Patchnotes 07/10/16

[Sigimund]

There doesn't seem to be a downside to the Engi/Magus mechanic to justify +50% range and +40% damage. Perhaps adding a slow or some sort of defensive debuff as the engi/magus scale towards this powerful artillery level would balance thing out?

There are many downsides to their mechanic. 15s setup time and then 2s/55AP recast every time they move ten feet is enough of a slow and defensive debuff.

[Theseus]

Alpha phase guys, let's turn this into a big party, at least till Balance (forum) comes to spoil it with immense pressure from all sides.

When Balance forums come up, I will write down my oppion to the classes I played so far, and then I will take a long break from forum until all the hotheads here cooled off.^^

[Theseus]

Ok, I cant say something to shamy or AM as I dont play one. But guildies liked it. To the M1 change, as WL, I have to say, I can follow the logic of the, now taken back, change. What I definetly not like is the thing that it had a 25% chance.... I usually dont like concurrences. The amount on damage to break it would be better. But one thing it would guarantee, would be that the sorcs, BW, Magi, Engineers and so on had to be carefull with their AOE and that would be something good in my book.

[Azarael]

A balance topic will be made in due time regarding M1 / M3 roots, with a view to implementing a break threshold instead of a break chance to most if not all roots. I like neither RNG nor the concept that you're entitled to root someone, on a MDPS, with a M1, from 65ft away, for 10 seconds, dealing 75% of the damage of Sever Nerve while doing so, and have that root be unbreakable by anything other than M2 or a root breaker. Do not expect that these roots will remain untouched because I have reverted the change for now.

The experimental mechanic for AM/Shaman will further improve in the next patch, as it is now confirmed that we are casting 1on1 to the wind entirely.

[PartizanRUS]

I'm sure Engineer and Magus required this buff for years. With only range buff imba.
But what these changes for Archmage and Shaman mean. They clearly don't need any buff and especially shamans who can just kite party.
Are all these changes already in-game ?

[Daknallbomb]

hmm i tested my magus a long time now with ab ex .
First thing is ( Bolt of change and snipe schould not benefit from range buff .
Second . The dmg buff is rly good . u have to be stationary 16 secs to get full
third im my opinion i think its the wrong way to buff magus but its still a way to make him more viable 4.now u can get range from pet , so first thing was i drop range taktik cause u dont need and swap to instant cast deamons ( very nice cause u are massiv more mobile now if u do that .
hmm but in play feeling its not okay something is wrong i diddent know what atm ;D have to test more .
The dmg now is rly good not to much !!!

[Toldavf]

Well now they have the code i imagine it wouldn't be to much work to tweak the values so i kind of expect to see some adjustment in the future.

[ToXoS]

I've played my magus for a few hours on T4 ORvR today.
I'm ST spec, and now I can burst properly.
Of course not as much as a sorc and the conditions for the range and damage buff have to be fulfilled, which can be tricky on the run.
Now the magus really feel like the stationary RDPS it was meant to be.
I think this experimental buff should be on the game once and for all.
I was killed by engies a few times too, so I guess it works for them too.
Like Aza said on the engie build thread, only pink horrors and gun turret will give the range buff (probably) and other daemons/turrets will give other buffs.
I can't wait to see that!

[peterthepan3]

There is literally no reason to nerf Bolt of Change's range whatsoever. If you have to have the Pink Horror active to get the max range, then so be it: but there's a reason why Snipe is called 'Snipe'. As mentioned several times already - it takes 16 seconds to get a 225ft range bolt of change: in this time a sorcerer could have killed 3 targets.

'But people use it to spawn camp outside warcamps!' isn't a justifiable argument as many classes can do similar things/siege weapons. This change has thrown engineer/magus a bone to play with: with just a range/dmg buff, they have some use in 6v6 now and can now play on their huge range to their team's advantage.

[Azarael]

The following experimental mode changes are pending:

Archmage/Shaman

• Penalty for self lifetaps reduced to 20% from 50%.
• Balance Essence and I'll Take That now heal for 150% of their base damage (total of 450 at rank 40) plus 150% of damage actually dealt, instead of 350% of damage actually dealt.

Engineer

• Unshakable Focus will no longer stack with Improvised Upgrades.

I hear complaints about the range, but I would like more observation time.