Focused Feedback: Energy Melee Revamp

[Azera]

I’d like to make a request for Tank version of Energy Focus. (Brutes too, if they're in the same boat)

I understand Tanks do not get critical hits, so we don’t get the chance for the self-heal from a focused Energy Transfer, but it seems like a double downer only getting the one charge of Energy Focus as well.

Therefore, I would like to respectfully request for the development Team to please consider allowing Tanks to bypass the damage penalty of Energy Transfer if the power is Focused at activated, while keeping the limit of a single stack of Energy focus. Since Tanks are supposed to be the meat shields, this would help with health loss for sets that do not have healing powers/mechanics build into the set.

[Tsuko]

18 minutes ago, Azera said:

I’d like to make a request for Tank version of Energy Focus. (Brutes too, if they're in the same boat)

I understand Tanks do not get critical hits, so we don’t get the chance for the self-heal from a focused Energy Transfer, but it seems like a double downer only getting the one charge of Energy Focus as well.

Therefore, I would like to respectfully request for the development Team to please consider allowing Tanks to bypass the damage penalty of Energy Transfer if the power is Focused at activated, while keeping the limit of a single stack of Energy focus. Since Tanks are supposed to be the meat shields, this would help with health loss for sets that do not have healing powers/mechanics build into the set.

Double Nrj focus is the result of native stakers and scrapper powers, Tankers have larger aoe with more targets and Fury apply 100% to all EM powers.

 

Devs already moved the -reg - special to let tanker have 100% acces to this effect.

 

The -hp is the signature effect of Energy transfer : you give your own life to hurt more enemies and dead enemy deal no damage.

 

I strongly suggest to people not liking this type of "ancestral" mechanic to look at attacks set as Dark / Rad and Staff for heal / regen.

 

Ty

Edited November 2, 2020 by Tsuko

[BrandX]

5 hours ago, Azera said:

I’d like to make a request for Tank version of Energy Focus. (Brutes too, if they're in the same boat)

I understand Tanks do not get critical hits, so we don’t get the chance for the self-heal from a focused Energy Transfer, but it seems like a double downer only getting the one charge of Energy Focus as well.

Therefore, I would like to respectfully request for the development Team to please consider allowing Tanks to bypass the damage penalty of Energy Transfer if the power is Focused at activated, while keeping the limit of a single stack of Energy focus. Since Tanks are supposed to be the meat shields, this would help with health loss for sets that do not have healing powers/mechanics build into the set.

 

That would bypass the mechanic all the time.  TF > ET.  Since TF gives EF all the time, whether you hit or miss, people just wouldn't get a loss of life.

 

Not to mention, the "Take no loss of life" is from Scrapper's and Stalker's Criticals, nothing else, and they're not promised a critical (well, Stalker's I believe can be).

 

Brute's will get full Fury ET, while Scrappers and Stalkers only get a 28% Crit Bonus to damage.

 

Tanker's get more health to take the self damage of ET better than Scrappers and Stalkers too.  Do we give them more health, to make up for Tanker's taking the ET life drain better?

 

This aspect is what makes the difference between the ATs with these power sets.  If you really want the chance not to get hit by the ET loss of life, which has been happening this whole time, while Stalkers can already avoid on a critical on live, the best thing to do, would be to roll a Scrapper or Stalker or use a secondary you think is better setup to handle the loss of life.

[Croax]

I have respeced my EM/EA into Mu and lots of recharge (~225%). I also included a snipe and tested Agility Core vs. Musculature. I like the new Version of EM and loved the ET crits. This new build plays very fluent and with the high recharge i could just use TF, ET, AS and Zapp whatever comes up. This is not an optimal attack chain but in ITF it was really cool because almost every click is a dead body. And sometimes i forget that the time i need to switch targets or reposition myself is impacting my attack chain. ET will be up so fast that i could easily play without the gaps which would make me use Bone Smasher on the pylon and previously consume EF. Now it feels really good. It is fluent and high dps. 

 

I also had a funny moment in RWZ that made me laugh for real. I was punching the pylon when the Dropship hit me. Normaly i just shake it off and keep punching. So i just used my dpuble EF stacks on a very quick ET->Zapp->ET combo and found myself at the hospital! I LOVED THAT! That is exactly what i wanted and i remember myself back in the day when i frequently killed my EM/Nin Stalker with ET after getting hit in the middle of a fight. Why stop to heal yourself? HA! 

