CaffieneNirvana

I want to clarify something here; in my last comment, I did say I'd not mind juggling the stacks 'as much'. But frankly, I'd much rather that gimmick stay unique to Psionic Armor's identity, or at least come with an alternative option to such stack refresh-based powers. Or in the case of adding it to older sets, be added AS that alternative. Now to be fair, does it matter if we let the stacks drop? No, not really. But it does get frustrating when it happens, especially when having to do things like backtracking across a map to find any enemies you missed. Then add in having to re-apply it constantly, and that whole 'cutting into opportunities' thing I mentioned before, and it's further soured for me. It does not feel good, since it tends to evoke a notion that you're piloting your character sub-optimally. Hence why I also described it as 'stressful' to have to manage; it's no 'FULL SYNCHRONIZATION FAILED' pop-up, but it can similarly feel like a dig on how well you're playing, even if you're doing everything else well. Also, it tends to be a bit more busywork when solo or on small teams. And on a full team, this mechanic can encourage characters who aren't as suitable for tanking to provoke a mob before a Tanker or Brute can properly grab their attention. Yes, this is something players can learn how to manage, but it'll take longer with that sort of conditioning spurring them to top off their upkeep RIGHT NOW before they have to start over and before all those tasty minions get deep sixed. And if you end up with only one enemy left, i.e. an AV or a GM, and you end up dropping your stacks, either due to circumstances or dying, it wraps back around to being irritating busywork where you have to rebuild the stack one at a time. Really, I am sorry to ask for ANOTHER one of these, but it feels like another case where a mutually-exclusive alternative would be more than welcome. I adore how Hoarfrost-vs-Rime works; long-term and steady survivability versus burst survival is a fun choice to get to make, and I've been taking both depending on what I want for a given build since Rime was introduced. So maybe keep the old Consume intact, perhaps with a small buff to its max HP (3~5% more would be nice), and make neo-Consume an alternative to the same end. Since some in this very thread have also expressed an interest in Consume emphasizing its use as a Recovery tool, it could be nice if that factored into the stacks a bit for the elective, too. Since it *already* has a 'get more of this with more mobs', that could just have its duration extended to let it accompany the max HP bursts. Alternatively, if we absolutely cannot have another split power option... Why not just keep the functionality of '15% more max HP for two minutes' as a self-replacing, non-enemy-reliant effect, and let the stacks just be some additional short-lived bursts? If done that way, outside of proc viability, most of what people already like it for could be kept intact, while adding in the new features for those who would enjoy them. You wouldn't have to spam it unless you wanted to, and it would feel more adaptive to what you might want and when. Giving freedom of use, instead of demanding constant usage to maintain benefits we used to have in a more laid-back form, and having a long-lasting effect so that one doesn't feel punished if they slip up on the attention tax.

Seconding wishing that Cremate and Combustion were the mutually exclusive ones on Tanker. It gives them a distinct identity, and the target cap reduction of Breath is a good internal balance to allow having three AoEs anyway I'd say. also if i could be selfish can weaponless ice melee have an ice bladed/encased kick or two, pretty please and thank you

Right. I love using procs for flavor as well, not just 'oh hey this sounds exploitable'. It adds personalization, as I said, and removing functionality for them feels like homogenizing things a bit. I admit I wouldn't mind juggling the stacks as much if the duration was longer, for Consume OR Drain/Consume Psyche. As it is, it feels a lot like having to use either so often would cut into opportunities I could/ought to be using to press the attack; hence the 'attention tax' I mentioned prior. But instead I have to keep taking a moment to make sure my plates are still spinning, which, while not mandatory, can be a bit stressful with the brief time that they're up for currently.

The biggest problem with the changes, as I've seen and another user also mentioned, is when it comes to putting procs on Consume. Procs from Invention Origin sets have their chance of firing affected by both a power's native recharge, as well as any slotted recharge. (Procs per minute also factors in, but those two are the main concern some of us are having here.) The way I understand it, one of the biggest elephants in the room for Adaptive Recharge as a mechanic is, regardless of how you use it, proc chance will ALWAYS be calculated by the lowest possible amount of recharge, even if you use it on a full-sized mob. This alone tanks the probability, but then you'll likely add more recharge on top of that with slotting anyway. Assuming you have no choice not to slot at least some recharge on X set for Y bonus. This results in powers losing a chunk of potential for personalization and/or theming, if not punishes certain builds for creative use of procs. For example, I loved using Avalanche in Consume to make it knock foes down. And while I've never tried this in Consume, a fond trick of mine with its contemporaries, Energy Drain and Energy Absorption, is to put the stun proc in them from the Energy Manipulator set. Fury of the Gladiator: Chance for Resistance debuff was also cited by said user, which is a really fun trick that adds versatility to Consume, and allows experimentation and customization for what each individual player might want out of it. Notably, I feel like this was fine on Control powers. Because in a lot of ways, Adaptive Recharge feels like it was tailored for Controllers and Dominators over anything it's been given to since, ESPECIALLY when it comes to Mind Control on Trollers. And in those cases, it feels like it gives back about as much as it takes, if not moreso. But for powers like these, on armor sets, it winds up feeling like the opposite, and that's based on my own experience with it on armor sets thus far. The developers can *absolutely* trim the recharge time of it down if they want, but I would vastly prefer if it was a fixed value. 60s would be fine, and still allow for proc shenanigans; with good slotting, even before any global recharge or Hasten add-ons, you could have it up quite reliably for every mob, and retain the best of both worlds, since with a base recharge of 60~75 seconds, even when slotted down to half that, the chances of procs firing will still be sufficient, if not plenty good. Or if it would be easier (and I know we keep asking for these more and more, I'm sorry devs), make two versions of the power; one that works the old way, one the new way.

