Question - Deciphering the EQ Patch Message, TLP Pets and Drama (1 Viewer)

[PurpleKitty]

Can you guys please help me understand something in the patch message? I don't seem to be quite as smart as I was my last time hanging around here.

- Returned the defensive skill values of level 1-65 magician and necromancer pets to match what they were in the Planes of Power era. This will only affect Progression Servers until LDoN unlocks on the server. These changes have no impact on other live servers.
- Raid targets that were previously increased in power on Progression Servers now have the ability Mark of the Old Ways. This will reduce the resistances and melee damage output and increase incoming melee damage of Magician and Necromancer pets with increasing severity based on the total number of those pets that are attacking the raid target.

I'm trying to translate this to the net result and I'm not getting it. Please tell me if I got this right.

The first bullet says they are scaling the overall defensive abilities of pets back to match PoP. I wasn't a pet class then so I don't know if that means by definition that they are also more like they were in Classic but hey, its a start.
The second bullet says they are taking previously buffed raid targets and making them even more trouble for pets by reducing the damage the pets can do and increasing the melee damage done to them which they are even less able to withstand because of bullet 1. This effect worsens the more pets there are.

Have I got that right? If so, this appears to be a straight up response to the "mage army" complaint. Aren't raid targets just the big names: Vox, Naggy, Inny, Cazic, maybe Phinny. Or is all of PoH/PoF considered a "raid target"? I thought the biggest issue with raid targets on TLP was rotation while the biggest issue with "mage armies" is locking down PoH and other high end drop camps. How is this really going to help that? And isn't it kinda too late?

 

[mroutlaw]

yes you are right the ability for the pet to damage raid target diminishes as the number of pets on said raid target goes up , not a major big deal for regular raids , as far as pets go they lowered the defense its still op but just not as op as it had gotten right before tlp was opened it was a may 15th patch they reverted

 

[etherealmist]

Basically, this is what they changed:

• They reduced pet defense until 66+, your pets will take more damage than before, in all cases, raiding or grouping/soloing.
• They removed the previous buff on all raid targets that they put on about a month ago (the one that made it basically impossible for you NOT to petwall most things)
• They added a new buff that basically just adds a debuff to pets themselves making them weaker the more pets there are.
• They lowered the difficulty of Plane of Sky mobs to basically be a lot easier than they were, as most of them were Kunark level mobs.

Only the first thing effects anyone not raiding. You can still mage wall if you wanted to, it would just require a lot more mages (to compensate for more pets dying more often), and wouldn't be nearly as effective as just tank and spanking it. Until you get an absurd amount of pets, pet classes will still do a lot of damage to raid mobs.

I like the change, gives the game a more level playing field, while still nerfing the pure petwalling people who box 24-30 accounts.

 

[PurpleKitty]

Thanks etherealmist. That helps a lot. I figured there was a step or two along the way I missed.