Dispari

That's interesting, I wouldn't've thought to check the Phantom Army powers. This is good though, the little bit of stun and knockdown edges it forward a bit to make up for the lack of taunt. I do think it is another reason to warrant renaming the power.

Latest patch made some power tweaks so I may as well do a comparison for beta vs live. Battle Drones: Laser Burst sped up, RES moved to Equip Equip: Heavy Laser Burst sped up and KB is KD Upgrade: Full Auto Laser significantly sped up, now gets Overcharged Burst attack (KD) Protector Bots: Laser Burst sped up, RES moved to Equip Equip: Heavy Laser Burst sped up and KB is KD, now gets Plasma Cross attack, no longer gets Repair at this upgrade Upgrade: Photon Grenade sped up, Seeker Drones sped up, now gets Overcharged Burst attack (KD), gets Repair (significantly sped up) Assault Bot: Plasma Blast sped up and KB is KD, -regen moved to MM attacks, RES moved to Equip Equip: Dual Plasma Blast significantly sped up and KB is KD, Flamethrower significantly sped up, now gets Heavy Plasma Blast attack (KD) Upgrade: Swarm Missiles* significantly sped up, Incendiary Swarm Missiles significantly sped up, now gets Overcharged Burst attack (KD) * Swarm Missiles is the only power that's still a KB. I don't know if this is intended or not, just noting it TL;DR version: Most power cast times reduced, more attacks here and there, nearly all KB is now KD Current observation is that the Assault Bot and Protector bots now struggle a lot with endurance. They burn out fast, even with 1x End slotted in them.

Logging in to check the powers and compare it to City of Data.

I believe the current version works this way. Every sentinel can drop a -5% but there's one -20% that can be active at any given time. Allowing this new version to stack, even in a limited capacity, would make sense Also this isn't really related to anything, but the old version allowed you to change the color of the reticle based on the power customization on the power you were using. Now that it's its own power, would it be reasonable to allow power customization on it so you can color it to your liking?

As far as power changes for the zombies go, there's very little. The RES was moved to the first upgrade like other sets. Lich gets Petrifying Gaze at the first upgrade instead of second. The knights do have Death Shroud now though, so both of them contribute a bit of extra damage by virtue of having damage toggles going at all times. You can see the power icon and the FX here. As of this latest patch the spectres look like this. They still have hitboxes BTW which I'd rather they didn't since you can get 3 and can't control them. They even get in the way and jostle you a bit when they appear. I also noticed while playing ninjas that you get power icons on your buff bar to indicate the crit chance buff being active, one for each power that's contributing. Zombies instead gives you a single stacking icon instead of distinguishing which power summoned a spectre. I'd much rather it work the way ninjas does.

Ninjas powers and numbers changes that I can see by comparing to City of Data: Genin: DEF moved to Train Train: Grants a second (stronger) shuriken power, +11.25% DEF to melee/range, 15% to AoE Kuji-In Zen: Now gets Exploding Shuriken, now gets Kuji-In Sha (self heal); enhanceable in this power (Crane Kick still does KB if you were wondering) Jounin: DEF moved to Train Train: Grants Soaring Dragon at this level, their Placate is AoE (like players), gets Hide at this level, +15% DEF to melee/range, 30% to AoE (10% AoE seems to suppress if not Hidden) Kuji-In Zen: Now gets Golden Dragonfly (instead of Head Splitter I guess), now gets Kuji-In Sha (self heal); enhanceable in this power Oni: DEF moved to Train (still has RES to smash/lethal/fire) Train: +18.75% DEF to melee/range, 25% to AoE Kuji-In Zen: Now gets Kuji-In Sha (self heal); enhanceable in this power Also worth noting but after the first upgrade they chill in Ninja Run mode. Is that new? Wow I haven't played ninjas since like CoV launched.

6.18% range and 3.71% AoE DEF, for all pets (actually it's ever so slightly more for the commando?? Literally only 0.04% more. EDIT: This is probably a result of level scaling and should probably be a static value regardless of level). The Spec Ops also get DEF from their stealth. It takes full slotting so +55% should be about 9.5% range and 5.7% AoE. Also off topic but the summon and buff animations for mercs are extremely long, can we do something about that?

