Patch message (tradeskill stuff)

[Wyvernwill]

To the note about FB... it works just fine as an effect, but it's weaker than one would expect. Take Furious Bash VII, it builds a total of +70 agro to what agro you will gain from your bash. That is what makes it exceptionally weak and useless. It makes next to no difference.

I am also glad to see they finally got the favorable breezes line upgraded... that was annoying seeing a good effect capped so weakly.

Personally, I believe that Imp Dodge and Imp Parry being III at the last blood level and not IV, was the mistake and that Imp Block is set properly. Ultimately though, it's one of many quirks in game that make things worth doing and not worth doing.

[Ngreth Thergn]

Not to mention the fact the augs (at least the Last Blood) with Improved Block IV on them won't function as they are listed as focus effects instead of worn affects.

bah humbug. I hate the random way effects work on items

[Aldier]

Improved Block is useless to any class other than a monk or a beastlord.

Why would furious bash, a skill for shield wearing classes (war, sk, pal mainly) be upgraded/changed to a skill they do not have? That is what has been confusing me.

[Oriaas]

Aldier its not at all about the effect being useless persay. If Furious Bash won't proc from the aug in the first place, its essentially useless as well. I am a warrior and I already have "useless" effects on 2 of my Last Bloods since they are caster versions (made them for the mods).

FB was the best choice of foci I had left on melee augs:

Improved Dodge III: already have this Last Blood
Improved Parry III: have this focus at level III on neck and level IV on belt
Cleave 5: have this affect on Vish mask
Fero 5: already have this Last Blood
Sharpshooting 5: I don't fire many arrows (even on raid ranged fights) and anytime I do fire an arrow, hitting or missing doesn't matter
Furious Bash: this is what I made assuming I could use the focus to proc Furious Bash from while using a shield that did not have Furious Bash on it.

Apparently it doesnt work that way which is fine. The Last Blood that contained FB only contained FB because it was a choice of 2 essentially "useless" foci anyhow. Furious Bash just had a potential use somewhere down the line. That's not the case so no biggie.

My real question was, if Improved Block IV a mistake oppossed to Improved Dodge III and Improved Parry III. If all three should be at level III then the patch messed up the aug in another way besides the fact its won't work. I assume now that Ngreth knows it won't work (because its coded the same way broken augs were for several months with melee focus) it will get fixed relatively quickly. Once fixed if it remains at level IV (when it shouldnt) that is another problem. If the augs should be level IV then I want to make sure Improved Dodge III and Improved Parry III get bumped up to the proper level.

That is a big concern for me because it makes a potential change in my current gearset. I have an Improved Dodge III Last Blood as I said. If it should be Improved Dodge IV, then I don't need to chase that focus on another piece of gear.

Ngreth can you please comment on the focus level for us since you are aware of the thread?

Pre-patch, BST/MNK had a disadvantage when it came to the avoidance mods since Improved Parry III does not affect them. Other melee classes had 2 they could use. So my concern is not the fact Improved Block was introduced. It was oddly missing in my oppinion. However in the current levels of the foci for melee, Improved Block IV is the highest level of all 6 melee versions. That gives a gear advantage to 2 select classes (and some caster as a few get the Block skill I think), which doesn't exactly leave DoDH augs on the same scale for all classes.

[Qaladar Bragollach]

Casters only get Dodge.

[Oriaas]

Yep you are right. For some reason I was thinking my chanter twink got block but its dodge. Once I get off the thought track of my warrior recalling things goes down hill a bit ehe.

[Aldier]

Oriaas, not all of us are as fortunate to have 3-5 Last Blood augs.

My guild is still working on Draygun, Sendaii, and Vule. We have gotten a few LB augs from PoR mobs. Saying, it is not a big deal when they are dropping like candy and sometimes rotting for you is no where near the situation I face.

I am a caster, and many of my guild's casters would love these augs, they are great stat items as well as provide a foci we may be missing. Our warrior with one has 1 LB aug. He is upset that the effect went from something broken to something useless. I am sure he would rather of had a working FB aug or anything that he could potentially gain something from.

