Golden Azrael

An interesting post. Thank you for the informative response. It's good to see some hard numbers so we can 'see' what we're discussing here. The former 3.838 to the current 1.570 is quite the fall of grace. That's less than half...and takes almost three times longer and still uses your HPs after the nerf (I did muse that you could double Energy Melee's damage output to get it 'reasonable.' Ironic. If HC did that it still wouldn't match the 'pre-nerf.' It would explain why Overdrive NPC hits like a Truck. Her numbers must be pre-nerf.) I wonder. Do EM fans want all that damage for ET back? Or the amount spread over the entire Energy Melee set? Freezing Touch's DoT at 2.454 is good news for my ice tanker. Azrael.

You'd have to ask Home Coming Dev's, I don't know what they're considering. But the weekly discord summative discussion thread has a whole raft of suggestions from the Tricks Arrow community. (Many of which I agreed with bar the entangle veto. (I like it, have used it for 31+ levels and love it.). Most of it seem to be based around tweaking and enhancing the set eg. adding some damage here and there...or a debuff to heal...or trimming the cool downs or immobilise to the glue arrow. Some of the longer cool downs could be trimmed. And the stamina crunching penalty of using EMP. Maybe a modest Heal over Time from using Entangle or something. If I had those three changes I'd be happy. I quite like Tricks active debuffing nature. It's very good at what it does, debuffing. Subtle and under-rated. Though Tactical Arrow for blasters seems very popular. Maybe the dev's could look there for inspiration. But whole sale changes to Tricks aren't necessary. One idea that came to me...was getting a slight def' bonus from using the Debuffs that could stack. Or it could be stacked Heals over Time. So as you debuff lots you get these stacks of Heals over Time. ie. Using your Debuffs buys you time to heal and recover. I quite like that water corkscrew from the water blast set that gives Heal over Time. Azrael.

Every time I'm in a mission with Overdrive...I'm reminded of what Energy Melee 'should be' in my mind. Overdrive hits like a truck. An NPC that has the mob 'arrested' long before I get my 1st attack out. (Bang. Bang BANG! Dead. 'Arrested.' With a head dangling off a neck.) I'm getting the feeling Overdrive wasn't game balanced. But I'd take that for Energy Melee. Fist Mother Trucker. (Overdrive.) Changes to Energy Melee for tanks in Page 6? I hope they're creative. Azrael. PS. I keep hearing about how 'good' things were for the Energy Melee tank in the owden days...but do we have any numbers for then vs now? Any actual % over the set from then to now?

I've noticed the weekly topic specifics re: Energy Melee. ET does Stamina return rather than - health. Ergo. Energy Mastery. (Make sense.) Stun does damage eg. Cobra Strike style. (I'd like an Atomic Smasher style AoE stun.) TF does splash damage. (Sounds good to me.) Others. Shorten the animation times of the obvious offenders. (Fine by me. I like the Pom Poms. Just speed it and TF up?) Increase Whirling Hands crop circle. I don't see anything on that list that is too offensive. I'm still hoping the whole set gets a damage boost. (And somewhat hopeful that we could 'beta test' the Energy Builder mechanic from the Dominator.) Azrael.

What is the Tricks Arrow pending change? I've heard two players mention it. But I can't find it. And Energy Melee. Is this for the EM tank? (For blasters?). A damage boost? An Energy Assault style mechanic (The dominator? Yes please...big fun to play) Or an Atom Smasher style AoE stun damage to replace Single target stun? Azrael. PS. At last! A sonic blaster 2ndary!!! Sonic Thrust!

I keep going back to my Energy Melee / Invul' 'plodder' and it's currently at L40. 19.blob defence. (Surrounded by a few mobs 35% and one luck from capping.) 82.blob res'. Not bad. Tier 1-3 attacks. Whirling. Stun. ET so far. (I took Man's at L38 not TF.) And I look at the Stun. (A nice posey animation.). But I wonder if something like Atom Smasher would be a better animation. Turn it into a AoE dis'/moderate-high damage attack. Or. An alt idea. Something like Rad' Cloud's pulsing choke. But it disorients sporadically instead. With a moderate DoT. My other points are the previously mentioned 'try out the energy builder' for damage mechanic for this tank. And see if we can align the Pom Poms/Short ET as 'alt' choices in the character/power builder creation tool. It could still be played old school (after all, you don't have to press the buttons that light up...) and add a bit of interest to make the set more compelling. Azrael. PS. I have tried out a maxed out Energy Invul tank on the beta vs a Rad'/Titans. And the latter seemed to bury the 'old school' tank. TWs may get a nerf. But not sure undoing EM's 'live' nerf is going to be enough. HC seem a bit more thoughtful than that. PPS. I've played an EM/Elec Shield brute. And in that. I see glimpses of what the 'old school' EM fans want. And I see what progressives may want to. It hits hard. Then it starts to hit really hard. Then it absolutely trucks hard. And the DoT punishes surrounding mobs. On an even con basis I like what I'm getting from that Brute. I'd like some of that duality of mother trucker with another creative AoE. There's no reason why we can't just try these things on beta. I'd rather try something by playing and testing it.

