Puma

April 8, 2021

2 hours ago, Blackbird71 said:

I'd argue that the unpredictability of the boost effect makes it significantly less powerful than you're giving it credit for. If it's being used in an attack chain, and the effect doesn't go off, now you're stuck either 1) effectively using it as another T1 attack, or 2) pausing your attack until another power comes off cooldown to jump start the chain and try to get AB's effect to trigger again.

"Surprising" isn't fun; it's annoying. I like my powers to be reliable. This iteration of Arcane Bolt is not, and as such, I'll be passing it over. Honestly, there's nothing about the Sorcery pool revamps that make me excited for the pool. I solo too much for Spirit Ward, Enflame seems like a pain with the terror effect, taking Fly over Mystic Flight at least puts me in the same pool as Hover for some combat defense, and RoP, well, I hardly found it worth it before the nerf. It's a shame because thematically I have characters that I'd like to use the pool on, but the set still offers too little benefit over other options.

I'm one 100% with this. I do think that the power could use a buff, and I'm OK with a situational buff, but for me to enjoy it it needs to be a PREDICTABLE situational buff.
I'm going to give my suggestions for Sorcery changes and then go into a request/thoughts about communication briefly before suggesting it gets opened in a separate thread by Jimmy.

Arcane bolt: Keep the Arcane Power boost, but "create" arcane power differently, in a more predictable way-
Arcane power is built up -when you cast arcane spells on someone else-.   If a player has arcane power, arcane bolt will fire instant cast and double damage, or regular cast/double damage. Firing Arcane Bolt places the "arcane power" effect on the caster if the caster does not already have the affect on them. Mystic Ward and Enflame will grant the arcane power effect on the caster after a 20 second delay and every 20 seconds thereafter. Arcane Power will not stack, and using arcane Bolt with Arcane power will leave you unable to gain arcane power for 10 seconds.
Mystic Flight and RoP will not grant the arcane effect because you are not affecting other with your spells.

This way, Arcane Bolt's damage is predictable but also gated. To get the greater damage you have to build up that chance, but how you build it can be planned around to make it a less annoying, random part of your playstyle. You know that to get the "superior" Arcane Bolt you'll either have to rely on the normal attack then wait for it to recharge before firing the better one, or you know that it will only happen once every 20 seconds from the toggles, and work it into your chain with that timing in mind.

Mystic Flight/Translocation: I like the proposed change and am fine.

Spirit Ward: I would be OK with this if the end cost were seriously reduced. The last thing most characters need is an end toggle this heavy for an absorb shield for someone else. It's simply far too costly, imo. Right now I take Spirit Ward for placing on pets and my vet buff put, and to slot the absorb proc. If this goes live as is I'll probably respec out and just place the absorb proc somewhere else.

Enflame: Same issue. The end cost is insane, and the running from the patches is the real problem with this power. Would it be AT ALL possible to change it from a toggle patch power to a toggle fire aura power? Even if you wanted to keep the animation the same, make it so the enemy isn't running from a patch on the ground. If not, and it must stay a patch instead of placing a fire damage aura, then definitely still reduce the end cost. This power is best used in long fights on bosses. That is EXACTLY when you dont want to run any more end heavy toggles than you need to because you're already spending so much end on the long fight.

RoP: Keep the 90 second up/600 second recharge, lower the mez protection and resistance by 1/3, and allow it to be affected by recharge. I'd rather have to deal with a weakened version that can be useful for often than a stronger one that isn't as reliable. Again, like RoP, I dont need more to micromanage.

As for communication:

You said that you see this as "collaboration". I appreciate that, and I hope that's true. But "collaboration" to me is not "This power is bad and we're going to fix it so here is what we're thinking, what do you think" in my mind, when I don't even think the power is bad to begin with. I'm about to be hyperbolic but that's a bit like someone trying to steal your car saying that they see it as collaboration because they're letting you decide if they should smash in the windows or break the door handle. That may not be how you see or meant this thread (and other) about changes recently, but it's how it -feels-, at least to me, sometimes. It's even more frustrating when myself and others who have similar desires as myself get attacked in -every single thread- when we share our concerns about what we see as nerfs and rebalancing by people who never seem to question any decisions being made. I mean, it's fine if they agree with the changes, but we do get attacked. We get dismissed and even get told to "go play elsewhere" or that we've been abusing the game, etc. That doesn't feel like collaboration either. That feels like a cartel trying to tell anyone rocking the boat to shut up.

