Reduce the activation time of Storm Cell

[Rudra]

29 minutes ago, Puma said:

But really, why would you choose this set for anything other than cool graphics (and they ARE cool) or thematic choices?

Well, I chose it to see what it was like and I kept it because I find it hilarious as hell* and pretty fun.

 

29 minutes ago, Puma said:

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. 

Isn't that a good thing? That means it is at average. The devs said it was not meant to be a top tier set, and you yourself just admitted it was an average set. Does it play differently than other sets? Oh yes, it definitely plays different than other sets. However, we already have 14 other sets that play the way you want, so what harm is there in a set that plays a little differently?

 

Edit:

*- Like when I pop Storm Cell on hostage holders and they keep ignoring me to threaten the hostage until I hit them with another attack. "Rain? Inside? Nah, must be my imagination. What?! Now HAIL too?!"

 

Edit again: So I guess a reason for people to choose this set other than graphics and theme are for the fun of raining on the bad guys' day and hitting them with different storm effects at your leisure?

Edited May 6, 2023 by Rudra
Edited to correct "but" to "and".

[Puma]

On 5/5/2023 at 4:16 PM, MHertz said:

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?

The thing is, normally, while ONE nuke might wipe out all the minions, since -every ranged character- has a nuke, they all get a chance to contribute through out the mobs pretty equally.  

 

Unless, of course, your nuke requires you to set up for 5-10 seconds before doing much.  At that point the other three characters with nukes have cycled through theirs, killing everyone.  

 

*shrug*

Edited May 7, 2023 by Puma

[Puma]

1 hour ago, Rudra said:

Well, I chose it to see what it was like and I kept it because I find it hilarious as hell* and pretty fun.

 

Isn't that a good thing? That means it is at average. The devs said it was not meant to be a top tier set, and you yourself just admitted it was an average set. Does it play differently than other sets? Oh yes, it definitely plays different than other sets. However, we already have 14 other sets that play the way you want, so what harm is there in a set that plays a little differently?

 

Edit:

*- Like when I pop Storm Cell on hostage holders and they keep ignoring me to threaten the hostage until I hit them with another attack. "Rain? Inside? Nah, must be my imagination. What?! Now HAIL too?!"

 

Edit again: So I guess a reason for people to choose this set other than graphics and theme are for the fun of raining on the bad guys' day and hitting them with different storm effects at your leisure?

You literally cut my quote off, explaining why, with this set, it ISN"T a good thing.  It's middle/low in the single target category but its AoEs are ultra weak.  So -every one- of those other sets gets ahead because they ALSO have AoEs that do their damage up front, regardless of you choosing not to use your weaker tier 1-2 powers. 

 

Think of it this way.  You and seven friends are going to race together.  Not really for anything more than just fun. 

 

I give each of you a pair of roller skates, a bicycle, a dirt bike, and a car.  The kicker is, you can only use each for 1 minute at a time in this race. You have to cycle through them as you race.    

 

Your skate and bicycle are just about exactly like your friends': all pretty standard.  

 

But I have set it so your dirt bike's engine doesn't start unless you push it with your roller skates several dozen feet to kick start it.  No one else's does that, but hey, it gives yours flavor! Then I made it so your car only goes zero to 60 in 45 seconds, when you friends all go from 0-60 in 10 seconds...but I did give your car a chance to turbo boost for an additional 10 MPH, but only as long as you strap your bike on the back each time you start it.    

 

When you complain that you have no chance to not only win the race, but even keep up with your friends, so it doesn't feel fun, my response is "If you don't like your dirty bike, I mean, you still have the exact same skates and bicycle as everyone else."   

  

THAT is Storm Blast.  We're still trying to strap the bike on and off every fight while our friends are two miles down the road. 

Edited May 7, 2023 by Puma

[Rudra]

1 hour ago, Puma said:

You literally cut my quote off, explaining why, with this set, it ISN"T a good thing.  It's middle/low in the single target category but its AoEs are ultra weak.  So -every one- of those other sets gets ahead because they ALSO have AoEs that do their damage up front, regardless of you choosing not to use your weaker tier 1-2 powers. 

 

Think of it this way.  You and seven friends are going to race together.  Not really for anything more than just fun. 

 

I give each of you a pair of roller skates, a bicycle, a dirt bike, and a car.  The kicker is, you can only use each for 1 minute at a time in this race. You have to cycle through them as you race.    

 

Your skate and bicycle are just about exactly like your friends': all pretty standard.  

 

But I have set it so your dirt bike's engine doesn't start unless you push it with your roller skates several dozen feet to kick start it.  No one else's does that, but hey, it gives yours flavor! Then I made it so your car only goes zero to 60 in 45 seconds, when you friends all go from 0-60 in 10 seconds...but I did give your car a chance to turbo boost for an additional 10 MPH, but only as long as you strap your bike on the back each time you start it.    

 

When you complain that you have no chance to not only win the race, but even keep up with your friends, so it doesn't feel fun, my response is "If you don't like your dirty bike, I mean, you still have the exact same skates and bicycle as everyone else."   

  

THAT is Storm Blast.  We're still trying to strap the bike on and off every fight while our friends are two miles down the road. 

OR! And bear with me on this. you have 15 different power sets. 14 of them of them have 8 attacks and 1 buff. 1 of them has 6 attacks, 1 buff, 1 long duration area effect debuff pet that also happens to do damage every time an associated power is triggered that also strengthens the effects of the master's associated powers, and 1 moderate duration damage psuedo-pet that gets stronger on its own over time and also happens to trigger additonal attacks every time its master uses an associated power.

 

And then there is the other part of your comment. That you view being able to dispatch mobs as a race. A race that it looks to me you are adamant about winning. So your friends have a car that hits 60 in 10? Nice car. Well, guess what? My car may not get to 60 faster than 45, but it sure is carrying a lot of other bells and whistles that just makes it all kinds of fun to drive! I may not win any speed competitions, but I sure am going to enjoy the hell out of the ride! That is Storm Blast. It builds up slow and then hits hard. It has powers that would seem to be nukes but are best used against the really difficult targets so they can build to their full power, and it keeps you entertained the entire time.

