brass_eagle

🥳 Can't wait to get my rear-end handed to me in LGTF.

Came here to post this exact thing. Threw me for a loop when I logged back into my Radiation Emission -- I'll second I'd like them switched back if feasible. Been playing with those Icons for years and it is messing with me.

No worries there--I don't feel singled out. I made a wrong assumption (and I'm glad about that). Hopefully, your clarification will help anyone unhappy about any changes. That's good news! Thanks a bunch. You guys do always surprise me, and I should remember that before I go keyboard warrior. Edit: Sidenote--don't get me wrong. I'm required to have spreadsheet-design perfection in my day-to-day. 😄

Since we are close to release here, I figured I'd throw what feedback I have. You probably have heard enough by now, judging by the spiciness of this thread, so a summary is at the top and I hope you'll consider for future changes. ------------------------------ tl;dr: I don't look at the Epic power pools with any more excitement than I did before (not much). And that sucks because there is a lot of work here meaning this will probably be the only major pass at Epic pools (WRONG! see: Booper et al., 2024.) I want to be more excited about Epics. The design philosophy is leaning too much into spreadsheet homogenization with not enough qualitative balance considerations. This conflicts with my own opinion on design and what is 'fun'. There are a few good things to be found, but the negative outweighs the positive IMO. ----------------------------------- Played a few of the new sets, even some of the nerfed ones. Dominator sleet and Epic Bonfire probably did need a little nerf... but I'm non-plussed for the most part with a lean towards negative feelings for this group of changes. Looking at these changes I still see only a few things I'd want. It boils down to design philosophy. Epic pools were originally 'epic' because they allowed archetypes to have powers they don't normally have access to. Those days of limited access are long gone (mostly for melee / damage oriented ATs I'll admit). The tradeoff was harsher design formulas. Acceptable... to a degree. It seems the prevailing philosophy for this update is homogenization. Spreadsheet design. The end goal: you can pick any epic pool (regardless of other powers) and expect the same performance in most situations. This is great!.... if you only want an epic pool choice with different FX. I'm not trying to be rude here but... This. Is. Boring. Some of the enjoyable aspects of epics have been removed in this update with (granted) only a few new ones added. Personally I get excited when I can create combos that make me feel like I am taking advantage of something (within balance reason). It makes me feel powerful. It is part of the fun of Altitis and trying different combinations. Maybe I want more control, so I pick a epic power pool that has a better hold trading off elsewhere in the set. This is just an example. I still remember the outcry stalker Kinetic Melee Burst PBAoE 100% crit chance being changed to 50%. Maybe it doesn't need to be 100% crit chance, but the set as a whole right now feels like it needs it. That example is not the only time I've felt a design decision is moving too far in a spreadsheet direction. Power balance can exist outside of formulas for qualitative, not quantitative, balance reasons. Purely balancing on numbers will doom 'fun'. Formulas can also change. Hell, most blast set nukes are better control / debuff than tools in Control / Debuff sets. It's just stupid silly. ---------------- In any case, I do appreciate the work you have done here. There are positive things here, and I am excited to try them!

RL called for a while-- but I'm back. Had a lot of fun with Savage Leap crits. Definitely making a Savage stalker once this goes live. Sad to see the recharge on telekinesis remain so high. The new end reduction feels nice on my kitted out Dominator. Didn't test high recharge build with a controller and how much that adds for containment damage. ------------------------------ However, I would still like to see a visual effect on the Telekinesis anchor--I have found myself switching to a non-anchor target to use Levitate because I didn't want to shut off Telekinesis yet. Battle flow solo: (AoE Control) --> Telekinesis --> Hold & Range AoE --> 'Switch Targets' --> Repeat Step 3 with Levitate --> Switch back for AoE Levitate before auto shutoff With the enemies clumped up, I wasn't sure which Lieutenant mob I had Telekinesis on. I can imagine on a team of 8x with all the other power effects, I'd lose the target more easily... Also, it would be nice to easily identify the target that controls the position of the group. Moving left or right--forward or back--grab more mobs--pull to a different location would be easier, at least for me. On Radiation Emission / Nature Aff characters, I usually use peripheral vision to keep track of the anchored mob based on the visual effect. The effect doesn't have to be fancy. Can even be a standard aura from the costume FX. Add a NoFx option for folks if necessary. Please consider this for future updates. (I'm still excited to make a new Mind Control on live. Great work, this update seems jam packed with goodies.)

Ran across this on my Mind/Martial Dominator. Using Envenomed blades spawns an icon in my tray (below). It's worth noting I was also seeing the same effect on my Savage/Fire/Leviathan stalker for Mako's Patron Pool. The new mechanic, hunger or whatever it's called. The one for envenomed blades seems to disappear after a minute or so.

Apologies if I missed this further up. Is this duration of the initial confuse? Do enhancements extend that maximum or have much effect? Or is that the hard cap of time per target per cloud. The cloud last around 30 secondsish.. and I think I saw confused bosses by stacking two clouds briefly. If it's a hard cap, that might be good to put into the description of the power. Just left me with a lot of questions.

