Everything wrong with the 03/04/26 Patch

[Rille]

Agree with evrything here, the changes looks extremly uninspired.

Change for the sake of change, with no real thought behind the end result.

[Teefz]

Quality post. You have done a thorough job of highlighting many of the issues.

I do not mind setting a baseline, it is a good idea. However drip-feeding the community half-baked products is a flawed execution of this idea.

The changes are killing build diversity across the board instead of increasing it, due to the way its done and the abysmal stat weighing. Not to mention the poor timing of it, as launching it mid-balance-phase has its implications as well.

A change of this caliber should have been done pre-class-balancing and should be thoroughly tested on what impact it will have, before ever considering going live with it. Instead we are now loading scripts and automatically overwriting 40k+ items, ultimately creating an endless amount of new bugged or poorly weighted items, that will require more man-power instead of fixing other fundamental issues, which have been problematic for years at this point (looking at you campaign+sc's).

In my mind this patch is not healthy for the overall enjoyment and diversity of what a mmo is suppose to be and I'm not very hopeful for the upcoming May patch, which seemingly will doubledown on killing off even more build variety. Not to mention it simultaneously completely nullifies hundreds of previous work-hours spend by what I assume or hope are other sections of the ror staff. Mind boggling stuff.

Thank you for taking the time to write this detailed response.

[kpihuss]

The original post it is a very nice post.

[Fontaami]

2.3.2 PROC OVEREVALUATION:
EVERY SINGLE weapon proc in the game currently has a stat cost of 40 a.k.a. Strong (there might be cases where that's not true but from my calculations that was not the case in any item I manually checked). At first I thought that had to be a bug, but I did manage to find examples of procs whose cost was 20 (Moderate)
I can't believe I'm saying this but, thanks to the ninja changes on T2 Epic Quest rewards (e.g. https://killboard.returnofreckoning.com/item/593) whose procs were adjusted (nerfed), we can figure out that EVERY proc they now have is worth 20 stat points (Moderate).

This indicates to me that ALL "ProcName II" procs are treated as Moderate (20), while all weapon procs, which happen to be "ProcName V" or higher are Strong (40). By process of elimination, ONLY "ProcName I" procs will be treated as Weak (10 stat points worth), but as far as I'm aware there aren't any of them in game.

This is absurd on multiple levels, but especially from the angle we've already talked about; even though certain V+ procs got buffed, they are by NO means worth their 40 stat costs if examined under the scope of actual builds or Goal-Stats. The main reason is not because they are weak, but because they are completely unreliable.

Here's some examples of such procs


The combination of extremely low/unreliable proc chance together with meager positive value if they do proc make these procs effectively useless in the eyes of most players. Even if their "costs" have been set to 40, most players would be happy to ditch them and get 10 stats back.

This issue is especially prominent in the comparison of high ilvl weapons with and without procs. By all means, Fortress weapons should outperform their predecessors and yet due to the useless proc attached to them and to the general squishing of gear gap between early 40 and endgame weapons (result of the new formulas), we get that Besieger Weapons have more stats that Fortress ones:


Sure, that's not a fair comparison for dps classes, but it is for classes who do not care about wDps like Healers and Tanks.

The vast majority of procs is just useless and has clearly only been adjusted numerically and not with gameplay/builds in mind.
This is also exacerbated by the fact that some of the few GOOD procs (that should be worth 40 stats) did get nerfed in this patch.
As an example, the reactionary procs most commonly found in BB/Crypt Inf weapons were toned down from 10% to 5% of each avoidance:
https://i.imgur.com/4QAZa3c.png

That DOES make sense on one hand since for example you could gain only ~4% parry for 40 stats and now you gain 5% parry and dodge and disrupt with the (situational) proc.
One the other hand, this makes NO sense because of the...


2.3.3 PARTIAL ADJUSTMENT OF PROCS:
By that I am referring to the fact that ONLY the weapon procs were adjusted in this patch, leaving procs from gear set bonuses unchanged.
For example, why would people wanna run the above weapon with reactionary VI if they could run 4pc Triumphant for a better proc?


Sure, the issue of 9999 crests is here but similar issues pop up with WOU procs and even if we were to exclude procs from set bonuses, due to the fact that weapon procs do NOT stack with abilities, they are in many cases rendered useless.
"Why get a +75 WOU proc weapon if I can do +50 from my abilities alone?"
"Why would I want to increase my armor by +457 if I can do +580 from my abilities alone?"