 

And the best part is? When I use Storm Cell? Sure, most times it doesn't use lightning until a few attacks in, but other times? It opens with the lightning the moment I do anything. It's a grab bag of fun. Not meant to compete with the top tier sets, which the devs said when they released it. And probably declared when they released it for testing too, but I'm not a tester so I wouldn't know. It was announced that it was not meant to keep up with or out-perform the other blast sets. That it was meant to be fun. And yes, Storm Cell doesn't wind up as fast as other powers and doesn't keep its attacks going unless you do too, but I definitely find it fun. And if I have it paired with say Storm Summoning? Then I have Freezing Rain and Tornado and Lightning Storm to do the up front sustained damage while Storm Cell lets me play with throwing in additional storm effects at targets of my choosing on my terms to just have fun.

[MHertz]

6 hours ago, Puma said:

 When you complain that you have no chance to not only win the race, but even keep up with your friends, so it doesn't feel fun, my response is "If you don't like your dirty bike, I mean, you still have the exact same skates and bicycle as everyone else."   

So if Storm Blast suddenly did massive amounts of up-front nuke damage, what is it? It’s the same as everything else — just a competition to see whether you or your teammates can mash the button first.

 

That’s not a bad thing, but it does make the game and the power set much less interesting. Is there a particular reason why every powerset must be built in that way?

[Bionic_Flea]

*Shrug*  I can't speak for other people, but I just think it needs a little more. 

 

Not to make it the best or the fastest, just a little bit better and/or a little faster.  There are several ways of doing that that I and others have already mentioned.

[Puma]

14 hours ago, MHertz said:

So if Storm Blast suddenly did massive amounts of up-front nuke damage, what is it? It’s the same as everything else — just a competition to see whether you or your teammates can mash the button first.

 

That’s not a bad thing, but it does make the game and the power set much less interesting. Is there a particular reason why every powerset must be built in that way?

I don't think anyone is asking for it to be built exactly the same.  Flavor is great. Even the CONCEPT of Storm Blast is cool, and as I've said several times, the animations are absolutely beautiful.  But that cool concept was executed in a way that caused what I HOPE are unintentional problems that seriously harm the set. 

 

1. As the OP pointed out, the proper functioning of the entire set being built around a power that requires location based targeting, takes 2 seconds to drop, costs 15 end, AND does almost nothing on its own.  As the OP suggested, the cast/activation time should be  MUCH lower.  I would also make it target based instead of location based.  That way it's much easier to set up each fight.  Target your enemy, launch Storm Cell, and within 1 second you're good to go to start making it actually work and helping  the team.   

 

2. The direct linkage between the damage procs of Storm Cell (and Cat 5) and the individual attacks from Storm Blast is a problem. It really DOES place a "tax"
 on using any of your other powersets that -no other powerset in this game- causes.   This could easily be fixed by having your Storm Blast attacks give the storm cell a 5 second intensification boost that can trigger the effects randomly.  So instead of me having to SPAM Storm Blast attacks to hope each attack can maybe proc, I can use storm blast attacks in a normal rotation while ensuring my Storm Cell and tier 9 Cat 5 aren't weakener because I chose to take a couple seconds to lay a tar patch or chose to use Sound Booster and Earsplitter on a boss or drop my epic Bonfire.  This doesn't in any way change the flavor of Storm Blast, but it would make it more functional with more secondaries AND feel "smoother" to many players.

3. Cat 5 - admittedly, this is the least of the three concerns for me.  I'm a huge fan of Blizzard so I'm used to Nukes that aren't "nukes",  but even then, why does this take LONGER to animate than Blizzard? The fact is, the design of Cat 5 seems to purposefully make it weak as a tier 9, and ESPECIALLY weak when you're teaming with others in this game.  Here is a comparison of several nukes side by side. 
 

Power	Activation	Damage	End Cost	Duration for DMG
Blizzard	2.03	417.08	27.72	20s (w -rech/run speed)
Cat 5	2.5	316.98	27.72	30s (w -rech/run speed)
Thunderous Blast	2.93	300	27.72	Instant (+Lingering -recovery)
Geyser	3	539.96	27.73	Instant
Atomic Blast	2.93	250.25	27.73	Instant (+Lingering Hold)

So at first glance it looks sort of middle of the pack, but in play?  Well, the closest power to it is Blizzard which does more damage, casts faster, and deals all of that damage over a shorter duration. It actually has similar (slightly better?) debuffs.   More traditional tier 9s like Thunderous Blast, Atomic Blast, and Psychic Wail do anywhere from 10-60 points less damage overall, and take .5 seconds longer to activate, but the damage dealt is instant and they include lingering affects like holds, stuns, etc. for mobs still alive. And since many many enemies die before the 30 seconds is over, the truth is, they probably do MORE damage than the "total damage" suggests compared to Cat 5.  Geyser is a weird outlier, with much more damage that is instant but no real lingering secondary effects.   

 

So if you play this out, you and I are on a team. You have ANY of those powers above besides Cat 5 and Blizzard.  I'm on Storm Blast.  We get to a mob, and I drop down Storm Cell (2 seconds set up) and then Cat 5 (2.5 more seconds).  My damage STARTS at second 4.5.   But at Second 3 you've already nuked the mob and taken out a bunch, and likely left a lot of the stragglers stunned or held or debuffed.  Then In Seconds 4-5 you launch an AoE knocking out the few stragglers left.  

 

So we're down to maybe 2 bosses and a couple luits left at seconds 5+.    My Cat 5 is just starting its damage, but not even close to "ramped up" yet, which it does over 30 seconds.  I fire off Cloud Burst at a Luit, and it procs Hurricane AND Storm Cell to fire lightning, taking out the luit and striking the boss!  But there's that pesky 5 second lock out, so before they can trigger again, you knock out the boss with another AoE and a couple attacks.   If you used Blizzard instead, it might be closer, but you'd STILL have a 2-3 second head start of your nuke raining down damage while you're firing off other attacks before mine even get going, AND your nuke does MORE damage over shorter time than mine.  

 

 Do you see what I'm getting at?    

 

With Cat 5, they need to do a couple of possible things if they really want to bring it up to par. 

1- keep it with the "amp up" flavor, but then do the opposite of most tier 9s and front load the safety mitigation.  Instead of Damage then mezz-debuff, start with a massive mezz/debuff.  The Cat 5 starts with a loud thundercrack that terrorizes all foes for 4 seconds. This gives you a chance when solo to get the storm going before being overwhelmed by an alpha, and on a team helps set it up for others to safely start the fight. 

