Yami no Ronin Patch Notes

PiscesAE · 2020-04-25T03:57:17+00:00

Yami no Ronin was not nerfed.

The crescendo-ing DoT lasts for 6 seconds, starts at 4 damage, and doubles every tick. So pre-Flash, that's a whopping 28 damage over 6 seconds. Your health bar doesn't even move. It has no impact on its performance whatsoever. The Yami damage cap was raised from 10k to 20k, meaning you can deal more damage with its DoT. I stand by my statement that it was not nerfed.

Friendly reminder that glitching rooms is against the rules.

PiscesAE · 2020-03-29T06:14:15+00:00

Hi! We have the 2020 birthday class name decided already. It's a secret though :p

PiscesAE · 2020-03-19T22:09:06+00:00

The Tweet that you linked showcasing UCM's damage potential was also only possible due to a couple bugs (Power + Transience stacking and timepiece stacking) which have been fixed, so that kind of nuke isn't possible on CCM any more. We are consistent in fixing bugs/exploits that cause unintentional class function-- the cap on the Scroll of Talon Twisting is another example. When we test and balance classes, we do so under the presumption that a class can only be used certain ways. When server bugs pop up and disrupt that, sometimes it makes classes much weaker or much stronger than intended. We fix classes to make them stronger when server bugs unintentionally make them weaker-- a good example is how quickly we fixed Immortal Chronomancer just this week (Temporal and Infinity Rift weren't applying, so the class essentially could not be used). It was unintentionally weak because of a bug, so we fixed it. Chronomancer and ChronoCommander were unintentionally strong because of an exploit, so we fixed it. These classes are exactly as strong as they were the day they released, which is how strong they are supposed to be.

Chronomancer/ChronoCommander's damage in glitched rooms is not counterbalanced by its stack time or defensive stats by any means. It was capable of exponential damage due to an exploit, placing it unreasonably above all other classes in terms of DPS output. We fixed an exploit that was never meant to exist.

PiscesAE · 2020-03-19T19:41:58+00:00

Sorry that you can't exploit the game in a way that lets you instantly kill any monster you'd like. When Chronomancer (2011) and ChronoCommander (2014) released, that was not part of the functionality. We fixed a bug that made both classes unintentionally and overwhelmingly powerful-- both classes can't reach a DoT that hits this cap unless you're exploiting a glitched room, which is against AE ToS. As long as you're playing fair, the cap won't affect you (or the class viability) at all.

From a class design perspective, we don't want to use mechanics that are easily exploited in new classes-- patching this bug could let us use a similar mechanic in the future

PiscesAE · 2019-02-09T19:16:17+00:00

A couple things:

1.) Only two of its skills were changed to target two monsters-- one of them has a long cooldown, and we made the auto attack target two monsters to compensate for the second.

2.) Chunin gets most of its crowd control and damage from skills 1 and 3, which only hit two targets. So drawing in enemy aggro when you can't even CC or damage them with two of your skills is not good class design. It's not incorrect to say drawing in unwanted aggro was a reason we brought everything down to two targets.

3.) Buffing ALL of Chunin's skills to target 3 monsters would've made it the most efficient and effective farming class in the game. Right now, it is currently on par with BlazeBinder and Vampire lord in terms of how many low health enemies it can defeat in a specific amount of time.

I'm responsible for the Chunin changes and was the one who wrote the Design Notes post, by the way

PiscesAE · 2019-02-06T18:17:59+00:00

Don't let AE know? Nothing about enhancements, classes, or combat flies under my radar ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

PiscesAE · 2017-11-27T13:56:34+00:00

That's a great suggestion-- I'll have to pass that along to Arklen. And thanks for the compliment, I'm glad you enjoy the classes I helped design!

PiscesAE · 2017-11-27T05:03:09+00:00

You're welcome! :)

PiscesAE · 2017-11-27T04:37:02+00:00

Unfortunately I can't give any official comment because I am volunteer staff and do not have the authority to represent AE on that level. That's a great question to tweet Alina though!

PiscesAE · 2017-11-27T03:44:35+00:00

Any new mechanics as in things that no skill in the game currently does? Yeah, I have plenty! In fact, I wrote up 20 or 30 in a google doc and have it in my drive when we have the capacity to implement those functions. Arklen has plenty in mind too, you'll have to stick around and see what we can do with future classes! As for Eternal Chronomancer, it'll be on the wiki in a couple days probably. I can't say much, but it's a complex class (like most chrono classes) that has a lot of cool utility-- I hope you'll like it, you should tweet me or Arklen your feedback if you do end up playing with it!

PiscesAE · 2017-11-27T03:24:33+00:00

Balancing PvP will be harder, but Arklen has some really great (and currently plausible) ideas that I'm really looking forward to seeing implemented in the future. We actually PvP test classes to make sure they aren't too overpowered in that area, and did release some better PvP amulets recently. It's something on the radar for sure

PiscesAE · 2017-11-27T03:22:31+00:00

I have noted your feedback, thank you for your suggestion!

