Coyote

If you feel that you have to show that a "healer" can level up solo, I have a couple of suggestions: 1: Play a different healing set. Rad, Dark, and Kin are all good soloing sets. Pain is not great soloing, but it's better than Empathy, and healing-wise it's very close to Empathy. 2: Play a more aggressive secondary. I like Psy for a Emp, since the fast attacks allow you to heal someone then throw a fast blast to help them damage their target, without getting in the way of keeping up with heals. But for soloing, I'd rather run Dark or Water (Water preferably) for the additional self-heal and control, or Energy for the +Recharge that helps you get the auras up faster, or Ice for the Holds. Pain/Water or Pain/Ice should be a much better soloer, while still being a healer on teams.

That's not the most accurate way to look at -Regen. Assuming that -Regen lasts for its entire duration (which will be the case for most applications of Barrage since I think its duration isn't that long), it's a simple equation of RegenRate * Debuff * Duration = Equivalent Damage. Just like DoT, you would lose the back end of it if the target dies before it all "ticks off", and it has longer duration than most DoTs, but it's still just like DoTs on an AV, though not subject to Damage Resistance. For example, a 100% debuff for 10 seconds on a level 50 AV (I'm going to round the AV's Regen to 100 HP/Sec, though it's about 95 or so) is: 100%*0.15 (due to AV's -Regen resistance) * 10 seconds * 100 HP/s = 150 HP damage. That's 150 HP of DoT for the attack, just like if it got a 150 HP DoT of an unresistable damage type over 10 seconds that only affects AVs. I also don't worry about level scaling, because you lose damage and debuff effectiveness at the same rate. I'm not on the server to check numbers not, but if you plug in the debuff and duration for Barrage's debuff, it's easy to calculate how much extra damage it does to an AV if you spend Energy Focus on it, and see if it's worth more in an attack cycle than speeding up Energy Transfer and then using the time to fire off a Bonesmasher with the saved animation time, instead.

Understand one thing about designers and balancing powers: A power is generally balanced around its main purpose. With Power Crash as a damaging power with a secondary effect that is a chance to Stun, it gets balanced as a damage power and does full damage according to the damage formula (plus perhaps balance adjustments for the set). If you want it to be a 100% Stun, then it will probably get balanced as a Mez power with some damage, and it seems quite likely that its damage would be lowered. Considering that the set can reliably Stun hard targets, while its AoE is sub-par, it seems that more players would get the benefit of full AoE damage, than of 100% chance to Stun. So, while there would be some players (obviously) who may really want the guaranteed Stuns, my opinion is that more players will appreciate higher AoE damage than higher Stunning ability.

1: No, and Dominators usually want as many Power Pools that have a Defense power as possible, for LotG slotting. 2: Telekinesis and either Levitate or Mesmerize... but whichever you DO take will probably be unslotted after levelling up, as the attacks from Energy Assault are better. 3: I am taking all 4 (see build later). If skipping one, I'd skip, um... maybe Indom Will. It's mostly a LotG mule. I use PsyNado as a set mule to help AoE defense, but it could be slotted with a purple set and a Force Feedback IO in order to get Mass Confusion/Mass Dominate up faster for the next spawn. 4: Force of Will is a good power pool. Weaken Resolve is excellent, Wall of Force is good damage for a low-damage set and can take the FF IO, and Unleash Resolve is great and also can slot LotG. However, Doms are not a low-damage AT, so Wall of Force is not as useful for them. So they really only use 2 of those 3 good powers, but you could fill up the other requirement with the Superjump clone.

Correct, setting traps doesn't break Invisibility... and the Def bonuses from the two DO stack.

For my Tanker, my choice would be Barrage/Bonesmasher. However, Bopper made a good point: going Barrage/EP instead is fine, they're almost the same thing. But this would also give the option of going Bonesmasher/EP, which would be a DPS route, and I think it's a good idea to open up different design paths for a character. This is forcing all Tanks into the Control/Debuff path, while the change would allow for a separate DPS path, with only a slight loss of effectiveness for the Control/Debuff path (since it would now go with Barrage/EP instead of Barrage/Bonesmasher).

