Reduce the activation time of Storm Cell

[JasperStone]

8 hours ago, MHertz said:

All of the back and forth about who made exactly which argument, and which arguments are strawmen, is tiresome. Let’s cut to the chase.

 

Under what conditions should powers be balanced? Balanced so all powers are able to “contribute” to a fully-maxed out and slotted-up team that steamrolls everything? Or solo? With or without procs and purple IO sets? With or without Incarnate? With or without PTW powers? On what difficulty setting?

 

Personally, I fear that balancing toward “contribute to a team that steamrolls everything in seconds” will lead to further power creep. If Storm Cell or Cat 5 are balanced to deliver more damage under those conditions, there will be some other set that falls behind, due to activation time or animation time issues or DOT or something else. Then they will start to say “hey, our T9 should contribute too” and get buffed and then someone else will fall behind.

 

Honestly, it feels like the enemies need to be balanced to be harder overall — or at least have more Health so they last longer — because “we steamroll in seconds and I wasted a power” is not an ideal environment for gauging power utility or group dynamics. That move would slow down solo artists, so that would have to be considered as well. Maybe make enemy Health scale with group size? Or maybe make powers scale with team size?

This.

I read through most of the comments yesterday, but I wanted to wait until I had played that night.

 

I appreciated the numbers cited and powers compared, but there was little talk about the practical in-game experience

 

Storm Blast/Sonic Corr

 

Example #1 KM +1 ITF - SC and Cat5 used consistently, particularly the 2 and 3 missions. Pretty Orange numbers

Example #2 Steamroll +1 ITF - relied on  Primary T2 and T3 but the focus was on my Secondary(sonic). Used SC and Cat5 twice. Both times in the final mission. The mobs were melting too fast.

 

I ignored personal play preferences stated. "I only use X powers during Y situations"

I also have Hasten - my personal preference. I see the value in this case.

 

I simply looked at the following:

1. Was the power available? Yes or No

2. Viable to use(large mob)? Yes or No

3. Did I have fun(this has been stated as part of the intent of the set)? - Yes or No 

 

In Example #1 Yes and Yes and oh Yes

In Example #2 No and No and meh kinda fun.

 

It has been said in other threads about other ATs and powersets ...  the game is balanced around SOs.

Maybe it is time to look at balancing the enemies we face to our abilities.

 

 

 

 

[Gobbledigook]

On 5/1/2023 at 9:17 AM, AxerJ said:

For the ability we're using every fight, the activation time is kind of annoying. It really should be immediate. Why do we need to wait 2 seconds before it begins? Why can't the rain just start pouring as soon as we lift our hands up? If Storm Cell's activation time is much reduced (I think it should be near instantaneous), the set will feel much smoother. As it is now, it feels delayed. Not a great feeling. I know this is supposed to be like a slow-moving storm, but that does not mean the activation needs to be lagged -- especially since we depend on this ability for every other ability. Please.

I agree. I said the activation time should be shorter in the test feedback.

 

It will not make a difference to those that are happy with it as it is but those that aren't it would help tremendously. I would reduce it to a sub 1 second cast. It will certainly not be game breaking in anyway.

 

Having Storm cell in the first place would not have been my choice for the set though.

 

Cat 5 is a different matter and could probably do with its damage being applied a little quicker.

 

 

[Galaxy Brain]

Skimming through this, a few things stood out.

 

1) if teams are clearing +4 mobs in less than 10s, are you really even contributing per person? Like if taking 2s of animation time means you miss out on that fight then I think there are bigger issues.

 

2) At the same time, that sounds very anecdotal. Does anyone have evidence of fights lasting this long on average / that they *really* are not contributing? Do you have results like @Ston where you actually compared sets back to back and showed tangible results?

[WindDemon21]

On 5/1/2023 at 4:17 AM, AxerJ said:

For the ability we're using every fight, the activation time is kind of annoying. It really should be immediate. Why do we need to wait 2 seconds before it begins? Why can't the rain just start pouring as soon as we lift our hands up? If Storm Cell's activation time is much reduced (I think it should be near instantaneous), the set will feel much smoother. As it is now, it feels delayed. Not a great feeling. I know this is supposed to be like a slow-moving storm, but that does not mean the activation needs to be lagged -- especially since we depend on this ability for every other ability. Please.

