Trader Suggestion Thread - Updated for 18.7.xx

Ok since our other suggestion thread is pretty ancient and I almost had an asthma attack from the sheer number of cobwebs it had, it's time to bring this into 2015. The catalogue will serve as a one-stop location for Michi for any and all concerns that we might have, making both his and our lives, easier.

This thread is for the discussion and posting of suggestions listed here.

Keep poop-flinging to a minimum, try to keep the ludicrous ideas at the door and please post your suggestions in the following example format:

Quote:

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Suggestion: Make Traders Uber!
Nanoline (Optional): Deprive
Description: Make Trader Deprive remove 4000 to all skills!

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I have already posted my own suggestions to the catalogue thread, feel free to pick them apart or add your own suggestions.

Change the hostile part of drains to a AAO, Heal Eff. and Nano dmg. drain. Keep the skills on the beneficial part (and maybe add some Heal Eff and Nano dmg.).

People will hate traders and call their drains OP even if they only drained 50 skill points. I personally never understood why it was cool to have a profession that could completely shutdown a lot of other (mainly nano dependent) professions, and that in order to partake in pvp you'd have to have alternate hotbars filled with nano from 20 levels past that you had to swap to in case you met one of those buggers. With this change everyone will function exactly as they do before they meet the trader, just at a lower efficiency. And it will make drains stronger in pvm, which I feel is a place traders are lacking (especially while leveling). The beneficial part of the drains will naturally have to stay unchanged (or buffed as proposed), since that is an inherent part of how traders work. I believe that with this change it would be possible to further increase the size of the debuff without too much opposition, thus granting traders more (much needed) effective defense.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by wyldebeast

Change the hostile part of drains to a AAO, Heal Eff. and Nano dmg. drain. Keep the skills on the beneficial part (and maybe add some Heal Eff and Nano dmg.).

People will hate traders and call their drains OP even if they only drained 50 skill points. I personally never understood why it was cool to have a profession that could completely shutdown a lot of other (mainly nano dependent) professions, and that in order to partake in pvp you'd have to have alternate hotbars filled with nano from 20 levels past that you had to swap to in case you met one of those buggers. With this change everyone will function exactly as they do before they meet the trader, just at a lower efficiency. And it will make drains stronger in pvm, which I feel is a place traders are lacking (especially while leveling). The beneficial part of the drains will naturally have to stay unchanged (or buffed as proposed), since that is an inherent part of how traders work. I believe that with this change it would be possible to further increase the size of the debuff without too much opposition, thus granting traders more (much needed) effective defense.

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That's actually a pretty reasonable way of dealing with the problem. Added to the catalogue.

Had a thought earlier, during one of my moments of insanity, what if we got a summonable item in the same vein as SWS or Zset that granted us a reasonable amount of AAD/Evades and cost creds to summon each time?

So I was checking Decision by Committee on Test.. And here are some numbers.

On High AC:
VP - Internal Affairs hit Punching Bug for 321 points of melee damage. Critical hit!
VP - Operations hit Punching Bug for 105 points of melee damage.
VP - Public Relations hit Punching Bug for 105 points of melee damage.
VP - Marketing hit Punching Bug for 105 points of melee damage.

On Low/No AC:
VP - Internal Affairs hit Punching Bag for 1044 points of melee damage.
VP - Operations hit Punching Bag for 651 points of melee damage.
VP - Public Relations hit Punching Bag for 981 points of melee damage.
VP - Marketing hit Punching Bag for 1063 points of melee damage.
VP - Internal Affairs hit Punching Bag for 452 points of melee damage.
VP - Operations hit Punching Bag for 852 points of melee damage.
VP - Public Relations hit Punching Bag for 1483 points of melee damage. Critical hit!
VP - Marketing hit Punching Bag for 798 points of melee damage.

Also they seem to be hitting quite slow compaired to other 220 pets.

Seems they're a nice bonus on RK, but will be barrely noticable in SL.. I would love to see their base damage adjusted so that their more usefull in SL, because 105 damage isn't really much at endgame :(.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Solams

So I was checking Decision by Committee on Test.. And here are some numbers.

On High AC:
VP - Internal Affairs hit Punching Bug for 321 points of melee damage. Critical hit!
VP - Operations hit Punching Bug for 105 points of melee damage.
VP - Public Relations hit Punching Bug for 105 points of melee damage.
VP - Marketing hit Punching Bug for 105 points of melee damage.

