14.2 - Profession Changes

[Maldek]

Hello Funcom - WAKE UP!

This new patch is the WORST POSSIBLE AGENT NERF EVER - the agent as it is now is basicly a PET CLASS, we are NO TANKS - we are NO DAMAGE DEALERS, we are NO DAMAGE takers - WE ARE A PET CLASS!!!!

I played Agent because i wanted a powerfull class (and only pet classes are powerfull beyond 150+) with the ability to sneak (so i can get the items i need); the choice was simple: Agent

I build a nano breed agent with low hps and no evades and from lvl1 i have been playing basicly a MP with maxed concealment. (after the Aimed Shot nerf i dont even touch AS any longer...total useless now....LOOK INTO THIS but do NOT TAKE AWAY our pets - i am now ~lvl 120 with my agent and casting vivificator/transcendent frenzy with mohams on - with QL200 implants in it - QL200 stigma on (damage output from gun sux big time btw; agent guns are all a "medicore" guns at best - yes i have a ranee too - crits big, but when i crit i get aggro and then i am dead within 5 seconds >>> thats why i need a DEMON badly !!!


DO NOT TAKE AWAY OUR PETS !!!
There is NOTHING in the game to compensate that - NOTHING.
All the nifty toys you created are fine and funny - alas totaly useless in terms of playing style - LET THE AGENT KEEP HIS PETS!

...and you know there are so many good MMORPG out there...why would you want to anger your paying customers (maybe ppl like me who are playing since release..)?
There is no gain in it for Funcom to nerf a whole class that HARD - would you take away the slayerdroids from engi and give them "BURST" as a green skill instead and expect that to be a fair deal?

FUNCOM WAKE UP - this change is NOT good for your business.....

[__________Turbulence]

LOL The agent is not a pet class :P The Agent is supposed ot be an asassin which we used ot be before the 40% damage cap on pvp.

Im glad they took away the pets but I was hoping they would put the assasin back in being an agent at the same time to help balance the changes. The crit buffs will help but this aint near enough to help.

Like I said previously they take away an arm and give us a big toe to replace it with...kinda silly really.

They need to rework Mimic and Assume to at least make them usable in this patch as well. Take my MP pets but lower the -140 Nanoskills on Mimic to a more resonable level so that I dont have to use level 75 spells at level 150 as an agent!

[______________Scorus]

Originally posted by Necessity
And so the army of shotgun ma twinks begins.

I've got mine

Be ready to re-roll. You'll never be able to keep shotguns at a high enough level to crit enough, even with the buff.

I expect to see most non-trader shotgun users using some serious IPReset points to get out of the shotgun business. Without overequipping and good crit buffs they are going to be hurting.

Scorus

[_______________Akuna]

You agents really should wait to see these changes in game before you start cry'n about them. I have an agent and I dont know about you but I'd much rather not have the heal pet to deal with. As it is now our damage kinda sucks so fights last a while and the heal pet is needed to keep us alive. This patch is adding damage buffs that stack with the current ones and crit buffs on top of that. Until the patch is live we won't know how good they are but it sounds like the fights are going to get alot shorter which means we won't really need the heal pet unless we pick up an add or something which could be why they are leaving the lower level pets in. The only thing I really don't like is putting the nanos on boss mobs in team missions but I guess you can always buy them off of other players if you dont want to run the missions.

Agents should not be a pet class they should be damage dealers which is what FC is making them.

And for the record there is nothing wrong with listening to players ideas but the worst thing any game company could do is give the players everything they ask for. That will cost you alot more customers than a patch a few people dont like.

[______________Jennii]

I have to aplaud doomgod for roleplaying. Many of us who played the pen and paper games understand the idea to make a character unique.

Every played that Magicuser/Fighter/Thief? It was a fun class, but very difficult. I think that's what he chose here instead of being cookie cutter.

Now he is being nerfed and rightfully so, upset. Me???? I chose not to play the pet classes to thier potential... Why??? Because I wanted to play an Agent. While this patch may be good for me and my playing an agent the way I wanted to see it, he roled an Agent/MP as a multiclass, so to speak, and is now getting nerfed.

