August 3, 2016 - August Update Preview

[Riou]

As we get closer to the end of the year, most of the team's efforts are focused on working on EverQuest's 23rd expansion. In preparation for the expansion, our August update focuses on AA consolidation and tuning systems.

This update is scheduled for Wednesday, August 17, 2016, and we wanted to give everyone a preview at some of the things that will be coming later this month.

In this update, we'll have:

 Many AA Ability Consolidations
 Improvements to how Runes Stack
 Adjustments to Riposte
 Additional Combat Balance
 Added Quest Flag to MANY Classic Items

The most extensive section of the August update notes will be the list of AA ability lines that have been merged with their activated counterparts. As always, we value your feedback on these upcoming changes, but we ask that you check them out for yourself first (on test or on live servers). We're grateful for your continued support!

[Riou]

AA Ability Line Consolidation

Among a number of initiatives we've been working on is the consolidation of various AA ability lines. The most extensive section of the August update notes will be the list of AA ability lines that have been merged with their activated counterparts. While this isn't the first update to contain AA ability consolidation it will be one of the biggest!

As we are approaching the next expansion it comes as no surprise that many of our systems have grown immensely in complexity and scope. In an effort to ensure long term maintainability and reduce UI bloat we've been consolidating the AA ability system over the course of the last few months.

How do we choose what to consolidate?

 Multiple passive ability lines that provide the same benefit.
 Passive ability lines whose sole purpose is to augment an activated ability.

In the first case, it made sense from a maintainability standpoint to merge these lines so that, rather than have ability A that provides 20% benefit andability B that provides an additional 20% benefit, that you simply have ability AB that provides 40%.

In both cases, in addition to being more maintainable, consolidating these abilities reduces the number of entries in the AA window and aims to simplify the buying/comparison process.

While this list isn't final and may change before the update, see this post if you want a list of AA Ability changes that are planned for August's update.


Runes

Thanks to some very studious members of the community who reported it, we recently identified and fixed an issue related to rune stacking.

The short version: Having multiple buffs that provide a percentage reduction for incoming damage will no longer ever result in you taking more damage.

For those who like details: It was reported that, in some cases, having multiple buffs that provide a percentage reduction in incoming damage proved to be detrimental as the combat system could select a buff that caused you to take more damage.

The reason this could happen is because the combat system would select the buff that had the highest percentage absorption without regard for the total amount of damage it could block per hit. This resulted in taking more damage if, for example, you had Buff A which absorbs 100% of melee damage up to 1000 points of damage and Buff B which absorbs 90% of melee damage up to 5000 points of damage and you were being hit for 10,000 points of damage.

To fix this issue, the combat system will now look at every percentage guard buff that you have, calculate the actual effectiveness of each one, and select the buff that provides the highest potential damage protection.


Ripostes

While digging through the combat code, two very old bugs related to riposte attacks came to light and were corrected for the August update.

The first and simpler issue: Normally, when your current target is defeated, it is removed from your target window. This however didn't work in the rare case where your target is defeated by your riposte attack. This has been fixed.

The second more complex issue: This bug is related to some combat code introduced in Kunark which began manifesting itself much later as new AA abilities were introduced.

In a very early effort to prevent an infinite combat loop it was decided that having any buffs that improved your chance of riposting your opponent's attacks would make it impossible for your opponent to riposte your own. This was done to ensure that two players who activated abilities such as Counterattack Discipline would not get into a situation where a single attack was riposted infinitely.

Much later, when AA abilities and buffs began providing riposte chance improvements in amounts less than 100%, an unintended side-effect was that NPCs could no longer riposte players who had these AAs or buffs. This was a contributing factor to the removal of Enrage as a common NPC mechanic as it was deemed inconsistently punitive to classes without riposte immunity.

The underlying problem with the original code has been corrected so that, having buffs or AAs that improve your chance to riposte your opponent will no longer make it impossible for your opponent to riposte your attacks. Now, riposte attacks themselves simply cannot be riposted, but normal attacks can be.

