A Proposal to Nerf Meph AA (PVE)

[Deathlyreaper]

Please hear me out:
This thread is about nerfing mephisto’s Arcane Ability in PVE. I do not do PVP so I don’t know if meph needs to be changed there as well.

For those unaware of meph AA, it gives 50% Stacking Damage Reduction (SDR); it is currently the most powerful defensive pet in game. When it was first released, meph AA was good but not overpowered, most people preferred Glowstik AA over it. The issue came when pets with % SDR were introduced into the game (Arcanite Precious, Arcanite Loveling, Legendary and Heroic Bevo, etc.). Currently, most pve players (myself included) who want to focus on defense have meph slotted in AA and an Arcanite Precious or Arcanite Loveling (both give 25% SDR) in Happiness Bonus. This combination gives me a 75% SDR; if I open a 25% Damage Reduction Elixir, I have a total of 81.25% Damage Reduction. 81.25% Damage Reduction for 6s is a lot, other defensive pets pale in comparison. Warrior and Sorcerer classes get the most benefit: Warriors with Jugg active will receive a total of 91.25% DR, while a mage with shield will receive 88.75%DR. These percentages doesn’t even take armor into account!

The problem gets worse with the release of Baby Blizzerax, BB’s AA includes a 25% SDR for 7s. This means that if I have the previously mentioned pet combo, and someone else in my party has the same combo (but with BB AA instead of meph) me and that person can receive 100% SDR for 6s. In fact, the whole party can receive the benefits as long as they have Arc Percious or Arc Loveling as a happiness bonus. This is overpowered because it completely negates all attacks done to me and my party for 6s. Now, 6s might not be a lot, but factor in a Warrior’s heal shield (which gives invincibility for 3s) or a mage shield (invincibility for 2s), a party can have invincibility for 9s (11s for the mages if they time their skill correctly). 6-9s of invincibility is more than enough time to proc all the weapons/armors and clear all the mobs in a wave or eliminate a dangerous target. For context, a single warrior can clear all the mobs in evg in about 6-7s…now imagine if he had help from other classes. This has been tried before and it is extremely op; evg waves are cleared in 15-18s, but because boss dies too fast, it is not ideal for gold farming.

This a problem that will extend into other aspects of PVE. This strategy can be used in future expansions (which could take the challenge and fun out of it), or future events that are supposed to be challenging. The Devs can make the expansion mobs do crazy damage but that will not do anything if the party has invincibility for 9s. Right now, it is very likely that in the upcoming temple event, those in top 10 Group LB may not be people with the best strategy/skill/gears, but rather people who can play for the longest without a break. Do you really want to participate in an event where you have to run and be attentive for 5+ hours non-stop to get into lb? Temple is possibly the only event where you don’t have to grind non-stop for hours to get in lb; with the right gears and skills, anyone can make it. Not nerfing meph aa would result in the temple event being grindy on an extreme level, which is dreadful.

Evidently, Meph AA is too strong and presents a huge problem in pve. Nerfing Meph AA is a logical solution to this problem. The Devs should not nerf Arcanite Precious or Arcanite Loveling because those pets were bought for the sole purpose of getting the stacking happiness bonus (those features were “advertised” and it is the pet’s main selling point). Nerfing those HBs would be a kick in the face and anger those that spent the 1.7K plat to get the pet. Baby Blizz AA should also not be nerfed because the %SDR that it gives is already low enough, and again the 25% SDR was explicitly said and “advertised”. Nerfing Meph AA is the only solution because its potential was not discovered until these other pets came, Meph AA’s description does not even include the words %SDR so nobody can say that STS tricked players into spending plat to buy Meph AA.