Electric Affinity - Some feedback

[azanimefan]

ok, first of all i'm 29 lvls, 8 hours, into this powerset (on an electric troller); and i have some suggestions

 

1) turn Faraday Cage into a toggle - right now this power is basically essential to be up and running for rejuvenating circuit, energizing circuit, insulating circuit and empowering circuit to be worth even taking.  with the pace most tfs run at recasting FC over and over again isn't worth it due to the slow casting animation, making it so a party can already be onto the next fight before you finish casting it again.  Furthermore it's far too small, there is almost no room to maneuver in it,  worse, without this power's extra effects on the other support powers, most of this powerset is junk, underperforming and annoying to use.  so if we can't keep this power up as a toggle then this set loses almost all of it's purpose.

 

2) increase the -end drain of it's own powers.  right now i've pretty much given up sapping foes with an electric troller -till i get to Power Sink in the epic powers.  Sapping is already an underpowered effect in this game, the fact it does almost nothing outside of "shock" to sap end from foes make this set highly questionable.  I'd much go back and reroll an electric/kin or electric/thermal for their end sapping abilities then electric affinity.  you guys dropped the ball on this one.  I think instead of the static mechanic you should just have a PBAOE -end drain effect which powers all 3 of the circuit powers (and sentinel pet), lots of foes around the caster the stronger the healing and end effect is.  

 

3) rework the circuit power effects, these should be PBAOE effects, or some sort of untargetted chain effect ( for example, starting with the character going to the next closest character and chaining from there).  having to target allies in battle while doing other things makes these powers barely usable.  combined with the long cast times and the electrocute effect/bug on energizing circuit and these powers just feel weak (maybe not empowering circuit.  

 

4) i'd like defibrulate to work like the darkness affinity res.  only instead of sucking life it sucks end from surrounding foes.  

 

5) I know the reason for the Galvanic sentinel is mostly to support a solo build, because none of these buff powers self target but all chain.  make the powers able to self target self target, get rid of the worthless pet.  give the power set some other clicky power or a debuff or something; right now there is almost no reason to take EA over any other troller powerset except for character theming, it's terminally awkward to use, slow to case and underpowered in effect.  some sort of toggle targetted debuff, or damage aura, or end drain aura, or beneficial aura, or heck even a pbaoe hold would be so much more useful then that stupid pet.

 

6) the stackable static effect either isn't working or doesn't have a visual clue.  while my other suggestions want you to nuke the effect all together, I am willing to keep it if you make it clear you're getting any advantage form it.  there are no icons, or graphic clues you have any stack of static at all.

 

7) currently hoping the last power on the set (amp up) is worth having.  but just looking at it in mids, it looks like yet another power (like faraday cage) which should be a toggle.  

 

 

I think the whole set needs reworking as it's just not good enough in it's current incarnation to be worth taking over a real set like darkness, kin, rad, time, thermal, sonic, ice, or bubbles.

[Naraka]

38 minutes ago, azanimefan said:

1) turn Faraday Cage into a toggle - right now this power is basically essential to be up and running for rejuvenating circuit, energizing circuit, insulating circuit and empowering circuit to be worth even taking.  with the pace most tfs run at recasting FC over and over again isn't worth it due to the slow casting animation, making it so a party can already be onto the next fight before you finish casting it again.  Furthermore it's far too small, there is almost no room to maneuver in it,  worse, without this power's extra effects on the other support powers, most of this powerset is junk, underperforming and annoying to use.  so if we can't keep this power up as a toggle then this set loses almost all of it's purpose.

Just to comment on some of your criticism but you're free to have your own opinion:

 

I think you're overexaggerating.  If the team is too fast paced to keep up with stacking FC on them, likely they're not going to benefit from it in the first place.  In that case, FC is more for *your* purpose of having mez protection.  Since static stacks can stack so high and lasts for quite a while, it's not necessary to sit inside FC purely for the static.  The circuit powers themselves give you static and they recharge so quickly, you can nearly spam them for extra static.  The set overall is very busy but it's also not necessary to micromanage every power to benefit the team.  The extra business is likely to benefit the support oriented players that actually enjoy using ally support powers often, in which case they likely will not mind moving around their FC.

