1.18: Wipe your tears and open your eyes!

[NoctisUmbra]

Patch 1.18 came with fixes - not game-breakers. I spent a decent amount of time reading and participating in all these threads suggesting that the game is broken, and things are not working.

I just thought I'd compile some of my contributions to the various topics in said threads:

Enmity is not broken. It is different. The change is well done. Tanks just need to adjust and learn to effectively gain hate with this new system instead of trying to do what used to work in the old system and asserting the system is broken when that doesn't work...

Equip any of the following that you have:

Intimidation - this one goes without saying.
Accomplice - use on any healer that grabs hate, and make liberal use of it on the healers of your party throughout the battle to consistently reduce their hate and increase your own.
Cure/Sacrifice II/III - Start the fight with you taking care of your own healing, using tier 2/3 heals so you grab the massive hate generated by heals. When your MP gets low the mages can take over, but by then you'll already have a headstart on hate amount.

Make sure everyone lays off [the target] for [the beginning of the fight, briefly] allowing you to secure a good amount of hate.

I myself tank on PGL, and will admit that at first I wasn't able to hold hate well at all. I pride myself on being a quick learner and adapting to change well. Even prior to playing the game after the patch, while just reading the notes I knew my old tanking strategies were not going to cut it. I knew with this new cumulative enmity system, my strategy was to shift from a method of holding hate, to one of accumulating hate. Once I made some changes to my routine, and swapped around some skills I was holding hate at least as well as before 1.18. Add to this how the rest of the team can now monitor their enmity levels and adjust accordingly, and hate management is much more... manageable now.

Another popular topic of QQ is Archers - apparently they've been nerfed...

Archer has not been nerfed at all. It only incurred the loss of being able to nock 2 arrows back to back via Multishot, which was not a desirable thing to do mid-battle anyway and served more of a preparation purpose for opening with a burst on the next target while running. The stamina cost was just large for 1, let alone 2 arrows to be nocked... which meant you were waiting instead of shooting some more.

Now with the abolition of the stamina system, Multishot can be prepped right away for a FREE double shot via Light Shot OR Foeseeker with a damage buff (did you guys honestly miss that buff?) since it costs nothing to nock an arrow.
Add to that the ability to use Invigorate, Chameleon, Decoy, Scouring Strike, Still Precision and various other ARC staple skills that used to cost lots of stamina instantly now...

Archer got a buff with 1.18. Anyone that argues otherwise is kidding themselves.

EDIT: Bloodletter, considered the best DPS weaponskill in the game, is now Archer only? The utility of Archer as a DD has increased. C'mon guys, the answer lies in the details.

Even after an edit I still see I forgot to add Trifurcate in there. Another skill that used to cost a lot of stamina, but can now be used instantly with no change to it's cooldown. It was always the preferred way to store 3 arrows mid-fight, and now it's free due to lack of stamina too.

The thing is, 1.18 changed the game... a lot. It was a major patch. The real issue here is it seems to be "too much, too fast" for a lot of players. SE can't just slow things down and ease players into this game's new direction any more than they do. They've got a serious deadline to keep or else this game is not likely to succeed. It's not like the devs haven't told us time and time again how many things are going to change with these upcoming patches - 1.18 being just the beginning.

There are going to be players who keep up to change and enjoy where the game is headed, and there are going to be players who fail to adapt or don't agree with where the game is headed and they will quit. It's a necessary part of change.

Let's just not confuse an inability or unwillingness to adapt with a broken game mechanic. Broken game mechanics are broken for everyone.

Finally,

By far my favorite part of this patch is how amazingly efficient it is in filtering out players who can adapt to a new challenge and determine the most effective way to do their job in very short amount of time from the players who do not like to escape their comfort zone because they believed they used to be so good, but now they can't play as effectively and thus believe the game must be broken.

Even within my circle of friends and shell-mates I now have a new appreciation for a handful of them that showed exceptional skill in the dungeons these last few nights.

We as a community must embrace this new, challenging, and incredibly fun game we have been given. We must keep our criticisms constructive, and not fall into the trap of ranting/whining about personal opinions/feelings and confusing them for game shortcomings or flaws.

Despite all of the sincere efforts of the constructive members of our community to assist everyone in catching up, and to prove with videos, screenshots, tips & tricks, and strategies that there is very little wrong with the changes brought by patch 1.18 if anyone still feels the need to complain/rant/whine... all I can say is:

Cry Some More.