Blackbird71

I can easily go through 5-10 base teleports in a 2-3 hour play session, which I manage to do most days. I don't know what the current rate of recharge is, but I know it's not that much in a day.

@Captain Powerhouse Thank you for making your intentions clear. Unfortunately this kills any hope I had that Tac Arrow would still play the same way. Please implement a means for us to change out our power set for a different one. Otherwise I'm shelving a character that I've put a lot of time into.

It's also why I don't use these windows in place of macro icons. I have several macros I use across all of my characters. But I also have a lot of character-specific macros, and having all of these from all characters in the same window creates unnecessary clutter. Keeping a handful of macro icons unique to each character is much cleaner.

Because TA survival often depends on maintaining range. You set up the fight by doing what you can to keep enemies at range as long as possible, then open up with damaging attacks. That means starting with control measures (Flash Arrow, ESD Arrow, ENW, and/or Ice Arrow), then unleashing your primary powerset attacks. Doing it the other way around often means you get swarmed with mobs who close to melee before you can really lock things down, and often spells death. This largely applies to solo play, but TA is a set that imho shines (in terms of fun and tactical use, not necessarily power level) in solo play.

That's not incorrect, but it's also not any different than the way things are now with the enterbasefrompasscode command. People use this command to make macros for bases they frequent, those macros take up slots. Yes, the array of new powers is annoying glut, but that's a separate issue from the bookmarking. The bookmarking doesn't change with any of this; you just have to be near a portal to use it now.

🤦‍♂️ Flash Arrow will no longer be irresistible! That means that you can use FA at range without aggroing, but not every enemy WILL be debuffed! So in approaching a group, even after using FA, you have to close to perception range of the ones who aren't debuffed to then use the nerfed ENW!

Except that Flash Arrow is also being made resistible, which means that some enemies in a group will retain their full perception, and you will still need to move into perception range to engage ENW. You can't look at these changes in isolation; you have to consider how they affect each other in aggregate. What you call a course correction, I call a derailment. Maybe Captain Powerhouse was working with limited tools, but he managed to use those tools to make something unique and fun. Why should that be made more like everything else?

Going back to my initial analysis of TA (here), I thought it might be useful to prioritize the changes/reversions I'd like to see. I'm going to separate these into two tiers; Tier 1 being the "critically needs to be addressed" stuff, and Tier 2 being the "it would be really good if it could happen" items. Again, this is all based on my personal opinions, experience, and play style; I'm sure others will have different priorities. So, in order from most important to least: Tier 1 1. Flash Arrow As I mentioned in my previous post, this one has the potential to kill my character all on its own. Having the -Perception be unreliable, or possibly not hitting some enemies, will completely alter the way I play (if I even continue with the character at all). I realize others may not make as much use of FA, but it's crucial to my TA tactics. Take away the -ToHit if you have to, but don't nerf the -Perception. 2. ESD Arrow This one is a close second for me. Changing a reliable hold that can save my character when things go bad, or help mitigate a difficult fight, into something situational that can reasonably only be slotted for one type of enemies or another is really bad. As someone else suggested, let it keep its hold effect for all enemies, and move it to the T9 slot if the power level needs to be justified. OSA is already a worse version of a T8 from another set, so it's really not deserving of that T9 slot anyway. 3. Electrified Net Arrow and Ice Arrow I'm lumping these two together because they have the same problem: the range reduction. Also, I realize that different players may focus on using one vs. the other. Personally I get a lot more use out of Ice Arrow than I do ENW, as I prefer holds to immobilization, but I know others may do the opposite. Either way, reducing the range on these drastically reduces their utility and significantly alters the way the set plays. Reduce the strength and/or duration of the powers if you must, but keep the range intact. Tier 2 4. Gymnastics The new Gymnastics is mostly OK, but the loss of the mobility aspect stings a bit (not to mention, it seems thematically wrong for a power named "Gymnastics"). Some have claimed this was justified to prevent overlap with Combat Jumping, but the two powers worked together before, so I don't see any reason they could not continue to do so. At the end of the day, it's not really a power level issue, just a fun/QoL/theme issue. Is it game breaking if the mobility is removed? No, but neither is it a serious balance issue if it's retained. 5. Upshot I don't like the changes to Upshot, but they are probably the most defensible of any of the TA changes. I'd rather it be tweaked a little so as not to be hit quite so heavily, but if it has to remain as proposed to bring power levels in line, then so be it, I can live with it. 6. Oil Slick Arrow I don't like OSA in TA at all. As far as I'm concerned, it doesn't fit, is redundant at best, and really is just out of place. On top of this, making it a worse version of a T8 and having it occupy the T9 slot is insult on top of injury. The only reason this is at the bottom of my priority list is because I can just ignore it and not take it on my build, so while I think it's a bad idea at least it's the change that affects me the least. Anyway, that's my take. Hopefully at least all the Tier 1 items can be re-examined and addressed before i27 goes live.

Granted, it's not a new problem. But adding two more powers on top of what is already there compounds the pre-existing problem more than it provides solutions. I'm really hoping this situation gets another look before i27 goes live.

I'd count moving LRTP to an accolade power available to anyone in the same vein as adding the two new powers; it at least counts as half a new one. But that's kind of the point; considering the options that were in the game already, did you really need to create two new ones? Or (for example) could the existing SG base teleport power have been tweaked to provide all of the needed functionality in one neat package?

Not explicitly, no; it was more vaguely referenced. I honestly didn't catch that part until rereading Number Six's post after seeing your response. But this explanation does help, thanks. However, Number Six's statement still indicates that the exploit was not an initial factor (or possibly even known about) when the decision was made to revisit enterbasefrompasscode. My understanding (after a re-reading and this further clarification) is that the existence of the exploit just made the changes more urgent after the decision had already been made. Of course, I'm just piecing together what I can from the info available to me. I still think that the solution in total is an inelegant one, and needs a lot of refinement. There are just too many powers overlapping and trying to make up for the same thing now. I hope you can all go back and take a serious look at the total changes and figure out something better. Players here have offered several suggestions which would probably be simpler solutions than what has been presented.