It's even more disappointing since, in the very beginnings of this server, the Devs did seem interested in what players actually thought and wanted to pursue, asking -ahead- of trying to pursue them. So it's disappointing when now, it seems the devs are just doing their own things and they'll let us chime in after they've made a decision on what to focus on, what's important, where energy should be spent, what's happening in the next patch, etc. That doesn't feel like collaboration, either. So I'm going to make a suggestion : open up a thread specifically to talk about the -process- of alpha and beta testing. Let's hammer out there what we'd all like to see as the process, both from the viewpoint of the Devs AND the players/testers. You might get some good ideas from it for going forward. And periodically revisit that thread to see if the process needs amending. I think that, alone, would go along way to easing some concerns myself and others have. And i would suggest annual checks with the player base on feelings about the direction things have been heading and should head in the future, before we're even close to alpha testing.

That's my 2 cents. This is my last post until I get some more time to try the newest patch for more specific feedback.

April 8, 2021

13 hours ago, Arbegla said:

A controller with softcapped Def is still vulnerable to -defense attacks, and cascading failures. They have zero DDR, and No way to get it. So, while its a durable build, its not pure immunity, and there is HUGE holes within the build that cause significant issues.

While you are right that you can not perma RoP itself, you can perma the mez protection, but chaining RoP with Clarion, and/or the Melee Judgement will give you permanent Mez Protection, available to literally every single AT in the game. And that is what makes it really that simple.

_then later_

Multiple Mind Control powers have no positional tag, and Psi Defense is hard to come by (even when you softcap, most ATs can only get Ranged, or just Ranged/Melee/AoE, and don't have Psi also covered) Those also have mez (sleeps, holds, etc) so there's your hole in your defense. Go fight some Carnies with just Ranged softcapped, lemme know how well you do when you get chain held through your defense.

Defense is limited by the combat equation. And cascading failure happens a lot. Literally every single enemy group has -defense. Higher ranking enemies have Accurary boosts, which makes their 'tohit' floor higher then 5%. Also, there are plenty of autohit attacks, which defense does nothing to stop.

They aren't changing anything with the resistance aspect, they are actually making the resistance more useful, as it will benefit you when you use RoP while under Mez (it currently doesn't do that) so what exactly is the problem?

So I'm confused. You've said that the game is now so easy that you personally have seen many people leave because of it.

Did they ALL have RoP somehow magically able to fill 100% of the gap between clarion and melee hybrid so they would never be mezzed and could withstand the brutal onslaught of carnies, Malta, and rikti? Something that is, mathematically, impossible even with live's version of RoP? Is the game so hard that even with def cap on a toon that literally mezzes every mob they come against you STILL end up dying easily, or is it so easy if you have RoP that it becomes boring and you quit?

Also...if RoP is the key to the game becoming OP why do the VAST majority of players (ESPECIALLY blasters and defenders) build for defense and not just take RoP and suddenly become gods?

April 8, 2021

2 hours ago, DreadShinobi said:

RoP is a mid-late 20s, get it by 30 before your t9s open up power pick. Most powersets fill all their power slots up to 20 with primary/secondary choices, a slot for Hasten, a leadership toggle, combat jumping and/or super speed (which is also +stealth).

Clarion is perma mez protection.

Clarion affects your entire league.

RoP only affects yourself.

RoP with a very high recharge IO build (which the game is not supposed to be being balanced around IOs) pre adjustment is 60% uptime. Not Perma.

A SO build provides ~35% RoP uptime.

Clarion does not require precious power slot choices, pool power selections and lockouts from other pools, and can also be swapped out between other destiny choices at will based on the type of content you are running.

