Game Mechanics: Knight buff patch

[Brut]

Didn't see no Bug report about this, so figured am make one!

SKs/Pallys were supposed to get their Defense skill buffed this patch, so the cap raises to same level as Warriors. Ain't going nowhere from 230.

Buffed Grim Aura isn't giving SKs any extra +atk. Clicking gob earring gives +14, casting Grim Aura spell gives +14, other classes also get +14.

Noidea on Leechcurse, ain't tried it much. /burp

PS: Watched a guildie wars Jaelen's Katana proc on Vyemm and he was smiling and commenting on how much better he feels all fight long. Meanwhile muh epic proc / shroud of death / drain soul all getting resisted. Pls pls pls give us our -1000magic resist mod on taps, why do Vulak tap proc weps got it right but two classes don't?

[Brut]

Bump. Any word on this?

Here's the patch notes snippet if needed:

Originally Posted by http://everquest.allakhazam.com/history/patches-2001-1.html

February 21, 2001 3:00 am
------------------------------

*Patch Day*

Today's patch contains a wide variety of enhancements and changes. Due
to the number of changes being made, this list is primarily a summary.
Extended descriptions of the changes and the reasoning behind them can
be solicited on the EverQuest Message Boards.

...Blah blah blah... CUT

Paladins:
--- Added Endure Magic spell at level 30
--- Added Resist Magic at 55
--- Moved Guard spell from 49 to 39
--- Moved Armor of Faith from 53 to 49
--- Added New level 53 paladin spell: Divine Glory
--- Added New level 59 spell: Celestial Cleansing
--- Defense skill cap made exactly same as warriors
--- Added Yaulp 4 at 60 and enhanced.

Shadowknights:
--- Removed artificially inflated mana cost for pre level 50 lifetap
spells. Please note that post-50 lifetap spells never had an inflated
mana cost.
--- Moved Spirit Tap to level 55
--- Moved Drain Spirit to level 57
--- Added Drain Soul at level 60
--- Grim Aura added at level 22 and enhanced
--- Moved Shieldskin to level 34
--- Pet buff added at 29
--- Added Diamondskin spell at 59
--- Defense skill cap made exactly same as warriors

[Arteker]

Originally Posted by Brut [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Didn't see no Bug report about this, so figured am make one!

SKs/Pallys were supposed to get their Defense skill buffed this patch, so the cap raises to same level as Warriors. Ain't going nowhere from 230.

Buffed Grim Aura isn't giving SKs any extra +atk. Clicking gob earring gives +14, casting Grim Aura spell gives +14, other classes also get +14.

Noidea on Leechcurse, ain't tried it much. /burp

PS: Watched a guildie wars Jaelen's Katana proc on Vyemm and he was smiling and commenting on how much better he feels all fight long. Meanwhile muh epic proc / shroud of death / drain soul all getting resisted. Pls pls pls give us our -1000magic resist mod on taps, why do Vulak tap proc weps got it right but two classes don't?

strike of the chosen cannot be resisted afaik

[Xadion]

Originally Posted by Arteker [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

strike of the chosen cannot be resisted afaik

Lifetaps, should be nigh un-resistable... there is proof in the sony patch note that explains how lifetap resists work (when they move harm touch and dsic to resist like a lifetap not a nuke and they say unresistable essentially) however I, and MANY other SK's have brought this up, petitioned and given the patch notes and our own "remembering's" from our time on live and still...nada lada.

So I agree and bump this for bro-knight bruit in hopes that this gets changed... it really makes SKs useful on raids as we can keep ourselves healed and in the fight longer and making our DPS decent while others move in and out - and it also gives Necro's a mana drain with lifetaps option to do dmg rather than their current role of mana battery 24/7.

[Man0warr]

Rangers were also supposed to get their offensive skills raised the same patch I think.

[Rejji]

FYI -

for quoteable

originally posted by Danth:
Yes, it was all the Feb 21 2001 patch. Here's the full text of the original Everquest patch: //


February 21, 2001 3:00 am
------------------------------

*Patch Day*

Today's patch contains a wide variety of enhancements and changes. Due
to the number of changes being made, this list is primarily a summary.
Extended descriptions of the changes and the reasoning behind them can
be solicited on the EverQuest Message Boards.