Double post, but this is for Remote Bomb / Devices. Funnily enough, I really liked this new functionality on my blaster. Maybe because he gets into melee faster than my trappers (has more flexibility on self-placement). It works for a nuke-ish power well. I used time bomb before quite a bit (the devices version was alright with the previous upgrades), but this cuts down the time between activation and explosion akin to a normal nuke. The explosion also isn't as white/bright as temporal bomb. It's a cool orange mushroom cloud. That helps. Thumbs up for me on that side.

So, just had an experience with the new telekinesis. If the main target dies, the power shuts off. It doesn't stay active like other "anchor debuffs" like Radiation Infection. Not sure if they are similar in code. I hadn't encountered it because I was mostly hitting the other targets (avoiding Levitate on the main), and hadn't teamed much yet. That kinda sucks if a teammate puts your telekinesis on cooldown, but I guess fair(?). Is there a way to get an animation, some sparkles, or googly eyes... something on the main target so they are identifiable?

Valid points. I'm of the mind not every set needs that AoE immobilize. We just differ there. I do agree there is a fair amouint of soft control. It could use some 'umph' against harder targets. I'm also of the mind the control sets are held back by old formulas recharge/durations/effects. "All need a 4 minute-recharge-AoE hold in this spot (when nukes often do an AoE stun or hold)", and a "single target hold in this spot." But that may be larger than here. However, I think this is getting close to feedback on feedback. So I'll stop here.

Just my two cents. I adore this set. There are bugs, as pointed out. But the set is a blast to play. I feel like I have tools for every option, every scenario. Yes, some thing are copy / standard, but there is uniqueness here without a "stack building" mechanic or gimmick. Though I would like to see a new model for the gun drone. The pet is great, but that thing has been ugly since day one. This is a jack-of-all-trades set. All aspects of the set are not average/sub-par like normal jack of trades, but good (subjectively) at their intended purpose. You can argue all day long about the Sleep mez in general being useless and don't want it in the set, but this set does sleep very good. Going to love a Arsenal/TA on live! edited to add -- Great job team on this set. Didn't think I'd like a weapon-control-thing based on concept, but this changed my mind.

This is the crux of the problem I have with the power on test. I have been playing with a Mind/Traps on test. I absolutely adore the new functionality even if it's a little redundant at higher end. Sometimes the high end cost is manageable--it's the equivalent to spamming a Fire Cages every 5 seconds but those effects last for some time and do damage. But it feels very high. The recharge is a bit unfair. Mind lacks an every spawn power (in battle) besides Terrify. Mass Hypnosis is great, but once the fight start, your tools are very, very limited if Total Dom or Mass Confuse isn't up / miss, both have terrible accuracy. Total Dom doesn't last too long. Some controllers skip their AoE hold. With mind, that's often not an option due to lack of battlefield control. I'd like to see it drop down to 1 minute again. Other control sets have "every spawn themed powers".. earthquake, Ice Slick (CDs of 90s). With telekinesis you spend a lot more endurance for a non-lasting effect. And still have a long recharge.

They are pseudo pet / patches. Those historically can't inherit Overpower or Domination (see Static Field in Electric Control). Good news is they can stack with themselves, confusing / sleeping a boss when two applications overlap.

First off -- bug with the power recharge icon display: Temporal Bomb's icon (at one point not sure when) -- locked into it's smallest size while recharging. The power had 3 Melee AoE procs, 2 damage IOs, and KB --> KD Sudden Accel proc. No recharge. To fix it I tried a few things: Logging out and back in did not work Changing to a character that also had Temporal Bomb and had the same issue. Restarting the CoH client did not work. Not sure if it is just on my end or if anyone else has experienced this. ----------------------------------------- Anyways... tl;dr at bottom After using this power on 2 different characters, I'm nonplussed toward Temporal Bomb. It just doesn't impress me, especially for a capstone power. Better than Time Bomb I suppose, but that shouldn't be the metric. Pros: Source of recharge (traps LIVES off recharge though only 37.5%) Wide radius of buff / debuff temporal bubble (55 ft) The temporal bubble is mostly see through and not intrusive for its large size (wink wink* give Dampening field that fx option!) Movement speed is small enough to not annoy teammates, but nice enough to aid in navigating the battlefield. Decent duration for a hallway fight (lasts ~45 seconds), not so much for tougher targets. Cons: The explosion is very bright and intrusive - personally I hate being in melee range with it. I would consider skipping it for this alone. The ground explosion effect is cool though. No customizable cosmetic options. The buff / debuff effects are not enhanceable (slow / end mod / movement). The damage is token at best. It's just there to keep the concept of 'bomb'. Enhanced, it takes a little more than a fourth of an even con minion's health. Due to the nature of the power, it will proc only when the moon turns blue. Long cast time. Requires melee range (have to dismiss or grant invisibility FF gen if you want to "surprise" the enemy. Cannot use the burnout trick to get 2 fields at the same time. Another long recharge power needing lots of set bonuses to have your buff / debuff effects anywhere near constant. Costs ~28 endurance from what I can see. KB tax, not great with the FF proc (but there really isn't anything else to slot). I have to disagree with you on the cast time, Cap. In a vacuum, you are correct IMO. But for the sets mainstay powers... Poison trap 2.77, Acid Mortar 2.77, Triage Beacon 2.77, Seeker drones 2.03. There is a pattern that makes another 2.77 cast time cumbersome for traps (we'll just ignore the old 5 second interruptible version of trip mine here). But if nothing can be done about it, thems the ropes. In gameplay, I found myself always having something else better to use for the situation or next power. It's both a power that almost requires prior set up, but also keeps you in the same place for it's effect. You'll have to dismiss your FF gen / make it invisible if you want to do the "surprise bomb". The endurance mod increase (37.5%) is only just enough to recover the cost of the bomb if you stay inside for the full 45 seconds. I hate to be so critical. A lot of hard work as probably gone into this and it is a cool concept. But this power has so many requirements to be used in normal play. The power works as an opener, not one to use near the end of a fight. It might work a little better if you could use it on teammates, strapping it on before they run in (who said your teammates can't be traps!)... Yes, I'm aware of the "healing arrow" arguements, but just say the were in a different "time" or whatever. Maybe I'm looking at it the wrong way or undervaluing it, but I'd only use it if I had nothing else to use. Someone convince me! The power won't make me want to use traps any more or less. Feels bad for a capstone. tl;dr One-slot not-so-wonder. It's better than the unusable Time Bomb but inherits the same problems along with new ones. Meh.

