Maxzero

Short question: why is this still here? Longer question: MM henchmen are the only power that has certain aspects of it get weaker as the character gains levels. It can't be for balance reasons since in Incarnate content and Dark Astoria the level penalties are removed entirely. Leveling speed seems fairly irrelevant but even in this case MM would hardly be flying even with the removal of penalties. So can we just get this counter intuitive and needless mechanic removed?

It's fine at low levels sure but I find it lacks come endgame. If you have nothing else to fill your ST attack chain fine but for me it's usually one of the first cut.

Hold does not work on Boss or higher (without stacking) which is what you most want to CC. 2ft sleep? Come on man be realistic. Illusion is designed around not having Containment.

Ironically Spectral Wounds is at its worst in Illusion. It's fighting with Blind over the Ragnarok proc and Illusion does not have the Containment to take advantage of the high base damage. It would be top notch in Earth Control.

That's my point though, it is a low priority power that is easy to replace.

Making a proc bomb out of your single target hold is pretty much standard for any serious endgame Troller build due to the lack of good ST attacks for Trollers. Blind is one of the better ones for this since it's animation time is on the faster end plus it's cooldown is 1 second longer the normal ST holds giving it better proc rates. My Blind for example does 400 damage an activation. That's not counting buffs, any random Containments or -res on target. Recharge bonus are not really too hard to get especially if you have access to some KB attacks for FF +recharge to supplement it. Its why Marine goes so well with Illusion. You would far better off making Blind the damage and Spectral Wounds the set mule if you take it.

Sure it is. Blind is the primary damage often running 6 procs. BU proc in PA. Knockback damage proc in Phantasm. You can even proc up Spectral Terror but you usually use sets. Without reliable Containment base damage for Illusion Trollers is a much lower priority.

Yeah but we all know Trollers are all about procs. Spectral Wounds has only 2 procs available and 1 of them is highly contested and unique. Weaken Resolve also does -7.5% resist which benefits all your damage in addition if you need a Ach Heel deliver (90% proc chance) that's another -20 all res and that's game.

You would be right. Spectral Wounds it a very weak attack except as a set mule. It has poor proc options, does not get full Containment damage not to mention the heal back. Weaken Resolve with 3x damage procs and a -res proc is fine and it helps the rest of your powers do much more damage.

Think its missing a few things. According to its description its supposed to increase the damage you do on the targets, reduce the damage they do and if an enemy falls both effects are increased.

Just a quick look over the numbers honestly it seems extremely strong. AoE Res, Def, Rec, Regen, Range(!?), Max HP/end, Recharge, Dam and Hit buffs. Lots of -res and -damage debuffs and even some -Max HP. Will be extremely good versus purple triangles. It looks to be on the same power level as Dark Affinity (IMO the best support set in the game). Is Shifting Tides bonus affect limited to players team or anyone who attacks it? Pets? In raids does it stack from multiple casters?

I would say the only MM build that could compete with time would be a Demons/Cold with Burnout to double stack Sleet and Heatloss -res. There is still an old video of a speed run build doing a 7 second pylon but thats with Lore pet/Consumables, etc. Though the Pylon did die before they finished the the initial -res rotation.

Darkness Affinity basically works with everything since it does just about single support function you could want: Healing, regen, endurance, Def/res buffs, -res/-dam/-hit/-recharge/-regen debuffs and gets a great pet too.

Dom's issue was never output. They can hard AoE CC packs of enemies instantly and do very respectable damage. The main issue was surviving the damage coming back.

The range of attack sets generally is fairly narrow. I mean you have often have very similar power setups (weak attack, less weak attack, AoE, Build Up, etc) and often just one or two powers that really set them apart. Its when you get into the really broad power sets (Buff, MM pets, etc) that numbers can really vary.

It's true Dom's have always had issues taking s hit rather the dishing them out at least PA won't die.

If you are really getting into Burnout abuse Dark Mastery may be an option to double stack Tar Patch. For regular gameplay I think Soul and Leviathan are pretty solid. Good attacks, good armour power, Probably like Soul more since the AoE, res shield and pet are better. Illusion is one of the best primaries if you are fighting a lvl 54 AV that hits back.

Pets inherit Envenomed Blades eh? Learn something new everyday. Would Creepers also inherit if you summoned it while Blades were active? I have thought for a while that the Dom's version of Illusion is better then the Controller one. I still see the melee Phantasm bug is still there.

The thing is with later buff sets this 'can't buff self' was done away with and its probably made the 3 strongest/popular support sets overall in Time, Dark (esp Affinity) and Nature. I have heard everything from: "Its always been this way!" "Play something else!" "It will be OP!" Only the 3rd of which is concrete enough to generate possible responses. The other two basically being variants of: "I don't want Empathy to be able to solo because I just don't." For some reason Empathy being able to solo terrfies some players. Like all the healbots in teams will suddenly vanish to play solo challenge content. I must admit I was surprised but how some posters seem to take personal offence to just the idea of Empathy being able to self buff like the idea of a Emp Defender casting Fortitude on themselves makes them wake up in cold sweats.

So /Kins can now Speedboost and ID themselves when those abilities were made AoE?

I don't think the current information is sufficient. If we are going to make 2 tiers of support sets I think the limitations should be made clearer. Since you said you a fine with that this conversation should be over.

Its a bit rude to reply to a post and only respond to one point. It looks like thats the only point you are comfortable responding too. Especially when its not even the main issue. Whats the issue with just a warning saying this power selection is 'team focused and poorer in non team activites?' Its better then someone creating a character and finding out later on. Its not like it will take a lot of effort to implement. The new player experience being a focus and all at the moment.

You act like buffing themselves is a mistake, that it is the wrong way to play. Who decides that? You may say the developers. So does that mean if it is changed to become self targetable you would agree that its now the right way to play? >Then people complain that they're being punished for teaming because it locks them out of self-buffing. As opposed to being locked out because you 'picked wrong' on the character select screen? I glad you agree with the warning because if you are going to create two tiers of supports sets then players should be fully informed before they make their selection.

How does it protect Empathy players to be not able to buff themselves? The thing is some support sets don't need the disclaimer. Its just some supports have just been labeled "have never soloed and never will be able to!" How does it improve the gameplay experience for Empathy players to be very poor at soloing?

Yet to answer my question: Why does Empathy have to be bad at soloing? How does that improve the gameplay experience especially for the Empathy player?