Puma

If only this had been brought up... by like...several people before it was ever live. And Rudra, damage and activation time are inherently linked, to some degree, in this game. If I offered you a powerset with every attack doing 2000 points of damage, but each attack took 1 full minute to activate, NO one would take it. Likewise if I offered someone a powerset where every attack did 1o points of damage but was instant nobody would take it. Both would be useless. Anyone looking at this post with the desire to really engage understands the issue is that, for the OP, storm cell (and cat 5) takes forever to really fully activate, and so it hurts their damage output overall. Every attack is basically built around storm cell, so if you want to perform "up to par" with most other players and your own experiences with other sets, you end up having to start each fight laying these slow building attacks, but since no one else using an other set on the team does, the mobs die before that activation time even pays off.

Go look at the numbers. This is actually false. It does middle to middle-low damage without the benefits of storm cell.

This is the second, if not the third time in this conversation you've said things about my experience with beta testing and design that are just wrong. Again, your arrogance and disdain for me for posting my dissatisfaction and concerns with the current process are...interesting. If you actually read what I've said in this thread you'll see I have a lot more experience from BOTH sides than your post here says. It's pretty ironic though, that you admit that small group alpha testing is somehow the only place major changes should be made, and then on the other hand say somehow Savage melee (and Sentinels, and others) were different because that was a small group testing back then. And the second part about "open beta not being a negotiation" is PRECISELY why, if you're going to keep this process where alpha is tested on a completely separate server by a small group, and even then the Devs have largely solidified the directions and concepts of new sets, it would be helpful for the Devs, in my opinion, to get feedback before development even begins about those ideas. No one has perfect vision, and right now you have a small group setting things in motion to the point where it's hard to roll them back even if unforeseen issues arise because too few eyes are on it until it's too far down the line. No matter how talented, passionate, and well meaning the Devs are (and they are), they have limitations as well. So if they want to keep open beta as "only seeing if it's good enough to go live" (which should NEVER be the design goal), then they need to frontload some of that feedback and examination by others ahead of development. If not, they should probably adjust the idea of open beta, or, try the other suggestion I made and institute an intermediary spot. Maybe have 1: the alpha discord group (initial testing of the Dev's first draft of concepts by a smaller, trusted group of players), 2: an "open beta" here where it's open to anyone to give feedback on the design choices and usability of what came out of alpha among a larger populace, and then 3: a "Refinement server" that seeks to refine the numbers, big fixes, etc. before it goes live. The last two should be open to the public on Homecoming if you really want enough feedback. Saying "anyone can join the Gold Standard Testers" sounds nice, but it takes too much effort for most to join it in Discord, get approved, get that server going, etc. You're naturally weeding out a lot of players who would otherwise be willing to test. Under the current system, if the "average player" DOES come and test on open beta and post their feedback, they just get attacked by you and others for not being there every step of the process that is mostly closed off to them without a ton of effort. Well...cool I guess.

I disagree. It is EXACTLY about wanting data, or at least should be. PART of that data IS community perception, but also understanding the myriad issues that a cool concept may actually have BEFORE you've become emotionally and productively attached to it to the point it won't change, etc. What would change is the end product, and also a slightly better understanding for the community of the general possible directions of these products and that they don't come, suddenly, handed down from on-high. You would very much be more likely to get products that serve the community better.

I will agree that one of us is full of themselves, but it isn't me. I have never been rude to you, and I haven't been rude to the Devs, even when calling out things I don't like. I have even thanked them for their responses. I don't deserve you being insulting to me, and frankly, showing an attitude of superiority and contempt to the majority of the player base that is not in keeping with City of Heroes's culture. And just a reminder that Savage Melee wasn't released by Paragon. And I can promise you I've participated in testing in multiple phases, on multiple servers. So frankly, either address what I've actually said or take your hyperbolic "by committee of thousands" response to the "role player" forum with the other works of fantasy.

