cohRock

The Sorcery Pool is much improved, and over time I'm betting it will be a source of many respecs. Consider: Mystic Flight -- buffs to both its flight speed and teleportation range Spirit Ward -- now a toggle that lets you frequently buff an ally or pet with HP via absorb (42 HP every 3 seconds at level 50) Enflame -- now a 60-second toggle which recharges in seconds. Give friends or foes a damage aura. Arcane Bolt -- has an enhanced mode allowing it to do more damage and sometimes insta-recharge Rune of Protection -- still offers resistance and mez protection, but with a much shortened recharge time My Mercenary/ForceField MM happened to have the full set already. Spirit Ward proves especially useful to apply to the Medic pet, who can heal others but not himself. Since he teams frequently, Enflame can be used to give a tank, brute, or scrapper a damage aura (or add another one). None of his pets really benefit from it, but it can be applied to a foe as well, such as a troublesome boss. The only direct damage attack he had was the M30 Grenate until he took Arcane Bolt at level 44. The cast time is still fairly long, but with the occasional insta-recharges and extra damage, it proves even more useful. While Rune of Protection is not necessary from level 45 up due to his Destiny:Clarion power, it does offer damage resistance to all and can be used as survival tool in tough battles.

I brought over to Beta a level 38 dual-pistol/regen sentinel with concealment:stealth and a level 50 mercenary/force-field MM with all Sorcery Pool powers. I liked the changes on both characters. The difference between the improved Stealth power and the new Infiltration power is subtle, but distinctive. Infiltration is essentially a travel power with some stealth and minor defense. It is not something I would want to use in battle. The new stealth with stronger invisibility is a battle power. Probably the majority of existing Stealth users will also have a stealth proc, such as Celerity:Stealth in Sprint. And the proc's stealth is additive to what the new Stealth offers, bringing the stealth radius from 55 to 85. I don't know whether that will be effective against snipers. I fly around PI for a while hoping to be sniped (without Sprint active), but I didn't come upon any snipers. I was hoping to see if the 85-foot radius would make a difference. It just occurred to me that I should have taken this level 38 guy to Crey's Folly, where there are plenty of Nemesis snipers of sufficient level. I'll do that later. Oh, another major difference between Stealth and Infiltration is that Stealth keeps its negative aggro rating, making foes less likely to attack him if their are other targets near. Infiltration is not documented to have this feature, just the enhanced run and jump speed instead. My MM loves the changes to Sorcery. I had no idea that Sorcery would get major buffs, but I'm glad he is ready. One of the Mercenary minions is a medic, but he cannot heal himself. Placing the Spirit Ward toggle on him gives him (at level 48+1) an ongoing 42 HP heal (absorb) about every 3 seconds. (I didn't check what it will be in Dark Astoria, where he will be level 48+5.) So now it will be significantly easier keeping him alive as he helps keep the other 5 mercs alive. Also made a toggle (with 60-second duration) is Enflame, a much-improved damage aura compared to the current one that only lasted 20 seconds. Even when the toggle wears off, within seconds the power is re-available and you can apply it again. None of my mercs are really melee guys, but my MM frequently teams, and so this will get lots of use! Plus it can be applied to Big Bads directly, having them damage themselves and any of his nearby allies. I haven't yet checked the "Arcane Power" attribute granted to Arcane Bolt, but any buff has got to be good, right? Rune of Protection has received a subtle buff, with significantly decreased recharge time and somewhat decreased duration. Adding in that recharge buffs won't affect it, percentage-wise, it appears to be a wash, but more frequent availability should make it a net positive. And, oh yeah!, Mystic Flight is significantly faster and allows fine control when Hover active. All in all, Sorcery should become a much more prevalent tool in players' arsenals. --- added 90 minutes or so after original post -- It turns out that the new 55-ft radius of Concealment:Stealth +30-ft more radius from Celerity:Stealth are insufficient to stop snipers from seeing you. Verified by taking my 38 Sentinel to Crey's Folly, and experimented with a level 39 Nemesis Comet. He had no problem seeing me, even with the combined 85-ft radius. I suspect this is by design, and I have no problems with it. Expect to see a lot of Celerity:Stealth procs show up at the AH when i27p2 goes live. Spirit Ward acts the same whether I am 50+1 and my Medic is 48+1, or I am 50+3 and he is 48+5. In either case, activating Spirit Ward gives him an initial absorb of 210 HP, followed by 42 HP about every 3 seconds. If he is not under attack, his health bar stabilizes with about 40% of it showing as absorb.

