Page 4 experiences so far...

[KaizenSoze]

Good

• Symphony is awesome
• Attacks type changes are not noticeable on any team I played on
• Aggro changes are slightly noticeable, but not a major issue

Bad

• DFB is broken. Devs know, fix coming
• Servers are laggy or almost map serving me several times

Amusing

• Lots of where is the Atlas AE?
• PI Radio mission that had Incarnate Cimerorians. Even had hostless, but they didn't possess. The mission existed before page 4 dropped. Sometimes the mob index shifts. Once, the mission is done everything returns to normal

[Black Zot]

So were the eardrum-blasting effects of Foot Stomp and Howling Twilight ACTUALLY fixed, or was that hot air?

[Coyotedancer]

As an active farmer, I'm a fan of the aggro changes. It makes pulling together groups on the big freak world/sunken ruin map a whole lot easier than it was before. 'Took a good five minutes off of Ossuni's clear time. 👍

 

( **Imagines the Anti-farming League calling to remove that effect in AE in 5... 4... 3...** ) 

[KaizenSoze]

1 minute ago, Coyotedancer said:

As an active farmer, I'm a fan of the aggro changes. It makes pulling together groups on the big freak world/sunken ruin map a whole lot easier than it was before. 'Took a good five minutes off of Ossuni's clear time. 👍

 

( **Imagines the Anti-farming League calling to remove that effect in AE in 5... 4... 3...** ) 

I have not seen a lot of in game chat about AFK farmers dying.

 

There is a build somewhere in the beta forum comments. I think the change AE change, which had a build which can AFK farm.

 

It's high regen and you'll need accolades. *queue* All fire farmer Moonfire!

 

Yes, there are builds in @America's Angel post at the beginning of thread.

 

[Coyotedancer]

I don't AFK on principle, so the change doesn't require me to make any changes to Suni or Harry's builds whatsoever... The additional incoming ranged damage is a non-issue. The aggro adjustments just mean that things come in on their own without me having to Ball Lightning their demonling butts. 😝

 

The AFKs will adapt, I'm sure. It's not such a huge change that they'll have much trouble. 

[KaizenSoze]

2 minutes ago, Coyotedancer said:

I don't AFK on principle, so the change doesn't require me to make any changes to Suni or Harry's builds whatsoever... The additional incoming ranged damage is a non-issue. The aggro adjustments just mean that things come in on their own without me having to Ball Lightning their demonling butts. 😝

 

The AFKs will adapt, I'm sure. It's not such a huge change that they'll have much trouble. 

I don't AFK either. But I thought it would be nice to post the link to the builds in case someone is looking.

[Neiska]

Well, whatever they changed shaved about 30 seconds off my 3 box mm farming team. They come to me more now, so I don't have to waste time chasing them down. Not a terrible amount of time, but it is easier to get big, massive groups now. Have seen a few dead outside the AE though, I mean, moreso than usual.

[ILIWAPCT]

7 minutes ago, Neiska said:

Well, whatever they changed shaved about 30 seconds off my 3 box mm farming team. They come to me more now, so I don't have to waste time chasing them down. Not a terrible amount of time, but it is easier to get big, massive groups now. Have seen a few dead outside the AE though, I mean, moreso than usual.

The patch notes make it sound like the first pet upgrade is a waste of time if you have the second upgrade or did I read it incorrectly?

[UberGuy]

As someone who often tries herding together more stuff than the aggro cap used to let me (often pulling one two groups onto a third) I'm a pretty big fan of the aggro change. That's not just for farming, either. Granted, the difference in "17 foes max, ever" and what we have now can get big fast if you're not careful, but I like it. 

[Neiska]

3 minutes ago, ILIWAPCT said:

The patch notes make it sound like the first pet upgrade is a waste of time if you have the second upgrade or did I read it incorrectly?

 

Im not sure if I understand your question correctly. For my 3 box robot team I use both upgrades. My farming style is different from most. The only time I use the 2nd upgrade is if I am fighting with group fly on. Most times I don't, but it's an option. 

 

Hope that helps?

