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NEW Vanguard producer's letter!! ! !! !!!
Josters
Member Posts: 73
Vanguard Producer’s Letter
Hey all,
It’s been a while since we had one of these, so we figured it was about time to give everyone a little more insight into what exactly is going on with Vanguard now and what will be happening over the course of the next couple of months. So… let’s get right to it then!
State of the Game
As most folks probably already know, we’ve just recently started what we internally call a “win back program”. As one might assume from the name, the goal is to bring back former players who for whatever reason quit the game. To that end, we’ve turned on all cancelled or closed accounts this month to let those players come back and see everything that has changed in Vanguard over the course of the last year and a half.
So far we’ve been really happy by the results and for anyone who has spent time in game lately, especially around one of the starting cities you’ll likely notice a lot more new faces popping up. With all the bug fixing, performance increases, new features (like flying and racial mounts) and just general polish that has been done over the last year, we’re expecting good things from this campaign to get folks to give Vanguard another look.
Additionally, we’re also hard at work on three big new items right now – the Isle of Dawn (Trial Island), Game Update six and the second phase of the character model revamp. The plan was always to release them all when they were ready, and we are working on each as a separate entity unto itself. However, with the way things are shaping up it is looking like rather than having to space them out and keep folks waiting we will actually be able to launch them all at the same time. So depending on how you’d like to look at it, Game Update six could be considered a mega-update of sorts.
We know folks are going to want to know what date this stuff will be launching, and while we like to avoid setting exact dates in stone this far out we can say that you can expect all three things very shortly after the Las Vegas Fan Faire (which takes place on August 14-17th – and you’re all coming, right!?).
Now, we realize that is about six weeks away still but these are some pretty significant updates and we want to make sure we take the time to get them right before sending it live for you guys. For anyone who is interested, some of this stuff will start popping up on the test server in the very near future (and we will give updates on that as it happens).
We also realize that now that we’ve got everyone excited about this stuff that making everyone wait is kind of a mean thing to do. So we’re also going to be doing a much smaller update sometime between now and then that will add some smaller new stuff (like factional armor rewards among other things). More details on that will be coming shortly.
So with that, let’s get in to a little more detail…
Isle of Dawn
As most folks already know, the Isle of Dawn will not only serve as a trial for new Vanguard players (with content that runs through the first ten levels of the game in all three spheres) but it will also serve as a new starting city for existing players.
Everyone will still get to select to start in their own racial city if they’d like to, but the option to begin your adventures on the Isle of Dawn will also be present. The Isle will represent the new standard to which we hold content coming into the game and should raise the bar significantly. Even if you happen to love a particular starting city already, we’d highly recommend running through the Isle of Dawn at least once.
One question a lot of folks have about the Isle though is what benefit it gives existing players. Sure, it’ll be very helpful to newer players coming back to the game but what will it do for people already here? Well, aside of the obvious in offering a brand new starting city it’s also going to not only be introducing a lot more people (and potential group or guild mates) into the game but it will be putting them on a more guided path through Telon once they leave the island.
Players will always be able to choose wherever they go, of course, but we’re also going to be revamping each of the three possible locations you can depart trial island to (one on each continent) and as a part of those revamps giving players a much better idea of which directions they could be headed in, instead of just sort of spinning them around and then giving them a shove.
Finally, here’s a little bit of what to expect as far as storyline goes:
Currently, three different groups of beings inhabit the Isle of Dawn. A village of battle hardened humans and a band of zealot hobgoblins have warred against each other for centuries on the Isle. Their mutual hatred for one another runs deep and even now they are locked in an ongoing struggle. Recently though, increasing numbers of ulvari have begun to surface on the island – much to the dismay of both the humans and the hobgoblins.
Weakened by their perpetual war, the humans aren’t able to capably defend themselves. Even now, their villages burn as they frantically seek aid. The isle is in desperate need of heroes.
…and that’d be where you come in.
