MT The Dream 1.7 - PvP Balancing

This time around, we’ve been focusing a lot of our time on PvP. We’ve snuck in some PvE changes here and there, but those interested in PvE should stay tuned for patches in the next couple of weeks.

Many of the changes are our first steps toward balancing many different aspects of PvP in MT The Dream. We continue to ask for your patience while we do so, as balancing every part of the game in one patch is not possible. After you try out this patch, please let us know how you feel about the changes we’ve made and how classes are feeling balance wise. Your feedback is always very important to us, and we consider every opinion we can. In the past, we did larger patches every few weeks. However, we’re going to try out doing smaller patches more often which should result in faster paced changes for PvP.

As always, thank you for your continued support and feedback. We’ll always do our best to serve you. To those who are returning to TERA or have rejoined Menma’s again recently, welcome home.

Hail (Community Manager) & Creep, Icha, Nightcore (PvP Team)

PvE

• As stated, this patch is pretty small compared to our norm. We have exciting things in store for the future, but we need more time to polish this and make it perfect. We understand your concerns around class balancing, and we hope to address these concerns soon.

• Regarding Mystic, we’ve received your feedback in both the polls and the feedback thread. We’re investigating potential solutions and coming up with something we’re most happy with. We’ll continue to monitor both the Mystic and Priest feedback threads while we consider our options, so please keep discussing there if you feel there’s something to say!

• We’ve been monitoring The Plexus (Hard) as well as feedback surrounding the dungeon. We’re working on some adjustments to help make its difficulty feel better and more closely align with our current and future design goals. Much like Manahan, we have plans for this one…

PvP

• We’re extremely grateful that PvP has caught the eye of many lately. We will continue on adding content, improving gameplay, and gathering feedback in regards to content and balancing. We have modified some class skills which should help improve how some content feels. To start, we’ve disabled crucial skills from Champion’s Skyring, please let us know what you think!

• We’ve targeted a bit of both class balance and battleground adjustments with this patch. In regards to class balance, we’re aiming to help the biggest outliers- so the classes that did the most or the least amount of damage have been tweaked. With Battlegrounds, we’re happy to see them so active and wish to keep that atmosphere alive.

• One of our long term goals is to work on bringing new open world PvP content. We’ll get there little by little until we’re ready to push for the big PvP rerelease.

• In the meantime, we will be trying to soon release a cap to how many participants can enter Civil Unrest. Each guild will only be allowed 20 members to reduce getting “zerged” and encourage fair fights more often.

Dungeon Changes

Antaroth’s Abyss (Hard)

• Improved Nightmare Ghergof’s Flamethrower attack.

• You should no longer receive damage when attacking from the sides or behind when you are not the target of Nightmare Ghergof’s flame.

• Increased the HP of Nightmare Antaroth’s clones to 10 billion.

• You can no longer kill Antaroth’s clones, which was our design goal from the start.

Sky Cruiser (Hard)

• The fire debuff now no longer follows the player when exiting the dungeon.

• Nightmare Darkan’s AI has received more changes.

• Attack Speed now ramps up a bit slower.

• Can no longer perform back-to-back silences.

• New pattern’s opening attack has changed to longer give bleed debuff, as it was pretty unforgiving with how fast it was.

• Secondary target pushback can no longer target the tank, unless the tank is not in front.

The Plexus (Hard)

• Greatly improved attack hitboxes for the tail attack and the spit attack.

• Slightly reduced the size of puddles.

• The goal of this change is to make it a bit easier to escape.

• Reduced the damage of Nightmare Manaya’s unenraged basic attacks.

• The wipe timer message now correctly states 10:00 instead of 15:00.

• Slightly reduced the potency of the wipe timer buff.

• This will give parties a miniscule chance to clutch their clear.

Forbidden Arena (Nightmare Undying Warlord)

• Increased HP to 58 billion (was 56.6 billion).

Serghetto (Nexus Mystery Merchant)

• Nexus Shop has been reworked completely, selling much more valuable items.

Miscellaneous

• Removed Draakon Arena (Hard) leaderboard titles from the previous season.

Class Changes

Design Note: We’ve combined both PvE and PvP class changes into the same group. Changes that affect PvP only will be marked as such.

Archer

Design Note: There have been multiple complaints surrounding Archer. They draw too much aggro without Feign Death, iframe / resolve management makes the class feel clunky, and more. We’re aiming to make more adjustments to the class soon to address further balancing concerns.

