Direction of combat changes.. this doesn't sound right

[Sebastien]

From this <a href="http://eq2vault.ign.com/View.php?view=asksoe.Detail&category_select_id=41" target=_blank>interview</a>: <blockquote><i><b>Steve "Moorgard" Danuser:</b> The issues with the way combat currently works aren't isolated to the high-end game, although this is where the effects of defensive buff stacking are most apparent. At every level of the game, there are situations in which your character can become virtually immune to attack by a given level of opponent. Our goal is to address those issues. That said, we're very cautious about making such a significant change to the way people play the game. Our users have gotten used to a certain style of play, and we don't want to just totally change it in a way that prevents them from enjoying themselves. The focus of our changes is in yellow, orange, and red encounters. We want to increase the challenge level of these fights to make them more fun and to make their con color meaningful. Fighting a yellow or higher shouldn't be a guaranteed win with no effort, and we want to put that sense of risk back into the game. Players who take on white, blue, and green fights should find the game plays much like it always has. </i> </blockquote> This does not make sense to me SOE.  The stated intention of the avoidance changes was to remove the all-or-nothing nature of avoidance on Live, so that characters are not immune to attack from green mobs.  This intention is restated in Moorgard's quote. And yet, now they are saying the focus of the changes is to make yellow/orange/red mobs harder, while leaving battles with white/blue/green mobs uneffected? How does that help with your goal?  I would like to see you stick with your original plan, because, balanced properly, I believe you were going about fixing the situation in the right way. <div></div>

[Moorgard]

<P>There is no conflict between the answer in that interview and the previously stated goals.</P> <P>"...plays much like it always has" does not mean the same as "...plays exactly like it always has."</P> <P>There will be changes that affect white, blue, and green fights. They won't be as dramatic as those that affect higher con fights, but we will address immunity issues.</P> <P>The point of my answer in this interview is to reassure the non-hardcore people that they don't need to worry about logging in and suddenly finding that they don't know how to play the game anymore. We're not looking to pull the rug out from under people who play the game normally. We're after the extreme cases and those that trivialize content, while adding additional challenge for those willing to take it on.</P>

[Sebastien]

Thank you for clarifying that.  Over the weekend I am going to try to get Judy into a spot where perhaps I can find the same exact mob, but in different level ranges, and do another avoidance study, to try to see how avoidance changes as the level disparity increases. The trouble is that sometimes I have to engage different mobs in order to get different levels covered, and that introduces an error in my experiment, as those mobs may have different stats or buffs or what-not. <div></div>

[Moorgard]

The next revision of the combat changes is being built right now for Test, which should be going to the server tonight. It addresses many of the rough spots in the first pass we made.

[Sebastien]

Does that mean I need to make a big chart all over again? =P <div></div>

[Sebastien]

<span><blockquote><hr>Moorgard wrote: <div>I just made a post in the Test update notes section that details the next revision of the combat changes, which will be going up on the Test server tonight. These adjustments should address many of the issues players reported in the first pass. The changes include:</div> <ul><li>Fighting blue con and lower encounters should feel more like combat on the live servers.</li></ul><font color="#ff99cc">I'll try to provide some feedback on how non-buffed fights go against low greens; specificially, how the dodge rate scales.</font> <ul><li>Fighting yellow and higher cons should be as challenging or a bit more so than with the first version of combat changes.</li></ul> <font color="#ff99cc">Could mean some classes (worried about scouts in particular) simply can't solo yellows?  Just my initial concern.</font> <ul><li>Armor quality (Handcrafted, Fabled, Legendary, etc.) is more meaningful than it was before.</li></ul> <font color="#ff99ff">Nice.  More mitigation to help compensate for lower avoidance?  We'll have to see how this impacts things like scout soloing. =)</font> <ul><li>The Parry skill can once again be buffed.</li></ul> <font color="#ff99ff">Excellent.</font> <ul><li>Buff caps now scale more appropriately as the character increases in level.</li></ul> <font color="#ff99ff">Excellent.</font> <ul><li>Agility buffs now have a more meaningful effect.</li></ul> <font color="#ff99ff">*raises hand* I have a question.  What we have seen so far is that AGI provides a very miniscule benefit to avoidance.  So does this mean AGI itself provides more of a benefit as it scales?  Or does this mean that AGI buffs give ALOT of AGI (would need to be hundreds and hundreds of points), or that AGI buffs have a direct buff to avoidance now?</font> <ul><li>Strength buffs now have a more significant impact on damage output.</li></ul> <font color="#ff99ff">Similar question.  Does that mean the STR --> Melee bonus table you have shown us is changed, or do the buffs give more STR, or? =)</font> <ul><li>Kite shields now block with the same effectiveness as tower shields.</li></ul> <font color="#ff99ff">So it will just be a style thing?</font> <p>Once again, please fight the encounters you would normally fight and let us know what you think of the changes. </p> <p><font color="#ccccff">Roger.</font> </p> <p>Let me stress again that these changes will remain on Test only for the foreseeable future. <strong>They won't be going live as part of Live Update #8.</strong></p> <p>Thanks again for helping us test these changes.</p><hr></blockquote></span><div></div>