issue 27 [Beta] Patch Notes for April 24th, 2021

[Jimmy]

Powers

New Prestige Powers

•  Only Affect Self
  • Activating this power prevents you from attacking foes or aiding allies - all powers will only affect yourself
  • If you are attacked, this power will suppress, allowing you to fight back
•  Disable All Powers
  • Activating this power will stop all your powers and set bonuses from working
• Both of these powers can be acquired from the P2W vendor in the Prestige Utility category for zero cost

Travel Power Descriptions

• All pool travel powers, prestige travel powers, Kheldian travel powers and sprints have had their descriptions updated to clarify the new stacking rules and suppression rules

Flight / Peacebringer

•  Evasive Maneuvers and  Quantum Maneuvers
  • Defence will no longer suppress upon activating any power
    • Defence will now suppress on all attacks, including pseudopet attacks, and will still suppress when buffing an ally, commanding a pet or clicking a mission objective
•  Group Fly
  • This power should now acknowledge the owner having the Disallow Group Fly option from Null the Gull enabled

Concealment

•  Stealth
  • The stealth component is no longer split into two different effects with different rules
    • All stealth now only suppresses after attacking, being hit or clicking a mission objective
  • -Threat will now suppress after attacking, being hit or clicking a mission objective
  • Defence will no longer suppress upon activating any power
    • Defence will now suppress on all attacks, including pseudopet attacks, and will still suppress when buffing an ally, commanding a pet or clicking a mission objective

Miscellaneous

Power Tray Locking

• Add the ability to lock tray numbers, which removes the little arrows from power trays (both regular and floating)
  • Trays can still be changed using commands, binds, and macros
• This option can be adjusted with /optionset LockTrayNumbers 1 or 0, or it can be found in the Windows tab of the options menu
• Right-clicking on a power tray (both regular and floating) now includes "Lock Tray Numbers" and "Lock Powers in Trays" shortcuts

Options Menu

• Added a new "Powers" heading in the Windows tab
  • Moved "Power Recharge Indicators" here, along with the new Lock Powers option
• Moved "Chat Timestamps" and "Chat Timestamps Colors" under the Chat heading

Sprint / Run / Jump Invention Sets

• Added a new IO set category: Sprints
  • Both existing Running sets (Celerity, Quickfoot) are now also in the Sprints category, and are listed as "Running and Sprints"
  • Both existing Leaping sets (Unbounded Leap, Springfoot) are now also in the Sprints category, and are listed as "Leaping and Sprints"
• Sprint powers now only accept Sprint sets, not Running or Leaping sets
• All other Running and Leaping powers are unaffected, and enhancement conversion only respects the original Running and Leaping categories
• TL;DR: This has no impact on existing slotting, builds or conversion, we've made this change in order to be able to introduce new Running and Leaping sets in the future without having to balance around them being slotted in Sprint

Freaklok Arcs

• Adjusted Salamander and Grey Matter's "Hail Mary" powers (in Agent Watkins' Rusty Rivet mission)
  • Endurance cost and recharge times on them have been reduced, making them more dangerous

Bug Fixes

• Henchmen flying at a distance from their owner (due to the new Group Fly changes) will no longer ignore the laws of physics and teleport around the map
• Henchmen in the air can now be pushed out of the way just like henchmen on the ground
• Fixed Arachnos Soldier and Arachnos Widow having pstring descriptions during character creation
• Fixed accidental change to Vahzilok Cadaver resistances

