Omega-202

@Chris24601, I hear you, but at the same time, resources need to be prioritized, especially with a volunteer team running this. As it is, every AT has at least one electric tertiary pool, and some get two, which is more than you can say for other elements and themes. Regarding "breaking character", the whole system is a set of compromises when you RP. If having to spend 30 minutes to do a quick Null>Scorpion>Null run to unlock a pool is a game breaking mechanic to you, then how do you deal with half the stuff the game throws at you?

I feel like there's a lot of people in this thread who are giving their opinion on PPPs right after saying "I've never used them". Also a lot of just wrong things (eg the armors requiring a symbol or lack of customization). Why comment on things you don't know about? Anyway, I think that they're fine for the most part, and some are true gems. Mu and Soul are generic enough to work for a lot of themes and are competitive or superior to APPs for a solid number of ATs, especially Scrappers, Stalkers, Brutes and Tanks. I would argue that Mu is the min/max choice for Tanks and Brutes and Soul and Mu are the top two for Stalkers. Lev and Mace often clash a bit more thematically, but Scorpion shield is thematically generic and key to so many squishy builds. And you can take Mako without always needing shark powers. For example, I have a Controller that grabbed Water Spout, Shark Skin (min graphics) and Hibernate and totally fit an Ice theme without a second thought. If I had one complaint, it would be the absurd animation time imbalances for certain powers and sets. Soul gets Gloom for VEATs, which is the best single target ranged DPA available to certain builds. Then you got Mace and Leviathan with garbage blast powers that nobody should ever use. It's symptomatic of a larger interset balance issue in this game thats always existed, but it is really bad in the PPPs. If there ever was a grand rebalance/tweak update, my personal #1 priority would be a global animation time reevaluation for all powers and sets. Also forgot to address the various pet complaints: Don't take them if you dont see them fitting. Every set in the game has a stinker power or two, including a lot of APPs. Just ignore them if you don't want them. But for certain builds (eg Crabbermind, certain Defenders, Controllers, Dominators and Corruptors who spec heavily into recharge), the pets are awesomely effective. My Ill/storm loves the chaos of the extra Widow, and a Crabbermind isn't the same without pet 6.

I don't think either of you is understanding the other.

You're advocating for a non-universal damage cap AND a non-universal damage enhancement schedule? I think you're really stretching there just to try and make your pet idea work. EDIT: I in no way endorse this, because I think the whole idea is really terrible, but the workable version of your suggestion would be to convert all applicable AoE attacks to be split into 2 damage applications: a 60% enhanceable portion and a 40% unenhanceable portion. Keeps the base damage the same, lowers enhancement effect and lowers cap damage. But again, its a bad idea because its a non optional universal nerf.

Lets keep the preachiness to a minimum. People play for different reasons and there's a lof of people who play to be Superman and speed through things.

I think they are related issues, but I think that you can fix one without neutering the other. Because @xl8 is asking to bounce ideas, how about an anecdote: I was bored recently and decided to wipe through the first mission of the Market Crash TF solo at +4/8 on my kitted out Elec/Inv/Mu Stalker. I was basically unkillable for most of it but found something interesting. I could wipe through whole groups of Minions/LTs/Bosses using AoEs and I kept trucking to keep my aggro cap maxed the whole way....until suddenly my health bar started dropping halfway in. I looked around and noticed that I was being hit by 10 Tank Freak bosses who had all rezzed and suddenly it was a challenge. The minions and Lts were actually a benefit because they took up Aggro cap slots but couldn't actually hurt me, whereas the bosses, en masse, were a challenge. So maybe there is something to xl8's idea of lowering minion numbers and upping bosses in a spawn. It doesn't require any changes to AoE or single target damage, increases the benefit of single target damage for dropping problem bosses, increases the benefit of hard AoE cc and doesn't start messing with purple patch level disparities, which neuters CC and debuffs.

At +5, sure. Beyond that, its not a matter of playing as a team, its an exponential drop off. Just based on damage output needed, +6 is three times harder than +4. +7 is six times harder. And player accuracy falls off a cliff. You start needing stacking tactics across the board + 100% acc slotting to just hit the enemies. I'm not saying it isn't doable, I'm just saying it doesn't get harder, it just gets tedious. EDIT: not to mention, this effects CC and debuffs also, if not more so. To the point that holds last just a second or two at most and debuffs are only 15% as effective at +6. It would just make the disparity even worse. It would shift the meta a bit though. More emphasis on +Res and unresistable debuffs (Tar Patch, Achilles, etc).

Purple patch would start causing issues beyond +5. The debuffs start ramping up and at +7, things would just break down to the point of uselessness. https://archive.paragonwiki.com/wiki/Purple_Patch

What are we discussing here if not "meta builds" in a thread titled "meta tweaks"? You're either arguing that those sets are good and part of the discussion on the meta and are objectively wrong, or you are off topic to the thread. Edit: although I will say that non-Stalker Elec has a place in the meta, but you need to address the single target hole in the build to make it competitive.

They are objectively undertuned sets. They're not unplayable by any stretch, but they're not wrong in stating that those sets are not "good" in the endgame meta in comparison to others.