 

This Version of EM is great! When this hits life servers i will dust off my abacus and start to optimise the attack chain and pylon kill times.

 

Thank you for this HC Team!

[BrandX]

So.  Ran a Radio Mission.  EM/Regen Scrapper.  Never was good at the cones I guess, because it made me wish Power Crash was Targeted AOE 🙂

 

I do feel as if every power is worth taking.  WH for AOE and PC for more AOE if you don't feel WH is enough.  Though, to be honest, I feel with enough recharge for WH, I can do without PC.  I don't AE farm as much as others though, so I may be used to lower amount of AOE.  I do like the animation for PC though.  The animation itself has a power feel, imo.

 

So many good powers in EM now, makes it hard to want to give up something, to fit in the Range attack and Hold attack I like to put into my scrappers.  O.O  Likely give up PC myself, but not an easy give up, which I believe every power in a Primary/Secondary should be!

 

Now I just have to decide Regen, Ninjitsu, or WP, to reroll my main into!  

[Infinitum]

2 hours ago, BrandX said:

Now I just have to decide Regen, Ninjitsu, or WP, to reroll my main into!  

Ninjitsu is really good, EA is one to consider also.

[BrandX]

14 minutes ago, Infinitum said:

Ninjitsu is really good, EA is one to consider also.

I have thought on that one too, but it's in that #4 slot.

[Coyote]

15 hours ago, Naraka said:

And since it is merely an inconsequential secondary effect that fits perfectly good within the set moreso than some of the replacement effects, there really shouldn't be a reason it'd be controversial.

 

Understand one thing about designers and balancing powers: A power is generally balanced around its main purpose. With Power Crash as a damaging power with a secondary effect that is a chance to Stun, it gets balanced as a damage power and does full damage according to the damage formula (plus perhaps balance adjustments for the set).

If you want it to be a 100% Stun, then it will probably get balanced as a Mez power with some damage, and it seems quite likely that its damage would be lowered.

Considering that the set can reliably Stun hard targets, while its AoE is sub-par, it seems that more players would get the benefit of full AoE damage, than of 100% chance to Stun. So, while there would be some players (obviously) who may really want the guaranteed Stuns, my opinion is that more players will appreciate higher AoE damage than higher Stunning ability.

[Gobbledigook]

I do think power crash should be removed and a new power created.

 

I would rename it to Spirit bomb and change the animation.

 

TF-ET will become the Kamehameha!

 

🤩

 

 

 

Edited November 2, 2020 by Gobbledegook

[Golden Azrael]

On 10/24/2020 at 1:33 PM, Jimmy said:

This is a Focused Feedback Thread

• Please note that Focused Feedback threads are heavily moderated to ensure they remain on topic.
  • Any off-topic posts in these threads will be removed without warning.
  • The thread will be locked when no more feedback is required, but you are more than welcome to continue the discussion in a new thread.
• The most up-to-date version of the changes will be listed in the first post.
• The changes in each build will be posted as replies.
  • Changes from the previous beta build are listed in green.
    • Green text will become white text in the next set of patch notes.
  • Any changes or fixes that are only relevant to the beta builds are listed in blue.
    • Blue text will be deleted in the next set of patch notes as it is only relevant to highlight changes between beta builds, not a changes from live.
  • Known issues are listed in purple.

 

---

 

Powerset Revamp: Energy Melee

Energy Melee has received a series of changes aimed at improving the performance of the set. Total Focus now acts as an opener for three different Energy Focus combos, including a Total Focus > Energy Transfer combo which provides fast, potent single target damage. Stun has been reworked into Power Crash, a cone attack, in order to provide a small amount of additional AoE capability to the set.

