Lockpick

Currently ENA is a valid attack power for me that is used in a regular attack rotation with 6 slots and a full IO set (Thunderstrike). If the range is changed it will likely be changed to a 4 slot immobilize set mule that is never used.

Back to discuss ENA and the need to keep the range as is. Numbers below are from Mids. As I was thinking about why I felt so strongly that TA needed to keep the range on ENA it occurred to me that the reason was that TA had no melee damage powers. When bad guys get in melee range we need to retreat or shoot while being pummeled. In fact, TA only has 3 damage powers, which is tied for Temporal for the lowest number of damage powers in the secondary. Temporal damage powers are all melee and TA has no melee damage powers. I looked at Mids and wrote the numbers I saw. As you can see TA has 0 melee powers and all the other sets have at least 3. For the damage powers count I just looked at the powers and whether it did damage or not. Some damage powers are specials like Gun Drone and Trip Mine. Caltrops is listed as TAoE, but they are basically in melee range. I classified TWG & Caltrops as ranged, but Caltrops seems more similar to Trip Mine to me than a true ranged power. What is the so what? It looks to me that TA was conceived as ranged secondary with more focus on control and less focus on damage since it has the least number of damage powers and zero melee damage powers. I would suggest that keeping the range on ENA is consistent with this philosophy and further I would suggest when playing a TA character that their need to stay out of melee is greater than other secondaries because they have no melee damage powers to use in melee. I hope this seems logical to everyone. Secondary Tier 1 Range Damage Damage Powers Mix Comments Atomic Immobilized 50 71.95 5 3 Melee / 2 Ranged Darkness Immobilized 80 62.56 7 6 Melee / 1 Ranged Devices Immobilized 50 62.56 6 4 Melee / 2 Ranged* Caltrops counted as Range, but close to melee and/or special Electricity Immobilized 50 62.56 6 5 Melee / 1 Ranged Energy KB 7 44.49 4 4 Melee / 0 Ranged Fire Immobilized 50 96.34 8 7 Melee / 1 Ranged Ice Immobilized 50 62.56 4 3 Melee / 1 Ranged Martial KB 7 44.49 5 5 Melee / 0 Ranged Mental Immobilized 80 62.56 6 4 Melee / 2 Ranged Ninja Immobilized 50 25.02 5 3 Melee / 2 Ranged Plant Immobilized 50 62.56 5 3 Melee / 2 Ranged TA Immobilized 80 62.56 3 0 Melee / 3 Ranged Temporal Immobilized 50 0 3 3 Melee / 0 Ranged

I copied my Archery / Ninja Tools blaster over to Test. Started in AP and got the exploration badges and LRT. When I was awarded LRT I had a graphic of opening a present like during the Christmas event. I continued to play the character and at random times this "opening a present" would happen. I'm not sure if it happened because I got LRT or not, but the first instance of it was when I was awarded LRT. I also had the freebie macro in my tray, which looks like a present. Not sure if that interacted with the LRT award or not.

This does seems like the most obvious and easiest solution; wonder what prevented it from happening?

I do not get the option to rez in my base when defeated. Is there something I need to add to my base. What are the requirements to make it available?

I added the following to my earlier post, but haven't seen it addressed, so I thought it might have been missed. I copied a character over to Beta that had AP already explored. On Beta he didn't automatically get the accolade. I went to SC and did the exploration and got the LRT power. When I tried to use it it only showed SC and no other zones. Seems like a bug because I cannot re-explore AP to get the badges because I already have them. Has this been addressed? The LRT power should be provided and the zones should be available immediately if you have have the exploration badges because you cannot explore and get the badges twice. If it has not been addressed it is going to be an issue on Live for those that have the exploration badges. Also, can the Hive and the Abyss be added to LRT? I don't see them on the list and am curious why they aren't available. I am sure there is a reason, I just don't know it.

I created a lvl 50 io'ed / incarnated stalker (EM/EA). I played the new hero arc leveled down and have since played DA street sweeping. I thought I was going to hate the combo mechanic. I have enough combo mechanics with DB, StJ, and Staff that I wasn't interested in another combo system. That being said, I don't hate it. I can play it and the performance is fine. I still don't like it that much, but I don't see it being changed either. I'll definitely give it a play through if it hits Live, but if I am going to play a combo mechanic I think I will stick to my 3 StJ stalkers.

I agree with all of these comments. ENA for me is a bread and butter attack and has been since the very low levels. I start off with Ranged Shot and then alternate Snap Shot, Aimed Shot, and ENA for my single target chain throwing in Ranged Shot as well. The chain is particularly useful if I get mezzed.

There has been a ton of work that has gone into this update and I appreciate all the effort from the HC team. That being said, I have been thinking that there is actually to much content in this update. I know that is heresy, but give me a sec. I have been doing some testing the last several days and there is no way I am going to be able to test most of the content, so my focus has been on the things that interest me (Tactical Arrow, EM on Stalkers, Story Arc, and LRT). Others will test what interests them. We have a small player base, so it seems likely that many changes will not get tested by many players as they will be more likely yo focus on their core interests. I guess my point is that (IMO) it might have been better to do smaller and more frequent releases, so that there could be more focused testing on content. For example: One release on the changes to Blaster secondaries and the new secondary One release on TP changes One release on EM One release on story arcs I'm not sure if this leads to more overhead or not because I expect functionality is managed by different team members. Anyway, I was thinking about this stuff, so thought I would post to provide the perspective.

