The feedback nobody asked for is finally here!

Not gonna cover crashing. I assume it's a mix of new patch and pts server load stuff at this point (plus, they know it's happening). But you gotta know, if you don't fix the lag in pvp, game is gonna keep bleeding.

I have two characters of each class at v14, so not trying to pick on any one class over another just because I want them weaker, I really am thinking balance here, even if I might be wrong or thought wrong about something. So bare with me...


Buggy stuff:

• The mundus stone bug still works.

• The sorc overload bar bug still works.

• There is a bug with either templar rez or Alliance war rez that does not seem to be working consistently. Rez speed was good at first, but then disappeared later on in play. Happened between both I and another templar (one with K.Hope set and one without, both with AW10 passives as

• An annoying bug, but not gamebreaking is that when someone mistforms and dodge rolls, they stay in mistform on their screen, though they look normal to everyone else still it seems.

• Seems to be some sort of bug stacking damage on flying blade, where it jumps up to crazy high numbers. Haven't been able to figure out quite why yet.

• The "note" beside the bounty board for the AD side needs to be moved more or removed, still in the way.


Random Class balance/PvP thoughts:

• Nightblades cloak seems a bit too strong now and you cannot attack them with detect pots/single target attacks anymore as was previously feared by many. After much testing with an enemy nightblade, the only decent way to counter them is to run radiant magelight. Secondary might be blanketing an area with flare.

• Shield stacking seems even stronger now with reduced damage (yes, even with reduced shields). Starting to think the ideas of using Major/Minor buffs some have talked about in the past to eliminate huge shield stacking might be a good idea.

• Not enjoying the no stam while blocking idea (did test it with new heavy tanking armor set). I do like the concept and challenge it can create, but much of the game was not created with it in mind and the latency in pvp I don't believe will ever allow it to work properly. I still think that there should be a stam regen penalty, maybe even 100% initially, that reduces when you stack certain things: Maybe 20-30% regen if you have H.A. Bracing, another 20-30% regen if you have 1H/Sh passive for blocking, maybe 10% more regen for each blocking enchant you have on your gear. That would still give you a small penalty even with everything stacked into that type of build. But as it is, I feel like it narrows the variety of builds available, which is not a good idea as this game already has a narrow field of strong builds. Usually if someone has a strong blocking/tank build, they don't have much offense - if this is not the case because of a certain class or ability, then the problem is with that class/ability, not blocking. But having some penalty for doing nothing but holding block is reasonable and does add more work to the tanking role, which can be good. Worst is that it seems to require certain classes to play certain roles more than ever (need a templar throwing shards constantly, classes with natural stam recovering options like DK and NB as tanks, etc.). I'm more worried in pvp however with latency issues and blocking something on your screen, but not actually blocking it on the server for example. Plus with the amount of CC in the game, it's nearly impossible to fight more than one player for many builds now. And it was odd that blocking builds got a huge nerf hammer, but bolt escape/dodge builds got a penalty that feels very minor in actual practice.

• Prox det. changes did not really do much to change it or improve it. Might be a slightly worse ability for some with the 8 second timer. Personally you seem hesitant to be too harsh on some stuff and if you really want this to be a tool against zerging, you may have to pull the trigger. It needs to scale up to 100% bonus damage to be effective. If it's hitting a large group of 20+ people it should be something they all have to spread out from, not just hold block and wait for the heal or barrier.

• Do not like that AP is being made almost worthless. (it will still have some use) It's not fair to existing players to create new currency IMO. Feels like you guys consistently worry more about the new guy that keeping the old guy around. Sucks when you are the old guy and eventually, all the new guys get to that point if they stick with the game. Has to be another solution, but yes, I've heard the arguments of that's how MMOs are - doesn't mean a better answer isn't out there. Just make AP as useful as TVStones, then at least both have good value going forward.

• Barrier - not much changed, but may need to. This contributes to zerging. Couple ideas would be to either have it cap at a certain number of people it shields, 6 or 8 or 12. Or do a set amount of protection and spread it out - so if you have a 40K shield and hit two guys, they each have 20K, if you hit 40 people, they all get 1K.

• CC is too big a deal in the game. It can often be a one button win on a fight. This can be good if you have to work it into a big fight with all kinds of stuff going on, but as it stands, you just spam your one CC over and over in some situations until you win. Return Immovability and CC Break CC immunity back to what it used to be IMO. (Those that rely on CC won't like this idea though). I would at least raise the CC break back to what it used to be, you spent stamina to break out and every decent class/build should have a chance to rebuild that stam, not just stam builds).

• I still think you should cap group size to 12. There are A LOT of checks that go on per player for groups, so I'm sure that adds to the lag. Also it might discourage or at least make it more difficult to zerg up and encourage groups to spread out unless coming together for common cause like the last emp keep battle or scroll or something like that. It's also the same group size for trials, so feels natural cap size. But this one is less IC focused, so let's get back to the DLC...


Imperial City thoughts:

• The load screen as you go in/out of sewers needs to bring you to a safe zone. Anytime you go through a loading screen that drops your active effects and might load your entire group in several seconds apart, you should appear in a safe zone.

• When someone dies, if they are not rez'd with a gem, they should rez back at home base safe zone, not in their little pedestal safe zone in the city. It allows for groups to just continually pile off and dive back into the fight, forcing their enemy to fight them for no reward (no stones since they just died and no xp/ap since they just died as well). So no risk/reward for them. It also starts to build a natural (if not intentional on the players part) zergy area. If they rez at their base, they are still one ladder climb away from getting back to that area or another.