Powers Bug Fixes

• Pool > Speed > Super Speed: Fixed this power sometimes preventing you from picking new powers when levelling up
• Pool > Teleportation > Teleport (+Shadow Step): Fixed these powers occasionally failing to activate if you had a non-combat NPC targeted
• Pool > Flight > Afterburner: Fixed the color palette on the Minimal FX theme for this power
• Pool > Leaping > Super Jump: Now correctly refers to Double Jump instead of High Jump
• Inherent > Rest: You can no longer walk very slowly while resting with a weapon drawn
• Inherent > Stance > Slide: This stance will no longer interrupt flight stances
• Prestige Utility > Reveal: Fixed this power not being usable in PvP zones
• Temporary Powers: Fixed several Halloween costume powers still being mutually exclusive with stealth powers
• Trick Arrow > EMP Arrow: Fixed an issue where the EMP Field left by this power would be colored white when picking No Redraw theme, instead of matching the other fx in the power
• Controller > Darkness Affinity > Fade: Fixed this power causing characters to constantly flicker
• Controller > Illusion > Spectral Terror: ToHit debuff enhancements should now work in this power
• Stalker > Dual Blades > Ablating Strike: Fixed a bug where this power would not apply AoE knockdown on combo completion
• Stalker > Dual Blades > Sweeping Strike: PvP Hide Crit changed from 100% to 50%
• Stalker > Ice Melee > Ice Sword: Fixed minor scale discrepancy in PvP hidden crit (scale changed from 1.5713 to 1.571)
• Stalker > Ninja Blade > Flashing Steel: PvP non-hide crit increased from 5% to 20%
• Stalker > Ninja Blade > Dragonfly: PvP non-hide crit increased from 5% to 20%
• Stalker > Spines > Spine Burst: PvP hide crit decreased from 100% to 50%
• Stalker > Spines > Ripper: PvP hide crit decreased from 100% to 50%
• Stalker > Spines > Throw Spines: PvP hide crit decreased from 100% to 50%
• Stalker > Street Justice > Spinning Strike: PvE crit scale increased from scale 1.5368 to 1.54
• Stalker > Electrical Melee > Jacobs Ladder: PvP Hide Crit changed from 100% to 50%
• Stalker > Electrical Melee > Thunder Strike: (Splash Damage only) PvP Non-Hide/Held/Slept Crit changed from 10% to 20%
• Stalker > Fiery Melee > Breath of Fire: PvP Hide Crit changed from 100% to 50%
• Stalker > Fiery Melee > Fire Sword Circle: PvP Hide Crit changed from 100% to 50%
• Stalker > Kinetic Melee > Burst: PvE Hide Crit changed from 100% to 50%
• Stalker > Savage Melee > Shred: PvP Hide Crit changed from 100% to 50%

Enhancements

• Several enhancements were granting less of an increase than they should
  • Specifically, the endurance reduction portion of some non-superior sets was too low (scale 0.5 instead of scale 0.625) and all three parts of the superior ones were slightly too low (0.6162 or 0.6167 instead of 0.625)
• Full list of impacted enhancements:

Spoiler

Avalanche: Damage/Endurance
Command of the Mastermind: Damage/Endurance
Frozen Blast: Damage/Endurance
Superior Avalanche: Accuracy/Damage/Endurance
Superior Blistering Cold: Accuracy/Damage/Recharge
Superior Blistering Cold: Accuracy/Damage/Endurance
Superior Entomb: Accuracy/Hold Duration/Endurance
Superior Frozen Blast: Accuracy/Damage/Recharge
Superior Frozen Blast: Accuracy/Damage/Endurance
Superior Ascendency of the Dominator: Accuracy/Control Duration/Endurance
Superior Assassin's Mark: Accuracy/Damage/Recharge (Stalker)
Superior Assassin's Mark: Damage/Endurance/Recharge (Stalker)
Superior Brute's Fury: Accuracy/Damage/Recharge
Superior Brute's Fury: Damage/Endurance/Recharge
Superior Critical Strikes: Accuracy/Damage/Recharge (Scrapper)
Superior Critical Strikes: Damage/Endurance/Recharge (Scrapper)
Superior Dominating Grasp: Accuracy/Control Duration/Endurance (Dominator)
Superior Dominion of Arachnos: Accuracy/Damage/Recharge
Superior Dominion of Arachnos: Damage/Endurance/Recharge
Superior Essence Transfer: Accuracy/Damage/Recharge (Kheldian)
Superior Essence Transfer: Damage/Endurance/Recharge (Kheldian)
Superior Gauntleted Fist: Accuracy/Damage/Recharge (Tanker)
Superior Gauntleted Fist: Damage/Endurance/Recharge (Tanker)
Superior Kheldian's Grace: Accuracy/Damage/Recharge
Superior Kheldian's Grace: Damage/Endurance/Recharge
Superior Malice of the Corruptor: Accuracy/Damage/Recharge
Superior Malice of the Corruptor: Damage/Endurance/Recharge
Superior Might of the Tanker: Accuracy/Damage/Recharge
Superior Might of the Tanker: Damage/Endurance/Recharge
Superior Overpowering Presence: Accuracy/Control Duration/Endurance (Controller)
Superior Scourging Blast: Accuracy/Damage/Recharge (Corruptor)
Superior Scourging Blast: Damage/Endurance/Recharge (Corruptor)
Superior Scrapper's Strike: Accuracy/Damage/Recharge
Superior Scrapper's Strike: Damage/Endurance/Recharge
Superior Spider's Bite: Accuracy/Damage/Recharge (Soldier of Arachnos)
Superior Spider's Bite: Damage/Endurance/Recharge (Soldier of Arachnos)
Superior Stalker's Guile: Accuracy/Damage/Recharge
Superior Stalker's Guile: Damage/Endurance/Recharge
Superior Unrelenting Fury: Accuracy/Damage/Recharge (Brute)
Superior Unrelenting Fury: Damage/Endurance/Recharge (Brute)
Superior Will of the Controller: Accuracy/Control Duration/Endurance
Superior Winter's Bite: Accuracy/Damage/Recharge
Superior Winter's Bite: Accuracy/Damage/Endurance
Superior Command of the Mastermind: Accuracy/Damage/Recharge
Superior Command of the Mastermind: Damage/Endurance/Recharge
Superior Defender's Bastion: Damage/Endurance/Recharge
Superior Defender's Bastion: Accuracy/Damage/Endurance
Superior Vigilant Assault: Damage/Endurance/Recharge (Defender)
Superior Vigilant Assault: Accuracy/Damage/Endurance (Defender)

