[X] My Assistant

You are struggling even with melee? Let's review this.

Have you spent your ability points in your ability boosts? Have you unlocked mastery slots? Have you equipped your ability boosts in your mastery slots (_FOR_EACH_SET_)? Do you use only one type of gear (Cloth, Light Armor, Heavy Armor)? Did you select the correct armor type Ability Boost? What type of weapon are you using as a melee? Mace? Estoc?

Yes sir, I've done all that on the first day of the patch(only have 11 AP left). I generally swith up weapons. Since the patch I've used dual-wield clubs, a mace and Niten Ichiru, all with ethereal weapons to keep B/I low and get void strike.

I'm wondering if Tenboro can add a row of "Passive" Ability Slots for stuff like elemental mitigations/damage, maybe bleed, PA, stun, etc. effectiveness and what have you. As of right now, I've already almost maxed the abilities I'll be using. I think there should be more.

As someone has already said. Intelligence does not affect the number of MP you have now. Bug or change?

I'm wondering if Tenboro can add a row of "Passive" Ability Slots for stuff like elemental mitigations

I would love this. I looked so hard hoping that it existed.

I would love this. I looked so hard hoping that it existed.

In my last battle I had a monster hit me for over 1,400 wind damage, currently almost 1/4th my total HP, and kill me. I didn't put SoL back up cause I thought, "Oh, just one more monster. Let's kill it!" Nope, wind killed me.

This update has done a great job of convincing me to play on Normal in Arena challenges. I can finish them a lot faster to get the credit bonus and a chance at a Token of Blood. Otherwise, is there a point to playing on IWBTH in Arena challenges? I rarely win anything and if I do it's fair to fine. I can get that playing on Normal.

"wall of text" is by far the most retarded criticism
of anything that I've ever heard in my whole life.
If you open a book, you'll get a wall of text, fuck you.

more importantly however, does anyone here have an
explanation why the price of hath dropped like a rock?
It seems strange to me that it happened at all, given it
has stayed at roughly 15k for at least half a year.

Compared to before, it is now too expensive and doesn't last long enough to be effective. Do'nt know what you're getting at with the crude gear comment. I'm currently using superior or higher. Have a few exquisites and magnificents and one lengedary.
I mage for hourlies and go light or heavy melee for other battles. I'm now finding myself at constant risk of running out of mana during the longer IW, Arenas, etc. I even get dangerously low on hourly battles. This is all on NORMAL difficulty! I used to play on Nintendo and would occasionally die, but now I die consistantly on normal. This cannot be intentional.

Heartseeker increases damage by like 40%, that's pretty good; it lasts less long, but not that bad, maybe your proficiency is low? I have WAAAAYYY more mana now, T&T on IWBTH takes only 1 mana potion now. Monster damage was cut by at least 5, you shouldn't be at risk of death at all. On average melee hit me for 150-200, on normal and at your level, that cant be more than 100? How do you die to that, cotton + 2h?

First I want to say I like the new layout, the ability to build my unique character.

However my character is so week I can't even win Battle Arena Level 1 on IWBTH, whereas before I've kicked Level 5 on IWBTH Difficulty. So does the new patch suck.... sadly yes 4/5s of my previous abilities.

I made sure I specialized in spells but I don't have Tier 3/4 like I used too. (IMG:[invalid] style_emoticons/default/sad.gif)
More Ability Points should have been given!

Where is my 100k of credits for Aura Training?

Where are the missing 2/3rds of my Battle Slots?

Where are the other 1/2 of my magic points? Its only 600 when it used to be over 1000!

Where is the other 1/2 of my Health points?

Where is the other 1/2 of the Damage my spell used to do?
(again I made sure to put all ability points into magic/spells!)

Where is XNerf? I guess I'm not high enough level anymore! (IMG:[invalid] style_emoticons/default/mad.gif)

Oh yea, Monster, I can't feed them! Please see my post thread: Monsters Starving!


