csr

Again... SD isn't TGTS * PCT for the buff, it's (TGTS + 5) * PCT. Though it still requires that you hit one foe or you get nothing. Right now the average infinite-horizon buff for SD is 25 to 28% larger than that for standard BU even with just 1 target. That's 95% chance to hit times 60% as much buff from a single target as "normal" BU times 300% the duration divided by 1.34 to 1.37 cycle time ratio. (The 25% is for 500% total Recharge while the 28% is out-of-the-box.)

The only complaint I have about the set is that the lack of a hover component on Jaunt makes it hard to use for vertical travel. Without it you can't use the trick of aiming for the top edge of a ledge or railing and using the hover component to get on top of it - you just fall straight to the ground. As a result you either need to stop and adjust your camera so you can hit the higher level or tp up above it and fall down. And since Jaunt can't be chained, that isn't always possible. For example: I couldn't get up the bluff in Talos from the docks by Andrea Mitchell with Jaunt, I had to find a place not too steep to climb. This means the added bonus travel in this set is far less useful than that in Sorcery as it doesn't really up your speed (which it does to a large degree in Sorcery) or vertical travel capability by much.

I think the END% scaling should be toned down as well, with the power scaling from say 35-80% of the damage it does now instead of 10-100% (you need some END to cast it, so it's never 0). I think it's being cast with more END% on average than might have been expected. On my two test runs I averaged around 96% (Incarnate /Regen Brute) and 70% or so (L32-33 /SR Scrapper against END draining Freaks). The latter case is ironically the one that makes me think the scaling should be reduced, as I was actually eating blues to buff my damage on a power with +END as a major component.

I think the idea is that Dark Melee was a clear outlier at the bottom of the list of AoE from the Tanker +Area perspective (it gained about half as much as the next lowest set in that regard). I believe Capt P just wants to bring it up so that it's no longer an outlier but still near the bottom. If that's the case, then I think he's gone a bit too far and I suspect there's a reduction in the buff to DC coming soon.

I guess AP has crashed. I was trying to test whether or not Faraday Cage can be cast while mezzed. It appears to be the case in brief testing. Can anyone confirm or contradict that? [Edit:] With AP back up I was able to get on my toon in AE and confirm that Faraday Cage can be cast while mezzed. That makes it quite a good power.

It appears to be roughly 4s (I'm guessing 4.25s) duration with a 4s tick rate (so you can be without the buff for a fair bit of time after entering the cage).

I played my L32 Dark/SR Scrapper with a new build on beta a bit (part of the Freakalympics arc set at +1x3). She kicked those Freaks' butts. The AoE wasn't as good as on my DM/Regen Brute, as this toon was often running DC with 40-70% END. When run as a SD/DC pair with high END the damage was pretty impressive and wiped out even the +2 Minions. Shadow Maul was quite good even on this 14s Rech/1.56 DS setup (it'll be better with the next with slightly better damage and 11s Rech). I was easily hitting 2x as many targets with it as the smaller version, and with the minimal work of the take-one-step-back tactic I hit 4 or 5 routinely. Getting anywhere near the 10 target cap was pretty much impossible though; those Freaks just refused to stand on each others' shoulders (I did trick some into flying by jumping on crates and back down, but it really wasn't worth the trouble to get the extra 1 or 2 targets). A major improvement in fighting larger spawns on this toon. Running at x3 or higher is now a reasonable alternative to just running arcs at x1 and going for speed.

A PBAoE Terrify would certainly be nice. It's 40s recharge would make it fill roughly the same niche as DC with Fear in place of the +END and less damage to make up for the END% scaling. For Stalkers only in this case. Though Touch of Fear on other ATs could use a bit of a buff too.

An off-the-wall suggestion to help Stalkers: Make Touch of Fear a slow spreading chain attack and possibly add damage (the latter would only be paired with a reduction in the DC buff).

Stalkers don't have Dark Consumption. I assume you meant Scrappers. By my metric the new version of Shadow Maul with the 11s recharge and slightly higher DS (Capt P appears to be keeping the DPA in line with the current SM on live HC) will make Dark Melee gain just a tick above the average from the Tanker Inherent (the current beta version puts it below average in that regard, while on Live it is a true outlier off the bottom of the list). So if the set is being buffed too much, then it probably isn't specific to Tankers, so a downward tweak would more appropriately be applied to Dark Consumption rather than Shadow Maul, as it wouldn't disproportionately hit Stalkers' AoE gains.

In playing a bit more I noticed that Shock seems to miss the target, sizzling past their ear rather than hitting them (this was against Warriors).

Yep, the pseudo-pet doing the buffing doesn't appear to be inheriting Resist enhancement.

