tidge
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Posts posted by tidge
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33 minutes ago, Jacke said:
(Current seems so hard to catch the Paladin assembly events. Though I've not gone to KR to be sure there's no Paladins wandering around and hanging out there wait for the event.)
It's really not that hard, assuming that players actually clean up the event (during AND after construction). The events are IIRC on the same 4-hour timer. It is almost never a stray Paladin, it is almost always a stray clockwork preventing the restart of one of the three sites.
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27 minutes ago, Jacke said:
Can you explain this more?
The suggestion was:
On 9/21/2024 at 1:48 PM, Techwright said:It would be interesting (to me at least) if the second Paladin-building event triggered the moment the first Paladin finished, and the third triggered as soon as the second finished. So while one Paladin is traveling north, another is being constructed.
Ghost of Scrapyard is essentially "summonable on demand" (assuming it is not already in the zone). Eventually players decided that the new Monstrous Aethers were desirable enough (or they learned that 6 merits accompanies each defeat of Scrapyard) such that there were hours-and-hours of constant summoning and fighting of Scrapyard. This lasted... two weeks?... before the devs intervened.
A never-ending stream of Paladins being constructed and defeated would be pretty much the same thing, minus the need of the players to go through the trouble of summoning a Paladin. Assuming the rewards were nerfed similarly to how Ghost of Scrapyard was changed, we'd eventually end up with three paladins just hanging around in KR once people were bored of alting to fight them.
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16 minutes ago, arcane said:
Other than the Changeling exploit badly needing to be nuked from orbit, we’re in a good spot DPS-wise in this game.
Yes (setting aside the Changeling issue, because that's kinda complicated *1).
One thing that I don't think gets recognized enough: 99% of the rewards (and 99%+ of the ability to progress) in the game are explicitly tied to damaging enemies to defeat them (solo or in groups). This is natural, this is good. However: It is only fair for solo players because through straightforward power-slotting choices (ehem, %damage procs) can characters that otherwise would do minimal damage to enemies can now do damage that is roughly on par with poorly-slotted attacks from other ATs.
(*1) Kheldians that don't 'Changeling' are in my experience the slowest to solo content, compared to other ATs... and it hasn't been like I'm skimping on my Kheldian builds.
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5x10% from a combination of five 10% "purples" and/or the Catalyzed ATO
5x7.5% from LotG (defensive powers or mules)
The final 36.5 isn't that hard to get without "warping" a build.
Non-LotG 7.5% are not hard to come by (for example Basilisk's Gaze is an easy 4-slot choice for a low-level single-target Hold)
8.75% often require 6 slots, but a Defensive or Healing power can do worse things than to pick Reactive Defenses or Preventive Medicine, plus the above mentioned non-catalyzed ATO).
There are smaller (6.25%) bonuses that come from things like Expedient Reinforcement, which is probably the best choice for Recharge Intensive pets.
All this without Forced Feedback %+Recharge or SG Base Recharge Time boosts.
Dominators have it weirdly (IMO) easy compared to other ATs to get +Recharge from set bonuses because of the options where to slot Damaging, Control, and ATO sets. They have it a lot easier than most Tankers for instance. The only different personal choice I make when going for a non-hasten Perma-Dom that is often different than for my builds chasing a LOT of global Recharge is to try to squeeze in as much slow resistance as possible, given all the other build constraints.
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13 minutes ago, tidge said:
Personally, I don't think that there are many Controllers taking on +4 content solo...
2 minutes ago, Jacke said:Are there many Toons outside of Farmers, those doing the Apex and Tin Mage II Task Forces (locked to +4), and 4* Advance Mode aficionados doing content at +4 ?
I know there are Players who will try their Toons against +4 content to see how tough they are. But I suspect they don't run at that Notoriety that often.
If there are many Controllers soloing hard mode (or +4 content), I suspect that those players have figured out how to do it without requiring changes to the sturdiness of pets. I realize that this argument wouldn't mean that non-sturdy pets are gatekeepers preventing Controllers from tackling hard mode solo, but Controllers can certainly try to tackle a solo +4 using Lore pets to see how that goes (while the Lores are up).