*Spell and Skill Changes*

Druids, Shaman, and Clerics:
--- Superior Healing moved to level 51 for shamans and druids.
--- Casting difficulty of Superior Heal reduced (less fizzles)
--- New level 55 Druid and shaman spell, Chloroblast, similar to remedy
for clerics.
--- New Druid spell at level 60, upgrade to superior healing, Natures
Touch.
--- Created a new spell effect for Celestial Healing, Celestial Elixir,
and Torpor. This will allow them to stack with all other spells, save
spells of the same type (Heal over time). Prior to this, all heal-over-
time spells followed the same rules as regeneration spells.
--- Reduced the casting difficulty of Remedy.
--- Lowered recast time on Wake of Karana

Paladins:
--- Added Endure Magic spell at level 30
--- Added Resist Magic at 55
--- Moved Guard spell from 49 to 39
--- Moved Armor of Faith from 53 to 49
--- Added New level 53 paladin spell: Divine Glory
--- Added New level 59 spell: Celestial Cleansing
--- Defense skill cap made exactly same as warriors
--- Added Yaulp 4 at 60 and enhanced.

Shadowknights:
--- Removed artificially inflated mana cost for pre level 50 lifetap
spells. Please note that post-50 lifetap spells never had an inflated
mana cost.
--- Moved Spirit Tap to level 55
--- Moved Drain Spirit to level 57
--- Added Drain Soul at level 60
--- Grim Aura added at level 22 and enhanced
--- Moved Shieldskin to level 34
--- Pet buff added at 29
--- Added Diamondskin spell at 59
--- Defense skill cap made exactly same as warriors
--- Due to the recent improvements to "Harmtouch", it is doing much
more damage than it would before and unbalances PvP. As such it will
now do less damage in PvP (68% of PvE, down from 80%). In addition,
Shadowknights on the PvP servers were routinely killing themselves via
non-XP losing means and attacking other players with Harmtouch
immediately upon respawn. In order to address this situation, Harmtouch
is no longer automatically "recharged" by death on the PvP Servers.
--- The "Lifeleech" discipline now increases hit probability in
addition to its other effects.


Rangers:
--- Added Endure Cold at 22
--- Added Skin Like Nature at 59
--- Added FireFist at 22
--- Moved Bramblecoat from 49 to 39
--- Added Spikecoat at 49
--- Added resist cold at 55
--- Added Panic Animal at 22
--- Moved Jolt to 51
--- Moved Spirt of Wolf from 39 to 30
--- Added Cinder Jolt (fire-based Jolt spell) at 55.
--- Offense and weapons skill made identical to warriors
--- Added See Invisible at 39

Bards:
--- Added new level 20 Bard Song: Cassindra`s Chant of Clarity
--- Bards defensive skill made exactly the same as a warriors
--- Changed it so that the bard spell Denon's Desperate Dirge to
increase damge by 10pts per level over 45. Also made it so the spell
does 20% more damage using the Puretone discipline.

Magicians:
--- Added new level 59 spell: Valiant Companion
--- Added new level 39 spell: Summon Companion
--- Rain spells no longer count pets against total number of entities
they can damage (all rain spells)
--- Added level 29 spell for Mages: Expedience

Enchanters:
--- Lowered recast time on Visions of Grandeur

*Bug Fixes*

--- Aggressive and Defensive disciplines have been fixed. Before they
would only affect damage taken and not affect damage dealt out. Now
they affect both as designed.
--- Fixed the bug with going to the spellbook when the inventory window
was up in fullview mode. It should work now. Also, fixed a minor bug
where if you were in normal mode and tried to go to the spellbook from
inventory via /book or the keymapped key it would not go, and it would
make the done button not work properly for the inventory mode.
--- Fixed NPC melee ranges to be the same as for player characters. In
other words, if you can hit the NPC, he can hit you. This bug was a
problem with one dragon that could be hit, but could not hit back.
--- Fixed a bug that made it impossible to "Call of the Hero" someone
out of water or lava.
--- Fixed the proc on the Chilled Scythe. Owners of this item will need
to swap it out with a GM.
--- The Kromzek Surveyor Scope now fits in the "Ranged" slot rather
than the "Ammo" slot as before.
--- Fixed a bug that caused the two single-target bard snare songs to
break too soon in some cases.
--- Fixed a bug whereby NPCs would consider the race of a player prior
to the loading of the faction table upon zoning or logging in. This
would cause people to be attacked by things that normally like them.
--- Players should now be properly removed from the group regardless of
how they exit the game.

