Jacke

April 5

4 hours ago, Rudra said:

Snipers already ignore stealth. And several high level factions have snipers.

https://homecoming.wiki/wiki/Stealth_and_Perception

Snipers do not ignore stealth. They have 149ft Base Perception. With the usual -55ft stealth, they can see the Toon within 94ft. With -85ft (Stealth and a stealth proc), they can see the Toon within 64ft.

Only Rularuu Sentries (the Eyes) and Rikti Drones ignore stealth, but they only have normal Perception ranges based upon their Rank. They can be run past even with just a less-than-55ft stealth power if the Toon is quick about it.

April 5

11 hours ago, Uun said:

Stealth was buffed in i27p2 and its stealth radius increased from 36 to 55 feet (the same as Invisibility used to provide). Other than foes that ignore stealth (Rikti drones, Rularuu eyeballs, snipers, etc.) you are completely undetectable (highest perception radius for standard foes is 54 feet). There is no benefit to further increasing its stealth radius.

There are hostile mobs with greater Perception ranges.

https://homecoming.wiki/wiki/Stealth_and_Perception

Also, what's also vital is all stealth powers, even the ones that are under 55ft, like the Base Buff "Grant Invisibility", also lower the threat of the Toon. That's how with just Base Buff GI a Toon can run past mobs as long as there's not a lot of time within their Perception range.

EDIT: Thanks, @Uun. for calling out my mistake here. Only some of the stealth powers have -Threat.

April 5

16 hours ago, TheMoncrief said:

I've really wanted to know just how the damage bonus from Fighting synergy works. I tried reading City of Data, and it's... opaque.

CoD2 takes a bit of experience to read. Especially in the form in these links, which specifies no AT. Links for Brawl, Boxing, Kick, and Cross Punch.

https://cod.uberguy.net/html/power.html?power=inherent.inherent.brawl

https://cod.uberguy.net/html/power.html?power=pool.fighting.boxing

https://cod.uberguy.net/html/power.html?power=pool.fighting.kick

https://cod.uberguy.net/html/power.html?power=pool.fighting.cross_punch

Fortunately the descriptive blocks for each power is accurate and matches what the settings do. Remainder of this post quotes those texts below.

Brawl

Melee, Minor DMG(Smashing), Fighting Synergy

When all else fails, you have only your two fists to depend on, and will cause smashing damage to your target. Brawl also features a synergy with the Fighting pool. If you have trained Boxing or Kick, Brawl will also reduce the target's attack speed and chance to hit. The strength of this effect increases if both Boxing and Kick are owned. If you have trained Cross Punch, Brawl will also reduce the target's regeneration and recovery.

Boxing

Melee, DMG(Smash), Fighting Synergy, Foe Stun

You strike your opponent with a strong punch that causes light smashing damage and has a small chance to stun foes.
If you have also trained Kick, this power's damage is increased by 15% and your chance to stun increases.
If you have also trained Cross Punch, this power's damage is increased by 15% and will fatigue the target, draining some endurance and lowering recovery slightly.
The synergy with Kick and Cross Punch stacks.

Kick

Melee, DMG(Smash), Synergy, Foe Knockdown

You strike your opponent with a forceful kick that causes moderate smashing damage and has a small chance to knock opponents down.
If you have also trained Boxing, this power's damage is increased by 15% and your chance to knockdown increases.
If you have also trained Cross Punch, this power's damage is increased by 15% and will fatigue the target, draining some endurance and lowering recovery slightly.
The synergy with Boxing and Cross Punch stacks.

Cross Punch

Melee (Cone), DMG(Smash), Fighting Synergy, Foe Knockdown, Stun

You execute a sweeping right hook that can strike multiple targets in your frontal arc. This attack causes moderate smashing damage and has a chance to both knock down and stun foes.
If you have also trained Boxing, this power's damage is increased by 15% and will improve your recharge and accuracy briefly.
If you have also trained Kick, this power's damage is increased by 15% and will improve your recharge and accuracy briefly.
The synergy with Boxing and Kick stacks.
You must be at least level 14 and have two other Fighting Powers before selecting Cross Punch.

April 3

9 hours ago, Bionic_Flea said:

Thus was born Fighting Man! Watch him kick, punch, and brawl his way to victory.

Something like this has been done before. From the Mists of Time.... (Not my Toon, but one I learned of.)

Brawling Humiliator

Motto
Mamma said knock you out!


Description

A concept character.

