Tath99

Player retention is /harder/ when the player has seen it all, done it all. Seen it all: -- More map types. -- More textured variants (bring the Winter Ice caves into main game for example). -- Custom maps for custom villain groups. Done it all: -- Influence events. Make certain mobs worth more Influence on a regular basis. -- IO events. Create new IO sets which are specific to drop from specific villains or AV's. -- Origin events. Create events tailored to test and reward specific origins. Creating a busy calendar for players to enjoy that leap away from the generic nature of the game systems (and showcase creativity) would go a long way to keeping players involved.

Running missions for Fareed Abdullah - Steel Canyon. A technology consultant. He sends you off to fight Clockwork, who if memory recalls, used to drop Science / Technology DO's -- serving Science AND Technology heroes. Recent changes may have led them to dominantly dropping Science SO's leaving Technology heroes out of the reward loop. If villain groups previously dropped DO's serving two hero origins are they now correctly dropping SO's to both those hero origin types? Or only one?

The Magma Lord skin would look great as an option too.

I fought Cortex at +0 on an Earth / Time Controller on SO's. Thanks to my Controller's abilities I was able to accidentally separate / area deny the Illusions from entering the room where I was fighting Cortex. Only after I defeated Cortex did the Illusions gain entry, and alpha strike me with numerous mental blasts - leading to Controller's defeat. The Illusions persisted beyond Cortex's death. This seems -- odd. Is this intended behaviour? The number of Illusions and the effectiveness of Psi in general led to my hero's quick defeat. The attacks from the Illusions came in near-simultaneously. For a squishy AT this was a mean test. Evolved Pathogen was also fought at +0. Heavy controls allowed me to win the fight, but I ran out of inspirations and Endurance after heavy hits. I was forced to kite around the room furniture whilst key powers and Endurance recharged.

The Hurl Power as used by the Animated Stone pet (on Earth Controller) is showing quirky behaviour. The damage being applied by a hit is at times(?) out of synch with the animation. Damage is being shown prior to animation completing / hurled missile completing trajectory. This, I would hazard a guess, is a combination of animation time, missile speed and possibly lag. Because the Hurl power is "out of synch" between its throw / projectile / damage number display it is hard to determine if a hit is successful / failure / bugged (hurl not hitting when it should). -- Is damage being incorrectly applied at the beginning of the power activation with no or poor representation of projectile delay?

Ding. Ding. Ding. Ding. The sound of inspires dropping into your empty inspire tray. You and your Hero are fighting on a high difficulty, are surrounded and the fight is only half won.

Indeed. However well intentioned a buff to burn and Fire Tanks -- there are consequences.

[Temperature Protection] already provides 20% resistance to slow debuff. I understand your argument for adding more (it feels neither here nor there effective at 20%) but adding it to [Burn] -- would this not overload [Burn] with effects? Would you not, at the very least, have to slow down the recharge or increase its END cost to compensate?

Thanks for the reply. Indeed, fun is subjective. However as the original poster and the instigator of the criticism you are within your rights to describe your own experience. I think the thread would be better for it. My own thoughts: -- Ice Control is low damage. Myself and a friend have tried it and been dissuaded from playing it further as a result. As a set it creates a bad early impression. -- Ice Control is a soft control set. As you level you gain access to power after power that fails to counter the return alpha strike, as your rightly point out. -- Ice Control is a soft control set. Personally, this is against my own "power fantasy" of what ice should be. In my mind's eye Wind Control is soft; Ice is hard and unyielding. The power set fails to transition through power tiers, changing from soft effects to hard effects. i.e. It might have been better designed as being a rare set which contains soft AND hard elements. A friend of mine was told and repeats often: "if you want to play an Ice Controller, roll an Ice Blaster". The advice he was given, sadly, rings true. I have played Ice Blast to high level. It contains great single target damage and has great controls. If this is true for an Ice Blaster then logic dictates, conversely, that Ice Control should have some degree of being able to focus its cold intensity onto a single target. Gravity had an Impact effect added to Propel to shore up its deficiency. Perhaps Ice Control needs something similar? "The Ice Sorceress concentrated her will and effort. Her enchantment grew stronger: the enemy Freakshow boss began to shimmer and glisten with hoarfrost, as the temperature of his steel shell plummeted towards absolute zero."

Perhaps the question(s) needs to be asked another way: -- Are there powers in the set which are /not/ FUN to use? -- Are there powers in the set which are /not/ FUN to use solo? -- Are there powers in the set which are /not/ FUN to use on a team? -- Does the set work hard, and effectively but feel like an unsung hero (like Trick Arrow)? Does it fulfil the player's fantasy?

Question: Which of the powers in the set are most apt for a damage buff? -- Could the Pet be buffed? What if Jack Frost were given [Icicles]? -- What if Jack Frost if defeated, broke into smaller pets, ala the Devouring Earth?

