Preventing Critolyte, Second Pass [MEGA]

"CG_TopHat;d-177939" wrote:
We’d like to thank everyone for their patience as we’ve worked through the Bonds of Weakness rollback (details here) and gone through the process of finding another solution to prevent Critolyte. We went back to the drawing board of our discarded ideas (along with generating some new ones) and gathered feedback from the forums, Reddit, and players. As we looked at different options, we asked ourselves, “Can we alter Nightsister Acolyte’s kit in such a way as to maintain her PvE/PvP balance while keeping her kit functionally the same and somehow also cutting down Critolyte?" Our preference is always to find a solution without touching character kits (if possible), but we think an adjustment to Nightsister Acolyte is preferable to other options that would impact the game with a much larger footprint and have wider balance ramifications for other teams or game modes.

After we did some exploring in the studio and came up with our proposal, we sat down with beta testers and other players highly engaged on this issue and discussed our solution. They asked some questions about other options, why we chose our solution, and clarified some of the finer points. These players gave us great feedback and asked really pointed questions. Ultimately, they carried your voice forward and helped us keep the Nightsisters great. Thank you for your service!

So what are the changes?

Basic – Strike from the Shadows

• Two attacks if stealthed -> Double damage if stealthed
  
• Stealth chance increased from 70% -> 90%
  

Unique – Thrill of Victory

• Heal Amount increased from 20% -> 40%
  

The end result, our testing shows, is that Nightsister Acolyte’s PvP utility/damage output should remain virtually unchanged (our data shows she is part of a common strategy in many shards and rankings, so we wanted to preserve her ability to dish out damage). Simultaneously, this cuts down the Critolyte strategy in the Sith Triumvirate Raid. Finally, given that Nightsister Acolyte’s viability remains virtually unchanged (aside from neutering Critolyte), we’re going to leave all equipment and abilities seated on her.

This change will go live next week with our next release. We want to put it in front of you so that you can see the upcoming change and have a chance to share your thoughts in advance. Again, thank you for your patience and help in getting to a change that is more acceptable to the community at large.

Finally, we’re still working through the Zombie changes and will be for a little bit. Expect any changes to Zombie to occur sometime before the end of September. Similarly, the plan is still to refund Old Daka Zetas at that time.

Thank you.