What did I miss?

[TombTyrant]

Hey ya'all. So I bounced out for a while about a year ago. Just wanted to spend some time in other games and have more time for some other projects. But you know the itch for this game never really goes away and I saw the new patch notes in the discord and so I'm back.

 

Anyway, I'm super excited for the new stuff that has come out while I was away and just to try some different characters and jump back on some of my old ones. Very pumped for that. But I feel like I missed a beat somewhere, and I can't really track it down.

 

So the changes seem very cool or at least interesting. Or at the least I will reserve judgement until I actually play with them. What I can't seem to get on the same page with is the reasoning behind any of them. Well, I mean, obviously I can figure out why you make new missions and content. Super excited by that. No notes. But why remove the aggro cap? Why burn down the AE buildings in the starting zones? Why overhaul certain defense and resistances? I am neither for or against these things, I just can't seem to follow the line of thought.

 

And hey listen if any of these changes are something you hate or want to just complain about or have an axe to grind on or whatever, that's not really my jam here. I'm not passing any judgement on something I haven't even played yet. I just want to understand what I missed that made all this stuff seem like a worthwhile investment of volunteer time. If anyone would care to fill me in or discuss it with me, I'd be super grateful. Thanks for humoring a dude who put himself out of the loop for a long time and is confused now.

[PeregrineFalcon]

2 minutes ago, TombTyrant said:

But why remove the aggro cap?

The aggro cap wasn't removed. What was changed is that the mobs won't just ignore you if you're over the aggro cap. If you're solo, and you've aggrod 30 guys then the ones who aren't aggrod on you will still shoot at you. You're not invisible just because you're at the aggro cap. If you're in a team they'll see you but maybe go shoot at someone else if you're already at the aggro cap.

 

4 minutes ago, TombTyrant said:

Why burn down the AE buildings in the starting zones?

The devs said that so many people were playing/farming in the Atlas AE that it was causing Atlas Park to lag for everyone.

 

5 minutes ago, TombTyrant said:

Why overhaul certain defense and resistances?

They changed NPC attacks to match their damage type to make more sense. So an attack that's primarily energy will check against energy defense instead of S/L defense. It didn't affect that many attacks and it is a very slight nerf to S/L defense.

 

[TombTyrant]

Thanks. I did understand the nuance of the aggro changes, I just said remove the aggro cap for shorthand. I did read the notes, so I can follow what they actually did. I still just don't know why though.

 

The other two answers make good sense. 

[Lines]

As far as I'm concerned, having enemies respond when certain spandex-clad doom is heading their way instead of patiently waiting their turn is a big boost to believability.

 

I haven't encountered it yet as far as I know (i got minced in the lab map's layer room the other day, so maybe) but I do like the notion of having to pay that bit more attention to a situation.

[Pyriold]

It's basically trying to hide the fact that there is an aggro cap just for better immersion.

[Marshal_General]

3 hours ago, Pyriold said:

It's basically trying to hide the fact that there is an aggro cap just for better immersion.

Yeah I hate it when mobs walk by me like I am not there just because I am fighting a bunch of other mobs. It ruins my immersion.

 

I will not be ignored!

[srmalloy]

1 hour ago, Marshal_General said:

Yeah I hate it when mobs walk by me like I am not there just because I am fighting a bunch of other mobs. It ruins my immersion.

<patrolling NPCs walking past a fight>

"Hey, look-- the boss is getting his ass handed to him by a couple of heroes. You think we should help him?"

"Didn't he write you up last week for having a grease spot on your uniform after you'd pulled an eight-hour shift in the motor pool?"

"You're right. Screw him. If he can't handle the heroes, he doesn't deserve his job. Let's just pretend we don't see it."

"Say, don't they have lasagna in the cafeteria today?"

"And it's time for our lunch break. We'll come back later and see what needs to be cleaned up."