Brawler Observations/Bugs, as of 10/1/21

[egarthur]

I've been focusing mostly on class skill deeds, and this is has been very challenging, given that some of those deeds for Brawler seem to be missing, or don't seem to work as advertised:

• The Class Deed Tome acquired via Valar is for Champions, even when the character is a Brawler.
• Tier 1 meta-deed doesn't complete, even when all constituent deeds (Smash Through the Ranks, Set-up Strikes, Overhand Smash) are completed.
• Serious Demeanor (supposedly a constituent deed of Tier 2) doesn't seem to be advanced by any Brawler skill (level-bestowed or traited), triggered by any combat state, or avoidance/resistance event. It's possible that I just missed it, but I'm pretty thorough. Caveat: the time limitations of Bullroarer don't permit a lot of "normal" questing, instancing, slayer-/quest-deeding, etc. so if the trigger for Serious Demeanor is buried in something like that, then it's not surprising I missed it. Note: if it were possible to get a Class Deed tome for Brawler, then at least I'd presumably be able to look at the description of the (auto-completed) Serious Demeanor deed. But I can't get a Class Deed Tome for Brawler; see bullet point above. The most obvious choice for a deed called "Serious Demeanor" is the Get Serious skill; but that skill doesn't advance it. Was that the intent, and it's just not working yet?
• The text for the Tier 3 constituent deeds says "Use the skills that you acquired when specializing as [either The Fulcrum or The Maelstrom]". This is somewhat ambiguous. Does it mean only the initial skills that are granted when first specializing in the tree? Or does it mean any traited skill from that tree, e.g. Fist of the Valar for The Maelstrom? Does it mean any skill that could be available to the character in the immediate aftermath of specializing (which means that Brash Invitation could qualify, since at the time of specialization, the character has 1 trait point to place in the tree)? The use of the past tense ("you acquired") helps but doesn't completely clear up the ambiguity, since one cannot assume when the user is going to see this text. Maybe they see it after accumulating and placing 40 class trait points.
• Come at Me seems to only advance the deed when used against a specific target, and not if it is invoked with no target. Is this WAI? If so, perhaps there should be some text in the deed description to that effect.
• Get Serious advances the Rally the Fellowship deed, even though its tooltip says nothing about buffing the fellowship. Unfortunately, I didn't document whether Get Serious actually does buff a fellowship, but it's either that the tooltip is inadequate, or Get Serious is contributing to a deed, when it shouldn't.
• In a former preview, I'm quite certain Slip Free could be used even when the character is not CC'ed. Now it seems it can only be used when CC'ed. Which is the WAI behavior?
• Like Serious Demeanor (see bullet point above), there doesn't seem to be any skill, combat state, avoidance/resistance event etc. that advances the Opening Move deed, supposedly a constituent of the Tier 6 meta-deed. The obvious candidate skill for this would be First Strike (clearly an opener, given the minimum-target-health-% requirement, and no Mettle cost). Was this the intent?
• Ultimate Techniques claims to be advanced by "capstone skills". I interpret "capstone skills" as any skill in the most advanced tier of the trait tree. Yet, Gut Punch, Mettle Shield and Battle Fury do not appear to advance the deed. Only Fist of the Valar does. So, either my comprehension of "capstone skill" is incorrect (and I suspect many would interpret it the same way), or something is not WAI.
• The Crowd Control deed states: "Use any skill that applies a Stun, Knockdowns, or other 'CC' effect", yet Helm-crusher (stun), Strike Towards the Sky & Mighty Upheaval (knockdown), Hurl Object & Knee Strike (slow) do not (if I documented things correctly) advance the deed. Fulgurant Strike advances it, but I don't agree that a momentary interrupt qualifies as 'CC'. If any skill that has an effect on its target beyond just damage qualifies as "CC", then corruption removal, debuffs, taunts, etc. would all quality as "CC". That's way overbroad.
• The description of the Leg Strike deed refers to a skill called Vicious Knee, but apparently this has been renamed to Knee Strike, and the deed text wasn't changed to match
• The Fulgurant Strike icon flashes constantly, regardless of in-combat or out-of-combat, whether something is targeted or not. This is similar to the bug I reported months ago with respect to Beorning's Execute skill icon. Whatever the flashing is meant to indicate, it is rendered useless if the icon flashes all the time, regardless of context. Over-flashing has long been recognized as "... not only reduc[ing] effective alarm information but also render[ing] the displays visually disturbing, distracting users from effectively perceiving the needed information from other representations", in industrial process-control systems, according to https://scholars.unh.edu/ccom/214 (citing previous academic studies).

Lastly, more of a request for the Bullroarer environment, rather than a bug report: can you please make the "Promotion Points" item available in the Bullroarer version of the store (as it is on live), create an NPC that gives out promotion points to any character that is eligible for Epic Battles (i.e. level 10 or above), or change the level prerequisite (currently about level 35) for Bobo to give out trait points? When trying to document the lowest effective level that a particular skill deed can be achieved, since some of those are traited skills that are bound indirectly by the number of trait points available at a given character level, it would be useful to have quick, convenient access to the same sources of trait points (directly) or indirectly, through promo points, as live has. It simply would be way too time-consuming to run enough Epic Battles to accumulate 200 promo points, during the course of a single Bullroarer preview...

[Joedangod]

create an NPC that gives out promotion points to any character that is eligible for Epic Battles (i.e. level 10 or above),

Believe that there is an NPC for that in the tavern basement.

[egarthur]

Believe that there is an NPC for that in the tavern basement.

I saw the Epic Battles guy in the basement, but he had nothing for me at the character level that I needed it. Like Bobo, there seems to be a minimum-level requirement.

[Joedangod]

I saw the Epic Battles guy in the basement, but he had nothing for me at the character level that I needed it. Like Bobo, there seems to be a minimum-level requirement.

Don't think that's the guy, think it's the one that hands out the Erebor deeds.