Changes Log (current to 18.8.5)

[Xootch]

so i've tested some more, although against very selected profs. i do ok, but have trouble with mps. not because they can harm me that bad, but because somehow they can evade my perks. which is remarkable given the ar vs. 90% check, my ar is 3.3k so go figure.

[srompu]

Double Zset is a stupid amount of defense.
Single Zset brings them ~100 over crat passive def, iirc.

[Xootch]

thanks, that explains.

[Xootch]

so let me get that clear, they can shut your casting down good, can stun you, have good healing, are hard to impossible to debuff, have spec absorb, decent damage and are just some 500 short of static fixer def?

sounds like fc wanted to prove that they can built a lovechild without an as gun. point taken.

[McKnuckleSamwich]

so let me get that clear, they can shut your casting down good, can stun you, have good healing, are hard to impossible to debuff, have spec absorb, decent damage and are just some 500 short of static fixer def?

sounds like fc wanted to prove that they can built a lovechild without an as gun. point taken.

I haven't looked at MP's too closely, but if all this is true (or even close to accurate) that's quite sensational.

I have played BS a bit, and on my Engi I decimated a bow MP several times in a row with little to no trouble (Fairly obvious why that works).

on the other side of the coin, I didn't feel like the rihwen was handing me my ass on a platter, however, it certainly has the AR to hurt crat or advy (which I've also played a fair bit of).

[Xootch]

well this is my impression. its always hard to see what's going on from the outside, or how it is against other profs. but their evades surely are through the roof, mezz pet stuns you for several seconds, with ubt only lasting that short debuffing heal pet is most of the time not working also because you only have limited time to cast anything until your casting is shut down bad and i have yet to land bullseye or ubt on the mp (think i managed ubt once when we were pounding on one with three people). yeah, the monkey is not that bad in burst damage, but neither easily ubtable (resists a lot) or rootable (quickly derooted, not sure how) and reliably hits me in evade setup, have not noticed for the monkey to ever miss me. of course, agent is not an evade prof like fixers...and mps the stun from the mezz pet seems unreliable, but is really op once it lands.

i'm going to level my mp though to get an inside perspective. but knowing my past experience with this, by the time i get endgame with my mp, i will have left twice and sometime else will be fotm.

[Louderer789]

Mezz pets stun now? IIRC they just root in pvp. MP has a castable stun that recently had it's def-check lowered though, perhaps that's what hit you. MPs also don't have spec absorb anymore.

Although you did forget to mention how MP now has 38% self/55% OSBed reflect

[Xootch]

when i have the mezz nano i cannot run, cast or shoot or perk.

[Xootch]

so apparently they have fixed the tp cooldown issue so i've played some more. its quite frustrating:

get stomped: enf, nt, mp (especially enfs and more than ever nts just wtf stomp you)
stand a chance sometimes: engi, crat, shade, doc (depends on hp, only with swap), fixer (only with swap), keeper, soldier
can kill: advy, ma, trader

before patch it was:
get stomped: enf
chance: engi, crat, shade, doc (depends on hp and swap), advy, ma
can kill: fixer, nt, mp, keeper, soldier

of course you can argue about all of them (other than nts and enfs and mps nowadays), but the general impression is we moved down the foodchain by a lot. mainly due to our sustain being ZERO. nts even with bot confinement running and against nr1 and nr/aad short term buff just make you go splat before you can touch them. enfs have always crushed us, shades, if they get close, too. with the release nano they are more difficult than ever, crats are maybe a tad easier as some can be perked now, keepers low cooldown tractor beam nano with a stun well lol...and soldiers now easily od our heal, the only chance you have is if ams is on cooldown. fixers used to have a tough time alphaing us tought rrfe and ch, with our heals practically gone, you can't touch them before they just splat you.

all in all its been quite a nerf imo. a lot depends if our short term nano is available to make you stand there a brief second longer. but le does nothing as a heal, so they just have to dd you for about 40k hp if your ch is up and you time things right. with evades indirectly nerfed, that seems to be nothing these days.

[srompu]

I'm curious what you find for FPs at the moment.
I can't get FP adv to work against anyone worth fighting. The perception and runspeed from wolf are nice against the billion shades, but that's about it.
FP Doc seems to be the best bet, since it has the most healing.
FP Enfo has ridiculous AR, but zero sustain. Guess it's probably balanced in that regard.
Can't get FP Agent to work yet though. It's feels so all-or-nothing.
Not sure about NT and soldier. Soldier is easily countered by many profs. NT feels awkward somehow, like FP Agent but worse nanoskills/mobility.
Haven't tried trader.

