Blackfeather
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Posts posted by Blackfeather
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Sending a ping over to @BrandX as well! I know strictly speaking Light Control isn't quite the same as Illusion Control...but I'd be interested in hearing your thoughts on the powerset nonetheless, especially given how it's a little bit unorthodox as well. Think it'd be something that could be played decently, or something you could see yourself playing? Is it overtuned? Hope to hear your thoughts on this soon! 😃
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Will also give @DZKFire a wave as well - saw you mention having played Dominators for a while; would a powerset like
Light Control be something you'd be interested in playing? And if so, I'd love to hear your thoughts on this implementation over here in the original post, if it's a compelling concept, and relatively unique without being over/undertuned. Hope to hear your thoughts on this soon! 😄
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You do get some aerial control either way - I forget which grants more though. If you like the way Mystic Flight looks, Combat Jumping won't lock you into Hover stance too (though that can be solved by adjusting Hover's FX, but then you're always in the regular Fly stance even when just hovering).
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Might give @Arklide a ping as well - heyo! It looks like you've got a fair amount of experience with Dominators/Controllers, so I'd definitely be interested in hearing your thoughts on Light Control here - would it be a powerset you'd be interested in playing, if it works equally well on either archetype, if it's underpowered/overepowered, and so on? Hope you give it a read through and like it! 🙂
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Hey there @Naraka! I read this post of yours and thought it was quite relevant to this powerset proposal - given your experience with Dominators, I imagine you've a fair amount to say about the Control powersets, and how they're more or less the same. This writeup for a potential Light Control was designed to be relatively unique, while still providing a fair amount of control, so I'd definitely be interested in hearing your thoughts on it, to see whether or not you think it manages that goal (and of course, if it'd be something you'd be interested in playing with). Hope you like it! 😃
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Might ping @Greycat as well - hey there! Thought this proposal might be of interest to you, would be happy to hear your thoughts on this writeup for Light Control if you've any; if it straddles the line between 'fairly unique' and 'not overpowered/underpowered' and so on. Hope to hear from you soon! 😄
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On 5/23/2021 at 7:56 AM, zenblack said:
Looking over this set as where it is right now worked a bit I have to say I think the duration on the CC effects seem far too long. Also in part this sets is a child of dark/illusion and I wonder if there isn't an opportunity to do more with it than just be a "PBAOE control set" as it seems the intent. Since light is energy there seems like an opportunity to have unique control play-style with that as the basis.
This may not be helpful feedback at all since it's not specific feedback about individual powers.Hey there, and thanks for your thoughts on this proposal! All feedback is welcome, and I certainly think it's constructive.
Might you be able to clarify which durations look too long to you? The duration of
T2: Dazzling Glow is a one-to-one copy of Mesmerize's duration. Similarly, T3: Radiating Ties follows the same duration as the other AoE Immobilises. T4: Blinding Halo is supposed to have the same duration as Radiation Emission's Choking Cloud. T7: Prismatic Field and T8: Luminous Distortion only have their patches last for 45 seconds, not the effects themselves - I used Time Manipulation's Distortion Field as a model for how they might work. The durations here are the ones that a Controller would have, which might have skewed the times somewhat.
In terms of inspiration for this set, I was actually heavily inspired by Ice Control, looking at its Arctic Air power, and how that was responsible for a lot of the set's heavy lifting. I wanted to create a powerset that worked in a similar way, but more focused, as mentioned in the original post. When I think of the element light, I think of the words 'powerful', 'radiating', 'indiscriminate', and 'straightforward' - control through overwhelming luminosity, extending out from the user; that's where its primarily PBAoE nature comes in, and to a lesser degree, the Illumination mechanic.
In other words, making Light Control relatively straightforward while also being fairly unique was another goal of mine - forgoing a single target hold and immobilise did wonders in that regard, I feel. I'd definitely be interested in hearing your own interpretation of such a powerset, however!