And end cost should be next to nothing since the power doesn't really do anything on its own anyway, your powers costing end does. Among MANY other issues with the powers proccing/damage/acc etc. Esp that lockout should be removed on this and c5 especially given their target caps anyway and unreliability. On a big mob the scaling down damage of the subsequent strikes usually gets wasted in the other aoe volleys, so this power SHOULD shine more on small mobs like when there are a few bosses and lt/s left, but due to the dumb lockout it doesn't even get that benefit.

 

Chain also TERRIBLY needs fixed, having the literal longest recharge, highest end cost, lowest damage, and ability to miss a whole mob entirely if you miss the first target, and hardly procs worth anything compared to any other standard ranged aoe attack, and has a basically zero secondary effect as well. Its REALLY bad, and needs fixed.

 

These two powers are without question the main reason storm lags behind on big/small mobs and needs addressed. (c5 too but that's mixed and i don't mind it not being FULL on nuke but should do more than it does and rech faster than normal nukes IMO)

[MHertz]

1 hour ago, Galaxy Brain said:

1) if teams are clearing +4 mobs in less than 10s, are you really even contributing per person?

This is the 100,000 Influence Question.

 

If one blaster has a nuke that can wipe out all the minions in 3 seconds, doesn't that mean that most team damage is essentially wasted? How can anyone else be said to "contribute" on such a team unless they have even-faster nukes? What ideal team scenario are we hoping for, here?

[Gobbledigook]

2 hours ago, Galaxy Brain said:

Skimming through this, a few things stood out.

 

1) if teams are clearing +4 mobs in less than 10s, are you really even contributing per person? Like if taking 2s of animation time means you miss out on that fight then I think there are bigger issues.

 

2) At the same time, that sounds very anecdotal. Does anyone have evidence of fights lasting this long on average / that they *really* are not contributing? Do you have results like @Ston where you actually compared sets back to back and showed tangible results?

I think it would depends on the team?. A few blasters or even corruptors chaining their nukes could make SB feel slow when you stop to apply Storm cell and then the C5 and someone has already used their big nuke and wiped most of the mob.

 

Harder content could let SB shine a little more though.

[Galaxy Brain]

7 minutes ago, Gobbledigook said:

I think it would depends on the team?. A few blasters or even corruptors chaining their nukes could make SB feel slow when you stop to apply Storm cell and then the C5 and someone has already used their big nuke and wiped most of the mob.

 

Harder content could let SB shine a little more though.

 

Could, sure. Seems like itd be easy to try in game and provide results 🙂

[MHertz]

As I think about this, it occurs to me that a lot of team damage is wasted at current difficulty levels.

 

Suppose a minion has 100 Health. The team is facing a group of 15 minions.

 

A Brute rushes in with a 5-person mêlée AOE and hits 4 targets, because bad guys move and cones suck. Brute does 65 points damage to only 4 targets.

 

The Blaster unleashes a nuke against 15 targets and hits 13, for 105 points each.

 

The Controller throws out some AOE immobilize for 35 points including DOT, hitting 12 targets.

 

All the minions are wiped out. Some take 100 points of damage, some take 105, some take 140, some take 170, and a few take 205. The team did 2,045 damage in total against only 1,500 Health.

 

Who “contributed?” Whose power was “wasted?” Is it about who gets the orange numbers and who doesn’t? Why are we trying to bother looking at combat in this way? It’s not like you get the loot if you’re the one who gets the kill shot.

Edited May 5, 2023 by MHertz

[Brutal Justice]

18 minutes ago, MHertz said:

Who “contributed?” Whose power was “wasted?” Is it about who gets the orange numbers and who doesn’t? Why are we trying to bother looking at combat in this way? It’s not like you get the loot if you’re the one who gets the kill shot.

Be it basketball, football, or CoH, most people want to play in the game and not ride the bench.  When you feel like your riding bench even while in the game it’s not fun.  Most want to feel like they are contributing.

[Galaxy Brain]

Lets use Fire Blast as an example. With only 95% damage boost via enhancement, lets see how many blasters within 1s of animation to get to the tootsie roll center of 16 minions:

 

 

Vs even level, it would take 4~3 blasters with 0 outside buffs using fireball at the same time to wipe out 16 minions depending on DoT

 

Vs +4, it would take more than 8 to roughly 6 to do the same given all DoT damage applies (over 2.6s)

 

Even vs +4, without any bonuses aside from what is slotted in the power (assuming you hit/etc), you would still see "wasted" AoEs even with a 1s animation

[Gobbledigook]

I guess the answer is if you don't like SB don't play it. That would be a shame though. I tried it and have shelved mine. My choice, it's just not for me. Many other sets aren't for me either. Nothing to do with maths, just doesn't feel right.