@TygerDarkstorm and @UberGuy "Working as intended" and "not actually a bug". .. Hmm, That would be easier to believe if my MM's pets despawned when he leveled up from 47 to 48 (remaining a sidekicked 49 throughtout). They did not. They only despawned when his effective level of 49 became his actual level of 49.

My level 48 Merc/FF MM was teamed with a level 50+1 brute doing an AE mission. Thus he was sidekicked to level 49. Upon leveling to true 49, all his pets unspawned. I know this happens when one drops in level, but when staying at the same level?? Incidentally, when he leveled from 47 to 48, nothing happened to the pets. This was expected, because his effective level remained 49.

You're right. There are folks I know who willingly use Fly on purpose during missions. They can't stand the slow speed of Hover. But I'll gladly take the control Hover (and Combat Flight) give, especially in narrow caves and construction areas with lots of beams and pipes there blocking direct access to where you want to go. So I think it would be better to not make controlled flight in Nova form the norm, but give people the choice to gain control via Combat Flight. One way this could work is to not have the Combat Flight button active while in Nova. But if it were active when you went into Nova form, it would remain active. You would have to leave Nova form to shut it off. This is how Essence Boost already works. You cannot activate it while in Nova, but if it were active it remains active in Nova until it wears out via its normal timer.

Okay, I got my Peacebringer high enough to have Combat Flight and copied him to Beta. You were correct. Combat Flight and Energy Flight act together to give the flight control and a little defense. But Combat Flight is not active in Nova form, I believe leaving it the only fly power which will still lack control, constantly overshooting desired location. So I again suggest that Nova allow Combat Flight to operate and give control. I don't even care about the defense aspect; the control itself is what is important.

A question about a peacebringer's Combat Flight. Presumably it will act with Energy Flight the same way Hover acts with Fly. I.e., we will be able to have both on at same time, and have the control and defense of Combat Flight added to Energy Flight. Right? My main question deals with the Nova form's fly. It has always lacked control. Will Combat Flight be modified so that it can be used along with the Nova form? This would not be the only such exception to Nova limitations. I don't know when it happened, but at some point the Gleaming Eye attack was not only kept active during Nova, but enhanced by Nova as well. So I'm hoping Combat Flight will be added to Nova capabilities as well. If not now, then maybe at some point in the future. I hate flying in narrow caves at high speed with limited control.

If you are asking if bases will get wiped, that is very likely. If you are asking if there is a way to preserve and restore a base, I do not know.

I just tested the enhanced Super Jump in the Shadow Shard (Chantry). SJ+DJ was able to get my character about 2/3 of the way to the Storm Palace, but he still needed assist from a fly power to get him all the way there. This test was done starting at the island one zones into. I probably could have reached the Palace by jumping between islands (or using gravity wells and no travel power). However, since finding the path into the Palace is a second obstacle once there. I'm not sure the enhanced Leaping Pool in itself will prove sufficiently flexible for the shadow shards. If bringing leaping within the Shadow Shard to an equal footing with flight and teleportation is a goal, perhaps eliminating the timer for Double Jump within the shards would be one way to accomplish that. I just verified on the way back from the Storm Palace to the FBZ portal that jumping from island to island works well. So the only remaining issue is somehow finding the entrance before your jump timer runs out.

Is it too late to buff Acrobatics as part of i27p2? I suggested this a while back: The suggestion would add subtle features to Acrobatics to make it a power people might want to take, and make it worth its 0.26 end/sec cost. In summary, I propose: increase base run speed by 5% increase base fly speed by 10% increase base jump speed and jump height by 10% resistance to slow debuff resistance to recharge debuff With Hover and Combat Jumping already having their speed raised, perhaps dropping all speed increases to 5% would make more sense. Explanations and discussion in the original thread. Even if you can't fit it in the current Beta build, is this something you would consider adding at a later date?

I like Hurricane as it is. Generally treat it as a situational power to group foes, not to scatter them. Occasionally, as when the whole team is ranged and foes are mainly melee, it can act as an effective shield even if it is scattering foes.

I haven't lost a name in a re-roll, but I have in character transfers. I just try to accept and maybe take advantage of the renaming "opportunity". For example, my storm/water defender Wet Water has become Whet Water. Likening it to a whet stone, I now like the new name better.

