Agent Issues

[Militaryman666]

They won't listen to ideas, or suggestions, they'll mainly ask for imput on their own ideas..

[Telperion]

Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be any new idea about rebalancing Agents... I've just hit 201 and already i can see the end of my character: i'm reduced to heavy (and extremely boring) money-making because the only way to improve him seems to be equipping top-notch equipment. Of course, with all that ubah equipement, i have the feeling i won't be able to OD people with similar equipement or even solo things as well as they can.

In my opinion, agents could be improved in two ways
- either the Damage Dealer way: remove (yes, remove) the cap on AS and improve Evades by a significant amount
- either the Support way: improve our Calming/Healing (improve NanoInit?) abilities or allow us to access some lesser SL nanos (minor SL Doc heals) or open another symb line to us (Support?)

Bear in mind that i'm not much of a PvPer, rather a RPer (but shouldn't RPing agents be able to work alone?), so my suggestions will probably trigger an answer like: "but why didn't you roll an Advy?". Now that my future as an agent seems quite obstructed, that's probably what i'm gonna do... :(

[Militaryman666]

Allowing us access to other sybiants would be helpful in some areas but very harmful in others..

As for uncapping AS and improving evades "significantly" this would unbalance us in pvp by allowing us to evade alot more perk attacks and specials that other players might throw our way. I don't want to turn us into ranged shades although that's what most people's ideas seem to be pushing to.

Agents weren't made to evade everything that comes their way.

Not to mention that uncapping AS will be counterproductive to our problem. At the moment, our problem isn't the amount of damage that AS does, it's the fact that we can only use the special once in combat.

Raising the damage on AS would amount into more Killstealing not to mention it would hurt our chances to get it fixed to compensate for our current problem. This is exactly the "Quick-fix" stuff we need to stop spewing to Funcom.

Imagine if you will, the cap is removed from Aimed Shot.. Then what? Your shot might at max level and best equipment do 150%-170% more damage then it does now.. You might see 19000-21000 damage Aimed Shots, maybe some 26k or so criticals. You'll have everyone else complaining about imbalance when they see those numbers and they will be even more uncaring and oblivious to our problems.

When you go up agains't heavy HP mobs, even ones with high evade. You won't be able to sneak and attack anything higher then a certain point. The APF Aliens.. Scouts outside of alien ships.. And pretty much most of the highest level aliens on ships. Not to mention some other mobs out there that don't allow you to do stuff like that. Just think what would happen when LE comes out. New high level mobs that prevent us from doing the same exact thing, and we'd be in exactly the same spot as we are now.

We don't need higher damage AS, we don't need unbreakable evades, and we don't need access to other profession's symbiants. We need AS to not rely on concealment to fire, we need only slightly higher evades and better defense through mimics by overhauling the nanos we can use through mimics, and upgrading the mimic nanos themselves. We need a fix to our own symbiants by adding a bit more defense to the set, add some stamina to Artillery leg symbiants.. That would be for soldiers just as much as it would be for us. Add nano init, intelligence, psychic, and some nanopool to our head implants, we could use the increase..

Random changes like that would be fair and productive hitting our problems head on rather then making small changes around the problems just camoflauging the real problems.

Anyways, it's late and I don't feel like mumbling on.

Militaryman

[Twistshot]

Another awsome post Militaryman and I agree with all your points. However something I would like to see is us becoming long range kings again. Lately I have come across every kind of weapon that has a range of 25 or more meters. Also it seems mobs are getting faster and faster, letting me only get in a few shots 3-4 unless they get stuck or keep running around me. This may seem like a quick fix but howabout increasing our range for our weapons, nanos and perks by 50%-100% by letting us get in more hits at range it will help offset our low hp and weak evades and make us welcome in teams as a puller.

[Telperion]

You're right, Militaryman, this is exactly the changes we need.
My suggestions were those of a relative newbie, which i still am, it seems...