2- Cut its cast time down to 1 second.  The 3 second cast  time on tier 9 nukes, I've always felt, makes sense because you're taking 3 seconds of vulnerability to fire off a devastating instant amount of damage.  Since hurricane doesn't have that instant damage, the 30 second amp up can serve that same function.  Set it in 1 second and then start using your other powers while it amps up, like a slower Blizzard. 

This way you could stun mobs before some other person runs in with their instant nukes, and then fire off your non-storm cell boosted attacks and at least you felt like you played a part, plus your Cat 5 and, if you dropped it, Storm Cell, are amping up to help with the stragglers after. 

Finally, I would remove the 5 second lock out.  It makes no sense.  The way this set is designed, it COULD shine in long fights with AVs on TFs, because as you fight  you are kicking up the storm to hurt them deeply, but with a lock out that is seriously nerfed as well, so it doesn't really do much more  than, say, having Voltaic Sentinel out.   

 

 

Edited May 7, 2023 by Puma

[Puma]

12 hours ago, Rudra said:

OR! And bear with me on this. you have 15 different power sets. 14 of them of them have 8 attacks and 1 buff. 1 of them has 6 attacks, 1 buff, 1 long duration area effect debuff pet that also happens to do damage every time an associated power is triggered that also strengthens the effects of the master's associated powers, and 1 moderate duration damage psuedo-pet that gets stronger on its own over time and also happens to trigger additonal attacks every time its master uses an associated power.

 

You are wrong on a few points here: Ice has TWO long duration debuff/Psuedo pets just like Storm Cell: Ice Storm and Blizzard, neither of which suffer from the requirement that you can only use Ice Blast powers if you want them to do damage, and Blizzard has BETTER debuffs than Cat 5.   Water ALSO has a psuedopet that does damage and debuffs without locking you into only water powers for it to do its damage.  Electric has a psuedopet that debuffs and does damage regardless of what other attacks you're using.  And the rest of those sets' attacks aren't balanced around or designed to work differently if they are used without also using any of those psuedopets.  With Storm Blast, they are and do. 

 

 

12 hours ago, Rudra said:

And then there is the other part of your comment. That you view being able to dispatch mobs as a race. A race that it looks to me you are adamant about winning. So your friends have a car that hits 60 in 10? Nice car. Well, guess what? My car may not get to 60 faster than 45, but it sure is carrying a lot of other bells and whistles that just makes it all kinds of fun to drive! I may not win any speed competitions, but I sure am going to enjoy the hell out of the ride! That is Storm Blast. It builds up slow and then hits hard. It has powers that would seem to be nukes but are best used against the really difficult targets so they can build to their full power, and it keeps you entertained the entire time.

 

Meanwhile in my actual post, I make it clear it ISN'T actually a race and it isn't about "winning."  
 

 

13 hours ago, Puma said:

Think of it this way.  You and seven friends are going to race together.  Not really for anything more than just fun. 

...

 

When you complain that you have no chance to not only win the race, but even keep up with your friends, so it doesn't feel fun, my response is "If you don't like your dirty bike, I mean, you still have the exact same skates and bicycle as everyone else."   

  

Seriously, Rudra, it feels like you're reading to respond instead of listening to the points being made. 

 

 

12 hours ago, Rudra said:

And the best part is? When I use Storm Cell? Sure, most times it doesn't use lightning until a few attacks in, but other times? It opens with the lightning the moment I do anything. It's a grab bag of fun. Not meant to compete with the top tier sets, which the devs said when they released it. And probably declared when they released it for testing too, but I'm not a tester so I wouldn't know. It was announced that it was not meant to keep up with or out-perform the other blast sets. That it was meant to be fun. And yes, Storm Cell doesn't wind up as fast as other powers and doesn't keep its attacks going unless you do too, but I definitely find it fun. And if I have it paired with say Storm Summoning? Then I have Freezing Rain and Tornado and Lightning Storm to do the up front sustained damage while Storm Cell lets me play with throwing in additional storm effects at targets of my choosing on my terms to just have fun.

Whether you realize it or not, you just admitted the problem here.  You admitted that you'd need to rely on Storm Blast for the real damage, which any OTHER secondary can also do.  The issue is, the design of Storm Blast FORCES you to choose between having your Storm Blast powers be relatively weak by all comparisons because you also want to use an active secondary, or have them be on PAR with others but only because you have to constantly focus on them at the exclusion of secondaries outside of storm.  Except, as pointed above, you're STILL left with a set that, in 90% of the situations, isn't adding much except looking pretty.   

I'm glad you find it fun, but these issues make others like myself and the OP find it much less fun.  Now, the question is, if they cut the cast time on Storm Cell and Cat 5, and made the few changes suggested here, would you NOT find it fun?  Would the set performing slightly better but still being a mid-tier set ruin the fun for you?   Why or why not? 

Edited May 7, 2023 by Puma

[Galaxy Brain]

57 minutes ago, Puma said:

3. Cat 5 - admittedly, this is the least of the three concerns for me.  I'm a huge fan of Blizzard so I'm used to Nukes that aren't "nukes",  but even then, why does this take LONGER to animate than Blizzard? The fact is, the design of Cat 5 seems to purposefully make it weak as a tier 9, and ESPECIALLY weak when you're teaming with others in this game.  Here is a comparison of several nukes side by side. 
 

Power	Activation	Damage	End Cost	Duration for DMG
Blizzard	2.03	417.08	27.72	20s (w -rech/run speed)
Cat 5	2.5	316.98	27.72	30s (w -rech/run speed)
Thunderous Blast	2.93	300	27.72	Instant (+Lingering -recovery)
Geyser	539.96	250.25	27.73	Instant
Atomic Blast	2.93	250.25	27.73	Instant (+Lingering Hold)

 

You may want to check your math on these.

[FupDup]

For Cat 5, my main issue with it is that high-rank enemies (EB's and above) tend to immediately run out of its damage radius when I put it down, and as a level 34 Sentinel I don't really have mezz powerful enough to stop them. So that causes the theoretical max damage advantage to get negated in such instances. I really hate the avoid effect in general. The most war-hardened supervillains and superheroes shouldn't poop their pants in terror when hit by a stiff breeze. 

 

Enemies of boss rank or lower get obliterated pretty quickly at least, but its selling point of cutting down hard enemies doesn't seem to come into play (at least not solo) as much as it was hyped. 