Testing Bots/Dark Level 12, outfitted with DOs (mostly acc/end, some prestige enhancements for damage and procs) Build: All 3 attacks, bots, equip. Twilight and Tar Patch Running on +0x1 with bosses on doing Skulls arc Pets Observation: They all have RES to lethal/cold/psi (18.75% drones, 25% protectors), with 13% DEF from the protector bot buff Mission 1: Killing is going really fast, the bots do good damage and the plasma attack breaks up the sea of red. Damage wise, if in tar patch a volley from the whole crew can kill a lieutenant. Bots doing KD now is nice, though I noticed my laser attack still does KB (which isn't that big a deal). Bots stay where they are and I haven't noticed them moving around in combat at all. Boss fight was a little rough but no bot deaths. Might need to raise diff. Mission 2: Set diff to +0x2 cause I know this mission has some ambushes and a double boss. Ambush went well, all 3 waves. Bots behaved and clustered up so they could be healed. Noticing the ages old issue of pets having trouble keeping up over long distance runs though. They lag behind a lot. Double boss fight was tense but managed without any deaths. At any rate, that's probably enough level 12 for now. Level 22 bump, still on DOs because I'm stupid I guess (still some prestige enhancements) Build: Adding Combat Jumping, Shadow Fall, Maintenance Drone, Fearsome Stare, Assault Bot Running on +1x3 with bosses on, doing newspapers in Talos Pet Observation: At this level you get 1 protector bot (other one comes at 24) so 5 pets. The DEF is up to 16% with 2x slots. Assault bot has 31.25% RES lethal/cold/psi. Maint drone actually has RES too (23.2% to same types). With Shadow Fall pets have around 20% DEF (all) and RES to most damage types (not smash, fire, or toxic). Bug: Maintenance drone's information tab is a broken P-string. Bug: Also not a bug but the right click description for the power is a bit repetitive. Bug: Shadow Fall is currently blinking stacking between 1 and 2 stacks rapidly for some reason. Mission 1: Tsoo. Sorcerers are annoying but that's not new. Killing is a bit slower now, probably because of the DOs, but it does feel disproportionately low. The Maint drone is throwing me off with it being in the pet window. I keep trying to heal it. My suggestion is maybe drop it out of the pet window? It's not like you can do anything about its HP. Might make it easy to lose track of not having but realistically I'm just going to recast it when the recharge comes up like I do for Dark Servant. Also the Maint drone lingers as dead for a pretty long time in the pet window. And WOW these sorcerers are a pain in the ass. Mission 2: Sky Raiders, let's try something easier. Ran across a +2 spawn with a boss and it was like a 3 minute slog, boss kept two-shotting my bots. This might be a purple patch thing though. Trying to contribute with my own attacks burns me out of endurance fast due to those mastermind endurance cost penalties. Also wondering about the Maint drone. It explodes when it's done but you can't slot accuracy, damage, or pet sets in it. It does seem to have +20% accuracy but don't feel like that's enough. I wonder if it would make sense (and help the damage situation a bit) if it had a single attack it used? Even if it managed to draw aggro it's still doing its job of keeping bots alive. Also have to reiterate that it being in the pet window on low HP is really distracting. Anyway, at this point I'm ready to try out the final upgrade. Level 32 bump, bumping to SOs. But adding Edict of the Master for 5% DEF and Sovereign Right for 10% RES. Build: Adding Petrifying Gaze, Upgrade Robot, Darkest Night, Dark Servant, Hasten Running on +1x3 but we'll see if I need to bump it, doing newspapers in Bricks Pet Observation: All pets. DEF (all) is about 28%. Resists range from 10% (from IO) to 41% for assault bot, or 56% on psi (Shadow Fall). Servant gets bubble too Mission 1: Freakshow. Damage is a looooooot better now, burning through minions in about a second and Super Stunner going down pretty quick. Will probably raise the difficulty after this. Protector bots are really struggling for end with 1x End slotted. Assault Bot is only doing okay on that front. Mission 2: Circle. Turned diff up to +1x5. Even on x5 these guys don't stand a chance. The knockdown spam from the bots is pretty satisfying. Though I'm noticing now the maintenance drone tries to engage in combat even though it's not a combat unit. When I order my pets to fall back it doesn't, and unhelpfully floats near some badguys. And-- oop, server shut down. End of feedback I guess!

