electric_emu

I think this is a resolution/scaling issue. I just got a new monitor (using the same resolution as you, 3840x2160) and suddenly have this problem as well.

I don’t think I have ever made it more than 15 minutes with General Chat visible to me. To me it serves no purpose other than making me angry at people I don’t even know. Do yourself a favor and hide it. The game will feel MUCH more civil and welcoming.

Energy Aura doesn't need much help from IO set defense bonuses, so you can focus on almost entirely on recharge. Just make sure your toggles have their defense values fully enhanced (3-4 LoTG will do, but you can also do things like 1 LoTG unique + 5 Red Fortune if you have slots to spare). I like psi resist IOs wherever I can put them (Dampening Field, Energy Protection, Tough) since it is Energy Aura's only real weakness.

A pop up indicating /cleartray exists would be sufficient. I'm not sure it would be possible to attempt to replicate your pre-respec hotbars or place powers intelligently.

I'll take more time to go over and test the specific changes but I greatly move toward consistency across epics. And I especially appreciate the proliferation of themes to archetypes that "should" have them (Earth Mastery for Scrappers/Stalkers and Blasters next, please!) At first glance I think Spirit Drain is... fair.

I will echo Fiery Melee. Very strong now and feels more like a proper analogue to Fire Blast, at least on Tankers.

Powersets, I need to know the powersets! Is that a Dominator / Controller with a rifle? I welcome Assault Rifle Assault lol

Pick what calls to you. There is truly no wrong choice and you can always reroll if you find something else strikes your interest (it's what most of us stick around to do lol). With that disclaimer out of the way, here is my two cents: For primaries, I'd recommend against Bio Armor, Ice Armor, Fiery Aura, and Dark Armor. They're all fantastic, but not necessarily noob friendly. Bio is very active and really appreciates a strong build. Ice has glaring and somewhat common protection holes (fire and psi). Fiery Aura is the squishiest Tanker primary. Dark Armor offers comprehensive protection (except knockback, though easily fixed) but is very hard on your endurance (this can be particularly unfun). Any other primary will keep you alive without much fuss. For secondaries you have a lot of choices for AoE thanks to Tankers' increased range and target caps. Fiery Melee is a standout all-rounder capable of awesome AoE and great single target pretty much out of the box. Ice Melee is another contender with deceptively good single target damage as well (do not mistake Freezing Touch for mere crowd control!), but really only shows its true AoE potential with its last power (Frozen Aura). Super Strength is similar, but ALL of its AoE potential locked behind its very satisfyingT9 (Foot Stomp) so it may feel slow to get off the ground. Electrical Melee has fantastic AoE but anemic single target damage.

For what it's worth, this is an extremely fun combination.

Congratulations! With how quiet things have been this is nice to hear. Can you share any other details on what HC's commitments under the licensing agreement are?

Yeah, it would. Just look at the numbers. Example: A Defender's (unslotted) Deflection Shield gives 15% defense to smashing, lethal, AND melee. Plus huge Toxic resistance. The buff lasts for 4 minutes for a cost of about 8 endurance (rounding up). This is just as good if not better than any single basic Tanker toggle for a fraction of a fraction of the endurance cost with the only downside being you need to refresh it every 4 minutes. And that's an example with an ally buff that's not even particularly amazing. Imagine Speed Boost, Painbringer, Adrenaline Boost, or Temporal Selection.

I don't mind Energy Cloak being partial stealth, but I would appreciate a no transparency and/or reduced transparency option in power customization. I love Energy Aura but hate feeling compelled (Energy Cloak is an excellent power!) to be completely see through when not in combat. I also agree that it's a bit strange when compared to the buffed Stealth, which mechanically is "full" invisibility but visually not. Maybe give that a transparency slider/option too.

Its perception is pretty low, so you do have to get fairly close to have it notice enemies. Otherwise it just sticks to you. IIRC in beta SC's perception was initially set to inherit player values, which caused much unintentional wandering.

It wouldn't surprise me if ST + Cat 5 is still best. The SC procs (and added Gust damage) aren't terribly strong. I'll be interested to see the results though 🙂

Interesting. What did your recharge on SC look like? When recast it replaces the existing one, so you would only really need to cast it twice assuming you can finish in under two minutes (once at the beginning and once at the end of its one minute duration). If you were recasting every 15-20 seconds I can definitely see it eating into DPS in a big way. Also, was Storm Cell itself slotted for damage? Enhancing Storm Cell enhances the procs as I understand it.

Is it not worth maintaining Storm Cell for Storm Blast?