Calvin Stanton is a former boxer, no longer relevant in that sport.
But he just feels the need to... go punch people.
Probably too many blows to the head. But that's why he has a helmet, right?
He goes out and punches the bad guys now... for JUSTICE. And glory. And... stuff.

(Dude only uses Brawl, Build Up, and Hasten, plus the occasional inspiration or two,
and a Red Wisp vet pet, if it sticks around.
That's it for damage.  Sweeper only, no teams, no missions, no contacts.)

That's a War Mace/Willpower/Energy Mastery Brute that someone played with just Brawl, Build Up, and Hasten to L50. Street Sweeping all the way. Now that's dedication.

April 3

I listen for and scout out ATs and Powerset Combos that could be interesting. For a Toon I'm going to create, I always have:

A name (but it always has "Jacke" or "Jacques" in the name) recorded in my Toon spreadsheet.
A costume (usually very simple) written out (which I've done since the start) and saved as a costume file; also any customized powers are saved.
A build with MRB.

That build gets tweaked a lot as I level and learn the Toon. I've got a lot of Toons idling at low levels. Got a complete scheme to cycle them through the Day Job Badges until I really get to playing them. Many get all but the Vanguard Day Job Badge (unlocks at L35) before they're L5 or certainly L10.

I started this including recording on my Toon spreadsheet where each Toon was parked on logout back pre-Shutdown when earning a Day Job Badge took 21 days and I needed to be careful to minimize the time. Now it takes 100 hours (4 days 4 hours) to earn them and it goes faster.

Hospital; University; Midnighter Club; charge powers in Hospital; Vault; Auction House.
- Get those 5 to ensure I get Accolades that include them when I get Redside and Blueside exclusive Day Job Badges.
At the same time as that, via Null the Gull, I'm rotating through being each alignment for 10 days to get those Badges: Hero, Vigilante, Villain, Rogue.
About the time the Toon goes Villain, maybe Rogue, progress to Redside exclusive Day Job Badges:
- Pilot in Port Oakes; Nerva Crey Bldg; Grandville Arachnos Tower; Sharkhead Arachnos Base or Mercy Arachnos Bldg; Port Oakes East Docks; Port Oakes Arachnos Bldg.
- As I get those Badges, I get an Exploration Badge in each Rogue Isles Zone for the LRTP.
Switch back to Vigilante and get the Blueside exclusive Day Job Badges.
- Atlas Park City Hall; Atlas Park PPD Station; charge powers in PPD Station; Atlas Park PTA Station; Steel Canyon Tech Store; charge to get 10 Invention Discount Coupons; Firebase Zulu; Peregrine Portal Corp;
Remaining Day Job Badges can get with any alignment. Stay as Vigilante or swap to Rogue for some Toons and work through them.
Always using the Badge Report Popmenu as my guide through this (see the link in my signature below).

Right now, because of so many toons, I'm in the midst of a major re-build series, doing Toon after Toon. Many haven't had a good build for years.

And HC is putting out new Powersets faster than I get Toons to L50. 😺

April 2

I find myself in the odd position of at least partly defending Jack Emmert and Castle, flawed men and developers though they be.

The good that both did is still somewhere in the game, despite their obvious faults. I figure Castle earned his posting to Recluse's Victory. (But Stateman killed by a punk like Darrin Wade...?!? That's just wrong...evil.)

Castle thinking Masterminds were going to be the Red-side Tanker...? Must have been thinking there were like Illusion Controllers with their Phantom Army. Then MMs were pre-nerfed by having their Tier 1 and Tier 2 Henchmen downlevelled from the MM. Nothing like kicking out the feet from under their new "Redside Tanker". No wonder Brutes were seen as taking that role.

If side-switching was never added to City, Red-side would be even more of a ghost-town than it is now. And making all ATs available Blueside, Redside, and Goldside, and having side-switching just makes sense, as does Powerset proliferation, especially considering Comics source material.

And it makes it possible to properly compare ATs and Powersets and see the issues and flaws that were always there. Thus, this topic. 😺

April 2

EDIT: Note that I'm not a Dev nor a GM nor any sort of HC staff.

Here @tidge gives a good example where Damage Procs can do good work, allowing the different ATs to reach a better balance in Game rewards. Thank you so much for posting that.

But that's not the whole picture on Procs.

12 hours ago, Wavicle said:

I assume procs are going to get changed a lot eventually, so I'm not really considering them at this point, to be honest.