 

 

[GM Impervium]

2 hours ago, Jimmy said:

Miscellaneous

 

Power Tray Locking

• Add the ability to lock tray numbers, which removes the little arrows from power trays (both regular and floating)
  • Trays can still be changed using commands, binds, and macros
• This option can be adjusted with /optionset LockTrayNumbers 1 or 0, or it can be found in the Windows tab of the options menu
• Right-clicking on a power tray (both regular and floating) now includes "Lock Tray Numbers" and "Lock Powers in Trays" shortcut

This is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen, and I look in the mirror regularly!

[ScarySai]

2 hours ago, Jimmy said:

Stalker > Kinetic Melee > Burst: PvE Hide Crit changed from 100% to 50%

 

Way to nerf an already underperforming set's gimmick for the sake of consistency.

 

This is the kind of crap that turns people off. It would be best to revert until KM gets a rework.

[macskull]

Just now, ScarySai said:

 

Way to nerf an already underperforming set's gimmick for the sake of consistency.

 

This is the kind of crap that turns people off. It would be best to revert until KM gets a rework.

Well at least the people who were complaining about it in the Page 2 patch notes thread will actually have something to complain about now.

[flip]

1 minute ago, ScarySai said:

 

Way to nerf an already underperforming set's gimmick for the sake of consistency.

 

This is the kind of crap that turns people off. It would be best to revert until KM gets a rework.

seriously. stalker is the one AT that can use KM without being bottom-tier and this is one of the things that not only makes it competitive, but makes it unique and fun. so many people play KM for the 100% crit rate burst. please please please do not continue forward with this change.

[Machariel]

2 hours ago, Jimmy said:

Stalker > Kinetic Melee > Burst: PvE Hide Crit changed from 100% to 50%

😭 kinetic melee did nothing wrong

[spiralmenace]

echoing the dissatisfaction already posted re: kinetic melee nerf. at the very least save that for once the set has gotten a rework on all ATs instead of wrecking the one AT it's actually reasonably good on 😕

[ScarySai]

4 minutes ago, Machariel said:

😭 kinetic melee did nothing wrong

 

It had a unique gimmick, it was incorrect.

 

This game is full of happy accidents, this is no exception. If it's not breaking anything and people are enjoying it, what is the problem that needed to be corrected here? 

 

Even from a 'balance' perspective, it keeps the set good at something so it can be lower priority for a later change. All that was accomplished here was further proof that spreadsheets aren't the only thing to consider when balancing a game.

 

 

[Aberrant]

Been wishing for Power Tray Locking for so many years. Thank you.

[Apparition]

2 hours ago, Jimmy said:

 

• Controller > Darkness Affinity > Fade: Fixed this power causing characters to constantly flicker

 

 

 

 

Thank you!  Thank you!  Thank you!  I now look forward to people using the power without getting a headache.

[Replacement]

2 hours ago, Jimmy said:

Defence will no longer suppress upon activating any power

• Defence will now suppress on all attacks, including pseudopet attacks

 

 

Just tested this to be sure (though no pseudopets) - specifically, the suppressible portion of Defense suppresses on all attacks, and also when hit.

 

Minor thing, but the suppressed Defense line continues to show in the combat monitor even when it's suppressed.

(Total is correct, but I would expect the line itself to disappear)

[Signalrunner]

2 hours ago, Jimmy said:

Stalker > Kinetic Melee > Burst: PvE Hide Crit changed from 100% to 50%

 

Heavily dissatisfied with this decision. It's become a de facto feature of the set and it's often one of the reasons the community of Stalker players recommend the set.

 

Please rework Burst or revert the change, as it's a heavily underperforming AOE without the original crit rate.

[Replacement]

2 hours ago, Jimmy said:

•  Only Affect Self
  • Activating this power prevents you from attacking foes or aiding allies - all powers will only affect yourself
  • If you are attacked, this power will suppress, allowing you to fight back
•  Disable All Powers
  • Activating this power will stop all your powers and set bonuses from working
• Both of these powers can be acquired from the P2W vendor in the Prestige Utility category for zero cost

OAS seems to be working fine.  It's called out here, but to emphasize: even being missed will spupress the OAS and allow you to return fire.

 

Disable All Powers -- In case anyone is wondering, there is an exception for Walk, which can still be used while this is active.

[GM Impervium]

For those dissatisfied with the normalization of the Crit chances: are there additional ways to normalize the sets in question (KM specifically, apparently) to help make it competitive without relying on a single power working much better than it probably should?

[ScarySai]

Let's start with all the attacks after level 8 being trash? 

 

Fixing that is a start.

 

Though considering the amount of time that will probably be needed for a proper KM buff, perhaps burst should be kept until that rework comes. Hell, even then I think it should still stay, It's a pretty cool, unique aspect of KM, there's no real reason to continue with a crit nerf to enforce a rule that doesn't need to be followed at the end of the day.

 

Non-stalker ATs for KM will need even more than stalkers, as part of the reason KM is so good on stalker is that it's not bogged down by a failed gimmick.

Edited April 25, 2021 by ScarySai

[Doomrider]

I'd rather see bursts 100% Crit become a feature of the set tbh. Nerfing it for the sake of consistency is super lame, taking a niche and below average set and making it weaker because reasons. 

 

I just don't even know what else to say about these kind of changes. Who is honestly asking for this to be done? 

 

I'll echo others and say the set could some attention FIRST before Burst's Crit chance is adjusted.

[Bopper]

19 minutes ago, Replacement said:

 

Just tested this to be sure (though no pseudopets) - specifically, the suppressible portion of Defense suppresses on all attacks, and also when hit.

 

Minor thing, but the suppressed Defense line continues to show in the combat monitor even when it's suppressed.

(Total is correct, but I would expect the line itself to disappear)

That's a bug on all suppression. You'll notice it with travel powers too

[flip]

7 minutes ago, GM Impervium said:

For those dissatisfied with the normalization of the Crit chances: are there additional ways to normalize the sets in question (KM specifically, apparently) to help make it competitive without relying on a single power working much better than it probably should?

i don't think there's anything wrong with one power being better than ones similar to it. we already have things like blaze, seismic smash, clobber, freezing touch, fireball etc. that hugely outperform equivalent powers but that's just part of their respective set's charm. as is, burst is a pretty weak aoe baseline with a small radius, a long activation time, and mediocre DPA. it doesn't even perform that well with the abnormal crit rate.

 

edit: to add to this, i don't really want something else to make up for it. the crit rate is one of the unique and fun features of burst. even if every other power had its numbers adjusted to compensate and overall performance remained the same, it takes away a lot of the fun factor of the power.

