Monthly Development Update - February 2015 (The Storm)

What I meant by getting away from from cookie cutter profs is that instead of everyone rushing to get doc/enf/crat in teams we could see MA/shade/Engi for example which is also a solid trio with current changes. MA = heals+tank shade=init debuffs engi= AAO debuffs

With Keeper as my main I know all about how great they are, quite sad when its hard to get a team as a keep even tho I could tank just as well as if not better than an enf minus add control in places like beast and 12man or at the every least provide solid aruas. I would like to think that keeps are a top pick but not everyone thinks like that atm, besides 12man if I give the option of either keep or any other prof thats not trader/mp/agent its often the other prof.

Can't really comment on shade vs keep since if i'm on my shade I often tank instead of the enf in the team since screw enfs lol.


Its not like Traders/NTs/Advys are bad, its just that when people make teams they often want the best profs before they look at the lesser ones to fill the team. When talking about raids fair enough the extra debuffs from trader/NT could help and advy for heals if you cant find a agent/MA/doc anywhere but when you have options for other profs suddenly that MA or Sold looks nicer for DD/dmg mitigation/heals than a NT or advy.
I find myself favoring certain profs over others when making raids and likely wont change with rebalance except for the profs I pick.

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Originally Posted by Rockdizzle

This is to anyone not just you McKnuckleSamwich but comparing Advys to docs is kinda silly now considering they are not even second best at healing anymore, Doc>Agent fp doc>Zazen MA>Advy>MA the current healing order.
Even more silly when both Agent and MA have team support buffs and dmg mitigation perks/buffs while Advys lost all of their support buffs(Morphs+evade arua+Istare and lower ones) and never had ways to mitigate dmg to start with. Having extra shoehorned in role morphs with half ass buffs (2k taunts, 30 sec calms) isn't winning anyone over when 3 other profs can out tank/DD/heal advy all at the same time while Crowd Control is just not possible on adv with its 10+ sec cooldown on calms.

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I'm not sure this is correct.
First, I think you're overselling Agent healing compared to Zazen MA. Barring an Imubbed target (and I'm not sure about that any more), MA single target healing in Zazen is roughly equivalent to Agents. They also have ~8k/10s team healing, which is approaching iLC.

In terms of team support buffs, sure, Agent can buff crit. I don't understand what perks we're talking about though.

Also, I think comparing Agent to MA and Adv in terms of tankability/dd is a bit of an exaggeration.

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Originally Posted by srompu

I'm not sure this is correct.
First, I think you're overselling Agent healing compared to Zazen MA. Barring an Imubbed target (and I'm not sure about that any more), MA single target healing in Zazen is roughly equivalent to Agents. They also have ~8k/10s team healing, which is approaching iLC.

In terms of team support buffs, sure, Agent can buff crit. I don't understand what perks we're talking about though.

Also, I think comparing Agent to MA and Adv in terms of tankability/dd is a bit of an exaggeration.

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Ya it seems I oversold Agents healing, was late so I most likely thought CH healed more than it does. I'll swap around the 2 afterwards
In terms of healing agents have access to a 30 sec CH aswell as Lifegiving Elixir at 2184-2620 healing with 4% eff every 4 secs.
in a ideal situation 2 40k CHs assuming tank has 45-50k HP and 12 LEs averaged to 2.4k each nets Agent around 105-110k HPM
zazen MA with Matrix of Ka on its own heals 84-85k HPM averaged, with TMoK healing on average 30.6k HPM extra.

I said nothing about support perks. I said "support buffs" and "damage mitigation perks/buffs", the agent perks I meant for damage mitigation are The Shot and Tranquilizer which TBH are situational at best but are there to use.

Atm using what agents can cast they can reach more than 30k+ HP and be in FP sold for TMS hardly an exaggeration just different types of tanks.

DD wise agents can use other weapons with their perks allowing for some insane DD setups. let me introduce you to http://auno.org/ao/equip.php?saveid=199376 (the kick pistols are the perfected ones, the TS reqs are being fixed later)
with FP trader and sold for buffs you can expect this to easily hit 330-350k DPM on mobs with high ACs. If you want real numbers I have an agent on test with them on that I can record it DD with.