 

FC is quite small, I'll give you that...but it's also extremely effective in what it does.  It has comprehensive mez protection that covers almost all of your bases to include sleep, KB and repel which a lot of mez protection support powers do not.

 

Thirdly, having it as a toggle may seem convenient to keep teammates covered, but it also requires the user to actually stick around the targets they are using it for.  There is utility in being able to leave it behind and do something else or back off to keep yourself protected or if you get drained (or run yourself out of END) still having it around to keep you protected.

 

48 minutes ago, azanimefan said:

2) increase the -end drain of it's own powers.  right now i've pretty much given up sapping foes with an electric troller -till i get to Power Sink in the epic powers.  Sapping is already an underpowered effect in this game, the fact it does almost nothing outside of "shock" to sap end from foes make this set highly questionable.  I'd much go back and reroll an electric/kin or electric/thermal for their end sapping abilities then electric affinity.  you guys dropped the ball on this one.  I think instead of the static mechanic you should just have a PBAOE -end drain effect which powers all 3 of the circuit powers (and sentinel pet), lots of foes around the caster the stronger the healing and end effect is.  

Are you also using Defibrillate too?  It's a decently potent endurance drain power without needing dead allies to use.

 

I don't deny the draining powers can be rather underwhelming by themselves but it's all about the package and the heal, +absorb, +res and -dmg, it's a nice means of keeping your allies standing while the foes are slowly drained and unable to attack.

 

51 minutes ago, azanimefan said:

3) rework the circuit power effects, these should be PBAOE effects, or some sort of untargetted chain effect ( for example, starting with the character going to the next closest character and chaining from there).  having to target allies in battle while doing other things makes these powers barely usable.  combined with the long cast times and the electrocute effect/bug on energizing circuit and these powers just feel weak (maybe not empowering circuit.  

You're going to get a bit of pushback on this, including myself.  As a Shock Therapy MM, I prefer the circuits as they are more easily targetable to the target that needs them.  That they are targeted and chain is why they sit between single target and PBAoE in terms of potency so turning them into PBAoE means their effects would also have to be nerfed.

 

That all being said, have you tried the set on MM?  I think it's one of the few cases where the set is actually getting a slight leg-up on the other support ATs rather than getting crapped on for having significantly weaker effect.   The effects are still weaker but with the micromanaging nature of the AT, giving them the tools of this set means they will squeeze more effect out of it compared to an AT that has other click powers to worry about.

 

57 minutes ago, azanimefan said:

4) i'd like defibrulate to work like the darkness affinity res.  only instead of sucking life it sucks end from surrounding foes.  

It does that already, and it puts them to sleep.

 

59 minutes ago, azanimefan said:

5) I know the reason for the Galvanic sentinel is mostly to support a solo build, because none of these buff powers self target but all chain.  make the powers able to self target self target, get rid of the worthless pet.  give the power set some other clicky power or a debuff or something; right now there is almost no reason to take EA over any other troller powerset except for character theming, it's terminally awkward to use, slow to case and underpowered in effect.  some sort of toggle targetted debuff, or damage aura, or end drain aura, or beneficial aura, or heck even a pbaoe hold would be so much more useful then that stupid pet.

Them's the breaks.

 

It actually used to not have Galvanic Sentinel and just couldn't use some powers solo at all...but static stacks gave you some healing.  On a Controller, and if you're not Mind Control, you can respec out of the power and just use your controller pet instead.  Targeting the user is not possible, though.

 

I would again, recommend Mastermind.  You start getting big benefit from those circuits right from the start with no extra pet to worry about (they actually get the power that Galvanic Sentinel casts, not the pet itself).

