posted by
SWGR Staff
December 18, 2023
"Would somebody get this big walking carpet out of my way..."
From Banthas to Rancors and Tanrays to Durnis, Restoration players show down to find out who has the most powerful beast in the Galaxy. This time, however, the People for the Ethical Treatment of Pharples had had enough...
What started out as a typical beast tournament turned sideways as protestors started to show up! At the conclusion of the tournament, this anti Bio-Engineer community rose up and unleashed their own creations against them in an all out battle for survival!
And apparently the protesters were using Shock Collars to help control the beasts, which ended up dropping after defeating the over-sized creatures! At the same time, it was observed that the Undead Rancor is now dropping the Shock Collar more often (10%).
For Creature Handlers across the Galaxy, there has been quite a lot of action to keep up with over the past several months. Learning difficult abilities has been adjusted, abilities that were broken for a long time have been fixed, and less-used abilities have gotten boosts. Local expert player grk gives us a rundown.
"The fix to Spit has provided another option for damage focused situations, which can be seen in the camel and amphibian families. Both have the Bite + Spit combo in their kit, which are considered “special attacks” along with claw that do higher damage than “base attacks". Spit and Claw have the same cooldown of 4 seconds. While Claw appears to be the top damage dealing ability overall, Spit does high damage with a tacked-on utility, in which the NGE utility was changed to function in the CU."
-Ithorian
"Other fixed abilities for camels and amphibians include Kick and Damage Poison. Kick now mesmerizes the target, locking them from using abilities and moving, which breaks on damage. Damage Poison, one of the two DoT abilities along with Slash, saw a major buff to its accuracy and an increase in damage allowing for families with DoTs in their kit to be more reliable choices, in which sustained damage may be preferred. This has a large impact on the mantis family, which has two DoTs in their kit."
-Ithorian
Fixed the Charge, Kick, and Spit abilities will no longer lock the player out of performing other actions during their cooldown period.
"The recent fix to Charge, modifications to Stomp's cooldown, and addition of tacked-on utilities to Stomp have provided the elephantine and immense simian families with a complete ability kit, and further diversified the extensive kit seen in the saurian family. Elephantines are standing their ground and defeating previously top tier families, such as feline or tanray, in recent Beast Tournaments. While their damage output may be lower compared to DPS-centered families, they provide a balance of defensive (Dampen Pain and Stomp's stun) and offensive (Bite). Saurians have the largest kit, and have been restored as the family with the most potential combinations seen in one ability kit. The stomp + charge beasts are typically larger than most, so be sure to pick up a Shock Collar that is now a tradeable drop from the Undead Rancor in the Quarantine Zone."
-Ithorian
Leveling a pet and then building its trust to earn Best Friend Forever can be a rather long process.
Recently, however, the Sher Kar began dropping intriguing weapons that help with pet loyalty. The loyalty that Sher Kar commands from the Karlings must have rubbed off on these weapons as they have helped boost loyalty when raising pets.
In addition, SWG Restoration has added other ways to pique pets' interest and help gain their loyalty. Note that Karkan Ribenes will likely inspire less Loyalty as creatures in the Galaxy get more accustomed to the new food (in a future patch).
The Creature Loyalty stat is a bonus percent to loyalty gain. Stacking the Sher Kar weapon with the Karkan Ribenes food will help make the process of becoming Best Friends Forever a little less grindy.
And for the aspiring Bio-Engineers in the Galaxy, making pets has had a number of enhancements as well.
Modifications to correct stats that previously didn't work was implemented this year and adjustments have also been made after the Combat Upgrade patch.
Accuracy
Defense
Critical Hits
Pet critical hits were fixed, which impacts families that have the Flank ability. Most notably felines and nocks, who now have a complete kit of 4 working abilities, not including Provoke. The increase chance of a critical hit on a target from the Flank debuff affects anyone hitting the target, even non-group members. This is most noticeable during longer fights in PvE, or calling out a target in PvP to maximize damage during the Flank's debuff window.
-Ithorian
Probably been a while since anyone saw a Mutated Acklay on Restoration. Fortunately, that is about to change. Bugs have been addressed which should now enable the mutation of the Mutated Acklay. Save those Purple Lyase and Dark Blue Isomerase!
May the Force be with You
-SWG Restoration Staff
