What happened to my Trader!? - A Guide to 18.7.x

[Raggy]

Here you will find a list of all of the changes made in 18.7.x that directly affect the Trader profession.

General Changes

• Various bosses have lost their Drain immunity, the most notable of which is The Beast and Deranged Xan who are now susceptible to the Divest/Plunder line.
• Shotgun Mastery has gained a new high damage perk called 'Point Blank'.
• 'Leg Shot' now also snares the target.

Weapon Changes

• The Low Recoil Diamondine Kick Pistol can now be upgraded to the Perfected Diamondine Kick Pistol by using a screwdriver, this requires a significant tradeskill investment.
• The OFAB Silverback now has no profession lock and now has a 1.6/1.6 speed. Expect to see this around alot more!
• Kuma Tonfas have recieved a small buff in damage.
• The X1-R4 Viral Force-blades could offer an MA alternative to Shen Sticks, whilst also looking very pink and stylish!

Nano Changes

• The Divest/Plunder line has lost its -AAO and Crit increase component.
• Corporate Protection and Industrial Sabotage are now usable in PvM, increase the Traders Critical Chance by 30% and reduce the targets Critical Defence by 30%.
• Nanobot Defence is now 70% reflect to nano for all breeds. The lower version is 50%.
• All Drains are now on their own seperate line cooldowns, meaning you cannot cast Plunder (Nanite Enhanced) and then Plunder (Nanite Improved) immediately after.
• Durations of Divest/Plunder debuff and buff in PvM have been reduced to 120s and 60s in PvP.
• Durations of Corporate Protection/Industrial Sabotage are 30s in both PvM and PvP with a 45s buff duration.
• Durations of all RK AC debuffs are now 180s in both PvM and PvP.
• Grand Theft Humidity can now be cast on monsters in PvM, it also has a 'Lesser' version.
• Your Enemy's Enemy is your Friend now has a 'Lesser' version.
• Divest Damage is now a 30s debuff with a 5min buff giving us a large buff to overall damage.
• Take The Bait is a new PvP nano that lowers the targets weapon special skills to 0 for 4s
• Decision By Commitee is now a 60s duration with a 5min CD. The damage still leaves a lot to be desired though.
• A large amount of offensive nanos have had their attack and recharge significantly lowered, including the addition of a local 'line cooldown', this will increase the speed of the Trader playstyle drastically.
  
  
  • Divest/Plunder is now a 4.49s cast with a 1s recharge and a 6s line cooldown.
  • SL AC Drains now have a 5s cast (2s cap) with a 1s recharge and a 8s line cooldown.
  • RK AC Drains now have a 2.52s cast with a 1s recharge and a 6s line cooldown.
  • Health Plunder now has a 2.5s recharge.

LE Perk Changes

• Various changes have been made to our LE Perks with some procs being moved into different types and others recieving buffs. Our LE Procs now are as follows:
  
  Type 1
  
  
  • Rebate - Damages the target for 43 Energy Damage and heals the Trader for 18 HP.
  • Unexpected Bonus - Damages the target for 300 Energy Damage and heals the Trader for 222 HP.
  • Unforgiven Debts - Drains 136 weapon/nano skills and 68 AAO from the target and returns them to the Trader. (10s Debuff Duration/30s Buff Duration)
  • Exchange Product - Damages the target for 990 Energy Damage and heals the Trader for 997 HP.
  • Debt Collection - Damages the target for 1100 to 1200 Energy Damage and heals the Trader for 1100 to 1300.
  • Accumulated Interest - Drains 204 weapon/nano skills and 102 AAO from the target and returns them to the Trader. (10s Debuff/30s Buff Duration)
  
  
  Type 2
  
  
  • Payment Plan - Drains 9 weapon/nano skills and 5 AAO from the target and returns them to the Trader. (10s Debuff Duration/30s Buff Duration)
  • Refinance Loans - Drains 200 ACs from the target and returns them to the Trader. (1min Debuff/Buff duration)
  • Escrow - Drains 133 nano from the target and returns 100 to the Trader every 5s for 30s.
  • Deplete Assets - Drains 1449 ACs from the target and returns 1394 to the Trader. (1min Debuff/Buff duration)
  • Rigid Liquidation - Drains 307 nano from the target and returns 271 to the Trader every 5s for 30s.
  • Unopened Letter - Drains 2098 ACs from the target and returns 2067 to the Trader. (1min Debuff/Buff duration)

[Jihnna]

Nice, I'd wish the professionals for the other profs would make it as neat and tidy as this

Especially the proc-updates will be a good help to get an overview of what to use

Should also add that IS/CP has each gotten +30 critinc., while divest/plunder both lost their +12 critinc (@ top DB drains)

[Raggy]

Nice, I'd wish the professionals for the other profs would make it as neat and tidy as this

Especially the proc-updates will be a good help to get an overview of what to use

Should also add that IS/CP has each gotten +30 critinc., while divest/plunder both lost their +12 critinc (@ top DB drains)

Thanks Jihnna! Also forgot about the movement of the crit inc from D/P to CP/IS, there is just so much to cover!

