Focused Feedback: Electrical Blast Revamp

[Player-1]

This is a Focused Feedback Thread

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• The most up-to-date version of the changes will be listed in the first post.
• The changes in each build will be posted as replies.
  • Changes from the previous beta build are listed in green.
    • Green text will become white text in the next set of patch notes.
  • Any changes or fixes that are only relevant to the beta builds are listed in blue.
    • Blue text will be deleted in the next set of patch notes as it is only relevant to highlight changes between beta builds, not a changes from live.
  • Known issues are listed in purple.

 

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Electrical Blast

Changes

 

New mechanic - SHOCK! 

 

 

Electrical Blast attacks now have a chance to Shock enemies for 20% bonus damage depending on their current Endurance! This damage scales with buffs and enhancement. In addition, Shocking enemies will return a portion of Endurance back to you and inflict -40% -Recovery on your target for 5 seconds each application, replacing the prior % chance to do so on many powers (with some exception). Starting at 80% endurance, your chance to Shock will scale from 10% up towards 100% when an enemy is fully drained.

 

Notes:

• 20% bonus damage scales with enhancements and boosts.
• Returned endurance is non-enhanceable.
• Single Target Attacks return 1/2 the base cost, AoEs return 1/4th.
• AoEs will only restore endurance once, not per target. 

• Short Circuit, Tesla Cage, and Thunderous Blast will always inflict -100% Recovery debuff. In addition, they all have a chance to do additional -Recovery with Shock.

• Voltaic Sentinel will not return endurance.
• Shocking is separate from Scourge/Other such bonus procs and will not double-dip.

 

This change not only shores up Electrical Blast's single target damage conditionally, but also allows players to more easily keep targets drained as their basic attacks will proc Shocks and inflict -Recovery the more endurance they drain. 

 

 

AT Specific Endurance Drain Scales

Electrical Blast powers now follow the EndMod scales for each AT, much like Electrical Affinity. This is applicable strictly for Corruptors (1.1 scale) and Defenders (1.25 scale) where they will have bonuses to End Drain, -Recovery, and +End Return compared to Blasters and Sentinels who have a 1.0 scale.

In addition, the following powers had their base End Drain values changed for each AT:

• Tesla Cage - 7% -> 20% (22% / 25%)
• Slow Zapp - 15% -> 30% (33% / 37.5%)
•  

These changes will help the Support AT's fulfill their roles with Electrical Blast with better Endurance Modification prowess, and easier usage of Shock compared to the higher damage AT's.

 

 

Charge Up (Aim)

• Aim has been renamed Charge Up
• Lowered ToHit / Dam from scale 5 -> 4
• Added a scale 2.5 End Mod boost that also scales with AT
  • (Blaster/Sent = 25% , Corruptor =27.5%, Defender = 31.25%)

 

 

Thunderous Blast

• Now has an additional bonus -30% Endurance Drain vs Elite Enemies (Main Target Only)
  • Elite Enemies include Elite Bosses and up
• This bonus is NOT boostable, enhanceable, or resistable. 
• This bonus scales downwards as your target's endurance depletes, being strongest when they are at 100%

 

 

Short Circuit

• DoT duration lowered from 2.1s to 1.5s, retains same number of ticks.
• Animation sped up from 3.0s to 2.5s. Now hits sooner.

 

 

Ball Lightning

• DoT duration lowered from 3.1s to 2.2s, retains same number of ticks.

 

 

Voltaic Sentinel

• This power is now a Toggle (0.52 end/s)
• Recharge reduced to 10s
• This toggle can be dropped by Mez Effects
• Changes to Voltaic Sentinel Powers:
  • Powers now proportionally scale for the summoning AT
    • This includes Dominators, though their version is not a toggle
  • Bolt recharge reduced from 2.5s to 1.25s
  • Bolt activation normalized to 1s (some were oddly at 1.17s)
  • These changes allow the Sentinel to rapidly fire electricity within a crowd, or continuously on one target.
  • Endurance Drain normalized to -4% from -5%, but now scales per AT (Corruptor/Defender)
  • Damage normalized to scale 0.56, below are the base damage values per AT at lvl 50:
    • Blaster: 35.03
    • Sentinel: 29.58
    • Corruptor: 23.36
    • Defender: 20.24
  • Voltaic Sentinel's Bolt can Shock!

