Cz: NCU buffs

[locomdenom]

I'd rather (and think they should!) see agents get access to my SMG buffs and long HoTs than my NCU buffs.

And an agent doing long HoTs would be wanted in a team, almost as much as one doing NCU buffs, which would continue to make agents worthwhile while not destroying pretty much the only unique thing about my profession (I consider GA a unique thing about an item, not a profession-level thing, as access is limited - and yes, I have GA2 and GA3).

[Gene13]

I hate to say this, but...
I wouldn't have a problem with Agents going Fixer to buff a team with NCU. 12s teambuff with a level req on the target - it's a ****ing pain to use, and will still be even if they make it refreshable.

Originally posted by JagdTyger
Then why would anyone play anything other then a Agent? If Agents could cast them all then there would be no need for other profs at all, penalties aside.

Oooo-K?

/G13

[sike]

Pure and simple agents have fp to cast other profs nanos.

For this ability we lose any defensive capability and are forced to use very Low ql other prof nanos to remain effective in any way.

Our HP sucks, our evades are Blue/dark blue, our wepons are very limited ( x-3, Caterwaul ) and are pretty poor in pvp.We are forcedto use a nano recompiler to use mimc line which means Less NCU for buffs which again limits our effectiveness as more NCU = More damage and Defense.

The ability to FP and use other nanos allows us to balance out a selection of these shortfalls of being an agent.

In a team, noone ever says " no no.. you stay as an agent, you are much better that way." Its always, " so you gonna go crat/Trader/MP/MA/Enf/Doc/Fixer?" because people like our ability.

Let us have access to all nanos. Not all of them are usefull and most will never get used. NCU HOTS and weapon buffs arent overpowering at all cause all we do now is find a fixer anyway! So its not like we are asking for Self only buffs that make us uber.

And as for NCU being the only Fixer thing that people want in a team, I say rubbish! I choose fixers into my team for the Runbuffs and the fact that they can tank better than ANY prof in the world when GA'd. Also you have a UBER weapon that allows you to solo lvl 250 mobs. NCU isnt a factor my friends. Just a nice little bonus of having a smurf.


lvl 187 agent.

[___________iceinject]

Agents can STILL cast many fixer nanos before fixers themselves can. So sit back down and find something else to moan about.

[Downsizr]

I feel like calling for a fix on agents terminating to shorten the penalties on FP. I'm pretty sure this wasn't intended by FC at any time.

You want attention ? You got it.

[locomdenom]

Originally posted by Deezlar
And as for NCU being the only Fixer thing that people want in a team, I say rubbish! I choose fixers into my team for the Runbuffs and the fact that they can tank better than ANY prof in the world when GA'd. Also you have a UBER weapon that allows you to solo lvl 250 mobs. NCU isnt a factor my friends. Just a nice little bonus of having a smurf.

We're not all smurfs.

No one needs a tank after level 130.

Manex ain't that uber. And no fixer I know of can solo a level 250 mob. Maybe 220 at best. For a GA4 fixer with a lot of skill, and the best fixer items in game.

And pre 14.4, who the hell let a fixer into a team for their runbuff? Of course NCU is what makes a non-GA fixer wanted. Well, that and HoTs. So let the agents have HoTs (giving you a defensive/healing option other than MP healpets!). But NCU let us keep.

[______________Thoram]

Personally I dont want agents to get their hands on the NCU buff. Or any other profession then the fixer.

I dont bye the line that "Everytime FC makes a nano FP agents can't use they nerf the agent a little bit"

I dont think so. What they are doing is making a profession gain a nano. It is not like they are taking anything away from the agent by not allowing them to cast a new other profession nano.

As for the teamswitching to cast NCU buffs... I agree this is a hassle, specially in tower raids or even if you are in a team and either pulling missions from a terminal or waiting for a full team to form. People see a fixer and ask for NCU buffs.

