Patch 1.2 Notes
February 11, 2008
Salutations!
We’re rolling out the second of our major character class balance passes. In this patch,
we’ve done a comprehensive balance pass on the Marksman. We focused on addressing a number of issues that have made certain Marksman builds vastly overpowered in comparison to the rest of the classes and the desired difficulty of the game. There are also numerous areas where we have also increased the effectiveness of or altered skills to give Marksman players a wider variety of powerful builds and tactics.
Chief amongst these changes is addressing the notorious skill/weapon combinations involving Ricochet, Reflecting Shot, Multishot, Rapid Fire, Heightened Senses, Beacon, Dead Eye, and Hollow Points, while using a high rate of fire weapon, such as an Arclight Rifle. While we realize that making choices on skill, item, and mod combinations which complement each other is a fundamental design element most emphasized with the Marksman in particular, there should never be one combination of skills which completely outshines the rest.
We didn’t want to remove the most overpowered Marksman skill combinations altogether, however, and we also didn’t want to leave other Marksman skill issues unaddressed. This would have been largely unfair to the Marksman players. As a result, you’ll see a large number of changes to the skills - such as synergies to the Ballistics, Grenade, and Precision Strike skill groups - that should promote an increased variety of specialized builds and create a more diversified play experience overall.
See you online!
The Hellgate: London Team
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Skills
Please carefully read the changes to skills carefully as many have changed. Some skills now have new names to represent their different effects or make more sense within the context of the character class.
Marksman:
Rebounder Rounds (formerly Ricochet)
“The Marksman uses modified ammunition that has a chance to ricochet off enemies and walls.”
This skill is now an Active skill. It must be activated to gain the effect and it can be placed in your “fire left”, “fire right”, or “fire both weapons” slots.
There is no power cost for using this skill.
This skill has a chance to proc its effect (based on the skill and increasing based on the rank of the skill) for each individual firing of the skill. Since its effect is no longer dependent upon landing a critical hit, the effect of this skills will be seen much more commonly at all skill ranks and character levels.
This skill has indirect synergies with the other skills in the “Ballistics” line. Each rank in Rebounder Rounds has a chance (albeit smaller) to proc when either Ravager Rounds or Penetrator Rounds are used.
EXAMPLE: The first rank of Rebounder Rounds gives a 10% chance for shots to ricochet while using Rebounder Rounds. Due to skill synergy, Ravager Rounds and Penetrator Rounds have a 4% chance for this effect to occur while using either of those skills.
Ravager Rounds (formerly Reflected Shot)
“The Marksman uses modified ammunition that has a chance to blow through and subsequently retarget additional enemies.”
This skill is now an Active skill. It must be activated to gain the effect and it can be placed in your “fire left”, “fire right”, or “fire both weapons” slots.
There is no power cost for using this skill.
This skill has a chance to proc its effect (based on the skill and increasing based on the rank of the skill) for each individual firing of the skill. Since its effect is no longer dependent upon landing a critical hit, the effect of this skills will be seen much more commonly at all skill ranks and character levels.
This skill has indirect synergies with the other skills in the “Ballistics” line. Each rank in Ravager Rounds has a chance (albeit smaller) to proc when either Rebounder Rounds or Penetrator Rounds are used.
EXAMPLE: The first rank of Ravager Rounds gives a 5% chance for shots to blow through and re-target a new enemy while using Ravager Rounds. Due to skill synergy, Rebounder Rounds and Penetrator Rounds have a 2% chance for this effect to occur while using either of those skills.
Penetrator Rounds (replaces Homing Shot)
“The Marksman uses modified ammunition that has a chance to completely ignore the target’s shields.”
This skill is now an Active skill. It must be activated to gain the effect and it can be placed in your “fire left”, “fire right”, or “fire both weapons” slots.
There is no power cost for using this skill.
This skill has a chance to proc its effect (based on the skill and increasing based on the rank of the skill) for each individual firing of the skill. Since its effect is no longer dependent upon landing a critical hit, the effect of this skills will be seen much more commonly at all skill ranks and character levels.
This skill has indirect synergies with the other skills in the “Ballistics” line. Each rank in Penetrator Rounds has a chance (albeit smaller) to proc when either Ravager Rounds or Rebounder Rounds are used.