 

Power Changes

•  Barrage
  • If used with Energy Focus: 100% chance for stun and applies a weakening (-special and -regen) effect to the target
    • This effect has been moved from Bone Smasher to Barrage
•  Energy Punch
  • Recharge increased from 4s to 5s
  • End cost increased from 5.2 to 6.032
  • Damage increased from scale 1 to scale 1.16
•  Bone Smasher
  • Cast time reduced from 1.5s to 1.27s
  • No longer consumes Energy Focus, allowing it to be more freely used in attack chains
    • This effect has been moved to Barrage
•  Power Crash (Replaces Stun)
  • Power Crash is now a minor cone that can hit up to 5 targets (10 for Tankers)
  • No longer takes melee damage sets, now takes PBAoE damage sets (any existing enhancements will remain slotted until the character respecs)
  • If used with Energy Focus: Target cap increased to 10 targets (16 for Tankers)
  • If you previously had Stun in your build, you'll now have Power Crash
  • Stalkers only:
    • This power has a 16s recharge (instead of a 9s recharge for other ATs), with proportional damage and endurance cost increases per the standard damage formulas
      • Lowered recharge from 18s to 16s
    • As Stalkers do not have Whirling Hands, they rely entirely on Power Crash for AoE damage
  • Fixed some timing issues
  • Fixed a typo in the description
•  Whirling Hands
  •  Damage increased from scale 1 to scale 1.1819 (it was slightly below what the damage formula dictated)
•  Total Focus 
  • Cast time reduced from 3.3 seconds to 2.53 seconds
  • Total Focus has a 100% chance to grant Energy Focus (even if power misses)
  •  Energy Focus
    • Energy Focus is consumed when casting certain Energy Melee powers in order to provide bonus effects (Energy Focus is not consumed if the power misses)
    • Energy Focus expires after 15 seconds
  • Stalkers / Scrappers only:
    • This power only crits for 28% additional damage, but when it crits, it will also generate a backup Energy Store that will re-activate Energy Focus after the current Energy Focus is used or expires (essentially it provides two stacks of Energy Focus)
  • Fixed timing issues while flying
  • Fixed an animation issue experienced by female characters while flying
•  Energy Transfer
  • Energy Transfer self damage is now 10% of base max HP for all ATs, and no longer costs any endurance
  • Damage is now 100% energy
  • Recharge lowered from 20s to 10s
  • If used with Energy Focus: Cast time reduced from 2.67s to 1.0s
  • Stalkers / Scrappers only:
    • This power only crits for 28% additional damage, but when it crits, it will not only avoid the self-damage, but will actually heals you for 10% of your base Max HP
      • Now deals crit damage at the same level as Total Focus (28%)
    • Crit rate reduced from 20% down to 10% (the standard level)
  • Fixed various vfx and timing issues with the fast version

Testing continues with the revised changes.

 

So, how is EM on a tank..?

 

Barrage.  Miss.

 

Hm.  I long wondered how Tier 1s could have more relevance.  And giving them a eg. 100% stun was an idea I muted privately.  After all.  It's barrage, right?  And had this change been up 1st before 100% Bone Smasher?  I'd have known no different and probably used it sparingly.  Aside from the 100% stun (off EFocus…) Barrage is a decent Tier 1 which is part of the Tier 1, 2 3 basic attack chain trinity. 

 

Energy Punch.  HIT!

 

The recharge is slightly longer but the much needed dam boost gives this power a meaty feel.  No longer a skippable Tier 2.

 

Bonesmasher.  Miss.

 

This power was great with the revised change post Live.  You get to mash a mob's head in...OR (choice!) 100% stun.  Much better than the 60% stun here.  You give a back breaking meaty punch that can serve as a finisher?  Or?  Stun a boss!  The 100% off the EFocus felt more in context in this power.  You had the 'choice' of balloping a mob or stunning them.  OUTSIDE of that.  As part of the attack chain, it feels good.  Decent damage.  I don't see how it can't be 'more freely' used in attack chains.  YOu didn't 'have to' use it as a stun.  I thought the stun here was great and more in context of what a Bonesmasher would do.  The cast time reduction.  That's nice.  But with the maturing of the EM set over the levels...the 'smoothness' does come.  A dollop of recharge in B/EP/BS always smoothed out the Attack Chain tiers 1-3.

 

Power Crash.  MASSIVE HIT!

 

A great upgrade from the 'old fashioned' single stun.  You can boost your AoE damage.  And further with EF giving you greater mob reach.  Rack and stack with the improved Whirling?  And by the time you've finished mastercasting?  All the mobs are near dead.  Making whether you pick the long or short ET?  Rather mute.  And using this on top of Whirling takes away the soul sucking existence of trying to grind away your life in dev earth or arti - recharge missions on +2 x8.  (Not all of use the *stifles a yawn..., 'Pylon Test.')   This power has definitely elevated the entire set from being a boring chore of a grind?  To 'I want to keeping whirling my power crash....'  (I could be some time....*racks and stacks and racks and stacks and...)  She's a keeper!!!