I mean, what are your thoughts on these two posts by Devs, then, and how they played out? The first is the exact kind of thing I'm talking about: here is our vision, now what do you all think about that, good/bad/and ugly? My only change would be to have the thread locked with only a link to a private poll as the way to respond, giving the devs feedback without the ability for others to attack people's thoughts.

Thank you for this response and explanation. I have a few responses, that are in no way meant as contradictions to anything you say, but things to consider for the context of this discussion. Polling: You can very easily use multiple free, simple to use polling applications that would allow for ranked choice voting, ratings, and even leave some blank feedback slots for concerns that can accommodate thousands of responses. These do NOT need to show ANY results of the polling to the people taking them, so no one would have any idea what the results were, how close they were, etc., and the Devs could, with a web browser scan across an easy to read page, examine the results from several different angles. Google Forms takes about 10 minutes to set up and a simple link can be made public that allows anyone to answer it. It's not scientific polling, but it would allow for a fairly useful gauge of interest, etc. If any of the Devs are interested I would be fully open to meeting over Zoom or something and helping show you your options and how to use them. Just food for thought. Feedback: I totally hear you and agree, which is why I try to qualify statements like I did about seismic, etc. I feel that most of the actual feedback in the Storm Blast Focused Feedback thread didn't just use anecdotes, but tried to use numbers, causes, etc. I know I personally even tried rerolling with different secondary sets and archetypes to see if some concerns were specific to my first go round. Most of the people I saw did the same. Maybe we could find a way to try and more forcefully cut down on the meta-posts that were about other posts, not feedback, more strictly. I mean, sometimes posts about the ideas of other posts is also valid feedback, so it's tricky, but I do think there was a lot of good feedback lost in the bickering. On Dev investment: For the record, I do really recognize this and appreciate it. It's actually my primary reason for the push for polling before development really gets going and for clearly explaining timelines to testers. As a creator, I can fully relate to the intellectual commitment and emotional investment you get as you work on a project. When it's out for testing and suddenly someone wants major changes, that can be frustrating and absolutely outside of the vision you've spent hours upon hours on. But...that doesn't mean it's the wrong change. More eyes are usually better. Not more cooks, but more tasters, if you need a bad analogy. Getting some feedback ahead of time, and having a little more time with more people testing where the set still has the ability to be "reshaped" in real ways is probably a good idea for the Devs, too. It takes some of the pressure off of them, and in my experience, has you putting out a product that, if it isn't better, is more comforting because you know it wasn't just your baby being tossed out. It was the best everyone could come up with. And again, I just want to reiterate, I'm not saying that as if you all aren't already trying to have that mindset. As a tester this time, my experience was different than in the past, and frustrating for me, personally, though, so I thought I'd share some ideas for improvement. But seriously, thanks for the lengthy and thoughtful response.

That is NOT what you accused me of saying, though. You accused me of wanting " to emulate thunderspy's "throw everything at the wall and see what sticks" approach" Saying that more people should have input before something is released to help catch problems and refine the design has nothing to do with "throwing everything at the wall." In point of fact, it's the exact opposite. It's making sure only things that really are the most efficient, desired, and polished they can be are tossed at the wall.

Evidence that you're just being dishonest: In that post I say "the Devs have been listening" and making tweaks and changes. I am not "whining about how no one was paying attention to my demands. I In fact, I posted THIS post also, thanking the Devs for the changes they DID make to duration and VFX on Storm Cell. Booper, specifically, was amazing at going back and forth with our concerns to the Devs. We were doing EXACTLY what the Forums said we should be doing, and while you KEEP SAYING that it was brought here pretty much ready to go and we were only supposed to look for bug fixes, we were told by Booper the exact opposite, and also that you really should stop commenting about how annoying our ideas were to you. And I quote: "The set does not come to Brainstorm ready to go. We don't do business that way. We are always looking at the feedback and trying to find ways to improve on the set that keeps balance in a good spot. This is a good place to get fresh eyes on a subject in hopes of identifying concerns that were overlooked during the internal development phase and closed beta phase. For example, a few days ago I pitched an idea to address a concern that I felt had a lot of merit. A 90s cooldown on Storm Cell may be too harsh on a low level character (where enhancement slots and other sources of recharge buffs are very limited). The overwhelming response was a 40s fixed cooldown was not desirable, so I didn't pursue that option. But that is still an example where we are listening to the feedback from both test servers and trying to find solutions to problems that we agree need to be addressed." And lets not pretend you ALSO weren't repeatedly asking for the things you wanted, which were VFX changes.