[Rudra]

3 hours ago, Puma said:

You are wrong on a few points here: Ice has TWO long duration debuff/Psuedo pets just like Storm Cell: Ice Storm and Blizzard, neither of which suffer from the requirement that you can only use Ice Blast powers if you want them to do damage, and Blizzard has BETTER debuffs than Cat 5.   Water ALSO has a psuedopet that does damage and debuffs without locking you into only water powers for it to do its damage.  Electric has a psuedopet that debuffs and does damage regardless of what other attacks you're using.  And the rest of those sets' attacks aren't balanced around or designed to work differently if they are used without also using any of those psuedopets.  With Storm Blast, they are and do.

That's odd. I don't recall Ice Storm or other Blaster blast set powers like it moving to targets you attack or to you when they are all down. I've dropped Storm Cell on my location multiple times, blasted a distant foe, and then Storm Cell went to my targets to affect them. Never seen Ice Storm or any other blast attack do that. So not really pets in my book. Just pseudo-pet effects.

 

3 hours ago, Puma said:

Meanwhile in my actual post, I make it clear it ISN'T actually a race and it isn't about "winning."  

And yet all your comments thus far have been about being able to drop the mobs before your teammates. Even your "racing for fun" comment revolves around being able to smash the mobs before anyone else. On a team. Where the players all share credit for everything.

 

3 hours ago, Puma said:

You admitted that you'd need to rely on Storm Blast for the real damage,

No, I didn't. I never said I was relying on Storm Cell for real damage. I said it was a grab bag of fun. The point of the lightning comment is the your complaint about the long set up for Storm Cell, and 2 seconds is not a long set up, is because of the damage. So what else can I comment on that you would accept? That Storm Cell can immediately be doing damage should have been a salve to you, and that was the point of the comment. Especially since a single lightning strike can damage more than 1 foe. (I've seen three mobs close together all take damage from a single strike.)

 

3 hours ago, Puma said:

I'm glad you find it fun, but these issues make others like myself and the OP find it much less fun.  Now, the question is, if they cut the cast time on Storm Cell and Cat 5, and made the few changes suggested here, would you NOT find it fun?

My issue is the relentless homogenization of the sets. Every set has to be built the the same way and play the same way or it is wrong, or broken, or sub-par. Why can't a set just be fun rather than have to be able to nuke the mobs instantly?

 

3 hours ago, Puma said:

Would the set performing slightly better but still being a mid-tier set ruin the fun for you? 

I have no problems with problems in the set being fixed. Like Hailstones. Sometimes when it triggers its KD and the ice boulder slams onto a mob's head, despite that mob having no KB or KD protection, that mob keeps coming. That needs to be fixed. I have no problems with the set being improved. What I have a problem with is turning the set into just another same as all the others blast set. This one is fun in ways the others are not. The other sets are fun. I enjoy using most of them. They are fun in a different way though. And having something be different gives us variety.

 

3 hours ago, Puma said:

Why or why not? 

See my previous responses.

 

2 hours ago, FupDup said:

For Cat 5, my main issue with it is that high-rank enemies (EB's and above) tend to immediately run out of its damage radius when I put it down

They do that for every patch/targeted duration AoE. That is a problem with the mob flee mechanic, not the power.

[Puma]

7 hours ago, Galaxy Brain said:

 

You may want to check your math on these.

Ah sorrry.  I rearranged the order and forgot to change the damage section for Water. It's fixed now.  Thanks! 

Edited May 7, 2023 by Puma

[Puma]

3 hours ago, Rudra said:

That's odd. I don't recall Ice Storm or other Blaster blast set powers like it moving to targets you attack or to you when they are all down. I've dropped Storm Cell on my location multiple times, blasted a distant foe, and then Storm Cell went to my targets to affect them. Never seen Ice Storm or any other blast attack do that. So not really pets in my book. Just pseudo-pet effects.

 

And yet all your comments thus far have been about being able to drop the mobs before your teammates. Even your "racing for fun" comment revolves around being able to smash the mobs before anyone else. On a team. Where the players all share credit for everything.

 

No, I didn't. I never said I was relying on Storm Cell for real damage. I said it was a grab bag of fun. The point of the lightning comment is the your complaint about the long set up for Storm Cell, and 2 seconds is not a long set up, is because of the damage. So what else can I comment on that you would accept? That Storm Cell can immediately be doing damage should have been a salve to you, and that was the point of the comment. Especially since a single lightning strike can damage more than 1 foe. (I've seen three mobs close together all take damage from a single strike.)

 

My issue is the relentless homogenization of the sets. Every set has to be built the the same way and play the same way or it is wrong, or broken, or sub-par. Why can't a set just be fun rather than have to be able to nuke the mobs instantly?

 

I have no problems with problems in the set being fixed. Like Hailstones. Sometimes when it triggers its KD and the ice boulder slams onto a mob's head, despite that mob having no KB or KD protection, that mob keeps coming. That needs to be fixed. I have no problems with the set being improved. What I have a problem with is turning the set into just another same as all the others blast set. This one is fun in ways the others are not. The other sets are fun. I enjoy using most of them. They are fun in a different way though. And having something be different gives us variety.

 

See my previous responses.

 

They do that for every patch/targeted duration AoE. That is a problem with the mob flee mechanic, not the power.

Ok, 1st, "moving to you or the target" is shifting the goalposts, and since nothing anyone here has suggested would alter that, I'm not sure what your point is.  And yes, Storm Cell is a pseudo pet just like the others mentioned. And as pointed out, Voltaic Sentinel does follow. And if you really need an EXACT 1-2 comparison, creeper vines does immediate damage, amps up more damage as it goes, AND follows, and in no ways requires you to keep attacking with plants to make it work its best.  But again, this is sde tracking and shifting the goal posts to something no one is arguing. 

  

And you misunderstood what I meant about Storm Cell and your point showing that it relied on Storm Summoning to supplement it.  While you're right, you might get lucky and your first attack triggers a lighting strike, the next attack WONT trigger any more damage from it unless you're sticking with a Storm Blast attack.  But with Ice Storm, etc. I can switch to a secondary attack and it's still doing its damage.  That causes a "tax" on using your secondary powers where doing so means Storm Cell will NOT do its optimal damage.  And if it DOESN'T trigger lightning on that first attack...well...that's even worse, no? 