 

 

Tesla Cage - Chain Lightning

 

 

Tesla Cage has been revamped to emit Chain Lightning! 

 

Taking this power allows you to build Static Charges with other single-target electrical blast powers. As Static builds, you can unleash it with Tesla Cage where electricity will jump off your main target to deal bonus damage to others nearby!

 

 

• Charged Bolts, Lightning Bolt, and Zapp/Zapping Bolt will build Static charges as long as you own Tesla Cage or any Electrical Affinity power.
• This Static is shared with Electrical Affinity
• In addition, Electrical Manipulation for Blasters can gain static with Electric Fence, Charged Brawl, Havok Punch, and Shocking Grasp if you own Tesla Cage.
• Each Static charge will allow Tesla Cage to chain jump to one additional nearby target within 10 feet of the main target.
• For each jump, you will spend 1 Static. If you jump to 3 extra targets, you will spend 3 Static and keep the rest. You do not spend Static on purely single target hits.
• Chain Jump Damage for Blaster, Corruptors and Defender will grow on each subsequent jump, but only the primary target will be held.
• Chain Jump Damage for Sentinels will be 15% of the damage inflicted against the main target.
• The main target of Tesla Cage will be hit for 20% endurance drain, while additional targets suffer a smaller portion.
• While you can gain well over 10 stacks, the target cap for Tesla Cage is 10 additional targets (6 for Sentinels)
• The power will gain a Blue ring indicating you have reached your Chain Cap
• 
• Only the Main Target of Tesla Cage can trigger Procs.

 

[Itikar]

Very very quick question: what will happen to the shared powers in the electric control set and electric assault set?

 

Even if at a later time, will Dominator Voltaic Sentinel also become a toggle, or are those powers all right as they are for now?

[Captain Powerhouse]

5 minutes ago, Itikar said:

Very very quick question: what will happen to the shared powers in the electric control set and electric assault set?

 

This is a set specific change.

Dominator's Elec Assault had a significant change during the snipe changes and was balanced around its current toolkit as it is, any change that adds more damage, as VA toggle does, would only come at the expense of other areas of the set, or if Dominator's Voltaic Sentinel did next to no damage, focusing on the end-drain.

[Wavicle]

13 minutes ago, Captain Powerhouse said:

 

This is a set specific change.

Dominator's Elec Assault had a significant change during the snipe changes and was balanced around its current toolkit as it is, any change that adds more damage, as VA toggle does, would only come at the expense of other areas of the set, or if Dominator's Voltaic Sentinel did next to no damage, focusing on the end-drain.

 

I would request you look at this again. Dominators have so much to do already, having to click VS every minute really adds a lot of time that hurts when you're already trying to balance CC and Damage attacks.

[BillyMailman]

I haven't gotten onto beta, and likely won't for a bit, but still wanted to jump in early and say a huge Thank You. Been an Elec/Elec Blaster main since live, and just the change where I don't need to keep an eye on Voltaic Sentinel to know when to recast, is nice. Because it didn't stack, and didn't show up in the pet window, it was a constant guessing game if I was wasting my time re-summoning it too early, or losing DPS by summoning it too late. Has it despawned? Is it just wandered off? Always a pain in the ass.

 

Even if 90% of this gets rejected and reverted, even if VS ends up entirely changed before release, that all doesn't matter too much to me. As long as the guessing game isn't a problem any more, THANK YOU.

[Wavicle]

26 minutes ago, Captain Powerhouse said:

 

This is a set specific change.

Dominator's Elec Assault had a significant change during the snipe changes and was balanced around its current toolkit as it is, any change that adds more damage, as VA toggle does, would only come at the expense of other areas of the set, or if Dominator's Voltaic Sentinel did next to no damage, focusing on the end-drain.

 

Perhaps you might consider making the Dominator version 2 minutes duration/recharge at least?

