Focused Feedback: Trick Arrow Revamp

[Luminara]

2 hours ago, Wavicle said:

On another subject, on my Corruptor the info window for Entangling Arrow contains an error:

You entangle a targeted foe causing their reflexes to become slowed and sluggish. This groudns them and causes them to have decreased movement speed and damage resistance. Weaker foes will also be immobilized. Recharge: Fast

 

Entangling should be the same for all archetypes, since it doesn't use any pseudo-pets, so the spelling error should be showing on all of them.  There was an earlier report of it up-thread.

 

Flash Arrow, Ice Arrow and Acid Arrow should all also be powers without pseudo-pets, so errors or bugs in those will show up on all archetypes as well.  The rest of the powers are where unusual bugs might pop up, since some of them have different pseudo-pets for different archetypes.

 

Before anyone asks, or starts shouting, creating archetype-specific versions of powers with pseudo-pets was necessary at the time, because they didn't obey archetype scales or modifiers.  This allowed the relevant powers to be scaled to the appropriate values when used by anyone other than defenders.

 

At any rate, test the pseudo-pet powers, for anyone still interested in testing.  Note everything and, where possible, compare across archetypes.  Whatever anomalies are likely to pop up will probably be in Glue, PGA, Disruption, OSA or EMP.

 

2 hours ago, Wavicle said:

Just discovered what looks like an effects display bug.

I'm doing Save Matthew Habashy and Atlas from Arachnos! and sometimes the "stars in their eyes" effect from Flash Arrow will disappear (though the Tohit Down part remains). Might be unique to Arachnos base maps...

 

I think that one's been around forever.  Could be because Flash Arrow was a version of Smoke/Smoke Grenade, which had already been through a few changes before it was adapted for TA.  Could have something to do with the Illusion Control sparkly eye graphic, which was where that came from.  Could just be the engine, it's always had spastic moments.

[Jimmy]

Build 3 - November 7th, 2020

 

Powerset Revamp: Trick Arrow

Trick Arrow has suffered with performance issues for a long time, primarily due to the strength of the debuffs against higher level enemies, but also due to redundancy between powers in the set. We've made a comprehensive suite of improvements, impacting almost every power in the set.

 

Power Changes (Numbers provided are Defender values)

•  Entangling Arrow
  • Immobilize duration reduced from scale 15 to scale 7
  • No longer has a -Recharge debuff
  • Now applies a 30s -Res debuff
    • 15s in PvP
•  Flash Arrow
  • Can now be slotted with Range enhancements
  • -ToHit increased from -6.25% to -18.76%
    • Half this debuff is now irresistible
    • This was previously erroneously listed as an increase to -15%, but it is in fact -18.76%
•  Glue Arrow
  • -Recharge debuff increased from -20% to -40%
  • Debuff duration increased from 30s to 60s
  • Fixed this power not being location based
•  Ice Arrow
  • Increased the -Recharge debuff from -12.% to 25%
  • Now applies a 60s -Special and -Damage debuff
    • 10s in PvP
•  Poison Gas Arrow
  • -Damage debuff now lasts 60 seconds
    • Debuff now only lasts for 3s after you leave the cloud in PvP
  • -Damage debuff increased from -31.25% to -50%
    • Half this debuff is now irresistible
•  Acid Arrow
  • Debuff radius increased from 8ft to 15ft (damage still has an 8ft radius)
  • -Res debuff moved to Disruption Arrow
    • This power still has a -25% defence debuff
  • Now applies a heal resistance debuff (heals on the target will be less effective)
    • Halved in PvP
  • Now applies a -special resistance debuff (Endurance, ToHit, Regen, Recovery, Recharge Time, and Endurance Discount debuffs against the target will be stronger)
    • Reduced to -20% in PvP
  • Debuff duration increased from 20s to 45s
    • 20s in PvP
  • This power has a new icon
•  Disruption Arrow
  • Target cap increased from 10 to 16
  • Now applies a -MaxEnd debuff and takes Endurance Modification enhancements and sets
  • -Res debuff doubled (moved from Acid Arrow)
  • Only one Disruption Arrow can be maintained at once
  • Recharge decreased from 60s to 30s
  • Duration increased from 30s to 45s
•  Oil Slick Arrow
  • Can now be slotted with Range enhancements
•  EMP Arrow
  • Can now be slotted with Range enhancements
  • No longer applies -recovery to the caster
  • Half of the -regen debuff now lasts 45 seconds (previously the entire -regen debuff dropped off after 15 seconds, now only half of it does)
  • Hold duration for non-robots reduced by roughly 50%
  • This power is now location based
  • This power now spawns an EMP Field at the target location that acts similarly to Electrical Affinity's Faraday Cage and provides:
    • 15% damage resistance to all but Toxic (not enhanceable)
    • Resistance against End Drain and Recovery Debuffs
    • Protection against status effects and knock back
    • Fixed this buff not actually working

[KaizenSoze]

Now, I can see the status and resistance buffs on my defender from EMP arrow.

