How to improve the agent profession, written by an agent. Interesting ideas, here, C?
The state of the agent profession since patch 12.6 has
incrementally become less and less functionable. Many agents
question that FC even has a vision for the profession any longer,
and several times, I have concured. However, whining, and
feeling sorry for ourselves is not productive, and so I have
created a small bit of info, ideas for improvements, if you will, that
I think would be extrememely beneficial.
Note I say omprovements. I wouldn't dare speak of fixes, since
that is well out fo my league. I'll leave that to the pros.
I have created 4 alts, recently, all now over lv50, non
powerleveled, and got bored with them rather quickly. If you
must know, they were MA, NT, Trader, and MP. My heart, as with
a majority of my brethren, is an agent! I believe these ideas
improve, yet not imbalance my main’s profession.
I only hope my ideals do not fall on deaf ears, seeing as this is
the base of all public communications between FunCom and it’s Playerbase.
To begin, let’s start with agent rifles. We have good range, I’ll not
contest, or whine about the range nerf. It was necessary. I had a
lv 35NT, and 40+ MP friend that used range to solo great
sylvanbanes for UBER exp, pre-nerf.
However, look at the future, FC, and peer into what is to come.
The results of your actions. Everyone and “they momma” uses an
LLS for the crit increase, including MA’s. Now, peer into the future,
and see 14.2 for me. With agent’s invisibility patch at hand,
people will invest like mad in perception, which is one of two
stats in range increasers. Now Range increasers also share a
trade skill with LLS. People will raise that trade skill for LLS’s, and
perception for invisibility checks. Naturally, they’ll use range
increasers, and so rifles range will not be any different than a
shotgun, pistol, or even a freakin’ warblade!!
Rifle Minimum range: 35m.
My major gripe is that the only large damage agent rifles,
Lovemaker’s and disaffiliation’s, have only 5 round clips. Our guns
are slow enough, or at least the good damage ones, why bog us
down with a 3-4 second reload time every 4-5 shots? It’s
completely insane. I can’t believe we haven’t gotten a reload
hotbutton, or something, though it would not improve the
situation AT ALL. It’d be more of a luxury, so I suppose I
understand. It wouldn’t help our particular problem.
And rifles aren’t particularly fast, either. Every other weapon,
aside from multi-special soldier assault rifles in SOME cases, are
faster , or as fast as us. Faster either in the form of speed, or
faster by a larger clip size. How did you help this? You
introduced the T.I.M’s LLS, which I think is a great device, of
which I have not aquired. But the ONE thing that could increase
our speed, on a permanent basis, you make impossibly hard to
get!! W-T-F!? Put it in the trader only shops, and slap a cool 1
million dollar price tag on it!! It’s possibly the one item that will
have the biggest effect on the agent class, and you make it
impossible to get? And you even slowed down TIM’s spawn time?
A select few should not have access to an essential
item for the agent class. That’s just completely unfair... and inbalancing within the class!! Isn't it obvious? =/
The average player doesn’t have the time or rescources to get
one. Hell, I don’t, and my agent alone has 23 days, almost 24
logged on him, alone!!! BAH! That is so not right, it's not funny.
If not in the shops, at least easily missionable.
Oh, and drop the Collins Bio.. at least make it for another class.
Agents should not be expected to invest in a dark blue skill for a
decent rifle. Hell, shottie should be taken off of lovemakers. Why
do only *pure* shotguns and pistols get good crits?
Why does a supposed agent gun require a non-native special
ability? Heck our primary weapon skills aren’t even green, but
aqua? And yet most of our GREEN skills that are not abilities are
not even implemented effectively, or at all, yet?
I’ll speak of IP color, later.. must be cheaper.
PvP damage: After 14.2, if our AS goes off on an enemy whom we
are invisible to, we should get a bonus. Instead of doing 40%,
we should do 60-75%. We have one special, which sometimes
fails when out of ammo, STILL, but anyone with a pistol,
suppressor, Assault rifle, or Ithica have high crits, and 2-3
specials? I’d say that’s very uneven in PvP, and if you don’t think
so, go make an agent, and PvP Vs. someone with a high crit,
multi-special weapons. You’ll be sorry... Multiple specials also
equal speed, by the way. Think about that, too. I’m not saying ad
specials, I’m saying make AS’s count, and speed up our rifles.
Now back to IP, and agents troubles with it’s “con”. We have
dark blue body dev, and evades. Yet, we have green skills like
MA, which is green, but brawl light, and dimach is dark blue. Not
to mention dark blue body dev and evades. MA is OUT OF
THE QUESTION! Other useless aqua/light green skills of no use:
VEHICLE HYDRO?, Tutoring unless an exploiter, Psychology, Sharp
Objects, Sneak Attack, and Chemistry.=/
Not to mention the IP we burn in FP! Every class is moderately
diverse in what nano skills their lines require. We have to invest
more into different skills than any other class. We’re extremely
diversified, more than any other, because we absolutely rely
on false professions to survive. That alone is a bigger IP sink
than most.
Proof that you have no vision for the agent class. It’s as if you
were like; “Hey, what green skills do we need to dish out, still..
okay, give it to the agents. They’re our *****es, anyway.” Don’t
get me wrong, I appreciate your love coming our way, but we
have too many important dark blue skills, and too many green
and aqua useless ones.
