Preliminary 14.0 Patch Notes

[______________Tridis]

A list of what I see:

Put in a new patch and have to patch the next day because things are messed up. (Still recovering from the 13.91 patch, mission are messed up. like getting an argo from 4 rooms over when soloing a mission, or in a cross section and attacking a mob in that cross section and all 4 room arund you instantly attack as soon as the fist shot is fired.)

Going to a qty lvl 123 mission and have all reds in it from when your level 133. (I have an ARKS view and comfimation on that)

That just 2 thing off the top of my head that one person (me) found in an hour of playing the 13.92 patch. Its not bad if a patch improves things but so far the patches are makeing it worse. Dont anyone on the test servers find this stuff. Are the people of Rubiki pushing for patches to much. Myself I would rather have one good patch then 3 bad ones.

[_____________Kwangju]

LOL, yeah still getting plenty of Mort and NL maps, and now ammo too. Gee thanks FC, I can never seem to get enough of these.

[Warlock]

Yes I realise I probably spelt it wrong, well done, top hole, feel good now? Good.

[Reco]

Come on now!!! I love these tastes the new changes are nice and definately make everything more playable but everyones cryin well i guess were not gonna get fixed again !! Not long ago there was some Fixer fix talk....hmmm Forgoten? Then They say oh were gonna give Agents Love AGAIN. I know Adventureres need love too I know we all do... hehe Id just like to see the proffessions that really need it get it for a change. Fixers I will admit have gotten new gear but the most damaging thing is they are basically IP Bashed when trying to use any nanos and dont really get a chance to recover to over 100+ to use nanos 30+ below their lvl.

...Rant off

[________FileNotFound]

IP reset can realy help the fixers (just pull out all the nano skills cause they're useless anyway...)

And start an agent....as an agent you'd get the fixer nanos....before the fixer.

[_____________Maquina]

I REALY don't like the texture resolutio change!!! I don't care what the ground looks like. I used to have the ground at low res and have other textures at high res. This gave me a small increase in performance . Now, I have to have the other textures on high and looks like I'm going to loose that performance increase cuz the damn ground will be at hi res also.

[Turin]

Im sorry, but I cant see how you need them. True, you might be "half as powerfull" as whatever class you FP... well... you can FP. No one ELSE can do that. You have the ENTIRE nano library open to you. You have to take SOME kind of penelty for that. Slow casting, huge nano costs. Something. Go FP and become an NT for nuke or something. I have an agent I play once in a while. He is only lvl 12 atm, but I know many high lvl agents. The bottom line for the most part is, Agents are fine. They are plenty powerfull. FP is a HUGELY powerfull ability, stop taking it for granted.






It is my main complain - GIVE AGENTS COMBAT NANOS!!! [/B][/QUOTE]

[Didel]

Originally posted by Turin
well... you can FP. No one ELSE can do that.

Very true but this is one of the agents main *skills* something that they are supposed to be able to do.

Originally posted by Turin
IYou have the ENTIRE nano library open to you.

Maybe you should go play the agent a little more. Get the toon up to around level 50 and then come back and say that. The Entire nano library is not open to them, ie Beacon Warp, new 3rd MP pets, Crat speechs, sympathetic shields, basically any new nano that was not released at launch.

Originally posted by Turin
You have to take SOME kind of penelty for that. Slow casting, huge nano costs. Something. Go FP and become an NT for nuke or something.

And there are huge penaltys. Anything that needs to be cast at a quick rate such as heals, mezs, nukes in combat are not doable, due to the large nano init penalty. If a group relied on this from an agent, the group in question would be dead before the agent could get it off. So there limits another large amount of the nano library.

I will agree with you though, that what is left in the form of long lasting buffs, is very useful to both us and the groups we are with.

Originally posted by Turin
I have an agent I play once in a while. He is only lvl 12 atm, but I know many high lvl agents. The bottom line for the most part is, Agents are fine.