Thank you for your reply. We've gone for the 'Offender' approach because things like Tactics/Assault and Man's can stack. Our last three picks have been Victory Rush...EMP and Stun. But we don't have hasten, aim or the ice hold. I think the biggest single flaw in our builds is the lack of significant defence. We can't complain about getting hit and knocked back if we don't have the defence to quash most of that. And our biggest vulnerability is the exposure to melee aggro'. Eg. Man's is nice. But it's nowhere near Weave's 8%. Or Scorpion Shield's 17% -21% (I noted from your build?) Leaving 28-30% defence on table for characters that can't heal seems to be questionable. And we don't have a big pile of hit points to play with. Though once we lay down the Flash and Gas you wouldn't notice. Tricks is an imperious battlefield debuffer. Scorpion shield not only covers smashing and lethal (most common damage type?) but also Energy as well which is fairly common too. And with some toxic resistance? (We weren't overly convinced about having any epic powers...and focusing on debuffs and attacks of the Trick/Arrows build....but if I had to pick one epic...it would be the Scorpion Shield...for the reasons outlined...) If you added 20% on top of our 21% shared (16% single player) through Man's stacking...that would give us 41% near the cap. And Fighting pool would definitely see us at the cap with Weave adding to the other positions as well. Note. We're SO 'old school' builds until L50 (a challenge we set ourselves...) with the only exceptions being the AT sets of which we're fitting both as we go. If we take Scorpion and Fighting (we'll be taking RoArrows at 38, ofc...) that 'us' up to L50. This means we miss out on Aim, Hasten to boost burst damage and Speed up the cool downs. Though we can address some recharge capability through SO recharges in power. And most things come around reasonably fast with one or two laggards on a mob to mob basis. It might be the case that we take the Scorpion shield and look at AIM/Hasten and maybe the Ice Hold. But that's something we'll chat about as a DUO. I'm not so enamoured by EMP because having spent 31 levels trying to negotiate a stamina 'neurtral' build EMP torpedoes your end for 15 seconds. Maybe something that could be mitigated by putting a few end reds in there. At the moment it's an 'oh crepe' power for me until I can spare the slots to go into it. We have no travel power. (RP reason.). So we 'sprint' and take the trains everywhere. (Part of the old school challenge we set.) I'll check out the Defender Tricks 'news' as my duo partner mentioned that to me but I didn't get chance to read it yet. Regards, Azrael.

Is it worth taking the Scorpion Shield for a Tricks Arrow? Context. My Duo Partner and myself are running two Tricks Arrows. So our debuffs stack(?) and we control the battlefield by debuff. Flash, Gas and Glue and we 'moider' the mobs. We have Manoeuvres, Stealth, Flash Arrow and CJ. Man's stacks. We're at L37. We don't have Fighting. We don't have Scorpion shield. Our defence together (side by side) is 21% ish. It's not bad. But I don't think we're maximised in this area. We're getting hit more (as I suspected we would as we approached the mid-30s to late 30s with the 40s to come.) Advice welcome. Regards, Azrael.

Dear HC developers, I think there was a bit of a complaint about Sonic's 'Grey Strobes' back in the day (on live) causing some players nausea? I used to think this was a bit of fuss about nothing. Until I got to see the 'Whom...whom...whom...' strobe of Disruption Arrow. A sound power. But like the Sonic set, the strobing makes me feel 'urgh' looking at it. Is there any chance of an alt animation of this? My duo partner and I are playing Tricks Arrows. And we were going great guns (or arrows, rather...) until it came to picking Disruption Arrow. And we had a discussion or 'disagreement' about it. It didn't effect him. It wasn't 'that bad.' But for me? I couldn't look at it directly for long. So he kindly demurred to a 2nd build and we picked something else. (After all, Acid Arrow isn't so bad, eh?) Any chance of the devs offering up one of the Sonic Shield fx choices for the Disruption Arrow power? Regards, Azrael.