First off, HI FLEA!!!! Second, I think what you're going to find is that any combo that requires an active secondary becomes a problem. For Storm Cell and Cat 5 to actually work at even close to full potential you have to be amping them up with your main attacks. When you're using your secondary attacks, Storm Cell's procs aren't being triggered. So using secondary powers automatically reduces the damage of your two main primary powers. Plus you have issues with lock out, accuracy, etc, on Storm Cell. It makes the set unenjoyable outside of a few secondaries that allow for more passive play (obviously, in some people's opinion since this is subjective). Storm Secondary essentially covers this up, because once you launch Tornado, Freezing Rain, and Lighting cloud you can just constantly focus on your primary set, so it will perform at its most optimal state (which, as you say, is still just middling). But pair it with an active secondary and suddenly Storm Cell is doing FAR less damage debuffing, and Hurricane is slower to amp up and does less damage. Also, at higher levels, Storm Cell is really going to struggle with harder to hit targets because it's a pseudo-pet with 1.0 accuracy. It can work. And it is a BEAUTIFUL set. I'm going to try out a Storm Blast/Devices Blaster and see if I can get some better results since Devices is a passive secondary for the most part and I can focus on keeping Storm Blast optimized as gun drone and caltrops help boost its damage output. But I don't think a good set should be restricted to just a few secondary sets or penalize you for wanting your secondary to be an active part of your play. Anyway...I'm off topic. This will probably be my last post and I'll just say, I think the Devs should be open to looking at refining the testing process. You can keep deadlines, scope restrictions, etc. That doesn't have to change. But perhaps bring them from Alpha to Beta here earlier, to give more time for a wider set of feedback. Or come up with an Alpha 2.0 here that allows feedback before it gets to Beta for debugging, which still is open to a general pop that can give more feedback. And I really cant stress enough the benefit of actually engaging players before you start big projects and listening to their suggestions and ideas about your vision for that project. You just need to do it non-publicly to avoid the chaos and flame wars some players like to engage in.

I mean, you know people can actually still go read the thread, right? Except, of course, all your posts that the devs deleted and said were the problem. *shrug*

I'm curious: what data do you use for "fun to play." The Focused Feedback thread had several people who said that they really wanted to like it, and loved the animations, but in actual play it was =not= fun because of the flaws. And I don't recall any of them being about pure DPS, so that's a red herring. But seriously...what metric did you use to decide "fun to play"? How many people found the set good to go versus had problems?

This is PRECISELY why asking for player input before you set the goals of a page would be helpful. Some of the issues that come up would have been addressed before you even began. And as I said, a simple Google Form would take 10 minutes to set up and poll people about their feelings and feedback on a concept/direction you're thinking of, and if the results are private, you won't get a single page of bickering or forum fighting. Just something to think about.

Understandable, but in the future, it would be nice to know the deadlines as testers, since some of us are taking time out of our days to purposefully test things with various iterations, datamine, etc. It would be helpful for all of us, AND probably the Devs, if we all knew the deadline we were working for so expectations could be realistic for all sides.