There are quite a few powers which have side effects, yet the primary set for that power does not support the side effect. For example, a melee attack may also have a chance to stun and take stun enhancements. With normal enhancements or IOs, you might slot it with an acc, endReduc, three damages, and a stun. If you were using a damage set, you could also include some recharge with the power. But you would either have to use a normal IO or enhancement for stun. What I propose is the capability to change a normal enhancement of your origin and level range, and upgrade it to a set element of a given set. Example: level 42 scrapper has an attack slotted for six enhancements, and has 5 of the PBAoE set Obliteration. He has the whole set except for "chance of smashing damage", and would like to extend stun time instead. His options currently are to slot a normal level 45 stun enhancement of his origin, a level 45 normal stun IO, a stun-set IO, or sacrifice another Obliteration bonus to get the small, first bonus of a stun set. What I propose is something like: (game adds a capability to the Manage Enhancement screen (MES) to make a wildcard IO) purchase a stun enhancement of your origin and level (assume 45, but 40 would also work) have an empty slot in the power click any member of the Obliteration set already in that power drag the stun enhancement to the second merge slot merge them. Now the stun is a slotted level 45 (40) element of the character's Obliteration set, offering the final-tier set bonus Restrictions: only one wildcard within a power could be used, even if there are multiple sets already there the wildcard must be of a type the power already accepts, but the set does not offer (I.e., you cannot add more end reduction to a set if the set already has at least one element with end reduction) the wildcard enhancement can neither be sold nor traded. It can either be slotted at creation, re-used in a respec, or deleted, nothing else. (I.e. there is no additional programming needed for the assignment house to support many dozens of new wildcard enhancements.) only normal, "dropped" or store-purchased single-origin enhancements can be used as a base, not IOs nor Hammis. The strength of the IO becomes fixed regardless of the character's level (but as stated, it must be within his level range when the wildcard is created). you cannot extend the count of enhancements in a set. If the set only offers 4 elements, you cannot use wildcard to create a fifth. If a wildcard is already slotted as the 4th element of the set, you cannot add the normal 4th element at a later time without first removing the wildcard or an already-slotted normal set element. Note that this concept could also work in reverse. You might have a stun set in a stun power that does minor damage and accepts damage enhancements. You could add a single damage wildcard to that stun set if the set does not already offer damage. I understand that some will feel that the option for the power to simultaneoulsy accept more than one type of set is a reasonable trade-off. That is a perfectly valid position, but I do not think this suggestion would cause any game imbalance.

For completeness' sake, I'll say there is a p2w vendor in Pocket D as well. She is accessible by all characters, regardless of alignment.

Good points, thanks. I might have an issue with the last one, which i set to red. I would not favor a large speed increase in Acrobatics. In fact my suggestion gives run speed only a 5% boost and other speeds a 10% boost. (I seriously considered suggesting them all at 10%, though.) The reason is, I want Acrobatics always on in missions, and in a lot of missions, such as caves with narrow passages, having too much speed is a negative for me. I grin and bear being speed boosted by a kin, and I absolutely hate the Fool mystic fortune. The latter not because of the slight decrease in accuracy, but the speed itself. I'm not the only one either. People with slow computers or internet connections, poor eyesight, or decreased hand coordination tend to find excess speed to be problematic.

I already know the points you bring up. That is why only one of my characters has Acrobatics. I guess the answer to "But why?" is simple nostalgia. I played long before sets were introduced, and the leaping pool Combat Jumping and Super Jump powers were pretty much standard on all my melee guys. So anyone who still needed knockback protection would also take Acrobatics. A few of my flying or Super Speed non-melee guys would take it as well, bypassing Super Jump for Jump Kick. So it just felt right to give Acrobatics to at least one of my guys on Homecoming, and it was an expedient method for my fire/fire tank to not get knocked away from his own burn patch. That said, once I had Acrobatics, I did think, "this power is a lame anachronism." I got to thinking what would make it seem useful again without it becoming a "must have" for min-maxers. The suggestion in the first post is my answer.

@Snarky To avoid further side-tracking this thread, I replied in my original suggestion thread.

In another thread @Snarky wrote: The "compromise" is threefold. First, the buffs to speed are conservative, not worth a lot on their own, but still significant. Second, the resistances to slow and recharge debuffs are vague and would be set by the developers to likewise be subtle. Third, I avoid suggesting a buff to recharge speed as that is already covered by the pool power, Hasten as well as various set bonuses. In so far as what AT power comes closest, it might be elements from the ice armor power Wet Ice in its protections to knockback, hold, and slow. I can't think of a power that simultaneously buffs speeds and resists debuffs to slow and recharge though. The heart of my suggestion is that a power named "Acrobatics" should make a character more, you know, acrobatic.