I have used Discord. I find it easy to get lost on it. Though there is the appeal of its real time nature. I do like the forums. This is the 1st time I've found the 'weekly' topic discussion. It was good to see the overview opinions on the different themes. Was there a Discord discussion on Energy Melee for Tanks? (I do like the idea to toggle the animation for ET though I am a pom pom fan myself.). Is that going to be 'summatively' posted here? Azrael.

A sound suggestion. So you can head in the direction of a customised story that levels you from 1-50. If having a 'raise' limit on the amount of contact arcs is prohibitive for HC servers (though I can't see that many people wanting to create a L1-50 arc for 'solo' or duo play....) Is there an option to save your Contact mission Arcs off line. So you can create and store as many as you like. And load each level Arc or the next 3 level arcs up to the AE as you need it? And remove them from the AE as you complete them? And I do like the idea of extending the SG base to walk out into your own 'custom' map for your 'AE' content. ie. Walk out the back of your back into a 'private zone' of your choice eg Kings Row where you are the RP Master. You have your contact for your missions, and, like AE missions, you can invite others to your 'private party' zone? Ie. Decoupling the AE idea as being a holo-simulation. And having 'your custom' missions happening in your own zone. So instead of it being AE. It could be an instanced zone of your choice as an extension of your SG base. Something that the PB/WS arcs from Sun Storm 'promised...' I hope all that made sense. Azrael.

I rolled my En/En Sentinel with the express purpose of having insane Defence when Power Surge is up for a whole 3 minutes. And I use other power sets to mitigate the crash...to buy time to get the toggles up and running again. Great fun. Azrael.

The disorient 2ndaries of Energy could also do with an uplift. Nice when they happen. Maybe they don't happen quite often enough...? Bring back the 'Big Mag.' Azrael.

Pretty dull as ditchwater hard going, I found until I got ET. The only showy power other than Whirling Mediocrity.). At least ET still kicks like a mule and looks good whilst doing it. 'Dush (Energy Punch)...((Wait.)) dush dush...(Barrage) (Wait.) dush...(Wait) WHHHHHR...dush dush....dush DUSH (Bone Smasher)...(Wait.) Tsssh (Stun)...WHUUUUUURRRR-BOOOOM (ET.) ET has the self drain health 'gimmick.' Reverting Energy back to pre-nerf. A bit like throwing away the IOs and going back to pre-issue 4. As in. Not going to happen. It's a backward step. HC are more progressive and forward thinking. The snipe for blasters is a good example of adding to a set for an AT that was drowning. As was the self love self buff. Addressing the Tank AT was only the 1st step. Each Melee Tank class will get a look. HC seem more likely to do something in the spirit of what the developers on live had intended. That involves some fixing. Not sure it means going backwards. There are more creative ways to solve Energy's problems that to undo the nerf the original devs applied. Energy Transfer was quicker. But it was pretty dull as was. As was the rest of the set bar the 'showy' Whirling Hands. Energy just needs a 'make it more so.' And a bit of imagination and excitement to things. Sloth. Sluggish. Slow to get going. Like an old steam train. Azrael.

That made sense to me. I saw the connection straight away. Plus the train going over the edge is a great storytelling 'gimmick.' Azrael.

'Despise?' I guess I don't like Titan Weapons. A bit like fighting with a giant kipper. Yeah. EM is a bit bland and repetitive. Dual Blades. Great set. Love the combo mechanics. Azrael.

I like your idea about using the 'quicker' animation if you 'spend it' on Energy mechanic. That way those that like the longer version keep it. The mechanic gives access to the original shorter animation on ET. And yes. Energy Proc. Why not. Adding a bit of variety to the set wouldn't go amiss. Both 'pre nerf' and 'progressives' would each get what they wanted. I'm greedy. I want both. Pre-nerf and the newer combat mechanic. I like your ideas how to hybridise to include both. Creative thinking, that. Azrael.