Skills to be made light blue:
Time and Space
Dodge Rng.
Evade Close
Body Dev.
(Shotgun?)
Skills to be made Green:
Rifle
Aimed shot
RANGED INIT. (Why don’t we get a green init?)
Make the previously mentioned skills that are “useless”
and “unimplemented” dark blue, because they do agents
absolutely no good, at all. Indisputable.
To move on to my final topic, MP pets, and agent heals. Every
agents’s crystal ball, and MP’s dream, is that they be taken from
our accessable FP line of nanos. Fine, but here’s what needs to
be put in place, and trust me, the steady healing income is
ESSENTIAL to our survival. Pet don’t heal when they feel in
needed, they heal constantly.
What we need, in most basic terms:
1)Stacking H.O.T’s, like doctors D.O.T’s. Fixers should as well,
though they have better HP’s than we do, with the cheap dev
costs. They need the same lovin’s, on this one. At lower QL’s the
value is less, and as they increase in QL, they grow bigger,
and more expensive. This accumulative healing would be
invaluable, if the H.O.T’s are of a good number, and you have the NCU to support them.
In addition, I propose a New agent nano line, more useful than
the ever “brilliant” face graft. I call it the Syphon line of nanos. Or
Borrower line. Here are a couple of *Crude* proto-type versions
of the nanos. Balanced values will most likely vary from my own.
I merely imput the idea, not the mathmatical mechanics of it all.
Study these wisely, in detail. Wonderful additions.
Syphon Health line: Example:
Shoplifters will be prosecuted!
QL30
NA Cost: 50
NCU Cost: -
Sensory Imp: 140
Time and Space: 135
ATK: 0.0 (Instacast for FP)
Recharge: 0.0
Duration: Permanent.
Modifers:
Damage Opponent: -100
Heal (infuse) self: +100
Description:
The caster attempts to steal away the lifeforce of it’s target, to
infuse with it’s own. A great way for the sneaky and
underhanded to advance at the expense of others.
Add stacking H.O.T’s, and we might still stand a chance.
In addition, initiative syphons: Example:
Borrowed Time for the Wicked.
QL50
NA: 100
NCU: 22
Time and Space: 185
Psy Mod: 175
ATK: 1.5
Recharge: 1.25
Duration: 3:00. (As good as MP, Doc, and Trader debuffs, length.)
Modifers:
Target’s Init: -120
Caster’s Init: +120.
Description:
The caster shifts time and space between itself and it’s target,
making the caster’s intiatives faster, at the expense of the target’s.
Next, another good one:
Weak Link in the Mail. (AC Syphon.)
QL50
NA Cost: 125
NCU Cost: 16
Psy Mod: 190
Sensory Imp: 190
ATK: 1.2
Recharge: 2.0
Duration: 3:00
Modifers:
Drain Target AC: 70
Improve Caster AC: 50
Description:
Exploit the weaknesses, find the soft spot.
Other’s vulnerabilities are your strengths.
And finally:
Disorient, Dodge, and Weave.
QL50
NA Cost: 75
NA Cost: 12
Psy Mod: 165
Time and Space: 165
ATK: 2.0
Recharge: 1.2
Duration: 3:00.
Modifers:
Target Evades: -50
Casters Evades: +50.
Description:
Not so quick with sand in their eyes, are they? Take the shot.
NOTE: The H.O.T’s are to be self only, to prevent higher lv-ers to
cast and stack H.O.T’s on lower level players for power-leveling,
or PvP. =)
That concludes my ideas for agent nanos line, with the exception
to maybe a nice mid range rifle buff that adds 75R/25AS. Dumb
using Sniper’s Bliss for 59 levels, isn’t it? MP’s have masteries,
infuses, mochams. 3-levels of agent buffs sounds quite nice to
me. (Sorry for using you as an example, my Mp friends.)
Oh, one more, VERY COOL RP idea for a nano line! Assume
Appearance! It goes like this: The lower the QL, the lower rank
officer you imitate. So if you imitate a Sergent, and a High
Commander spots you, you’re toast, however, if a private first
class sees you, he salutes, hehe... even if the opposition. But if
a superior of the opposite side spots you.. man, I’d hate to be in
your armor-boots, pal... finally, we could be spies, and recon
specialists. Self-Only, please! GREAT idea, yeah?
Okay, that’s all I have for you, FC and fellow players alike. I hope
this wasn’t entirely too lengthy for your likings, but I felt I not
only had to be thorough to get my points and visions across,
because I see these ideas as the ideal additions to the 14.2
patch. Please, FC, do not release it until we are not only fixed,
but realized. My friends, I would appreciate any feedback you
have, no matter what. Whether you be a player, or GM. Please
spread the word of the ideas here. Maybe they’re good, maybe
they’re not, but I’d love to see what someone from Dev says
about it. I’d love to have the awesome task of being an idea guy
like those guys. I really envy them. =) Even a pat on the back
would be adequate, because I’d have a good feeling knowing I
contributed in a way that could make my fellow players proud.
Thank you, and farewell, for the time being....
Cz, Coz, if you ever read this, tell me what you think...?
Agents are sh*t
eh, well...