Edited November 5, 2021 by Wavicle

[Greycat]

Going to say (and yes, I have played it) I dislike having VS be a toggle. Specifically because *toggles detoggle when mezzed,* and that's when I want VS out there.  That's when it's helped me.

 

Putting it in as a toggle makes it 100% skippable on anything but a sentinel, which already has mez protection.

 

Make it longer duration, make it show up in a pet window, fine. But don't make it a toggle. That makes it useless.  Yes, calling it "useless" is strong wording. It deserves it.

[Wavicle]

Just now, Greycat said:

Going to say (and yes, I have played it) I dislike having VS be a toggle. Specifically because *toggles detoggle when mezzed,* and that's when I want VS out there.  That's when it's helped me.

 

Putting it in as a toggle makes it 100% skippable on anything but a sentinel, which already has mez protection.

 

Make it longer duration, make it show up in a pet window, fine. But don't make it a toggle. That makes it useless.  Yes, calling it "useless" is strong wording. It deserves it.

this is an excellent point that I hadn’t considered. The fact that the VS keeps attacking while you are mezzed is a huge thing to lose.

 

My recommendation is to keep it as a toggle, but increase the endurance cost, while making it not detoggle when mezzed.

[Wavicle]

If it IS going to detoggle when mezzed that means we may actually be casting it MORE often, in which case the cast time should probably be a lot shorter. If that was the case then maybe the loss of it staying up while mezzed might be worth it.

[arcane]

1 minute ago, Wavicle said:

If it IS going to detoggle when mezzed that means we may actually be casting it MORE often, in which case the cast time should probably be a lot shorter. If that was the case then maybe the loss of it staying up while mezzed might be worth it.

Who the hell gets mezzed more than once a minute tho

[Lazarillo]

Is it by design that Sentinels have no additional methods of building Static through other sets like the other ATs do?  Is there any thought to adding such to powers in Electricity or Mu Mastery (since there doesn't really feel like anything in Electric Armor fits the build-through-action motif)?

[Replacement]

20 minutes ago, Lazarillo said:

Is it by design that Sentinels have no additional methods of building Static through other sets like the other ATs do?  Is there any thought to adding such to powers in Electricity or Mu Mastery (since there doesn't really feel like anything in Electric Armor fits the build-through-action motif)?

Would love to see both masteries contribute static!

 

But I do want to say: running triple-elec Sentinel is shockingly fun on Brainstorm. 

A lot of mez working well together (holds, aoe immobs, oh and now everything is sapped), and the whole playstyle keeps pushing you towards sources of additional damage (Shocks, Tesla chains).  Highly recommended.

[Riverdusk]

To be fair, electric blast was already good on a sentinel from what I've seen personally and from what I've read on the sentinel forums, with probably only fire blast (of course) potentially really outdoing it.  These changes should make it very good, relative in terms of sentinels anyway.  But giving a slight extra advantage to those taking electric or mu epic wouldn't be bad.

 

Dom electric assault on the other hand does feel like an underperforming set compared to other Dom assault sets, so am sad to see it is getting so little and that the devs consider it "balanced" already.

 

As to voltaic sentinel, another option is maybe there is a way for it to persist for say 10 seconds after the toggle drops?  Short enough that people aren't going to be toggling it off and on all the time to save endurance, but long enough for it to still get a few more blasts in while you are mezzed.

 

I am happy electric blast is getting some love regardless, always liked the feel of the set.

[JayboH]

If you never play with others that can hold aggro to prevent your VS detoggle, it's useless.

 

If you never play with others that can grant status protection to prevent your VS detoggle, it's useless.

 

If you never take powers that grant your character status protection to prevent your VS detoggle, it's useless.

 

If you only fight enemies that can hit you with a status effect that detoggles VS, it's useless.

 

...you see my point?  It's a player's choice.  I prefer the toggle, especially since the original had such a long cooldown and a very large up front end cost.

[Heatstroke]

My question is if Dominators Electric Assault gets ANY benefit from these changes and if not Why not. It seems to me that they could also benefit to some degree from these changes. 
 