Character Revamp Phase 2.0
This one has a lot of folks on the forums talking as of late. We’ll be posting more screenshots of what the new models will look like in the future and it won’t be much longer until they’re on the test server either.
For those who aren’t aware of what we’re doing with the character models -- this is actually the second phase of the model revamp. In the first face we had to take some customization options away (for a variety of reasons) which we didn’t like doing anymore than most players liked having it happen. Fortunately, this time around we’ll be adding some more back in – and on top of that the way the player bodies look will be improving a good deal as well.
Vanguard is a game about heroes. It’s right there in the title even – Saga of Heroes. We’re making it so players’ character models look more heroic than they have in the past. This means that characters will have more definition and will just be able to look not only cooler but tougher in general.
Game Update Six
As if the Isle of Dawn and character model revamps weren’t enough, we’ve also got a full sized update coming out on top of that. As it gets closer to getting on test, we’ll be posting a more detailed write-up like we normally do, but a few things players can look forward to include:
A revamped and high level Pantheon of the Ancients featuring both group and raid content
A new overland raid (Varking)
The long awaited combat balance revamp
More class updates
More performance optimizations
Lots of bug fixing
The Future
Even though everything listed above is going to be keeping both you and us busy for the immediate future, we’ve always got to be thinking ahead about what we’re going to do next. At this point it’s far too early to give specific release dates or low level details but we can help give everyone a better idea of the direction we’ll be headed in.
At the high end, we recognize the need to keep adding content as more players reach higher levels and finish up existing content. So that will be one of our focuses, and you should expect to see both existing areas get revamped and entirely new areas be added in (such as the Nexus dungeon that Silius mentioned recently in the House of Commons chat and on the forums).
Overland raids spaced out in between the bigger stuff will continue to be released as well as some attention going to areas that aren’t necessarily high level in order to clean them up and add a layer of polish – and we can’t forget about fishing!
We’d like to start doing these letters a little more frequently than we have in the past as well as be more active in the community as a whole (not just on the forums) so stay tuned for more on the post GU6 stuff and definitely make sure to follow next month’s Fan Faire coverage as we’ll likely be talking a lot about what the future has in store for Vanguard.
That’s it for now, please head over to the forums and ask any questions you may have – we’ll be on there doing our best to answer them.
Thanks!
-The Vanguard Team
Comments
Very nice...I'm looking forward to seeing the updated tougher looking character models! I remember what many of them looked like before launch and the customization was impressive so I hope to see much of that return!
check this new pic of a PC model with ARMOR
looking WAY better jeez
....
Not that I am the most avid follower of the game, but this is the first I've heard about this. Anyone know a link to a discussion about this I could read?
I've never been a big fan of how SOE did their revamps so I might just wait to check the game out again until after the dust of this settles.
Very informative letter, have yet to see a better letter to the public from a devlopment team.
Expect a full list of models, and a showcasing of GU6's features at Fan Faire. I bet my bosses car.
http://spellborn.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page
This does look very interesting actually. I reinstalled the game a few months ago and uninstalled it again a few weeks later as it was still as terrible as it was when it first came out. One of the major issues (amongst others) I had with it was the incredibly hideous character models so if they are being revamped then I would be really keen to see them when they are done. Ya never know there might even be a vaguely decent choice of hair styles lol
With the new trial island though I could have another look and see what has changed without wasting more money on it. Is there a link to this information on the official Vanguard website? Sorry its just that I am well aware there are a bunch of Vanguard fans who are trying to woo players onto it to increase the player population.
Combat revamp and SOE spell doom for a games population and Vanguards population is too low to weather a combat revamp by SOE.
nothing serious
here it is explained.
Upcoming Combat Fix Explained
Fusoya and I collaborated on this so thanks to him for providing data and feedback.
Greetings all, just wanted to make a post regarding the upcoming combat bug fix. We know more than a handful of you are worried that rogue / monk and other melee DPS are going to have their abilities nerfed dramatically, as a result of this fix. Let me assure you. The dmg of your abilities isn't being touched. I repeat, none of the damage numbers for your abilities are being touched. No refresh timers are being changed and no costs are being increased. We hope to get this out for U6, but it won't be released until it is correct.