2.3.4 LACK OF REVIEWING:
It is evident that for all the above reasons, the output of the re-itemization script was not reviewed by the Balance Team and perhaps by no one at all.
If I didn't know better, I'd dismiss the weapon gearing system as "AI-generated" if I saw it in a new MMO.
The overall lack of intentional decisions on weapon stats is clear in my eyes and is a HUGE LETDOWN for me.
Not only does it show unprofessional-ism but it also indicates that there is either a large management issue (between the Itemization and the Balance dev teams) or showcases extreme lack of forethought and game-understanding by the balance team itself (if they had a hand in this).

In my mind it seems INCONCEIVABLE that a balance team that would be allowed to review the Itemization changes of this patch, would decide to give the OK to it.

Right now for the range magic classes like sorc, magus or BW it is not worth buying any kind of "On Hit" proc weapons:
1) "On Hit" proc weapons can trigger from autoattacks BUT all of these classes have only melee autoattack option compared to range physical classes (SW/engi/SH) who are able to autoattack from range and melee distance. Throw in some extra +autoattack haste from gear pieces on top of it for even more faster autoattacks for SW/engi/SH.
2) Both DPS and weapon speed on all weapons for sorc, magus and BW is basically useless (unless you decide to hit your targets with staff in melee). Range physical classes, on the other hand, are very much interested in DPS and weapon speed of both their weapons (melee and range).
2) "On Hit" means that you must do some kind of damage to your target (even 1 point) with either ST or AoE ability (or autoattack ). It means that targets with high Block and/or Disrupt will basically be immune to any kind of proc damage from "On Hit" weapons. Throw in 3x HTL, Willpower stacked healers, full Blocked snb tanks - and most of sorc/magus/BW procs won't even reach their targets. Oh, and lets not forget the wonderful strikethrough patch which basically sealed the deal for sorc/magus/BW (you will get Disrupted even by lvl 1 critters sometimes!)
3) The weapon progression from the newest Besieger weapon -> Subjugator weapon > Fortress weapon for sorc/magus/BW is horrendous. Let's look on magus weapon "roadmap":
a) You hit 36 lvl as fresh magus player and buy https://killboard.returnofreckoning.com/item/22037 for 10 genesis crests without any renown requirement. This weapon has no proc on it but overall very solid stats (137 stats + 4% magic crit)
b) You hit 40 lvl now and buy https://killboard.returnofreckoning.com/item/1885 for 20 genesis crests, your Besieger weapon and still no renown requirement. This weapon is ok too but if you do simple math you'll notice it has 135 stats + 4% magic crit compared to Besieger BUT it has quite a useful proc on it. Not a bad trade-off for me.
c) You are looking for your next upgrade and it is here: https://killboard.returnofreckoning.com/item/3435. This weapon has the exact 4% magic crit you have on your Besieger and Subjugator weapons BUT it has even less stats on it - only 130 now. On top of it, your useful Clarity proc from Subjugator weapon is replaced with "On Hit" Shock VII. And you must buy it while trading your Subjugator weapon with extra 100 gold + 1600 war crests. And you must be renown 66 with Invader Ward unlocked to even use it too
d) When you look back, you'll notice that for +20 item level upgrade (Besieger to Fortress), you'll get only one! 5% "On Hit" proc and higher DPS weapon (lol) while losing 7 raw stats. Is April Fools still on?
4) The upcoming RDPS patch is not even out but I dunno how the balance team is going to balance anything while items gone wild for every single class.

[punkshit]

Thank you so much for your work on this post.

I agree with Teefs's statements – there are many other issues in the game that directly impact gameplay.
I returned to ROR in 2022, and all I see is endless player leave. People are leaving the project in groups and guilds due to a lack of content.
We all understand that the development team doesn't have the resources to manage such a large-scale project.

But why is the development team focused on developing PvE content instead of reviving old PvP content? If players wanted PvE or quests, they would be playing WoW.

Why doesn't the development team care about having two mirrors in city sieges? Why doesn't the development team care about the fact that you literally wait 30 minutes for SC, and then a group of 2-3 people throws you into a group of 5-6 people?
The matchmaking system is a complete failure.

