I know, nerfing sucks. We spend endless hours mass producing the meta weapons, armor, even build techniques. Memorizing the best routes and spawn timers.
But nerfing is not all bad. As long as there is a counter buff of sorts.
It is yin and yang. Dark v Light. Balance is key though. If done correctly, it creates new game play loops for all modes and styles. Just think how stale the game would get if at some point you just had enough of the meta. No reason to play different. No reason to venture to different areas of the map. no reason to trade in PVE, no reason to test a new melee build in PVE-C. No reason to try new attack and build strategies in PVP.
That is all i have. Nerfing sucks, but it is a necessary evil.
Nerfing, or balancing? As we can see with the updates, it’s not such an easy fix, takes time and feedback, and even then, the proposed change will receive negative veiws one way or the other.
That is always the tuff part. But in general, nerfing creates new gameplay loops. Lifeblood spear was the meta heal when it was first put out. Everyone was in the UC fighting the dragon, ganking each other on PVP for it. Then it was nerfed to the ground. So now the healing meta has changed. Get the new fish for extra HP, aloe soup are back in the mix. That is a slight examole. Annihilator has replaced Sword of Crom on thralls. Guess what, running into people harvesting it makes us interact.
In certain cases, items have qualities that were not appropriately tested and later discovered as OP. Fine nerf that, but then you introduce new heavy armor that outshines and basically makes all the other heavy armors even more inferior. Idgi
I agree. I have multiple times stated they should release stuff with the idea to buff it if it is too low. But Funcom tends to relase high, get people addicted, then nerf it to ground.
Halloween event–Way too hi end loot that destroyed anyone who missed day 1 and 2. After that, it was basically the midnight all stat potion and legendary drop harvest.
Sword of Crom–Thrall one hit wonder, now a chest filler.
Lifeblood—insta heal, now for most it has been as bad as heroin with drawl.
Jhebal Sag–easy find and massive damage, now not worth the harvest time v damage it does.
Yeah, but in general, nerfing is not all bad. It is just the OP way things are released that makes it seem far worse than before. I guess i am just stating that the idea behind true nerfing is not necessarily to always “balance gameplay”, but create new game play loops in general.
No don’t get me wrong, I’ve always promoted options. Options make lots of people happy. I am not a fan of “the meta”. To me that usually just means someone watched a video. Research and learn sure, but think for yourself and be versatile seems like the best way to me. This also means I’m not simply about replacing the old meta with the new. I’d rather see a mix on the battlefield or in a raid.
The best pvpr I know runs with claws, spear, 2h sword and hammer, and a bow. Plus any throwing weapons he can carry
Nerfing is never good IMO. To nerf something generally means to totally take away its abilities that you have depended on. Lets try a “balance adjustment” sometime and not just break everything. As I said once in an earlier thread, I FULLY expected a “balance adjustment” on the lifeblood spear. I wasn’t surprised that it had been adjusted, I was angry it had been NERFED. It is called overkill. I spent a year and four months helping Funcom TEST their code and did my due diligence with feedback etc for them. I am NOT their test buddy anymore. Why do we have a testive server anyway? Lets just toss weapons/armor into the mix and then when we realize they are OP, nerf them into oblivion…
Wrong. Nerfing in general is a very bad thing. There are times when it is needed, but it should be used in moderation and carefully considered before hand. Most importantly, over-nerfing something should not happen, and when it does it should be quickly adjusted back in the other direction. Massive nerfs should not be a one and done if you want to keep a fan base for long.
The nerf of the lifeblood spear did not affect me in a single way. I never used it and the people who used it against me in PvP eventually got destroyed by my explosive jars.
However the fact how funcom handle their nerfs, is just crazy. It looks like they don’t even play their own game… (the fact testlive exists is another proof).
If you compare Funcom with Valve Software for example: Valve takes balance discussions seriously and they balance based on professional play. Funcom on the other side listens to the person who cries the loudest and the person who gets the most people to agree on him. I know, Conan does not have a pro scene, but there is a very high skill gap in this game.
Making Sword of Crom not OP on thralls was more of an exploit fix.
Reducing Lifeblood Spear’s damage from 51 to 43 was balancing.
Reducing Lifeblood Spears heal rate by 99.6% was a thermo-nerfular disaster. Those who weren’t directly caught in the blast will still probably suffer from infertility and increased cancer rates.
It would be better, in my opinion, to adjust balance in small increments. If it isn’t enough, adjust a little bit more. It is preferable to have to make more than one adjustment than to over-nerf into oblivion.
I want to start by saying that agree with everything u said and hope FC reads it, except:
Don’t push the blame onto the player here. This weapon was released to the public and if they play the game they should know that thralls use weapons. How in the heck is that an exploit?
As an observer who also agrees with @Tephra, I took it loosely, as in it exploits the fact that there was at that time no allowing for thrall stamina. Now that stamina in thralls has at least been introduced, Crom is more like a retro-nerf.
It isn’t an exploit in the same way as building a base under the map might be. It’s a “softer” kind of exploit. The kind that nobody really cares who abuses it.
I think I may have taken too big a leap on that hypothesis. It has been shown that the “stamina” is actually a 5 sec delay so technically, not exactly the same as our character’s stamina mechanic being shifted to thralls.