You should read through this post and make sure you understand it before you ask questions.
The Bug
The bug is a simple, but clever one. It was not even a visible issue until U3 when players started raiding. The bug is with flat damage buffs. Flat damage buffs, like Marshalling Cry (adds x damage for a few seconds) were supposed to modify the damage of the ability in one place. A simplistic example equation would be:
Total Damage = (Ability damage + Flat Damage Buffs) * % Damage Buffs
So, if a Warrior, who had +20 flat damage from buffs, executes Kick, which does 20 damage and he had no other buffs, the resulting damage would be 40. 20 (ability dmg) + 20 (flt dmg) = 40 total.
Simple yeah? We thought so as well.
The bug is this: Flat damage buffs are being applied for every effect instead of once per ability. If an ability has an offensively targeted effect that lowers target HP then flat damage is being applied to it.
Effects
What the heck are we talking about? What are effects? Let me explain. Each ability (spell, melee attack, etc) is made up of multiple effects. Effects are needed so that the ability can do more than one thing. Example (Off targeted damaging effects in italics):
Boundless Fist - 6 effects (4 with can gain flat damage)
Shank - 8 effects (8 that can gain flat damage)
- 2 effects for % weapon dmg
- 2 effects for the "plus damage"
- 2 effects for % weapon dmg if quickblade is active
- 2 effects for the "plus damage" if quickblade is active.
So abilities contain effects. So, going along with what I said earlier, flat damage is being mistakenly applied to any effects that get fired. That aint good and that is the source of the MASSIVE damage that certain classes can obtain by stacking abilities, exploiting weaknesses, etc.So we can run through this now, with your new found insight into how the abilities work.
We'll use Shank for our example.
Shank - deals % weapon damage plus a small amount of bonus damage.
Quickblade - causes the Rogues attacks to strike twice for a short time.
Our Rogue (lets call him Mardolmer, shall we?) attacks a bad guy with and without Quickblade. For the sake of ease, let's say that Shank's base damage is 900 and that the plus damage portion is 100. He also has 500 worth of flat damage from buffs.
How it is supposed to work w/o quickblade - the damage is 900 (base) + 100 (bonus dmg) + 500 (flat dmg) = 1500dmg.
How the bugged version works w/o quickblade - the damage is 900 + 100 + 1000 (flat dmg being applied 2x) = 2000dmg. Here we don't see a huge difference; we are only getting the flat dmg one additional time.
How it is supposed to work w/ quickblade - 900 + 100 + 900 (quickblade) + 100 (quickblade) + 500 = 2500
How the bugged version works w/ quickblade - 900 + 100 + 900 + 100 + 2000 (flat dmg applied 4x) = 4000. This amount is MUCH more than we expect or desire.
So if you followed me through all that, you see that Flat Damage + an ability with multiple dmg effects is a recipe for crazy dps. Bugged DPS. I used 500 flat dmg in my example. This is a very conservative number compared to what players can get in a raid.
Let's answer a few questions:
1. What is this combat spam? How much dmg am I really doing?
Take a look at this image and then I will decipher it.
Orange Damage (Totaled Damage) is the total sum of an attacks effects and multipliers.
Blue Damage (Added Sums) is the effects and multipliers impacting orange damage.
Using the picture as an example, the final number (orange) for Thundering Fists is the sum of all the "quickly strikes" attacks as well as the damage from the Thundering Fist. The blue text is just what each effect hit for.
Multiple effects within attacks (Thousand Fist, Shank, Shiv, etc.) do not show up unless they are being modified by buffs that add additional swings (Quickblade, Errant Strikes, Fists of Celerity, etc.). When using these additional attack abilities you can see the number of effects in the base attack by the number of blue lines included in the attacks.
Example
[21:50:52] <BLUE>You quickly strike KOTASOTH, dealing 7139 damage.