I really like the new changes. Bopper's idea of moving EP to Tier 1 for Tanks isn't a bad one... but it's fine without the changes. I have a El/EM Tank parked on Live now just impatiently waiting for the changes.

The secondary effect is underwhelming. Otherwise, it's an average damage power. That can be used twice without moving, which is better than the AoE on most Assault sets. And that only needs slotting once to act like two AoEs. Really, it's a clear step down from what it was, but I think it's also clear that the current version is overperforming... it's clearly the best AoE for Doms, and it's not even a close contest. AFTER the change, it will probably still be the best single AoE power for Doms, except that it's not going to be WAY better than every other one. And it's fine that it's the best, since it's the only one in the set. But it doesn't have to be as overwhelmingly the best as it is now.

Correct. Twice the activation time, twice the End cost, twice the damage (including proc effects this time), and twice any secondary effects (in this case a pretty weak Stun effect). It's gated behind a Total Focus energy field as a downside, but on the upside it only requires taking and slotting one power. If they fix the extremely weak secondary effects, frankly, it will be well balanced. It's just that it's coming from a clearly too strong double-damage effect (with only one End price and only one activation time), so it feels underwhelming by contrast.

I'm very disappointed in the changes. We all asked for a Healing Arrow since we know that Defenders who can't Heal aren't proper defenders, and instead of getting one, we got a Resistance Arrow (formerly known as EMP Arrow... now it's Irradiate Allies Arrow). I guess this means that TA Defenders still aren't proper Healz0rs :(. 🤪😝

I will be using WH twice after one Total Focus, and have the Orb IO in it. This will create a lot of AoE "chance to Stun", and result in a lot of mezzing around me. Getting a 100% increase in the activations of WH will allow it to work better as a proc bomb with a lot more stunning and make it wortwhile to slot the Orb IO. However, the arguments about Endurance use are spot on... Doms already burn Endurance fast in AoE situations. Increasing the set's AoE damage by allowing it to use the same AoE more often will make it hard to manage. I'm not sure that this is unfair, though... other Doms who have two AoEs still have to pay the Endurance for two power activations, and meanwhile they have to slot up two powers to do it, rather than one. It doesn't seem to me that Energy Assault is becoming sub-par in the AoE department, because: 1: WH is a mediocre AoE. I like the 20 second recharge as it allows for better proc usage, but the secondary effect is kinda weak (worse Stun than Fissure or Psy Shockwave AND with no other effect versus Knockdown and -Recharge). 2: but we only have to slot 1 power, not Fissure/Tremor or Psy Shockwave/Psy Scream. In the end, I can live with this, it's reasonably balanced, though I would like to see the secondary effect be better balanced... increase the Stun chance to 50%, or the duration to something like Fissure's. If used with Energy Release, give it a chance to get an End Cost discount. Basically, something to make up for the weak secondary/tertiary effect, and I'd prefer some kind of End discount function since that seems more useful. But I wouldn't mind more Stunning. Edit: oh, and one more thing... seeing Energy Release over a dozen victims is COOL. In this plan we're going to lose that... would it be possible to get an Energy Release effect coming out from the character, something like the EMP blast, to give a visual representation of the effect and make it stand out?

I agree... yank the thread, follow it to its end. If it causes problems, it's easy to revert and change Acid Arrow. Better to find knots and untangle them, than to leave them to snarl things up in the future.

Lumi.... I think you one-shotted my ancestors back three generations with that Wall of Text. And it didn't even crit!

One thing I would like adjusted, that ties in with the requests above for more Stunning, is to increase the chance to Stun for Barrage. Right now it's lower than Energy Punch, which made sense when it was the fast light attack. But since it's been changed to a mid-level strike with a base 6 Recharge, it should have a higher Stun chance than EP (and lower than Bonesmasher). The duration seems to have been adjusted for a heavier hitter, but not the chance... I think it should be 40-50%. Mag 2 is fine.