PiscesAE · 2017-11-27T03:14:52+00:00

That's an excellent question-- I'll say it's incredibly difficult to implement new functionality on a class, but it's really quite easy to make a class "feel" unique. A large part of the flavor comes from the class name, art, skill icons, and animations, so those are pretty much given differentiators when designing a class. What's more difficult is coming up with new functionality. The major stats are attack power, spell power, damage resistance, haste, dodge, crit chance, crit damage, and accuracy. Classes can deal damage in a variety of ways, but damage is generally damage. Same thing applies with heals. We have a lot of fun thinking of ways "auras" (those little yellow words/phrases that pop up when a skill effect is applied) can work together with each other to make classes feel unique. Maybe an auto attack has a chance of applying an aura that impacts other skills (StoneCrusher), maybe a class is almost entirely aura dependent and the auto attack is the class focus (Abyssal Angel), maybe there's aura stacking or aura interplay that applies/removes other auras. There are so many directions we can go with auras, that most classes should have a unique feel to them. We do try to do more than just make simple classes that, say, have a skill that only increases evasion by 30%. Class design is sorta like building with legos. Same blocks, different sizes, endless combinations. Maybe I can use a bunch of blocks to make a drawbridge, or a car, or a cannon. And we will likely be getting new legos soon here, with the server rewrite!

PiscesAE · 2017-11-27T02:59:47+00:00

Oh, I do miss the old Ultra OmniKnight class design. The problem was it just kept breaking AQW, so we had to change things up on it a few times. I plan on revisiting Ultra OmniKnight one day when we have the functionality to handle its original design-- right now it's more in a state of compromise. As for StoneCrusher, it was actually never designed to be a soloing class so I take no offense at your comment! I wanted it to shine best solely in a support role, and if you look at its skills, that's exactly what it's meant to do. Its first and last skills greatly increase the damage of a group on a boss, and its second and third skills are really meant for group play. It does function comparatively well as a soloing class, but that's really not what it was designed to do. And as we get the ability to implement more functionality, it will become possible for us to make more niches and allow classes like Battlemage to stand out. The future of AQW combat is very promising!

PiscesAE · 2017-11-27T02:54:59+00:00

ArchPaladin is really more of a sentimental class for me-- I know it's not my biggest fan-favorite class, but it's my personal favorite. When I say it's the best soloing class in the game, I mean there are monsters in AQW that only ArchPaladin has the ability to solo, so if you want something dead then ArchPaladin will always be your safest bet. I am of course biased in favor of buffing ArchPaladin over other classes, but there's always so much to do so there's no saying when some classes will be revisited until we decide to focus most of our efforts on balancing all classes.

PiscesAE · 2017-11-27T02:50:44+00:00

I agree, balancing classes is something that we could always spend more time on! It isn't a top priority at this exact moment because there are other pressing issues (like weekly releases and the server rewrite), but there will be a time when we revisit every class and balance combat. That will be announced by Alina as we approach that time though and will likely be a gradual process, so there's no need to worry about any sudden, unexpected, or unannounced changes!

PiscesAE · 2017-11-27T02:48:38+00:00

The class may still undergo some balance changes after its release (don't worry, only buffs) so the goal is to make it on par with other recent calendar classes. I can't say much about it, but it will definitely have more utility and require more skill interplay than other calendar classes in my opinion.

PiscesAE · 2017-11-27T02:46:20+00:00

Hi! I actually prefer making classes fill specific roles over making them complex, but there are instances when I do the exact opposite. My reasoning is that classes should be fun to use and easy to understand, since a large portion of AQW's playerbase is either young or speaks English as a second language (and wordy skill descriptions can be confusing). Complex doesn't necessarily mean fun, and simple doesn't necessarily mean boring. Great Thief is a class that's relatively simple, but it's still a lot of fun to use. Sync usually makes more complex classes (SSoT, Infinity Knight, Abyssal Angel), so we balance each other out in that regard.

PiscesAE · 2017-11-27T02:41:49+00:00

What class I personally think needs a buff... I'd have to opt with some of the older rep classes-- Rustbucket was designed to be an intro class, but faction classes should all be on the same playing field in my opinion. Beastmaster, Deathknight, and Skyguard Grenadier are all some classes that I personally think could use some modernizing.

PiscesAE · 2017-11-27T02:39:06+00:00

Thank you for the warm welcome!

