Travel Powers - what happened?

[Snarky]

I was there for the evolution.  So I really do not need a history lesson in getting travel powers earlier and faster and easier.

 

Let us look at where we are now.  Okay, I do want to go back after all.  For me it started when I found I could go to FBZ at level 1 and buy a jetpack.  PITA trip, but wow was that worth it.

 

But now?  P2W gives perma temp fly.  /macro zone teleporters are better and faster that the Long Range Teleport power from the pool.  In fact uyou have /macro zone TP, and Ouro, and Mission/group/assemble the team powers from P2W

 

I am not saying this is bad, hear me out.  We need this kind of speed to keep the populace racing to missions and grinding TF and content.  So, I like where these are, however odd the walk (teleport?) was to get here.

 

What I am saying is the Travel Power pools.  Ooof.  Do they look like a house that has not been painted in 50 years or what?  For the investment of power picks you get very little back.  Glad it is there for customizable powers and niche players.  But by and large?  not much good on ROFLSTOMP teams except as mules.  okay, hover is good for hoverblasting.  sort of by definition.  similarly CJ.  but when you can look at 10-11? 12? pools and name a handful of powers that are 'good' and the rest are like.   hrm….why do you take that?  oh really?  and that works for you?   No, still don't want it, GL.  

 

I realize how much the Homecoming Team is working on.  And I do appreciate it.  Stuff like the recent Tanker/Brute changes are moving the game forward.

 

But the Travel Pools...  Take Long range Teleport.  The first time I saw this I took it immediately.  Thinking I would pick the exact spot in the zone I would TP to... okay, funny now.  But how about just modifying this to mission teleporter if your door is in that zone?  Because you zone into Nerva and find the door is still 1.5 miles away and you die a little inside lol. There are probably a dozen little 'hacks' like this that could be quick and dirty patched onto the Travel Powers that would bring new relevancy to them.

 

Because as the game has moved forward (thank you all) our Travel Powers have stayed in the same spot.

 

 

[Bopper]

The only travel power I picked since coming back is Teleport for my Granite Tank. All my characters use Prestige Sprint, Ninja Run, and Jump Pack from P2W. Between those and Base Teleport, I will get to where I need to go quickly enough.

[Sif]

Long Range Teleport is crap, and in general the Teleportation pool needs some help (but that's not new).

 

Based upon what I've seen, I'm pretty sure the vast majority of characters still pick up a travel power, not just a p2w/temp ones. But, I don't have numbers to back that up, it's just what I've noticed from playing, especially on characters where I didn't take a travel power.

[roleki]

I love the idea of Teleport as a power, but there's no reason it needs to have THAT dramatic of an endurance hit in a PvE zone.  

 

You shouldn't have to de-toggle to have stamina enough to make it across a city zone.  It's decidedly unfugging heroic.

[Coyotedancer]

I will, forever and always, be a flier. 

 

When the game was gone, that was one of the things I missed the most. Just being able to have a character that could fly whenever and where-ever they wanted to. (Aion, don't even get me started on that "flight timer/flight zone" crap you do. <_<) Pretty much every character I build has either the Flight pool proper or Sorcery, for that reason. The Void Skiff, Rocket Board and Flying Carpet are adorable, but I don't really see them as a substitute.

 

I can't even imagine running a 50 who was still dependent on Ninja Run and jet-packs. o_0

 

 

Edited February 22, 2020 by Coyotedancer

[Haijinx]

I don't use them

[MTeague]

Teleport is fine once you have decent end recovery. Right out of the box?  Not so much.

[Sif]

3 minutes ago, MTeague said:

Teleport is fine once you have decent end recovery. Right out of the box?  Not so much.

My complaint with Teleport is the animation time. It's "fine" for cross-zone travel (when bound to lshift+mouse1), but it's obnoxious for mid-battle usage. Knock it down to 0.8-1.2 seconds, add some alternative animations (Translocation's animation is a breath of fresh air), and I'd be picking it up on a ton of my characters, both melee and ranged. Doubly so cone-y dominators that currently depend on CJ to move around to position powers.

 

The other travel powers/pools are in much better positions, especially Super Jump.

[roleki]

11 minutes ago, Coyotedancer said:

I will, forever and always, be a flier. 