[Hew]

 

28 minutes ago, KaizenSoze said:

Now, I can see the status and resistance buffs on my defender from EMP arrow.

This may end up being my favorite/second favorite fender pool ever! Kinda tied with elec affin!

[Wavicle]

So now EMP does in fact effect the caster. @Luminara, you seemed to feel this would be OP, but I'm quite happy with it as you can imagine.

 

It is location based, not a click buff, which seems fair.

It's at the placement of the arrow, which makes sense.


Still a missing word or two in the description, but other than that things look pretty good.

It DOES seem like a lot of Location powers ESPECIALLY if you pair it with Archery and have Rain of Arrows in addition. That's FIVE. But it is now an extremely potent set.

EDIT: Paired with Earth Control it's SEVEN location based powers. lol

 

Edited November 8, 2020 by Wavicle

[Wavicle]

Would it be too much to ask that the buff also lingers for 5 seconds after leaving the field, like with Faraday Cage?

[Luminara]

7 hours ago, Wavicle said:

So now EMP does in fact effect the caster. @Luminara, you seemed to feel this would be OP

 

50% -Dam to everything in PGA, Glue all but guaranteeing that they'll stay in PGA, 70% -Dam on 1-4 harder targets if using Ice Arrow (more aggressive slotting and use of Ice Arrow can bring this up to 10) , and now you can stack 15% Res to the small amount of damage those targets can deal, plus have status protection.

 

Even scaled down to controller and corruptor values, it's veering into tank territory with mitigation that intense.  For masterminds, allowing them to hit that level of mitigation is sensible, given their base hit points and ability to tank for their pets, or simply allowing their pets to do their jobs, but for the other three archetypes, it's a bit much.

 

Oh, well.  I'll use it on a petless mastermind and make the engine cry some more.

[Hew]

4 hours ago, Luminara said:

 

50% -Dam to everything in PGA, Glue all but guaranteeing that they'll stay in PGA, 70% -Dam on 1-4 harder targets if using Ice Arrow (more aggressive slotting and use of Ice Arrow can bring this up to 10) , and now you can stack 15% Res to the small amount of damage those targets can deal, plus have status protection.

 

Even scaled down to controller and corruptor values, it's veering into tank territory with mitigation that intense.  For masterminds, allowing them to hit that level of mitigation is sensible, given their base hit points and ability to tank for their pets, or simply allowing their pets to do their jobs, but for the other three archetypes, it's a bit much.

 

Oh, well.  I'll use it on a petless mastermind and make the engine cry some more.

While you pittifuly plink away with less damage and less agro control than a tank. Hard targets dont freeze. Even cons? Sure. But my experience has been that there is not enough mag to shut bosses down, which will DEFINITELY hack away at my fender.

 

This is no different than other sets. Support sets are multipliers. By itself, you really aren't scoring many points at all. On straight SOs, I never found this to be overpowered at all, let alone to the point where you start hacking away at a set that just got buffed because generally speaking, it sucked.

 

edit: Let me put it another way. Far too many support sets have powers which in no way support the player using them. This is a VERY fresh breath into the set. EMP is pretty much a capstone power. It should suck you say?

(points to stone melees aoe)

 

Edited November 8, 2020 by Hew

[Luminara]

12 minutes ago, Hew said:

While you pittifuly plink away with less damage

 

Disruption Arrow, Entangling Arrow, procs.

 

12 minutes ago, Hew said:

and less agro control than a tank.

 

Provoke and debuffs are enough to pull aggro off of a good tank.  A good tank using Taunt.  And aggro can be viewed as binary, in that you either have it or you don't.

 

13 minutes ago, Hew said:

Hard targets dont freeze.

 

Stack your Holds.  Ice + Ice.  Ice + EMP.  Ice or EMP plus Hold procs in other powers.  Bosses only have mag 4 protection from status effects.