So unsurprisingly, I have a lot of thoughts. And while my gut reaction was to go 'aww, this makes Master Brawler less special and not the tool I used to have', I'll focus on another glaring problem I have with it: practicality, and play conditioning, to borrow a term from HBomberguy. If I had to guess, the reason for the Practiced/Master Brawler effect reshuffle was to make a power that was infamously a nightmare for the devs into something easier to proliferate. But in addition to taking away a tool I adored having to flip clutch situations on my Sentinels, it feels like it's imparting a troublesome incentive to how you use Practiced. Am I supposed to wait until I'm at low health to hit my mez protection clickable now? Instead of leaving it on auto as I'm accustomed to? Or am I just supposed to use it willy-nilly, and take whatever I get? Because in the latter's case, it somewhat renders the 'more absorb at low HP' aspect a bit of a novelty. Just make it give a flat amount of absorb at that point. Sure, it'd be less exciting and strategic, but it wouldn't encourage you to risk faceplanting, since getting mezzed is *extremely* dangerous for a set that's dependent upon its defense. And Master now just being a mez toggle...well. I appreciate the idea, but again, it's not quite as enjoyable as that old interplay of just having a power to hit in case of emergencies. To have more absorb at lower health, which then played *beautifully* off of Super Reflexes' auto powers granting resistance at low current health, since the absorb didn't undo that. It would be nice if it could still be done by untoggling the power to accomplish the same effect, but with a MUCH shorter duration for the absorb versus Practiced's. Perhaps giving it a longer (15s? 20s-ish?) recharge time, and making the absorb only last that long. If it could have tailing mez protection along with it, that would be swell, as well, but I understand wanting it to have *some* downside to incentivize players taking Practiced. Alternatively, make the absorb and trailing mez last 20s, and bump Master's recharge to 60s when untoggled. And to reiterate what I said elsewhere...man it's a bloody shame we're losing all our long-lived tier 9s. The crashes could suck, sure, but they could still be used to flip situations, and would have been even more useful with the new difficulties than ever before. But, alas. Though on that note... I love this idea to pieces. And although I KNOW I'm talking crazy here as a crash apologist, it could be cool if letting it go over certain thresholds had their own drawbacks, like you 'pushed' yourself too far or too hard. Honestly, the only thing about crashes I despise is when they nix your endurance recovery to 0%, and I feel like that could be revisited as reducing max endurance for the same duration instead, which would indirectly cripple your recovery without nixing it altogether. If these crashes also had additional magnitudes depending on threshold passed, that could be neat. Nothing *worse* than what we have already, just up to it, with lesser ones if toggled off earlier, or none at all if done in the 30~40s 'bursts'.

That is a fair point. I'm just not the biggest fan of Adaptive Recharge being on my tools like this, due to the rhythm thing I mentioned. (It works much better on the mez powers, for me, since there it comes in CLUTCH for helping Hold magnitudes overcome EB and AV protection. It effectively adapts to and contributes to a situation there, and gives a new approach to it, as opposed to low key feeling like it's trying to control how you approach a power. Though this wouldn't be AS bad as Consume/Devour Psyche, since, as you pointed out, it wouldn't be as crucial as that is to Psi Armor.) That's why I said if nothing else, if they just make it have the same duration and fixed recharge of Energy Drain or Energy Absorption, which seems to be what the max recharge would be for it anyway, I'd be more contented with it over all. Not gonna lie though, I would love your idea down to the ground too. XD It would be a great middle ground to me. Edit 2: Actually, what would be SUPER nice is if they would add an option to Null to DISABLE Adaptive Recharge. That'd shut me up quite nicely, and I'd be intrigued to try it to see if it makes Psi Armor more fun for me too...