[21:50:52] <BLUE>You quickly strike KOTASOTH, dealing 7281 damage.
[21:50:52] <BLUE>You quickly strike KOTASOTH, dealing 7121 damage.
[21:50:52] Your <highlight>Thundering Fists III</color> hits KOTASOTH for <highlight>43281 (30963+1231) damage.
**This information can also be learned from the tool tip of the ability: Thundering Fists III - You pound your opponent with mighty strikes, hitting 3 times for melee damage plus 155. Only available after using Thousand Fists. Increases Jin by 1.**
2. Your above example didn't seem that impressive, is the bug really that bad?
Just read this example of real numbers, from a combat log. The names have been changed to protect the innocent.
- A drunken monk (we'll call him Fusoyak) uses his Thousand Fist attack, which is part of a 4 part finishing chain,
- Thousand fists has 3 effects.
- He applies Errant Strikes to add an extra strike for each base effect. +3 effects
- He also applies Fists of Celerity to add an extra strike for each base effect. +3 effects
- This setup gives us 9 effects on the base attack.
- Our Monk is fully raid buffed and is timing + flat dmg buffs and crit buffs.
- If you apply abilities such as Quickening Jolt (doubles all damage for 8 seconds). Quickening Jolt is fine when applied to a normal attack - but if it is modifying the flat dmg that has been applied 9x - the results get crazy.
This can result in attacks such as.....Wacky Monk DMG
[21:52:14] <BLUE>An errant strike hits KOTASOTH, dealing 23395 damage.
[21:52:14] <BLUE>An errant strike hits KOTASOTH, dealing 23469 damage.
[21:52:14] <BLUE>An errant strike hits KOTASOTH, dealing 23397 damage.
[21:52:14] <BLUE>You quickly strike KOTASOTH, dealing 21444 damage.
[21:52:14] <BLUE>You quickly strike KOTASOTH, dealing 21623 damage.
[21:52:14] <BLUE>You quickly strike KOTASOTH, dealing 21193 damage.
[21:52:14] Your <highlight>Thundering Fists III</color> hits KOTASOTH for <highlight>197920(143920+54000)</color> damage.
This is ONE attack in a 4 step chain. I think all can agree 200k attacks cannot be seen as balanced or fair to other classes.
3. You mentioned the weakness system. How will that be affected?
Weakness exploit damage is also not supposed to receive the bonus from flat damage. The results are too unpredictable and there isn't a way to fix it without our proposed bug fix (which I'll cover next). Even if I made the damage from the exploit 1 point and you had 2000 in flat damage buffs it would be too much, not to mention they would suck for anyone who didn't have flat dmg buffs.
Again, we'll pull an example from a combat log.
Exploit Damage
[21:47:39] <BLUE>You exploit the soul wracked weakness on KOTASOTH, dealing 1975 additional damage.
[21:47:39] Your <highlight>Ashen Hand VII</color> hits KOTASOTH for <highlight>13699
4. What is this "bug fix" you keep talking about?
We weighed our options and instead of making a blanket change to how flat dmg is added we decided to add a coefficient field to each effect. In essence this means that we can govern how much flat damage modifies each effect. What am I talking about? Let's take a weakness exploit. Let's say it is supposed to deal 200 dmg when exploited. We alter the coefficient to 50%. This means that ½ of the flat damage that you have access to will be applied to the exploit damage.
To fix most of the problems, we will be setting the coefficient to zero on the extra effects on abilities. It will still affect the base attack, but the added effects won't get the flat dmg.
That is really it. That is the easy part, trust me.
5. Will my class be affected?
Answer for yourself - you will see a dmg difference if any of the following is true
- You regularly combine flat dmg buffs and weakness exploits
- You regularly combine flat dmg buffs and multi-swing abilities (Frenzy, Zeal, Errant Strikes, etc)
If you answered no to the both to these, then you shouldn't notice any change at all.If you answered yes to number 1, then you will notice a small decrease, unless you frequently get hundreds of flat damage buffs for the express purpose of exploiting weaknesses.
