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The Fighter Revamp
The folks at EverQuest II have prepared a dev journal which looks into upcoming changes to the fighter archetype, tanking, and how hate functions.
GU #51, Lucan’s Art of War, will bring a sweeping change to aggro management and how hate is gained. This is a significant change and we want to make sure that it’s as clear as possible.
Why Are These Changes Being Made?
Over time, mechanics have shifted from tanks grabbing and holding aggro because they’re the biggest and baddest thing making the mob angry, to tanks grabbing and holding aggro because they’re being fed hate from other people making the mob angry. In short, the emphasis has been on passive hate gain rather than active hate gain.
The goal is to shift back towards active hate gain and make holding a mob’s attention a more interactive process for the tank.
In order to make this happen, stances are becoming more meaningful. Being a tank in defensive stance will now mean more. Instead of being a damage dealer with a little extra mitigation, you’ll now be a wall of rock standing between the mob and the squishies. Your taunts will be more effective than just saying, “Your father was a hamster and your mother smelled of elderberries!”
Another one of the goals that the team has tried to accomplish with the revamp is to give tanks a more defined role. Before, tanks were all over the place. A little bit of solo tanking here, a little group tanking there, and a heavy emphasis on DPS to gain hate. Now there’s a clearer focus for each tank class. These roles aren’t set in stone and by no means does everyone have to play the same way. A tank can still be flexible in choice of AA’s and how they wish to play. This just makes it easier to match the tank to the job and provides situations where each tank can shine to the best of their abilities.
What Was Wrong With the Way it Was Before?
The role of a tank was blurred. DPS was rapidly becoming the metric by which a tank was judged. Doing their own, siphoning the hate generated by others’ DPS, being fed the hate from others’ DPS.
The team wanted tanks to judge their performance by how well they gained and maintained a mob’s hate instead of how high they could parse. In an effort to make this easier, the team has implemented a hate meter. The hate meter will show the percentage of hate a person has, showing each person how much threat they present to the NPC.
What is the Hate Meter?
The hate meter is an addition to the UI. It will give you a visual representation of how much you’re angering the NPC. The tank will be at 100%. After that, whatever percentage your meter shows will let you know how close you are to the tank.
The higher your percentage the more you’re annoying the NPC. When you start creeping too close to your tank, it might be time to start using your detaunts! The hate meter is toggleable (Ctrl – T or /togglethreatwindow) so it can be turned off if you don’t want to use it.
81% - At this point, you're high on the hate list. This is about the range secondary or off-tanks want to be for peeling purposes, or for quick saves.
99% - You are about to steal aggro. If you don't want to, now is a very good time for your detaunts, or to get up and grab a drink.
22% - This is where you want to live if you don't want to get hit. As a healer, the detaunts drop you very quickly.
100% - Congratulations! You are at the top of the hate list and are the focus of the mob's ire!
What Does This Mean for MY Class?
Fighters are now loosely grouped into single target and group target tanks. While the idea was to make everyone capable of tanking a heroic instance, different tank classes will be more effective depending on the type of encounter.
It also means that spells have been consolidated and that stances have been enhanced to be more effective. Several stand-alone buffs have been merged into stances in order to support the intended use of that stance. For example, stamina buffs are an aid to tanking and would be merged into a defensive stance.
Guardians, Paladins, and Monks will fall into the single target group. They will be the most effective at engaging a single NPC. In raid situations, this would mean that you’d want one of these guys to keep the main NPC’s attention. The same would hold true running through an instance where there is a main NPC who has minions as backup.
Berserkers, Shadowknights, and Bruisers are group target (or AE) tanks. They will be the most effective at scooping up several NPCs and keeping them occupied. They’ll be excellent at off-tanking, but by no means does that mean that they can’t be the main tank in appropriate situations.
Spell Consolidations
Single Target
Guardian
- The Hold the Line spell line has been merged with the defensive stance lines.
- The Iron Will Spell line has been merged with both the offensive and defensive stances.
- The Battle Tactics line has been merged into the Call to Arms line of spells.
- The offensive stance line will now increase damage done to the guardian and also has a damage-based proc while also reducing the hate gain of the guardian.
- The defensive stance will now also increase the amount of taunts and increase the hate gain of the guardian.
- The hate reduction of the Allay line has been reduced.
- The Assault line now grants additional threat gains.
- Reduced the recast of the Shout line.
- The Kick line now generates additional threat.
Paladin
- The Redemption line now greatly increases your threat with the target instead of siphoning hate.
- The Incite line now increases threat initially instead of overtime.
- The Charge line now has a hate component.
- The Divine Circle line now has a hate component.
- The Blessing of the Penitent and Blessed Weapon lines have been merged into the offensive and defensive stances.
- The Blinding Rays line has had its reuse time reduced.
Monk
- The Martial Focus and Dragon stance lines have been merged into the monk’s stances.
- The Stare line increase threat by more.
- The Kick line now has a threat component.
- The Cobra Circle line now increases threat to any targets it hits.
- Beckon has had its reuse time lowered.
Group Target
Berserker
- Berserk has been incorporated into the defensive and offensive stances.
- The Battle Chant line has been merged into the Bloodlust line.
- The Bullying Defense line has been merged into the defensive stance line.
- Uproar has been moved to level 2 to fill in a gap created by the ability mergers.
- The Growl line is now 10 second reuse and more powerful.
- The Offend line has increased threat.
- The Whirl line now has a threat component.
- Reactive taunt strength of the Insolent Gibe line has been increased slightly.
Shadowknight
- The Dark Caress and Unholy Weapon lines have merged into the offensive and defensive stances.
- Defensive stance line will lower damage but increase threat output.
- Offensive stance boosts damage slightly but reduces hate gain.
- Sickening Circle will also increase threat now.
- The Kick line now has a threat component.
Bruiser
- The Roughhouse and Dodge and Strike lines have been merged into the bruiser’s stances.
- The Brag line is now more potent.
- The Kick line now has a threat component.
- The Blazing Strikes line now has a threat component.
- The Impose line has faster reuse speed now.
Read this article at its Original Source
This and the XP gain increase from last year almost makes me want to reactivate my EQ2 account and start playing my Zerker again.
Almost.
I had a deep love for Norrath and EQ2 for years. But I really don't want to be associated with (paying for) a game that has an Item Mall, no matter how little those items may be, the only way to go is up with stuff like that.
With the drought of good MMOs out I might come back to good ol' EQ2. It has been a while since I last played and the Item Mall does not bother me.
With the drought of good MMOs out I might come back to good ol' EQ2. It has been a while since I last played and the Item Mall does not bother me.
Go for it
I try every MMO that gets released, but none of them have kept me as entertained as EQ2 has managed to since its launch.
Despite what the plentitude of SOE/RMT haters will have you believe, The Marketplace makes no difference whatsoever to those that choose not to use it.
At first I had the same feeling about it until I actually checked it out. Everything they sell is strictly cosmetic with the exception of weak xp potions. Nothing sold has any real benefit other than looks so it doesn't effect actual gameplay. It's all junk anyway.
Interesting. My only concern is, as a tank, that my threat meter will only show me @ 100% (if I'm doing my job). I'd like to also see perhaps 2nd and 3rd place and their threat. That way, in case the approach 100% I can try to step it up.
Other than that, I like the idea, just hope I get a free AA respec.
AHHHH making a tank a tank what a great thing to do. I just hope all the cry babies don't get SOE
to change their mind.
Well done SOE.
They nerfed EQ2 just like EQ1 and SWG.
Game is childs play, boringly so.
They best launch a classic server hahah, shards and group xp penalty? hurry!! haha
nah its too late, game is WOW in sheeps clothing now.
Some people like a challenge, agame where dying means something.
SOE suck anyway, the smed is scum.
EQ2 is far superior then most games still in graphics,play style,content, interest and definately much more then WOW. WOW has pvp under it's belt but that gets benign quickly unless repitition is all your brain can handle. Anyway, I am glad that EQ2 is revamping the tanks even though I had no problem with them before. Holding aggro is one job of a tank so making it more effective is ok in my book. Also I am glad they are merging other spells and abilities into the stances. I have a Monk so this is welcomed.
And fighting the same AI mob over and over in EQ2, who does the same spells everytime, is NOT repititious?
I'll keep an eye on these changes. I do miss playing my SK and I saw they got a nice boost in the latest expansion. I can't really afford more then one MMO right now though.
It was about time.
No wonder there were no more tanks around, with DPS more keen on topping the DPS meter, tanks had a real hard job keeping aggro.
This will surely help people forming groups and with TSO will help the game to revert the game to a group focused game rather than the solo style game that has encouraged with RoK and its predecessor.
I am not sure if it will be enough to savage EQ2 though, because the biggest problem with SoE is not the quality of their games in itself, but the tendency of radically change the game play out of the blue.
Until SoE will garantee that it will stop behaving that way, I won't touch a SoE game.
But I have to admit that at least is refreshing they understood their mistakes and they are trying to do something to address them.
By "nerfed" you must have meant "improved" because EQ2 keeps getting better and better which this newest revamp will most likely demonstrate.
I'm still surprised that people try to compare EQ2 to WOW as they seem completely alien to each other imo. WOW is a cartoon-like kids version of EQ2. (or EQ1 even) If either were to be considered "child's play" it would be have to be WOW hands down.
"Game (EQ2) is WOW in sheeps clothing?" How do you even begin to justify that?
You do realize EQ2 launched before WOW did right? EQ1 damn near invented the whole MMO market to begin with and WOW actually owes a lot of their success to that. WOW has had great success but it's just as much from it's being "child's play," low system requirements and mass advertising as it's actual gameplay.
SOE's biggest mistake with EQ2 so far has been thier lack of mass advertising. I highly suspect that had they focused more on celebrity TV adverts than improving the actual game it would be far more popular than it is now.
Overall I'd say if you WERE a fan of EQ2 in the past, try it out again if it's been a long time because a lot has changed with loads of new content and features to enjoy.
By "nerfed" you must have meant "improved" because EQ2 keeps getting better and better which this newest revamp will most likely demonstrate.
I'm still surprised that people try to compare EQ2 to WOW as they seem completely alien to each other imo. WOW is a cartoon-like kids version of EQ2. (or EQ1 even) If either were to be considered "child's play" it would be have to be WOW hands down.
"Game (EQ2) is WOW in sheeps clothing?" How do you even begin to justify that?
You do realize EQ2 launched before WOW did right? EQ1 damn near invented the whole MMO market to begin with and WOW actually owes a lot of their success to that. WOW has had great success but it's just as much from it's being "child's play," low system requirements and mass advertising as it's actual gameplay.
SOE's biggest mistake with EQ2 so far has been thier lack of mass advertising. I highly suspect that had they focused more on celebrity TV adverts than improving the actual game it would be far more popular than it is now.
Overall I'd say if you WERE a fan of EQ2 in the past, try it out again if it's been a long time because a lot has changed with loads of new content and features to enjoy.
By nerf I mean they have made it piss ass easy, and death means nothing.
Wow in sheeps clothing means , they want wows subs, so they dumb game down to wow playstyle.
I have played MMORPG's a long time, come back when you have.
haha, I love WOW? how you work that out? you ever read before you post?
WOW is shit, eq2 is shit, eq2 is easy, TSO /yawn.
SOE wants subscriptions, their games appeal to you, you feel uber / skilled, fair enough.
IMHO EQ2 has no challenge, its same old shit over and over.
Games are becoming like WOW, i.e piss easy.
If you have played as long as you claim you will realise its true.
eq2 is a yawnfest
LOL oh really? Speechless I see.
Hate meters? Why not take all the mystery out of a fight? Just another reason I won't play this game again.
MMOs are suppose to be more then just killing mobs all day and leveling to the top and standing around in your Uber gear for hours. God I hope they are anyway. At least EQ2 is trying to do more with their game. I am not saying it's perfect but more interesting then most. I have played quite a few.
haha, I love WOW? how you work that out? you ever read before you post?
WOW is shit, eq2 is shit, eq2 is easy, TSO /yawn.
SOE wants subscriptions, their games appeal to you, you feel uber / skilled, fair enough.
IMHO EQ2 has no challenge, its same old shit over and over.
Games are becoming like WOW, i.e piss easy.
If you have played as long as you claim you will realise its true.
eq2 is a yawnfest
Most of what you say is true. The reason is they made MMOs a freaking solo game. People follow the path of least resistance and go solo mostly.
But I have to say that TSO is a lot harder than most content on any game.
But I would love to see a Left 4 Dead type off MMO. Where you have hundreds or thousands of enemies coming after a town or your group. And groups could be more than freaking 6 players. But oh well my wish will come true one day, probably after I am dead.
haha, I love WOW? how you work that out? you ever read before you post?
WOW is shit, eq2 is shit, eq2 is easy, TSO /yawn.
SOE wants subscriptions, their games appeal to you, you feel uber / skilled, fair enough.
IMHO EQ2 has no challenge, its same old shit over and over.
Games are becoming like WOW, i.e piss easy.
If you have played as long as you claim you will realise its true.
eq2 is a yawnfest
Well call me crazy but I guess I'm the type of person that likes to talk about the positive things in a game. Typically I'd rather spend my time playing them rather than running my mouth about them like some e-peen flexing know-it-all who claims everything is "too easy." Maybe you should try that sometime because you actually sound very ignorant on the subject of EQ2. (Which is the topic at hand.)
So if "EQ2 is shit, WOW is shit," and everything is so "piss easy" then what MMO's do you play, and what would you recommend? I'm always open to trying other games.