Focused Feedback: New Powerset - Pyrotechnic Control (Controllers, Dominators)

[Kai Moon]

I'd like the ability to slot the Blast Off powers with knockback enhancements and knockback sets.

 

I think there'd be interest in Explosive Strike and Force Feedback procs, and Sudden Acceleration's knockback reduction too.

[Kai Moon]

Note to testers: Hypnotizing Lights appears to be using ExecutePower, so test it in moving situations if you can - you're moving, your target is moving, both.

 

ExecutePower is buggy and unreliable when things are moving. But it might be implemented differently in Hypnotizing Lights. I can't replicate the usual ExecutePower bugs with Hypnotizing Lights, so far.

[Kai Moon]

On the receiving end.

 

Blast Off:

Redundant messages in the target's General Combat and Damage Received logs. Doesn't do damage, so just the General Combat log is fine.

Uses Char's icon, causing a confusing debuff icon to appear for the target.

Glittering Column:

Typo in target's General Combat log, "distracts you with it's vibrant display" should be "distracts you with its vibrant display"

 

Hypnotizing Lights (Narrow):

Uses Cold Snap's icon, causing a confusing debuff icon to appear for the target.

 

Brilliant Barrage:

The location effect uses Twilight Grasp's icon, causing a confusing debuff icon to appear for the target.

 

Catherine Wheel (pet powers):

Uses Char's icon and assorted Energy Assault icons, causing confusing debuff icons to appear for the target.

 

Edited June 5 by Kai Moon
fixed img

[Caimie]

5 hours ago, Kai Moon said:

I'd like the ability to slot the Blast Off powers with knockback enhancements and knockback sets.

 

I think there'd be interest in Explosive Strike and Force Feedback procs, and Sudden Acceleration's knockback reduction too.

The comments I've been seeing from those on Discord and players on the Live servers that have been on Test, is that the Knock-up effect may be useful for Controllers, but is a pain to deal with on a Dominator.

I mostly play Dominators, so I've adjusted to the added knock-up, but it is kind of a nuisance on Dominators that don't have many ranged attacks. 

 

The ability to slot something like Sudden Acceleration's unique to change it to knock-down would be useful for them and other melee focused ATs.

[Ukase]

Edit: Please take this feedback with a grain of salt or three. It's been a long time since I played a dominator. I made two yesterday on Excelsior - one to reserve a name for the pending update, and the other just to relearn how to play one so I could give a better sense of what's good and what's not. Given what I've seen my earth/psionic dom do on excelsior, I might have to rethink the dom's abilities to dish out dps. I was convinced they were just short of trash for a long time. Clearly, that was me, not the AT. In fact, I think my inexperience with the AT should probably make null any observations I might have other than "this is cool" or "This was not". 
 

 

 

 

 

So, trying to get a feel for this as an inexperienced player. And that's fair, because I might have 2 dominators among my over 300 characters. 

I made a pyro/psionic assault dom. At level 10, this thing is just bananas on the very limited "pop into perez park and tackle a mob of level 10 hellions" test. 
The glittering column is good as an opener, but better as an "oh crap, I'm in over my head" power. The duration of the taunt could be a couple of seconds longer to suit me, but given the damage portion, it's quite acceptable to me. Just a tohit debuff, recharge and damage SO in it now, will be interesting to see how it fares in 30+, if it has much utility at all. I suspect on higher level teams the utility will decrease. 

Brilliant Barrage - minor typo:  

Should be "bombarded". 

Hypnotizing Lights: There needs to be more information here. I'm not a genuine noob, and I'm not the least bit clear what this "deep sleep" is. 

 

Some clarity on this would be helpful. Also, from all my experiences, npcs that are slept wake up when damaged. Definitely need more detailed info. Like - how is "deep sleep" applied, and what's the difference between deep sleep and normal sleep? Does deep sleep let them sleep through damage? 

So, bumped up to level 20. This combo is going to be a LOT of fun, and likely OP. Is a dom supposed to get drain psyche? I didn't see any other sustains in the the secondary options, which is why I went with Psionic. With just the one slot, I hop into a group of about 8 +2's, and a boss...and whittle them down like level 4 hellions. It wasn't easy..I did need to use a green and a purple insp, but it was managed easily enough. I don't think many of my blasters at level 20 would have the ability to do that as easily. If/when I get drain psych recharge lower, this is going to be a ton of fun - I think. 

