Voltaic Sentinel

[illunic]

I'm sure anyone who has used this ability can attest to how useless the ability feel, which is sad because it feels like one of the unique abilities of the electric  blast / assault pools. It's damage is laughable, even when slotted, you can only have one up at a time, and for some reason it seems to like to move into melee range.  I really like the concept of this ability so I've got some idea's that might i improve the skill and make the little sparky ball useful.

 

- Make it last until it gets killed.

- Put it on a leash so it doesn't stray too far from the player.

- Do something about it's damage.

 

Currently according to the in-game info at 50 the sentinel hits for ~44 every ~3.5s (1s / 2.5s)  unslotted.  Honestly I bringing it up to the beginning bolts damage (~62) or maybe a bit above would help this skill immensely.

[Zep]

Boy Thunder, my storm/electric defender had it so I followed it a bit in the forums. For reasons I dont know the old studio was very much not going to change/buff it. They never said why.

[illunic]

Yeah I did a quick browse on the subreddit, the homecoming discord and here.  The opinion on the little thing seems to be overwhelmingly bad, which sucks because I really like the concept of it.  While id like to see a damage increase and behavior change I honestly think just removing the duration and letting it stay spawned until it or its caster dies would be a huge step forward.

[Player2]

The thing is that it's a pet that falls outside the pet powersets (Control and MM pets).  So it is supposed to be inferior to those kinds of pets.  And it is in both form and function.  It does less damage and needs to be refreshed compared to controller or dominator pets which are fire and forget, which are definitely inferior to MM pets that can be actively controlled and given pet-specific upgrades in addition to standard buffs.

[illunic]

Closest summon it seems to relate to is the Gun Drone from a /dev blaster which is in a similar spot, though i think you can get 2 of them summoned with enough recharge, could be wrong.  Hell you could stray away from it being a summon completely because and make it a toggle ability that makes it orbit you and take pot shots at things (think like /dev targeting drone).

[Galaxy Brain]

These powers (Sparky, gun drone... dunno if there are other similar to them) could def use some love. A whole power is dedicated to them in their sets, usually higher tier too. They should be good!

[Solvernia]

Stop thinking of Voltaic Sentinel as a pet and you'll realize that it's actually an incredibly good attack. What other blaster powerset lets you get free damage with no cast time or end cost?

[Galaxy Brain]

Stop thinking of Voltaic Sentinel as a pet and you'll realize that it's actually an incredibly good attack. What other blaster powerset lets you get free damage with no cast time or end cost?

 

True, but then it's a bit odd with it's own AI. I always thought itd be sweet if it worked like targeting drone and hovered around you, or at least if you could have multiples

[Solvernia]

Stop thinking of Voltaic Sentinel as a pet and you'll realize that it's actually an incredibly good attack. What other blaster powerset lets you get free damage with no cast time or end cost?

 

True, but then it's a bit odd with it's own AI. I always thought itd be sweet if it worked like targeting drone and hovered around you, or at least if you could have multiples

 

The reason it's a 'pet' is probably because the devs weren't able to make a toggle that does ST attacks work out. You COULD make it a PBAoE aura with a max target of 1, but that'd likely make it attack 'randomly' instead of focus on a single target at a time.

 

A wide-radius aura where it hit one target with a Chain Induction like effect (that propagates from target to target) could possibly work, though. Elec Blast could certainly use the boost, since it's a criminally underrated powerset.

[_NOPE_]

I haven't gotten PK up high enough to take it yet, but if I recall correctly, it doesn't have HP and can't be killed, right? If that's the case as I remember, /JRanger. It's perfect. I use it to aggro around corners.

[Galaxy Brain]

I haven't gotten PK up high enough to take it yet, but if I recall correctly, it doesn't have HP and can't be killed, right? If that's the case as I remember, /JRanger. It's perfect. I use it to aggro around corners.

 

Its aggro goes to you

[_NOPE_]

Yup, but by then, I'm ready.

[Galaxy Brain]

Now that I have had time to sit on this, I just want to put out my 2 inf.

 

My main on live was an Elec3 blaster. I loved having the voltaic sentinel out as it provided a free DPS boost while active and you had it near you, on top of being (at the time) pseudo mez defense as you had one more source of damage vs enemies than other blasters when mezzed.