In an effort to balance this change, all non-pet NPCs have had the amount of damage they deal with riposte attacks reduced to 25-40% of the damage they would normally deal.


Additional Combat Balance

One issue that has been highlighted in recent content is the power of abilities that allow the attacker to hit every target in range. Specifically: Destructive Force, Furious Rampage, and Rake's Rampage.

Looking at the number of recent events whose challenge is intended to consist of dealing with a number of enemies at once these specific abilities have proven to make these fights easier than is intended.

For this reason, these AA abilities are being adjusted so that the amount of damage dealt by additional combat rounds triggered from them will deal significantly less damage per hit. Even with this reduction these abilities should still prove to be a powerful tool in dealing with groups of enemies.

Note: The changes made to these abilities will not impact the current functionality of their focused counterparts.


Quests

In previous updates a number of items that are used (or are not used) in tradeskill combines had their tradeskill item flag corrected. The team took a moment to review the number of items that are delivered to various denizens of Norrath in classic quests to see how many of them were correctly labeled with the 'Quest' item flag.

As it turns out only 5.6% of items delivered in classic quests were flagged correctly. The team has fixed the other 94.4% of these items, which we hope will shed some light on some yet-unsolved Norrathian mysteries.


Other Notable Changes

An issue where converting an item would cause any augments it contained to be destroyed was corrected. You will now be required to remove any augments in an item before converting it.

Spells that change the current body-type of the target will no longer cause subsequent spells with similar effects to fail. Note, only one such effect can exist on a target at a time now.

Items that grant the auras Circle of Power, Life, and Mana, and Guardian's Circle can now be activated in addition to any other auras you may currently have active.

All of this is in addition to our normal bug fixes and game tweaks. This update is scheduled to go out to players on Wednesday, August 17, 2016, and you'll see most of the upcoming fixes when they go to the test server. This update is scheduled to go to test server on (or around) August 10.

[Riou]

Here is a list of AA Ability changes that are planned for August’s update. Note that this list may change before this update goes live. You have been crit by a wall of text.

