Koopak

Thank you for this, it made my day

In the mission, "Catch the last two conspirators before they leave Striga", which is the final mission of the Sunstorm provided story arc "Fear and Loathing on Striga Isle" the Center has dispatched his troops to eleminate the last of an anti Nictus group that are attempting to escape Striga. During this mission you come across Ascendants who represent the Center's elite forces. The NPC chatter in this mission appears to be mis assigned, giving the lines belonging to the anti Nictus traitors to the loyalist Ascendants. Attached in a snip of the chat log.

I agree this has merit however in order to avoid the issues fear used to have I would suggest that the "Search" mode use a salted pathing toward the teleport caster. This would cause them to start moving in that direction and the players would have to fall back to keep tele sniping, hopefully running out of ground to fall back to eventually. If possible Id also argue for a counter, say on the 3rd tp target used on a spawn, the spawn goes strait to aggro. Obviously this is all wild speculation though because I suspect most of what i just described would require new AI states and behaviors, and im not even sure if the pathing system has any support for "create a series of randomly distributed way points that bring you closer to caster's original location". Feels like one of those bucket list items that, ultimately, aren't worth the time it would take away from other projects for a relatively niche mechanic for a handful of powers. Stalkers might be able to get some fun out of the system though.

As seen in the attached screenshot shadows are being cast by the bubble created by Sonic Dispersion from the sonic support set. When time permits I will attempt to test and provide more info.

I figured this was the case. However, correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't Victory Rush's mechanics imply there is a way to detect the rank of a nearby enemy then change effect based on that? Would it be possible, assuming the devs decided to do it, to detect a boss, and arbitrarily apply a higher mag teleport on them? I'm not familiar with the code base, despite having spent the last year with the desire to dig into it, but i would assume there's some way to scan a radius for bosses, list them, and apply and effect to each of them. Presumably that solves the "please don't teleport my lamp post" type issues 😛 If I'm wrong and that is effectively impossible without significant new code, then yeah i don't really see a solution besides the obscured amount of effort i imagine it would be to go through the entire game and assess and mark every object that should be teleportable as such for future protection level maintenance. The only other option and this is occurring to me late, is there any potential issues with lowering TP protections on bosses? Say do a full scale shift, 0-1 prot for minion, 1-2 prot for lts 2-3 prot for bosses, no level shift, or give negative values so that bosses are below the threshold? Granted that's again kinda a rework for the entire system to solve one issue, but it is a pretty nasty issue. I don't know how difficult it would be. Now THATS the extent of my ideas without looking through the code base myself.

Just wanted to confirm this still appears to be the case.

As iv said, a valid argument, just one i disagree with because it hasn't been a problem for me in building a wide variety of builds requiring 2-3 pools that don't give defense. CJ and Hover just aren't big enough for me to feel their loss, infact i think only 2 of my characters even use them while the others are still hitting their build goals. But again, if they made that change, i wouldn't mind much, my main goal was to lend some context of roughly what CT is WORTH because its repeatedly referred to as if it provides nothing, when i just cant disagree with that more.

