Traps Suggestions/Quality of Life Changes

[Disruptor]

Traps is a very unique playstyle and I believe any change to the set should try to keep its core playstyle in tact while alleviating some issues mainly prep time, QoL and the games overall combat speed.

 

The game speed is quite fast nowadays, clearing mobs can be insanely quick and Traps relies heavily on stationary abilities with long cooldown and long activation times. The main goal here is to keep the unique stationary immobile gameplay but speed up activation times and increasing QoL and utility.

 

Please keep in mind activation time =/= recharge time.

 

1. Web Grenade. I believe this move is perfectly fine as of right now. 

 

2. Caltrops. Solid CC ability especially w/ some slow enhancements. I would only suggest lowering the cooldown specifically for lower level play. Right now its 45 second recharge feel likes forever during low level content. I think you could take 10-15 seconds off and it would make 1-20 content feel much better as a Traps. Wouldn't really affect high level play, this ability's recharge is kind of an after thought at 50.

 

3. Triage Beacon. This is the first of many powers in Traps I would lower the activation time aka "prep time changes". Right now TB has a 2.77s activation time, These changes will keep the stationary aspect of Traps but allow the user to place them a bit faster in order to keep up with the speed of the game. I think 2.50s is an easy change but would contemplate as low as a flat 2s for Triage Beacon. Additionally I would like to see TB do something other than just Regeneration, maybe a small bit of Recovery when initially placed or a small initial Heal. The fact that its stationary means most of the time it will not contribute or be valuable unless the fight is long a small initial heal or recovery on placement would guarantee your team benefits even if you quickly move onto the next mob.

 

4. Acid Mortar. This power is very good but also has a 2.77s activation time. Similar to TB lower the activation time a bit somewhere between 2.50 - 2s flat. Nothing else is necessary for Acid Mortar although I personally would like to see Teleport Target & Team Teleport work on Acid Mortar. For reference, Teleport Target/Team Teleport works on Seeker Drones and Force Field Generator but not Acid Mortar which creates a weird inconsistency, essentially making this strategy not really useful. 

 

5. Fore Field Generator. FFG is actually a great example as its activation time is only 2.03, still requires some prep but not nearly as painstakingly slow. The biggest issue with FFG is it lags behind and often there are gaps where you or your teammates do not benefit from the Defense or Status Protection. The best solution/QoL change is to make the FFG buff have a 2-3 second delay before dropping when out of range. An alternate solution would be to increase the radius of the FFG significantly.

 

6. Poison Trap. The best power in Traps, it also has a 2.77s activation time. Once again I will suggest to lower this below to 2.50s or below, no other changes are needed.

 

7. Seeker Drones. No clue if this change is even possible but I would love to break up the two Seeker Drones allowing the player to spawn the Drones individually instead of both spawning on top of another and kind of being wasted on the same target. This change would allow the user more flexibility and utility. Basically allow the player to separate SD, spawning them individually and allowing for better positioning. Right now SD activation time is 2.03s if this change were to go through I'd suggest lowering the activation time due to the fact spawning them separately would add up to over 4s. If separate spawn lower to 1.20ish activation time. I will say this power could potentially be reworked into a toggle where the Drones circle around you similar to Targeting Drone and Seek the nearest enemy but I realize thats too much work.

 

8. Trip Mine. Currently has an activation time of 5.00s, I would advocate for lowering this to 3.00s max if not closer to 2.77s which is what Acid Mortar, Triage Beacon and Poison Trap are right now. 5 seconds is so long in most scenarios and the interrupt timer is 4 seconds...I think honestly is you just made the activation and interrupt time both 3 seconds that would be fine.

 

9. Time Bomb. TBH this power is so bad I honestly think it should be replaced entirely but that may require too much work. One of the best suggestions I saw was this one by PoptartsNinja where its an AoE taunt and if the mobs destroy the bomb it deals half damage. I actually think this is amazing and could be spruced up if they replace the bomb w/ a praetorian clockwork as a tauntbot doing the self-destruct animation. Thats so much work though. Time Bomb is just so bad, it overlaps a ton w/ Trip Mine but is much harder to use and similarly to Trip Mine it really only offers damage which is not what a debuff set like Traps is about. Ideally this power should offer something that isnt already in the set like a Taunt, Terrorize, End Drain or AoE Immob, etc. There are no easy answers for this power. I personally would love a really strong Bear Trap style single target hold you place on the ground and the first enemy that runs over it initially getting stunned then they are slowed shortly after the stun ends, maybe they could take a bit of damage over time.

 

9. Detonator for Masterminds. This is actually much more functional than Time Bomb, one issue is it changes based on whether your henchmen are human or robots, creating an inconsistency in use. I don't actually think this needs to be reworked instead I would add more utility allowing Detonator to work on Acid Mortar, FFG and Seeker Drones. The biggest downside to current Detonator for MM is it both requires an active henchmen and you must sacrifice it which is a huge tradeoff. That said, I think you could create a less henchman reliant power, I dont think there are any other MM secondaries that require your primary to actually function. Could honestly just replace this with Bomb Toss.

 

 

I may update this a bit later, I am quite tired and heading to bed soon. I appreciate anyone who read this, take care for now. I would be interested in seeing other players ideas on how to improve Traps.

[Rudra]

1 hour ago, Disruptor said:

For reference, Teleport Target/Team Teleport works on Seeker Drones and Force Field Generator but not Acid Mortar which creates a weird inconsistency, essentially making this strategy not really useful. 

There is no weird inconsistency. Seeker Drones and FFG are mobile "pets". Acid Mortar is a stationary demi-pet.

 

1 hour ago, Disruptor said:

5. Fore Field Generator. FFG is actually a great example as its activation time is only 2.03, still requires some prep but not nearly as painstakingly slow. The biggest issue with FFG is it lags behind and often there are gaps where you or your teammates do not benefit from the Defense or Status Protection. The best solution/QoL change is to make the FFG buff have a 2-3 second delay before dropping when out of range. An alternate solution would be to increase the radius of the FFG significantly.

I really like this idea.

 

1 hour ago, Disruptor said:

8. Trip Mine. Currently has an activation time of 5.00s, I would advocate for lowering this to 3.00s max if not closer to 2.77s which is what Acid Mortar, Triage Beacon and Poison Trap are right now. 5 seconds is so long in most scenarios and the interrupt timer is 4 seconds...I think honestly is you just made the activation and interrupt time both 3 seconds that would be fine.

I would rather the two Trip Mine powers be the better version of the two. They are identical in almost every respect, except that one version has no interrupt time.

 

1 hour ago, Disruptor said:

9. Detonator for Masterminds. This is actually much more functional than Time Bomb, one issue is it changes based on whether your henchmen are human or robots, creating an inconsistency in use.

It's not an inconsistency, it is self-preservation. A zombie or robot has no sense of self-preservation. So using Detonator does not send them into a panic to offload the explosive. Living minions however have a sense of self-preservation. So they will attempt to get rid of the explosive device, in a useful manner, but die anyway.

 

[Menelruin]

An idea I had before was if the Time Bomb was replaced with a Sticky Bomb attached to a mob, that also inflicted a Fear effect, requiring timing/strategy on when you detonate it...

[Disruptor]

3 minutes ago, Menelruin said:

An idea I had before was if the Time Bomb was replaced with a Sticky Bomb attached to a mob, that also inflicted a Fear effect, requiring timing/strategy on when you detonate it...

This is a solid idea. Honestly almost anything is better than current Time Bomb.