This is hilarious coming from you. You were LITERALLY attacking several of us pointing out the very demonstrable, numericly backed problems this set faced because you said it was fine and wanted it out right away. That's not my take, that's your words. -YOU- were the only one demanding the set be what you want. You literally had your posts deleted for being off topic by attacking others. None of my posts got deleted. And as I posted above, the very first thread on the testing page says that ARE open to changes. If that's not correct, that needs to be changed. Also...I'm hardly a "rando". I've been with this community, in all its forms, probably longer than you have.

Please cite where I every said anything that implies this. Because I most decidedly did not.

Then a: Out of 3 previous sets, only one gets regularly played. That's not a great record (though we have no actual data on this so we can't know for sure) b: IF that's true, then these developers should be taking a page from those ones. This system is serious flawed, for the reasons I pointed out.

A: The polling I'm talking about is about the general public's reception to major ideas: things like Storm Cell and how it could function, for example. Do most players WANT a power that works that way, etc. Polling what the public would like before you personally get invested as the developer is EXACTLY the way to develop new products in an established player base, and I say this as someone whose Masters thesis was, partly, related to MMO design and communication. You don't poll on every detail, but you ask the general public opinions like "If X powerset were made, which design would be most interesting to you- A, B, or C?" "What problems do you forsee with design issue A? B? C?" etc. The results don't even need to be public. The polls can easily be done via Forms to give the DEVS the feedback while making users' comments and ideas not seeable by the playerbase. This would allow Devs to get an idea about the general reception and possible oversights of their vision for a set. Is it really a good one to the general population, etc. This would be BEFORE they put in the work of coding, AND present them with possible problems to avoid ahead of time in their design. You know...problems like designing an entire set around a key power and a tier 9 that require you to focus exclusively on your primary attacks if you want them to do their full damage. Ramping up is a cool idea, but it has a serious design flaw that could have been fixed if they'd have had more people looking earlier on. *shrug* B: Savage Melee was not finished by Paragon Studios. It was tested and finished by people in this community, and went through several major changes as we did. And the set is much better for it. C : If there is a clear deadline where no changes can be made, the testers here should be notified. It's a waste of -our- time having us spend two hours testing out a new combo tonight to see if there really is a problem, or what the solution could be, if they're already launching as is tomorrow morning at 6 AM. And if they don't plan on any changes during beta testing here besides bug fixes, they should make that clear as well. I feel this current system is unintentionally inconsiderate to the player base outside of the alpha test server, and even some of us on that server are here testing it and possibly wasting our time.

This is a major problem then, in my opinion, as someone who has access to both open Alpha and closed beta testing, and it's resulting in sub-par releases.

I think this is correct, but it's also very indicative of the problem. But if you look at the first link on the Beta testing forum, it's this: 2. BE CONSTRUCTIVE. Going on about how the devs are idiots and you have the One True Vision for the game is not helpful; trying to engage with the changes and the reasons given is." That assumed they should be open to changes, but go read the thread for Storm Blast, where multiple alpha testers and others say the set was pretty much set in stone how the devs wanted it before coming here, a dev said that wasn't necessarily true, then multiple users pointed out the same problems with the set (big, set breaking problems, not minor ones) and with no warning it was just published live with no dev feedback. That strongly implies it IS true.

Two things: Audio in cinematics and... Endurance goes away for ever. It's an outdated concept that serves no real purpose. Recharge is all you should be worrying about when it comes to keeping players from using powers too often, and honestly, this is proven by the fact that we now almost ALL use procs to make endurance a non-issue by the mid 30s. It's a holdover from everquest that you don't find outside of MMOs, and many modern MMOs don't have it either.

