Adn to nights News from GOA !!!! ITS ABOUT ITEMS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[old.Gromnir]

The Geershas Campaign : Technical debriefing.
[2003-18-09]

Last year we announced a quite apocalyptical ending, and by the look of how things were last night (and still today on some servers), it was. We encountered very few technical bugs with this massive event, despite all the scripts involving IA, factions, "surprise" triggers (with more than 200.000 variables to check). So far, only Prydwen & Excalibur were successful in clearing the threat coming for Heimaey but we are already keeping a very close watch on all the feedback we can get from the event.

Many enjoyed and rejoiced over the event but some also worried about the future repercussions of the campaign ending. Here is a quick technical debriefing on the campaign, with a more "roleplay" conclusion coming soon after the conclusion of the event on all servers.

Now, some clarifications about the unique and very rare items found as loot on the main "bosses" during the event, especially regarding the armours and their "buffing" abilities.

First, let's go over some basics regarding magical resistance. Each player will have, against a given spell :
his natural racial resistance (up to 5%)
the resistance from the items he is currently wearing (up to 26% at level 50)
the resistance from the spells (also up to 26%)
the resistance added from the realm abilities you may have.

These four resistance types are cumulative unless stated otherwise and do respect the limitations based on their resistance types (26% from items for example).

Let's see about the magical armours dropped during the event and their 50% group resistance buffs. First, the information displayed on the spell description (shift - I) was not correct as the users of these armours found out. The buff only works on the armour carrier, not the group. We are going to change the display in order to avoid any further confusion. The other point is that these armours have "reactive procs", which means that you need to be hit on this part of your armour in order to have a chance to actually trigger the buff. Technically you have around 40% to be hit in the torso for example and, if hit in the torso, you have a bit less than 10% of chances to have the buff actually trigger. Do the math and you will see that basing your RvR survivability on this item only will not help you much. Finally, since the "buff" is actually considered as a spell, it will follow the "spell resistance bonus" limitations explained above. For example if you already have some resistance buffing spells on you, this will only "overwrite them" and give you the maximum of +26%.

Why marking the spell as giving 50% in a resistance while you only get 26% you might ask ? Simply to be sure that this buff will overwrite all the spells since this one is giving the best possible.

Now, let us proceed onto the topic of the weapons with "de-buffing" abilities.

While these weapons only have a low chance to "proc" with each attack, their effects are nonetheless very unique. The weapons were mainly designed to help during the event fighting, especially against the dreaded "counter spells" on the main island and their high resistance to melee damage. These weapons were designed to give a serious advantage during the fights against the Black Queen and her minions. The main threats being cleared and as these weapons are now being brought back into the realms and their powerful magical abilities will start to fade as they are removed from the island of Heimaey. Technically, they will lose some of their effectiveness.

Overall, all the effects are already in the game in one way or another and nothing "overpowered" was introduced as some may read here and there. The story team based the items on already existing spells and items and added a bit of "modifications" in them.

Now we are left with the "why are these items unique". This is not the first time unique items are introduced into the game by GOA. Quests and events already allowed many to have access to items sometimes purely fun, sometimes handy. For this "grand final" of the Geershas campaign, very powerful enemies were to be challenged, epic fights against some unique AI were to be fought and all this in a very "heated" battleground, involving all three realms and it is normal that some powerful and unique items were introduced. The amount of items found is overall very small and nothing guarantee that these items will keep their "power" long after the death of their creators…

Another point now on the "platinium" pieces. We did find out that a couple of main bosses were giving more money than planned upon death. This was swiftly fixed last night. It was of course a little bug and the amount of money is overall pretty small (a few platinium pieces) since the monsters dropping them were not re-spawning once killed.

Finally, regarding the technical access limitations to the zone itself. As announced yesterday, and sadly there are no magical solution to this, you cannot have a whole server (talking about 2000-3500 players here) in the same zone simultaneously. In order to prevent any zone crash, we had to limit the players in the zone and this limit, depending on the servers, raised up to 600 players or so in the zone, fighting together or against each other. Also note that we tried to keep realm balance, and that the limitations were realm based and not server based. (for 600 players max, we tried to keep a 200-200-200 balance as much as possible).

This technical debriefing is now done, good luck to the ones of you still fighting in the island Heimaey, enjoy !

 

[cougar-]

ic

 

[Brunore]

word

 

[amazingsteve]

fair enough at least some info

 

[ghoul]

yes its all good!

 

[old.Jeriraa]

But 1st all you gits have to cry out loud. Basicly just because someone else got the "Uber thingy" and not you... sometimes this board is like a Kindergarden.

 

[Blood]

itam itam plzz

 

[old.Gromnir]

Originally posted by Blood
itam itam plzz

Så Så Blood du skal nok få noget =)

 

[Hyuga Hinata]

Originally posted by old.Gromnir
So far, only Prydwen & Excalibur were successful in clearing the threat coming for Heimaey

English servers > all

 

[ghoul]

Originally posted by old.Jeriraa
But 1st all you gits have to cry out loud. Basicly just because someone else got the "Uber thingy" and not you... sometimes this board is like a Kindergarden.

