siolfir

It saves animation time, which is why I said I'd have to try it to see if I care for the changes. Just looking at patch notes I'm fairly certain I'm going to hate the endurance cost, so I'm unlikely to want to keep it up permanently on anyone, although the old one was 7.8 endurance and lasted for 15 seconds, so theoretically it should be a net even for that duration. But I use it as a panic "heal" on people who refuse to stay near mobs (Plant/Kin, after all) since it hit them with a base 10% right off the bat and refreshed every 3 seconds and if it takes 20 seconds to build up that won't work.

I will say this - and this is before testing so might be dismissed due to that, but I know how I build and play and so don't need to test for some changes - that I'm no more or less likely to take the Sorcery pool than before, but I'm far less likely to go deep into it. What I would like to see from the attacks in all of the origin pools is some reason to take them over a weak blast from your primary or secondary. "But pool powers are supposed to be weaker," I'm told, but that's a garbage argument since pool powers are supposed to provide customization and options for your character. Why penalize for flavor even further beyond the disparities between ATs and primary and secondary choices within them? That's for a different discussion, but that reasoning is what is driving my feedback about these changes, particularly since I don't bother with Rune of Protection. How does this apply to this build? I'll never take Rune. It provides me nothing that I can't get better elsewhere. Sure it won't require as much slotting, because recharge is now useless in it (yay?) but the uptime being capped at just under 33% if you fire it every time it recharges means I'll simply continue to find things that work far more often. There is no temptation in it whatsoever. Since this was similar to my feelings on the 60 second duration, then I'll at least say this: these changes effectively give you a capped recharge version compared to the old one, at the cost of 33% of the already-shorter duration from the last build. It's obvious that the intended design for this build is to use it more often, likely retroactively so you're not wasting duration (which starts even earlier during the animation!) moving between spawns. That said, I'm mildly intrigued with the Arcane Bolt changes, because they do offer something to look at instead of just a weak attack that only works for Controllers with Containment - even if I'm still tired of the "here's a status builder, here's a status drainer" mechanic that always seems to accompany tweaks (*coughEMcough*) because for some reason we don't just want to make solid, dependable powers: I would be much happier, for example, with the same animation time reduction and just setting the recharge to 10 seconds with accompanying increase in endurance cost and damage scale, since that would provide another T3 blast, or one at all for some sets which don't have one. Spirit Ward I will have to test out and see if I care for. Enflame I likely will completely ignore: currently I have it on my Plant/Kin because I can keep mobs in the effect, but rarely use it and if I'm going to respec I may as well get something else useful. Mystic Flight and Translocation are nothing particularly special because all of the travel powers are being adjusted; it's a buff but changes nothing relative to other pools considering that the origin pools compete with each other and all of the standard pools in addition to your primary and secondary.

Dumb question on this one, but wasn't this at 100% in PvP deliberately because it (like pretty much every melee AoE) was being used as a single target attack? I mean, it might be the outlier case but wasn't there a request that they all behave that way, rather than the other way around? Either way, it's not likely to change much, but I remember thinking that the first time I saw the patch note and then just got around to commenting on it multiple builds later.

For my builds I agree, but people who take Fly and Group Fly wouldn't be happy.

@Black Zot - that's the order of the trials, but doesn't include the new praetorian arcs and other Incarnate content (such as when things happen in DA).

IH with numbers tweaked as a toggle is called Rise to the Challenge, and it's in a set with Fast Healing, Quick Recovery, permanent +maxhp, and a self-rez tier 8.

Because it's popping up here with relative travel speeds, I'll drop a link to a post I made in the flight thread (about slotting and hitting caps) a few minutes ago for discussion: To summarize: since SS allows more overhead with a 120 mph cap, why not lower it to 110-111 which would put the percentage of the speed cap you hit the same as it is for Fly. It would hurt SS more in the time examples posted above because the absolute speed would be lower, but SS would still be a top "ghost mission" power due to stacking its stealth with an IO even discounting the ability to phase through mobs, and the people complaining about speed disparities will get closer straight-line-nothing-in-the-way numbers.