And also, if nothing anyone is proposing would "homogenize" the set or make it function just like the others, what are you arguing against?  So far all that's been suggested is lowering the costs of these two unique powers and and improving their upfront or total damage possibilities to deal with their uniqueness.   Is it just the fact that you disagree with the OP and I about how fun the set is currently?  Ok.  Fine. But nothing we're suggesting would take away that fun for you, would it?  And yet we're saying it WOULD increase the fun and utility of the set for some people. Do you disagree with that? If not, then why argue about making the set better for those of us with problems with it if it wouldn't alter what -you- love about it much and wouldn't really move it from the center of the pack in the end, anyway? 

 

 

 

 

[Rudra]

1 hour ago, Puma said:

Ok, 1st, "moving to you or the target" is shifting the goalposts

No, it isn't. A pet in the game will move around and support the player character. I called Storm Cell a pet. Ice Storm does not move around and support the player character. It is spawned at a target location by the player and stays there. It is not a pet. See? No moving goal posts.

 

1 hour ago, Puma said:

And as pointed out, Voltaic Sentinel does follow.

Voltaic Sentinel is a single target pet. It can only blast a single target at a time and it does nothing else. It also just sits hovering at your side until an enemy moves into its perception radius. Storm Cell affects an area. Even its single target lightning strike can damage multiple foes at once. And unlike Voltaic Sentinel which relies on an enemy moving into its perception radius? Storm Cell moves to whatever I just blasted. It doesn't wait for anything to come to me.

 

1 hour ago, Puma said:

And if you really need an EXACT 1-2 comparison, creeper vines does immediate damage, amps up more damage as it goes, AND follows, and in no ways requires you to keep attacking with plants to make it work its best.

I've never used creeper vines. The only creeper vines I know of are from the Plant Control power set, so not relevant to this discussion. I am unaware of any creeper vines in a blast power set. Someone say something about moving goal posts?

 

1 hour ago, Puma said:

And you misunderstood what I meant about Storm Cell and your point showing that it relied on Storm Summoning to supplement it. 

I never said it relied on Storm Summoning to supplement it. I said that if I paired Storm Blast with Storm Summoning, then Storm Cell works very well with the Freezing Rain, Tornado, and Lightning Storm powers for my ability to layer storm effects and just ruin any spawn I may encounter's day. Something about misunderstanding something?

 

1 hour ago, Puma said:

While you're right, you might get lucky and your first attack triggers a lighting strike, the next attack WONT trigger any more damage from it unless you're sticking with a Storm Blast attack.  But with Ice Storm, etc. I can switch to a secondary attack and it's still doing its damage.  That causes a "tax" on using your secondary powers where doing so means Storm Cell will NOT do its optimal damage.  And if it DOESN'T trigger lightning on that first attack...well...that's even worse, no? 

However, with Ice Storm et al., they do not strengthen your blast attacks. So on the one hand, you can have attacks that keep doing damage on their own. On the other, you can have attacks that are stronger or more effective than normal for a full minute. And, when you use that(those) empowered power(s) to attack, your AoE debuff that moves to or with your enemies (depending on what the enemies do, can't chase them if they go in different directions), it adds additional attacks to your own. On top of empowering your other attacks and debuffing mobs in the area. You know how cool it would be if my other debuff powers like Tar Patch moved to enemies I attacked at a distance and also attacked when I used an attack against foes in its radius?

 

1 hour ago, Puma said:

And also, if nothing anyone is proposing would "homogenize" the set or make it function just like the others, what are you arguing against?  So far all that's been suggested is lowering the costs of these two unique powers and and improving their upfront or total damage possibilities to deal with their uniqueness.   Is it just the fact that you disagree with the OP and I about how fun the set is currently?  Ok.  Fine. But nothing we're suggesting would take away that fun for you, would it?  And yet we're saying it WOULD increase the fun and utility of the set for some people. Do you disagree with that? If not, then why argue about making the set better for those of us with problems with it if it wouldn't alter what -you- love about it much and wouldn't really move it from the center of the pack in the end, anyway? 

This entire paragraph can be written off because of the first line in it. Because the whole point of the OP, especially as portrayed by you rather than the author, is specifically to homogenize the set to work like the other blast sets. Because the Category 5 power doesn't nuke mobs like even Blizzard. (Which wasn't even part of the OP, but brought in by you.) Because Storm Cell is not a self-sustaining damaging attack that you can just fire and forget.

 

Granted that most of Storm Cell's effects don't apply unless you are using other powers from the same set. I can see how that can be frustrating. However, what other power in the game converts a repel effect into a KD effect, increases the likelihood of you scoring a KD with another power, automatically adds a smashing damage over time effect to yet another power, adds a chance to stun to yet another power, applies an added END drain to a target affected by yet another power, and applies a -recharge, -ToHit, and -movement to yet another power, while still having the ability to inflict its own damage to an entire group of enemies with a single strike if they are close enough together, and itself apply a -recharge, -ToHit, and -movement effect to every mob in its 25 feet radius? Storm Cell does a lot and it is only a level 6 power.

Edited May 7, 2023 by Rudra
Edited to change "strike" to "damage". And again for grammar. And yet again to correct the spelling in this edit notice.

[Galaxy Brain]

15 hours ago, Puma said:

Ah sorrry.  I rearranged the order and forgot to change the damage section for Water. It's fixed now.  Thanks! 

Well there was that, and the total damage for cat 5 should be higher, esp of you include lightning

[WindDemon21]

There is SO much potential in this set but the devs cut it off by it's balls on almost every power, and fixing those/these things we mentioned still wouldn't OP the set, it would just let it actually work properly and line it up more with the other sets.

 

Cell every time i see it it keeps bugging me too, especially when using the powers and not being able to use gust etc really cause the proc chances are lower, the powers should all definitely have 100% chance to proc (even if that meant the lockouts stayed) It at least would mean regardless you could use your other non-storm powers in between cell/c5 procings, I think the 5 second lockout on c5 also feels like way too long, especially for a nuke, and that should be cut down to maybe 2.5-3 seconds, even if the damage on the strikes was lowered a little.

 

So all in all to fix the set:

 

1: No question needing fixed: Fix chain lighting, make it a standard ranged aoe, or it's stats need shaved gravely, down to like 8s rech and 8end cost with the same damage, and take ranged sets instead of ranged aoe sets. It for no reason has a longer rech, higher end cost, less damage (roughly 60% to most of the mob compared to a standard ranged aoe power), can miss a whole mob if you miss the initial target, and can often miss over half a mob if it chains the wrong way. It also is practically worthless for proccing either with enemy procs or self procs. Every aspect of this power is just terrible outside of the about 5% of the time i've seen it's chain actually help hit more spread out mobs. It also pretty much has ZERO usable secondary effect compared to any other ranged aoe attack.