Like I said earlier go play the agent some more. Get him/her up some levels, then come back and chat a bit. Play with the FPs, work with groups and solo. I don't remember who it was or where it was at but someone had previously stated, up until level 50 you are just getting to know your character.

Mir

[Turin]

Originally posted by Mirdok



And there are huge penaltys. Anything that needs to be cast at a quick rate such as heals, mezs, nukes in combat are not doable, due to the large nano init penalty. If a group relied on this from an agent, the group in question would be dead before the agent could get it off. So there limits another large amount of the nano library.







Like I said earlier go play the agent some more. Get him/her up some levels, then come back and chat a bit. Play with the FPs, work with groups and solo. I don't remember who it was or where it was at but someone had previously stated, up until level 50 you are just getting to know your character.

Mir

Well, those penalties should exsist. If you want a chain casting healer, get a Doc. If you want someone who can Mez 4 adds instead of only 1, get a crat. If you want nukes up the ying yang, get a real NT. You see the point though. You should not be able to FP and use the abilities as good as the real deal. I find it disgusting that you can FP fixer and get the fixer nanos BEFORE A FIXER. That to me is a riot. Granted the newer nanos should be given to you. Dunno how that has slipped by.


I also totally agree, that you are getting to "know" your character up to lvl 50. I hope to lvl out more and get a better feel for the Agent. On the flip side though, im not a n00b. I have a character I have gotten up to lvl 113 now ( my doc ) I have a good uderstanding of the game mechanics and what the different class's can do. I have never seen agents lacking really. That aimed shot is powerfull. The FP ability is powerfull. Maybe the agent class as a whole can use a tweak here or there, but to say the class id broken, is to me beyond comprehension. To you Agents who complain they cant solo well... GO SOLO AS A DOC. Then complain to me. It took me almost 2 hours last night to clear out a 55% dungeon or so. You could have snuck that mission in 10-15 minutes tops.

[Didel]

Originally posted by Turin
If you want a chain casting healer, get a Doc. If you want someone who can Mez 4 adds instead of only 1, get a crat. If you want nukes up the ying yang, get a real NT. You see the point though. You should not be able to FP and use the abilities as good as the real deal.

OK what you are saying is if I wanted to do those things really really well then be them. I can comprehend that. All I'm saying is as one of my *skills* I would like to be able to do it in a competant manner not an outstanding manner.

Do me a favor the next time your playing, start attacking a mob, then time yourself for ten seconds. Look at everything that happens. Look at the amount of damage a mob does. Look at how much you have done. Tons of things happen in this time. From getting whacked on to watching your group get whacked on. When in FP I don't expect to be the class I have casted into merely a resemblence of one (Now Mimic is a whole other story). Someone at one point had stated Fp is merely for preplanned buffs? To resemble a class you need to run the Mimic line. Even though the nano init loss is taken down to a reasonable level the nano skills penalty is increased to an unfathomable amount. Sure I like to cast QL 75 nanos at level 150. Still doesn't do much for the group but at least then it works.

Originally posted by Turin
On the flip side though, im not a n00b. I have a character I have gotten up to lvl 113 now ( my doc ) I have a good uderstanding of the game mechanics and what the different class's can do. I have never seen agents lacking really. That aimed shot is powerfull. The FP ability is powerfull. Maybe the agent class as a whole can use a tweak here or there, but to say the class id broken, is to me beyond comprehension.

Never said you were a beginner in this game, I hope that it wasn't implied in my post either as destructive conversations don't do anyone any good.

In fact, I originally had a part in my post about how I wouldn't ask myself about a doc I'd rather ask you. You would most definately know more about them than me. Just as I would trust what Detonate or Ariana have to say about Adventurers Snarf on NTs over yourself about their class. I think you get my drift. Someone who plays that class for an extended period of time will know that class on a better basis.

And I don't doubt that you have a good understanding of the basic game mechanics, taking time to get a toon up above 100 should do that for you.

But saying this I do think that you are lacking in some of the more intricate knowledge of the agent class.