Please keep in mind that I am in no way opposed to this project. I have always supported and encouraged long-time players to believe that everything will be fine and they just need to wait.

Let me summarize.
The May patch will decide everything. RoR will be reborn and shine like never before (this will only happen with the introduction of unique rewards for SC and the city seige), or it will be buried and forgotten by the last players who still believe in it and haven't lost hope.

Thank you for your attention.
Headcrusher (88) Guardmachine (84) Madmachine (86)

[kpihuss]

Let me summarize.
The May patch will decide everything. RoR will be reborn and shine like never before (this will only happen with the introduction of unique rewards for SC and the city seige), or it will be buried and forgotten by the last players who still believe in it and haven't lost hope.

This is the key: Unique rewards for SCs and citys, so the game will be enjoyable again on a lot of ways

[punkshit]

Let me summarize.
The May patch will decide everything. RoR will be reborn and shine like never before (this will only happen with the introduction of unique rewards for SC and the city seige), or it will be buried and forgotten by the last players who still believe in it and haven't lost hope.

This is the key: Unique rewards for SCs and citys, so the game will be enjoyable again on a lot of ways

The point is that this content is absolutely dead right now—there's no variety.

Huge crowds run around in RVR and press three buttons. And the developers encourage this gameplay by increasing the rewards in the RVR zone.
Meanwhile, city sieges and scenarios (which have always been the final content) are empty due to the lack of incentive for players to engage in them.

[shoelessHN]

There's still time to go into the version history and roll back the itemization changes.

[Aluviya]

Can't agree more. What worries me most is that this doesn't just create balance issues — it fundamentally reduces build variety.
The current direction heavily reinforces single “correct” stat paths and BIS choices, leaving little room for alternative or niche builds.
Instead of meaningful decisions, it creates a tunnel with one clear endpoint for most classes — something the game is already struggling with.

On top of that, there are still major inconsistencies. Sets like Warlord, which are supposed to represent semi–top-tier progression, risk becoming less valuable in terms of stat distribution after this rework, since they do not sit on the same level as SoV. This disproportionately affects already niche playstyles — such as hybrid healers — pushing them even further out of viability.

Additionally, we are already seeing cases where weapons lose a significant amount of stats due to certain effects being overvalued in the underlying calculations — AP/s being a clear example.

At this point, it feels like the project lacks overarching supervision. Instead of a coordinated direction, it comes across as multiple parallel efforts making isolated decisions — resulting in a cycle of changes for the sake of change, followed by reactive fixes.

[kpihuss]

Let me summarize.
The May patch will decide everything. RoR will be reborn and shine like never before (this will only happen with the introduction of unique rewards for SC and the city seige), or it will be buried and forgotten by the last players who still believe in it and haven't lost hope.

This is the key: Unique rewards for SCs and citys, so the game will be enjoyable again on a lot of ways

The point is that this content is absolutely dead right now—there's no variety.

Huge crowds run around in RVR and press three buttons. And the developers encourage this gameplay by increasing the rewards in the RVR zone.
Meanwhile, city sieges and scenarios (which have always been the final content) are empty due to the lack of incentive for players to engage in them.

The clearest example of this is the weekend scenario events. How many people play them only because there’s an event with rewards and they have to complete it? Then during the week they won’t play a single scenario, maybe because they do not even like them, but on the weekend they will play those 10 scenarios with every character just to get the event rewards.

As someone said on the forum the other day: before, during a bad server hour, you had 10 city instances. Now, in prime time, if you’re lucky, there are 2.

The state of the game right now is that RvR is awful, because it is nothing but blob fighting; the RvR campaign has no meaning or goals; scenarios take far too long to pop, and if you are on a full party, they often do not even start; city sieges are merely anecdotal and have no organized gameplay at all; ranked is disabled; and the only thing that works is the dungeons. But the worst part of all is the silence from the GMs, who say nothing, do not ask the community, rarely answer questions, and give a very strong impression that the players have been abandoned, as if we were just cattle they have to herd. (This is my fellings about GMs )

And mind you, I am very grateful for the effort they make to keep the game alive; but I would also greatly appreciate a little empathy toward the players from time to time.

Large and important patches like this should be released on the test server first, so the whole community can be heard, not just the small group of beta testers who developed them. And if they are poorly received, they should then be adjusted based on the ideas and suggested improvements provided by players during that testing period.