This is a fair point. I rescind my suggestion regarding damage. I had my Electricity Manipulation (Blaster) hat on. 😉 However, the other cautionary notes I sounded regarding immobilization stacking and -recharge are still valid. Entangling Arrow is "subtle" (tactical) rather than "direct" (numerical) in its benefits. I would personally advise against making a change which is in danger of changing its identity too much. P.S. Though as food for thought -- would it be a bad thing if ALL immobilizes across ALL powersets and AT's were standardized to have damage on different AT damage scaling? Perhaps a discussion for another day and thread.

I am probably late to the conversation, but I would like to add a note of caution regards making changes to Entangling Arrow as an Immobilize. Currently I have Entangling Arrow in my build. This is the case because it allows my character to be reliant on Range defence by keeping significant threats out of melee. The added bonus of the -recharge makes their attacks slower and makes their ranged output even less of a threat. Importantly Entangling Arrow is especially beneficial against Bosses, Elites Bosses and AV's because long durations of Immobilize and a quick recharge time allows the same TA character to stack the immobilize effect and bring them to a halt with quick re-applications. My notes of caution are this: please ensure that the "keep at range" effectiveness of the power is not lost against Bosses, Elite Bosses and AV's. The ease of application for stacking immobilize is not weakened. the intended change of -res becomes effective for subsequent shots but not Entangling itself. Is this really the intended goal? (Weakening a power to strengthen the set?) Personally speaking, I would much rather see Entangling Arrow be a constricting net (ala Predator net from the movies). Simply make it a modest damage over time attack whilst immobilized. The defacto forum wisdom might be that the Ice Arrow (a Hold) is superior to Entangling Arrow. I would counter that Entangling Arrow (and Immobilizes in general) have a purpose and changing them should not be automatic -- simply because they are low tier. I like them!

Consider playing a Defender duo. Defenders benefit from mutual aid. It teaches good player etiquette and promotes good player-player relationships. Dad helps daughter. Daughter helps dad.

Enhancement Combining: I am a little saddened to see the option to ++ ordinary SO's disappear. This allowed SO only builds to eke out a little extra % efficiency -- their was a difference between a ++, +, blue and yellow state of SO. That is ++ status SO's were a) overcharged and b) had guaranteed extra longevity for the extra inf investment. Would I be correct in saying option b) longevity is retained through these changes but the overcharging a) has been removed? -- or am I misunderstanding?

Teleport Target: This power (old guise of Teleport Foe) always struck me as annoyingly slow to cast. Has this been altered / is there grounds to alter it? A quicker cast, and higher END cost would make it a QoL feature when Recalling a Friend, and tactically more significant in the combat moment, when teleporting a foe.

Could the team / informed readers please confirm which powers are intended to be stackable by multiple Trick Arrow character sources? This is important as:- the correct powers are identified as being stackable. it promotes TA teamplay. helps ensure numbers are in ideal range. powers aren't bugged.

My friend and I were discussing somewhat around this subject recently. Ultimately to defeat the hardest foes, I put it to him, you have to defeat certain enemy groups at their own game: Rules of Engagement: Rule the fight. Open the fight on your terms. Control distance. Longbow and Arachnos come at you with strong debuffs. -perception, -to hit, -end and more. Debuff them first. Harder. The -perception and -hit are a case in point. If you can open with making yourself harder to see, harder to hit from the get go, you can overcome the numbers and maybe sweep the entire group of minions off the board as a threat. Then you can focus on the bosses. Or the immediate threat. The trick is laying down the initial debuff without being overwhelmed by any mass retaliation strike. It may be Queensbury rules to square off with a mob and dive in regardless but it can be safer to inflict "dirty tricks" and ambushes. A little Trickery and maybe a few arrows. 😉

Swift, Hurdle, Combat Jump & Sprint only. Combat Jump is recommended for the curious. It (and a degree of patience) are good enough on this "old school" playthrough. You can do neat things like scale buildings by leaping from window ledge to window ledge.

Entanglement Theory: Shoot an AV often enough... Vandal: defeated as a Trick Arrow duo. On SO enhancements. Our Trick Arrow slotting is well developed. Our attacks are under-slotted. === And in other news: Lexington Manor is now open to the public for visitors. Public password: Arrow-5260 Please note the base is a work in progress. Feedback welcome. The Public Archery Range.

Of course. You are correct. Steps would have to be taken to avoid players creating and maintaining a permanent pet. Personally though, I like the idea that a temporary ally could be created and buffed -- but then the players would have to 'deal' with that ally. Especially if the duration of the +ally tag wore off unexpectedly or the presence of the +ally tag could be made to enrage other enemies. A double edged sword. Extending the gameplay loop this way could be fun.

I would humbly suggest submitting that as a change request. i) It would open up another avenue of play for Confusion powers if they applied a temporary +ally tag. ii) It would widen the repertoire of powerset combinations.

Can you not place the [Sonic Disruption] power around a Confused enemy?

Ice Arrow does not visually & thematically fit into the set -- when you can Ice Arrow an opponent and then have Oil Slick Arrow ignited - and the Ice Arrow is not changed by the heat. The Ice Arrow in my opinion would be better served as being an 'electronic paralysis' hold.

Super Reflexes is excellent on a tank. Just make sure you slot adequately for Endurance to last a fight.