So yeah I'd say if you compare RoP directly to Clarion it makes sense that RoP would be something available to your character sooner than Clarion.

Exactly. RoP is only "overpowered", at least from what I've gathered through both threads, in that high recharge builds could make it permanent -when stacking with other powers-. So while available at level 20, you can't even come CLOSE to getting that until you've fully IOed a character and unlocked incarnate +recharge powers.

So it's a completely invalid comparison. An SO or even set IOed RoP isn't going to "negate large portions of the game" for the player that has it at anything below level 50.

April 8, 2021

1 hour ago, Arbegla said:

The big thing is RoP is available to EVERYONE. and Indom Will is only available to Controllers, and only if they take Psi Mastery (and the other Epic Power Pools are powerful enough to make that an actual choice, not a must have.)

Aren't controllers "squishies"? Or is it ONLY blasters that should have no option whatsoever to get real, reliable mez protection?

Also...if "you have to choose to take psi" matters, then "you have to choose to take Sorcery" matters.

April 7, 2021

8 minutes ago, ForeverLaxx said:

Hyperbole to make a point. A "tray of breakfrees" is exactly the so-called "problem" the devs and apologists want to pretend exists because of Rune of Protection. If being "immune to mez" is such a problem, then having innumerable breakfrees on hand thanks to the email system and how much of a pittance they are from vendors should be looked at, too. As it stands, RoP is only "good" if you have 2 other powers and an Incarnate to cycle with it, sacrificing other options and still be weaker in the the context of the game's combat design than the standard Defense Cap Chase.

Hell...we can now right click and "auto create" breakfrees from any three other insps in our tray. They literally made it EASIER to counter mezz via breakfrees than via using powers like RoP.

This whole line of logic is...flawed.

April 7, 2021

35 minutes ago, Arbegla said:

At the end of the day, the bulk of the 'Nerfs' have been to powers or powersets that weren't given the time of day to be properly tested and vetted on live. Crashless Nukes, Sorcery, Bio Armor, etc were all things that were NOT available during live. So I'm sorry that the current Devs have to go back and rebalance things that simply weren't balanced to begin with. This happens with any game, in any era, in any genre. For all intents and purposes, those powers and powersets were released to the 'wild' as Beta powers and powersets. Untested, Unvetted, and subject to change.

Pssst. Secret: These devs aren't infallible. Their view of how the game should work isn't "the right" view. They don't even all agree on it, or at least haven't always, specifically this group. And that's not a bad thing, btw. It's very GOOD that we have a community contribute to development instead of one hand ruling by dictate.

And they asked for feedback. They don't HAVE to go back and rebalance things if they don't want to. In point of fact, the very things you claim were released as "beta" powers (which is false, btw. They've been adapted and used for years before HC came in to being) have been used for years and ARE being used right now and the game is playing just fine. Have you heard of anyone leaving because RoP was just too powerful? Anyone you quit the server because blasters had just become so dang powerful post-shut down?

No? Me either.

And yet here we are making "balances" that ARE driving away people, including people who have been helping this server and its development since at LEAST its beginning, if not before.

If that's balance...OK. I guess I just don't understand the scale they're using to measure that balance, because to me, it's doing far more harm than good.

April 7, 2021

5 minutes ago, Arbegla said:

You're still ignoring the 5% tohit chance that softcapped defense leaves open vs the absolute immunity that Mez Protection provides.

You're ignoring that a single -recharge affect from a single enemy ends your Mez Protection 100% immunity. And also you're ignoring how much MORE helpeful and effective defense is to mez. Every single conflict in the game has damage coming at you that defense protects you against. Much much fewer of them have mez coming at you.

In point of fact, that's why I actually see RoP as mostly a res boost on the characters I have it, not a mez boost. I don't usually select it for mez. I want the added resistance. But that's beside the point.

April 7, 2021

11 minutes ago, Arbegla said:

A controller with softcapped Def is still vulnerable to -defense attacks, and cascading failures. They have zero DDR, and No way to get it. So, while its a durable build, its not pure immunity, and there is HUGE holes within the build that cause significant issues.

