yup, a sonic resonance thread

[Nayru]

surprising, no? i've heard this set is.. very good and after having played it a fair bit, oh my god - i'm starting to realize

well, i don't do this very often anymore these days as i'm used to designing and editing various games' mechanics on my own accord rather than suggesting others do it, but hey - maybe it'll be a tad nostalgic for those prior eras for me, and perhaps people'll like some of the ideas

suppose will take it from the top then, noted values are for defender scalars in particular

Sonic Siphon: ST Debuff (-30% RES 30s non-stacking), 1x accuracy, 2.376/2.17 arcanacast with 16s recharge
this is a surprisingly low-end debuff, surprisingly in the sense that i hear -res is anything and everything as far as debuffs go and yet often times it's difficult to find a spot to use it when i could just blow off 70% of a boss' hp regardless due to still having -30 res without siphon, but we'll get to that power later - this is a slow debuff, not the slowest but slow nonetheless, and interestingly does not do very much despite its paper performance - perhaps nicer vs eb/av? haven't had many testing opportunities sadly

i would like to see two changes done to siphon: reduction of cast time to 1.67s or greater, and a +res component, perhaps 15% for similarly 30s

a faster usetime would do wonders for its usability but a +res component in general would add the secondary utility this power really seems to need, and allow it to slot an actual io set (though admittedly resist sets aren't.... the best..), as well as justifying its non-stacking nature if that had to stay which it probably will judging by some mechanical implementations i've looked over since writing this thread

because the -30 res from this power does not stack, in case i needed to stress that three times, which i have now done

if i had to pick only one of these two changes, i would go with +res by a wide margin, as a fast casting sub-par one slot wonder is still just that

Sonic Barrier: Shield-type Ally Buff (20% S/L/T 240s)
there are numerous instances in the game of a particular defensive mechanic having a psionic hole (hence +res/def all but psionic), i don't think sonic's resist portions should be one of them given its broad lack of utility, this one is straightforward - add 20% psionic resist, simple as

Sonic Haven: Shield-type Ally Buff (20% F/C/E/N 240s)
see prev, its type coverage is quite good for what it's worth

Sonic Cage: ST Capture-type Control (mag 5.96 untouchable 30s), 1.4x accuracy, 1.848/1.67 arcanacast with 60s recharge
half-tempted to not even bother with this one, but.. it's a capture - seems most people skip it, i skip it, if this was a typical non-control 16s ST hold perhaps with a good damage component, that would do this set one hell of a service, but suppose i wouldn't bet on it

Disruption Field: Toggle Target Ally AoE Debuff (-30% RES 0.75s), 0.52 end/sec, 15 radius, 2.904/2.7 arcanacast
this power is pretty much single-handedly oppressing sonic siphon in its splendor - while it has typical support tropes of being completely useless if you're alone (massive cough @ def/res shields) the effect you get out of it if you're not and particularly if your friend is short range focused is very good, i believe its end/sec used to be a bit insane at 1.04/sec and has since been reduced, there's not much to say about this other than if most of sonic reso was like this, nobody would've tried to dissuade me from playing sonic

Sonic Dispersion: Toggle PBAoE Buff Field (15% RES all but Psionic, -8.65 mag vs Stun/Hold/Immobilize), 0.52 end/sec, 25 radius
remember the psionic hole? aside from plugging that, it seems very strange that one of the CC's not prevented by a sound power is sleep, if it couldn't gain a 4th -mag after having its psi hole patched then would like to see -mag immobilize replaced with sleep

Sonic Repulsion: Toggle Target Ally AoE CC (6.23 mag knockback), 1.04 end/sec, -2.5% end/proc, 10 radius
not even sure what to say about this one, i've never picked these toggle knockbacks myself, i'd certainly never pick one i hear has autohit bugs but have read that people've gotten some...... use? fun? out of it with a kb-kd io, which if i had to guess would be something similar to the bonfire effect albeit destroying your endurance in the process.. poor ice control though, huh? perhaps a different thread some other time

Clarity: Anti-CC Ally Buff (-12.98 mag vs stun/sleep/immobilize/hold/confuse/fear, 216.25% sleep resist 108.1% perception 90s)
the typical boring anti-cc bit, identical to empathy's as far as i can tell and while sometimes an okay one-slot wonder, generally perception is sorted by the following things: eat a yellow, have tactics, make other people eat a yellow with the power of team inspirations

the only decent idea i ran into for clarity on the forums prior was putting psi res on it, but sonic just shouldn't have psi holes in its resists in the first place - i would substitute that with some sort of debuff resist, perhaps resist -recharge or -tohit would be the most fitting based on the name/fluff

Liquefy: Location AoE (-35.7% def -26.78% tohit -28.5% recharge +anti-fly 0.5s, 3% 0.67 knockback), 1x accuracy, 2.904/2.67 arcanacast, 30s duration, 300s recharge, 25 radius, 100% chance of soulkill
liquefy, liquefy, liquefy... oh god, if you aren't the absolute worst t9 i've ever had the misfortune of firing off

there's something to be said of other lesser location zones with +50% duration and less than a third of the recharge with utterly superior effects, isn't that right tar patch? but aside from the obvious, i basically just don't even know with liquefy

even if it wasn't set up to be about as dead on arrival as it possibly could be with little to no damage, basically zero proc protential (if not entirely its fault originally at least), very inconsequential debuffs that don't even last a second if mobs leave the field (and they will as almost nothing stops them) with the recharge of a mass hold (which should never have been made 300s but different subject for a different thread).. what would it have going for it?

pretty much nothing! even if it would completely obliterate its slotting i would so much rather see its -def -tohit and minor damage completely stripped in favour of a 120s recharge and a severe -res effect within the field, on the order of -50 or so, so that if mobs are forcefully kept in the field they at least die horribly to give the power an actually impactful if tricky effect to work with, that would be just...... so much better than what it is

plus insult to injury that its field effect is both deceptive to its actual radius and due to (supposedly easily fixed) code wonkery non-recolourable


but well aside from leaving off on the lowest note possible s'about all i've got - perhaps might add some other thoughts in later, as far as feedback goes i would just request avoiding false equivocancy between sets, just 'cause X is Y and does Z doesn't mean sonic (the thread subject) isn't rather painful and in need of some tweaks

hope my formatting isn't atrocious to read

Edited June 15, 2022 by Nayru
yes