Not that your point is without merit, but in the vein of my previous post, lets turn some theory into numbers here. Combat Teleport, as it stands at time of writing, has a 0.67 activation time, that means for 2/3 of a second you are unable to do anything else. I shall use my current build's dps rotation to calculate the cost of maintaing a 100% uptime of CT's +10% tohit value at a single stack on this rotation. Baring some oddness this should be proportional to almost all rotations. Disclaimer: These numbers are calculated with the help of Mid's, and are on my build specifically which i consider very weak in the damage department for a katana scrapper, the goal is not the numbers themselves but the relationship between them. Damage values truncated to the second decimal point. My rotation (with activation times): Golden Dragonfly (1.83s) --> Soaring Dragon (1.33s) --> Gambler's Cut (0.67s) --> The Lotus Drops (1.83s) --> Gambler's Cut (0.67s) Total Execution time: 6.33 seconds Total Damage: 1,230.85 DPS: 194.44 Rotation modified for CT spam with 100% uptime on effect: Combat Teleport (0.67) --> Golden Dragonfly (1.83s) --> Soaring Dragon (1.33s) --> Gambler's Cut (0.67s) --> The Lotus Drops (1.83s) Total Execution time: 6.33 seconds Total Damage: 1,100.86 DPS: 173.91 Thus the use of combat teleport at 100% uptime is roughly equivalent to 89.44% of the damage done without it. Roughly a 10% dps drop, give or take. **mathematics ends here, what follows is purely subjective opinion** I am of the opinion that a roughly 10% loss in dps, that only takes effect when i CHOOSE to allow it to, is not a high price to pay for a 10% to hit buff on demand. Using a similar mechanic (though not for to hit) it is possible on a bio armor character to, in a similar fashion, trade resistance, or endurance in favor of damage, and this is seen as a positive. Additionally when discussing a movement power, its worth considering travel time, when an enemy escapes your range or LoS, your dps becomes zero for however long it takes you to react and traverse the necessary distance. With combat teleport, that traversal will essentially never be more than 0.67 seconds. This serves to mitigate some of the damage loss argument, but i know the main part of it is the trade of damage for to hit. Looking at another example, assuming you are taking 2 power slots in leadership to take tactics, a power with less to-hit, but other benefits, you are choosing between maneuvers, assault, and tactics. Most forms of Assault grant 10.5% damage, with support ATs getting stronger versions who also get better versions of tactics so proportionally it stays similar. Viewed in the light of a completed build, one could argue that taking assault instead of tactics, is an option opened up by combat teleport that grants both the desired to-hit bonus, and the ability to forgo that to-hit bonus at any time for a 10% damage output increase. I will also note that while yes Tactic provides confuse a fear resistance, those are the benefits of a power dedicated to improving stats and not providing mobility. Additionally id note Tactics is a T3 pool power REQUIRING one of the previous powers to unlock and should be more valuable than combat teleport. I would hope no one took my previous statements to imply combat teleport was equivalent, because it shouldn't be, only that for one portion of it, it is able to perform the same role. Lastly I would like to address the persistent assessment that CT is unable to push through -accuracy debuffs. I feel this argument only holds water if you believe that melee AT's Build Up is also unable to push through said debuffs. An opinion that I greatly disagree with as I regularly use build up explicitly to get the hits in i need to apply the -def i need to stabilize my hit chance. Build Up provides +20% tohit, Combat Teleport is easily able to double stack, and for a single attack, sometimes two, triple stack for +20% or +30% tohit. Granted your buildup is likely slotted, like mine, with a 6 set of Gaussian's all +5ed granting you 32% +to-hit. However i do not find CT's range, endurance, or recharge to be limiting factors on any set based build, so would argue you can just slap a basic To Hit Buff IO +5ed for a +13.19%, +26.38%, and +39.57% to hit at 1, 2, and 3 stacks respectively, all without wasting a single placeable enhancement slot. I really do feel that people are going purely on a 'gut feeling' that this to-hit is insubstantial while testing on builds that generally either have crap hit chance no matter what, or are perma capped at 95% no matter what. Thus the arguments being posed are limited to arguing that they 'need' the defense, but not the to-hit there for any power that doesn't give defense along with whatever quirks and shifts it does to play style is lesser. Again, if the devs decide, hell with it, lets switch it to defense? I wont lose any sleep over it, but i really do think that the to-hit is more unique and encourages more thoughtful play and build design, where as defense will simply lead to players building with the expectation of 100% uptime and have to train themselves to always be recasting CT rather than using it only when needed. I don't know about you guys? But to hell with that, ill accept not having a defense soft cap long before i train myself to use a movement power every 5 friggen seconds, which mind you, would STILL have the 10% damage loss that was complained about.

I don't disagree with your point, but if you are implying its NOT worth use without the binds, then I definitely do disagree. CT is great even when using it purely with click cast or number key power tray casts.

I was testing Teleport, and Combat Teleport, not Teleport Target, i know TPT has no LoS issues, it wouldnt work right otherwise

I went ahead and tested this for yall. You absolutely do NOT need LOS to teleport using the powexeclocation command. However, if the targeted location ends up being invalid, you will teleport in place. Additionally I had an intermittent issue where if I was to close to a wall, it wouldn't cast at all, regardless of it being Teleport or Combat Teleport. No error dialogue is given, it just acts like the command wasn't used. In practice, its more than enough to jump through walls mid combat with a little practice, but for traveling through buildings id need more testing.

Thank you for answering the real questions 🤣 Ill have to do some testing of some ideas i ahve

While overstated perhaps i agree with this. If you asked the original devs, or the devs from just before shutdown what should be done today? You'd get a different answer than what they would have said when the game was life. and you'd get a different answer from each team with members of the team disagreeding. Even as late as the AMAs the devs expressed differing opinions. So seriously "respect the intent of the original devs" is a crap excuse especially since there are huge differences in philosophy between the live maintenance team and cryptics dev team.

Agreed, as long as the basic mechanics arent messed with, any stat changes are fine by me as long as they dont ever cause the rest of the power's properties to be changed

Its alright, i'll pick it up for the animation at most. I get your attempt to imply that its just bias or whatever but meh? If they got rid of it, entirely, id be mildly annoyed at most.

I maintain that no ammount of 'buffs' to cast speed, recharge time, or destination list makes LRTP stop sucking in the context of a pool power pick

Yeah i keep forgetting MMs are ESPECIALLY hurt but the way Teleport functions. Which is ironic because i mained a MM for a year when CoV first came out that used TP, i know your pain.