 

I can't play an AR Sentinel knowing that FA on a blaster is more damage and recharges much faster also lol.

 

If many don't play it then there is a problem.

Edited May 5, 2023 by Gobbledigook

[Rudra]

1 hour ago, Brutal Justice said:

Be it basketball, football, or CoH, most people want to play in the game and not ride the bench.  When you feel like your riding bench even while in the game it’s not fun.  Most want to feel like they are contributing.

Agreed. However, there is a difference between contributing so as to not be riding the bench, and wanting to be the one that insta-kills the spawns before everyone else. A player can do damage, apply buffs to teammates, or apply debuffs, and be contributing without having to have large orange numbers popping up above the targets as their attack kills the mob(s).

 

Edit: And on high damage teams which is the main complaint I see, the need for that one massive hit to insta-kill everything is much less critical.

Edited May 6, 2023 by Rudra

[MHertz]

3 hours ago, Brutal Justice said:

Be it basketball, football, or CoH, most people want to play in the game and not ride the bench.  When you feel like your riding bench even while in the game it’s not fun.  Most want to feel like they are contributing.

There's that word again. I'm not trying to disparage the fact that people want to play the game and "have fun" (whatever that means to the individual), but if we are using "contributing" as our yardstick, we need to know what that means, and how we tell when it's happening for everyone.

 

On my FF defender, I "contribute" by shielding, holding position to keep everyone in the big bubble, and using attacks whenever I feel like I can spare the time. On my Elec/Elec blaster, I "contribute" in different ways depending on the team I'm on — sometimes this means using my nuke, and sometimes it means rounding up strays that escaped someone else's nuke. On my Staff/WP Brute, I "contribute" by running headlong into big groups and taking enough of the aggro that the team doesn't wipe out.

 

What is it about Storm Blast that makes people feel like they aren't "contributing?" Is it because on the very toughest teams, the big T9 power outlasts the bad guys? If so, what's the end goal here? How do we know when we have reached the proper level of "contribution?" How do we do this without crowding out some other powerset, like Ice Blast with its T9, Blizzard? And how do we do this without homogenizing all Blaster sets to become bland, insta-nuke lookalikes?

 

To put it another way, what role in team dynamics does Storm Blast presently fill, and what would we lose if we turn Cat 5 into a copy of Thunderous Blast? Is Storm Blast really good at, say, propping up a team without a Tanker? Really good at dealing with add-on attacks or ambushes? Really good at dealing with maps when full-sized groups are too close together? What is it good at, and does it have to be good at insta-nuke too?

Edited May 6, 2023 by MHertz

[Frosticus]

As a precursor to battle I shouldn't need to be in the battle when I apply it.

60ft puts you dangerously close to spawns, and 40ft for sentinels means you have agro on you when you cast it.

 

In beta I said it needs more range and a faster cast. I still feel that way. The other concerns I brought up (base acc and set io confusion) were addressed and are more or less satisfactory 

[nihilii]

On 5/4/2023 at 5:38 AM, Wravis said:

I'm convinced you don't actually play this game and instead spend all of your time opining on the feedback section.

This is dangerously offtopic, but I have to agree. There's half a dozen regulars on this forum who very clearly don't play the game anymore (if ever), and consistently make negative arguments based on theorycraft data they get online.

This subforum specifically is infested with them. I wish the moderation would do something about it. A couple of posters here have probably alienated hundreds of actual players who are excited about the game, come here casually to make their suggestions, then find themselves facing this barrage of hostility and assume the forum community sucks and is "full of weirdos". When in fact it's literally just those 3-4 posters.

 

Individually putting these guys on ignore is not a solution, they shit up every topic on this board. This can't be a good thing for the community.

Edited May 6, 2023 by nihilii

[Puma]

On 5/1/2023 at 6:23 AM, Saiyajinzoningen said:

i think thematically storms take time to build up and form. The devs have said that this is supposed to be a fun set, not a top tier set. I think it mostly succeeds. just a heads up in the storm secondary set most of the powers have a cast time of 2 seconds or longer. So the cast time is more or less in line with its counterpart.

Go look at the numbers. This is actually false. It does middle to middle-low damage without the benefits of storm cell.  