[PvP] We’ve also taken a look at Rain of Arrows, and decided that our nerf to it wasn’t the best course of action. The nerfs we introduced to the class shifted it from one of reaction to one that is punished easily, and is forced to rely on a single combo. This one-trick style of gameplay made it rather stale. With the changes here, we’re hoping to bring it back to its reactive nature, forcing players to focus on positioning. This allows for focusing on a single target without the need to rinse through every skill in your kit. We’ve also brought back the Backstep EP to allow for easier transitions into the class while boosting its overall survivability.

• Backstep

• Reload EP has been reintroduced.

• Gust Arrow

• We have normalized all Gust Arrow damage values to 36,000 (from 30,721), as previously Castanic Female Archers had a higher Gust Arrow base damage. 

• Penetrating Arrow

• [PvP] Increased Overcharge damage by 5%.

• [PvP] Slightly increased Crit Chance.

• Rain of Arrows

• [PvP] Reduced damage by 15% in Battlegrounds.

• Crimson Cataract Advancement

• No longer reduces PvP Skill Damage by 30%.

• [PvP] Slightly increased Crit Chance.

• Windsong

• Reduced aggro generation by 30%.

Brawler

Design Note: We’ve been monitoring Brawler’s performance, namely its recent DPS stance reinvigoration. It’s quite noticeable that they generate a high amount of aggro, so we’re tuning it back this patch. We’ll continue to monitor Brawler DPS’s performance with this patch as well.

[PvP] While looking at Brawler’s kit, we decided to allow Meat Grinder to be used while Growing Fury is active. It’s a neat skill with cool effects, and we feel that the skill has wasted potential while locked leading to its rare usage.

• Growing Fury’s Irregular Advancement

• Reduced aggro generation by 25%.

• Meat Grinder

• [PvP] Increased Cooldown by 16%.

• [PvP] Greatly increased Crit Chance.

• Can now be used while Growing Fury is active.

Gunner

Design Note: [PvP] Gunner is in a really good spot right now, even a bit too strong when it comes to mass PvP. We want to reduce skills that are just a one shot, and try to encourage combos and follow ups. Balder’s Vengeance’s range and ease of casting was just overwhelming to balance. However, Gunner struggles when it comes to catching enemies and with mobility. We hope to address these concerns in the future.

• Balder’s Vengeance

• [PvP] Reduced damage by 15%.

• [PvP] Reduced Cooldown by 15%.

• Burst Fire

• [PvP] Reduced damage by 15%.

• Glyph of Restoration’s HP Recovery has been increased to 2% (was 1%).

• ST-4

• Greatly increased HP.

• Increased Defense.

• The goal of this change is to prevent ST-4 from getting one shot.

Lancer

• Adrenaline Rush

• No longer reduces Retaliate cooldown.

• Onslaught

• Now has a guaranteed knockdown on the final hit.

Mystic

Design Note: We understand that the Corruption Ring and Thrall of Life changes may seem like a slap in the face to the PvE community─ who understandably feels Mystic needs immediate attention. We are working on a lot of Mystic changes soon directly for players like you, but we need more time to feel like we’re making the right decisions ourselves.

[PvP] Mystic is an extremely strong class. Its kit is filled to the brim with CC, buffs, heals, and survivability. It’s quite literally and very simply just superior. We hope that these nerfs to Mystic will bring them on par with Priest─ where we hope they are equally balanced.

• Arun’s Vitae

• [PvP] Reduced healing by 15%.

• Boomerang Pulse

• [PvP] Reduced healing by 10%.

• Corruption Ring

• Reduced duration by 50%.

• Teleport Jaunt

• [PvP] Increased cooldown by 1 second.

• Thrall of Life

• Reduced duration by 30%.

• [PvP] Reduced healing by 10%.

Ninja

Design Note: [PvP] Ninjas are a strong option in Battlegrounds, in no small part due to Inner Harmony. At the moment, ranged ninja’s damage is very high yet their melee damage is comparably very low. We will continue to tune Ninja’s damage over time as required.

• [PvP] Reduced all damage slightly in Battlegrounds.

Priest

Design Note: Healing Immersion resets were completely devastating to PvP, but reducing them shouldn’t make a large impact to PvE. Priest has multiple other skills which heal, and many of them are used off cooldown. This change shouldn’t affect the bottom of the line for PvE. Ishara’s Lullaby presents a unique issue for PvP, and was only useful to PvE with Bahaar’s Sanctum. We will address this issue again when we bring back Bahaar’s Sanctum.

