csr

April 12

There are probably some really weird edge cases that happen rarely that we don't notice. For example having a Speed Boost take you to the recharge cap and then the old boost being removed giving you a lower value than would be expected. It's the cap that causes the problem. If the Absorb cap were twice what it is then we wouldn't see this. For example, my Rad Tanker would get 1057 then another 1057 taking her to 2114 (which would now be below the cap) then the old buff would be immediately removed dropping her back to 1057. So she'd just refresh the 1057 she had. If either the old buff was removed first or the cap applied last there wouldn't be a problem, it's that the new buff is applied and the cap enforced before the old buff is removed that seems to be the issue.

[Edit:] This isn't quite right, since Absorb can be lost. The fix seems to be to remove the old buff first, then apply the new one and apply the cap.

April 11

What I think it's doing is adding the new Aborb buff, stacking that with the existing buff to hit the cap, then the "replace" immediately removes the previous buff, which has a fixed value, which leaves you at that (Cap minus that fixed value) remaining. At no point does the mouse-over actually show the Aborb go up to the cap though.

If "replace" removed the existing effect first you'd simply get a new buff of the normal value. Which I suspect might be what was intended.

In any case, I don't like how it works now, but I'm not sure its behavior counts as a bug.

April 11

I don't see a stacking effect. I just logged my Rad Tanker and on repeated casts she got 1057.4 (the amount from the power) the first time and 816.7 (the cap minus the buff that was removed) each time thereafter. A Rad Armor Scrapper I tested had the same pattern. I tested 6 Bio toons before and also saw the same thing. These were all on Live though. I'll try to test on Experimental later if no one else does.

April 11

4 hours ago, brass_eagle said:

I thought that too, but when using--

Wild Bastion --> Burnout --> Wild Bastion in the course of 10 seconds, you still see this effect. Wild Bastion has a duration of 1 minute.

I think that's because it has a "replace existing" tag causing the old buff to expire when the new one is applied.

I don't really see why "replace existing" tag is needed given that there is a cap. It would make the powers only a little stronger if removed, since it is hard to stack them for long without Burnout and that tag makes their behavior fiddly like the VEAT pets used to be; where you had to watch and wait for expiration before recasting. Rad Armor's Particle Shield is a bit more of an issue, as you can get an overlap of 20 seconds or more. However, I think the way it works is that if you take damage during the period of overlap it effectively comes out of the newest buff since the buff amount removed on expiration of the earlier buff will remain the same.

April 10

I wonder if the amount would be more if you'd lost some of the absorb to damage. It looks like (Cap - Active) equals the result in both cases.

February 20

This is the latest update I've seen: Bare Metal Cloud Status - [BHS7][Dedicated Servers] - Rack B716B05 (status-ovhcloud.com)

February 19

Based upon some testing with a L33 Storm/Storm Corr and L38 Storm/Tac Blaster I'd say the set hasn't been buffed much at all between Live and RC3. Any improvements seem to be small enough that they are mostly - or wholly - offset by Storm Cell now aggro'ing the target spawn when cast.

February 12

In a short play-session I couldn't get Tri-Cannon to follow me up or down any elevators in Malta Labs or Office Buildings. It did follow me in the sewers.

February 12

Has anyone tried the pet in sewers? It may be the same pathing issue Phantasm and Singularity have. Those two fliers won't follow you through the arched doorways in sewer maps unless you remain in line-of-sight until they are through.

February 9

On 1/28/2024 at 12:15 AM, macskull said:

So I have no way of testing whether the recipe drop rate is actually 10% as stated without triggering hundreds upon hundreds of GM spawns which would probably take days or weeks, and I can't test the Hamidon Bud drop rate for the reasons @Glacier Peak already gave. What I can do though, is use the beta freebies menus to test out the random recipes from the hologram vendor. I rolled 500 times and here are my results:

It is entirely possible that this data set is simply too small to be accurate, but this distribution doesn't seem to be actually random, with seven of the seventeen entries more than one standard deviation from the mean. The four most and three least common ones are outside the range of what you'd expect, with the fourth least common just barely squeaking by.