Also what about building up Shock from the Epic power sets? Has this been considered at all? 

[Gatling]

As an Elec/En Blaster. I feared this day a lot.

 

I know Elec/ suffers a bit when paired outside of /energy, but with it, it's a great power set. I appreciate the apparent boosts to End draining across the set However, Tesla Cage and VS was always a non-choice.

Tesla Cage is a waste of time (for Blasters) when it's better to directly End drain. And VS was a low damage power that you couldn't really control.

What do other elec/ Blasters think of this? I really don't think Tesla or VS is helping Elec/ Blasters at all as it is but these changes also don't seem useful for Elec/ Blasters either as it will remove other choices/utility to make room for it. Dropping Tough/Weave to make room for Chain damage doesn't seem worth the animation time (as a blaster). My entire goal is to End drain the group to 0 immediately, why would I then tesla cage anyone?


Edit: Forgot to say, Shocked seems like a great way to bring Elec damage more in line with powers like Fire Blast (Which has a DPS proc too)
Edit with a copy across: Not sure how I feel about losing the damage on Aim. 12.5% damage loss and 10% to-hit loss kinda hurts and isn't really made up for.

Edited November 6, 2021 by Gatling

[Wavicle]

24 minutes ago, Gatling said:

As an Elec/En Blaster. I feared this day a lot.

 

I know Elec/ suffers a bit when paired outside of /energy, but with it, it's a great power set. I appreciate the apparent boosts to End draining across the set However, Tesla Cage and VS was always a non-choice.

Tesla Cage is a waste of time (for Blasters) when it's better to directly End drain. And VS was a low damage power that you couldn't really control.

What do other elec/ Blasters think of this? I really don't think Tesla or VS is helping Elec/ Blasters at all as it is but these changes also don't seem useful for Elec/ Blasters either as it will remove other choices/utility to make room for it. Dropping Tough/Weave to make room for Chain damage doesn't seem worth the animation time (as a blaster). My entire goal is to End drain the group to 0 immediately, why would I then tesla cage anyone?


Edit: Forgot to say, Shocked seems like a great way to bring Elec damage more in line with powers like Fire Blast (Which has a DPS proc too)
Edit with a copy across: Not sure how I feel about losing the damage on Aim. 12.5% damage loss and 10% to-hit loss kinda hurts and isn't really made up for.

 

Tesla Cage change brings the set more AoE damage and the Aim change is made up for by the addition of Shock.

[Gatling]

9 minutes ago, Wavicle said:

 

Tesla Cage change brings the set more AoE damage and the Aim change is made up for by the addition of Shock.

I understand the THEORY. But Why would I use it when everything is dead? Really. Testing the shock changes in the new Cimerora as a 50 vs 54's. If I was to drop Weave/Tough I'd have died before I got the AOE's off. So in theory its more DPS but it isn't if I'm dead, or if the enemy is already dead.

Also, how strong is the AOE Drain effect vs 54's with the arc? I still can't 1 drain 54's with Short circuit with the changes to AIM Plus I'm /energy which should be end drain at its strongest. But instead They still have enough End to get 1-2 attacks off. I don't think the Arc lightning of tesla cage would save me or make a difference.

Edited November 6, 2021 by Gatling

[Wavicle]

1 hour ago, Gatling said:

I understand the THEORY. But Why would I use it when everything is dead? Really. Testing the shock changes in the new Cimerora as a 50 vs 54's. If I was to drop Weave/Tough I'd have died before I got the AOE's off. So in theory its more DPS but it isn't if I'm dead, or if the enemy is already dead.

Also, how strong is the AOE Drain effect vs 54's with the arc? I still can't 1 drain 54's with Short circuit with the changes to AIM Plus I'm /energy which should be end drain at its strongest. But instead They still have enough End to get 1-2 attacks off. I don't think the Arc lightning of tesla cage would save me or make a difference.

 

Consider the behavior in team situations. You don't need Tough and Weave if you have team buffs and End drain stacking from multiple sources is very effective.

[Gatling]

6 minutes ago, Wavicle said:

 

Consider the behavior in team situations. You don't need Tough and Weave if you have team buffs and End drain stacking from multiple sources is very effective.