Not looking forward to fighting them if they have a self rez akin to Super Stunners. The pack I was fighting didn't seem to self rez on me. Hopefully they are rare. A lot of the time the team waits around for the Super Stunner to finish his animation... just to be the only target of the team. Slows it down in an annoying way. I could see self rezzing minions with a toned down version. But the bosses are usually the last to go soo.. the team waits. Maybe just have it as a death nuke-ish power. Rather than have them rez on top of that. Like the Ghouls.

So I'm still working through the arcs. Always awesome to have new content. But can I ask-- Do we have to stick with contacts that have a 5-level range? Trying to run zone arcs without outleveling is a personal gripe of mine. I don't like it in Faultline, and I don't like it in Croatoa. Can't the contacts just span the level range of the zone: 20-29? I like to team and progress. Feels bad having to turn off xp to "plan" to take the arcs (even if you aren't using double xp).

Can smoke canister get something in the description / detailed info window about aggro type for the power? I know it says "cannot see past melee range" - but it wasn't obvious to me that "enemies will not notice this attack". ---editing to add (small enough for one post) Clocking device combat text might be using the blaster version: It doesn't affect health / end that I can see from descriptions.

Huh, that metal bell ring is sure to give me a headache if I listen to it too long. The siren is fine I suppose. If it's not a bug, I'll just have to always make sure I don't go in with sound on. Carry on.

I'm only seeing 37.5% recharge bonus on Defender. Is it intended to be the same? It's not listed in the patch notes.

I think Possess if fine, and could be fun. But I'm a person who takes and uses the new Dimension Shift sometimes. And I still don't like Black Hole. Anyway, I'll end that rant there--not to derail further.

It's almost as if that's what black holes are famous for! Seconded. Oh and do the other versions too. On a more feedback note... I saw black hole in the power selection reading the notes and was baffled by its presence. There are much better survivability tools by level 40ish that don't annoy your teammates and disrupt gameplay flow. The power has been on the wrong end of jokes and criticism for ages, possibly back to the launch of the game. I recall being told not to use Dimension Shift (at that time a Black Hole clone) when I was new to the game around Issue 2ish. There are some niche arguments for its existence, mostly solo, but they are incredibly reaching to justify its use on a regular basis. Even as an Oh S**t power, it doesn't rise to the occasion or it confuses your teammates why their powers were wasted on it before realizing. I've only ever taken it once as a novelty. In my experience with powers like these (including detention field style), they don't affect the targets you may really want them to--like those harpies in Summer Block Buster. Find another power or something. I'm just left confused by this choice--not Possess style.

I almost always play without sound, so I may just be noticing it now. But every police station I have gone into (Talos, Founders Falls, Kings Row) has an alarm going off with a constant, earsplitting old-fashioned bell ring. Doesn't seem right, especially when the NPCs are just standing around.

I'll admit, I did burst into a hearty chuckle when I saw it. The effect is easily mitigated by switching targets for Levitate. Or don't use Levitate. Problem solved and it keeps a fun novelty.

The patch notes do not list the doubling of recharge time from 60 seconds to 120 seconds. In the two missions I have run thus far (solo) it feels too long. It already has a hefty endurance penalty. I can imagine that this won't be ready for the next mob on a team. Not to mention, recharge does not start until you detoggle. Seems unfair. On another note, I had a weird experiences with the power when I was mezzed--some enemies weren't aggro. Trying to see if I can replicate.

Sooo I was testing out the new Telekinesis. And also experienced the whole group going up in the air with Levitate. While this feature is funny, I'm not sure it would be fun in normal play perse (Maybe add KU resistance to the main target?):