High_Beam

Procs. Please don't say this is all about getting a handle on Proc "abuse" or whatever. I don't have a single proc in Suppressive Fire because I have other play styles and the fact is, the suppression of suppressive fire is how I have used it on most of my DP toons minus the Sentinel because . . . Sentinel. But how can anyone say that the proc action is changing. You can still slot all that in there because it still does a hold (now super ineffective and pointless) and does more damage. and now, it freaking has a super fast recharge so all I see is more proc. Again, not always about damage. I can count on like five fingers the number of times that my non-proc, non-Uber Set IO level 35 DP/Ninja Blaster has been face planted.

The rabbit is actually more disturbing. And so many questions. Who punched the rabbit in the nose and what is the tall thing behind the rabbit and is that the shadow of evil or just a malaise of sadness hovering nearby. Also off color irises, its clearly a mutant. I really need that rabbit to be put down and researched. Wait. NVM.

Toki is wise.

Ghost Marines . . . That's secksi.

Ammo swapping, as others have said, is a novelty at best. I use fire with the DoT on enemies that like that have interruptible summons (Raider Engineer, Rikti Communications Officer) and Toxic sometimes but essentially it stays on Chiller rounds because of the visible block of ice animation that helps let everyone on a team know the state of the foe. The fact that they tweaked the Mags to a variable state on the ammo swap makes the changes to Suppressive fire more problematic.

I used cold on all of them, just didn't note. sorry. I wanted the visual queues of the hold sticking. Because of the varying levels attacking the same mobs with different toons wasn't going to work. But for each level the live and test attacked the same mobs. I intend to do another long pass either tonight or tomorrow but I wanted to test something with the various levels vice all 50.

Okay whole player base.

