Direct Crit

Going to chime in here: Pure Bane build, never spec'd as a Crab or taken any Crab powers, but editing my Arachnos costume is forcing a Crab backpack without any way to remove it, and charging for the change as well. I'll repeat for good measure: Only ever been a Bane. No Crab powers or spec. Only affects the Arachnos costume.

Pretty simple, I hope. I hate the Brute AT Icon. Would love to figure out a way to replace it with another icon from the game, or create an Icon file to do so, however I have no experience in this and have been unable to figure out how to do it from my searching regarding modifying the game. If anyone could point me in the right direction I'd appreciate it greatly!

With a proper IO build and Incarnates Kheldians (at least all human builds) are some of the most versatile and powerful ATs in the game. Peacebringers especially with their ability to have perma Unstoppable and perma Build-Up while having access to a nuke and spammable soft CC are some of the more undervalued generalists in the game

Honestly I've been enjoying it on my Scrapper. I'm comparing it against an StJ Stalker, my previous go-to for game-feel and fun, and I'm a bit torn. Faster ET is fantastic and they nailed the impact of ET, but being tied to TF does feel clunky. I still wish Build Up granted us a stack of Energy Focus as well. As for actual performance, at the end of the day it's still melee in a game where ranged can be incredibly bursty and powerful. In end-game content it feels slow, its AoEs feel incredibly small, and the high damage is tied to a two-part mechanic that can't be leveraged immediately. It solos just fine, but any melee can do that when properly built and there's no outlier in its damage that's going to catapult it above and beyond. Overall I'd call the rework a great success.

Want to chime in that it does this even when re-toggling them. I use SJ/CJ and my buff Icon bar will always show them both despite them being mutually exclusive. Sometimes I have to figure out on the fly whether I have activated CJ during a fight and it's pretty dang annoying, since my Scrapper is not exactly a font of endurance at the moment.

I just want to say it again, thank you so much. Getting Energy Melee on Scrappers and the revamp that it has gone through is one of the best things I could have ever asked for from the Homecoming team. You are all fantastic.

Powerset proliferation is the biggest one I'd like to see. More sets brought across more ATs that can appropriately use them. It allows more variety and for people to play what they'd like rather than being forced to one AT or another. Also I'd adore an Assault/Buff;Debuff AT. I know that's asking for a lot but it'd be such a fun character to build with that melee/ranged mix on top of Buff/Debuff sets.

PvP in City of Heroes is a unique, but fundamentally flawed experience and attempting to fix it is a gargantuan effort that will change the entire way it operates. Further with CoH being a genuinely outdated game for mechanical design when it comes to PvP oriented games compared to the plethora of offerings that exist on the market, you're barking up the wrong tree when you're attempting to assert this. I love PvP in nearly every game I play, but CoH is a dated dinosaur when it comes to that facet unfortunately. Also regardless of the success of PvP in any game, the casual player in almost every MMO in existence exorbitantly outnumbers the PvPers. The same as raiders/minmaxers are a minority in most MMOs regardless of the development catered to them, you're not going to garner a burgeoning playerbase from pushing for PvP changes when the entire system is is inherently broken to start. Lets try not to assume what sort of person you're replying to regarding their experience with PvP in City of Heroes, or games in general, either, as your assertion would point out how fixing PvP would do nothing to bring more players in if many players don't share that spirit of competition you have.

My only counter to this is that I don't believe there's such a thing as 'too good' at single target. The best Single Target set will still lose dramatically for a majority of game situations to a solid AoE set, and this is part of why the set is getting AoE added to it in the first place. Being the Single Target Champion­ has been Stalker's theme for a long while and it's obvious that despite that they needed a lot of love, and still do for older sets. On AVs? Sure, absolutely that's great to have but the reality is that the game doesn't have you fighting AVs 95% of the time, and isn't balanced around solo play either. That's my only reasoning why the Stalker Power Crash should have more AoE. Because at the end of the day this set will likely still clear general missions slower than Stalker sets with stronger AoE.