While you are right that you can not perma RoP itself, you can perma the mez protection, but chaining RoP with Clarion, and/or the Melee Judgement will give you permanent Mez Protection, available to literally every single AT in the game. And that is what makes it really that simple.

Wait...if we're adding in incarnate powers then you have to add in Ageless and Barrier to your "limitations" to the controller example.

So no...it's really not that simple.

Yes. A person who
A: Takes the sorcery pool and sacrifices at least three powers choices to get RoP
B: Takes other powers that add to their recharge
C.: Takes enough defense powers to slot 5 LoTGs for recharge boosts
D.: works the rest of their IO sets to add recharge
E: Unlocks all incarnate powers and slots two very specific ones
COULD THEORETICALLY work it so they're permanently at the mez protection cap with enough micromanaging. But...honestly...between Clarion and melee hybrid you'd be there anyway for 95% or more of the game.

But anyway, meanwhile a controller who
A: Takes pool powers that grant defense (like Combat Jumping, Maneuvers, and weave)
B: Takes other powers that add to their defense
C.: Takes powers that allow set bonuses for defense
D.: takes a defense based APP/PP
E: Unlocks all incarnate powers and slots two very specific ones like Barrier or Melee or Support hybrids
Could THEORETICALLY work it so they're permanently at the defense cap even when facing enemies who debuff defense with some micromanaging.

And you know what? Both deserve it. Because the person worked their butt off and made sacrifices to get there to shore up their weaknesses, and there will always be SOME enemies where it won't matter because their attacks are unresistable anyway.

April 7, 2021

11 minutes ago, Arbegla said:

Call me crazy, but I'm really beginning to think that out of the 5% of people who actually took Sorcery (for therefore RoP) 100% of them maxed out recharge to get near immunity to Mez Protection, via RoP and chaining other powers together. Completely negating an entire aspect of the game that they should have had to worry about.

Which, was never the intention of how RoP should have been used. If your character doesn't have inherent Mez Protection, even from an Epic Power Pool, it shouldn't be able to get it via an Origin Power Pool that everyone can access. Its really that simple.

Squishies should have to worry about Mez. Its really that simple.

No, it's not that simple at all.

You can build a controller that can reach permanent defense caps, even though that is usually in the realm of melee toons only. How? By designing a build around it and sacrificing damage, or recharge, or debuffs, etc. to get defense bonuses, and adding in defensive pool powers like leadership, combat jumping etc. and adding in incarnate powers. This is actually the -most- powerful buff any character in game can get: when you aren't getting hit, you aren't getting mezzed. You aren't getting debuffed. You aren't getting hurt.

You can NEVER add enough recharge to get the live version of to make RoP perma. And slotting it for recharge to make it available more often comes at the same "sacrificing" damage or debuffs or regen, etc. that the controller above sacrifices for defense. And taking multiple powers from that specific travel pool before you can.

Squishies SHOULD have to worry about Mez. And you know what? That's EXACTLY why a squishy would take RoP and slot for recharge and global recharge buffs. To deal with that worry...in the same way the controller above is "worrying" about defense.

April 7, 2021

2 minutes ago, Bionic_Flea said:

While I agree that Rune is not so overpowered that it needs a nerf, to be fair there are many powers that take IOs that can't benefit from certain set IO enhancements. Just about every auto power fits that description.

So we want to make Rune of Protection an auto-power?

Im in! 😛

April 7, 2021

20 minutes ago, Captain Powerhouse said:

Better take is that it is a minor flaw or concession in the design of some IO category enhancement sets to simply allow flexibility of the set in powers that can actually make use of the recharge provided. Else it would require a whole bunch of enhancement categories that only apply to resist toggles, or resist passives, ones that cost no end, or ignore recharge, or have zero recharge, or what not.

End of the day, if there is a flaw, its in the design of the enhancement set. Personally I prefer to think the live team called it a concession.

I disagree. The flaw is in your altering a power that IS affected by recharge (and people build around that to make it a worthwhile choice) to be unaffected by recharge because you think it's overpowered for some reason.