 

14 minutes ago, Hew said:

EMP is pretty much a capstone power. It should suck you say?

 

That's neither what I said nor what I implied.

[Hew]

I have a concern that peoples reliance on procs for damage will eventually bear sour fruit. While nice now, I certainly wouldn't plan long term around using procs as my primary means of boosting damage in powers and/or general dps, as suggested above (disruption, entangling) and more broadly elsewhere.

[Coyote]

8 hours ago, Luminara said:

Even scaled down to controller and corruptor values, it's veering into tank territory with mitigation that intense.

 

Is it? It's still lacking dependable status protection (now you can have it in the fight with EMP Arrow, but that's not up all the time unless you're clearing very slowly), and it's lacking healing or regeneration buffs. Most Tanker sets that are Resist based (or all, I think) have a +Regen or Heal power so that the damage that DOES go through can be healed up. A TA Defender may limit incoming damage nicely, but doesn't regenerate/heal it nearly as well. I like the new values on TA, and it looks pretty strong, but I think it's pretty far away from the damage mitigation of a Resist-based armor set.

 

That's especially true at +3 where the debuffs are down to about 70%, and it's also limited to mobs in the debuff area, which will not always be the case if there are adds, mobs at the edges who back out of the debuff, or ambushes. Considering that it has many more points of failure than, say, a Scrapper's resist-based armor set, forget even a Tank's, I wouldn't worry that it's "too tanky".

 

Edit: and it requires a lot of power activations to get all that tanky-wanky strength. Armors sets are toggle-up and go, with occasional heals. Not regular use of debuff powers to maintain the damage mitigation. I think that it deserves being strong when you can manage to put all of pieces in place, considering all the failure points and the organization of the animation limitation (sorry, couldn't resist :p)

Edited November 8, 2020 by Coyote

[Luminara]

21 minutes ago, Coyote said:

That's especially true at +3 where the debuffs are down to about 70%, and it's also limited to mobs in the debuff area, which will not always be the case if there are adds, mobs at the edges who back out of the debuff, or ambushes. Considering that it has many more points of failure than, say, a Scrapper's resist-based armor set, forget even a Tank's, I wouldn't worry that it's "too tanky"

 

Fair points.  The bar has moved significantly upward from 3 +0 minions (even before shutdown), and TA was always intended to be used on large spawns, not single-targets.  The 15% Res isn't going to make that much difference with multiple +X enemies, nor will a few points of status protection when facing packs of mezzers (you'll still run into 3 or more mezzers in a single spawn if you jack up the team size setting).  The set will find its own balance in play.

[Luminara]

1 hour ago, Hew said:

I have a concern that peoples reliance on procs for damage will eventually bear sour fruit. While nice now, I certainly wouldn't plan long term around using procs as my primary means of boosting damage in powers and/or general dps, as suggested above (disruption, entangling) and more broadly elsewhere.

 

The only changes to procs being worked on, discussed or considered (to the best of my knowledge and ability to find, here or on the closed beta forum) are a bug fix and a re-examination of the PPM formula with the intention of smoothing out proc performance inconsistencies between types of attacks and not work counter-intuitively with Recharge Reduction enhancements.  There's no sweeping nerf on the way.  There are no drastic changes to proc mechanics or behavior planned.  There's nothing to be concerned about.

 

Use procs.  Or don't.  But don't base your decision on the expectation that they'll be snatched away the moment you reach for them.  That's not going to happen.

[WindDemon21]

28 minutes ago, Luminara said:

a re-examination of the PPM formula with the intention of smoothing out proc performance inconsistencies between types of attacks and not work counter-intuitively with Recharge Reduction enhancements.

Which any change to the PPM formula would result in procs being less guaranteed and effective when used with higher recharging powers. I really hope they just leave them as is. I don't feel like any procs are overpowering, especially not due to the slot/opportunity cost, and as you pointed out, less effectiveness with higher rech slotting which you take a hit for that as well.

[zenblack]

I would be happy if they made it so that I could even consider Agility or Spiritual Alpha again, but I hope it doesn't severely impact how the current system works.

[oedipus_tex]

The change to EMP Arrow has catapulted this set into one of the most interesting and fun powersets in the game. Truly great work.