All - A large number of ability lines have been moved from the Class AA window category to either the Archetype or Focus category.
All - Ranks 1-15 of the 7 general Innate Statistic AA abilities have been consolidated to a single line that impacts all 7 statistics named Innate Eminence. Ranks 16-55 of these abilities have been consolidated to be ranks 21-60 of Planar Power.
All - Ranks 1-15 of the 5 general Innate Resist AA abilities have been consolidated into a single line that impacts the 5 basic resist types named Innate Spell Resistance. Consolidated Innate Corruption Protection to be ranks 16-20 of this combined line.
All - Consolidated Bandage Wound to be ranks 4-13 (4-18 for Berserkers and Warriors) of First Aid.
All - Made the following adjustments to the First, Second, and Third Spire lines:
- The Fundament line that was previously required to purchase the first rank of each Spire has had its cost and effects consolidated into the first rank of each Spire.
- Classes that had a Spire hastening line for each spire have had these abilities consolidated to be ranks 4-8 of each spire.
- Classes that had a Spire hastening line that applied to all three spires have had these abilities split and consolidated to be ranks 4-8 (5-9 for Rogues) of each spire.
Multiple - Consolidated Planar Durability to be ranks 5-7 of Natural Durability. The portion of Physical Enhancement (and Improved Physical Enhancement for Rogues) that increases base hit-points by a percentage has been moved to be new ranks 4 and 11 (and 12) of Natural Durability.
Multiple - Consolidated Spell Casting Fury to be ranks 1-3 of Destructive Fury and Fury of Magic. Moved the component of ranks 16+ of Fury of Magic that increased the damage of critical direct-damage spells to Destructive Fury so that all ranks of Fury of Magic impact only the critical direct-damage chance and all ranks of Destructive Fury impact only the critical direct-damage damage-multiplier.
Multiple - Consolidated Hastened Forceful Rejuvenation to be ranks 2-10 of Forceful Rejuvenation.
Multiple - Consolidated Hastened Improved Twincast to be ranks 5-12 of Improved Twincast.
Multiple - Consolidated Elemental Agility to be ranks 1-3 of Companion's Agility, these ranks are now available to all classes that have access to Companion's Agility.
Multiple - Consolidated Elemental Durability to be ranks 1-3 of Companion's Durability, these ranks are now available to all classes that have access to Companion's Durability.
Multiple - Renamed Sturdy Companion to Companion's Sturdiness.
Multiple - Renamed Divine Companion Aura to Companion's Divine Aura.
Berserker, Monk, Rogue - Reduced the amount of damage done by attacks triggered from Destructive Force, Rake's Rampage, and Furious Rampage.
Berserker, Warrior - Consolidated Hastened Rampage to be ranks 2-8 of Rampage.
Berserker, Warrior - Consolidated Dauntless Perseverance to be rank 4 of Stalwart Endurance and made this rank available to Berserkers.
Berserker, Warrior - Consolidated Hastened Vehement Rage to be ranks 4-6 and 10-11 of Vehement Rage.
Cleric, Druid, Shaman - Consolidated Hastened Curing to be ranks 4-6, 13-15, and 21 and Quickened Radiant Cure to be ranks 16-20 of Radiant Cure.
Cleric, Druid, Shaman - Consolidated Cascade of Life to be ranks 6, 12, 18, and 24 of Abundant Healing.
Cleric, Paladin - Consolidated Extended Yaulp to be rank 4 of Yaulp (Lesser).
Druid, Ranger, Shaman - Consolidated Fortified Foraging to be ranks 2-4 of Foraging.
Druid, Shaman - Consolidated Affliction Mastery to be ranks 7-15 and 19-27 of Critical Affliction.
Enchanter, Magician, Wizard - Consolidated Hastened Arcane Whisper to be ranks 8-12 of Arcane Whisper.
Enchanter, Magician, Necromancer, Wizard - Intelligence casters have been given access to ranks 1-6 of Twinproc.
Paladin, Shadowknight - Consolidated Quickened Helix of the Undying to be ranks 3-7 of Helix of the Undying.
Paladin, Shadowknight - Consolidated Hastened Ageless Enmity to be ranks 4-8 of Ageless Enmity.
