Blight Patch - 9/21/05

[Kitimandiri]

I don't know why the devs think we will be satisfied with these ancient "rewards"

they can calculate power and stats as well as we can =(

things were starting to look really positive, arop, lairs, new people showing up, better communication

that client update really made me happy, the only reason i stopped playing the game was because the lag made the game nearly impossible for me to play

come on guys don't screw up now! =(

[oluviel]

Shame shame, whywas the scale of the ancients evenaddedif it would be destroyed by ancient status. MOREOVER, whyare the bonuses of aTRUE ancient less than the SCALE?



Passive

Drulkar's scales +140% not 133% that's the same as the scale
Drulkars speed +6% haste rather than 5
Ancient path of the lunus +100 t&c +50 str
Ancient path of the helian +100 primal +50power

Stat bonuses

+200hp JUST LIKE ADULT NOT 0
+75str
+75power why is it currently +more to power?


These would be suitable passive bonuses for ancient. If you remove the ancient scale ancient status should grantBETTER bonuses not LESS

[Lumineux]

Twelve, Helian and Lunus are VERY well defined, thank you. They are NOT seperate schools. A dragon is a dragon, and its political standing has little to nothing to do with how they are able to fight. Furthermore, I would favor un-coupling the alternate breath attack from the factions. That sort of diferentiation is meaningless and unnesicary. Faction is a role-playing aspect in a role-playing game, nothing more.

Ancient "schools" should be what provides the diferentiation you are looking for, and all of them should be availible to either faction.

[Goriax]

People seem to be hoping that the upcoming schools will fix the nerf they're giving us for becoming ancient.

Ok, so what if they do? How long are we going to have to wait? 6 months? A year?

I'm sorry but to give something and then take it away is very very hard to take. It's FAR better not to give something then to give it and take it away. Professional game designers should know this. The way I feel right now I don't think I can wait a year for some problematical school to show up to get unnerfed and I'm betting that's the timeframe we're looking at.

So as of now:
1. The ancient size isn't much bigger then adult.
2. Total power goes DOWN! Players would be better off to do the AROP up to the point where they have to give up their scale and then stop.
3. There's still unanswered questions about the new abilities. This hoard breath weapon ability has me worried. I didn't mind when they turned drain strike into a hoard ability becausethe non-hoard drain strikewas pretty useless. The non-hoard breath weapon is NOT useless and taking it away would be another nerf. Before I would have figured they wouldn't be so stupid as to do such a thing, but considering what they just did I'm not so sure.

Tons of hoard abilites are great if you have a bunch of friends or a biped altfeeding you hoard or you can find some exploit to generate hoard. They're not so great if you have to scrape up all your hoard yourself.

By the way, the hoard drops on Blight have been pretty underwhelming the last week. I sent a support case to them as soon as I noticed but there's no indication they're going to do anything. It doesn't look like they plan to compensate by increasing hoard drops.

TG isn't looking so good right now.

[Justa Mirage]

I agree with most of the dragon posts here, I probably won't be able to do the AROP for a while unless the heavens open up and rain XP on me, but from the readings I can certainly come to this conclusion:

The Developers should pay close attention to their world environement.

I see the fact that the AROP gives you a handfull of stat increases and some new and improved attacks, but for PvE balance, giving Ancients power beyond what "They" have already agreed upon, would severely make dragons close to unstoppable doing solo target hunting. Sure the Bi-Peds in the world can somewhat tank multiple enemies, but it takes them a while to whittle them down... timewise the XP per second for a dragon to bring 1,1,1,1,1 down may exceed the bi-ped doing 5 at once but taking twice as long to do it.

Paying attention to the world environement, if the dragons were given any more than what the AROP is presently giving them, they could pretty much flatten anything in the game except maybe SoG.

Which brings back the other posts that have been made in the past, the devs need to revisit:

Raising the level cap
Supplying mobs that present a challenge to 100+ characters
Support some sort of "Avatar" or (heaven forbid... AC2 Hero class) character that combines all of their multi-class abilities into 1 class with a new "ability tree"

For AROP dragons, a post 100th level ascention that will grant them abilities due to their faction.

[PJ]

Shame shame, whywas the scale of the ancients evenaddedif it would be destroyed by ancient status. MOREOVER, whyare the bonuses of aTRUE ancient less then the SCALE?

If you paid attention to your ARoP Lore, the scale of the ancientswas a gift to help you on your ARoP, as well as restrict access to the gate of embers.

[AA0]

People need to chill out.
This is the ARoP, this isn't the be all and end all of ancient. In recent interviews there has even been mention of multiclassing coming, but you don't get it right away. There maybe a significant number of quests that are ancient only. The only person that really knows how strong ancients will be is Manga, as he is designing them.

[PJ]

Given the responses I've seen, about all the dragons planning on "going all the way up to the last step, but not going ancient."


