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Newbie Damages
Jesse
Member, Administrator Posts: 108 admin
As you know, one of the big things we're working on in Imperian right now is improving the newbie experience. In our video tests, we've noticed quite a bit of discrepancy between the amount of damage different professions are able to put out in the intro. I've been collating some data to help plan out what we should do about it.
So while we all wait on the ISP I thought I might share the data and some of the conclusions/plans with you.
These are the numbers I gathered for initial bashing effectiveness as soon as a character is created.
So one of the things that I'm thinking about doing is starting newbies out with the best statpack available for bashing in their current profession. There's a huge difference between someone who wants to be a xiur Summoner and someone who wants to be a sidhe Summoner.
For physical professions, that is usually "strong" but some professions benefit more from "fast", and for the intelligence-based professions, it will probably be "intelligent". I'm not too worried about evaluating the statpacks for tankiness, because the things that the newbies will be hunting are deliberately designed to not pose much of a threat.
Looking at the numbers above, it's clear that Summoner, Druid, and Hunter are all probably a little bit too high. The knight-type and assassin-type professions are all probably a little bit too low. A threefold between a Deathknight and a Templar is glaring. Wardancer is also too low initially, but we have to be careful there because Wardancer scales extremely well with skills and equipment. Most professions usually see a 100%-200% increase in bashing DPS going from Adept to Transcendent and getting some better gear, but Wardancers can easily see a 300% increase.
So over the next few days, we might be making some minor tweaks here and there to shuffle some of these numbers around so that all newbies will start off on more even footing. Some of those changes will most likely have an effect on bashing effectiveness at the high end, but while there are still some sizeable differences in bashing DPS at the high end, no profession's optimal DPS is more than three times higher than any other profession's optimal DPS.
So while we all wait on the ISP I thought I might share the data and some of the conclusions/plans with you.
These are the numbers I gathered for initial bashing effectiveness as soon as a character is created.
Profession Statpack Damage Speed DPS ----------------------------------------------- Summoner Intelligent 522 270 193.33 Monk Strong 481 420 114.52 Druid Strong 565 347 162.82 Assassin Strong 411 488 84.22 Templar Strong 247 395 62.53 Priest Strong 470 390 120.51 Hunter Strong 556 295 188.47 Deathknight Strong 247 395 62.53 Mage Intelligent 461 320 144.06 Wytch Fast 275 212 129.71 Runeguard Strong 247 395 62.53 Renegade Strong 411 488 84.22 Diabolist Fast 242 196 123.46 Wardancer Strong 334 420 79.52 Bard Intelligent 276 270 102.22 Ranger Strong 617 449 137.41 Amazon Strong 617 449 137.41 Predator Strong 260 314 82.8 Outrider Strong 516 439 117.53 Defiler Strong 633 486 130.24
So one of the things that I'm thinking about doing is starting newbies out with the best statpack available for bashing in their current profession. There's a huge difference between someone who wants to be a xiur Summoner and someone who wants to be a sidhe Summoner.
For physical professions, that is usually "strong" but some professions benefit more from "fast", and for the intelligence-based professions, it will probably be "intelligent". I'm not too worried about evaluating the statpacks for tankiness, because the things that the newbies will be hunting are deliberately designed to not pose much of a threat.
Looking at the numbers above, it's clear that Summoner, Druid, and Hunter are all probably a little bit too high. The knight-type and assassin-type professions are all probably a little bit too low. A threefold between a Deathknight and a Templar is glaring. Wardancer is also too low initially, but we have to be careful there because Wardancer scales extremely well with skills and equipment. Most professions usually see a 100%-200% increase in bashing DPS going from Adept to Transcendent and getting some better gear, but Wardancers can easily see a 300% increase.
So over the next few days, we might be making some minor tweaks here and there to shuffle some of these numbers around so that all newbies will start off on more even footing. Some of those changes will most likely have an effect on bashing effectiveness at the high end, but while there are still some sizeable differences in bashing DPS at the high end, no profession's optimal DPS is more than three times higher than any other profession's optimal DPS.
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Comments
Where do those values come from? I don't hit 62 DPS as an artifacted and runed omni-trans Druid rolling full feather/imbue, and that's the lowest score you have up there.
Also, statpacks for bashing aren't as simple as "does the most DPS". The best bashing statpack is often not the best statpack for the class. Some examples:
I'd also consider giving them free reincarnations until their first mastered class, instead of just level 30, which should make it considerably easier to jump around while they're new and see what they like.
"On the battlefield I am a god. I love war. The steel, the smell, the corpses. I wish there were more. On the first day I drove the Northmen back alone at the ford. Alone! On the second I carried the bridge! Me! Yesterday I climbed the Heroes! I love war! I… I wish it wasn’t over."
It's not really PvP balance so much as "If you start a Hunter out in Strong, you're starting them out in an awful PvP statpack and forcing them to reincarnate later so as not to suck, and the newbie might be better off in a statpack that's a bit worse at bashing and a bit better at everything else the profession does."
Athletic is not a bad bashing statpack by any means, and it's it's a better Hunter/Renegade/Priest statpack than strong is, and I think it would be a better starting statpack because of it.
"On the battlefield I am a god. I love war. The steel, the smell, the corpses. I wish there were more. On the first day I drove the Northmen back alone at the ford. Alone! On the second I carried the bridge! Me! Yesterday I climbed the Heroes! I love war! I… I wish it wasn’t over."