Force Redux

No pressure. Just quietly waiting for the next installment 🙂

I run into many Kallistis on Everlasting, and we've teamed many times, so I'm happy to learn a bit more on their backstory!

Hello. In no certain order, I'd like to run down a few 'quick fixes' for various powers/sets that might one day make it across the Dev table and see the light of day. They are certainly open for discussion. I'm aware some of these are possibly mentioned in other posts, these are just my not particularly comprehensive ramblings. Dark Miasma (Black Hole) Defenders, Corruptors, Controllers, Masterminds Make Black Hole useful (somewhat) The issue: Black Hole is worthless for play. It only prolongs fights and it's niche use is so limited that this power was a quick pass even back in the Early Issues of Live. Using this on a team might get you kicked. The Solution: Give this the Dimension Shift treatment from Gravity. While still a niche use, it is more friendly to teams who get a quick explanation, can offer some protection, while not slowing down game speed. Earth Control (Stalagmites) Controllers, Dominators Bias against Flight Travel The Issue: Stalagmites wants you to be on the ground. Not all concepts need Earth characters to be stuck on the ground. Maybe I'm Asteroid Lad, and I fly. The Solution: Allow Stalagmites (and other Earth-based powers that require being on the ground) to work while OFF the ground. Concept is important. Energy Blast (Knockdown) Blasters, Defenders, Corruptors, Sentinels Dealing with KB. The Issue: I love the set, visually. I don't like having to deal with the KB in teams. This is an old saw, I know, I know. But there is a 'tax' to using the set if you want to convert KB to KD with IOs. Various solutions have been proposed to deal with it. The Solution: Have the Costume Creator have two choices to pick: A Knockback Original and a Knockdown Derivative. That way, you can pick and choose in the Costume Creator which attacks you want to KB (ie, your single target stuff or the Power Pushes and stuff for the GETAWAYFROMME power, and also choose which ones you wish only to Knockdown (ie, probably most of your AOEs). But this does leave the player with their own choices, and doesn't take up valuable slotting options. Force Field (the Defense buffs) Defenders, Corruptors, Controllers and Masterminds Add DDR to the set The Issue: The pre-eminent defense buffing set lacks Debuff Resistance (DDR). , and being able to hand out DDR to ATs who lack it would improve its usefulness somewhat at high levels with a quick fix. The fact that Darkness Affinity (of all sets!) has DDR and Force Field doesn't is a crying shame. Solution: Give a Defender 15% DDR each with Deflection/Insulation Shields and another 10% with Dispersion Bubble. That's 40% unenhanced, 60% at the upper range of Enhancement Diversification. Players spend $MMs of Influence to get to or close to soft cap (Blasters, many resistance sets, etc) and they can lose it so quickly with debuffs. This is a quick fix that improves FF's ability to keep its buffs valid and useful at high end. Force Field (Repulsion Field) Defenders, Corruptors, Controllers and Masterminds Make Repulsion Field more useful The Issue: The fact that Bonfire in Fire Control and in the Fire Epic for Blasters(??) and Masterminds is more reliable control AND does damage shows how poorly Repulsion Field has been maintained over the years in viability. Bonfire has an Endurance Per Second cost of 0.36 and can easily be made perma as well, and also takes numerous procs to enhance it's performance. Replusion Field is END hungry and when proc'd for KB2KD has its proc rate reduced to about 10%, neutering this power. No one has issues with Storm's Hurricane being a mobile repulsion field and yet while endurance hungry, it also debuffs as well. Repulsion Field is very lacking. Solution: Reduce cost to run the toggle to 0.36 END per second. Get rid of the extra per-target END cost. Allow the power to have KB2KD conversion without a reduction of % proc on targets. Gravity Control (Wormhole) Controllers, Dominators Make Wormhole more useful on big teams The Issue: Wormhole doesn't have enough Mag on its Teleport to move Bosses or Lts that are +4 levels higher than you. Which is a problem on large high-level teams, which include a LOT of Lts and Bosses. You try to help herd a group and the power fails miserably. At least they aren't angry at YOU, though. The solution: increase the Magnitude so that it can capture Lts or Bosses. Particularly now that Fold Space is coming with the TP power pool, let's try to keep Wormhole relevant in the new game. Illusion Control (Phantasm) Controllers Phantasm dies too easily on large teams The Issue: despite having no melee powers, Phantasm rushes into melee combat to use his Power Bold and Energy Torrent. He also has minimal resistances and a HUGE weakness to negative energy damage. He dies easily, especially on large teams and on the popular ITF, where negative energy abounds. Controller pets shouldn't be worthless on teams. Rocky, SIngularity and Venus Fly Trap are all useful on my teams. The solution: I can only suggest giving Phanty the AI of one of the other pets or some other port that changes his behavior. Likewise, Phanty has never been looked at numerically and still bears the 'old school' numbers. Get rid of his Negative Energy deficiency and boost his resistances a bit. 40% energy, 20% lethal/smash would be my suggestion. Extra suggestion: It would be nice to have the option to have Phantasm as a Male, Female or Huge form, in the Costume Creator. Necromancy (Grave Knights) Masterminds Make Grave Knights tougher The Issue: The Grave Knights are your two real damage dealers. They wear armor, too. But they have no resistance to the most common damage types in the game, Smashing and Lethal. They could use a little help. Solution: Give 10.5% Smashing Resistance, 21% Lethal Resistance and 5% Melee/Lethal defense to the Grave Knights. It fits the theme of their armor and allows them to mix it up better in melee, which is where they primarily go into. Robotics (Protector Bots) Masterminds Reduce Protector Bot bubbling time The Issue: The Protector Bots take a lot of time at the start up and then again throughout the gameplay buffing EACH and EVERY single robot. They love it. And it is a huge impingement on their attack cycle. Compare vs. Thugs, where they Enforcers simply have a leadership aura. They can spend their time hurting things. Now, the perk of the Protector Bots is that one of them will buff the MM, which is helpful. But then again, Enforcers will buff OTHER PEOPLE'S thugs, too, not just their master's own. The Solution: Have the Protector Bots apply their buffs as an AoE, much as a FF defender does. One buff, they hit all their buddies in range. BAM. Done. Back to the fight. Shield Defense (Active Defense) Tankers, Scrappers, Stalkers Give option for turning into a toggle The Issue: activation time for Active Defense can interrupt attack chains or other needed actions, such as a Taunt. It also eats up the only auto-fire power you can have without complex bindings. The Solution: already in play, sort of. Allow it to be chosen as either a clicky (some folks like the double status protection) or a toggle (call it Master Defense). Unlike the Sentinel change to Master Brawler, there is no need to add absorption or other things, just the option for click or toggle. Shield has extra HP, a -Damage aura and also decent resistances already to layer with. Super Reflexes (Practiced Brawler) Tankers, Scrappers, Stalkers Port the Sentinel change over The Issue: Super Reflexes is a great set. But not everyone wants to have the click activation status protection of Practiced Brawler, and it would also benefit from an extra layer of protection besides naked defense. The solution: already in place, as Sentinels have a version of Practiced Brawler (Master Brawler) that provides status protection with toggles and offers a clicky Absorption buff. Now you can choose. Choice is good. Some folks like the original as they can 'double up' on the status protection. Others would prefer not to break attack chains with the animation. TL;DR - quick suggestions that might help QoL with various powersets. That's all I got. Comments or suggestions welcome. Have a nice day!