Paladin, Shadowknight - Made a number of modifications to Shield Specialist:
- Ranks 1-5 of Shield Specialist are now ranks 1-5 of Knight's Weapon Mastery, which increases the base damage of all weapon types wielded by the knight regardless of wearing a shield.
- Added a 6th rank and increased the effectiveness of all ranks of this ability.
Paladin, Shadowknight - Reduced the effectiveness of Knight's Sedulity from 5% to 4%.
Paladin, Shadowknight - Consolidated Fearless to be rank 4 of Fear Resistance.
Paladin, Shadowknight - The various Summon Mount abilities have been moved from the class category to the Special category of the AA ability window.
Bard - Consolidated Hastened Shield of Notes to be ranks 16, 20, 24, and 28 of Shield of Notes.
Bard - Consolidated Selo's Enduring Cadence to be ranks 6-8 of Innate Run Speed.
Beastlord - Consolidated Warder's Fury to be ranks 1-15, 19-23, and 27-29 of Companion's Fury.
Beastlord - Consolidated Warder's Alacrity to be ranks 1-14 and 18-26 of Companion's Alacrity.
Berserker - Consolidated Hastened Binding Axe to be ranks 3, 5, and 7 of Binding Axe.
Berserker - Consolidated Undaunted Fury to be rank 4 of Fear Resistance.
Berserker - Renamed the ability 'Two Hands, No Mercy' to 'Weapon Proficiency'.
Berserker - Renamed the ability 'Juggernaut's Proficiency' to 'Juggernaut's Weapon Mastery'.
Cleric - Consolidated Hastened Focused Celestial Regeneration to be ranks 13-17 of Focused Celestial Regeneration.
Cleric - Consolidated Hastened Purification of the Soul to be ranks 2-8 and 10-11 of Purify Soul.
Cleric - Consolidated Extended Shield of Reverence to be rank 4 and Hastened Shield of Reverence to be ranks 5-11 of Shield of Reverence.
Cleric - Consolidated Hastened Divine Guardian to be ranks 6-8 and 10-11 of Divine Guardian.
Cleric - Consolidated Hastened Channeling the Divine to be ranks 2-6 of Channeling the Divine. Additionally, combined the effects of Price of Divinity into Channeling the Divine so that this ability will no longer take two buff slots.
Cleric - Consolidated Hastened Group Purify Soul to be ranks 2-6 of Group Purify Soul.
Cleric - Consolidated Quickened Call of the Herald to be ranks 2-5 of Call of the Herald.
Cleric - Consolidated Hastened Turn Undead to be ranks 9-17 and 25 and Quickened Turn Undead to be ranks 20-22, 26, and 33 of Turn Undead.
Cleric - Consolidated Hastened Divine Retribution to be ranks 7-9 and 13-15 of Divine Retribution.
Cleric - Consolidated Hastened Celestial Regeneration to be ranks 19-21 and 28-29 of Celestial Regeneration.
Cleric - Consolidated Extended Healing Frenzy to be rank 7 of Healing Frenzy.
Cleric - Consolidated Hastened Divine Avatar to be ranks 10-15 and 22-24 of Divine Avatar.
Cleric - Consolidated Hastened Blessing of Resurrection to be ranks 2-4 and Quickened Blessing of Resurrection to be ranks 5-7 of Blessing of Resurrection. Added a 600 point mana cost to this ability to match Reviviscence.
Cleric - Consolidated Hastened Divine Resurrection to be ranks 2-6 of Divine Resurrection.
Cleric - Consolidated Hastened Celestial Hammer to be ranks 16-21 of Celestial Hammer.
Druid - Consolidated Hastened Nature's Boon to be ranks 15, 19, and 23-25 of Nature's Boon.
Druid - Consolidated Hastened Swarm of Fireflies to be ranks 5-9 of Swarm of Fireflies.
Enchanter - Consolidated Hastened Soothing Words to be ranks 4-6 and 13 of Soothing Words.
Enchanter - Consolidated Hastened Reactive Rune to be ranks 7-11 of Reactive Rune.
Enchanter - Phantasmic Reflex will now only trigger on level 110 and lower spells.
Enchanter - Ethereal Manipulation has been renamed Tashan's Lingering Cry and will now cause single target Tashani spells cast by the enchanter to trigger a debuff which increases the damage of direct-damage and damage-over-time spells that land on the target.
Enchanter - The various Enchant Metal abilities have been moved from the class category to the Special category of the AA ability window.
Magician - Consolidated Hastened Second Wind Ward to be ranks 4-8 of Second Wind Ward.