If you answered yes to number 2, then read on.
Some classes will be affected more than others because of ability makeup. If you have abilities that cause your attacks to hit multiple times then you will be affected in some way or another.
- Raid: The largest change will be felt of you are a raiding character and are able to stack a lot of flat dmg buffs at the same time. If this is not you, then you will notice little or no change. At this point, the largest offenders are Rogues, Monks, Tuurgin Shaman, Paladins, War Clerics and possibly Rangers, although this is not confirmed yet. Of these, the first 2 are the biggest concern.
I'm not going to beat around the bush on this one. If you are one of these classes listed, your ability to achieve the amount of damage that you can currently will be diminished. Yes, this is a dmg nerf. Before you freak out, read the next portion please.6. Whoa! You are nerfing me!? How will you make sure that this is balanced? Or, phrased differently "Momma, I hate the bad man. Make him go away."
We are spending the next several weeks gathering data and tweaking numbers and gathering more data. Here's how this will play out.
- We will do large runs of tests and gather dps data. Raid tests, solo tests at various levels, group tests, etc. We will measure kill times, sustained dps, etc. This is mainly focused on the raid game because this is where we see the largest issues and thus, this is where we need to largest adjustments.
- We will make the above changes to abilities by adding coefficients to offending abilities.
- We will test again. We will compare our first set of data with the new and then hold that up against our dps model.
- We will alter the dmg of each class that does not fit that model.
- We will alter NPC hitpoints to match the new DPS of players and raids
- We will test again to make sure that we are spot on.
Monks and Rogues - yes, you are being nerfed at the highest end. Together with Sorcerers you will still top the DPS charts - only the numbers will change. I am not going to comment or promise a certain value of DPS. If you were obsessed with breaking 100k dmg simply to see 6 digits on your screen, then you will be disappointed. If your goal was to pump out the max allowed dps in the game - you will be happy. All we are doing to adjusting the game so that the max is lower and so that you are in line with every other class.7. How can I help?
We will take as much assistance as we can. At some point in the near future we will make a post asking for help on the test server. This will be our initial data gathering blitz. We will gather our own data internally as well, but the more data, the better. Once changes are made we will want another large battery of tests. We will post more details about how best to get the data to us when the initial test phase gets closer.
8. New Addition - Procs and how they will be affected
As we have already determined, many things are wrong with how flat damage is modifying things. One thing that I totally forgot to mention was procs. Flat dmg is currently being added to procs. While a certain amount of +dmg is ok for these in some cases, all-the-flat-dmg-from-every-flat-dmg-buff-in-the-entire-game being added to a proc that was supposed to amount to a small boost in dps (storm caller's fury, bard proc songs) is bad. We will be changing this using the coefficient solution. Apologies for leaving these out.
Summary
Soloing, non-raid geared, non-raid buffed will see a very very minor decrease (almost unnoticeable) in overall damage output.
Overall raid DPS in particular by Rogues and Monks will see their spike damage reduced quite a bit, but remain fairly high on the parses (may need further adjustments). These changes are not going to be implemented without extensive testing with and without raid buffs/effects. Monks and Rogues will not log in and see yourself at the bottom of the damage charts.
In conclusion, I hope this post helps relieve some of the worry that many of you are experiencing. The purpose of the fix is to reduce the spike damage that certain classes are currently able to produce. Normal combat will see very little, if any changes, as the changes will mainly focus on the abilities that allow those classes to modify their damage beyond logical expectations.
Please post if you have questions about what we have detailed here.
For those that won't actually read the last post, it is simply fixing a bug that was introduced with stacking flat damage buffs (such as +250 damage) being applied to additional effects of abilities other than the attack.
The result was that certain classes like monks (which is my class) can stack all these buffs on ourselves creating all sorts of extra multipliers for our damage.