THAT is the problem here. You're taking a power that currently ISN'T "broken" enough for most players to even bother to take it, and the people who did built high recharge builds to make the power actually useful, and making it so their builds are now pointless and the power isn't any better, and arguably worse. You are, quite literally, breaking something that is fine in the name of "fixing" something that is broken.

And no matter how many of us here ask you why, and who use the power telling you that they AREN'T somehow finding the power to be overpowered as is, you're just sort of...doing it anyway.

Cool. I mean, that's your choice. But this is my feedback. It's the wrong move. As with many of the other changes...it's just pushing everything and every build back to bland homogeny to increase grind in a 15 year old game where the grind isn't why people are logging in the first place.

So back to squishies building for exclusively for ranged defense and recharge, etc. Awesome.

April 7, 2021

14 hours ago, Myrmidon said:

With SG mates that simply don’t possess the amount of time to play this game that I do, I spend quite a bit of time on in PUGs and let me go assure you that the majority of the playerbase (on Excelsior) does not conform to the “Proc everything to death” theory. The “health of the population pool” is far more casual than you think.😉

Sorry for the derail, so we now return you to your regularly scheduled programming.

And sadly, for me, even more casual because I'm being turned off by the changes being made and finding myself wandering to other places.

Which I decidedly do NOT want. HC is my home at heart, but I'm finding these changes over the last few pages really making me have more fun elsewhere.

Which sucks...because I want to play here, with the people I've been playing with for years.

April 7, 2021

16 hours ago, Captain Powerhouse said:

That is not how that works. Passive resistance powers dont accept recharge enhancements either, and you can slot Damage Resistance IOs on them too.

This simply means you cant slot a simple Recharge TO/DO/SO or crafted IO into the power, simply because on it's own it does nothing for the user. Set enhancements can be slotted even if they only offer recharge, because those add up value via set bonuses.

Yeah. You can waste precious slotting by slotting with IOs that actually dont offer the recharge buff that is part of that IO if you really want the set bonus.

Which is a really dumb way to design powers for a game.

April 7, 2021

1 hour ago, arcane said:

I don't think we can really say Sorcery is getting nerfed anymore. Did you read the new patch notes above?

You're turning two click powers into end heavy toggles. You're also trying to work yet another "state of" mechanic into making one of the attack powers actually worth using, except making that based on a "chance for state of" makes it really ineffective to build into any sort of attack chain since you can't reliably build around chances. Granted, the power is a poor one to begin with so it's a wash there. And now RoP will have a set 33% up time, which is a big nerf to almost anyone who was actually using it since they were very likely building around their recharge to use it.

This entire approach, as well as the very reason the approach is even being considered, seems very off to me, especially when it's all to try and "fix" a power that very few people were taking anyway and that wasn't breaking any builds in its current state.

It's a "let me fix stuff that really isn't bothering anyone because I know better" mentality that I disagree with.

April 6, 2021

1 minute ago, ForeverLaxx said:

In that same vein, I'm not sure about Enflame. I always found the thing that holds the power back the most is the Terror effect. Making the thing you cast it on run around all over the place made me stop using the power on the only character I ever picked it up on and I don't see that being addressed.

I think removing the terror and leaving the power as is otherwise would be perfect. Im with you on the problem being the "run away" aspect.

April 6, 2021

Yes on target dummies, and it was about four years ago or so and I was with someone. I believe an analyzer was used, but can't say for sure if it was that or combat logs. I dont remember searching through combat logs though, but like I said, it was a long time ago. I just remember deciding it was worth taking the power for the -res proc for AVs given its propensity to go off at the time.

April 6, 2021

Just now, Replacement said:

Yes, it keeps stacking over time, same as the recent blaster treatment.

I just tested it with a Mastermind and found it to cap out at the exact same amount as electric Affinity's insulating circuit (and refreshing up to 10% that amount every 3 seconds under fire).

I have not had a chance to test Enflame but I wonder: could we put the terror on only one version? Like: cast on an ally if you want them to leave that ally alone, cast on a foe if you want him to roast his friends.