My character did have the Posi TF badges and did have the badges for switching alignment, which were mentioned in the dialogue I saw. I did not have the badge from the hero arc as I did that on a different character. I do recall in the mission thinking that I would be very impressed to find out that my choices had impacted the dialogue I saw. If this is the case it leads to all sorts of possibilities for stories and I have to say that is awesome! If this is the case, any chance we can get that functionality on AE for content creators?

Thank you for this note. I think it is very valuable to get this type of feedback from players that don't post often. I have edited your post to add paragraphs to make it easier to read as I am concerned people will skip over your post because it is not easy to read in it's original form.

I made 2 Savage / SR stalkers, but caught the lower level one at 21.

I did run through it, but with a different character. Why would the story language be telling my current character about things he wouldn't know about?

Smoke Grenade has -ToHit as well.

I honestly didn't notice. I'll do some more testing today. I use Flash Arrow more for the -Perception along with SS and a stealth IO to help stealth mobs and consider the -ToHit to be a bonus. I generally consider Flash Arrow to be the equivalent of Smoke Grenade from Devices. Not sure why they would adjust Flash Arrow and not Smoke Grenade. It is difficult to understand these changes when the problem trying to be solved is not understood. It looks like a hammer searching for a nail.

My reading of the dialogue made me think it was the Positron Task Force they were referring to as it kept mentioning the Dam. Good idea on the tab, but I am talking about the dialogue where you make a choice. Does that show up?

I just did the new Villain arc with my Archery / TA blaster and thought I would give an update on play style before and after. I transferred from Live to Beta and did a respec. I had 2 slots in what used to be gymnastics, but were now in OSA. I created the same build I had before, but took OSA at 49. The arc I was on limited me to 39, so I did not get to use OSA during the arc. Electrified Net Arrow I didn't really have issues except with one power - ENA. In the first mission, I was using ENA at the beginning and was thinking the change wasn't as bad as I thought. However, the longer I played the more impact I felt from the lack of range on ENA. I won't say this power is useless without the range, but it is certainly much less useful than it is on HC Live. I am currently slotted with 6 Thunderstrike. I respectfully request that the range be increased. Ice Arrow I don't use Ice Arrow, so cannot comment on this one, although I expect people that do use will also not like the range change. Upshot I didn't really notice a big impact with this adjustment. Flash Arrow I didn't really notice a big impact with this adjustment. Gymnastics I slotted a LoTG and a Reactive Defense proc. I didn't really notice a big impact with this adjustment. ESD Arrow I didn't really notice a big impact with this adjustment, because I don't really use it that often. I think changing it so it has a hold on robots and a stun on non-robots is not a good design change and would suggest to leave it as a hold. What is the problem you are trying to solve by making this adjustment? Oil Slick Arrow I did try it before I took the mission and just lit it with a Blazing Arrow. I expect I'll keep it with one slot and either put an Annihilation - Res or Overwhelming Force Damage / KD. Again, I don't know the problem that is trying to be solved here and would argue the original powers were fine as they were.

You have to wait for some hacking or something before you can click the glowie to open the door iirc.

