Seismic Blast's Meteor: how are you utilizing it?

[Techwright]

With Seismic Blast, I started off using meteor like I did some of the other flashy tier 9 powers:  as often as I can.  This...didn't work.  Meteor has such a long wind-up before the pitch that teams were wiping out mobs before the meteor hit.   I've even seen this when the meteor was activated with mobs at 75%.  Big splashy nothingness.

 

To add insult to injury, I've seen what appears to be mobs leaving the field of impact and not being affected.  There've also apparently been mobs entering the field and being impacted. Well, that's a plus, I guess. This appears to be unlike other powers with a delayed hit where the hit decision is made by the computer at the moment the player fires off the power rather than visual fulfillment.  This latter always made sense to me because back in the original game, connection speeds were different, and results would have been skewed if the player had to wait until the visuals fired.

 

All that left me feeling that meteor was highly unpredictable...unless used as a first strike weapon.  It does work well, very well, if the mob is standing oblivious to impending doom.  I'm still working out when best to fire it if a tank or brute is taunting and herding. Obviously a tight group is a prime target, but is often down to 75% or more as the other teammates chip away at them.  That refers back to paragraph one.

 

I've also chosen to add the knockback-to-knockdown conversion enhancement.  While I admit the far-flung mobs are hilarious, and they currently entertain the teammates, I can see that tiring quickly and tank-y types decrying the destruction of their beautiful herding efforts. 

 

That's all me.  I've got to believe...I'm hoping...that someone has learned a different way of doing things that is more effective and usable at most any point in the fight.  With half of the powerset powers at minor or light, having the extreme-damage power be so (seemingly) conditional makes it feel like I'm not contributing as much as I could. 

 

 

[Bopper]

I usually go Seismic Force > Meteor > Upthrust. The projectile of Upthrust usually hits right at impact with Meteor for bursty non-notified attacks.

 

I also use the positioning of the Meteor's location to control where I want the enemies knocked. If I want them to be knocked away, I put the location slightly in between me and the mob. If I want them knocked in towards me, I put the location behind the mob. If I have a tank who is gathering mobs to a known location, I'll put the Meteor's location at that spot while they Taunt or Fold Space the masses into that spot.

[Frozen Burn]

Spoiler

35 minutes ago, Techwright said:

With Seismic Blast, I started off using meteor like I did some of the other flashy tier 9 powers:  as often as I can.  This...didn't work.  Meteor has such a long wind-up before the pitch that teams were wiping out mobs before the meteor hit.   I've even seen this when the meteor was activated with mobs at 75%.  Big splashy nothingness.

 

To add insult to injury, I've seen what appears to be mobs leaving the field of impact and not being affected.  There've also apparently been mobs entering the field and being impacted. Well, that's a plus, I guess. This appears to be unlike other powers with a delayed hit where the hit decision is made by the computer at the moment the player fires off the power rather than visual fulfillment.  This latter always made sense to me because back in the original game, connection speeds were different, and results would have been skewed if the player had to wait until the visuals fired.

 

All that left me feeling that meteor was highly unpredictable...unless used as a first strike weapon.  It does work well, very well, if the mob is standing oblivious to impending doom.  I'm still working out when best to fire it if a tank or brute is taunting and herding. Obviously a tight group is a prime target, but is often down to 75% or more as the other teammates chip away at them.  That refers back to paragraph one.

 

I've also chosen to add the knockback-to-knockdown conversion enhancement.  While I admit the far-flung mobs are hilarious, and they currently entertain the teammates, I can see that tiring quickly and tank-y types decrying the destruction of their beautiful herding efforts. 

 

That's all me.  I've got to believe...I'm hoping...that someone has learned a different way of doing things that is more effective and usable at most any point in the fight.  With half of the powerset powers at minor or light, having the extreme-damage power be so (seemingly) conditional makes it feel like I'm not contributing as much as I could. 

 

 

 

 

I don't have Meteor yet - close to it, though! So I appreciate your comments and "warnings" here.  I will say that I do really like the delay in damage from Upthrust so that it's timed with the animation. I know it's different from other powersets - part of the reason I like it - but I also like that I can cast Upthrust and then port into the middle of the mob and do other AOEs right as Upthrust hits. 

