Merc prefent flight - Phoenix Freeshard

I understand that we had very late changes in the Beta to introduce the new RA and that it was not extensivly tested.

I would like to make the staff aware of the following Issue:
- Charge was not implemented which in general benefits the caster but - let´s just agree that it was wanted like that
- Det has still the same cost as in OF Ras which was absolutly required to make tanks not completly useless.

But there is still an issue with the Merc and prefent flight.

Please keep in mind that the Merc is the only off-tank without access to back snare. With the introduction of the new style system this was fixed - but not at this patch level. With the old prefent flight this was not a big deal since you had a 35% chance for an 10 second 50 % snare for 14 realm points.
Unfortunatly the new prefent flight is just not good enough. 10% chance for a 25% snare ... In a normal fight against Mid or Hib (thanks to disase) every caster can run away...

Therfore please consider to re-introduce the old prefent flight RA on top off the free ra (e.g. every off and full tank can buy PF for 14 points and still has the option to just go with the free PF at lvl 25)

This should not impact the balace to much - but would help to make a tanksetup a bit more viable.... (speaking of Albion since BM and Zerker has enough ways to snare).

Thanks for looking into that..

Mon 28 Jan 2019 2:33 PM by Ardri

So let me get this straight. You want to keep the free 10% PF and add another 14pt 35% PF for a total of 45% snare chance. And if you hit with both weapons it's ~70% chance to snare every hit. So you want perma snare on your anytime styles. Lol.

Mon 28 Jan 2019 2:46 PM by chryso

Of course he does. It is the only way to guarantee he will win vs casters.

Mon 28 Jan 2019 3:27 PM by Gwendolein

Nope - sorry, that was not the plan.. what I mean is:
"The on top off it" was misleading---"
If you use the 14 points you get 35% 50% snare - not more and not less
If you don´t use them you will have the 10% / 25%.

And regarding your lol point-- every other off tank has perma back snare... so why should it be to much to eanbale the RA?
And as you should know - the back snare as a higher growth rate as the anytimer...

Mon 28 Jan 2019 4:04 PM by daocgod

Merc is unquestionably weak but I think this idea is not good.

Mon 28 Jan 2019 4:26 PM by Gwendolein

And before we gather more trolls which start to argue that tanks are too powerful or what’s so ever...
Let´s just look into the recent changes... it has never been easier to run a caster setup than in the current patch.. :

-Spell damage fix (slight increase)
-Charges: offensive charges need to be equipped, every other charge may be used from the inventory
-melee damage reduction to match tests on pendragon via increase of inherent af and npc absorb
-casters now have an additional power cost reduction based on their base spec in the used spell line
-guard (only blocking for others, not yourself) is less affected by defense penetration (this is NOT the dual wield reduction but def pen that everyone has)
-the ra long wind now has a max level of 1
-tireless is an ra again but has a max level of 1
-alchemy potions no longer give endurance 4 / end at end 3 (experimental)
-small melee damage reduction (via modifier, cap is unaffected)
-Dual-wield defense penetration now 25% bonus instead of 50%.
-Retains Old Frontier charge. New Frontiers charge realm ability not implemented.
-All offensive actions, with exception of Amnesia, instantly drop speed. (any instant debuff -> so you need to be stupid if a grp can run into you with speed)
-Parry chance reduced by multiple attackers.
-All classes have access to, but cannot specialize beyond, Long Wind I and Tireless I.
-Mastery of the Arcane (Old Frontier ability) restored. It advance to 30% with 9 ranks.
-Both single target spec heals cost less mana and have a shorter cast time.
-Both instant heal spells have a reduced cooldown.

And here we don´t take the new RA system into account which brings:

DI
BoF
SOS
PD
TWF (yeah more cc on warden and BD)
SF

Eliminates old PF
does not include Charge
and in general is more beneficial for casters (easier access to damage RA´s always benefits the char with the higher dps... which are obviously caster)

Since most of the forum guys will start to troll / insult anyway - just in advance. I don´t mind - I just can play caster as an Alb and be happy with it, since the caster setup is simply strong and fun to play. But I would love to see more than cabby grps or wizzard (lol) grps in Albion.

Best,

Gwen

Mon 28 Jan 2019 4:52 PM by chryso

I thought casting amnesia was supposed to break speed.

Mon 28 Jan 2019 7:01 PM by volture777

I don't think Merc is in a bad place, but the balance changes have (inadvertently?) upset the balance between the realms' light tanks. Not only for the lack of snare, but the nerf to dual wield defense penetration as well.

Merc: Evade 1
BM: Evade 3
Zerker: Evade 3
Savage: Evade 4 (+ up to 25 value self buff).

By cutting DW defense penetation in half (from 50% to 25%), Mercs are comparatively nerfed in machtups against other light tanks.

In addition, the changes to LW/Tireless (capped at rank 1) affect mercs far more than other light tanks, as other realms will almost always have access to Endo 5. This only exacerbates the "no spammable back-snare" issue. Even with the buffs, paladins often do not fit in alb rvr groups. As a result, mercs running endo 3 and lw1/tireless1 will routinely run out of endurance during fights and endo management on merc is harder than endo management on other light tanks.

Mercs are in a decent place, they aren't bad and I enjoy playing mine. However, the custom server changes have unintentionally upset the balance between mercs and other light tanks and some small consolation buff is appropriate IMO.

Mon 28 Jan 2019 9:07 PM by slunky45

How does the DW block % nerf affect mercs more than bm/zerk?

As nice as positional snares can be....I feel like anybody who wants to run through/strafe etc can get a melee to auto-attack after a not in view msg...meh...part of the game I suppose :/

I like the idea of a better pf available...

Also, just curious...what was the reasoning for no NF Charge?...aren't all the abilities from that era here?

Tanks on this server feel like fat kids on bikes =/

Mon 28 Jan 2019 10:07 PM by volture777

How does the DW block % nerf affect mercs more than bm/zerk?

Because BM/Zerk have Evade 3 versus merc evade 1. So think of it like this (i'll use approximations to make the math simple):

BM/Zerk has 15% chance to evade a hit. By dual wielding, a Merc should reduce BM/Zerk evasion rate by 50%, or -7.5%. Due to the changes here, Mercs instead reduce BM/Zerk evasion rate by only 25%, or -3.75%. This change causes dual wielders hitting BM/Zerk to lose out on 3.75% defense ignore.

Merc has 5% chance to evade a hit. By dual wielding, a BM/Zerk should reduce Merc's evasion rate by 50%, or -2.5%. Due to the changes here, BM/Zerk instead reduce Mercs' evasion rate by only 1.25%. This change causes BM/Zerk hitting a Merc to lose out on 1.25% defense ignore.

In short, in fights against dual wielders, evade was significantly buffed. This buff has a much greater effect on classes with higher evade (i.e. BM/Zerk/Savage) than it does on classes with lower evade (Merc). This change has further made it very difficult (far more so than it was on lives) for Merc's to peel other realms' light tanks, specifically savages.

It may not sound like much, but there are many "little" changes that all seem to stack up against Mercs.