So does the new HV SUCK? Yes it has sucked at least 1/2 of everything I used to have. (IMG:[invalid] style_emoticons/default/sad.gif)

Monsters got nerfed more than you did, so youre not really weaker than pre-patch. Now you get your bonuses more gradually when you level. Nerf/X-Nerf was removed, not that it was ever usable before.

Background info is that I have played HV since the beta and specifically mage-style for as long as that has existed. Before the update I could clear IWBTH hourlies in maybe ten seconds by spamming between holy and dark magic. With the new update my hourlies have about a 20% defeat rate on Battletoads and about a 50% defeat rate on IWBTH (possibly more - I didn't want to push that test too far).

Wish I could finish hourlies that fast :/

In my last battle I had a monster hit me for over 1,400 wind damage, currently almost 1/4th my total HP, and kill me. I didn't put SoL back up cause I thought, "Oh, just one more monster. Let's kill it!" Nope, wind killed me.

That was basically what happened after I initially thought I had figured out the new system. I realized "Oh, I don't get 20% mitigation on those elements anymore do I?"

more importantly however, does anyone here have an explanation why the price of hath dropped like a rock?

There's a helluva lot more stuff to spend credits on now?

That was basically what happened after I initially thought I had figured out the new system. I realized "Oh, I don't get 20% mitigation on those elements anymore do I?"
There's a helluva lot more stuff to spend credits on now?

Plus no one except those have better potion maxed want the new hath perk too, hath lost its value among middle to low level player.

Just noticed this:

[s849.photobucket.com] (IMG:[i849.photobucket.com] http://i849.photobucket.com/albums/ab54/kingwolf707/Untitled.jpg)

From what I can tell, greater and superior potions do the same thing now since superior were removed from the drop pool, but they're still not equal since superior (and probably average as well) potions aren't affected by the better pots ability. I'm not sure if this is an oversight or if it was intentional not to make them be affected but it does leave me with a couple hundred pretty much useless potions now (thousands if I count the average potions).

Heartseeker increases damage by like 40%, that's pretty good; it lasts less long, but not that bad, maybe your proficiency is low?
Monster damage was cut by at least 5, you shouldn't be at risk of death at all. On average melee hit me for 150-200, on normal and at your level, that cant be more than 100? How do you die to that, cotton + 2h?
Nerf/X-Nerf was removed, not that it was ever usable before.

Refer to mage style. Heartseeker doesn't affect magic damage. I can still kill monsters in a single hit once in a while, so the amount of damage I do isn't a huge issue. It's survivability that's been affected. That crops up when a couple tough monsters drag the battle out to four or five rounds or if pretty much everything hits me that first round. I'm using all high-quality phase stuff since you asked. Note that I'm comparing post-update Battletoads to pre-update IWBTH, not normal. X-Nerf is related to survivability, so it was actually very useful.

Yes sir, I've done all that on the first day of the patch(only have 11 AP left). I generally swith up weapons. Since the patch I've used dual-wield clubs, a mace and Niten Ichiru, all with ethereal weapons to keep B/I low and get void strike.

I'm wondering if Tenboro can add a row of "Passive" Ability Slots for stuff like elemental mitigations/damage, maybe bleed, PA, stun, etc. effectiveness and what have you. As of right now, I've already almost maxed the abilities I'll be using. I think there should be more.

Some abilities got new levels, so you might want to check them again. This includes Heartseeker, Spirit Shield, and more.

If Heartseeker is too costy to cast, wait for the Channeling effect.

If you want to use dual wielding, I suggest you to pick a rapier in off hand, so you can kill more easily thanks to the penetration effect. Also, the Parry chance helps (x1.5 in off hand). I clear the first few arenas with club/rapier.

I am using a mace most of the time, along with light armor (mostly shade).

I have a Niten Ichiryuu set, but haven't used it yet, mainly because you don't gain proficiencies while using it.