 

Whirling.  HIT!

 

Ok.  It got a dam boost.  Yay!  It was under performing according to the actual formula.  What where the devs on live thinking?  Use this as a dynamic AoE duo with?  POWER CRASH ofc!!!  Whirling has never been so good.  And now it's augmented with 'Teh' Crash.  YEap!

 

Total Focus.  HIT!  TOTAL HIT!

 

Even if it misses you're getting ENERGY FOCUS.  (More about that real soon...)  It's faster.  And it puts the smack down.  Very decent damage.  Enough to put many mobs down.  *(He's not getting up from that one Clive...)  All of a sudden, there's a spring in my tanker's step.  EM is like a new spring...no longer a boring chore.  I can lay the smack down.  It hurts.  Mobs sleep.  And?  I get this...

 

ENERGY FOCUS!.  MASSIVE TOTAL RECORE REBOOT!  WHAT A HIT BY CAPTAIN POWERHOUSE!  A HULK WORLD BREAKEER HIT!!!

 

Revision 1.  I could:

 

Wind up Total Focus.  BOOM!  Three choices.  Do I..?

 

a. BoneSmasher 100% stun.

b. POWER CRASH a mob with AOE augmented reach.  (Far superior to the power it replaces.)

c. ET MOTHER TRUCKER.

 

Hm.  Let me see.  Clearly, some of the handful of players who still played EM had a problem with Bone Smasher (it's in the name folks...) having a choice of knocking some mob's brains out?  Or 100% knocking their brains out and leaving them stunned.  It's so simple even I get it.  It felt realllllly in place here.   Now?  There is only 'two' choices.  (Well.  Still 3.  The 100% stun has moved to Barrage.  That doesn't quite work as well for me.  IN terms of flow.  Feels a bit more awkward now.  And I don't find myself using the stun choice as often.  Shame.)

 

Quibble aside?  Having MOAR mobs, a truck hit and 100% stun have elevated the entire (dated dinosaur set) with some imagination, quick thinking, choice and a dynamic but simple choice of '3' (even I can count to three...) options.  And in combat that's a reasonable number to make a combat choice.  And the '3' options give you what you'd want in a EM set.  To HIT HARD.  To STUN.  Or augment what was previously lousy AoE.  

 

Some mechanics.  (NOt looking at you, Titan Weapons....) completely get in the way of play with anxiety reaching levels of....slowness.

 

Energy Focus has provided a smooth as butter play experience (bar my quibble about BS loosing the 100% stun choice.  Yeeesh.  Folks.  Cap Powerhouse was giving you this beautiful thing free of charge…)  It's quick and it hurts.

 

I guess those who don't like play mechanics because of...(I dunno…) some reason....will still not.  But this mechanic doesn't get in the way.  BS 100% stun didn't get in the way.  You can choose to boost the powers or not.  They're good non-boosted (with the boosted dam numbers...and lower rech' numbers...) and quicker cast times...and the new AoE option which boosts AoE and boosts Whirling!

 

For those that do?  You're in for a real treat.  This is game play mechanic is gold.  

 

Energy Focus adds a great dollop of excitement to EM which had been old and dull.  And slow.  And BORING!.

 

Energy Transfer.  MASSIVE MOTHER TRUCKING HIT!

 

ET.  Would you like it Mother Trucking SHORT and SWEET?  Or would you like it SLOOOOOOOOW and HARD?

 

Uhm.  Let me see.  'That's gonna hurt in the mornin' son.'

 

Due to AoE boosted by the addictive to use Power Crash stacking with Whirling?  ET being short and sweet is less essential than it used to be.  And?  I say that as a massive fan of it.  No longer is EM a one trick pony set with TF not used due to it's aeroplane timing issues or ET taking ages to show boat.  the love has now been spread around and using ET 'all the time' or building up to it...is no longer as essential.

 

You mean?  Due to the refinements to EPunch, TF and the diverse ENERGY FOCUS mech'?  Not to mentioned the stupifyingly good Power Crash?  You don't have to have THE ONE HOLY WAY ATTACK CHAIN to test on the Pylon and realise just how bad the devs on live made EM for tanks.  You can have many Power Chains.  And that leads me into...