EXAMPLE: The first rank of Penetrator Rounds gives a 10% chance for shots to ignore shields while using Penetrator Rounds. Due to skill synergy, Ravager Rounds and Rebounder Rounds have a 4% chance for this effect to occur while using either of those skills.
Weapon Master (formerly Hollow Points)
Increased the Critical Damage bonus of this skill from 20% at rank 1 and 10% per additional rank, to a flat 30% bonus per rank.
Beacon
Decreased the power cost by 33%.
Elemental Beacon
Now also decreases the target’s Elemental Attack Strengths.
Gives increasing Elemental Attack and Defense penalties per rank that scales with the character’s level.
Overshield
Increased the Shields bonus per additional rank from 33% to 100%.
Elemental Vision
Increased the Elemental Attack Strength bonuses from 15% per rank to 25% per rank.
Sniper
No longer forces the Marksman to crouch and stop moving when used. The character now moves at 50% speed while the skill is active.
Weapon Accuracy, Range, and Missile Velocity bonuses are now fixed at 60%, 50%, and 25%, respectively.
Damage bonus has been decreased from 200% to 150%.
Rank progression now decreases its rate of use and rate of fire penalties by 5% per rank, beginning at a 55% penalty at rank 1 and ending at a 10% penalty at rank 10.
Master Sniper
Now provides a 1% Critical Chance bonus per rank, in addition to its previous 20% Critical Damage bonus.
Rapid Fire
Now clears Multishot when used.
Multishot
This skill has been moved under Weapon Master in the skill tree. It required two points in Weapon Master to unlock, thus requiring fewer total points to unlock than before.
Escape Artist
The Movement Speed bonus has been increased to 25% per rank.
The rank cap on this skill has been increased from 5 to 7.
Grenades
Grenades now have direct synergies with all other Grenades.
Explosive Grenade
Explosive Grenades now explode on impact with monsters (but not objects) and have a 2 second fuse.
Decreased base Damage by 23%.
Decreased base Ignite Attack Strength by 33%.
Ranks in Explosive Grenade now increase the Damage of all grenades by 10%.
Phase Grenade
Increased base Damage by 6%.
Ranks in Phase Grenade now increase the Elemental Attack Strengths of all grenades by 30%.
Toxic Grenade
Toxic Grenades now bounce off of objects (ignoring monsters) before exploding after 1.5 seconds.
Toxic Grenades now create a field that lasts for 4 seconds, dealing field damage.
Decreased base Poison Attack Strength by 50%.
Ranks in Toxic Grenade now increase the splash or field radius of all grenades by 10%.
Flashcracker Grenade
Increased base Damage by 12%.
Decreased base Stun Attack Strength by 50%.
Ranks in Flashcracker Grenade now grant and increase the Shield Penetration of all grenades by 10%.
Hunter:
Tactical Stance
Now also gives a base Firing Accuracy bonus of 50.
Changed the Critical Chance bonus effect (3% at rank 1 and 1% per additional rank) to a damage bonus of 15% at rank 1 and 5% per additional rank.
Escape
Escape now provides 1 second of invulnerability when it is activated.
Escape should now prevent enemy players in PVP from seeing the user.
The cool-down for this skill now starts when the skill is used, not when it is cleared.
The cool-down for this skill has been increased to 30 seconds.
The duration for this skill has been decreased from 6 seconds to 3 seconds at rank 1, increasing by 1 second per additional rank.
The rank cap on this skill has been increased from 5 to 7.
Escape now clears all other speed boost effects while it is active, including Adrenaline Pills and Sprint. Using any skill or item that boosts speed will clear Escape, including Sprint.
Precision Strikes
Precision Strikes now have direct synergies with all other Precision Strikes.
Napalm Strike
Increased base Damage by 5%.
Ranks in Napalm Strike now increase the Duration of all Precision Strikes by 50%.
Smackdown
Ranks in Smackdown now increase the Elemental Attack Strengths of all Precision Strikes by 25%.
Shock and Awe
Decreased base Damage by 7%.
Ranks in Shock and Awe now increase the Radius of all Precision Strikes by 15%.
Patch Notes Disclaimer: While we make every effort to include all upcoming changes in our patch notes, please be aware that occasionally some changes are unintentionally omitted.
As mentioned in the opening letter, this is the second sweep of class balancing (the first being Patch 1). Additionally, the monster difficulty in Act 5, Nightmare difficulty, will be addressed in this patch.
-- Scapes
Originariamente Scritto da ScizLor
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