v1 Agent Nano Document!

**Parranoid1** · Nov 22nd, 2011, 04:06:26

Originally Posted by sabotender

You kept my name-tag when quoting someone else ^_^ *taps foot*

Mah bad, editted.

**Lupusceleri** · Nov 22nd, 2011, 07:26:31

Sorry for the wait guys, but after spending four hours writing this whole thing I had to run it past the devs since it contains new information that wasn't published before.

The Agent nano document: explained in human-readable form.

Extra Information

First off, though, the extra information I have been promising you over the weekend. We've all seen the giant debuffs on the new Visual Profession nanos, if you need to refresh your memory they're a little further downwards.

The reason for the all the debuffs is split three-fold:

1. Agents are receiving an evade perk line which they will use for defense in VP Agent, and to be viable while VPing an evade reliant profession. The exact details aren't known yet, but that and the new +100 AAD nanoprogram will together probably nullify the -495 AAD @ 220 debuff - it is there to make sure we don't become much better evaders than the profession we're pretending to be.

2. Agents will receive access to a MUCH wider arsenal of nanoprograms to mimic, in fact almost every nano line in the game - yes that's including ShadowLands/Lost Eden nanoprograms - and we'll have access to all but the highest level nanos. This will effectively allow us to fill any gaps the team has, something we've been after for a long time.

3. Each Visual Profession will come with its own scaling perk action. Where needed, that perk action is defensive: VP Fixer, Adventurer, and Martial Artist receive a 440 evade @ 220 perk, very much alike to the Acrobat perkspecials. VP Enforcer receives a 6.6k absorb @ 220, very much alike to Bio Cocoon.

The debuffs are there to allow us to dive much deeper into each Visual Profession, without becoming better than said profession at performing its job.

The core toolset: stuff we'll be able to cast no matter what Visual Profession we are using.

While reading through the spreadsheet, you've probably noticed it - we can't use every Agent nano while under a Visual Profession anymore. This is one of the trade-offs we have had to make to gain access to a deeper Mimic toolset, which will replace part of our own toolset. Let's start by outlining all the things we *can* still cast in every situation:

Form Fade: the former Ruse of Taren and team Concealment buffs merged into one.

Identical self-targeted Concealment buff (+800 max), higher team-targeted Concealment buff (+400 max), duration increased to 4 hours, requirements shifted from BM MM MC to PM SI, NCU requirements sadly gone up (80 NCU max), and size reduction effect lowered (-30% max, this is somewhere between Ruse 1 and Ruse 2).

Enhanced Senses: the former Agility and Sense buffs merged into one, with AAD/NR as cherry on top of the final nano.

We already had our Agility and Sense buffs merged into one for ourselves, but now this goes for every part of the line. There's a slight Sense boost (+5), duration was increased to 4 hours so we'll get nagged less for the buff by twinkers, NCU requirements have remained the same. Most importantly, though, the top nano now comes with a +100 AAD buff and +250 NR buff where we had +30 AAD on Ruse 4 and +55 NR on Way of the Executioner before. That's a big gain.

Steady Nerves: the former Rifle and Aimed Shot buffs merged into one, with a free Sharp Object bonus on the higher nanos.

Massive gain in buffs here, +250 Rifle as opposed to our old +120 Rifle on UA, +400 AimedShot as opposed to our old +210 AimedShot on AAS, with +150 SharpObj for those of us who use Tear of Oedipus. Duration was increased to 4 hours, NCU requirements have gone down (83 NCU where we need 57+42=99 right now), nanoskill requirements have remained the same as on AAS. An effort has been made to close the skill gap between the previous Rifle/AS buffs by introducing new ones to level up with.

Way of the Executioner: the former add damage and Agent-only Executioner line merged into one, castable on others up until half way.

The small Rifle/AimedShot buffs have been taken away from this line and merged into Steady Nerves. Concealment buff seems to be gone. The Add Damage has been increased (+100 now, was +65 and +19) especially if you keep in mind Assassin's Grin was a waste of NCU for almost every one of us. NCU cost (50 NCU max) depends on how you look at it, if you only used the Executioner line (41 NCU max) the cost has gone up but if you also used the generic add damage line (43 NCU max) the overall cost has gone down (41+43=84 NCU max). Duration was increased to 4 hours.