That looks a lot like a random sample from a group of 17 items to me. You would expect a Normal Distribution of the counts if each had the same probability, and that's pretty much what you've got. You would expect 5.44 outside one standard deviation (and 0.85 outside two). Only Sally falls outside the 95% confidence level if a 1 in 17 probability is the null hypothesis. The top two and bottom two each fall outside the 10% confidence interval (1.7 would be expected in each case).

February 9

1 hour ago, Captain Powerhouse said:

The damage done by the Detonator no longer uses the target's modifiers, but it still uses their level, so a T1 pet will inflict lower damage and have lower accuracy.

It also depends exclusively on the enhancements set on pet instead of those set on the Detonator power. Not sure why that power was ever set to accept enhancements given how it works.

Does it inherit buffs such as Fulcrum Shift on the pet? Iirc Trip Mine inherits buffs on the MM, but Detonator doesn't on Live (I haven't had Detonator in a build in quite some time).

February 8

21 minutes ago, Wavicle said:

i completely disagree. Unless you want to move Mind Link later to compensate, which I certainly don’t.

I don't understand why you think Mind Link would need to be moved later? The only AoE mez in the Fortunata Teamwork set it could be swapped with is Aura of Confusion. So not a good choice, IMO. I suggested earlier swapping Scramble Thoughts and Total Domination in the Fortunata Training set. That would put TD at level 18 and Scramble Thoughts at 26 so you could choose TD when you respec. It would delay your ability to get Scramble Thoughts from 24 to 26. Neither of these powers is actually available to pick while leveling, so it's only a 2 level difference, so not a huge deal in that regard. It would however make build diversity better because Scramble Thoughts and Dominate are similar in what they can do. There's nothing similar to TD that you can fit in the early part of the build right now. Psionic Tornado is the best AoE CC available as an early build choice.

February 8

1 hour ago, Wiseguy said:

I don't mean to nitpick your build - its your choice and playstyle after all, but wouldn't it be better to push back either of the Combat Trainings and take Fate Sealed at level 1? Mind Link is ridiculously good, even solo. It's basically the signature ability of any Widow, and IMO the biggest reason to play one. Even if you can't perma it until later as a Fort, it's worth having up whenever you can.

Not even talking optimal play here, just suggesting ideas.

I could, but I have Fate Sealed at 18 in the L24 respec. I never take CT: Off. There are plenty of options in Fort builds for 1 to 18. The problem is that level 20-30 stretch where you have one more good power than choices due to Mind Link and Confuse both unlocking at level 24.

As for Confuse... Aura of Confusion is good enough with a Malaise set in it, so I'm making Confuse into a ghetto mass control power with the Purple set.

I still think it would be appropriate for Fortunatas to have at least one AoE CC power available for the level 24 respec, rather than having the 3 it gets unlocked for consecutive power choices at 26, 28 and 30.

February 8

6 minutes ago, Wavicle said:

imo not taking Mind Link asap is an error

I'd agree if I was teaming, but solo and testing Fate Sealed's value, I decided to push it back.

February 8

27 minutes ago, Wavicle said:

My suggestion is skip Confuse so you can have Mind Link and the AoE controls.

I'm soloing on test, and the AoE damage isn't great so fights take a bit longer than I'd like, so I went with Confuse over Mind Link at 24. For teaming I think pushing Confuse back is probably better. Of course, going with a clawed Fortunata and treating Fate Sealed as a filler power for the late 40s would probably be better yet. But that's not what I'm testing.

So far running the Striga arcs (Francios' atm) the toon plays like a gimpy Ice Blaster or Dominator. The Blaster would do significantly better damage with about the same durability and a bit less control (the only AoE control available at level 25 is 'Nado's KU). The Dominator would have far better control and comparable damage. Both would likely have travel powers, which I couldn't fit in. Though I do haz mez prot. And a little team buff power in TT: Man at 6.7% Def.

So, a little disappointing compared to the alternatives, but definitely playable.

February 8

1 hour ago, Wavicle said:

Fate Sealed apparently now increases the chance to Immob, KB, and KD on some Fortunata Psi attacks?