When your group meets a group with a char that has a debuff weapon, i'd like to see how happy you'd be, you'd get close to oneshotted all the time if they procced, a cleric used the crush debuff hammer on excal and hit for 600 1h unstyled, ok nice one, jerkoff

 

[Bagloor]

Originally posted by ghoul
When your group meets a group with a char that has a debuff weapon, i'd like to see how happy you'd be, you'd get close to oneshotted all the time if they procced, a cleric used the crush debuff hammer on excal and hit for 600 1h unstyled, ok nice one, jerkoff

Thats just a rumour afaik or is there any screenies?

 

[Cami]

Originally posted by old.Jeriraa
But 1st all you gits have to cry out loud. Basicly just because someone else got the "Uber thingy" and not you... sometimes this board is like a Kindergarden.

so, you got an item you dont want nerfed ?

 

[ghoul]

Originally posted by Bagloor
Thats just a rumour afaik or is there any screenies?

I saw someone say it on irc, so its just a rumour for now, but im sure someone can give a second opinion

 

[old.Jeriraa]

No Cami, I dont have one of these items.


And Ghoul, how many of these things dropped? 4 or so per realm? Even if GOA would not lower the debuff proc of these weapons they would hardly make any difference in RvR. Why?

1st: Only 4 outa ~500 players per realm have one.

2nd: Its most likely that people from professional gank squads would buy them. When you face one of these groups it doesnt make a difference if you die in 3 seconds or 1.

3rd: If some individual who's not member of a gank squad would utilize one of these weapons he will find himself hunted down by the other realms whereever he shows up.


Really, you guys crying NERF and FU GOA in envy only make yourself look foolish! This is just a cyber version of "His tool is bigger than mine!".

 

[aveh]

It looks like the meeting that they had was not to discuss whether or not the weapons they have released were overpowered, but how they could most effectively cover their asses and pull the wool over many peoples' eyes.

I am not impressed by the mention of 200,000 variables. I am concerned, because, by their own admission, they can't even properly match up item effects with their descriptions.

Nor does their explanation of the existance of buffs exceeding the pre-defined maximum have any plausibility. Yer - "we wanted to make sure that they'd overwrite any existing buffs as THESE are the best possible buffs." So - to clarify - if you only had made them 26% buffs, they might not have overwritten the existing buffs, and the poor user would still be stuck with .. 26% buffs. Oh dear. Could you please (pretty please) apply this logic to skald damage adds too?

Still, the flipside of the coin is far scarier. That the people who were designing the items didn't know that this 26% limit exists, and during the "cover our asses meeting" some techie who was up until now out of the loop has gone "what kind of fking idiots are you - its capped at 26%!" to the story team.

Still, it was the following statement that I thought was the most humourous part of the entire release:

"Overall, all the effects are already in the game in one way or another and nothing "overpowered" was introduced as some may read here and there. The story team based the items on already existing spells and items and added a bit of "modifications" in them."

Guys - you better File->Save As that statement. It's an absolute gem. I can't even imagine the wide range of game-killing items that you could create within the bounds of this statment. It's an insta-excuse-fortehwin! (As found in the GOA Suppression specline).

And to the last point, Jeriraa. Perhaps YOU don't give a fuck about game balance and playability of RVR, but some other people do. It's not about who got the toy and who didn't. It's about whether the toy should even be in there in the first place. I think that most people who enjoy this game realise these items are far too powerful too fall into the wrong hands (BO, MM, PE, and NP just to name a few), and are correctly concerned about it.

 

[old.Jeriraa]

Aveh grow a brain please instead flaming GOA. You obivously dont have a clue about what your are talking about.

Nor does their explanation of the existance of buffs exceeding the pre-defined maximum have any plausibility.

The max resist incrase you can get from a buff is 26%. This is a hard cap! If this was not a hard cap RA's would augment resist buffs. They dont! Hence it is NOT possible to buff 50% resists.

And to the last point, Jeriraa. Perhaps YOU don't give a fuck about game balance and playability of RVR, but some other people do. It's not about who got the toy and who didn't. It's about whether the toy should even be in there in the first place. I think that most people who enjoy this game realise these items are far too powerful too fall into the wrong hands (BO, MM, PE, and NP just to name a few), and are correctly concerned about it.

Excuse my language but thats utter bullshit. How can you claim that 4 "Uber weapons" per realm will affect the RvR balance?

A weapon has a 10% chance to proc meaning that on average 1 outa 10 swings will cause a proc. Excuse me but how should this affect group vs group combat? Do you want to tell me that you survive long enough vs 3 tanks to see such a weapon proc in every fight? Even if all 3 tanks had a weapon of this kind the chance to see a proc on you before you die are very close to zero.

Its even worse for the buffing armor. The chance to hit the torso is 39% or something. That means on average 2 of 5 swings will hit the torso. Taking the 10% proc chance into account you'll have to your enemy 25 times on average to cause the buff to proc. Excuse me but who stands 25 hits? And even if it procs on the 1st hit... the gank groups have capped resist buffs anyway.