I don't have time to try the level 30 range yet. Will edit this post when I finish. 

 

 

Edited June 6 by Ukase

[arcane]

1 hour ago, Caimie said:

The ability to slot something like Sudden Acceleration's unique to change it to knock-down would be useful for them and other melee focused ATs.

Does Sudden Acceleration even affect knockup? Isn’t that a separate effect?

[Kai Moon]

20 minutes ago, arcane said:

Does Sudden Acceleration even affect knockup? Isn’t that a separate effect?

Yes and yes.

 

AFAIK everything that boosts or deboosts knocks is coded to affect both knockback and knockup.

 

 

[ExeErdna]

Brillant Barrage should work more aligned with how Glittering Column should work as an AOE. I've noticed the Barrage has a weird LOS between me and the enemy feature which has down me honestly too often. Due to I'll attempt to stack the barrage on top of column even if I'm not that far out from it and it just refuses to work. I've even experienced this is melee range where it wouldn't click. IMO the LOS has to go before release because it's gonna get complaints.

[Player-1]

23 hours ago, ExeErdna said:

Brillant Barrage should work more aligned with how Glittering Column should work as an AOE. I've noticed the Barrage has a weird LOS between me and the enemy feature which has down me honestly too often. Due to I'll attempt to stack the barrage on top of column even if I'm not that far out from it and it just refuses to work. I've even experienced this is melee range where it wouldn't click. IMO the LOS has to go before release because it's gonna get complaints.

Hello ExeErdna,

 

Brilliant Barrage works just like Gravity's Wormhole where you need a target, and then have a location placement. The difference here is that one part triggers around the target you select and the other part where you place the location marker, so you can either stack the two AoEa together or hit seperate areas all at once.

[MC333]

Thank you very much for all the work done to bring us a new power set. 

 

Tested:  Controller and Dominator, solo play, majority at level 50, across a wide variety of zones/maps and against a wide variety of enemies. 

 

While I really like the set overall, I have found 2 powers to be underwhelming.

 

Sparkling Chain - frustratingly ineffective due to short 15' radius of chain hops.

Majority of enemy spawn groups in the game include enemies spaced more than 15' apart. 

Sparkling Chain is usually only able to hit a fraction (often a small fraction) of an enemy group, while other AOE Immobilizes are able to routinely hit a lot more enemies.

How to improve?

- Increase the chain jump radius to 20' or 25' to improve the potential coverage area.  (At 20' or 25' radius the coverage would still be significantly less than all the targeted AOE immobilizes which have 30' radius.)

 

Incindiary Aura - overall feels lackluster, Blast Off occurs infrequently.

Pyro is hard on endurance and Incindiary Aura could use a little more incentive to justify the added end cost of the toggle.

How to improve? 

- Maybe increase Blast Off chance and allow multiple Blast Off to occur simultaneously to add mitigation and theme flavor.

- Or maybe add some -RES to the Aura itself ("combustible properties")

Edited June 9 by MC333

[ExeErdna]

11 hours ago, MC333 said:

Thank you very much for all the work done to bring us a new power set. 

 

Tested:  Controller and Dominator, solo play, majority at level 50, across a wide variety of zones/maps and against a wide variety of enemies. 

 

While I really like the set overall, I have found 2 powers to be underwhelming.

 

Sparkling Chain - frustratingly ineffective due to short 15' radius of chain hops.

Majority of enemy spawn groups in the game include enemies spaced more than 15' apart. 

Sparkling Chain is usually only able to hit a fraction (often a small fraction) of an enemy group, while other AOE Immobilizes are able to routinely hit a lot more enemies.

How to improve?

- Increase the chain jump radius to 20' or 25' to improve the potential coverage area.  (At 20' or 25' radius the coverage would still be significantly less than all the targeted AOE immobilizes which have 30' radius.)

 

Incindiary Aura - overall feels lackluster, Blast Off occurs infrequently.

Pyro is hard on endurance and Incindiary Aura could use a little more incentive to justify the added end cost of the toggle.

How to improve? 

