What are the worst powersets and why? Can we fix them?

[CrusaderDroid]

I don't quite have the time to try out every single powerset to completion myself, but judging from the prevalence of powers like Cross Punch on many builds, at least some powersets are underperforming enough that it's better to run with pool powers over taking powers from that set.

 

I know Super Strength is often talked about, but are there any others? What makes them so bad? And how can we fix them?

 

For my money, I tried playing Dual Blades/Dark Armor Scrapper with an earlier character, and while I found Dark Armor to be pretty great, Dual Blades felt like it wanted me to take everything to be able to use the set, without actually giving me anything on most of its powers. The combo effects didn't feel uniquely powerful so much as stuff that other sets got for free, and Blinding Feint replacing Build Up meant that my self-buff (and Empower) combo was tied to hitting someone, with a missed hit granting no bonus. Having my combos drop because I missed the finisher was uniquely unpleasant, as well as an inability to switch combos if I didn't use the correct starter, but I can accept those as both programming issues and skill tests related to the use of the powerset.

 

Maybe I was too low level and not correctly slotted out with that toon, but it seems like Dual Blades would have been much improved if either the reliance on combos for unique effects was diminished by putting more useful effects along the kit, or if the combos were pushed even further so they properly feel like the reward for using three otherwise-plain powers in a row.

[PoptartsNinja]

Dual Blades isn't bad... on a stalker. What hurts it are the same things that hurt Kinetic Melee: long animation times. It could also use a single-target Tier 9, but that's not required.

 

 

If I were given carte blanche to change up Dual Blades however I wanted, I'd change the way the combo system works. Rather than requiring three powers in a specific order, I'd give it combo initiators, combo builders, and set finishers. So rather than requiring specific powers be fired (and hit the target) in a set order, you could begin a combo with any initiator, build the combo with any builder, and the thing that dictates what the combo does is the final power used to finish the combo.

 

That would give the set a way to safely skip a power or two without feeling like it's losing out on utility; and would open the door for combo building to stack to improve the finisher. Like Initiator -> Combo Builder -> Finisher would get a basic effect, but Initiator -> Combo Builder -> Combo Builder -> Combo Builder -> Finisher might give enhanced results (bonus damage or AoE range or higher debuff values, whatever the devs think might be fair).

 

So, essentially:
Nimble Slash, Power Slice, Confront, and Blinding Feint become combo initiators. Use any one of these to initiate a combo (yes, even Confront). Assassin Strike is both an initiator and a finisher.

 

Nimble Slash, Power Slice, Ablating Strike, Typhoon's Edge, and Vengeful Slice. Use any one of these after an initiator to build your combo.

Assassin Strike, Ablating Strike, Sweeping Strike, and One Thousand Cuts become finishers. End a combo with any one of these powers to get the effect of the finisher.
Assassin Strike combo: A big pop of extra single target damage, perhaps doing full Assassin Strike surprise attack damage if you're at full combo stacks.
Ablating Strike combo: Boosts Ablating Strike's debuff values significantly, with the -res scaling based on how many builders have been used.
Sweeping Strike combo: The AoE's primary target (whatever the player is targeting) takes a big hit of single target damage, with increasing damage as your combo increases.
One Thousand Cuts combo: The Cone AOE turns into a full PBAoE, with a size that increases the more you build your combo.

[arcane]

Dual Blades is in a good place, and not just on a Stalker. This is more or less a proven fact after all the testing that’s been done on the subject.

[Saiyajinzoningen]

kinetic melee needs something

[PoptartsNinja]

12 minutes ago, arcane said:

Dual Blades is in a good place, and not just on a Stalker. This is more or less a proven fact after all the testing that’s been done on the subject.

It's numbers are fine and don't need major adjustments. I just prefer Street Justice's combo system because I think it's friendlier to players.

