Gunsmith Dan

Merry Christmas ....Thanks Giving still a Holiday thought it was skipped for Christmas :D

Ye not noticing damage after in full cloak BUT did notice something VERY interesting.     It now seems that beam weapons can curve, track and follow you when cloaking  ..... yes I am not joking.   I was fighting a lvl 47 Free Spacer Viceroy , which only uses beam weapons, and maneuvered out of it's firing arc but it shot at me the same instant as well. I actually SAW the beam curve around follow me and hit me while I was behind the MOB ........ wow not that Jenquai did not have enough issues but now MOBs have Homing Beams.     If MOBs can get Homing beams then the players should get some as well.     Seriously what next they gonna let the MOBs do.     Ohh and a repeat of a question the to date not a SINGLE DEV has answered:   Why do the large majority of high level MOBS have extremely high or immune resistance to Energy weapons specifically?

I think it would GREATLY help ALL Jenquai if they would actually put the Magnified Solar Energy Channeler Beam IN the game as it is in the DB. That would once again allow Jenquai to actually USE energy beams instead of wasting space in the game server DB for weapons no one ever uses past level 3 unless they dirt poor.   ALL Progen can use certain level 9 Impact Debuffers.   ALL Terran can use certain level 9 Explosive Debuffers.   only 1 out of 3 Jenquai classes can use level 9 Energy Debuffers ( the trader class at that ....basically the builders forget combat at any high level)     How anyone except those personally biased to play certain races can argue that is balanced is beyond me. I am sure someone will say "Well Jenquai get CC  doh".   Ahh what is double of 0 damage?  Hmmmm ................     How about the DEVs go balance the obvious GLARING imbalance about damage types and leave the other balancing issues alone until THAT is solved!!!

One thing many of you are missing and so focused on DPS. If you go by straight DPS without CC even the JD would be weaker than a TT or PS because Jens DO NOT do damage on a straight DPS scale because of CC.   Since there is a 3 to 4 second delay (depending on how fast you can press button and the lag time of your connection) between CC bonus and firing you actually have to use a DPC (Damage Per Cloak) formula to get a accurate damage output. In fact just look at the types of Debuff devices in game and types of weapons used.   Jenquai are suppose to be "Kings of the Beam" yet when you look at the stats and bonuses given by weapons the Jenquai beams are not really that much better (and worst in a few cases) than beams from other races, let alone other weapon types. The Plasma beam is the default used by many Jenquai because it is the only class they can get a debuff for that allows them to do decent damage ....Why you ask.....  well the answer is a large majority of MOBS in game have high Energy resistance and EMPs do not damage hulls. The funny thing Plasma beams are actually Terran beams not Jenquai which makes one really scratch their head as to why the "King of Beams" have to use beams from another race to actually be able to play their race in combat. I fact there is several high lvl debuff devices that actually give Terran ability to get explosive debuff and Progen to get impact debuff ...... but there is NO high level device that gives all Jenquai Energy debuff ( except for one lvl 9 beam weapon that is not even in game, how surprising) which further nerfs the Jenquai from using there own weapons (doing combat with a Jenquai Seeker does not cut it).   Progen Projectile are the best race made in game   Terran Missles are the best race made in game   Jenquai beams are so so compared to other race made beams in game.   SO even with CC energy beams are useless against higher level MOBs because of the high resistances they have to energy (alot more MOBS are either immune or close to it compared to other damage types).   Because JD has very weak shields/hull compared to other races without PSI shields they would very frequently be killed (especially when you get some lag and you think you cloaked but did not and got shot) as it is a skill that tries to make up for lack of strong shields, but still is weaker when everything is totaled up.   What I am seeing lately is that there seems to be Anti Jen feelings toward the Jen race in game ( both from players and DEVs) because they most closely represent the "good guys" in the game and it seems to be the fad in games as of late that everyone wants to play the bad guys. I guess people want to do stuff in a game they can not do in real life and that creates a "hate the badge" complex for anything that represents the "good guys" in a game. This was the same problem in the original EnB because DEVs from EA saw that many more players were Progen or Terran so they catered to them and started nerfing Jen, mostly because there was a PvP aspect to the game then and they were profit driven.     So after all that the DEVs still think that not only was the most recent nerf of the Jenquai damage output not enough but they want to nerf them even more ...... guess that is one way to get rid of players for a  race indirectly.