Based on many of the complaints about relative speeds and considering that the same slotting gets so close to the cap for Fly and Super Jump but still leaves extra room for Super Speed (which is made up by Sprint so people will still hit the cap), I'm wondering if perhaps reducing the cap increase in Super Speed to 110 or 111 mph would provide people the "parity" that's being discussed. 106.1 mph - the slotted speed - is 96.45% of a 110 mph cap and 95.6% of a 111 mph cap. It would still be faster than the other two travel powers with the same slotting (numbers above) and the same amount of slotting will get both Fly or Super Speed to their respective caps, but the running speed cap would still be 8-10 mph higher than the other travel powers even with their temporary boosts (sure, Mighty Leap can get there but only after a rooting animation that eliminates the usefulness of the higher cap - I think it was calculated as a negligible increase in actual jump speed in discussions about removing the knockdown so it wouldn't root). This is more of a "general" travel power idea, but almost all of the discussion about this topic has been in the flight-related discussions and the numbers were from this thread, so I thought I'd bring it up here.

It was but then people started messing with time.

Fair enough, but that's the next build. I was agreeing with a complaint about this one.

Eh... they don't require one depending on what you took Afterburner for and how you slotted it (basically if you never slotted it for flight speed and just dropped a LotG in you don't need one), but I agree with you that the latest build is worse than the first two because it does require one to maintain similar or better performance if you have it slotted for flight speed. That was not the case until the most recent patch, and I feel it's a step in the wrong direction. I actually agree with this; unlike the Rune thread which basically seems to be an open ground for debate after the devs posted "this is what we're doing and why," this is a focused feedback thread and shouldn't have all of the back-and-forth between posters in it. But that goes both ways, too - you've expressed your unhappiness and continue to argue with others. I probably should have just sent a PM to @Icecomet with the contents of my last post instead of posting it publicly because of that. I went ahead and posted this one publicly even with the back-and-forth because I agree that this patch is even worse than the last one, which is providing feedback.

Fun anecdote, but it's somewhat neutral feedback from a third party - I was talking to a friend who used to play on live (and doesn't play here) and this thread came up because I was catching up to it at the time. Since they stopped playing well before shutdown, they had no idea of anything in the Sorcery pool and I decided to see if they could guess what the power does when I told them the name, and that it was being nerfed. Unprompted for anything other than details when they answered "well, it provides protection," they guessed that it "probably provides a lot of defense, like 50% to everything, and mez protection." I asked them how long they thought the recharge on such a power should be, and how long it would last. They correctly guessed the 10 minute recharge, and said that it would probably last 60 seconds, "same as an inspiration." I asked if they felt their description of the power was too strong, and they said no, because you can get an accolade that does 50% defense and 30% resistance without having to pick any powers. So you see, just need to change it to +50% defense to all instead of +18.75% resistance and we're good to go. 🤪

And yet it's right there in the first post in this thread, which was the explanation and provided the context. Let me help you. I even highlighted relevant portions since you seemed to miss them:

Now THIS I like. If we have to have a nuisance bar, put more options in it, and having the flight poses as macros (which likely don't have little icons made) would be a good place for them. I hope this comes across as an explanation instead of an attack - it's certainly meant as one. Using the approach they took the new options are rolled into the existing powers. One just happened to be renamed. In the older builds, if you change nothing, you will move as fast as you did before - faster if you didn't have the old Afterburner because the flight speed cap increase was rolled into the existing power called Fly. If you slotted Afterburner for flight speed (to increase the cap) it's possible that the reduced flight speed increase from this patch will mean you need to move those slots to Fly to be faster. If you had Afterburner before, will have also more options for what you can do while Evasive Maneuvers is active than you did using the live version of Afterburner because it's not limited to Only Affecting Self status. The "new" bits added to Evasive Maneuvers - the knockback resistance and immobilize protection - are purely optional if you really just wanted to Fly but if you had Afterburner before you get them, so they're rolled into "the existing power" which was renamed Evasive Maneuvers. If all you cared about in the current Afterburner was flying faster, you can even respec out of it (while moving slots, for example) and pick up a different power entirely. On top of that, you can use the new Afterburner to get even more speed, just not all the time. If the argument is "I want to go 101 mph all the time" that is the sticking point for you, that was addressed by the devs in the earlier threads: they want Fly to be the slower option as a balance point for it being the "point and forget" (inactive) option. The difference in times to reach mission doors is insignificant in most cases, and for the longer travel you're likely going to be cheating through a mission teleporter of some sort (team, individual, even base teleporters) rather than using a pool travel power the entire way. While it's true there is some condescension about this, it's because of 40+ pages of the same thing being brought up after they have been specifically answered through a variety of threads. You can say you don't like it until you're blue in the face. I certainly have in the Rune of Protection changes, and that's for a power I don't even take. It won't change what they're going to do, and at the risk of speaking for others, adding extra defense to Hover as bullet point 1 in your suggestions when adding defense to hover-blasting isn't in any of the options presented so far (power creep!), and then wrapping up with full-time 101 mph when that's already been vetoed (despite many attempts from others to ask for it after that post) is likely why you're getting flak for the suggestions.

I'm okay with the idea of allowing recharge enhancements that only affect Afterburner for those who want to build towards it, but since range-affecting travel IOs which can be slotted in Mystic Flight don't currently affect Translocation it would also need the same treatment for consistency. If they're worried about the uptime if it's affected by global recharge they could also use the Widow Mind Link approach where slotting affects it, but global recharge doesn't. I wouldn't personally use slots for recharge in Fly to increase Afterburner's uptime, but it's far from game breaking either way.

By itself, yes - it's +1.0% increase in jump speed. The air control allows Hurdle's unsuppressing +124.5% increase (literally half of Super Jump's +249%) to take effect with no drawbacks, though, even ignoring the immobilize protection. That's why it's faster to jump around in combat, and is likely why CJ was brought up as the example for in-combat mobility.

@Zepp I think that it was supposed to be an equivalent to Ninja/Beast/Athletic Run, which suppress, while also providing defense, stealth, and the option to slot it as bonuses for not being free. And to address @Grouchybeast's point, I don't think it should make any noise just for being toggled on, and should actually reduce the noise of your footsteps while it's active. You're trying to be sneaky, after all.

I think the argument was more that some squishies and every melee can get mez protection 100% of the time, so why weaken options for those who build specifically for it through heavy investment in power selection and slotting, when those choices get you to a point which is (performance-wise) weaker than going for the more common routes and/or easier AT paths?

Nitpick, but since we're talking about what's possible and not it fits: look at the defensive set tier 9s. The base, unslotted defense is 45%. Yes, in one power. They also last twice as long as the current version (180 sec) and have a recharge (1000 sec) that allows for a higher uptime than Rune, and provide additional effects (+recovery and run/jump speed or +maxhp). They're usually ignored because you hit 45% without them; IMO they should have flip-flopped the effects of the defense and resistance tier 9s so that resistance sets get +def and defense sets get +res, and then they would be (somewhat) useful. To your point, those are tier 9s in armor sets which are only available to certain ATs that already don't need them, and we're looking at Rune of Protection which is available to any AT. Which also doesn't provide a base 30% resistance to all; at best it's 25% for 3 ATs (see below) and the next highest is 18.75%, which is only 30% once fully slotted. Yeah... about that. Defenders and Dominators share AT modifiers for mezzes, which are lower than Controllers. Corruptors are lower for mez, but share many buff and debuff other modifers with Controllers. Blasters get Stalker-level hit points and buff their damage better than anyone, including Defenders. So it's not as cut-and-dried as that, and it's usually not much higher. With regards to Rune of Protection, it uses the "Ranged_Res_Dmg" modifier - which is used by the Sonic and Thermal shields, so is one of those "buff values" - and Blasters (who get 16.25% base resistance) have the same modifier there as Brutes, Scrappers, Stalkers, slightly behind Tankers (18.75%), who are tied with nearly every other AT behind Arachnos Widows and Soldiers (they get the Defender number at 25%). Sentinels get the worst here at 12%, which is "much" worse.