Hm, I guess tranq and TS could be considered that way. I agree Agents can do one, but not all together like I thought you meant.

In terms of DD, I've played with shens, pistols, and chaos mainly. Got the best results with shen sticks with combined MA. The crit is serious, and fast attacks mean more SL procs. Doesn't work with perks, but perks suck anyway.
I'd be curious to see how the new pistols go, since we've got more passive crit now. Haven't touched it yet. You didn't have troubles making them on Agent? I'm curious how much effect AC has and what numbers you can push with it Wouldn't need much IP.

I had michi spawn me a pair of them since only engi and possibly trader(?) can TS them. They will require 2.1k/1.9k/1.9k in TS when fixed which is doable tho not easy.

in terms of DD the perfected kick pistols beats the Greed of the Xan which is the best ranged DD weapon a agent can wear.
kick pistols on 219 mortiig, doesn't have the target subunit on or acouple other items that Auto doesn't give so add dmg is slightly higher with dmg hud but less crit. hits 90% crit with proc up. sitting at 2.7k AR
You hit Mortiig Predator for 2423 points of projectile damage.
You hit Mortiig Predator for 4993 points of projectile damage. Critical hit!
You hit Mortiig Predator for 4993 points of Fling Shot damage.
You hit Mortiig Predator for 7269 points of Burst damage.
greed:
You hit Mortiig Predator for 3168 points of projectile damage.
You hit Mortiig Predator for 6638 points of projectile damage. Critical hit!
You hit Mortiig Predator for 6638 points of Fling Shot damage.
AC debuffs and perk didn't help hit more than min for either guns.

having 13 damage perks, dual wield, 2 specials and a AC debuff perk(when it has an actual effect) helps alot. I might make a MA agent also to compare, I originally planned to make the first one MA until the PDKPs were added.

I made my soldier almost specifically to take advantage of the new pistol, if of course those tradeskills are possible on that class (surprisingly enough WS is actually Light Blue for Soldiers...) I have the feeling it's going to be the new hotness for a LOT of people with those reqs... even as a Shotgun it's a wonderful sidearm for those that can afford to go all out twinking those TS requirements.

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Originally Posted by Rockdizzle

I had michi spawn me a pair of them since only engi and possibly trader(?) can TS them. They will require 2.1k/1.9k/1.9k in TS when fixed which is doable tho not easy.

in terms of DD the perfected kick pistols beats the Greed of the Xan which is the best ranged DD weapon a agent can wear.
kick pistols on 219 mortiig, doesn't have the target subunit on or acouple other items that Auto doesn't give so add dmg is slightly higher with dmg hud but less crit. hits 90% crit with proc up. sitting at 2.7k AR
You hit Mortiig Predator for 2423 points of projectile damage.
You hit Mortiig Predator for 4993 points of projectile damage. Critical hit!
You hit Mortiig Predator for 4993 points of Fling Shot damage.
You hit Mortiig Predator for 7269 points of Burst damage.
greed:
You hit Mortiig Predator for 3168 points of projectile damage.
You hit Mortiig Predator for 6638 points of projectile damage. Critical hit!
You hit Mortiig Predator for 6638 points of Fling Shot damage.
AC debuffs and perk didn't help hit more than min for either guns.

having 13 damage perks, dual wield, 2 specials and a AC debuff perk(when it has an actual effect) helps alot. I might make a MA agent also to compare, I originally planned to make the first one MA until the PDKPs were added.

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Considering engis could do those reqs at tl5, other profs should be able to do it at tl7. The bigger issue for some professions is the time investment.

I just skimmed the thread, admittedly not very well. So if this came up, sorry.

The Fixer evade debuffs now include lowering of NCU. Is the amount it takes away significant enough to actually have an impact?
I only ask as my crat, can hit something like 1000 quite easily and he isn't anywhere near tricked out.
The fixer, even with just 3 or 4 NCUs in hits, if I recall, 1300.

IMHO if the buff doesn't at the very least remove 50% NCU(I guess 33% could be argued) there wouldn't be much use.

Michi as an aside:
Have you guys looked at how a player gets to the AI missions in the NPE ?

I have played 3 or 4 characters through there(a little over 6 months ago) and not a single one of them found anything/anyone pointing me in the direction of an NPC to get any missions for the AI content. I only know there are some due to the forums...