[Supertanker]

Buffing Invulnerability was hilarious but I'll take it. I was able to drop all my Psi Resist IOs and still end up with higher numbers than before.

 

[ivanhedgehog]

if the change was unnoticable, why change it? why cant we damage as many targets as we can aggro? 

[ILIWAPCT]

14 minutes ago, Neiska said:

 

Im not sure if I understand your question correctly. For my 3 box robot team I use both upgrades. My farming style is different from most. The only time I use the 2nd upgrade is if I am fighting with group fly on. Most times I don't, but it's an option. 

 

Hope that helps?

• Soldiers now have the correct powers assigned and revoked per upgrade
  • Equip Mercenaries: Applies ASMG Heavy Burst, does not grant Assault Rifle Heavy Burst
  • Tactical Upgrade: Now applies all Assault Rifle powers and removes ASMG powers appropriately

[Neiska]

1 minute ago, ILIWAPCT said:

• Soldiers now have the correct powers assigned and revoked per upgrade
  • Equip Mercenaries: Applies ASMG Heavy Burst, does not grant Assault Rifle Heavy Burst
  • Tactical Upgrade: Now applies all Assault Rifle powers and removes ASMG powers appropriately

 

Oh, sorry. I never played Mercs. Main MMs are Robots and Demons. I can't speak on Mercs. 😆

[Sanguinesun]

I've been disappointed with the update on various levels of things.  Sounds for the new symphony powerset I think could've been nicer instead of what's been used.   Both that set and the sonic assault in the low levels seem to miss targets  a lot too.

 

Aggro changes are a mixed bag and while it was marketed to be same/similar for groups, its not been the case from my anecdotal experiences today.  

 

Everyone's been focusing either ire or adulation(seemingly from the Anti-AErs) for the changes for farms but there's also been changes that affect people who try to level low toons solo who do not always have the benefit of teams due to server times/personal schedules/or just wanting simplistic missions vs something else. *shrug*

 

I'm extremely curious how the changes that were enacted managed to cause the bug with the the DFB AV.  Just would be interesting to know how that managed to occur.

 

As for the tier'd end game content, that'd be a long time out if ever before I'd have a min/max toon viable for such wow-esque mythic raiding so to speak :P.

 

Anyway, its what the dev's've given us for dinner, and invariably we have to eat it or excuse ourselves from the table :P.

[Sanguinesun]

21 minutes ago, ivanhedgehog said:

if the change was unnoticable, why change it? why cant we damage as many targets as we can aggro? 

 

Dangerous question to be sure. 😛  That'd mean farming would become even more efficient and we certainly dont want a return to the early years of the game 😛 Else we'd see storm defenders herding all of Perez park for groups standing at the entrance. 

[Neiska]

7 minutes ago, Sanguinesun said:

Dangerous question to be sure. 😛  That'd mean farming would become even more efficient and we certainly dont want a return to the early years of the game 😛 Else we'd see storm defenders herding all of Perez park for groups standing at the entrance. 

 

Masterminds sort of already can. Each pet has its own aggro table, plus the original mobs for the MM themselves. Thats kind of how MM farming works, "en masse." Your dps per mob isn't anywhere near a brutes but you fight so much more at a time that it's a moot point. The trick is surviving so many mobs, which not every MM is capable of doing.

[PorkTips]

1 hour ago, KaizenSoze said:

I have not seen a lot of in game chat about AFK farmers dying.

 

 

 

I was dying at first, but I found a workaround for now without changing my build. Just standing in a different place to keep the over-aggro-cap enemies down. Then it was fine.

[Coyotedancer]

'Just ran through Valeria's arc with Grey Kestrel (My DB/WP Scrap with perma-summoned Adept partner) at +3... Mostly because I just wanted to see what it would be like on higher difficulty with a fully Incarnate, T4-ed, high-end character. (I'd only tested it in Beta at +0 with a pretty average Joe Anybody type stalker. Which proved to be a mistake, Because it was No Fun At All on a Stalker thanks to the ambushes and multi-EB mobs.) 