 

The Faraday Cage summoned by EMP Arrow is interesting because it technically gives perma-mezz protection. But in actual practice, it creates a much more interesting situation where to take advantage of it, you need to have certain strategies. The fact that this power also is a Hold and your source of -Regen adds to the chess game. EMP Arrow was one of those powers that was always going to be tricky to balance, but I think you nailed it in a very interesting way.

 

What I like best is how the set now "feels." Before the feel was "use some debuffs that happen to look like arrows." Now it's "deploy arrows that do a variety of interesting things." Even small changes like "able to fire Glue Arrow around corners" have really turned around how this set plays.

Edited November 8, 2020 by oedipus_tex

[oedipus_tex]

2 hours ago, Coyote said:

 

Is it? It's still lacking dependable status protection (now you can have it in the fight with EMP Arrow, but that's not up all the time unless you're clearing very slowly), and it's lacking healing or regeneration buffs. Most Tanker sets that are Resist based (or all, I think) have a +Regen or Heal power so that the damage that DOES go through can be healed up. A TA Defender may limit incoming damage nicely, but doesn't regenerate/heal it nearly as well. I like the new values on TA, and it looks pretty strong, but I think it's pretty far away from the damage mitigation of a Resist-based armor set.

 

That's especially true at +3 where the debuffs are down to about 70%, and it's also limited to mobs in the debuff area, which will not always be the case if there are adds, mobs at the edges who back out of the debuff, or ambushes. Considering that it has many more points of failure than, say, a Scrapper's resist-based armor set, forget even a Tank's, I wouldn't worry that it's "too tanky".

 

Edit: and it requires a lot of power activations to get all that tanky-wanky strength. Armors sets are toggle-up and go, with occasional heals. Not regular use of debuff powers to maintain the damage mitigation. I think that it deserves being strong when you can manage to put all of pieces in place, considering all the failure points and the organization of the animation limitation (sorry, couldn't resist :p)

 

 

I got a chance to play it on some teams on the test server. I'd say you're correct. It's far from Tanker territory because so many of the powers are clicks, versus the Tanker who just jumps in. Even most buff/debuff sets have at least a few buffs that can be cast out of combat. Enemies who die wipe the Flash Arrow debuffs away and you have to reapply it to any adds. Ambushes can complicate things further.

 

TA can sort of use Flash Arrow like an out of combat buff, and EMP Arrow can be set up ahead of time for a pull, but on a team I found trying to keep all the arrows up very challenging. The set is very fun and very different than anything else out there. In a way, it reminds me of a sort of Ranged Kinetics in playstyle, but with the addition of some interesting "sneak" mechanics for soloists like the ability to cast so many arrows from behind obstacles, like a true trick archer. 

 

The lack of heal or end redux/recovery is quite a price to pay and also keeps this set from being a Tank Mage.

Edited November 8, 2020 by oedipus_tex

[Hew]

1 hour ago, oedipus_tex said:

but on a team I found trying to keep all the arrows up very challenging.

 

The set is very fun and very different than anything else out there. I

Yes to both of these. I have so many fiddly arrows to shoot that I generally do nothing else. I have to sort my options out in some sort of way that makes sense, because layering arrow after arrow after arrow for debuff in general play is a general waste of time. By the time you have dropped your third arrow (ignore flash arrow; i have  a habit of pushing the front lines), everything is D E D.

 

I think accordingly, I will have to pick and choose which have what maximum effect in combination to limit how many times im plucking the debuf strings.

[Haijinx]

nice 

 

This set needed a buff. 

[ForeverLaxx]

4 hours ago, Hew said:

I think accordingly, I will have to pick and choose which have what maximum effect

This is the real "trick" about Trick Arrow. You have a lot of tools, and not all of them are needed all the time. It's just too busy if you're trying to throw down multiple patches, light the Oil, *and* get some regular blasts in there. When I played mine on Live, I just cycled what I used so that certain effects were present in every spawn (but they were coming from different powers). Glue + PGA for one group, Oil + Ignite for the next, Acid only on tough foes, etc. Just have to find that rhythm.

[Jacke]

I find the changes to Trick Arrow mostly welcome.

 

I've planned in Mids Reborn a Trick Arrow/Archery Defender as I had back in 2012, as well as a Ninjas/Trick Arrow Mastermind.  Unlike virtually all of my other builds, I do plan at least at first pass to take all the 9 Trick Arrow powers, as difficult as that can be with City of Hero's tight builds.  At least I plan to skip 3 powers from Archery, but for Ninjas I plan to take 8, so the Mastermind build is uncommonly low for me in Pool and Epic powers with just 7.  I think I can make that work for a Mastermind, but I'll have to play it to be sure.

