Shin Magmus

It's just nice to get to see more info about the game, and some stories/opinions from outside the narrow band of the Homecoming dev team.

It's more like a reverse Disruption Field: instead a toggle that debuffs all around an ally, it's a toggle that buffs all around an ally. The nice thing is that I don't think the power needs to be renamed in this case, nor have its numbers adjusted much at all. It's just now a toggle AoE on someone. This change, plus merging the RA's, plus adding a new power in the new slot, is at least enough to make Empathy basic and relevant finally.

You won the thread, issue solved.

This sounds awesome. Cloaked Robots should be a feature.

I think Flea's gonna win this one guys. Real talk, the gauntlet has been thrown and the actual rules of how to win these contests have been solved and codified. If you want to beat this Crabbermind challenge, you gotta do completely normal stuff like take Enflame for no reason, and pick pets/extra powers solely for their uptime on Achilles Heel procs.

I detect nothing wrong with your statement. I've said before that the only way that the result of a Pylon Test is worthwhile and useful data at all: is if it's on the same build you run the Trapdoor/Mission sim tests with and is the same build you actually play in the real game, on real content. The second you swap from your real build to make a Pylon-only build: the time and the data have become worthless. It's Koopak's contest and he will make some arguments as to how this worthless data still matters to him, but I wouldn't use any of it for any real comparisons. I play the video game: when I run into other players they are never running one of these Pylon-only builds. The only testing data that would matter, is data using their builds as they are when I encounter them in-game.

It's beautiful.

Saturday Night Special is a great name for a power but it's a bit too long in terms of feasibility on all of the windows. I mean it'll work most of the time, but it's just too wordy. The concept behind this set is awesome though. I think "Common Defense" will confuse players into thinking it's an armorset or buff set though, so you might want to give it a more eloquent name like "Street Smarts" or the trope "Combat Pragmaticism".

I don't know who's actually in charge of fixing MIDs, just that there exists a Discord for it. Anyways, here you go, as requested: Mrs Meltdown - Brute Rad-Fire NO Phoenix.mbd

Do you want me to just DM you the build on Discord? I mean we're all in the same place and I still have it because it's my Live Build.

I'm glad you still think that the average Empathy Defender uses any of their buffs. Keep that hope alive soldier, believe the impossible dream.

The average Empathy Defender already does "receive rewards for their team's defeats while they themselves..." contribute almost nothing. They aren't invincible mind you, but they are basically just cheerleaders: which is what a character who lived in Hibernate would also amount to. Even if I had Hibernate on a 0s CD, I'd still use it as little as possible because I can't attack... can't move... can't play the game at all during it. You think that someone would willingly just sit in Hibernate non-stop, but I'm trying to tell you that it's already been said in this thread, by other people, that Hibernate is only used when absolutely necessary. You view this theoretical near-perma Hibernate user as some sort of overpowered God. I'd view them more as a 0 DPS useless slug. Our perception of the situation couldn't be more different. That said, modern well-built Tankers are already "not at risk" most of the time and they still get full rewards. I guess if this is an issue for you, you'll need to ban Tankers from your teams since they can get xp/inf without a risk of dying. Spoiler alert: most well-built melee ATs aren't at risk of dying on basically all content outside of Advanced Mode: it's part of the appeal of playing a Scrapper for example. It's just even more innate and obvious when you play a Tanker and find yourself un-killable almost for free.

Even if you could run Hibernate 100% of the time it wouldn't be overpowered, because it makes you unable to move and it drops your DPS to 0. I'm not sure if you didn't read my comment with these points but... yeah. Phase Shift is a toggle that lets you move around and exploit the game, while Hibernate is a toggle that explicitly prevents movement. Hibernate is really, really, really not that strong. If a player wants to be unshackled and allowed to use the power more often... even just for like 2 second windows to swag out and i-frame a specific incoming attack... then they should just be allowed to? Using Hibernate at all equates to doing less DPS than someone who doesn't Hibernate: so I fail to see the issue. You could remove NoPhase entirely and people would still skip it on PvE Ice Tankers, for the reasons I already laid out.

Recharge enhancements in Hibernate are a lie and a trap because of how NoPhase works currently. Even Global Recharge (a great stat that people chase in their builds and get from buffs) doesn't actually allow you to use Hibernate more often; you're forced to wait out the NoPhase timer even though your power is recharged. Remember, there are very few situations in this game where a self-targetting-power is visibly Recharged, but when you click it nothing happens because of some other convoluted reason. Phase Shift is a toggle that you can use and still move around, giving it special utility in speedruns and Advanced Mode content. By contrast, Hibernate is a power that prevents you from moving or doing anything at all until you turn it off. They're really not the same thing, and NoPhase shouldn't be punishing Ice Tankers in PvE just because Phase-chasing is so common in PvP.

Hibernate has the downside that it drops your DPS to 0 while using it: a significant tradeoff that is extremely relevant. If everyone could, and did, "spam Hibernate": then regular PvE fights would just take longer because nobody would be attacking. This is already enough of a downside that some people don't take the power, and many more see it only as a panic button. The theoretically sound strategy of using Hiberbate briefly, yet often, to "i-frame" certain dangerous enemy attacks is a much more interesting use case of Hibernate, but it's currently impossible because you can't use the power more than once every 120s due to NoPhase. Count me among the supporters that Hibernate should have 0 restrictions on how often you can use it in PvE. There can be some PvP-only NoPhase if it matters that much to them. A defensive "stance" that eliminates 100% of your offense is inherently completely balanced, and it's less desirable than finding a way to survive while still attacking. One of the best things about Ice Armor on Scrappers/Stalkers is that it gets a good T9 instead of depressing Hibernate..