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Hey there @Frosticus, going to give you a ping given your experience with Dominators/Controllers - thought it'd be interesting hearing your thoughts on this proposed powerset...maybe even your thoughts on how it'd stack up in endgame content? And of course, if this writeup of Light Control would be something you'd be interested in playing! All that good stuff - if you do, many thanks in advance. 🙂
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Going to ping @Tater Todd on this as well - heya! Thought this might be of interest to you given your experience with Dominators and so on. As such, I'd definitely like to hear your thoughts on this proposal for Light Control: if it's something you'd be interested in playing, if it's overpowered/underpowered, etc. Hope to hear from you soon!
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9 hours ago, Replacement said:
Just posting to say - I've had this thread open for 2 weeks. I intend to give this a go-over. I'm aware there are special mechanics at play so I don't think I can give good commentary based solely on the short descriptions (so instead I'm clogging up the thread with a non-commentary post?)
...To be continued once I can give it a good read.
Thanks for the heads up, and no worries! Especially since a lot of Light Control was actually in a bit of flux until quite recently. I'm fairly happy with how it is currently, but that could definitely change depending on further feedback.
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On 5/17/2021 at 6:36 AM, HelBlaiz said:
I have been ping-ed
I love the idea of the set and especially the concept behind Blinding Halo. I do thin Dazzling Gaze synergy with Illumination might want to be revisited however. Stacking Sleep is fun and all, but you're one stray Fireball away from all that effort being for naught. Might I suggest having the synergy apply Hold instead/in addition to stacking Sleep? That way it's more useful in teams. Kinda cuts into your attempt to avoid single target holds for varieties sake, though.
Regardless, I have at least one character who would love this set.
After some feedback from @Galaxy Brain, I've gone and changed up the powerset a little - now both
T1: Ray of Light and T2: Dazzling Glow inflict the Illuminated effect on enemies. As for synergies, I've now changed things up a bit as a result:
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T1: Ray of Light, bonus damage
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T2: Dazzling Glow, Mag 3.5 Sleep -> Mag 7 Sleep (+3.5)
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T3: Radiating Ties, Mag 3 Immobilize -> Mag 4 Immobilize (+1)
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T4: Blinding Halo, Mag 2 Hold -> Mag 4 Hold (+2)
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T6: Incandescent Eruption, bonus damage
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T7: Prismatic Field, 2% chance Disorient -> 4% chance Disorient
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T8: Luminous Distortion, 2% chance Confuse -> 4% chance Confuse
This way,
T2: Dazzling Glow can still 'stack' its Sleep effect but still deal damage - a magnitude 7 Sleep should be strong enough for most things anyhow. Additionally, both the T1 and the T2 can 'stack' up with T4: Blinding Halo - @Dahle did ask about a lack of a single target Hold, and while I was averse to introducing something like that directly, I think this strikes a nice middle ground - the T4 power is stronger against Illuminated enemies (Mag 4 instead), which I think is fine given its baseline Mag 2 Hold (downgraded from Mag 2.5 as a result of this stacking), along with the fact that it necessitates being in melee range. T3: Radiating Ties functions similarly, except it just goes up by +1.
Hopefully it maintains the PBAoE feel of the set while being just a little bit stronger - would be interested in your thoughts as always!
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10 hours ago, Mezmera said:
It looks like you have the standard optimized powers for control but there's a few things that need reworked.
That pbaoe toggle power can not have your aoe hold in it, the toggle should have lower rates on it due to being constantly on so taking away an instant cast-able aoe hold is not attractive in the least. You'd have to replace the hold aspect with something else and then make the level 18 power your standard aoe hold, I don't like target location powers as they are clunky in the thick of fighting so I'd want it to be instant cast.
The t8 power that has a chance for confuse just needs to be a certain confuse, I see you're also adding in the new attraction mechanic, that'd help keep your confused targets from running off so they just fight each other I just wouldn't want that gravitational mechanic preventing them from attacking each other is all. If it doesn't then yeah this would be fine as is.
I'm not too much interested in pets so do what you will with the t9.