I rather have FC make a secondary NCU buff line. Make it a little less then the current one, but allow us to cast it on target, and not only in team. Like we do with hots, runbuffs, gen buffs and most other buffs.

[___________Chlamydia]

Originally posted by Sredni
Because of the already mentioned penalties perhaps? The penaltys which render some nano's useless anyways, like healing which can't handle the nano init penalty.

Or maby cause they want to tank, or any number of other things.

Saying that everybody will play agents if the agents core ability is intact is stupid. At the start of the game when funcom hadn't decided to stamp this ability out, and agents could cast EVERYTHING... there weren't unending hoards of agents.

Agreed, agent in FP is only good for buffs. to say the game would become "agents online" is a post by someone who has not played an agent.

I could NEVER play doc as a FP doc. Not to mention that alot of implant schemes are made to enhance the nano-line of the profesion, so in FP you very rarely get the benifit of a well-planed implant scheme.

[Turin]

Whiners Whiners everywhere.

Fixers got the NCU buff to be more desireable in teams. Okay, great. We all want the smurf buffs now.

Agents though, are upposed to, by the deffinition written by FC, supposed to be able to fill in as any other profession. Hence, since most people want the NCU buff fixers have. Agetns no longer fit that role.


And to whomever said that every nano given specicically to a professoin, and not available for agents, is NOT a agent nerf. well. You are 100% wrong. In every way shape and form. Period. No ifs ands or butts about it. It is more a case for you being greedy for your profession. I can understand this, it doesnt make it right however.

FC, Let agents do what you told them they could. Cast other prof nanos. Otherwise, plese change the description so that it says

"can cast buffs only pre 14.2 patch before prof requirements came out, and wont be able to cast anything new ever again from any other prof"

Cause thats what your doing now.

[Zanthyna]

Agents need access to other profession's nanos (with very few exceptions) if they are to be effective. Agent False Professions come with hefty penalties so even with full access to other professions' nanos, the Agent will still be weaker then an actual Fixer, Soldier, etc. No Fixer has ever tried to join a group only to be told "sorry, we don't need you, we have an Agent in FP Fixer."

False Profesion isn't a perk of being an Agent, it is a core aspect. And while its nice for other proffessions to be unique and feel wanted, its pretty hard to have a profession whose defining trait is mimicry not be allowed to mimic. Because FP has strong penalties and because very few, if any, Agents have the time to create a full set of implants, equipment, etc for each FP, Agents will never be as good as the original profession.

Agents don't take away the need for other proffesions, Agents fill in when that proffession isn't there. Otherwise teams of all Agents in FP would be viable (lol, imagine that!).

Agents also are limited by their skill level in the various nano skills--they don't have access to many of the FP nanos simply because they haven't spec'd their characters to be a master of all nano skills. Choosing what nano skills to sink valuable IP into isn't easy when you have to decide how it will effect your ability to cast every professions' nanos.

To the people who dislike Agents using their 'good' skills I ask, do you only want Agents having access to the crap nanos? That would kill FP and with it be a huge Agent nerf. Imagine if every other profession had a FP: Agent nano. Do you think anyone would use it?

[lilnymph]

What I would like to see is agents having at the very least the low end nanos of every line (with exceptions, GA and NS coming to mind ). So, an Agent would have access to the first few NCU Buffs, but not the higher level ones, keeping some individuality for each profession at higher levels.

Hugs

lilnymph

[_______Panda of Doom]

Heh, let me go over my thoughts on this, longer version:

The real problem is that fixers, with their ever-so-lovely dark blue nanoskills, have low-nanoskill costs on the mid-high nanos....750ish for the top buffs, or there abouts.

That means agents would be wanted for ncu buffs even more than fixers, because they can cast them right at the level caps, or there about, instead of 10 levels later, like any non-gimped fixer.

And -that- is just plain fooked No way should an agent be looked to for a buff before the class that can cast it. And without some serious work that FC wouldn't put in, it won't be changed to be more reasonable.

