Update on top 10 list (8/28/04)...

[Tastian]

1) Weapon skill caps – Currently the difference in skill caps does very little as far as beastlord power is concerned. However, it has a very negative effect on weapon selection. HtH weapons are quite rare and if you look at the case of PoP progression you see Battle fists on TZ, pet weapon in fire, followed by wraps on Xegony, then shinai in time. That's it. Now a beastlord who is duel wielding needs two weapons and like most weapons all of these are lore. What happens is you have Beastlords looking to other weapon types such as 1hb and piercing. The problem becomes a weapon that is a clear upgrade for another class might actually be a downgrade for a beastlord. HtH weapons will always be highly desired by Beastlords because of the quality of the weapon.  Having 1hb/piercing and 2hb capped the same would simply allow Beastlords to help fill the gaps at times when hth weapons simply aren't available. Also it would make most upgrades much more intuitive. Other classes don't have to ask around before going from a 17 on 20 to an 18 on 20.



Currently being evaluated
2) Pet buff box – The recent changes to pets have been wonderful and I think it's safe to say all pet classes are very happy with the changes. What most of us were wondering is if it's possible to have the pet buffs display their remaining time and to also be able to click off pet buffs like we do our own buffs.



Situations where this would be very useful -

   *
     Pet haste is a very important buff, but it has a big refresh timer when you first memorize it. If it fades during a fight the beastlord will be in a much harder situation. Spell slots are already pretty limited as it is and not everyone has half a dozen egg timers around to keep up with pet haste, fero, haste, regen, etc.
   *
     Hobble of spirit and other buffs that once they land on the pet you can't get rid of them or overwrite. When a paladin lands Brells on the pet there is no way to get vigor on the pet for the extra attack outside of waiting for Brells to fade or dispelling the pet down to the buff you are after. With all the ninja buffing going on, pet affinity and now pets zoning it's simply become more and more common to find a buff on your pet that you simply don't want or that is blocking something you do want from taking hold.  

Discussions on hold until after the Omens of War Launch
3) Agro issues – This is a big beastlord issue that a lot of people don't quite understand. Beastlords are ok with getting agro from high agro spells such as slow and incapacitate. Beastlords are also ok with getting agro when they are simply putting out more damage or doing things that obviously should draw the mob's attention. The problems with beastlord agro become clear in raid situations and many grouping situations though. What you'll have is the beastlord operating in a total DPS role. By that I mean the beastlord isn't on slow duty or de-buffing the mob, but rather is just contributing damage via melee/nukes/dots. In this situation a beastlord is generating far more agro for the damage they are doing than most if not all other classes.  Again the problem isn't when a beastlord is doing 200dps and they get agro over someone doing 150dps.  Rather you have situations where a beastlord is actually doing less damage than many other classes, they haven't de-buffed the mob or done anything else to generate agro, yet they are the ones that pull agro off the MT or get summoned and killed first on tank changes. Some would say that the beastlord simply has to do less damage or watch their agro with that tank.  However, this same tank that can't keep agro off the beastlord doing X damage is successfully keeping agro off the wizard doing X+100 damage or the rogue doing X

+ 50 damage, etc.

Discussions on hold until after the Omens of War Launch
4) Improve pet heals –

Currently healing of Sorsha (62 beastlord heal) is all but unusable by Beastlords. The spell sees some use as the beastlord levels up, but as the beastlord progresses the spell gets used less and less. The main problem with the heal is its 9 second casting time. In almost any situation a beastlord would find themselves wanting to cast a heal on their pet 9 seconds is just far too long to wait. As such many Beastlords simply don't memorize the spell at all.

Currently being evaluated

5) Feral swipe -
Feral swipe is an AA that has a lot of potential, but unfortunately suffers from several issues. The first problem with feral swipe is that its current DPS boost is very minor. In even the best of situations the skill does notably less damage than kick does. The skill being on a one minute refresh is very streaky and it's not unheard of to go 15 minutes without having a single feral swipe land.  Also the AA still has a small range issue. The range was increased once, but it wasn't quite enough. There are still monsters that you can melee, but you can't land your feral swipes on. Spacing is extremely important in these cases and as such feral swipe becomes completely useless. Finally, feral swipe takes up yet another hot key space that is getting to be in almost as much demand as spell gem spaces. When a beastlord has pet controls, kick, prot spirit, possibly spells and macros along with other AAs in their hot key bank they simply don't have room to add another button. I know several Beastlords that haven't purchased this skill simply because they have no room to actually activate it well playing.