- Maybe increase Blast Off chance and allow multiple Blast Off to occur simultaneously to add mitigation and theme flavor.

- Or maybe add some -RES to the Aura itself ("combustible properties")

 

 

I get where you're coming from especially, on the aura. Personally, the effect needs to cover more of that 20ft radius for more visual feedback. Since it's the same radius as Hot Feet and that has the visual aspect that helps it feel more impactful. Also, multiple blasts do happen it's often time the sound is drown out and the "Blast Off's" are stacking between the aura, the pet and what you're casting. The problem I think is bothering you is how the Blast Off procs are inconsistent sometimes. As it'll hit 1 guy like 4 times and the rest of group is just debuffed, so, the frequency could be buffed to be a bit more snappy. That "Pow" sound is Incendiary going off. I don't want it to be like "firecrackers" since they'll roll into the "annoying sounds please turn that off" That Hurricane, Repel and Sonic Repulsion currently have. 

Sparking Chain is fine because it's supposed to be used after a Glittering Column. If Sparking Chain was buff to be like that it could risk pulling 2 mobs which would just cause more problems later. Since that's an issue I've have when playing Trollers when I first started throwing out that AOE Immo can makes things worse if you hit 2 groups by mistake. I like it being a bit more contained than other AOE Immos

[BZRKR]

I like the graphics updates quite a bit, nice work!

[noogens2]

Is there anyone else that noticed that proc damage is broken in this patch?  This is against -1 mobs.

 

Pyro / Storm Controller

 

 

Elec / Kin Contoller

[OverkillEngine]

Incendiary Aura could still use some graphical tweaking of its effect, maybe a version where the particle/decal size is scaled down and aggressively kept at ground level, otherwise the second you are in a situation where you have to use a close in camera angle (like the scads of cave missions out there) it makes it really hard to see. Technically both Light and Dark versions have this issue, it's just worse on Dark due to the increased saturation and decreased transparency.
 

Edited Tuesday at 06:06 AM by OverkillEngine
typos

[Captain Powerhouse]

13 hours ago, noogens2 said:

Is there anyone else that noticed that proc damage is broken in this patch?  This is against -1 mobs

 

This issue has just been fixed internally. Thank you for bringing this up.

[Kai Moon]

Part of Catherine Wheel (the pet itself) seems to be customizable but not colorable. Bright version has a reddish big circle that doesn't seem to change color. Same for dark version, but greenish-bluish.

 

I think the Catherine Wheel's powers (Twinkling Blast etc) are ok.

 

Possibly normal/intended, but there are static embers from the Blast Off proc. They glow white, fly up then down, fade to red, bounce off the ground a bit. No change for bright/dark or customization color.

[StarkWhite]

The greenish thing happens on a *lot* of powers using the dark palette, becoming more visible as you move toward straight black. I've never quite understood why.

(it happens a lot when you use dark palette for premium sprints, too)

[JayboH]

Nvm.

Edited Friday at 08:37 AM by JayboH

[JayboH]

Dominators:  Glittering Column takes To Hit Debuff sets and also takes Accuracy enhancements...  but doesn't allow Accurate To Hit Debuff enhancements, which seems wrong

Edited Friday at 09:00 PM by JayboH

[Kai Moon]

1 hour ago, JayboH said:

Dominators:  Glittering Column takes To Hit Debuff sets and also takes Accuracy enhancements...  but doesn't allow Accurate To Hit Debuff enhancements, which seems wrong

Controllers too.

 

Although Glittering Column Aura is autohit, Glitter Explosion hits more targets and needs a hit roll to stick the debuff. Glittering Column should allow accurate to hit debuff sets because of Glitter Explosion.

Edited Friday at 10:37 PM by Kai Moon

[JayboH]

I posted it and then edited it because I wasn't on the latest build, but sure enough every build seems to not take Accurate To Hit Debuff sets on Glittering Column.

[Kai Moon]

Looked at defense types and pet stuff.

 

* Hypnotizing Lights has AoE defense type only. Was no second type (psi?) intended?

* Hypnotizing Lights (Close) has AoE and cold defense types, probably not intended.

* Catherine Wheel's Glitter Flare and Vibrant Bolt are ranged and energy defense, probably intended to be ranged and fire defense.

