Focused Feedback: Storm Blast

[Spectre7878]

I am playing a corruptor storm blast storm summoning. So far I love the animations and the abilities. Still messing around with slotting and sets. She is a bit endurance heavy. It feels like a true weather character. One I have been waiting for. I don’t see a big issue with jet stream. If anything my gale and hurricane is worse with knock back. I am bad at reviews but I think devs did well with this new power set. 
 

ps. I really wanted Shuriken blast set to make my ninja blaster. Maybe next time 👍😁

[Jacke]

On 4/11/2023 at 1:02 AM, TygerDarkstorm said:

FWIW, many a few of the Storm Blast powers can be slotted for end-mod (thus returning end to you).

 

Unless the power explicitly say it delivers End to the caster, powers do not do that.  Those EndMod Enhancements increase the amount of End sapped from the mobs.  From what I've heard (you'd have to check CoD2 under the Alpha setting), the Storm Blast powers drain the mobs, but do not deliver End to the caster.

[UltraAlt]

5 hours ago, Spectre7878 said:

ps. I really wanted Shuriken blast set to make my ninja blaster. Maybe next time 👍😁

 

yeah, you have to go with a dominator ?/martial assault for the shuriken action at this point.

https://homecoming.wiki/wiki/Martial_Assault

[SableShrike]

53 Storm/SR/Electric Sentinel with max Damage Incarnates.  Fully IO’d out to 45% Defense and decent +recharge.

 

Very solid versus even 54 Arachnos, though they can debuff and kill you sometimes.  Mostly it’s the boss Fortunatas as usual.

 

I swapped out my Elec attacks in a few respecs and only use Lightning Field and Rehabilitating.

 

Which brings me to my main finding: using non-Storm Blast attacks in your rotation feels like I’m leaving proc effects on the table.

 

Logically there is a break-point where a non-Storm attack is so good that loss of Storm Cell procs doesn’t matter.  Though I don’t know the math for that.

 

 Still messing about with what my ideal Storm rotation is.

 

Gust: great for the -Fly and good DPA.

 

Hail: gotta play more with this to decide, hard to choose this over Gust or Cloudburst.

 

Jet Stream: wound up dropping it due to it being the only cone and shorter range.  Good while leveling, though, and fun.

 

Storm Cell:  love it, but took some getting used to.  A great spot for Overwhelming Force.  Lotsa knockdown then.  Wish the Slow was a bit stronger as it would help keep them in Cat 5 more.  Very defensive when proccing, a lot of my survival is due to this.

 

Intensify: a bit random for an “Aim”, but I like it.  Very fun to drop Cat 5 after this as it greatly ups the proc chance.

 

Lightning Strike:  hits like a truck and procs Stun well on Lts and Minions.  Fave power.

 

Chain Lightning:  I really like chains, so no complaints here.  Damage feels just about right.  Procs Ragnarok’s KD IO well.

 

Cloudburst:  My only gripe is the damage tick speed.  The time to fully deliver its DPS feels too long when combined with its travel time to target.  This is the same issue that hamstrings Gravimetric Snare.  They almost never tick fully.  I would honestly be in favor of a bit lower DPS if it would do it all upfront; the debuffs are a good “linger” effect for the cloud as is.  Full Charlie Brown.

 

Cat 5:  combos well with Cell to cause sheer pandemonium.  Again, you’re locked into using Storm powers to get the most procs outta this.  Not an insta-gib nuke, but plays more defensive than the others.

 

In all, Storm feels very controllish to me.  It’s a bit random at times; RNG will let me steamroll one group of 54s, but get stuck slogging through another.

 

That’s X-Com, baby.

 

Cell and Cat 5 add a significant level of survival compared to your bog-standard nuke or rain.  I know some folks will want max damage upfront from a set, but it’s nice to have a different style.

[WindDemon21]

19 hours ago, electric_emu said:

great but lacks a certain punchiness when it hits.  Chain Lightning's animation is weird.  I think I'd rather see something closer Electrical Affinity buffs, Electrical Blast's attacks, or simply a ranged Chain Induction.  

Yes! I kept thinking how weird it looked too don't know why I didn't just think of the elec affinity shock animation but that would make a lot more sense than the weird ball to me.

[WindDemon21]

12 hours ago, Frosticus said:

hmm I'd change storm cell to be target centered rather than location based.

I'd leave it as not requiring line of sight.

 

The reason I'd do that is twofold:

1. I can't imagine most players actually use target location binds, so while I do, most players probably have to click and place it, which can be pretty tedious.

2. More importantly and the main reason to make it targeted is because it should work more like haunt and be taunted on to the target you select for the duration/defeat and then star moving around freely. I think it would work better in practice with that behavior as right now I am unsure who it decides to start following if the mob scatters.

