Sonic Attack for Blasters

[Mr Pierce]

Something I've never understood about Sonic Attack is the abysmally low damage output for the set on Blasters. While I understand that it has a heavy -res debuff aspect to it, and a ton of CC built into it, I feel like these are hindrances to the overall set for Blasters instead of bonuses. Sonic attack was originally designed for Defenders, where these trade offs made a lot more sense. Unfortunately, I feel like it never got properly translated when it was moved to Blasters, who rely more on damage output to help teams than any sort of secondary effects.

 

The set currently offers a -13 res debuff to each attack and has an assortment of CCs spread throughout. My suggestion would be to pull back on some of the CC, reduce the -res debuff to -7, normalize the duration of the debuff to 7 seconds for every attack, and then increase the overall damage of the attacks. This will make it feel more like a blaster set, and give the player a sense of urgency with their attacks to get in as much debuff as possible, as quickly as possible.

 

Some Suggestions:

• Shriek and Scream are okay. Their numbers line up with Archery, but fall short of just about every other blaster t1 and t2. Maybe a slight increase but they function fine as they are.
• The cones are probably the biggest offenders of the set. As there are currently no AOEs in Sonic Attack, the cones could use an increase in damage to make them more useful. Maybe give Shockwave a larger arc, while Howl gets a longer range. This would make them more diverse and stand out a bit more. If any of the three cones retains it's current damage, I think Shockwave makes the most sense. Howl deserves better.
• The cast time for Shout should be reduced to be more in-line with other powers in this slot such as Freeze Ray. Ideally this power could become a snipe attack, keeping the cast time but allowing it to be quick cast during combat.
• Give Amplify a +range buff so that the player can cast at a longer range for a few seconds, closing off one of the set's weaknesses temporarily while also making the cones in the set feel better.
• Removing the sleep entirely from Siren's Song would allow it to be more fairly balanced with a large increase in damage, while taking away something a blaster doesn't normally use. Adding a confuse element instead, with the increased damage, could make Siren's Song a cornerstone attack of the set for blasters since it comes so late in the game.
• The damage for Screech could be dramatically increased (as it is on Sentinels). It would make it more on par with powers like Cosmic Burst, which also has a mag 3 stun.
• Dreadful Wail is fine as is.

 

These changes are aimed at making Sonic Attack feel more like a blaster set, where they can do their primary task of dealing damage at a quick pace. While the CC and -res debuff are certainly attractive, they are mostly held over from the original design which was for Defenders, and causes the set to feel incredibly flat when compared to other Blaster sets. I think these changes make sense because it offers players more choice. They can either go for the traditional, CC and debuff heavy set on a Defender, or they can try out the more straight forward, damage focused version on Blasters.

 

(Please note: I don't think PVP is ever a good argument for why a set should or shouldn't do more damage. While PVP is certainly an aspect of Homecoming, it isn't a major focus of the game, and as such it shouldn't have an impact on the overall balance of the rest of the game.)

[aethereal]

Confuse instead of sleep would I think be nice for Siren's Song, but it's hard to see how you could balance an AoE confuse on a Blaster.  At the very least, it'd need to be a very short confuse.

[Naraka]

4 hours ago, Mr Pierce said:

Something I've never understood about Sonic Attack is the abysmally low damage output for the set on Blasters. While I understand that it has a heavy -res debuff aspect to it, and a ton of CC built into it, I feel like these are hindrances to the overall set for Blasters instead of bonuses. 

 

While it's an interesting prospect, it'd be wholly unnecessary to alter the set just so it plays more similar to other sets.  It might be somewhat of an opinion but powersets aren't supposed to be costume decoration.  Powersets are supposed to be unique playstyles while the ATs are meant to be the role.  Just because Blaster has the role of AoE/ranged/melee DPS doesn't mean everything in their sets should be completely altered to conform to only doing that. 

 

Blaster already has amazing stats to perform the DPS role (thanks to their damage mods) and all of their attacks are modified by its inherent, defiant, allowing it a stacking +dmg buff on its attacks as well as the ability to use the tier 1 and 2 attacks while mezzed.  All of that completely aligns to accomplish what you want.  But again, Sonic Blast is supposed to be a kind of "team boon + utility" set.  You increase your team's damage by reducing the foes' resistance and keep yourself protected teamed and solo using its mez which gives the option for a DPS oriented AT the option to load out on team support to assist overall kill speed.

 

Now you might say, "If I want to support a team with Sonic, I'd play Defender/Corruptor" and you're not wrong, but not everyone is concerned with specializing.  Some like to generalize or pick 2 specializations and nerfing that just to get more dEEps seems kind of selfish.  To further expand on multi-specialization or generalization, that's how you have support ATs like Defender or Controller slotting out their attacks to increase their DPS or building them to tank lots of foes using their support.  Same with Tankers/Brutes that pick up and slot out control powers and/or pick sets that facilitate such a style.  Or slotting out a Blaster to debuff regen, etc etc.

 

Everything doesn't have to fall under a meta.  You can still accomplish great damage with a Sonic/ blaster to fulfill the DPS role.  If you want higher damage, there are sets focused on entirely damage.

 

That being said, I could see improving the set in certain ways, like adding -res to Shockwave and decreasing some activation times, but Blaster doesn't need every set to be (further) altered to make it a DPS-only set.

[Gobbledygook]

I've never even played the set, but as far as Sirens Song, instead of a sleep or confuse, I think it might be more accurate to have it cause the vomiting (can't remember the actual name of the status effect).