That's pretty much what I expected. The old version could stack pets if your recharge was high. You could get 2 permanently, maybe 3 briefly if your recharge was really extreme. 4 probably if you used Burnout. But now that it summons 6 by default I would definitely expect replacement behavior (like most pets do).

Also noticing they don't move around at all. Though it's been a while since I played mercs. Noticing the medic has an issue redrawing his gun for almost every attack. (But only sometimes?)

Just going through and comparing to City of Data I put this together for a friend who was asking. Some of this might be off, and I apologize if so. Sometimes MM upgrades seem to replace an attack with a slightly better version of that same attack, so that can be hard to pick out of "new powers" compared to "slightly improved power." I might've also missed something here or there. TL;DR version though: Most of the egregiously long cast times reduced to 1.00 - 1.67 seconds, KB turned into KD, spec ops mez is more like 9s instead of 2s, pets get +DEF to range/AoE at final upgrade. Soldiers: Attack has the same damage/debuff but cast time is less than half; RES moved to upgrade (so it can be slotted) First upgrade: Now grants 2 attacks instead of just 1 Second upgrade: Now gets +DEF to range and AoE Medic: Med kit animation significantly faster First upgrade: Attack animation significantly faster Second upgrade: Stimulant animation significantly faster, frag grenade is KD instead of KB, gets +DEF Spec Ops: Attack cast times significantly faster, RES moved to upgrade First upgrade: Flashbang mez time about 4x as long, gets a new high damage attack Second upgrade: Attack cast times significantly faster, tear gas mez about 4x as long, gets +DEF Commando: Attack cast times significantly faster (common theme), slug is KD instead of KB, RES moved to upgrade First upgrade: Buckshot is KD, gets a new high damage attack Second upgrade: Grenade is KD, flamethrower cast time faster, LRM rocket cast time lowered, recharge halved, and does KD, heavy attack is upgraded to do more damage, gets +DEF

I would definitely agree with this. It's true that other ATs don't really have inherents like this. But that's kinda the point isn't it? Every AT has its own inherent that's different. Having one that's fairly active to use could actually be a draw for the AT rather than a downside. People who don't want that kind of thing certainly have options available, just like someone who doesn't want to manage stealth and assassin strikes can avoid stalkers. Having this kind of power gives the sentinel a unique identity. Now, the real question is, is it executed well? Is it fun, interesting, or impactful the way it is? I've been soloing a bit around 12 and then 22 on SOs just to see how it feels. The new base damage is pretty good, but it's definitely no blaster (or even scrapper). I'm not sure I can feel the -RES at work (though the -DEF on FF drones was helping). I'm not sure I'm sold on sentinel overall just yet, but they're better than they were. It's certainly a start though!

Just a small issue. Playing with it I've noticed that Vulnerability does an animation even if it can't activate. Even if it fails because there's already Vulnerability on the target. Even if you're out of range. Even if you don't have enough to cast it. Bit misleading. And I guess I'll chip in and give my opinion that I like the click. Gives me control over when and where it's used. Definitely better than the old way of doing things. Though I'd be open to seeing other ways it could possibly work.

Have to say currently my favorite thing about this set is Gleam. Adding a targeted AoE stun to the set bumps it up a notch and the FX on the power are awesome.

Phantom Assault maybe?