Or just have it not move at all with a shorter recharge like glue arrow. This is immensely important especially when pairing it with any other location power such as tar pit, glue arrow, caltrops, ice patch, etc. Plus it goes you more control on where the field of play is, as it let's you use the code code keep them there, when it moves around you can never tell/be sure when it's going to do that or not. It needs to be a fixed location, rech sooner, and cast faster/cost less end.

[Sovera]

38 minutes ago, WindDemon21 said:

Or just have it not move at all with a shorter recharge like glue arrow. This is immensely important especially when pairing it with any other location power such as tar pit, glue arrow, caltrops, ice patch, etc. Plus it goes you more control on where the field of play is, as it let's you use the code code keep them there, when it moves around you can never tell/be sure when it's going to do that or not. It needs to be a fixed location, rech sooner, and cast faster/cost less end.

 

I'm not sure why a focused feedback thread that has heavily insisted on how Storm Cell needs to recharge faster had an answer that was no. But I'll wait for the next patch and see the changes before adding more to this.

[WindDemon21]

30 minutes ago, Sovera said:

 

I'm not sure why a focused feedback thread that has heavily insisted on how Storm Cell needs to recharge faster had an answer that was no. But I'll wait for the next patch and see the changes before adding more to this.

I didn't not see a specific no anywhere regarding that (unless I missed it but don't think I did, the only response I saw was to fixing storm cells graphics,) and if it's reworked to not move which Is a concern, that would also denote other changes like the rech would be adjusted as well, so hopefully these are all addressed.

Edited April 12, 2023 by WindDemon21

[TygerDarkstorm]

10 hours ago, Jacke said:

 

Unless the power explicitly say it delivers End to the caster, powers do not do that.  Those EndMod Enhancements increase the amount of End sapped from the mobs.  From what I've heard (you'd have to check CoD2 under the Alpha setting), the Storm Blast powers drain the mobs, but do not deliver End to the caster.

If you read through the following posts, my mistake had already been caught and corrected, hence why the post you quoted was edited.

 

Edit: Also, I apologize. I see the even bigger mistake I made in thinking that even direct strike and chain lightning work like all other electric-like attacks in the game. I see now what you're saying; they don't say they specifically give you end in return for their sapping. Thank you for the correction!

Edited April 12, 2023 by TygerDarkstorm

[TygerDarkstorm]

1 hour ago, Sovera said:

 

I'm not sure why a focused feedback thread that has heavily insisted on how Storm Cell needs to recharge faster had an answer that was no. But I'll wait for the next patch and see the changes before adding more to this.

Essentially because in CB we were told that shortening the recharge means shortening the duration of it as well. And we tried that version and it was a lot worse than the current implementation. Slot recharge in it and you can have it perma even while leveling.

 

Edit: And all of our other suggestions (many of which have been mentioned in this thread by open beta testers) were shot down as well. Devs said this is how they want it, and this iteration of cell offered the best bang for the buck, so to speak.

Edited April 12, 2023 by TygerDarkstorm

[WindDemon21]

10 minutes ago, TygerDarkstorm said:

Essentially because in CB we were told that shortening the recharge means shortening the duration of it as well. And we tried that version and it was a lot worse than the current implementation. Slot recharge in it and you can have it perma even while leveling.

 

Edit: And all of our other suggestions (many of which have been mentioned in this thread by open beta testers) were shot down as well. Devs said this is how they want it, and this iteration of cell offered the best bang for the buck, so to speak.

Actually a player, not dev said that. There is absolutely zero reason a power like this can't be on a 30s recharge with 60s duration if it makes sense for the power. Ie: see glue arrow.

 

So it is absolutely within the devs ability to make it 30s tech/60s duration non mobile.

 

Edit: I'd MUCH rather see this get fixed now before it goes live rather than wait for it to go live and then have to wait even longer for the patch after people not on beta start complaining about its recharge/duration/pseudopet issues. clearly, it's an issue for a lot of people already for how pivotal it is. The same issues exist with creepers, but for how it works and how generally good plant control is without it, that's why complaints on that power are fre and far between, but this power is just too pivotal to the set.

Edited April 12, 2023 by WindDemon21

[Dispari]

Faraday Cage as the main point of comparison for a kit-vital power also has a recharge of 10 seconds with a duration of 4 minutes, so I don't see any reason why Storm Cell couldn't have a shorter recharge so it can be positioned exactly where it's needed at any given time.

[TygerDarkstorm]

1 minute ago, Dispari said:

Faraday Cage as the main point of comparison for a kit-vital power also has a recharge of 10 seconds with a duration of 4 minutes, so I don't see any reason why Storm Cell couldn't have a shorter recharge so it can be positioned exactly where it's needed at any given time.

