Captain Powerhouse

Of the top of my head, the nerfs are mostly to aoe crowd control.

Edited my post, nothing to see here.

Plant manipulation, temporal manipulation, atomic manipulation, tactical arrow and ninja training

I have number crunched SS countless times since launch. My opinion is the set is perfectly balanced with one constant Rage stack at all times, and the penalties are unnecessary if not because of the potential power of multiple stacks. Things can, potentially, become problematic when epic pools and other secondary sets are taken into account. That is one of the many things that would be subject to testing and further analysis, but i wanted to get some thoughts before we got there. I also don't consider it a cottage rule infraction. The power would continue to do what it does, in a form that is nearly the same. For most players, other than the removal of a negative, they can continue using the power the exact same way. Cottage rule prevents me, for example, from turning the power into a different activation type (toggle) or deciding that the power tomorrow will become a recharge buff instead of a damage buff.

Tossing this here for consideration, this MIGHT go to test in a future time, but wanted to hear some feedback before even going there: Super Strength > Rage: Activating Rage while the buff is still up will no longer add a second stack, instead it will increase the duration of the current buff by an additional 120 seconds. Example: Use rage when there are 30 seconds left, rage it will now last for 150 seconds. No longer has a crash of any kind. No endurance crash, no defense crash, no -dmg crash, nothing. Letting rage expire and continue to attack without using it again would be it's own penalty.

Interrupt Enhancements are weird, they dont actually shorten that window, instead, they shorten the time within that window where you can actually be interrupted. If you get 100% interrupt reduction into one of these, it will still have a 3 second interrupt window, but you would be able to start moving after 1.5 seconds have gone by. Interrupt reduction just reduces how long you need to stand perfectly still, and not be attacked. This can open interesting tactics. Like, for example, in PvP you could get close enough to start the snipe, and as soon as you are 1.5 seconds in (assuming you managed to half the interrupt window) you could move even further away and your shot would still be fired.

Noted, as soon as the window for bug fixes opens up, this thread is going to have top priority. I'm sorry it's not done yet, some tool chain work just needed to happen before we get there.

Note that T1s are almost always the fastest recharging power in most sets. Making them also very good DPS is very likely to turn the T2 into a useless power, and potentially many other powers in the set (since it may result in a 2 attack set.) So, my goal is to add situational usability for the power. It's unlikely that these powers will ever become the most optimal powers on any set. Here is an idea, (not a promise) of what I have been contemplating for a long time: Make the weakest attack in every set have potentially no recharge, extreme accuracy and cost no endurance. Basically, a power you can still use when you are extremely debuffed and grasping for endurance. It would also result in a power that's ideal for low level players, when they cant get enough recharge to fill their attack chains. This is, however, subject to lots of analysis, and make sure no outlier power out there breaks the game.

Final speed varies from power to power, but Scrapper/Stalker epic snipes have a 3 second interrupt window. Zapp and Moonbeam are 1.33 fast, 5.33 slow. Mace Beam is 2 seconds in fast, 6 seconds in slow.

Not intended as one, but every metric I have shows the set overperforming for single target by way more than it should (it is expected it does more damage due to it's global secondary effect being more damage.) Any adjustments in pursue of balance would mean just nerfs.

You don’t want me to touch fiery assault.

I am going to talk as a player not a member of the dev team (because as far as this feature comes, i am just a user.) I hope modifier buttons are a possibility, because I am dying to replicate Final Fantasy XIV's Cross Bar control scheme!!!... and on that note... i want UI Cross Hot bars that hold 5 powers (the center one to map with R3 and L3.)

There was a bug on Targeting Drone, I think its fixed, but keep an eye out for those swings on the next patch. There wont be a note since next patch will have a consolidated list of notes relative to current HC (and i think that bug was introduced during this testing.) Other manipulation sets are bing looked at and will receive a pass on the future. The Devices changes were originally intended to go on that future patch, but were moved up due to the snipe change devaluing the set too much. Cant go into too many details yet, but expect buffs to many sets, and some necessary nerfs to the newer i25 power sets.

Personally I applaud other servers for going different paths, I am excited to see different servers take completely independent approaches to similar problems or decisions, as well as some just remaining frozen in time. That being said, I would not pursue that here, personally, for the same reasons the live team didn't do so when they thought to do it: stalkers could very easily self-gimp themselves by skipping Hide and there is some internal validation voodoo that sometimes messes with builds if you don't have your secondary's T1 in the build. With that in mind, there are things we have been considering to make these powers a bit more useful.

Power Build Up grants ToHit, that’s why it takes ToHit buff sets. Gather shadows and Power Up only grant toHit Str, that do nothing on its own unless you have another power that grants ToHit.

They did not become build-up, they became “Power Up”, basically the same as Gather Shadows (a damage/special booster.)

The pom-poms are not part of the attack itself, they are weird... in that they behave just like weapons. Any energy melee attack will attach them to your hands, independent on power timing.

Vanden hit the nail right on the head. there is nothing on the board at the moment for buff sets, but this has been discussed in the past. Ideally: any changes to improve Time Bomb and Trip Mine on the Traps sets would be oriented towards the goal of buff/debuff. Cottage rule and all that, but damage and usability may be adjusted in ways that allow for additional aspects being added that actually help the sets do their jobs.

There are snipes in Scrapper/Stalker patron pools.

The original intent was for the ring to denote the conditional (that slow snipe was ready) but consensus was that most wanted the highlight when it was on fast mode. There is one change in the next patch.

This is not an intentional change. Power is still flagged to allow stacking. Will have to touch base with the code people, may be something else in the pipeline messing with this. Edit: code people let me know i [bleeped] up. Should be fixed in a future patch [not the next one, that one is in the can already]

Could even give that "Infiltration" power a Ninja-Run like speed/jump buff. Making Invisibility a hybrid-travel-power.

Superior Invisibility should have a much stronger stealth than Invisibility, at a lower end cost, and should retain some defense while in combat. It will cost more endurance than just Stealth.

The current goal is for Stealth and Invisibility to be for each other what Combat Jump and Super Jump are for each other. Stealth should be a low end, low magnitude, stealth that grants some evasion and is ideal for combat. Invisibility is a high end, high magnitude, stealth that grants little to no benefit in combat. Currently it is granting some defense in combat, in a future build, no defense will be granted in combat.

Looking at the numbers, the patch currently on Justin should have auto-adjusted the PvP damage, as the power is now a single target attack that executes a secondary power for it's AoE. Test and let me know if it still looks wrong.