12 hours ago, Infinitum said:

Hard to distinguish the current state without considering procs because they work so well with the current state of tankers. I personally don't build to proc out attacks - that's why I'm not 100% convinced this is a tanker problem.

In my tests similarly built brutes still out do similarly built tankers - but that's without procd out attacks and epic pools for additional aoe attacks.

Also replying to @Wavicle's post I quote above, @Haijinx said:

6 hours ago, Haijinx said:

This is at this point, a pretty big assumption. Since it's been years.

And if changed, it will affect AT balance a lot, so it seems like doing a balance pass first would make it less likely you'd do much of a significant proc change.

The current usage of Procs--despite having good effects, as @tidge points out--is hurting the Game. And this does bear strongly on the balance between Brutes and Tankers.

Take a look at the City of Data 2 entries for Dual Pistols' Suppressive Fire, here for Defenders:

https://cod.uberguy.net/html/power.html?power=defender_ranged.dual_pistols.suppressive_fire&at=defender

Dig into all the branching parts of the Power. City of Data 2 reflects how the Powers are set up in the Game. I see the signs of an Open Beta fight that left parts of the code here not used because of overlapping changes. Suppressive Fire with one of DP's Swap Ammo settings toggled on is now a short recharge power with different Holds, an improvement.

But Suppressive Fire without any Swap Ammo settings running is the old traditional 20s Base Recharge Stun power. Because I imagine those who Proc-Bombed the Power complained when the Devs tried to improve it for everyone else. Because I always hear those complaints when certain Powers are going to have their Base Recharge reduced.

I know that the best Farming builds, the best Tanker builds, are Proc-Bombed massively. I'm like @Infinitum, I don't lean heavily on Procs of any sort. Most of the Powers in my builds are slotted with 1 Proc, sometimes 2, very rarely 3 was considered, and never more.

I am sick about hearing about Proc-Bombing, Proc-Bombing builds. I know it's just people being people, leveraging what they can in a game. But that still has negative impacts.

But it doesn't matter what I think. Because I know that one major change, an improvement to a major flaw in an AT, was put on hold because Procs have to be dealt with first before that change could be considered for advancement to release consideration. There are likely other changes, fixes, that can't be done at the moment, because of how they will interact with Procs as they are now.

@Haijinx isn't right about their first line. The APROCALYPSE is coming. Search for that term, it exists in posts on these forums. It may even come in a Page released this year, as about 3 more Pages are planned for this year.

I've heard next to nothing about how the Aprocalypse will change Procs. One person who knows more mentioned that at least some Proc rates will increase. But I suspect it will fundamentally change Procs. Thinking on the one fix that I know is being held up by the current state of Procs, I figure to allow that to go forward, Procs will need to change a lot.

Thanks to @tidge's post I linked above and others here, I also know that when the Aprocalypse does come, I will need to raise concerns about the good effects of Damage Procs in helping lower performing ATs improve themselves. That AT balance should be addressed as well when the Aprocalypse looms. For it is coming.

April 2

Lots of interesting discussion in this topic and I only went back to somewhere in 2023. I agree with some points and disagree with others.

Some of these below are off-topic for a Brute-v-Tanker debate, except as more examples that being something different can be hard to balance.

This post by @ShinMagmus. I disagree with the opening paragraph, but I think both of the fixes to Brutes should be done: Increase the Base Defenses, Resists, and Healing to lie between Scrappers and Tankers, as well as improve Base Damage to lie between Tankers and Scrappers. Brutes should be between Tankers and Scrappers overall.

9 hours ago, Infinitum said:

I wonder if the fire melee difference is due to combustion only being on tankers.

This is a major issue and not just with Tankers and Brutes. The "same" Powerset is often very different on different ATs and not for good reasons it seems, as some have radical differences.

Another example is the Ninjitsu Protection Powerset. I've got a Ninja Blade/Ninjitsu Stalker but I'll not make another Ninjitsu Stalker as it lacks the +End Power, Seishinteki Kyoyo, that Scrappers get (two Ninjitsu Scrappers and counting). (And having Caltrops available on the Ninjitsu Stalker is good but not the same importance.) It's possible that this difference could be designed out in builds to not matter, but Scrappers don't need it completely designed out, thus allowing them to put more resources to other build goals.

Thanks to @Erratic1 posting the Trap Door clearance values and to @tidge for drawing attention to the actual absolute differences here. Which by my calculation is the worst cases have about 73% the clearance rates of the best. The differences matter but only to a degree.

