Hybird low level woes :(

momijik

Dalayan Beginner
I have been leveling up several different toons as of late, doing adept hunting and I have noticed a HUGE power difference between Hybird classes and others pre-20th level. I have grouped with several new players that either ended up quitting the game or changing classes because Hybirds are so much weaker then other melee classes pre-20. (maybe even 22 really due to spells, but thats a different subject)

I know the original theory EQ had was that hybirds spells make up for the difference in damage (they also use to XP penalize Hybirds because of the same flawed thinking). Hybird spells at lower levels are mainly to get the player use to using spells here and their, their effect on combat is minimal.

Currently:

Rangers don't get Dual wield until 17, and Double attack until 20th

Paladins and Shadow Knights don't get Double Attack until 20th
** They do get bash at 6, but the damage it adds is nothing special, unless the character is a large Race, you are forced you into 1hers to make use of this skill.

In comparison:

Warriors DW 13 and DA 15
Rogue DW 13 and DA 16
Monk DW 1 !! and DA 15

*Bst lords are a bit werid case to consider since they gain DW at 17 But have pet... sooooo*


Solution if possible: ( No idea how this stuff is coded, so this may be impossible to change )

Could we move Double attack on Shadow Knights and Paladins to level 15 like other melee classes.
For Rangers shift Duel Wield to level 15, and shift Double Attack to level 17.

This will help smooth out the leveling in the teens a bit for these classes.
 
I like how rangers can be fixed by getting dual wield two levels earlier. Here I was thinking a much more complex fix was in order.
 
its more that melee dudes are just real strong at early level, especially with adept gear. Hybrids definitely have slow starts regardless
 
To be fair, if I could wave a wand and make changes their are many things I would love to see done. I was looking for simple, quick things. That may be possible to fix without much effort.

For rangers I would go so far as to put DW at 13 and DA at 15, this would put them in line with Warriors and in like with other hybirds for DA at 15.

Casters at least in the lower levels have bigger attack spells to help them out and can spam them. But this thread is about Hybirds, caster discussion should be its own thread :)
 
Hybrids also make terrible Moon Chimp (lycanthropy) targets. we need a combo chimp+AoD spell! if the classes are balanced this should be just fine!
 
Hybrids also make terrible Moon Chimp (lycanthropy) targets. we need a combo chimp+AoD spell! if the classes are balanced this should be just fine!
that has nothing to do with low level hybrids and even with an aod + bond 2 for 1 spell would still make bards + beastlords bad targets. Rangers are already good targets for boon and the other two hybrids are tank classes. enchanters do not need any kind of direct power gain and its probably a good thing that 2 support classes (bard and beastlord) make poor bond targets.
 
@momijik The level range you're talking about is generally regarded as "flyover country" by the majority of the playerbase. Minuscule tweaks like these would require core changes that would ultimately benefit only a narrow segment of adept hunters as well as abnormally casual players, with the latter being rare these days.

Some classes simply come into bloom later than others. The arbitrary numbers you're complaining about (like knights having to wait until 20 for Double Attack) were never intended to factor into the type of "raid" scenarios that SoD's adepts put low-level players in. As a result, you do end up with inconvenient bottlenecks that can have a large impact on your class's power. It may be best just to regard these imbalances as a fact of life. Play your chosen class to its fullest, scoop your loot, and move on, I say. ;)
 
@Grinkles:

I get for people that are use to this game and just plow threw these low levels these few levels of growth pain are not much of a concern. However new players this is a big problem. I know shards has been trying to keep and attract more new players to the game. These levels that are trival to the rest of us that have played this game for years, even decades, are the levels that new players are first exposed to and make or break if they want to stick with the game.

Running into this wall is very off putting for new players. Thats the main reason I asked about this, adept hunting is a far secondary reason.

Im sure someone will comment that if someone is put off the game for a few levels of growth pain then this game isn't for them. But thats a very flawed view to have, anything that turns a player off from the game early on decreases the chance a player will stick with the game. Sure end game can be grindy and slow, but thats end game, not beginning game. And despite what many think, this game isn't only about 65+++ raids. Unless shards while I have been away has just become a clone of current EQ meta. Then it doesn't matter.

I do have to ask (out of not knowing) is really changing when a class gets a skill by a few levels that core? And do you mean core from a game play standpoint (dont think thats what you mean) or core as in the coding is core coding and would be a pain to change? I totally understand if its a coding thing and difficult to change.
 
Lets say there are 5 hours a week or so that someone can dedicate to "program" for this game. This same person has to deal with bugs, patches, new content, and new ideas (as well as find to play the game itself)...

Do you, as the person coding, focus your time on an issue 3 people are going to have? Or do you focus on trying to fix issues like zone drops, net code, pet buffs, etc?...

The code on private servers is unfortunately absolutely terrible :(
 
The original developers had a very bad habit of hard coding things into the engine that didn't need to be hard coded so many things there seem to be easy fixes for aren't near as easy as they should be and may require things like recompiling the server or even worse need impossible changes to the client(since no one I know of has access to that code). As opposed to other things that just require a database edit.
 
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