I don't really like to use it on all-ranged characters, for that reason. But if you're in the middle of mobs, then it can be decent. Its max damage over 20 seconds is like 66 damage, which is not impressive for a proc, but it only has to activate on one target to end up doing AoE damage to everyone in its radius, so it works a lot better on large groupings than other AoE damage procs. The downside is the DoT, so if you're playing a character who does high burst damage, it's not that useful. My Electric/Earth Dom uses it, and sits in the middle of a spawn keeping it drained, so it has the chance to activate a lot and to have a decent amount of time to do damage. So it's okay for PBAoE characters. Not great, the damage is too slow, but it's not bad for a single IO. It's also useful on my Fire/Psy Dom, who doesn't have great burst damage and also sits in the mobs. I don't use it on a Plant/Savage, since he moves around a lot and also clears spawns much faster. It also Stuns and draws aggro, which can be useful at low-mid levels. At high levels it's not that useful to draw aggro, since it has no defenses... so anything that can threaten a well-built character in their 40s and up is just going to crush it. So it's more useful on a character at low-mid levels, who is on the lower side of damage for Doms, or most Controllers since their AoE damage is usually more lacking.

Hm. I'm wondering if it will now become a good place to stick the Fiery Orb ATO... insta-recharge on a spammable AoE that only needs to activate on one target with a 2PPM proc means that there will be lots of balls of burning death following me around. And providing stacking stun fields, stacking with the weak Stun from WH. Whirl, Stun, Burn... repeat.

I'm not arguing that it's balanced, but there is an argument for it, as follows: The heavy hitters for Street Justice, Psy Melee, etc, will CONSUME resources such as Insight. And they crit for full damage. The heavy hitters for Energy Melee and Kinetic Melee will GENERATE resources (Energy Focus or a Recharge to BU). They crit for limited damage. Clearly, the balancing is the idea that generating resources instead of consuming them is worth some damage. Whether the amount of damage lost is worth the gain could be argued, but the concept is obvious and inescapable.

lllusion doesn't set up Containment or have much of a way to take advantage of it, so embrace the chaos... get a secondary that does damage without needing Containment, and play as an offense-oriented summoner/blaster/debuffer. I like Storm, TA, Traps, and Poison in that role... Rad and Dark also play very well and strong defensively, but not nearly as oriented towards offense, and so much more oriented towards teaming. Cold is another option... it's a strong debuffing set, and it teams well with some nice team buffs, but it doesn't help with damage so it's another teaming option that's oriented more towards offense... it also solos well against AVs, but struggles to clear maps about as much as the other teaming secondaries. Storm is high damage, and its chaotic control meshes well with Illusion. Slotting Force Feedback procs into Tornado and LS helps get PA permanent. This is my main character. TA (once the version on Beta testing goes live) and Poison are going to be excellent debuffing sets. I like TA more for Illusion as Illusion can play all-ranged, and so can TA, but Poison wants to go into melee range. But Poison is still a pretty good choice, with Poison Trap set up with procs to be an AoE damage attack to help with Illusion's low AoE damage. TA does have the advantage of an Immobilize to keep AVs in place. Neither really help with Recharge. Traps is probably the best pairing with Illusion, with personal defense to help for the times that chaotic control slips and mobs actually take notice of you. It has excellent AoE damage to help Illusion's weakness, and an Immobilize against AVs. It helps a bit with Recharge if you slot Trip Mine with Force Feedback, but not much since it's not a power to spam, unlike Tornado/LS. With the Beta changes to TA, I think Traps is the best secondary for Illusion, with TA in second place. Storm is third but an excellent option if you really like more damage, and Poison is a close fourth. These top four are really well ahead of any other lllusion/x options, IMO. Oh, and that's for a solo-oriented character who may team. For a team-oriented character who may solo, TA > Traps, and Poison > Storm, but in both cases only by a bit. Pick any of the four that you think you'll like, and you'll be happy with the combo.