As if it weren't enough that they've already told us to expect ppm abuse to be curbed, note the part where they fixed it not proccing or taking enhancements.

"abuse" lol.

Also...I've used it very successfully with -res procs for a long time, including testing it when I first thought of it in RWZ to make sure it would be worth it. If procs weren't working in it, that was something new.

April 6, 2021

1 hour ago, GM Arcanum said:

This is a Focused Feedback Thread

Please note that Focused Feedback threads are heavily moderated to ensure they remain on topic.
Any off-topic posts in these threads will be removed without warning.

The thread will be locked when no more feedback is required, but you are more than welcome to continue the discussion in a new thread.

The most up-to-date version of the changes will be listed in the first post.

The changes in each build will be posted as replies.
Most changes from the previous beta build are listed in green.
Green text will become white text in the next set of patch notes.

Any changes or fixes that are only relevant to the beta builds (ie: fixes / tweaks to new features) are listed in blue.
Blue text will be deleted in the next set of patch notes as it is only relevant to highlight changes between beta builds, not a changes from live.

Known issues are listed in purple.

Patch Notes for April 6th, 2021 - Issue 27: Second Chances, Page 2 (Build 4)

Pool Powerset Revamp: Sorcery

Spirit Ward
This power is now a toggle which can be maintained on an allied target
0.52/s endurance cost

The duration of each Absorb tick has been increased from 3s to 20s
This means that the Absorb shield will take 20s to fully build up or replenish

Cooldown reduced from 60s to 30s

Arcane Bolt
Cast time reduced from 2.07s to 1.73s
PvE damage unchanged, PvP damage updated according to the standard formula

If you own Arcane Bolt, any power you use has a small chance to grant you an Arcane Power buff
Arcane Power will immediately recharge Arcane Bolt and cause it to deal double damage

Landing Arcane Bolt will consume Arcane Power (missing will not consume it)

Arcane Power will dissipate after 15 seconds if it hasn't been used

Mystic Flight
Now increases your fly speed cap by 50% while toggled on (from 58.6mph to 87.9mph)
See the "Travel Power Updates" section above for more information on this speed cap increase

This increased cap doesn't apply in PvP

Mystic Flight > Translocation
Range increased from 300ft to 350ft

Cast time reduced from 2.07s to 1.57s

Endurance cost reduced from 13 to 9.75

Enflame
This power is now a timed toggle with a max duration of 60s
0.52/s endurance cost

Cooldown reduced from 90s to 10s

Can now be used on targets in the air

VFX increased in size to more accurately reflect the full area of effect

Fixed dark and light customization options not spawning any VFX at all

Fixed numerous bugs which resulted in this power not benefiting from enhancements and procs

Rune of Protection
Cooldown reduced from 600s to 120s

Duration reduced from 90s to 40s

Now ignores all recharge buffs, enhancements, and debuffs
No longer accepts recharge enhancements

Buff now applies immediately when the power begins activating, instead of 1s~ into the animation

Fixed an issue which prevented the continuing VFX from playing

This power now grants damage resistance even if you use it whilst mezzed (previously only the mez resistance component would be granted)

This seems like an across the board nerf, overall.

Enflame and Spirit Ward, especially, will make me respec out of these on several toons. Enflame's best aspect was its proc ability. Changing it a toggle ruins that. It also adds endurance costs.

Then you're doing the same thing to spirit ward, giving it a constant end cost as a toggle, and it seems weaker overall. And I've shared my RoP feelings on the other thread.

Can we please just leave this set as is?

April 6, 2021

6 minutes ago, Glacier Peak said:

Those aren't requirements, or sacrifices, or costs. They are called choices. As in, a player gets to choose what they want to do with their build, what is important and what is not.

That's my point. A power is a CHOICE. And if you expect players to CHOOSE a power that requires two other, often unwanted, powers to unlock, then there should be greater incentive to make that choice than a standard power that doesn't have that requirement.