• I don't completely agree with the way TVStones are working now. I do like the risk/reward concept, but as it stands, there are too many ways to abuse it. (Just talked about one of them above) but another is simply ganging up. I think we all expect this to happen from time to time in alliance war style pvp, but it should happen organically because of something else, not because it's the most realistic way to beat the system. And it kind of turns what could be a fun zone of fighting mobs while worrying about occasionally running into players into knowing you'll get attacked from the back every single fight you get into. This could also see a slight change as people spread into more campaigns, but I do think this gives a build like Nightblades are made for an advantage. I think perhaps lowering the risk of loss and reward of gain might be one way to address it. (Give stones for killing a player 1, 2 or 5 depending on whether or not they have stones on them and how many - or maybe you get stones based on the multiplier they currently have, and they lose 10 or 20% of their stones for every death -- perhaps even allow them to go negative temporarily to prevent any farming between friends and maybe lose their multiplier for 10 minutes or something after dying -- to another player just like they do on getting killed by mobs. - this also eliminates just letting a mob kill you to get back to your safe zone easily and can be the same penalty for /stuck). Though I'm sure there are a variety of ideas on other approaches to the stones. I do think you should stick with some sort of risk/reward method.

• The mention of Nightblades last post. The changes to their cloaking seem to make them too strong. I think that might need tinkering. One other idea as well could be random "flare" areas in Imperial city where the forces of molag bal are working to actually detect people since they are there to guard.

• Mobs in IC, esp. bosses, should area aggro on everyone (unless taunted of course). They would want to kill all enemies, not just the guys that first showed up. It would make things a bit more interesting and have a bit more consequences for jumping into a fight. Also, the big boss guys should be able to see through shadow cloak and stealth.


Instances Dungeons

• White Gold Tower run - going to try it again with a different team, I noticed a big difference in having a player in the group that is stronger than the other, which is how it should be. Also, a lot of the one mistake/one death in a boss fight and it's a wipe, which is good for a dungeon that is a first time run/not min/maxed for yet. Cool mechanics on every boss fight (like the use of having to lockpick out of cages during fight, maybe add some bodies to loot lockpicks off of for players that don't normally carry them?). Cool environments. I do have a pet peave about abilities not working in fights when we only get to slot five of them (kind of over that "target immune" message) but can understand it on boss fights. In fighting the normal fire breathing daedroth things though, the fire dot they put on could not be purified/purged and I think it really should be. Not sure if bug or intended, if intended, I don't agree with it. Powers we use should work, you should design around that, not let us find out they don't work in the middle of a fight IMO.

• IC Prison - didn't get to run the whole dungeon, so will withhold thoughts. Seemed ok at first, but first boss seemed a bit 'meh' compared to WG Tower bosses. Want to try it with a different team though and see how it goes.

When taking any complaints about other changes above out of the equation though, the new dungeons are really well done and probably the most enjoyable piece of content in the new DLC for me so far.


Crafting

•  We've had several posts about the fact that there is a x10 multiplier in needed materials from v15 to v16 (haven't checked upgrade mats, hope it's not the same as well). Though I do like the increased difficulty in making the high tier stuff, I think that that multiplier (combined with how rare is is to get the matts) is a bit too much. One of the factors should be adjusted just a bit. Either allow one ingot/cloth/wood per extracted piece or close to it, or lower it to x5 or x6 materials needed or something IMO. Perhaps also allow for small amounts in rewards when doing writs (maybe they are and RNG hasn't been kind to me - I did see there is a chance to get them from hirelings, but 9 deliveries and I still haven't gotten one). Also, the decrease chance to get ingots/cloth/wood from items seems to apply to getting anything including upgrade mats from items as well - not sure if this is intended, but thought worth pointing out. I do feel bad for crafters that have to rely just on stones they get from running a dungeon and not doing pvp however as they will be behind in gathering matts.

• The glass motif feels a bit much as well IMO. What is it? 15 or 16ish pages to assemble in those motifs? - Ten fragments each, then combine those fragments with a 25K salve each time you want to make a page. I'm worried you'll have to put the next motif together one word at a time. Not sure that the cost scares me (some of us have the gold to spend) but the IRL time is kind of crazy to imagine. In the end it honestly feels more like a ploy to sell the motif in the crown store by making it too hard or take too long to get (even if you wait a month or two to offer it there).


The Grind

• That's what MMOs are about often times, but some of the grinds built into this update are again... too much. The biggest concern however is that the grind will stay there for a short time and then once the die-hard players achieve things, the bar will be lowered for the next generation.

If you think it should be lowered, be fair, do it now or never do it and stick with it IMO. Personally, I think it should be lowered a bit now instead of too much in the future. The trophies needed, the stones needed, the matts needed, the fragments needed, etc. I want to play a game again and again for fun first, not because I feel I have to just to get something. (Otherwise I would have quit playing back when I maxed my gear out and hit v14 months ago). A sense of accomplishment can certainly be fun, but on the flip side, the feeling of dread at a grind can hamper that. There might be a better number on many of those grinds, especially depending on what happens when you finally get access to that vault or to craft that gear.


Overall

I think the Imperial City DLC is "ok" as it stands. I think the two dungeons make it worthwhile. With the right changes, the Imperial City itself could be more fun and worthwhile as well.

The design element of it all is, as usual, great. No complaints on the "pretty." (Except for the eyes on the AD gear, why does my heavy armor head make me look like an alien with wings glued to my face?) But some of the effects/changes to the environment in the WG tower dungeon were amazing.

Thank you for allowing us to hide specific upgrades on mounts (bye bye saddlebags on horses).

Thank you for opening up the API a bit.