As a long-time fan of Fiery Aura... Can you please revert those changes to Consume? If Consume Psyche/Devour Psyche has taught me anything, I REALLY dislike having an attention tax on my armor sets like that. One of the best things about Consume was that its max HP buff was fire and forget thanks to its long duration, no pun intended; it was easy to manage, not hard to perma (and note I never take Hasten besides), and with how I slot my characters using it for Endurance was just a nice tertiary benefit. Adaptive Recharge can be a cool idea, but so far when it's applied to armor sets, and comes with stacks that all refresh every pop, it just becomes an attention tax to me, like I mentioned. That's why the indicators on Psi Armor's two examples of it aren't going to really turn me around on that set, sadly; the powers will still feel like they recharge too fast, last too briefly, and I will be punished if I let them drop, which is especially a problem with the one that's enemy-dependent like Consume would become. I appreciate the effort here, but Consume functions well as a survival tool as is. I like armor sets to be more flexible, or even 'fire and forget' with their clickables. Plus, the regular recharge made Consume a nice place to put ATOs, which Adaptive Recharge will negatively impact. I will say that I feel like if you want to reduce its duration/recharge some, to increase its viability as an endurance recovery power, that's certainly doable. I did notice you're tweaking it to be more in line with Energy Aura or Ice Armor's endurance management powers. And if the plan is to make Energy Drain or Energy Absorption also Adaptive Recharge, could that concept be revisited and discussed? The dependable/consistent recharge can very much assist survivability but also end management, and helps you 'pace' yourself and get into a rhythm, whereas Adaptive just feels irregular and awkward. And while I'm at it... While this doesn't affect Fiery Aura, I DO wish those other armor set t9s at least could last a minute. It's not much of a panic button if it's 30~45s. I for one never minded the 'long duration but with a crash' mechanic... If you're counting on using those to boost your Resistance/Defense then you need them to be reliable and with some longevity.

Would it be too much to ask if Power Siphon stacks also refreshed per hit? Especially given the snipped duration, which I feel was unnecessary given attack animation length. (Which I, crazy idiot that I am, am perfectly fine with as-is, unlike some.) Or would concessions have to be further made to the power in order to facilitate that?

Yeah, the game does have a built-in catch for that. Amusingly. I found that out during a cheeky little experiment wherein I tried to escape Praetoria using a Superbase Ouro crystal that displayed Rogue/Vigilante contacts. For a hot second it started to load the zone, then literally halfway through loading King's Row it went 'WAIT a min-UTE...' and booted my cheeky backside back to goldside. I DO think he may be hard coded to give blueside contacts, though, because I swear doing stuffs for Father Time on a Rogue always just gives me some nobodies I can't even work with in Paragon. But I stopped double-checking that last year, so I may well be wrong.

...Damn. For me it just seems like it's functioning as I described. I'm sorry it's even worse on your end; I wonder what's causing it to go THAT awry...? That IS another good use for -1, though.

I think something is getting a wee bit lost in translation here. Whatever difficulty the game is set at, you will mostly find mobs of that difficulty inside door/instance missions, but will, by design and even before page 3, ALSO sometimes run into mobs that are at one level higher than that as well. It's usually random, but sometimes (most frequently on Task Forces) specific mobs will be designated that. Example: first mob you'll encounter on mission 1 of Mortimer Kal Strike Force. *Currently*, because of the bug people are running into, setting the game at -1 will cause the game to act like it's set at +0 instead. So people will go into missions getting mobs equal to their level with a chance of meatballs--I mean. A mob one level higher. When normally it would give you mobs one level lower than you with a chance of even-level mobs. In fact, if you check a door mission in the mission tab on the Navigator before and after entering it, so long as it isn't at 0 the difficulty modifier will literally shift it up (or down, as it's meant to be with -1) upon walking in.

-1 has always worked on Flashbacks for me prior. And it has a use for the sake of people who might want to run certain arcs but not necessarily be slotted to exemplar for them.

Seems like -1 notoriety is scuffed on the Open Beta server as well; can anyone else give it a swing and confirm? Tested a flashback so as to avoid any incarnate level shift shenanigans.

Bwahaha; yeah. I've seen that happen a few times, even when it isn't doing something like the Spider/Widow arcs at WAY higher a level than intended. XD Can't fault a boss for strategizing~

If it would help to have some context, I first noticed this doing a Patron Unlock arc (Ghost Widow's) on a level 35 character. Both the first missions were set to -1, but enemies were consistently spawning at 35~36, and it also felt distinctly as though there were more 36s than would have been previously (had the mission actually been +0). Curious about that, I went to check a repeatable mission in Night Ward. The same thing happened; -1 notoriety setting, but the game was acting as if it were +0. So as a final test I swapped to another character who's 37, fired up a Hero Tip Mission in Atlas, set it to -1, and...yep, same thing. Absolutely no mobs at 36.