SoF 2 Weeks later!

[Pakratz]

Pretty much in agreement with general opinions on SoF, but I'll post my own:

1. Love the new zones, I find them appealing and creative.
2. New gear: New cultural seems really unbalanced to me.  After years of grinding out 30 hp upgrades in raids, I bought a symbol in bazaar that was 165 hp upgrade!  My guild just got into TSS (no kills yet) and one of our zerkers is top ac & HP on server cuz he collected 8 exquisite marrows in normal xping.  That's wacked.  There was talk of "raiding" tier 3 zone trash rather than raid TSS - the guild will benefit more from marrows than raid mob drops.
3. DPS improvements.  They look nice, but hard to say without more parsing in relation to other classes, so I have no opinion yet.
4. Improved Warder.  Love this!  He is a viable offtank on occasion, especially soloing.
5. Focused Paragon.  Like this alot.  It's potential raid utility (tho we havent actually used it yet).  It really rocks in groups and solo.  1680 mana is really noticeable.
6. Pact of Wurine.  Love this.  Hate having to shrink every 30 min, so I generally only cast it once per raid night.  I use it in unshrinked groups & solo.  I would LOVE this to keep your shrunk size.  I enjoy the illusion as well.
7. AAs.  Decent but uninspired overall.  I like that there's like 1000 aas to get.  The BL-specific ones like Hastened Thunder and Hastened BA and Feral kick on reposte are lame and cookie-cutter.
8. Spells.  They blow.  Ones I like: new warder, poison nuke, howl, SV, SE, Focus.  Ones I don't use: Pet haste(how sad is that), Growl, Dots, ice nuke, pet hit aborber, pet spell blocker, fero, pet slow.

My comments on spells I won't use:
  Pet haste - I'm not going to cast something that pisses off my group ffs.  10 minutes? lol, how did this make it to production?  Non-BL get a good laugh out of this.
  Growl - I use growl for dps boost, the new version is not an improvement
  Dots - never use, never will use.  they don't stick on raid targets, too slow casting and not mana efficient on group mobs that die in 25 seconds typically.  For the love of Toto, please stop giving us these dam dots in place of something useful.
  Ice nuke - Not a complaint, but poison nukes dwarf this - on occasion I may use this on burn raid fites.  Silver lining is I no longer need an ice focus
  Pet "blocker" buffs - I don't use, maybe I should experiment with these...
  Fero - old Fero is preferable due to focuses.  Actually the 65 level fero gives the best return for my focuses lol.  Might use someday.  Fero in general is borked.
  Pet slow - does anyone actually prefer an unpredictable slow?  I have experimented with this quite a bit and hate it.

My priorities of things to fix:
1) Pet haste/group haste mess
2) Pact of Wurine - make it keep you shrunk and I'd use it all the time
3) Growl - bump the dps boost on this
4) Cure spell like rangers. Hey I can dream, can't I...

 

[Humlaine]

Some info in regards to one of the new spells:


lvl 80 Howl At The Moon Call Rk.2:

min slash - 87
max slash- 283
max crit - 435

Lvl 75 Bark At The Moon Call Rk.2:

min slash - 92
max slash- 297
max crit - 456

Focused used: Servant of Chaos (Savagesoul Sandals of the Wilds)

If this spell ( Lvl 80) requires better (raid obtained) focus to become an upgrade to lvl 75 spell than dev's reasoning behind it is pathetic.
However, would like to see the parsing due to overall dps comparison (double, triple, quad hits etc might be increased, but it seems to me that it is rather decreased).

did one or the other proc, how long was the dps parse done for, and what pet focus are you using?


As for the Pact bug, there is nothing wrong with it in current for, why do you say it is unusable and whats wrong with it currently in game that makes it so?

if you dont post facts and details I really cant do a whole lot.

[Sikkem]

Some info in regards to one of the new spells:


lvl 80 Howl At The Moon Call Rk.2:

min slash - 87
max slash- 283
max crit - 435

Lvl 75 Bark At The Moon Call Rk.2:

min slash - 92
max slash- 297
max crit - 456

Focused used: Servant of Chaos (Savagesoul Sandals of the Wilds)

If this spell ( Lvl 80) requires better (raid obtained) focus to become an upgrade to lvl 75 spell than dev's reasoning behind it is pathetic.
However, would like to see the parsing due to overall dps comparison (double, triple, quad hits etc might be increased, but it seems to me that it is rather decreased).

