Mr Pierce

I covered this in my suggestion. Lower the Mag to 2 on the snipe. With Freeze Ray at mag 3, you have a total of mag 5 and can slot +2 mag IOs for all of the hold goodness. I am not saying that it has to be the same and that all blaster sets need a snipe. It could be argued that snipe is in fact the Assassin Strike for Blasters, but that's a different conversation. All I'm suggesting is a change to the cast time, and a way to balance that was to make it a snipe. I do like your idea of making it a low mag, quick cast during combat. So you could still lead with it as a slow cast, mag 3 hold. Options are awesome. Ice Blast is already very original with it's location AOEs and holds. I don't want to take it's originality away. Just want this one power to feel better.

Something I've never understood about Sonic Attack is the abysmally low damage output for the set on Blasters. While I understand that it has a heavy -res debuff aspect to it, and a ton of CC built into it, I feel like these are hindrances to the overall set for Blasters instead of bonuses. Sonic attack was originally designed for Defenders, where these trade offs made a lot more sense. Unfortunately, I feel like it never got properly translated when it was moved to Blasters, who rely more on damage output to help teams than any sort of secondary effects. The set currently offers a -13 res debuff to each attack and has an assortment of CCs spread throughout. My suggestion would be to pull back on some of the CC, reduce the -res debuff to -7, normalize the duration of the debuff to 7 seconds for every attack, and then increase the overall damage of the attacks. This will make it feel more like a blaster set, and give the player a sense of urgency with their attacks to get in as much debuff as possible, as quickly as possible. Some Suggestions: Shriek and Scream are okay. Their numbers line up with Archery, but fall short of just about every other blaster t1 and t2. Maybe a slight increase but they function fine as they are. The cones are probably the biggest offenders of the set. As there are currently no AOEs in Sonic Attack, the cones could use an increase in damage to make them more useful. Maybe give Shockwave a larger arc, while Howl gets a longer range. This would make them more diverse and stand out a bit more. If any of the three cones retains it's current damage, I think Shockwave makes the most sense. Howl deserves better. The cast time for Shout should be reduced to be more in-line with other powers in this slot such as Freeze Ray. Ideally this power could become a snipe attack, keeping the cast time but allowing it to be quick cast during combat. Give Amplify a +range buff so that the player can cast at a longer range for a few seconds, closing off one of the set's weaknesses temporarily while also making the cones in the set feel better. Removing the sleep entirely from Siren's Song would allow it to be more fairly balanced with a large increase in damage, while taking away something a blaster doesn't normally use. Adding a confuse element instead, with the increased damage, could make Siren's Song a cornerstone attack of the set for blasters since it comes so late in the game. The damage for Screech could be dramatically increased (as it is on Sentinels). It would make it more on par with powers like Cosmic Burst, which also has a mag 3 stun. Dreadful Wail is fine as is. These changes are aimed at making Sonic Attack feel more like a blaster set, where they can do their primary task of dealing damage at a quick pace. While the CC and -res debuff are certainly attractive, they are mostly held over from the original design which was for Defenders, and causes the set to feel incredibly flat when compared to other Blaster sets. I think these changes make sense because it offers players more choice. They can either go for the traditional, CC and debuff heavy set on a Defender, or they can try out the more straight forward, damage focused version on Blasters. (Please note: I don't think PVP is ever a good argument for why a set should or shouldn't do more damage. While PVP is certainly an aspect of Homecoming, it isn't a major focus of the game, and as such it shouldn't have an impact on the overall balance of the rest of the game.)

As the title suggests, I was wondering what people might think of having this ability become a snipe attack. In it's current form, the animation feels like it is much too long to be incorporated into an attack chain, and thus is a skippable power. If it were converted into a snipe where you still had the same power up animation, but could quick cast it in combat, it would become a much better power. More importantly, with the mag 3 hold it would set it apart from other snipes in the game and give Ice Blast something really special. I'm not sure if there was a reason given to not have snipe in Ice Blast from the get-go, but this feels like an easy change that could really improve the weakest power (in my opinion) in the set. If the mag 3 is too strong, then perhaps lower it to mag 2, so that when the player is tossing out regular Freeze Ray, they would have a total mag hold of 5 that they could essentially spam. What do you guys think? Is this too strong? Not needed?

No one liked my overheal idea?

You would be removing the sets Build Up entirely for a recharge buff. I don't think I want that.

I've been playing on the newest patch and I have to say I'm really loving all the travel power changes. Adding clicks to travel powers that do extra things is such a cool idea that it actually had me thinking about other ways to use it. This inevitably lead me to thinking about Rage and how the developers aren't happy with it's current implementation. So... What would Rage look like if it were made into a toggle that also has a click power? Ideally it would be like a leadership pool combo of assault and tactics, but only on your character. It could give 12.5% to-hit and 20% damage. To balance out the numbers you give it a decently high endurance cost (.36/s maybe?). I'm definitely not a numbers guy, so someone else can probably find the magic balance between strength and cost. I don't want to get too caught up on numbers yet, as this is just a hypothetic. This toggle would have a click power that works a lot like the current Rage power. If the toggle gives 20% damage, then the click would give an additional 80% damage, so that you get to the original 100% damage buff. Add in some number of to-hit buff as well. Have it last 40-60 seconds with a cooldown that is unaffected by recharge. Think the Rune of Protection changes. The issue I am having is with the crash. I know for a lot of players this is the issue they have with the power. I think if you keep the cooldown unaffected it doesn't have to have a crash. However, if the crash needs to exist for thematic purposes or balance reasons, then I think it should be lessened from it's current value. I think you take away what was given, meaning if the click gives 80% damage buff, then you lose 80% damage after it wears off. Your anger drains you of your strength temporarily. Same with the to-hit. Take what is given. I don't know if the -def portion of the debuff is needed. It feels pretty bad on tanks, but I guess it's part of the balance of gaining so much damage for a short period of time? What do you guys think?