You still aren't going to be Immobilizing anything tough (like a +3 Boss) unless you forego a chunk of damage for Immobilize, but the buffs to TK Blast and Psi 'Nado should help by giving soft-control powers in the power choice order where there is slack (before level 20). And it makes it easier to stomach passing up the claw attacks and taking TK Blast and Subdue at 1/2. That level 20-30 range of power choices is still packed on a control-centric build. Looking over the build I've been trying to optimize I have to decide which of Total Domination, Mind Link or Confuse gets delayed to 32. Probably Total Domination, though the build I have on test skipped Mind Link for Confuse at the 24 respec.

It would be nice for control-centric builds if Scramble Thoughts and Total Domination were swapped in the power order.

February 5

23 hours ago, SableShrike said:

@ScarySai, I wonder if that same bug is affecting the Telekinesis changes?

During testing, one thing I noticed is the 20 foot radius to attract mobs is nowhere near what it should be.

Fire Cages would lock a full spawn, while my new Telekinesis constantly missed the edges.

I don't think it's the same issue as Whirling Axe. I believe it's just that Fire Cages has a 30' radius rather than 20'.

February 5

3 hours ago, Booper said:

You can't actually take Fate Sealed at level 1, it'll become available at level 1 after respec, but you'll still have an assortment of powers you'd be taking along with it. Unless you really want the mez resistance, you can get away with taking it later depending on what your exemplaring play-style dictates.

If I want Fate Sealed, it either needs to fit in the early build or I have to take a power I don't want simply because there aren't any good mez powers for Fortunatas before level 12. Subdue is as good as it gets. And even that isn't available at level 1, so you have one attack choice in a non-mez power. You get Dominate at 12, Scramble Thoughts at 18 and then nothing more until 26. With Fortunatas there are a dearth of controls early, and then there is a logjam of good powers of various types from 20 onward. Due to that power choice order you have to load up the early levels of the build with non-attacks/pool powers or take attacks you probably don't really want. [Edit: Or go clawed like so many Fortunatas do now.] In the end my build plan ends up using the L24 respec to have a playable build until the 30s when I then respec into a build that might have a use for Fate Sealed (which I currently have as the L38 choice in my build).

The troubling thing is even when trying to make a build that can benefit as much from Fate Sealed as possible, it's still an iffy choice. You can stack Dominate one deeper and get about 5s extra Hold on Total Domination. The rest of Fate Sealed's buffs are pretty trivial because everything dies before Psychic Wail or Aura of Confusion wear off anyway. Confuse can already be easily stacked. You don't need to stack Scramble Thoughts. And stacking Subdue to Immobilize AVs or the like is hard because it fails 20% of the time and can't stack very deeply anyway (out of the box it's not even a perma-Immob). I take one of the PPP Immobs just so there is one more thing it helps.

February 4

4 hours ago, Sovera said:

I'd ditch the level 1 power that gives melee defense. Without it melee/ranged/AoE are at the same values and with it Melee is 15%ish ahead. So if we work at softcapping melee is grossly ahead.

I ended at 45% to all three without it and without Mind Link and thus picked Fate Sealed.

That's a good idea, but I'm still not convinced Fate Sealed is worth taking even in such an optimized case. It does seem to have value at 33+ when you have slotted AoE mez powers. With high recharge at 50+ I have about an 80 second cycle where I can use 2 Psy Wails, 1 Total Dom and 1 Aura of Confusion so that I can use one AoE mez per spawn. But the buff isn't that useful for AoC as it has plenty of duration already. And not great for Psy Wail since everything that would be mezzed is dead before the normal mez would have expired. Its value appears to be mostly stacking Dominate (which I slot for Damage first) and extending the duration of the very mediocre Total Domination.

February 4

Regarding Fate Sealed:

I've been trying to figure out a build where this power is really worthwhile, but one of the issues I run into is that Dominate is not available until level 12, so I end up with one more ST non-mez attack than I want or need, or I have to take Fate Sealed early on when I have nothing much for it to buff. You have only 1 mez power (Subdue) available before level 12. Your mez powers come at 2 (Subdue), 12 (Dominate), 18 (Scramble Thoughts), 24 (Confuse), 26 (Total Domination), 28 (Aura of Confusion) and 30 (Psychic Wail). So taking Fated Sealed early in the build isn't very helpful.