The greater point I am trying to make is that I believe among all the possible ATs, there are some that have to adjust their playstyle more than other ATs depending on the content. Personally? I think Masterminds have to do the most adjusting... and it isn't because Masterminds (generally) henchmen that are less sturdy than Controller pets.
Crabberminds would probably like to be able to not have to resummon their pets, as well as wish that their pets did more for the brief amounts of time they are likely to stick around in +4 content. My Crabbermind is almost certainly going to swap to the non-Crabbermind build in order to leverage more effective powers. I don't see this as radically different than suggesting that a Controller who has sunk a lot into making stronger pets perhaps have a build that focuses more on control than pet DPS (for some content).
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1 minute ago, Rudra said:
As a side note to the discussion, when this happens, you can usually correct it by ...
Heh. My order of possible fixes is:
- Toggle Group Fly back on, move.
- Order henches to go to a nearby spot
- [Assemble the Team]
- Dismiss, resummon.
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4 minutes ago, Jacke said:
Especially when a Power has a Base Recharge so big a build will be lucky for it to have a final cycle time of under 3.5 minutes.
Powers with that sort of final cycle time that don't have a equally long duration are only good as Panic Button Powers.
If I can duplicate the effect of a click power with an inspiration, the power had better have a cycle time on par with how long it takes me to get enough inspiration drops to combine into the inspiration I want. Macros to combine inspirations don't require me to wait until I can pick a T9 or Epic power.
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3 minutes ago, Jacke said:
The Aprocalypse has been coming for years, as the current Proc PBM system has serious issues.
[citation need]
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9 minutes ago, Jacke said:
While we can do multiple builds (2 before L50, 3 at L50), I would strongly advise against it. I tried to do so while levelling and it was such a pain I rerolled the Toon to clean up the mess.
The only multiple build I have is my main, AR/Devices Blaster, with a build each with Arsenal Mastery, Force Mastery, and Mu Mastery. The 3 builds only differ in 3 Powers involving the Epic Pool. But it's an administrative burden, especially as I have a copy on both CB and HC. I change something about the main part of the build, I have to do 6 Respecs.
While this administrative burden may be lesser if the builds were for radically different reasons, I would really try to avoid it. My Spines/Fiery Aura Brutes for AFK Farming have a universal build I can use for regular play just to keep to a single build
I don't think we have the same perspective on the use of multiple builds. Personally, the only time I ever used multiple builds while leveling was for my Widow (because I explicitly had two different "forms") and eventually for my Soldier (once it got to the point where I could "Crabbermind")... but I have often done post-50 builds. It isn't until I have slots to dedicate that I can see performance differences. I suppose picking different Epics/Patrons is a choice (damage typing perhaps) but that isn't where my mind goes when thinking about multiple builds. I think more in terms of one build leveraging Hasten, adding Slow resistances, more healing, higher defenses... basically specializing for specific content.
Specifically why I suggested maybe using different builds for Controllers above, was because the suggestion was made in light of:
18 hours ago, Jacke said:All the Pet attacks need to have a 1.2 Base Accuracy. That way the Pets can still be useful on +4 Content (which is +4 to the Pets) if they're slotted with ED-capped Accuracy). Otherwise, their chance-ToHit is well below 95% and Tactics is needed.
Personally, I don't think that there are many Controllers taking on +4 content solo... and if they are, any DPS from pets (if the Controller even has pets) is way down on the list of things the Controller needs to be concerned with, behind Defenses, Control duration slotting, ToHit, etc. A second build could be used to address all those things that wouldn't be needed by a Controller running solo +0x8 content. It could be as simple as one build leveraging %procs and another leveraging set bonuses.
As I noted above, there are other builds (like Blasters) where for a LOT of content the only adjustment a full-kit 50 might have to make between +4 and +0 content is in terms of strategy.