Personally, I like it the way it is rather than with more EndRdx at the cost of the set bonuses. All the sets look good to me, save Preemptive, which is pretty weak. But it's an Uncommon set, and has the unusual Range enhancements, so I think that's fine as is too.

I believe that the primary impetus behind these changes is the fact that the new Tanker inherent offered so little to Dark Melee. So the decrease in single target value and increase in AoE value of Shadow Maul makes sense with that goal in mind. By my metric (which is similar in construction to what Capt P described he was using), these changes increase DM from a distant last place in AoE to about even with the other weak AoE sets. People comparing it to Electrical Melee seem to be ignoring Chain Induction and Thunderstrike (probably because of the cast time on the latter) and the fact that Dark Consumption won't always be cast at 100% END. Interestingly I now have DM getting as much buff from the Tanker inherent as War Mace and just a bit below the average benefit from the +Area. Energy Melee would be the new last place on that list.

Soul Drain has two buffs it applies, so that 1st guy actually counts as much as 6. I just tested to make sure it was working on beta and it is: +48% Damage from hitting one guy on my Brute. If you've been playing DM and think Soul Drain is worthless, then you're doing something very, VERY wrong.

Poison and Storm both have targeted heals that can't affect the caster. So that's 2 of the 5 sets with single target heals that lack an AoE heal to go with them. Shock Therapy's heal would be the only multi-target heal that doesn't affect the caster however. The set does have a self heal when Static is consumed as well. But it has issues solo in that Shock is the only power to build Static charge you can use without an ally and Discharge the only power that can consume it to provide the heal. Shock Therapy also has just 3 of 9 powers usable without an ally, matching Empathy for the least number of such powers.

If you want a medical sounding term "Galvanic Stimulation" is a less negative choice than "Shock Therapy".

I played a bit at levels 1-3 (AP street), 10-12 (Wincott/Flux) and 25 (Wheel of Destruction arc) on a ST/Elec Def to test low level performance. The set isn't good solo at those levels, a bit better than Empathy perhaps, but worse than pretty much everything else. However, it's easy to see how good this set would be on a Mastermind just from looking at the powers you never get to use solo on a Defender. Because so many of the powers require an ally, I think choosing to test it on something other than an MM was a mistake as it limits real testing to teaming; which is never all that common on the beta servers and the teams I've seen haven't been normal teams with one ST toon, but rather teams with multiple ST users on them. Also, teaming is a less controlled environment, making it a bit harder to assess what you're seeing.

Count me in the NO column for the name "Shock Therapy".

While they make a note that the DPS (per activation second here) is largely unchanged on Shadow Maul, the Damage/Cycle is only 44% of what it was. So you need to hit 2.3 times as many foes with the wider arc. You're probably not going to top 1.5 times as many at low levels. Also the END cost was boosted from 8.53 to 13.52 with the increased recharge so you're END/sec of activation doubled, making it less END efficient for the lowbie as well. Since it does roughly 65% the damage for 58% more END it's DPE is 41% what it was. So for END efficiency you need to hit about 2.5 times as many foes. Still, I think it's a good change, as it trades low level/low target environment value for better AoE. You really can routinely hit 3 times as many foes in a farm environment, for example. And with Soul Drain you like more targets to begin with, so it gets some synergy there. It's not a clear cut upgrade though, as the downside you note is real.

Since I had my Incarnate DM/Regen Brute on beta already, I took him out for a spin in the Comic Con S&L farm at +4x8. I didn't bother to rework him, so Dark Consumption was slotted with just three Performance Shifters, reducing the likely damage value by a chunk - he's a Brute though, so less than on other ATs - and increasing the cycle time. I ran the farm in just over 10 minutes using Incarnates but no inspirations. DM is not exactly well suited to this, of course, so that time sans all that +DMG I'd have if I were really farming is pretty good. I could have shaved it to 8 minutes or less if I was more serious about it. That's not going to approach a Spines/Fire of course, but we're talking a DM/Regen here, currently one of the worst farm builds I can think of.

What you get is the "whiff" sound of missing, regardless of a hit or not. It's a bit disconcerting as is.

Did you take both Shadow Punch and Smite?

The AE critter editor definitely does not like the critters copied over from live. It causes a hard crash to the desktop when you try to edit them. To be clear... that's critters copied over with my account, not some manual copy that I did. I didn't have any troubles creating new critters however. Neither in the editor or in a test mission.

Breath of Fire is a small fraction of the size (14% without the Tanker inherent buff) of Fire Breath. As a result the area modifier is much smaller (about 67%) for the former, causing it to do more damage despite Blaster's higher Ranged Damage Scale.