[nanoforcer]

Something well worth mentioning is that -skill does not affect mobs at all acording to Michi, only -aao so the miss more/hit for less and -aad to crit them more.
There is really no point in trying to keep a mob debuffed with x2 drains AND x2 aad/aao buffs.
It will just drive you nuts with the short durations.

For pvp it WILL without doubt drive you nuts

[Raggy]

Something well worth mentioning is that -skill does not affect mobs at all acording to Michi, only -aao so the miss more/hit for less and -aad to crit them more.
There is really no point in trying to keep a mob debuffed with x2 drains AND x2 aad/aao buffs.
It will just drive you nuts with the short durations.

Indeed, thankfully though the D/P buff durations are still reasonable so there isnt a great need to keep them up on the target as you said.

With 18.7 our 'rotation' so to speak is going to look a little like this:

Fight Begins -> D/P -> CP/IS -> Divest Damage -> AC Drains -> YEEIYF if needed. Cycle CP/IS/Divest/AC Drain debuffs.

[lainbr]

Nice, I'd wish the professionals for the other profs would make it as neat and tidy as this

*hides*
*runs to Metaphysical Awesomeness Hill*

[Vinkera]

*hides*
*runs to Metaphysical Awesomeness Hill*

Hahaha...

Anyway, nicely done Raggy. I'm not gonna lie, when I got that far though the release notes, I couldn't find it in myself to comprehend all the trader changes.

Nice to have a sorted version like this.

[lufa1982]

Played around for about 2 hours. As expected, the changes to attack/recharge are fully nullified by lack of predraining. Run into Enf, casted about 3 trillion nanos within first 40 seconds, out of which I landed 5. Completely balanced.Just in case being able to completely nullify my entire toolset isn't enough , he can also remove drains with rage, because why the hell not. Completely balanced. Even when once every 5 years during full moon I land a nano , it has shorter duration that the time it would take me to kill the Enf who is completely afk, because my Aimed Shot recharge is 3 billlion years. Completely balanced. In summary, I can't debuff, I can't do damage, all I can do is stand there and be a poor meatshield.

This patch is garbage, absolute garbage. But that's what happens when all the changes from the start are fully focused on making Traders less of a threat to everybody else, without giving a moments thought on how it will actually feel on the receiving end.

[Raggy]

Played around for about 2 hours. As expected, the changes to attack/recharge are fully nullified by lack of predraining. Run into Enf, casted about 3 trillion nanos within first 40 seconds, out of which I landed 5. Completely balanced.Just in case being able to completely nullify my entire toolset isn't enough , he can also remove drains with rage, because why the hell not. Completely balanced. Even when once every 5 years during full moon I land a nano , it has shorter duration that the time it would take me to kill the Enf who is completely afk, because my Aimed Shot recharge is 3 billlion years. Completely balanced. In summary, I can't debuff, I can't do damage, all I can do is stand there and be a poor meatshield.

This patch is garbage, absolute garbage. But that's what happens when all the changes from the start are fully focused on making Traders less of a threat to everybody else, without giving a moments thought on how it will actually feel on the receiving end.

On the flipside, we're actually ALOT better in PvM. I was able to drop Scary Spider for the first time ever on my Live Trader without a huge amount of trouble, we're also bringing alot more utility to teams with out AAD removal and crit decreases from CP/IS.

I agree that we are completely worthless in PvP right now though. This is something I hope to help Michi solve in the coming weeks.

[MrLysol]

CP/IS should be 1min or longer duration...by the time I'm done rotation 1 its already running out

- Durations of Corporate Protection/Industrial Sabotage are 45s in both PvM and PvP with a 60s buff duration.
CP/IS have 45s buff and 30s on target debuff

- Durations of all AC debuffs are now 180s in both PvM and PvP.
Abolish Polonium/Bismuth still show 60s

[Raggy]

CP/IS should be 1min or longer duration...by the time I'm done rotation 1 its already running out

I believe this is going to come down to personal preference as I like the durations now, I can understand why others might not though

- Durations of Corporate Protection/Industrial Sabotage are 45s in both PvM and PvP with a 60s buff duration.
CP/IS have 45s buff and 30s on target debuff

- Durations of all AC debuffs are now 180s in both PvM and PvP.
Abolish Polonium/Bismuth still show 60s

Well spotted, edited!

