Pc Psa: Covert Lethality + Exalted Blade Changes

[[DE]Megan]

Tenno,

 

Today Covert Lethality will be changed from ‘lethal damage if undetected’ to ‘lethal damage on stealth-finishers’. Covert Lethality is supposed to grant Lethal Damage for stealth tactics and not ground-slamming or obliterating blind enemies. We know this may come as a disappointment as many Tenno have sworn their life to the power of this Mod however the myriad of unintended uses was proving more powerful than intended.

 

After considering the use of Covert Lethality for Exalted Blade a debate ensued about the use of melee Mods that are specific to certain weapons; again, it was decided that while we intended for certain melee Mods to amplify Exalted Blade it didn't make sense for all melee Mods to apply. For example, currently the buff from Justice Blades works for Exalted Blade even though the mod is an augment for the Dual Cleavers.

 

Next week we intend to limit the Melee mods that work with Exalted Blade strictly to generic mods (ie: Pressure Point, Molten Impact, etc) but not weapon-specific augments. We appreciate that this will remove certain fitting strategies however we feel that those combos were not the intention of the ability and want to avoid making it so that you only want to play Excalibur with one or two specific weapons.

 

We hope that you will agree that this is better for Warframe balance and makes conceptual sense for how you would expect the power to work.

 

[AM-Bunny]

Ew, bummer. 

 

The Exalted Blade thing was obvious, but Finisher only for Covert Lethality is disappointing. Finishers are so slow and cumbersome.

[InoxMaximus]

buhhhh

 

 

want to avoid making it so that you only want to play Excalibur with one or two specific weapons.

 

why not ? makes no change at all.

Edited August 14, 2015 by InoxMaximus

[Kamachi]

Perhaps test things alittle more before releasing them?

Grattler for example, how many times do you guys plan to "fix" it? I count 2 so far :P

[weezedog]

Man I really relied on the purity/justice syndicate proc to provide health to my excal since he takes quite a bit of damage, especially since the nerf to exalted blade blocking.

 

Life Strike is an option and can be used on-demand, but it really ate your energy up in ridiculous amounts. The syndicate proc was a great alternative, and had some risk since it's not on-demand.

 

I do agree covert lethality was OP but wan't really concerned with the other mods.

 

Can we get some generic mods that offer some of the functionality of the syndicate procs? I'm still willing to give up a mod slot for it. Maybe even syndicate mods for each faction that is equippable on any primary, secondary, or melee weapon that provides the syndicate proc effect for that weapon?

Edited August 14, 2015 by weezedog

[ZizWing]

Ew, bummer. 

 

The Exalted Blade thing was obvious, but Finisher only for Covert Lethality is disappointing. Finishers are so slow and cumbersome.

speaking of that... can attack speed mods have a double effect on finishers maybe? it kind of makes sense gameplay wise since you can't stand in the open for too long during stealth gameplay.

[direcyphre]

Makes sense. Just surprising this wasn't already like this.

[Nitresco]

And so the inevitable chain of Exalted Blade nerfs begins.

 

Going to miss being able rely on Bright Purity for health instead of Life Strike. Maybe if DE actually started releasing more Syndicate weapon augments, it would be more than just "two melee weapons". Hell, they could have made the +projectile speed Kestrel augment also affect Exalted Blade projectiles.

 

It's quite hilarious, actually. With this change, people wanting to use Skana AND Exalted Blade will run into a problem. If they want to completely minmax Skana, they HAVE to use Bright Purity, which will waste a potential slot that could be used for more Exalted Blade damage. If they want to completely minmax Exalted Blade, they CANNOT use Bright Purity, which puts a huge handicap on the effectiveness of the Skana. Meanwhile, anyone who favors any other melee weapon besides Cleavers gets the best of both worlds. The augments are supposed to be reasons to use these weapons. You've essentially made them the exact opposite.

 

This is a fine example of nerfing a playstyle too much. In an attempt to eliminate the meta, you've established a new one; now instead of ONLY Skana/Cleavers, it's ANYTHING BUT Skana/Cleavers.

 

Wanna know what the funniest part about this is? If augments actually had their own slot, this problem could have been completely avoided.

 

Edit: 17 pages of opinions and discussion later, it seems a good amount of players aren't very appreciative of this change. Maybe it should be reconsidered, developers. Here's to hoping you're actually reading the comments on this thread.

Edited August 15, 2015 by Nitresco

[TheGuyver]

So is this a nerf for exalted blade? I could care less for the dagger mod, because that should be burned to the ground. I would rather have had daggers rework to not suck, instead of that band aid mod. I do like my syndicate buffs on my excal though.

 

How come every time Steve isn't at the office, they nerf the S#&$ out of everything left and right? The last time they nerfed excal he was in china and a bunch of stealth nerfs got dropped too.

Edited August 14, 2015 by TheGuyverOne

[Your_Very_Best_Friend]

Would this mean that ash's teleport would no longer trigger that instakill? Or is his considered a stealth takedown?

[Jaysus41]

The main problem i see with this change isn't with Excalibur's synergy with Covert Lethatlity at all. Sometimes enemies will be in strange positions that makes stealth finishers either unnecessarily difficult or impossible, like having their backs close to walls or on different elevations. Some spy vaults have enemies in these exact situations.

[EmptyDevil]

I'm not bothered by these changes. Too many people exaggerating + overreacting in this thread already.

