Any plans to ever update / re-work HOs?

[MondaynSilvaCor]

We got to talking today about how seamingly useless HOs are these days in the game and were hoping SoE had plans to re-work them to be a bit more integral to use in combat to where it isnt actually a waste of space?

[troodon]

They aren't useless, in fact there are some fantastic ones (if you can trigger them).  But I agree that HOs need a revamp in some way, to make them more used and more useful

[MondaynSilvaCor]

the problem is the fights are not accomodating to the HOs, meaning the fights go waaay too fast to make HOs worth while to use, and the benefits given by HOs are so small it's not really even worth it. Not to mention you have to go out of your way with skills and combat flow to sometimes complete them.

[Zard]

<p>I was in a PUG today and one player was strongly urging us to complete HO's. I was running a Troubadour with Heroic Storytelling (boosts HO effect by 50%) so I tried to start them as often as possible. But, you know what? It did not <i>seem</i> to make a difference. We were a rocking group already, just kicking mules (<-- avoiding the naughty word filter) and taking names as a group of mid/high 40's in Cazic-Thule. Life was good.</p><p>While it <i>may</i> have made a difference no one noticed. There is no easily perceived feedback other than a (sometimes spectacular) graphical effect. Sure a single line <i>sometimes</i> appears in one person's combat log (I believe only for single-target DD's and, even then, only for the one that completes it) but it is usually flying by so fast you can only really tell <i>after</i> the combat is over.</p><p>HO's are a great idea -- or could be -- but they, as you suggested, could use some rework.</p><p>ps. Remember the olde days when if someone pressed a key that was not in the sequence it would break it?</p>

[MondaynSilvaCor]

the general idea of the HO to me is a way to turn the tide of combat by completing a chain of events. the benefits of an HO are so small that it takes a repeated use of them to even marginally see any sort of benefit, grant it the tanks single rare HO of +50% mitigation is extrodianary is one that really does help, it never happens these days on my tank, and the fights do not even really need them at all if you have a good group going like you say. if we are to look at a HO system like lord of the rings online has put in, to where skills arent involved, but instead it's more like a simon says system for the group of hitting colored buttons very fast, which does seem to help immensely, perhaps we can learn a thing or two and come up with a system unique to norrath that could make HOs fun again and keep them from being a complete waste of space?

[Belaythien]

A good indicator of the usefulness of HOs is simply how often they are used. 95% of the players I group with lately do not use them. The remaining 5% are doing solo HOs from time to time.I'm only using them while soloing. Group HOs are actually a bad idea in my opinion. People have to divert their attention from hitting their shiny DD buttons to the HO triggers, thus interrupting their normal flow of attacks. I think this interruption hinders damage more than what little damage a HO does. Solo HOs don't interrupt this flow, then again their damage is rather minuscule.

[Skua]

my answer is : h....o.....[Removed for Content] is an ho? >.> when i started playing eq2 , hos were FUN , ppl invited scouts just for HOS (to roll HO) , 1 scout 1 fight 1 mage 1 healr , and trying to do 4 colors hos.... (old days /sigh)soloing hos ? yeah !!! nowadays the ho starter isnt in my hotbar anymore lolmaybe in alts until lvl 20 ~

[Zhern]

<cite>MondaynSilvaCor wrote:</cite><blockquote>We got to talking today about how seamingly useless HOs are these days in the game and were hoping SoE had plans to re-work them to be a bit more integral to use in combat to where it isnt actually a waste of space?</blockquote><p>I totally agree with you!</p><p>My brother in law and myself were talking about this very thing this past weekend.</p><p>But since the gods are coming back. We thought GI or God Intervention should replace the HO's. </p><p>I thought that if someone who pay homeage to Mithaniel Marr started the wheel. It would be based off of his spell/skill set. So each god would have its own spells/skills that could be accessed during the fight.</p><p>Example: I pray to Marr, I start the GI/HO. The wheel flashed for a rogue,mage,warrior or healer to do the next move. Then whoever chooses, the line would start after that, just like the regular HO. I would say about 12 different specials for each god. That way it does several specials for each class. We also thought a Random instance for each god would be a nice addition. Which when a God is called, you would have a chance to be teleported to a instanced zone to do the gods bidding. So instead of you calling the god, the god calls you. And once your finished, you are put back in the same location you was in.</p>

[MondaynSilvaCor]

well i take back what i said about the fighter HO rare, i was playing on my fighter this morning, actually got it, and saw that it had been nerfed.