As someone who tried hard to take part in beta testing Storm Blast, and for brief second having it seem like the Devs were actually listening to concerns of the players, I have to say, this whole system on this server needs an update. I know there's the Alpha testing server first hand. But I also know how small that group is. They're great people, but they're a tiny fraction of players. So when a new powerset gets to Beta here, and is largely "done" without some minor tweaks, it's really frustrating. Frankly, with the problems identified with Storm Blast and having it pushed out the door like it was with no real warning, it makes me feel like there's no real point in beta testing. The decisions have been made by the gods of this server, praise be their name. I would REALLY prefer it if, for future powersets, you change your approach. Frankly, if the next set you're planning on doing was, say, Wind Control, I'd REALLY like it if you actually took your idea, polled the players on their thoughts of the direction before development, and after development, brought it to Beta here WITHOUT a firm commitment to have it launch "soon" and have the concept locked down in stone. There were some real problems identified with the design of Storm Cell and Cat 5, and some good solutions posed. There were so many posts by a couple of other players attacking people for daring to point out those problems on a set "so close to done" that deletions had to occur, then a few minor tweaks to numbers and animations that don't address those concerns brought up, and then no warning that it was about to go live so further testing and brainstorming solutions was a waste of OUR time. This is NOT the way things used to be. I remember when Savage Melee was being tested and the Devs really listened, tweaked, and fixed what a lot of the problems with the set's design. It didn't become a tier 1 set, but it became better. And they took their time and listened. The approach I saw here with Storm Blast is also a different approach from what I see of the writing and contact development here too, where feedback seems to be listened to much better. Well, this time, I don't know what the rush is, but I feel like I just wasted a week of my free time testing something for no real reason. Cool. You could have had one of the most beautiful sets in a long time be actually playable. Now, it's a slog fest that is a chore to play at LEAST until the 30s, and then once you hit the high levels really struggles by its design against the kinds of enemies you face. But hey...it's out, so I guess it doesn't matter. But I'm disappointed and annoyed at how this whole thing was handled.