Well Like I said in the beginning of this and other posts:     Until the DEVs get serious of FIRST fixing skills to work as INTENDED before reducing damage output they are seriously hurting game play, basically the JENs are getting double nerfed.   Those of you saying they notice no damage difference between uncloaking and firing  or uncloaking then waiting 2 seconds and firing are not actually doing the math, just "eye balling it" is not how you test to find out if something is working correctly.   Those saying "Ohh well it is only a  10% to 20% reduction"  think of it this way ..... For every 60 minutes you used to play in combat that is now 70 to 80 minutes. So maybe looking it that way you can see spending an extra 10 to 20 minutes doing the same thing makes a difference.   I pointed this out earlier and it seems some DEVs were confused to as to my point to I will simplify it:   Balancing a game when there is bugs that affect main game play are ONLY done when a game has a PvP aspect to it. This is because people who exploit will  use it more readily when playing other players than playing PvE (unless of course there is a healthy real world market for in game items).   So the point is there should be NO game balancing going on until all the bugs in the game that affect main game play are fixed for a PvE game ...... that is and has been the normal way of approaching it in the vast majority of games.    

While it may seem odd from a distance to point aspect mathematically it makes sense (besides the issues of having gravity wells which is the reason in some sectors for the huge deadspaces and nav points going in circular paths).     Just look at the OPs example and knowing that the the math in the game for nav pathing maps along the nearest points to the end point and it makes sense. If you measure the distances you will see the nearest point is not the gate but the nav point and that is the reason.   So if you understand that the math in game looks for the nearest nav point and not the most direct then you can understand why. The devices and skills for nav pathing do not chnage how the math works for mapping paths in the game they just change the distance tolerences.   Then when mapping the program is being told that when mapping nav points and the nav points are closer that X distance you can skip to the next nav point mapped. When you upgrade the device or skill all that is doing is letting the program know you can increase the "skip" distance some more.   Look at Xulei's example as well:   If you look at the map and skipping done by the math in game the path down the mining route makes a more direct route but the problem is the 3rd nav point. If you measure the distance between that point and Joves and the other nav points you will see they are closer than Jove's. That plus the fact the distance tolerence to skip was mostly likely at the max limit to skip then it starts to make sense why the nav points were plotted they way they were.   That is why thankfully you can Free Warp and also use devices that give you long ranges of free warping without draining the reactor.

So while testing last few days before and after the restart and patch yesterday about the CC bug of bonuses I noticed something unrelated to Combat Cloak.     I had written down damage amounts and verified those number by taking before and after shield/hull amounts before and after being shot with and without using cloak but using everything else. One setup I had was normal damage amount of 5k per volley without CC and 10k with. After yesterday's patch and restart of servers I tested to see if CC was fixed by doing the exact same setup on the exact same MOBs and the uncloaked damage was 4k per volley cloaked and 8k per volley with CC. I was so upset by the fact that the CC bonus was changed without first fixing CC that I completely did not notice something.   My pre patch base damage was 5k and after the patch dropped to 4k and everything was the same setup from before.   There was a change of the damage done with beams for my JD  when NOT CLOAKED AT ALL! So it seems that not only was CC changed to give bonus on only the unmoddified damage amount it seems somewhere along the line, either on purpose or by accident (this is why you don't change things until you fix things first), beam damage in general has been reduced for Jenquai as well.   I am not sure where it got broken or changed now but will have to make a JD char without Critical to truly calculate the damage amount and see if they all add up correctly as right now they are not.

