Voidwatch Refinements (6/15/11)

[Toth]

http://www.playonline.com/pcd/topics.../6720/6720.jpg

[dev1019] Voidwatch Refinements

The Voidwatch battle system is set to receive the following adjustments in the next version update:

When obtaining voidstones, players will be given the option to receive only a single stone at once.
New vendor NPCs will be added to furnish players with ascent items and voiddust.

Items will be obtainable in exchange for Campaign Points, Imperial Standing, or Allied Notes.
Multiple ascent items may be obtained at once.
These NPCs will take over the role formerly served by guards, Imperial gate guards, and Allied Forces guards, who will no longer exchange items.

Voiddust will be added to treasure caskets in Grounds of Valor areas.
The names of players who successfully strike enemy weaknesses will be displayed in the log window.
A new alignment bonus will be added that will grant players who inflict damage on a weakened enemy a full-spectrum alignment boost based upon the percentage of the monster’s HP depleted.
A minor full-spectrum alignment bonus will be granted to players based upon their Treasure Hunter effect level.




Hmm, some interesting changes there. However, what about the most pressing problem with voidwatch: people getting items in their chests they don't want while other people who do get crap items?

Also, if the next patch is still supposedly several weeks away, what else are the adding???

[Karbuncle]

It seems like a nice toss in, still wish there was a way to add your own personal Treasure Loot to the Loot-pool. as it sucks to get something you already have, when a friend needs it too.

Also happy to see they're adding a use for Treasure Hunter in Voidwatch =.=a

[Amok]

So TH bonus only to the THF? That seems a bit odd. I was hoping for something that might make more people interested, but it looks like it's just a nice update for ppl that are already into it.

[Mahoro]

The update that will make people more interested is the level cap raise and level 95 Magian weapons, since it's pretty obvious SE will steer the next Magian path here in some way.

And yes, I agree I wish you could add personal Loot to the Loot pool ><

[Julian]

Um, the Treasure Hunter effect is applied on a mob, and it's leveled up by the thf hitting it more. I think it's pretty obvious that it's talking about the TH level on the mob, and not the base TH on the thf, so the bonus should apply to everyone.

At least the way I understood that.

[Malacite]

^ I would certainly hope so.

[Kaisha]

So they're not adding a loot-pool option, nor doing anything about the abysmal drop rates. Great job SE! Way to encourage people to not leave Abyssea which is your current money maker.

Nothing like all that effort maxing out lights, and more than half the ally using cells, and only the one RDM getting the drop from a T4 that he cannot use who didn't use cells in the first place, where-as Abyssea just shits out gear in less than a quarter of the time spent killing a VW T4.


What I could have used for VW:

• Maxed red light giving 50-75% chance to get something if they're not adding a loot-option
• Rather than picking up just one voiddust, allow us to opt not to consume it upon opening chest, and just letting us get the gimped XP/Cruor reward instead so we can save the stone on an NM we need Periapt/Atmacite/Gear on
• NPC ports being closer to the general voids
• An option to warp back to a VW NPC from the voids themselves. My LS wastes too much time getting between some of the areas. People set HP in home nations?

On another note, I hate the voidstone system. It's a stupid way of slowing progress on content just so they can make us take forever to get gear that already has bad drop rates while they continue developing the rest of the event. I'm hopeful that when the other stages are released, that the stones will be repurposed to act as a +100% Light alignment item instead to perhaps help us get what we want.


I enjoy VW, but fuck the downtime between NMs, and fuck the loot system. At least they got the difficulty right, no fucking around with the T3/4s.

[Malacite]

Even the T2 for Windy is pretty nasty. That Anltion can be a real bitch (turtle was a fucking joke lol we manaburned it)

[Tribe]

Even the T2 for Windy is pretty nasty. That Anltion can be a real bitch (turtle was a fucking joke lol we manaburned it)

I think I might sig this. its pure gold.

[Malacite]

^ ????


Antlion wouldn't fuck off with Gravitic Horn followed up immediately by quake blast, made things rather hectic. T3 turtle was a joke of a fight.

[Draylo]

I do like the challenge, it's not something your average pick up group can complete easily while proc for gear.

[Nightfyre]

Doooooom called it

[Gwynplaine]

Until they tie empyrean crap into this no one really cares.

[Kaisha]

Until they tie empyrean crap into this no one really cares.

Given the difficulty of the fights compared to anything in Abyssea, I hardly doubt people would bother even if SE made magian trials emp90->95 require 50 drops from it.


Also, something I forgot about VW that I'd like addressed:

• More clarification in the hints.