 

Bopper's comments on timing Upthrust with the delay of Meteor sounds like it would be right on par with what I'm doing.  However, as you've mentioned, that may be different when teamed.  

 

I suspect, I'll have to play a little like my Archery/Dev blaster and "think ahead" of the mobs and Tanks/Brutes herding.  I would have to cast Rain of Arrows where I thought the mobs will be herded so that I could time the damage hitting correctly.  Many-a-times I've staked dead corpses to the ground with Rain of Arrows because I didn't cast soon enough.  (Adding in Trip Mines / Timebomb ahead of the herd only added more foresight needed.)  🙂  

Anyway, looking forward to trying Meteor out and may have more comments later on after trying it out.

[roleki]

So far, all I've done with Meteor is sprinkle minions around AP.  There are other uses?

[cranebump]

Off topic, but:

 

Man the animation for one of the SB powers, that huge, stone marshmallow, just covers the screen. If you're zoned in as a melee toon, and you're running with multiple rock throwers, it can be hard to see what you're doing sometimes.

[srmalloy]

6 hours ago, Techwright said:

With Seismic Blast, I started off using meteor like I did some of the other flashy tier 9 powers:  as often as I can.  This...didn't work.  Meteor has such a long wind-up before the pitch that teams were wiping out mobs before the meteor hit.   I've even seen this when the meteor was activated with mobs at 75%.  Big splashy nothingness.

 

To add insult to injury, I've seen what appears to be mobs leaving the field of impact and not being affected.  There've also apparently been mobs entering the field and being impacted.

This is the same gross downside to the "Rain of Arrows" tier-9 in Archery before the HC devs tweaked it -- it was a location AoE with a long windup, so that by the time the time the arrows actually started landing, the fight had either moved out of the beaten zone or there weren't enough mobs still standing to be worth having used it on them.

[Dona Eis Requiem]

When I'm playing Feldsparrer (Seismic/Earth/Flame) this is usually how it goes:

 

Fracture (for the -Def &Stun)->Meteor->Bonfire (KD) or Salt Crystals->Spring Attack (from Leaping) into melee range to finish off w/e is left with another Upthrust and/or empowered Rock Shards.

So really it's a lot of KD for soft control and keeping them them in the area of impact. 1 before you drop the Meteor and then 1 to keep them there on it's way down + AoE that usually goes off at the same time it impacts. It works pretty well, for me anyhoo.

I might actually make her my main, I enjoy it that much. Perhaps there won't be a "w/e is left" at some point. 

 

Edited December 6, 2021 by Dona Eis Requiem
~reasons

[0th Power]

...its a meteorite...

[arcane]

Like I use any other nuke: when I project being able to hit lots of stuff. I’m not finding it remotely different in effectiveness so far.

 

Except for the burst chain effect Bopper mentioned. That actually makes this nuke feel superior. His chain but with Pyronic after it is even MORE bursty damage stacking.

Edited December 6, 2021 by arcane

[Clave Dark 5]

On 12/5/2021 at 10:56 AM, cranebump said:

Off topic, but:

 

Man the animation for one of the SB powers, that huge, stone marshmallow, just covers the screen. If you're zoned in as a melee toon, and you're running with multiple rock throwers, it can be hard to see what you're doing sometimes.

I don't know which one it is, but one of the Water powers does this too, just completely fills up the screen if you're anywhere near it for a couple of seconds.  Also not a fan.

[DoctorDitko]

On 12/6/2021 at 9:55 AM, 0th Power said:

...its a meteorite...

True, but only after it hits!

 

[0th Power]

11 hours ago, DoctorDitko said:

True, but only after it hits!

 

That's my point, it does hit.  Also, am I the only one that has a problem when it is used on an indoor mission?

[Marshal_General]

14 minutes ago, 0th Power said:

That's my point, it does hit.  Also, am I the only one that has a problem when it is used on an indoor mission?

Hey, I have a guy who shows up for work on a motorcycle now matter where I am.

 

Come to think about it, I should talk to the two guys who crawl out a manhole cover in a cave.

[0th Power]

1 minute ago, Marshal_General said:

Hey, I have a guy who shows up for work on a motorcycle now matter where I am.

