Why I love this game and why I won't play after my trial - heal nerf -

[1ender]

First off I'd like to say I love this game. The unique non-cookie cutter world, animals, and environments. The total lack of dwarves, elves, and orcs. The incredibly potent action creation system. The awesome community and the excellent customer service. It's funny when you put all of those together the level grinding doesn't seem so much like level grinding as it does actually hunting/exploring.

This is definitely a game meant to be played in groups. It's very difficult solo, or in small groups. Teamwork is a necessity. It's obvious in everything from the skill system to the way items are created and distributed. And even then, while I'm in a great guild and I come on at various times during the day, I feel like I'm alone. Even while in a good group of people, long treks are hard and parties are wiped out. I feel the current level of difficulty is excellent though. It promotes strategy and I feel eventually, with hard work I could get anywhere.

Last night I was hunting with some friends and heard about the upcoming heal nerf. I immediately sent a ticket to a guide so that I could get the information straight from the horses mouth. The guide confirmed everything my friends were saying and my heart immediately sank. By nerfing the heal spells the game will become incredibly difficult for new players to get anywhere. You're effectively doubling the amount of healers needed to accomplish the same tasks we do now when I don't feel the player population is large enough to support such a change. New players are going to become isolated, frustrated, and aggitated. There aren't going to be enough healers to go around and free trials won't be extended because people won't feel like they are ever going to get anywhere.

On paper the nerf makes perfect sense. Force more grouping, stop players from viewing HP as a more efficient credit for spell casting, increase reliance on armor and jewels to make those systems more integral to the game. These things are all welcome changes to an extent but, as I said above, I don't think the player population is large enough to support such a huge nerf. My solution? strike a better balance. Decrease healing spells by less a percentage so that more players aren't forced into the healing if they don't want to do that. Try out various percentages on the test server to strike a balance instead of effectively pushing that balance toward melee/heavy armor combos.

As it stands now, this game is difficult enough for me to get anywhere new. With this nerf it will be close to impossible. It saddens me to say it but I think with this nerf established players will leave and new players will quit before they start. For a game with such a small community (albeit an excellent one) this could be a death sentence. I hope to God I'm wrong. I don't want to see this game sink into the woodchip deserts of Atys. I want it to succeed. As such I'm leaving before I start. I suppose I'm adding to the problem and my own fears but I refuse to watch this ship sink. If I am wrong (I hope I am), I will return and embrace the changes.

So for now, fare well and be careful out there. Atys just got way more dangerous.

[forever]

I have tested the changes on the ATS server and it is not as bad as some people will have you believe. They have also changed resistances and you will take less damage from mobs.
I would say give the game another try after the changes, it will not be a game killer as some people say.

[grimjim]

A few points to consider...

1 - Bomb is going to double in effectiveness as are Stamina and Mana boosts. This will offset somewhat the whack-a-mole effect and allow high power attacks to be used more constantly. Even now I found bomb heal useful with an extra healer to pick up the slack a little.
2 - Armour up-rating, racial resists and jewel resists should all help a lot.
3 - Despite the massive negative effect of Patch One which you likely don't know much about being new, Nevrax did immediately go in and rebalance a lot things in the two weeks following, getting us to the state we're in today. If the heal nerf proves to be tooooo hideous, I rather suspect we'll see some fairly quick rebalances anyway.

Guess we'll find out soon

[akm72]

Strange enough this was something I mentioned to Jessica yesterday; I suggested ramping the healing nerf so it remains half at higher levels (above 100 maybe?), but reduce the impact of the nerf on the lower levels.

[boinged]

It is true that healing HP is going to be halved, but stam and sap heals are going up by factors of 5 and 4.16 respectively. When I started healing it was always these two which were a problem for me. Area of effect heals are also being doubled, so rather than the situation we have now where you can give someone a relatively large heal then the next person, you will be giving half that amount but to two or more people. I believe this will mean that healing is a lot less stressful, just spam bomb/ricochet heals to the tank.

Armour resistances are increased slightly, but more importantly special attacks will be absorbed. These are the things that help wipe a team - unpredictable, large damage. I'm quite happy to see that change both as a healer and a tank.

The way we hunt will most likely change. The role of affliction will be more important and tanks with shields will take the pressure off healers. Things may be difficult for a start before people adapt but we'll survive. The changes are being made because healing was never supposed to be this powerful and pvp can become drawn out.

I recommend sticking with the game for at least one month to see if it really will be as bad as you think it is (which I doubt). There are a lot of interesting things coming and it would be a shame to quit based on a few numbers on patch notes.

Here is the full list of changes if you missed it: http://www.ryzom.com/?page=player_info-in_test

[boinged]

Lol, can you tell our guild is looking forward to the patch

[1ender]

First off let me say I realize these changes aren't bad - in theory. I think if the game's population was larger this would strike a very good balance.

Secondly, I see all these people in the forums saying that these changes are welcome, however no one I've talked to in game, so far, thinks this. In fact all I've talked to have been opposed to the idea. Maybe it's just us, the isolated few, those who play at off-peak-hour times who are against it because there just aren't enough of us to make playing at these times fun anymore after the changes. Is it worth it to isolate this group of people? Only the official server population numbers can tell us that.

Thirdly, I think a curve should be considered like the above poster stated. Maybe a curve of decreasing effectiveness in the INCREASE of the healing spells (I hope that makes sense. If it doesn't I shall try my best to clarify) as one levels so that at higher levels these changes would be balanced but at lower levels people could still be effective enough in groups.

Finally, there were many people who KNEW NOTHING of this upcoming nerf. Maybe an OFFICIAL POLL should be considered and announced on ryzom.com's news section so that all who go to the site see it much like the poll on the racial animations. Maybe they already did such a poll. I looked in the feedback section and didn't see one.

Maybe I will stick around for a month or so. I don't know, I'm seriously debating it right now in my head and will give it a few more days of thought. I'd also like to note that none of the things I've said in my post have been influenced by anyone else's objections. The conclusions I came to were my own before I saw them echoed by other's posts. Maybe this lends a little bit more validity, I dont' know.

[xenofur]

Finally, there were many people who KNEW NOTHING of this upcoming nerf. Maybe an OFFICIAL POLL should be considered and announced on ryzom.com's news section so that all who go to the site see it much like the poll on the racial animations. Maybe they already did such a poll. I looked in the feedback section and didn't see one.

no polls, but check here, here, as well as ni the news entries they linked to. also consider that these threads are apparently read by the executive producer and the community liaison, both of which have often posted answeres there as well as from parts of the development team, who are not allowed to post there.

[roninpvp]

To decide not to play based on the view points of others even tho you enjoy the game seems short sighted. There are many changes that will be occuring and to see how it all balances out remains to be seen. Others have mentioned mob damage changes, armour changes, etc... I dont see how anyone can state for a fact how these changes will impact game play at various levels.


Stick around decide for yourself; dont follow the knee jerk recommendations of those opposed to change.

[1ender]

To decide not to play based on the view points of others even tho you enjoy the game seems short sighted. There are many changes that will be occuring and to see how it all balances out remains to be seen. Others have mentioned mob damage changes, armour changes, etc... I dont see how anyone can state for a fact how these changes will impact game play at various levels.


Stick around decide for yourself; dont follow the knee jerk recommendations of those opposed to change.

I don't know if you read my posts in their entirety but I said I came to these conclusions on my own BEFORE I read anything anyone else had posted. The fact that these posts of which I knew nothing previously echoed my own sentiments, I feel adds a little more credibility to my argument.