 

1 hour ago, azanimefan said:

6) the stackable static effect either isn't working or doesn't have a visual clue.  while my other suggestions want you to nuke the effect all together, I am willing to keep it if you make it clear you're getting any advantage form it.  there are no icons, or graphic clues you have any stack of static at all.

There is an icon.  Not sure about what your settings are in options but you can set it to show stacks, numbers or not show at all.

 

1 hour ago, azanimefan said:

7) currently hoping the last power on the set (amp up) is worth having.  but just looking at it in mids, it looks like yet another power (like faraday cage) which should be a toggle.  

Well, quite a few are underwhelmed by Amp Up primarily because the +special doesn't affect some things like +def.  It's more of a secondary effects boost like for -END drains, mez effects, etc and has the effect of getting shock procs that KU foes when they attack.

 

Overall, I would suggest keep at the set and write another review after you finish your character (or at least the Shock Therapy portion of it) to get more feedback.  Personally speaking, Shock Therapy is actually quite good compared to most support sets.  I think it outpaces sets like Force Field, Sonic Resonance, Pain Domination, Empathy, and is on par with sets like Cold Domination, Thermal Radiation and Radiation Emission.  It may not outpace sets like Kinetics or Time Manipulation, but few sets do.

[Razor Cure]

2 hours ago, azanimefan said:

slow casting animation

Um..what? It aint slow at all. I have zero trouble using it every mob on a TF.

2 hours ago, azanimefan said:

most of this powerset is junk, underperforming and annoying to use. 

lol. I admit, some can be annoying (I still dont like the ally only heal) but junk and underperforming? Ha!

 

2 hours ago, azanimefan said:

ok, first of all i'm 29 lvls, 8 hours, into this powerset (on an electric troller);

A bigger lol. You dont even have all the powers, or that many slots in them. Be realistic.

 

2 hours ago, azanimefan said:

3) rework the circuit power effects, these should be PBAOE effects, or some sort of untargetted chain effect

This I kinda agree with. The heal NEEDING an ally is utterly stupid, as I have said before. The other buffs..a lil less so.

[plainguy]

The problem with any endurance drain is all NPC mobs need 1 endurance to do any attack. They do not follow the player rules for endurance per attack type. 

 

So 10 endurance for a NPC is A LOT..

 

This is where I feel bad.. 

 

They took the time to create this set and myself think its lacking or could have been done better.. But again I feel bad because of their limited resources for them to do this work for a FREE game for the most part. Just to be poo-pooed on by someone its a heavy blow sometimes.. I would be like MotherF***er, ungrateful such and such.

 

I think its a great start for them but some changes need to be made.

I think picking Electric power set where endurance is of limited importance to an NPC wasn't the best. 

 

Dual Pistols came from Mastermind Thugs. 

You had whips to work with.

 

You have pistols.. 

You can go with a Pistol and a weapon ( sword, mace, axe ) set. 

 

OR

They should just work on what we have.

We have TONS of sets..  Just rework what we have..

 

Create new ways for these sets to be invoked.. 

EG

 

Darkness from a Magic staff or wand.

Energy Blast powers from different anchor points..  EG shoulder blaster. 

Flame Thrower from arm mount.. EG Mandalorian flamethrower.. 

Trick Arrow  to Trick Weapon, same attacks from a gun or rifle or from again different body mount devices.

illusions from a device that you toss.

Secondary attacks come from the same as primary attacks..

Epics come from primary weapons when possible. EG Web Envelope comes from gun or bow not a mace. 

 

Instead of doing the math on trying to figure out to balance a new set AND then try to create some unique graphics for it..

Again how about just give old sets a new wash.. Its all graphics.. That is all your doing..  No balancing to figure out. 