I think I saw a post, maybe on the mage forums that said although the max hits where less the dps was higher because of a higher accuracy. Would love to be able to copy to beta to parse these.

[Sikkem]

did one or the other proc, how long was the dps parse done for, and what pet focus are you using?


As for the Pact bug, there is nothing wrong with it in current for, why do you say it is unusable and whats wrong with it currently in game that makes it so?

if you dont post facts and details I really cant do a whole lot.

1. His post says he was using Servant of Chaos pet focus.

2. He also says he would like to see parses done on the two swarm pets for comparison. I would assume from that request that he didn't do a parse but just took some information from a parser.

3. (Wurine) Whilst I agree he worded his post very poorly as the complaints aren't bugs I take it he is referring to the having to shrink every 30mins and it not stacking with BA.

[Humlaine]

ok then you all need to reword it from its pointless on raids, to its a hassle, because otherwise there is no reason not to use pact, so you have to click it off to use BA, just rework your discing to make it a viable option again for you, thats what I've done. they wont take the illusion away from BA I've already asked, nor will they for pact.  As for swarm pets, the howl at the moon is more dps then bark by 50+ dps at least thats what I've parsed them at, and thats not with all the pet aa's atm either

[Sikkem]

only one person I believe worded it that way.

[hakaaba]

I'd like to see a regen upgrade instead of one of our redundant pet runes or fero.

[Vangarth JaggedClaw]

Quote (PACT is the best thing we got and for raid purposes is effectively unusable in it current form. If it not to much to ask that is be fixed, and not get a Smart !@#$@ remark back?)

You stated that u did not like to have to cast PACT and then mem shrink then remem raid spells what exactly is your raid spell line up that one spell gem out of 10 now really cant be shrink for a couple seconds before engage is called. Or maybe camp the 68.4 DOD spell mission for the .3 second shrink ring that is inventory clickable or the shrink stick? Now I do believe that the run speed on this ability is not working I have ppl running by me with FOE on and ppl keeping up with me with Run 5 aa.


(Quote) I'm pretty sure we didn't get Fero deleted. Sony doesn't read these forums religiously.

Have no idea about this so I will have to take every ones word for it.

This is the only area where I am lost with some of the other bst post they say it is worthless not worth casting any more. The guild I am in currently farms Deathnell progressing through TBS I am mainly Demi geared with some COA stuff 1 new SOF gear (wrist) all aa's maxed for resist. average raid night my resist are 640, attack around 2700 with out shammy in grp. higher when i get tossed in to those DPS grps. This DPS grp is where i would love grp Fero I keep lvl 75 fero and 80 Fero memed during raid able to keep it on about 6 other chars if i concentrate on it but out of the most usually able to keep it on 4 chars with no prob. I still find Fero very useful have monks rouges zerkers asking for it all the time. Hell even Pally's want it when we encounter undead. Now i know every one says taking that 4 seconds away from us dpsin the mob sucks bla bla well those other ppl have to realize if fero wears off during the fight o well they have to live without since Sony wont  give us a grp fero. I am open to correction here if I am way off course on the Fero cause I still see my attack raised and resist with it even will all aa's maxed out on attack and resist.

Where I think bst need to be paid attention to is the Run speed on PACT and Harrow  I am not seeing much of a improve over Rake on this I am not asking for 9k crits here something noticeable of a change would be nice and please just delete Lock fang series and give us 5 aa's for wasting our time for even reading what the spell was for.

[Khauruk]

This is the only area where I am lost with some of the other bst post they say it is worthless not worth casting any more. The guild I am in currently farms Deathnell progressing through TBS I am mainly Demi geared with some COA stuff 1 new SOF gear (wrist) all aa's maxed for resist. average raid night my resist are 640, attack around 2700 with out shammy in grp. higher when i get tossed in to those DPS grps. This DPS grp is where i would love grp Fero I keep lvl 75 fero and 80 Fero memed during raid able to keep it on about 6 other chars if i concentrate on it but out of the most usually able to keep it on 4 chars with no prob. I still find Fero very useful have monks rouges zerkers asking for it all the time. Hell even Pally's want it when we encounter undead. Now i know every one says taking that 4 seconds away from us dpsin the mob sucks bla bla well those other ppl have to realize if fero wears off during the fight o well they have to live without since Sony wont  give us a grp fero. I am open to correction here if I am way off course on the Fero cause I still see my attack raised and resist with it even will all aa's maxed out on attack and resist.