There are many in this game that decide a different path then what we choose, and should not be penalized for it, nor should they be told how to play thier game.

[______________Jennii]

oops

[Maldek]

Question for Turbulence:

"Agent is an Assassin" - well great idea; and that would be very interesting BUT it is impossible in this game because:

a) AS is capped at 10K (better mobs have 100-200K HPs....) >> so 10K AS is not only rare as hell but also a minor disturbance at best for MOBS

b) 40% dmg cap in pvp > again useless

c) Agents offensive power is medium. Agents prof nanos are a joke in terms of offensive/defensive power basicly useless > root/snare line is somewhat useless but will not kill anything

d) How are you going to kill something now? go Mimic NT and bring out those nukes!? Every NT can do that better....
Go Mimic DOC and be healer!? Hell if i wanted to be healer i would play a doc - and a healer is quite the opposite to an assassin isnt it?

e) How are you going to survive a fight? Agents have low HPs and crapy evades. When we get attacked we are dead. So our ONLY CHANCE is to send pet. > guess how long that transcendent frenzy will tank that "Real mean xxx" ?

f) AGENT ARE A PET CLASS because Agent CAN SUMMON 2 MP Pets up to the DEMON - that is a fact and that was the case when i started my char months ago and is a very very important fact to consider - wouldnt you agree? (Imagine to take away lets say the slayerdroids from engis....)

g) Last but not least - the IP-reset might be because you want to nerf ähm fix issius that should have been adressed in beta 2 now several months into release - let me tell you one thing Funcom: BAD IDEA - this will piss ppl off and weaken the game. This is not what you want - AND ITS AGAINST FUNCOMS MAIN POLICY: FUNNCOM DOES NOT TAKE AWAY SOMETHING THAT HAS BEEN IN THE GAME SINCE RELEASE - DO YOU?

P.S.: Even Verrant (EQ) did not do such drastic nerfs to a single class ever....

[Brutal Truuth]

Hoover : there is already a nano that "essentualy " pulls agro to an agent . It is called Deaths Gaze . It is a stun nano which 9 out of 10 times draws agro onto urself . It is very usefull when ur doc is kicking his arse kicked .

while it isnt a real agro nano it still works as such .

just my 2 cents .

[Elsid]

I just know I'm going to love 14.2. Since Funcom stealth nerfed conceal many months ago they promised in Cz's words "to reexamine conceal." This "reexamination" has lead to the discovery that, not conceal was broken, but that it needed to be broken for entire groups. Nice one. But wait, it gets better.

Agents can't solo now as agents without the use of Mp Pets and or Ma Buffs. Also, we can get into groups because we can substitute as an MP or an MA, sometimes a crat. I feel for the adventurers who were complaining they could not solo. Adventurers are also owed a "fix". I propose they get ours =p. To adventurers I say this, you may still be gimped but at least you have not been "fixed" by funcom.

The solution to the problem of agent soloing (which must be an exploit) is of course to take away mp pets and Ma crit buffs from agents. Yes, don’t let me forget that I can get a self castable replacement by doing team missions and hoping for a rare drop as a fix for a gimped class. You have to appreciate either funcom's stupidity or deliberate plan to make agents unplayable after level 100.

As for shifting agro away from myself in groups, wow thanks! But I don't think I would use this ability much since I WILL BE NOT GETTING INTO MANY GROUPS AS AN AGENT ANYMORE. So I will not get much use for it.

The only bone that was given to us was the ability to cast agent nanos in FP, Etc. Given the nano inti penalties this is still not much of an advantage. Funcom of course promised a line of "instant" cast nanos to help agents with this problem. Of course when these are implemented they will be dropped by rare spawn npcs like a new "Ross" mob.

Finally of course the mini-bone thrown to agents, allowing us to change alignment without loosing our token boards. That's a pretty nice change. But two points. First, this does not improve my ability to survive in a mission or on my own (the main problem with agents). Two, if funcom wanted to fix agents and role playing they would have fixed advanced face graft long ago.

Sid 155 agent

P.S. Can I change classes with reset since the class I have played for 155 levels does not resemble the class I will have with 14.2? I think Eleetist was on to something with this suggestion.