 

Conclusion.

 

It was slow.  No longer king of the hill.  Titan Weapons had come and seen off the old single hitting king.  Well.  That and the live devs.  It was slow, turgid and 2D.

 

I hit this, power...then this...one...then this...then...ET.  And I keep doing 'this thing' over and over again...until nobody plays it anymore.  Because?  IT@S BORING!

 

Even I couldn't stomach getting my L40 EM/Invul to L50.  Why bother?  Life's too short.

 

Single hitting was 'so so.'

AoE was a dull as ditchwater grindy affair.  (ergo.  My 'tests' are play testing around mobs in actual missions.  The ones that used to take ages to evaporate.  I'm not sure if the mobs died because they were bored of EM?  Or because I left Whiring on auto over night....)

And that was it.  You weren't good at either.  And the play was very mono.  Samey.

 

Now?

 

It's quicker.

Smoother.

MoAH damaging.

Grinding is FAR QUICKER!

 

Tier 1-3 is smooth as butter.

 

AoE has more reach.  Because their are now TWO AoEs.  Sure, they might both be somewhat 'so so' on their own?  But try stacking them.   NOW DO IT AGAIN.  (That mob doesn't look so hot any more, eh?)  AoE that you can stack shouldn't be underestimated.

 

And those single hits?

 

BS hits hard.  Decent finisher in its own right.

EF will put some mobs down.

ET?  Boy.  It hits hard.  And you can show boat.  Do you want to hit them with the south paw they never saw coming?  'What the bleep just hit me?'  Or the 'coming down the train track...' Eh.... 'Better get out the way of this...before...' BOOM!  It's great to have CHOICE!!!

 

Despite the disappoint move of 100% stun from BS.  (Don't use the 100% stun choice off EFfoous so much now.  Makes far more sense on a big hitter like BS?  I'd rather it was reverted back.  All '3' of the choices were Energy Focus choices were close to gether to.  Made sense in terms of the progression.)  This is a night and day improvement over the old EM for Tanks set.

 

I don't know who it plays for Stalkers or Scrappers.  But for Tanks?  It's beautiful.  It's big.  It's smooth.  It feels like it was play tested to death before it went public Beta.

 

The EFocus play mechanic is sublime.  Truly transformational.

 

I'm sure some will find out an optimised 1d attack chain for a Pylon.  But in general play?  In mobs?  with annoying MOB!  And in missions?  This set is a complete and utter joy to play.  Auto Snipe was great.  But this is a seminal work which well and truly proves that HC have the dev' chops going forward.

 

And?  This gem of a quote.  'I'm not willing to let go of the old crit just yet.'  CP.  It shows that this EM tank set was well and truly considered not only for tanks...but across the board before being put 'out there.'

 

You've done a great job.  Take a bow.

 

Azrael.

 

PS.  I never mentioned the timing mechanic re: short ET.  I knew the HC devs would spot it and fix it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited November 2, 2020 by Golden Azrael

[DreadShinobi]

@Golden Azrael

 

EM still has a truckload of Stun potential even if you ignore the Stun EF mechanic completely. It didn't have an effect on survivability, especially on BS that had a 60% chance already. Both TF and ET have massive stuns. ET is an especially effective stun due to the 1 second animation. Bosses get stunned easily, as do EBs, and I've been stunning AVs when their PToD drops too, for the full duration of their PToD drop. Barrage literally benefits more from having the stun mechanic there because youre increasing a 10% (?) stun chance to 100% rather than 60% to 100%. It is also a regen debuff. The regen debuff ironically will not give you more effective dps compared to a fast ET. It is also more relevant on the one archetype that has to take Barrage in reference to their role.

[Tsuko]

13 minutes ago, DreadShinobi said:

The regen debuff ironically will not give you more effective dps compared to a fast ET. It is also more relevant on the one archetype that has to take Barrage in reference to their role.

But priceless in team 🙂

[aethereal]

4 minutes ago, Tsuko said:

But priceless in team 🙂

Regen debuffs aren't like resist debuffs, where they magnify based on team size.  If a regen debuff is "worth it" in terms of your own lost DPS solo, it's "worth it" on a team, and conversely if it's "not worth it" solo, it's "not worth it" on a team.

