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Auroxis

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Posts posted by Auroxis

  1. I suppose my primary concern isn't the manual testing, it's rather the Homecoming community at large being disconnected from design decisions up until after quite a few people have spent time working on the new feature. You can keep the testing of potentially bug-inducing code in closed beta (though i wouldn't unless you have professionals), but the Homecoming community should be in the loop regarding concept and design before time is spent developing and testing. Right now the only community in that loop is the same community that kept the game hidden from us for years.

     

    Take the Dark Melee changes for example. If Captain Powerhouse simply stated his intentions for Dark Melee and opened up a dialogue before putting the time into adding it into the game and testing it, a lot of time and effort could have been saved.

    • Like 1
  2. 12 minutes ago, JayboH said:

    Curious; why would that be a concern - how would that affect development in a concerning way

    For the same reason you don't hire family and friends to critique your work. Very narrow feedback resulting in development cycles often disconnected from the userbase.

     

    Also, if (big If) Leandro is still recieving donations to run his SCORE server, he's essentially providing early access to Homecoming code for money, incentivizing people to continue playing there and donating to SCORE instead of leaving completely to Homecoming. This could result in code staying there for a while to maintain interest rather than being deployed to HC beta.

     

    Anyway, I don't want to derail this topic into conspiracy theories. Jimmy can clear things up if he wants.

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  3. As far as I'm aware, development and the internal testing server is still being led by Leandro and the SCORE team. My concern is that the same people who played on and financed the SCORE server are the ones being given exclusive access to the early development pipeline, not just the SCORE devs and the Homecoming team.

  4. On 7/10/2020 at 8:41 PM, Jimmy said:

    We're internally testing much of Page 6 at the moment. I don't want to give a timeframe because people's situations can change very quickly at the moment, but it's definitely not never.

    How long have these tests been ongoing? On what criteria are these internal testers being selected by?

  5. What these tests will end up showing was already discussed while the changes were in beta. A buffed (or fully built) Tanker will be pretty much the same as a buffed (or fully built) Brute.

     

    This could have been avoided by focusing more on buffing the tanker's "team anchor" role as I requested, but that didn't end up happening.

    • Like 1
  6. In the past I've suggested making Placate use the Focus mechanic, where it consumes 3 stacks and deals PBAoE damage(with a pseudopet) at full stacks. That way you can choose between burst DPS or burst AoE, which makes primaries with high DPS but almost no AoE (common Stalker issue) more relevant.

    • Like 2
  7. 4 minutes ago, Abysmalyxia said:

    Did you read my suggestion? First, because there are clear mind like powers that are AoE. Force Field's Bubble Toggle serves many of the exact same functions as Clear Mind.

    To make Clear Mind AoE exactly the same as Dispersion Field you'd have to remove it stacking from the same caster, which is actually a useful function in the ITF (and in the GW fight in STF, though power creep made that mostly irrelevant).

     

    Also let's not try to make Force Field a lot worse in comparison, the effortless league-wide CC protection is one of the few things it has over other defense buff sets (one of which is Empathy).

  8. For all those wanting RA's to turn into Passives or Toggles, please be aware that Hamidon raids heavily rely on RA stacking before spreading to succeed.

     

    If you wanna make Empathy less clicky, buff CM and Fortitude's duration to 4 minutes so you could apply them to the whole team without casting every 15 seconds. It would also let you apply PB Fort to the whole team if you invest into it, rivaling Time's Farsight.

    • Like 2
  9. 4 hours ago, Burnt Toast said:

    It's not a coding issue that is stopping HC from doing it - it is a balance issue. Other servers have done a lot of things that have made the game stupidly easy and in the process created major imbalances. HC is focused on maintaining the original feel of the game while addressing some QoL issues, power balance issues, and creating new content/powers that are mindful of overall game balance. Just because you can do something...doesn't mean doing so would be beneficial to the game or the players. 

    Well Homecoming isn't really making the game harder with the veteran levels system and the Tanker buffs. That being said, let's not turn this thread into a server war please. We as players (who can enjoy all these servers) deserve more than that.

  10. From my experience playing a Tanker with doubled aggro cap on TSpy (they added it for Tankers only), I can say that it's a welcome addition and definitely not game-breaking. However, with Tankers being essentially Brutes AoE damage-wise in this server i could see it being a balance issue.

  11. On 5/1/2020 at 2:13 AM, jagspowar said:

    Interesting. Have you tried AV/GM killing with this bad boy or is it mostly for mobs and story gameplay? I'm wondering if I'd need two separate builds to accomplish that.

    It's mostly for mobs, but it can handle hard targets (and there are always lore pets if you're struggling).

  12. I like Hasten being a long recharge power that adds a goal to strive towards when planning your character, much like reaching the defense softcap, endurance stability, and resistance hardcap. These type of "breakpoints" add depth to the end-game, as your decisions advance your character exponentially and thus feel more impactful. Thunderspy even added more such powers that you can only perma if your build has constantly capped recharge (which is possible there, with sacrifices).

     

    What I dislike about Hasten is that it takes up an auto-execute slot. I don't like that I can't auto Rage/Domination/Accelerate Metabolism/Mind Link/etc with it. I think the correct approach would be revamping the auto-execute system by adding a couple more auto-exec functions, with the restriction that you can only automate "very long" recharge powers with them and a priority system(for example green>teal>blue) in case they conflict.