Gosh, I guess I better give this thing a shot then! I'll just use this regular old character on their regular old real + sustainable build, I guess I got 55s. Lotta stiff competition for the Brute contest, but it would appear that I managed to take the coveted 1st place spot (for now). That makes sense, as I did twy weawy hawd. Run Type: Pylon Archetype: BrutePrimary Powerset: Radiation MeleeSecondary Powerset: Fiery AuraTime in seconds: 55Hybrid: Assault RadialNumber of Runs: 1Version: Issue 27 Page 7 - 20240524 Used: Offense Amplifier, Recovery Serum, Tank Signature Summon, Envenomed Daggers. This build is entirely sustainable and doesn't need Recovery Serum; it could just use Consume in actual content, as well as switching to Cardiac for serious gameplay since Musculature's dmg bonus is heavily diluted on Brutes. The ability to swap Incarnate powers is fast and easy though, so I don't mind bastardizing them to suit the situation. You said you specifically wanted a data chunk for the build so here you go: 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

Yes. Lore Pets have the "Essence" name and aren't allowed, but Backup Radio + Shivan Shard + Signature Summon + spam Envenomed Daggers + use Offense Amplifier + Assault Radial Hybrid: that's all allowed in the ruleset Koopak has decreed. Check out Videra's winning Sentinel Pylon time.

But... we have so many already. Besides, you didn't request the enemy I wanted. I think the Lore Pet we really need to add is ASF Goldbrickers with overpowered Sonic attacks!!!

Gosh, I guess I better give this thing a shot! I'll just use this regular old character on their regular old build then, I guess I got 55s. I have no idea why you specifically want a data chunk for the build but here you go: 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

Thank you. I don't know what possible statement the average player can make about a powerset, that is more damning than "I would never play it." Based solely on perception and sociology reasons, I would think that a powerset which "good" players all instinctively avoid is something that could stand to receive some buffs. Seismic Blast falls into this category the same way that Archery does: the "good" players know these sets currently belong in the dumpster and so they also lack experience with the powersets to provide more-researched feedback. They also might not complain much about the powersets because they're already written them off entirely, and you tend to not complain about something that you never interact with. Seismic Blast currently combines several weaknesses (including gameplay-limited factors like needing to be grounded and a high degree of randomness) with 0 worthwhile strengths. Even having 1 very strong power in Enhanced Stalagmite isn't a strength in terms of DPS or clear time compared to other powersets: as has been tested and proven. Using every advantage available to the player: a "good" player can only elevate Seismic Blast to still being below the "par" performance of most other powersets. From a game balance perspective, the only "advantage" that Seismic Blast truly has over these other sets is that its debuff effect is -jump and -fly, but that's just a sidegrade and not an actual true advantage. The better-performing sets still get debuff effects, they just get -speed/-recharge or a different debuff instead. Fire Blast is the only exception there, but that set doesn't have to stay grounded, so it still has advantages over Seismic Blast despite simple DPS. Devs please listen: this set needs work.

Search rules. It does everything but tell you their powersets, and any smart old-school player puts their powersets in their Search Comment. This 5 seconds of effort spent, means that, forever until you decide to change it again, whenever anyone uses Search they will see "Poison/Fire, speeds up content" next to my Defender, as an example. Search used to be how you had to form teams; LFG chat and LFG queues have made it an order of magnitude easier. But if you want most of that info, Search is still your friend.

Hey... calling the dedicated new Taunt Aura toggle "tai-jutsu" is genius. Naruto fans everywhere are already on-board. I'd like to be able do make a Nin Tank as well: I think the set is appreciably mechanically different from SR and Shield: the only other positional defense sets.

@Player-1 Here is my data. I have my own conclusions, but the only thing that truly surprised is how volatile a gimmick set like Seismic Blast is compared to a gimmick-less set like Psychic Blast. Seismic Blast can't execute a planned attack chain or flowchart in the way that some other gimmick sets can (Energy Melee, Water Blast, Street Justice), because the chance to get Seismic Shockwaves is not consistent and because you don't have a tool to instantly grant it... such as Tidal Force or Build Momentum. This appears in the data as Seismic Blast having over 2x the standard deviation of Psychic Blast: despite me building 2 near identical characters (as previously discussed). I have to adapt more to "whatever happens" while playing Seismic, which does cost time both in terms of bad luck but also the player needing to mentally be reactive instead of predictive. I think this also validates 2 of my suggested changes in my original post: which are both based around more uptime of Seismic Shockwaves (more consistency). The times from my previous videos are not in this table because I practiced the map more and play it better. In my recorded runs I was fighting one spawn at a time, but in this data I began to pull stragglers forward with me and immediately use my powerful abilities (such as my Nukes), the second they were off cooldown: fighting 2 spawns at the same time. This resulted in much faster times for both builds, practice makes perfect.

> Example complaint: NuCouncil are too tough, it has been mentioned multiple times (seen it from people in-game and on Discord too, not just here) since their buffs: "Bullet Sponges" is the term. The unhappiness stems from the fact that fighting NuCouncil just take longer. > Example solution: Galaxy enemies lose some or all of their tankiness, in exchange for a powerful but smaller AoE attack that is telegraphed and can be avoided. Players can just move out of the way, MMs can just move their pets out of the way. This simultaneously fixes the issue, incorporates positive design from Advanced Mode stuff, and drives further engagement from the players in a way that they can control, rather than the way the powerful AoE Rez attack just hits a huge area instantly every time they die.

These bad-faith comparisons are genuinely hilarious. However, there's no value in arguing with such weak points, or arguing in general on these forums. Blindly criticize the new content all you want, but unless you offer a solution (and back up why with data) nothing will change. Every time I make a complaint suggestion thread, I also put a proposed solution: new numbers/effects/etc. Where are your solutions? Please post them.