Thanks to @ShinMagmus drawing my attention to Ice Melee here. I've not considered that Powerset sufficiently and this helps me think about putting it on a future build. (I am missing so many different Powersets and combinations.) But even more....

8 hours ago, ShinMagmus said:

Everyone: evasive maneuvers. Do not get pulled into the event horizon of the Stupidity Singularity. This game doesn't need *anything* moved towards Sentinel performance.

Nothing should be moved towards where Sentinels are at the moment. Especially Sentinels, who need to be moved away from that, soon. I know, I know, they're not nerfed Blasters, they're ranged Scrappers. But so many things aren't right with Sentinels. I need to play my one Sentinel more to better understand them. (It's an Assault Rifle (I main an Assault Rifle / Devices Blaster before it was cool 😺) / Ninjitsu Sentinel. And it gets Seishinteki Kyoyo! 😺)

One more thing....

March 28

On 3/23/2024 at 7:35 PM, Snarky said:

...it is pretty obvious this is a melee attack reskinned....

There you go! 7ft range when tagging a mob! Most people would be hard-pressed to head a soccer ball on the ground 7ft away.

On 3/23/2024 at 7:35 PM, Snarky said:

[ Remote Bomb ] makes NO SENSE in the completely ranged Devices set.

I've played an AR/Devices Blaster as me main since 2006. I've had various powers from Devices in the build for the toon. One power I never had in it was Time Bomb. Even just looking at the numbers, I saw the power wasn't worth it compared to the awesomeness that is Trip Mine, even back when it was interruptible.

During the Beta of Page 7, I tried out Remote Bomb. Definitely an improvement over Time Bomb.

Over the years, I've fiddled with the AR/Devices build a lot, had most of the Devices powers in at least one build, except Time Bomb. (Also just tested Taser once and dropped it; giving it 20ft of range didn't change my thoughts on it.) After Page 7 released, I had 3 builds for my AR/Devices Blaster to updated, one each for ~~Munitions~~ Arsenal Mastery, Force Mastery, and Mace Mastery. Biggest change was replacing the Mace Mastery build with a Mu Mastery build. Tweaked all the builds, which are all identical except for 3 powers each (from the respective Epic Pool except for the Mu Mastery build which takes Charged Armor, Spirit Ward, and Rune of Protection).

From Devices, I have all the powers except Taser. And Remote Bomb. It's better than Time Bomb. But it doesn't make the cut.

What place has Time Bomb in the ranged Devices set? An easily skipped power. 😺

March 27

On 3/27/2024 at 12:00 AM, tidge said:

Oh thanks, I certainly don't have two of the same %damage in any power 😉

You're welcome! As I mentioned, I wanted to get more good Warshade build examples for the time when I work on a Warshade build meself. All I know for sure at the moment is that it will be Tri-From.

Your build depends heavily on a lot of Damage Procs....

First, I'm not a Dev, I'm a part-time volunteer tester.

I personally do not use heavily Proc'ed builds. I prefer to pursue IO set bonuses. In my builds, I most often have 1, maybe 2, very rarely 3 Procs in a Power.

Search for the term "Aprocalypse". It will come some day. Some major improvements, need it to happen before they can be completed.

Another thing I've recently discovered is this post from 2019 October by @Galaxy Brain, Tester and Data Extractor Extraordinaire!

Galaxy Brain's Common Resist Breakdown

Amongst the mobs, at least as they were in 2019 October, on average, Negative Energy Damage is the least resisted. There may be a few cases of strong N Resists, and the overall state of affairs may have changed, But this is welcome news to Dark Powerset lovers like meself. 😺

March 27

16 hours ago, MadnessAsMuse said:

@Jacke Your work on @tidge's build helped me out too. I'm seeing even higher damage output numbers and I'm excited to give Gravitric Emanation a shot as a stun/proc mule.

MRB is a vital tool figuring out the balancing of which Powers to pick, where to put the extra Slots, what IO sets to slot where.

But be careful expecting MRB to be correct in all its details. It has several bugs in its database (many I've reported) and in other ways can't represent the variations that are present in the game (eg. a single power having both autohit and non-autohit effects). Some of them are very serious and so widespread, it's beyond the ability of the 2 supporters to fix. The guard against this is looking in City of Data 2, which @UberGuy works very hard to keep up-to-date, and draws its information from the game. And of course, in-game testing is a more certain judgement on builds.

