Burnt Umber

I'll try to be there with Nuntius - Symphony/Thermal Controller

Unfortunately, I'll be a bit busy leading up to this weekend, so I'll have to miss the meet-up.

I've been playing my Dark/Elec. Brute through the new villain arc in Kallisti at +1/x8. So far, the changes turned my brute into a hilariously tough wrecking ball and I real like them. In particular, I noticed: This has been a great boon to the set. With IOs, I'm sitting a hair over 65% resist on my build (about 25% higher than on the regular server), and as a result, things like nemesis or rikti toxic clouds are not nearly as panic inducing. Prior to this change, Grounded was a necessary evil to the set: too much KB without it but not enough value for all the various times the game doesn't think I'm on the ground. This change gives a decent amount of leeway for the latter, and makes my resists hard-capped, or nearly so, on most of the elements. Previously, another necessary evil (namely, those times when the game would throw and overwhelming amount of N. Energy or Toxic out) as far as I was concerned. But now , I really enjoy getting to turn on the power right before I jump into a group, take the alpha, and then leave the group held as I mow them down. It's mighty cathartic. Similarly, Power Sink has become part of my opening attack, increasing my regen. significantly at the start of the fight. Energize also can stack better with all the extra regen. and helps beyond being a spot heal. I do regret that Power Sink is not nearly as potent for sapping or sustaining, but I'm most certainly willing to trade those for the new benefits. Overall, great changes. I really like the direction gone with this.

After some more experimenting with the current changes, I think I've gotten a better liking of the changes. On my Plant/Psionic?Levi. Dom., I feel that my standard attack-chain is going to be the following: Spores If up, Vines>Carrion>Water Spout>Spores again Psychic Scream>Bile Spray>PSW Seeds on any reaming Lts./Bosses Strangle>Psy. Probe> Psy. Thrust on single targets until dead It's not perfect but it seems to work well with Seeds' reduced target number and adaptive recharge.

This doesn't feel like an accurate description for me. On a Dom., at least, Seeds was a great opener that would cause a good portion (if not all) of a mob to fire on itself as I fired off my own cones and other AOE powers; it provided safety to take out the fodder with my opening salvo. And, to get that 200 damage number, you'd have to slot both of the confusion sets' damage procs as well as a controller ATO unique, so that certainly excludes Dominators from you consideration. But, I can see on a Controller how this has a severe impact on playstyle. Respectfully, I'm not sure I understand much of the value in that. When there are only a few (or perhaps only one) target left in a mob, would a hold be more useful? I feel like, barring a couple of edge cases with AVs/Heroes, confuse is most help when there is a target rich environment where you and your team want fodder to be distracted when you clear them. As target count drops, I feel like you want more impactful lockdowns on the remaining targets. Indeed, I feel those are the occasions when the adaptive recharge in the AoE holds shines.

I was testing these changes on a level 50 Electric Control/Storm Summoning controller through various missions and enemies in Kallisti. So far, I really like most of these changes. Static Field feels mostly the same in use now that it's a "true pseudopet" Jolting Chain is now a serious damaging power on it's primary target, benefiting much more from Containment Conductive Aura more strongly rewards me for getting into melee range, which stacks nicely with the rest of my kit. Synaptic Overload seems to jump more, or at least, hit more targets. I'm not sure whether it's the result of being a "true chain" or taking full advantage my inherents. I don't mind that it has a lowered target cap. But, I dislike that it has been given adaptive recharge: the few procs I had slotted in it have been rendered pointless, and I'd rather that the power sped up it's recharge if it critically missed rather than taking more recharge for functioning normally. Gremlins are still little chaos monsters, but now at even level, they get a fair number of damaging hits in before they inevitability die. And, as a bonus from containment, I enjoy that I can direct them to stand-by while I lay down controls rather than jumping into the fray. Paralyzing Blast > Tesla Coil change has taken a bit to get used to, but it has been neat to stack it under the Static Field/Tornado/Freezing Rain. It feels like I exert a good amount of control in the "battlefield" now. Besides my issue with the change to Synaptic Overload as an adaptive recharge power, I very much like the other changes made to the set.

I don't really like that the proc chance in seeds (and in Synaptic, but that's for another thread) has been obliterated. I'd rather take the 10 target cap and 90 second recharge. Part of the problem, for me, is that Coercive is so much better than any of the other options for slotting a confuse power that it hurts a fair bit when slotting it still feels like picking the lesser of two evils rather than a positive choice.

I've been playing my Plant Control/Psionic Assault/Leviathan Dominator through some of the new bits in Kallisti (at +1/x5 solo), and compared it to my experiences on the regular servers. My impressions are as follows: This has been a mostly fantastic change to the set. It really turns a completely skippable power into a must-have. I end up using this power at the start of every fight to line-up my cones or to lay down my multiple patch-powers (e.g., vines, creepers, etc.). My only issue was having to cut an attack out from my secondary to make room for this power in my build. This is an understandable change that has been telegraphed for years. However, I think this is an over-correction: the target cap reduction definitely hurts where the number of targets is well above the target cap. The power is not rendered useless, but I feel like it's mostly relegated to a secondary control to throw out if mobs get too close together or if I'm waiting on spores to recharge. Also, I'm definitely not a fan of the adaptive recharge addition here because it seriously impedes the Coercive Confusion proc from firing (as well as any other proc that someone might slot); I much preferred the 90 second recharge change from the prior patch. I had skipped this power before and I do not find these changes enticing for me to fit it into my build. This has been a weird change for me because, on the one hand, the power is available more often and affects more targets over time, but on the other hand, the less reliable effect of Domination together with the time it actually takes to take hold of mobs hurts. I've found that laying it down under a mob that's deep-sleep-ed by spores helps, but it has lost a bit from not being instantaneous. I think I like it but I still shall need time getting used to it. SO a bit of full-disclosure: I saw these changes in the Closed Beta last year around this time (before it was reverted), and I had stripped all but two procs (namely, Annihilation Chance for -Res and Glad. Javelin Chance for Lethal Damage) from the power. Comparing that to what's on Beta still stings a bit. It definitely feels like the power is firing-off it's sub-powers less; or at least, I feel like I'm seeing fewer ticks of orange numbers when I use the power on the regular servers. It also feels like the power is still spawning less creeper vines but that might be a bit of observation error on my part. The underlying power still works so I can't complain. And I have found great success in using spores, and following up with vines, then creepers, and then water spout. That seems pretty effective, but it's not available every mob. It will definitely take some getting used to. The pet seems better? I do wish I had better control over it's more aggressive tendencies. I don't use it all the time; it mostly comes out when I have to face an EB or above.

I was trying the new Grenade Launcher weapon customization on my VEAT huntsman. Wide Area Web Grenade, Venom Grenade, and Frag Grenade (as well as Heavy Burst) all fire from the bottom of the launcher (in the canister "belt") rather than from the barrel.

Hopefully my costume will fit; I'll bring Marcor - Rad/Bio Brute.

Fair enough! I was try to decide how to much I should alter my Rad./Bio. Brute's look; he looks a bit like an infected nuclear wasteland denizen so hopefully that'll do it.

As I try to decide what alt. to bring, is the theme just the powersets, or is there a costume too?

I'm not sure; there's a few AVs in the last mission so it might be a struggle. We could also try collecting a few from LFG/Broadcast? Though perhaps it's a quite weekend for us in the U.S. since it's Memorial Day weekend? Otherwise, I'm fine with putting a pin in this and doing it another time.

Haha, I sort of meant for that, so mission accomplished 😛

I'll try to be there with a (Dark/Royal) Blue version of Backstreet Justice - StJ/Willpower Scrapper.