Or I do 2-4x the damage of any other DPS class when stacking, while right now I parse on average 5-6k dps, and most other dps classes struggle to parse 3-4k, after the patch all high end dps classes will be parsing in the 3k's meaning there won't be such a dramatic gap between us. (supposedly all dps classes will be able to top dps charts, but even if this is not possible there at least won't be a game killing gap).
This game has excellent balancing, some of the best out of all the MMO's so I have faith that they will do this right (even though I am the class being "nerfed"). Really raiding dps was the only place where certain classes were much more desirable than others.
We use all 3 tanks, all 4 healers bring something unique and needed to raids, and after the patch caster dps will again be needed for more than their buffs, debuffs, and mezzing making raid rosters more flexible for some burn fights.
http://xivpads.com/?1595680
http://guildwork.com/users/murugan
double post
http://xivpads.com/?1595680
http://guildwork.com/users/murugan
Hard to believe one component could be so powerful.
I'm more worried about the overpowered solo ability of casters (especially shaman). The solobility of rogues/monks/warriors seems like it'll be non-existant by the end of this, and that sorcerers will be the perferred dps. Is that intentional, that having casters be that much stronger than pure melee classes in nearly every situation? Granted I haven't been around VG much, but have been reading/exploring by myself and it seems that the pure melee classes are going to be worthless. Warriors... the weakest protective fighter, can't hold as much aggro, and no healing. Rogues and Monks have the lowest soloability, but now will have even less, while being even wanted less in raids. I'm just not seeing the point of even anyone wanting to play these classes after the revamp. The population is so low at the moment that having a solo-able character makes or breaks your toon. If mob HP changes, it only makes casters that much more powerful, as they'll die faster. I do agree the flat damage formula stacking is a problem, but removing it will hurt the classes that are already harder to play. While if you decide to remove it and raise the buff, it'll still help out too much with the casters that melee. Sounds like a problem that'll have to be a formula based on class, rather than an overall global mechanic.
Any thoughts to ease my mind?
EDIT- Solobility can also be interchanged with Duobility (woot making up words rules) with many situations.
http://spellborn.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page
Flawless strategy. Get people to come play, then nerf classes. Ya'know it would have been so much less painful if they nerfed, then got people to come back. Whether nerfs are justified or not, they are exactly that - nerfs. Excellent strategy SOE! You continue to show the gaming world how to decimate your player base.
SOE and Mythic are true masters at killing their own momentum.
Removing something that potentially allows double damage in understandable, but there needs to be something to replace it to keep the classes useable. I have yet to understand how they plan to keep these classes wanted in any situation.
Off Topic - Just blaming SoE for getting rid of something for not working as intended is idiotic. I'm surprised people actually take the time to write how much they hate SoE in every thread. I'd think it'd be much more fun playing a game then writing about how much you hate a company. Seriously, if you hate SoE stop visiting their forums and playing their games... that's what realistic people do. If someone stole your computer while they were at your house, would you invite them over again?
http://spellborn.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page
No, I don't think you understand they will still be useable. They will still top dps charts, I don't think any of you understand just how enormous of a bug it is and how incredibly overpowered it makes monks and rogues right now.
Monks and rogues are the two dps classes that are going to be most effected, but they will still be the top dps classes (they are pure dps classes not utility hybrids). Their play style is not going to change, it is a bug fix that means they won't be the only option for real dps and other classes can participate in burn fights as well, but they still still be wanted for the same reasons they are now. Mainly for dps.
After all monk and rogue burst damage is only needed for a small handful of fights where you have to burn the boss down in a certain amount of time, so its not like they are going from absolutely necessary to unwanted they are going to be as just as wanted as other pure dps classes (like sorc, necro, and ranger). Plus both have wipe recovery ability and hate transfer (which hopefully will get a look to make it more useful) as secondary utilities they can bring to a raid.
