1. This post is more about John's first impression on the class balance changes plus other random observations.
2. John will need to go through A Requiem From Winter Past to see whether anything can be changed. Nothing major, but the minor ones. Certain names need to be changed because what seemed like a good idea yesterday can easily look like a dumb call today.
On an interesting unrelated note (to this post), John discovered a great song. Again, having a curious mind which no sane S'porean otter can have does have its benefits. That's why John looks like a sea otter instead of a river otter. No, make that an actual sea otter.
Lyrics
Special mention
Observations 1: What the post title says...
So far, John has played through until the deep crow stage. Suffice to say, the new campaign should be a breeze for the lvl 70 characters. So yeah, nothing much to say. What John can guarantee you is that two out of the three prominent figures in Acq Inc are... well, crazy. Omin Dran is crazy, Jim Darkmagic is crazier, and Walnut Dankgrass is effectively this. As weird as this sounds, that is.
The orientation quest was effectively a case of going through the fun house. Something like this. Three quests done and three conclusions can be made.
1. Omin Dran has a morbid sense of humour.
2. Despite her 100% sane status, the same goes for Walnut.
3. Jim's sense of humour was... well, John doesn't know how to classify it. After all, he is crazier than Omin. Oh, and there's that breaking the 4th wall moment.
John couldn't help but wonder whether the French had a hand in inspiring the crazy people at Penny Arcade due to unionisation of the interns and Air France.
Observation 2: The AI now moves around
It's still too early for John to come up with a complete picture. However, one thing he noted in any levelling random queue was that every mob is now capable of running about. This is not to say they're not doing that right from the beginning. Rather, it's like moving around in circles rather than a bumrush. Coupled with an increase in defensive stats and levelling random queues are now less grindy.
Note: It seemed that the Sharandar zones also went by this rule at least where the redcaps were concerned.
Observation 3: Combat HR now actually usable?
Cynics would be surprised to know that the combat HR is now 100% usable. No, John is serious.
Now please do not be surprised by people seeking templocks and DCs in the Protector's Enclave zone chat. Because that's... well, misleading if we're talking about buffing. Like how one must talk about the Senate when it comes to whether the Democrats should be satisfied with the progress done so far, one must take into account that the HR is the persona non grata class. Of course it's a hyperbole, but there's a reason why John is saying this: It's been less than a week since Heart of Fire and Blood and it shouldn't be assumed that a sizeable amount of players are HR prior to 6th Nov.
Initial runouts indicate that the HR can (and will) give templocks a massive run for their money, tieflings or no tieflings. This is due to Hawkeye now giving a high-end party buff. While this most likely won't be a match for that dps orgy called Dark Revelry, it's good enough when used with Thorn Ward and Split the Sky. As any HR can (and will) tell you by now, these two moves are the staple for any HR looking to find a decent party.
Ultimately, do not let the PE chat zone get you down. The only reason why people are still doing lfg for SW and DC when it comes to buffing is because it won't be so soon for the combat HR to even out the odds to their favour. Once you have enough HR players knowing the value of Boar Hide and Hawkeye, that's where the fun starts. Just don't ask John how things are going for the archers and trappers. He's not about to burn a few respec tokens for that.
Observation 4: 1st time running Fangbreaker. With John's DC
With 0% everfrost resistance, no less. John was expecting a tough run. So imagine the surprise when the alliance raid went smoother than was originally feared. Much smoother. Apart from a few moments of rez and #respawnlol, the ride was quite fun. So was there anything for John to learn from? The answer is yes.
1. Running a RAQ raid with a DO isn't that bad of an idea despite the massive changes (arguably called a nerf) done to Terrifying Insight. Now the reason why TI got changed/nerfed was most likely due to the insane dps synergy Brand of Sun could do. That at-will deals an insane amount of damage. Five figure sum running on a DoT? That's crazy. However, it must be noted that because of how Lance of Faith works all the while when it comes to the 3rd hit, using this with Terrifying Insight means this class feature is still usable.
2. Actually, John was running FBI with Prophetic Action and Holy Fervour with the latter being the off-hand artifact power. It wasn't that bad. In fact, Prophetic Action is still a major lives saver (note the plural usage). This was proven during the ninja turtle fight. Just make sure you have BTS slotted in. Not Bangtan Boys but Break the Spirit. Pull it off at empowered mode and use Divine Glow as your divinity move. And use Astral Shield as the defensive insurance. Don't laugh. It worked against every boss in Fangbreaker.
3. Combining point 1 with point 2, point 3 means it's a better bet using Terrifying Insight and Prophetic Action with the off-hand artifact power switched to the TI. The last statement is for John btw. It could have been a better Fangbreaker run. But still, it went much better than expected.
4. Using either a green stone of health or the blue version should be seen as a must in any RAQ. Especially if you're a DC or buffer. Let alone REQ or the new K-team system.
5. This is NOT to say Terrifying Insight is still useful in raiding like last time around. You'll need empowered BTS to make it work. Otherwise, maybe using Anointed Champion would be a better bet.
Observation 5: Seriously, thaumaturge CW is officially useful in raids
This is the last part of John's post. Yes, it's very brief. For those wondering whether a respec into a thaum CW is worth it, John feels that it is. The dps runs much smoother now. No more Priebus block coming from a broken balance between the AoE and single-target. Originally, the thaum tree was meant to be a dps spec based on proc'ing self-damage buff. Assailant as the final feat was meant as a separate entity in terms of the gameplay. However, something broke in the process. And the devs managed to pull off the greatest fix since the combat HR.
So what did they do? They changed two things. Elemental Reinforcement can now be proc'd from any power, be it encounter, at-will, or daily. This is very important for a reason. Under the previous version, the Stormspell Mages were at a disadvantage. The reason being the absurd limitations caused by Sudden Storm. The AoE sucked. By comparison, the Master of Flame actually benefitted more. With the new changes done, it's not to say that MoF thaums are now useless. Far from it. Rather, the new changes were meant to strike a better balance between the SM and MoF thaums. The devs actually did a great job.
Another change was basically changing a certain feat wholesale. Now, it's increasing the damage of at-will powers based on the mathematics of probability whenever you pull off either an encounter power or daily power. For those favouring Int and Wis, this is a dream fix come true. For those favouring Int and Char, it's not that bad so long your AP can build up fast enough. At the same time, the damage increase is worth it so long you have two high damage encounter powers. This also means AoE encounters like Icy Terrain are now more user-friendly as the at-will power damage increase means having a good recompense. After all, no one said Gambit should never throw an ace of spades after using a two of diamonds as his decoy. Just remember to max out Frozen Power Transfer.
This now makes the thaum CW less reliant on Assailant, something which knackered many a CW choosing this path previously. Personally, John doesn't think the new changes done to Assailant would affect the gameplay. Rather, as Assailant was meant as the sole standalone aspect of the thaum gameplay, fixes done to the most important two feats were more imperative to the CW cause. If you still think Assailant is the definition of a thaum CW, it means you never played one before.
A final note on Disintegrate. It's been nerfed. Read the tooltip and you know it's nerfed. Just go for Ray of Enfeeblement. The debuff may look like some sort of dps welfare to your fellow party members, but John tried it and the personal dps count was quite good.
P.S: Again, this sea otter managed to discover another song in the name of curiosity and accidental discovery. That was like an hour ago or so.
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