 

This all said, it pales in comparison to just having another blast in the set, especially looking at how Tesla Cage is low damage in basic electronics blast, but is treated like Freeze Ray on Sentinels where it is reliable damage. The secondary effect of electric blast is to drain endurance and have a chance of an endurance discount. The latter is nice, but still just a chance. The former is a great soft control but it is binary. You have to drain a foe dry to get meaningful effect, and even then it is only through short circuit + power boost or power sink. Even on ATs with better debuff values this is the case, but still the sets damage potential was brought down to accommodate this. Most of the time, the time spent draining end could have been used to help kill, or at least have a more immediate secondary effect on top of the damage like slow or -tohit, etc. Granted, the end drain can be nice on large targets but then that's not only situational compared to other side effects but also the way NPCs use end is minimal compared to players. A hard target can and will still swing at you with minimal endurance and hit with decent powers. So just to end this mini rant, end drain is good but flawed compared to other controllerish secondary effects and the hit to damage that electrical gets seems a bit undeserved given how that plays out.

 

While making Tesla cage hit hard like with Sentinels would be nice for Blaster/Def/Corr, the main topic here is the (funnily enough) Sentinel. It adds free dps to a point, but in practice it doesn't do enough to patch the hole that electrical has with lacking a 3rd blast. If the little guy did more per shot, or simply attacked more often it would push elec that much more. Especially the latter as a faster attack rate allows for more -end per hit more often!

 

Elec is a staple powerset but it's a shame it feels more like a static shock than bolts of lightning. Adding more dps to the sentinel to at least fit the theme of constant zaps, and adding some punch to Tesla cage would do wonders. Coming from somebody who played with those powers for years, I loved the pseudo control the combo gave. But after seeing how other similar sets perform while having useful control *and* damage it feels a bit lacking.

 

[Solvernia]

Elec blast's attacks numerically do as much damage as other blast sets that aren't Fire. It's just that instead of the 40-foot high damage blast you have the Voltaic Sentinel power, which does way more damage per activation but less all at once. So everyone pretends that it does really bad damage (it doesn't.)

 

Seriously, Voltaic Sentinel is literally free damage, forever. Changing it to a straight up blast would gimp Elec Blast.

[Vanden]

Seriously, Voltaic Sentinel is literally free damage, forever. Changing it to a straight up blast would gimp Elec Blast.

Well it costs 26 endurance and lasts 60 seconds. It can have a hard time keeping up with you and can aggro groups you didn't want to and waste its limited attacks on enemies you already killed. Let's not oversell it.

[Adeon Hawkwood]

Something else to keep in mind is that if you have 22% To Hit then Zapp casts very quickly. This generally makes up for not having a traditional 3rd blast.

[Galaxy Brain]

Seriously, Voltaic Sentinel is literally free damage, forever. Changing it to a straight up blast would gimp Elec Blast.

Well it costs 26 endurance and lasts 60 seconds. It can have a hard time keeping up with you and can aggro groups you didn't want to and waste its limited attacks on enemies you already killed. Let's not oversell it.

 

This.

 

If you are in an ideal spot where the sentinel only hits the target you want and doesn't miss for the entire duration it is comparable. But in normal gameplay it's not. It has trouble sticking to you depending on the map and it doesn't target what you specifically want it to, which makes it lose out on effectiveness vs something you control directly such as a targeted attack. This is what makes it stick out vs other traditional blast sets the most as it is an odd tradeoff where at best it is comparable over time, but at worst it brings the effectiveness down.

 

 

As for Zapp, that is definitely nice but still all other blast sets get this so it's back to square one there.

[_NOPE_]

Just like I tell my end users at my programming job - computers are dumb. They will only do EXACTLY as you tell them to do. Voltaic Sentinel has been "told" by the original Devs to loosely follow behind a player and automatically attack any enemies within its range at all times. If you summon it, that's what you should expect it to do, at all times. It's reliable, but incredibly dumb. But you always KNOW what to expect from it...

 

It sounds to me like the issue here is Blasters not being Blasters... considering the fact that it trails BEHIND you... if your Voltaic Sentinel is randomly attacking mobs and causing you unwanted aggro, then it's my belief that you're not making effective use of the RANGE of your powers... sounds like you're right in the thick of it to me. If you want to play that way, fine, but then don't be surprised when your sentinel attacks the next mob because they are within range. That's what it's programmed to do, it written right on the tin. You've got a choice - either sit back and use your range (which is why people choose ranged damage classes to begin with, usually!), or get in the thick of it and DON'T take the sentinel, because it clashes with your play style.

