Focused Feedback: Blaster Secondary Revamp

[Blackbird71]

5 hours ago, Jimmy said:

 

 

Tactical Arrow

•  Gymnastics (Replaces Agility)
  • Gymnastics and Agility have been merged into a new toggle power
  • Provides knockback protection, a 1.75% defence buff, a recharge bonus, a movement speed buff and some slow / mez protection
  • If you previously had Agility, you now have Gymnastics
•  Oil Slick Arrow (Replaced Gymnastics)
  • Similar to the Trick Arrow version, but does not have a defence debuff and only has a 15ft radius
  • If you previously had Gymnastics, you now have Oil Slick Arrow

I'm not sure how to feel about this.  Consolidating Agility and Gymnastics could be useful, but it messes with some slotting options and I've never felt that Tactical Arrow needed more crowd control, so losing options in favor of CC I'm not going to use is disappointing. 

[WindDemon21]

1 minute ago, Blackbird71 said:

I'm not sure how to feel about this.  Consolidating Agility and Gymnastics could be useful, but it messes with some slotting options and I've never felt that Tactical Arrow needed more crowd control, so losing options in favor of CC I'm not going to use is disappointing. 

Merging those two powers is a GODSEND. You're not losing anything, get it earlier, and really doesn't stop you from slotting anything.

 

And having oil slick arrow added? yes please.

[Blackbird71]

8 minutes ago, WindDemon21 said:

Merging those two powers is a GODSEND. You're not losing anything, get it earlier, and really doesn't stop you from slotting anything.

 

And having oil slick arrow added? yes please.

To each their own I suppose; the way I play Tac Arrow OSA is just another T9 I won't waste my time on.

[Placta]

I never liked Thunder Clap and hate that sustain is there. Glad to see it move.

[ScarySai]

I will say, I'm going to miss the massive amount of jump control that gymnastics+CJ gave.

 

But I'll take oil slick as a proper apology. 🙂

[mechahamham]

I have a level 18 Archery/Mental Manip blaster that I copied over from Excel. She took Telekinetic Thrust as soon as it was available and slotted it. On Brainstorm, it shows that she still has it unlocked. It's just in the t9 position. If I respec, it becomes unavailable.

 

Moving Telekinetic Thrust to the t9 bothers me deeply. It's basically the same utility as Energy manipulation's 'Power Thrust' with more damage. I use it as a 'get away from me!' power the same way I do with Power Thrust. I'm not at all concerned with the damage it has.

 

it becomes less useful with Drain Psyche, but only by a small amount.

 

Honestly, if I were going to choose an order for Mental Manipulation, it would be like so:

Telekinetic Thrust

Subdual

Mind Probe

Concentration

Psychic Scream

Drain Psyche

World of Confusion

Scare

Psychic Shockwave

 

Psychic Shockwave *seems* like the obvious t9 in this group to me. It's a powerful PBAOE that recharges often enough to use as part of a rotation.

[Eva Destruction]

4 minutes ago, Placta said:

I never liked Thunder Clap and hate that sustain is there. Glad to see it move.

I always thought the logical power to put it in is Power Sink.  It's thematically appropriate, doesn't cause any slotting conflicts, and would make Power Sink worth taking again.

[Wompy]

Not a fan of the /elec changes.

[Lockpick]

1 hour ago, Rejolt said:

Ninjitsu: Shinobi has had the +movement  removed from the help text (it had no movement buff on current HC build), but would like the movement put back in to match sentinels and scrappers' versions (even if it gave slightly less). Having the melee do more than the primary blasts and the paboe recharge improved makes /nin play so  much better.

 

Now off to test sonic manipulation. There's almost too much to test lol.

 

 

I was just about to ask if they fixed the bug that didn't give the speed buff.  Sounds like you are saying that they just removed the text and they may never have seen it as a bug.  That is disappointing.  The main reason I took it was for Shinobi and to get the movement.

[Jimmy]

3 minutes ago, Wompy said:

Not a fan of the /elec changes.