I've played Wind Control on some other servers. They used Plant as the baseline and boy is that control set OP. It has an aoe confuse that recharges way too fast plus it also replenishes your endurance. There's a self buff mechanic with the t9 power which is neat. Then there's also a couple of aoe controls that benefit from stacks of a mechanic that you can expend for real strong aoe damage through something like say your aoe immobilize. Wind Control is a very busy set that's just too good since everything recharges way too fast. But I did find the use of a damage release mechanic in the aoe immobilize pretty nice and the self buff was a novel idea just sometimes hard to take advantage of since you had to have all of your stacks then target your pet with the t9 power, sometimes it's hard to stop and spot your pet in the middle of a fight.
As long as it seems fun and not too OP with something that makes it unique to itself then that should be attractive enough to try out.
Thanks for the feedback! I'll try to explain my reasoning for the way things are at the moment, incorporating your feedback accordingly. As mentioned in the original post, one of the main things I wanted with Light Control was to make a lot of its powers non-standard, while still being viable, along with the goal of making it primarily PBAoE focused.
That's where
T4: Blinding Halo comes in - a constant source of Holds that takes time to ramp up, and on occasion, a dash of Light Control's Illumination mechanic to increase its magnitude against more resilient foes. As a result of being constant, it's also the only source of Holds in the set, kind of like how Ice Control's Arctic Air is its only source of Confuse. On the upside, its -To Hit also provides a bit of protection in melee range, and it also functions as another source of damage, kind of like Hot Feet.
I do personally think that even as a Mag 2 PBAoE toggle Hold, it'll pull its weight rather reliably; my experience with Oppressive Gloom has been quite positive in terms of lockdown for instance - and with the Illumination mechanic, it should stack fairly easily, not to mention under the effects of Domination. I'm also of the mind that most AoE Hold powers tend to be a little lacklustre due to their high recharge time and short duration, which I think @SeraphimKensai has touched on in one of their posts for instance, as has @oedipus_tex over here.
I considered the two location based powers (
T7: Prismatic Field and T8: Luminous Distortion) that Light Control has to be more supplementary instead of the main focus; more as a way of occupying additional groups of enemies by way of soft control than actively locking them down. That's why the status effects they inflict are on a chance basis, with their baseline effects being fairly soft in nature (slow/attract), kind of similar to Time Manipulation's Distortion Field. Rather than act as hard sources of control in of themselves, they were mainly designed to keep enemies bunched up for later or to just stack on top of T4: Blinding Halo.
As such, the ability to lay them down in advance of, say, an ambush or something like that was something I wanted to keep in mind, hence their location based nature. I can understand why that wouldn't be a cup of tea for everyone though - I definitely make liberal use of /powexec_location cursor on my Earth Controller to make things easier. That being said, I can definitely see the Attract effect in
T8: Luminous Distortion being a tad strong for its intended function, and as such may replace it with another slow effect, perhaps with a chance of inflicting the Illuminated effect to enemies within it.
And I do agree, Plant Control is very powerful - Seeds of Confusion is quite silly. I definitely wanted to avoid that amount of power while creating Light Control; I was aiming for something along the lines of Darkness Control myself, with a few caveats: more sources of damage, more risk due to engaging in melee, and a riskier opener.
I expect the Light Controller/Dominator to wade straight into the fight, holding enemies using
T4: Blinding Halo, giving it time to take hold by sweeping enemies to the floor using T6: Incandescent Eruption, illuminating the tougher foes with T1: Ray of Light and/or T2: Dazzling Glow to better bypass their status protections. The combined -To Hit of its various powers should help to provide a bit of safety in the meantime as well. For larger crowds, T5: Twilight should let them get into melee range relatively unscathed.
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Hey there @Bill Z Bubba! I saw your post talking about game balance and difficulty and the like - would definitely be interested in hearing your thoughts on this proposal, it sounds like you might like it. Thanks in advance if you do decide to do so! 😄
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1 hour ago, Galaxy Brain said:
Hm, no interaction if you shoot your laser at the same guy twice?
After thinking about it some, yeah, I think bonus damage works best here - gives a nice difference between the T1/T2: one has more damage, the other more control, but both can potentially benefit each other a little, especially for Controllers looking for additional powers to up their offensive capabilities.
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22 minutes ago, Galaxy Brain said:
Hm, no interaction if you shoot your laser at the same guy twice?