I'd love to see a "department of ICC" setup a building/camp in town, for the people to come see and learn about aliens.
Where the quests are given out.
In my head a good area would be around the PVP arena. With an NPC pointing a player along to there at some point, maybe just before existing NPE into ICC? Or some such.

People always hate tradeskills, especially for one time uses like AMEP, Nano Controller Unit, and now PDKP. Please stop adding this crap to game, just make the result tradeable.

messing around with shotgun agent dd on test http://auno.org/ao/equip.php?saveid=199806 2748 AR without total focus or AT, 1178 add projectile dmg with buffs from agent+trader+saber morph, 60% crit without proc

I start the dd parser right before the first hit and end it right after the last so DPM could be off by about 1-5% but I'l post the most accurate ones time wise and any extra I do.
also only used what I could cast on myself from trader/advy/enf/sold FPs.

214 frothing sabretooth
1: 411,949 : Slysniper : 90.9% | 418,931 | 33-16-68 (58-59 seconds to kill)

230 Chaotic Heckler
1: 230,925 : Slysniper : 60.0% | 407,514 | 15-8-40 died too fast to get crit proc up enough heh
1: 232,930 : Slysniper : 85.7% | 607,643 | 14-7-53 hecks don't have enough hp to get a good consistent DPM, agents don't normally hit 600k+ DPM heh

205 Antediluvian Spinetooth
1: 558,561 : Slysniper : 84.1% | 380,837 | 44-21-124 feels lower than it should be, also didn't check time on parser

high AC punching bug 7 min test (cooldown for toxic shock so any longer would require me doing 14 min dmg parses each time to not mess up average dpm)
1: 2,975,387 : Slysniper : 87.0% | 386,413 | 253-112-678 went for 7 mins but parser bugged out and went for 7 min 42 secs messing DPM up * also forgot to equip my ERP :/*
1: 2,938,070 : Slysniper : 85.4% | 416,747 | 254-113-597 7 minutes 3 seconds perfect heh

Threw in acouple regular mobs to compare and seems agent can hit 400-420k DPM without anything crazy in setup, maybe 450kish with everything putting agents in suicide shade/DD engi dmg range. I'll prolly do some more later and add them in.

I'm sure FunCom was looking forward to the day that dualwielding Shotgun Agents outdamaged Live server Shades.

Oh my.

Mostly messing around with agent lol, its not even that great solo(when using shotgun and fp trader) but it will steal dyna kills for sure. I even had Sharp object IPd on it for more DD but its a pain to get a good amount of them so I didn't use any.

It also happens to have rifle IPd so I could if I really wanted to swap some hp stuff around and use rifle+lizard morph get 30k+ HP and FP sold to tank stuff. yay for changes making agent more powerful than most prolly thought it would be.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Rockdizzle

messing around with shotgun agent dd on test http://auno.org/ao/equip.php?saveid=199806 2748 AR without total focus or AT, 1178 add projectile dmg with buffs from agent+trader+saber morph, 60% crit without proc

I start the dd parser right before the first hit and end it right after the last so DPM could be off by about 1-5% but I'l post the most accurate ones time wise and any extra I do.
also only used what I could cast on myself from trader/advy/enf/sold FPs.

214 frothing sabretooth
1: 411,949 : Slysniper : 90.9% | 418,931 | 33-16-68 (58-59 seconds to kill)

230 Chaotic Heckler
1: 230,925 : Slysniper : 60.0% | 407,514 | 15-8-40 died too fast to get crit proc up enough heh
1: 232,930 : Slysniper : 85.7% | 607,643 | 14-7-53 hecks don't have enough hp to get a good consistent DPM, agents don't normally hit 600k+ DPM heh

205 Antediluvian Spinetooth
1: 558,561 : Slysniper : 84.1% | 380,837 | 44-21-124 feels lower than it should be, also didn't check time on parser

high AC punching bug 7 min test (cooldown for toxic shock so any longer would require me doing 14 min dmg parses each time to not mess up average dpm)
1: 2,975,387 : Slysniper : 87.0% | 386,413 | 253-112-678 went for 7 mins but parser bugged out and went for 7 min 42 secs messing DPM up * also forgot to equip my ERP :/*
1: 2,938,070 : Slysniper : 85.4% | 416,747 | 254-113-597 7 minutes 3 seconds perfect heh

Threw in acouple regular mobs to compare and seems agent can hit 400-420k DPM without anything crazy in setup, maybe 450kish with everything putting agents in suicide shade/DD engi dmg range. I'll prolly do some more later and add them in.

