Retired Lead Game Master GM Miss Posted March 1, 2020 Retired Lead Game Master Share Posted March 1, 2020 (edited) Weekly discussion 40 - Week 3/01/20-3/07/20: ⚔️ YOU VOTED: It's time for Peacebringers! ⚔️ ❓ Things to think about: >How do they compare with other Tank/damaging ATs? With Dmg / with survivability? >What is your favorite build for them? Human / Tri / Other? >Are they underpowered/overpowered/okay at the moment? >What would you like to see changed? >What do you love about them? Don't just use these prompts, talk about anything Incarnate Powers! Let's Chat 😄 *Every once and a while we award a golden in game title to someone who provides awesome feedback in these discussions. This week we are awarding the title "Weekly Discussion MVP" to @Mainframe for continually putting great thought into these discussions. Thank you! Edited March 1, 2020 by GM Miss Contact me on Discord (Miss#1337) for a faster response! Want more information on lore pets? Want to get involved in our weekly discussions on discord or the forums? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Troo Posted March 1, 2020 Share Posted March 1, 2020 I use a human form only loaded up with knockback to knockdowns in all the AoEs. Works really well. Troo Power Scale ©℗®™ [ under-powered | okay at the moment | overpowered ] 1 "Homecoming is not perfect but it is still better than the alternative.. at least so far" - Unknown (Wise words Unknown!) Si vis pacem, para bellum Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SeraphimKensai Posted March 1, 2020 Share Posted March 1, 2020 (edited) Increased damage cap scale (especially in human), suppression of toggles on form swap instead of detoggle, build in some mez protection in human form, maybe even access to hero side ancillary power pools to counter VEATS access to patron power pools. Bring back shadow cysts, void Hunters, unresistable quantum damage. All these would also be useful for warshades too. Edited March 3, 2020 by SeraphimKensai 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rolandgrey Posted March 1, 2020 Share Posted March 1, 2020 Not enough damage output to be primary damage. Not enough resistance to tank. Its one Heal isn't strong enough, nor does it recharge fast enough to properly provide support. No mez protection. Essentially, a lot of the same complaints that one keeps seeing about Sentinels, with a lack of mez protection on top of it. The Peacebringer's only saving grace is its versatility, with a plethora of powers available to the archetype that can make any two PBs vastly different from each other. I remember the old days, when having a PB on the team was considered more a burden than anything, even though through their inherent power, a Peacebringer was intended to be whatever the team needed. More Blasters and Scrappers made it tougher, more Tanks and Defenders made it stronger, Controllers gave it that mez protection (-ish, it's actually resistance, which makes mezzes shorter) that was oh-so-sorely lacking. However, they came with that nasty possibility of spawning a team-killing Shadow Cyst Crystal, which would spew a full team of Nictus clouds for each member on the team, blasting everybody to pieces unless somebody buffed the Hell up and ran a Bolivian Army Ending against the crystal in the vain hope that the resulting explosion would destroy the entire spawn. This has, of course, led to a stigma that continues to this day, with people forming teams loathe to invite Peacebringers and their Warshade cousins (while the opposite is true for VEATs, which were apparently designed for stronger raw synergy with teams, so players often enjoy inviting VEATs to their teams). So, that said... Improvements that can be made: Peacebringers would definitely benefit from a stronger front-loading of damage output. I imagine Corrupter-range damage output rather than Defender-range. It shouldn't take a full team of Defenders and Tankers just to bring a PB up to par. Protection from Holds, Sleeps and Stuns should be worked into the resistance auras. This is an archetype that's supposed to be a variable threat response, but it keeps getting clonked over the head and kept out of the fight by everything past level 10. This means the PB better have a strong alpha strike, or they're gonna faceplant and serve little better than as vengeance fodder. Glowing Touch seems superfluous. It's nice to have, but it largely goes unused. The time when we get it, we would also much rather invest enhancement slots into our attack and resistance powers. Speaking of superfluous, Quantum Flight could probably get the axe, too. With Quantum Acceleration, we get the intense speed boost the same as we see in Afterburner. I'm sure some folks like the Stealth it provides, but this stealth is unreliable as it keeps phasing in and out every thirty seconds. Last thing you'd want is to suddenly phase in as you're passing by a Rikti spawn on your way to fight Dra'Gon. Tweaking these