 

(With a possible exception for enemies who get a regen boost per opponent, but as far as I know those are rare as hen's teeth.)

[aethereal]

How does ET's "health cost" interact with to-hit debuffs?  If you miss, do you pay the health cost?  I assume you can't "crit" on a miss and self-heal.

[aethereal]

Sorry for the triple-post.  So I'm starting my first mission with (four-slotted) Energy Transfer available, level 33.  My very initial impressions are that oh my god, my health is so swingy.  As a /invul scrapper, I don't have a ton of healing/regen, so depending on if I crit or not with ET makes a huge difference.

 

Without the superior versions of my ATOs, my crits are somewhat less reliable than they will eventually be (my +50% crit chance proc is in Total Focus, which I think is The Right Move for scrappers), but it feels like they'll never be so reliable as to avoid this -- getting a little unlucky with crit rates for ET seems like it's gonna be big.  Stalkers have more ability to near-guarantee crits, which may be a big deal for them -- I was thinking that the ideal stalker move was AS (hide) > TF > ET (fast), but maybe it's TF > AS (hide) > ET (fast), to near-guarantee a heal in your ST attack chain (at the cost of a second fast ET).

 

(I mean, or maybe invul is just a bad pairing with EM -- I'm increasingly feeling that way.  Energy Aura is obviously to some degree "the canonical" pairing here, and if I had a big regen boost from Energize, I presumably wouldn't be feeling these ET hits as much.)

Edited November 2, 2020 by aethereal

[Tsuko]

24 minutes ago, aethereal said:

Regen debuffs aren't like resist debuffs, where they magnify based on team size.  If a regen debuff is "worth it" in terms of your own lost DPS solo, it's "worth it" on a team, and conversely if it's "not worth it" solo, it's "not worth it" on a team.

 

(With a possible exception for enemies who get a regen boost per opponent, but as far as I know those are rare as hen's teeth.)

I should have been more specific : It's priceless cause it's a T1, for leveling builds : for instance, a rad EM tanker can debuff 250% regen in Posi 1.

[Sovera]

33 minutes ago, Tsuko said:

I should have been more specific : It's priceless cause it's a T1, for leveling builds : for instance, a rad EM tanker can debuff 250% regen in Posi 1.

100% is peanuts though. Bopper can math it out, but -regen is 'better' the longer the fight. 100% is something like shaving a few seconds on a 5 minute fight but fights usually are 30 seconds even against AVs. How many ticks of regen happen in 30 seconds?

 

As others pointed out the small -regen (a stat only useful against large HP enemies) is brute forced past using another attack than Barrage.

 

Even with the addition I know EM won't see me using the T1.

[Super Atom]

10 minutes ago, Sovera said:

100% is peanuts though. Bopper can math it out, but -regen is 'better' the longer the fight. 100% is something like shaving a few seconds on a 5 minute fight but fights usually are 30 seconds even against AVs. How many ticks of regen happen in 30 seconds?

Yeah but this is where we enter the sad reality of power creep in CoH where controls, heals, and subpar damage sets are all largely pointless if you have people on team who can one shot mobs. It's a nice utility for people who aren't min/max pylon sweaters and its also in a spot where it can't hurt people who are.

[Coyote]

1 hour ago, Sovera said:

100% is peanuts though. Bopper can math it out, but -regen is 'better' the longer the fight. 100% is something like shaving a few seconds on a 5 minute fight but fights usually are 30 seconds even against AVs. How many ticks of regen happen in 30 seconds?

 

That's not the most accurate way to look at -Regen. Assuming that -Regen lasts for its entire duration (which will be the case for most applications of Barrage since I think its duration isn't that long), it's a simple equation of RegenRate * Debuff * Duration = Equivalent Damage. Just like DoT, you would lose the back end of it if the target dies before it all "ticks off", and it has longer duration than most DoTs, but it's still just like DoTs on an AV, though not subject to Damage Resistance.

For example, a 100% debuff for 10 seconds on a level 50 AV (I'm going to round the AV's Regen to 100 HP/Sec, though it's about 95 or so) is:
100%*0.15 (due to AV's -Regen resistance) * 10 seconds * 100 HP/s = 150 HP damage.