FP while powerful is useless in combat. AS while the occasional shot will crit for a large amount which is what ALWAYS gets quoted from other classes. "Agents hit their AS for 10K at a time" That one always makes me chuckle. That shot is a crit AS. Unfortunately a normal AS for me (at 124 with a 188 Ranee that I self Buff into and by Gaute's definition is not OEed) is either 1200 or 2500. Those being the two most frequent AS hits I get. This being one time at the beginning of an attack if my conceal check is over his perception check +20%. (Thats right no matter what they have a 20% chance of seeing me, part of the conceal game mechanics).

My normal attack crits with that gun while attacking are in the 2500 range. with the normal damage range from as low as 60 to the 800's. I don't know what you use for a gun (if you do I've seen a doc that excels at Martial Arts) but imagine in battle getting ONE special attack. An agent by definition is supposed to do a huge amount of damage in the beginning then mediocre damage until the end.

Originally posted by Turin
To you Agents who complain they cant solo well... .GO SOLO AS A DOC. Then complain to me. It took me almost 2 hours last night to clear out a 55% dungeon or so. You could have snuck that mission in 10-15 minutes tops.

Ummm as an agent I can not do a 55% dungeon solo. For me without the MP heal pet doing a 35% mission is next to impossible. That may be where the difference lies. Sure I can sneak that mission, but thats what 1700 in conceal gets you. At the same time all I get is the item and the cash. No XP and 99.99% of the time no tokens. (Somehow I got a token once only by sneaking, I'm still wondering how I did it, could be a minimum percentage added to getting a token). So sure I can sneak a 100% mission. Unless I'm lucky at this level it can take some time to do with the most time I've taken being 3 hours to get something that I really had wanted.

Realize though that sneaking will not further myself along one bit. I'll be a little richer and have a nice item to show off but you can only get the same item so many times.

As for agents getting the fixer nanos before them, that is wrong, no way no how should an agent get them before them. I have really only used FP fixer for a grid warp.

Each and every single class has their problems (Although I havn't heard a lot from the enforcers, guess I should go read their forum). Some classes have more problems than others. Fixers so I hear have it hard up, never played one so I can't say that I know a lot about them.

Alas I've chatted your ear off. Send me a tell in game, we should head out group up chat some more.


Mir

[__________Maxtor 1-7]

but.... What about agents, fixers, NTs, adventurers, crats, and all non-MP? You have to give the fixers something, after all their songs they deserve it. And give crats answers to whatever happen to stuff they were promised, we are making movies out of this to get a simple reply. Why /list? Why not new apartments or guild houses?

I am not going to claim that I, as a crat, should be Sir Uberness or be able to have 5 pets follow me around, all I really want is; for my pet skills to go from blue to green, some answers on what happen to the stuff we were promised a while ago (the "buff me, buff me, I am going to die!" nano, the breifcase, paper tradeskill, pet nanos which NPCs already have but pets arn't "smart" enough to use).

posted by a really cool dev (JimSalabim)

I think you will find that the "/list"- feature has most of the stuff you need, including the possibility to make yourself "anonymous".

why didn't you say so before?

[___________x-genesis]

NO please, anything but that! Surely one of the MOST unpleasant aspects of EverQuest was trying to move 2 inches towards your destination and BANG /tell excuse me can you port me to....3 steps /tell excuse me can you clarity me....4 steps /tell port me dood... a /list feature to folks means hey theyve got the yellow pages and youre their servant. Here's a TRUE excerpt of one of my experiences on EQ playing a druid. "Can you please port me?" ..."Sorry I have business in town, I just arrived" ..."well can't you just bind here, port me and return?" ..."I need to stay bound where I am." ..."Well, why?" ..."Because its very difficult to get back there." ...."Couldn't you just try?" ..."Look, i said Im sorry, Im sure there's someone else around who can help you." .."Well ^%##%$ you!" ...All too often I felt used, abused and ill-treated. People would scan the /list (in EQ /who all, or /who all <class>) for the desired class and spam them mercilessly hoping to pressure them into helping them. For players being called it became impossible sometimes to get from A to B to C without scores of requests, and oft-times DEMANDS, and made the game very grim indeed. If you institute a /list it will be "mochams me"..."essence me" ..."14.2 is coming so tag along with me to every mission and keep me up to my eyeballs in constant wrangles dood" ....it will DESTROY any shred of fun and the idea should be hastily scrapped. Kill this idea and give a stern warning to those who came up with it.