Which is a large part of my rationale for proposing that Acrobatics be buffed. Many people I think reach the conclusion that it is a lame power not worthy of their build. And it certainly is overpriced in end cost for what a character receives. Instead of just having another eminently ignorable power, give it enough qualities to make it worth taking. What do you think of my suggestion? (You can answer there.)

An unmentioned option to this point is Acrobatics. It offers mag 7 (+2 more according to Mids) KB protection and some hold resistance. One of the downsides is that you need two prerequisite Leaping Pool powers (chosen from Combat Jumping, Super Jump, and Jump Kick) before taking Acrobatics. The end cost is somewhat high (0.26/sec) considering that the -kb procs use no end at all. My fire/fire tank has chosen this option and has had no kb problems, especially considering he has no knock protection otherwise. Incidentally, I have recently made a suggestion to buff Acrobatics so more people will consider taking it. See: Basically, I suggest that its functionality be improved, by actually making characters more athletic. It would slightly buff speeds and provide some resistance to slow and recharge debuffs.

Assume you have an attack with knockback as a side effect. You slot it with a knockbact-to-knockdown (kb2kd) proc, but also add another enhancment from the same set that includes more knockback. Does the additional knockback make any difference at all, or is it cancelled completely by the kb2kd?

Thank you everyone for your feedback. I am going to do as Rannos suggests, except change the auto-fire back to Hasten. The reason is I found a fourth reason that makes an auto-fire of Clarion to be a hassle. If you want to use it to buff your Lore pets (or any others you may have), then coordinating an auto-fire Clarion and pet summoning becomes more awkward than necessary. By taking back control of when Clarion starts, the coordination is simpler.

My level 50+3 psy/poison corruptor has two powers I would like to autofire, Hasten and Destiny:Clarion (tier 3, Partial Core Invocation). Clarion has a 2 minute recharge, and at tier 3 grants at least level 6 protections to most mez's for the entire time -- i.e. perma mez protection. So I have to decided to change the autofire from Hasten to Clarion. I see three downsides to this decision, in descending order: Clarion costs 20 endurance. During big chaotic battle it could possibly de-toggle Charged Armor, Maneuvers, Tactics, and/or Hover. I might forget to restart Hasten for some period of time. If I team at a lower level, I need to remember to set Hasten to autofire. Besides my protection, the other strong positive of Clarion is it grants its protection to all allies and pets within 50 feet, so any other squishies on the team usually receive the same mez protection as my guy. (Well the melee guys get it added to their own mez protection, which seldom is needed except perhaps for knockback.) So which do or would you choose to auto-fire?

@WavicleI have mixed feelings about your suggestion. I agree that if you are the squishie of a duo and don't have stealth while the tank/brute (t/b) does, then it is easy to get in situations where you bear the brunt of alpha strikes. OTOH, if you follow behind the t/b and he is careful to taunt immediately then his aura suppression will seldom have negative consequences. In this instance, though, you are forced into a play style that may not suit you. Bottom line is I favor aura suppression but admit it can have unfavorable consequences on your teammates. My bottommer line is that my t/b characters do not choose power sets with stealth because of these consequences.

Currently: While this power is active, you are very nimble and Acrobatic. You can avoid most Knockback effects and are resistant to Hold effects. You must be level 14 and have two other Leaping powers before selecting Acrobatics. ... End Cost: 0.26 end/sec Personally only one of my characters have chosen Acrobatics (fire/fire tank). One has to invest in two other Leaping powers, and the end cost is equivalent to a full shield. He doesn't use it for the hold resistance, but for the knock* prevention. I would suggest enhancing this in subtle ways so as to make it worth the investment and end cost, but not so much that it would become a min-maxer's dream. Specifically I propose: increase base run speed by 5% increase base fly speed by 10% increase base jump speed and jump height by 10% resistance to slow debuff resistance to recharge debuff The in-world justification for these improvements would be that, being more athletic you can move better and have learned to minimize wind resistance in above-ground movement. The slow and recharge resistances would also be the result of your training to maximize your movement and reaction even under harsh conditions. Note that recharge time isn't actually increased; you have simply gained the ability to shrug off some of a recharge debuff placed on you. The reason I don't propose even a small recharge buff (5%, say) is I don't want the power to be viewed as a step to perma-Hasten. That might make it too attractive to some people, who would end up with two prerequisite powers many would not otherwise take. None of these abilities would be enhanceable. Acrobatics would continue to accept End Reduc, Recharge speed, and Knockback (resistance) enhancements only. IMO, the suggested improvements would make the power worth the end cost. Alternatively and less appealingly, the end cost could be lowered to be more in line with its current benefits. Maybe 0.12 end/sec.