What should we do with Psychic Blast?

[oedipus_tex]

Like the title asks, "What should we do with Psychic Blast?"

 

Maybe the answer is "nothing, it's fine." However for some reason I am never drawn to this powerset. I personally love Psionic Tornado, but I tend to grab it as an APP power. 

 

I can't say for sure that something is wrong with Psychic Blast either. It's not at Assault Rifle levels of awkward to play. But on each AT it always feels to me, for some reason, like Psychic Blast is missing something.

So, do nothing? Or is there room to make it stand out differently than it currently does?

[arcane]

Great set as is 🙂

[Marshal_General]

I would like the damage happen a bit faster once you use an attack. It may just be my perception of it, but it seems the attacks travel slower or there is a little delay from when the mob takes the damage and it seems to land.

[arcane]

4 minutes ago, Marshal_General said:

I would like the damage happen a bit faster once you use an attack. It may just be my perception of it, but it seems the attacks travel slower or there is a little delay from when the mob takes the damage and it seems to land.

HARD NO. The ability to stack damage from multiple attacks in one instant of time by understanding the varying projectile speeds is the #1 coolest thing about the set. 
 

Same goes for Seismic Blast.

Edited February 2, 2022 by arcane

[oedipus_tex]

I've honestly never thought about projectile speed as a factor in the set, but it's interesting to hear different opinions about it.

 

The set also has an extra 20ft of range on most attacks, which is nice. 

 

Is there a particular combo on an archetype where Psi Blast really stands out? I don't see a lot of Psi Blast characters, but its possible that's because some people are turned off by (real or perceived?) high Psi Resistance on end game mobs.

 

I do find myself wishing the Defender version of this set, and also Water, Energy and everything else that has knock, had a bigger chance of firing on Defenders. I adore Psinado and love seeing it flip enemies over, would adore the power if the chance on Defenders was higher.

[A Cat]

I think the set is fine as is. It's AoE is weak imo outside of the very excellent fast animating nuke, but it's single target is good enough that it is still a well balanced set. I think the main thing that makes it special is the damage type, which is good for getting enemies in god mode, though screws you over on robots. 

[arcane]

4 minutes ago, oedipus_tex said:

I've honestly never thought about projectile speed as a factor in the set, but it's interesting to hear different opinions about it.

 

The set also has an extra 20ft of range on most attacks, which is nice. 

 

Is there a particular combo on an archetype where Psi Blast really stands out? I don't see a lot of Psi Blast characters, but its possible that's because some people are turned off by (real or perceived?) high Psi Resistance on end game mobs.

 

I do find myself wishing the Defender version of this set, and also Water, Energy and everything else that has knock, had a bigger chance of firing on Defenders. I adore Psinado and love seeing it flip enemies over, would adore the power if the chance on Defenders was higher.

I don’t think my psi blast toons are super duper high on synergy, but I would say you probably want an extra AoE to round it out on blasters. It’s good as is on single target stuff, though Dominate on defenders is always welcome. My Psi/Martial blaster feels pretty well rounded between the psi s/t chain and having two secondary AoE’s to trigger after psinado.

[arcane]

Just now, A Cat said:

I think the set is fine as is. It's AoE is weak imo outside of the very excellent fast animating nuke, but it's single target is good enough that it is still a well balanced set. I think the main thing that makes it special is the damage type, which is good for getting enemies in god mode, though screws you over on robots. 

I think there’s a lot of players that encounter Minotaurs and Cyclopses more often than psi-resistant robots nowadays 😉

[A Cat]

Just now, arcane said:

I think there’s a lot of players that encounter Minotaurs and Cyclopses more often than psi-resistant robots nowadays 😉

All cimms have zero psi resist iirc, so on an ITF you can alternate doing full damage on cimms and half damage on 5th Column robots. 

[Naraka]

3 hours ago, arcane said:

HARD NO. The ability to stack damage from multiple attacks in one instant of time by understanding the varying projectile speeds is the #1 coolest thing about the set. 
 

Same goes for Seismic Blast.

I was actually going to post how it would be a neat mechanic if there was some kind of power that would "freeze" your next few projectiles for a few seconds before unleashing them all at once. Probably not something to implement since players only care about speed and AoE but it certainly has is used when you're trying to burst down a pesky target.

 

Psi Lance is one of my favorites of the set. If changes were made to the set, I wouldn't want it to be made faster as it doesn't actually make the gameplay faster or more responsive, but rather less impactful with not much commitment in your use of powers.

[SeraphimKensai]

5 hours ago, arcane said:

HARD NO. The ability to stack damage from multiple attacks in one instant of time by understanding the varying projectile speeds is the #1 coolest thing about the set. 
 

Same goes for Seismic Blast.

This big time. We used to PvP where we would time the animations so the damage would arrive at the same time. Best part about the set.