 

Come to think about it, I should talk to the two guys who crawl out a manhole cover in a cave.

are those MM pets?  That would bother me too if I played MMs.

[Dona Eis Requiem]

It sounds like the KB is your issue with it? If so, you'll have to decide if you're willing to sacrifice a slot for a KBtoKD in it. 

It takes some finessing to set it down in a good spot to mitigate the KB, otherwise. (Like any other KB power, I'm sure you're aware of). 

Soloing it's not too much of an issue because you have the time to set your rotation to get the results you want out of it.

(And not waste a perfectly good nuke)

I find that using it on teams, I'm better off without the KB.

Provided your team is at a level where they can handle consecutive mob aggro, setting it to drop on the next mob in your LoS can give it the time it needs to drop and actually hit something. Depending on the room, there shouldn't be much left to aggro anyhoo.

 

[Marshal_General]

3 minutes ago, 0th Power said:

are those MM pets?  That would bother me too if I played MMs.

Yes. I take handwavium to cope with such things.

[Techwright]

On 12/5/2021 at 11:39 AM, Frozen Burn said:

  Reveal hidden contents

 

I suspect, I'll have to play a little like my Archery/Dev blaster and "think ahead" of the mobs and Tanks/Brutes herding.  I would have to cast Rain of Arrows where I thought the mobs will be herded so that I could time the damage hitting correctly.  Many-a-times I've staked dead corpses to the ground with Rain of Arrows because I didn't cast soon enough.  (Adding in Trip Mines / Timebomb ahead of the herd only added more foresight needed.)  🙂  

Anyway, looking forward to trying Meteor out and may have more comments later on after trying it out.

 

I've not run a stopwatch on it, but I'm pretty sure Meteor is actually slower to strike than Rain of Arrows is currently.

 

On 12/5/2021 at 12:51 PM, roleki said:

So far, all I've done with Meteor is sprinkle minions around AP.  There are other uses?

 

It's very useful at tenderizing those tough but cheaper cuts of red meat.

 

11 hours ago, Dona Eis Requiem said:

It sounds like the KB is your issue with it? If so, you'll have to decide if you're willing to sacrifice a slot for a KBtoKD in it. 

 

Actually the KB is not really a problem.  I've slotted KB to KD on a lot of my characters, including practically everywhere on one of my primary toons, my energy/energy blaster.  I'm not thrilled that the devs chose KB as a default over KD, especially seeing how far the opponents are flung leaving the team to run around like headless chickens trying to control the situation.  Also I'm not thrilled to lose one of my enhancement slots to that KB-to-KD, but que sera sera.

 

No if there was one thing I was focused on, it would be coming up with a useful scenario in a team or league where I could utilize meteor with its long animation start in something other than a first strike and not have the opponent mobs wiped out by said team or league before the meteor hit.    Currently only a first-strike seems to have consistently effective results.

 

I've not consistently tried Bopper's tactic, which sounds worth doing, but I don't think it solves that late-to-the-party, no opponents left thing.

 

[Frozen Burn]

On 12/5/2021 at 11:39 AM, Frozen Burn said:

  Reveal hidden contents

 

 

I don't have Meteor yet - close to it, though! So I appreciate your comments and "warnings" here.  I will say that I do really like the delay in damage from Upthrust so that it's timed with the animation. I know it's different from other powersets - part of the reason I like it - but I also like that I can cast Upthrust and then port into the middle of the mob and do other AOEs right as Upthrust hits. 

 

Bopper's comments on timing Upthrust with the delay of Meteor sounds like it would be right on par with what I'm doing.  However, as you've mentioned, that may be different when teamed.  

 

I suspect, I'll have to play a little like my Archery/Dev blaster and "think ahead" of the mobs and Tanks/Brutes herding.  I would have to cast Rain of Arrows where I thought the mobs will be herded so that I could time the damage hitting correctly.  Many-a-times I've staked dead corpses to the ground with Rain of Arrows because I didn't cast soon enough.  (Adding in Trip Mines / Timebomb ahead of the herd only added more foresight needed.)  🙂  

Anyway, looking forward to trying Meteor out and may have more comments later on after trying it out.