MRB will eventually be replaced by another tool, likely like CoD2 drawing on the game information more directly, but there's no forecast of when that will be done. It's 2 volunteers doing this in their spare time, so it will be ready when it's ready.

An example of such an unfixable bug in MRB is that in-game, nearly all Pets do not benefit from their caster's Global buffs, some of them not even from buff auras like Assault, Maneuvers, or Tactics. Yet in MRB they do. To give Pets the best performance against tough content (+4L, which to Pets is actually +4L as they don't get the +1L boost from a Alpha T3 or T4), I've got a 2-part workaround for Pets along with checking them out in CoD2 (and this applies to Mastermind's Henchmen too):

Slot Pet Summons powers with ED-capped Accuracy: ideally 94-96%, at least 91-92%.
Check out the Pets' powers in CoD2, especially their Base Accuracy.
- If all important Pets' powers have at least 1.2 Base Accuracy, ED-capped Accuracy should get them to about 91% final ToHit.
  - Fire Control's Imps have 1 attack, Brawl, with 1.2 Base Accuracy.
  - Dark Miasma/Darkness Affinity's Dark Servant has 2 autohit powers and Twilight Grasp ST debuff PBAoE Heal with 1.2 Base Accuracy.
- But if some important Pets' Powers have under 1.2 Base Accuracy, then Tactics on any AT even just the base Slot will massively improve their final ToHit.
  - Ice Control's Jack Frost has several attacks, all with 1.0 Base Accuracy.
  - Dark Servant has 2 other powers with 1.0 Base Accuracy, Tenebrous Tentacles cone Mag3 Immob and Petrifying Gaze ST Mag3 Hold.
  - Mastermind Henchmen have a mix of 1.0 and 1.1 Base Accuracy powers.

Someday there will be a better build tool. Until then, we must be vigilant!

March 26

@tidge, I put together an MRB file for your build above. Interesting build. Will eventually need a good Warshade Tri-Form build, but doing that is a ways off, with many more builds for other toons needing attention before that.

Discovered 1 odd thing, L12 Dark Detonation had 2x Positron's Blast Change of Damage (Energy). Replaced the second one with a Ice Mistral’s Torment - Chance of Damage (Cold).

Warshade.20240323.Tri-Form [i27p7] @tidge - Tri-Form Warshade.mbd

March 23

I have a KM/Ninjitsu Scrapper winding his way through Goldside.

I think @Luminara covered the issues with Kinetic Melee quite well.

One thing that could be done is having the use of an attack while Power Siphon is running giving its +Damage whether it hits or not. Similar changes have been done to other Melee Powersets like Dual Blades' Combos.

On 3/21/2024 at 2:19 PM, Marshal_General said:

...where everyone has so much acc and to hit, that they rarely miss.

I take it you've never played a certain game family....

Spoiler

Even if that hit percentage is 98% or 99%, don't trust it! That's XCOM, baby!

March 19

51 minutes ago, BurtHutt said:

Dumb question: where do we get the HC Launcher?

Go to the HC forums main page. Scroll down until you see the HC Launcher section.

March 19

Normally I sometimes run at -1 Notoriety to get some missions/arcs done quickly and easily where I'm not that concerned about the XP but just getting it done. Things like the Mender Ramiel arc to unlock Incarnate powers, many Flashbacks to get Badges, etc.

One thing to speed up XP gathering is to street sweep Green and Blue conning mobs in Zones. That can be a slightly faster XP rate, but as usual, YMMV.

March 19

21 hours ago, Psyonico said:

I may be wrong, but I believe all of the DDR in SR is in the passives, so you don't want to skip them.

Not sure about the DDR (and you can never have too much DDR), but the 3 SR Passives give the scaling Resists (against all but Psionic and Toxic) as the SR toon loses HP. Those scaling Resists are vital for an SR toon not falling to some big damage getting past Defense.

https://cod.uberguy.net/html/powerset.html?pset=tanker_defense.super_reflexes&at=tanker

In short, for a SR toon, you want to take at least 8 of the 9 SR powers, usually skipping the T9 Elude.

March 19

On 3/18/2024 at 6:19 AM, GM Crumpet said:

I was told there would be no maths!!

There's always Mathematics. Often very simple, but it's always there.

March 13

48 minutes ago, Glacier Peak said:

I don't think Burnout should have a place in discussion about power balancing, but at the same time, as @Jacke points out, it's there and powers devs have to be aware of it when making changes. Having powers not meant to be chained together like Elude or double nuke is certainly a concern, but it should stay an exception to the rule and not the norm.