And yet, by weakening the powers that provide alternatives to simply more +def and/or +rech, you're indirectly homogenizing the game. That's why I'm arguing against a nerf for a power I don't consider useful enough to take - because I think it's good enough to be tempting with the 90 second uptime, but in my opinion it doesn't work as well as permanently accessible options which I chose to go with instead. I like the idea of it being tempting as an alternative.

Or it's unpopular because its utility is irrelevant with sufficient defense. If you don't get hit, you don't need to resist the damage you didn't take. Similarly, by not getting hit by a mez there is no need for protection from it. I'm not arguing that there's power creep going on here. I just think that you're looking in the wrong place as to where it is.

RE: Exorcised, et al. The badge names change back and forth depending on your alignment. It's the same badge, with the same requirements, but a different name based on whether you are a Hero/Vigilante or Villain/Rogue. It's no different than the gendered badges (Master/Mistress of the Airwaves in Grandville). And since the powers are alignment-based, as part of Going Rogue you are granted the equivalent accolade if you switch sides so you don't lose the power. As for ones you should go for "early", since the change that you keep accolade powers when exemplaring regardless of what level you gained it at instead of the old way of "you had to have earned it at that level" I'm not picky about when I get any of them. That said, I definitely get all of the passives, listed above, and Demonic. I usually go for Atlas Medallion instead of Marshal (requires a badge from LRSF), but even though I like running Task Forces I'll usually go for Invader just because it takes about 20 minutes from start to finish at level 1 (including time zoning). Since I'm more used to the redside accolades (I started out on City of Villains because a friend gave me a box) I tend to run those for High Pain Threshold and Born in Battle - patrol xp cancelling debt and being able to force-spawn Ghost of Scrapyard made these so much nicer to get, but it's still annoying that the best way to get Born in Battle is to go afk overnight while a mob smacks you. At least it's not the 10 million damage taken badge like it used to be.

I'm going to defend him on this, at least: several posts in the other thread talked about how Rune provided the same mez protection and more resistance than Strength of Will, which has a crash - albeit by providing less S/L resistance and more to every other type. It did so for half the duration, mind, but did so with recharge that could be adjusted. So, when compared to another power that I rarely take because it's bad even when it's in my secondary and costs nothing more than a single power pick it's better than Strength of Will. Edit to add: when used as a mez protection power, compared to something like Indomitable Will in the APPs, it's weak; the recharge is much higher. Clarion covers the hole permanently at T3 and most people build for defense to not get hit by them in the first place, not to mention the support sets that have been getting mez protection for themselves, so the "squishies can get mez protection by themselves" argument seems a bit weak in my opinion given the other options available.

It seems equally silly to state that it was a normalization rather than a specifically targeted nerf, which directly drove pages of debate and arguments in the feedback thread, most of which have been purged by GMs. It's certainly disingenuous, at the least. This thread addresses that. Either way, after repeated patch notes where the duration was not changed it was obvious the writing was on the wall and I gave up on providing feedback in that thread when it was clear that it was heard and dismissed. I disagree with the reasoning, but there's no doubt that Rune stands out in pool powers by being something almost tempting enough to take. Of course, other powers stand out more with less opportunity cost (for me, at least) which is why I don't take it. As I said in the other thread, if the concern is the relative power compared to armor set tier 9s which have been complained about for over a decade, then I don't think that Rune is the problem.

I personally consider it this way, but they have explicitly stated that it was intended to not work that way originally and the power description didn't reflect it. So either way it's a bug fix, whether it was the power description or the power effects. I'm personally just on the other side of the fence of "barely worth it right now" and it goes from "not quite worth it" to "not even worth considering," which is where I lump the other origin pool T5s. That's why I was saying that, if the intent was to normalize the durations, the shorter durations should be increased to match Rune's rather than the other way around. They should be tempting, not dismissable.