That's 150 HP of DoT for the attack, just like if it got a 150 HP DoT of an unresistable damage type over 10 seconds that only affects AVs. I also don't worry about level scaling, because you lose damage and debuff effectiveness at the same rate. I'm not on the server to check numbers not, but if you plug in the debuff and duration for Barrage's debuff, it's easy to calculate how much extra damage it does to an AV if you spend Energy Focus on it, and see if it's worth more in an attack cycle than speeding up Energy Transfer and then using the time to fire off a Bonesmasher with the saved animation time, instead.

[Wavicle]

I don't recall who brought it up, but it was important to improve EM's AoE NOT just by buffing Whirling Hands because Stalker's don't get WH.

[Tsuko]

6 hours ago, Sovera said:

100% is peanuts though. Bopper can math it out, but -regen is 'better' the longer the fight. 100% is something like shaving a few seconds on a 5 minute fight but fights usually are 30 seconds even against AVs. How many ticks of regen happen in 30 seconds?

 

As others pointed out the small -regen (a stat only useful against large HP enemies) is brute forced past using another attack than Barrage.

 

Even with the addition I know EM won't see me using the T1.

100% ok for endgame build 🙂

 

But for a leveling tanker rad em "traped" in a posi or a synapse in PUG with no effective support, the 250% will allow the team to kill the Final boss

Edited November 3, 2020 by Tsuko

[Gobbledigook]

EM with Bio for example could add some nice Regen debuff. 

Edited November 2, 2020 by Gobbledegook

[Sovera]

1 minute ago, Tsuko said:

100% ok for endgame build 🙂

 

But for a leveling tanker rad em "traped" in a posi or a synapse in PUG with no effective support, the 250% will allow the team to kill the Final boss

No. Full respect for you, Tsuko, but no. Those bosses have been killed without a problem dozens of times without support or 250% -regen. This is the same trap that the -regen Incarnate Interface creates where people have their gut feeling that it is helping and that it matters.

 

I have zero beef with this though, it was just a passing comment.

 

 

There is no particular anything that I see of interest added to Barrage (or EP) so it does not really matter either way to me. I'm still a partisan of having the Focus based stun chance added to Whirling Hands to help lowbies survive (even if it only stuns lieuts for a few seconds, in fact a less useful version of Dragon Tail's KD where the mobs getting back up is a few seconds of respite gained).

[Bopper]

4 hours ago, Golden Azrael said:

Bonesmasher.  Miss.

 

This power was great with the revised change post Live.  You get to mash a mob's head in...OR (choice!) 100% stun

For what its worth, I agree with your stance. Ill live with the choice either way (Barrage or Bone Smasher), but I preferred it in BS because I was already going to take BS, why wouldn't I? I was already going to use BS, why wouldn't I? So I loved having the option to buff up a power when the time came for it. Sure, I will use EF on a fast ET 95% of the time. But there absolutely would be times where I would consider sprinkling in BS+EF for that guaranteed stun and/or regeneration debuff.

 

And I get it...BS as a spender interrupts the optimal attack chain for those that get a 2nd EF from a crit. But I think that should be the price to pay if you're looking to maximize the 2nd EF for a power you already spent EF on. Honestly, it's not that much of downgrade for someone to use TF(crit) > ET > EP > Zapp > ET, as opposed to TF(crit) > ET > EP > BS > ET. It is much more of a downgrade in having to take a power I dont want (Barrage), having to slot up a power that is weak (Barrage), and to use a power that is weak (Barrage) just to cover the 5% moments when I would want to use its EF spender effect.

 

Honestly, I think Build 1 was a preferred version. Moving the Spender to Barrage feels like everything I used to hate about the old Tanker inherent, where you feel compelled to invest in and use a power that you don't want to. The debuff is too good to say no, but it comes at the cost of your build.

 

Anyways, that's my opinion. Oh, but I do like the Power Crash change for Stalkers in Build 2. The 18s version was too overpowered for an AT and powerset that are both meant to be weak in AoE. That baby was possibly the 3rd strongest AoE power in the game for Stalkers. 

[Monos King]

2 minutes ago, Bopper said:

Honestly, it's not that much of downgrade for someone to use TF(crit) > ET > EP > Zapp > ET, as opposed to TF(crit) > ET > EP > BS > ET.

Seconded, preferred the first build more but I'll survive the change if it's sticking. EM is gonna be great either way.