Here are my stats and gear if you wanna have a look:

Statistics

Fighting Style
Two-handed (void)
80% domino strike on hit

Physical Attack
3177 attack base damage
149.9% hit chance
35.6% crit chance
17.2% attack speed bonus

127.3% mana cost modifier

Vitals
102.8% HP boost
87.9% MP boost

Defense
56.7% Phys Mit
47.2% Mag Mit
36.9% Evade Chance
25% Parry Chance
52.1 Resist Chance

Compromise
54.6 Interference
3.5 Burden

Specific Mitigations
25.9% crushing
16.4% Slashing
3.7% Piercing

Effective Primary Stats
485 STR
500 DEX
471 AGI
320 END
250 INT
330 WIS

Effective Proficiency
247 Two-Handed
197 Light Armor
129 Deprecating
226 Supporting

Legendary Ethereal Mace of Balance
Legendary Agile Kevlar of Protection
Exquisite Shade of the Fleet
Superior Shade Gauntlets of the Fleet
Superior Shade Leggings of the Shadowdancer
Superior Shade Boots of the Fleet

So then, I'm reappearing to give my two cents. I've waited a few days to get a decent feel for how the new system affects my play as well as make sure I understand some of the mechanics that were initially weird.

Background info is that I have played HV since the beta and specifically mage-style for as long as that has existed. Before the update I could clear IWBTH hourlies in maybe ten seconds by spamming between holy and dark magic. With the new update my hourlies have about a 20% defeat rate on Battletoads and about a 50% defeat rate on IWBTH (possibly more - I didn't want to push that test too far).

What Annoys Me
The cooldowns make it impossible to use exclusively Tier 3 spells until you reach Level 325, at which point the Divine / Forbidden cooldowns can be reduced to 5. Between levels 270 and 325, with full cooldown buffs, you can run through the T3 elementals, holy, dark, the elementals again, then T3 is dry waiting for cooldown. Obviously the level at which you can categorically switch to a new tier is an arbitrary one, so I suppose I'm ultimately just opining that it would be nice not to have to mix tiers once a new one becomes available.

What I've Come to Accept
This change with SoL restoring only one HP is the exclusive reason for my defeats in the new patch, but I'm not entirely ready to write it off. Mostly it creates tension between the mage-style necessity to dump as much damage on baddies as quickly as possible and the new system's imperative that I keep my HP as close to full as possible. What I mean by that last one is that, with SoL granting one HP and full cure no longer available, getting caught with the sequence SoL / Cure / SoL / Cure Cooldown is pretty much guaranteed death. Using cure to keep me full changes the doomed sequence to Cure / Cure Cooldown / SoL / Cure / SoL / Cure Cooldown. Hitting the six-event death sequence is rarer than hitting the four-event death sequence, so that's an improvement. I'm convinced that this is basically a strategy adjustment rather than a game break...

What I Like
...which is nice because I like having to think about strategy in HV again. Most of the previous versions had the same fundamental strategy, just tightening or loosening of the allowable slop. Even the one I recall being referred to as "hopscotch in the highway" in comments only required that you manage things carefully rather than any actual change in strategy. This new version is not, for me, as difficult as that one. It is not nearly as structurally difficult as a lot of past versions have been (introduction of monster MP regen, I'm looking at you). In other words I like that I have to think about what I'm doing again, both because of the new execution mechanics and the larger more nuanced ability tree.
tl;dr - I like that things are more user-skill-challenging and less constrained. I could easily get 100% battle success at the easiest setting, so I do not consider the structural balance too hard. I can get owned fairly easily at the hardest setting, so I do not consider the structural balance too easy. Yes it takes a zillion credits worth of ability points to fill everything you want to fill, but the stated goal of HV is to be a credit SINK.