I think Burnout indeed has a place in discussion about power balancing, because it pushes any balance to the limit and makes that balance much harder.

I almost wish I'd not mentioned Burnout in that post, as it overwhelmed (burned out) my questions at the top of the post.

Care to give them a consideration, @Glacier Peak? 😺 Following is a repost (with a bit of editing):

I think there are some simple questions with difficult answers. I'd also say ignore the history. What's Past is Prologue. How things are changed (or not changed) needs justification in the Present.

Why is Freezing Rain on a given AT better than Sleet on the same AT?
- There are many similar issues, example some Protection powersets on Melee ATs having fewer armour toggles and lower End/s costs.
- There can be arguments about other parts of the Storm Summoning and Cold Domination powersets balancing out Freezing Rain being better than Sleet.
  - Without going into details, I'd say Storm Summoning has powerful pets/pseudopets and more damage with the top-of-the-line -Res in one power.
  - And Cold Domination is better at direct Team support and has its -Res separated into 3 powers (who also have other effects).
  - Cold Domination also gets important powers like its stealth+def+res aura and -Res patch at later Levels, which is still painful when Exemplaring.
- I'd say Storm Summoning is definitely better for solo play and could even be better for Team play, especially considering Exemplaring for WSTs.
- So why does the better powerset get the better -Res patch?
Why wasn't Sleet made exactly the same as Freezing Rain for each AT? Even if this required reducing or removing the -Res from Benumb and Heat Loss.
- -Res was moved around when Trick Arrow was changed (one of the best powerset rebalances ever).
Why is Arctic Fog at a higher Tier than Steamy Mist? Why is Sleet at a higher Tier than Freezing Rain?
- We don't want all the differences between powersets all homogenized away. But maybe some equalization could help.

March 13

I've read a lot of different viewpoints here. I think there are some simple questions with difficult answers. I'd also say ignore the history. What's Past is Prologue. How things are changed (or not changed) needs justification in the Present.

Why is Freezing Rain on a given AT better than Sleet on the same AT?
- There are many similar issues, example some Protection powersets on Melee ATs having fewer armour toggles and lower End/s costs.
- There can be arguments about other parts of the Storm Summoning and Cold Domination powersets balancing out Freezing Rain being better than Sleet.
  - Without going into details, I'd say Storm Summoning has powerful pets/pseudopets and more damage with the top-of-the-line -Res in one power.
  - And Cold Domination is better at direct Team support and has its -Res separated into 3 powers (who also have other effects).
  - Cold Domination also gets important powers like its stealth+def+res aura and -Res patch at later Levels, which is still painful when Exemplaring.
- I'd say Storm Summoning is definitely better for solo play and could even be better for Team play, especially considered Exemplaring for WSTs.
- So why does the better powerset get the better -Res patch?
Why wasn't Sleet made exactly the same as Freezing Rain? Even if this required reducing or removing the -Res from Benumb and Heat Loss.
- -Res was moved around when Trick Arrow was changed (one of the best powersets rebalances ever).
Why is Arctic Fog at a higher Tier than Steamy Mist? Why is Sleet at a higher Tier than Freezing Rain?
- We don't want all the differences between powersets all homogenized away. But maybe some equalization could help.

And the big big question: Why isn't BURNOUT being considered for rebalancing?

Sure, it's 3 powers deep in the Speed Pool. Rune of Protection is 3 powers deep in the Sorcery Pool, was in my opinion less of a balancing issue than Burnout, yet was rebalanced.

I'm not a powers dev. But I've handled complex systems. Studied RPGs for decades. Tinkered with them. Learned to understand the numbers.

I look at Burnout and think "WTF were they thinking?!?" Completely throws away the Recharge System. Makes other balancing so much harder.

Because there's always the question "But what if the new/rebalanced power is in this sequence of powers? And then Burnout is used to do that twice?" And were all the critical doubled sequences thought of? Because powers immediately doubled are a lot harder to balance that in usual use.

Burnout gets to break the game every 30 minutes. For the low low price of 48.75 Endurance and -25 MaxEnd for 60s.

If it was up to me, I wouldn't replace Burnout. I'd make it live up to its name. My proposal would need testing and balancing itself, but would work with the Recharge system, not break it.