Please test and post your feedback here 🙂

[Rejolt]

Yes! I love my /nin scrap and sentinel because of the movement. My scrap even took fly/afterburner to have max speed in the air, ground and jumping on one toon. A modest movement bonus (20 to 25 percent to run/jump/height wouldn't be asking much).

[Rejolt]

Just now, Jimmy said:

Please test and post your feedback here 🙂

This feels like a "orly" have you tried it? ... um.. challenge accepted.

 

Again... so much to test.

 

[Vanden]

14 minutes ago, mechahamham said:

It's basically the same utility as Energy manipulation's 'Power Thrust' with more damage. I use it as a 'get away from me!' power the same way I do with Power Thrust. I'm not at all concerned with the damage it has.

You've been not at all concerned with the damage it does because it did piddling damage before this patch. Now it does more damage than Bone Smasher or Havoc Punch, it's an excellent attack.

 

To be fair, I don't think it needs to be all the way at T9, either; I've been pushing for it to go down to T5.

Edited October 24, 2020 by Vanden

[Placta]

15 minutes ago, Eva Destruction said:

I always thought the logical power to put it in is Power Sink.  It's thematically appropriate, doesn't cause any slotting conflicts, and would make Power Sink worth taking again.

I can't imagine not taking Power Sink, but I agree with everything else.

 

(Although selfishly I like it better in Lightning Field because that way I only have to rejigger one power – take out endurance reduction, add healing – instead of finding a power I can pull a slot out of to add to PS for healing.)

[Eva Destruction]

13 minutes ago, Jimmy said:

Please test and post your feedback here 🙂

I don't need to test to know that if I have Force of Thunder slotted for heal and end mod, and Lightning Field slotted for sustain and Lightning Field slotted for damage, I will either have to give up some of the sustain slotting to keep the damage or give up some of the damage slotting to keep the sustain.  Ergo, a nerf.  Force of Thunder also gives me a PbAoE knockdown on an 18 second recharge.  Increasing the recharge time is also a nerf.  If Elec Manipulation is considered an underperforming set (and I'm interested in knowing the reasoning behind this)  it should be receiving more buffs than nerfs, and yet the only buff I'm seeing is the one to Thunderstrike.

[Vanden]

7 minutes ago, Placta said:

I can't imagine not taking Power Sink,

There really isn't a good reason to take Power Sink when the sustain effect makes it so difficult to run out of endurance. It's only useful if you're going for a sapper build, and sapper builds are not that effective.

[Eva Destruction]

5 minutes ago, Placta said:

I can't imagine not taking Power Sink, but I agree with everything else.

 

(Although selfishly I like it better in Lightning Field because that way I only have to rejigger one power – take out endurance reduction, add healing – instead of finding a power I can pull a slot out of to add to PS for healing.)

Also selfishly, I have Lightning Field 5-slotted with a damage set and a Fury of the Gladiator -res proc.  Can't really rejigger it without losing the set bonuses.  I don't have Power Sink because I don't need it, so I'd have to ditch Force of Thunder to fit it in, which isn't ideal because the KD on FoT is nice.

[WindDemon21]

38 minutes ago, ScarySai said:

I will say, I'm going to miss the massive amount of jump control that gymnastics+CJ gave.

 

But I'll take oil slick as a proper apology. 🙂

you're not losing it, you're just getting it EARLIER at 28 instead, and it's COMBINED

[ScarySai]

36 minutes ago, mechahamham said:

Honestly, if I were going to choose an order for Mental Manipulation, it would be like so:

Telekinetic Thrust

Subdual

Mind Probe

Concentration

Psychic Scream

Drain Psyche

World of Confusion

Scare

Psychic Shockwave

I personally find the current changes nice, I get shockwave a bit earlier, I get another psychic slap for targets that resist my blasts, I get WoC earlier and the only really downside is that Scare is still a dead power.

 

Quote

you're not losing it, you're just getting it EARLIER at 28 instead, and it's COMBINED

CJ, not agility. CJ and gymnastics are now mutually exclusive, they were not before.