It would be nice if you had a mez power you could take at level 1 in a Fortunata build. It would also be helpful to have an AoE mez available at the level 24 respec.

The simplest reorder I could think of was to move Dominate to level 1, Total Domination to level 12 and Fate Sealed to level 26. Remembering, of course, that you can't actually get Dominate or Total Domination before level 24 anyway, so that it's mostly a build order change, not a leveling power choice change. The only difference there is making Total Domination available at 24 instead of 26 and swapping Fate Sealed the other direction. It would affect Exemp play a bit when you go down below level 21.

Fate Sealed just continues to underwhelm.

February 3

20 hours ago, Booper said:

The taunt is a click power, that ideally will trigger immediately when the pet is summoned, but it may take a few moments to activate. I may tweak it into an auto power that applies the taunt periodically. Hopefully it keeps the attention of the baddies a bit longer

I think a taunt aura like that would work better. It would also be nice if the taunt part had a larger radius than the explosion and some -Range to help draw stuff in.

With the 60' range on the summon part you have to be careful not to aggro the Bosses (with their 54' perception) in a spawn when trying to place it near the middle. So upping the summon to 80' would help too.

The description says it causes "massive damage", which it certainly doesn't do.

Without some sort of additional buff beyond what is in the current patch I think Omega Maneuver is still just a gimmick power you take for style points, not for effectiveness.

February 2

17 hours ago, OldPenn said:

I think this patch note is incorrect since a Tanker uses this at a base End Cost of 0.78/s in the Live environment, and base 0.39/s on Brainstorm.

The patch note says it's 0.39/s, and being reduced to 0.195/s, rather than 0.78 to 0.39.

That's END per tick, not per second. FA ticks twice a second.

February 2

8 hours ago, Random Robot said:

Minor thing, could we get Bayonet and/or Pummel alternate animations for the crab backpack?

The choices of Slice as an alternate for Pummel and Arm Lash for Bayonet seem to fit, but they're such obvious options I'd guess they've already been considered and rejected for some reason.

February 1

The new, blue bullet points at the end of the NPC Enemies & Factions list should probably be part of the main list, not as a sublist:

NPC Enemies & Factions [Focused Feedback: NPCs & Factions]

Arachnos

Incarnate-level Arachnos were missed for the gender parity update, this has been adjusted and now Bane Spiders, Crab Spiders, Night Widows, and Arbiters should have the opposite gender costumes at 1/8th chance.
...
Tarantula Queen Scramble Thoughts is no longer autohit.
- Removed knock protection from Bane Spider Executioner Wide Area Web Grenade & Commando Web Grenade.
- Removed knock protection from Crab Spider Webmaster Wide Area Web Grenade & Longfang Web Grenade.
- Fixed Crab Spider Webmaster Fortification not "detoggling" when endurance drained.
- Removed knock protection from Wolf Spider Huntsman Wide Area Web Grenade & Tac Ops Web Grenade.

February 1

In the Miscellaneous Power Changes section I believe the reduction in END cost should be for Telekinesis rather than Levitate:

Mind Control/Telekinesis:
- No longer holds
- Now Immobilizes
- Target cap increased to 16
- Radius increased to 20'
- Recharge increased from 60s to 120s
- Will now keep the targets between 40 and 60 feet from the player
- Will group enemies close to the main target (i.e. "reverse repel" or "pull towards").
- Toggle now lasts a max of 30s before auto-shutdown
Mind Control/Levitate:
- When your Telekinesis is active, your use of levitate on a telekinesis-anchored foe will cause your levitate to hit in an AoE and your telekinesis power will be deactivated.
- Endurance cost reduced from 3.12 per second to 1.04 per second.
- Should now only detoggle Telekinesis if it manages to hit a target besides the primary target.
- Fixed a bug where the Controller version was not deactivating properly.

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