I hope Manga moves the ability rewards from rewarded during the quest, to rewarded afterwards....

[Akuluxtraxas]

The ARoC more like it and this is a joke and a bad one at that. the bonuses and gains are nothing short of terrible and losing our scales and delay reduction is a huge nerf. Ancients arent worth it and it is refelecting here. You do know we players talk and the dissapointment,anger and outrage is already starting to mass.

Great quest,great lore and then you do this??? I cant understand you at Tulga at all. monrths and months of tuime and you deflate and ruin it all one clean epic screwup. I really do try to be supportive and i like many new changes in Hz but this ancient deal makes the adult dragon gains good and they werent good enough to keep half the players paying to play here.

Multiclassing isnt gonna work either as a wait and see. this was the big one and i am extremely dissapointed to say i grade the rewards and the model and F bigger then my monitor. truly humiliating and disheartening and really sad as i know you guys can do a ton better and have on so much of the quest. I really dont even know where to suggest as the logic behind this seems backwards or chaotic.

What i do fear highly is many more friends leaving and how many adults with headscales and ARoP powers we will have running around STRONGER then ancients would be. If that doesnt mean anything to you i give up and pity the future of dragons on Hz

[LaughingOtter]

Given the responses I've seen, about all the dragons planning on "going all the way up to the last step, but not going ancient."


I hope Manga moves the ability rewards from rewarded during the quest, to rewarded afterwards....

I think that would be a very bad decision. ARoP needs to inspire and invigorate the dragon player base. It needs to be glorious. It needs to motivate people to want to play and to bring others to play as well. What it needs to *not* do is leave the players sad, angry, bitter and disappointed - and that is exactly what is happening right now.

Fortunatly, there's still time to fix it.

[Theolaerynn]

Sure the Bi-Peds in the world can somewhat tank multiple enemies, but it takes them a while to whittle them down... timewise the XP per second for a dragon to bring 1,1,1,1,1 down may exceed the bi-ped doing 5 at once but taking twice as long to do it.

Have you even hunted with an Uber-Ped? I have, plenty of times. Bi-Peds are already unstoppable. Sure, in single target combat, Dragons often romp Bi-Peds. But in multiple target combat, Bi-Peds win hands down. I have hunted with a number of folks that are capable of taking out 30+ beetles at a time on the Island of Ice, in less time than it takes me to do a group of 6. Working fast and burning hoard I could probably single 8 in the same time.

But this isn't about bi-peds -vs- Dragons, this is about what Dragons were given and what we will have taken away again. It is about doing a ton of work to just end up nerfed. It is about the Developers not playing the same game the rest of us are playing. If they were they would not have made the long list of mistakes they have made up to this point, with the ARoP just being the latest example.

[Theolaerynn]

People need to chill out.
This is the ARoP, this isn't the be all and end all of ancient. In recent interviews there has even been mention of multiclassing coming, but you don't get it right away. There maybe a significant number of quests that are ancient only. The only person that really knows how strong ancients will be is Manga, as he is designing them.

Sure, there may be. Just like when they took away our AE breath and said they 'will return it in the near future'. Well, not only has it not been 'the near future', it wont even be given back to Adults! AND it might have a hoard cost. Excuse me if I am not jumping for joy that I am going to be nerfed on the fantasy that 'some day' they might make up for it. I have waited two years already, and this is what I get for it? It makes me question very hard why I pay for this, and once again I am coming to the conclusion that I should stop.

Given the responses I've seen, about all the dragons planning on "going all the way up to the last step, but not going ancient."

I hope Manga moves the ability rewards from rewarded during the quest, to rewarded afterwards....

I love it when bi-peds post stuff like this, knowing full well that if the devs did this to them they would have a conipiton fit.

But hey, since you guys are all for balancing, how about that multi-class problem? What say we fix that while we are at it, because if ever there was a game ruining feature, that is it. And if you really want to fix the economy, remove multi-classing of crafts too.

[PJ]

[img]/Web/Themes/Generic/images/icon-quote.gif[/img]PJ wrote: Given the responses I've seen, about all the dragons planning on "going all the way up to the last step, but not going ancient."


I hope Manga moves the ability rewards from rewarded during the quest, to rewarded afterwards....

I think that would be a very bad decision. ARoP needs to inspire and invigorate the dragon player base. It needs to be glorious. It needs to motivate people to want to play and to bring others to play as well. What it needs to *not* do is leave the players sad, angry, bitter and disappointed - and that is exactly what is happening right now.

Fortunatly, there's still time to fix it.

The ARoP does those things. Its a long, epic, awesome quest that dwarfs everything in the game, culminating in a Dungeon raid in an alternate dimension that's simply the coolest thing in this game. It results in an increase (Ancients ARE better then adults) in abilities at no penalty and will open the door to dragon multiclassing, specialization, quilting etc. Things that have been requested forever.