KYP   FIrst off was the Progen skill broken and not giving full effect of the intended skill ...... no it was not so doing a balance change would of be reasonible if needed.     BUT   Changing the damage bonus on a skill that is actually broken and not giving the full bonus as INTENDED then saying "ohh well while we are here lets make the skill give the bonus as INTENDED"????????????   If I am correct the CC skill is suppose to give the damage bonus the instant you drop from Cloak not 2 to 3 seconds later on a bonus that has a base 5 second timer. If you use weapons that fire every 4 seconds you doing half your normal damage and if you using 2.0 firing weapons you lose 1/3 your normal damage using CC as it was INTENDED to work.   SO how about actually fixing the, KEY / MAIN / Without it Character next to usless, skill to make it work as it was INTENDED to work before modifing it to give bonuses it was INTENDED to give.    My other later post has been locked and was along the same topic as this so I will repond here:   First off before commenting and attacking someone maybe certain persons should read the ENTIRE post then reply.   MY reply to hold back donations has NOTHING TO DO WITH NERFING CC but has to do with the fact that it seems the DEVs are going off on tangents and changing aspects of the game before they actually fix the problems first. There is no PvP in EnB so doing game balance for bonuses has NO PRIORITY over fixing bugs that cause serious problems to normal game play.   Talking on a technical basis the current issues with buff/debuff of certain powers in the game is a timing issue not a mathimatical limits issue. The first rule of doing any bug fixing is first fix the bug before tweaking anything else not related to the bug because it can introduce OTHER PROBLEMS. This can make it harder to not only fix the original bug but waste time tracking down if the new issues are tied to the current bug or something new.   My whole point was that I would be willing to donate and encourage everyone to as long as the DEVs are showing that they are organized and have priorities to fixing serious bugs before runing around and tweaking things. The time , energy and brain power is limited for EnB development and draining that off for other  issues  not hurting game play is wasting that important resource.   Thank You for taking the time

First what bug did they fix .... still broken the same as before. You have a mechanic work on your car and says "There you go all fixed now ohh and you will be geting 25% less gallons per mile too"  then have it still be broken, you gonna praise him too "ohh well he tired at least"?????     Second   SO you are saying that the bonus should only apply to unmodified damage rates instead of modified ...... hmmm I think I can remember many other skills doing bonuses on top of modified numbers  so you all in favor of those getting "fixed" as well right?  Damage bonuses, resistance bonuses, shield bonuses, engine bonuses etc.   Ohh wait no those are Progen and Terran skills we can't go around messing with those now can we.

SO they pushed a update today supposedly to fix buffs/debuff (primarily CC) which sad to state has done nothing to fix CC.   If you fire as soon as you uncloak (no  matter which method you use) there is no bonus at all besides critical which is seperate from CC. If you wait 2 to 3 seconds (normally up to the time the MOBs start to notice you uncloaked) and fire you get the double damage bonus. This has been tested ALOT since the update and full server restart today so nothing good there unfortunately.   BUT WAIT THERE'S MORE...................     Somwhow the DEVs decided that CC being broken was not enough of a reduction in damage output of the Jenquai (basically without it little chance of killing MOBs with same lvl as you let alone higher when at higher lvls) they went and NERFED CC DAMAGE BONUS around 25% lower. This also was tested and confirmed very easily after the server restart and confirmed on chat in game with some of ones running the game.   I had a setup against against once certain type of MOB before the patch and restart that did 10k damage per volley  with CC bonus and 5k without (total damage including crits), after the restart it droped to 8k with CC and 4k without.   Now I understand this is a free server but what I can't understand is why would you nerf a KEY  bonus that is not even working correctly to be even less effective?!?!?!?! I was all ready to make a good sized donation but now seeing that DEVs of the game are not thinking logically when it comes to not only game mechanics but the actual timing of when to implement game balance ..... that is if it was even needed  ...... will not be doing so.   The Jenquai Race classes while they can be very effective against MOBs several and more lvls above them that is on a solo basis but they have to kill that target before they can attack another. Both Terran and Progen can actually time their shots so they can switch and attack a new target while rounds are still traveling to the last target and kill it. Yet somehow the Combat Cloak was was to overpowered  enough even when broken to justifiy it being nerfed as well.   This is the same BS I remember back during the original EnB of obvious resentment of the Jenquai Race bonuses and key persons in EA making no secret of which race in the game they perferred. Don't believe me just look at the devices for Debuffing  ....... both Terrans AND Progen can get serious Debuff devices that are for the types of damage they normally deal yet unless you posses a super rare device Jenquai do not. In fact plasma based beam weapons are not even made by Jenquai even though they are what is mainly used because the majority of MOBs in game have good to immune resistance to energy weapons while other types are less.   This can not stand and I believe that the DEVS should be made aware that fixing the bugs in the game affecting the main playing style of the Races FIRST and once they all work THEN you can think about game balance issues and implement them. There is NO PvP like there was in the original EnB so why game balance issues are even thought about while serious bugs are in the game is beyond me.   Until that happens and the DEVs take a more organized and serious appoarch to how to get the game working right before going around and changing game play I will withhold any donations, I ask those that are also in agreement to what I have stated do so as well.   Thank You All for reading this