I agree thematics work for both to hit and defense, but this is actually my argument for why it should stay to-hit. If you want more defense there are plenty of options, its not unique or interesting, it doesn't encourage a build to adjust around it to incorporate it in an interesting way. Lets say we make it so CT gives defense equivalent to CJ or Hover, you now replace those powers with CT. You haven't changed anything but one power and, arguably, allowed teleporters to not invest in jumping or flight. At best you open up a pool pick. With this to-hit, a player can instead drop tactics or focused accuracy, or possibly adjust enhancements for a lower target accuracy value. This means that you may be opening up an Epic pick, a pool pick, or an entire enhancement plan for every power with accuracy checks. Again I've got no horse in this race, as long as CT functions as is for cast time, cool down, range, so on? I don't mind what if any additional benefits it gives, my arguments are mostly from my enjoyment of making and designing builds and creating interesting power combinations. There are loads of ways to bump your defense, not so many for your to-hit, and sure ill accept one can argue that to-hit is a less valuable stat, but id counter that with the argument that CT is a far more valuable movement option. I don't know that I completely agree. I will say it does feel WORSE to use indoors, but I think that's mostly because the core issue crops up more in that environment. I think the biggest problem is the hover lock, being stuck unable to move. The attacks ending the effect are a good step for combat, but we aren't teleporting into combat much, usually we teleport to a mission door or contact, or some other clickable. This becomes a problem when you land a bit out of range or when it has an interaction time because the end of the hover and landing interrupts those. I cant count how many times iv landed near my target contact, just outside of talk range, and flailed helplessly for a second. It not a serious issue, but it is annoying as hell. One thing that could help a lot, assuming its possible, is doing a scan below the character after they teleport and if they are essentially only a unit or two above an acceptable piece of ground, nix the hover. However I don't know how practical that is to do from a dev perspective. Another option would be to make the hover mechanic dismissable and allow us to bind that dismissal to a key or macro or such, bit slap dash but it would work. I'm not sure what else would work. As for myself I want to see some movement on Teleport Team and Fold Space/Teleport Target magnitudes, but I don't think there much left to say on either, just hoping they have been noted and marked in a design doc somewhere. (edit:) At this rate I'm going to get a rep for being a wind bag

I just realized i could have made your life much much easier.... In the combat stats under basic, there is a "last hit chance" stat, track that, it updates with every attack and tells you what your chance to hit the target was. That will give you a better view under the hood. So sorry I didn't think to point that out sooner. Thats fair, and while my Triform shade isnt enhanced to even 50 yet, ill admit im much happier to risk the knifes edge on him than some people might be. But I know once hes setup as long as i get 3-4 enemies in my eclipse ill be fine and always have fall backs, just have to very very present, cant relax on my WS like I can on other ATs but for that trade off hes a little demi god when it goes right and i love it.

Agreed, while id prefer both, or the enhancement solution, but in terms of priorities? The poor Grav users absolutely should have this.

Generally I agree with you, but as long as the devs feel its necessary to keep the Pool sets down to their current size, which i agree with because if they bumped it up it would establish a precedent, then Its certainly the ideal one to do this with.

I appreciate you grabbing that for me. Seems i mis remembered some of them. However the total estimate i gave were using a worst case scenario. I did this on purpose to give a benefit of a doubt to the issue. And again, I can agree that perhaps the requirements should be lightened, i do not agree however, that LRTP should remain as it is currently.

Someone in the thread for the accolade already did the math, a near worst case scenario is 5 mins per zone unlock, with most being 2 mins or less. There are 27 possible locations if you are a rogue or vigilante, that means a worst case is 2.25 hours of work. For a hero only which is the majority of characters its only 1 hour 10 mins for the worst case. Cut those in half for something more like a realistic estimate. You spend more time doing a single TF of which you need half a dozen for other Accolades. Up to you how you value +5% max hp vs Teleport anywhere. And none of that considers the fact that you likely wont use every single location and thus dont need the,

I'm a fan of both of these solutions. While id still have to sacrifice a power pick in the first one, the utility of having Recall Team, alone would make it worth the price of admission, and the two pet focused portals could make MM's lives much easier. There are alot of ways it could be implemented as well to address any balance concerns. The second option rewards investment in the TP pool as well without necessarily forcing you to pick powers with no combat value. My only concern is the fact that it would break parity with other travel powers by giving you that little extra. I don't think it bad, but I can see it being received poorly.

I believe the devs quite clearly are asking for our feedback on just that decision, which hardly makes it set in stone. And I, and apparently at least some others, disagree that it wasn't really a problem. Its vexed me for as long as I have had my main character. If we are here to give feedback, I'd like our feedback to be clear enough to make a decision on. For you, LRTP's current implementation isn't an issue, for me it is, your primary issue with how its being resolved has to do with the time sink of badge hunting. So again, my point is, why don't we discuss alternative ways the accolade could be set up? If we find a solution that you and others who share your opinion are happy with, then we have a solution that allows those of us who do think LRTP is a problem to have the problem fixed, and those who hold with you, have things similar enough to how they were to not be disturbed by it. I was under the impression that just such a conversation is basically the point of these threads, so we can help the devs with feedback and suggestions that make the game better for all of us.