Okay here we go. Walk of Test inbound! Suppressive Fire is a mitigation tool, it is supposed to give a shooter a little breathing room, a little safety especially true for Blasters and Defenders and Corruptors, not so much for Sentinels (lazy tank wanna-be Blasters 🙂 ) . So the following were tested on both live and on Brainstorm (character transfer not new creation). All characters were tested against White conn Enemies of several types appropriate to their level. Di Di Guns (Dual Pistols/Martial Combat) Blaster - Level 50 +3 Suppressive Fire slotted with a single Lockdown (Accuracy/Hold) (Attuned) - This character built as a Blapper using Suppressive Fire for exactly that reason, limited suppression, wasn't looking to do damage and wasn't looking to be a full controller. - Enemies Fought - (PI Portal Corp Area) - Circle (Behemoth Overlord Lieutenants, Death Mage Bosses), Possessed Scientists (various Minion), Nemesis (Minions and Lieutenant), Carnie (Minion and Lieutenant). On Excelsior 4.16 Lethal + 4.16 Lethal Hold from Suppressive 9.54 seconds Almost never failed to hold. except on Strongmen. Recharge low enough through SET IO bonus that I can perma-hold minions and almost perma hold LT. This allows me to either work the bosses (Death Mages and Warhulks mostly). On Brainstorm 68.23 Lethal + 68.23 Lethal Hold from Suppressive 2.38 seconds That is an unbelievable reduction in hold duration, not minor, not balancing based on the significant reduction in recharge. That is like 200% reduction and that is with a 26.5% boost from the Set IO which means that just using basic non-exact math that unslotted for hold boost the hold time would be 1.75 seconds. Also, no longer even holds Behemoth Overlord Lieutenants or Nemesis Lieutenants. Still holds Minions (hooray, I suppose). Oh and even with Recharge reduction through Set IO, still not recharging before the hold expires (because you cant get recharge down to 1 second. So at its base, it no longer functions as a suppression tool, its what, a toggle popper now? Granted, this character at her level and her slotting and Set and Incarnates is not threatened by this but what about the one player and his character coming up who sees suppressive fire and looks to take it to survive until magical incarnate time. Wow this sucks, I guess I should respec and take . . . Toxic Dart? In this scenario it has been rendered combat ineffective. Next Two Gun Trixie - (Dual Pistol/Ninja Training) Blaster - Level 31 Suppressive Fire slotted with two Basilisk Gaze (Attuned) (Accuracy/Hold and Recharge/Hold) - Designed also as a Blapper but looking to leverage synergy with Choking Powder - Enemies Fought (Brickstown) - Freakshow (Minions and Lieutenants and Bosses), Crey (Minions), Prisoners (Minions) and Council/Column (Minions and Lieutenants) On Excelsior 2.47 Lethal + 2.47 Lethal Hold from Suppressive 12.2 seconds Again (using cold rounds so I can see the hold) I lock almost every target I shoot (except streak breaker misses) . . . ALL of them. Twelve seconds of the lieutenant being out of the fight while I work the Freak Tank. Also, as a thing to note, because I have some Recharge bonuses going I was ale to get in a second Suppression shot in on said boss tank giving me a small "he's on ice" moment especially when mixed together with Choking Powder (as intended) because POWER SYNERGY! Off to Test. 40.44 Lethal + 40.44 Lethal Hold From Suppressive 7.58 seconds What? Where did that 200% reduction go that I saw on Di DI? If that was there then we would be seeing something like 2 point something plus 43.6% from the two Hold enhancements making it like 3 point something (I am not super math person). Lieutenants on ice . . . no . . . bosses catching a double stack . . . no. None of that happened. Now Choking Powder is not the synergistic layer its the enforcer, meaning now its needed to help Suppressive do the job its suppose to do vice augment and improve it. Now again I have been playing Blasters a very long time so I know how to get out of that kind of scenario and survive with the bad guys on the floor instead of me but I once more reiterate that I no longer have a viable form of suppression in a power that is literally supposed to be just that. In this scenario it has been rendered significantly combat degraded. Boom Boom Britta (Dual Pistol/Kinetics) - Corruptor - Level 40 (Level 41 awaiting training due to not having run V-Side Patron Arc) Suppressive Fire Slotted with four (4) Basilisk Gaze (Attuned) (Accuracy/Hold, Accuracy/Recharge, Recharge/Hold and Endurance/Recharge/Hold) - Designed to be more Team-centric due to Kinetics I felt the bigger investment in lockdown (the skill not the Set 🙂 ) was important. - Note - Tested using zero Kinetics powers (i.e. Siphon Power) in order to get a clear feel of the deal - Enemies Fought (Peregrine Island by the Ferry) - Nemesis, Rikti, Carnie (Lieutenants and minions and a Boss or two becuase Nemesis plot) On Excelsior 3.88 Lethal + 1.94 Lethal Hold from Suppressive 14.2 seconds Like the others, the same results. Suppression, security and dependable. On Brainstorm 63.61 Lethal + 31.80 Lethal Hold from Suppressive Fire 9.01 Again what? Now we are seeing only a what, 35% reduction, my math has to be off here right? These aren't MIDS numbers or me trying to extrapolate these are what eh the game is saying from the power info. Does the diminishment of hold duration occur before or after Set buffs are applied? I don't know what the ED cap on Hold duration is, but the Hold duration from the sets breaks out to 61%. Now here, I still have combat viability. The duration of the hold is still long enough to snap off one or two shots on the target. But, like all of the above, I can no longer consistently lock Lieutenants (or rather never), so the power is rendered combat diminished. Slots will be removed and placed elsewhere. Trinity Six (Dual Pistols/Energy Aura) - Sentinel - Level 38 Suppressive Fire slotted with Four Devastation (Attuned) Accuracy/Damage, Damage/Endurance, Damage/Recharge and Accuracy/Damage Recharge and a single Basilisk Gaze (Accuracy Hold) - This was supposed to be a tanky semi blappery shooter. The buff to damage that Sentinels got on the last pass made them fun to play so there you go. - Enemies Fought (Founders Falls - SW close to Eden Gate) - Devouring Earth, Rikti - Minions and Lieutenants and one Boss On Excelsior 83.18 Lethal + 83.18 Lethal Hold from Suppressive Fire 4.27 seconds Sentinels were already low on the hold and high on the damage with this power which is why the Devastation was slotted. Is this what they want the Blasters to be? I get a good near 5 second hold, snap off another shot from something else. And of course I can lock Lieutenants. I have Armor I am not as needing the suppression of Suppressive fire ergo he damage. On Brainstorm 83.18 Lethal + 83.18 Lethal Hold from Suppressive Fire 6.67 Seconds Wait! What? So no damage buff but an increase in hold duration. In fact three times as long as the Blaster on Test with single hold Set IO add. On a character with armor and mez protection. Because I need that additional suppression for survivability on a semi-tank. What? Oh well at least it no longer locks Lieutenants either so I got that going for me. And so we get to the rat killing. Why? If the goal was to make the suppression low for toggle breaking sake then why not apply it equally and still the question is why? If the goal was to make it more damaging . . . the damage is still less than Pistols which would be fine if the hold duration and mag hadn't been gutted as bad as they were. If the goal was to make shine when slotted, you failed because the slotting doesn't let it shine. You cannot get the hold duration back to a usable level. Now if the goal was to take away a unique power feature and replace it with just another fancy animation damage power. Mission accomplished. I might keep it because it fires faster than piercing rounds. The issue here, and it seems like its also the case over in Assault Rifle land as well is that because its S/L and supposedly doesn't put out enough DPS for the "I want more damage" crowd that there needed to be changes to powers that do not deliver damage but do something else unique. I don't have an AR toon, tried it and dumped it because of Flamethrower and Ignite, they were immersion breaking for me and a PITA. Adding Aim makes total sense because its a long arm and shooters aim. I mean If you dumped say ignite and put Beanbag there, which is amore likely scenario for a load in an underslung grenade launcher along with the M30 that would keep some uniqueness. Of course I would also shit can flamethrower because it makes zero sense on an AR, even a ludicrous AR like the M63 Frankengun. But hey, I don't have an AR so my opinion on that doesn't carry any weight. But I have a pile of DP toons (two weren't even tested because one doesn't have Suppressive and one is a shit Defender - my build not the mechanics) and like so many other things it is the fact that it isn't straight up damage that make them fun. The oft-touted S/L underpower complaint is offset by secondary's and things like mitigation, suppression and the like. You really wanna add damage, fine, add a little. Let the power remain centered on the lockdown. Killing the ability to lock Lieutenants is a key failure. At low to mid levels solo you need to have that time with a locked LT to either clear minions or whittle down a boss. but even with mag not touched you aren't doing that with a 2 second lock or even a 4 second lock. You adjusted recharge so that it could be a viable addition to the damage fire chain. If you have such a hard on to add another damage power to the chain then instead of 20 seconds to 8 seconds and gutting the hold duration and mag, leave the mag alone notch the hold duration down a little and only notch the recharge down to a point where I cannot permanently keep a guy held unless I have paid the price with slotting and Sets. Personally I wouldn't even change it. I have enough powers in my attack chain on any of my characters to where I have a clean cycle; Pistols, Dual Wield, Empty Clips, Bullet Rain and Executioners Shot, repeat with no waiting and that isn't even counting Hail of Bullets. I don't need another damage power, especially one that deals less damage than the lowest damage power I currently have. Because here's how I roll solo as a straight shooter, no Blaptastic attacking; Suppressive Fire on LT, Standard Chain (P-DW-EC-BR) on the minions, they are gone, refresh Suppressive on LT, start working the boss, Standard Chain Once, Suppressive on LT, Standard Chain Twice on boss, he dead, Finish the LT. That's how I shoot em straight regardless of the toon. Please look a little harder at this, its not always about damage, even on a Blaster.

