Focused Feedback: Electrical Affinity - Powers (Build 2)

[dangeraaron10]

I didn't do a terrible amount of testing with this set so I can't comment TOO much on it, but one thing I should note is that it's really silly Galvanic Sentinel is not permanent.  Galvanic Sentinel SHOULD be a permanent pet and so should Voltaic Sentinel.  I feel like it shouldn't be able to be targeted by enemies, either, also like Voltaic Sentinel.  I feel like this is especially true of Galvanic since its entire purpose is to let you chain powers back onto yourself and its low base duration seems like a hassle I wouldn't bother dealing with.  

Edited March 4, 2020 by dangeraaron10

[Wavicle]

14 minutes ago, dangeraaron10 said:

I didn't do a terrible amount of testing with this set so I can't comment TOO much on it, but one thing I should note is that it's really silly Galvanic Sentinel is not permanent.  Galvanic Sentinel SHOULD be a permanent pet and so should Voltaic Sentinel.  I feel like it shouldn't be able to be targeted by enemies, either, also like Voltaic Sentinel.  I feel like this is especially true of Galvanic since its entire purpose is to let you chain powers back onto yourself and its low base duration seems like a hassle I wouldn't bother dealing with.  

If it couldn't be targeted it wouldn't be able to chain stuff back to you.

[dangeraaron10]

Just now, Wavicle said:

If it couldn't be targeted it wouldn't be able to chain stuff back to you.

Can't make it targetable by the player and not by enemies?  

 

If not, I guess all the more reason to make it a permanent pet.

[oedipus_tex]

5 hours ago, Coyote said:

 

That's exactly it. I LIKE that the set is clicky, making you decide how much you're going to spend on using it to its max versus saving time for other actions. But the problem is that you have to click a lot just to get a level of effectiveness that seems like it should be normal. I would like to see the durations and recharges increased so that you don't have to click as much, OR the buff/debuff stats increased so that you're getting more out of spending so much of your animation time for them, like Kinetics is currently. Compare that to Poison and Trick Arrow, two other clicky sets backed up with average debuff numbers, and we see that generally they're not considered very good.

 

I agree with you. Kinetics works because the numbers are outrageous. Other sets work because of long durations that let you concentrate on blasting or controlling and not having to baby sit the buff/debuffs too much. 

 

Another situation with Kinetics we may want to keep our eye on is how Kinetics came to be associated with Fire Controllers instead of Defenders or Corruptors, who ostensibly have better damage. Fire Control has a damage aura that requires no clicking, along with three pets. It also has long lasting controls that make it safe enough to spend time on the clicky Kinetics powers because the risk is largely mitigated. Even with a self heal and a power that restores the endurance bar Kinetics can land you flat on your back very quickly without support from a Control set. 

Defenders and Corruptors mostly have powers that compete with Kinetics for clicks. So, in general, the clickier a set is, the harder it is for a Defender or Corruptor to excel with it. There aren't too many examples of click heavy sets out there, and none nearly as vulnerable to death as Kinetics. Electric Affinity has total mezz protection on demand, which counts for something--I think people are writing this off too much. So, Electric is not quite as vulnerable to the commitments of animation time as Kinetics. But it's stilla factor.  

Edited March 4, 2020 by oedipus_tex

[siolfir]

16 hours ago, JayboH said:

That's kind of the issue with Poison too, which years ago was going to get a revamp.  You have to spam it so much compared to others.

It might be worth noting that originally Poison was a Mastermind-only set, where your pets are going to be busy attacking while you're focusing on the (really clicky) secondary. Even then it was considered busy, but it wasn't revisited during proliferation (like most of the sets should've been).

 

4 hours ago, oedipus_tex said:

So, in general, the clickier a set is, the harder it is for a Defender or Corruptor to excel with it. There aren't too many examples of click heavy sets out there, and none nearly as vulnerable to death as Kinetics. Electric Affinity has total mezz protection on demand, which counts for something--I think people are writing this off too much.

Completely agree with the first sentence, and the changes to the shields and Speed Boost to make them AoEs (for league content, mainly) had indicated a trend towards less clickiness. Faraday Cage is a great power and even in the secondary you'll get it at level 16 - before every enemy group has some method of mezzing you - but if the rest of the set is a lot of "meh" people will just pick one of the other sets out there that do a better job of buffing or debuffing, or if concept is key they can make a Sentinel, melee character, or Blaster with electrical powers.

 

Suggestion for the variable target cap - instead of just adding one, double it for each stack of Static, allowing up to 64 at 5 stacks on all of the chaining powers. This will help in league play or in large teams with pets - a team of 7 Fire Controllers is already 32 targets, not even getting into Masterminds - and at most it's under a quarter of the AoE buffs offered by other powersets, including the formerly-single-target shields and damage buffs by Radiation Emission. It will also, in normal team play without pets and only 8 players, reduce the stacks required to hit the full team to 2, so that the set becomes far less clicky just so you can build Static to hit most of the team.

Edited March 4, 2020 by siolfir

[Jimmy]

A new build is available. Please use the new focused feedback threads going forwards:

• Focused Feedback: Electrical Affinity - Powers (Build 3)