The Cleave change is REALLY fascinating (and so is the Cyclone pull attack), so I want to muse about that. Cleave previously was one of those "well TECHNICALLY it's an AoE" powers, which broadsword/katana also have as their tier 9s. The kind of extremely thin and narrow cones that you would be hard-pressed to hit two people with even when trying. And I heard from a friend of a friend that they once saw someone align all the stars in the sky to hit THREE people with it, but that might just be an urban legend. Cleave now has a ranged attack effect (ala Focus or Impale), with an extremely small AoE radius of 3 feet which nonetheless might actually occasionally hit a second or even third target, maybe. But with an enhanced ability to aim the thing, it might be a lot more fun to use. I'm also all for more targeted AoE attacks in melee sets, having liked the implementation of Touch of Fear. At any rate, I don't know the numbers off the top of my head but IIRC these types of powers tend to be endurance-balanced as if they're single target powers and the (very rare) ability to hit another target is treated more like a secondary effect. Is that still the case for Cleave as a targeted AoE?

Actually I think Rad toggles are a good comparison. As you said, they largely don't get used in quick-moving teams in the current meta because of the extremely long activation times, and there being multiple of them to turn on each fight. Add to that the very high endurance costs and they're cumbersome to use. Opportunity is an instantaneous fire and forget type ability that makes sense to use on whoever you want to die, especially since it puts a big target on them (literally). It's true it may not feel like it contributes as much if it's just being dropped on bosses, but it will still drag them down faster, and it will be very handy for every EB and AV fight. And I'm kinda looking forward to seeing the ways people use it to ask people to focus fire on problematic units. City is a spammy game, it can often be hard to tell what's going on without a good visual cue.

Mostly I'm gonna say these changes are "neat;" I'm not as much worried about it shaking up low level balance. There's a thin level range where that's going to matter. And sure, VEATs can get attacks slightly earlier but they could largely already get a full attack chain by about level 12 anyway. But the change to secondaries is preeeeetty big for a lot of builds. There are a lot of tier 1 powers I'd love to skip. Historically, not being able to skip the t1 has in fact dissuaded me from playing Defenders, Tankers, sometimes even support sets like Cold or Elec. I have, multiple times, looked at a build and then just gave up on it because I couldn't skip a power I wasn't going to use and it was taking up precious build space. And some sets have just always come with a crappy tier 1 power I've just shunted onto the 3rd or 4th bar and accepted it as a reality of life (looking at you, Web Grenade). This major downside will no longer exist and that is SUPER rad.

The nature of an AT with a lower target cap and a single target debuff is of course going to skew them toward higher performance on metrics like pylons and soloing AVs. That -15% RES is something the whole team gets to benefit from too though. Big picture kinda stuff. As far as the purple patch is concerned, correct me if I'm wrong but the math on this works out to: +0: -20% (old), -15% (new) +1: -18% (old), -15% (new) +2: -16% (old), -15% (new) +3: -13% (old), -15% (new) +4: -9.6% (old), -15% (new) +5: -6% (old), -15% (new) +3 is the baseline where incarnates are mostly operating. Unless you don't have a rare Alpha, as level 55s do not exist, you will only ever be facing +3s. People without a level boost will face +4s, and the poor level 32 sidekick is fighting +5s (which is pretty much the cutoff where your contributions are negligible; purple patch cuts off sharply after +3). That means unless you're playing at +1 or below, the newer version is better (or maybe one point off), and it becomes increasingly more useful in harder content. Combined with the fact that you can actually use it on purpose (imagine!), when and where you want, and chain it 2-3 times in a row, yeah I'd say it's a lot nicer for sure.

This is an interesting idea. I could see it going either way of course, depending on the design intent. If the game gives you rings it's almost an incentive not to use those powers while they're lit up, if you're really only using them to put pets on the board. You could consider this a good thing though, because it frees your thought process up to actually use your other powers, and you don't have to distractedly try to keep track of hard to see pets. Of course, you could also argue doing that makes it into more of a game of whack a mole trying to poke powers to light up the board so you're "allowed" to move on to your other powers for maximum efficiency. You could also address this problem by making the pets spawn 100% of the time instead of 70%. I did notice they already spawn even if the attack misses. But if the purpose of the change is to give you a reason to use the powers in general, none of these changes may have the desired effect. If it always summoned a pet, you'd just periodically do your 1 2 3 and move on. But it's not as though I won't be doing that anyway, and trying to keep track of if one of those failed to summon a pet so I can come back to it. Pulled back enough, is that good "incentive" to use the powers or is it more like upkeep maintenance with RNG involved? Though I suppose players are going to do whatever they're going to do. I'd be curious to hear what the devs want this to look like in play though.

