Parry buffs - In combat changes

[Bister]

ok the test server msg says that "- There is no longer any way to buff the Parry skill over your current skill cap, and there is a limit on how far it can be debuffed." I do understand where you are going here and trying to avoid the invulnerable player syndrome, but please remember that there are many folks out there with incidental non game breaking buffs that affect parry. For instance on my Troubador i have a buff called Gracefull  Avoidance, it lasts 30 seconds, has a 1 minute recast. It's not something i usually use a lot, it's sort of a  "oh crud i got aggro" thing, when it happens i use it and it helps a bit to keep me alive if tank can regain aggro in time .... Now im lvl 50, so my current skill cap is 250, thats where it gonna stay for now, my buff will no longer add even 1 skill point to parry if i understand this change correctly. It adds to defense as well, and i guess that portion of the buff will still function, but a nice lil portion of my spell has been rendered useless, at least consider this when u make thses changes, perhaps a limit to parry only being buffed X number of points past your current skill limit or something <div></div>

[Moontayle]

Aye, Guardians have a line of buffs which add to our Parry skill as well. What's going to happen to these buffs?

[Rothg]

<blockquote><hr>Moontayle wrote:Aye, Guardians have a line of buffs which add to our Parry skill as well. What's going to happen to these buffs? <hr></blockquote>Yeh, I'm kinda nervous about these changes, but I'll wait and see what happens... Zerkers also have a line of buffs which add to our Parry skill, and I would also like to know what these will be replaced with/changed to?

[Ibis]

guardians and zerkers are being reamed with the whole defense/parry cap BS.  way to go guys.  I expected to scroll down and see way better functionally added to the spells that will be affected.  I see nothing.  And berserkers are pretty [Removed for Content] about the continued "servicing of the customer" as Carlin would put it that they've been receiving already.  What....the....*$%#&!?  I have a spell that adds +16 def to my entire group.  It came from a metal chest.   Now that it will only stack with other buffs up to a certain point (probably like 260 def wuwu) its *$%#&!ing useless.  You can get +def up to skill levels of around 340 right now in the right setup.  Thats way too god *$%#&! much I agree, but its only too god *$%#&! much b/c the system is *$%#&!.  You shouldn't put some artificial cap on the effect of these buffs, you should CHANGE THE BUFFS so they meet the desires of your cap. Now these spells are not "less useful" they're "useless". And then we also have the point that I have a tradition granting me +5 def.  I picked it at like 26 or something.  I had nfc it would trivialize content.  No word has come back on the /respec command as far as making it a static command with a re-use. I'm just [Removed for Content] at the immaturity of this change.  I expected so much more from these designers.  Caps are BAD.  Don't make it so we have to wait 2-4 years for you to come back and finally agree with us and figure out a new way to affect the change. Don't put in caps, step back, figure another way.  I also disagree on the softcaps placed on stats in regards to power and hitpoints generated from them.  Someone with 250 int is 5x smarter than someone with 50 int.  And 5/4 smarter than someone with 200 int, but does not receive an insect's share of that 5/4 to his mana. <div></div>

[cr0wangel]

Same question here, what will happen to berserkers skill that buff parry if you can't buff over your skill cap?

[Turb]

So my skill that boosts my parry by 5 points is now *useless*?And the L20 training choice that has a longer duration.My parry is maxed my level cap. I suspect most characters are.

[CherobylJ]

<P>The implcations for the Bers "weapons shield" class of spells is ominous.  SOE please conisder this before LU7 makes it live.</P> <P>Its bad enough you had to turn off a level 50 spell, wont address the Fury line bug but now to propse eliminating an ENTIRE LINE of spells usefullness goes too far.</P> <P> </P>

[Kegofbud]

Same with a Brigand. We have a self buff that raises Parry. If it's being taken away I'd like to know how it's being replaced. The agility changes are mind numbing at this point. It seems like it's going to cripple us when we solo or steal agro. I feel like I'm near a blackhole where all the things I love about my character are being sucked right out lately. I'm not one to complain about changes often or ever threaten to quit but I can at least now say that I understand why some have for the first time. These constant nerfs are just getting annoying. I can't get a fix on my broken skills and bad scaling of abilities but they can sure spend time making me get my *$%#&! beat more often by gray mobs.

[thisMoriMo]

Seems as though any priests/mages that took a training skill for +5 parry really should have gone for that +5 tracking skill after all. Wonder if we get a /respec out of this.

[Cabbott]

<DIV><BR></DIV> <BLOCKQUOTE> <HR> thisMoriMori wrote:<BR>Seems as though any priests/mages that took a training skill for +5 parry really should have gone for that +5 tracking skill after all. Wonder if we get a /respec out of this.<BR><BR><BR> <HR> </BLOCKQUOTE> <DIV>Yeah that would be nice so I can clear my choices right before I delete my Berserker and my Ranger.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Seriously, what kind of 'Fixes' break entire spell lines across multiple classes, and effectively renders dual wielding pointless?<BR></DIV>

[gooli]

<DIV>I expect that weapon guard will go the way of rampage, joining a plethora of skills that do not operate correctly.  Lying(frogloks) and breaking seem to be the main agenda.  They have broken more skills than they have fixed post launch.</DIV>

[Rhaam]

<DIV>I could maybe understand if it was one skill or something but your breaking an entire LINE of beserker skills. So now thats rampage, 3 parry skills and 3 of our fury line that don't work. Breaking more of the game doesn't seem to me the way to go about fixing the defense issue.</DIV>

[Tarindel]

Another Berserker here wondering what is going to happen to the weaponshield line of combat arts.  And relatedly, will level 40+ Berserkers who chose Darkmoore's as their training option (an improved form of weaponshield) be allowed to /respec? <div></div>

[-Aonein-]

Have a thread going <A href="http://eqiiforums.station.sony.com/eq2/board/message?board.id=4&message.id=10579" target=_blank><FONT color=#ff3300><STRONG>here</STRONG></FONT></A> also wondering the same thing.