If you want to remove the focus altogether and just make it a stat item, fine, but it seems imo, useless as no monk/beast would have used FB and no class that would utilize FB can use improved block.

As for the level 3 vs level 4, I agree it should be brought down in line with the rest of the LB augs.

[strawberrysbb]

question

Does the new augs work for knights? *Improved Block IV* ?
straw

[Oriaas]

strawberrysbb - no it only works for classes that get the skill block - monks and beastlords only.

Aldier - You bring up a valid point. If I was in the same situation, and I chose a FB Last Blood because I assumed it would work and didn't take a more suited one first because of that assumption I would be upset too.

My first Last Blood was spell haste (for the avoidance) my second was Fero which I didn't have. My 3rd was Improved Dodge so I could ditch an earring. My 4th was disease focus (again for avoidance since I swapped some gear) and my final one I needed shielding on. Since I had Improved Parry as well as Cleave 5 already, I opted for FB in hopes it would proc of a shield without FB.

That not being the case, I said the retro change wasn't the point of my concern. Certainly in a different situation it more than likely would have been.

As for monks and Last Bloods, I would guess most of them planned on their Demi-Plane class item (which has Improved Block IV on it) since it drops in the first event. I don't look at much gear out of class, but if I played a monk, I would have most likely used Last Bloods as I have used them on my warrior. I covered foci I needed or wanted in a new slot in order to upgrade. I also would have probably made 1 or 2 caster versions for the avoidance if I was lacking and/or wanted to switch gear around.

That said, I do agree with the point about monks wouldn't have had an FB aug to begin with unless they had enough that they got to that one for shielding or accuracy.

I didn't mean to imply that your points (and your guild warrior's point wasn't valid), I just had different concerns coming from a different angle thats all. Sorry if I offended you in any way.

[Wyvernwill]

Actually, with the Shield Block AA, War, Pal, SK all have the ability to block, even the message states that you block, similar to riposte and parry.

I do hope the focus works as it would be a decent addition. Even working FB is nearly useless though.

[Aldier]

I am no melee expert but the skill Block and Shield Block are 2 totally separate things. Block being an innate skill and Shield Block being an aa ability. I believe this new aug only effects the Block skill (just like improved Dodge effects the dodge skill.)

[Oriaas]

That is correct Aldier. In order to make use of the skill Improved Block IV (soon to be tuned to III in line with other augs as posted on Sony boards) you must have the skill "Block" in your list when you click the "skills" tag.

Shield block just allows a melee with that AA to simply "block" (in a generic use sense) an attack with their shield. The AA has hardset percentages and nothing at this time (other than increasing the AA level if not maxed on the character) will increase its chance to perform a generic "block" when a shield is equipped. The description of the AA itself is somewhat misleading because it uses the word block.

[menssia01]

patch message said ..- Fixed the bug to the evolution of the tradeskill trophies for players using lower than master certificates while having a 300 skill.

I must say I was shocked to do some tailoring combines.. (currently 294 unmod skill) and had my trohpy evolve to a Masters.
Not complaining at all

[Taadieri]

That is correct Aldier. In order to make use of the skill Improved Block IV (soon to be tuned to III in line with other augs as posted on Sony boards) you must have the skill "Block" in your list when you click the "skills" tag.

Shield block just allows a melee with that AA to simply "block" (in a generic use sense) an attack with their shield. The AA has hardset percentages and nothing at this time (other than increasing the AA level if not maxed on the character) will increase its chance to perform a generic "block" when a shield is equipped. The description of the AA itself is somewhat misleading because it uses the word block.

Are you certain of this? The Cleave effect allows classes that normally have no melee crits to crit (rarely). I believe the Ferocity effect also allows classes with no double attack skill to get a tiny number of double attacks.

[Qaladar Bragollach]

Cleave and Ferocity don't have the word "improved" in their names... for a reason.