 

The weakest and most situational power is the new Acid Arrow.  The damage is low, even with procs added in, The -Def is large but rarely needed in PvE.  -Heal is usually not as good as just terminating the source of healing.  The -Specials amplify other debuffs, with Trick Arrow toon usually only seeing Flash Arrow and Glue Arrow benefiting.  I'm not sure what it effectively does will be worth a power pick and extra slots, especially considering fighting higher conning enemies with the Purple Patch reducing all debuffs.  Reading the reports here seem to confirm my thoughts.  The Defender won't take Acid Arrow until 49 as I consider other powers to be more important to have sooner.

 

Beyond that, I'll have to play the toons to get a better feel for things.

[Wavicle]

I have to echo what others are saying about Acid Arrow. It’s the only power that doesn’t feel impactful when you use it.

 

I like the idea. Build Up for debuffs. Just needs to be a little more noticeable somehow.

Edited November 11, 2020 by Wavicle

[KaizenSoze]

15 hours ago, Jacke said:

The weakest and most situational power is the new Acid Arrow.  The damage is low, even with procs added in, The -Def is large but rarely needed in PvE.  -Heal is usually not as good as just terminating the source of healing.  The -Specials amplify other debuffs, with Trick Arrow toon usually only seeing Flash Arrow and Glue Arrow benefiting.  I'm not sure what it effectively does will be worth a power pick and extra slots, especially considering fighting higher conning enemies with the Purple Patch reducing all debuffs.  Reading the reports here seem to confirm my thoughts.  The Defender won't take Acid Arrow until 49 as I consider other powers to be more important to have sooner.

For proc heavy builds, the -def from AA is needed. I can tell once it wears off in 4x8 missions, because I start missing a lot, even with tactics.

 

AA allows me to load up on procs like crazy. Since, AA has a long recharge the procs have a high trigger percentage.

 

Please, don't change the -def.

 

Example build I have been running on beta, TA/DP Defender:

Spoiler

Hero Plan by Mids' Reborn : Hero Designer 2.6.1.25
https://github.com/Crytilis/mids-reborn-hero-designer

Click this DataLink to open the build!

SpecOps Pixie: Level 50 Natural Defender
Primary Power Set: Trick Arrow
Secondary Power Set: Dual Pistols
Power Pool: Speed
Power Pool: Concealment
Power Pool: Leadership
Power Pool: Fighting
Ancillary Pool: Mace Mastery

