Titan Weapons - Charges instead of duration?

[Duckbutler]

I admittedly have spent too little time with this set to be suggesting such a change, however! I think this would be a good idea. What if the momentum mechanic of titan weapons worked off charges like a reverse combo system instead of off a flat duration as it currently does?

 

So you'd hit an initial attack, get probably 3 charges of momentum, spend them on the next three swings, and then start over with a slow attack.

 

I make this suggestion because the current version of momentum doesn't make much sense on an intuitive level. Momentum doesn't refresh with each swing, instead it seemingly (to a novice, picking up the set because it looks cool) randomly drops off. I'm not entirely sure how experienced players use the set, guessing they just know their static rotation well enough they know what they can fit in a momentum window.

[SeraphimKensai]

Have you ever swung an axe? You can actually build a momentum so to speak in real life while splitting logs. And if you break that momentum, you don't bank the charges for when you get back out after grabbing an ice cold beer, you start from scratch.

 

Same principle applies here. I don't think it makes much sense to store your momentum for much later. It's built up so to speak around a fulcrum when applying force.

[Sunsette]

35 minutes ago, Duckbutler said:

I make this suggestion because the current version of momentum doesn't make much sense on an intuitive level. Momentum doesn't refresh with each swing, instead it seemingly (to a novice, picking up the set because it looks cool) randomly drops off. I'm not entirely sure how experienced players use the set, guessing they just know their static rotation well enough they know what they can fit in a momentum window.

 

While in theory I would welcome a change to a charge mechanic simply because the existing UI is frustrating to deal with and tracking momentum is unnecessarily hard -- as you said, I just learned the rotation intuitively through doing it enough -- in practice, a charge mechanic would likely result in every attack in the set needing some level of rebalance and possibly retiming of the animation. Neither is simple to do with the tools currently available to the devs. 

 

It's a reasonable suggestion in a game like WoW where a significant overhaul of a playstyle to refocus on its conceptual essence can be expected every two years to some degree. It'd be a dramatic change here in CoH, and I think for a relatively marginal benefit in this case.

Edited March 19 by Sunsette

[Duckbutler]

1 hour ago, SeraphimKensai said:

[Duckbutler]

Well, sorry. I was going to respond and then decided it wasn't worth it. But the stupid quote box wouldn't delete for some reason and somehow trying to delete it made the post instead. 🙄 I don't really buy the real world argument. The current system also arbitrarily stops momentum you would expect to have once you got started.

 

I do, however, understand limited dev resources and that a niche QoL change may be low priority. I'm kinda assuming a numbers pass is more feasible than other changes that might require new art assets or animations. Maybe I'm wrong on that!

[Rudra]

To delete the quote box, you have to delete from outside the box. For instance, find the spot where you can enter your own text after the quote box and hit delete. If the quote box is what was before your text spot, the quote box goes away. If you try to delete the quote box from inside itself, all you do is delete its contents.

[CaptainMarvelous]

There are benefits and drawbacks to this, but first and foremost we'll go with the idea that this is possible. (I'unno if it actually is).

 

The main "benefit" that this would do is that it would make it so that people with high latency or high ping are still able to get the maximum benefit out of momentum. Generally (from guides), you can get roughly ~3-4 TW attacks off during momentum, ~6-7 with build-up. Of course this is dependent on ping/latency. High-stress environments means you may only be able to get off ~1-2 or 2-3 attacks. 

 

The downside, however, is that I feel this takes away from some of TW's builds for high recharge. By doing this, you essentially take away the "moving" aspect of the skill and replace it with a charge system, which in turn favors less "ABS" (Always Be Swinging) and more about optimizing the "fast" skills. In addition, due to Momentum giving a minor buff to defense, it means TW users are a smidge more tanky. Not a big deal, but something to keep in mind.

 

I think this kind of takes away from the aspect of what makes TW cool and narrows build paths down. 

[Duckbutler]

Thanks. Yeah, that was kinda what I was seeing on Sunday when I was playing with it. I could get roughly 3-4 attacks if everything was ready. I wasn't entirely sure if it was due to my own latency or if it was arcana time or what, but quite often I would be at the end of the momentum window thinking I was good for one more, hit the button, and get the slow attack.  Just doing quick math, most attacks in the set are 2-3 seconds when slow, 1-2 seconds when fast, so that tracks and hence the suggestion of 3 charges.

 

I don't think this would take away from the "always be swinging" aspect because that thought process applies in general, anyway. Every other character I play (game too, for that matter) I always have the next attack queued up so it goes off with as little gap as possible. The only time I'm not doing that is when I know the attack is going to ghost because the mob is going to die before the attack lands.