*Misc Changes*

--- Added text labels to the fullview inventory window "body" slots
(Available only to Velious Subscribers)
--- Added the ability to toggle those labels on and off. Use
/invwinlabels [on/off] (or no arguments to toggle). This is saved in
the eqclient.ini file in the [Defaults] section with the key
InvWinLabels=[TRUE/FALSE]
--- Increased the pre-50 bind-wounds cap for rogues and warriors.
--- Pickpocket now works to a max of 5 levels below you, or level
45...whichever is greater... You can pickpocket NPC up to level 55 if
you are level 60.
--- The mouse pointer will now move at a multiple of its normal speed
when you adjust the MousePointerSpeedMod setting in the eqclient.ini
file. You can set that multiple on-the-fly with the /mousespeed
command.
--- The "AutoHelp" feature that can be set under the options menu has
been enhanced. Spell casters in particular might want to turn it on and
try depressing the ALT key. It's perfect for refreshing your memory in
regards to your spell lineup.
--- If you are interrupted while trying to cast a spell that uses a
component, you will no longer use that component. Jewelers should be
very pleased with this change.
--- Reduced the casting difficulty (fizzle rate) of all spells over
level 56. Spells have always previously been set up so that it's
usually more efficient to use a spell from a previous circle than the
current one. The formula did not take into account the fact that
everyone stops at 60.
--- Changed it so that players will now lose experience when they die
in the Arena in Kael Drakkel. It seems that people were fighting giants
in that arena in order to avoid the death penalty.
--- Naked PC corpses that have experience and are above level 30 will
now last 3 hours instead of 3 minutes.
--- Avatar and Focus of Spirit should now stack
--- Raised the pre and post 50 bind wounds cap for paladins, clerics,
druids, and shaman.

*Item Changes*

--- The effect on the "Frost Giant Beard" can now be used at 35th level
rather than level 50.
--- The Wurmslayer will now fit in a bag.
--- Iksar can now use the Ashenbone Shield
--- Chandged Crystallized Shadow leggings to rentable
--- Changed Gorilla Hide Leggings to show up as leather, was cloth
before
--- Changed Envy from a piercing weapon to a shield so players could
Bash with it. Envy is a parrying dagger.
--- The Shralok Pack is now LORE. It was set to pending-lore some time
ago.
--- The Guardian and Sentry Armor bracers are no longer LORE.
--- Donal's Breastplate can now only be used on any individual target
once every 7.5 minutes. This addresses some of the balance issues that
became apparent given the existence of a mana-free complete heal.

*Trades and Crafts*

--- Fixed the Gator Roll baking recipe.
--- Repaired the notetext instructions for creating a Mixing Bowl with
pottery.
--- Repaired Holgresh Fur Cap and Holgresh Fur Moccasins tailoring
recipes.
--- Made it so that the file is returned in addition to the hammer when
a character fails to forge any of the various chain jointings.
--- Repaired Recipe for Enchanted Tier`Dal Adamantite Bracelet
--- Made it so that the Dwarven Smithy Hammer is returned on a failure
to forge Brellium Chain Jointing.
--- Repaired Field Plate Boots smithing recipe
--- Changed the name of the smithed Enchanted Cabilis Scale armor to
Imbued Cabilis Scale armor for naming convention reasons.
--- Repaired the recipe for converting 3 Enchanted Large Adamantite
Bricks into 1 Enchanted Block of Adamantite in the Tier`Dal Forge, it
was previously only possible in the Oggok Forge.
--- Made it so that the Bread Tin is returned upon a failure to bake
bread.
--- Mithril and Velium Bonings will be stackable.
--- Mithril Studs will be stackable.

*NPC AI - Hate*

We've made a number of changes to NPC AI, specifically to the section
dealing with target-selection, or what's commonly referred to as
"Hate". It is not so much that NPCs react differently to hate now than
before, but that we've changed the way that hate is awarded.

--- We reduced the amount of hate that can be caused by a proc. Due to
the high proc rates at upper levels, the amount of hate generated from
procs, and the spells that were selected for those procs, made keeping
the attention of the creature much too easy a task for the tank.
Simply, it nearly eliminated the challenge of keeping a foes attention
at levels above 50.

