Pet Changes (Current and Future)
Posted: Sun Aug 03, 2014 4:02 pm
Ok, there is a lot of heated emotions about this and a lot of misinformation. I am making a post to help corral all that and clear some things up. Right now, we--as a community--must rally together and work very hard to steer this course in the direction we want. I am completely against losing any solo ability and would like to avoid a mass exodus.
The unfortunate circumstance is that a change WILL happen and there is nothing anyone can do about this. What we can do, is work together to help direct this so that we don't lose too much ground.
I am going to try and do this chronologically and some is based on Aristo and Roshen's posts about pet changes. Aristo's post. Roshen's post. Some is based on Roshen's post about the recent changes that are going to be reverted in the next full patch.
Before CoTF launched, the devs noted a problem with pet AC. They attempted to correct it but only managed to partially solve the problem (it's up to the reader to believe this or not). This, as far as I know, was never mentioned to the players.
A post is made laying out the calculation for AC and a certain warrior ran terribly designed parses to show pet AC was skewed heavily to one direction and showed what the devs already knew. The DI value was too low and devs didn't like it. In a later CoTF beta, they noted this and stated their value had nothing to do with current warrior abilities; rather, it was all based on their target value.
During all this hullabaloo, the devs told the CRT's that a pet change was coming based on the errant AC values and that we would be notified well in advance, that community input would be asked for, and changes would be a long way off so that could happen. Shortly after, the community received the same communication.
Shortly after, as would be expected, many comments fearing a stealth nerf had been implemented started showing up. Recently, a change did make it into the game on accident. This is being reverted at the next full patch.
With the discovery of the accidental release of some of the changes, the devs finally made good on their word to test this. Now, they are keeping their word to ask for input. This is critical. While many of us have busy lives and can't dedicate their time like a certain warrior can to parsing, as many of us who can contribute data should. Our input on that data is critical as well but please make it constructive as possible. How much time they give us is unkown so we can't take our time.
So, a change is happening regardless of the reason(s). Pet defense is being scaled back while their offense is being beefed up (including air pet getting it's +3 stun cap back!!!). The current live change is an accident and is not going to reflect the final change. This is good news and we need to jump on this as a community. Relying on a few people will be a grievous mistake. You can either contact the devs directly or send your data to me or Baramos if you prefer or want to remain anonymous. I'd rather see parses sent directly to devs and posted publicly in the thread started by Aristo (I linked it above).
My personal opinions on the matter seem to have been attacked recently. You can ask Baramos and find out I'm just as unhappy about the changes as everyone else. As a CRT, emotion can't be used to lobby the devs, only facts. In a huge change such as this one, my voice is no more powerful than anyone else's--only the collective voice counts. I can sum up the community's position for the devs but that is about as much as I can do. Also, as a CRT, I've had the privilege to gauge each developer's attitudes towards pets and their place in EQ. As of this post, none are "pet haters" and they are willing to work with us so we should be willing to work with them.
In sum, changes are coming, nothing nefarious is going on, and the devs are keeping their promise. Now it is our turn. Come together, post data, and post your feelings (constructively) on how the changes on test are going. It is again time that we come together as the positive, informed, community we always have been to make sure we keep our ground.
Regarding the various topics and posts here at The Tower, lets try to put all of the comments on pet changes here, including parses and data about the changes on test. There are too many threads already and I'm considering merging or locking them to keep the data localized.
The unfortunate circumstance is that a change WILL happen and there is nothing anyone can do about this. What we can do, is work together to help direct this so that we don't lose too much ground.
I am going to try and do this chronologically and some is based on Aristo and Roshen's posts about pet changes. Aristo's post. Roshen's post. Some is based on Roshen's post about the recent changes that are going to be reverted in the next full patch.
Before CoTF launched, the devs noted a problem with pet AC. They attempted to correct it but only managed to partially solve the problem (it's up to the reader to believe this or not). This, as far as I know, was never mentioned to the players.
A post is made laying out the calculation for AC and a certain warrior ran terribly designed parses to show pet AC was skewed heavily to one direction and showed what the devs already knew. The DI value was too low and devs didn't like it. In a later CoTF beta, they noted this and stated their value had nothing to do with current warrior abilities; rather, it was all based on their target value.
During all this hullabaloo, the devs told the CRT's that a pet change was coming based on the errant AC values and that we would be notified well in advance, that community input would be asked for, and changes would be a long way off so that could happen. Shortly after, the community received the same communication.
Shortly after, as would be expected, many comments fearing a stealth nerf had been implemented started showing up. Recently, a change did make it into the game on accident. This is being reverted at the next full patch.
With the discovery of the accidental release of some of the changes, the devs finally made good on their word to test this. Now, they are keeping their word to ask for input. This is critical. While many of us have busy lives and can't dedicate their time like a certain warrior can to parsing, as many of us who can contribute data should. Our input on that data is critical as well but please make it constructive as possible. How much time they give us is unkown so we can't take our time.
So, a change is happening regardless of the reason(s). Pet defense is being scaled back while their offense is being beefed up (including air pet getting it's +3 stun cap back!!!). The current live change is an accident and is not going to reflect the final change. This is good news and we need to jump on this as a community. Relying on a few people will be a grievous mistake. You can either contact the devs directly or send your data to me or Baramos if you prefer or want to remain anonymous. I'd rather see parses sent directly to devs and posted publicly in the thread started by Aristo (I linked it above).
My personal opinions on the matter seem to have been attacked recently. You can ask Baramos and find out I'm just as unhappy about the changes as everyone else. As a CRT, emotion can't be used to lobby the devs, only facts. In a huge change such as this one, my voice is no more powerful than anyone else's--only the collective voice counts. I can sum up the community's position for the devs but that is about as much as I can do. Also, as a CRT, I've had the privilege to gauge each developer's attitudes towards pets and their place in EQ. As of this post, none are "pet haters" and they are willing to work with us so we should be willing to work with them.
In sum, changes are coming, nothing nefarious is going on, and the devs are keeping their promise. Now it is our turn. Come together, post data, and post your feelings (constructively) on how the changes on test are going. It is again time that we come together as the positive, informed, community we always have been to make sure we keep our ground.
Regarding the various topics and posts here at The Tower, lets try to put all of the comments on pet changes here, including parses and data about the changes on test. There are too many threads already and I'm considering merging or locking them to keep the data localized.