On Low/No AC:
VP - Internal Affairs hit Punching Bag for 1044 points of melee damage.
VP - Operations hit Punching Bag for 651 points of melee damage.
VP - Public Relations hit Punching Bag for 981 points of melee damage.
VP - Marketing hit Punching Bag for 1063 points of melee damage.
VP - Internal Affairs hit Punching Bag for 452 points of melee damage.
VP - Operations hit Punching Bag for 852 points of melee damage.
VP - Public Relations hit Punching Bag for 1483 points of melee damage. Critical hit!
VP - Marketing hit Punching Bag for 798 points of melee damage.

Also they seem to be hitting quite slow compaired to other 220 pets.

Seems they're a nice bonus on RK, but will be barrely noticable in SL.. I would love to see their base damage adjusted so that their more usefull in SL, because 105 damage isn't really much at endgame :(.

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Higher Damage/AR added to the catalogue of suggestions :)

I know we just got the PDKP but I would love to see an upgrade for the Vektor ND Grand Wyrm, something along the lines of 425-625(1250) + fling shot, or something else that will give DPS comparable to MA or dual-wield traders.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Epikxs

I know we just got the PDKP but I would love to see an upgrade for the Vektor ND Grand Wyrm, something along the lines of 425-625(1250) + fling shot, or something else that will give DPS comparable to MA or dual-wield traders.

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I'm not sure ramping up the numbers on 2-handed Shotguns is the right way to go about solving the problem of dual-wielding being as powerful as it is, but I'll add it to the catalogue anyway :)

Retracted until I have rechecked some numbers.

Edit: Now that I think about it, this post probably should have been a PM to start with.

Pardon me I must have been mistaken.

I must have been confused. I'll retract all my suggestions until I'm more clear on the cooldowns.

Thanks for pointing that out Justin.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Raggy

I'm not sure ramping up the numbers on 2-handed Shotguns is the right way to go about solving the problem of dual-wielding being as powerful as it is, but I'll add it to the catalogue anyway :)

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Dual-wielding has been pretty much broken from day 1, and now that Agents and Keepers(?), traditional singlewielders (Rifle and 2he) do better damage with dualwielding it seems that it may be the damage distribution system that needs looking at. At this point there really is no reason, other than for PVP and other than being an NT (and if Candycane setups are still solid in 18.7, maybe not even then), to not dual-wield. There's never been a penalty for doing so because the game just doesn't support that kind of logic (i.e. there's no "shield" that you can equip in your offhand or loss of abilities attributed to the lack of a free hand).

I'd like to see the health haggler line (or at least improved health haggler) changed to a % based heal. That thing has just felt off since they made add. dmg work for nanos, punishing you for having more +energy damage. Improved health haggler would be something like hit self 4% dmg, give target 12% which would also improve traders utility in raids etc...

Big question:
Why do drains no longer carry a -AAO in pvm? Ruined by PvP again? So drains must be worthless now and only beneficial for some AR or to keep a lowbie's weapon out of OE? Um.. No one sees the problem here? The traders main go-to is worthless in pvm. Wtf?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Brandonj

Big question:
Why do drains no longer carry a -AAO in pvm? Ruined by PvP again? So drains must be worthless now and only beneficial for some AR or to keep a lowbie's weapon out of OE? Um.. No one sees the problem here? The traders main go-to is worthless in pvm. Wtf?

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Because CP and IS are now usable in PvM.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Raggy

Because CP and IS are now usable in PvM.

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But what good is that for leveling traders?

Edit:
And still. Drains are now nothing more than a chore to buff our damage in line with everything else. They need to do something, even if it's a small something. It's silly otherwise and pretty lame.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Brandonj

But what good is that for leveling traders?

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Here is a very good and updated site for you to do research on, there are lower versions of those buffs.
https://aoitems.com/nano/prof/trader/

Quote:

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Originally Posted by nanoforcer

Here is a very good and updated site for you to do research on, there are lower versions of those buffs.
https://aoitems.com/nano/prof/trader/

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Thank you, I was unaware of that.

But it still stands, skill drains need to do a lil something. It is a chore disguised as buffing.

It's pointless to drain a mob with regular drains (well not pointless, it buffs your weapon/nanoskills) since only -aao will actually do something when it comes to them hitting you/damage they do, this has been verified by Michi in some other thread.
-aad makes you crit them more, so that's always nice.