Hero Profile:
Level 1: Flash Arrow -- CldSns-ToHitDeb(A), CldSns-Acc/ToHitDeb(42), CldSns-ToHitDeb/EndRdx/Rchg(43), CldSns-Acc/Rchg(43)
Level 1: Pistols -- SprVglAss-Acc/Dmg(A), SprVglAss-Dmg/Rchg(7), SprVglAss-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(9), Thn-Acc/Dmg(9), Thn-Dmg/EndRdx(11), Thn-Dmg/Rchg(11)
Level 2: Dual Wield -- SprVglAss-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(A), SprVglAss-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(3), SprVglAss-Rchg/+Absorb(3), Thn-Dmg/EndRdx(5), Thn-Acc/Dmg(5), Thn-Dmg/Rchg(7)
Level 4: Glue Arrow -- RechRdx-I(A)
Level 6: Entangling Arrow -- Acc-I(A)
Level 8: Poison Gas Arrow -- Acc-I(A)
Level 10: Swap Ammo
Level 12: Ice Arrow -- GhsWdwEmb-Dam%(A), UnbCns-Dam%(13), GldNet-Dam%(13), NrnSht-Dam%(15), SprEnt-Rchg/AbsorbProc(15), ImpSwf-Dam%(23)
Level 14: Acid Arrow -- PstBls-Dam%(A), Ann-ResDeb%(23), Bmbdmt-+FireDmg(25), AchHee-ResDeb%(25), TchofLadG-%Dam(34), ShlBrk-%Dam(34)
Level 16: Bullet Rain -- PstBls-Dam%(A), Bmbdmt-+FireDmg(17), Bmbdmt-Dam(17), Ann-ResDeb%(19), ImpSwf-Dam%(19), ExpStr-Dam%(21)
Level 18: Disruption Arrow -- RechRdx-I(A)
Level 20: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(21)
Level 22: Stealth -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A), LucoftheG-Def/EndRdx(46)
Level 24: Maneuvers -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A), LucoftheG-Def(45), LucoftheG-Def/EndRdx(46)
Level 26: Oil Slick Arrow -- SprDfnBst-Acc/Dmg(A), SprDfnBst-Dmg/Rchg(27), SprDfnBst-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(27), SprDfnBst-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(33), SprDfnBst-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(33), SprDfnBst-Rchg/Heal%(33)
Level 28: Executioner's Shot -- ImpSwf-Dam%(A), AchHee-ResDeb%(29), TchofLadG-%Dam(29), ShlBrk-%Dam(31), ExpStr-Dam%(31), Thn-Acc/Dmg(31)
Level 30: Tactics -- GssSynFr--Build%(A), GssSynFr--ToHit/EndRdx(45)
Level 32: EMP Arrow -- Lck-%Hold(A), Lck-Acc/Hold(48), Lck-Acc/Rchg(50), Lck-Rchg/Hold(50)
Level 35: Piercing Rounds -- PstBls-Dam%(A), Ann-ResDeb%(36), Bmbdmt-+FireDmg(36), ImpSwf-Dam%(36), PstBls-Dmg/Rng(37), Bmbdmt-Dam(37)
Level 38: Hail of Bullets -- FuroftheG-ResDeb%(A), Arm-Dam%(39), Erd-%Dam(39), ScrDrv-Dam%(39), ExpStr-Dam%(40), ImpSwf-Dam%(40)
Level 41: Scorpion Shield -- ShlWal-ResDam/Re TP(A), Rct-ResDam%(43), Rct-Def(45), Rct-Def/EndRdx(46)
Level 44: Boxing -- Acc-I(A)
Level 47: Tough -- GldArm-3defTpProc(A), StdPrt-ResDam/Def+(48), StdPrt-ResKB(50)
Level 49: Super Speed -- WntGif-ResSlow(A)
Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Quick Form
Level 1: Prestige Power Dash -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Prestige Power Slide -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Prestige Power Quick -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Prestige Power Rush -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Prestige Power Surge -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Clr-Stlth(A)
Level 1: Vigilance
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 4: Ninja Run
Level 2: Swift -- Run-I(A)
Level 2: Health -- Pnc-Heal/+End(A), Prv-Absorb%(34), NmnCnv-Regen/Rcvry+(37), Mrc-Rcvry+(40)
Level 2: Hurdle -- Jump-I(A)
Level 2: Stamina -- SynSck-EndMod/+RunSpeed(A), SynSck-EndMod(42), PrfShf-End%(42), PrfShf-EndMod(48)
Level 10: Chemical Ammunition
Level 10: Cryo Ammunition
Level 10: Incendiary Ammunition
------------

 

 

 

[csr]

The thing that bothers me the most with the new Acid Arrow is that it went from a "take ASAP, use often" power to a highly skippable infrequent use power.  My use of it (even with an AH proc in it) has dropped so dramatically that it almost feels like a Cottage Rule violation.  The larger Radius is certainly nice, but it's irrelevant if you never use it.  And with the -Def and -Special being so seldom needed or useful (respectively), that's most fights.  Is it really worth the time to cast it to increase Flash Arrow's -ToHit by about 3-6% (depending on AT and opponent level)?

[KaizenSoze]

41 minutes ago, csr said:

The thing that bothers me the most with the new Acid Arrow is that it went from a "take ASAP, use often" power to a highly skippable infrequent use power.  My use of it (even with an AH proc in it) has dropped so dramatically that it almost feels like a Cottage Rule violation.  The larger Radius is certainly nice, but it's irrelevant if you never use it.  And with the -Def and -Special being so seldom needed or useful (respectively), that's most fights.  Is it really worth the time to cast it to increase Flash Arrow's -ToHit by about 3-6% (depending on AT and opponent level)?

Depends on your build.

 

I need the minus -def and I will take any extra -tohit, because I am soloing 4x8 on the beta server.

 

If you have a primary or secondary with slows, then Glue Arrow seems like overkill.

 

If you have an high accuracy build, then maybe Acid Arrow is overkill.

 

Keep in mind that at lower levels the -def will be very helpful for poorly slotted teams. Think Sky Raider force field generators.