Evidence of buffed skill damage post-GCD

[Physiologic]

The devs have included a secret surprise (unannounced in any thread) to somewhat balance the GCD: boosts in skill damage!

Data taken from lv 55 archer, full dex, no ring/vanity hat, using full Cyber gear - BOTH pre-GCD and post-GCD.

Lv 6 Blast Shot [+8 damage with GCD patch]
Pre-GCD: 20 mana, 6 sec. cool-down, 12m range
300-324 damage, 6m target area blast
Post-GCD: 20 mana, 6 sec. cool-down, 12m range
308-332 damage, 6m target area blast

Lv 1 Avian Scream [+5 damage with GCD patch]
Pre-GCD: 15 mana, 8 sec. cool-down, 3m area effect
194-237 damage, knock-back + 3 sec. stun
Post-GCD: 15 mana, 8 sec. cool-down, 3m area effect
199-242 damage, knock-back + 3 sec. stun

Lv 6 Repulse Shot [+5 damage with GCD patch]
Pre-GCD: 15 mana, 7.5 sec. cool-down, 12m range
244-263 damage + knock-back (no stun)
Post-GCD: 15 mana, 7.5 sec. cool-down, 12m range
249-267 damage + knock-back (no stun)

Lv 6 Blinding Shot [+5 damage with GCD patch]
Pre-GCD: 25 mana, 7 sec. cool-down, 12m range
221-284 damage plus 5 sec. hit debuff
Post-GCD: 25 mana, 7 sec. cool-down, 12m range
226-289 damage plus 5 sec. hit debuff

Thorn Root, Break Armor, Shattering Scream, and Thorn Wall all cause an unspecified amount of damage, but there's enough reason to believe that their damage has also been augmented.

Also note that not all weapons will cause the same increase in skill damage, so you may not see +5-8 damage using a different weapon!

[giayuan]

Ooo! Nice observations physio! Glad the devs thought ahead of time, though I dont get what 5-8 damage can REALLY do.

[Physiologic]

Well, if you add it all up, +8 damage from Blast Shot and +5 damage each from Avian Scream, Repulse Shot, Blinding Shot, and assuming +5 damage from Thorn Root, Break Armor, Shattering Scream, and Thorn Wall, that's a total of +43 skill damage from one archer. Add two to three more archers in a run and that's +129 to 172 skill damage combined in one sweep of all skills (mix in some crit for occasional/frequent double damage). Have all 3-4 archers sweep skills three times, and that's +387 to 688 skill damage. So it really does add up over time I have a strong suspicion that mages/bears may have gotten slightly buffed up skill damage as well.

[giayuan]

Well, if you add it all up, +8 damage from Blast Shot and +5 damage each from Avian Scream, Repulse Shot, Blinding Shot, and assuming +5 damage from Thorn Root, Break Armor, Shattering Scream, and Thorn Wall, that's a total of +43 skill damage from one archer. Add two to three more archers in a run and that's +129 to 172 skill damage combined in one sweep of all skills (mix in some crit for occasional/frequent double damage). So it really does add up I have a strong suspicion that mages/bears may have gotten slightly buffed up skill damage as well.

Well yes i guess it is! plus all other characters getting damage increases.. awesome devs!

[Raulur]

Hmm, but that .5 second delay adds up to a lot more than 5 damage lost. I used to tap roughly 3 skills to every one that I can now. Meaning that soloing is much more difficult, and I'm less likely willing to set combos up for others as I'm too busy trying to stay alive.

[Slush]

yay for 5 extra damage

[Ellyidol]

Wow Phys!

I have to learn to take note of all the figures then.. Lol.

I'd think it would make sense to beef up skill damage though.

[Physiologic]

Strange that they did not announce it at all to hopefully ease some tension about the GCD. I wish I recorded skill damages using different weapon sets though. Then again, all weapons with a speed of 1.0 will probably follow the same increments in skill damage. I'm not sure how much skill damage is increased with weapons with a speed of 0.9 and 0.6 since I don't have any pre-GCD data on those.

[SUPAPRODIGY]

great observation i say ninja status lol

[davidis57]

I said that in another post that my cruel blast had increased in damage. I had my suspicions now I know.

[Snakespeare]

Today with my pally I chose to focus on buffs and debuffs and NOT damage, letting the weapon do that. The opponents went down faster. Someone said he respec'd to get rid of all buffs and focus on damage. I think that was a mistake. I did this in a group, too, and everyone was more effective, even me. I only used the damage combo if the mobs were bunched up. The rest of the time it was buffs and debuffs, and lightning which has a debuff.

[wvhills]

that was me that got rid of all the buffs and debuffs. Haha. The reasoning is because my mage is level 30 and I made her to do a lot of solo farming. Pre-GCD I had 3 points each in nightmare/weakness and 0 points in BoM and BoV. I respeced and now have 0 in nightmare/weakness and 4 each in BoM and BoV (I gained a level and took 1 point out of drain life). Since I'm soloing I don't have time to cast nightmare/weakness so I focus on BoM and BoV. If I ever decide to level her up I'll be playing in parties with other mages and will add points in the debuffs and cast them from the back of the party before moving forward to attack. That's my plan anyway. Haha.