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3 minutes ago, Jacke said:
As for the effect at lower Notoriety with a lot of Procs, well, the solution for that is coming: The APROCALYPSE.
If that ever happens, Controllers will be relegated to the basement of clear times such that folks will be crying for a return to the days of many multiple (DPS-dealing) pet summons just to try to get map clear times close to an order of magnitude of Blasters. %damage is, perhaps unintentionally, the great equalizer when it comes to different ATs being able to complete almost all of the game's content in roughly similar amounts of time. Never forget that almost all of the game's rewards are directly tied to defeating critters.
There is legitimately no reason to change procs, unless the legitimate reason is to stratify almost all the rewards in the game among ATs unequally.
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21 hours ago, Techwright said:
It would be interesting (to me at least) if the second Paladin-building event triggered the moment the first Paladin finished, and the third triggered as soon as the second finished. So while one Paladin is traveling north, another is being constructed.
This would pretty much make the KR Paladin event "Scrapyard 2.0", so I say "no thank you".
21 hours ago, Techwright said:Were three Paladins to cooperate in close proximity it might prove an interesting challenge, especially with that "reel them in, then strike" power it has.
Multiple Paladins aren't IMO that much of a challenge. The burst power isn't used by a Paladin until it get below 50% health, and then every 90 seconds while it is below 50%. The tactics for dealing with a single Paladin translate just fine to dealing with multiples.
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Hover and Fly as separate powers makes a LOT of sense to me, and since Fly is available at level 4 and not behind a gate, it strikes me as a perfectly reasonable circumstance to have them be separate powers.
Cards on the table: I think I've only had two characters that I bothered to use Null the Gull to change my default so that Group Fly doesn't affect them. In both cases there was something specifically about their power choices for those characters that made the character play inferior. Otherwise? Group Fly sometime surprises me, but I am NEVER offended by it. It isn't exactly fair for me to believe this, but because I am literally never bothered by being affected by Group Fly, except possibly for personal character choices, I believe that the folks who demand that the power be changed are probably because they are always offended by Group Fly... and the game makes it pretty easy for those self-selected folks to address their personal peeve. On characters of mine that can't fly, I kinda like being able to have them float off the ground!
Even though I like Group Fly for a variety of reasons (including: it can mule useful pieces!), there ARE subtle issues with it for the ur-case of Mastermind usage. It mostly works as intended, but I worry that the various suggestions to change it ("in any way possible, just so that *I* never have to be subject to Group Fly again!") would actually make it worse for MMs. The subtle problem I am referring to is that de-toggling Group Fly can really "confuse" the henchmens' pathing AI such that sometime henchmen simply stand in place (wherever they are) and even giving direct commands to that henchman will NOT get the henchman to move. I mention this because the henchmen pathing AI is already subtle, and frankly I am amazed it works as well as it does.
I can see that some folks are trying to come up with ideas to help the brother MMs keep some utility of Group Fly, but I feel that it is desperation to avoid Null the Gull that is driving all other critical thinking about this.
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Obviously: Try to get perma-Domination, without Hasten. This will require quite a few pricey pieces, but accumulating merits will help you get them. You will probably need Hasten in the meanwhile, but I don't recommend taking it too early.
I have a Fire/Psy Dom, and have Mind Controllers so I can't speak directly to the Mind/Fire combo. In order to get the Global Recharge set bonuses will have to be leveraged, plus mules for Luck of the Gambler. This won't leave much room for %damage via procs. I would suggest the following strategy:
You will want to have (and use) both Confuse and Mass Confusion. Normally I recommend having the %Contagious Confusion piece in the single-target, but there are important considerations/reasons to put it in the AoE. The first is that you can boost the heck out of the Purple set to improve the recharge time on the base 4-minute AoE. The second is more subtle: because of the way the RNG works, you will miss critters upon cast of the AoE, but the way the Coercive %proc works means you will get a second chance to control any of the non-bosses that you initially missed. You can of course followup with the single-target Confuse. I recommend 5-slotting the AoE with Coercive set, and adding a %damage piece, any damage applied by the %proc gets you on the chance to receive drops when those enemies eventually defeat themselves.