[MTeague]

Never had a problem with Psi Blast. I mean, I try to pick up one or two non-Psi damaging powers along the way, whether Air Superioity or Boxing / Crosspunch, or whatever, for sake of dealing with Robots. Because though most things have low Psi resistance, the ones that do, have a LOT of Psi Resistance.  But the set has always had good range, a snipe, mix of single target and AE options, an Immob, even back when it was Defender-Only. 

 

The recharge debuffs are meaningless on trash that dies fast enough, but can stack nicely on some targets. 

[Glacier Peak]

Psy Blast can hit like a truck on Blasters and has great acc and range. The timing of the attacks is part of its charm and sets it a part IMO. So nothing needs done. 

[Spaghetti Betty]

I think it's fine. It does what it's supposed to do well. Solid, (mostly) unresistable damage that can be fired from a very safe range.

 

I do wish Psychic Scream was a little bit better though. It's one of the coolest powers to me, visually. Also, I feel like the Blaster version could toss Scramble Thoughts for Psychic Scream since it already has a bunch of ST attacks and Will Domination is a slightly better power.

 

But I say this while also being guilty of not taking a Psychic Blast anything very far, mostly because I don't play a lot of Defenders/Corrs and if I make a Blaster, it's in melee, which isn't really Psychic Blast's forte.

 

Guess I gotta make a Psychic/ blapper now.

Edited February 3, 2022 by Spaghetti Betty
Spelling error

[Virtual Green]

Play the (much more fun) Sentinel version of the set, of course!

[Lazarillo]

Gimme no delay on Will Domination (the animation is fast, but the effect is so slow) and I pretty much figure it's good to go.

Unless you're fighting robots.  Or worse, Carnies.

[srmalloy]

7 hours ago, oedipus_tex said:

Is there a particular combo on an archetype where Psi Blast really stands out? I don't see a lot of Psi Blast characters, but its possible that's because some people are turned off by (real or perceived?) high Psi Resistance on end game mobs.

I have a Psi/EM Blaster that I recreated from Live that I enjoy running ITFs with just to watch the mobs popping Unstoppable, see my teammates' damage numbers lose a digit, while she's "Unstoppable? Pfft. As if", continuing to dish out hundreds of points of damage a shot. And with Boost Range, it's amusing to be able to snipe two mobs out of a spawn before they realize they're being attacked and aggro (the 'See that dot?' range).

[Naraka]

I find Sonic/Psi Def a fun combo. Just bubble the team, get my -res going from ranged and plink at tough targets.  Solo, most +1 mobs don't reach me before they get psi'ed. 

[Yomo Kimyata]

Nuke it from orbit.  It's the only way to be sure.

[VashNKnives]

I need to look at  the animations again but I always felt it moved its hands too much to be a mind blasting set. I would prefer it to have a no redraw option where maybe hand/hands to head stayed there during battle. I'd like to feel like a psy cannon vs like I struggle with each attack.

Edited February 3, 2022 by VashNKnives

[kiramon]

Roll the immobilize from subdue into mental blast, give a new blast with some exotic damage type (brain freeze with ice or brain storm with electricity)

 

Increase tk blast to high damage

Increase speed of ticks of tornado, change to psi/cold 

Increase damage of psychic scream, add -resist

 

maybe add something aside from -recharge to the set as a whole - like for example “Thought Seize: inflicting a status effects causes your next attack to lower the targets recharge and increase your own” or something like that.

 

really though psi just needs a damage boost, some animation clean up, and probably a little endurance relief, it definitely feels better on a blaster than a defender/cor despite originating there 

Edited February 3, 2022 by kiramon

[Pzn]

4 hours ago, kiramon said:

it definitely feels better on a blaster than a defender/cor despite originating there 

I think it's because they changed TK blast to higher damage for them already like you suggested above.  They lost will dom in exchange, but it feels better since TK is faster on cast and recharge

[arcane]

3 hours ago, Pzn said:

I think it's because they changed TK blast to higher damage for them already like you suggested above.  They lost will dom in exchange, but it feels better since TK is faster on cast and recharge

Nobody loses Will Domination.

[brasilgringo]

Need to lower the cast times on Scream and Tornado.  Tornado especially is unbearable.  

[KaizenSoze]

18 hours ago, Spaghetti Betty said:

I do wish Psychic Scream was a little bit better though. It's one of the coolest powers to me, visually. Also, I feel like the Blaster version could toss Scramble Thoughts for Psychic Scream since it already has a bunch of ST attacks and Will Domination is a slightly better power.

I have a personal hate on for Psychic Scream. The cone is too narrow, except the Sentinel version, and the cast time is ridiculous.

 

Most of my hate comes from it being the Night Widow T9. The live devs thought it a good idea to give a semi-squishy melee AT an attack that doesn't work well in melee and anchors the player in place for almost three seconds as their T9. 😞

Edited February 3, 2022 by KaizenSoze