[FIXED][T#177] 177 & the PPUs

Hi!


I have been doing some tests around the new overcasting fix that is listed, I have tested it with the PvP system we were using in Terra, and I came to write some kind of report that is PPU-PvP related.


1. The Silent casting of the PPU spells

As some of you may have noticed when first played the test server, the silent cast and "fast-switching" style are over. This means that if you do try to switch from casting red to casting white without waiting the full animation of the red shield, it will not register to your character. PvP has been previously requiring PPU to do that kind of switching due to the overcasting problem (which I mention below) and also because well, faster is better (that's what she said!)


The good thing with this is that people will not receive buffs/shields they cannot see anymore, so a player is fully aware of what happens when he is aimed at with spells. While a lot of the good PvPers got used to this, a lot of casual PvPers were suffering some kind of unfair advantage, not even knowing what was happening to them when getting buffs and shields from other players.

The bad thing is, this means PPU will now need more time to fully recast themselves up, and people who have been experiencing 100+~ ping know how much of a pain it can be to fully wait for a spell to get cast. While overcasting has been dealt with, there is now a big problem that stands still for PPUs : The Holy Unprotector. A lot of people will agree with me that this has never been much of a big problem before, since the recast was so fast that the debuff was fairly dangerous, but with a full recast time, a PPU trying to rezz/not clipping into walls who gets anti will not survive if 2 to 3 damage type are dealt to him at the same time, the recast time will be too long (I didn't get to try this, almost nobody is on the testserver so I can't put myself in an OP war situation) and the PPU will most likely drop.

Some might thing this offer a positive alternative to deal with rezzing PPU, but I think the change is too brutal, and will also bring tactics such as "PPU rush killing" in outpost fights (debuff a PPU on the field and deal with him as fast as possible - sicne the recast is too long the team will try to drop its enemy PPU as fast as possible, not really the kind of PvP gameplay you want to get into).

Note: On the other hand, this leaves a fair chance to single shield anti spells (like anti protector, etc.). Could this be a new opportunity for the APU to get its full anti spell back, therefore making it an effective character against PPU protections?

2. PvP overcast between two high-level PPU shields

Almost everyone who played on Terra and did PvP is familiar with the overcasting technique, and if you don't this one is quiet simple, reaching a certain amount of PPU and FCS skill, a PPU can simply force a foreign shield cast over a self-cast, allowing a direct debuff and in most cases, insta-death for the PPU if he isn't careful. I have tested these effects since the patch came out, and as far as I know, this effect is gone. PPU can now overcast their own shield (blue/red/white) over and over again (this is good because you can replenish a fresh shield all the time, like before starting a rezz) and you can no longer overcast/force your shields on other PPUs. This is working good with the silent cast fix, basically the main idea is to cast your shield and don't get bothered by other PPU, this gets rid of the tricky PvP techniques such as Silent overcasting. We are therefore headed toward a simpler PPU gameplay.


I also want to mention that the shield effectiveness getting reduced when damage is taken is still there, therefore making you require to still overcast shields on yourself to make sure you get a fresh new shield to tank the damage you are receiving.


3. The rezz spell

I wanted to mention the rezz spell here because I took notice of a change in the testserver. As far as I know, this hasn't been mentioned in the notes of the patches but it seems that the drug rezz bug has been fixed. I took a fairly good amount of them, killed myself, it didn't happen, my character dropped like it should have.


On the other hand, silent cast still works with the rezz spell. This is being done by running toward the person you want to rezz (or at least move) and then cast the spell while suddenly stopping. The foreign client will see the PPU fail its cast, but the client itself will get the rezz working as expected.




I will probably add more stuff to this list as I'm trying PvP stuff mainly on the testserver.
Neal.

To add something:

This changes have such an huge impact on the balance it will destroy the game even more.
Its still hard do keep an Tank(full buffen and all shields) alive against 2 Spys.
If a Tanks now gets an full antibuff he will be fragmeat.
The current solution is to clip so noone can hit you.
Even worse is the Apu.. an Apu wont survive one Spy.

If we keep an eye on the survivability this is going terrible the wrong direction.

Apu is atm not an option in groupfights. I would rate an Apu to the lowest survivability.
Tank is fairly good if hes fullbuffed. But without Sync/Zone hes dead against 2 dmg dealers.
Ppu is strong at this moment. He will die to 3 dmg dealers without Sync/zone or clipping.
I think Spys/Pes got the most survivability. Stealth and a very fast movement (warping/clipping) allows to avoid dmg. There is not a good solution against stealth atm. Truesight Sanctum ticks to slow and got no range.

If we take a look onto dmg Rating:

1. Spy
2. Tank
3. Apu / Pe (without woc)
4. PPU

Survivability:

1. Spy / Pe
2. Ppu
3. Tank
4. Apu

Is useful to hack ops (Don´t die if he gets attacked in the Term-> survivability):

1. Spy / Pe
2. Ppu
3. Apu
4. Tank

So best choice should be a team of spys and ppus.
After this patch its basicly the same.
Only spys and pes getting stronger couse they can stealth away to avoid dmg and wait somewhere outside to get now shields/heal.
(To AoE them down is not a good solution since you hit urself 4x harder than other player if you shoot to the ground)