Removing the lockouts would help, but it doesn't alter the "tax" this set imposes on the use of your secondary powers, which no other set in the game has. The fact that the set is relatively weak without Storm Cell and Cat 5 at full strength only makes that tax heavier. Lemme show you a comparison between this set and Ice Blast: Side by Side comparison Power (Ice) Cast time DMG Power (Storm) Cast Time DMG Ice Bolt 1 sec 62.56 Gust 1.17 75.07 (DoT) Ice Blast 1.67 102.6 Hail Stones 1.67 102.60 (DoT) Frost Breath 2.67 87.59 (DoT) Jet Stream 1.67 50.05 Aim --- --- Storm Cell 2.03 Dependent on cont. attacks from primary Freeze Ray 1.0 137.64 Intensify ---- ----- Ice Storm 2.03 116.78 (DoT) Direct Strike (snipe) 3.33 281.53 Bitter Ice Blast 1.07 142.64 Chain Lightning 1.17 76.45 (DoT) Bitter Freeze Ray 172.67 2.5 Cloud Burst 1.67 142.33 Blizzard 2.03 417.8 (DoT) Category 5 2.5 316.98 (Dependent on cont. attacks from primary) As you can see above, Storm Cell has a lot less direct damage potential, especially in regard to hard hitting attacks, outside of Storm Cell and Cat 5. It does include the snipe, but otherwise, it only has -ONE- other attack that does over 110 points of damage, and only has two other "AoE" powers (Chain Lightning and Jet Stream), both of which aren't big damage numbers themselves outside of the storm cell. That really means you need to up the damage of Storm Cell and keep it up and get Cat 5 amped up as quick as possible. Which makes using your secondary powers a detriment. So lets look at that in real world action against an AV or Pylon, etc. We'll go with Dark Manip Secondary. With Ice Blast, I can toss Ice Storm And Blizzard which immediately start dealing their full damage potential and debuffs, and then cycle through Freeze Ray (137), Bitter Ice Blast (142), Bitter Freeze Ray (172.67) and then throw in Midnight Grasp (180) . When necessary for end or damage boost, I could use Soul Drain and Dark Consumption. In cycles where I'm not using Soul Drain or Dark Consumption, I'd do a total of 631.67 dmg per cycle OUTSIDE of my AoEs with no penalty to their total damage/debuff output. And honestly, the SMART attack chain would be to START with Soul Drain because then ALL of those attacks are doing a TON more damage in the fight. With Storm Blast, I can toss Storm Cell and Cat 5, which don't start doing thier real damage until I start attacking with primaries. So I start...But I really only have three attacks over 100 dmg points to cycle through: Direct Strike (180 since it would be fast cast), Cloud Burst (142.33), and Hail Stones (102). I cycle through those but then if I add in Midnight Grasp (180) that weakens my Storm Cell since it doesn't trigger the additional attacks. And I assume three primary attacks are enough to full ramp up Cat 5? I dont quite know how to tell. Oh, and lets not forget that if I'm fighting an AV, there's a lock out between attacks from the cell anyway, so while Ice Storm continues to pelt away at him, Storm Cell and Cat 5 may not. Now, If I start with Soul Drain after I drop the Storm Cell to boost the damage of the rest of my attacks up front, my storm cell isn't doing anything, and Cat 5 isn't amping up either. So I probably won't do that, because I'd be aggroing the whole mob then stand there for 5 seconds dropping Storm Cell and Cat 5 with no real damage going on. So I take Soul Drain out of the equation till later in the fight, at which point it is, again, seconds where I'm not getting the full benefit of Storm Cell as I use it. So in this method I have somewhere around 30-40 less pts of dmg per cycle, but also less AoE damage going because unlike Ice storm and Hurricane, my AoEs require me boosting them with my other attacks, and I'm taking time out of that to use the heaviest hitter I have from my secondary since my primary really only has 2. I suppose, theoretically, you could use the secondary powers during the "lock outs" where those powers cant hit the AV, but it's impossible to tell when that is or plan for that since the powers are, by design, "chance of" anyway. The point is, the set is already mild WITHOUT Storm Cell and Cat 5 being full strength, so if you go into your secondary for anything it feels like it just makes you weaker. And based on my experience, while this is OK against normal mobs and the visuals and chaos are fun, against harder targets like AVS it really suffers. This is why I REALLY think the primary attacks boosts to Storm Cell need to "linger" even after the attack, giving you a chance to do other things without feeling like it's wasting potential there. I really think an "Intensified" effect like "bloom" would help, and get rid of the lockout. Now...there are some archetypes (Sentinels) and some secondary sets (Storm) that can make up for this but doing their thing on their own and freeing you up to totally focus on boosting Storm Cell and Cat 5, but I don't think we want a powerset that really locks you into a very limited set of options to perform as well as most other sets can generally, do we?