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Oh dear.

Wait for it... profession lock inc! ;)

Wouldn't change much, I would just use another weapon(s) and still push 400k+ DPM, Perfected kick pistols are just the best atm and easier to work with.
Having access to 5 lines of perks agents can use with any weapon is what gives them close to 100k DPM extra alone letting them hit the 400k DPM range that they can't on live. Also the fact that Agents get more add damage now selfed and 176 add dmg from saber morph gives them the highest possible average add damage of over 1.3k ish selfed making pew'wer/chapman a viable option for 8k bursts and 15k FAs.

That's serious damage lol. I'd be happy with a rifle that does 3/4 of that and doesn't screw up my perks, symbs, and IP.

Few questions about your numbers. I reach 1073 +proj damage using your setup. Are you counting Energize?
Also, 100k dpm from perks seems high. I get 48k using rifle, +844 poison damage, 3204 AR. Although I'm missing ~200 damage, I'd be surprised if you got twice the perk damage using a lower AR weapon.
Last, I think that damage is probably more from agent crit mod, combined with draining on a useful weapon. MA and sold have similar +damage. Anyone tried a similar setup on dmg-oriented soldier/trader?

I think the least character-ruining dd setup is probably bow still. Can get 300k dpm on high AC bag for 2 ai perklines and a med-blue IP line.

Rifle with fling - ~38ish hits per minute?
2 PDKP with burst and fling - ~54 hits per minute?

That's a lot more procs as well, and agents have good ones (for damage purposes anyway)

Looking forward to PDKP + BigBurger test :)

Doesn't include energize, don't even have it perked. on test it says I only have 619 without buffs but I should be at 630 which is weird anyways, (agent 619+45+65+125+130)+(adv 176)+(trader 16) = 1178. the highest I calced was 1375 add dmg with perfect DB bracer on still and no sinew of tarasque. Switching those 2 would hurt the setup too much for the 40ishx2 add dmg unless I went Bow/Rifle.

on Punching bag (west of Auto) with 3.5k ACs on it the rifle perks (just the ones shotgun couldn't use before) were doing 55-60k DPM not including temp dmg buffs like concentration or frenzy of fur, I said close to but I guess its lower than close still but Fade armor (2.8k debuff) is also a possible dmg factor in 4-8k AC mobs solo and 12-16k with trader letting regs/perks/specials hit more for 30 out of 60 seconds which adds up quickly.
Frothing Sabretooth for example I hit more when fade armor was up letting me hit around 150ish more crit with both trader AC debuffs up before.

Ofc most of the dmg around 60% after perks and procs will be from crits, at 100% crit my DPM from regs would be 200k min with 5k+ hits with burst/fling accounting for 80-90k DPM. Procs favor duel/triple wield so bow/rifle loses out on DD that way.

Ya Bow is a decent option and should get you more than 300k DPM easily, soli and atrox being the good breeds of choice for their genome perks.


If PDKP stays open to everyone than bigburger is a waste of time tbh, maxing out at 15 sec FAs (14 if atrox) with 4 pieces of CC and assault mod you will end up doing the same or less damage in 15 secs as the extra damage from offhand crits would do. Doesn't include reload time which slows down DPM also. It could edge out dual PDKP if mobs are dieing in less than 10 seconds I guess tho.

That dual wield is pretty sexy, tbh. 50% more swag automatically.

I'm realizing we're comparing numbers from different bags. I've been on the one called Punching Bug. Doesn't show any effects from -AC. Do you have any damage from that one offhand?

from 9 dmg perks I got 45k dmg with no concentration, not a good mob to test dmg for as even beast can be hit for more than min dmg on most agent perks.
Assassinate Damage 6280-13222 You hit Punching Bug with nanobots for 7458 points of projectile damage. was min dmg + 1178 add dmg, nothing has 70k+ ACs