[Militaryman666]

Agent's don't need more range, as a bullet will only fire as far as the gunpowder that powers it and the aerodynamics of the bullet allow. Has very little to do with the gun firing it, however what Rifles do normally come with is an accuracy that's unparalleled at long distance shooting, and since that isn't something as I can agree that we need for this game, it's best to be left out. Not only would it cause alot of imbalance for our own profession in large open spaces opposed to 70% of the game being inside and close quarters.. It would also cause alot of major problems in tower wars.

With that said, range is a very delicate issue to most people, as causing too much of an imbalance would make us seem immortal, going completely the other direction of making everyone equal, is flavorless and gives us no range benefit at all.

What we do need to maintain this is similarly what Fixers have to aid them, while Fixers were ment to be the masters of Snare and AoE Snares, Agents were ment to be the masters of the single target root. I've proposed many times in the past to improve our current root lines and extend them into the shadowlevels, on top of changing their chance to break to make them much more reliable.

A root with a very good chance to land on the target thats also strong enough to last a while when the Agent is shooting it would be a very welcomed benefit to our aresonal. I don't want a very long duration root as it would be unbalanced for both pve and pvp, and I also want it to cost enough that we wouldn't think about running into an area with 10-12 mobs, rooting them all, and simply sitting back shooting while we root everything to survive, that's not what i'm talking about either. However in a 1v1 or in rare cases 2-3v1 we should be able to root the mobs reliably and keep up our highest damage.

At least, those are my thoughts on the subject, I in no way want to make people completely dependant on roots, as to where it would be stupid NOT to fight with them, I just want to make them a bit more valuable, so they're not just a waste of space in our nano window.

As for all of those die hard pvp'ers, fret not. 35% of the professions have root breaking nanos that can cut through even the longest and strongest roots today. Everyone has access to root breaking stims (free movement stims), and one of the most popular pvp class, the Adventurer also has a line of root resistance buffs. Not to mention the various root resistance perks that several professions have..

All i'm trying to say is that, should this change be put in to make our roots worth it, it wouldn't be such a huge deal to people in pvp. Not as much as some people would make it out to be anyways.

[Twistshot]

Yeah, our root nanos are a joke, when i bothered with them on a previous charecter they often failed and when they actually did land the were broken by the time I had finished casting them.

[Twistshot]

is anyone working on a list of all this? seeing what is called for the most and thinking about setting up a poll to see what 1-3 issues we should all start crying for loudly untill they are fixed then going on to the next 1-3?

Stuff like AS, or Root nanos, or new buffs, reduced skill requirements on our nanos, ect

[Militaryman666]

1) Remove Sneak component from Aimed Shot

2) Redo our proc nanos to work a bit better with eachother and provide more of a benefit since it seems to be the only nanos we get for higher Shadow Levels. (Other then close to useless light detaunts and completely useless escape nanoline)

3) Rework the nanos we can do in mimic, the actual effect of the Mimic Nano, and rebalance everything to take into consideration Shadowlevels, Perks, Alien Levels, and Alien Perks when it comes to the casting abilities of other professions.

In that order, then alot more that can change after that, but those three in that order are what i'd like to see first. As for Concealment, once it's not a requirement on Aimed Shot anymore, alot of people won't even bother raising it much anymore, and the ones that do won't mind the bugs as much so it can wait a little longer for a true fix.

I can go to about 50 or 60 changes that i'd like to see with the Agent profession, 1-8 or 9 are more of the "major" changes while the other ones are just minor fixes here and there to smooth the profession out a bit. But since you said 3.. I posted the top 3 of my concerns.

[Vipr]

I agree our SL nanos need a complete overhaul imo, the escape and detaunt lines can be removed and we wouldnt even notice. The reqs on the damage nanos should be lowered and the damage upped by at least 50% on the top ones, they should also look at the 220 nano and increase the duration by at least an hour to bring it in line with all the others

[Twistshot]

I agree, when it comes to our nanos we got it bad. We didnt just get the short stick, they didnt even give us a stick.

[Militaryman666]

Following changes to the proc nanos are what i'd prefer..

Allow stacking of all 3 lines by seperating the blast and wave line, followed shortly by reducing the NCU cost of the nanos by half and extending the duration of Blast of Outflanking to 4 hours. After that make it so that all three nanos have a chance to proc off in combat rather then it being buggy and only allowing one.