The one power I would consider leveraging for multiple %damage is Terrify.
Holds can accept a lot of %damage pieces, but you will need to get Global +Recharge from those powers.
Be aware that you can only have a maximum of five of the same (by "name") global recharge bonuses. I have at least one Dominator that did NOT catalyze one of the ATO sets because it was already getting the 10% bonus from five other sets but still could take advantage of the 8.75% bonus.
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My comment on Blaster BR is more like "damning with faint praise". I find Beam Rifle to be a perfectly serviceable primary for Blasters, with the following caveats:
- For Blasters, my experience has been that it has generally longer clear times on xN content, compared to most other Blaster primaries
- I find it hard to maximize the utility of whatever the Blaster secondary (usually because power picks don't offer synergy with the BR attacks) is when paired with Beam Rifle
In contrast, my BR Defender could lean hard into the secondary effects of BR attacks (Beam Rifle as Secondary), and also go strong on the Defender Buff/Debuffs to act as a force multiplier while also plinking away. The odd (MMV) choice I made with the Defender was that because there is less need (IMO) to pick low level Defender primary powers ASAP, I could pick more of the BR attacks (which have useful debuffs). So the Defender ended up with more Beam pew-pew than the Blaster!
The BR Sentinel gets the chain attack (so single-target but secondary AoE), and can pick a secondary that can essentially be treated as set-and-forget. I found that I didn't have to put much thought into how to leverage power picks for the BR Sentinel's secondary, whereas with a BR Blaster I had to juggle choice on which powers, how to leverage them, and how to slot them.
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I'm not a fan. I've taken it (and its parallel) on non-Blasters, and I didn't really like it on those either.
What I see as the downsides:
1) It comes so late in a build that if it is a power that is tactically important, then the build probably has some sort of defect that ought to have been addressed by making other choices before you got to this point.
Often, if I think I need Soul Consumption for Blaster survival, I opt for Fire Mastery instead to get Rise of the Phoenix. I find it mentally easier to worry about dying after the character is already dead.
2a) It has a
5-minute10-minute base recharge.No matter what else the build is doing with Global Recharge, you've got to slot this for Recharge or you may as well not have picked the power.
2b) It has a base Accuracy of 1.0
No matter what else the build is doing with Global Accuracy/ToHit, you've got to slot this for Accuracy or you may as well not have picked the power, if you are playing against +N where N is greater than 1.
2 (combined) It is a slot-hungry power. I just don't like trying to find slots to invest in a power taken after level 35.
3) It's a relatively shallow PBAoE, which may or may not jive with what else the (here) Blaster is doing in combat.
4) The pre-requisites for being able to choose Soul Consumption are IMO mediocre. The first pick will probably be Murky Cloud, which I think is a pretty good toggle. I kinda like Fearsome Stare, but it isn't really a power that a Blaster needs (as a %damage attack), and I feel like it should have at least a second slot invested if you want it to do what it does well. The other two powers are serious meh... I could see either of them for concept, but neither is really helping a Blaster go wild IMO.
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On 9/19/2024 at 11:11 AM, kelika2 said:
rifle energy blaster
My mind went there, but because of the Disintegration mechanic and the general lack of AoE I would think Beam Rifle is one of the least "non-busy" ranged attack choices. I suppose a lot depends on what the spawn size is set to. I like my BR (non-Blasters over Blasters) characters, but I find myself toggling between targets and trying to maximize the output of the BR attacks.
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14 hours ago, Jacke said:
All the Pet attacks need to have a 1.2 Base Accuracy. That way the Pets can still be useful on +4 Content (which is +4 to the Pets) if they're slotted with ED-capped Accuracy). Otherwise, their chance-ToHit is well below 95% and Tactics is needed.