 

 

 

[Zeraphia]

3 hours ago, Naraka said:

Just to comment on some of your criticism but you're free to have your own opinion:

 

I think you're overexaggerating.  If the team is too fast paced to keep up with stacking FC on them, likely they're not going to benefit from it in the first place.  In that case, FC is more for *your* purpose of having mez protection.  Since static stacks can stack so high and lasts for quite a while, it's not necessary to sit inside FC purely for the static.  The circuit powers themselves give you static and they recharge so quickly, you can nearly spam them for extra static.  The set overall is very busy but it's also not necessary to micromanage every power to benefit the team.  The extra business is likely to benefit the support oriented players that actually enjoy using ally support powers often, in which case they likely will not mind moving around their FC.

 

FC is quite small, I'll give you that...but it's also extremely effective in what it does.  It has comprehensive mez protection that covers almost all of your bases to include sleep, KB and repel which a lot of mez protection support powers do not.

 

Thirdly, having it as a toggle may seem convenient to keep teammates covered, but it also requires the user to actually stick around the targets they are using it for.  There is utility in being able to leave it behind and do something else or back off to keep yourself protected or if you get drained (or run yourself out of END) still having it around to keep you protected.

 

Are you also using Defibrillate too?  It's a decently potent endurance drain power without needing dead allies to use.

 

I don't deny the draining powers can be rather underwhelming by themselves but it's all about the package and the heal, +absorb, +res and -dmg, it's a nice means of keeping your allies standing while the foes are slowly drained and unable to attack.

 

You're going to get a bit of pushback on this, including myself.  As a Shock Therapy MM, I prefer the circuits as they are more easily targetable to the target that needs them.  That they are targeted and chain is why they sit between single target and PBAoE in terms of potency so turning them into PBAoE means their effects would also have to be nerfed.

 

That all being said, have you tried the set on MM?  I think it's one of the few cases where the set is actually getting a slight leg-up on the other support ATs rather than getting crapped on for having significantly weaker effect.   The effects are still weaker but with the micromanaging nature of the AT, giving them the tools of this set means they will squeeze more effect out of it compared to an AT that has other click powers to worry about.

 

It does that already, and it puts them to sleep.

 

Them's the breaks.

 

It actually used to not have Galvanic Sentinel and just couldn't use some powers solo at all...but static stacks gave you some healing.  On a Controller, and if you're not Mind Control, you can respec out of the power and just use your controller pet instead.  Targeting the user is not possible, though.

 

I would again, recommend Mastermind.  You start getting big benefit from those circuits right from the start with no extra pet to worry about (they actually get the power that Galvanic Sentinel casts, not the pet itself).

 

There is an icon.  Not sure about what your settings are in options but you can set it to show stacks, numbers or not show at all.

 

Well, quite a few are underwhelmed by Amp Up primarily because the +special doesn't affect some things like +def.  It's more of a secondary effects boost like for -END drains, mez effects, etc and has the effect of getting shock procs that KU foes when they attack.

 

Overall, I would suggest keep at the set and write another review after you finish your character (or at least the Shock Therapy portion of it) to get more feedback.  Personally speaking, Shock Therapy is actually quite good compared to most support sets.  I think it outpaces sets like Force Field, Sonic Resonance, Pain Domination, Empathy, and is on par with sets like Cold Domination, Thermal Radiation and Radiation Emission.  It may not outpace sets like Kinetics or Time Manipulation, but few sets do.

I've said this before on the test realm beta, it should be changed to a toggle to upkeep with the meta, currently, due to a forum compromise, we ended up with the effects of Faraday lingering 5 seconds after leaving the cage. The fact is, in every single type of power like this, it has much greater application/mobility than Faraday unfortunately. I have contended the idea it should have been a toggle to keep up on teams and just to not be so annoying to constantly spam it for its key buffs, something no other set really has to do. There are of course benefits to it, but honestly, I've always been in the camp like the OP that despite its pros, its cons outweigh the pros in practicality. I firmly believe that Faraday should lose in some regard its mez protection/res/whatever to gain this. There is also utility in that you can position yourself better in many situations than feel inclined to cast Faraday over and over again, these are concerns I don't think you're taking into account. The set is extremely busy as is, having yet another click power really hurts the set.

