On test right now there are a bunch of new abilities for melee.

There are the wierd "opening" based abilities, and in addition each class is gaining a set of "anytime" abilities.

Even ignoring the "opening" based abilities and the /disc changes, they are pretty sweet.

Warrior:
Hate shout line. This line seems to both add instant hate, and aid in hate-over-time on a monster. All are on a 30 second recast timer, and probably share the same timer.

They all have 100 range, about the same as a cheal. The hate-over-time effect (which I don't know how it works, might be a hate dot, might be something else) lasts for 1 minute.

L 20: Provoke, +25 to 50 hate-over-time (caps at L 45) and +85 to 100 (caps at L 35) instant hate

L 52: Bellow, + 50 hate-over-time and +200 instant hate

L 63: Berate, + 60 hate-over-time and +300 instant hate (approx)

L ??: Incite, + 70 hate-over-time and +400 instant hate


Monk:
Phantom line. This line is a series of ranged lull effects. All are on a 30 second reuse timer, and last 18 to 24 seconds.

They all have 150 range, halfway between cheal and a nuke.

L 35: Lull up to L 50 mobs
L 50: Lull up to L 58 mobs
L 57: Lull up to L 61 mobs
L 64: Lull up to L 65 mobs

Note that no mobs over L 65 are lullable by any spell.

Also note that charisma seems to modify your aggro chance when lulling. Monks might want to start gathering cha gear. =)

Rogues:
Sneak attack. A single ability, unlike the monk/warrior ones, but it scales better.

From what I can tell, it is a free swing every 30 seconds.

The swing automatically hits, and automatically crits.
Your weapons "damage" stat is also doubled for the purpose of sneak attacks.

I don't know if you need position or a particular weapon type to use a sneak attack.

A high end rogue does on average 5 times weapon damage on a swing. So, using a 20 damage (time) weapon, that would be:
20 * 5 * 2 * 2 = 400 damage sneak attack
Or, an extra 13 DPS.

Using more reasonable numbers (lower ATK), 3 times weapon damage and a 16 damage weapon:
16 * 3 * 2 * 2 = 192 damage sneak attack
Or, 6.4 extra DPS.

There is a chance that sneak attack will work with non-piercers. Looking through the possible weapons out there, this turns out to be "not all that abusive". The highest damage 1 handed PRIMARY slot weapon for a rogue I could find was 22+1 magic. And because this is based off a normal swing's weapon damage, I doubt 2 handed weapons will prove efficient. =)

Sounds like the Sneak Attack will bring back the "ghetto" attack that rogues used to increase their Backstab damage for that single swing by swapping in a higher dam weapon.

I hope not. =/

I was assuming it was any weapon type, but it might be daggers only.

Why you'd want to do it with anything but daggers is a mystery to me. You can't backstab with a slasher, or you'd see just about every Rogue out there mainhanding a Defender's Lightblade.

Unless of course this skill doesn't work with Backstab...

Good job taking a few ideas from SquareEnix (FFXI), Sony.

~Semi Retired Druid

... `nuff said 8*(

I agree Immortalis.
I am glad SOE likes to borrow (steal) ideas from others to make our game we play better for us.

/agree Deecee

The Sneak Attack move doesn't have to be a stab.

In fact, it is called "Sneak Attack" not backstab.

And it is an addition to backstabs.

It does work on backstabs though, correct? If so, I can't see "sneak-crush" getting much use...

I think it's a separate attack, not a backstab or modifier disc type thing.

Bleh, if that's the case it's like Combat Fury/FoTA requiring additional END.

It is also free, and from L 20 on up.

I guess those L 20 rogues with 12 damage piecers needed a DPS upgrade relative to nukers. =)

Radine, you sir, are an idiot.

OMFG FFxi STOLE WARRIORS FROM EQ OMFG. And cities! And magic! Omg! They also stole the idea of an online RPG! omg LOELZ! omg, grass! FFxi stole the concept of grass from EQ!

Did someone say.........Grass? :D

LOL, wasn't expecting that Zehn! It's 6am, just finished feeding the young'un, and now I'm trying to hold in milk from squirting out my nose hehehe.

lol zehn owned radine, rofl

Ouch.
*group hug*

This was copied from the Safehouse:

There hasn’t been a lot of information going out about the new disciplines setup so I thought I’d drop by and give you all a basic breakdown on them.