I'd say only bad monks and rogues have something to worry about, but the fact that they are bad means they obviously don't stack (an ungeared monk that stacks right can still out dps most other classes with gear) so the truth is they won't notice the change at all.
http://xivpads.com/?1595680
http://guildwork.com/users/murugan
That's what I'm worried about. They are only needed for a small handful of stuff as it is. Reducing them from their state as it is now, although it's the right thing to do, will make them far less wanted. This is because the other classes can do effectively the same thing. They aren't hybrids and have a very limited useage other than DPS where as the other DPSers seem to have a bit of an edge. Such as the ranger stance kicking, or the necro small but very nice utility spells. I can see the rogue and monk (as well as the limited bonus to warriors) making them less than wanted in any situation, other than total lack of players, and that's just for raids. I'm sure duoing and small parties will be affected to an extent also, making the rogue and monk (partially the warrior) even less played.
http://spellborn.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page
What nerf? They have been revamping classes for about a year now. There are only a couple of classes left at this point.
The combat "revamp" is old news. You shell shocked SWG vets need to cool off and read the explanation first, comment second.
Looking a little Lineage 2ish....not that that is a bad thing.
I'm interested in see more of what they are doing now.
VG is improving, but it will have tough time going head to head with Aion later this year.
I found this letter very good, and appreciate the will to tell where the train is headed. A good move, but in all honesty before those changes are in the game I will wait for the trial. I like this "more guided" experience especially, since I always felt a little aimless running around seeking for quests I could do kinda took the comprehensive feeling out of the game.
People don't ask questions to get answers - they ask questions to show how smart they are. - Dogbert
Its not that bad since the new riftways are in game. The riftmasters recognize your level and offer you quests now. The quests are worth nothing but direct you to the main quest hubs.
No, I don't think you understand they will still be useable. They will still top dps charts, I don't think any of you understand just how enormous of a bug it is and how incredibly overpowered it makes monks and rogues right now.
I think most didnt understand the changes. It doesnt change anything for soloers and groupers. I doent change the class itself. It just removes the insane stacking when raiding.
THe same was said about AoC thousand times and it actually had an opposite effect on the population.
Not saying that Aion will be linear korean style mmorpg while VG is closer to non-linear sandbox style.
REALITY CHECK
Now you got me confused. What are you talking about ?
Monk and Rogue gets:
- A LOT more HP than any mage.
- Good evasion - good enough to pull mobs in APW without healing. I heard Monks (probably drunken ones?) can reach 70% ?!?
- Ability to feed aggro to the tanks.
- Rogue: 30% aggro when being in stealth
- Monk: Instant Fake death to shrug of any aggro, anytime.
Granted, Rogue and Monk arent the brightest solists. But they die probably a lot less often than, for example, Sorcerers, when solo. They again have much better defense, about twice the HP, and either Fake Death for Monk, or Evac for Rogue, to escape dangerous situations. Granted - the Sorcerer has Evac too, but when I had to use Evac on my Sorcerer, I seldom succeeded, as the mobs where disrupting and killing me before it went off.
Sorcerers are nothing but glass cannons.
THe same was said about AoC thousand times and it actually had an opposite effect on the population.
Not saying that Aion will be linear korean style mmorpg while VG is closer to non-linear sandbox style.
Well, that will only happen, though, if Aion (and Warhammer) will be games that suck, like AoC is. I am not under this impression.
I am very happy though that the devs consider it a main priority to get new players into the game, because thats what Vanguard really needs right now.
THe same was said about AoC thousand times and it actually had an opposite effect on the population.
Not saying that Aion will be linear korean style mmorpg while VG is closer to non-linear sandbox style.
Well, that will only happen, though, if Aion (and Warhammer) will be games that suck, like AoC is. I am not under this impression.
I am very happy though that the devs consider it a main priority to get new players into the game, because thats what Vanguard really needs right now.
People thought the same about AoC. WAR will be no different. It doesn't matter whether it will be filled with bugs or not, the whole concept behind AoC/WAR is simply wrong.
REALITY CHECK
Um. Actually I was surprised about how well AoC did. I expected a lot bigger disaster then that.
In the end, all that people complain about AoC is that its the game they described over there at Wikipedia, dont they ?