[Saiyajinzoningen]

4 minutes ago, Puma said:

Go look at the numbers. This is actually false. It does middle to middle-low damage without the benefits of storm cell.  

what's false?

that storms take time build up?

that the devs said this is not supposed to be a top tier set?

that the secondary storm powers (old storm powers) have a cast time of 2 seconds? (on average)

or the cast time is in line with its counterpart?

 

[Puma]

On 5/4/2023 at 2:41 AM, Rudra said:

If the set underperforms, then make a request based off that. Not off the argument that the activation time is too long (since it has a faster activation time than most other Blaster primary powers of the same tier) or that it doesn't affect the fight (since it applies its damage sooner than most other T9s). It was your claim that the activation time was too long that got this entire argument going. I'm not arguing damage. I'm not even arguing effectiveness. I'm just arguing that if other T9s can and do affect the current fight any team is in regardless of what they are fighting, then so does Category 5. Your problem with the powers is the damage. Not the activation time.

If only this had been brought up... by like...several people before it was ever live.   

 

And Rudra, damage and activation time are inherently linked, to some degree, in this game.  

 

 

If I offered you a powerset with every attack doing 2000 points of damage, but each attack took 1 full minute to activate, NO one would take it. 

 

Likewise if I offered someone a powerset where every attack  did 1o points of damage but was instant nobody would take it. Both would be useless.

 

Anyone looking at this post with the desire to really engage understands the issue is that, for  the OP, storm cell (and cat 5) takes forever to really fully activate, and so it hurts their damage output overall.   Every attack is basically built around storm cell, so if you want to perform "up to par" with most other players and your own experiences with other sets, you end up having to start each fight laying these slow building attacks, but since no one else using an other set on the team does, the mobs die before that activation time even pays off.  

Edited May 6, 2023 by Puma

[Puma]

8 minutes ago, Saiyajinzoningen said:

what's false?

that storms take time build up?

that the devs said this is not supposed to be a top tier set?

that the secondary storm powers (old storm powers) have a cast time of 2 seconds? (on average)

or the cast time is in line with its counterpart?

 

Bah, sorry.  I responded to  the wrong post.  I was responding to the post that said the attacks hit like a truck even without storm cell.  Deleting it and fixing it now.  I thnk the key difference though, is the "cast time" of storm doesn't then ALSO require you to keep using other attacks to make it worth it. 
 
If I drop Tornado, it does its full damage no matter what I choose to do next, so that long cast time is worth it.  If I drop Lightning cloud, the same.  

 

If I drop Storm Cell? It does nothing if I start healing, or use  my secondary attacks.  It requires me to KEEP using my primary powers to do damage.   

 

So if I drop Freezing rain, then Tornado, then drop Lighting storm, I will have spent 6-7 seconds setting up but NOT 6-7 seconds before I'm doing real damage.  And I can toss in some secondary powers in between if I need to without losing output from those. 

 

But with storm Blast? I drop Storm Cell, then drop Hurricane, and THEN can start doing real damage after that when I stick with only other storm blast attacks.  Only by then the mobs are dead on a team. And solo, it just doesn't pack enough controllable  punch to move fast either. 

Edited May 6, 2023 by Puma

[Puma]

On 5/3/2023 at 7:10 PM, DrunkFlux said:

I'd add though, I think storm blast screams to be used on a corruptor and I think it can be crazy with any secondary.  Its attacks seem to hit hard even with the lower damage modifier without scourge and just hit like a truck with scourge.  Since corrs/defenders aren't known for being super devastating with most T9s as it is, this works out for them.

Go look at the numbers. This is actually false. It does middle-low damage without the benefits of storm cell and even with storm cell stays middle tier.  It also struggles with a lot of active secondaries since using those powers means you aren't using your primary attacks, so Storm Cell, which took time to set up, isn't proccing.  It works with secondaries like Storm because you set tornado/lightning cloud/etc. and then just focus on blasting your primary to proc the storm cell and hurricane.  And all the while Freezing rain, lightning cloud, and tornado are masking the lower damage output of the blast side.  But others?  No so much,.  

Edited May 6, 2023 by Puma

[Rudra]

2 hours ago, Puma said:

So if I drop Freezing rain, then Tornado, then drop Lighting storm, I will have spent 6-7 seconds setting up but NOT 6-7 seconds before I'm doing real damage.  And I can toss in some secondary powers in between if I need to without losing output from those.