    • Like 2
  13. 2 hours ago, Hjarki said:

    I'd argue that Sonic is actually one of the worst Blast sets in current play. The value of a -resist debuff is based not just on its existence but also its duration and activation time. In practice, about half the value of the entire Sonic Blast -resist debuffing comes from a single power: Screech. Moreover, nothing in Sonic Blast permits you to slot Achilles' Heel, Annihilation or Fury of the Gladiator procs.

    I have no idea why you keep spouting this misleading nonsense. You keep ignoring stackability, achilles' heel (and the two other procs) do not stack from multiple casters while the sonic attacks stack from the same caster. In reality there's a very high chance that rad blast build using achilles' heel applies zero -res since it's such a popular proc, while Sonic can easily stack up to -80% and go even higher.

     

    You keep forgetting that Sonic DOES have a Fury of the Gladiator proc (with Dreadful Wail), and CAN get an achilles' heel if it wants (with weaken resolve, which isn't even that beneficial for reasons stated above).

    • Like 2
  14. Obvious cottage rule breaking aside (and a nerf to Regeneration Aura for some reason?), you managed to make Empathy even more clicky. Where-as before you could use just Fortitude at the end-game with the occasional heal, with your suggestion you'd have to use heals as well as Fortitude instead of getting to blast. You effectively turned Empathy into a heal spam set, with cottage rule breaking and nerfs on top of it.

    • Like 2
  15. On 4/5/2020 at 7:23 AM, Hjarki said:

    They're both a bit problematic.

     

    Sonic was popular on Live, but isn't nearly as effective on Homecoming. The problem is that while Sonic's powers do debuff -resist, most of them don't do so very effectively. The metric I like to use for a rough comparison is (amount debuffed) * (duration debuffed) / (activation time). By this metric:

    Envenom = 37.5 * 30 / 1.584 = 710

    Corrosive Enzymes = 25 * 30 / 1.188 = 631

    Weaken Resolve w/Achilles Heel = (17.3 * 15) + (20 * .9 * 10) / 2.244 = 340

    Screech = 20 * 174 / 1.716 = 174

    Infrigidate w/Achilles Heel = 20 * .9 * 10 / 1.188 = 152

    Piercing Beam w/Annihilation = (20 + 20 * .32) * 10 / 2.508 = 105

    Shriek = 20 * 5 / 1.188 = 84

    Scream = 20 * 7 / 1.848 = 76

    Shout = 20 * 10 / 2.904 = 69

    Howl = 20 * 8 / 2.508 = 64

     

    This isn't a comprehensive list, but it should showcase how weak most Sonic attacks are at debuffing -resist compared to the alternatives. One of those - Weaken Resolve - is available to any build and will by itself debuff about half of the entire Sonic rotation. Unlike the Sonic rotation, using Weaken Resolve still leaves you plenty of opportunities to do other things - such as those high value debuffs from support sets.

    You're elevating the importance of achilles' heel and debuff duration to really high levels, and completely ignoring stackability. -res procs (which sonic can have, in dreadful wail) do not stack from multiple casters, while Sonic Attack debuffs can stack from the same caster.

     

    In a team scenario against an AV, your Achilles' Heel procs are likely to do nothing due to how commonly they're slotted, while Sonic can stack up to about -100% res (before resists+level difference of course).

     

    On 4/5/2020 at 7:23 AM, Hjarki said:

    Moreover, when you debuff -resist it's important to have something to take advantage of that -resist debuffing. Which Sonic doesn't provide. Not only aren't there many slotting opportunities for procs in Sonic, but the base damage of those powers is lower than other sets.

    Or you know, play with teammates on your team-oriented class.

     

  16. Regarding "mathematically justified", I think the low damage power use cases need to be taken into consideration. After all, abusing procs in a slow recharging high damage power isn't the same as abusing procs in a slow recharging low damage power.

     

    I think the most egregious example is a hold power like Char(Epic pool), which can be beefed up to have about the same DPA as a fully enhanced and decently procced Knockout Blow on the same Brute with Rage and Fury.

  17. 31 minutes ago, LordXenophon said:

    That hardly matters, because high damage AT's benefit more from regular damage enhancements.

     

    Defenders can often-times get the same amount of damage a Blaster can get out of an SO just by slotting a proc. Whether or not it "matters" is all about perspective.

     

    Also it's not just about AT's. One can argue that it shouldn't be possible to turn a slow recharging, minor damage hold power into an extreme damage power that can also hold.

     

     

  18. 5 hours ago, Frosticus said:

    no sentinel can compete. They aren't intended to. The fact that any buff/debuff can approach a sentinels' survivability (and time can, maybe not yours, but it can) should be concerning to anyone that understands why that creates a problem. Can you make a sentinel that could even hold a candle up to the buff/debuff capability of any set, let alone time?

     

    What's next? pb+farsight doesn't hit as hard as headsplitter so that makes it ok?

    They aren't intended to? Sentinels are due for a buff, and proc-fu builds are due for a nerf.

     

    How about we see where Sentinels and Proc builds end up before we resort to nerfing Time? Let alone removing one of its most popular features from the game.

    • Like 1
  19. 2 minutes ago, Bopper said:

    It would shift the balance from low damage ATs using procs to close the damage gaps to having higher damage ATs using procs to widen the damage gap. It would trade one problem for a different problem (maybe a worse problem). But I am purely speculating. Without a formula, there's no way to truly analyze what the impact would be.

    To be fair, ANY nerf to procs would have the same effect in the grand scheme of things.

     

    But yes, it depends on the formula.

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