Quick Calibrate: the former CriticalIncrease from TTS/AAS boosted up slightly, and the ability to buff others with the penultimate version of the nano.

With a maximum of 14% CriticalIncrease, we've received 7% that we didn't have before. Nevertheless, don't count this as a direct increase in damage - it makes up for the loss of the Waves of XYZ line's proc damage, about which you'll read more later. Duration is again 4 hours, NCU cost unknown for the top nano but extrapolating from the previous ones it should be 24 NCU requirement, which is very low. Nanoskill requirements are again very low (1256 PM BM max). We'll be able to buff others with the penultimate version of the nano (+11% max) - that's better than Martial Artists (+8% max)!

Anesthetic Tip: separation of the detaunt proc from the former Blast/Waves of XYZ line.

Add damage was moved to the new Offensive Shock line. Proc damage from Waves was removed, but made up for by the extra 7% CriticalIncrease we received on the Quick Calibrate line. The final version still has the ridiculous nanoskill requirements (2051 MM, 2046 MC, 1745 SI) we're used to. Casting times have been reduced to 1s/1s so it won't take an age to run anymore. It comes with a 20% chance of proccing a -4000 detaunt. NCU cost has dropped to 30 max, from the old 55 max. I know most of you aren't happy at all with this line, but it's basically a free gift. We're not making any sacrifices to get it, and the upside over the old situation is that you can choose to avoid casting it at all - 30 extra NCU for free.

Offensive Shock: the former Shock line, plus the add damage that used to be on the Blast/Wave of XYZ line.

Received all the add damage from the Blast/Waves of XYZ line, so that's a lot of NCU saved by having to cast only this one. Casting times reduced to 1s/1s, duration has been set to 4 hours on every nano, requirements have remained the same as before (2006 MM + 2001 MC + 1711 SI). The damage proc had its %chance to run increased (33% now, was 21%), but the DD hit was lowered at the same time (1314 now, was 1481). The biggest improvement is that the DD proc hit now copies the damage type of our weapon, making it more effective against absorbs.

**Lupusceleri** · Nov 22nd, 2011, 07:31:14

Visual Profession Agent: stuff we'll be able to use if we're not running any Visual Professions whatsoever.

When we're not using any Visual Profession, we'll get to play with a toolset of our own. Personally I think it's still a bit meager at the moment, but apparently the devs are planning to ****e it up in a few ways. Until that happens, a quick summary of the stuff we do know.

Stall Pursuers: AoE snare, works in the Shadowlands, defense check lowered, but shortened duration.

Top nano used to last over 16 minutes, now only 50 seconds in PvM and 10 seconds in PvP. Chance of breaking has been lowered to 10% overall, used to be values ranging from 28% to 41%. % of Level defense check has been removed, as a result it'll be slightly easier to land in PvP and a lot easier to land in the Shadowlands. 20 second cooldown.

Delay the Inevitable: single snare, works in the Shadowlands, defense check lowered, but shortened duration.

Top nano dropped to 30 second duration in PvM and 6 seconds in PvP. Chance of breaking set to 10%, was ranging from 5% to 28%. Now works in the Shadowlands and slightly easier to land in PvP due to removal of Level% defense check. 15 second cooldown.

Hold Victim: single root, works in the Shadowlands, defense check upped, shortened duration.

Top nano dropped to 40 second duration in PvM and 8 seconds in PvP. Chance of breaking set to 20%, was 22%. Now works in the Shadowlands, but the new roots will be harder to land in PvP than Greater Paralyze with Indecision (65% NanoResist + 75% Level) as opposed to the new global 90% NanoResist check. 10 second cooldown.

Mass Hold Victim: AoE root, works in the Shadowlands, completely new line for Agents.