Yeah. Like I said, I will get my data up in a bit which includes the slotting on each . . . just woke up and coffee isn't quite done on the IV drip 🙂

Okay got the two DP Blasters, one DP Corr and 1 DP Sent over. 30 minutes of back and forth fighting same mobs on Excelsior and Brainstorm and I am super not liking the overall changes to Suppressive Fire. I need to put the numbers together and compose my thoughts into something truly practical because I am kind of angry now as to why this was even done and how it has fundamentally rendered the power combat ineffective for what it is supposed to be😠. You will need to rename it to something more appropriate, like say "Plinking"💩. Seriously I need to sleep on this.

Here's some focused feedback for the people wanting knockback or repel removed or changed to KD or whatever . . . just because you don't like the mechanic doesn't mean it needs to be removed. Its wind and storms and having been through several category 3 Hurricanes and a Severe Typhoon on a flat bottomed amphibious assault ship, things don't get knocked down, they get blown off the deck, like helicopters snapping chocks and chains. How about letting a themed power set actually have a theme vice just being a reskinned version of something else.

Still having no luck moving characters to Test to test.

Cant test now cause transfers arent showing up. will wait for later to see if they show.

My problem with DP Suppressive Fire change is that the power is supposed to be low damage for the gain of the not terrible but not controller hold. One DP didnt take it at all because she had a better hold from her secondary (Radiation). Upping the damage to downgrade the hold renders the power pointless. But again I am copying them over now as well as my DP Corr and DP Sent for comparison

I am gonna be running my three DP Blasters tonight to see the impact from the changes to Suppressive Fire. On the surface I am not pleased that its hold is reduced even further. I have enough issues with it being a heavy damage low-to-no hold power on a Sentinel. I know Blasters aren't supposed to be controllers but damn, they aren't one trick poines.