Freezing Rain, Tornado, and Lightning Storm are all part of the Storm Summoning Set. So you are choosing to keep using attacks from the same set.

 

2 hours ago, Puma said:

If I drop Storm Cell? It does nothing if I start healing, or use  my secondary attacks.  It requires me to KEEP using my primary powers to do damage.   

If you use Storm Cell and then heal or another secondary, you are not using attacks from the same set.

 

I get what you are saying. You can drop an attack from Storm Summoning and it will keep attacking without needing other powers to realize its full potential whereas Storm Cell requires you keep attacking. Your main complaint though is that the attack takes too long and does not affect battles on high damage teams because the mobs melt too fast. And if the team is doing damage that fast, do you really even need Storm Cell for the fight? At all?

[Puma]

1 hour ago, Rudra said:

Freezing Rain, Tornado, and Lightning Storm are all part of the Storm Summoning Set. So you are choosing to keep using attacks from the same set.

 

If you use Storm Cell and then heal or another secondary, you are not using attacks from the same set.

 

I get what you are saying. You can drop an attack from Storm Summoning and it will keep attacking without needing other powers to realize its full potential whereas Storm Cell requires you keep attacking. Your main complaint though is that the attack takes too long and does not affect battles on high damage teams because the mobs melt too fast. And if the team is doing damage that fast, do you really even need Storm Cell for the fight? At all?

Right.  That's exactly my point.   With traditional Storm Summoning, you aren't making any of Storm Summoning's powers LESS effective by freely moving between it and your other powerset.  Its powers all function the same no matter what they're followed up by.  If I drop Ice Storm from Ice blast, the same is true.  If I drop Rain of Fire, or hit Irradiate, the same is true.   Storm Blast's two "key" powers, though, don't work that way.  For them to work optimally, you DO need to follow them up by using ONLY powers from Storm Blast.  Likewise, if you DON'T want to use those powers because of the cast time and being locked in to your primary, the rest of your Storm Blast powers aren't working optimally, and your other AoE becomes a knockback which will just annoy the team, so you probably wont use it either.  It's a catch 22.  
 
And while you're right, a fast rolling team WILL be just fine without your Storm Blast powers...I mean...I'm not sure that doesn't mean you SHOULDN'T be able to contribute damage effectively, but with this set's design, that's really hard unless you pair it with a few specific secondaries like Storm Summoning. And honestly, even then, you're not getting anything more from that pairing than you would pairing Storm Summoning with another powerset.    And we're not talking min-maxer teams only.  Most normal, non-max teams move through mobs generally in 30 seconds to 1 minute per mob.  With Storm Blast, that's barely time to feel like you're getting started, even if you don't take a second to use any of your secondary powers.   

 

The set's current design forces you to constantly cast powers that then still don't do much until you trigger them constantly with your other attacks only from that set. It leaves you with this weird lackluster feeling like you're always sort of...nerfed but can't quite figure out why.  

Edited May 6, 2023 by Puma

[Rudra]

1 hour ago, Puma said:

Right.  That's exactly my point.   With traditional Storm Summoning, you aren't making any of Storm Summoning's powers LESS effective by freely moving between it and your other powerset.  Its powers all function the same no matter what they're followed up by.  If I drop Ice Storm from Ice blast, the same is true.  If I drop Rain of Fire, or hit Irradiate, the same is true.   Storm Blast's two "key" powers, though, don't work that way.  For them to work optimally, you DO need to follow them up by using ONLY powers from Storm Blast.  Likewise, if you DON'T want to use those powers because of the cast time and being locked in to your primary, the rest of your Storm Blast powers aren't working optimally, and your other AoE becomes a knockback which will just annoy the team, so you probably wont use it either.  It's a catch 22.  
 
And while you're right, a fast rolling team WILL be just fine without your Storm Blast powers...I mean...I'm not sure that doesn't mean you SHOULDN'T be able to contribute damage effectively, but with this set's design, that's really hard unless you pair it with a few specific secondaries like Storm Summoning. And honestly, even then, you're not getting anything more from that pairing than you would pairing Storm Summoning with another powerset.    And we're not talking min-maxer teams only.  Most normal, non-max teams move through mobs generally in 30 seconds to 1 minute per mob.  With Storm Blast, that's barely time to feel like you're getting started, even if you don't take a second to use any of your secondary powers.   