Ok, so I rerolled, thinking maybe my concerns with end and complexity were due to being a Corruptor with a secondary that really didn't offer any passive buffs. I decided to try Storm Blast/Energy Manip Blaster, because I thought it had the best ways to mitigate my concerns with the set from previous testing: it offered excellent endurance cost reduction, allowed for an AoE Stun that would help with the Cat 5 mitigation issue, and even allowed for Boost Range so I could stay far away from Storm Cell and Cat 5 and blast from a distance where it should lower incoming damage. I levelled it up to level 50, fully slotted with sets that I would usually slot with, used Mace Master patron pool for the added defense which would pair well with power boost, and had alpha slotted to tier 4 so I was actually 50 (+1) and ran the first Maria Jenkins mission at +2x4, which is a very normal for even a mid tier build at that level. The end cost of Storm cell WAS better. It didn't bother me much at all at that level. So that's good. And I was able to clear through the mobs rather easily by starting off dropping Storm Cell, then using boost range +power boost and stun to stun the mobs, then dropping Cat 5 and attacking with storm cell attacks. It wasn't "fast" but it worked, and relatively safely. Slower and more difficult than most blaster primaries, where you quickly nova and then clean up the stragglers and hard hitters, but it was working and I could see me doing it on a character on live. When it came to the AV, I faceplanted twice. I never got him below about 80% HP. But it's an AV, and I wasn't as experienced with this set as normal, so maybe I just needed to slow down, right? So...I lowered the difficulty to +1x4, so even con with me. And I still faceplanted twice. I really couldn't handle the AV. The problem I kept finding was the same as before: there is a DEFINITE tax on Storm Cell AND Cat 5, and it goes beyond the Endurance cost which is the problem at low levels. There is also a tax on the use of your secondary powers. Storm Cell and Cat 5 require you to keep spamming your primary attacks for them to really do damage, which you need desperately against higher level enemies since none of the single target attacks are actually very powerful. They look AWESOME, but they're almost all DoT and not really heavy hitters. Every time I went to use a secondary power like Stun or Total Focus, I felt like I was losing damage because then Storm Cell wasn't doing anything but minor debuffing. "But how is that different than ANY powerset" you ask? Easy. If this were a normal AoE, I'd fire and it would do its full damage, regardless of what I do next. If I fire off Explosive Blast it does its full damage even if I switch to Ice Sword afterward, and then drop an Ice patch. If I drop Rain of Fire, it does its full damage even if my next attack is The Lotus Drops. With this set, if I take time to fire off a secondary attack, then Storm Cell's total damage output is lowered. It makes using secondary powers of ANY kind cost more than just their end cost. They cost damage loss from the AoE attack in your primary. And if you have Cat 5 going too, it's even worse. That's a problem. A big one, for me at least. Defenders, who struggle to do damage as it is, now have a primary that does even less damage if they stop to heal someone or buff them etc. :My final thoughts: as of now, anyway, are that the set's design is really cool, but really flawed. If it was either cat 5 OR storm cell that had the weird mechanic tied to the other attacks it might be bearable; but with BOTH of them requiring your other attacks for THEM to really function to their potential, it makes the set more difficult to utilize fully and makes your secondary powers feel like a burden to use that costs you. Right now, I'd skip this set on live for anything other than a role player toon, or maybe a sentinel that has a secondary armor set that doesn't require any active power use. Changes I suggest are needed: 1. Storm Cell REALLY needs to be different in how it functions. If you really want to have it tied to your other attacks, have an attack in storm cell work sort of like "bloom" in Nature. Each attack in the cell creates a stack of Intensity that lasts for 5 seconds, which triggers the storm to start attacking. Each stack increases the storm's attack rate, accuracy, and debuff power. The more stacks you have the higher the damage/debuff of the storm. Have it cap at 4 stacks of "intensity" which gives maximum attack rate and debuff, and I'd suggest making that maximum be about 10-20% higher than current levels would be if you spammed attacks. Then have Intensify version of AIM grant the normal To Hit and Damage bonus, and 4 stacks of Intensity to the player. This way you still can lay the storm without aggro until you start attacking, but once you start, you can still throw in secondary powers as you fight without the storm then becoming useless while you do. This would also allow lower levels to use things like blue insps, or end boost powers, etc. while the storm keeps attacking so you aren't feeling like you've left some of the damage on the table or let mobs get away while you do. You can pace your attacks better without feeling like Storm Cell is weakening instantly. 2. Some of the single target attacks need to hit harder, and it needs fewer DoTs. There is no way to take down an AV with this set right now, which is crazy to me on a blaster. When you have a lock out on the attacks from Storm Cell and rest of your attacks attacks aren't hard hitters, the AVs can just regen faster than you can dish out damage unless you're using powers your secondary which deal more damage, only as discussed above, that means storm cell isn't doing any damage while you do so, so you basically end up with NO heavy hitters in your primary against these kinds of targets. I think if you did these two things, it would probably be OK. Right now, for me, it really just isn't fun...and damn do I want it to be, because I love the visuals and concept. I'm sorry, I'm sure this is frustrating to hear this this close to launch, but it's my experience, and I've tried it now on several combinations and multiple archetypes and keep coming back to the same problems.

That worked, thanks. I just went ahead and made a macro for it.