Okay, some changes while keeping things as close to what you ahve as possible: 1: Swap the sets in Spectral Wounds and Lightning Storm. Apocalypse has higher Recharge than Decimation, and Recharge is more useful for LS. Also, the Build-Up proc is more useful for you. 2: You have too many +10% Recharge sets (7). Change Blind to Basilisk's Gaze and add a pair of damage procs to the end of it. 2.1: Drop the slots from Kick... it's only a set mule, and it's not even giving the set's main bonus. 3: Freezing Rain isn't a damage power, and 5-slotting it for a Recharge bonus isn't worth the slots. Drop it to 2-3, with a mix of End/Recharge and Recharge. 4: Add a slot to Tornado and LS, each with a Force Feedback proc. 5: Spectral Terror is mostly a -ToHit power, not a Fear power. The Fear duration is long enough that it doesn't need enhancing, so I put in DW's Despair, and moved the set to Thunderclap. Some other minor changes.

1: you are going for set bonuses too much even where a power doesn't suit the set that much. Freezing Rain is an example. 2: I would certainly put more slots into Health/Stamina. 3: I can't tell for sure since the actual build isn't there, but it looks like you have more than 5 sets with a 10% Recharge bonus, and you get only get the same bonus up to 5 times. 4: One of the main benefits for Knockback powers, especially on an Illusion/Storm build, is to get Force Feedback IOs into them so that you run with more effective Recharge. I would put them into Tornado, Lightning Storm, and Force Feedback. BTW, I think that the APP version of Energy Torrent is all Knockdown, not Knockback, so you can just replace the Sudden Acceleration IO with it. Here is the build I'm running... theoretically it's not perma-PA, but with regular activations of Force Feedback, it plays as perma-PA once you're in a constant fight like an AV fight:

It's an interesting topic to consider: On the one hand, I buff for damage, get Momentum, and do more damage in the next 5 seconds than if I didn't have it. On the other hand, I buff for damage, get Momentum, and open the fight with an AoE knockdown attack that knocks most of the opponents down. If the attack did more damage, even with a slower swing, it would be better, because fewer of them would be getting up off the floor. In the long run, DPA matters more, and also sustained DPS with AoEs, where their faster recharge means that you don't actually lose long-term damage even if you lose damage per attack. However, there is an interesting spot of time, say 3-6 seconds into a fight, where the faster recharge doesn't matter because they're still not recharged, but if they had done more damage in the opening AoE salvo, you'd be seeing fewer mobs get up and get an attack off. I like the change overall because sustained DPA and DPE can be counted on. But it's true that in some situations, hitting faster but more lightly does have a period of time where you end up worse off. Well, besides the fun of hammering health bars with one big swing. I'm not sure that they can really avoid it, it's a case of "big hitters are better until powers start to cycle, at which point DPS balances out", but if they keep the damage high while lowering animation times, then we're left with an OP version of TW. So... lowering the damage is probably the best solution overall, but not necessarily in every case.

Yoink over your head, or Yoinked over each target's head?

Momentum attacks do less DAMAGE because of their lowered Recharge causing their damage formula to change. Momentum attacks also activate faster. The increase in speed is greater than the decrease in damage, thus... Momentum attacks do more DAMAGE PER SECOND. So, you end up hitting weaker per attack, but better in terms of DPA and DPE. This is a bonus, not a penalty.

Mud Pots. More damage is always good. More -Slow on a character with a ranged AoE Immobilize is... superfluous. I mean, it's auto hit and will affect Bosses immediately, but still, it's not worth it. So the -Def... okay, the -Def is good, but I'm not sure when it's useful. You will generally open with Earthquake for the knockdown and -ToHit to slow the return alpha, and that gives -Def. Then you follow with Stalagmites, which will give additional -Def, and Stone Cages to prevent dazed wandering. That also does -Def. So while Quicksand may be nice in a powerset that doesn't have other sources of -Def or in an APP, Earth Control does -Def with almost everything, so... it's superfluous in the set.

Minor changes for me, nothing I'm playing got touched heavily enough to redesign the character. It may get me interested in making some more characters, but that's a different story, heh.