If it can't be changed to be reasonable, the next best thing is to not do it, rather than really screw it up. I'm sorry if agents don't like that, but I'd like to at least pretend to keep the game mechanics balanced. Lost cause, but call me an optimist.

-Pandaofdoom

[Tiggy]

I’m not happy that ALL the new nanos are uncastable by agents. Nanos like the NCU buff should not be castable as things like that are defining to the profession that has them.

Things like 1h and 2h weapon buffs and the new soldier weapon buffs, those should really be in an agents repertoire. After all every other weapon buff is available. Many people want weapon buffs and I can’t see that an agent being able to supply them as well as the prof that owns them could make agents any more powerful and as long as that is the case then we should be able to do them.

The fact that a lot of these buffs happen to use SI and PM, the 2 most important agent nano skills, means that agents are often able to cast things before the actual prof that owns them (like 80pt treatment buffs or the infamous engie +120 pistol buff that uses nano skills that engies just don’t/cant develop). So if it uses SI and PM the agent will probably be able to cast it first, (even with the -25 to nano skills that the first level FP gives).

The harsh negatives to initiatives that fp’s hit us with make any direct damage or combat cast buffs fairly impractical to use. FP casting is usually pre combat type buffs with a few exceptions in the high lvl game. Getting a nice fat -140 (mimic) to all your nano skills makes an agent a very second rate combat caster at high levels (no problem with that).

I think the only reason we (agents) are unable to cast any of the new nanos isn’t because they are uber or anything, its because AO has run out of space in the programs section of our interface. You know you are hitting limits when every time you log on you find the last two nanos you uploaded have mysteriously moved back to the psi tab, logging on and off a few times without replacing them will totally rearrange your layout as nano after nano gets shifted. If you’re an agent you have to develop the “logging-on ritual of replacement”.

Tiggy

[______________Thoram]

Originally posted by Turin
Whiners Whiners everywhere.

Fixers got the NCU buff to be more desireable in teams. Okay, great. We all want the smurf buffs now.

Agents though, are upposed to, by the deffinition written by FC, supposed to be able to fill in as any other profession. Hence, since most people want the NCU buff fixers have. Agetns no longer fit that role.


And to whomever said that every nano given specicically to a professoin, and not available for agents, is NOT a agent nerf. well. You are 100% wrong. In every way shape and form. Period. No ifs ands or butts about it. It is more a case for you being greedy for your profession. I can understand this, it doesnt make it right however.

FC, Let agents do what you told them they could. Cast other prof nanos. Otherwise, plese change the description so that it says

"can cast buffs only pre 14.2 patch before prof requirements came out, and wont be able to cast anything new ever again from any other prof"

Cause thats what your doing now.

I said that it wont gimp or nerf agents if they are not able to cast another professions nanos, and nothing you say will make me change that.

You also accuse fixers for being greedy for wanting our profession buffs to be fixer only. (If I am reading your post right.)

Now tell me. You want other professions nanos... tell me whos greedy?

You say that you should work as FC says in the description...

well newsflash... I dont think any profession works as the description FC made.

Zanthyna: you say that agents need access to other professions nanos to be effective.

In some cases maybe, but in a team... I dont think so. Agents at higher levels do some nasty damage with their aimshots.

If the team is of mixed profession there is no need for a FP agent. And it is rearly I see a agent in a team that goes FP...

I saw it in the past, but not lately. And since I saw it in the past they had did go FP to cast some other profs. nano's and they were happy about this. Now they aren't happy anymore. Why?

The rest is for those agents that want, want, want, but dont want to share:

is it because FC are trying to make each profession more defined by not allowing agents to cast the new nanos that pop up, or is it because agents by default are greedy.

I know I will get responses to this... bring it on. I know atleast one of the responses will be to the effect... "If FC are trying to define each profession, why not define the agent to allow them to use their FP line with the new non-agent profession nanos?"