Twist it like you want but you're whines are just the ones of a kid who's seen another kid having a shinier toy. Flaming GOA with this kinda bullshit is really getting on my nuts. If you dont like the company and the game why do you bother?

 

[Urgat Rip-Eye]

<snip> posted by Jeriraa </snip>

<nods in aproval>

(and yes... at first i thought they were going to upset balance as well... but thinking about it in those terms, and working with the figures... meh... they wont make much difference tbh)

The one thing that has become the most prevelant as a result of this situation goes back to my previous post.

A vast number of people here need to grow up and learn to express their oppinion without flaming, and complaining like 12 year olds who feel they're hard done by.

 

[Jenna.]

Originally posted by old.Jeriraa

A weapon has a 10% chance to proc meaning that on average 1 outa 10 swings will cause a proc. Excuse me but how should this affect group vs group combat? Do you want to tell me that you survive long enough vs 3 tanks to see such a weapon proc in every fight? Even if all 3 tanks had a weapon of this kind the chance to see a proc on you before you die are very close to zero.

Maybe if you play without healers yes 3 healers 4tehwin and you wont die easy as a tank. Albgroup with BoF up and gankweapons would be kinda nice to see also ~~

 

[old.Gromnir]

Re: Re: Adn to nights News from GOA !!!! ITS ABOUT ITEMS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Originally posted by aveh
It looks like the meeting that they had was not to discuss whether or not the weapons they have released were overpowered, but how they could most effectively cover their asses and pull the wool over many peoples' eyes.

I am not impressed by the mention of 200,000 variables. I am concerned, because, by their own admission, they can't even properly match up item effects with their descriptions.

Nor does their explanation of the existance of buffs exceeding the pre-defined maximum have any plausibility. Yer - "we wanted to make sure that they'd overwrite any existing buffs as THESE are the best possible buffs." So - to clarify - if you only had made them 26% buffs, they might not have overwritten the existing buffs, and the poor user would still be stuck with .. 26% buffs. Oh dear. Could you please (pretty please) apply this logic to skald damage adds too?

Still, the flipside of the coin is far scarier. That the people who were designing the items didn't know that this 26% limit exists, and during the "cover our asses meeting" some techie who was up until now out of the loop has gone "what kind of fking idiots are you - its capped at 26%!" to the story team.

Still, it was the following statement that I thought was the most humourous part of the entire release:

"Overall, all the effects are already in the game in one way or another and nothing "overpowered" was introduced as some may read here and there. The story team based the items on already existing spells and items and added a bit of "modifications" in them."

Guys - you better File->Save As that statement. It's an absolute gem. I can't even imagine the wide range of game-killing items that you could create within the bounds of this statment. It's an insta-excuse-fortehwin! (As found in the GOA Suppression specline).

And to the last point, Jeriraa. Perhaps YOU don't give a fuck about game balance and playability of RVR, but some other people do. It's not about who got the toy and who didn't. It's about whether the toy should even be in there in the first place. I think that most people who enjoy this game realise these items are far too powerful too fall into the wrong hands (BO, MM, PE, and NP just to name a few), and are correctly concerned about it.

I have one thing to say to that:

PFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF!

I think the explanation was good, and made sence ! ... did you lose a /random 100 for an item ?

 

[Ezeine]

Have to agree with Jeriraa here. What a bunch of crybabies. Cancel already why dont ya. :wall:

 

[aveh]

Originally posted by old.Jeriraa
Twist it like you want but you're whines are just the ones of a kid who's seen another kid having a shinier toy. Flaming GOA with this kinda bullshit is really getting on my nuts. If you dont like the company and the game why do you bother?

I do like the game, (tho I'm fairly sure that the company is quite useless). I thought I made it clear in my post that I liked the game, and very much cared about game balance. This is why I bother. I also pretty much pointed out in my previous post as well, if you'd bothered to read it properly. Same goes for the other twat who suggested I should quit. FU tbh.. expressing an opinion contrary to yours is not wrong and does not make me a 12 year old. Neither am I a lootwhore. I have long had the opinion that items in this game are overpowered and have expressed it on several prior occasions. I do not own a single TG drop, my characters are equipped with quest items and mostly 99% armor. If you think I'm pissed that I didn't get one of these drops in the 10 or so minutes I wandered around the event zone you are sorely mistaken..

And so the weapons and armor have a low chance to proc? So what? If that is the case why do people bother to spend 2p and over taking their weapons and armor to the alchemist? Why do people sit on TG raids for 6 hours in the hope of winning one reactive proc?

Your arguments are almost as dumb as saying "Well, I only have a 0,001% chance to be in a car accident, so I might as well not wear a seatbelt."

 

[shanks]

Originally posted by old.Jeriraa

2nd: Its most likely that people from professional gank squads would buy them. When you face one of these groups it doesnt make a difference if you die in 3 seconds or 1.

Epicwearer imo, go roleplay a tree. :x