 

Ok, Now that I have Meteor and have played with it for a while, yes, it's like OLD Rain of Arrows (before animation tightening) and have to "think ahead a bit."  But still, it's manageable.  I absolutely LOVE this power.  And I love the massive KB even on indoor maps. With BU and/or Aim powers or some reds... things die, so the KB is a non-issue.  If anything does survive, they're easily picked off.  

 

I am Seismic/MA and have inherent BU, so for my attack chain, I'll hit Seismic Force (aka Aim) that has the Gaussian proc in it which almost always goes off, launch meteor, then launch Upthrust, then do Burst of Speed (TP into mob) and it all hits at once for one HUGE alpha strike. Not much survives, if anything.  Other times, it is AIM, Meteor, Upthurst, Rock Shards.  

[lemming]

I've noticed I can queue up Tombstone right after Meteor and they hit at the same time.

[Razor Cure]

The KB on the power UTTERLY kills it for me.

Utterly.

Seriously, why does it have to be so high? The exact same reason why I have never and will never make an Energy blast toon.

I just got Meteor on my Seismic Blaster, and was enjoy it before then.

Now..my most damaging power throw everything all over? No thanks.

 

And yeah, i COULD 'fix' it with a -kb IO..but..why should I have too? With  all the great changes and addons this update..you give us another huge knockback aoe?

Someone really dropped the ball on that. Even if the power ONLY did the huge KB with Seismic Force.

 

Oh, and it also makes zero sense for the power to actually be Knockback. Think about it..you get hit with a meteor that size..you are pancaked, not thrown back.

Edited December 11, 2021 by Razor Cure

[arcane]

I have zero sympathy for anyone that acknowledges KB is their issue with a power but simultaneously refuses to slot a KB->KD. That’s ridiculous. The perfect solution is right in front of you but you’re going to let the power be worse for you because you have to stick to your principles about a supposed slot tax of some sort? Either convert it down to KD or don’t complain, those are your rational choices.

Edited December 11, 2021 by arcane

[aethereal]

22 hours ago, Techwright said:

 

I've not run a stopwatch on it, but I'm pretty sure Meteor is actually slower to strike than Rain of Arrows is currently.

 

If I'm reading City of Data right, Meteor's damage lands 5.5 seconds after casting, Rain of Arrows' damage lands 3.6 seconds after casting, so yes.  Almost 2 seconds more delay on Meteor.

[Razor Cure]

23 minutes ago, arcane said:

I have zero sympathy for anyone that acknowledges KB is their issue with a power but simultaneously refuses to slot a KB->KD. That’s ridiculous. The perfect solution is right in front of you but you’re going to let the power be worse for you because you have to stick to your principles about a supposed slot tax of some sort? Either convert it down to KD or don’t complain, those are your rational choices.

Perfect solution? Given the divide between hating kb and loving it, the PERFECT solution would have been not to make the power have such a stupid amount of kb? I mean..look at energy blast again. hardly popular is it.

Hardly my principles either. The power out of the box, with that KB, is mechanically shitty. Who wants to spread a mob all over?

And yeah, it is a slot tax if I have to slot an IO because the power works in a non helpful way.

Edited December 11, 2021 by Razor Cure

[Erratic1]

On 12/5/2021 at 9:52 AM, Techwright said:

With Seismic Blast, I started off using meteor like I did some of the other flashy tier 9 powers:  as often as I can.  This...didn't work.  Meteor has such a long wind-up before the pitch that teams were wiping out mobs before the meteor hit.   I've even seen this when the meteor was activated with mobs at 75%.  Big splashy nothingness.

 

If your group is wiping out spawns that quickly, move ahead of them, pop Seismic Forces, then use Meteor on a fresh group while they are killing the previous spawn.  Do Upthrust immediately after casting. What doesn't die to your Upthrust (which will hit with the Meteor) and Meteor combo will be spread and your team will be along presently for the pick up.

[Erratic1]

39 minutes ago, Razor Cure said:

Now..my most damaging power throw everything all over? No thanks.

 

You need MORE POWER so things die to it.

 

I am not the biggest fan of knockback but with such a stupidly high value I love it. Seriously considered renaming my character Chicxulub or Extinction Level Event because of Meteor.

 

You do not want to know what I considered naming my character because of Upthrust.