I absolutely despise the new updates and the way this game is going. KI, you will loose a lot of members if things are not changed. Stop with the pvp concerns and start thinking of those of us that actually play the game and never do pvp.
I can also confirm that the Critical System seems to have been revised and now resembles how it used to be prior to the Spring Update.
This includes:
-The critical multiplier seems to be at least 1.74 as opposed to the embarrassing 1.35 - 1.5 it was before. - Mobs are no longer gaining criticals as often. - Thank-you! - Critical still favours the player [we gain criticals a little easier than mobs, well, a lot easier] - This will never be a complaint, please do not remove or adjust this feature. It is fine and we enjoy it. - Mobs/Bosses are showing the block animation a little more often.
However, these aspects, [if the aim is to make the critical/block system perfect or at least close to it] will still require persistence.
- Our [Wizard's Blocking Rate] - I noticed a slight increase within the blocking rate, but it is still nothing substantial. Allow us to please block a little more. - Some mobs are still not showing the blocking feature/animation. Whenever an enemy blocks, it should always be shown, no excuses. - Have critical do 2.0 [double the damage as intended] as opposed to having a multiplier in PvE capping at 1.75 or so. The cap was not needed.
Finally, the critical system is something we rather enjoy. If the intention is to do some adjustments to it, please:
- Inform the wizards, do not sneak an update [especially in the live realm] and have us finding about it after we have been ported back to the Commons.
- As suggested, open the test realm so we can test it out. You have many wizards who will do multiple test on multiple different wizards with a wide arrange of stats with different mobs to provide excellent feedback. Let us help you to make your game better.
AOE criticals: It took me a few battles to figure out what's going on with the aoe critical and block. The visual isn't intuitive at first but it makes sense logically. I actually like it. In other games a critical means you hit the opponent in a particularly vulnerable spot. Just because my fireball smacks one mob right in the face doesn't mean it will smack all of them in the face.
Critical percentages: I'm lost. Both my and my daughter's wizards are level 68. When we hover over a damage spell our chance to critical shows 68% whether I have equipped 227 points of critical gear, 110, or stripped down to just 34, it says it's 68%. And casting Vengeance doesn't change the percentage at all either. The shown damage multiplier for enemies with any block stay the same, too. I don't know what helps and what doesn't. It's messed up.
Critical heals: This I don't get either. My own critical heals only give me something like a 1.23 multiplier. Why are they so gimped? Am I blocking my own heal criticals? That doesn't make any sense.
I find it very annoying how it does not show when you use an AoE spell (Humongofrog, Blizzard, Scarecrow, ETC.) when the enemies block your attack. And not only does it do that, I see that they have a 0% block rate, but my criticals do not go through to half of the enemies on the field.
It would seem that everybody is still confused about the Critical issues, and I dare say rightfully so.
I would appreciate some official commentary from the Kingsisle developers relating to this dilemma. Why was a new Critical system implemented (and later revoked) without first going through a testing process? And what is the system like now?
For those who don't understand why the critical block animation isn't being shown for all enemies when your wizard gets a critical on an AoE spell:
I think when it shows your wizard has cast a critical, it doesn't mean that your spell will critical on all of the enemies anymore. Now it means that your spell will critical on at least one of the enemies.
So if just one enemy shows a block animation it could mean that's the only enemy that your spell was going to critical on. To really know what happened you have to watch the damage over each enemy. Some may take a lot more damage from your hit than others. The enemies that took a lot more damage are the ones you landed a critical hit on and they didn't block it. For the enemies that didn't take a ton of damage, they either blocked your critical (which you would have seen by the block animation) or you just didn't land a critical on them.
We have to change our mindset that a critical is for all the enemies. It's not anymore. Again, it only means you criticaled on one or more of the enemies.
That said, the critical stats displayed are still messed up. :)
this is also why people think ciritcal is bad now, whats the point of trying to get crititcal if on top of being able to just not crit some enemies, that the ones that do get hit by it can also block, essentially doubling the chances for a enemy to not get hit by a crititcal, not to mention the pvp cap that they slapped onto pvp for no reason.
I absolutely despise the new updates and the way this game is going. KI, you will loose a lot of members if things are not changed. Stop with the pvp concerns and start thinking of those of us that actually play the game and never do pvp. 