"The Mad Minute"
- Burnout keeps fixed 1800s Recharge.
- 50 Endurance cost.
- For 60s
  - -25 MaxEnd
  - -0.5 End/s
  - +200% Recharge
- Every 6s for 54s (Count goes from 0 to 9)
  - Chance for Mag500 Confuse Self for 10.5s, replace: Count x 5% (increasing chance)
  - +Res Heal on Self for 10.5s, replace: Count x 20% (increasing resistance to being healed)
  - PBAoE Fire Damage 20ft radius, damages Self, Teammates, Mobs
    - Damage to Mobs and Teammates BaseValue x Count (increasing damage to others)
    - Damages Mobs (max 16)
    - Damages Teammates (max 255)
    - Damages Self for 10% of BaseHP
- After 60s
  - -50 MaxEnd for 10.5s
  - -50 End
  - -1000% Recovery for 10.5s
  - Mag500 Confuse Self for 10.5s, replace
  - +200% Res Heal on Self for 10.5s, replace
  - PBAoE Fire Damage 20ft radius, damages Self, Teammates, Mobs
    - Damage to Mobs and Teammates BaseValue x 40
    - Damages Mobs (max 16)
    - Damages Teammates (max 255)
    - Damages Self for 40% of BaseHP

If the toon is defeated during Burnout, including at the end, like Self-Destruct will leave no body to be rezzed. All burned away.

Now that's a Burnout! 😺

March 13

All of them. 😺 Says the guy who's mained an Assault Rifle/Devices Blaster since late 2005 and loved every minute of it.

For good combos, start with @Psyonico's selections: Traps/AR and Dark Miasma/AR, both Primaries are powerful and flexible. I'd also add Nature Affinity/AR and Sonic Resonance/AR, again two powerful flexible Primaries.

Mind you, I think Trick Arrow/AR is kind of silly, juggling a Rifle and a Bow. To me the only powerset to pair with Trick Arrow is Archery. But Trick Arrow is very powerful.

But the rest, all possible. Not all of them would be good. Ideally wants a powerset good at range.

March 12

Got the Valentine Tip "From Mysterious Napkin Writer", "To Belladona Vetrano from Mysterious Napkin Writer...":

Deliver to Belladona Vetrano.
Misdeliver to Praetor Sinclair.

Can't deliver to Belladona Ventrano. Guidance given to Underground Neutropolis where Belladona Ventrano is in the Resistance Hub. If not a Praetorian of Resistance Alignment, can't enter the Hub to deliver the Valentine.

Couldn't figure another way to deliver it. As a Night Ward contact, Belladona Vetrano is by phone only. Tried to deliver it to the Primal version, Ghost Widow in Grandville, who said "Don't you know that you should not disturb the dead? Leave."

March 11

9 hours ago, Curveball said:

I've tried to sort through this and I'm giving up. If this is a huge inside joke that I'm clueless about, I'll take my lumps, but the BIGGEST MYSTERY OF THE GAME since coming back has been the detailed information for Brawl:

I think those /linkinfo panels have some display bugs in certain contexts. One I know of is the "Show Detailed Info Here" in the Enhancement Management screen: it shows "<Recharge Value> (<Recharge Value without enhancement>)" but both values show are the same; really need to report that.

I recreated your visual, which appears to be another "Show Detailed Info Here" in the Enhancement Management screen. That definitely has a display bug. Here's two ways to get a better view of that power with the 2 other ways to bring up a /linkinfo window.

Enter this command: "/linkinfo Brawl"
- That shows the info on Brawl without enhancement (but it will have any buffs from having certain Fighting Pool powers).
- And sometimes gets the wrong variant power.... "5th Column Brawl" ?!? Seems to be the right values....
In the 3-column Powers display, scroll the right-hand column down to the Inherent section, right-click on Brawl, and select Info.
- Well damn, that one has display bugs too, maybe even worse.

Just goes to show, "Them thar's bugs in them thar hills!" Gotta get to reporting these....

March 8

7 hours ago, ZemX said:

And believe me, in this dept. Blasters have got nothing on Controllers.

Oh, so it's a competition.... First to get all 6 Debt Badges wins!!! 😺

Finally, a use for bad PUG experiences. Nothing like having the Team recruit the mobs to voice their opinion. 😸

March 8

19 hours ago, RelativeQuanta said:

My earlier reply to @tidge still stands here. The more resistance a critter has, the more valuable a -Res debuff is. A critter that has 50% resistance to everything that has a -20% Res debuff applied to it will take 40% more damage than it did before the debuff was applied and a critter with 90% resist all will take 3x as much damage once a -20% Res is applied. Overcapping Resistance isn't something normal Mobs do.