Magician - Consolidated Elemental Fury to be ranks 1-15, 19-38, and 42-46 of Companion's Fury.
Magician - Consolidated Elemental Alacrity to be ranks 1-14 and 18-37 of Companion's Alacrity.
Monk - The passive ability Dragon Punch has been changed to an activated ability named Dragon Force. Rather than augmenting your existing Dragon Punch skill to trigger a knockback effect on your opponent it will directly trigger the knockback effect when activated.
Monk - Consolidated Weightless Steps to be ranks 6-8 of Innate Run Speed.
Necromancer - Consolidated Greater Blood Tithe to be ranks 13-15 and 18-20 and Affliction Mastery to be ranks 7-12, 16-17, 21, and 25-33 of Critical Affliction.
Necromancer - Consolidated Hastened Dead Mesmerization to be ranks 2-4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14-15, and 17 of Dead Mesmerization.
Necromancer - Consolidated Death's Fury to be ranks 1-5 and Death's Wrath to be ranks 6-15, 19-40, and 44-46 of Companion's Fury.
Necromancer - Consolidated Quickening of Death to be ranks 1-10 and 14-23 of Companion's Alacrity.
Necromancer - Added 3 ranks of Fear Resistance to which Dread Incarnate is now rank 4.
Paladin - Consolidated Hastened Hand of Piety to be ranks 7-9, 25-26, and 39-40 of Hand of Piety.
Paladin - Consolidated Hastened Projection of Piety to be ranks 3-7 of Projection of Piety.
Paladin - Consolidated Hastened Marr's Salvation to be ranks 2-6 and 8-9 of Marr's Salvation.
Paladin - Consolidated Hastened Armor of the Inquisitor to be ranks 16-18 of Armor of the Inquisitor.
Paladin - Reduced the base reuse time of Thunder of Karana to 9 minutes to match the reduction previously offered by Hastened Armor of the Inquisitor.
Paladin - Consolidated Hastened Gift of Resurrection to be ranks 2-4 and Quickened Gift of Resurrection to be ranks 5-8 of Gift of Resurrection. Added a 700 point mana cost to this ability to match Resurrection.
Paladin - Consolidated Divine Fury to be ranks 12-14 of Divine Stun.
Paladin - Consolidated Quickened Force of Disruption to be ranks 15-17 of Force of Disruption.
Paladin - Consolidated Hastened Leap of Faith to be ranks 3-7 of Leap of Faith.
Paladin - Consolidated Quickened Radiant Cure to be ranks 7-11 of Radiant Cure.
Paladin - Consolidated Hastened Beacon of the Righteous to be ranks 4-8, 12, and 17 and Extended Beacon to be ranks 13-14 of Beacon of the Righteous.
Paladin - Consolidated Extended Speed of the Savior to be ranks 2 and 7 and Hastened Speed of the Savior to be ranks 3-6 of Speed of the Savior.
Paladin - Consolidated Hastened Shield of Brilliance to be ranks 7-9 and 15-18 and Extended Shield of Brilliance to be rank 10 of Shield of Brilliance.
Paladin - Consolidated Extended Blessing of the Faithful to be ranks 7-9 of Blessing of the Faithful.
Ranger - Increased the critical chance for archery attacks granted by Combat Fury to equal the critical chance for melee attacks (~6% increase).
Ranger - Consolidated Hastened Grasp of Sylvan Spirits to be ranks 2-7 of Grasp of Sylvan Spirits.
Ranger - Consolidated Hastened Outrider's Accuracy to be ranks 10-14 of Outrider's Accuracy.
Ranger - Consolidated Hastened Outrider's Evasion to be ranks 3-5 of Outrider's Evasion.
Ranger - Consolidated Hastened Outrider's Attack to be ranks 3-8 and 13 and Extended Outrider's Attack to be ranks 10-12 and 16 of Outrider's Attack.
Ranger - Consolidated Hastened Group Guardian of the Forest to be ranks 4-6 and 13 of Group Guardian of the Forest.
Ranger - Consolidated Hastened Protection of the Spirit Wolf to be ranks 13-17 and 24-26 of Protection of the Spirit Wolf.
Ranger - Consolidated Hastened Imbued Ferocity to be ranks 2-7 of Imbued Ferocity.
Ranger - Consolidated Hastened Harmonious Arrow to be ranks 2-4 of Harmonious Arrow.
Ranger - Consolidated Hastened Auspice of the Hunter to be ranks 13-15 and 30-32 and Quickened Auspice of the Hunter to be ranks 22-26 of Auspice of the Hunter.
Ranger - Consolidated Hastened Guardian of the Forest to be ranks 16-20 and 29 of Guardian of the Forest.