powers or finding powers to replace them would be nice. Maybe a debuff for the enemy to replace Glowing Touch or add some other buffs to it. Maybe a team buff in a similar vein to the VEATs. My take on the alternate forms is less intense because I don't use them. The times I have, I've found them lackluster. The Bright Nova has no defenses and gets cut to pieces easily as its powers don't recharge quickly enough to defeat even the most basic spawns. The White Dwarf has nowhere near the same resistance as a tanker, nor does it have enough attack powers to properly wage combat with the enemies. Both forms suffer from a lack of access to human-form powers, and investing in the alternate form powers restricts one from investing in their human form powers. The AT gets way more powers than it gets enhancement slots to properly outfit when you go for alternate form builds, with the speccing for Tri-form needing the player to be very precise, both in build and tactics. One improvement I can suggest on this front is granting access to human powers in alternate forms. This would go a long way toward improving their versatility, with the Nova gaining more resiliency and the Dwarf getting more damage output. And... That's all I've got for now. You can be a good man, the best man in the world... But there will always be somebody who hates a good man. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gulbasaur Posted March 1, 2020 Share Posted March 1, 2020 (edited) 2 hours ago, GM Miss said: >How do they compare with other Tank/damaging ATs? With Dmg / with survivability? >What is your favorite build for them? Human / Tri / Other? >Are they underpowered/overpowered/okay at the moment? >What would you like to see changed? >What do you love about them? Tanking: they do fine. Would've been nice to get the aggro procs rolled out to them. DPS: they struggle in a post-IO world. Before, their mix of range and resistance was very unique but now where blasters have soft capped defences and defenders can mow enemies down with procs, they struggle to keep up at end game. I really enjoyed the flexibility of tri-form builds. Having all your toggles break rather than suppress is a massive ballache, though. They are underpowered, sadly. So much of late-game power comes from sets and procs and they have to spread their enhancements very thinly. Playing one on the pre-CoV days on live was great because nothing else but warshades had the flexibility of range and survivability, but now they really do lag behind. I'd love to see more human-form powers ported to shifted forms so they don't feel so stagnant - bright nova form gets its full attack chain at level SIX and doesn't really improve from there. I love the visuals. I love the lore. I love how they work. I just feel they were left behind in the power creep arms race, especially when you compare them to warshades or VEATs. Edited March 1, 2020 by Gulbasaur 1 Doctor Fortune Soulwright Mother Blight Brightwarden Storm Lantern King Solar Corona Borealis Blood Fortunado Dark/Dark Corruptor Rad/Rad Brute Gravity/Time Controller Storm/Water Defender Peacebringer Dark/Dark Tanker The Good Missions Guide: A Heroic Levelling Journey through Story Arcs Blueside Guide Easy IO Cheat Sheet The Mean Missions Guide: A Villainous Levelling Journey through Story Arcs Redside Guide Fortunatas are the Bestunatas Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VileTerror Posted March 1, 2020 Share Posted March 1, 2020 Having a difficulty option to bring back the big-bad specialized enemies would be agreeable to me too. Granted, I'd want anyone teaming with such a Kheldian to get fair warning of the impending nightmare. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nayeh Posted March 2, 2020 Share Posted March 2, 2020 (edited) Edit: I'm sorry, the topic was specific about Peacebringers but the same issues and concepts proposed below are still applicable to both Kheldians. I love how versatile they are. Unfortunately that versatility comes at a huge disadvantage when it comes to slotting capabilities. They're great for leveling early-mid game but once you start reaching toward the end-game content they start to falloff and feel clunky unless you pick a role or cycle through all three. Ability Customization: - (Warshade) Please adjust the Warshade Dark Extraction pet to be colorized with their ability sets. This alone has discouraged me from playing my Warshade at all post ability acquisition. - (Warshade) Please allow a minimal effect option on Shadow Cloak. It's the same dilemma as Dark Armor stealth as it completely obscures your costume. - (Peacebringer) Please change Cosmic Flight to match Hover's flight stance. It's awkward seeing your character slowly move horizontally during combat. Nova & Dwarf - Abilities & Slotting: (I'm just theory-crafting here. We all understand the troubles of slotting a Kheldian...) I would suggest removing the Nova and Dwarf specific abilities to