 

For this how the set plays generally, i'm fine with it chaining and not proccing, but the stats MUST reflect that, especially being a chain, and have a much lower recharge and end stats to compensate like 8end/8seconds to 10/10ish. This is a huge issue that I largely see people missing about this power and the set in general, as to why it feels underperforming. As it's a chain as well, it makes no sense that the power takes ranged aoe sets, where every other chain power takes ranged damage sets. This should also be adjusted.

 

2: Fix storm cell, make all powers 100% chance to proc, even keeping the lockout this is probably the biggest thing outside of still boosting it's base acc more. Even also, if the lockout would be removed this would make more sense so you know attacks aren't being wasted to proc it, especially the lower ones. Nothing feels worse on this set that letting off several attacks and literally not getting one strike out of storm cell.

 

Regarding the lockout, if they'd fix all the powers to guarantee proccing on it, then the lockout would be fine cause it would still mean more procs overall, and that would allow you, at least when the mob is smaller than the max targets on cell strikes, to use your other powers in between storm blast powers when you know the lockout is in effect. Essentially using storm blasts every other attack if you choose and not lose the proccing's from storm cell.

 

The power itself should also have a much lower, close to nothing end cost since it doesn't really do anything on it's own, like 2-5 end max, and it's cast time should be lowered to 1s or less.

 

It seems like the power should also come with some -fly as well, may seem a bit much in the area itself, but at least on the high winds and/or lighting procs it should.

 

These are the biggest issues with storm blast currently and should no question be fixed IMO, but then also:

 

3. Fix cloudburst. It still takes so long to cast and actually even get to the target ,but then it's still slower DOT even when it gets to the target, it's HORRIBLE, and extra annoying cause you still basically need it to try and proc cell and c5, it just feels awful. It's also terrible in that it has ZERO secondary effect on it's own without storm cell. No other pri/sec attacks in the game deal with this having zero effect on their own. IT should be the same effect of it in storm cell, just lower like 75% if not in storm cell. Cast summon should be the same as chain lightning or something similar, and the cloud should instantly appear over the targets head. DoT is still fine if these things are fixed, though I think it'd also make sense for the power to do knockdown as well cause they're slipping from the rain like freezing rain.

 

4. Category 5, knock back should be lower but i won't fight that, though maybe changing it to knockUP would be better all around, but the lockouts should be much shorter even if the damage on each strike is lower, like 2.5-3s not 5s for the lockout. It should also move at the same rate of storm cell, and possibly having a larger target cap as well so it's hitting more of the mob when the strikes occur.

 

5. Jet stream, there should be 2 radii for this power to help with the issues on the repel, especially when it's hitting targets PAST the storm cell and actually pushing they AWAY from it. So there would be the cone for the damage which would have the flag for KD if they're in storm cell, then another overlapping cone for the repel, which would have a shorter distance of like 25ft so it wouldn't repel enemies past the cell.

 

6. Gust and hailstones are pretty much fine, as is direct strike. I think the only thing i'd fix between the three is normalizing gust to 1s cast time instead of 1.17 so it's in line with the other blast tier 1s, and maybe give it another effect like minor -speed rather than just the -fly which is most of the time useless.

 

7. Also Intensify, that should be a longer duration buff, given that all attacks should do 100% proc chances for cell and c5, that would be removed, and it's damage boost can even be lower, but should be longer duration so that it actually works with cell and c5 too. Something similar to a low damage rage, like 15% to hit, 10-15% damage, 120s rech, 60s duration.

[Puma]

On 5/7/2023 at 6:57 PM, Rudra said:

No, it isn't. A pet in the game will move around and support the player character. I called Storm Cell a pet. Ice Storm does not move around and support the player character. It is spawned at a target location by the player and stays there. It is not a pet. See? No moving goal posts.

 

Voltaic Sentinel is a single target pet. It can only blast a single target at a time and it does nothing else. It also just sits hovering at your side until an enemy moves into its perception radius. Storm Cell affects an area. Even its single target lightning strike can damage multiple foes at once. And unlike Voltaic Sentinel which relies on an enemy moving into its perception radius? Storm Cell moves to whatever I just blasted. It doesn't wait for anything to come to me.

 

I've never used creeper vines. The only creeper vines I know of are from the Plant Control power set, so not relevant to this discussion. I am unaware of any creeper vines in a blast power set. Someone say something about moving goal posts?

 

I never said it relied on Storm Summoning to supplement it. I said that if I paired Storm Blast with Storm Summoning, then Storm Cell works very well with the Freezing Rain, Tornado, and Lightning Storm powers for my ability to layer storm effects and just ruin any spawn I may encounter's day. Something about misunderstanding something?

 

However, with Ice Storm et al., they do not strengthen your blast attacks. So on the one hand, you can have attacks that keep doing damage on their own. On the other, you can have attacks that are stronger or more effective than normal for a full minute. And, when you use that(those) empowered power(s) to attack, your AoE debuff that moves to or with your enemies (depending on what the enemies do, can't chase them if they go in different directions), it adds additional attacks to your own. On top of empowering your other attacks and debuffing mobs in the area. You know how cool it would be if my other debuff powers like Tar Patch moved to enemies I attacked at a distance and also attacked when I used an attack against foes in its radius?

 

This entire paragraph can be written off because of the first line in it. Because the whole point of the OP, especially as portrayed by you rather than the author, is specifically to homogenize the set to work like the other blast sets. Because the Category 5 power doesn't nuke mobs like even Blizzard. (Which wasn't even part of the OP, but brought in by you.) Because Storm Cell is not a self-sustaining damaging attack that you can just fire and forget.

 

Granted that most of Storm Cell's effects don't apply unless you are using other powers from the same set. I can see how that can be frustrating. However, what other power in the game converts a repel effect into a KD effect, increases the likelihood of you scoring a KD with another power, automatically adds a smashing damage over time effect to yet another power, adds a chance to stun to yet another power, applies an added END drain to a target affected by yet another power, and applies a -recharge, -ToHit, and -movement to yet another power, while still having the ability to inflict its own damage to an entire group of enemies with a single strike if they are close enough together, and itself apply a -recharge, -ToHit, and -movement effect to every mob in its 25 feet radius? Storm Cell does a lot and it is only a level 6 power.

https://cityofheroes.fandom.com/wiki/Pseudopet 

 

Storm Cell is a pseudo-pet. It's a non-targetable, invisible pet that creates an effect.   Tornado from Storm, is ALSO a Psuedo-pet, by the way, even though, like Storm Cell, it moves from one target to the next.   And just because you don't use a power like Carrion Creeper doesn't mean it doesn't exist, and like other psuedo-pets, is a point of comparison.   

