Presence Pool

[Communistpenguin]

I feel like the Presence Pool needs a little work. Personally, I feel like Invoke panic is too expensive as a pick? Like, if it were a tier two pick instead of tier 3, I would definitely take the pool alot more. This is probably just more power creep, but I have a hard time justifying taking the pool, even when I want to.

[FupDup]

IMO the pool should have a taunt aura on T2 or T3...it's kind of criminal that it doesn't. 

[Rudra]

I rarely take the Presence pool. However, when I do I do so for 3 reasons: Pacify, Intimidate, and Unrelenting. Conveniently, Pacify unlocks Intimidate, and having both of them unlocks Unrelenting. As far as the OP goes about Invoke Panic? I'm neither for nor against it.

[biostem]

I think part of the issue is that the presence pool powers simply aren't good enough with regard to the aggro management tools they provide - the single target placate isn't good enough if there is more than 1 enemy, the effect doesn't last long enough, and it doesn't work against those enemies you really want to ditch.  Provoke doesn't provide the kind of immediate aggro redirect that anyone taking it would want, and since it lacks the -range component, it's not as useful for stripping aggro off of an ally.  Similarly, the fears aren't strong enough and don't last long enough to be better selections than other power picks most characters have available to them.  I haven't used unrelenting enough to really speak on its usefulness.

 

Some thoughts:

 

Give pacify a short window where you can deal extra damage against the target, or truly make it strong enough to dump the aggro of at least small groups of enemies.

 

Give provoke a -range component - it could still require an acc/tohit check and have a longer recharge than taunt, to still make that the superior choice.

 

 Give the 2 fear powers a -tohit effect or otherwise increase their magnitude and/or duration to make them better choices.

[Communistpenguin]

Another problem, is that the powers are not exactly contradictory, but like, If I have a character that wants the aoe fear, they probably dont want the taunt. I view pacify as completely pointless. So to get the pbaoe fear, I have to take at least 1 useless power and a single target fear. My Controller wouldn't mind the single target fear, but he would not want provoke. My tank would be ok with provoke, but a single target fear is kinda pointless for him. The only character that I have managed to take it on is my mastermind.

[Zect]

Invoke panic and unrelenting are excellent and make the presence pool worth it, but I do think that for the purposes of aggro management the pool seems strangely lackluster. There's no taunt aura, and the aoe taunt is weirdly weak and still checks tohit (not checking tohit is half the value of a taunt in the first place).

 

Part of this is the stance that Cryptic, Paragon (and perhaps Homecoming, I don't know) have, which is that pool powers have to be weaker than primary and 2ndary powers. I always disagreed with this because the result is that certain types of powers and certain types of uses for powers become much better than others. Buffs such as hasten and weave are popular, because stacking every bit of rech and def is valuable; but attacks and taunts are much less valuable, because they must be able to function on their own. You don't need to make pool powers comparable to similar powers on the highest power scalar AT's (i.e. tough should not be as strong as tanker SL resist toggles), but making them worthwhile enough to be taken on their own, especially non-buff non-heal powers, may increase build diversity.

 

Power creep is a serious and ongoing problem for homecoming, and I'm generally opposed to buffs and supportive of nerfs. But in this particular case, a change to the aggro management powers of the presence pool seems justified. However, no buffs to invoke panic and unrelenting are necessary (including reduction of prerequisites).

[Yomo Kimyata]

 

There are very few on these forums who are more (and probably unnecessarily) vigilant against power creep, but I'm with the group here in saying that the Presence Pool could really use a little love for the first three powers.

 

19 hours ago, biostem said:

Give pacify a short window where you can deal extra damage against the target, or truly make it strong enough to dump the aggro of at least small groups of enemies.

 

Give provoke a -range component - it could still require an acc/tohit check and have a longer recharge than taunt, to still make that the superior choice.

 

 Give the 2 fear powers a -tohit effect or otherwise increase their magnitude and/or duration to make them better choices.

 

These all seem more than reasonable to me.

[Captain Fabulous]

17 hours ago, Zect said:

Invoke panic and unrelenting are excellent and make the presence pool worth it, but I do think that for the purposes of aggro management the pool seems strangely lackluster. There's no taunt aura, and the aoe taunt is weirdly weak and still checks tohit (not checking tohit is half the value of a taunt in the first place).

The fear powers are really good when used properly and in conjunction with each other (and with other fear powers you might have). The taunt and placate are far less useful on large teams but can be very helpful while solo or on small teams without a Brute or Tank. And yeah, it sucks having to take one of them to get to the fears, but it's no different than having to take Kick or Boxing to get to Tough and Weave.

Unrelenting is a great "oh shit" power for when you're getting a bit overwhelmed, I just wish the duration was longer. 30 seconds on a 10 min timer is pretty lame.

[UltraAlt]

On 5/19/2023 at 6:00 PM, Communistpenguin said:

but I have a hard time justifying taking the pool, even when I want to.

 

I don't have a problem with it if it is character conception, but I'm not concerned with the end-game.