But the reason I read this thread is because I noticed the mobs were dying easier yesterday than the day before. I was soloing in lost expedition and noticed the mobs dropping faster. I looked at my skill damage screen and noticed they had souped them up a bit. I didn't write the numbers down before GCD but going from memory (which is poor, haha) I thought it was more like a 15+ increase? I haven't checked with my bird or warrior yet. I only played about 30 min last night because the game isn't as fun anymore.

[Addicted]

I have learned that if Physiologic starts a thread, it's worth reading... Awesome data.

I had noticed a slight difference with my level 55 mage and wondered if the devs had said anything about it. I don't have detailed tests like Phys, but I have been endlessly farming Meathead's Deli for recipes the last couple of weeks and I have logged over 1000 Meathead kills. I know exactly the order and timing of my skills to kill and remake, and noticed that the mobs and bosses are often dead before I finish my usual sequence.

With the low level scrubs in Forest Haven, a very small increase in damage makes a big difference and at that level, it comes very close to making up for the GDC .5 sec delay. The time for me to kill meathead, then remake is about the same as before the GDC was implemented.

Side Note - Not much luck in the recipe farming. To say that they are rare is an enormous understatement. I have mountains of gems and scraps, but only 2 level 5 recipes and no level 15 after 2-3 hours a day for 17 days.... unbelievable.

[Snakespeare]

Well, when Fluff says "+1 buff = -1 debuff" when you are solo, I think we shouldn't read that to say a buff is the same as a debuff when you're soloing. 5 levels of Nightmare = -25 armor on him, Lightning also has an armor debuff (unspecified). If he's wearing armor for the appropriate level, his armor is now cut in half. 5 levels of BoM gives me 25 more points of damage. Since +1 buff = -1 debuff, I am now fighting that opponent as if his armor is Dark Forest instead of Sewers. With a nice big Gurgox Hammer (to deal massive damage in the short duration of the buffs/debuffs), I can really put a hurt on him. Let's ask then, what is better, Gurgox Hammer or Firestorm... that's easy, Gurgox Hammer (firestorm V is 173-241, hammer is base 194-269 + str and even a dually adds 20 pts to that). So why use Firestorm? It only takes the place of a possible hammer blow. To combo with Ice Storm? Icestorm does HALF the damage of Firestorm, plus freezes, but the hammer also freezes them. So that is why my pally isn't using combos until there is a group because then the fact that they have AoE makes a difference.

[noneo]

Strange that they did not announce it at all to hopefully ease some tension about the GCD. I wish I recorded skill damages using different weapon sets though. Then again, all weapons with a speed of 1.0 will probably follow the same increments in skill damage. I'm not sure how much skill damage is increased with weapons with a speed of 0.9 and 0.6 since I don't have any pre-GCD data on those.

Devs did announce pre-GCD that they were going to increase damage to even out GCD. I'll try and find the post...

[lilbyrdie]

You sure they didn't announce it? Could this be new set bonuses they were talking about? Or some other change to the Sewers weapons? As opposed to just a skill change.

Speaking of skill changes, the order of skills on my Enchantress screen has changed.

Frostbite used to be second, now it's first. So, perhaps some other skill changes were made?

[Physiologic]

Here is Cinco's post: http://www.spacetimestudios.com/show...l=1#post225479

Testing Update (3.10.2011) - played (PVE only) with global cool-down times at ~0.50 seconds quite a bit this morning. Overall the combat requires significantly more skill and more strategy. As far as I'm concerned that's a really, really good thing! Right now I'm considering increases to player damage (all classes)... but it's not certain. We still have a lot more multiplayer testing to do (to discern how much damage a well-geared group can do now that we have GCD).

He did have it in mind prior to the release of GCD, but it was still not a guarantee. From what I can tell with archers, only damage has been affected; I compared buffs and debuffs before and after GCD and nothing has changed. The archer skill Focus has changed from "unlocked at lv 2" to "unlocked at lv 8" - so Blast Shot is the archer's first skill, not Focus.

I'll take a look into specific enemy data post-GCD and compare it with enemy data pre-GCD to see if mobs have indeed been nerfed down, as a lot of you suggest.

[Echelong]

Phys can you check damage numbers again if possible and see if STS pulled another ninja on this update?

[Physiologic]

Nothing has changed regarding skill damages as far as im concerned. I wish there was some other way to cross-check this though, such as mages or bear skill changes.

[Echelong]

Nothing has changed regarding skill damages as far as im concerned. I wish there was some other way to cross-check this though, such as mages or bear skill changes.

I'll do some digging of some old SS on my PC.