I had always thought that giving Regen an "overheal" mechanic would be really neat. Essentially once you're at full health, any and all regen you have is converted into an absorb shield. It would require a maximum, probably somewhere in the neighborhood of 20-30% depending on the AT. That said I do love some of the changes made to the set on Sentinels. The passive +HP is a great change. Speaking of SR on Sentinels, I wish they would clean up the whole Practiced Brawler/Master Brawler nonsense. Make one power that is a combination of the two OR make them dramatically different so that you take both. It's a really poorly implemented change that needs to be fixed. Otherwise I agree.

If we're making changes to Empathy, I think we should start with the two RAs. Back on live, there was a time when RAs were able to be made perma. Then at some point they decided they hated that, for whatever reason, and nerfed the recharge into the ground. What I would like to see is a major nerf to their strength, but the ability to make them perma again. Don't make it too easy. Have it be something like 240 seconds, where you really have to invest in recharge to get them perma. I think that would make Empathy a bit better overall.

Then change how Energize works. Remove the +Regen and endurance reduction from the power and lower it's cooldown. Really easy fix. Or you could make it something unique like converting a portion of your endurance into an absorb shield. There are a lot of ways to make the set better. If you're against giving the set Dynamo, then find other ways to improve the set in small, unique ways. Give Power Sink a +absorb for each target hit. Things like that to make it more interesting and fun to play. It needs help and a better identity. Energize gives 100% regen and Dynamo gives 113% regen. I don't think 200% regen is gonna break the game. A willpower Sentinel gets 800% regen passively on a single toggle. Your definition of overpowered is definitely different than mine 🙂 Edited for inclusion of numbers.

I approve of these changes. The melee cone changes and AR changes especially. So many things in the game need to be reevaluated for consistency. Just a nice, clean, streamlined approach to similar powers would do a lot to refresh the game. Good call Kelika!

If you look at all of the Resistance based armor sets for Tanks, Scrappers, and Brutes, they all have a secondary means of mitigating damage. Dark Armor has -tohit, fear, and a powerful heal on a short cool down, Radiation Armor has a ton of absorb, Invulnerability has lots of defense from Invincibility, and Fire Armor has extra damage and a heal on a quick cool down. Electric Armor has nothing to help it survive. The heal, which gives +regen and endurance reduction is on a long cool down which ultimately doesn't do much. If it's original mitigation tool was -end to enemies, then I highly suggest we reevaluate how useful that is. So here is my suggestion. It's simple and doesn't take much effort on the Dev's end. Replace Lightning Field with Dynamo. It gives +regen and +recovery on a damage toggle, which is unique to tank armors AND it makes the armor set fit more in line with the theme across other ATs. Electric Control gets Conductive Aura and Electricity Manipulation gets Dynamo, both melee toggles that give +regen and +recovery. I don't think this suggestion breaks anything or would make Electric Armor overpowered. It would simply give them a little extra survivability and help to set them apart from other resistance based sets. What do you say?

REQUEST Please let us use Starless Step and Shadow Slip while in Dwarf Form. Having access to those new tools would allow us to move around easier in that form and bring the mobs to us. I don't see a reason they shouldn't be allowed.

REQUEST Please let us use Starless Step and Shadow Slip in Dwarf Form. Having access to those new tools would allow us to move around easier in that form and bring the mobs to us. I don't see a reason they shouldn't be allowed.

Request: Can we please get Gladiator shoulder pads split into Gladiator 1 and Gladiator 2 (the current left and right sides)? Place them in both asymmetrical sides (left and right). I have wanted to be able to do this since Issue 1. It shouldn't be too hard to do and it would make me incredibly happy. Keep up the great work guys!

I'd like to second Soul Mastery. I can't express enough how incredibly powerful Darkest Night is when running a traditional tank. You won't use it every mob, but anytime there is an Elite Boss or AV, you are giving the team insane survivability!

That's amazingly helpful! Thanks Bopper. I will more than likely go To-Hit debuff with a single achilles' at the end. Appreciate the help and the hard numbers.

I'm looking at a build for my Radiation Tank and I've noticed that there are quite a few procs that can be placed in Beta Decay. How good do they work and is it worth slotting any of them? Specifically things like Achilles's Heel -res and Touch of Lady Grey damage proc. Any ideas? Thanks!

Is it any good? Why or why not? I have several tanks, scrappers, and stalkers. However I have yet to make a Brute since the game returned. Back on live I had an Energy Melee/Energy Aura brute. I loved it until the nerfs to EM. So I thought it was time to try out Brutes again and wanted to use a primary I haven't picked in my other characters. I've been thinking about what sort of primary I wanted to try on Brutes. something that goes well with building fury, and MA came up as something I don't have yet. If I go that route, I will most likely make an MA/SR brute. Thoughts? FYI: My other interests would be Claws/ Earth/ or Kitana/

I think a focus on completing what was started, and then adding new costumes and power sets are the ideal place to be. Finish the incarnate stuff. Finish the maps that were started and maybe give them content. I don't think new story arcs are as important to a long lasting game. City of Heroes has always been about making new characters and trying out new powers. Sure, everyone has that one 50 they want to keep playing and do new things with, but that's why we have incarnate stuff. Personally, I'd love to see some quality of life changes made. Adjustments to the original power sets to bring them more in line with the newer stuff. Make things like Battle Axe/War Mace and Ice Melee/Fire Melee feel a bit more diverse. Give Dark Armor and Ice Armor some love. Just my 2 cents.