Currently being evaluated

6) Pet run speed –

This is mainly an issue indoors, but what happens is you have Beastlords with various ranks of AA run speed and swift journey that leads to the pet simply getting left behind sometimes or taking awhile to catch up.

Currently being evaluated

7) Pet spam -

This is an issue for all pet users, but one that could really use some looking into.  Currently messages for "backing off" and "holding" are done in /say and with a couple pet classes present the spam quickly becomes annoying.  Another pet spam issue is that of bard songs + pet affinity.  If a beastlord (or any pet class) has a bard in their group they will constantly get "fade" messages from the songs the bard is singing.



Proposed solution:

   * Change the pet messages to be "tells" to the pet owner and allow filters to turn these on and off as the owner sees fit or atleast put them into a different window if they so choose.
   * Allow a toggle to turn filter out spells fading off he pet.  Make it so short duration "buffs" such as bard songs don't give a message when they fade.

This is a new item, I am sending it along. It is likely that we won't have information on this until after the Omens of War Launch.

8) Hobble of spirits –

This AA has very few uses - First of all the proc buff overwrites relic, but you can't overwrite hobble back again. This would be a non-issue if #2 from above were done, currently though being locked into hobble and losing your other proc for its duration is a problem. Also hobble doesn't stack with relic. The beastlord gives up a lot of damage and a stun to get a semi-reliable snare currently.

Currently being evaluated

9) Tureptan Spirit –

This spell is the result of the KT rune turns in for Beastlords in Gates. The spell is a copy of our level 61 spell "infusion of spirit", but hits the entire group instead of a single player. The

main issue with this spell is that by the time almost every beastlord can acquire it they simply don't need it. The spell was something lower level Beastlords had requested, but for where the spell comes from it has almost no use. Beastlords simply want this looked into and made into something that is at least worth looting the rune for.

Discussions on hold until after the Omens of War Launch

10)  Warder names -

This is actually a two fold issue.  Some Beastlords want the ability to name their warder as their warder is a close friend and life long companion.  Another issue with the current warder names is that it creates issues with targeting.  If you use /tar you are likely to get the Beastlord's warder and not the beastlord.  This can lead to issue with buffs and heals.

Proposed solutions:

   * Allow beastlord warders to be named upon reaching a certain level; similar to how surnames work.
   * Make it easier for players to properly /tar the beastlord or their warder

This is a new item, I am sending it along. It is likely that we won't have information on this until after the Omens of War Launch.


As always please feel free to post ideas/thoughts/opinions or PM/e-mail me with your thoughts/links/etc.

[Kherash]

Warder names

Would be great if it happens.

I wonder how long the skill caps will be looked at? /keeps praying this will get fixed

[Kitana]

I wonder how long the skill caps will be looked at? /keeps praying this will get fixed

Beastlords are supposedly shaman/monk hybrids so I personally have had a hard time understanding why our other skill caps were not higher to begin with.  *shrug*

[Kherash]

Just another way to keep the Beast down.

[Yllandra]

* Allow beastlord warders to be named upon reaching a certain level; similar to how surnames work.

Seeing this STILL makes me cringe. Yes, it would be nice to give my Shana her proper name, but... I can already see all the people who will use that for harrassment, or just put obscene names in there. The ones who really don't care about the setting, and just want to "be funny". etc.

[Tastian]

Sadly you can't ignore things just because people might misuse or abuse them.  We can't stop making steak knives because people use them to kill others.  We can't remove dispells from the game because people grief with them or remove dps skills because some might KS with them.  There are already rules in the game set up and a fairly extensive naming policy.  People that choose to abuse the pet naming just like any other aspect of the game should be dealt with based upon their actions, but to keep something from people that would use it properly just because of those that might misuse is just wrong imo.

[Lorathir]

and a fairly extensive naming policy.

No it isn't Tastian. It's an appauling naming policy, with the most ridiculous names getting to high levels all the time. I'll stop short of going into detail.

However, I'll agree that if enough people have asked for it, that it should go in - even if I think it's tempting fate and a really bad idea.

[Tastian]

By extensive I meant the policy itself.  The enforce of that policy though is a joke.  I watched a guide the other day just sit there and do nothing.  I see GMs do nothing to certain names.  This again I liken to an issue of enforcement, not one of policy though.  If cops don't pull people over for doing 100 mph this isn't an issue of not having speeding laws, it's an issue of enforcement.  