Edited April 25, 2021 by flip

[Riverdusk]

33 minutes ago, Apparition said:

 

 

Thank you!  Thank you!  Thank you!  I now look forward to people using the power without getting a headache.

 

Might have to finally try the powerset again, nice!

 

47 minutes ago, GM Impervium said:

This is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen, and I look in the mirror regularly!

 

Love it.  I can't even count how many times I've accidently switched power trays.

 

 

[Gatling]

With how well the GM's and the Development team have been going about successfully making relatively bug-free updates and patches. I'd say you guys should worry a little less about how things are being handled. However I don't think you're incorrect, based on what I've seen and experienced, stalkers shouldn't be getting nerfed like this, but perhaps This is a really good time to do some number crunching and put forward some really good focussed feedback to improve the performance of the class and power sets instead of just getting angry.

[BlackHearted]

•  Only Affect Self
  • Activating this power prevents you from attacking foes or aiding allies - all powers will only affect yourself
  • If you are attacked, this power will suppress, allowing you to fight back
•  Disable All Powers
  • Activating this power will stop all your powers and set bonuses from working
• Both of these powers can be acquired from the P2W vendor in the Prestige Utility category for zero cost

I am super happy about these specifically.  
BIG BIG Thanks to the team for putting these options together to make sure everyone is able to keep their nitch preferences for small detail stuff like this!! 🖤

[macskull]

16 minutes ago, GM Impervium said:

For those dissatisfied with the normalization of the Crit chances: are there additional ways to normalize the sets in question (KM specifically, apparently) to help make it competitive without relying on a single power working much better than it probably should?

1. Larger radius, 8ft is seriously tiny
2. Faster animation
3. Make Concentrated Strike not suck, the animation time is awful and giving up crit damage in exchange for recharging Build Up is 100% not worth it
4. Speed up Focused Burst
5. Keep Burst the way it is, let the set have its "thing"

Edited April 25, 2021 by macskull

[Replacement]

3 hours ago, Jimmy said:

Sprint / Run / Jump Invention Sets

• Added two new IO set categories: Running and Sprints and Leaping and Sprints
• Quickfoot and Celerity are now in the Running and Sprints category
• Unbounded Leap and Springfoot are now in the Leaping and Sprints category
• All Sprint powers no longer accept Running and Leaping sets, instead they accept Running and Sprints and Leaping and Sprints sets
• All powers which accept Running sets also accept Running and Sprints sets
• All powers which accept Leaping sets also accept Leaping and Sprints sets
• Running and Sprint sets share an Enhancement Converter bucket with Running sets
• Leaping and Sprint sets share an Enhancement Converter bucket with Leaping sets
• TL;DR: This has no impact on existing slotting, builds or conversion, we've made this change in order to be able to introduce new Running and Leaping sets in the future without having to balance them around them being slotted in Sprint

 

Just so I'm clear... the intent here is to later on reintroduce base Running and Leaping sets, specifically sets that cannot be slotted in Sprints?

[Bopper]

14 minutes ago, GM Impervium said:

For those dissatisfied with the normalization of the Crit chances: are there additional ways to normalize the sets in question (KM specifically, apparently) to help make it competitive without relying on a single power working much better than it probably should?

Spitballing, but you could take a page out of Energy Melee and give KM a longer recharge version of Burst.

 

Change the 15s to 20s, and increase the 1.25 scale damage to 1.6182 scale damage.

 

The 1.25 from hide would do 2x damage for 2.5 scale.

 

The 1.6182 averaging 1.5x damage from hide would do 2.4273 scale on average.

 

Plus the benefits of proc abuse and non-hide average crit damage increasing.

[ScarySai]

In addition to agreeing with everything mac said, the speed of KM is also a very appealing part of it. 

 

If CS, focused burst and that awful cone get looked at, speeding them up considerably would likely be a very popular way to go about it, if the powers are also tuned to well, ya know, not be generally terrible.

 

However it ends though, autocrit from hide burst is unique and harmless. I don't see why it has to go even in the wake of a KM rework.

Edited April 25, 2021 by ScarySai