggest a AR sniper rifle and targeting drone synergy giving AR sniper rifle back the range its used to, tying them together (like the weird little bonus damage they gave sniper rifle + targeting drone) would prevent better synergies from becoming unbalanced.

Just my 2 cents from having rolled a AR/Dev to gauge the benefits of perma "fast snipe", with proposed changes I would can it, strip the enhancements and play a different blaster of which theres lots of choice, I wont be hurting for something to do.

I'm a little sad since this seems to be taking away the thing that made Devices special. Does Targeting Drone still cause Sniper Rifle to do bonus damage?

Blaster Squish, is the whole reason I made my first character a sentinel Energy rifle/Bio is pretty fun. I felt the damage more lacking than i though it would the Misc change for having your lancer attack spread disintegrate should help a lot.

As a blaster, I'm not a fan of the idea of this Snipe change. That's way too much power in one power. Especially with Recharge Rate Reduction in that set.

I'm just gonna end up going Snipe>Fireball>Blaze>Fireball>Snipe>Fireball>Blaze>Fireball>Snipe, etc...

 

I like the idea of having to save the Snipe for tactical purposes better. Picking out which minion in the crowd is the one most deserving to die before anyone else knows I'm there (and it's *always* the Sapper).

 

I worry now that this change is just going to let Blasters steamroll over everything, especially with the tweaks that seem to have been done to Endurance so I never have to stop already.

 

All I'm reading is that Blasters might be a little less worse than melee ATs, who were gods among ants for years back on Live.

 

Both Cryptic and Paragon literally reduced the game's death penalty more than once because of Blasters, and blasters were the only AT with that kind of problem.  I don't think we're anywhere near them getting out of hand.