[Warlock]

Just go anon a soon as it goes live OR /ignore all the little buggers that spam you.

Problem solved!

[___________x-genesis]

Originally posted by Mark1000
.... FYI. im getting BROADBAND .... so just looking forward to no more lag . ...

I hate to rain on your wooting parade but:
I have dual 1.5 gig processors
I have 2 gigs of ram
I have a raid array and a main drive totaling 700 speedy gigs of total hard drive space
I have broadband
AND
I have lag

and lots of it.
its not your connection, its not your machine. its their servers.
they day will come when their servers can deal with all the players who love AO. and we'll love that day.

[Kuro]

Originally posted by x-genesis


I hate to rain on your wooting parade but:
I have dual 1.5 gig processors
I have 2 gigs of ram
I have a raid array and a main drive totaling 700 speedy gigs of total hard drive space
I have broadband
AND
I have lag

and lots of it.
its not your connection, its not your machine. its their servers.
they day will come when their servers can deal with all the players who love AO. and we'll love that day.

It's not their servers...Not entirely at least. The environmental update routines aren't well optimized as far as I can see. The updates you recieve when a new player object 'allegedly' comes into view I mean.

Regardless of the visual distance we've selected, our clients still receive new object updates at a set range. You can see this by reducing your visual distance to 5 meters and watching your minimap (with the player's addon) as you run through someplace like OE or Tir.

I'm running on a 1.2 ghz Athlon with 1.5 gigs of ram and a Geforce2 MX 64mb video card. And I have 1.5 mbs cable access. My system can handle drawing the objects. And it handles processing those updates fairly well. The problem I've seen is there are TOO MANY updates.

[Warlock]

I'm on broadband (512/256) and I lag in Newland around the shops and mission machines (the the training areas in the backyard). But leave the city and wander in the wilderness and all is happy and smiley. However if I go to a local hunting group (say the Oasis) then a couple of times if a large group of monsters spawn I will see a 'drop' in framerate. Nothing compared to that in Newland but noticible nonetheless.

In fact one time by broadband went down while I was playing I dialed up my modem account and logged back in, didnt seem any different (i.e. still bad in Newland, good when very little else around)

Just my thoughts......

[______________Mrowna]

quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Originally posted by Mark1000
.... FYI. im getting BROADBAND .... so just looking forward to no more lag . ...
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Just because you get broadband doesn't mean lag will go away. When I first got my cable modem last June, the lag was worse then it was with my 28.8k modem. It wasn't until December when Charter (my cable company) did an upgrade to the system that the lag situation got much better. Now most of the problems I have reside with my system's ability to render what it receives.

Most broadband connections have more problems with lag than older phone based ISPs. Don't even go with Satellite if you don't want lag. Cable and DSL are very good, but they might concentrate their focus on providing fast sustained downloads, but they may have a higher ping time which means more lag for those of us that play AO, EQ and DAOC.

[_______________Tipai]

what specifically are the changes being made to arrows? Currently, the cost of arrows is so high as to be ummm well unbelievable.

Are the skill made arrows going to be as equally high in cost to make?

or

Are the skill made arrows going to make arrows a reasonably priced item?

---------------

Are the skill levels to be able to make arrows going to be accessible to lower level people?

or

Are the skill levels to make arrows for the level 200 crowd?


Thank you,
Tipai

[Brueskie]

Hmmm..... I get a consistant ping of 70 to 80 on my DSL connection (Verizon 1.5/384). I doubt this would be possible on any dial-up connection.

[Divillian]

Ive used both and have noticed a HUGE improvment on my broadband. When i was on my dialup i had pings of around 500-700. On my cable im getting pings of 40. You tell me..