[______________Jennii]

Originally posted by Erinsuin
Hoover : there is already a nano that "essentualy " pulls agro to an agent . It is called Deaths Gaze . It is a stun nano which 9 out of 10 times draws agro onto urself . It is very usefull when ur doc is kicking his arse kicked .

while it isnt a real agro nano it still works as such .

just my 2 cents .

Yup.. i use it all the time to pull agro... get that.. an agent pulling agro.. who woulda thought... now if we could get those Enforcers to do the same :-p

[Astador]

"Go Mimic DOC and be healer!? Hell if i wanted to be healer i would play a doc - and a healer is quite the opposite to an assassin isnt it?"


Hell, if you wanted to use pet's, PLAY a pet class.

Hell, since when did you ever see an assassin "sneak" up on a target with 2-3 HUGE round fishes floating above him ?

Not much assassin about you with those pets hovering around.

I agree with many of the statements made out there, but 90% of what i see, is whining for the sake of whining.

Whaa whaa whaa, we did not get UBER dam, UBER buffs, AND keep all we already have.

1 of the things i DO agree with, is the 40% damcap on AS, it should be removed or changed to 80%.

Also, removing THE highest lvl pet's is ok in my oppinion, but removing the top 4 is overdoing it.

Because there is a HUGE difference in the last heal pets, you are not just removing Some healing from them, you are making it so they might as well be without heals all together.

Remove the highest lvl, Belamorte i believe it is called, but let them keep the rest.

And the same with the Combat pets, unless you SERIOUSLY buff their damage, and give them some way to remove aggro from themselves.

Exampel, in DAOC (no flames, just STFU) there is several special "combat" moves, while most of them are taunts, some are DETAUNTS that actually decrease your rank on the mobs HATELIST, let the agents get a Nano doing the same, allowing them to do descent damage, without getting too much aggro, this would make them not only useful in groups, but wanted as well.


Last but not least, there is what 1000 Agents on Rk-1 ??, and out of all those, 50 of you are whining and saying the same, while the rest is out there playing the class THEY chose.

If you dislike agents, do what most do, make a new char.

I got a 111 Adventurer, who cannot take out green mobs, now i think this is sad and hope for something from FC, but insted of spending my days hoping for FC to do something, or spamming my ass off in forums, i made a MP, a MA, a Soldier and tons more, seeing if there is other classes I like, YOU should try the same.

End of story, let the Flames begin.

"The Greatest Trick The Devil Ever Pulled......."

"Was To Convince The World He Didnt Exist.."

"C.F.H"

[Maldek]

agent 1 - 70 = weak
agent 71 - 120ish = ok

(*pre patch) agent 120 - 200 = its getting better

(*after 14.2.) agent 120 - 200 = countdown to extinction ! (> can i change prof to engi,mp,ma please?)


FOR Chazmyr:


The Agent as it is now is exactly the class i want to play - there are possible MINOR improvements or adjustments here and there but over all its exactly what i want (in EQ i was a SK if you know that game).

[Flapsie]

Hmmm thinking of putting my NT on "hold" and start an Agent and do NT false profession instead...
It would possible become UBER...

[__________Spacegipsy]

Gee whizz, some of you guys (and gals) aren't getting it, are you?
We (the agents) are *NOT* whining because we won't be able to solo 75% Missions any more after 14.2 (like we are now, lol, NOT), we are complaining because after 14.2 we'll be even more gimped than we are now!!!
Starknaked is saying it very well and also some others.

We *might* have a slight advantage in PvP by being invisible at first, but hey - I'll give this up in a heartbeat, if I at least get the healpet back - not even talking about the attack pet.

Get a grip.. this patch is nerfing the agent, not helping it.

In the agent forums - when Cz first talked about taking the MP pets away - he also mentioned giving us something in return (like better nano-ini on doc heal spells or such (and heal spells only) - what about that?

I have never, never ever been as upset about a patch as I'm about this one, and most of my friends used to call me a fangirl - not any more I guess...

