Acid Spray DoT doesn't tick when used as aoe spammable

Draggimus

The change to Acid Spray to make its dot always apply to the target prevents it from ticking when casting multiple times in a row.
I don't think this makes much sense, as arrow spray is bow's spammable aoe skill, while volley exists to be its dot/upkeep skill, so I hope it wasn't an intended change.

Bow isn't a particularly powerful weapon, so if changing how the dot timer works isn't doable, since it was just changed in the patch, giving it an initial dot tick would fix this and probably wouldn't cause any balance problems.

ZOS_GinaBruno

Just wanted to chime in to confirm this is not a bug.

skinnycheeks

Draggimus wrote: »

The change to Acid Spray to make its dot always apply to the target prevents it from ticking when casting multiple times in a row.
I don't think this makes much sense, as arrow spray is bow's spammable aoe skill, while volley exists to be its dot/upkeep skill, so I hope it wasn't an intended change.

Bow isn't a particularly powerful weapon, so if changing how the dot timer works isn't doable, since it was just changed in the patch, giving it an initial dot tick would fix this and probably wouldn't cause any balance problems.

The DoT from Acid Spray should work just like Talons. Since it is a 1s DoT, and not 2s like most sticky DoTs, spamming Acid Spray should still allow the DoT to tick. This is how Talons has previously worked with its 1s DoT and spamming works there, and they changed Acid Spray to have the same tooltip/duration/function as Talons.

Draggimus

skinnycheeks wrote: »

The DoT from Acid Spray should work just like Talons. Since it is a 1s DoT, and not 2s like most sticky DoTs, spamming Acid Spray should still allow the DoT to tick. This is how Talons has previously worked with its 1s DoT and spamming works there, and they changed Acid Spray to have the same tooltip/duration/function as Talons.

Spamming Talons doesn't give you dot ticks either.

skinnycheeks

Draggimus wrote: »

skinnycheeks wrote: »

The DoT from Acid Spray should work just like Talons. Since it is a 1s DoT, and not 2s like most sticky DoTs, spamming Acid Spray should still allow the DoT to tick. This is how Talons has previously worked with its 1s DoT and spamming works there, and they changed Acid Spray to have the same tooltip/duration/function as Talons.

Spamming Talons doesn't give you dot ticks either.

If you are correct then that was changed because it definitely did before. I'll take a look at it later.

SundarahFr3akinrican

ZOS_GinaBruno wrote: »

Just wanted to chime in to confirm this is not a bug.

Is there a developer comment as to why this was changed? It is now an unspammable ability, so it's just a dot now, that only has a 5 seconds duration. This change makes it a very underwhelming ability.

Jestir

I think the intent is for it to be used like shaulks, curse or power of light, a short duration dot/semi-spammabke

Its just another case of what some players what not lining up with how the devs want things to be used

Urzigurumash

It seems to me this change brought Acid Spray (and I assume Burning Talons) in line with other "AoE Direct Damage followed by Single Target DoT" skills, like Noxious Breath, Venomous Claw, and Carve. For these skills, the DoT does not tick until 1 second after the Direct Damage hit which applies the DoT, and the DoT refreshes each Direct Damage hit, so the DoT will not tick at all if you spam the skill every GCD.

Last patch for PC (or live console), Acid Spray and Burning Talons were different: the DoT did not refresh until it expired. I recall seeing some complaints about this and so I guess now all of these "AoE Direct Damage followed by Single Target DoT" skills function the same way.

It's not a bug, it's consistent behavior with other skills, and I believe it was done in response to feedback, since some players prefer the DoT refreshes each application.

I've run the Asylum Bow for the last year or so on BowCro in PvP, I'm not sure whether I'll like the change or not, but I think I might?

CameraBeardThePirate

If they want it to function as a DoT and not tick when used as a spammable, the duration needs to be longer.

If they want the duration to remain the same, then it should tick on cast.

skinnycheeks

Draggimus wrote: »

skinnycheeks wrote: »

The DoT from Acid Spray should work just like Talons. Since it is a 1s DoT, and not 2s like most sticky DoTs, spamming Acid Spray should still allow the DoT to tick. This is how Talons has previously worked with its 1s DoT and spamming works there, and they changed Acid Spray to have the same tooltip/duration/function as Talons.

Spamming Talons doesn't give you dot ticks either.

Okay so after testing - the DoT DOES STILL TICK while you are spamming it. Did you bother testing before coming here and making a post about it?

Draggimus

skinnycheeks wrote: »

Did you bother testing before coming here and making a post about it?

if you're actually spamming them, they will not tick
you can even do it while weaving if you're very good. not something i can do consistently but is possible.

so yeah i did, did you?

e:
regardless, it's confirmed as an intended change, which hurts bow's aoe capabilities for no reason and should be addressed going forward

Urzigurumash

Draggimus wrote: »

regardless, it's confirmed as an intended change, which hurts bow's aoe capabilities for no reason and should be addressed going forward

I understand you mean "there's no reason to hurt bow's aoe capabilities", but this specific change was done for a clear and logical reason: to make it function like other Direct+DoT skills.

It's not determinate in PvP whether it will do more damage this way or the last way. Obviously it did more damage the last way when spamming it on a constant number of relatively static targets, but against a variable number of targets moving in and out of range, it might do more damage this way.

Simple illustration of the old way: Enemy A is in range, I fire and apply the DoT. 2 seconds later, Enemy B moves within range also. I fire again, apply the dot to B for 5 seconds, but don't to A, since it didn't refresh. After 3 seconds, A no longer has the DoT, but B does. Then A moves out of range. Had it reapplied, A would've still had the DoT when they moved out of range.. Etc.

So when it comes to "DPS" in PvP it's not quite so clear which way is better. So it makes quite a bit of sense to make it function like all or most other Direct+DoT skills.

However I agree it could be extended to 10 seconds, that way it matches up with the Asylum Bow. Matching up the durations the other way would be not so good, 5 seconds on the Asylum Bow is a bit too short since this weapon is best backbarred with another bow set on the frontbar.

skinnycheeks

Draggimus wrote: »

skinnycheeks wrote: »

Did you bother testing before coming here and making a post about it?

if you're actually spamming them, they will not tick
you can even do it while weaving if you're very good. not something i can do consistently but is possible.

so yeah i did, did you?

e:
regardless, it's confirmed as an intended change, which hurts bow's aoe capabilities for no reason and should be addressed going forward

idk what to tell you. I tested it live on stream and I was getting my DoT ticks while I was spamming it. maybe a ping issue? I have low ping, do you play with high ping? could this be the difference in the sync up?