[Imri]

I really am concerned about what this does to predators as well. Almost every defensive buff they have was either an agility or parry buff, and some of them combined both. They already were hit very hard with the agility changes several months back, but now that they are all in medium armor and have almost every buff they have rendered useless, I am concerned. Of course we need to see some specifics on what the end changes are going to be yet. I just am curious how this all pans out, and if done poorly may have me looking at other MMOGs. I personally am still an advocate of avoidance caps dependant on class/armor being worn. That alone could fix the high end game without hurting the low end to much, if at all. Of course I am also an advocarte of clerics getting kite shields and shamans getting medium if they do go their current route. It only makes sense that a class able to use heavy armor would understand how to use a heavier shield. Arguing the spell casting aspect isn't very valid either as crusaders cast a lot of spells as well very similar to priest spells and use a kite shield.

[Sacha]

<BR> <BLOCKQUOTE> <HR> thisMoriMori wrote:<BR>Seems as though any priests/mages that took a training skill for +5 parry really should have gone for that +5 tracking skill after all. Wonder if we get a /respec out of this.<BR><BR><BR> <HR> </BLOCKQUOTE><BR> <DIV>I don't even think that's an option anymore. Didn't they take the tracking option out shortly after it came in and give it only to scouts?</DIV>

[Ishnar]

<DIV>Will wisdom continue to affect shield block and does it affect parry at all?</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Thank you,</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Ishnar</DIV>

[Eelyen]

<BR> <BLOCKQUOTE> <HR> Moontayle wrote:<BR>Aye, Guardians have a line of buffs which add to our Parry skill as well. What's going to happen to these buffs? <BR> <HR> </BLOCKQUOTE> <P><BR>Level 44 Guardian on Test Server here.</P> <P>Some of the buffs that I believed had a parry component had the parry component removed.  Although there are still some Guardian skills  that have parry components.  Like Never Surrender, Call to Battle, Slates Protective Stance.  But even with using all 3 of these buffs, it seems I Can't buff my parry any higher then 5 points over my skill cap.  Which does give me a couple % avoidance though.  Thats about it.</P> <P>Guardians and Berserkers currently have the samage Mitigation and Avoidance caps.  So they virtually tank identical with the same kind of equipment.  But Berskers have better dps and taunt atm it seems.  </P> <DIV>Edit: Btw, I do group with 2 berskers on a regular basis in my daily group here on Test.  So I get to test all sorts of things out vs them alot <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></DIV><p>Message Edited by Eelyen on <span class=date_text>04-18-2005</span> <span class=time_text>12:59 AM</span>

[-Aonein-]

Thx for the feedback Elyen, keep it up, would love to hear more as the test server changes.

[Rothg]

<blockquote><hr>Eelyen wrote:<BR> <BLOCKQUOTE> <HR> Moontayle wrote:<BR>Aye, Guardians have a line of buffs which add to our Parry skill as well. What's going to happen to these buffs? <BR> <HR> </BLOCKQUOTE> <P><BR>Level 44 Guardian on Test Server here.</P> <P>Some of the buffs that I believed had a parry component had the parry component removed.  Although there are still some Guardian skills  that have parry components.  Like Never Surrender, Call to Battle, Slates Protective Stance.  But even with using all 3 of these buffs, it seems I Can't buff my parry any higher then 5 points over my skill cap.  Which does give me a couple % avoidance though.  Thats about it.</P> <P>Guardians and Berserkers currently have the samage Mitigation and Avoidance caps.  So they virtually tank identical with the same kind of equipment.  But Berskers have better dps and taunt atm it seems.  </P> <DIV>Edit: Btw, I do group with 2 berskers on a regular basis in my daily group here on Test.  So I get to test all sorts of things out vs them alot <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></DIV><p>Message Edited by Eelyen on <span class=date_text>04-18-2005</span> <span class=time_text>12:59 AM</span><hr></blockquote>Hi Eelyen, thanks for the feedback. <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> Can you ask your Zerkers friends what has happened to their Weaponsheild skill, as I belive all that does is boost Parry, so If they remove the parry component, it'd do nothing at all.

[-Aonein-]

Svanny is the Berserker we have had on Test Server who has been kind enough to be posting info back to us and filling us in on the details, we have a thread going <A href="http://eqiiforums.station.sony.com/eq2/board/message?board.id=4&message.id=10579" target=_blank><STRONG><FONT color=#ff3300>here</FONT></STRONG></A> where you can ask him questions and what not for feed back to some things you might want answered from a Berserker class perspective.<p>Message Edited by -Aonein- on <span class=date_text>04-20-2005</span> <span class=time_text>02:38 AM</span>