Zone events have never been about XP for me, they are what I like to call seasoning events, meaning they add a little flavor to an otherwise bland zone. Take Skyway and the Troll Rave. That zone sucks, terrible for navigation at low levels and boring. You go there for Synapse Task Force or when it pops in a triggered event like Nemesis or the recent Mapserver thingy. But the Troll Rave is a thing you see pop up and run over to catch some Supa's. Its for badgers and in general its done well beyond the zone level so you are sweeping easily. But still, it adds a sense of "life" to the zone, the cops putitng down these drug addled clown shoes. Steel Canyon Fires, again seasoning but also a curious thing as even if you have totally outlevelled every thing you can still die if you dont get the fire out and the building blows. I always found it a little odd that it was Hellions who you have fundamentally outleveled once you leave AP. But since Outcasts do cold and electricity and earth, I guess they had to go all fire. But it works and you kind of feel heroic. Ghost ship is not so much one I am a fan of. Oh I do the badge run but the fact that so much of its transit is through water (yes it's a ship, I get it), but the ghosts don't spawn on water. Also there exploration badges on Striga relating to that ill fated ship yet it doesn't spawn there. Personally I would love to see the even altered to where it starts its pass through then docks, as if it has reached its original destination and then disgorges swarms of ghosts that scale like in other triggered events like Nemesis or Rikti or Zombie's (Think Ghostbusters II, terrible move but good scene) Brickstown - Well that is a classic example of bad advertising coupled with lack of interest. I have done it once, on my badger and never looked at it again. Ironically its actually a pretty crazy chaos event. Praetorian - Those are all nice actually, fitting to the zone but plagued by the utter absence of players in the zone. However they are the kind of events that should be used as a templat for creating new events (see below) Scrapyard - Yeah that pushes all the right buttons, badges, applicability to the environment and while you and your team might be over leveled to his lackeys he is a GM and takes work. The nature of the event (roving around) means if you made his minion spawn level similar to those seen in events like Nemesis then they would be a hazard/impedence to the zone. The key is his mob following him, not spawning around people in zone. Imagine a zone equal toon in Sharkhead accidently stumbling on the ass mob of keyed up Scrapyarders. I consider Caleb, Lusca, The Clockwork Paladin, The Babbage/GWW deal in Boom and the Paladin as non-event events. Thats just me. The War in the Vale in Coratoa is more of an event like the above items becuase of its design. Now additional zones events for flavor, I can think of a couple (along with the ghost ship revamp). Kings Row - It's the Row and it's the Skulls so naturally, at least to me it would be an opportunity to go a little further with the Lords of Death story Arc; Independence Port - This would be a perfect place to design up some sort of "Mob War" type event perhaps following the template of the Syndacate one in Praetoria or maybe trick it up by doing some kind of keep the balance thing where you have to take down just enough Marcones and enough Verandi's (or Frosts or whatever) . . . dont let Family X take over the rackets. Talos Island - If you do a revamped Ghost ship I would disgorge them here. Otherwise the zone needs something. The Tsoo seem underserved as a whole so maybe a different kind of gang War that plays upon the actions in that Arc with Sun Xiong. You know what would be great, do some kind of Big Trouble in Little China thing! OMG that would be great! Founders Falls - Okay work with me here . . . pigeons . . . swarms of pigeons . . . it works in Venice so why not the Venice of the Northeast (as opposed to the Venice District known as Crey's Folly. But seriously, how about a real deal high level Circle of Thorns event. Like they are coming after Infernal or maybe coming after the Midnighter facility in FF. Waves of the dead, especially ones that are generally only common on the V Side like Hellfrosts and Succcubus. But come up with another named behemoth like Baphomet leading an army. LIke defeat X spawn from X ports before timer expires then holy crap they are inside the club and crazy magic stuff (like the craziness of the Animus Arcanus in Praetoria and final demon battle summoning power from artifacts in the Midnight Club! Peregrine Island - Its the end-game zone and the event should reflect it . . . other dimensional leakage from Portal Corp spawns variants of the Thousand worlds. Take the existing crazy. Use the tech from the Shadow Simuncrums used in Posi 1 and the clone missions later but amp them up so you are facing you from other dimensions. Hell Russian roulette powers on them to mix it up. Double down on overpowered versions of Statesman, or get freaky with things like gather allies which include good guy Recluse from Dimension X and a non-plotting Nemesis. Hell give us no power having Phalanxers who are generic citizens who have to be rescued. Mend the rifts and escort the people back to their dimension. There is so much whacky fun you could have here. Anyway that's my two cents. Oh the question was favorite - Steel Canyon Fires.

And the badge is just because HR says you cannot focus on efficiency in the workplace as it makes employees feel they aren't valued for their unique qualities as a person rather than their ability to perform their job.

The Colors!

I have it on two (2) toons on Excelsior. They definitely happen and bomb teams do form. Now I am not saying its as common, most of the time its just hilltop button mashing but Rikti invasions happen all the time.

I liked Countess Crey the first time I saw her . . . when she was the Baroness and she was yelling Cobra!

Well she is also called Mother Mayhem so totally . . . now I am even more tingly. You make me think naughty thoughts Lum.

I want to have her babies. But I also covet her costume in its entirety. I love you Praetor Tillman 💞

The real crime were those freaking platform boots. Cheater!

Nerf regen nipples