 

Mechanically, Dual Blades is just kinda clunky, with the most egregeous example being the Stalker AoE "Sweep" Combo that's built with and finished by three single target attacks. Dual Blades could keep the same level of strength / same combo finishers while simplifying how its combo initiation works, which would make it more newbie friendly. "Begin -> Build -> Finish" feels better than "Press these three powers in a specific order and if one of them misses you lose your combo." In the generic combo builder version, if a mid-tier combo builder misses you can just use another one, taking a little extra time to finish your combo. In its current incarnation you just lose your combo through no fault of your own.

 

That's definitely a wishlist suggestion, though, not something Dual Blades "needs."

[CrusaderDroid]

27 minutes ago, PoptartsNinja said:

If I were given carte blanche to change up Dual Blades however I wanted, I'd change the way the combo system works. Rather than requiring three powers in a specific order, I'd give it combo initiators, combo builders, and set finishers. So rather than requiring specific powers be fired (and hit the target) in a set order, you could begin a combo with any initiator, build the combo with any builder, and the thing that dictates what the combo does is the final power used to finish the combo.

I like this and everything you've posted. I think that's a fun way to let you skip a couple of powers without losing out on the big finishes. I actually appreciate excising Empower/Blinding Feint as a finisher completely, and moving it to an initiator position means you don't waste two attacks to get the biggest buff possible. That felt pretty bad to me - the powers might cool down, but I'm still taking hits here instead of being able to go all out with my biggest buff from the get go.

 

24 minutes ago, Saiyajinzoningen said:

kinetic melee needs something

I'm not entirely familiar with Kinetic Melee's woes yet. Can you name some of the issues you see in it?

[PoptartsNinja]

Kinetic Melee's best powers are the Tier 1, 2, and 3 with everything else being skippable/worse DPS/DPA than just comboing 3-1-2-1-3-1-2 etc. forever.

 

It feels like a rough draft powerset. The OG CoH Devs were terrified of introducing "tank mages" to the game, so they tried really hard to limit the utility of scrapper ranged attacks... and Kinetic Melee is a bizarrely range-heavy melee set; with the high-end powers being flashy but so slow-animating that using any of them makes it take longer to defeat a spawn especially if that higher-tier power misses.

 

Kinetic Melee doesn't need much to be a good powerset, though. The T1-T3 Quick Strike, Body Blow, and Smashing Blow are already really good powers, what it needs is a way to improve the DPA on Burst, Focused Burst, and Eternity Wiggle Concentrated Strike; and for Power Siphon to be improved.

 

My "pie in the sky, probably never happen" wish for Kinetic Melee would be to play up the "Speed Boosting" aspects from Kinetics, and give Burst, Focused Burst, and Concentrated Strike variable animation times tied to a Frenzy-type buff stack. You fire off enough Quick Strikes, Body Blows, and Smashing Blows to fill a meter and pop off the bigger attack with its animation time reduced by 10% per stack. Because they're not bad powers, they just take too long to animate.

 

For Power Siphon, I'd make it more akin to a single target version of Kinetics Siphon Power. If it requires a to-hit check, that's fine, the buff values can be compensated if it can miss. The current version's slow ramp-up to cap and slow crash just... aren't as immediately noticable as Build Up. Current Power Siphon is more of a sustained DPS power, but it doesn't help in the same situations where Build Up does (where immediate damage > DPS) and Kinetics somewhat suffers for that because it doesn't have a good way to win those short-duration burst damage races. If Power Siphon gave a single target -DMG for a reasonable +DMG self buff, it would help in more of the same situations that Build Up was designed to help with even if it had a chance to miss.

Edited March 21 by PoptartsNinja

[Uun]

In no particular order:

Archery - nothing terribly wrong with it, but it feels pretty blah. Needs some other damage types or secondary effects.

Mind Control  - fine for dominators, but needs a tweak for controllers. The change to TK didn't resolve the containment issue. Having fear set up containment would go a long way.

Sonic Resonance - the change to Liquefy was long overdue, but it needs more help.

Kinetic Melee - see above

Regeneration - hasn't been nerfed in a while