Edited August 14, 2015 by EmptyDevil

[tocorro]

As long as damage, elemental, crit, speed mods (and life strike) will work, then i don't care. BB syndicate mods.

[Sometimes]

Why punish Loki / Ash players for another problem? Just make it so Exalted Blade doesn't benefit from it as mentioned and leave the mod as is.

 

Stealth finisher change just made it worthless of a slot, oh and daggers too. Whelp, back to a non-dagger melee weapon again.

Edited August 14, 2015 by Sometimes

[(PSN)OMGITSNUKERXD]

:/ well I must admit,Exalted blade was somewhat nerfed with the blocking but now he is nerfed a lot.Strenght mods affect him so I can't see why we should ask for more.

[NyxCrab]

A shame about the EB change, though I saw this coming because of the fact nearly everyone used either Prisma Skana or prisma Dual Clevers because of the syndicate mod. When are you going to change Hysteria so I don't need to be running a Scindo Prime with a Berserker build to get the max potentional out of that?

[Don_T_Shoot]

Sorry they left this dirty job to Megan.

 

The dagger thing makes good sense.

 

The syndicate/exalted blade thing is a bummer though.   That seems like a reverse in position, but maybe I'm remembering incorrectly.  I thought it was mentioned in a devstream that the syndicate effects were intended.

 

 

[EDIT] On the, er, bright side(?) I guess I can go back to not caring about getting Prisma Skana now.

Edited August 14, 2015 by Don_T_Shoot

[Fari]

Today Covert Lethality will be changed from ‘lethal damage if undetected’ to ‘lethal damage on stealth-finishers’.  work.

No chance Covert could just... be made to not work with excal, and even not work with Loki, but not be finishers? Dagger finishers are SO bad, I don't mind this mod being only usable with normal dagger swipes while enemies are unaware, but if it requires actually doing the finisher mod... Well, goodbye daggers never using you again. I regret formaing daggers now.

Edited August 14, 2015 by NearoC

[Fraank]

I disagree with covert lethality.

It s a change from broken to useless. You cant do stealth finishers in endless missions(after a certain level you can t finish enemies anymore, which is why this mod would be great there) and in other mission types this mod is not needed because the enemy level is not that high. you can finish every enemy there with any melee weapon as long as you have pressure point (and spoiled strike) on it. and you can fit those 2 mods on (almost) every unranked weapon if you have a proper stance.

 

the real problem is, that AoE procs and Syndicate AoE can kill unalerted enemies.That doesnt make sense and is definitely an unintended bug. that should be fixed. Those elemental-procs could simply alert the enemies for example, instead of insta kill everything in the entire room.

An ground slam could alert enemies too, but it doesnt.

 

Edit:i d like to add that it is a high risk to play with a dagger and loki/ash/whatever. one mistake and you die after 40-60min survival with one hit. i dont know why this should be wrong? a lot of ppl would say "that s too much risk, i dont want to loose all my revives with this playstyle - let s go camping in the corner over there."

Edited August 15, 2015 by -ExT-Fraank

[Hayzemet]

I love prisma skana it was my favorite sword, it has innate horrible stats, without it appliying to EB i will not be Able to use it correctly, pls bufF that skana or just leave the syndicate mod alone I cannot believe this, im ok with the dual cleavers but the skana COME ON 

[Valiant]

Next week we intend to limit the Melee mods that work with Exalted Blade strictly to generic mods (ie: Pressure Point, Molten Impact, etc) but not weapon-specific augments. We appreciate that this will remove certain fitting strategies however we feel that those combos were not the intention of the ability and want to avoid making it so that you only want to play Excalibur with one or two specific weapons.

 

 

Wait so if I understand this correctly, the Skana augment mod will no longer benefit EB? I hope that's incorrect, otherwise you're missing out on a vital buff to the Skana, especially for Skana Prime users. This needs to be reconsidered. The syndicate mod was clearly a band-aid mod to buffing Skana Prime without causing rage throughout the forums. You're essentially taking that away and providing another limitation.

 

I don't have CL myself so I'm not fussed - don't think I would be if I had it anyways - but it should just not affect EB. Why is it difficult to just make this one alteration? Limiting it to finishers isn't a great idea. They are very awkward in both execution and animations.

Edited August 14, 2015 by Naith

[Hybridon]

The issue with limiting the mods on EB is that some people enjoy using those weapons with those mods while using Exalibur for his other powers.

 

While Covert Lethality did need that change, taking away the effects from other mods makes it so that we have to build melee weapons thinking on Exalted Blade, or bring a melee weapon that already fits in the same mods as the ones that pass on the EB.

 

You want to make people use other melee weapons with EB, by limiting some melee weapons on the process... seems unfitting.

[mrecentric]

Wouldn't it be better to not add damage if ground slam is used and not apply to blinded enemies?

Edited August 15, 2015 by Haldos
Cleaning.

[Arceus255]

Never ground-slammed to kill things, only used ash's TP to do it really.

[Chainfox]

While you're at it, here's an idea: Make stealth finishers not take so darn long. 

 

Maybe a mod? A mod to make finishers faster might make them worth doing. 

 

also: "Why avoid making excal players only use one or two weapons?"

This is basically the reason coptering was taken out. Weapons that couldn't copter weren't ever used.

It's about leaving your weapon choice up to you, not up to whatever ridiculous mod combo is brokenly OP right now. 

Edited August 14, 2015 by Chainfox