arcane

I’m sorry but I can’t see this as anything but hyperbole with what I currently know.

I don’t think that’s necessarily true, no. Both have their pros and cons and I would only consider it a no brainer if you’re in a “worship LotG’s above all” mindset that may or may not be optimal depending on the circumstances. IMO Rune of Protection was barely touched as far as my uses for it go. It’s still on the same timer as either a break free or panic button or alpha absorber. If you were using it for overall mez protection uptime, please reference SwitchFade’s posts.

I don't really even agree that many of the other power pools are necessarily underperforming. I think the average player - or at least the average forum PvP'er - is just plainly addicted to maximal defense and recharge. The only frustration I actually personally observe about useful pools like Medicine, Teleportation, Sorcery, etc. is that I have to weigh them against LotG's and defense toggles. There's nothing really wrong with a lot of those pools beyond what they are not. But then when I finally dare to make a build that isn't loaded up on defense and all 5 LotG's, frankly my character doesn't suffer at all as long as I play carefully and tactically as opposed to just charging right into the middle of every mob like every single character is a tank. Anyway, due to my desire to break away now and then and try some variety, I've just this week dared to make an alt with a pitiful ~25% ranged defense, ~15% melee/AoE defense, and only 2 LotG's - all in exchange for a number of other goodies like Mystic Flight, Rune of Protection, Aid Self, Field Medic, 6-procced powers, etc.. I'll let you know if I think the character is irredeemable at +4x8 or iTrials, but don't hold your breath, because I'm not actually worried in the slightest.

Yeah that’s definitely not a good faith, mature, or empathetic way to turn this otherwise reasonable discussion.

Flight is certainly not a negligible function. It’s kind of massive amounts of damage mitigation sometimes...

On the contrary, I find Sorcery to be one of the few pools where you can pick three powers without any big time duds. Spirit Ward is a really good buff AND is a perfect Preventive Medicine mule if you have no interest in buffing. And ofc Mystic Flight is hardly bad. I’ve even heard Enflame can get proccy but I wish I only needed Mystic Flight to try it so I don’t have to invest in four powers.

In summary of yesterday I oppose this on three fronts and probably/maybe in this order: 1) do not like the sandbox design philosophy that values infinite choices over elegant design 2) power creep 3) the way this change is being pushed as a means to ensure that players never have to consider the uncomfortable choice of skipping supposedly mandatory powers

I started writing a response at one point explaining how one of my characters could get extra power picks at no meaningful cost due to this change making a wider array of LotG mules available with fewer power slots invested, but I figured he'd just reject that as so minimal that it can't constitute power creep. Kinda done here.

I wonder how such requests could go unaddressed for so many years if there are zero legitimate reasons not to give you what you want as you continue to claim every time we try to argue. Could it be that someone in the devs team disagrees with you too? I guess we'll see. Maybe the devs will see this thread and it'll be in the next beta patch.

Just want to point this out for Incursion. Perhaps consider playing on a server that already has that "anything goes" philosophy you're dying for instead of trying to force that same philosophy down our throats too. At least that way there's a place for everyone. Just food for thought.

Right, there are plenty of powersets and combos where the required investment in primary/secondary is low enough that a fifth, maybe sixth pool would just be a total no brainer and blanket buff. If there weren’t, Bill with his min/max style wouldn’t be interested in suggesting this. The one I’m currently agonizing over couldn’t fit it all, but only because I’m insisting on an unusually high number of primary/secondary choices on that one (a non-power gamer move as that many click powers isn’t optimal).

Not really but you really need to know that the straw man off topic points aren’t exactly convincing.

I am literally agonizing right now over a new alt that is weighing fun/variety options of sorcery/medicine versus defense/LotG options of fighting/leadership. But frankly I prefer to agonize than to just insist the devs bulldoze all my problems away.

Some people think games and their challenges are actually made better by hard choices, not worse.

It’s overtuned for a pool power but inferior to tactics strictly as a form of mez protection. Apples and oranges - he wasn’t saying they were simultaneously overtuned and inferior in the same capacity. Also just wanna +1 to the guy who said he uses this power more for damage resistance anyway.

Your language is strange. No one is disallowing you from taking Provoke under the current system but you.

Reasonable compromise if we really have to give ground on this one IMO.

I think the dominator secondaries offer a much better opportunity for this than blaster secondaries. Blaster secondaries are too different from one another. You’ve got sets like Devices with only one direct single target damage power and then others with three or four. So they wouldn’t be very balanced as primary sources of damage.

Perfect, thanks 🙂

“It will allow people to experiment” - as long as these same users are referring to certain pools as mandatory, I am not convinced they are trying to experiment at all. The avenue for experimentation is already right there under your nose. You want to try another pool? Easy. Drop one. Done. ”Encourages diversity” - validating the concept of mandatory pool choices is antithetical to build diversity. I will also add that I think, in general terms, tearing down a norm that has been with the game since day one should require a high burden of proof from those arguing in favor of change.

Clarifying question most likely already addressed somewhere in this very long thread...: the moving of Afterburner to a pop up tray power... the concealment changes... are we losing an LotG slot anywhere here or do those pools still hold the same number of LotG slottable powers?

Sorry man, there’s diversity in some ways and not in others, but I’m not seeing a change that further validates a practice of taking the same five powers on every single alt as a net positive. I’m likely outvoted though so hey no worries.

No, I wouldn’t. IMO this will decrease build diversity by removing one of the only incentives in the game to consider skipping hasten/CJ/fighting/leadership.

This post describes you limiting your own build diversity, not the game doing it. I don’t have a single power that is constant across all of my characters because I value variety and recognize that will require some sacrifices.

Yeah that was going to be very cool, agreed.