References:
http://forums.anarchy-online.com/sho...nturer-pistols
https://forums.anarchy-online.com/sh...or-Adventurers
https://forums.anarchy-online.com/sh...160-FA-pistols
https://forums.anarchy-online.com/sh...vy-New-Pistols
Greetings!
First of all, please excuse me if I'm resurrecting this question again, but it might be relevant again with 18.7. Is there any possibility for the Adventurer to receive an upgraded Jobe Explorer Personal Pistol or any other replacement?
Since 18.7 has landed, when doing random high level encounters in PvM, my Adventurer sometimes seems to have an issue with hitting full damage Full Autos due to the new Deflect mechanic ( Full Auto: If a shot is glanced, all subsequent bullets will do 50% damage. ). I have seen my 10 bullets do around 5,000-7000 damage when they should be doing upwards to the 12000-13000 damage I get in my usual setup. This does influence us a bit, reducing the overall FA portion of our damage.
Personally, I don't really understand why we're apparently not allowed to have one. By reading old threads from 09', motives such as "op adv odd-ing soldiers", "op pvm" are brought. Come 18.7, I'm sure as developers have noticed, balance has been a bit off with the damage some professions have been dumping. Maybe it is a relevant time for something while they will be trying to rebalance the changes?
Maybe it is possible to fill this "profound loss" by introducing a short tradeskill, new item drop or something to help us a bit with this issue? If I'm not mistaken, we must be the only profession that still uses a weapon that you equip from level 100 all to endgame PvM, all the way from 2004 to 2015. 11 years without upgrading your weapon feels quite odd.
People have been proposing alternatives since 2011, such as tradeskilling it with a Xan Weapon Upgrade, tradeskilling it with whatever upgrade item like Peh'wer or Troa'ler does, having it as a new drop, quest/mission reward or any other way to receive it.
Maybe with 18.7, we can solidify something that is a worthy upgrade, but does not affect the ecosystem in general. Make it happen fellow Adventurers!
#jeppreplacement
Quick photoshop: http://i.imgur.com/roAKgBZ.png
The weapon
Green - potential adjustments
Yellow - potential damage adjustments that might upset the scales ( not changed in the form below )
Or something new altogetherXan Explorer Personal Pistol
UNIQUE
Ammo: 15/15 ( Maybe a higher clip count? 12?13?15? It would make a nice QOL change to have more bullets, and not having to reload over 6-7 each time. From an ingame/lore point of view, totally doable as some pistols can use over 50 bullets. Why would an energy clip be this low. Might influence damage )
Quality level: 300 ( Of course a quality bump is welcome! )
Requirements:
Wield:
On Self:
Full Auto from 1x21 and ( Normally, an increased FA requirement. If designed for a TL7 215+ player, over 1221? Endgame - 1421? )
Pistol from 2x01 and ( As well, an increased Pistol requirement. 2001? 2201? )
Must have expansionset: Shadowlands and ( LotX requirement as all the Xan weapons? )
Adventurer
Ammo type: Energy Weapon Ammo ( Maybe switch to Bullets like a Twitch/Pehwer for another QoL change? )
Damage: 200-300(100) ( Maybe a slight increase in damage? It would possibly unbalance it, just keep the Quality of Life changes instead )
Dps: 100.0-150.0(50.0)
Range: 2xm ( Maybe an increase in range to 25m as the other Xan weapons, specifically the Envy of the Xan? )
Dual wield: Multi Ranged 1x00 ( Again a normal increase in requirements. 1501, 1751 depending on purpose )
Max beneficial skill: 1000 ( Maybe a slight increase in the MBS? Like the damage, if it's unbalanced, rather have the QoL changes )
Attack skills: Pistol 100%
Defence skills: Dodge-Rng 100%
Modifier:
On User:
Modify Max Health 125
Modify Max Nano 125
Damage type: Energy AC
Description:
This pistol was developed in Jobe for use by explorers and surveyors hired by JAME (Jobe Association of Metaphysical Exploration). A large number of these pistols were recently stolen from one of the Nascence research centers, where they were stored. This pistol has been tweaked with Xan-Tech schematics, << improving the magazine size, allowing more spare ammunition to be loaded in a clip. >> / << allowing the installation of an improved firing chamber, that allows bullet clips to be loaded. >> / << with an upgraded rifled barrel, improving the damage potential.>>
Risks and Benefits
There are various risks involving changes in the ecosystem for the weapon, some of which I'll try to detail down below:
Changing the ammo clip count
/-\ By keeping the same stats on the weapon, but changing the ammo to improve capacity to 12-13-15 bullets, would involve having bullets hit more often, for more damage, effectively increasing damage potential. As I've seen, this is unwanted, as it would make adventurers have a higher damage output. It is somewhat possible to balance by increasing the Hardcap on the FA skill, effectively trading higher FA damage, with lower recharge.
/-\It would modify the weapon regarding PvP as it will become more effective to use, thus changing the game by making it hotswappable or replacing AS. Higher equip delay, nullifying hotswap, -AS skills like on Troa'ler?
/-\ On the plus side, it would help with the deflect problem in PvM that seems to be only our issue. After asking Soldiers or Fixers, they don't seem to have issues from FA deflecting, due to the high bullet count on their weapons.
/-\ It would be a slight Quality of Life change, I'm sure most FA professions like to reload before each skill use. We wouldn't be penalized that much like we are now if we don't reload over 6-7, as we would have possibly 2-5 more bullets to play with.
Changing Ammo type to Bullets
/-\ I'm not sure there are any downfalls to this? People might have either gotten so bored of the Energy sound of the gun, or simply don't want it to be changed?
/-\ It would allow us to carry just Bullet stacks, and I'm not sure how easy it is to change the weapon tracer effects and the sound to some normal handgun tracers/sounds, but I for one would appreciate this change.
Range increase
/-\ A negative impact would be that the Troa'ler has a 20m range. By increasing FA range, not only we can stay much further, but it will have range over the Troa'ler.
/-\ If designed more for PvM, i see why not increase the range to 25m, compared to the Envy of the Xan. It probably would allow us to kite better I guess.
MBS or Damage increase
/-\/-\/-\ As I've spoken with a few Adventurers, this is a no-no, as it would lead to increased damage, and big changes regarding the PvP status of the weapon and the PvM status of the adventurer in general. If white hits are increased, or if damage is increased, it would lead to other problems, such as having a wonder weapon that would effectively OD soldiers.
/-\ Maybe a symbolic increase of damage, or even a slight increase in MBS, if numbers permit? Most guaranteed the numbers won't allow for it.
Changing modifiers
/-\ I have no idea if developers use item budges, or what they use, but I'm sure changed modifiers would not agree with the above damage or clip changes, as it would add even more. We don't want more at this stage, we just want some quality of life changes, so keeping them the same would work. A symbolic bump to 150/150 possibly?
/-\ If the item budget permits, since compared to a Troa'ler, depending on the purpose of the weapon, it could receive some nice bonuses like the Troa'lers: Health, AAO, Inits
To draw a conclusion:
I would like to see an upgraded JEPP with a different model, in line with Xan weapons, which has Bullet tracers and sound effects, that can use Bullets, and which has a higher clip count so I don't have to look at my bullets each 11 seconds. I don't want more damage, I don't want to upset the ecosystem.
By testing Deflect real quickly, it can seen that since 18.7, we have been doing a bit less FA damage in high end PvM. More of a reason for a slight upgrade.