--- We've capped the amount of hate that can be awarded to most
casters, specifically for debuff-type spells like the Malo and Tash
series. The hate calculation for these spells takes into account the
number of hitpoints of the NPC and did not "play nice" with the
increased HP limit of Velious. It explains why Enchanters, for
instance, would complain that casting a Tash spell would lead to near-
instant death.

--- We've redressed the amount of hate generated by heal spells.
Previously, and *partly* due to a bug, the high level heal spells such
as superior heal or complete heal would generate no more hate than
greater heal. In fact, so little hate was generated by these spells
that it made controlling NPC aggression trivial. Heal spells will now
generate an amount of hate more in line with the number of hitpoints
actually healed. Due to our desire to leave the lower level game more
or less untouched, two separate caps have been placed for targets level
50 or below, and 51 or above. Heal spells will generate significantly
less hate for targets below level 51 than those at or above that level.

--- We've also re-evaluated ways that players have to reduce their own
hate. While spells in place to allow this are OK, the Evade skill
(possessed by rogues) let them out of their damage too easily. A rogue
that successfully evaded would immediately drop to a level of hate
lower than someone who was in the awareness range, but hadn't done
anything to really upset the creature such as damage it or heal its
foe. This problem was exacerbated by the increase of the size of the
hate list implemented with Velious.

*Tracking*

Tracking now works in full view for all classes that can use it, and
sports a nifty scroll bar that allows players to see everything on the
list. In addition, the /trackplayer setting is now saved to the
eqclient.ini file.

The following options have been put in for Rangers only:

--- /tracksort
--- /trackfilter

*/tracksort options beginning with R are reverse order

*Hybrid Casting*

Hybrids that cast spells in combat were taking double penalties at
higher levels. The casting times of their spells went up, and the
amount of melee damage they do per second went up. This results is
having to take longer to cast spells, and losing more damage/second for
each second taken in casting. To help offset this, Rangers, Paladins
and Shadowknights casting non-beneficial spells that have casting times
greater than or equal to 3 seconds, now get a 3 % reduction in casting
time for each level over 50. 3% at 51, 6% at 52, etc., to 30% at 60.
Again, this applies only to non-beneficial spells.

- The EverQuest Team

----------------------------------------------------
Danth[/QUOTE]

[Xadion]

Also to go along with that - the relevant part of the Jan 9 2001 patch:

http://everquest.allakhazam.com/hist...es-2001-1.html


""Harmtouch" is now resisted as if it were a "Lifetap" spell, meaning
that it is all-or-nothing, and nearly unresistable with exception to
encounters that are immune to magic or out of the acceptable level
range. In addition, maximum damage for Harmtouch has been increased
starting at 40th level."

"- The "Unholy Aura" Discipline now gives a 50% bonus to Harmtouch
(compared with the previous 25%) and causes it to save versus disease,
which should result in even fewer resists in most high-level
encounters."


Essentially, if a mob is NOT 100% MR... lifetaps and HT should land for full dmg. The change to disc'ed HT (unholy aura) moves the "is it 100% XXXresistant?" to disease rather than magic, making HT again- FULL DMG to ANY mob that's not 100% resistant to magic (un-disc) or disease (disc'ed)

The "acceptable" level thing was also changed, I believe earlier to make it so...you know, casters could actually HIT mobs in the raid scene- the "acceptable level" thing was put in for pvp and so that we don't have...for whatever reason... 500 level 10 SKs line up and HT something that's level 50 :-P

So...per patch notes listed above, that actually talk about mechanics.

Lifetaps and Harmtouch should be 100% dmg on any non 100% MR mob
Unholy Aura modified Harmtouch should be 100% (plus bonus for the disc) dmg on any non 100% DR mob

if this is how it works now, great :-)

[Brut]

HT does partials currently all day. Most certainly not all-or-nothing.

[Danth]

I agree, it's been long enough since the enabling of February 2001 that this is fair game to be considered a bug now. At the very least the defense (and offense for Rangers) skill cap improvements are fairly crucial for all of these classes.

Danth

[Buellen]

The change to life taps spell was done as balance to game mechanic of guilds using ivandyr hoops by everyone in raid to install kill 32 k hp mob of kunark.

just saying to that those that unaware understand why the life tap line of spells work as they do now on p1999.