Well then, we didn't have this one before, and it looks really useful to get away from a blob of chasers. There seems to be only the one nano, so you're either capable of using it or you're not - but at 538 PM TS that shouldn't be such a long stretch. Lasts 40 seconds in PvM, 8 seconds in PvP, checks 90% NanoResist. 20% chance of breaking. 20 second cooldown.

Viral Shot: DoT nanos, damage per tick more than doubled.

Damage per tick doubled (1005 instead of 431), requirements up (1508 BM instead of previous 1257 BM), nanocost down (1.5k instead of previous 2.1k), duration down (30 seconds instead of previous 90 seconds). I'm still not a massive fan of the whole nano line, but at least the abysmal damage has been upped some - I personally want to see either debuffs or even higher damage on it. Might be something to use against evaders if they're making it easier to land nanos for us during the rebalance?

Projectile Lure: Evade debuffs, now debuff all three evades, easier to spam due to low recharge, but has long cooldown to match perk recharge.

Pretty simple really, they only want us to use this to get our perks off rather than keeping it permanently up. With the 1 second recharge it will be easy to spam until it lands, but there's a 40 second cooldown when it does so make it count. The debuff itself is -300 to all evades for the top nano, with a 15 second duration. Requirements are still very low (1069 MM MC).

Revision Strike: Old nemesis nano, now a big DoT nano on a 2 minute cooldown, looks rather deadly to use along with your alpha.

We'll use the VP'd profession's LE nemesis nano, but as VP Agent we'll receive a 1.5k damage/tick DoT on a 2 second delay and 10 second duration. That means 4.5k PvP damage over a timespan of 10 seconds, dealt by hits of 750.

Memory Fade: Instant detaunts, massive boost in effectiveness.

The top nano does a 18000 detaunt on a mere 4 second cooldown. I sure hope that's a sign of damage boosts to come.

Dodge Pursuers: Near instant target-other root/snare removers, very short cooldown.

Much more effective than the old version, since this one removes a percentage of the duration.

Jail Break: Near instant self-only root/snare removers, no cooldown.

Again much more effective than the old version, since this one removes a percentage of the duration.

Total Concentration: Affects the whole team, removed NCU cost, cooldown reduced.

Awesome changes right here. This is on a 3 minute cooldown now, so that's a lot shorter. Works on your whole team for that massive damage boost just when you need it, doesn't take any NCU so you'll always be able to use it, lasts 5 seconds.

Torture Technique: New SkillLockModifier debuff line.

Still not really sure where they're going with this, but hey. It's one of those lines where the duration is longer than the cooldown, drops 67% off, might be useful against evaders relying on First Aid stims. Too situational for my taste.

Nerve Crash: New CriticalDecrease debuff line.

Basically an inverted CriticalIncrease buff. You know how it's nearly impossible to crit a Careful in Battle profession? Slap 'em with this, and that'll change. With the AS hardcap likely to be removed, this should help us fire off some seriously evil AimedShots/SnipeShots.

Bail Out: Removed NCU cost, removed crippling nano on end, added complete removal of roots/snares.

This already temporarily deactivated any CC effects, but now it'll also make you completely immune to them and remove any you still had running. It's also no longer suicide to use if you're not 100% certain you can escape, because the crippling effect has been removed. The NCU cost has been set to 0, so you should be able to use it at any time of your choosing without having to keep NCU free.

Quick note on the RunSpeed buff, in the rebalance they'll be slowing everyone down. The big buff will actually have an effect then, rather than just pushing you to the hardcap like everybody else with GSF.

The Visual Professions: debuffs, buffs, and perk actions associated with them.

Let's get the debuffs out of the way. ALL the debuffs and buffs scale with your character's level. The values listed will be for L220 Agents, if you want to know the effects for a custom level please use the following formula to find them:

