Basic Guide to 2.2

[Lifewaster]

Health/Sta/Mana####################################
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These have been increased , players have approx double the hlt/sta they used to have ......Mana remains unchanged thou






Armor: ##########################################
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There is now 7 armor slots . The top most slot is for PA (or underwear/overalls) , then comes head,neck,chest,belt,pants,boots.

Your armor values have been divided into 3 regions , Head (helmet+necklace) , Torso (chest+belt) and Legs (pants+boots)

When you take dmg , it will hit only one of the 3 regions, thus only the armor values for that region will apply.

NOTE: PA slot effects/adds to all 3 regions

(EG: wearing tank PA gives 45 energy to all 3 regions . Then wearing Duranium helm + INQ neck gives 40 energy/40 fire to head region , with the PA value adding on this means 85 energy/40 fire in your head region if you get shot there.)

You should try to get a similar setup in all 3 regions . EG: dur helm/inq neck - Dur chest/inq belt - Dur pants/inq boots

This means energy field belts/heavy INT belts are no longer very viable as they will generally cause a mis-matched configuration.....however there has been added new STR based belts (DUR/INQ/etc) so you can use these instead.





Resists##########################################
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There are now class based resist caps , 92% PPU , 88% tank , 84% PE ,80% Spy , 75% apu/hybrid .....this applies to your total resist from shields/armor/con.

In general , except for PPUs , it isnt possible to hit these caps even with an all out armor/con setup , so instead you try to do as best you can.

Return on investment is probably optimal at around 50 con (maybe 75 for tanks) after 75 the return gets significantly less, after 100 drastically less.






Implants#########################################
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Many Implant values have been changed, too much to document here , you will have to examine the ones pertinant to your own setup in game.

A obvious change is that they now display absolute instead of rounded values (EG: DEX +1.342) These values will accumulate but be rounded to the lowest full number , thus 2 chips of DEX +2.55 , DEX +3.74 will result in a net DEX +6 .

Also , there is now a APU/PPU versions of Psi core , named Crahn Support Core (ppu), and Crahn Combat Core (apu) . These will both presumably become available at Crahn Faction Database items , but what will happen to original Psi Cores isnt clear. They may all morph into one version, or may be exchangeable from GMs.

The DS remains a generic monk chip however.

The SA and Herc have been changed into HC/MC and RC/PC versions , again what will happen to original versions is unclear , but its expected they will morph into one version, and be exchangable from GMs.





Shields##########################################
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Shields now last 3 minutes.

Shelter has been replaced/divided into 2 new spells .....Absorber(energy/xray) and Protector(fire/poison). Deflector is unchanged(force/pierce) .What will happen to existing shelters is unclear.

A foreign cast Shield from a PPU can give a max of 25% shielding , while a self cast PPU shield can give 85%. Hybrids casting Holy shields thus will only receive 25% as the game checks if the caster is a pure PPU.

Basic shields give approx 7% , blessed 15% , and holy 25% (or 85% if they are pure PPU self casts)

NIB-Shielding is no longer viable as a stronger self cast will overwrite them.

Shields now DECAY as they take dmg , with the shielding % reduced after each hit from high TL wepons. However once the shield has lost 20% of its original strength, it can be re-freshed back to full strength with a new cast.






Heals###########################################
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Heals now last 60 seconds.

TL 10 heals 7/tick , Blessed heals 20/tick , Holy heals 30/tick (or 40/tick if PPU self cast)

NIB-healing is no longer viable as a stronger heal will overwrite it.

(an effect of the higher HLT pools/lower heal power means PPl dont heal up as fast anymore....its about half as fast as before.......this is quite noticable in PvP where PPU-ed players seem to have quite a lesser advantage now.)




Nanites##########################################
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(Using nanite tools will incur Nanite activity (overload) each time they are used. Going above 100 overload will result in drugflash, max possible overload is 150 (after which more nanite use has no effect))


Nanite heal tool: Usable by all classes , requires ammo, heals about 7/tick , lasts 30 seconds... DOESNT stack with PSI heals , in fact it prevents you recieving a PSI heal and vice versa.

Nanite Protection tools : Usable by Spies , creates a nanite shield , requires mods and differing ammo types to provide its different shield types (eg pierce/fire/etc) Low TL versions allow for combo shields (pierce/force or energy/xray or fire/poison) but yield low shielding . High TL versions only allow a single shield type (Pierce or Force or Fire or Poison or Energy or Xray)

Also doesnt stack with Psi shields ..the presence of even 1 nanite shield will prevent any PSI shields landing, and vice versa.