Honestly, making it like Faraday Cage was the solution I thought made the most sense considering how awful Storm Blast plays when Storm Cell is not up and Cell is like *the* set defining power.

[TygerDarkstorm]

7 minutes ago, WindDemon21 said:

Actually a player, not dev said that. There is absolutely zero reason a power like this can't be on a 30s recharge with 60s duration if it makes sense for the power. Ie: see glue arrow.

 

So it is absolutely within the devs ability to make it 30s tech/60s duration non mobile.

You do realize I was specifically talking of the closed beta testing that happened before here, yes? Several of us fought for all the same reasons people here have mentioned about Storm Cell.

 

One of the devs working the powerset told us how they want the power to be, and basically, this was it. To get the shorter recharge, it had a much shorter duration (that was how they wanted to compensate for it), and it sucked, utterly.

 

And the point still stands that even in its current form, Storm Cell is made perma rather easily, even while leveling. It's not ideal, but we're not likely to see much, if any changes, with Cell given that.

[WindDemon21]

11 minutes ago, TygerDarkstorm said:

You do realize I was specifically talking of the closed beta testing that happened before here, yes? Several of us fought for all the same reasons people here have mentioned about Storm Cell.

 

One of the devs working the powerset told us how they want the power to be, and basically, this was it. To get the shorter recharge, it had a much shorter duration (that was how they wanted to compensate for it), and it sucked, utterly.

 

And the point still stands that even in its current form, Storm Cell is made perma rather easily, even while leveling. It's not ideal, but we're not likely to see much, if any changes, with Cell given that.

Wait there was another testing BEFORE this one? I thought beta was like first run.

 

Regardless doesn't mean they can't realize their mistake and correct it with more and more people saying how it needs adjusted. Prepare for even more if it goes live like this..

 

Edit: seriously I can't commend the creating devs enough for making a set like this. Obviously this is very near to my heart given my name, but the adjusting devs who say "this is it and is intended" without listening to player concern have been making some very unnerving "cryptic feeling" decisions lately. Hopefully this is one they'll realize they're wrong in and correct. I want this set to be the best that it can be.

Edited April 12, 2023 by WindDemon21

[TygerDarkstorm]

4 minutes ago, WindDemon21 said:

Wait there was another testing BEFORE this one? I thought beta was like first run.

 

Regardless doesn't mean they can't realize their mistake and correct it with more and more people saying how it needs adjusted. Prepare for even more if it goes live like this..

It's not exactly unknown anymore that there's a closed beta process that happens before things go to Brainstorm... One of the devs has even said that once things hit Brainstorm, they're more looking for bugs and such and that drastic changes are not as likely to happen at that point.

 

And again, Storm Cell is easily made permanent, so even if people complain, I imagine that that is what the response will be.

[WindDemon21]

3 minutes ago, TygerDarkstorm said:

It's not exactly unknown anymore that there's a closed beta process that happens before things go to Brainstorm... One of the devs has even said that once things hit Brainstorm, they're more looking for bugs and such and that drastic changes are not as likely to happen at that point.

 

And again, Storm Cell is easily made permanent, so even if people complain, I imagine that that is what the response will be.

Well where they create the power yeah. But again, I certainly didn't get a notification for it as many others. So it's not out of the realm where they may not have proper people in thar stage of the process.

 

Especially given how many have a problem with it. It's not like it's changing what the power DOES, we're only talking about changing stats like its recharge/fixed location etc. That should certainly be in their realm of understanding to tweak it.

[Dispari]

10 minutes ago, TygerDarkstorm said:

And again, Storm Cell is easily made permanent, so even if people complain, I imagine that that is what the response will be.

It's not JUST about making the ability permanent, it's about being able to relocate it where you need it to be.

[TygerDarkstorm]

1 minute ago, Dispari said:

It's not JUST about making the ability permanent, it's about being able to relocate it where you need it to be.

Fair enough; which is why I wanted it to be like Faraday Cage. I'm not exactly sure the reasoning behind that aspect of it. The following you mechanic was added for flavor as opposed to being like a feature. Something like that, idk, it was weird. But yeah, it almost needs to be like an actual rain patch that doesn't move, or let us move it about a la Cage. But again, we tried asking for these types of changes. Not sure they're gonna change it now. I don't recall having too many issues with it last with me for two spawns, and it generally seemed to want to stay around the target I was attacking.

[Dispari]

To me it feels like the follow mechanic is more of a bandaid that being able to cast it yourself every 10 seconds (or so) would negate the need for. If you could position it freely like Faraday Cage then it wouldn't NEED to move around. And moving around would actually be counterproductive since it's just AI and has a tendency to do things you don't want it to do.

