Draeth Darkstar

Welcome home, BABs!

IMO, we shouldn't get into the business of trying to arbitrate anything to do with the in-game Code of Conduct. That rabbit hole could very easily lead to an insurmountable slippery slope. The wiki is a player resource and informing players what SG bases exist on the servers is the beginning and the end of the wiki's responsibility as I see it. Let the players do with the information on that list what they want; if that means involving a GM in a Code of Conduct conversation - so be it. Not our circus, not our monkeys.

As I've said in a couple different places, I really dislike this change. What I learned post-implementation about it has done nothing to change that. Captain Powerhouse (all respect, boss) was under the impression that the original Paragon Studios devs refused to proliferate Cold Domination because the scaling was wrong, and that it was only proliferated by fans during the "Issue 25" era. As you've correctly identified above... that is not what happened. Edit: Since we're also apparently now arguing about Cold Dom OP, etc., I would have much preferred a nerf to the Burnout interaction that would have taken out the most abusive use of Cold Dom rather than cutting down the baseline performance of the set that has a much more harmful affect on normal gameplay than the edge cases that Cold is actually an outlier in.

Stalker > Ice Melee > Assassin's Ice Sword has incorrect short and long descriptions, which appear to the copied from the Dual Blades assassin strike, and the advanced details incorrectly states that it only does cold damage when hidden.

It does seem like a... strange... choice to fix the bug that was causing a bunch of extra Lightning procs to occur, and not give us at least one build to see the results of that bug fix in action before also doubling the delay on Lightning attacks, too.

Noted on Release Candidate 1: Cryo Freeze Ray In-game and patch notes: Long description does not mention slow or -Fly. Sleep Grenade In-game and patch notes: Short description incorrectly states DMG(Toxic), should be DMG(Smashing). Long description does not mention damage. Liquid Nitrogen In-game: Short description incorrectly states DMG(Smashing), should be DMG(Cold). Missing -SPD Patch notes: Short description incorrectly states DMG(Smashing), also incorrectly states Immobilize, -Fly. Long description still mentions removed wet status feature. Flash Bang In-game and patch notes: Short description missing Ranged (Targeted AOE) and DMG(Energy). Long description does not mention damage.

The short and long descriptions of this power still disagree on what the damage type is. In the previous build it was dong cold damage, I don't have time to check again right now. It also previously said, but was not actually doing, -Fly before. Again, not sure if that's changed with the addition of "immobilize wet targets," whatever that means.

Echo Plaza, to participate in events. Supergroup bases, to meet up with friends. Making travel less accessible to new players - or old players' new characters - is not the way to go in the 2024 gaming environment.

I really, really wish that this touch up did something to make a pure-ranged damage Fortunata build better. I know the melee build is strong, and I would have no problem taking some kind of kiss/curse power that improved the ranged damage powers while locking out or nerfing the melee powers in some way. I find it very frustrating that - by far - the strongest way to build a Fortunata is basically just an alternate take on Night Widow instead of what the Fortunatas in the game world actually are.

Fair enough. My only objection to pets on Melee ATs is that they're always so damned squishy that they just get flattened in any content that's hard enough that the extra damage would be a noticeable benefit. That's really more part of a global problem with pet squishiness than anything, though.

Dark Mastery for Blasters: Murky Cloud: I would much rather have Dark Embrace or even Shadow Meld, please. Fearsome Stare: YES! Possess: Meh. Black Hole: NO. I am literally begging you to please stop trying to make Intangible a thing. Soul Consumption: Circumstantially great, which is good. Dark Mastery Epic for Controllers: Murky Cloud: Same as Blaster. Dark Blast: If the other attacks have to be Umbral Torrent and Midnight Grasp, can we at least get Gloom here? Umbral Torrent: Meh. Midnight Grasp: Meh. Soul Consumption: Same as Blaster. Dark Mastery for Dominators: Murky Cloud: Same as Blaster. Tar Patch: YES! Darkest Night: Why is this here? If I am a Dominator, I want control or murder. This is not control or murder. Umbral Torrent: Meh Soul Consumption: Same as Blaster. Dark Mastery Epic for Masterminds: Murky Cloud: Same as Blaster Shadow Binds: I would so much rather have an AoE Immobilize over any other form of control or attack on a Mastermind. Dark Pit: The duration is too short and the cooldown is too long on a Mastermind to make this worth it. Possess: Same as Shadow Binds. Soul Consumption: Mastermind is the last archetype I would want this on. Dark Mastery for Tankers and Brutes: Penumbral Grasp: I just don't see how this is supposed to compete with Gloom, but that's not news. Petrifying Gaze: A proc bomb until proc bombs get nerfed is fine I guess. Revisit after aprocalypse. Dark Blast: Meh. Night Fall: Better than Umbral Torrent so I'll take it. Tar Patch: I adore this power, but I'm not sure how useful it will feel in practice long term with Tank/Brute debuff mods. Ice Mastery for Defenders and Corruptors: Frozen Armor: YES! Flash Freeze: NO! Hoarfrost: I guess? Build Up: Corruptor is really getting the better end of this deal, which they deserve. Hibernate: I hate this power so much. Please move the Ice Elemental over here. Ice Mastery Epic pool for Scrappers and Stalkers: Ice Bolt: Good. Frozen Spear: It's wild that this exists but I love it. Shiver: Conversely, I hate this so much. No one wants an AoE slow. Please get rid of this. Frigid Wind: Neat. Ice Elemental: I love the idea of getting more pets in APPs, but not for these ATs, please. Move this to Corruptor/Defender where it will be appreciated. Psionic Mastery for Brutes and Tankers: Mesmerize: I have never wanted anything less. Dominate: Fine until aprocalypse. Harmonic Mind: Neat. Mental Blast: Meh. Psionic Tornado: I love this power even if it's blatantly worse than Fireball in all situations. Psionic Mastery for Scrappers and Stalkers: Mental Blast: Meh Psionic Lance: Yes. Psychic Scream: YES! Again, I know it's not the greatest, but I'm biased; I aesthetically love this power. Harmonic Mind: Neat. Psionic Nexus: This is my favorite thing in this Page. I have wanted access to this pet VFX since it was introduced. That said, as much as I love it, I desperately wish you were adding it to a Blaster/Corruptor/Defender/Controller/Dominator/Mastermind/Widow APP instead of a light melee AT that will always skip it. Please let me have this on the archetypes that have psychic powers. Please, please, please. Epic > Psionic Mastery > Telekinesis: Neat. Epic > Earth Mastery > Hurl Boulder (Controller): If this is going to be a legitimate ranged attack, can we please have an alternate animation for it? Anything from Seismic or the Propel animation would be nice. Epic > Electricity Mastery > ESD (Mastermind): If the -regen debuff had a reasonable duration this might actually become worth taking. 5 seconds is a joke. Epic > Energy Mastery > Focused Accuracy (Brute/Scrapper/Stalker/Tanker) and Epic > Mace Mastery > Focused Accuracy (Brute/Controler/Corruptor/Defender/Tanker): Neat. Epic > Fire Mastery > Bonfire (Blaster/Mastermind): You had may as well delete this pool. Bonfire soft control was the only thing it had going for it. Epic > Fire Mastery > Melt Armor (Blaster/Brute/Scrapper/Stalker/Tanker): Neat Epic > Force Mastery > Repulsion Bomb (Blaster): Neat. Epic > Psionic Mastery > Psionic Tornado (Controller/Dominator): Losing almost 30% of its total damage and almost 50% of its area is so not worth the faster DoT. If this needs to have a longer recharge to not gut the damage scale, make it a longer recharge.