simply use the in-line abilities to help ease the troubles of slotting and reducing redundancy. Unfortunately that would take away the unique aspect of having these abilities immediately available unless they were altered and unlocked in later levels. The shape-shifting would then be fancy alternate form buffs with some ability locks attached to them. While at the same time removing the clunkiness of needing to stance-dance to perform cheap tricks like double Warshade Mires. Another issue to consider would be how the Dwarf attacks and taunt would need to be added into the lines. I mean, there is no access to Epic/Patron abilities so I suppose they could just merely be thrown into the lines. Example) At least this way the progression toward end-game makes the forms a gradual reward while leaving human form in-tact of being able to perform any ability at will. These abilities will share a recharge across forms. Additionally you may now access a few more abilities while shape-shifted. This will allow a more rounded, complete cycle of playing under form effects without feeling pressured to constantly switch during engagements. Dark Nova - Using Dark Nova now requires you to unlock RANGED abilities that can be used in this form. While in Nova form you may experience heightened damage, recharge and recovery rate while also under penalty of being squishier. (1) Shadow Bolt (Single) (1) Ebon Eye (Single) (6) Shadow Blast (Single) (8) Starless Step (Foe Teleport) (12) Dark Detonation (AoE) (26) Gravitic Emanation (Cone) (26) Urchain Essence (Dead, AoE) (32) Quasar (PBAoE) - Because squishy squid. Why not? Black Dwarf - Using Black Dwarf now requires you to unlock MELEE/Short-ranged abilities that can be used in this form. While in this form you may experienced heightened defense. (X) Brawl (X) Ancillary Power Pool Melees (X) Melee 1 (X) Melee 2 (X) Taunt (2) Gravimetric Snare (Short-ranged Root) (12) Sunless Mire (PBAoE) (18) Essence Drain (Ranged Lifesteal) (18) Gravity Well (Ranged Hold) (22) Stygian Circle (PBAoE) Edited March 2, 2020 by Nayeh 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redlynne Posted March 2, 2020 Share Posted March 2, 2020 20 hours ago, GM Miss said: >What would you like to see changed? Change ALL Peacebringer KnockBACK to instead be KnockUP. That way, Peacebringers are not "forced" into paying a "Knockback Slot Tax" on builds that are already STARVED for slots due to all the extra powers that need to be slotted up in Nova and Dwarf forms to make those forms "viable" (per se). It's bad enough that Tri-form Peacebringers need to spend very nearly HALF of their additional slots on form powers ... but then to saddle them with a "Knockback Slot Tax" ON TOP OF THAT is just adding insult to injury. 20 hours ago, GM Miss said: >What would you like to see changed? Would be really nice to test to see if altering their totally (fixed) RNG based Knock* effects could instead be modulated to be a sliding scale dependent on Accuracy so as to allow Players to influence their Knock* chances through their build strategies. Peacebringers would make an almost ideal "road test" candidate for this kind of update to their powers, and if the methods used are successful, the worst thing that could happen is that other Archetypes will start clamoring to have the exact same thing(s) done to them next (boo hoo!). 20 hours ago, GM Miss said: >What would you like to see changed? Just about the only thing that could possibly be done to relieve the Slot Crunch™ that Tri-form builds labor under (for both Peacebringers and Warshades) would be somehow cross-linking the number of slots that Form Powers have to the actual Form POWERs themselves. Have 1 slot in Nova Form and all of your Nova Form powers have 1 slots in them. Have 6 slots in Nova Form and all of your Nova Form powers (now) have 6 slots in each of them ... courtesy of slotting up Nova Form. A sort of "a slot here adds slots there" type of functionality, which to my knowledge is completely unsupported by the City of Heroes game engine elements governing this part of the game system. 10 Verbogeny is one of many pleasurettes afforded a creatific thinkerizer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lazarillo Posted March 2, 2020 Share Posted March 2, 2020 The whole of the Kheldian war stuff is one of the cooler parts of the CoH setting, IMO, so I've been wanting to get back in and play a PB for a while now, but it's kinda hard to get into 'em. Dwarf and Light Form feel too...redundant with each other, especially when Dwarf, especially, requires a lot of mutually exclusive slots to make work. And then, of course, there's the knockback-scatter effect on some of the AoE attacks, and having to cope with that by using an extra enhancement slot. That's not necessarily a PB-restricted issue, but the fact that the AT is so starved for slots does make it even trickier to manage. Oh, and while I get why the animation was changed on Solar Flare back in the day, honestly, I really wish it were still an option to use the old one. Any chance of getting it back in the Dwarf version, or maybe even when using the human-form version when not flying (sorta like Air Superiority and other attacks with the same animation play slightly differently when flying versus when on the ground)? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gulbasaur Posted March 2, 2020 Share Posted March 2, 2020 1 hour ago, Redlynne said: Have 1 slot in Nova Form and all of your Nova Form powers have 1 slots in them. Have 6 slots in Nova Form and all of your Nova Form powers (now) have 6 slots in each of them ... courtesy of slotting up Nova Form. That's a great idea - very similar to how mastermind pets work. One slot to rule them all, one slot to bind them... 1 1 Doctor Fortune Soulwright Mother Blight Brightwarden Storm Lantern King Solar Corona Borealis Blood Fortunado Dark/Dark Corruptor Rad/Rad Brute Gravity/Time Controller Storm/Water Defender Peacebringer Dark/Dark Tanker The Good Missions Guide: A Heroic Levelling Journey through Story Arcs Blueside Guide Easy IO Cheat Sheet The Mean Missions Guide: A Villainous Levelling Journey through Story Arcs Redside Guide Fortunatas are the Bestunatas Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Microcosm Posted March 2, 2020 Share Posted March 2, 2020 PBs are actually in a fairly good place thanks to the changes toward the end of live and the change to the nuke. They definitely suffer from too much knockback, as others are pointing out. I like redlynne's knockup change for that. They also really need toggle suppression as a QoL improvement for multi-formers. After the tanker updates they fall a little behind the class that most directly mirrored them in single target damage and survivability, but they do better AoE than most tanks so it's almost ok.. could use a slight bump to damage scales. Some powers are still weird, glowing touch as mentioned, and the mez is garbage. I honestly think PBs are in a better spot than Warshades right now because of the latter's inability to keep its pets alive and poor single target damage. When Dark Melee was updated by the live devs to give front loaded damage buff to Soul Drain and improve Siphon Life, they didn't bother to apply the same to the Warshade powers that were a direct copy, leaving Warshades with really bad single target damage. 4 Inspiration maker's guide Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TechbotAlpha Posted March 2, 2020 Share Posted March 2, 2020 Get rid of KB to KD on PBs. People keep saying about 'There's an IO for that'. No; I have my attacks six slotted for IO bonuses I WANT, not something I feel pressured to take because KB is a pain in the tin-plate-rear for teaming. Build in some mez shielding for the Human form shields. Or... something. Dwarf form is cool and all, but Perma-Lightform is a fairly valid option. The HP and End crash is annoying, but hey oh. Bring back the option for the Special Enemies! The odd Quantum gunner is a poor substitute for the variety we used to get, and with a full 50 Incarnate supergroup having the odd Cyst-shaped speed bump would be quite nice, frankly. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TechbotAlpha Posted March 2, 2020 Share Posted March 2, 2020 8 minutes ago, Microcosm said: I honestly think PBs are in a better spot than Warshades right now because of the latter's inability to keep its pets alive and poor single target damage. When Dark Melee was updated by the live devs to give front loaded damage buff to Soul Drain and improve Siphon Life, they didn't bother to apply the same to the Warshade powers that were a direct copy, leaving Warshades with really bad single target damage. To be fair, I don't think Shades were ever about ST Damage. He's not at that point on the Rogue servers, but my Nictus on Live was an unstoppable AoE god, and that's when he wasn't even fully IO slotted; run in to groups of x8, spam your AoE buffs, swap to Dwarf for a Mire, then swap back and nuke. 90% of stuff died in one go, and the rest could be buffed up with a turbo charged Nova form. Rinse, repeat. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Nelson Posted March 2, 2020 Share Posted March 2, 2020 I always felt that the passive should be shifted to provide an aoe team bonus to make Khelds more group friendly. I also rather like the suggestion of knockback to knockdown. this would also help with the stigma Peacebringers have. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lazarillo Posted March 2, 2020 Share Posted March 2, 2020 1 hour ago, Microcosm said: They definitely suffer from too much knockback, as others are pointing out. I like redlynne's knockup change for that. I like this idea a lot as well, it's even a nice sort of balance to Warshades, whose powers tend to have a "gravity" theme, the idea that PBs would, to the counter of that, make enemies "float" is kinda neat. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris24601 Posted March 3, 2020 Share Posted March 3, 2020 One of the main things I’d like to see is purely cosmetic, but I’d REALLY like a minimum FX option for the forms. Human-form animations for the form attacks already exist and can be viewed in the power customization tabs so it’s mainly a matter of just turning off the squid and lobster. The character shifts focus, strengths and weaknesses, but remains in human forms (maybe with an aura if there HAS to something indicating their form). I would find changing forms for combat a LOT less annoying if I could actually see the awesome costume my PB is wearing instead of the same squid and lobster every other Kheld has. It’d also be a way to take full advantage of the tri-form build while presenting as a human-only or bi-form Kheld; eliminating an entire axis of balancing complexity (i.e. not only does a PB need to be balanced with other classes, each of the four options; human-only, nova-bi-form, dwarf-by-form or tri-form; also needs to balanced). I mentioned this elsewhere too, but I think part of the issues could be “solved” by creating some “Luminous/Umbral” sets (blast, melee, armor, manipulation, assault, etc.) for the other ATs. If you could could create a Luminous Armor/Melee Tanker, it could be balanced cleanly with all the other tankers even if it had the dwarf form as one of its powers (akin to Granite Armor’s complete model swap) because its ONLY a tank. The same would go for a Luminous Blast/Manipulation Blaster or an Umbral Control/Assault Dominator. I sometimes think the PB suffers from the same problem as the D&D Bard; by trying to be too many things at once it can’t be the best at anything without being too powerful. What finally fixed the Bard was that D&D finally picked a lane where they could shine (party buffing in its case). I think what will finally fix the PB is similarly, picking another AT you want it to be most like in terms of purpose and then use the forms to tweak the base to the two extremes of damage vs. resistance within that framework. For example; lets say you pick the Scrapper as your baseline; high damage and moderate defenses. Nova form puts you at the high damage side of scrapper sets, but at the bottom of its armor sets, dwarf puts you at the top tier for scrapper armor, but the bottom tier for damage. You could instead make its baseline the brute, the blaster or the sentinel (if that could ever figure out what it was supposed to be), but the operative part would be to pick one thing for the PB and the WS to be good at and balance around it. Personally I’d go Scrapper-ish for the PB (the most jack-of-all-stats of the original hero classes) and Dominator for the WS. Nova-form would buff your damage set and debuff your armor/control set while dwarf form does the opposite. This might mean that human-form PB ranged attacks would have to go back to their original 40’ range to match the scrapper’s ranged attacks, but would gain the scrapper’s damage scale and mez protection. Nova-form would buff the range, but scale back the defenses and mez protection. Dwarf-form would only use melee range attacks, but put you on the beefier side of scrapper defenses. But those are just my thoughts and the biggest problem is there’s probably no one solution that would please everyone in terms of fixing the PB proper. So I think I’ll close with the idea of, instead of fixing the PB proper, proliferate parts of its sets out to the other ATs so the one who wants a PB tank can roll a tank with PB powersets and the one who wants a PB blaster can roll a blaster with PB power sets and the one who wants the PB just as it is with a few tweaks can roll a normal PB. Just include a switch in the PB sets so if you take one you get Sunstorm as a contact and trigger quantum gunners and they’re all PBs of sorts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redlynne Posted March 3, 2020 Share Posted March 3, 2020 4 hours ago, TechbotAlpha said: Build in some mez shielding for the Human form shields. Even something as simple as -1 MAG per Human form shield would go a LONG WAY towards making the bubble shields more attractive for Human form ... even if you have Light Form available and don't "need" the extra Resistance of running the shields due to the 85% hardcap. Of course, being able to keep your Human form shields toggled ON while in Nova and Dwarf forms (and Light Form, obviously) would make for a very large Quality of Life improvement(!) as well as creating "unique looks" for some Kheldians who could form shift and keep their bubbles up on themselves. 