I like the cut of your jib, but this still feels to me that this is an ask to get more DPS out of the pets, especially in default, non-incarnate, non-hard-mode content. The bump in base accuracy would greatly improve many of the control aspects of the pets, as well as %proc chances. +4 critters can be a grind for a LOT of ATs, it may not seem like this affects DPS-oriented characters, but this is almost certainly due to the very standard approach of slotting attacks with pieces from sets that boost Accuracy.
I'm not ignorant that there is an undercurrent of "but ____ (insert whatever AT) is useless in +4 content", and while I agree that certain ATs perform differently between +0 and +4 in my experience what is actually different for the _____ (fill in the blank with whatever AT) is that strategy needs to change, and possibly an alternate (second) build ought to be used to leverage different power and/or slotting picks for certain types of content.
Would it be "fair" to ask that a Controller to have a second build specifically for certain types of content? Maybe ...because that isn't the only AT for which this is true. Many Tankers can certainly have performance improvements across different content by using multiple builds; Writing only for myself: For example if I get a Tanker that can survive hard mode content I'm usually not that concerned if its clear times are sub-optimal on exemplar content, even if they clearly are. I don't think it is unreasonable for players that choose to play a more nuanced AT like Controller, to take a more nuanced approach to the game.
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6 minutes ago, Jacke said:
But for the remaining 3 Powers from the Pool.... How about @Communistpenguin's idea of Pet Fly, but as a separate Power? Beyond that...?
I wrote something like this the last time the Flight pool was discussed: Flight is somewhat slow, and lacks control, because if it were faster, or offered control, it would be the de facto best choice for travel.... for everything except for a very small number of maps. There is also a legacy-think consideration about "hover-blasting" that I don't feel like discussing.
Knowing that the devs don't want a single Flying power to do everything, we are basically stuck with (1) The zone travel and (2) the low-end control. Group Fly is fine, despite how triggering it appears to be for some... it's got to be a toggle because of the triggering effects. Air Superiority is fine. The 5th power which improves speed AND gives control is fine, but not as a fourth/fifth toggle. It's simply too much UI overhead for whoever wants to leverage the OTHER travel powers from the same set. I find it simply crazy that a flier using a powerset like traps has to toggle off at least three other powers, and then probably has a fourth travel power from the same set still turned on.
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12 hours ago, Frozen Burn said:
Yeah, without melee powers, /TA is for ranged blasting. I do wish there could've been a "Bow Bash" or "Bow Slam" or some other such thing for beating a foe over the their head with the Bow - ooo, or "Arrow Jab" where you just use your hand to stab an arrow into someone. 😄
While I am 100% ok with Tactical Arrow's focus on "Tricksy Archer", I can imagine variants of single target attacks (a.k.a. Arrow Stab) and PBAoE (Bow Sweep) for more melee minded archers.
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Bringing up the way the game used to be in the past isn't worthwhile IMO, as the game has IMO improved across-the-board for ALL ATs since Live. Let's face it: we aren't even in the same game where players must wait to take their primary T9s at level 32.
I think @Doomguide2005 hit on what is different about the game now, in the Homecoming era: If a Controller wants a faster pace of play, via DPS, it is straightforward (and relatively easy IMO) to make choices leveraging %damage. My Controllers can clear +0x8 maps in not much more time than my other ATs. My Controller time was faster on a speed run of Penny Yin's TF than my Warshade, and up until the AV fight it was running the same as Stalker/Blaster/Tanker. I know there is a feeling that occasionally surfaces that somehow the current %damage is bad for the game, but an honest assessment of all the ATs will show that that the current %damage implementation is pretty much the primary reason all the ATs can solo complete 95%+ of the game's content on the same order of magnitude time investment (for the same rewards).
I understand that the "power sets are balanced around IOs", but without %damage map clear times, even with pets, are going to match any other ATs. There are some Controller primaries (ehem Phantom Army) that IMO give the wrong impression of how all pets should be able to be summoned to sweep through enemy critters without any further consideration.