 

And while your last paragraph makes it sound the best it possibly can, you ignore (as you have this whole discussion from multiple people) the downfalls to it, as well as the other powers you mention being balanced around being used in Storm Cell and have some real weaknesses without it.  And actually, it's GREAT that you bring up that's Creepers aren't a blast set. Neither are Tornado, Lightning Cloud, etc.  That makes it even weirder that the blast set of storm has it's key power be a power that's default is NOT doing damage, but doing mild to low end debuffs.  I looked and I can't find another blast power that does no damage on its own and only debuffs, much less one of the typically three aoes blast sets get.  And before you jump, I'm not saying you need to "homogenize" the set, I'm saying that this design choice seems odd, and weakens the set overall when it doesn't have to.  It costs more cast time than most AoEs other sets get, yet on its own, it doesn't do any damage and doesn't really do much debuffing without applying other blasts. Even then it doesn't suddenly become a top performer. It's a Psuedo pet that requires you to focus heavily on your other Storm Blast powers just to come up to par with other AoEs in blast sets.  And it's worse because those other powers aren't very good without it, so it's not like you can just skip it in your build like you can other pseudo pets or AoEs. 

 

I get it, you like the set. Cool.  But the OPs issue with cast time is a real one, as are the other issues brought up here are, I think legitimate.  

Edited May 8, 2023 by Puma

[Puma]

9 hours ago, Galaxy Brain said:

Well there was that, and the total damage for cat 5 should be higher, esp of you include lightning

 

 Can you show me how to quantify that?  Since I'm going by what the character creator says, I don't know how you factor in "chance to do x" damage.  Especially give the fact that a big part of my point is it's the "chance to cause lightning and high winds" that -locks you into focusing on your storm blast set- to the exclusion of your other sets.  I mean, we can't just go with it's chance to proc over 30 seconds, because for that we have to assume you're ONLY using Storm Blast and never stopping to heal or buff others, or drop debuffs, or using secondary or patron or APP powers, etc.   And then, of course, you also have the total damage likely lessened by the fact that during its 30 seconds dealing its damage your team is killing a bunch of the mob, too, but since they're dying, that's a lesser issue except for points of comparison.  

 

I know you're a numbers guy so you may have a way in mind that makes sense, though. 

Edited May 8, 2023 by Puma

[Rudra]

2 hours ago, WindDemon21 said:

7. Also Intensify, that should be a longer duration buff, given that all attacks should do 100% proc chances for cell and c5, that would be removed, and it's damage boost can even be lower, but should be longer duration so that it actually works with cell and c5 too. Something similar to a low damage rage, like 15% to hit, 10-15% damage, 120s rech, 60s duration.

Intensify is Storm Blast's Aim. Why should it last longer than the 10 seconds every other Aim power lasts?

[Rudra]

1 hour ago, Puma said:

And just because you don't use a power like Carrion Creeper doesn't mean it doesn't exist, and like other psuedo-pets, is a point of comparison.   

I never said it didn't exist. I said I never used it (since I don't play Controllers) and that since it is a control set power, it is not applicable as a reference.

 

Edit:

Here's the thing. Blasters, Corruptors, and Defenders can all use Storm Blast. Corruptors and Defenders can also use Tornado, Lighting Storm, and Freezing Rain. So all my comments are staying within the ATs. Yours is dredging up Controller powers as if somehow a power that Blasters, Corruptors, and Defenders cannot use are relevant as comparisons to powers they can use.

 

And if those powers are used as comparisons? Storm Cell has a cast time of 2.03 seconds. Freezing Rain has a cast time of 2.03 seconds. Lightning Storm has a cast time of 2.03 seconds. Only Tornado is faster at 1.17 seconds. And all three of those powers do exactly 1 thing each. To Storm Cells' how many again? So the cast time is not a problem. The need to use Storm Blast attacks to trigger an AoE debuff pet, or psuedo-pet as it turns out actually being, into doing more than just the debuffing which is its primary function is not a problem. Storm Blast attacks that are also enhanced by being used against targets in Storm Cell's area. The lightning strikes are not that power's primary function.

Edited May 9, 2023 by Rudra

[Galaxy Brain]

1 hour ago, Puma said:

 

 Can you show me how to quantify that?  Since I'm going by what the character creator says, I don't know you factor in "chance to do x" damage.  Especially give the fact that a big part of my point is it's the "chance to cause lightning" that -locks you into focusing on your storm blast set- to the exclusion of your other sets.  I mean, we can't just go with it's chance to proc, because for that we have to assume you're ONLY using Storm Blast and never stopping to heal or buff others, or drop debuffs, or using secondary or patron or APP powers, etc.   

 

I know you're a numbers guy so you may have a way in mind that makes sense, though. 

 

 

Sure thing! So, first thing would be to look into City of Data: https://cod.uberguy.net/html/power.html?power=blaster_ranged.storm_blast.category_five&at=blaster . The site offers a lot clearer info on powers than in-game as IIRC the power detail window can be weird at times.

 

From that link, we can look at the different parts of Cat 5 and the damage they deal for a Blaster:

 

Cat 5 - Category Five

https://cod.uberguy.net/html/power.html?power=redirects.storm_blast.category_five&at=blaster 

 

Summoned instantly, the "Category Five" part of Cat 5 hits every 0.2s (Activate Period, seen in Auto and Toggle powers) over 30s for a total of 151 hits (30/0.2 = 150, but usually the last "tick" has a hit, like if you look at Fire Blast it's DoTs are DoT every Sec for 2.1s, so it counts as 3 since it goes beyond 2 seconds).

 

Dealing 0.4449 damage per hit, x 151 = 67.1799 total damage. If we assume 95% slotting: 1.95 * 67.1799 = 131.0008 damage 

 

Cat 5 - Eye Wall

https://cod.uberguy.net/html/power.html?power=redirects.storm_blast.nukenado_pulse&at=blaster

 

Summoned after the 5s mark, this hits every 0.5s over 25s = 51 hits. 