I was considering adding in some extra damage
T1: Ray of Light, which shouldn't hopefully be too overpowering. Though it's definitely up in the air at the moment, would be up for suggestions!
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I think I'll also ping @Mezmera on this topic, given their mention of being a Dominator main - hey there! Was wondering if you had any thoughts on this proposed design for Light Control; if it's something that you'd personally find compelling to play, how it stacks up compared to the other Control sets, if it's overpowered/underpowered and so on. If you do decide to voice your thoughts on it, thanks in advance! 😄
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On 5/20/2021 at 1:12 AM, Galaxy Brain said:
I really dig how this is different from the normal setup of control sets, lacking some of the more traditional powers (ST Immob/Hold). Control sets tend to need to stack up controls to deal with "actual threats", and I like how you also made the T1 uniquely deal with this by making it a more generalized power that also happens to let your controls stack, technically in 2 clicks still but much more "fluidly" than Hold ... wait ... Hold again.
That said, I do feel like this should be the focal point of the set, and as such likely should not be the T1 power.
T1/T2 is a toss up where folks can often skip one or the other unless it is a secondary, or on an AT that really incentivizes using one or both constantly (Sentinels/Blasters). Otherwise, set-defining powers usually come up at around lvl 6 (T4) where you have a few powers that can bolster that key one like with Assassin's Strike, MM upgrades, 3rd major attack in a chain, etc. Shifting Ray of light there would be great, unless both it AND Dazzling glow can "illuminate" targets.
On top of this, if it is *the* thing for the set, adding more interactions would be cool. Simply: Illuminate = -Mez protect (Non Stacking) / -Mez Resist (Stacking) as a base effect would be neat, and then having each power do a little sumthin extra to targets you put the spotlight on would be cool and thematic to light, where you can fill a room OR laser - focus 😉
Tentative effects against Illuminated targets here, posted in the original post, but I'll put them here too:
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T1: Ray of Light, bonus damage
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T2: Dazzling Glow, Mag 3.5 Sleep -> Mag 7 Sleep (+3.5)
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T3: Radiating Ties, Mag 3 Immobilize -> Mag 4 Immobilize (+1)
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T4: Blinding Halo, Mag 2 Hold -> Mag 4 Hold (+2)
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T6: Incandescent Eruption, bonus damage
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T7: Prismatic Field, 2% chance Disorient -> 4% chance Disorient
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T8: Luminous Distortion, 2% chance Confuse -> 4% chance Confuse
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13 hours ago, Galaxy Brain said:
I really dig how this is different from the normal setup of control sets, lacking some of the more traditional powers (ST Immob/Hold). Control sets tend to need to stack up controls to deal with "actual threats", and I like how you also made the T1 uniquely deal with this by making it a more generalized power that also happens to let your controls stack, technically in 2 clicks still but much more "fluidly" than Hold ... wait ... Hold again.
That said, I do feel like this should be the focal point of the set, and as such likely should not be the T1 power.
T1/T2 is a toss up where folks can often skip one or the other unless it is a secondary, or on an AT that really incentivizes using one or both constantly (Sentinels/Blasters). Otherwise, set-defining powers usually come up at around lvl 6 (T4) where you have a few powers that can bolster that key one like with Assassin's Strike, MM upgrades, 3rd major attack in a chain, etc. Shifting Ray of light there would be great, unless both it AND Dazzling glow can "illuminate" targets.
On top of this, if it is *the* thing for the set, adding more interactions would be cool. Simply: Illuminate = -Mez protect (Non Stacking) / -Mez Resist (Stacking) as a base effect would be neat, and then having each power do a little sumthin extra to targets you put the spotlight on would be cool and thematic to light, where you can fill a room OR laser - focus 😉
Hey there, and thanks for your response! Admittedly, I wanted to make
T4: Blinding Halo the main focus power of the set, at least in terms of control, kind of similar to how Ice Control's Arctic Air functions as its main lockdown source - as a result, a lot of Light Control's powers are PBAoE focused to supplement this, or area powers that can be layered on top of the player or split up elsewhere.