[Deadrus]

<p>I belive i made a forum thread about this months back. I really think HOs need a revamp in a bad way. I try to encourgae them in groups but people dont listen. I try to start them people never finish them .. especialy healers. Healers NEVER finish HOs or do therepart. They need to make it so the spells are usefull for them to hit instead of hiting a useless spell just to triger the HO. Also maybe make them a little more complex for longer fights and make them more simple for quick easy fights. And the timer on the HO needs to be lenghted at least 5 seconds. Some classes have only one spell that will match sertian icons and if its refreshing times going to run out. The HO's were reworked last i think before DoF Came out so thats like what 2 years ago or so? </p><p>The HOs are an Awesome addition to eq2. Haveing people in groups work togeather to pull of a big spell combo is so very cool. And its useless now cuz people dont uses them becuase fights are 2 short, the spells are to inconvenient to cast or not enough spells can triger the next HO and this kinda goes along with the last one not enough time to let spells refresh. Please Rework HOs make them so people will want to use them. It's a fantastic idea with some flaws in it. If they get ironed out i think people would use them more. </p>

[Nembutal]

I agree 100%... been saying it since almost back at release.The effect on HO's is not up to par with the work.1.) It's too hard to predict what you are going to get.2.) The damage/buff/debuff etc is not crucial enough3.) there is not a good system to get your group mates involved.4.) It often requires you to rebuff for no reason.I will give you an example.HO start #1... no one hits anything... must complete it soloHO start #2... someone does hit something... they hijack the wheel and then abandon it rather than completeHO start #3... Someone moves the wheel and someone else does the starter... but then it tells the priest they have to rebuff in the middle of combat and is knowingly abandoned.HO start #4... it's started, progressed, and completed, grats 200 extra damage by cooperating with 4 people... of course those 4 attacks without the HO did like 8,000 dmg total... giving you a percentage gain of 2.5%  Since you were holding your attacks to make sure hey were ready when the HO called for them... you lost 500 dmg during that time... giving you an actual loss of 3% DPS for your team.They are flat out useless.No HO should EVER call for a rebuff... I have been saying that forever... HO's are for in combat... Buffing happened OUTSIDE of combat... any gain you get from completing an HO with a buff in it is completely negated due to the loss of mana and time to re-cast a buff... actually more than negated.. you are "in the hole".You should be able to attempt an HO and direct it more...   All HO's should have buffs pulled out of the trigger sequence... taunts also... OMG why do you want people in raid groups 3 and 4 to be taunting?  come on now... 2 taunters per raid... 4 groups running HOs... get with the program... taunt can't be in an HO as a random trigger that's forced chaos.IMHO... an HO should be a spell... every class should get 2 spells that work like an HO... the spell actually says what the effect will be... and who needs to participate.  The HO's should then be simplified... 2 types of icons per group member attached to attacks or heals for the most part.  Now here is where I want to suffer... I want the HO's to require being entered in sequence again... and I want it to pop up for like 1 second before taking any input... and then after that 1 second if it's on your step of the sequence you can make the HO wheel fail.So priest starts "group heal HO"a wheel pops up and blinks for 1 second... it says scout backstab, fighter kick, priest group heal.If all those criteria are met... the priests group heal he cast does 50% more than normal... so if they are lvl 5 and have a 50 point heal.. it does 75... if they are level 70 and it does 2000 it heals 3000.BUT... if the fighter slashes rather than kicks when his icon is waiting for his input... it ALL fails.... start over.the 2 types of HO's should be like thisFighter - dmg and tauntmage - damage single target and damage AEscout - damage single target and debuff sneak attack.priest - heal single target and heal group.Basically the person who starts it controls the effect... if the fighter needs more aggro he should ask for help on his HOs... if he is taking too much dmg he should ask the priests to start doing HOs... and if the group is standing in AE dragon breath than the healer should be doing group heals... the rest of the time odds are it will be dmg HOs.Anyway... that's my thoughts.

[Dreyco]

I think that HO's should be just that.  A Heroic <b>Opportunity.</b>Not something triggered.  A random occurance in the course of battle that you can, if done correctly, change the flow of battle.Vanguard, as a thought, has a 'weakness' system, where you can add weaknesses to mobs to certain elements, or mobs are overcome with weaknesses as time through the battle goes on.  By exploiting these weaknesses, you can do bonus damage.It would be cool if something similar happened in EQ2, but to a larger scale.  Take, for example, a battle against a named Goblin.  The goblin starts to obliterate the tank, and the healers are running out of power keeping him up.  A random opportunity comes up where a series of combat arts/spells must be performed to either complete heal the tank, or give the group a boost in power regen.  This wouldn't be an every-battle occurance, but more a random, exciting addition to the general flow of combat as a series of battles takes place.That would be something to see.