Edited October 24, 2020 by ScarySai

[Crowe]

Tac Arrow changes
- Ice and EMP arrow magnitude reductions make those useless for my characters that have them. I don't believe these powers are now worth taking.

Ninja Training changes
- Shinobi changes... well, this particular power was the main reason I went with this powersset. These changes will make it far less unique and I would recommend against anyone making a blaster with this altered secondary. Will you be providing the ability to respec to completely change to a different powerset?  That would be the only way to make this more palatable.

Temporal Maniupulation changes
- Time Stop's mag reduction makes this a useless power.
- Time Shift's mag reduction makes this a useless power.

Ultimately, it looks like the above changes as well as the other sets will serve to make the blaster secondaries less unique and less interesting.  If that is Homecoming's goal, the devs are on the right track.

[Rejolt]

1 minute ago, WindDemon21 said:

you're not losing it, you're just getting it EARLIER at 28 instead, and it's COMBINED

I freaked out when I first saw it but omg the combining thing. It actually gives you power back on your current build if you dont want Oil slick.

 

Need to test the numbers on it. (again so much to test!)

 

I think the hold durations/recharge time were tweaked. To be fair: they were better than mezzer ATs.

[Tater Todd]

BUG REPORT: Force of Thunder is still listing that it's a resource power in the title bar.  (Example: PBAoE, For Disorient, Knockback, Self +Regeneration, +Recovery)
BUG REPORT: Dynamo's Title bar doesn't properly list what it does.  It doesn't state that it provides regen and recov.

Edited October 24, 2020 by Tater Todd

[Replacement]

17 minutes ago, Crowe said:

Ninja Training changes
- Shinobi changes... well, this particular power was the main reason I went with this powersset. These changes will make it far less unique and I would recommend against anyone making a blaster with this altered secondary. Will you be providing the ability to respec to completely change to a different powerset?  That would be the only way to make this more palatable.

I do not think you understand what they did to this power.

• Still has full-time +ToHit
• Still has out-of-combat damage bonus
• In-combat damage bonus is replaced with a 20% chance to proc lethal damage

You're also forgetting the rest of the set's attacks are wildly improved.

Edited October 24, 2020 by Replacement

[Replacement]

21 minutes ago, Eva Destruction said:

I don't need to test to know that if I have Force of Thunder slotted for heal and end mod, and Lightning Field slotted for sustain and Lightning Field slotted for damage, I will either have to give up some of the sustain slotting to keep the damage or give up some of the damage slotting to keep the sustain.  Ergo, a nerf.  Force of Thunder also gives me a PbAoE knockdown on an 18 second recharge.  Increasing the recharge time is also a nerf.  If Elec Manipulation is considered an underperforming set (and I'm interested in knowing the reasoning behind this)  it should be receiving more buffs than nerfs, and yet the only buff I'm seeing is the one to Thunderstrike.

You know what would be way more helpful feedback?  Showing where Elec is relative to other sets and championing positive changes instead of shouting "rollback" the moment you see something you don't agree with.

 

I am wanting this power to go the other way, and become the blap set by turning this into a Sustain version of Conductive Aura (elec control; scaling regen/recovery but with way better numbers).

[Tater Todd]

13 minutes ago, Crowe said:

Tac Arrow changes
- Ice and EMP arrow magnitude reductions make those useless for my characters that have them. I don't believe these powers are now worth taking.

Temporal Maniupulation changes
- Time Stop's mag reduction makes this a useless power.
- Time Shift's mag reduction makes this a useless power.

Ultimately, it looks like the above changes as well as the other sets will serve to make the blaster secondaries less unique and less interesting.  If that is Homecoming's goal, the devs are on the right track.

Blaster Mezz powers are still potent...just not as much as they are on HC Live.  The Mag 1 mezz stacks on top of the Mag 2 so the power still behaves much like a Mag 3; once the duration of the Mag 1 wears off the Mezz debuff essentially reverts back to a Mag 2 mezz.

You see this a lot when playing Controllers and Dominators.  Often times you will need multiple applications to lockdown a Boss or higher and as soon as 1 of the stacked mezz applications you used wears off, the boss will come to.