 

When the game was gone, that was one of the things I missed the most. Just being able to have a character that could fly whenever and where-ever they wanted to. (Aion, don't even get me started on that "flight timer/flight zone" crap you do. <_<) Pretty much every character I build has either the Flight pool proper or Sorcery, for that reason. The Void Skiff, Rocket Board and Flying Carpet are adorable, but I don't really see them as a substitute.

 

I can't even imagine running a 50 who was still dependent on Ninja Run and jet-packs. o_0

 

 

That's SuperJump, for me.  Whatever math they did to smooth the ascent and descent, it's just perfect.  Just like on Live, as soon as I was able to take a travel power in HC, I grabbed SJ and bounced around for a good half hour, probably smiling like an idiot the whole time.  

[Coyotedancer]

2 minutes ago, roleki said:

That's SuperJump, for me.  Whatever math they did to smooth the ascent and descent, it's just perfect.  Just like on Live, as soon as I was able to take a travel power in HC, I grabbed SJ and bounced around for a good half hour, probably smiling like an idiot the whole time.  

 

I took my Stalker and went flying around Crimson Falls out in the Shard. XD

[Leogunner]

6 minutes ago, Sif said:

My complaint with Teleport is the animation time. It's "fine" for cross-zone travel (when bound to lshift+mouse1), but it's obnoxious for mid-battle usage. Knock it down to 0.8-1.2 seconds, add some alternative animations (Translocation's animation is a breath of fresh air), and I'd be picking it up on a ton of my characters, both melee and ranged. Doubly so cone-y dominators that currently depend on CJ to move around to position powers.

 

The other travel powers/pools are in much better positions, especially Super Jump.

My complaint about Teleport is when I'm oh so close to that mission door but just slightly out of range of it, or I'm TP'ing to the tram and have to get around that bleeping median thing and thus it either requires me to hang around for several seconds before I can move a bit or take the extra ports to move.

 

Teleport needs to be modified with the Mystic Flight tech and make the power's hang time 0 but have the toggle to hover in space (very little flight speed) and turn it off when you're close enough to your destination.

 

Also, TP foe would be much better and cooler if the animation were shorter.  Just a quick *yank*, ~pause~ and then *pop* the enemy is next to you.  You can increase the recharge time in compensation.

 

I believe someone made a thread about a facelift to the older pools.  Looking at presence, I don't like needing both a taunt and/or placate to get the PBAoE fear.  I'd rather just be able to get either a taunt, placate OR fear to be able to grab the PBAoE version...that or make the powers in this pool better...like increasing your defense or giving you absorb or something...

[Sovera]

40 minutes ago, Coyotedancer said:

I will, forever and always, be a flier. 

 

When the game was gone, that was one of the things I missed the most. Just being able to have a character that could fly whenever and where-ever they wanted to. (Aion, don't even get me started on that "flight timer/flight zone" crap you do. <_<) Pretty much every character I build has either the Flight pool proper or Sorcery, for that reason. The Void Skiff, Rocket Board and Flying Carpet are adorable, but I don't really see them as a substitute.

 

I can't even imagine running a 50 who was still dependent on Ninja Run and jet-packs. o_0

 

 

My main would love her flying rug (it was her means of propulsion before coming to CoH) but I cannot abide the detoggling. Some smart bit of coding where there is no detoggling if we already have Fly would be amazing.

 

I'm 100% a flyer though. It's thematic, it's fun, it's also annoying to need to pick Afterburner just to increase speed and it being a toggle instead of an auto, but Hover gives defense and takes a LotG and so does Afterburner so they are not wasted.

 

Fortunately I find I (near) always have room for all three power picks (it's slots I'm chronically lacking) and despite being able to make do with a single power pick for a travel power, or using ninja run + sprint + jetpack for hurdles, I just have no desire. Flying -rocks-, and fie to devs who decide on no flying for 8-9 months after an expansion so the player can 'see all the content'. As if we didn't know it was just to time sink and force players to stay online for longer.

Edited February 22, 2020 by Sovera

[Nayeh]

My main gripe with Teleport and Super Jump is that they require me to actively mash keys to use them. I can't type or walk away for a second or else I'll end up at an odd location or I'm physically exhausted from having to constantly press the keys during moments I'd like to idly move across a map. So I always opt for Super Speed, Fly, or P2W Ninja Run&Sprint.

 

I wish the Teleport mechanics worked like one from the Gravity Pool in Dragon's Nest. It's like a super-speed flying where you phase out, zoom across a direct line as though you were flying VERY quickly, and phase in at your new location. It's less abrupt in transitions.