Overall I love that the theme of this set finally introduces our first equipment-based control set and gives us an option for a no-powers Controller. That said, I think the current power line-up has some serious room for improvement, especially on the lower end, though, to get it to a point where it will be reasonably competitive with the bulk of the Control sets. The set feels all but unplayable on a Controller to me due to the lack of Containment options on an archetype that is already desperately behind on the damage curve. Tranquilizer: A single-target sleep is very high on my list of powers I would never want. The only time I have ever taken a power like this is Mind Control > Mesmerize, and only because it can be stacked with the AoE Sleep that doesn't do damage. I would much, much rather see Cryo Freeze Ray here. Sleep Grenade: An AoE sleep that does damage trumps Tranquilizer as the #1 power I do not want. Not being able to stack this with itself or Tranquilizer makes it so limited in use I honestly can't think of why I would ever take it. The anti-synergy with Liquid Nitrogen also feels really bad from a psych perspective. If this were replaced by an AoE Immobilize, the whole set would instantly feel much better to play. Cryo Freeze Ray: An unremarkable single-target hold; a staple of Control sets and fine as-is. It's a little weird to me that it doesn't have a slow component when practically every other ice-themed power in the game does, though. As I said before, I would much rather see this be the 1st power option. I really dislike the choice between two Sleep powers that I do not want. I know it's less unique, but the set would just be better and more enjoyable if it were ST Hold, ST Immobilize, AOE Immobilize like most others. Liquid Nitrogen: I love Ice Slick and I love this. It's not the best power in the world, but it's a lot of fun. The short text description of this power erroneously states it does smashing damage. It also says it does -Fly, which the power details do not; I'm not sure which of those two is wrong, I didn't have time to find something to fly into it, but I'm guessing it's the short description because Ice Slick doesn't do -Fly and this seems to basically be that. Cloaking Device: Maybe an unpopular opinion, but I like having weird utility powers in Control sets and I like the stealth in Illusion too. This is fine as it is if the sleep powers get replaced with Immobilizes. If either Sleep power has to stay I would rather have an AoE immobilize and then a ST immobilize before this. The set just doesn't have enough actual control to be a functional Control set right now with two sleeps and a stealth. Smoke Canister: An AoE Confuse is always welcome. The debuffs attached to it make a certain amount of thematic sense, but they also make the power worse at being a Confuse. I would be fine with that if the set had better damage elsewhere and an effective way to set up containment, but it doesn't have either, which makes this underwhelming when it would be the centerpiece of the set otherwise. Flash Bang: Again, unremarkable but effective; feels like the Fire disorient, which is a good thing. Again, really would be a lot less annoying to use if the set had an AoE immobilize. Tear Gas: Another stock example of a Control staple, the AoE hold with an excessively long cooldown. Of all the stock Control staples to pick for this set, this is the last one that I would have asked for and it's the one that most often gets skipped in other sets. There's nothing wrong with this power in a vacuum, it's just not what the set desperately wants to feel more playable. Gun Drone: Completely subjective, but I have always hated the way this thing looks. It's goofy. It looks too low tech to be something out of a comic book technologist's arsenal but too inexplicable in function to be a real toy for a natural character either.

This is very awesome. Would it be possible to get a summary of these changes?

Not much of a sample size, but the reactions to this post are certainly one-sided.

Sentinels aren't designed to be Blasters with shorter range. They're designed to be Scrappers with longer range. That's why their AoEs have the same target caps as melee attacks. They're never going to have comparable AoE output to an AT that is entirely dedicated to blowing stuff up when they have an Armor set.