Oh, what's that? Highly vulnerable to Ice elemental magic? Well I better bring my RDM for para1/2, blm for all ice nukes, brd for ice-based songs, NIN for ichi/ni/san ice tool + whatever their para tool is, BLU to cycle through multiple ice-based spells, and SCH for cryohelix,

And then we still end up not proccing it. All it'd need to say is the type of magic that it's weak to if they're going to keep a huge proc list, not just 'elemental magic'. Hopefully there'll be two more KIs I can blow 150k cruor on each that'll define the hints more closely.

[Spira]

you complain too much kaisha...

Voidwatch isn't that bad.
its one of the most accessible events to date. sure stones come on timer, but with the ease at which players can obtain voiddust, theres almost no reason not to bring a stone along if just for the EXP/cruor boost. The shot at gear/drop is just a bonus really..

however the current system in place doesn't really allow for a lot of flexibility unless you forego much of the proccing altogether.
I like the damage while weakness system as (assuming its applied to all players and not just the DD) it gives players a chance to slightly boost lights if they stagger it by chance or if HQ procs are somehow out of the question and they'd like the boosts, especially to say.. white.
Also alternatively bringing a THF along gives a minor assured boost, which is nice.
If any of these bonuses (im thinking especially TH) fall outside the existing bonus caps, then this would be a very nice move indeed, because light enhancement from different sources have different caps.

more accurate stagger reports definitely welcome, so you can be sure whose ability was the one that procced.

the NPC port location distance isn't an issue at all, except in like Ordelles...
other than that, the real problem with some of these Planar Rift locations is that they're not really made equal. Players fighting Voidwrought on any of the 2 upper floor Planar Rifts meet near certain death due to the lack of space... meaning that theres really only 1 true option for that zone.
Lorbulcrud is also ridiculously cramped in all 3 of its rift locations.

As for the other ones, the least they could do was try to make big mobs that spawn not wander so close to the rifts because they're annoying and get in the way. ESPECIALLY THAT STUPID TREANT that walks in while fighting Kholomodumo (on the lower west rift)

Having an option to tele back to town at the end of the battle would really make things a little too easy in Voidwatch.. that'd be like Aetherial Nodes in FFXIV Guildleves lol. Also they're already making it a lot easier to tele between towns as it is.

[Michelob]

I do like the challenge, it's not something your average pick up group can complete easily while proc for gear.

Wut? Pick up groups do this a lot here on Phoenix, though mostly JPs. I guess I don't know what kind of gear they are getting but I see a LOT of T4 titles running around on people wearing pearls with names I don't even recognize. Am I the only one that thinks the fights themselves aren't really difficult enough? Fuck I miss shit that even the best of linkshells don't win on their first try.

Lame to hear they aren't fixing the drop situation. I'd welcome a limbus-type drop rate from these NMs instead of what we have. I don't think all too many would complain if we had to build a pop each time but were guaranteed a drop that went to the pool.

Am I the only one that was concerned about this part?

A new alignment bonus will be added that will grant players who inflict damage on a weakened enemy a full-spectrum alignment boost based upon the percentage of the monster’s HP depleted.

That says to me that damage dealers get a bonus to lights but support jobs get fucked? Unless I'm looking at this wrong, I don't know.

[Jem]

Wut? Pick up groups do this a lot here on Phoenix, though mostly JPs. I guess I don't know what kind of gear they are getting but I see a LOT of T4 titles running around on people wearing pearls with names I don't even recognize. Am I the only one that thinks the fights themselves aren't really difficult enough? Fuck I miss shit that even the best of linkshells don't win on their first try.

This. I was severely disappointed in the difficulty of these fights. The way people were talking we expected them to be as least slightly challenging but they're not, they are a complete joke if you know what you're doing.

I would have rather they increased the difficulty level a shitload but increased drop rates. Or fuck it, give us an option to do that ourselves so the people who can count to potato can do the easy version with shitty drop rates and the people who know what they're doing can do the harder version and actually get shit other than random crafting mats.

The drop rates on these are as bad as the shadow bullshit with the original VNM's. I wish they'd do less gimmicky crap and actually make stuff more challenging.

[Draylo]

You guys must be super hardcore then! I didn't say it was hard, I said I liked the challenge, in comparison to Abyssea. If you consider these NMs a lot weaker than Abyssea then I dunno what to say... The facts are obvious, you can't 3 man these or dual box. Most pick up groups that I have experienced fail unless they are zerging it in which case you don't get proc. A complete joke is over exaggerating, they aren't that easy like Abyssea.

[Draylo]

Also they are about the same strength as a lot of the older HNM and end game mobs people spammed over and over. Those NMs could have been 3~6 manned as well, a lot of these can't unless specific setups. Seems you are asking for something like AV, which so many people moaned and groaned over for a long time, be consistent?

[Raen Ryong]

AV was difficult in a stupid way and supposedly relied on a gimmick that nobody was ever able to figure out. A monster which is challenging and rewarding to fight would lie between any other mob and AV in difficulty.