[Sif]

Binding a key to ++up is helpful for Super Jump, it makes it so if you tap it, you'll continually jump until you tap it (or space) again. You can then tap that key and r (default bound to autorun forward) and all you'll need to do is steer.

[DougGraves]

1 hour ago, roleki said:

That's SuperJump, for me.  Whatever math they did to smooth the ascent and descent, it's just perfect.  Just like on Live, as soon as I was able to take a travel power in HC, I grabbed SJ and bounced around for a good half hour, probably smiling like an idiot the whole time.  

Yep, every character gets superjump because it is just so much fun

[SaintD]

I want Combat Jumping on everything, so I just get Super Jump as well. Helps that it's my favourite travel power.

[biostem]

To me, it's about having options.  Do some travel powers/pools need love/tweaking?  Absolutely!  It shouldn't just be about raw performance, however...

[wolfshadow31]

I always take a travel power.  I just don't want to worry about a temp power running out at some point.  I did have the magic carpet on a lowbie toon, but the detoggling of powers  just isn't worth it to me at level 15+.  

[Doc_Scorpion]

4 hours ago, Sif said:

Based upon what I've seen, I'm pretty sure the vast majority of characters still pick up a travel power, not just a p2w/temp ones.

This.  And it's pretty much the same distribution as I saw on Live - lots of fliers, a very few jumpers, almost no speeders, and porters are rare as hen's teeth.  I suspect that's because many pools open various useful powers, and because they never have to be recharged.  I tried a toon with nothing but P2W temps and heading regularly back to a P2W vendor to charge up again got pretty old after a few days.

Most of my toons are fliers, but a few are jumpers for concept reasons... and only a couple of the jumpers have jetpacks for those rare times when I just don't feel like jumping  (or Faultline or Orenbega maps).

I've never built a porter, so I can't comment there, but I don't see anything particularly broken with the other travel pools.

[EmmySky]

I always take a travel power and often other accompanying powers from the same pool. 

 

Unless I have a character that is really squishy and needs fighting pool or doesnt have many attack powers and needs hasten (those are maybe 3 or 4 of my toons so far) I find most of the power pools meh in general. 

 

With the exceptions of sleep powers and enemy intangibility powers I usually take everything from primary and secondary then I like to pick up some help with epics pools, but the power pools just dont offer me much with my playstyle.  Therefore I always have room for travel powers and dont have to refill or whatever.

 

I do agree that some of the powers in travel pools could use a little tweeking and maybe make them more attractive to folks.

[Troo]

6 hours ago, Snarky said:

What I am saying is the Travel Power pools.  Ooof.  Do they look like a house that has not been painted in 50 years or what?  For the investment of power picks you get very little back.

I get what you are saying. I'm also going to strongly disagree.

 

Travel powers = A foundational aspect of what let's many players feel super and set the game apart.

 

If a player chooses to not take a travel power and they have to ninja run across a map or rely on a teammate's Recall Friend. That's a choice that was made. Live with it or respec.

 

To say there are only a handful of pool powers worth taking is opinion and likely exaggeration. There is usually at least 2 decent powers in a pool and sometimes more.

 

I like a lot of them and find the number of pools we can choose sometimes limiting. This leads me to make intentional choices.

Sure I want Hasten, Hover, Combat Jumping, Maneuvers and Weave to easily soft cap a squishie AND boost recharge. Is the game broke that I can't, heck no. This is part of what makes it interesting and so replay-able for lots of folks.

 

[Clave Dark 5]

7 hours ago, Snarky said:

P2W gives perma temp fly.

Wait, what?  That's kind of an oxymoron.  =)  You're talking about the 'buy a jet pack here' aspect of the P2W right

[Haijinx]

5 minutes ago, Clave Dark 5 said:

Wait, what?  That's kind of an oxymoron.  😃 You're talking about the 'buy a jet pack here' aspect of the P2W right

Due to fly's low cap a jetpack can be pretty much the same speed

[Clave Dark 5]

I was asking more about what "perma temp" meant exactly.

[Haijinx]

41 minutes ago, Troo said:

 

Travel powers = A foundational aspect of what let's many players feel super and set the game apart.

 

Not everyone wants a "super" character though. 

 

Unfortunately the P2W is better for those than the actual pool powers.  

 

I still want a motorcycle.