In my opinion, like Patron Pets, higher tier pool powers should all function at least on par with their standard, non-pool equivalents for two reasons: the increased "choice cost" to unlock them and their purpose, which is to either fill a build gap for a player's main powers OR to thematically support a player's concept. I see no reason why those powers should be "weaker" in any way. Especially when the logic seems so contradictory here.

April 6, 2021

On 3/30/2021 at 6:20 PM, Jimmy said:

This right here is very important. You're correct that this is the argument many opponents of this change are making.

But this argument also requires that requires you to admit RoP is overtuned, and that it deserves to be overtuned because of its lacklustre prerequisites. And that right there is the part we disagree with. It shouldn't be balanced around carrying three power picks.

This is one of the first things I mentioned to Powerhouse after seeing this change, but I quickly realised the problem wasn't RoP being nerfed, it's the other powers which need to be buffed. Again, this is just my opinion and not a confirmation of out plans, but the rest of the pool really does need some love.

A power doesn't need to be highly picked in order for it to be deemed as overperforming. I explain this clearly in my post: A single power should not be able to bridge a gap that results in entire parts of the game being obviated. Again, as covered in my post, mez in general is a systems-level discussion. Not something to be determined or solved by a single power.

Rune of Protection is - again, as explained in my post - now more useful for low-mid range builds in situationally dealing with crowd control and dangerous situations. This adjustment is being overlooked due to the impact this change has on absolutely maxed out high-end builds, which isn't surprising given that more casual players are much less likely to frequent this forum.

I agree with this, but let's try to maintain the topic for a little longer before derailing. We're only on page 2!

I'm curious. Why do Patron Pets require you to have picked two other powers from a patron before you take them?

Isn't it precisely because those powers are supposed to be so "special" that they require a bit of "sacrifice" to get?

To me, what you're saying here goes against an aspect of this game's design that has been around forever: The later/more effort a power takes to get access to, the stronger and more effective that power will be.

We've seen that in pool powersets forever.

As for "it's better for mid range builds"....there's a real design problem here, too. Since it requires you to take multiple powers before you get access to it, then if you're expecting players to sacrifice selections from their main power choices at -the very levels- where those powers are still unlocking, it better be worth putting off those power choices.

There seems to be a real conflict in the logic here: The power shouldn't be anything really special, but it also should be made designed so players can use it at tiers where, taking it at those levels, would really cost them three very likely better choices from their main pools.

March 14, 2021

17 minutes ago, Greycat said:

So a controll-y stalker that gets a domination-like boost if they use a control from not-hide?

I'm ... trying to picture the playstyle. I kind of suspect it would go easier with some sort of armor to help out, honestly, because even if you have 'no threat rating,' overflow from teammates can still make them turn on you.

You have a sustain power and one armor, along with the debuff and control powers. Tier 4 of the Impairment secondary is a sustain and tier 5 is an armor.

This is not meant to be god-mode, but to be a tactical play style that can still offer something in both teams and solo play.

My suspicion would be that an additional armor would come with the APPs as well.

March 14, 2021

Description: The Saboteur is a master of getting close to enemies to damage, weaken, or disarm them before being noticed. Saboteurs inherent ability, Sabotage, uses their ability to go undetected by enemies to make their initial move more effective, whether they are dealing damage or weakening their foes.

Inherent description: Sabotage allows a Saboteur to have added secondary effects for powers triggered on unsuspecting enemies. Damaging attacks will do extra damage, control powers will have their magnitude and duration increased, and support powers will have increased effect. Likewise, Saboteurs' damaging attacks will have a chance to critically hit any targets suffering from status affects.

Primary set: Surprise Assault

Tier 1: Single target melee attack

Tier 2: Single target hold/damage

Tier 3: AoE cone/ Melee attack

Tier 4: Incapacitate: Assassin's Strike clone with slightly less damage and strong chance to hold.

Tier 5: Build Up

Tier 6: Subversion: PBAoE brief Confuse/places you back in infiltration mode

Tier 7: Deflection: Melee moderate damage, strong secondary power (+res or +Def or +regen etc.. depending on set).

Tier 8 : Melee superior damage

Tier 9: Melee Cone or PBAoE power.