 

I'm actually going to disagree with the OP's notion that Endurance Draining is "underpowered." Actually, I find it to be in some cases, OP... I actually managed to sap Marauder (the iTrial version) in LAMBDA of his endurance completely, and I actually stopped him from being able to use his T9. My Defender is Elec/Sonic and there were no other Elec's on the trial. That is one of many instances, I have regularly made AV's into nothing but punch dummies.

 

I get the principle you're saying with the MM being good, but that's 1 out of 4 other support Archetypes, and definitely not the one with it in its primary. Why this primary works so well on MM but none of the other ATs is a bit of an issue in my eyes. The set should be strongest on Defenders, because that is the primary virtue, and as it stands, it is not. IMO, OP's suggestion to gut the pet and make it like a PBAOE with a self-activations is a much better idea than the way it current works, so it gains a much-needed aoe debuff instead of the pet. The set should not be judged by how it performs on an AT that has a purpose so distinctly different than Defenders.

 

What we get into here is user-friendliness vs. effectiveness. Many times, they overlap. I can see arguments to both sides, but overall, I think that if people are gaining an easier application even if its effects are turned down, it usually tends to be more *really* effective than the former.

 

Comparing Amp Up as a T9 to other T9's, it is underwhelming. Not every T9 is created equal, clearly, but at the same time, this T9 is really lackluster. If this gave the +Special to one specific target, but the damage procs chain to the whole team, that would REALLY make this set stand-out and be interesting without being "overpowered!" The AT's that get the most bang-for-their-buck out of Amp Up are going to usually not be the ones utilizing the damage procs, thus the effect is sort of "wasted."

 

Comparing Elec Affinity to other sets... I don't feel like you're evaluating the other sets fairly at all... "I think it outpaces sets like Force Field, Sonic Resonance, Pain Domination, Empathy," Force Field is comparing apples to oranges IMO, they just work in totally different ways. FF is a weaker set, I will grant you that, but what it does is make you and your teammates near-totally unhittable. It is extremely basic, but super low maintenance for very substantial effect to a team's survivability. Sonic is better than EA IMO, because Sonic's specialty is turning hard targets into melting dummies, the substantial amount of -res this set can pack on a hard target is like no other, definitely not as low in evaluation as others, it also gives more res overall than RA which, in the current state of the game prevention > mitigation. Honestly, -res is so valuable now in terms of teams that it's very hard to justify this set, and then you have Kinetics which just delivers so much more bang-for-buck recovery and damage that it feels totally out-classed. Empathy and Pain Domination, sure, because they're trying to mitigate damage as it happens versus prevent it, also do not give -res, and are not the best at even the buffs they offer. However...

-Cold is LEAGUES ahead of EA. Giving Defense, huge amounts of -res with double Rain, much heftier -regen, Recovery... The set alone can produce -84% res, that's something that EA dreams it could do... I'm sorry but it's just not "on par" with it.

-Rad gives very heavy debuffs as well that would make lots of things in this game much more difficult than without it, sure, Rad doesn't buff in the same way, it just ruins the enemies themselves so horrifically that the buffs aren't even needed. 

-Thermal gives res, -res and defense debuff to give even more -res. This is again, something that EA does not provide and is one of the critical elements toward making a support set very good. Thermal also provides stronger self-heals and is not nearly as click-y. Does not buff to the same degree, but is MUCH more user-friendly.

 

At the end-game the "holy trinity" of support sets most valued are Cold, Nature, Kinetics, and Rad. Other sets are amazing, don't get me wrong, but those are currently in leagues of their own. 