Once that's fixed it would be more effective to change the actual proc effects of the nanos to make it so it dosen't overpower us that much. First of all, I think the casting requirements on the nanos are just fine, I think they just need to have a greater and more beneficial effect so it would be worth getting the skill to cast them.

The following changes would help greatly..

Shock Proc line.. Leave all damage as it is on everything under Sickening Shock, and change the damage to the following..

Sickening Shock: 1200
Unsettling Shock: 1530
Harm Shock: 1950

On top of the actual damage changes, it could also be helpful if those nanos also had a 1-2 second stun effect depending on the level.. 1 second up to Jarring and 2 seconds for everything beyond that. It wouldn't be enough to overpower us, but it would be enough to "Shock" the target and cause a reaction rather then just a few points of damage. It dosen't proc enough to be unbalanced.

Wave Proc line.. The wave line is great in numbers, but I feel it's effect could be changed once they all stack to more accuratly fit the Agent profession.. Rather then being damage over time, the wave nano could be a Detaunt over time and help keep the Agent out of the fight when in grouping or raiding situations. Especially situations where the mob has too much nano resistances and won't let us land our Detaunt nanos. All that I would want is for the numbers that are used for damage to be tripled and the effect changed into a detaunt of that strength.

Blast Proc line.. This proc line is great in every aspect except for the proc chance. At higher end of the line it dosen't get worth casting except for the extended duration. My thoughts is that the proc chance of this line should scale a bit more steeply from 20% to 40-50% proc chance by Blast of Outflanking. With this change the Agent would be able to detaunt to a much greater effect by just relying on their proc nanos instead of having to rely on their detaunt nano exclusively.


That's just one of the 4 ideas i've had for the proc line alone.

[Twistshot]

My idea for AS. Keep the cap in place, our max damage is after all other damage reductions have been taken out of it, not before.

Then add another special attack, call it sharp shot, that is based off the AS skill and either give it its own timer or have it share the timer with AS

on nanos. Ethier keep the skills needed the same and boost what they do per militarymans suggestion or keep there effect the same and reduce the skill levels needed to use them.

As to their duration and proc's t hose need to be addressed as well.

[Dame]

Here is an idea for reworking AS in PVM only leave it alone in pvp.
Have two working forms of AS one from a concealed undetected position that has no cap and a 5 second cast like a perk (ie taking the time to actually aim and shoot), given the math we have on AS it would be possible to one shot a lot of mobs because damage with certain weapons could get into the 100k range so we might want to scale that back and it would require concealment to be fixed. That would play into the one shot one kill idea of a sniper a little bit more. The other option is a normal unconcealed AS, reusable in combat but has a 3s or so activation, and works like our current AS maxed at 13k etc. So we have an 11s recharge and a 3s "Aiming Time," a possible 13k every 14s sounds decent to me. With the two options it would improve our soloing and not gimp us on AI raids. As far as teaming it would require us to play smarted because if you were to pop off a 50k AS have fun getting that mob off you.

[Militaryman666]

Sorry Dame but the first one is quite a bit vague, while the second one would make AS a little less Agent exclusive. I had a similar idea with a charge up time like a nano, however it was a scaling time between 0 and 10, starting at 10 and reducing 1 second every 200 points of Aimed Shot skill, then adding on the base attack time of the weapon being used.

That would be a very nice idea to fix Aimed Shot outright, it would nerf AS in pvp slightly as to everyone's current wishes, yet it will still leave people who invest alot into it with decent numbers to keep it as a useful special. Even with this "nerf" it would take at minimum 1 second to fire an Aimed Shot with a Perennium Sniper Rifle at 2000 Aimed Shot skill while it will be around 2-3 seconds for most other rifles. It will be a little more productive for an Agent to fire it from concealment, naturally as this will pretty much be an instant shot after it charges up, similar to "The Shot". Normal attacks will be able to occur while the AS is charging as well, as to not leave it too unbalanced for people with lower ratings of Aimed Shot.

That is really the only change Aimed Shot needs, both for PVP and PVE.