Oh, they're definitely not exclusive, but balancing different powers is always more difficult than balancing similar powers, so a lot of games tend to move in the direction of "different appearance but same under the hood" out of convenience. There were definitely powers that needed some serious revamping, and many of the changes in this update will likely have positive effects.. Unfortunately, if Tac Arrow needed anything, it was a scalpel. Instead it got a butcher knife.

Which is exactly what people are complaining about; making the sets more like each other removes their uniqueness and changes the feel and play of each set. I'm not going to claim that the sets have all become reskins of each other just yet, but many of these changes are moving in that direction. I'll take unique choices over mythical "balance" any day.

But that's exactly how Tac Arrow works. You start at max range and lay down some control to try to keep enemies at range as much as possible (Electrified Net Arrow/Ice Arrow/ESD Arrow), and reduce their chances of noticing/hitting you at range until you can thin their numbers (Flash Arrow). This lets you get off as many shots as possible before they close range and you either have to reposition and try to keep range, or contend with melee defense (which tends to be weak for TA builds). Gymnastics was a significant part of the TA defense, and the mobility aspect (combined with CJ) helped with both tactical positioning and maintaining that critical range.

Part of the dissatisfaction with OSA is certainly because it's a worse version of a T8 being offered as a T9. Part of it is because that with the other options available to Tac Arrow, it's not that needed; there's not a good place for it to fit in current play strategies (as I indicated in one of my other posts, I think the nerfs to ESD Arrow were done to try to make OSA more attractive. Instead it turned both into "meh" powers). Personally, part of it is that my build is so tight that replacing Gymnastics with this (and merging Gymnastics with Agility) means that I'm going to have to pull slots from other powers if I want to put any sort of slotting into OSA. That would weaken my overall build, so most likely I'd either not put any additional slots on OSA, or instead just pick a pool power that's effective without additional slotting. Bottom line, for me it just doesn't fit in with everything else.

OK, the situation on that last one is actually kind of funny. Now I'm trying to puzzle out the original reasoning, which I'm sure will forever remain a mystery.

I'm just referring to a number of players here who have made the claim that this change had nothing to do with PvP, and was urgently needed to solve an exploit that no one has been able to name or describe. The comment from Number Six indicates that there was no such urgency or immediate need. Maybe there is an exploit, but it does not appear to have been considered significant enough to drive urgency on this change.

Robots? I once kicked a Nazi submarine so hard it exploded. Yeah, that was one of my more amusing screenshots. Totally not immersion-breaking at all.

I posted this with a bit of tongue-in-cheek humor, but seriously, I would not want that up on my work screen if someone happened by and glanced at it over my shoulder. The potential for misunderstanding here is not insignificant. Maybe that icon needs reconsidering. It feels a bit like some dev was intent on putting a phallic symbol in the game. Maybe it was unintentional, but the resemblance is a bit difficult not to notice. (The color doesn't help!)

I use Flash Arrow similarly, and completely agree with the assessment of FA vs. Smoke Grenade. The -Perception is crucial to my /TA's survival, as it allows separating fringe enemies from the group and flexible target selection, or keeping enemies at range longer to improve chances of survival (which still fails at times even with the effect being irresistible). If even a few enemies in a group don't get hit with the -Perception, I would expect this to become much more difficult. All around, the Tac Arrow changes have just made /Devices a more attractive option as an Archery secondary if you want tactical play. It's a shame to have to give up on one of my only 3 level 50s, but if these changes stand then that's where I'm headed.

Since this seems to be the only place for feedback on "Other Changes," I was looking for some clarification on the following: I'm struggling to understand what is meant by "outdated" or "reclaimed" terms. What it sounds like to me is that some words that were considered profanity/obscenity in the past will no longer be filtered? In general that seems like a bad idea, particularly because an understanding of what is and isn't offensive is going to vary greatly from person to person and community to community.

If I'm understanding this correctly, it sounds like removing/"fixing" enterbasefrompasscode was included in this update as an afterthought, not as a driving force to the teleport changes. From this explanation, it seems like it was very much a "now is as good a time to get around to it as any" change. If that's the case, can we put to bed all arguments that this change was urgently needed to fix some phantom exploit that keeps getting touted as a critical reason for this command to be changed?

"Adjusting" a rule vs. "throwing it out" is frankly just a case of semantics. Yes, I did have the teleport pool changes in mind when I made this comment, as well as some of the other power changes. With regards to Tac Arrow specifically, it's not just about individual power changes, but what those cumulative changes do to the whole set. TA will not fit the same play styles that it did previously, at least in my case. Maybe others were using the set differently, but these changes have fundamentally altered the mechanics of the set for me. From my perspective, that violates the cottage rule. Keeping with the cottage rule would be making the set more or less effective at what it does, but still maintaining the same style. This does not. And I'd like to know why keeping the control/friction aspect of Gymnastics would make it mutually exclusive with Combat Jumping? We currently have this functionality on Gymnastics, and it is not mutually exclusive now, so why would it need to become so? There is no logic to that argument.

I think this update in general has shown that the cottage rule is out the window. Lots of powers have been changed into or replaced with something completely different. Make of that what you will.

@Lockpick For Flash Arrow, how often did you find its effects were resisted? The first thing I do in nearly every fight is lay down a Flash Arrow so that I can then make attacks at a safe range without being instantly swarmed, and even single out targets if needed. If even some of the mobs resist the -Perception, my survivability can go down fast.