So, the February patch is finally here. Lots of things that were updated, fixed, but also now a lot of things that stand out. (aka not good stuff) These are some of my initial thoughts to this patch, some may agree, some may not agree and thats OK! Feel free to comment how you feel about this patch.
Desync:
Probably one of the most prominent things thats arisen here “bug” wise to me. If you’ve spent any amount of time in OPR or doing PvP, you will know how bad the desync has become. We saw this in the previous patch where there was more desync than before, and now, because of the dodge momentum and weapon swap update, its become even more noticeable to a point where this is a very critical issue alongside lack of content in my opinion. It almost seems the input delay is gone (aka weapon swap), however now the persons inputs are too quick to where the game/server cant keep up, causing all sorts of desync and stutters with half weapon swaps/half light attacks even when you’re holding lmb for a heavy attack. The weapon swapping and dodging seems smooth but then if you do activate abilities too quickly or try to do things too quick, you will notice it and can sometimes cost you if you in an intense fight.
Weapon Swapping:
I mean what is there to say, its awesome! A LOT of the problems weapon swapping are now gone with the queue system thats been put in place. One issue i’ve noticed, which is user error so far from what I can tell, is if you spam an ability button like you used to do to absolutely, 100% make sure it activated the ability you wanted, queue swapping weapons right after, you can sometimes get caught in an abilities stance/activate an ability. This is due to the weapon queueing system and ability queueing system thats now in place and users spamming the ability button, but just something thats annoying since we always had to spam the abilities to get it to work 100%. (and even still it wasnt 100% of the time previously) Also, sometimes just doing things way too quickly wont allow you to use your abilities; i.e. if i press burnout, it will make the initial sound of the ability, wont actually activate and stutter my character in place. And this will happen over a 5-10 second period of continuously pressing an ability but not doing anything until you completely stop and swap weapons to reset it.
Movement:
Overall, its a decent change. Weapon cancelling is now not needed as you maintain momentum when dodging which seems like a decent change. Overall im neutral on this change as while its more convenient for users, it does seem that light vs. medium has a bigger gap now in movement advantage as light has a bit better time moving around quickly, especially with the slide.
Umbral Shards:
This change is really good for the normal player or people who dont spend day upon day making tons of gold and buying spots for mutated expeditions or grinding out each gypsum cast. OPR now gives shards and gypsum casts give double as many. For the average player to level up gear, this is great. Absolutely no complaints.
OPR:
The main big change here are the additional and buffed rewards from them. Adding Umbrals and faction tokens are HUGE especially to those who sit in OPR all day. The OPR caches are also really good now too… if you dont have BiS/legendary near BiS already. This is both good and bad. Good in that the rewards from the caches are actually something to look forward to if you dont have insane gear already. Bad in that this hurts crafters as the more pieces a person gets is 1 less person crafters sell their crafts to. Is it too big of an issue? Not too big as the items are still completely rng attribute and perk wise and BoP, however like stated, once someone gets that 1 good piece, its 1 less piece to 1 less person a crafter has to sell their crafts to.
Weapon Changes:
Most notable the Rapier, Ice Gauntlet, Void Gauntlet, Great Axe gravity well updates and Fire Staff buffs.
Rapier - Changes are actually ok. Are they terrible to the people who spam the abilities? Yes. These changes now force you to be aware of how youre using the abilities. It is essentially a revert on the changes they had previously made to it anyways.
Ice Gauntlet - Well, ice spike wont take 80% of your health away anymore, or will rarely ever do anymore. Also one of those changes I am personally neutral on. It did an insane amount damage before, but this is one of those abilities you shouldnt be using right at the beginning of the fight with to then be able to put 2 shots into them and kill them. This ability is still really strong for when opponents are low and you need to finish them off. Its now to be used more as a finisher instead of initiating a fight with it.
Void Gauntlet - Cooldowns have been reduced, so in terms of damage numbers, its still the same. Again, like the rapier, you have to kind of keep track of your abilities and be aware as you have longer cooldowns, aka you wont be able to constantly spam abilities. But of course, it will still be super powerful especially as a support weapon in its scream, oblivion, orb combination or in terms of dps with the void blade combination.
Great Axe - I’ve read through quite a few posts saying gravity well is dead and GA is now done for. This is not the case at all, this ability is still really powerful and the change is again one for the user to be more aware of. Now instead of throwing it out into a red blob that you see from 15m out, you actually need to move in and throw it out closer to your opponents so you can get the root from getting a player in the center of the gravity well. Just as a melee player suggests, they get up close and personal to opponents and don’t fight from afar, and this gravity well change compliments this exactly.
Fire Staff - Well, if you have played any OPR at all, you will probably have seen half the lobby using the fire staff. Its buffs makes it super powerful, especially with the fireball being able to crit now. Versus how it was to how it is now, it is a massive upgrade and actually makes it do a lot of damage now.
Exc. Issues:
TPing into towns, aka recalling to house, takes a really long time now. Whatever time it took to TP to you home and for the world to load, its takes double, if not triple time for the world to load as you TP in. You also get stuck a lot of the time and cannot move unless you open your inventory and then you can move again. (this goes for TPing into your house, war or OPR) Really frustrating as war TP time was decreased but now TPing to your home and waiting for the world to load increased.
OPR/War/Login popup notifications for Aptitude rewards and invasion/war declarations are still a thing. Really annoying, but just a QoL, nothing that affects gameplay.
There are still a lot of smaller issues/changes that I did not mention here, but between what is currently very prominent to those smaller issues, these issues are overshadowing those smaller ones in what the players are experiencing constantly in the game currently. Feel free to counter any points as your view might be completely different to mine and also bring up any issues you find to be big whilst playing in this new patch.