Secondary Set: Impairment:

Tier 1: Infiltration: Similar to "Hide" only instead of stealth, your threat rating is dropped, preventing any enemies from attacking you until you aggro and are "discovered".

Tier 2: Single target immobilize/debuff.

Tier 3: AoE Immobilize/slow/non-hold status power

Tier 4: Impair power (mix of sustain/debuff aura from support pool)

Tier 5: Armor related to support pool

Tier 6: strong single target debuff

Tier 7: AoE debuff from support pool

Tier 8: AoE Hold

Tier 9: Targeted AoE debuff/status power.

So a "Dark Saboteur" might look like the following

Tier 1: Smite / Infiltrartion

Tier 2: Melee Dark Grasp / Shadow Binds

Tier 3: Shadow Maul / Living Shadows

Tier 4: Dark Incapacitation / Nether cloak (self +regen/Recovery/psi res, foe -tohit/fear)

Tier 5: Build Up / Fading Aura (Toggle version of Fade)

Tier 6: Dark Subversion (PBAoE Placate, -tohit) / Touch of Fear

Tier 7: Soul absorption / Heart of Darkness

Tier 8: Midnight Grasp / Shadow Field

Tier 9: Soul Drain / Tar Patch or Darkest Night

The concept is that Saboteurs get in nice and close with the enemies and then "turn on them" from within, using surprise to boost their initial impact. The choice between using the surprise to boost your first attack, your mezzes, or your debuffs gives a unique play style, but the lack of true armors means the Saboteur must still be careful or avoid being overwhelmed.

March 2, 2021

On 3/1/2021 at 12:59 PM, Replacement said:

I don't know, Puma, I don't think this is the same.

A "Beam Rifle" may be a conduit of magical energy forged into a gun by an arcane gunsmith**. Demon Summoning refers more to the final effect, since you can always make the argument that a demon is just an alien from another dimension where all the denizens are evil.

To make a Science "Sorcerous Blast" you must address (if you actually build lore) how your science character is specifically accessing Magic, because a synonym for it (Sorcery) is right there in the name.

Of course, we are all welcome to ignore the names and I think a lot of us do that - example would be the Dark Armor character I have where I made all the armor into off-white cumulonimbus clouds - but at that point why not try to bake that into the power set to begin with? If "Elemental blast" or something similar hits the same effect, and has "cast" alt animations, that seems like a wiser path to develop on.

** I still want staves added to weapon customization for beam rifle. I'm totally fine with it being held like a gun.

I think that's stretching. If saying your "demon summoning" isnt tied to "magic" origin because they're just aliens from a realm where all are evil, then you can say your "arcane/sorcerous" powers are really just an energy based technology used by inhabitants of another dimension. Basically...what Thor in the marvel movies did with the "magic" of Asgard.

"Arcane/Sorcerous" is just as inherently magic as "Devices/pistols/traps/assault rifle" are inherently technological. Sure, you can get creative to explain it away, but my point is, there is definitely precedent for this in game.

March 1, 2021

I mean, multiple power sets are linked to a specific origin by name already (Assault Rifle, Dual Pistols, Devices, beam rifle, and traps, are clearly tech in some form, while dark miasma and Demon summon are clearly mystic in some form), so I'm not sure why that would matter. Any creative person who REALLY wants to use a mystic or arcane blast set could easily come up with a non-mystic explanation just like a mystic character could explain that their AR is actually using enchanted bullets with tiny runes painted on them, etc.

Hell...I had a science fiction based character who was a Demon/dark mastermind. They were from an Alien desert planet and controlled trained beasts from that world that lived in the desert sands. The dark powers were colored to look like sand.

January 4, 2021

/signed. I love the idea that the mark is constant, and while I'd still hate the whole tier 1/tier 2 choice, this would go a long way to making it fee less costly having to wait for the right power to recharge and use it on the right target. Personally I'd prefer a "swap ammo" style of toggle to let me choose which affect I want from opportunity when it triggers, but I know that's been shot down before. I just HATE having to keep my tier 1 in my rotation when there are a lot of times I drop that later on in builds. Still, nice work!

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