Oh yes? What did the devs say? I really like the Energy mechanic on Energy Assault and think it's something that could easily be tested on a HC Beta server. And see how the Tank actually plays with it. It's a good avenue to increase damage with a proven mechanic. Your attacks store energy (makes sense...you're a master of energy...) and you can build energy on all attacks and spend it. Quite simple. And maybe when you spend it you cause splash disorient...with increased chances to disorient eg. from 30 on Whirling Hands to 60%...or when you hit with EN or TF with 'spend it' you cause a mag 3 stun. No questions. So when you really spend a Total Focus or Energy Transfer they're really going to hit like trucks. It gives Energy something unique as Super Strength has eg. Rage. It would add a bit of interest to the plain Jane plodding Energy Melee set. The live devs were heading in the direction of adding combat mechanics to sets to add a bit more interest to the game play for the newer sets. So giving the traditional sets like Energy, Ice and Stone Hammer a mechanic pass with increased 'burst' or 'spike' damage is mighty fine by me. Just reverting one power and going pre-nerf on the damage isn't enough for me. It's regressive and stale. Better to move forward with something more interesting. I don't see 2.6 seconds as yawning chasm. But some might. I do remember the pre-nerf...ET. It was quick. I like the idea of 'conditional' to include both. As I do like both. Azrael.

That's a good overview for anyone wanting to know what was going on with the taunt sound fx. I couldn't understand why the 'Ahhh' had vanished. I'm quite alright with the global 'Ahhh' personally. It's on all my taunt takers. 😄 They all say 'Ahhh...' before the 'gift' is dispensed. Thanks again to you and Philotic Knight, I really like the Modding app and do I like my 'Ahhh.' Azrael.

I like the idea of splash stun correlated with the damage done. They could add that into the Domi Energy builder for damage mechanic. A heavy damage stun melee set. That is energy at its basis. To make it more so is no foul. Azrael.

I had TF on my En/EN blaster. I do recall putting the smack down on them. Stars in their eyes. A lot of fun to use. And handy for glass cannon blappers like Blasters. Demon bosses with their head to one side as they look like they just got hit by a truck. Stuns. Funny things. You can 'arrest' stuff that fast these days...why bother? If you can have stuns that can 'do' a boss in one...that makes more sense to me. Otherwise, any squishy could be dead by the time they apply the stun a 'second' time. Azrael.

I remember using TF on my en/en blaster to make a boss see tweetie pie. Azrael.

Mag 3 stun...in all attacks? Or just the big whopper En' Transfer or the Total Focus? A pre-nerf damage boost? What are the numbers of nerf and pre-nerf? Azrael.

I do like the idea of adding damage to the stun. I'd also like the Stun to be an AoE stun as well. Energy seems to have a 2ndary disorient specialism going on. Whirling Hands does have that 30% chance. And to have Whirling's dis' stack with another AoE Stun specialism would be interesting. 60% change to stun AoE with 100% on the single target. Splash stun? Cobra strike benefitted from that bit of damage. No.1 in damage? Sure. Single target. Np. Azrael.

I don't mind the balladic nature of the Energy animations. I don't mind the Energy Transfer Pom Poms. It gives the impressive the mob has been hit by a truck. A touch theatrical...but it is a superhero game... I'm certainly not opposed to it being the single target big hitter. Super Tanker mode. Yes. It's old remit. Hit slower. Hit harder. That seems to be the game mechanic in general. So if the animation takes longer make it hit harder. Pre-Nerf seems to be what some are asking for. But it's still very 2004. Not 'that' interesting in the development of the game on live with Dual Blade, TWs and the new Energy Dominator Melee mechanic. So one way of two birds and one stone would be to use the Energy Domi' Mechanic (which I find quite exciting) to 'get there' on single target damage. We get the damage. And adds interest to the set. Simple solution. Try it on beta. It aint going to do no harm there. As for OP. Even if it was the single target big hitter. It would still be left in the dust by AoE this, that and the other. You see an Energy Melee Brute with a 2ndary with a damage aura. I dunno. The tank fight seems to take much longer. I do like the disorient on the energy melee set. And have been exploring that more. And someone mentioned this. I think each tanker should specialise in 'something' eg. You have Rage for Superstrength...TWs has its mechanic and uber place...Dual Blades has all those combos...Ice seems to be 'hot' on AoE…(cos it sucks at Single Target...) since the tank changes...so having EM hit single target hardest is fine by me. It gives you a reason to roll each type of tank. Azrael.