Ah, that's not the way -Res works.

First, there's the Purple Patch. Even irresistible debuffs are changed by the Purple Patch (as @Captain Powerhouse once mentioned).

For -Res, look at the Combat Modifier table and it's the strength of debuffs that changes, depending on the relative Levels between the toon and the target.

For the common case of +4 non-Incarnate-content missions with Incarnated toons with a T3 or T4 Alpha boost, it's +3. So the value of the -Res will be reduced by a factor of 0.65.

That means the Achilles Heel special will have its base 20% -Res reduced to 13% -Res in that case. And it's resistible -Res.

Then you don't need to know the Resistances of the target. Because of way resistible -Res is resisted by Resistance to Damage:

https://homecoming.wiki/wiki/Resistance_(Mechanics)#Resistance_to_Resistance_Debuffs

that 13% -Res (or whatever the -Res value is after Purple Patch) in all cases becomes 13% extra Damage outside of Damage Enhancement.

March 7

On 3/4/2024 at 11:27 AM, Major_Decoy said:

Until I can slot taunt in my blaster's AoE attacks instead of damage sets, there will never be an ideal pick-up group experience.

Blaster's AoE attacks are taunts. What do you think happens just before the Blaster's moto: Face-down and proud!

On 3/4/2024 at 2:14 PM, Ukase said:

I feel like I'm one of those geriatrics who've reached 100 years old, and the reporter asks them, "If you could tell anyone younger one piece of advice, what would it be?"
My in-game self would say, "Don't worry about getting to 50. or getting t-4'd across all incarnate powers or getting all the badges. Do what is interesting/fun/amusing for you. That's why you're here, isn't it?"

I think having goals is admirable. I also think it's important to enjoy the journey, even focus on the journey, while heading towards those goals. Both are important.

On 3/4/2024 at 4:10 PM, Latex said:

I can't remember the last time people asked for experience in clearing a mission, itrial or encounter of any type.

My experience is the opposite; I often hear these requests for help. This is also a game that can easily present obstacles. If players don't know how to reset a mission via swapping to another mission, or logging out, or for Task Forces the longer log out needed for reset, then it's very easy to have issues here. With the new auto-exemplar feature for old missions, it may become more common.

And at least for general game missions, someone can get help by adding others to the Team. Not possible on Ouro arcs or Task Forces without restarting. Which is often the solution too.

On 3/4/2024 at 4:29 PM, tidge said:

My own take echoes some of what was written above. I see two main issues:

.....

In the interest of over sharing: I have a couple of squishy characters with self resurrection powers on pretty short cooldowns. If we aren't on a no death challenge, I am running those characters HOT and I accept that in about 2% of +4 spawns I am going to eat dirt... But meanwhile I have upped the team DPS by significant margins. From the outside, this could look like some sort of crazy solo player trying to show off... And maybe it is, but this is using powers I actually chose and slotted!

Excellent points! As @Troo noted, also so @tidge. 😺 The Blaster's moto: Face-down and proud! It's not just for Blasters, everyone can do it!

Once you get the basics and intermediates of the game down pat, pushing the envelop in a smart way is how to test builds, test tactics, test your playing. And have fun! If it's not a no-defeat case like a no-defeat Master's run or other no-defeat, getting sent to the floor by the mobs is just your opportunity to say in Team chat: "Oops." 😺

On 3/4/2024 at 4:31 PM, Ukase said:

Forgive someone who is older, and likely behind the times. Is the term "wet chat" used here a typo? Or does it mean something? If so, what does "wet chat" mean?

At risk of being accused of treating the humour like pushing the marshmallow through the screen (gets through but something is lost in the process)....

All the talk about "Wet" is from a feature that was added, then later dropped during Page 7's Open Beta. To boost the effects of some powers, a "Wet" status was added by using other powers. I imagine it was dropped due to just adding too much complexity and another fiddly thing to remember. Barely recall it. Except for all the "Wet" jokes. (Which goes back to at least "The Rocky Horror Show" and one of it's songs. 😺)

On 3/5/2024 at 4:43 AM, Fihn said:

Someone actually wanted to know what I had slotted before doing Manticore.

You should have responded "A gentleman never tells. And should never acknowledge such impertinent questions. Good day, sir!"

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