Mod 19: The Good, the bad and the so-and-so (warning, spoilers)

[Adinos]

The time has come for my take on the new mod - the good, the bad and the rest. To be fair, however, I have to state right at the start that the biggest part of the new mod is the new trial and I have not completed that yet, so I am not qualified or able to comment on that. The list below only covers some of the other changes....look elsewhere for now for a review of the trial.

The Good

• Mythic mounts. This was expected - I think I have a post somewhere saying that the 3xLeg pack was pretty much a certain sign that Mythic mounts would be coming in the next mod. However, what was unexpected was that there is no speed increase - they are still only 140% - I had really expected 150%, and this makes the legendary mounts less desirable than otherwise. Another surprise is that the mythic mount is account-wide - I really expected lockboxes to only drop "single character" mounts. Still, the stat boost from +10.000 to +15.000 makes mythic mounts worth using - assuming, of course that the stats boosted are the stats you need.
  
• Avernus Treasure maps. The treasure maps seem to be the way to get the "second best" new weapon set, the IL 1150 Legion guard set. Seems fair enough to me, and a viable way for people looking to get an upgrade from the Alabaster or Burnished sets.
  
• Insignia upgrades. The upgrades are not cheap. Basically you need to convert the equivalence of 10 insignia of green/blue/purple quality to upgrade one insignia of that same quality - however, (and that is what I like) this gives you something to do with all the character-bound insignia that drop here and there.
  
• Jubilee updates. We are getting one new companion (and of course it is a chicken), a vanity pet, a throne and 9 fashion items. Looks like a busy time

The So-and-so

• Trade bar store. You can now buy enchantments and bonding runestones up to rank 15 in the Trade bar store. That's fine, except there is one very curoius and annoying omission - you cannot buy other runestones (Empowered etc). I see no sensible reason for that limitation. Also, one problem with this is that it makes the game look slightly more "pay-to-win" than before.
  
• New companions. We get 3 new companions, Skyblaze, Spined Devil and Flaming Skull - fine for collectors, ut none of them seem "must-have".
  
• Sword of Zariel Artifact set. It is just...meh. Not the best stats, not the best set bonus, but not horribly bad either.

The Bad

• Celestial Set. The Celestial set will be the highest IL set in the game, so why do I list it at the top of the "bad" changes? The reason is not that the stats are bad (they are great), or that it is too hard to obtain (it is probably fine). The reason is that the set bonus is so blatantly unfair. If the set bonus was just plain bad, that would be OK - we have seen that before, and that's fine. The issue is that the set bonus is blatantly unfair.....it is OK for some classes, but utterly useless for others. As this is the only weapon set of this IL, players don't really have a choice - they cannot go after a different equally-high IL set, with a different bonus that suits their class better. The Celestial set favours classes that can spam encounters, while some other classes will not benefit from the bonus at all. To make it clear - I am very unhappy with this bonus - it looks like it was designed by someone who doesn't know the game, and certainly does not play all classes - and a fiasco like this is why it would have neen good to get some player input at an earlier stage and actually LISTEN to that input
  
• Healing changes. There are significant changes to healing, and healing-related items. Tactical enchants and companions giving healing bonuses are getting a huge nerf. On the other hand, healing seems to be made simpler, and it feels like the intention is to reduce the difference between "good" and "bad" healers. Some people are going to love those changes (it may be easier to find healers who can do the job) - others will absolutely hate them (as their investment in healing companions and other this is, well...wasted). Me, I don't care - my cleric stays DPS 99% of the time, and the only effect on me is that my Rusted Iron Leggings may not be viable any more, as I can no longer compensate for the -25% healing penalty with a set of Tactical Enchants. The reason I list those changes as bad is that they feel rushed - designed qith a questionable goal in mind, and while players that need healers may be fine with them, I seriously question how popular they will be with the actual healers.
  
• New armor pieces. There is a number of IL 1230/1240 armor pieces, but in general their bonuses are not really interesting. They do seem somewhat "unfinished", however - for example, almost all the items show up as category "Feet" armor, and there seems to be a bit too much cut-n-paste - in particular, there are 4 pieces of every type (Head/Armor/Arms/Feet) and in some cases, 3 of the 4 items have the same equip bonus - they really should have different bonuses to give players more of a choice and make them more interesting, or at the very least, no more than 2 of the 4 items should have the same equip bonus.

[SeanBotha]

You forgot they LIE about having 2 versions of trial. There will only be BIS trial after campaign is done average players will need to do LOMM and have nothing to do. they will have to wait till tehy feel like giving us an event with playable version of the easier trial to find out how it ends.

The new trial is also another circle (no imagination just repeat all over and over) and are just red area's no ability jsut ping so if you are form a 3rd world country you are in trouble!

[Adinos]

Originally posted by SeanBotha:

You forgot ...

No, I did not forget anything - I specifically said I was not commenting on the trial, as I have not yet completed it.

[SeanBotha]

Originally posted by Adinos:

Originally posted by SeanBotha:

You forgot ...

No, I did not forget anything - I specifically said I was not commenting on the trial, as I have not yet completed it.

What about the potions that are hopefully bugged and not working (we hope no official comment or patch notes yet).

The dreadfully planned car drive mechanics. There are just so much bad in this mod it is not funny

[Adinos]

Originally posted by SeanBotha:

The dreadfully planned car drive mechanics. There are just so much bad in this mod it is not funny

What's your problem with the cars? Work just fine for me.

[SeanBotha]

Originally posted by Adinos:

Originally posted by SeanBotha:

The dreadfully planned car drive mechanics. There are just so much bad in this mod it is not funny

What's your problem with the cars? Work just fine for me.

Some moron thought it is a good idea to have you drive with your mouse and not sad (w works) that causes slow turning and slow reaction to moving making it an horrible painful experience Something imo PRIVATE preview should have pointed out but they are suckups.