 

The set's current design forces you to constantly cast powers that then still don't do much until you trigger them constantly with your other attacks only from that set. It leaves you with this weird lackluster feeling like you're always sort of...nerfed but can't quite figure out why.  

If you drop Itensify, Storm Cell, and Category 5 from the list, you still have 6 other attack powers. How are you not able to contribute damage effectively?

[Puma]

1 hour ago, Rudra said:

If you drop Itensify, Storm Cell, and Category 5 from the list, you still have 6 other attack powers. How are you not able to contribute damage effectively?

For one, as pointed out above, the other AoE is a KB.  That really is upsetting for a lot of teams.  I'm not counting Chain Lightning because, while I guess technically it's an AoE, it's a chain attack with really weak damage numbers that have been pointed out in other threads.  That basically leaves you with Cloudburst, Direct Strike, and your tier 1-2 attacks, Gust and Hailstones.  If you compare those to similar sets, it falls pretty smack dab in the middle; below Fire (obviously), electric, beam, and Ice; above Sonic, and Psy, and right next to Siesmic, Energy, and Dark.   But since those sets DON'T just have those four, they have a bunch of AoEs to throw in, it's not a good comparison.  And keep in mind that for those other sets, their heavy hitter single target attacks tend to come between levels 6 and 18, where Cloudburst doesn't come until your tier 8 at level 22.  So for the first 21 levels you'd be stuck with just your tier 1 and 2 single target attacks, a weak AoE chain jump attack, and your snipe.  Unless you want to use your weak AoE KB and annoy a lot of people.  That is, unless you spend the time the OP is talking about setting up Storm Cell every fight and hoping to fire off a few of those attacks and have it trigger its procs before everything dies. 

 

But yes, technically, you're correct: you CAN contribute damage. So can anyone who has access to brawl. But really, why would you choose this set for anything other than cool graphics (and they ARE cool) or thematic choices? And should the choice for cool graphics of thematic integrity come at the cost of being an even contributor to the team?    As others in the set have pointed out, it really is a slow set.  Which, by the way, would be fine, if the payoff for that slowness was greatness in another way.  But with this set, I don't see that payoff.  

[Puma]

5 hours ago, Rudra said:

Freezing Rain, Tornado, and Lightning Storm are all part of the Storm Summoning Set. So you are choosing to keep using attacks from the same set.

 

If you use Storm Cell and then heal or another secondary, you are not using attacks from the same set.

 

I get what you are saying. You can drop an attack from Storm Summoning and it will keep attacking without needing other powers to realize its full potential whereas Storm Cell requires you keep attacking. Your main complaint though is that the attack takes too long and does not affect battles on high damage teams because the mobs melt too fast. And if the team is doing damage that fast, do you really even need Storm Cell for the fight? At all?

Reposting since this post disappeared for some reason and you responded to it very well.  

 

 

Right.  That's exactly my point.   With traditional Storm Summoning, you aren't making any of Storm Summoning's powers LESS effective by freely moving between it and your other powerset.  Its powers all function the same no matter what they're followed up by.  If I drop Ice Storm from Ice blast, the same is true.  If I drop Rain of Fire, or hit Irradiate, the same is true.   Storm Blast's two "key" powers, though, don't work that way.  For them to work optimally, you DO need to follow them up by using ONLY powers from Storm Blast.  Likewise, if you DON'T want to use those powers because of the cast time and being locked in to your primary, the rest of your Storm Blast powers aren't working optimally, and your other AoE becomes a knockback which will just annoy the team, so you probably wont use it either.  It's a catch 22.  
 
And while you're right, a fast rolling team WILL be just fine without your Storm Blast powers...I mean...I'm not sure that doesn't mean you SHOULDN'T be able to contribute damage effectively, but with this set's design, that's really hard unless you pair it with a few specific secondaries like Storm Summoning. And honestly, even then, you're not getting anything more from that pairing than you would pairing Storm Summoning with another powerset.    And we're not talking min-maxer teams only.  Most normal, non-max teams move through mobs generally in 30 seconds to 1 minute per mob.  With Storm Blast, that's barely time to feel like you're getting started, even if you don't take a second to use any of your secondary powers.   

 

The set's current design forces you to constantly cast powers that then still don't do much until you trigger them constantly with your other attacks only from that set. It leaves you with this weird lackluster feeling like you're always sort of...nerfed but can't quite figure out why.