* Catherine Wheel's Rocket Twirl is AoE and energy defense, probably intended to be AoE and fire defense.

* Rocket Twirl has Whirling Hands' short description. Should say Fire/Energy damage, Chance for Blast Off.

 

(Breaking off Rocket Twirl targeting issue to new post.)

 

Edited Friday at 11:18 PM by Kai Moon

[Kai Moon]

On 5/27/2025 at 7:04 PM, Thezanman said:

Not sure if this is intended, but Catherine Wheel's AoE attack (Rocket Twirl) acts pretty strangely. It's listed as a 100 ft. range 15 ft. radius AoE, but it's not a TAoE, it casts at its own location. The problem is that the pet's AI will just cast the power constantly without any enemies in range, and will not attempt to get close to enemies either.

Yeah, Rocket Twirl's range should be 0.

 

Catherine Wheel's current behavior is to get within 100 feet of the target, then fire off the PBAoE (hitting nothing), then continue getting closer to use single-target ranged attacks.

 

Compare to Demon Prince's Frozen Aura, which has a range of 0. Demon Prince uses its ranged attacks, then runs into melee before using Frozen Aura, as expected.

Edited 23 hours ago by Kai Moon

[Shin Magmus]

   Keep in mind that powers like Glittering Column basically have 2 powers within them, and allowing the set to slot Accurate Tohit Debuff sets may make one power enhanceable but the other not receive any benefit: worst-case example being that you slot Cloud Senses and it makes the Glitter Explosion debuff go up but fails to affect the Glitter Aura debuff at all.  Set/Slotting related bugs like this are very common on HC, any time the devs change what kind of sets a power takes.  This is still an issue on Fault even where it's supposedly WAI, where slotting TAoE sets does nothing to even buff the accuracy of the Stun/KD component of the power: which has lower than 1.0x base acc.  That second power doesn't accept those sets, so your enhancement does nothing.  You have to use more universal enhancements like Hamis to get around the issue.

 

   So yeah, if we allow Accurate Tohit Debuff sets in GC, please make sure they affect both debuffs: thank you.

[ExeErdna]

1 hour ago, Shin Magmus said:

   Keep in mind that powers like Glittering Column basically have 2 powers within them, and allowing the set to slot Accurate Tohit Debuff sets may make one power enhanceable but the other not receive any benefit: worst-case example being that you slot Cloud Senses and it makes the Glitter Explosion debuff go up but fails to affect the Glitter Aura debuff at all.  Set/Slotting related bugs like this are very common on HC, any time the devs change what kind of sets a power takes.  This is still an issue on Fault even where it's supposedly WAI, where slotting TAoE sets does nothing to even buff the accuracy of the Stun/KD component of the power: which has lower than 1.0x base acc.  That second power doesn't accept those sets, so your enhancement does nothing.  You have to use more universal enhancements like Hamis to get around the issue.

 

   So yeah, if we allow Accurate Tohit Debuff sets in GC, please make sure they affect both debuffs: thank you.

 

Yeah, that's what I was wondering because currently when slotting the column. I do a 5 piece Dark Watcher and Acc/Dmg hami. When full slotting Clouded Senses is just better. Also might help with some higher-tiered enemies outright ignore it since the acc atm is too low. 

 

1 hour ago, Kai Moon said:

Yeah, Rocket Twirl's range should be 0.

 

Catherine Wheel's current behavior is to get within 100 feet of the target, then fire off the PBAoE (hitting nothing), then continue getting closer to use single-target ranged attacks.

 

Compare to Demon Prince's Frozen Aura, which has a range of 0. Demon Prince uses its ranged attacks, then runs into melee before using Frozen Aura, as expected.

 

 

I think the wheel's AI is set to "normal" when it might need to be set to "melee" since this is an issue with a lot of pets where they hang back and aren't as aggressive as one may think. Since I remember with earlier testing the Wheel would often chase enemies into rooms. This is when I noticed my Wheel chased down a runner and almost killed it. It was during one of those "All Paragon Protector" Warehouse missions. Also, this was the time I was reporting that the wheel was also getting stuck on corners. If you would move too fast around objects or around corners it would need to be resummoned because the commands wouldn't work at all.