1 Verbogeny is one of many pleasurettes afforded a creatific thinkerizer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zepp Posted March 3, 2020 Share Posted March 3, 2020 An area where Peacebringers need a little help is in the solo game. As a team member, they get a lot of benefits that are always team appropriate. That being said, I enjoy playing through some story arcs solo. That means that while I am playing the PB story arc, I am extremely vulnerable to the random quantum gunner, while also being underwhelming in damage. Their inherent is designed for teaming, but that means that they are much more difficult to play solo. They are so much fun to play solo, but they would be more fun if they were better balanced while solo. 1 Archetype Concept Compilation -- Powerset Concept Compilations: Assault Melee -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Great Archetype Concept Battle: Final Round -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Archetype Proposal Amalgamation Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Microcosm Posted March 3, 2020 Share Posted March 3, 2020 16 hours ago, TechbotAlpha said: To be fair, I don't think Shades were ever about ST Damage. He's not at that point on the Rogue servers, but my Nictus on Live was an unstoppable AoE god, and that's when he wasn't even fully IO slotted; run in to groups of x8, spam your AoE buffs, swap to Dwarf for a Mire, then swap back and nuke. 90% of stuff died in one go, and the rest could be buffed up with a turbo charged Nova form. Rinse, repeat. I'm not saying they should be "about" single target damage, but right now they are fighting for worst single target in the game. This is largely because of the things I mentioned with the pets and not receiving the dark melee tweaks that they should have to the dark melee powers in their kit. PBs are now slightly worse than WSs in most normal AoE situations and significantly better in most single target ones. Inspiration maker's guide Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yoru-hime Posted March 3, 2020 Share Posted March 3, 2020 I've got a PB but I find myself feeling far more "Master of None" than "Jack of All Trades" when I log her in. The problem to me is that versatility isn't very useful in CoH. Any group of any set of ATs can clear 90%+ of the content, making the ability to change roles as needed at best an occasional convenience and certainly not worth the price paid for it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Novacat Posted March 3, 2020 Share Posted March 3, 2020 On 3/1/2020 at 11:00 PM, Nayeh said: Nova & Dwarf - Abilities & Slotting: (I'm just theory-crafting here. We all understand the troubles of slotting a Kheldian...) I would suggest removing the Nova and Dwarf specific abilities to simply use the in-line abilities to help ease the troubles of slotting and reducing redundancy. Unfortunately that would take away the unique aspect of having these abilities immediately available unless they were altered and unlocked in later levels. The shape-shifting would then be fancy alternate form buffs with some ability locks attached to them. While at the same time removing the clunkiness of needing to stance-dance to perform cheap tricks like double Warshade Mires. Another issue to consider would be how the Dwarf attacks and taunt would need to be added into the lines. I mean, there is no access to Epic/Patron abilities so I suppose they could just merely be thrown into the lines. Bio Armor may be an example of the way forward then? Where it has adaptation and its 3 toggles, here the Nova and Dwarf forms would be significantly more powerful damage/tanking modes that do lock out *some* powers (or just greatly diminish them) but heavily alter what they're focused on. Maybe if you don't already have the unlocked powers, switching form gives you a temporary basic form of them, using the same mechanics that the new travel powers offer things like Jaunt. Then it'll just need something for soloing (Defenders got that for THEIR inherent eventually). Well, maybe the VEATS too, that training's a pretty tiny and non-playstyle-affecting affair compared to all the modern inherents. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris24601 Posted March 3, 2020 Share Posted March 3, 2020 Another random thought I had; in lieu of mez protection, if human and nova-form had the blaster’s ability to use their low tier attacks while mezzed it might be a reasonable compromise between the the usual all-or-nothing that mez protection grants (i.e. you’re either completely unaffected or fully affected) so that dwarf form still has a purpose (better mitigation, still able to move, more attacks) but lets human and nova still have some punch to them. The main gist of this post though is to suggest that the overall damage and defense scalars be looked at in light of the other ATs. I’m in the “feels like Master of None” camp and if the purpose of the AT is to be a adaptable generalist (i.e. a Jack of All Trades) then I’d suggest that the game already HAS an AT for that. Specifically, a Scrapper with one of the power sets that include 40’ ranged and cone attacks (ex. Claws and Kinetic Melee) and which have an epic pool (considered because PBs specifically don’t get them so their effects need to be baked