Something I'll also admit - I wasn't quite sure how I wanted the Illuminate effect to precisely work; you'll see that the implementation of it is a bit vague across the different powers and so on. In retrospect, adding extra magnitude against such targets makes a lot of sense, so thanks for the suggestion! I think I might add that to
T3: Radiating Ties. Perhaps even T4: Blinding Halo could benefit from this - higher magnitude Hold against Illuminated targets - and would also provide a roundabout way of 'adding' a single target Hold (as @Dahle mentioned the lack of in their post, as did @oedipus_tex in theirs) while still requiring one to be in close range to make the effects of that known, which was the main intent of this powerset.
I do like the idea of adding the Illuminate effect to
T2: Dazzling Glow more than shuffling the power arrangement around myself. This way, it doesn't buck the trend of having two single target abilities in the T1/T2. This might require a slight modification to the power's effect against Illuminated foes (enhanced magnitude vs. not dealing damage) to make it work properly, but I think it works out to be about the same.
As a result of making the Illuminate effect something that Light Control will end up using, I might bump down the magnitude of
T4: Blinding Halo from 2.5 to 2, doubling it to 4 against Illuminted targets. T3: Radiating Ties could get a similar treatment, with an additional +1 magnitude to its 3, and T2: Dazzling Glow could flat out double itself from 3.5 to 7.
I definitely like the idea of providing some kind of stacking effect, though the fact that Light Control already has a powerful debuff in -To Hit does make me a bit weary of putting in more things on top of that... Well,
T6: Incandescent Eruption, T7: Prismatic Field, and T8: Luminous Distortion all have a chance to inflict some form of hard control. Maybe the likelihood of this occurring can increase with subsequent stacks of Illumination?
Though for additional effects of said stacks, I'm not sure what that might entail...though maybe it's better that it doesn't have too large of a role, since I did want
T4: Blinding Halo to be the setpiece of this powerset. As always, interested in your thoughts on the matter, and thanks for the suggestions!
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As an addition to the above post: the proposed change to the Illumination mechanic is also meant to synergise with
T9: Shining Motes somewhat. Given the idea of a small chance to hold whenever illuminated by T1: Ray of Light, having three (relatively fragile) pets might work well together with that, and increase their survivability and utility somewhat, which I believe @Dahle was a bit concerned about.
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On 5/17/2021 at 6:36 AM, HelBlaiz said:
I have been ping-ed
I love the idea of the set and especially the concept behind Blinding Halo. I do thin Dazzling Gaze synergy with Illumination might want to be revisited however. Stacking Sleep is fun and all, but you're one stray Fireball away from all that effort being for naught. Might I suggest having the synergy apply Hold instead/in addition to stacking Sleep? That way it's more useful in teams. Kinda cuts into your attempt to avoid single target holds for varieties sake, though.
Regardless, I have at least one character who would love this set.
Hey there, and thanks for your response!
Glad to hear you do like the concept - I did indeed want to make
T4: Blinding Halo the main source of Light Control's lockdown; kind of like Ice Control's Arctic Air, but dealing damage and debuffing accuracy instead of reducing run speed and recharge. As a result, I wanted to avoid easy/consistent stacking of the effect outside of the power itself - in theory, it should be able to consistently Hold bosses by itself, but it'd take some time to do so (balanced around being in melee range, extra risk of damage).
My main motivation for providing a Sleep in the form of
T2: Dazzling Glow was to diversify Light Control's status effects as a result of not having two sources of Holds - I do agree that being able to stack sleeps is rather niche, but I do think it can be valid in some circumstances, such as for handling AVs for instance. The power also deals damage and provides an additional source of -To Hit, which is generally useful regardless of team composition.
That also being said, I've definitely been thinking over the Illumination mechanic a little. Perhaps foes marked by
T1: Ray of Light may also have a chance of being held for a short period of time whenever they're damaged by one of Light Control's powers? That way, it'd be a little bonus on top of T4: Blinding Halo, but not something that can be relied upon.
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6 hours ago, TemporalVileTerror said:
Thanks for the shout-out, @Blackfeather.