The set encourages aggressive use of its own powers to get Storm Cell procs. Sentinels secondaries are much more passive than the others, allowing them to focus on making the most of SC's procs. Additionally, the SC procs, they way Cat 5 works, and the chain AoE make the lower Sentinel target caps much less noticeable than on other blast sets.

From noodling with it on beta, I like it best on Sentinels. Was thinking Storm/Fire or Storm/Bio. Not sure yet and won't be able to play until later (why did they have to release it on such a busy day lol).

Really happy to see the reduced recharge on Storm Cell. Feels much better right out of the gate and gives you some flexibility with enhancing it at low levels rather than being compelled to slot recharge reduction just to maintain it. Also, I'm a bit late but the improved fx on Storm Cell are very nice.

Interesting. So perma out of the box is a non-starter? I certainly don't want the duration cut, that just becomes more busy work. As Captain Fabulous pointed out, it's very easy to perma. So it just seems... strange, I guess, that it is balanced by downtime that is easy to overcome. It doesn't take much global recharge, and any IO set it would want has enough recharge enhancements to do the job on its own. So it feels like it's just punishing lower level characters by having them choose between the upkeep of a recharge SO or having downtime on the set's primary mechanic. As a balance decision, it's more of an annoyance than anything else because it does nothing to actually limit the set's potential. Not sure I can think of a comparable example in another powerset. Anyway, if perma out of the box is not an option than I would prefer they leave it as is. It does its job well, and it's a non-issue by the midgame anyway.

I did not say I wanted it to be stationary, I actually like that it moves. However, sometimes it moves where it's not wanted (following a runner for example) so there is value in being able to reposition it from time to time. Lowering its base recharge allows for more flexibility in doing that at all levels. Sure, you can throw a recharge SO in the default slot. But 1) that doesn't even make it perma (even if 8s downtime is fairly trivial, it is downtime) and 2) you have to commit to maintaining the recharge SO as you level up to give the power a functional cooldown (at least until level 22 or so). Given the set relies so heavily on Storm Cell, I do not think enhancing its recharge should be a requirement. Especially when you'd probably rather slot for damage, endurance reduction, or even KB to KD. I just think it's better to let recharge enhancements (or global recharge) go to allowing greater flexibility in positioning instead of being necessary to maintain the set's defining gimmick.

I spent some time with it on a Sentinel (Storm/Fire) and two Blasters (Storm/Fire and Storm/Martial). Some thoughts: It is a lot of fun and the overall presentation/feel are amazing. Direct Strike/Lightning Strike is one of the coolest looking powers in the game now. Cat 5's intensification fx feel great as well. I love the intensification/storm strength mechanic. It is creative, novel, and very thematically appropriate Also appreciate how the set performs on Sentinels, since you're not quite as hamstrung by lower target caps compared to some other sets. There are a few nits to pick. Hailstones... the chunks of ice are too... blue, I think? They look like what happens when I try to change Ice Swords and have to select an "ice" color myself that ends up looking a bit off. Cloudburst's animation is great but lacks a certain punchiness when it hits. Chain Lightning's animation is weird. I think I'd rather see something closer Electrical Affinity buffs, Electrical Blast's attacks, or simply a ranged Chain Induction. Storm Cell is really tough to keep track of. Happy to see its fx are being tweaked so I won't say much else. I will echo some others and say Storm Cell should have a lower recharge (but keep the duration!). Perma out of the box would be ideal, since the set kind of hobbles when it's not active. Since it's prone to wandering (I think, again it's hard to tell lol), you are still encouraged to replace it occasionally so lots of global recharge or a recharge enhancement aren't wasted and lower level characters get the full benefits as soon as they pick it up.

It is difficult to oversell how nice Combustion is on Tankers now. If you want to maximize Fiery Melee's potential, I think Tanker is the way to go. Tankers don't need Cremate's mitigation and have perfectly serviceable single target options later on. However, despite the changes to power availability the leveling experience is noticeably less pleasant due to limited single target options at lower levels. And it's not like Scrapper/Brute FM is bad.

idk if scaling would even need to be reduced too much if you have to go without an inherent. Inherents put in a lot of work across all archetypes, especially where DPS is concerned.

When the Scrapper ATO (Critical Strikes) triggers, it gives ALL your attacks a 50% chance to crit for the next 5 or so seconds. So you slot it into a power, proc it by using that power (as denoted by a big red "Critical Strikes" over your head) and then go to town. It follows the normal PPM rules, so if you slot it into the right power you have a lot of control over when it triggers but it's not quite as much crit control as Stalkers get. You're still dealing with a 50% chance to actually crit after it triggers, so if your follow up includes a big ST attack you will occasionally be disappointed. It is absolutely glorious when using AoEs though.