You'd probably want it in AS to more consistently proc the TF crit. Putting the chance to hide proc in TF sorta prevents you from using the hide status to trigger the extra EF crit off TF. I imagine it'd be something like TF -> ET -> EP -> BS -> ET -> AS -> TF -> Repeat, though there might be room for better optimization there. On a different note what are people's thoughts of Stalker's Power Crash matching Tankers for AoE Count/EF usage? I understand that's unique to Tanks as part of buffs to make them generally more appealing but a big part of the detriment of Stalkers in general is the AoE gutting they faced for many older sets on creation. The only reason I'd mention this as something Stalkers should get is that even with EF bumping their AoE count up to 15 for Power Crash with the change, they still lack Whirling Hands so they're not exactly stepping on Tanker's toes for the AoE strength, and it'd further help give Stalkers another solid AoE option like they should have in every set without it being as AoE friendly as the Non-Stalker set. This is rooted in my opinion that all Stalker sets should have one serviceable AoE regardless of their ST focus, as having AoE gutted from their sets was a massive misstep in the original design of Stalkers.

A fast ET from Hide is absolutely a waste regardless. You'd either wanna pop Bone Smasher or TF for the Extra EF and since you'd not get extra EF from using BU into TF there's no triple stacking of EF to worry about. It at the most could be parlayed into a triple Fast ET during BUs window but understandably they'd be dragging BUs number down due to the EF bonus which I think is very worth it for the extra actual damage it'll grant via EF. Further the wind-up for AS grants more damage and specifically an incredibly useful debuff. However as builds progress and IOs are introduced you rarely, if ever, use slow AS and instead rely on other attacks from hide simply because waiting to AS a target is not worth it. They already have it, one just animates slightly faster on occasion.

I would say that losing Hide to an inferior AoE is a valid complaint since you can't generate EF from hide without an ATO, so perhaps Stalkers would be a prime candidate for the BU grants EF? I also think in general BU should grant EF for smoother AoE in general (since part of the reason PC is being added is to gift EM more AoE).

It's not 'all the time' but for a high-end build on a crit AT, and especially for Stalker, it is very possible to regularly trigger the bonus EF. At that point (specifically again for high-end builds) the EF consumption in Bone Smasher punishes generally optimal play and crit-ATs essentially get a 'penalty' compared to if they either didn't have BS consume that EF, or if they had gotten flat crit in TF over the bonus EF. It just doesn't feel good, and that was the main crux of the argument for myself at least. Is the effect still a bonus? Sure, of course it is. Is it a bonus that an optimized player cares about versus a massive DPA increase on a 1-second ET? No, not particularly. Especially doing iTrial content or running +4x8 these sorts of builds weren't exactly going to be hurting for the Stun, -Special, or -Regen. By shifting it to Barrage you now give all the damage oriented ATs the option to opt into the bonus effect if they really want, you don't punish people who don't care about it and want to optimize for more damage, and the non-Crit ATs are more or less unaffected except for Brutes grabbing Barrage over Energy Punch now. In the end it is, imo, an elegant solution that hits both sides. People who want the effect can opt into it, people who don't, don't. The only AT forced to get it is Tanks and Tanks already did not suffer from the 'penalty' of an extra EF being consumed by including the -Special/Regen effect on another attack anyways and instead get to use the EF buff as flexibly as was seemingly intended. Edit: Of course the best of both worlds could be that for Stalkers/Scrappers the effect is tied to Barrage and Brutes/Tanks it's moved back to Bone Smasher since they never had the bonus EF issue to begin with. We do have precedent for powers/bonuses operating differently across ATs.

You moved the EF consumption from Bone Smasher. Thank you. Please ship it. I have a Scrapper that has been waiting to exist for over a decade. Also thank you for all the hard work, and reading through this morass of feedback. I know it can't be easy to parse all the conflicting voices to try and make a choice that will work best for everyone.

Same deal. Honestly the current incarnation is strong enough that despite my disagreement with the extra EF I'd be happy to let things go as is so it's on live *now* rather than having to wait, because I like what we're getting and it feels good.