[Dame]

I just went back and read it
On the first part if there was a check in place before or during the concealed AS that made sure the player was not being detected by the mob, the player could get a full uncapped AS off but it would take a few seconds to actually "Get the shot off" like a perk charging or a nano, simulating the agent using his/her skill with a rifle and taking time to aim and account for movement etc. The logic between the 2 types is that if someone knows you are getting ready to shoot them they're going to get somewhere else, find cover etc. so if they don't know you are there, you can take your time with the shot and place it where you want. If they know you are there but don't care you can still take your time but they are going to be moving more because they are already being shot at or someone else is swinging at them, but you are a lower priority.

[agentgimpy]

Aimed Shot!!

Just make it re-usable in PvM just like FA!! Plain simple fix to add to next patch while they are looking into these other issues.

For the love of all that is Holy!!

Why has this not happened yet? It wont bother the sacred PvP and I doubt team members will mind the extra damage.

Also, by doing this, they could just drop ever fixing sneak, as if they have any plans on doing so anyhow. :/


Honestly, I doubt we(or any other prof for that matter) will see any love soon(or at all), its all about new players and selling expansions now. If they give any one profession attention now it will create a cascade effect and all other profs will want their "love" patch, and that would divert cash flow from their new games. I highly doubt they want to start that at this point in time... on to new and better things.

But hey, its nice to dream, and there are some stellar ideas in this thread.

[Waffen]

1. Reusable AS without having to conceal. What concerns me however would be some of the already powerful professions becoming that much more powerful if they had this available to them as well.

2. Min, max and crit damage on rifles just is not where it should be. For that matter, the MBS of the SPS should be 1500 like all the other perennium weapons. And FC could feel free to change the skin to the Cat or X-3. Just have it glow blue or something.

3. A heavy reworking of artillery symbiants along with just making some available would be nice. There are some pretty large gaps in qualities such as the right arm. We should at least have the use of support symbiants as well imo.

[Militaryman666]

There would be no need to worry about other professions using AS to gain a much bigger "advantage" in pvm if it was setup the way I was talking about in my previous posts. If it took them 10 seconds minus 1 second for every 200 points of aimed shot skill added onto the weapon's base attack speed, it would take them long enough to fire the Aimed Shot that when it finally fired, it would end up hitting for perhaps 3000-8000. That really isn't that bad considering the damage most other weapons would be capable of when using their specials.

Example being.. Doctor with a Kyr'Ozch Rifle. If they managed to equip a QL 300 rifle, which would be extremely difficult for a doctor, then they could easily get around 1500ish Aimed Shot when fully buffed. With that much Aimed Shot skill they will hit, on average.. For 7000ish damage on an AS in pvm on anything that would matter. When it comes to hecklers and dynas, they'll be hitting even lower with the rare chance of critting the AS for 13k. It would take them 5 seconds to fire an AS as well as the longer recharge of just over a minute or so. Keep in mind, Agents are the only ones able to cap AS recharge and attack speed on most weapons not to mention offering a large increase in damage.

As for even more advantages to Agent using Aimed Shot, I always did think that it would be interesting to see Agent get a natural damage cap increase on Aimed Shot by 5 per level and 50 per shadow level.. that way by 220, Agent could hit for a 15,000 cap rather then a 13,000. But that's an idea best saved for another time.

[Vipr]

I dont like the idea of having a timed AS, imo it would hurt us a lot lot more then it would help... PVP would be a joke.. specially lower TLs where they would probably get killed before they even got there first AS off. Instead i would prefer them removing the sneak requirement from it for agents only in pvm, would make no change in pvp but in pvm it would allow multiple AS.

Imo in pvp AS doesnt need looking into, what does need looking into imo is the way the other specials currently work... the reason no-one uses them is because they are next to useless against almost everyone.. fix those to an extent that they become usable and bye bye AS nerf cries. Other then that the only thing that needs to happen is for some people to realise not all classes are supposed to do damage etc, some are there for support and arent meant to be able to kill an AMSed soldier with 25k hp in 4 hits with there hands tied behind there backs etc