Well, to you I can only say this... Prior to the fixer getting their love and some new nanos in a patch. Agents got their. I also believe (not sure) that agents also got some new items or nanos in the same patch as fixers did. I am pretty sure adventurers got theirs.

Point I am trying to make is this.

16 professions.
Each are waiting for a new fix, tweak, balancing or other. Agents had theirs not so long ago, FC is now probably working on another profession.

Dont worry agents. FC will come around to you again some day, as they will come to the fixers, and every other profession. But dont be so greedy as to ask for everything that is intended for other professions.

Back in the day that the Fixer grid quest came around, I saw a few FP agents trying to do the quest....

Why is that... It was a fixer grid. not a agent fp fixer grid.

So step back... look over your profession, read some of the other boards and maybe even try some of the other professions and see if you think they are more balanced then you are. with their nanoskills, nanoprograms and weapons choice or whatnot.

Then you can maybe see the bigger picure here and stop being so freaking greedy and spoiled as the brat is in Omni Ent.

[___________Tangretti]

If it were up to me.. I would give NT's some kind of ncu buff... seeing as they are supposed to be the masters of everything nano. Then again, to solve a problem some people might have because their are no fixers around, I don't believe any class should be given skills just for that purpose. It isn't FC's fault if not enough fixers are in your locale.

*edit* after carefull re-examination.. It may not be FC's fault that you don't have a fixer around when you need them. However, by their definition of what an agent is, they should allow agents to cast that particular buff. I also agree that agents have gotten the short end of the stick with everything new coming out not available to them.

[Inconvenience]

The main problem with this has already been mentioned. Not all fixers have grid armor. Not all fixers have 1k nano init a manex and a tim scope. There needs to be reasons to bring the damn fixer along besides hot's. Agents can already buff runspeed and use grid nano's before the fixer can unless the fixer totally gimped themselves for THE WORST NANO SKILLS IN THE GAME. So, no thanks.

[___________Marshrike]

I really dont see a problem with agents having access to almost all other buffs, with a few notable exceptions (UVC, NS1 and 2, etc). The problem would be who decides what those exceptions would be. I for one have no idea, but truthfully what is the difference between an agent casting mochams/infuse and a NCU buff? Having defensive/support buffs like NCU is not going to make an agent overpowered at all. It is a disturbing new trend that is making all these new buffs uncastable by agents.
They are agents, its what they do.
By themselves, agents are a weak class, dark blue evades, total dependance on 1 special and a quirky short term crit nano, If you take away the ability to FP you arent left with much at all.
To all you people saying that fixers get teams because they have NCU buffs I have a newsflash for you, Fixers are doing an awful lot of damage in missions these days and Im sure that if a team had a agent in the team they would not pass over a fixer. I mean what could be better then the fixer for runspeed/hots/NCU and the agent for XP buff?
As far as agents being greedy? how is it being greedy when you are upset about losing the ability to do something you have always had? The greedy ones are the people who would deny them their class defining ability to do it.




on the other side of the issue tho: Lets not give them everything! Could you imagine yourself on the battlefeild facing an agent in GA4 with UVC running and the word !Challenger! floating above his head?
I just dont see how giving agents things like NCU or HoTs could be a bad thing at all.

[Inconvenience]

I take back my statement. Give agents access to ncu and hot's but not the top two or three of each line.

After all they are squishy.

[________________Tium]

Suuuure, take our fixer buffs, why not.

Just as long as fixers get a crit line like you agents have, I will be happy

[Snee]

NCU is a teambuff! Sure we could be greedy and ask for Visual Profession only to benefit from it individually. However, the reason I asked Cz to re-review the issue is the fact that "large scale buffing" is quite common these days (tower wars, unique mobs). Giving Agents access to NCU buffs wouldn't just benefit Agents, it would benefit every class, even Fixers.

(The next time I see a busy Fixer Ill make sure to add another request to his/her cue instead of moving along as I've usually done.)