[__________Spacegipsy]

Originally posted by Cosmik
Profession Changes:

*The Agent now has the ability to swap sides without losing tokens. This is done using an "undercover" kit. Note: Although you keep your tokens (and can even swap to neutral!) you cannot keep wearing your Merit Board. You can put it back on when swapping back. There is also a skill lock on the swap, just as with the normal side change application forms.

The following just dawned on me:
When switching sides (and are in a guild) you will get auto-kicked from your guild.
Will that happen?
I can just see it:
/me tests new swapping device.
/me turns Clan.
/me gets auto-kicked from Guild
and - since I happen to be Guild-Leader
*Your org has just been disbanded since you switched sides*

Haha - that would be fun... NOT .... to rebuild an org with 150+ members..

Have you considered that????

[Agean242]

Hmm why take away the ability to crit others with my crit buff?. Then slap us in the face with a crappier one for others, that'l make us more group friendly/

[______________Saille]

Originally posted by Cosmik
Profession Changes:
*The Agent now has the ability to swap sides without losing tokens (and can even swap to neutral!).

I try to use profanity sparingly. I so badly want to use profanity right now. But will I use profanity? Mercifully, no.

Instead I will ask a few questions.

Did I make 150+ levels as a neutral character so that an agent can breeze along as an OT or clan character and then easily switch to neutral at any level desired? No.

Did I endure the many murders at the hands of sided NPCs ("Your time will come Kelley Frederickson!!!") for the first 100 levels so that an agent can bypass this suffering and become neutral when it is convenient at a higher level? No.

Did I suffer the loss of all token board benefits throughout the creation of my 150+ character so that an agent can get a 1K board, level up with the benefits, and then become neutral at a convenient time (and keep the 1K board handy for whenever they feel like PvPing someone--ANYONE--in the game)? No.

Has Funcom listened to the OUTCRY over this issue from all the neutral voices that responded to Gaute's post on The Role of Neutrals. Does Funcom realize that the inability to become neutral after character creation is the one thing for which all neutrals respect other neutrals because they know as a neutral you suffer great hardship to reach a high level? No.

Is there something very wrong with this change?

YES.

I'm not really wanting to go into lengthy discussion of why an agent does not need to be neutral. I'm not going to discuss how most people--Funcom included--perceive neutrals as apathetic leaderless losers that OT and clan alike can pick on without fear of reprisals (Leave our damn guards alone!). I'm not going to point out that one of the primary functions of an agent is assassination and that you cannot assassinate anyone as a neutral because you cannot even initiate PvP combat for any reason. I'm not going to indicate that according to the storyline and just about everyone--Funcom included--there aren't any neutral factions worth infiltrating since no neutral really does much of anything anyway.

No, I'm not going to make these points or any of the many other ones. I'm just going to say this is wrong.

[______________Saille]

Oh, the other changes in the upcoming patch look great. So, I am a little unhappy that I had to post something so condemning in my previous post. Thought I'd better say that, . Many good changes. One really awful change.

[_________haniblecter]

THe agent community is 4,100 agents strong comprising 8.81% of the AO population.

All 4.1k are screaming bloody murder over this ****!

[Varfleet]

First according to the AO online manual Agents have these strong points:

Strong fields
Rifles

Aimed shot (sniping)

Spying

Some trade skills

Okay how about some new rifles or some way we can improve the rifles we have? A 5 Shot Rifle that takes 2.5 secs to shoot is just agony when a mob is hitting you 2-3 times at 200 points damage each time. A NEW nano that would up our ROF would be nice (self buff of course and at least +100 as +20 does nothing).

Aimed shot (sniping)......hmmmm should be Aimed shot (griping) since nuff has been said bout this.

Spying, ON WHAT!?!?! Hell, at 1000 my GREY MP pet can detect me! The only thing I spy is that Conceal will NEVER be useful.

Some trade skills. What trade skills are useful or not DARK BLUE to us to be somewhat useful for stuff <100?


Basically, give an answer to what an Agent is for in the World of Rubi-Ka! Not really asking for much, just trying to do what YOUR description of what an Agent is.

When you start to realize that if James Bond was as gimped as us Agents are, there would have only been 1 movie about him!!!

BTW, this Boss only dropping of new nanos is a bad idea. Hard enough to find a team as it is let alone one for a team mission...