I am disappointed also.


I'm just disappointed in the response of the Dragon community (well most of it).

[Kitimandiri]

Why are you dissapointed with us? We just want the old models back, and a reward that doesnt nerf us.

[Ebonfyre]

[img]/Web/Themes/Generic/images/icon-quote.gif[/img]LaughingOtter wrote: [img]/Web/Themes/Generic/images/icon-quote.gif[/img]PJ wrote: Given the responses I've seen, about all the dragons planning on "going all the way up to the last step, but not going ancient."


I hope Manga moves the ability rewards from rewarded during the quest, to rewarded afterwards....

I think that would be a very bad decision. ARoP needs to inspire and invigorate the dragon player base. It needs to be glorious. It needs to motivate people to want to play and to bring others to play as well. What it needs to *not* do is leave the players sad, angry, bitter and disappointed - and that is exactly what is happening right now.

Fortunatly, there's still time to fix it.


The ARoP does those things. Its a long, epic, awesome quest that dwarfs everything in the game, culminating in a Dungeon raid in an alternate dimension that's simply the coolest thing in this game. It results in an increase (Ancients ARE better then adults) in abilities at no penalty and will open the door to dragon multiclassing, specialization, quilting etc. Things that have been requested forever.

I am disappointed also.


I'm just disappointed in the response of the Dragon community (well most of it).

Correction it results in an increase with a penalty by the fact that we are losing stats, and are getting a AOE breath attack with a hoard costs of 500. And the hoard costs isnt worth the amount of dmg it does.

[oluviel]

[img]/Web/Themes/Generic/images/icon-quote.gif[/img]oluviel wrote:

Shame shame, whywas the scale of the ancients evenaddedif it would be destroyed by ancient status. MOREOVER, whyare the bonuses of aTRUE ancient less then the SCALE?



If you paid attention to your ARoP Lore, the scale of the ancientswas a gift to help you on your ARoP, as well as restrict access to the gate of embers.

yes a GIFT not a temporary buff that will be taken away. It's no wonder most dragons are upset over the issue.

Think common sense, why would the status of ancient be less than a piece of jewlery to help you get there?

[Fireclaw]

People need to chill out.
This is the ARoP, this isn't the be all and end all of ancient. In recent interviews there has even been mention of multiclassing coming, but you don't get it right away. There maybe a significant number of quests that are ancient only. The only person that really knows how strong ancients will be is Manga, as he is designing them.

Previously the devs have said that an ancient should be significantly stronger than an adult of the same level. Now we find thats not the case. When RoP came out many dragons were disappointed that the rewards were so modest and only granted a slight improvement in combat ability over a hatchling. But that pales in comparison to this disaster... now we find that an ancient is actually weaker in battle than a same level adult.

Sure multiclassing might come along and make an ancient stronger. But multiclassing for dragons probably won't arrive for many months or even years. Furthermore, a multiclassed dragon would presumably have a higher rating so really isn't the same as a "same level" adult.

Its such a shame to see Tulga come so far with their well crafted ARoP quest and then to blow it so totally at the last moment. As it stands now becoming ancient is punishment not reward.

[oluviel]

they just updated the stats
+250hp
same for stats
+10 to fly speed
damage increase on the bw

sadly still nothing on the haste we lose, but it's better than before

They removed the fly sprint just because it would have caused more problems with flying, casting , and attacking,so the average flight speed was calculatedif you were to actually use the buff every 3 minutes to come up with 85ish or something

essentially i was mostly dissapointed with the hitpoints being that we got them at the adult rop

[Jaraiden]

The following updates, fixes and additions will be added to the Blight shard on September 21st, 2005.

Updates/Additions: [*]The Ancient Rite of Passage completes?[/list]

Changes/Fixes: [*]Correction from Last Patch:[*]Beginner, Journeyman, and Expert Anvils will now provide a bonus to Scalecrafting.

[/list]

Scalecrafting bonuses at biped built blocks of metal that are not scalecraft machines . . . .Score another -1 for dragon lore, but dragon bandaid +1.

Now, what are the finishing requirements to become Ancient. Hoard? Time as a dragon. Hmmmmm? There was a post in the Dragon subfoums started by Smeglor or Mangaabout the Starting requirements, what are the finishing requirements. Once those are in, and the adult RoP to Ancient is tested fully, then, and only then, is the "Ancient Rite of Passage" complete.

[Fireclaw]

Now, what are the finishing requirements to become Ancient. Hoard? Time as a dragon. Hmmmmm? There was a post in the Dragon subfoums started by Smeglor or Mangaabout the Starting requirements, what are the finishing requirements. Once those are in, and the adult RoP to Ancient is tested fully, then, and only then, is the "Ancient Rite of Passage" complete.

If its like RoP then there are no fixed finishing requirements. Rather, if you can survive the quests then you finish and can become ancient.