I'd like to see this power reviewed too. Phantasm is derpy and gets killed frequently.

I have freed up the following two names: Helen Carnate @HelenCarnate did you want this? Bubble Bath

Corrosive Enzymes? The first Nature power? Its a single target debuff...no damage, no cone. Its pretty handy vs. tough targets. For MMs without a -regen, take along an Envenomed Dagger and get the Interface Incarnate that debuffs max HP. But most MMs sets should be able to out dps an AV's regen, even if slowly.

I have to be honest. I love /Dark so much, I have several of them. But I wish you the best with whatever secondary you choose! There are many good ones to choose from! I like the recommendation about /Rad, too. But for Necro, I really really like to double down on the control aspect of Necro with a secondary that has some controls to add to it. Plus the debuffages.

sorry I see that you said you already tried time period I would go with the above recommendation for cold it's an awesome set and great at debuffing and buffing

If not Dark, then Time. Has everything you could want. Buffs, heals, debuffs, and a side of control. It's the king of secondaries.

SA = Sudden Acceleration invention origin enhancment that converts Knockback to Knockdown. Found on the market for 1-2 Million Inf, relatively cheaply. IO - Invention Origin enhancement that are crafted, but typically purchased from the market. Invention enhancements typically have set bonuses and offer unique procs/buffs. FS - yes, Fulcrum Shift 🙂 Edit - Hedgefund beat me to it!

Spines also has excellent AoE and ST was improved in Stalkers in the port over. Solid, also has some range too.