into PB sets) with fast-recharging ranged attacks and a ranged AoE (ex. Blaze and Mu Mastery) can already do what a PB can do. Such a scrapper has a solid ranged attack chain... ex. Claws w. Mu Mastery can have Focus (40’ range), Shockwave (40’ cone), Mu Bolts (80’ range), Zapp (fast snipe), Electric Shackles (ranged hold+damage) and Ball Lightning (80’ targeted AoE). The same Scrapper can semi-tank with its defenses/mez protection, Confront and by aggro through sheer damage (including its fast recharging Spin PBAoE). And the Scrapper does both of those, plus a melee attack chain, without even needing any shape-shifting mechanics or needing to spread slots across 7 form attacks to enable those options. It also does this even without IOs or set bonuses. That is the baseline that PBs need to be compared with, particularly since they add so much complexity with the forms and slotting while trying to cover the same general areas. That’s also the reason I previously suggested that the best thing for PBs would be to create PB-based sets proliferated across the other ATs so you could build to taste since that‘s probably the only true way everyone could have their PB tailored to taste. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marine X Posted March 4, 2020 Share Posted March 4, 2020 I have a Peacebringer " Crimson Cage ", and think they are fine they way they are. His Bio Reads: " Krym'Sun, was one of the last Kheldians born before the destruction of the Kheldian Homeworld. Severely injured during his escape, his energy matrix was disrupted, preventing him from joining with a Human, at least for now. To save his life, a group of Scientists created " The K.A.G.E. ", "Kheldian Artificial Genetic Enclosure", essentially a Mechanical Body that Mimics a Human Body. Once inside Krym'Sun renamed himself "Crimson Cage". Without a Human Side, and only the Body's A.I. to interact with, he is often very confused and awkward in his relationships with other heros, but has pledged to Protect his new Home, Earth." But to Topic: My only actual complaint would be the inclusion of Quantum Enemies in missions you can't really defend yourself in. I did the Mission:The Lords of Death - Part Three: Deep Cover from Paula Dempsey Well, you are disguised as a Skull Gang Member, with 3 Melee powers and 2 Shotgun powers and no access to your Kheldian Powers. In the middle of the fight with the Skull in the ring, suddenly a Quantum is taking pot shots at me, must not be a very good disguise. Plus I have no powers that I can really respond with, and no Run, no Fly, no....Oh I'm Dead, nice, and he's standing on my head. Heading to the hospital successfully completes the mission, fine, but what was the point of that? Just seemed pointless and I like that mission, just had never done it as a Kheldian. " When it's too tough for everyone else, it's just right for me..." ( Unless it's Raining, or Cold, or Really Dirty or there are Sappers, Man I hate those Guys...) Marine X Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
warlyx Posted March 4, 2020 Share Posted March 4, 2020 changes to KB to KU would be lovely , the AT is starved for slots already and forcing 1 slot for KB sucks more dmg ! , solo buff of some sort buuuuuut.....triform would make PB OP can tank , dps .......guess what? tons of others AT do tons of dmg and can tank with easy. the AT could be tons of fun if properly managed , or can stay the same played by a few ppl that dont even make it to 50 or don play it at all once at 50 we need more AT variety ...is not that PB , Corr , VEATS or any support cant do endgame / leveling content , but a COH full of brutes isnt fun , or a game that 80% of the population is 3 AT while the others are 2% , 5% .... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris24601 Posted March 4, 2020 Share Posted March 4, 2020 1 hour ago, Marine X said: I have a Peacebringer " Crimson Cage ", and think they are fine they way they are. His Bio Reads: " Krym'Sun, was one of the last Kheldians born before the destruction of the Kheldian Homeworld. Severely injured during his escape, his energy matrix was disrupted, preventing him from joining with a Human, at least for now. To save his life, a group of Scientists created " The K.A.G.E. ", "Kheldian Artificial Genetic Enclosure", essentially a Mechanical Body that Mimics a Human Body. Once inside Krym'Sun renamed himself "Crimson Cage". Without a Human Side, and only the Body's A.I. to interact with, he is often very confused and awkward in his relationships with other heros, but has pledged to Protect his new Home, Earth." Not to be pedantic, but I’m pretty sure the native environment for Khelds was actually a home star (as in, they lived ON a star) and not a home world. I also suggest that “went supernova” sounds much cooler than just “destroyed.” Do with that what you will. 😁 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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