Some of what I say is going to reference what's been discussed between people in the discord chat over the last couple of days, so if you want more context, please look there.
On the discussion about the heal and regeneration penalties for Absorb Pain and Share Pain, I think those penalties should be removed entirely. Not lowering them to -50% or -60%, but remove them completely. Maybe the penalty should be to have the users' defense or resistance lowered slightly for a short time, or perhaps increase the self-damage component of the powers' effects to something reasonable. Maybe both. But the loss of being able to regenerate health on a squishy set like this in this high-damage environment is too severe.
I also agree that 1606 HP-capped archetypes should all have their HP caps increased to the new Blaster HP cap in response to the insane level of damage that's currently happening in PvP, but even more broadly just as a matter of basic fairness. I find that much of the time that extra HP actually could matter in critical situations where a lot of pressure is put on support players, and I, too, don't understand why the Blaster HP cap was ever increased in the first place when you consider their damage output. There's a reason why the current composition of a lot of teams is mostly Blasters, one or two Emps, and then miscellaneous. There's really very little reason to play any other damage archetype unless you enjoy the two extremes of being targeted constantly or being engaged with seldomly, if at all.
If procs aren't taken a look at in PvP AND nothing happens with regard to a HP cap increase, I think that, in addition to removing those heal penalties, Empathy's Healing Aura, Pain Domination's Nullify Pain, and Thermal Radiation's Warmth powers should each have a moderate self-absorb shield mechanic added to them in a similar way that Spirit Ward from the Sorcery power pools works that would apply to the user only. Such an absorb mechanic obviously wouldn't trigger every single time these powers are used, but instead have a chance to occur perhaps twice per minute. Maybe these changes should occur even if the penalties are removed and HP caps are increased, but I'm willing to accept the view that perhaps all three of those positive changes happening simultaneously could be a bit much.
A few earlier points that I politely disagree with from the discussion in the discord chat that happened yesterday afternoon and into the night:
(1) Comparing one or two Emps' skill levels in the current PvP scene to the entire pool of PvP Emps shouldn't be a factor in the decision to remove those heal penalties, especially when that pool is so small (effectively a sub-set of the already small PvP community). In other words, if one or two Emps have known successful tracks records with healing and evading in spite of those penalties, kudos to them, but to hold everyone else to that standard just isn't realistic. Empathy/Pain Domination have learning curves that are so steep and the metagame is so hyper-offensive that that you almost have to be a masochist to play them. I think I've noticed a few more people step up and play them in recent weeks including myself, but individual skill levels and possibly even dedication to developing those skills may vary.
(2) One Blaster roguing Absorb Pain Emps can be a big issue. It may pull one Blaster off the main target, but I've been in situations in the past two weeks where that fact alone doesn't impede the other opposing damage dealers' ability to get kills in the slightest, especially if they continue the pressure on their target after a spike and/or immediately turn their attention toward the individual who was previously rogued and is already suffering from that prior attrition damage. Also, for various reasons, sometimes people don't run two Emps in their team compositions and instead run just one. Doing the former isn't an answer to this issue, in my view.
(3) I think evading on an Emp is generally difficult. Playing one is like circus plate spinning: at any given time, you're healing, applying Clear Mind, Fortitude, Adrenaline Boost, and probably doing other things depending on your primary/secondary and pool powers, all while making sure your teammates stay alive, you stay alive yourself, and quickly adapting when you're faced with getting run over by a damage truck. I love the challenge of it; to me, there's nothing like the rush I get from Emp'ing, but it's no easy task. There's a reason why most people don't play them, some get frustrated and stop playing them, and why some people can easily be perceived as being bad on them. Meanwhile, non-Emps have the luxury of being able to evade AND there's the implicit understanding that they rely on their Emps for their survival whereas Emps, if they're solo, don't have the luxury of relying on anyone else's on-demand heals, and even if there's a second Emp in the mix, it seems to me that in a lot of cases that second Emp is either trying to keep up their heal/buff obligations and survive and may throw a heal the other Emp's way if it's convenient. Individual experiences may differ with more skilled Emps, but I think they're an anomaly and not necessarily the rule. Perhaps there's an expectation that Emps like myself who are still wet behind the ears should strive for that, and I certainly am, but again, I don't know that such an expectation is realistic for everyone or if it's going to ultimately materialize in the same way for everyone.