Yes, the extra safety of stealth when you have that hot door full of friendly Carnies who want to give hugs! Zone and Go(tm), its the best feeling lol! Dark is my favorite secondary by far, followed by Time, Nature and FF. FF needs love, but I still love it after a falling out period for most of last year. But Dark is my BFF, my milk and honey baby.

Agree, one of the reasons I enjoy Dark Miasma so much is the playstyle. Many is the time I've thought as I zone into a mission, "hey, I don't need to concentrate on buffing....I love that!" 👍🏻😁

This is an amazing server....

Also, as a Demons/Dark I like cramped maps, because it's easier to paint things with Fearsome Stare, or debuff etc. However, if there are too many directions mobs are coming from and not enough debuffs, that's when the Demons can get taken out more easily. That's when I notice what kind of group composition we have. The more teammates with support powers the better off my pets do when I can't do enough debuffing myself. A solid tank will also help. In general I don't use my Demons/Dark for speed runs. My Robot/FF or Beasts/Time perform much better there because they carry their buffs with them.

Go-to the pets far enough away they will use the ranged attacks but can't close in for melee. The new AI can allow pets to travel up to 20' from the Go-to spot, so be aware to not set it too close. I don't use binds. I have Go-to, Follow, Attack, and the three stances of Aggressive, Defensive, and Passive,plus. Release Pets macro. That's it. The new AI is super helpful. I've successfully jousted Battle Maiden with Beasts/Time and no pet loss on several occasions, too, and they are pure melee. Part of it is experience with the fights, and the other is learning pet behavior for each set. The rest is acknowledging that every AT has it's week point. For MMs, skip-hopping (speed runs) through mobs for singular objevtives is their bane, and pet loss is expected. On the infrequent times that's what's going on, I play Defender and don't worry about any resummoning until we're done skipping along.

I support animation chopping! 👍🏻😁

It's definitely not a standard control set, I have an Illusion/Rad I've grown to love. Spectral Terror is an amazing power: fear, -ToHit, proc able, quick recharge, solid duration. I know many don't care for Flash, but I find it's pretty useful in tandem with my hold aura in Rad. Locks down groups with bosses easily, and despite being pbaoe, Superior invisibility with it -threat helps make that feasible.

Nice!

I love FF on my Bots. But Time is better as an overall set due to heals and debuffs.

Should be rock solid with Thermal. Beasts are the only primary that can self cap Defense, though it requires some stacks of Pack Mentality converted with Fortify Pack. You'll lose the extra damage/criticals, in return. But you'll be very tough. I use Time. Between Farsight for capped defense and Times Juncture for -ToHit, the posts are rarely hit, and Temporal Mending makes things all better for the pack. Plus the buffs apply to you more than with Thermal. Can't go wrong either way, however.

@brasilgringo Glad you liked the guide! I appreciate you reading through it. BGsacho has great advice. I love good posts. For fun, I'd say if you miss Bonfire and Lash, put then back in your build if the min-maxer in you will tolerate. This game is very forgiving in most circumstances and IMO fun while playing is HUGE. Just my two Info. Oh, I almost always go with Clarion for my squishies, including my Dark/Demons. Amazing power. But my Robot/FF has Rebirth because he already has decent mez protection.

I normally would never take Repair, but I see you manage without Medicine pool, so I give you credit. I'll look at your build on Mid's later, and offer some thoughts. Let me ask, are there any things during playtime that seem like gaps to be filled? How well do the robots hold up in group purple content or soloing on tougher settings, for example?

Hello. I'll refer you to my guide in my signature line for Dark Miasma. Check out the slotting options. I also have my own Demons/Dark build, which is my main. That said, I'm assuming this is not a Tankerminding build as I don't see Presence Pool. I probably would not then have Fighting pool since you are not using much agro. But that's an area of personal preference. Bonfire+FF only gives a recharge boost on initial cast, since it is a pseudo pet. After that you'll see no benefit. But I do agree that Bonfire is a fantastic option instead of a personal armor. I've been playing Dark Miasma since issue 1 and never had much endurance issues, and none since IOs came into existence. I've never touched Ageless in any is my builds as I fix my endurance before 50. May I ask, when do you experience blue bar woes? Are you spamming Lash on cool down? Resummoning pets frequently? Big dips after Howling Twilight? Just trying to get a sense of where I can shore up the blue bar. Lastly, Clarion fixes all mez issues. Later I'll load up Mid's later and review the build on more detail. Cheers.

Awesome, thanks Brigg.