No, it's a problem for the general gameplay of Stalkers and Scrappers. Just because that problem occurs less without IOs doesn't make it not a problem. You're also using both EP and BS in your rotation, there is no 'either or'. I really don't know how you're trying to work in wildly inefficient AoEs into an ST rotation which is primarily what I'm talking about, and as I've shown you multiple times there is no way to modify the attack chain. The most optimal, and natural, way to play when you're looking at effective performance is counter-intuitive to what a player will want out of the set. It ends up feeling bad, which is the entirely of the discussion to start. I feel you're discussing a wholly different scenario and worried about something that doesn't exist. The set is in beta, it WILL change, and nothing is set in stone including its current performance. If it performs the same but flows more smoother and offers a more appealing playstyle to the Crit ATs while still maintaining its strength for Non-Crit ATs then I'm going to push for that change. I'm not a huge fan of the 'So-and-so AT has the best incarnation of a powerset'.

I am not looking for the best ST nor have I ever said that. I have stated that I feel for Crit based ATs the additional EF on Crit feels like a wasted opportunity due to the fact that BS' bonus doesn't really measure up to the effect we'd get if it had just been a flat bonus crit instead. I have also said that this is primarily a game feel thing, even as Bopper demonstrated Bone Smasher's effectiveness on an AV which I won't argue in the least, it's mostly about the game feel. I 'get' a bonus EF on Crit, but the perk I get from it is.. some -Regen on Bone Smasher and a stun that I usually won't use. I would rather permanently lose the bonus EF and have that appropriate damage added back to TF as Crit Damage both to bolster TFs use for Stalkers and Scrappers and to give Stalkers/Scrappers a good target with their Critical Focused ATOs that's not just Bone Smasher. I have also said that if there needs to be a power adjustment to keep the numbers in line I'm all for it, as this is more of a 'game feel' issue than a numbers issue. Also there is no 'minding' EP. EP is fine. I'm unsure how you get any sort of negative regard for EP from what I said, it's a fine filler for an attack chain.

You do realize I can't spam EP back to back because it also has a recharge that waits until it's activated? At any point I have to wait for dead space it immediately becomes more efficient to use Bone Smasher. TF -> Fast ET -> EP -> Wait for Recharge -> EP ->Fast ET is going to inherently be weaker than TF -> Fast ET -> EP -> BS -> EP -> ET -> TF. Advocating for an even more inferior option under the guise of having choice is disingenuous at best. This is also assuming EXTREME recharge, which I would likely have on my build but becomes an even longer amount of downtime if you wait through downtime before you can ET again to take advantage of EFs generous duration.

I speak mainly from the perspective of a character that's designed to solo AVs and all content, I try to make that clear in most of my posts because I know I'm a niche for how most play the game. That being said: Mag 3 Stun doesn't matter. It doesn't stop AVs, and anything else in the game doesn't live long enough/isn't enough of a threat that I find that utility useful. 210 damage is weighed against ET. It's not that the -Regen isn't useful, it's that it's inherently weaker than just popping ET again. Is it absolutely a useful bonus? Sure, I won't argue that. It's a bonus that feels mediocre though. It's debuffing I can't see and while I know it's effective and I know Bone Smasher still has use, that -Regen doesn't *feel* good. It doesn't feed the Timmy, it's a technical strength but it still feels like a missed opportunity for another quick, beefy ET. I don't have the math offhand but a buffed ET with a 1 second cast vs a 2.5 second cast is going to likely be more valuable damage wise, and it only becomes more so as I add more IOs and have tools like the Gaussian Proc, Assault, and IO damage bonuses. -Special is.. cool? It's hard to rely on, I don't know off-hand who all it's going to affect to what extent, it's a mildly intangible concept that I can't effectively abuse without being away of every enemy capability in the game and while I do know 90% of what enemies do at this point I also have already built my character to the extreme that anything they can do doesn't matter, so -Special ends up falling by the wayside. So in the end: Bone Smasher doesn't offer jack to me. At best it's a technical DPS gain on AVs, at worst it's a waste because I lose a fast-ET I could've used to tap a fleeing LT or to punish a boss. But this is why I suggested a more defensive oriented EF effect too. If I'm not considering BS for damage where it immediately loses to ET and instead see BS as a boon for additional survivability that can be incorporated into my build then I'm not feeling as big of a loss from BS eating an EF I may have wanted to spend on ET instead. The sort of boon it grants has to be powerful enough to stand up against just getting extra damage from ET, and also that getting it sporadically still feels impactful.