[PvP] The change to Plague of Exhaustion will hopefully bring an edge to Priests in PvP. It was almost always better to have a Mystic due to it being a safer option with both better survivability and permanent auras. Priests on the other hand struggle to hit targets or even keep Energy Stars up. We’re trying to reduce the overall impact of RNG in fights. Especially in 3s, if a Priest’s Ishara’s Lullaby just once or twice, they will simply win the round.

• Healing Immersion

• Glyph of Persistence’s reset chance has been reduced to 20% (was 50%).

• Ishara’s Lullaby

• Disabled Reload EP.

• Plague of Exhaustion

• Debuff on enemies is now uncleansable.

• [PvP] Duration of the debuff has been decreased by 50%.

Slayer

Design Note: [PvP] Slayer’s Insight advancement on Tenacity was insanely oppressive, especially with it applying the Tenacity effect as well. This change should balance the advancement much better, making it both a give and take, rather than a raw benefit.

• Tenacity’s Insight Advancement

• No longer applies the Tenacity buff.

• We do not expect this change to drastically affect PvE in any meaningful circumstance, as the Insight advancement will still provide an iframe.

Reaper

Design Note: Like Archer in last patch, Reaper have received a similar adjustment to Shrouded Escape, allowing them to use it during The Plexus (Hard) runs without wiping the party, in Ghillieglade or the Training Grounds to not reset the boss, and more.

[PvP] The community has been asking us to make changes to the Snare advancement. It was incredibly annoying to deal with a Reaper while you are unable to react or move. This made Reapers exceptionally strong during Shadow Reaping. On that note, we are looking into Reaper’s damage and will rework their damage output soon. Currently, Reaper tends to only do large damage with three skills. Instead, we want to make other skills useful while nerfing the aforementioned heavy-hitting skills.

• Shrouded Escape

• Removes aggro from all PvE monsters under Level 65.

• Shadow Lash

• Increased MP replenishment.

• Shadow Reaping’s Snare Talyph

• Now reduces Movement Speed by 10% on successful hit (was 20%).

Sorcerer

Design Note: [PvP] In duels, Sorcerers are able to perpetually combo someone by silencing them after a knockdown which leads into another combo. This playstyle lacked counterplay, and ultimately goes against our goal of making Sorcerer a frail glass cannon.

• Nerve Exhaustion

• No longer silences knocked down enemies if they used Retaliate first.

• [PvP] Increased all damage slightly in Battlegrounds.

Warrior

Design Note: A point of contention many Warrior Tank players had was aggro concerns. This patch should alleviate this issue, but we’ll continue to monitor it and make sure.

[PvP] Warrior is currently overloaded with both high damage output and high utility. The goal of these nerfs is to reduce the potency of Warrior’s kit and bring it back to a more balanced level.

• Aerial Scythe

• [PvP] No longer staggers opponents.

• Blade Draw (Defensive Stance)

• Reduced the chance of slowcasting a Blade Draw when chaining from a Blade Draw that blocked an attack.

• Blade Frenzy

• [PvP] Reduced damage by 20%.

• Deadly Gamble

• [PvP] Increased Cooldown by 15%.

• Defensive Stance

• Increased aggro generation by 33%.

Events

Ice Fishing Festival

• The ice fishing festival has come to a close!

• If you have any leftover Icefish, you can spend them in Highwatch until further notice. However, you can no longer obtain more Icefish.

Elin Event

Design Note: We’ve had to walk back on our Draakon Arena (Hard) Elin Event. Overall the reception of the PvE side of this Elin Event was mixed, and we apologize. We’ve taken close notes about the feedback we’ve received. The other PvE Elin Event goals will remain.

• All Draakon Arena (Hard) tasks have been removed.

• Week 3 ─ Corsair’s Stronghold (15v15)

• Play 3 Games: 50x Agaia Token

• Play 5 Games: 100x Agaia Token

• Play 10 Games: 20x Elleon Companion Box

• Play 15 Games: 30,000 Tikat

General Content

Achievements

• All laurels should now display the correct amount of points missing.

• Battlegrounds no longer count for laurel progression.

Companions

• Increased the max amount of pet slots to 500.

• Note that you still need to use expansions to reach this value.