[Litestrider]

Something well worth mentioning is that -skill does not affect mobs at all acording to Michi, only -aao so the miss more/hit for less and -aad to crit them more.
There is really no point in trying to keep a mob debuffed with x2 drains AND x2 aad/aao buffs.
It will just drive you nuts with the short durations.

This is going to be particularly annoying for Agent FP:Trader, since we don't have access to the AAD/AAO drains and as such have lost a significant "blind" effect.

And to make matters worse, I would imagine most people wouldn't want agents to get access to the AAD/AAO drains because of how much +crit they add!

[wyldebeast]

Did anyone else loose Shutdown Skills? I had it before, now there's just another icon of GTH and it's nowhere to be found in my nano listing.

[Raggy]

Did anyone else loose Shutdown Skills? I had it before, now there's just another icon of GTH and it's nowhere to be found in my nano listing.

Has to re-bought sadly.

All the OFAB Nanos and gear are now in the Battlestation Duel room.

[MrLysol]

Played around for about 2 hours. As expected, the changes to attack/recharge are fully nullified by lack of predraining. Run into Enf, casted about 3 trillion nanos within first 40 seconds, out of which I landed 5. Completely balanced.Just in case being able to completely nullify my entire toolset isn't enough , he can also remove drains with rage, because why the hell not. Completely balanced. Even when once every 5 years during full moon I land a nano , it has shorter duration that the time it would take me to kill the Enf who is completely afk, because my Aimed Shot recharge is 3 billlion years. Completely balanced. In summary, I can't debuff, I can't do damage, all I can do is stand there and be a poor meatshield.

This patch is garbage, absolute garbage. But that's what happens when all the changes from the start are fully focused on making Traders less of a threat to everybody else, without giving a moments thought on how it will actually feel on the receiving end.

TRADER PVP sucks totally now w/out pre-draining. I mean it was hard enough with it. Your dead before you have your drains up and if you do survive you'll be dead anyways because the drains already ran out.

[scenenheard]

Simple Mind, Simple Pleasures now sucks in PvM, landing once every Haley's Comet sighting, and being level 200 in gear and symbs I twinked into 30 levels previously it will just be hell trying to acquire the VP to purchase Sudden Diversion. Why was this nano only made accessible via the OFAB shops and not available in SL garden/sanc, basically forcing players to either PvP, purchase item shop VP or having to wait eons until someone puts one up for sale on the GMI?

They did the same with IAoR for MPs and probably a whole load for the other profs too and IMO these nanos are essential for PvM as well as PvP, which incidentally I am not a big fan off anyway.

/endrant

[Sunny-D]

The 1 second recharges are nice, especially since it seems like we're gonna be casting a lot more frequently. Seems like most of these changes were motivated by other profession's gripes with traders. I'd like to thank the trader profs and testers who semi to have done a pretty good job of nerf mitigation. On another note are we ever gonna get our charms fixed? Probably one of the most useless nanolines in the game.

[Raggy]

The 1 second recharges are nice, especially since it seems like we're gonna be casting a lot more frequently. Seems like most of these changes were motivated by other profession's gripes with traders.

This sadly did seem to be the case, especially when it came down to our PvP sustainability, it seemed that most of the changes there were made from the perspective of people who had never played TL7 PvP on a Trader in their life.

I'd like to thank the trader profs and testers who semi to have done a pretty good job of nerf mitigation.

Thanks!

On another note are we ever gonna get our charms fixed? Probably one of the most useless nanolines in the game.

I've got a suggestion regarding it up in the Suggestion catalogue and I've mentioned it to Michi a few times, so far though, I haven't had any news on it.

[Sunny-D]

Awesome summary this saved me so much time!

[Vinkera]

Just based on what I've heard and what I've read, I'd suggest 2 thing which will probably sort out most of the issue.

Change the Nanobot Defense line to a reflect. Traders don't have the Nanopool to support damage to nano, especially at that multiplier. I still hear from many NT's that don't like the multiplier we have on Nanobot Guard [or Aegis, as it's now known]

Tone down the massive PVM NR debuff and make it usable in PVP, insta-cast and line cooldowns.

Again, Trader is largely outside my realm of knowledge, and that might be imbalanced somewhere. That's just my opinion based on the points of view of the Traders I've spoken with. However, Traders are obviously a casting profession, and without some kind of decent defense and some ability to land Nanos, you're toast.

Just my 2c