In terms of TP professions, I've settled reliably on soldier. I can't survive long enough for shield ripper from engi, and rrfe seems too critical to trade for gsf.

I feel overpowered against adv. I feel sort of balanced against bow/shield MP, crat, shade, doc, keeper, trader, engi. Got a chance against each, but each has a good shot at killing us.
Dual zset MP, MA, Enfo, and soldier feel OP. MA/soldier damage output dwarfs our nerfed healing, and fear/chainstun and RI seal the deal. Dual zset MP is almost humorous def levels.
Unsure about NT. Feels hard to catch between defenses, and we can't match up with them at other times.

I'm confused about fixer. They're the perfect counter to us, and we should be alpha fodder. I seem to be playing against ones who are having troubles.

[Xootch]

yeah. so i tried fp enf, but all it gives is ar, which we have for almost anything anyway, except for shield mp and fixers, and enf wont help us there. layer spamming is a joke for us.

i have not tried advy, as i mentioned in the other thread i reset perception as i found i cannot see shades with maxed perception, i'm missing somewhat 100 perception. wit that yeah, it would work. i don't have trouble with shades anyway, be sure to land concussive on sight, baem dead shade. only problem if concussive is down or shade brings friends.

fp doc usually lets you hit ch once but i usually die shortly after anyway. it seems rather futile but the best bet at the moment, i agree.

soldier is just meh, with all the nts running around. it does work, but i've found its even worse than doc.

trader is good, but it really just works against one prof, and if you cant get second drain to land, which often enough i don't, you're screwed. or if the guy you're draining has friends. we don't benefit from the drains as we don't have access to corporate buffs. the ar is nice, but as pointed out before, not a tide turner as we can perk things well atm. so its really just about being able to shut something down or delay their dd. which i guess mostly relies on people not expecting it. i mean there are still docs out there who only have bi on their bar. but anyone who's played for more than half a year has lower nanos available in case of drainage

i would do nt, but i don't have nullity sphere. that could actually be the best solution at the moment.

how do you kill a shield mp? bow mps/traders, no problem. just perk away. shade as mentioned above. keeper - 2he vs. nr stun and warp is op, but yeah, you can perksnare. good engis rip you apart though. i fought 3 engis the last days for longer, every single as capped (engi aimed shot i mean, for like 5.5k dd, every single one). plus blind, pets makes dead agent. docs, especially with rrfe are unkillable for me. will outlast me due to my sh1t sustain. any hints?

ma i had not problems with, all i met i could perk so that didnt seem bad. maybe didnt see any good ones yet.

nt...well, their dd output is ridiculous. the ones without nullity sphere you can kill sometimes, but the ones with, you can just try to get away as they are rooted. but usually you're half dead when you do get away and then they come for you with your ch burned already.

fixers? i have never been able to kill you on my fixer. and when fixers pound on me, it feels the same way i saw you around. before the patch, their alpha could not kill us in stun, they had to predamage and then time right. so if you timed your ch right, we were unkillable. as you have demonstrated many many times. now you can survive one alpha if no one else is around with one ch, and then you're fodder. except if you catch them of guard and dimach is up.

what i have not tried thus far is the repressor thing. i mean it would only work vs one guy attacking and maybe enable you to sneak if you dont have a dot running right? and doesnt work in duels, too.

oh end edit: tp prof, yeah, soldier for sure. only alternative could be engi, but blind and ripper don't run long enough.

i think they need to either tone down nts or take some of their defenses away. in general i think rrfe should be self only. that everyone runs around with rrfe makes your new offense loose their efficiency. if people didn't have this easy access to rrfe, we could actually at least kill people and the nerfed sustain would not feel as bad. and yeah, shield def, you put that in words very nicely

[srompu]

Updated the bottom of Post #1 with the latest patch on testlive.

In general, a bunch of love for our opponents.
Enfs got runspeed, more stun on charge, and more hp.
Solds got huge shield damage and dd proc.
Docs got stun resist.
MAs more damage in Zazen.
Traders are way harder to kill, and recover faster.
Basically, harder to kill people and much more punishment if we mess up.

However, no desneak on concentration. THE BOOSTER IS BACK, BABY!
Solid crit mod on the Gan'Kar. Based Michi.
Some boosts to FP Agent. Repressor is twice as fast, and TLF is a massive snare bypassing resists and non-fmable. Time to go wabbit-hunting!

