View source for UO:2016-12-15: Combat Changes in Testing

=Combat Changes in Testing=
'''Posted December 15, 2016 by UO Dev Team on the UO Herald.'''

Greetings all,

We want to start off by saying that we appreciate all your patience and feedback as we work through the combat updates on Test Center. This process has been different than our normal testing cycle and we appreciate all who have participated. These changes will not be deployed World Wide for quite some time and are subject to change. We have used this process to gauge player suggestions and iterate quickly on those ideas. Some ideas have been well received while others have not. We would like to let you where we currently stand in the process.

* Removing the Tactics requirements on weapon special moves. This change brings more diversity to template selection by removing the skill points required to execute weapon special moves. It is our philosophy that skill investment is a necessary tradeoff to reap derived skill benefits. As such, Tactics should be a requirement for the use of weapon special moves just like Animal Lore is required to control tamed pets and Chivalry is required to use paladin abilities. The current change is a compromise which allows access to weapon special moves at 30 Tactics and 30 Weapon Skill for primary moves and 60 Tactics and 60 Weapon Skill for secondary moves.
* Weapon swing speed is now capped at 40% of base swing speed or 1.25 seconds, whichever is higher. The current Stamina cap is 250 and the current Swing Speed Increase cap is 60 which allows 4.25s and below weapons to swing at 1.25s. This change brings more balance, only allowing 3.5s and below weapons to reach 1.25s, which adds more value to those weapons besides weapon special moves. Out of all the suggested changes this one has the biggest impact on combat which is why we are cautious with moving forward and will require additional player feedback.
* Focus Spec Update. Focus Spec has been through several iterations on Test Center. When Focus Spec was created back in Publish 71, the intent was to incentivize pure magic templates. With the testing of different implementations of Focus Spec, we decided to remove the SDI scaling due to the complexity of the system. We will continue to consider ways to simplify the classification of pure magic templates while providing a benefit to pure magic users in future testing.
* Saving Throw has been removed and reworked as Warrior’s Gifts. Our goal here is to improve this mastery so that it has more of an impact on player combat. Saving Throw has only affected PvP and we want to add value to this mastery so that it can be a benefit to all players.

We want to reiterate the fact that this process has been different than our normal testing cycle and none of these changes are set in stone.  We will continue to monitor feedback and iterate to achieve the best possible outcome.  When providing feedback it is important to us that you provide some context for why you are providing that feedback.

See you in Britannia,

UO Team