It would require some thorough testing, but I think 1.1 is perfectly fine. We're just talking about base values here. Scrapper and Stalker have crits (Stalker has an effective 1.31 damage scale if they're on a full team), and Brute Fury brings their overall damage up to that level as well. Blasters have Defiance. Even VEATs have large damage buffs and DoTs on their powers that push them ahead. In addition, Sentinels have lower target caps than other equivalent ATs. They don't have Snipes. Their Aim is weaker than Blasters. So they aren't exactly going to outplay the other DPS classes here. Base numbers wise, Sentinels are 3rd highest. Overall damage wise, they're probably beaten by at least 5 other ATs. Which is still respectable, but not overpowered. Base values aren't the whole picture. Brutes are only 0.75 but they're always among the highest damage contributors.

First of all, 1.1 damage scalar is VERY good, for those that don't know. It's higher than every single other AT other than blaster and scrapper. Yes it's higher than dominator melee and higher than stalkers (though stalkers get crits). So yeah, the increase in damage is QUITE nice. Here's Vulnerability doing its thing. It's a click power, and notably it DOES NOT aggro when used, so you can flag an enemy whenever you want. The bar builds on its own, up to 100% every 60s. It only uses half the bar to cast it, so you can maintain it for a full 30s on an AV. In fact, in the time it takes for that 30s to tick down, you'll have earned another use, so rolling up to an AV fight fresh you will able to focus on them for 45s straight. Very nice, even if just for the -15% RES. And yes you can cast it on multiple targets at once if you please, the recharge is 5 seconds. I haven't tested the ATO yet, though I assume it just gives a bump like +10% to the bar when it procs? If nobody else looks at it I'll do it later.

Having played necromancy a lot on live and being one of my favorite sets I hopped in to play with this First of all, PETS. Wow I love pets. This is the pettiest pet set now and I love it for that. It will force me to reconsider my build to take some of the attacks for more pets. Which is a good thing; the attacks should be serious power considerations for every MM, even if they ultimately fall into the realm of "skippable." Let's go top down on changes Attack changes - spectre pets Love it, glad they don't clog up pet window (same as Gang War). They're cute, if barely visible, but I think that's good because there will be a lot of pets on the board now and it's better if they aren't taking up a lot of visual space. Though I do have one complaint. They're uncontrollable; they should not have a hitbox. They're going to get in the way especially if there are 3 of them running around per mastermind, blocking doors and causing issues. They're ghosts, I'd recommend just not having a hitbox. Lich Lich doing more damage is not too bad, and I like the AoE increase. Lich overall has never been a big damage dealer though and probably still won't, which is fine! Enchant/Dark Empowerment Being able to slot this power for RES/healing is very interesting! I see you're doing this with most of the enchant powers which will, on average, save a lot of slots and possibly allow for higher values Soul Extraction Besides the attack pets this is likely THE most interesting change. It seems to make pets out of all living zombies which means six pets per cast instead of one. Previously it was possible with high recharge to have two ghosts permanently, if targets allowed. Now you can have six without issue. This is a BIG change and it's super neat. I would have to play more to see how they operate and what they all contribute. You also actually have incentive to keep the zombies alive now, whereas previously you almost WANTED them to die so you could create ghosts. But the process of making a ghost, resummoning, and rebuffing was kind of a hassle. So this is much better. Cool changes overall. Only real feedback is the possible hitbox spam. If that's addressed, it looks great to me.

One thing this seems to gloss over, unless I'm reading the powers wrong in-game, all the bot attacks (except for one by the assault bot) now inherently do KD instead of KB? If so that is a major improvement all around for the set. Reigning it in by devoting slots to it was a pain.

Do the EBs just spawn randomly alongside other spawns (at 25+)? I feel it would make more sense if it was context-dependent. Like you don't get the beefy EB spawns during zombie invasions if you're by yourself.