Edit - Damage report from testlive
323k dpm, 82.9% critrate on high AC punching bag
386k dpm, 88.3% critrate on low AC punching bag
Grim Reaper, Laser Aim, in FP Advy using kitty and linking concentration with frenzy.
59% base critrate, +1084 base +damage, 6s fling, no AS.
Multi-billion-dollar dd equip (lolol eRBP).

[Shooorty]

Sromp, dunno if it got mentioned before, but whats up with Snipe Shot 1. Description says 0.5s Attack time, but it feels more like 1 sec compared to Shadow Bullet, working as intended?

And well yea, i started playing my lil ganker again after 18.7.. 220/23/65 in full Betas with l arm aad, far away from High end. Using mimic Adv atm in a "max def" setup if it can be called "max" About 2,1k Dodge and almost 1k AAD, about 2,9k Attack Rating.

-The High mobility that Mimic ADV gives is just insane, idc about ppl that complain about kiting, agents always did.

-You can play with Hide of the Dog and Slip Away so that some guys cant perk you. Sure the 1min CH lock is heavy, but its a good trade-off for the nice amount of Def you get. I mean, if u get zerged u'll die anyway.

Havin troubles against some profs atm, Shield MPs and Nts for example, these 2 are the hardest to fight with from my point of view. Theres absolute no chance you can kill a Shield MP alone on the BS, unless "-you're Trox, -Bullseye lands,-and u catch him w/o Blockers running!(huh!)"

And for NTs, yes you guys mentioned it b4, the DMG they push is insane, if they attack you, they kill your CH almost instantly, makes life rly hard, it isnt possible w/o Kiting, thats for sure. Some Off focus are Alph'able, some not.

[Tlatoani]

Too bad the Gan'kar cannot be hotswapped, it was a surprise to me that I had to go FP trader and drain to be able to equip this weapon. The equip delay was so promising. Guess I will have to use ol Angst of Xan for PvP swap.

Concentration changes are so good. I remember someone saying we can start perks from sneak now?

I hope we can get The repressor to work in FP as well, or some variant of it, since back in the days I used it for PvM a lot, and now that our damage is better, we might as well get a functioning detaunt, the nanos arent all that nice in taunt quantity so it would be nice to have the repressor to work in FP or get our detaunt nanos revamped.

Anyone on test know if we will get anything new to FP with these new changes, or if it affects something we already FP?

[Wakizaka]

Too bad the Gan'kar cannot be hotswapped, it was a surprise to me that I had to go FP trader and drain to be able to equip this weapon. The equip delay was so promising. Guess I will have to use ol Angst of Xan for PvP swap.

Are you a level 207 or 214 Agent ? I'm quite comfortably over the requirements @ 220 at least.

[Tlatoani]

Are you a level 207 or 214 Agent ? I'm quite comfortably over the requirements @ 220 at least.

Oh yeah, I guess not having full CSS or CC makes a big difference in that aspect. Without it, for me at least is kind of hard.

[Cratertina]

Do I see 384k dpm, is that with rifle?

[srompu]

@Shooorty
Hm, I think Snipe Shot 1 was still 0.5s, but I haven't looked closely in a bit. It could be due to server lag? Let me know if it persists; I'll try to remember to take a look. Glad def setup is working!

@Tlat
Although we can do concentration from sneak, I think the only sneak-friendly perks are the champion ones and initial strike. Genomes and Made need a fighting target.
There's some buffs to FP sold (TMS), adv (heal), and enf (SL ess). I tossed them in an edit at the end of the original post. Let me know what you think!

@Cratertina
Ya, that's Gan'Ker Rifle in a standard perk setup and pure dd gear. I think it was assassin/blackops/inf/sharpshooter.
Still a bit behind other profs' dd setups, but definitely getting there!

[Wakizaka]

Oh yeah, I guess not having full CSS or CC makes a big difference in that aspect. Without it, for me at least is kind of hard.

With the setup in my sig for my Agent, if I were to drop all his CSS, would be at 2465 Rifle.
So would just require either Ofab sleeves, or Snipers Friend + Combat Tuner, or something along that line.
It's definitely selfable without any AI armour.

[Shooorty]

@Shooorty
Hm, I think Snipe Shot 1 was still 0.5s, but I haven't looked closely in a bit. It could be due to server lag? Let me know if it persists; I'll try to remember to take a look.

Yea tell that michi, definitely not 0.5. More like 1s.