Insight needs to be reworked

[Without_Pause]

There are a number of sets which stack on additional things for a powerset. Sometimes it is stacked, comboed, etc. Here's the problem I am seeing with Insight.

 

1. It feels random when it triggers. I have done attacks chains, or even cleared a mob without getting it or at best it kicks in on the next to last attack.

 

2. The player can be locked out from gaining Insight. Not that this is unique as Savage does it similar in that regard. At least with Savage there is a clear pathway to building it back up and there is even Blood Lust to pop it back to max. Here, you can be locked out and not know when you are getting it back.

 

Ultimately this is about a set's feel. I can plan out and get a feel for a number sets because I as a player feel like I have control over the situation. I can figure out how I want to use my attacks in the best and most efficient way. With Psionic? It's just attack stuff and maybe it works out. Odds are you will overkill things at random times.

 

Solutions:

 

1. Have Concentration give Insight. Why oh why was this not the default? One would think you would have insight after concentrating on the battle.

2. Concentration/Insight is a toggle similar to DP or Staff. I'm fine with it using end.

3. Concentration/Insight is similar to Rage in that it is a long term buff.

4. Concentration/Insight is similar to Power Siphon. The more one concentrates, the more of a benefit there is to Insight.

 

Pretty much at this point any working of it would make the set feel better, but I would lean on item 1 or 2 with maybe 2 being the best. I'm still leveling. Things might change, but right now Psionic Melee doesn't feel smooth at all. Even if it is balanced partly with how it is or isn't resisted, it does not feel fun currently. It feels clunky.

 

EDIT: With added info below about Boggle, I would shorten the animation and make the Boggle AoE flagged with the Confuse ST.

Edited January 5, 2022 by Without_Pause

[SeraphimKensai]

I agree that insight is pretty wonky in it's randomness. Also though Insight is a pretty weak effect overall, if I had my way I would change it up a to be like:

 

Insight has a 10/20% chance per attack (longer recharging single targets get a 20% chance to trigger, whereas aoes and fast recharge attacks get a 10% chance). Insight now grants a 5% bonus to damage and tohitbuff. The effect lasts for 20 seconds and can stack up to 5x. Insight lockout occurs once achieving 5x stacks, and prevents new stacks until the 20 second expiration.

 

The reasoning for this is that the effect is called Insight, so as you're fighting a target or group of targets over time you gain insight into their abilities and techniques, this allows you to find an opening on your opponent and hit harder as you learn their weaknesses. I left the lockout in because if you hit someone in the head with a hook, they are going to start blocking up high, which then leaves you the opportunity to learn the new weakness when insight's lockout expires down by their kidneys.

 

And I agree that concentration should give you a 5x stack of Insight.

Edited October 15, 2021 by SeraphimKensai

[Vanden]

On 10/15/2021 at 2:05 PM, SeraphimKensai said:

Insight is a pretty weak effect overall,

 

On 10/15/2021 at 2:05 PM, SeraphimKensai said:

And I agree that concentration should give you a 5x stack of Insight.

 

If Insight is a weak effect, I would not want to give up +Damage in Concentration to have it give stacks of Insight. Build Ups and Aims that have other effects besides +Dam and +ToHit always have weaker versions of one or both of those effects.

[SeraphimKensai]

5 hours ago, Vanden said:

 

 

If Insight is a weak effect, I would not want to give up +Damage in Concentration to have it give stacks of Insight. Build Ups and Aims that have other effects besides +Dam and +ToHit always have weaker versions of one or both of those effects.

In my variant, I didn't envision concentration losing any damage from it's effect. That said my proposed version of insight is a much better effect than a chance for a minor psionic dot effect on an attack.

[merrypessimist]

I always thought that Insight's weakness was owed in part to how Psi Melee was still cooking when the Live game got shuttered.  There's a lot of subtle hints to that conclusion, such as the fact almost all the animation times are the same, the way it doesn't (last I checked) get hyperlinked if you put a psi melee power name in [brackets] in chat like every other power does, or the general uselessness of the Insight effect and its lack of generation by the buildup clone.

[DreadShinobi]

I would be interested in seeing concentration be redesigned as an endurance costing toggle - it is already implied by the name. I also think psi melee is a set that still has a lot of room to grow. I wonder, if concentration was a toggle, would there be a way for your concentration to be broken or interrupted (outside of being mezzed because melee ATs don't know what that is). Examples could be being out of combat, whiffing your target, or taking a certain threshold of damage. Maybe toggle concentration has a base level of functioning like a smaller sized damage buff, and then insight can be unlocked after reaching certain parameters, with a more signficant damage over time effect either for one attack or several. Another option would be to have concentration be to make concentration a dual offensive/defensive power that would grant smaller +dmg and the ability to dodge attacks occassionally or a +regen buff as you continue attacking. I find psi melee to be quite good already in self mitigation and it would be interesting to expand on that.

[Without_Pause]

Melee ATs can be mezzed, but it its leaning towards end game mobs, and I don't think they get detoggled in those cases, ie fear. I can see Concentration being like FA. 

[Without_Pause]

Relevant. So while this makes Insight better, it is still overly convoluted.