The problem is you'll also use BS after TF. Having dead space when you're completing an attack chain is inherently weaker than just losing the EF to use Bonesmasher. ET doesn't recharge fast enough to avoid this problem.

If that's the case then we have a false choice that needs to be addressed and something else should be added to Bone Smasher's EF expenditure to make it comparable. Optionally rather than it being offensive if we're worried about the power of the sets damage, we could lean on defensive options that are harder to quantify but could add interesting extras. EM is already very light on general control compared to other sets so if there was a heal, or temporary resistance buff attached to it, it could make it a more appealing alternative.

This makes sense except in 'Jack of All Trades' in Bone Smasher. You're not getting jack in it. This is also really only a problem for Scrappers/Stalkers because of the decision for an additional EF stack instead of additional Crit damage. I believe this situation could be solved for them 100% by simply dropping bonus EF on Crit and instead adding addition Crit damage into TF to play to the strengths of the ATs and give them what every other set has: Something to lean on for their Crit focused ATOs. Currently what happens is we want to avoid having TF crit because the extra EF amounts to no bonus damage, inherently making the bonus damage crit those sets would normally get non-existent. The bonus on Bone Smasher is absolutely fine and works in a world of choice when you're working with a single stack of EF to bounce around for that choice, but when you introduce the 2nd stack you have no choice because it occurs at a moment where the choice has been removed. You can't chose to spend it on ET again because you just used ET. And if Power Crash isn't useful in the situation (as you're fighting a hard target for example) you merely just spend it on Bone Smasher. Also: I flat out said earlier this is 100% a request that buffs the set further. I leave it up to the powers that be if they think the set needs that buffing at all. It is both a buff, and game-feel thing specifically for the Crit based sets.

I would take it, it'd be worth losing the bonus damage since additional damage is the easiest thing to get access to and the animation save on ET makes it an overall win. Not having to hit TF in an AoE rotation is also exceedingly nice since that's a significant damage loss versus smashing a crowd with an AoE during that time.

Either Bone Smasher having a chance to generate EF, or removing its consumption of EF and adding Build Up as a source of EF, both would work for my tastes personally. EM having solid damage and more so than other sets seems fine because it generally lacks mitigation. It can stun, sure, but that's not on the same scale as the Knockdown spam many sets get that are genuinely more effective than EMs stuns. Bosses don't resist knockdown generally and you can chain it very easily versus EMs hard CC in a stun that is kept well in check. Which is fine. EM trades extra survivability for damage, that's a suitable trade overall. Also echoing the 'release tomorrow and I'd main it'. These are genuinely small quibbles as there are very few sets in the game that I personally feel are 'perfect' for design, so EM having this as a janky part of it seems par for the course and would still be a blast to play.

I understand that's the intention, I'm saying the intention doesn't feel good. In an attack chain you're not going to hit TF -> Get EFx2 -> fast-ET -> Energy punch -> Wait -> Energy Punch -> fast-ET because it'd be more damage to use Bone Smasher during that downtime. Realistically the chain is gonna look something like TF -> ET -> BS -> EP -> TF, repeat, maybe with EP weaved to fill a gap if that doesn't line up with TF's recharge. You could possibly get another fast ET in there, but BS spends the extra EF on a pointless extra effect. There's not even a decision there, it's just a mild bonus that you get for critting which feels.. weaker than just getting extra crit damage and one stack of EF.