 

Most of the arc was pretty good fun as a solidly-built solo Scrap with all the iToys. A challenge, but not impossible. The last mission was suitably epic. The ambushes are still a little ludicrous, but not nearly as annoying for Kes as they'd been for Traveler. (Heat-seeking ambushes are just hell on Stalkers. Way to invalidate an AT's entire "thing" there, game. <_<)

 

That second mission, though? Yikes. That thing is seriously unfriendly to solos. Even using every trick I know... Seven deaths. Every one of them was the result of getting a double or triple pull on the monster/EB groups. In spite of using Zapp (an actual snipe power-) from cover at max range, reliably separating those spawns is really TOUGH. Even though it's necessary when you're facing those goons on your own. And forget about kiting them. Your Glad Armor and Shield Wall specials won't save you from being bounced right back to them with that teleport.

 

Honestly? I wonder if it's still not on the "too much" side for an arc that people are absolutely going solo, and likely on characters that won't be as solidly equipped as Kestrel is. I suspect we're going to hear about a lot of people auto-completing that one because it's just a wall they can't get past.

[PorkTips]

9 minutes ago, Coyotedancer said:

Honestly? I wonder if it's still not on the "too much" side for an arc that people are absolutely going solo, and likely on characters that won't be as solidly equipped as Kestrel is. I suspect we're going to hear about a lot of people auto-completing that one because it's just a wall they can't get past.

 

I think the aggro changes were a solution looking for a legit problem. Fire farmers will adapt, even if the influence earned is half now etc. But when people just want to actively play, I think people will have issues. The long terms downsides will likely outweigh .... whatever the justification was supposed to be.

 

But whatever, it is what it is.

[Spaghetti Betty]

3 hours ago, KaizenSoze said:

DFB is broken.

Sounds like the perfect time to get some old school sewers runs going

[agentx5]

12 minutes ago, Spaghetti Betty said:

Sounds like the perfect time to get some old school sewers runs going

 

Already done that, it's hilarious with a league and pretty decent XP as long as people stick together and don't split up

[srmalloy]

3 hours ago, Black Zot said:

So were the eardrum-blasting effects of Foot Stomp and Howling Twilight ACTUALLY fixed, or was that hot air?

I'm getting noticeably lower volume when my nova-form PB uses Scatter; previously it was stacking the 'gzang' hit sound for each target

[KaizenSoze]

1 hour ago, PorkTips said:

 

I think the aggro changes were a solution looking for a legit problem. Fire farmers will adapt, even if the influence earned is half now etc. But when people just want to actively play, I think people will have issues. The long terms downsides will likely outweigh .... whatever the justification was supposed to be.

 

But whatever, it is what it is.

The aggro changes from what I understand we to make the mobs behavior more realistically. A patrol would just wander by if you were aggroed capped.

 

An active farmer does need to change at least in the farms I use. I have 45% fire defense and 90% fire resists.

 

AE ID: 50968 You can stand in the center if you can handle it or hug the edges. The decoys should get most of the mobs to come within range in time.

 

Also, the mobs should give full exp. I updated the mobs before the page dropped.

 

This is actually a boon to active farmers, less effort to pull mobs.

[Mr. Apocalypse]

So far the changes to my farming routine are not an issue. (I never did AFK farming). I have not tested PL'ing a toon with the double xp buff to see how that has changed.  Most of my time, was spent Pl'ing my own toons in an effort to reclaim the 35 or so lvl 50's I lost when the Paragon servers shut down.  I hope the changes don't significantly slow the process down. I still have 15 or so more to go on top of the cliche' builds I was working on.

 

I have been vocal about the conversion of Emp merits to reward merits, I am still not happy about that. but its not a big enough issue for me since I have plenty of reward merits saved up.  I can still use emp merits to get incarnates done for other toons so at least they still have some minimal value.

 

I logged into my main, (bots/dark/mu MM) and ran a few missions and didn't really see any glaring issues with my performance as compared to pre-update. I will need to spend more time checking stuff out. 

My only gripe so far is the ridiculous lag and rubber-banding that I am seeing. I am hoping that's just due to the extra server load of new shiny stuff, and nothing to do with coding.