 

Dealing 5.0049 damage, x 51 = 255.2499.  Times 1.95 = 497.7373 damage. A key thing here though is that this hits 10 targets per hit vs 16 on the base power.

 

 

Adding them together, Cat 5 passively deals 322.4298 -> 628.7381 damage. 

 

 

 

Blizzard - Blizzard

https://cod.uberguy.net/html/power.html?power=pets.blizzard.blizzard&at=minion_pets

 

Lasting for 15s, it hits as fast as Cat 5 above but for more damage per hit. 15/0.2 = 75 (76) hits of 2.7805 * 2 (Lethal and Cold) = 422.636, x1.95 = 824.1402 damage 

 

Blizzard hits 16 targets the whole time, and deals its damage in 1/2 the time of Cat 5. However, it does not have the lightning procs:

 

 

 

Cat 5 - Cat 5 Lightning

https://cod.uberguy.net/html/power.html?power=redirects.storm_blast.category_five_lightning&at=blaster

 

Hitting 5 targets at a time, the lightning bolts hit for 62.5615 damage, x1.95 = 121.9949. The lightning also gives targets a 5s lockout from being struck again, so the most any one person can be struck is 6 times (30 / 5). 6 x 121.9949 = 731.9694 damage + 628.7381 passive damage = 1,360.7075 total vs 1 dude.

 

So while Blizzard deals ~30% more passive damage than Cat 5, Storm's Nuke can likewise deal 65% more when active.

 

...stuff gets complex when you factor in mob sizes + the different target caps / lockouts, but I can try to map that out:

 

Blizzard = 16 targets * 824.1402 = 13,186.2432 dam

 

Cat 5 = 16 targets * 131.0008 = 2,096.0128

Eye Wall = 10 targets * 628.7381 = 6,287.3810

Cat 5 Lightning = 5 targets * 121.9949 = 609.9745

Total = 8,993.3683 

 

Assuming there are 16 targets, and lets assume each attack you toss out procs lightning, you can proc roughly once every 1.5s if we average out the cast times of storm powers. 

 

16/5 = 3.2, so after 3 attacks (4.5s) you have hit all but 1 guy in the crowd, but by the time you do so the 1st batch of 5 targets are 0.5s away from being valid targets again. In practice, the varying cast times / latency / etc would likely make it so you do hit 5 targets every 1.5s or so. 

30 / 1.5 = 20 total procs * 609.9745 = 12,199.49 dam

Total = 20,582.8838 possible damage

 

 

 

So due to RNG, Cat 5 can be kinda hit or miss but combined with the other attacks you toss out during it, it can do tremendous bonus damage. Granted, it takes a good deal of time to deal said damage but it's there. If anything, IMO the fact it lasts a while means in any situation where you have more than 16 people (ITF fights for example) it will do WAY more output as you keep tossing targets at it.

Edited May 9, 2023 by Galaxy Brain

[Wravis]

1 hour ago, Rudra said:

Intensify is Storm Blast's Aim. Why should it last longer than the 10 seconds every other Aim power lasts?

Why do you pick and choose which powers should and shouldn't follow the standard blast power formula?

Intensify should last for longer for the same reason Cat 5 should suck more. "It's refreshing to have a blast set that doesn't follow the standard formula".

[Rudra]

1 minute ago, Wravis said:

Why do you pick and choose which powers should and shouldn't follow the standard blast power formula?

Intensify should last for longer for the same reason Cat 5 should suck more. "It's refreshing to have a blast set that doesn't follow the standard formula".

The difference is I am defending powers as is. Intensify was made as Storm Blast's version of Aim and that is how it currently is. So what is the justification for changing it? And why shouldn't every other version of Aim, and also Build Up, not also get boosted for their durations? Unlike Storm Cell and Category 5 which are already designed to not work the same as other powers but to be different and introduce new possibilities to players, Intensify is obviously meant to maintain the call for Aim that seems so popular with some players.

[Puma]

1 hour ago, Galaxy Brain said:

 

 

Assuming there are 16 targets, and lets assume each attack you toss out procs lightning, you can proc roughly once every 1.5s if we average out the cast times of storm powers. 

 

16/5 = 3.2, so after 3 attacks (4.5s) you have hit all but 1 guy in the crowd, but by the time you do so the 1st batch of 5 targets are 0.5s away from being valid targets again. In practice, the varying cast times / latency / etc would likely make it so you do hit 5 targets every 1.5s or so. 

30 / 1.5 = 20 total procs * 609.9745 = 12,199.49 dam

Total = 20,582.8838 possible damage

 

 

 

So due to RNG, Cat 5 can be kinda hit or miss but combined with the other attacks you toss out during it, it can do tremendous bonus damage. Granted, it takes a good deal of time to deal said damage but it's there. If anything, IMO the fact it lasts a while means in any situation where you have more than 16 people (ITF fights for example) it will do WAY more output as you keep tossing targets at it.

First, thanks.   Second,.  again, you're assuming that the caster is doing nothing but spamming Storm Blast powers this entire time, which has been a huge part of my problem with the set, as explained here. I can think of no other set in the game that has made me feel like I can't use any of my other attacks or I'm missing out.  Am I correct that  you're also basing these numbers on it being three slotted for damage? I think we should be using non-enhanced numbers when we compare powers, personally.

 

As I said above though, Cat 5 is the least of my concerns with the set.  I think Storm Cell is the real issue.  Just for clarity's sake, none of the above affects and numbers of Cat 5 require Storm Cell to be active, do they?

[Puma]

2 minutes ago, Rudra said:

The difference is I am defending powers as is. Intensify was made as Storm Blast's version of Aim and that is how it currently is. So what is the justification for changing it? And why shouldn't every other version of Aim, and also Build Up, not also get boosted for their durations? Unlike Storm Cell and Category 5 which are already designed to not work the same as other powers but to be different and introduce new possibilities to players, Intensify is obviously meant to maintain the call for Aim that seems so popular with some players.

  

 Yeah! It's the "this cottage was built last week!" rule.  😕

 

One argument made for changing Intensify during beta was that Storm Cell's accuracy was tied to the player's, not at the time of casting, but all the way through.  So once you lost the to-hit boost from Intensify, so did the lightning strikes in storm cell.  At that time it had a base accuracy of 1.x so it meant end game stuff was going to get missed a LOT by Storm Cell.  I believe that was upped to 1.4 or so for lightning, and the winds were made autohit?  I can't recall right now and can't log in to find out.   

Edited May 9, 2023 by Puma