 

Or, I guess you can ask the Devs to completely reprogram a power that's worked fine for most people for years because it doesn't match your personal playstyle... I guess that works too!

 

[Solvernia]

You've got a choice - either sit back and use your range (which is why people choose ranged damage classes to begin with, usually!), or get in the thick of it and DON'T take the sentinel, because it clashes with your play style.

 

To be fair, Blasters aren't a ranged damage class, they're an every damage class. So, unless they want to hang back and play it safe (in which case they're being Sentinels, not Blasters) then they're going to be punching things as much as they are shooting things.

 

Or, I guess you can ask the Devs to completely reprogram a power that's worked fine for most people for years because it doesn't match your personal playstyle... I guess that works too!

 

Well, yeah, that's why there's a Suggestions board. It would be cool to see changes to Voltaic Sentinel to make it a little less of a hassle to use, even though it still is literally free damage forever.

[Adeon Hawkwood]

then it's my belief that you're not making effective use of the RANGE of your powers... sounds like you're right in the thick of it to me.

Right, because Electrical Blast doesn't contain a PBAoE power at all. Oh wait, it does. Short Circuit is an important part of Electrical Blast so advising people not to use it is rather counter-intuitive.

[_NOPE_]

then it's my belief that you're not making effective use of the RANGE of your powers... sounds like you're right in the thick of it to me.

Right, because Electrical Blast doesn't contain a PBAoE power at all. Oh wait, it does. Short Circuit is an important part of Electrical Blast so advising people not to use it is rather counter-intuitive.

 

One power out of nine dude, and there's no reason they can't jump in, blast, and then jump back again. But I've seen time and time again people that just want to stand in one place and tap the keyboard to fire off their powers....

[Solvernia]

there's no reason they can't jump in, blast, and then jump back again.

 

true for everyone except blasters, who have lots of melee attacks, and sentinels, who have armor and thus can stand in melee range safely, and corruptors/defenders, who usually have PBAoE auras/clickies/toggles for buffs/debuffs

[Galaxy Brain]

Not only does Elec have one of it's only AoE powers as a melee AoE, but essentially every blaster secondary encourages melee range, as do defender and corruptor sets with PBAoE effects.

 

Dominators are literally half melee.

 

Sentinels are all ranged, but also have significantly shorter range so they still engage mobs "close enough".

 

On top of us moving faster than sparky 90% of the time, I'm not sure what you expect here.

[Scarlet Shocker]

 

So, unless they want to hang back and play it safe (in which case they're being Sentinels, not Blasters) then they're going to be punching things as much as they are shooting things.

 

 

I don't think that's an accurate reflection since Sentinels were a SCORE invention coming after sunset. With the right sets, that's exactly what a blaster is capable of, but most people tend to play them as functioning blappers. But the entire concept of blasters was to be a glass cannon, albeit that the execution of such ideal is open to debate.

 

VS is ok, as you correctly point out, it's essentially a free attack but you have to be aware of the limitations of the power.

 

However there are caveats, notably that Elec blast (and to an extent Electric Manipulation) feel weak, not because they are - the numbers are comparable with most sets - but that Electric's secondary power, Endurance Drain is about as useful as a rubber duck in the Sahara. Most powers have a useful additional effect, Fire's DoT or Energy's KB are good examples of what works but the -End of Electric really doesn't work well. In PVE, it does not inconvenience enemy mobs, and none of the "standard" powers restock the players End with any noticeable effect, regardless of the description. In PVP it takes great skill to discommode an enemy player and then one has to rely on them not having any blue insps. Oh... wait, that's PVP, nobody bothers with that any more.

 

Electric Blast is not a bad set, but it does play rather underwhelmingly. VS is too high up the tier - it promises a lot, and delivers significantly less, and most of the powers in the pool could do with a passover. Personally I'd be happy if the made the -End component worthwhile, then you've got something worth having and a set with a meaningful feature.

[_NOPE_]

I wouldn't be opposed to an enhancing of -END.. or, better yet, add -REC to EVERY Electrical power, rather than just Short Circuit. That'd fix it, I think.