So...do you have any parses showing the returns on damage per mana on Ferocity vs. other spells in our line-up?  It's not that it doesn't raise your attack, it's that past a certain point (was 2kish for pre-SoF content, nfc for SoF content), you get almost no dps gain from higher attack.  You say you're in Deathknell area - I can categorically tell you Ferocity is worthless as a dps booster in that content.  The developers have publicly and privately agreed to that effect as well.

From Rashere's comments in beta, it sounded like Fero would still be just as useless as it has been for several expansions.  They raised the bar of the "attack softcap" (actually NPC AC values) somewhat, but no drastically like would have been needed.

[Humlaine]

Attack really slumps off after the 3k point, fero up till 3k attack is about 40+ dps for a bst / bard, beyond that its reduced by alot, almost 3/4's in usefulness

[Khauruk]

Attack really slumps off after the 3k point, fero up till 3k attack is about 40+ dps for a bst / bard, beyond that its reduced by alot, almost 3/4's in usefulness

With what weapons?  If it does a 40dps boost for you, it won't do nearly that for me, as your weapons are almost twice the ratio as mine.  So...20dps at Anguish level weapons, less even since most anguish raiders now won't have max accuracy.  So, let's say 17dps boost?

Random tossed out numbers like that are simply useless without context.  What weapons?  Was accuracy maxed?  Max AAs?  SoF target?

[Humlaine]

its about 40 dps with no AA's, its one of the many parses I did on beta, granted it was with 100% haste, the weapons were various ranging from groupable SoF weapons to the highest being tier 4 raid SoF weapons, the net gain was still near 40 dps if not more in some cases. If you're wanting to be nit picky, if your consistent enough on parses that your dps doesn't vary and have a reliable mob you can parse on for hours on end then by all means please check it yourself.  I just won't post random BS and say omg it's the truth, its just not my way. as for accuracy, even preanguish capping your accuracy is something that wasn't to hard speaking with GoD items.

When gearing yourself you need to judge all the positives and negatives. Accuracy is relative to % hit rate yes, but in terms of true Dps it won't affect the attack numbers.  If you want to ask the dev's in the next IRC chat please do, I am sure most will be more then willing to answer this easy question.

*edit* - I have testing this on live VS various raid encounters.

[Grbage]

its about 40 dps with no AA's, its one of the many parses I did on beta, granted it was with 100% haste, the weapons were various ranging from groupable SoF weapons to the highest being tier 4 raid SoF weapons, the net gain was still near 40 dps if not more in some cases. If you're wanting to be nit picky, if your consistent enough on parses that your dps doesn't vary and have a reliable mob you can parse on for hours on end then by all means please check it yourself.  I just won't post random BS and say omg it's the truth, its just not my way. as for accuracy, even preanguish capping your accuracy is something that wasn't to hard speaking with GoD items.

You say with no AA so I'm assuming you used a beta buffed toon, what attk rating were you parsing 40dps at? Every parse I've seen shows a big gain in dps up to ~2200attk but plateaus after that. Remember one of the top monks in TSS (or was it TBS?) beta parsed the DPS gain from fero at just over 11DPS and his attk was nearing 3k if I remember right.

[Jaws]

New poster here ,from test server.

Somthing that really surprises me that nobody mentionned is that Bulwark of Tri'Qaras trigger overwrites current pet haste spell  because of the damage % mod accroding to http://www.antonius-bayle.org/kumbaja/spells/  when it lands and it only last 30 secs so u need to recast your ( 1 hour + SCR + focus duration) pet haste spell each time after.( that autocasts group haste and all trouble folks are listing here related to it)

I really think they need to find a way to fix that, best idea would be to make the mods stack and just add the difference beteween the 2 mods  to stack on top  of the regular pet haste spell instead of a bigger % that overwrites it.

rank 1 pearless gives 9 % dmg mod and rank 1 bulwark trigger gives 18 % mod just convert it to the bulwark trigger giving just a 9 % mod in another slot so it stacks.Then can even respect the ranks % this way.Seems fair to me ,unless they really wanted it to overwrite it in wich case the spell is 100 % useless.

Also Lockfang Jaws spell is a 100 % clone of Steeltrap Jaws i cannot seem to find 1 difference beteween the 2.And the difference beteween Promised Recovery and Promised Mending is a joke.

[hakaaba]

why do we get so many redundant pet "protection" spells anyway? get rid of the most useless one (either tri qaras or the upgrade to spellbreakers) and replace it with something useful...like a regen~