My first duel in CR 2.0 was in Update 5 or 6. It was against a level 38 (I'm 50) and he pwned me. How embarrassing. It didn't take long to realize that combat has changed completely. Take everything you've learned about combat in the past year and throw it out the window. This is, I believe, the biggest impediment to adoption of the CR, not whether it is good or bad, just that it is so different from what we have now.
However, I also remember fairly early in the game several members of our faction in our 30's and 40's took on a single 50, and we didn't stand a chance. Now THAT was embarrassing, and it just wasn't right. Changes were needed. With Update 7, I'm taking a closer look at the combat changes, and I can see now that things are moving in the right direction.
The first pill to swallow is that the emphasis in combat is no longer on tactics, it is on damage. You can influence your rolls a little bit, but they will still be all over the map, so they don't matter as much as they used to. Rest assured that you are going to hit, so the main question is how much damage you will do. Also, you will be hit a lot, so you better be able to take a beating. This is why there is so much talk about damage resistance.
That leads us into clothing buffs. Now that things are done right, I can see how poorly clothing buffs were handled before (sorry devs). There is only one pair of MCT +9pts pants in the game right now. Wouldn't you rather be able to choose among 10 different colors and styles? That's basically what you'll get in 2.0, except the buffs are geared toward resistance instead of tactics. Of course, there will still be special drops, but it is no longer a no-brainer to use them all the time. Take the Sakura Bandana for example, which is still an awesome drop IMO. It provides the same IS regen as the Fedora, plus 30pts of resistance. That's pretty good, but there are also probably some level 50 hats out there that offer 36pts of resistance. So you have to choose. Do you want the IS regen or the additional resistance? The answer may depend on your loadout and stats. While I'm sure some good, well-balanced loadouts will emerge, we will have so much more choice than we had before, and that to me is a good thing.
To sum up, I'd ask all to give CR 2.0 a chance. Maybe spend some more time unlearning what you already know and figure out how the 2.0 system works. You might just end up liking it. As a community, we want to grow, and it pains me when I see people leave the game. While that may send a message, it certainly does more damage to the game and to our community than it does to the suits at SOE. To those of you that think the time would have been better spent on developing story content, I hear ya. With CR 2.0 almost done and the Anniversary Event right around the corner, the future looks bright, and I expect heavy emphasis to be on new content in our second year. Stick around a little while longer and you won't miss out.
However, I also remember fairly early in the game several members of our faction in our 30's and 40's took on a single 50, and we didn't stand a chance. Now THAT was embarrassing, and it just wasn't right. Changes were needed. With Update 7, I'm taking a closer look at the combat changes, and I can see now that things are moving in the right direction.
The first pill to swallow is that the emphasis in combat is no longer on tactics, it is on damage. You can influence your rolls a little bit, but they will still be all over the map, so they don't matter as much as they used to. Rest assured that you are going to hit, so the main question is how much damage you will do. Also, you will be hit a lot, so you better be able to take a beating. This is why there is so much talk about damage resistance.
That leads us into clothing buffs. Now that things are done right, I can see how poorly clothing buffs were handled before (sorry devs). There is only one pair of MCT +9pts pants in the game right now. Wouldn't you rather be able to choose among 10 different colors and styles? That's basically what you'll get in 2.0, except the buffs are geared toward resistance instead of tactics. Of course, there will still be special drops, but it is no longer a no-brainer to use them all the time. Take the Sakura Bandana for example, which is still an awesome drop IMO. It provides the same IS regen as the Fedora, plus 30pts of resistance. That's pretty good, but there are also probably some level 50 hats out there that offer 36pts of resistance. So you have to choose. Do you want the IS regen or the additional resistance? The answer may depend on your loadout and stats. While I'm sure some good, well-balanced loadouts will emerge, we will have so much more choice than we had before, and that to me is a good thing.
To sum up, I'd ask all to give CR 2.0 a chance. Maybe spend some more time unlearning what you already know and figure out how the 2.0 system works. You might just end up liking it. As a community, we want to grow, and it pains me when I see people leave the game. While that may send a message, it certainly does more damage to the game and to our community than it does to the suits at SOE. To those of you that think the time would have been better spent on developing story content, I hear ya. With CR 2.0 almost done and the Anniversary Event right around the corner, the future looks bright, and I expect heavy emphasis to be on new content in our second year. Stick around a little while longer and you won't miss out.