Standard SPY setup is to carry 6 differently modded/ammo'd high TL versions, then use according to situation.


The same high TL tool can be fired multiple times for increasingly stronger shields of that type , with about 7.5% accumulative shielding per shot , but the 100 overload limit means you cannot achieve the max 35% shielding in more then 1 or 2 resists at a time.....since 8 shots = 100 overload.


They can be quite effective for Spies in both PvE and PvP when you know what dmg type to expect.....and since the maximal 30-35% shield is higher then what can be recieved from a PPU (25%)

Nanite anti-buff tools : Usable by PEs (and APUs^^) . These cause the targets shield to begin to tick off...so approx 10 seconds later it will be gone . Not very useful vs PPUs who can just recast , but maybe useful to some degree. There are also cure-poison versions but again quite slow to actually remove the stack.




Weapons#########################################
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Several new rares have been added for weapons that didnt have one (eg: rare nailgun,grenade launcher)

Most noticable is the addition of a rare Deflector/Absorber/Protector (these are needed to hit the 85% self-ppu shiels btw....normal holy shields give about 75%)

Weapon DMG has been balanced by TL , which means pretty much all weapons do pretty similar dmg/time now , this has hurt APUs a lot however.(but they are still being reviewed so dont despair yet)

Antibuff has become a PPU spell , Parashock has become a pathetic spell (finally) , DB has become a less influential spell .

A new rare APU spell is called Holy Frostration (it looks like the old holy para) and deals a combo energy/fire dmg....and makes the sound effect of the old Para ! (it may be that the retail versions of Holy Para will morph into this spell)

APU spells no longer deal DOT dmg(fire/poison) , its all instant dmg.




Mods###########################################
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Weapons now mod differently. All non-woc weapons mod to approx 35% mod / 75% original dmg .(EG: a Pierce weapon with fire mod becomes 75% pierce /35% fire) same with energy weapons. So you gain 10% net DMG , but you only produce 35% of the total dmg as mod type.

This has obvious implications for resist setups......since the bulk of incoming dmg may often be Pierce or Energy now.

WOC weapons however mod differently. Ceres handgun and AK 47 mod to approx 55% pierce/55% (fire/poison) AND they make STACKS ^^ which last a long time (up to 18 sec or so)

XBOW deals initially 40% energy/60% xray , and can be modded to add more xray, fire , or poison which also stacks.

Devourer stacks also last 18 sec now too.

Nailguns no longer deal dot dmt with their mods.




Skills###########################################
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Weapon influence factors are listed in this thread which is quite old so I dunno how accurate it still is.

A major change is MST has been replaced by FCS (focussing) for monks, which plays a singificant role in dmg/freqs thus you will probably want to spec a LOT more then the minimum anymore.

PSI USE doesnt add freq anymore, it simply adds mana pool.

Tanks INT cap has raised to 25

Tanks DEX cap is raised to 75

Tank PSI has been removed (lvl 0 now) so use nanite heals or medkits.

There are also new stronger medkits (Survival kits)

Resist Pierce has been added as a STR skill in addition to resist force.




PvE############################################
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PvE is harder now, not impossible , but perhaps 2-3 times slower lvl/cash wise . Some places are especially hard ATM (CRP Cave due to mob poison stacks) while others arent too bad (Fire mobs/WBs)





Vehicles#########################################
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INT reqs have been removed , tanks can drive(and gun) all vehs.

A big change is that MOB dmg will only hit the vehicle even if gunner/driver is exposed (eg:reveller/combat hovertech/Scorpion trike) which makes they quite useful for PvE now.

PvP dmg can still target exposed gunners/drivers however.





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I'm sure I've left a lot out , but hopefully this will be of use to some , I'll try to update it if I think of anything else, or feel free to post questions here and myself or some other testers can probably answer them.

[vices]

A quick glance would tell me you've put together the ABC for 2.2, prolly gonna check this again if I try out 2.2

[Eneco]

Thanks for the info. Its nice to see a more or less complete overview of the changes for us who haven't been testing. I'll find out if the game will still be enjoyable on wednesday

[jini]

Yep, Lifewaster has been an asset for 2.2
Least kk can do is give him a gift something funny like vegah got that hooker vest

[Lifewaster]

Well theres probably gonna be an official release when it goes live anyway, but a lot of ppl are on Test Server today trying to get used to things with so little time left, so this was kinda aimed to help them get started faster.

