macskull

I think it's also worth pointing out why the enhancement exists in the first place - the initial "fast snipe" implementation tied fast snipes to having at least 22% extra tohit. If you had less than that, you always got the not-generally-useful slow version. This implementation worked but favored some ATs and powersets over others, so the change was made to have snipe behavior based on your combat status, and the fast snipe sliding damage scale was added so that some amount of extra tohit would still be meaningful for those who'd chased that 22% number under the old implementation. Anyways, while that change was overwhelmingly seen as positive, it broke some PvP attack chains (specifically Beam Rifle, where the standard 8v8 attack chain was Penetrating Ray -> Lancer Shot). When Experienced Marksman was added to the game, PvPers were asked which behavior they'd like the proc to force, and they agreed they'd rather have it force fast snipes for the reason I just stated. It isn't particularly relevant for most PvE builds since if you're using your snipe power as part of an attack chain you're already going to be engaged in combat.

Is it really that time again already? I'm going to go out on a limb here and say OP is playing a low-level character with few or no enhancements in which case yes the set's not going to feel good. Almost no sets in this game feel good at low levels, especially without enhancements. Oddly enough though, I find myself agreeing with at least a few of the points. Traps is not a great set for keeping up with a fast-moving team because it's just not mobile enough. Trip Mine needs to get the Devices treatment and Detonator needs to be replaced with the updated version every other AT got. Detonator's better now than it used to be, but that's... not saying much.

This is flat-out incorrect. Under almost every circumstance it is both - Brute and Scrapper taunt powers have -75% range, and Tanker taunt powers have -100% range. Even if an enemy is immune to taunt, the -range will floor their range and cause the AI to move in closer to you to continue attacking unless there is something making that critter either run away or stay put, and those two scenarios aren't common.

From the power description: From the enhancement description: I feel like it's pretty clear that slotting this enhancement makes snipes instant-cast and thus removes the additional damage from using them while out of combat. Being instant-cast and non-interruptible and still dealing the bonus damage would be kinda broken, don't you think?

This is expected behavior, only the smashing and energy resists apply to anyone other than the main target.

Here’s the issue: there are usually enough people interested in doing the raid that you’ll inevitably have some unable to get into the zone but you won’t have nearly enough for a second group. Sure, I can try and gather the 10-15-20-however many stragglers and start a second raid but by the time I get enough people to be comfortable starting the original raid is over and I have accomplished nothing. More often than not a second concurrent raid just won’t get the number of players it needs to be successful. A modest bump in zone capacity helps address this problem. “But now the raid is too easy because of the number of players,” I hear you say. I’d tend to agree with that sentiment if it wasn’t already quick and easy with the current 50-player limit.

We do do that for defense (and damage, and tohit, and a whole bunch of other stuff). Player attributes that don’t scale with level are the exception, not the norm. There are a few reasons this happens: The same reason enhancements are subject to enhancement scaling when exemplared - so a higher level character isn’t that much more powerful compared to a character of that actual level when exemplared Ensures a “middle ground” for lower-level characters to ensure early content isn’t either a snooze fest or extremely difficult.

It probably helps that most of the changes were reverted or seriously dialed back at the 11th hour so the net effect is a lot smaller than the initial versions of the changes.

Black Hole applies "only affecting self" so yes, you're stopping their buffs from affecting anyone.

Then you take the L and you only get to cage one of the towers instead of two, and it takes you a little longer to finish.

I can think of one encounter where intangibility is extremely useful provided the entire team is on the same page, so not something you'll run into with a PuG.

Eh, I’m not opposed to the idea at face value, or at least the idea of a better potential reward for spending more time on the content. I’d rather see that happen than have the encounter’s rewards nerfed, which to be entirely honest I’m surprised hasn’t happened by now.

This is not, and has never been, true. It's an idea that was floated by one of the devs. More on-topic: the ASF D-Sync rewards table was tweaked slightly sometime last year(?) so that the D-Sync enhancements which previously did not have a corresponding Hami/Titan/Hydra-O had roughly double the chance to drop compared to the ones that have the equivalent. When the hard mode LGTF was added the corresponding Hami-O's were created and those also have a higher weighting. It's part of why Provocations have dropped from 500m to 300m - there's more content that drops them and the weighting has gone up.

When discussing unresisted heals, the heal resist cap is completely irrelevant. It doesn’t matter all that much in practice either, since there are virtually no critter powers that affect heal resistance, and in the one common instance where there is, Absorb/Share Pain will cover anything the unresisted self-heals won’t.

No? The set was already functional, if not particularly amazing, as a control set. Where it stood out was letting people clear through groups without having to roll yet another Blaster or Scrapper.

That’s not at all obvious. Clear speeds are slower than they used to be. The set is getting rebalanced to no longer be reliant on two powers to achieve its maximum performance, that much is true, but the result is the set’s maximum performance is lower. It’s an unfortunate set of changes that removes options for players.

Why, though? The only reason these changes are happening in the first place is because tester feedback said making armor set heals resisted would complicate certain content (namely Hami raids). Kheldian self-heals staying unresisted means nothing changes for them.

The funny thing is Plant Control wasn't even a good PvP set pre-Issue 13 when Controllers and Dominators were significantly stronger in PvP than they are now.

If you think the Plant Control changes (or any other changes in the entire history of this game save one) are because of PvP, well... lol.

Canonically it's at least 2023 in the game universe, so it looks like we already know what the city looks like 21 years later.

You could completely remove Fulcrum Shift and Kinetics would still be one of the better support sets for the reasons I outlined above.

While true, Faraday Cage is location-based and will require continuous re-casting every 15ish seconds if the team is moving.

I'm like 99% sure you're trolling at this point but I'll give you the benefit of the doubt. Siphon Power: eh, sure, this one's kinda meh aside from stacking -dmg against a single target. I see a lot of people skip it and I don't blame them. Transfusion: it's not much -regen but it's something. It's also a pretty solid heal and a decent endurance drain. Repel: yeah, you got that one. Easy skip. Siphon Speed: an unresisted -spd/-rech power that gives the caster completely unsuppressed run speed. What's not to like? Increase Density: the only ally knockback, repel, and teleport protection power in the game aside from Clarion. A great mule for the resistance IO set uniques. Speed Boost: even if I don't need the +recharge I get recovery, slow resist, end drain resist, and unsuppressed run speed. Discounting SB because "I already have enough recharge" is crazy talk. Inertial Reduction: unsuppressed jump speed and height and the best jump control power in the game. A great mule for some KB protection. Transference: the other half of your end drain kit, and since you can't SB yourself it's what you use to keep your own endurance topped off. Fulcrum Shift: no explanation needed. So, yeah, only 2 of the 9 powers in the set are skips and you can probably even argue that one of those two has a place.

I am not at a computer to check numbers, but if the magnitude is affected by purple patch then the duration is not, and vice versa. It might be worthwhile to consider allowing immobilize enhancements if the actual succ duration is too short to be useful.

It would seem like you already are learning how to use it, and you’re learning there are some critters it doesn’t work with… which means in those few situations the power isn’t more useful than it used to be, but in every other situation… it is.