[plainguy]

4 minutes ago, Zeraphia said:

 

I'm actually going to disagree with the OP's notion that Endurance Draining is "underpowered." Actually, I find it to be in some cases, OP... I actually managed to sap Marauder (the iTrial version) in LAMBDA of his endurance completely, and I actually stopped him from being able to use his T9. My Defender is Elec/Sonic and there were no other Elec's on the trial. That is one of many instances, I have regularly made AV's into nothing but punch dummies.

 

I get the principle you're saying with the MM being good, but that's 1 out of 4 other support Archetypes, and definitely not the one with it in its primary. Why this primary works so well on MM but none of the other ATs is a bit of an issue in my eyes. The set should be strongest on Defenders, because that is the primary virtue, and as it stands, it is not. IMO, OP's suggestion to gut the pet and make it like a PBAOE with a self-activations is a much better idea than the way it current works, so it gains a much-needed aoe debuff instead of the pet. The set should not be judged by how it performs on an AT that has a purpose so distinctly different than Defenders.

 

Comparing Amp Up as a T9 to other T9's, it is underwhelming. Not every T9 is created equal, clearly, but at the same time, this T9 is really lackluster. If this gave the +Special to one specific target, but the damage procs chain to the whole team, that would REALLY make this set stand-out and be interesting without being "overpowered!" The AT's that get the most bang-for-their-buck out of Amp Up are going to usually not be the ones utilizing the damage procs, thus the effect is sort of "wasted."

 

Comparing Elec Affinity to other sets... I don't feel like you're evaluating the other sets fairly at all... "I think it outpaces sets like Force Field, Sonic Resonance, Pain Domination, Empathy," Force Field is comparing apples to oranges IMO, they just work in totally different ways. FF is a weaker set, I will grant you that, but what it does is make you and your teammates near-totally unhittable. It is extremely basic, but super low maintenance for very substantial effect to a team's survivability. Sonic is better than EA IMO, because Sonic's specialty is turning hard targets into melting dummies, the substantial amount of -res this set can pack on a hard target is like no other, definitely not as low in evaluation as others, it also gives more res overall than RA which, in the current state of the game prevention > mitigation. Honestly, -res is so valuable now in terms of teams that it's very hard to justify this set, and then you have Kinetics which just delivers so much more bang-for-buck recovery and damage that it feels totally out-classed. Empathy and Pain Domination, sure, because they're trying to mitigate damage as it happens versus prevent it, also do not give -res, and are not the best at even the buffs they offer. However...

-Cold is LEAGUES ahead of EA. Giving Defense, huge amounts of -res with double Rain, much heftier -regen, Recovery... The set alone can produce -84% res, that's something that EA dreams it could do... I'm sorry but it's just not "on par" with it.

-Rad gives very heavy debuffs as well that would make lots of things in this game much more difficult than without it, sure, Rad doesn't buff in the same way, it just ruins the enemies themselves so horrifically that the buffs aren't even needed. 

-Thermal gives res, -res and defense debuff to give even more -res. This is again, something that EA does not provide and is one of the critical elements toward making a support set very good. Thermal also provides stronger self-heals and is not nearly as click-y. Does not buff to the same degree, but is MUCH more user-friendly.

 

At the end-game the "holy trinity" of support sets most valued are Cold, Nature, Kinetics, and Rad. Other sets are amazing, don't get me wrong, but those are currently in leagues of their own. 

 

I get it having Marauder drained is cool. 

But I have been on LAM teams where he was killed ultra dam fast regardless of T9.. 

 

Amp Up does not work on mastermind pets I have been reading on the Mastermind forums.. 

 

NPC mobs only need 1 endurance to use any power.. So 10 endurance is A LOT for an NPC.. They do not follow player character rules for powers.

Draining them seems to be causing many mobs to run in panic. Been reading that has been big in ITF with Rom at the end.. 

I can start to compare this issue similar to people griping about Energy Blast Knockback complaint threads..  This will be the new gripe.. 

 

Nice set.. I am happy they did something to add something new into the game.. But there is SOOO MUCH they could have done with the old sets to make them new that I think would have been much more well received compared to this set.