• Added two new animations to the following companions:

• Antaroth from Antaroth’s Abyss (Hard)

• Darkan from Sky Cruiser (Hard)

• Kelsaik from Corrupted Skynest

• Kelsaik from Corrupted Skynest now uses the correct Kelsaik model.

PvP Content

Design Note: We’ve made some experimental Battleground changes. Please let us know how you feel about these changes. We’re always looking to hear feedback from the community in the PvP Feedback section on our discord. Alternatively, talking to any staff member in-game is also a good way to get your voice heard. Thank you to those who’ve given us your input thus far!

Additionally, we have had no intention of allowing Pumped and Keen PvE etchings to affect PvP. We have made changes to deter usage of these etchings in PvP, as they have no source from PvP. Additionally, we’ve been focusing on feedback relating to adjusting how stuns and retaliates interact especially with how weak current Retaliate is. We will continue to monitor this and see if we can make further improvements in the future.

Battlegrounds

• The following Battlegrounds now use equalized gear:

• Corsair’s Stronghold (15v15)

• Champion’s Skyring

• The following Battlegrounds no longer restrict skills:

• Corsair’s Stronghold (15v15)

• Shore Hold (10v10)

• Champion’s Skyring now restricts certain skills from being used.

• Champion’s Skyring (Solo/Team)’s gates now close correctly after the first round.

Bellicarium Store

• All prices have been adjusted.

• Categories have been cleaned up, and useless items have been removed.

• Notably added a +9 Enchantment Scroll

• PvP Gear and Weapons have been moved to the Blacksmith in the Velika Outskirts Hall.

Open World

• Pumped IV and Keen IV etchings now give a PvP debuff.

• Greatly improved the stun-retaliate bug interaction.

Velika Outskirts Hall

• Added Blacksmith NPCs which sell corresponding PvP gear.

Reworked Battleground Achievements

• We’ve improved achievements with a new section called “Battlegrounds”.

• Corsair’s Stronghold and Champion’s Skyring have been moved here.

• Shore Hold and Fraywind Canyon have been added.

• Added the following achievements for Shore Hold:

• Win 1, 10, 50, 150 and 500 time(s)

• Winning 500 times gives a 330 speed War Bengal Tiger mount

• First Rank 1, 10, 25, 50, 100 and 200 time(s)

• Defeat each BAM type 10 times

• Added the following achievement to Champion’s Skyring (Solo):

• Win 500 times

• As previously stated, this section does not count toward laurels or summary. We will be closely monitoring the activity of Battlegrounds and PvP in general. If Battlegrounds become more active, we will consider making them contribute to laurels once again.

Miscellaneous

Design Note: We’re always looking to hear about any quality of life changes you may have in mind. As you’ll see in this section, we try to improve the less focused on aspects of the game if time permits. Feel free to let us hear your feedback on the feedback section of the Discord!

• Improved costume preview in the character selection screen. Each race now has several costumes to preview in the Preview Gear/Costume tab before creating your character.

• Increased Travel Journal save spots to 50 (was 10).

• Reduced all Draught cooldowns to 3 minutes (was 5 minutes). The tooltip also reflects this change.

• Reordered Manaya’s Core Teleportal menu. The Plexus (Hard) is now at the top.

• The following items now stack up to 99,999 in your inventory:

• 3-Line Gear Boxes

• Agaia Materials

• Akasha / Thulsa Relic Materials

• Black Core Material Boxes

• Belt Etching

• Bespoke Gear Boxes

• Black Core Nodule

• Black Core Shard

• Brooch Etching

• Dark Shard Cohesion Arcanes

• Divine Infusion

• Inexorable Savage Draught

• Mana Essence Cohesion Arcane Scroll

• Minor Recovery Potable

• Minor Replenishment Potable

• Powerful/Tempestuous Savage Draught

• Refined Mana Essence

• Rootbeer

• Valkyon Health Potion

Bug Fixes

• Corrected many tooltips throughout the game.

• Disabled Gridiron Leaderboard.

• Fixed the Astromancy Cloak effect.

• Glaive Strike can now be used during Ragnarok in Battlegrounds.

• Removed TBA achievements from appearing when filtering achievements by rewards.

• Removed achievements related to old retail events from the PvP and Duel section.

• Removed achievements which were blank and those with blank items as rewards.

• Training Dungeons and Kumas Royale no longer count towards the achievement summary.