With something like Creepers I can see the purpose of the recharge time and movement. It's more of a damage power than anything and is a perk, not a necessity. For Storm Cell a lot of the set revolves around it and requires it. And it seems to me that being able to put it exactly where you want it at any given time would even solve some common complaints, like the repel being annoying when enemies aren't in the Storm Cell.

[TygerDarkstorm]

Believe me, I feel you, lol. I don't quite understand why Storm Cell isn't more like Faraday Cage when you're pretty much required to have Cell up to not feel like the set is poodoo. I have enjoyed the hours spent playing it enough that I am willing to work with whatever the devs do decide to do. I just wanted people to know that many of us get your frustration and advocated for it to be more permanent, and are offering ways to make it work within the realm of what we've been given.

[Sovera]

58 minutes ago, TygerDarkstorm said:

Essentially because in CB we were told that shortening the recharge means shortening the duration of it as well. And we tried that version and it was a lot worse than the current implementation. Slot recharge in it and you can have it perma even while leveling.

 

Edit: And all of our other suggestions (many of which have been mentioned in this thread by open beta testers) were shot down as well. Devs said this is how they want it, and this iteration of cell offered the best bang for the buck, so to speak.

 

Shortening is not a problem and I've seen the argument made against it. But, a 30 second duration should be fine, no? What fights other than an AV last that long? We usually blaze through a spawn at +4 on a full team in about 15-20 seconds. While leveling we usually are at +0 or +1 and the speed is the same.

 

Not aimed at Tyger in particular with my following words, but the argument about how the power is 'perma' with a couple SOs is also puzzling. What does it matter if it is 'perma'? Why is this even brought to the conversation? After being cast the power will not run after the player at a good enough speed to be reliable, and on top of that will trail -behind- the player instead of being cast 40-60y -ahead-.

 

'But Carrion Creepers has the same cooldown!' So what? What does that comparison serve? Is Carrion Creeper a linchpin? No, it adds some CC and adds damage. It is a good power, but it is not a linchpin. I would put Seeds of Confusion in the linchpin podium, and, 'lo', it has a native recharge of 60 seconds so it is up for every spawn pretty darn early without need to be chockful of IOs.

 

 

I'm puzzled at the struggle in this change when all it took was a few dissenting voices for Beanbag to be rolled back and in the meanwhile some top quality of life is under a perma repel effect.

 

I can see that someone soloing on their ranged character might not be super bothered with the 28-30-second-all-IOed-out recharge since fights take longer as a solo ranged character what with chasing mobs and scattering. Even then a 30 second duration should not be horrible since they have unloaded tStorm Cell, their nuke, pew pewed, and there might be a few living mobs at the end but those can be moped up even without Storm Cell's benefit.

[WindDemon21]

20 minutes ago, Sovera said:

Shortening is not a problem and I've seen the argument made against it. But, a 30 second duration should be fine, no? What fights other than an AV last that long? We usually blaze through a spawn at +4 on a full team in about 15-20 seconds. While leveling we usually are at +0 or +1 and the speed is the same.

 

Not aimed at Tyger in particular with my following words, but the argument about how the power is 'perma' with a couple SOs is also puzzling. What does it matter if it is 'perma'? Why is this even brought to the conversation? After being cast the power will not run after the player at a good enough speed to be reliable, and on top of that will trail -behind- the player instead of being cast 40-60y -ahead-.

Right, perma should, and for the most part is a given. The problem is it being when and where you need it, which the pet ai and movement speed can't account enough for, so the logical fix is just having it recharge in 30s and not move like glue arrow.

 

That being said, working like that,  there still isn't anything OP about it lasting 60s, that just means you font have to recast it as soon ON THE SAME MOB, which is exactly the QOL fix they gave to glue arrow.

 

While we're at it, it seems weird it can only be cast on the ground, and not in the air, but that's not usually a huge concern for most fights.

Edited April 12, 2023 by WindDemon21

[TygerDarkstorm]

So, since I hadn't played Storm in a while, I rolled a Storm/Fire blast character on Brainstorm. I am not, personally, having issues with Storm Cell  and location. It follows me, makes it through 2 spawns like always, and it seems to want to stay near me or the mob(s) I'm targeting. I have not yet had it try to go after random runners or anything. It's a little slow to engage the second group with, but otherwise I don't really have any complaints in this area. It seems to do what it's supposed to and at level 20, I have it perma with 2 recharge SO's.

 

Edit: So yeah, if anything, being able to nudge it up in front of me when I'm ready to engage the next group while it's still active would be nice.

Edited April 12, 2023 by TygerDarkstorm

[ScarySai]

 

49 minutes ago, Sovera said:

But, a 30 second duration should be fine, no?

 

This was tested, it wasn't good.

 

Trust me.

Edited April 12, 2023 by ScarySai