Regrettably, I'm probably not the ideal candidate to approach for this particular project. As much as I want to see more Control Sets, I feel that Light Control is already in the game in the form of Illusion Control, thematically speaking. I would very much like to see attention given to Natural-friendly Control Sets, like the Grenade Control or Commanding Voice Set ideas that have been proposed in the past here.
However, I'll fully acknowledge that while there are other players who see things the same or similar to me in this regard, the majority would probably support your proposed Light Control Set if it was brought in to the game. Perhaps someone else, like @HelBlaiz would be good to pick the brain of, as they're a prolific creator of concept characters.That's quite alright! Illusion Control is definitely involved with bending and manipulating light somewhat, so I can understand that. In fact, one big reason that I thought up this powerset was because Illusion didn't quite fit with some of my own character concepts - @MTeague mentioned something similar in one of their posts, I believe.
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Speaking of luminous powers...hey there @Replacement! Thought this thread might be of interest to you - if you're up for it, I'd definitely be happy to hear your thoughts on this proposal for Light Control, any feedback you might have, likelihood of implementation with existing assets, if you'd be up for trying such a powerset, and so on. Hope you like it! 😄
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Might give @roleki a wave too - heyo! Saw you mention you primarily played Controllers; would be interested in hearing your thoughts on this proposed Control powerset as a result - I figure that Light Control fills a niche, but I'd definitely like to hear if it'd be something that'd interest you, both in theme and in playstyle/strength. Thanks in advance if you do decide to take a gander and share your thoughts! 🙂
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Might also ping @Arcadio on this topic as well - hey there! Saw your post on Illusion Control, so I thought you might be interested in Light Control as well; there's definitely some theme overlap, but I do want it to function as a standalone powerset in its own right. If you've got the time, I'd love to hear your thoughts on this powerset: if it distinguishes itself from the others, if it's a strong/weak set comparatively, and all that good stuff. Thanks in advance if you do decide to do so! 😄
Light Control: A Luminous PBAoE Control Powerset
in Suggestions & Feedback
Posted · Edited by Blackfeather
Hey there, and thanks for your own personal thoughts on this!
The intent behind Light Control's design was to keep the user close while engaging enemies - rather than the exception (i.e. for single target and soft control powers) this was meant to be the rule. I noticed that your version of
T4: Blinding Halo has no actual control aspect to it (lacks a Hold/Range debuff to keep enemies close), and similarly, 
T3: Radiating Ties was converted to a targeted AoE power rather than a PBAoE one.
In service of this design, Light Control lacks a single target hold and immobilize, relying instead on either its sleep power in
T2: Dazzling Glow, and/or additional damage via 
T1: Ray of Light. Its main source of lockdown, 
T4: Blinding Halo is as such positioned early in the set, in the same position that Ice Control's Arctic Air is (T4) - said power was a large inspiration for me here.
In this vein,
T7: Prismatic Field was not intended to be a hard control power - it appears your version was inspired by Darkness Control's Shadow Field - I was going for a slow patch; something like Time Manipulation's Distortion Field, but with some damage, and a small chance to disorient instead of hold. Light Control already has an always-on source of holding enemies in 
T4: Blinding Halo.
As for an alternative T9 to the currently existing one, I'm curious as to your thoughts on the one I designed after hearing similar suggestions from @MTeague. To whit:
It's a somewhat unorthodox power, in a similar vein to Gravity Control's Dimension Shift - as such, I wrote up a list of potential applications here.
I consider the Illumination effect as something auxiliary to the feel of Light Control - it's more of a way of enhancing the strength of different powers a little rather than a full blown dependant to the set (not to mention a way of stacking Holds while still forcing the set to stay in close range due to how
T4: Blinding Halo synergises with it). Credit actually goes to @Galaxy Brain for the additional synergies here; I wouldn't have thought to introduce them alone.
A new set could certainly build more heavily on this mechanic, but I think it'd be a different powerset in its own right. For instance, a mostly single-target powerset that has one power mark enemies, and when struck by another, converts the single target power to an area-of-effect...a Radiation Control powerset could easily benefit from this sort of mechanic, such as in the form of an atomic reaction or something along those lines.
Hope this explains my design rationale a bit more, and thanks again for your comments!