CustomValue = (WrittenValue / 220) * YourLevel

AddAllDefense:
- Unaffected, for Visual Professions: Agent, Shade, Keeper, Bureaucrat, Fixer, Adventurer, Martial Artist.
- -495 @ 220, for Visual Professions: Nano-Technician, Meta-Physicist, Doctor, Trader, Engineer, Soldier, Enforcer.
AimedShot:
- Unaffected, for Visual Professions: Agent, Shade, Keeper, Fixer, Adventurer, Martial Artist, Soldier, Enforcer.
- -550 @ 220, for Visual Professions: Nano-Technician, Meta-Physicist, Bureaucrat, Doctor, Trader, Engineer.
Concealment:
- Unaffected, for Visual Professions: Agent, Shade, Adventurer.
- -550 @ 220 for Visual Professions: Keeper, Fixer, Martial Artist, Soldier, Enforcer.
- -1100 @ 220 for Visual Professions: Nano-Technician, Meta-Physicist, Bureaucrat, Doctor, Trader, Engineer.
Evade/Duck/Dodge:
- Unaffected, for Visual Professions: Agent, Shade, Keeper, Nano-Technician, Meta-Physicist, Bureaucrat, Trader, Fixer, Adventurer, Martial Artist.
- -330 @ 220 for Visual Professions: Doctor, Engineer, Soldier, Enforcer.
Add Damage:
- Unaffected, for Visual Professions: Agent, Shade, Keeper, Trader, Fixer, Adventurer, Martial Artist, Soldier, Enforcer.
- -550 @ 220 for Visual Professions: Nano-Technician, Meta-Physicist, Bureaucrat, Doctor, Engineer.

Associated with those debuffs are some buffs implemented in the VP nanos (other buffs come directly from the toolset of the profession you're VPing):

No buffs for Visual Professions: Agent, Shade, Keeper, Fixer, Engineer, Adventurer, Martial Artist, Soldier.
VP Nano-Technician: 33% NanoDamage @ 220, -27.5% NanoCostReduction @ 220, 55 NanoDelta @ 220.
VP Meta-Physicist, Bureaucrat: 22% NanoDamage @ 220, -16.5% NanoCostReduction @ 220, 55 NanoDelta @ 220.
VP Doctor: 22% HealModifier @ 220, -16.5% NanoCostReduction @ 220, 55 NanoDelta @ 220.
VP Trader: 220 PM/TS @ 220, -16.5% NanoCostReduction @ 220.
VP Enforcer: 4400 HP @ 220.

And then there's the perk actions, most of which clearly need work to become viable in PvP:

VP Agent: not available.
VP Shade: up to 5k direct damage, 20 second cooldown.
VP Keeper: 3% hp/nano team aura, ticks every 12 seconds.
VP Nano-Technician: up to 10k direct nano heal, 40 second cooldown.
VP Meta-Physicist: 10% hp/nano team heal, 40 second cooldown.
VP Bureaucrat: 5.5% add xp @ 220, 82.5 AAD @ 220, 82.5 AAO @ 220.
VP Doctor: up to 5k direct team hp heal, 60 second cooldown.
VP Trader: -10k AAO for self, 880 add damage @ 220 for target, 25 second duration, 180 second cooldown.
VP Fixer, Adventurer, Martial Artist: 440 evades @ 220, 40 second duration, 65 second cooldown.
VP Engineer: up to 5k direct pet hp heal, 60 second cooldown.
VP Soldier: 165 add damage @ 220, 65 second cooldown, no duration mentioned.
VP Enforcer: 6.6k absorb @ 220, 30 second duration, 120 second cooldown.

**drainbamage** · Nov 22nd, 2011, 07:32:32

brb rolling agent

**Hotdog** · Nov 22nd, 2011, 07:43:57

the VP engi perk should probably change to a normal+special blocker perk for team, (which could include a small coon too) or something like that. no agent will ever use a pet heal.

Seems more in line with the defensive perks listed here.

**Parranoid1** · Nov 22nd, 2011, 08:08:28

Good lord.

Well first off, thanks a ton for your work here lupus. Great write up and really lines things up nicely.

So we are getting a new evade perk line? Thats will counteract the loss of aad, then you will imitate those professions that have low evades while doing the same thing for evades based professions, I like it. So overall, when in a VP fixer/advy/MA and that perk running you will have an additional 900-1000 evades?

Awesome.

Then you have the less direct combat based professions lowering your direct combat based skills while opening up all of their nano toolset bar the last of the line.

Awesome.