Well, it may be fine when the difficulty is low, however once you get to IWBTH and BT it really is different (IMG:[invalid] style_emoticons/default/dry.gif)

Besides, mages have always had to think about strategy. Just blindly spamming T3 in the previous patch will guarantee failure, even if you have 100,000k magescore. With the changes introduced in this patch, mage's long term damage has been severely decreased, coupled with the changes to forging makes mage's damage crap. In addition, it seems title damage boost isn't working, and I suspect damage perk as well.

So with all that factored in, the end result is that mages deal crap damage, and though more survivable than before, becomes very frustrating and tedious to play. As it stands, maging is more tedious and time consuming than meleeing, which makes it a moot point to mage anyway.

There's a helluva lot more stuff to spend credits on now?

Plus no one except those have better potion maxed want the new hath perk too, hath lost its value among middle to low level player.

Both explanations seems plausible to me.
But I can't wrap my head around why the tacit "1 hath equals 15k" agreement was made worthless?
Before this patch, almost every if not all of the WTS and WTB shops that I've seen
equated 1 hath to roughly 15k C and in practice this was not infringed upon.

Chinese decided the hath price should change.

Hath price changes.

This is not the first time this has happened, so don't be so surprised. Hath price dropped significantly when golden handshake tree was refunded too.

Well, it may be fine when the difficulty is low, however once you get to IWBTH and BT it really is different (IMG:[invalid] style_emoticons/default/dry.gif)

Besides, mages have always had to think about strategy. Just blindly spamming T3 in the previous patch will guarantee failure, even if you have 100,000k magescore. With the changes introduced in this patch, mage's long term damage has been severely decreased, coupled with the changes to forging makes mage's damage crap. In addition, it seems title damage boost isn't working, and I suspect damage perk as well.

So with all that factored in, the end result is that mages deal crap damage, and though more survivable than before, becomes very frustrating and tedious to play. As it stands, maging is more tedious and time consuming than meleeing, which makes it a moot point to mage anyway.

I've only played on BT and IWBTH since the new patch.
I haven't payed close-enough attention to the numbers to say about the title damage boost. In my personal experience I have not noticed an increase in the number of rounds to kill a monster (it's still two or three on BT), but I have noticed a huge drop in survivability due to the modification of cure and SoL. YMMV since you're a hundred levels above me and I haven't tried the long arena matches since the patch.

Before this patch, almost every if not all of the WTS and WTB shops that I've seen
equated 1 hath to roughly 15k C and in practice this was not infringed upon.

That rate was basically determined by what bids were placed in the market. If people are spending credits on abilities, they bid lower. If people are only bidding 11k, then forum sellers can't charge 15k.

From what I can tell, greater and superior potions do the same thing now since superior were removed from the drop pool, but they're still not equal since superior (and probably average as well) potions aren't affected by the better pots ability. I'm not sure if this is an oversight or if it was intentional not to make them be affected but it does leave me with a couple hundred pretty much useless potions now (thousands if I count the average potions).

Note that all items that have been retired and no longer drop, EXCEPT for old trophies/artifacts, will soon be removed from the game. This includes retired pots and other consumables, as well as unused materials and crystals. So you may want to sell or use them before that time.

Tenboro's intending to remove them from the game, which is probably why he didn't bother adjusting anything for average or superior potions. I guess you best sell them soon.

Edit: Just noticed that i'm still in the 'Members' group even though I've got a gold star XD. Oh, and this is my 100th post!

This post has been edited by Valkrey: May 22 2013, 05:14

So all of my old artifacts should be snowflaked ASAP?

Son of a bitch, there goes the last thread of hope for assembling the chainsaw T.T

As someone has already said. Intelligence does not affect the number of MP you have now. Bug or change?

"Strength : Every point raises Physical Base Damage by 2" I bet my damage was increased only by one after the investment. (IMG:[invalid] style_emoticons/default/ohmy.gif)
Also, item leveling up's multiplier was nerfed too? Just got 437 points in lieu of 468 (= 2,801...). (IMG:[invalid] style_emoticons/default/dry.gif)