FYI, I'm Ryan Barker for those of you that don't know. If you've been in one of the expansion betas in the last couple years (or played on Tallon Zek summer of '01) you know me as Rytan.

Timer 1
Counter Attack – Level 53 – 45 minute reuse
Nimble – Level 55 – 21 minute reuse

Timer 2
Kinesthetics – Level 57 – 22.8 minute reuse
Duelist – Level 59 – 24.6 minute reuse
Twisted Chance – Level 65 – 30 minute reuse

Timer 3
Deadeye – Level 54 – 21.1 minute reuse
Blinding Speed – Level 58 – 22.8 minute reuse
Deadly Precision – Level 63 – 30 minute reuse
Weapon Affinity – Level 61 – 30 minute reuse

Timer 4
Fearless – Level 40 – 1800 second reuse
Resistant – Level 30 – 1800 second reuse
Healing Will – Level 63 – 300 second reuse

All of the disciplines will function as they currently do on live, with the exception of an increase in the potency of the resistant discipline.

Here is an explanation of the new disciplines:
Weapon Affinity – Increases your proc rate for 24 seconds
Twisted Chance – Makes every attack hit, critical, double attack, dual wield for 12 seconds
Deadly Precision – Every backstab lands for 30 seconds.

When a discipline is used, any discipline on the same timer will not be usable until the reuse time for the used discipline has expired. I.E using Kinesthetics will gray out duelist and twisted chance for 22.8 minutes. During that time you can if you so choose use any of the other disciplines on the other timers, provided you have enough endurance.

EDIT: Healing Will not described here is a 500pt healing effect with a use time of every 5 mins. More useful in xp settings.

Lyshan, I assume you are quoting? =)

Frick.. yeah thats a quote minus my Edit :) ... ill edit it to read that.. heh.. I am NOT a dev. Thanks.

LOELZ yah way to steal ideas from the safehouse Lyshan, geez, get yer own posts lol

That is a great idea to have 4 different timers for discs :D It's not like disciplines upgrade rogue damage an insane, insane amount.. Doing something like this will really even out pure melee's.

While I'm a big fan of the lull ability, someone wanna explain how a monk can make a normally kill on sight monster not want to attack in this world?

I mean, if I wanted to kick the shit out of a monk in real life, them blinking at me wouldn't stop me. Especially if I was watching them beat up my best friend. Short of spells, I can't think of any practical explanation other than "hrm, we have no better ideas"

Force of will, Jedi trick... Whatever, and who cares?

Don't tell me you want a RL explanation for something in EQ...
Why don't all classes get FD then? I can throw myself to the ground and stop breathing/moving for 20 seconds easily, why my warrior can't?
Why bards have forage, track and safe fall? None is related to a song I think, just because "they are jack of all"?
We could go on like this on each class, and each mob (omg this goo just kicked me!!).
Don't try to understand... Accept it... Repeat now... Don't try... :evil

if they called it aura of tranquility, or Word of Zen would it make you happy with it?:D

Uh, sure Kelraz.

You wanna start explaining how a bard song can make you run like you're on crack, become invisible, FLY, make everyone forget you ever existed, make you be able to breathe under water, make fire and ice suddenly not hurt people, etc etc; instantly after starting to sing/play the song?

Oh wait, this isn't RL is it. Maybe to rebalance bards, they should just have the song effects be really cool MIDI songs that play on everyone's computer. If the song was cool enough, people would come back from the afk/xbox/ps2 and play better.

Hey, it worked for Rocky. He woulda never made it without Eye of the Tiger.

Oh, and bard lull has been nerfed by a factor of 4 to 7 in duration.

Enchanter lull nerfed by a factor of about 7.

Enchanter lull nerfed by a factor of about 7.

Well, it's not like we couldn't see this coming ;) . Pacifying down a room of 6 or 7 mobs and just wading in there and taking them out one at a time was/is... sick :P

Considering the significantly greater expense of Pacification as compared to, say, Apathy, the only thing that made this thing worth using (unless you're going to do a split on a large mob that would require multiple reparks, or move by something quickly) was its 5 minute duration. If you were lucky enough not to have taken the Extended Enhancement AAs, that is... :)

Oh well, the fun had about worn off it anyway, and I was back to asking folks to train us in hopes of keeping Faervas awake in those wretched LDoNs...

Regards,
Nydia Ywalmoriel
Autonomous Collective