SO while trying to fix CC and other buffs ( which btw is a Nerf of the Jen as it is) you guys decided to also lower the damage output of Jen especially with CC because why??????????   What you guys had some spare time on your hands between fixing bugs to say ........... "Hmm so we really do not like Jen so lets screw them up even more"  ..... seriously who the hell came up with the idea to nerf Jen damage output before the key skill we use to be able to kill stuff was fixed????????????????????????????          

So the information everyone gets about Combat Cloak (CC for short) is that it is bugged and only the first shot right out of cloak gets the double bonus, the other following shots do not even with the CC buff active.     WELL I am here to say after noticing something the other day and ALOT of testing by myself and by other much more active players we have found out the opposite is true right now.     The first shot right out of cloak  gets  a extremely minimal bonus while all other shots fired 2 seconds or later after uncloaking get the double bonus. This means those running 4 second reloading beams and a 5 second CC timer get only 1 shot for bonus damage AFTER 2 seconds from uncloaking. If you run the Chavez 1.0 second reloading weapons and activate the weapons while cloaked then the first 2 shots are normal and the next 3 are double damage.   You can test it out yourselves and you will see a huge difference in damage a MOB takes if you wait 2 or more seconds to shoot them out of cloak. SO this means weapons that fire faster will actually do more damage as they can get 2 or more shots in before the bonus timer ends. It has also been tested with players that use devices that increase the CC bonus timer and the damage bonus extends out to the end of the timer.

All the hate and I never said anyone was not doing their job or not doing a good job .... just that the responsiblity needs to be spread out more BECAUSE no one person can do it all ...... I know ALOT about working for free on game development since I forget alot of times people do not know me.     I have Alpha and Beta tested:   10Six (now Project Visitor) that was a MMOG developed in the 1990's which had the plug pulled by SEGA because they though there was no future in online gaming, that consoles were the money makers ( bet they kicking themselves now).   Eve-Online  I was also a polaris volunteer which was basically a GM and bug checker all for free (well we did get free accounts)   WOW   Star Trek online   System Shock (still think it was leaps and bounds better than Doom was)   System Shock 2 (wish they would solve the legal rights issue to have a real System Shock 3 instead of Bio Shock)     Beta Tested:   Duke Nukem (original one)   War Craft   Star Craft   Earth and Beyond   Mass Effect   Fallen Earth ( a very interesting MMOG sort of like Fallout but with horses and vehicles to move around)   Mass Effect 2     plus I am sure a few others from the late 80's early 90's I have forgotten. So you can see I have put ALOT of free hours into games to help improve them for the people who will later on play them.     My comment was only meant to say "Hey you need more people to help out and maybe have some sort of schedule so that people volunteer 2 hours here, 1 hour there so that no one get burned out on their "Hobby" and can have fun too".     Sorry so many of you took offense to my comments but that is NOT my intention.   Thanks        

what really sucks is that we have to wait for one person to wake up in (in Europe I believe) to restart the server ....... there really needs to be 3 people in different time zones with access and one backup person when they are on vacation.   That and a system to email them directly so  they know there is a issue.

Yea it seems the only thing that is fixing the problem is a complete server reboot ..... which means whatever the bug is it is related to memory or database and so much garbage piles up it eventually crashes the server or puts it in a loop.     Since it has been a daily issue for the past few days I think it would be HIGHLY recommended that the Servers be put on a auto restart every 12 hours to prevent people not being able to play for hours until someone wakes up.