I do agree with you though that this is an issue that many have brought up and simply put atleast deserves an answer to imo.  Even if they come back with "no" atleast we'll let it go for a bit and maybe try again later.  I absolutely understand the posibilities of abuse in such a change, but every issue that would happen isn't one as a result of naming our warders but rather one of people not following rules that already exist and others not enforcing those rules that already exist.

[Barbii]

1) Weapon skill caps

I may be in the minority here, but I think raising the skill caps is the wrong solution to the problem. H2H weapons are a unique product for monks and beastlords, and it makes sense that we should be more adept at using them than other types of weapons.

The problem I see here is really what's addressed in the first paragraph -- there just aren't enough of them. Instead of making beastlords into mini-warriors, why not just put a higher number of H2H weapon drops in GoD and OoW?

Also, regarding pet movement rate, I have always found it odd that I have to give my wolf "Spirit of Wolf" to get him to run faster. I think our warders should have an innate movement rate increase equal to 1% for each level of the pet.

[Rhaynne]

I may be in the minority here, but I think raising the skill caps is the wrong solution to the problem. H2H weapons are a unique product for monks and beastlords, and it makes sense that we should be more adept at using them than other types of weapons.

The problem I see here is really what's addressed in the first paragraph -- there just aren't enough of them. Instead of making beastlords into mini-warriors, why not just put a higher number of H2H weapon drops in GoD and OoW?

You are in the minority.  This has been rehashed over and over and over again in multiple threads.  We realize that itemization is the issue and something that can be addressed in the future, but at this stage in the game it isn't realistic to expect a reitemization of PoP and GoD.  Moreover, hand to hand weapons tend have better ratios than other weapon types, so simply having access to them at all is a benefit and makes them the superior weapon choice.

[Kinash]

By extensive I meant the policy itself.  The enforce of that policy though is a joke.  I watched a guide the other day just sit there and do nothing.  I see GMs do nothing to certain names.  This again I liken to an issue of enforcement, not one of policy though.  If cops don't pull people over for doing 100 mph this isn't an issue of not having speeding laws, it's an issue of enforcement.  

Guides cannot change a name since the "Change Your Name" service was initiated. Best they can do is report it to the GM.  If they aren't reported eother by a guide or a Petition Ticket they probably won't get changed. Many times in the past they didn't change certain bad names if the player has gotten away with it for too long and players now associate that player with the name. Every so often they would go and do a "bad name" purge on a server. And sometimes the bad names are so creative that they don't get changed.

[Barbii]

You are in the minority.  This has been rehashed over and over and over again in multiple threads.  We realize that itemization is the issue and something that can be addressed in the future, but at this stage in the game it isn't realistic to expect a reitemization of PoP and GoD.

I don't think it's realistic to expect a reitemization of any previous expansion for any reason, except in the rare cases where a single zone (i.e. Hate, CT, Nurga/Droga, etc.) is updated and reitemized. I'm specifically thinking of OoW (and beyond) weapon itemization. If they recognize and fix the problem in this and all future expansions, then the previous expansions' missteps become less relevant as the gear itself becomes less relevant.

[Hzark]

If the Beastlord epic 2.0 does turn out to be a 1HB, it is important that they address the weapon cap issue BEFORE releasing OoW.

If they artificially inflate the ratio of the epic 2.0 to compensate for the lower weapon cap on 1HB, they will not be keen to unbalance it by subsequently increasing the weapon cap.

Personally, I have an aesthetic/roleplay reason for wanting to see the weapon caps equalised. (Not necessarily at 250, I would be happy if all, including H2H, were at 240). When I started my beastord he was issued with a dagger. I thought, ah, cool, piercing is meant to be Beastlord's main weapon type. So for many levels I sought out nice piercing weapons, and rather liked the look of the various daggers and spears (slarghilug spear, mmmmmm) I had before I was forced by weapon caps to restrict myself to H2H weapons.

If I had my aesthetic choice I would dual wield daggers or a dagger and a spear, but it is not a viable option at present. So why did they issue me with a dagger when I was a hatchling?

[Yllandra]

If I had my aesthetic choice I would dual wield daggers or a dagger and a spear, but it is not a viable option at present.

Reroll as a rogue? hehe Sorry! Couldn't resist, having played a rogue for 4 years.

[Kitana]

Also, regarding pet movement rate, I have always found it odd that I have to give my wolf "Spirit of Wolf" to get him to run faster. I think our warders should have an innate movement rate increase equal to 1% for each level of the pet.

I have always found it redundant to have to cast Spirit of Wolf on my Wolf....  :roll: