The current state of PVP?

I'm not telling you how to feel, but just saying even tho you liked the way it was, what changes are good in the changes what is bad and why? I think you have something to contribute but if you've lost interest in the game and are out of the fight to improve it then why are you here? Just sayin, not thinking I know what is best always, well I try not to.

 

I'm pretty sure I was clear on what changes pushed me out of the game and what changes I liked.

Was it not obvious that I was here to perhaps give the game another try?

Forum warriors have won most the fights to 'improve' this game. Especially when it comes to combat and PvP.

Since I began this thread, I have been talking to other players that use to PvP with me all that time ago. Including old enemies. They seem to have come to the same consenus. Most are not even playing anymore.

We lost the fight for Open PvP all that time ago. We lost the fight to keep a challenging innovative combat system.

Why can't I bring up old stuff that was more enticing and innovational than the button mashing contest people confirm still exist and has not changed?

Edit: It took a break for me play other games and realize just how dumbed down PvP is in SotA.

 

I have only been playing since August, so I am not familiar with the stacking nerf, but each stack adds 25% damage to the base damage of the skill right now. Focus management is definitely part of fighting strategy in PvP.

So firstly, I think that XP distribution is VERY important in PvP. I think that an avatar that has all magic school glyphs at 80 can be very competitive in PvP. I personally believe that player skill is very important as well, although some might disagree.

Not going to name names, but a few weeks ago I was participating in a big group fight 8v8 (a ton of fun). And during this fight there were engagements all over the map. One Avatar, level 90 was able to kill the highest level in the game (115 I think) twice in a 1 on 1. This wasn't a duel, it wasn't in an arena, it was at a control point. The level 90 has 10% of the total XP that the level 115 does, and yet was still able to kill him. Although it is anecdotal, and there may have been special circumstances, I think it is a good example of how skill can beat grind.

I think that this latest release had a really important change for Open PvP - which is that spellbinders and chaotic feedback don't stack. When those skills stacked it caused an asymmetrical damage output which forced others to either have hard counters for that build (tabula rasa, torpid, moon beams) or try to out-damage them. Now that those no longer stack, I think we will see less examples of one person taking out a group of 8.

I agree with you when you say that XP distribution is super important in PvP. So often I see people with a bunch of GMs, but their stats and hp are rather low. The amount of XP it takes to get a glyph from 80-100 is 4x the amount to get it from 1-80. Breadth is better than depth in terms of skill distribution in this game, and if you don't distribute your XP well, then you will find that PvP will be quite difficult. This is my opinion, and definitely there are examples of specified builds that still kick ass (see @Sara Dreygon ).

 

You provide very good points and information.

Now that is something that no one has pointed out. So, for a double stack you get 25% more damage. What about stacking 3, 4, or 5 glyphs?

Also, does an avatars base level scale damage?

 

I'm not going to go as far as to say this information is wrong, but I will say that the last two times I heard from Chris on this (including the last telethon) he said that stacking only helped with focus and gave a "slight" increase to damage. In R37 I believe that stacking was further nerfed so that some spells did not receive a bonus for stacking 3, 4, or 5 times.

I think the 25% part is something that is incorrect for sure though. I would be very surprised if that were the case.

I would look for clarification from @Chris, and also understand that whatever answer we get it could very well change suddenly in the future.

 

woohoo, welcome back...kind of
...and have a nice christmastime Bam

 

Merry Christmas to you! Miss y'all!

 

You're right, it is actually 20% - I had remembered incorrectly.

Here are the values for Ring of Fire damage with stacks (On my character). 12-35, 14-42, 16-49, 19-56, 21-64

Max damage increases by 20% per stack, 5 stacks giving ~180% of the damage that 1 stack does.

For Obsidian Arrow we have this for the stack damages: 59-171, 71-205, 83-239, 95-273, 107-308

We see here, that each stack gets a 20% gain compared with the damage of 1 stack, and has about +80% of the damage of a 1 stack.

For Earthquake we have: 57-173, 68-208, 79-242, 91 - 277, 102-312

Again, increasing by 20% per stack.

No, an avatar's base level will not scale damage. However, being within 20-30 levels of mobs is important. You are much less likely to hit a mob that shows as red for you, same with a player (even though players always show as red). A player will always be red, but if your level difference would make him red if you were a mob, you're going to have a hard time hitting him/her.

Attunement will scale the damage of your skills linearly, and you get 1 point of attunement for every 10 levels you have in a glyph of that school. That's one of the reasons why I suggest people level up all the glyphs in their magic schools, so that they can have that base attunement. Attunement does damage, but it also counts as resistance, so 1/2 of your attunement is added to your resist of that magic.

 

Well, I didn't think it was as high as 20%, but you're correct. I hadn't been paying attention and Chris made it sound like it was almost inconsequential. 20% is quite an advantage though, I'm glad you brought this up. I'm glad I'm wrong.

 

Well, then... You guys have clarified the current state of PvP very well.

Looks like what was once lost is now back, with a bit of a focus hit of course.

Even if I can't be a sheep dog without any sheep, Im looking forward to experiencing the current combat system.

I'll see y'all in-game and much thanks to the dev team for making spell weaving viable again.