Patch 13.05 May 4th 2021-- Healer/Tank Initial Balance Pass

Announcements
#1

Today around 12 PM CST (NOON), we will be releasing a client and server side patch 13.05 with the initial Tank/Healer balance pass. We are looking for feedback from the community on the changes so we can adjust and hopefully have the final numbers set by next week when the Hardmode Raid launches. This is the initial pass so there will be adjustments both increasing and decreasing to get the classes where we want them after user feedback.

We will be releasing some patches/updates based on feedback to the Citadel Hardmode Beta later today/tomorrow morning to also receive more feedback on those before the upcoming launch on Tues 5/11/21.

Balance Pass Thoughts

After reading the feedback from the community as well as discussing internally with the team we focused on what we thought each class was lacking. As you’ll see below we felt bard was in the worst place currently, with their overall lack of representation inside of the game and endgame content. We wanted to focus on making them a great support role with enough healing to do endgame content for a master bard, but trying hard to prevent them from being a better healer than the musketeer.

Musketeer’s healing from the feedback we received is in a good place, with the main change coming to those trying to solo content, increasing their offensive ability which was under powered.

Warrior’s aggro retention and overall tankiness seems to be in a good place, but like musketeer was lacking some offensive ability to allow solo overworld grinding. With warrior we also wanted to give players a better reason to use the large and small shields depending on the type of content they are running, so while we increased damage across the board, small shield gets a larger effect on it due to the shield damage bonus.

On paladin the community seemed united behind the fact that while paladins can tank and do decent damage, they lacked the ability to hold agro while in dungeons and endgame, especially in fights requiring a tank swap. With paladin we added a new aggro generation mechanic onto the current stun (by throwing your hammer at the enemy). You should now be able to use Libram of Blessing followed by a quick throw hit to reliably swap aggro and retain it. The throw change also makes it easier to grab aggro on flying/casting mobs.

As I mentioned above this is the initial pass, and we will be increasing/ decreasing the numbers below based upon player feedback as well as our own observations, as we want to make sure each class feels unique and has their own strengths and weaknesses but that all of them are viable classes to play and progress through the game, as well as play endgame and the hardest content in the game with once mastered. And one last note, May the Fourth be with you!

Patch Notes

  • Increased shard mutation Back Bug SFX
  • Bard:
    • Replace Song Shield with Song Sword
      • Applies 10% damage boost to nearby allies for 3 seconds
      • Cannot stack the damage buff with other bards
      • Both heal crescendos should work the same as before (heals 3 allies with lowest HP/ heal ally with lowest HP)
    • Updated Instrument of Protection
      • Updated passive to apply a temporary shield buff lasting 3 seconds
    • Updated Instrument of Defense
      • Increased enemy projectile damage reduction to from 5% to 10%
    • Increased Cure Wounds Crescendo potency by 40%
    • Increased Gentle Healing Crescendo potency by 25%
    • Increased Instrument of Inspiration boost from 10% to 20%
    • Changed instrument of protection description
    • Changed Song Shield talent description
  • Musketeer:
    • Increase basic attack by 25%
    • Increased Impact Orb damage by 15%
    • Increased Turret basic attack damage by 25%
  • Warrior:
    • Increased basic attack damage by 40% on large and small shield
    • Decreased small shield health by 10%
    • Decreased small shield damage boost from 30% to 25%
    • Updated small shield and large shield descriptions
  • Paladin:
    • Added a double aggro boost upon throwing hammer and hitting enemy (Same way to stun)
    • Added distance check for hammer teleporting to prevent slingshoting hammer large distances
      • Will adjust max distance based upon feedback
17 Likes
#2

No more slingshots interesting

#3

why you increase and then decrease the warrior damage and not decrease the pally damage

#4

Ooooo boy. If anyone needs scott or mishka they will be testing this stuff for a while.

1 Like
#5

They said the pally damage is good

#6

They explained in the notes why they did what they did.

#7

but does not justify the 40% the drop by 30 and 25%

1 Like
#8

I am eager to test the new balances. My only thought would be to a lot of my warrior friends who thought there would be a little more survivability added that made them viable for all content so they weren’t excluded.

1 Like
#9

Warrior damage will need to be tested, but the minute changes to warrior and pally barely seem to qualify as a balance patch. I guess I was just expecting more lol

#10

These 2 sentences seem to contradict each other.

Edit after people misunderstanding me xD:
I was saying it contradicts the logic that small shield gets larger effect from the update then big shield. Obviously boosting by 40% and then reducing by 5% is still a dps boost on small shield. But small shield pulls the small straw of the two shield boosts. While they say “small shield gets a larger effect on it”

2 Likes
#11

And that is the PvP fix? :confused:
Is it possible to make it a PvP combat only check? I enjoy throwing my hammer far quite alot in PvE situations. It really puts you in the flow of the class.

(Edit: the devs did not aim for a pvp fix with this change. They aimed for anti cheat accross the map)

7 Likes
#12

You should atleast check the distance they set it to before giving an your opinion

#13

I would like to point out that the paladin already excels at the tankswapping mechanic. And the warrior lacks this special power. The power to store aggro in pips, followed by aggro book, followed by release of those pips. Often when a warrior and pally swap, the warrior fails to pull aggro if they don’t wait the pally losing all their pips.

So this added mechanic will make one of the strongest points of a pally even better. I think it would be a good plan to help the warrior out instead on this situation.

Then the point of helping the pally out keep aggro on the ranged monsters is also the other way around. Pally can keep aggro on the ranger mobs. While the warrior has no chance being able to do that with good dps.

(the pally problem was long term solo tank aggro)

9 Likes
#14

Remember everybody, this is the initial pass. If things don’t work out too well they may change it :slight_smile:

3 Likes
#15

People are ALWAYS wary of change.

1 Like
#16

So as logical follow-up. When are we getting more aggro by throwing our swords on (not in) the boss? :stuck_out_tongue:

4 Likes
#17

No they don’t because overall damage was increased, despite the small decrease in small shield damage, it’s still an increase overall. Since the 25% will be applied over the increased 40%. This will mean the bonus will still be bigger than it was previously.

#18

Oh no the horror of throwing hammer for agro has come to pass. What is next… oh god what could it be!

#19

Patches are available and server should be restarted now.

We’ll be monitoring your feedback after testing and like mentioned in the post, we’re open to doing additional changes as needed to different classes.

2 Likes
#21

I feel like PVP players penalized PVE. Its great to be able to teleport while travelling, and it hurts nobody.