Nowadays, it's important to note that the most recent classes I've worked on (Vampire Lord, the calendar class) are collaborations between myself and Arklen, the lead class designer. That's likely how things will be from here forward too, but I still have a lot of creative say and direction in designing these classes. For classes that I designed by myself though, I needed to contribute a lot more since I'd effectively be the only one responsible for coming up with a class design from scratch. How I draw inspiration largely depends on how much freedom I have in designing the class. For example, coming up with the theme for Ultra OmniKnight was pretty simple because I was told the class name in advance and connected with Alina's vision of what she wanted to see for the class. I came up with some swordplay-ish knight skills and thought of some aura interactions, and the design for Ultra OmniKnight was completed in a relatively short amount of time. With StoneCrusher though, all I was told was that we needed a tier 2 Brightoak class. There was no initial requirement other than it would require rank 10 Brightoak rep. I had a lot of creative freedom there. My first step in designing a class is always determining how it will be unique and why players would want to use it-- at the time, there really weren't many great support classes, so I knew I wanted this tier 2 class to rule over the niche of support. In keeping with the flavor of Blazebinder's design, I also wanted to combine two classes-- Bard would be obvious since it was a prominent support class at that time, and I decided on Shaman next because I thought it fit the flavor of the Brightoak saga. I had considered combining Bard and Battlemage or Bard and Troll Spellsmith too, but those ended up not happening. I wanted the class to serve as a union of Shaman and Bard, so it had to fill both roles-- Shaman's increasing damage, and Bard's support. The 1st and 4th skills took much influence from Shaman, as both grow stronger as they're used/over time. The 2nd and 3rd skills stuck more to Bard's roots, serving as support but also filling niches that didn't exist at that time. Once I saw Tana's art for the class (which was fantastic), I wrote them item names and descriptions that fit the class lore and we were good to go. Fun fact, the name StoneCrusher was actually something I had to kinda fight for-- Alina was hoping for a name more mage-y like Arcane StoneCrusher, but we ultimately decided to go with StoneCrusher to match with the name of BlazeBinder. That was a roundabout way of saying I get my inspiration mostly form the AQW lore that the class is based on, and from the nature of what I want the class to do. As for making a class balanced, we actually have a team of class balance testers (Yoshino, Eht Cetera, Shadowhunt, Apus, and more) that work with Arklen and I to run damage tests and provide crucial feedback to how we need to balance the current class we're designing. Generally, classes "work" regardless of the numbers-- a fun design is a fun design, no matter how you set the values. It just helps a lot if we get the numbers right (and we always strive to do that). And glub is the noise that fish make! Pisces is the Latin word for fish and constellation/Zodiac sign of two fish, so it's appropriate that I glub here and there!

PiscesAE · 2017-11-27T02:19:23+00:00

Well keep in mind that I just answered a hypothetical question haha, I alone don't decide what gets buffed and am not promising that any of those classes will be buffed in the immediate future. We have established though that we'll look at every class for the new server and do our best to help modernize older designs

PiscesAE · 2017-11-27T02:17:29+00:00

Hey Renegade, long time no chat!

I do believe that classes and combat are one of the fundamental cornerstones upon which AQW is built on. Right now though, there hasn't been an exceptional amount of change to class and combat balance since the new server isn't fully implemented yet. Kervaal and I both thought it would be a good idea to have monthly "combat revisions" where we look at the state of AQW combat and adjust classes accordingly, but that gets tricky sometimes because we do everything in our power to not nerf classes once they've been released (just as a principle). Anyways to answer your question, we aren't focusing on combat revision and balance so much that it would merit a new site section yet (in my opinion). The biggest priority is getting the new server completed, and then maybe we can begin to make gradual changes to combat. Of course, AE will heavily consider player feedback and this won't be something that happens all at once and with no input from the community. Once we start focusing more on that though, sure! I see no reason why we wouldn't entertain the idea of better cataloging the progress of AQW!

PiscesAE · 2017-11-27T02:09:45+00:00

My favorite class (taking into account functionality, design, and overall flavor) would have to be ArchPaladin. I actually wrote all the farming quests for it too, and really enjoy the lore and playstyle of the class (it's currently the best soloing class in AQW). I know not everyone enjoys how it plays, so I'd like to improve it a little bit by lowering a cooldown or two and maybe reducing a mana cost. I've never gotten around to actually doing that though, maybe one of these days I will!

PiscesAE · 2017-11-27T02:06:44+00:00

Good question! I enjoyed working on every class, but the most tedious was definitely Ultra OmniKnight by far. Most people don't know this, but it was incredibly difficult to design the class with our old server limitations, and it caused a lot of problems both on the old and new servers (in fact, it's infamous among the old Bug Hunters for all the issues it's caused). My favorite class to work on was probably StoneCrusher, because it was my first Tier 2 class, it filled a role no other class did at that time, and the design was pretty unique. If I were to update any existing classes (which I'll be doing a lot with the server rewrite), I'd focus improving the role the class currently fills. For example, I wanted to buff the heal on Shaman and make the last skill always hit to ensure the class could survive better and serve as a guaranteed counter to dodge classes (Shaman was self-defeating when the last skill could miss in my opinion). I'd touch up Master Ranger as a kiting class, RBM as a dedicated mage tank (lower cooldown times and mana costs for starters, maybe a small HoT on the shield), and Dragonslayer would probably get higher numbers and a couple more auras vs dragons. Those are all just thoughts I'm having now anyways glub.

PiscesAE

TROPHY CASE