Publish Notes:

In the hopes of providing the shard with a little more PvP balance we have made multiple changes listed below:

- Casting is now 2/6 *accelerated* -> down from 3/6
[accelerated: Certain spells have been modified to allow for higher than 2/6 casting]

- PvP Spell Damage Increase (SDI) cap has been lowered to 15% (+15%)

- PvM Spell Damage Increase (SDI) remains unchanged.

- Cleric Smite base spell damage decreased and skill required to cast increased. requirement to cast increased to 100.0

- Cleric smite spell tithing cost increased to 90 -> up from 60.

- Increased mana cost of Necro spell: Wither to 45 (Edited: April 26, 2013)

- Increased based cast time of necro spell: Wither to 1.40 -> down from 2.25 (Edited: April 26, 2013)

- Lowered LMC (Lower Mana Cost) cap to 30% -> down from 40%

- Corrected syntax for MonsterContract system.
(no more random shard crashes from this)

- toned down damage scaling with evaluating intelligence.

- Lowered duration of Sacred Boon to 20 seconds -> down from 30.

- Lowered "double heal" modifier of Sacred boon.

- Increased tithing cost of Sacred boon to 50


*** Please keep in mind that these are merely changes that effect PvP - we plan to release a PvM based Publish with multiple bug fixes in the near future.

Good work. Thanks

I would imagine that things are still open to tweaking based upon how this plays out? 


As A LOT of games have found out balancing PVP is a MAJOR headache.  There is always a flavor of the month rotation and spec that's figured out and religiously followed by those that always must be on top.  I don't have the answers to balancing there are always people that will complain loudly weather it was the people crying before the nerfs/buffs, or those that are no longer winning because of the nerfs and buffs. I don't envy Devs when it comes to balancing PVP.


This post was not directed toward any one or any play style it is just a observation based upon all the games I've played.

All of the changes are subject to tweaking - as with most changes we need to be pay attention to every detail and adjust accordingly.

This is not a fix to anything. It is actually a rediculas change. if you want to fix something don't take just one or two opinions and run with it. I did not take two opinions, I spoke with many players and consulted many scripters for 3 weeks before I made a change.  I considered balance and game play very carefully! 
 
You want to fix it put caps on skills get rid of them augments and put a skill cap of no more then 1000 skill points. The shard is set to no caps and is custom, there are many elements to consider and you cant just remove augments, its not that simple.  They have been added to hundresd of items. 
 
Make people think and work at making a toon. That will allow you to still keep magical clothes and genesis and the magi armor to add extra skills but still be capped. Leave the basics alone. Casting 6/2 lmc 40%. The levelable stuff is awesome considering we can't imbue.
 
Dumb down pets to a playable level and fix the spawn rates of monsters. Unfortaunatly you don't want people farming but the game was based off farming. The rates are set to prevent farming of the rare items, the timers help keep the economy in balance

I dont agree with your option Grump, taking out Augments will result in more headaches then the PVP balancing itself. I myself would mind about the removal of augments in the sense that i have donated in the past a lot of money to get my gear the way it is, cant mess with donation items in a way because Dante would have to compensate everyone, imagine the compensasion i would want for 20 + items with 5 sockets not counting the crafting gear i have and weapons. The end result would be an absolute mess for Dante and total headache.
 
I agree on the skill caps, but again, still on the compensasion issue with that one, and a lot of work for staff to get the gear back to 5 empty sockets so it can be rebuilt because most people got their gear socketed with donation money. It's a messy situation that unfortunately Dante has to deal with, but he still has to take the donators in consideration. I wouldn't want to be in his shoes when it all gets done!
I always compensate anyone who has donated, if this effect them
 Dont get me wrong, i dont mind having to start working on my gear again, i just like everyone else wouldn't want to be on the losing hand of all this. And if anyone gives me that bull about donating should be a gift not expecting anything in return to play on a shard we love......... I will keep my comments about that to myself!
We are not removing Augments and Sockets

I love the new update. Things seem balanced so no room is left to complain about dropping the cry wolf syndrome of pvp that some state it had. Only thing I am confused about is wither. Wither which is mostly used in pve more than any aspect of pvp was made to lose more mana and the delay to cast it was increased. I do not necessarily see the logic in this, yet I am willing to try to understand. If wither is so overpowered with PVE or Champing .. then wouldn't the same thing be said about Hit Life Leech on champ weapons? Where is the balance in this situation? Maybe just maybe wither should have been one of those special spells that should have been left alone. Thoughts?
Wither was adjusted and is now in balance