Ranger - Consolidated Pathfinder's Grace to be ranks 6-8 of Innate Run Speed.
Rogue - Increased the critical chance for throwing attacks granted by Combat Fury to equal the critical chance for melee attacks (~13% increase).
Rogue - Consolidated Extended Thief's Eyes to be ranks 1-2 of Enhanced Thief's Eyes.
Rogue - Consolidated Massive Strike Recurrence to be ranks 7, 12, and 18-19 and Flurry of Daggers to be ranks 8, 13, and 20-21 of Massive Strike.
Rogue - Consolidated Speed of the Scoundrel to be rank 6 of Innate Run Speed.
Rogue - The various Cunning Disguise abilities have been moved from the class category to the Special category of the AA ability window.
Rogue - Consolidated Improved Physical Enhancement to be rank 3 of Physical Enhancement.
Shadowknight - Consolidated Hastened Projection of Doom to be ranks 3-7 of Projection of Doom.
Shadowknight - Consolidated Hastened Visage of Decay to be ranks 4-6 of Visage of Decay.
Shadowknight - Consolidated Hastened T`Vyl's Resolve to be ranks 3-7 of T`Vyl's Resolve. Reduced the incoming damage modifier of T`Vyl's Weakness I-III from 15, 30, 35% to 15, 17, 20% and removed the 1500 hit limit restriction on the ability.
Shadowknight - Consolidated Hastened Thought Leech to be ranks 5-7 of Thought Leech.
Shadowknight - Consolidated Hastened Visage of Death to be ranks 4-9 and 13-15 of Visage of Death.
Shadowknight - Consolidated Hastened Hate Step to be ranks 2-4 and 6-7 of Hate Step.
Shadowknight - Consolidated Death's Fury to be ranks 1-5 and Death's Revenge to be ranks 9-21 and 25-27 of Companion's Fury.
Shaman - Consolidated Hastened Call of the Ancients to be ranks 9-13 of Call of the Ancients.
Shaman - Consolidated Hastened Spirit Guardian to be ranks 8-12 of Spirit Guardian.
Warrior - Consolidated Extended Resplendent Glory to be ranks 6-9 of Resplendent Glory.
Warrior - Consolidated Hastened Area Taunt to be ranks 2-7 and 9 of Area Taunt.
Warrior - Consolidated Mass, Affected to be ranks 11-13 of Sturdiness.
Warrior - Consolidated Hastened Warlord's Tenacity to be ranks 7-11, 21-23, and 31 of Warlord's Tenacity.
Warrior - Consolidated Hastened War Cry to be ranks 7-12 of War Cry.
Warrior - Consolidated Hastened Ageless Enmity to be ranks 4-6 of Ageless Enmity.
Warrior - Consolidated Hastened Gut Punch to be ranks 4-8, 11-13, and 19-22 of Gut Punch.
Warrior - Consolidated Lasting Bravery to be ranks 2-4 and 11-13 and Hastened Warlord's Bravery to be ranks 7-9 and 14-18 of Warlord's Bravery.
Warrior - Consolidated Hastened Projection of Fury to be ranks 2-4 and 6-9 of Projection of Fury.
Warrior - Consolidated Hastened Wars Sheol's Heroic Blade to be ranks 3-7 of Wars Sheol's Heroic Blade.
Warrior - Consolidated Hastened Mark of the Mage Hunter to be ranks 7-9 and 13-14 of Mark of the Mage Hunter.
Warrior - Consolidated Hastened Press the Attack to be ranks 5-12 of Press the Attack.
Warrior - Consolidated Hastened Rage of Rallos Zek to be ranks 2-6 of Rage of Rallos Zek.
Warrior - Consolidated Hastened Blast of Anger to be ranks 4-12 and 20-22 of Blast of Anger.
Warrior - Consolidated Warlord's Resolve to be rank 4 of Fear Resistance.
Warrior - Made a number of modifications to Shield Specialist and Improved Shield Specialist:
- Ranks 1-13 of Shield Specialist and ranks 1-3 of Improved Shield Specialist are now ranks 1-16 of Warlord's Weapon Mastery, which increases the base damage of all weapon types wielded by the warrior regardless of wearing a shield.
- The chance to trigger Strike of Ire when attacking that was previously granted by ranks 1-3 of Improved Shield Specialist is now granted by ranks 10-12+ of Infused by Rage.
- Strike of Ire can now trigger when wielding either a shield or a weapon in your offhand.
- The bonus chance to trigger weapon effects that was previously granted by ranks 1-3 of Improved Shield Specialist is now granted by the Defensive Proficiency buff triggered by using a shield with Weapon Stances activated.
Wizard - Consolidated Hastened Ward of Destruction to be ranks 6-7, 13, and 15-16 of Ward of Destruction.