On paper, this sounds fine, but it ignores the fact that we have damage buffs outside of enhancements. 500% Fireball is 500% Fireball, whether you get there starting from 156% or 195%. All this would do is annoy people for nerfing AoE damage, while shifting the meta by resurrecting Kinetics as king, making more people use Assault and Assault Hybrid and using macros to combine+use red insps. Instead of doing something so complicated as changing the enhancement schedule which can be easily circumvented, if your end goal is to nerf AoE damage, then just nerf AoE damage. To the larger topic as a whole, the game definitely has balance issues at endgame. But the AoE vs single target disparity (to me) should be way down the priority list. The lack of usefulness for CC and 75% of support sets is way bigger. If a power is not doing or increasing damage, lowering resists or regen, or adding defense/resistance to both you and the team in a way that does not significantly eat into your DPS/resist debuff/regen debuff, then its generally a non optimal power. This basically means CC, healing and long activation/high refresh survivability powers are all considered situational at best and trash at worst. EDIT: As a follow up, I also think that the general premise of your 1 Dam vs 1 Rech vs 1 End thought experiment is flawed when you consider IOs and the resources available to us. Yes damage enhancements outclass the others. I think that is basically a "duh" statement at this point. Look at most IO sets and look what a full set leaves you at. 100% damage, 67% Acc and 50% end/recharge is by design. Its obvious that damage is king in damage powers. But when you look at set bonuses, there's so much more recharge, accuracy and endurance bonuses available compared to damage, and generally in greater amounts. The disparity between the value of these enhancements has been baked into the game at this point and other things like set bonuses exist to address the fact that rech/end/acc slotting is less optimal in the powers themselves.

I wouldn't open with LR>AS because after LR, you're still in Hide until you get hit, so you'll be using slow interruptable AS. The best bet is to instead open with LR and then a crittable AoE or another decent hitter. Thunderstrike or Ball Lightning are good AoE follow ups. For single target, I go Chain Induction, or Havoc Punch if my build has it, then hit AS because I should have 2-3 stacks of focus by that point, giving me a 70%-100% crit chance on fast AS.

Endurance reduction is calculated as "100 ÷ (100 + enhancement value)". So in the case of above, its 100 ÷ (197.60) = 50.607% of the original cost or a 49.38% reduction (ie 100 - 50.607, with some decimal rounding / your numbers being slight off somewhere). The 66.32% reduction may be including your total end reduction from other things too. If my math is right, you probably have about 99% reduction from other things (enhancements, Alpha slot, set bonuses). [1 ÷ (1 - 0.6632)] - 1.976 = 99.3% from other stuff.

To my knowledge, there's two options currently, both imperfect: - Mids builder has a lot of the numbers and values you are looking for but is notorious for slight innacuracies, requires opening the program on a desktop and requires updating on a semi-regular basis. - The old City of Data archive, which is frozen in time to when the game shutdown and doesn't have any of the post shutdown changes. Its accessible in a browser and is decent if you know what you're looking for is unchanged since shutdown (animation times, recharge times etc). http://web.archive.org/web/20140625171903/http://tomax.cohtitan.com/data/powers/ There's an effort to make a more complete wiki for Homecoming, but it doesn't have numbers and just refers back to the City of Data archives on powerset pages. https://hcwiki.cityofheroes.dev/wiki/Main_Page

If you're looking for sheer lockdown at endgame, you should consider Bonfire w/ KB>KD proc in the Flame Mastery set. It's a pretty guaranteed lockdown on a full spawn and can be made perma. Otherwise, I fear your lack of hard AoE control is going to be your undoing. If you're not married to the primary and secondary, I built a great Blastroller out of a Sonic/Energy Blaster, using Siren's Song to sleep whole spawns, and then pick them apart one by one using stacking stuns from Total Focus, Bonesmasher, Stun and Screech.

While I love the concepts, I feel like half of the ATs in the game are just straight outclassed and make me feel this way. Scrappers - Outside of TW, I feel like every setup is better as either a Brute or Stalker. Sentinels - Objectively beaten at their job of tanky-ranged damage by VEATs. Controllers - Control is not very useful in the endgame meta and damage is king. Support is better provided by Defenders and Corruptors. Warshades, Peacebringers and Masterminds - Just undertuned and in need of help. I think Tanks, Brutes, Stalkers, Blasters, VEATs, Corruptors and Defenders all have solid slots and Dominators can keep up, but the rest are jist don't have "it" in my eyes.

This has got to be a joke, right? We're being punked. You got us all. Well done.

Blasters have a 500% damage cap. Again, this is why nobody here is taking your theorycrafting seriously. You were building with an outdated Mids, you are gauging performance at 25 without IOs, you don't know that both your primary and secondary already have received giant buffs and you don't know basic game mechanics. At the end of the day, the only thing anyone can say to you is "actually play the game, and learn how to play better."

Jesus tap dancing christ...Thats the stuff that this IS about, but somehow you all haven't realized that.

Boston has had one rough evening 10 days ago and has been some of the most peaceful protesting in the nation since. Again, have you been assaulted for wearing your uniform in public? Simple yes or no.

That is irrelevant, but to answer your question from a different perspective, I live in a major, VERY liberal city where a large building was converted to a Covid field hospital and was being crewed by National Guard and Army personnel. The local shops down the road were offering them free snacks and I personally thanked a few for their help (from a safe social distance). Nobody hastled them, nobody harassed them, nobody demeaned them.

How do you arrest or kill someone for just being black? And before you say that doesn't happen, I encourage you to educate yourself. Or just go ahead and ask Breonna Taylor and her boyfriend.

Have you been assaulted or arrested for wearing the uniform? I am genuinely asking.

The part that surprises me the least about this thread is the posters who have gotten the most bent out of shape over the statement on the MOTD. If you gave me a list of forum handles and asked me to pick who would have come out against the statement of support, I'd be batting a solid 90% so far.

https://mobile.twitter.com/NCSOFT_West/status/1268335205204414465 NCSoft stands with BLM.