If your equilibrium, which is mainly controlled by the fluid in your inner ears is disrupted, it has been known to cause nausea.

 

Here's a visual example using a subwoofer and water.

 

 

And for a deep dive on ear anatomy: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/nemcc-ap/chapter/special-senses-hearing-audition-and-balance/#:~:text=Along with hearing%2C the inner,8.42). 

 

[Razor Cure]

Sonic has got to be one of the only sets where 3 (Shockwave, Sleep, Screech) powers flat out do NOT use the secondary effect that set is relying on.

As a comparison, Umbral Torrent from dark does kb AND -tohit. Yet Shockwave only does kb.

Siren's SOng is ok...solo. In a team, mobs will get woken up asap AND the power does damage (what a stupid idea), so you get aggro anyway. That is even worse solo too, because a Boss wont go to sleep, but will be mad and attack!

Maybe someone can correct me, but I think recently the Sleep +heal proc was changed to only proc ONCE per power, so Siren's cant event be used as a semi-mass heal anymore.

Shockwave, Howl and Siren's Song also all suffer from the same super annoying range differences that hit Dark and AR, making positioning difficult.

[Parabola]

With regards to the cones I don't have a problem with their shapes. Howl and Shockwave are identical in range and arc and Sirens Song is only 10' shorter which is easily adjusted by slotting if that's a problem. Compared to the Dark Blast variants with Torrent/Umbral Torrent at 80' and Tenebrous Tentacles at 40' there is really no issue with mismatched ranges. Extra arc is always welcome of course if a buff is deemed necessary but I'd first look at the cast times which are on the sluggish side for all three of them.

 

For Siren's Song I'd maybe first try to make the sleep effect more useful overall before changing the power to another effect. Sleep powers are a little underwhelming across the board (with the notable exception of Static Field) and they all could do with being more useful when damage is flying around. Having a mag 3 area control power in a blast set is very unusual though and I wouldn't expect to see this buffed too far.

 

Between Shout and Screech at least one really could do with buffing if not both. Shout is held back by its animation time and Screech by having next to no damage (other than the Sentinel version). Sonic as a set really needs at least one high dpa attack to take advantage of it's own res debuffing.

[aethereal]

Obviously on some level "making sleeps better" is the right answer to Siren Song, but I don't think anyone has come up with a very convincing way to make sleeps better.  Certainly not a convincing way that doesn't involve a lot of new coding.

 

In terms on specifically why should Siren Song get looked at over any other sleep, well:

 

1.  It's in a generally underperforming set (on blasters).

 

2.  The set specifically has issues with single target damage, with an underperforming heavy hitter power and no snipe, so it's kind of frustrating that SS doesn't play well with AOE, which is still not great in Sonic, but at least they have some.

 

3.  It's in-theme for it to be a confuse (as the legendary sirens were like mind control through song).

 

Now, could SS just be like "swap a mag3 confuse in for the sleep, of similar duration"?  Hahaha no.  AoE confuses are ridiculously strong and set defining for actual control sets, you can't just hand them out to blasters.

 

As I'm gaming it out, confuse probably isn't the right mez to add: it doesn't play well with sleep.  Maybe add a shorter mag2 stun to it, so that minions at least stay CCed if the sleep is broken?

 

Alternately, a ST or very low target cap (like, 2 or 3) confuse instead of sleep gives you a chance to leverage your -res debuffs while solo.

[arcane]

The sleep makes sense conceptually, but since it’s pretty much useless, why not just make it a higher damage power so the sleep component can just be ignored (the Frozen Aura treatment - which turned into a great power). Then lower the cast time for Shout. Those two steps would constitute a good incremental start, and we could reassess the set’s position from there.

[Replacement]

I'm not opposed to some buffs to Sonic Attack. But I would not be for lessening the -res amounts, and on the other side of the equation, I would implore a lot of care in buffing the set.

 

The effects of -res are multiplicative with additional damage streams, most notably party members, but also your secondary.  Before going too gung-ho on a lot of direct buffs to Sonic, I'd like to see how it compares for certain blapper builds.

 

Off the top of my head, I feel like Dark and Water would likely be the most comparable from a mitigation standpoint, so seeing how a water/ninja compares to a sonic/ninja, for example, would probably be an interesting test.

 

And of course, Defender numbers play to the set's strengths already. I'm really not sure about Corruptor and Sentinel is its own thing (but probably worse than usual, since they don't have much outside of their primary to ever see the -res payoff).

 

Things I would like to see:

• Some minor animation trims
• Addition of -res to siren's song

I'm not really interested in making siren's song have a different mez or anything like that - generalized Sleep improvements are a systemic thing, and really shouldn't be buffed as much as most people seem to think (example: Salt Crystals is in competition with Smoke - NOT Static Field or Ice Slick).

[Naraka]

Also, tweeking the animation times could also indirectly increase the amount of -res stacking, making it possible to stack more than 4 effects (I think that's the best sonic attacks can stack, if I'm not mistaken).

 

Overall, I think that consecutive buffing of your sonic blasts was kind of the first "new age" combo mechanic before they tried to make actual combo mechanics in other sets.  The whole prospect was stacking as much -res so you can put out a big punch with your highest damage attack for the greatest effect.  Of course, I think that might have been repo'ed since players started paying more attention to DPS calculations rather than real-time battle circumstances. so maybe it was deemed less effective...but back to the prospect of adjusting down the -res, that sort of flies in the face of the initial purpose of the set to cumulate debuffs to combo with your best damage attack.