[Archy]

You have not talked about a few points that really annoys me from 2.2

DRUGFLASH : Have not been changed forever, awefull side of this game. I assume not all chars are drug dependant, sad that there has not been a balance there.

AIMING SPEED : Slower, slower, slower. pistol spy is now hard mode compared to rifle spy in 2.1, it seems it will become PE/TANK o cron, with many xbow and HC (grenades launchers)

RUNNING SPEED/Netcode :Altough was slower, still slower. I think the problem is mostly theyre netcode, theyre server located in europe and the very poor connection quality i have on the servers.

FURNITURE/PRICES : needs to be lowered, other items also needs to be definitly lowered. Add more furniture , lower prices, add more variants please.
Lighting would be nice please.

WOC/Endlevel : Need this to be awefully more balanced and structured. WOC has been a huge problem in this game, i have had enough of the dbing xbow pe clones. This is ,yet again, the most awefull side of the game.

Safezone : Why cant we stealth in a safezone ? please let us stealth in safezones , thank you.

Bugs/balance : Since this is only a balance patch , it seems we cannot address old bugs, and annoying glitches. Altough there is one bug thats annoys me and somehow related to the balance. The missions, they are totally ridiculous, at rank 10 your already soloing very hard missions. Please do a complete REDO of the missions , add HIGH LEVEL CONTENT please , and new types of exciting missions that give this game some life again.


The forums and servers are skyrocketing with populations since the introduction of paypal payment. I really hope KK gets in the good direction and gives me something to do when i log in the world of neocron. As pvping gives no xp, and high end level has been raised to WOC 5 ( thats like 15x from 0/2 to rank 60 i think) I , as a capped runner with no WOC, find myself in this awefull situation of having no content. Please give me content so i have at least an excuse to get to WOC.

While the closest thing to what i want is DOY tunnels, id like more areas and new missions tied to them, tied to storyline possibly.

[Nidhogg]

Just like to say, we've had a great response from the community with the balancing, and Lifewaster is one of a group of people who have been especially helpful. It's not gone unnoticed. Thanks!

N

[Lifewaster]

DRUGFLASH : Have not been changed forever, awefull side of this game. I assume not all chars are drug dependant, sad that there has not been a balance there.

Arg forgot to mention , Drugflash sucks now big time, theres absolutely no way to get rid of it now except die or wait.

The issue has been raised here .

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Further info regarding drugs :

The Main-stat drugs all now give quite a lesser value, I think its +1/+2/+1 between all 3 dex drugs (redflash/whiteflash/and the other thingy)

[nobby]

A great guide !


I hope KK do a PDF about the new changes

[Nidhogg]

Don't forget the reticle. That's quite a major change.

N

[Archtemplar]

I hope my friend doesn't leave cuz his apu'll be useless now

[Mal]

About bloody time someone did a Micky Mouse intro to 2.2 instead of us having to pick the bits out of peoples whine posts

[Lifewaster]

Aiming############################################
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APU spells now have a reticle , but you can still insta click, however an un-closed reticle results in lower dmg (havent really noticed this to be much effect thou)

All other weapons aiming is reportedly slower overall across the board (harder to hit fast moving ppls)

Weapon aiming influences are listed in this thread (significant thing appears to be 10% faster aiming with high tech weps) allthough this may be out of date , not sure tbh.





Stealth##########################################
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MR. Jones stealth is now 3 seconds duration ......quite an issue for PEs atm. It also produces noticable drugflash.




I've probly forgotton to mention even more stuff, but ty for these reminders

[Lifewaster]

I hope my friend doesn't leave cuz his apu'll be useless now

Well, personally a lot of us feel APUS have been hit too hard , but more reviewing is still ongoing, and I'm sure will continue after launch.

However, best advice I'd give is to login Test server, try it out properly (with well a well skilled resist setup, and support) then decide if he thinks its still unplayable.

If he still thinks he cant take it, then use the free skill reset to switch to PPU when it launches. He can always lom back if thing get better.

[jini]

Just like to say, we've had a great response from the community with the balancing, and Lifewaster is one of a group of people who have been especially helpful. It's not gone unnoticed. Thanks!

N

would easily say, he is the ONE but maybe indeed there are more...