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My only complaint with the Flight pool is that it has 4 toggles that must be on (not counting Afterburner) to maximize its use, and each must be toggles individually. I wish Evasive Maneuvers was an auto power.
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On 9/18/2024 at 10:02 PM, Renatos1023 said:
Thanks for any help! Tactical Arrow is definitely a different breed of Blaster to me. I'm used to having a melee attack or two, so playing totally at range is a very new, albeit fun, experience.
One last piece of information that went into my build: because of the lack of melee, I made an extra effort to try to get the range of all the attacks in the Trick/Tactical Blaster's arsenal to be roughly equivalent.
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Glue Arrow and %damage: This is one of those power that %procs very well on cast (on any targets immediately hit) , but not well on the pseudopet 'ticks'. I have it slotted as follows:
Level 1: Glue Arrow
(A) D-Sync Guidance (Accuracy/Range): Level 53
(*) Javelin Volley – Accuracy/Damage/Recharge: Level 50+5
(*) Javelin Volley – Chance of Damage (Lethal)
(*) Positron’s Blast - Chance of Damage (Energy)
(*) Ice Mistral’s Torment - Chance of Damage (Cold)
(*) Annihilation - Chance for Res Debuff
Ice Arrow: I skipped this because:
- It is single target, among other things it won't really be high-producing part of a mature attack chain
- Glue Arrow is the better control and %damage (more targets, and a placed area of effect)
- IMO Holds require more investment in slots to make worthwhile, especially if the build cannot easily stack them
Flash Arrow I only kept the base slot, I need slots elsewhere:
Level 16: Flash Arrow
(A) ToHit Debuff IO: Level 50+5
ESD Arrow is a fun attack IMO. It has a pair of stuns that stack, and it does have damage potential. I have it slotted as:
Level 28: ESD Arrow
(A) Absolute Amazement -Stun/End: Level 50+5
(*) Absolute Amazement - Stun/Recharge: Level 50+5
(*) Absolute Amazement - Accuracy/Stun/Recharge: Level 50+5
(*) Absolute Amazement - Accuracy/Recharge: Level 50+5
(*) Unbreakable Constraint - Chance of Damage (Smashing)
(*) Gladiator's Net - Chance of Damage (Lethal)
Oil Slick Arrow is another "good %proc on cast, not so good on the pseudopet". You will have to look at "pet damage" to see the %damage. My slotting is:
Level 30: Oil Slick Arrow
(A) Javelin Volley - Accuracy/End/Recharge: Level 50+5
(*) Javelin Volley - Chance of Damage (Lethal)
(*) Bombardment - Accuracy/End/Recharge
(*) Bombardment - Chance of Damage (Fire)
(*) Ice Mistral’s Torment - Chance of Damage (Cold)
(*) Impeded Swiftness - Chance of Damage (Smashing)
I should note that the slotting above is from a Trick Arrow/Tactical Arrow Blaster that is getting typical set bonuses from the primary set slotting.
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I play Controllers, MMs, and Crabberminds. I have some other ATs with pets as well, FWIW. I don't think Controller pets need any individual improvement in stats, as the summons are just one more power in the Controller's arsenal. They aren't supposed to be 'fire-and-forget' powers, or turn Controllers into Masterminds.
My gut is telling me that the request comes from a place of expectations not being met: I can imagine that a Controller that has been limping along without much DPS, and maybe not using enhancement sets, finally gets a pet summon power and could equate this as their "nuke"... or that maybe a Controller wants to dive into x8 content (solo, or on something like a TF) and discovers that these pets aren't quite as "fire-and-forget" as they had hoped.
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A Relook at DPS balancing
in Suggestions & Feedback
Posted
My point was more along the lines of how %proc damage is a pretty good equalizer across all ATs (and drives a sweet variety in build choices), and that some players see the corner-case of the Changeling exploit similarly. I personally don't use the Changeling trick because it 100% seems like cheat code, whereas we've had a decade of %proc and fun for everyone except possibly that one edgelord on some "speed leaderboard".