Future Open World Content: A few more level 50 PvP zones with objectives like capture the flag and no NPCs. One of the level 50 zones being free-for-all like Warburg would be great, and another that disallows Incarnate powers with the exception of Alpha slots.
Separately, PvP missions with objectives would be great (like mini-base raids where challengers fight over Items of Power that have special effects/buffs that apply to future PvP missions). Depending on the mission type, you can have pre-made teams with friends/SG-mates and then others where you have to queue with random people.
Future Arena Content: More map options.
Overpowered Sets: I can’t speak to this; see “What Needs to Be Adjusted” below for commentary on procs.
Underpowered Sets:
I’ve never known Dark Miasma to be used very much in PvP even when the game was live, probably due to how certain signature powers in the set require an enemy to use in addition to the long root times. I think faster animations could help: Twilight Grasp having a faster animation like Life Drain’s animation (also make it auto-hit and not require a ToHit check), and Howling Twilight’s having an animation like Lingering Radiation.
Outside of Recluse’s Victory with the occasional Blaster or Sentinel using it, I don’t see Dark Blast-type powers used much on Corruptors, Defenders, or Dominators. The non-Blaster/Sentinel sets or some individual powers within the sets could use a buff to their base damage to bring them in line with other blast sets, and, ideally, making the rooting animations less severe on powers like Gloom and Life Drain.
I think non-Stalker melee archetypes need some help in being able to better fight against ranged players. "Guy" from the discord discussion had a good idea about adding toggle dropping to certain melee attacks. I seem to also recall seeing somewhere a suggestion about increasing the range on certain melee attacks. I've always been of the view that non-Stalker melee archetypes should have one Mortal Kombat Scorpion "Spear" ("Get over here!")-type attack with a moderate recharge that very briefly stuns its target, but I don't know how easily that could be implemented.
What Needs to Be Adjusted:
Procs make the metagame overly damage-focused. This should definitely be a priority for scrutiny because it’s overwhelming.
As someone who played several debuff-oriented characters on live, I think debuff users generally need more of a role in PvP, and I think that can start by making Defender debuffs unresisted once again as they were for a period of time on live. Aside from its own distinct utility, debuff sets outside of Poison generally don’t seem to be used because of diminishing returns, buffs and toggles that can easily make certain debuffs useless, and because PvP as it stands now is overly damage-focused. Slows, for example, aren’t really as effective as they once were. I think Corruptors should also have some limited percentage of their debuffs unresisted, too (perhaps 30-50ish%?). People who play specific debuff powersets can speak better to their concerns about individual powers and mechanics, but on the whole, I’d like to see a variety of debuff powersets like Sonic, Cold, Storm see more play in PvP again.
Certain toggle debuffs like Darkest Night, Radiation Infection, and Enervating Field drop when the user is mezzed, and I don’t think that should be the case. They’re difficult to reapply every time the user is mezzed, and such status effects do occur often in PvP. Toggle debuffs should remain on their targets even when mezzed. The targets’ ability to run away and get out of sight to de-toggle the debuffs should be enough.
Phase Shift users can be mezzed out of phase. It’s my understanding that this is a bug.
Taunt either needs suppression or Taunt resistance should be added to certain powers like Clear Mind, Enforced Morale, and Thaw.
What I Currently Like About PvP: the fast-paced nature of PvP is unlike anything I’ve experienced in other MMOs, and that's partly why it’s the only MMO PvP that I’ve thoroughly enjoyed.
I hope the devs will not consider any notions about adding any form of travel suppression to PvP. Again, the speed of PvP is unique to this game and travel suppression made it absolutely miserable. I agree that melee archetypes need some attention, but travel suppression is not the way to do it. Making powers that have a slow component viable again would help with that issue along with what I've said above in regards to underpowered sets.
Lastly, although our community is small, the people who do participate care about it a lot and want to see it flourish, so to the devs/GMs/GM Miss: thank you for taking the time to consider the opinions of the PvP community! It is very, very much appreciated.
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