That makes it even worse. In Teams I probably get 2, shots off before it's clear 3 if I'm lucky. And if I open up with Thunderous, I've probably cleared 90% of the group already with the 1 shot.

Add onto the fact the shocked status is end-drain amount based it will not be benefitting me in most team fight situations.
So over-all we're looking at a damage loss of 8% from AIM nerf when you would have used AIM. And not much of a performance difference otherwise.

There will always be exceptions to this rule depending on team composition but largely Teams are buttery smooth for everyone involved. Unless they begin making +4 enemies and lieutenant and up instead of minions, a lot of these bonuses won't play out that great.

Edit: In teams of multiple end drainers these bonuses would be really really great, but over-all enemies wont be alive to really set up a Tesla cage node to AOE off of.

Edited November 6, 2021 by Gatling

[JayboH]

1 hour ago, Gatling said:

Why would I use it when everything is dead?

...why would you use anything when everything is dead?  I don't get your argument so far.

 

Changes to a powerset shouldn't be about making sure some powers are skippable so a player can grab tough/weave for their builds.  Currently that's what I've perhaps misunderstood you to say.

[Wavicle]

4 minutes ago, Gatling said:

There will always be exceptions to this rule depending on team composition but largely Teams are buttery smooth for everyone involved. Unless they begin making +4 enemies and lieutenant and up instead of minions, a lot of these bonuses won't play out that great.

Did you see the expanded difficulty options they’ve begun adding with this patch?

[Gatling]

5 minutes ago, JayboH said:

...why would you use anything when everything is dead?  I don't get your argument so far.

 

Changes to a powerset shouldn't be about making sure some powers are skippable so a player can grab tough/weave for their builds.  Currently that's what I've perhaps misunderstood you to say.

No.

I'm saying that the powers offered aren't useful for the archetype because the time it takes to use them would be better spent killing or surviving. Tough and Weave are just an example of dropping survivability in order to "Increase dps" but the result would be that I would DIE instead. Thus NOT increasing DPS.

Or for builds that don't use that, the time it takes to cast Tesla Cage and then AOE off of it, is already enough time to have cast another AOE to fully end drain the group or Kill them.

Edit: 

I did see the expanded Difficulty (can't figure out/remember how to quote after already posting). It's currently only on 1 mission right? I can see the changes working nicely there for it, but A whole build for 1 mission (until its rolled out to everything?) Seems like a bit of stretch. But unless I missed a change on how Tesla cage is cast/works I just am not seeing the benefit right now.

Edited November 6, 2021 by Gatling

[JayboH]

4 minutes ago, Gatling said:

I'm saying that the powers offered aren't useful for the archetype because the time it takes to use them would be better spent killing or surviving.

That's a gameplay choice argument, like a min/maxer yelling at a newbie for selecting something that isn't optimal.

 

The best argument you could make is that you want the activation sped up for the initial hit to make it more worth it.  The other option is Ball because the nuke takes awhile, and we have to dismiss manipulation AOEs and pools because of player choice when it comes to balance.

[Gatling]

13 minutes ago, JayboH said:

That's a gameplay choice argument, like a min/maxer yelling at a newbie for selecting something that isn't optimal.

 

The best argument you could make is that you want the activation sped up for the initial hit to make it more worth it.  The other option is Ball because the nuke takes awhile, and we have to dismiss manipulation AOEs and pools because of player choice when it comes to balance.

I think you're taking my arguments in bad faith here. I AM looking at it from a min-max perspective, but also from the idea that the AT could benefit from something more direct in general due to how efficient teams / people tend to run. The player won't get use/enjoyment out of it. Which affects everyone trying to play the power set, not just "Min maxers". I'm not some elitist, I'm just running numbers in my head.

For other AT's the idea seems pretty good. Like Sentinel or Defender, but as a Blaster I'm not seeing the benefit. I could be wrong of course, but as of right now? Not sure.

Edit: It's also going to take a long time to test/feel it out vs my current build.

Edited November 6, 2021 by Gatling