Took a level 50 Archery / TA Blaster to do this one. Switched to Villain, went to oro, got the mission, and started. Playing at default notoriety. I am writing my thoughts as I do the arc and will post when complete. Mission 1 The early verbiage told me this mission was going to be tough and to take friends. I went solo, but that warning kept me on my toes. Entered the mission door and was immediately attacked. I realized as I was entering the mission that I only had EoE inspirations, so was exiting as I was attacked, so no harm. I am curious how the mob saw me when I entered since I have 65' stealth. Anyway, went back into the mission and slowly worked through it. Because I went slowly and tactically this mission was fairly easy. Nice mission, I liked the various choices the boss offered, dialogue was fine for the most part, but parts of it indicated that I had been a hero that put Dr. V in the Zig and had changed alignment. Is that dialogue based on my character? If so, very well done. If it is standard dialogue, you are going to have conflicts with characters that have not done the TF or were not a hero that switched to Villain. Mission 2 Dialogue indicates that I showed up in person even though I called the contact. There is some dialogue that is incorrect: "an apple's hit me on the head!" should be an apple has hit me on the head. Nice mission, not a fan of rescue missions normally, but this one was pretty good. The map was new to me, which was nice. Mission was fine. I cleared on the way in, so doing the rescue and having the victim follow me out was fine. Called contact. I really like the dialogue " Oh, and if you hear any odd noises, it's just the Cattleprod of Motivation being used. For science". Very nice! Mission 3 Very nice all around. Dialogue was great, mission was nice with the support. I was concerned that one of the 3 support guys might be defeated and how that would impact the mission, but it didn't happen. Mission 4 Dialogue good as usual. Buzz is sending me to gather material for her. Not a fan of these types of missions. I will say at this point I am getting a little tired of the missions, so this arc may be a bit long or maybe my patience is lower as I get older. Loot council - Nice mission, good challenge Steal from Crey - Travel to Cap Au Diablo, up to this point have been in Sharkhead the entire time and not having to go to multiple zones has been a huge plus for me. Use mission TP power. Mission is fine. Ambushes when fighting the boss were doable. Got an incarnate shard. Invite Bile to the Party - Back to Sharkhead. Use Team Transporter. Hope there aren't more zones because I don't have a SG base on Beta and I am out of TP tools. Got an incarnate shard. Seems like I am getting more than usual. Dialogue was great. Defeated TechDeck and he disappeared, but mission dialogue says I have to negotiate with him. Defeat ambushes and still can't find him. Exit mission hoping it will solve problem, nope. Logout and back in. Do mission again. This time I use Electrified Net Arrow to slowly take down his health and when he is defeated he stays there. The ambushes while negotiating with Bile are a pain. I think once you get to this point the ambushes should stop, so you can read the dialogue. Nice dialogue! [NPC] TechDeck: WAIT! Let's rap battle about this, homie! [NPC] TechDeck: HAH HAH HAH! Oh, man! You really did a number on me. Mission 5: Arc is still going. We are actually 7 missions in at this point because mission 4 was 3 separate missions. I feel like I am doing a Task Force and not a story arc. The dialogue is definitely making up for the length though. I'm interested in seeing what's next. Dialogue great, found Cortex, but he was blue and didn't have the option to defeat him. Not a fan of rescue missions and would have preferred to hand Bile a TP device and let him TP out of there and end the mission there. 20 merits and a badge; took me 2 hours and 50 minutes. I may try this again to see if I can reduce the time. I think the merits are a little light for the time and number of missions. Overall: 10/10 I thought this was great dialogue all the way through. I only noticed one spelling issue and I was reading all the dialogue carefully (that I could see; there would have been options leading to dialogue I couldn't see). The missions were fine, difficulty was fine for my character. Might be tough for the level range for some characters. The ambushes got old after awhile and I think it was a bit long. There are some areas where the missions could be tightened up to save time. It is obvious a lot of work and thought went into this arc and it is one of the better ones I have played in quite some time. I believe my favorite arcs in the game are Graham Easton and Laura Lockhart and this arc is right up there for me. I don't usually play villain side, so not sure how often I will do it, but if I take characters over to get the patrons unlocked I will definitely do this arc, especially if the rewards get bumped a bit. How about a temp power that lets us summon 5 Vahz like the Graham Easton temp power to summon 5 Tsoo? Thank you! Awesome job! I hope to see other missions with Piecemeal in the future! Final Edit: I went and did some exercise and when I came back I realized I never left the mission. Left the mission and called contact. There is a duplicate "the" in the final mission dialogue. Bold red below: "But speaking of walking nightmares, Clamor and Dreck being loose is a real hammer to the the spleen that nobody was expecting. Not today, at least! We're going to have to keep our ears to the ground for them, they won't be happy. Pierce is already not too happy, as we lost an entire platoon of the Freaklok in there, but they were all rigged with self-immolation protocol to protect the research. One of Pierce's many good ideas!"

Thank you for taking the time to provide this explanation. It makes sense and is logical.

This thread is a hodgepodge of different opinions about the different sets. It is getting a little difficult to keep up with due to the overall nature of looking at all blaster secondaries instead of focusing on one. I would suggest each secondary should have gotten its own thread, although I know that would likely be more effort to maintain. I would really like to know the problems that are trying to be solved by some of these changes. There is an old adage about "if it ain't broke, don't fix it". I see a lot of changes here that are baffling to me and seem to be changes just for the sake of making changes.

I will echo (see what I did there) what some of the others have said. I get why this was done. The base TP macro was really a GM thing never intended to be used by players and has been on the radar for a fix for a long time. I understand that portion and don't have a problem with it. I like the LRT accolade and am even okay with having to earn the available zones through exploration The challenges I see are really around all the various TP powers and their various recharges and activation times. I would suggest they should all operate the same and my suggestion would be that they all drop a portal like Oro does that you can enter and the recharge and activation should be similar to the oro portal. Not a fan of the length of time it takes to activate the SG TP accolade power as is. I copied a character over to Beta that had AP already explored. On Beta he didn't automatically get the accolade. I went to SC and did the exploration and got the LRT power. When I tried to use it it only showed SC and no other zones. Seems like a bug because I cannot re-explore AP to get the badges because I already have them.

A bunch of power sets and powers have been buffed / nerfed on Beta. It seems this thread was a waste of time and the devs aren't really interested in feedback at all. There is no way these changes weren't well under way long before this thread was started.

I have to agree with this as well. I'm fine with the changes to Mez, but not the range. I use ENA at range with SS and AS. I want my A/TA character to play at range, not get into melee range. Please revert the range back to HC Live range.

Thank you HC team! The amount of work that went into this update is outstanding.