Focused Feedback New Powerset - Psionic Armor (Brutes, Scrappers, Sentinels, Stalkers, Tankers)

[Riverdusk]

I noticed that lethal weakness and it immediately turned me off.  As far as I know, lethal is the most common damage type in the game.  A lot of lethal attacks also hit you with -def debuffs and I didn't see any ddr in the set.  Therefore even if you try to build up some lethal defense to counteract it, it'd crumble away quickly.  

 

A smashing weakness would actually be a lot less dangerous.

 

 

[AlexEquinox]

21 minutes ago, Crimsanotic said:

 

This, please. When one thinks of psychic armor, they typically think of Psylocke. Psychic armor should be primarily defense, absorb, and max HP.

 

Too bad this isn't happening.

Not just that, but could even keep offset smash/lethal values, with lethal being more likely to pierce through TK barriers.

[BrandX]

38 minutes ago, FupDup said:

The lethal/smash thing has a funny story behind it.

 

The first version of Psi Armor had much lower Psi resists than it does now, which lead to several people saying that it was weird for the titular Psionic Armor to be countered by its own theme/element (compared to most other armors which counter their own element, i.e. Electric Armor counters electrical based attacks). I made some jokes about how a lethal weakness would make more sense than a Psi weakness because Jean Gray gets killed by Wolverine all day every day, and Cap Powerhouse apparently wanted to have an armor set with unequal smash/lethal res for a long time. In my joke, she saw an opportunity to do that and thus reallocated a portion of lethal resist to beef up the Psi resist. 

 

So you can partially blame me on this one since I made the Jean Gray joke, but in my defense it also just so happened to line up with an old idea that CPH had (most of my other ideas never get anywhere, i.e. I also thought that Psi Armor should've been more defense based instead of being a regen set).

 

Also, to play devil's advocate for a second, it is kinda weird how smash/lethal were previously always identical to each other when all the other elements are decoupled. Energy/Neg, Cold/Fire, and Psi/Tox are very commonly unequal but Smash/Lethal were always 1:1 until now. I'm not saying this was the best place to do it, but I think that having it somewhere makes sense. 

 

To be fair, Dark Armor doesn't cap it's own Negative Energy and that's always made me sad.

[Kaika]

I said it before and I'll say it again, no stalker/Scrapper would ever want a cone over a PBAoE, please give them Consume Psyche instead of Devour Psyche. I don't care if it technically  covers a larger area, it requires you to reposition which cuts into DPS on the more DPS focused AT who are going to be in the thick of it anyways. If it remains like this, it's another set I probably wont bother with as it's central to the whole set(lack of taunt means it's already dead to me on scrapper but it could be fun on stalker). Honestly  It's just a bizarre choice

Edited Wednesday at 03:32 AM by Kaika

[Vanden]

10 minutes ago, Kaika said:

I said it before and I'll say it again, no stalker/Scrapper would ever want a cone over a PBAoE, please give them Consume Psyche instead of Devour Psyche. I don't care if it technically  covers a larger area, it requires you to reposition which cuts into DPS on the more DPS focused AT who are going to be in the thick of it anyways. If it remains like this, it's another set I probably wont bother with as it's central to the whole set(lack of taunt means it's already dead to me on scrapper but it could be fun on stalker). Honestly  It's just a bizarre choice

 

As I understand it, the unique mechanics of this power make a cone desirable over a PBAoE. Since using this power resets the duration of ALL existing stacks, and since it has dynamic recharge, you basically want to hit as few targets as possible to keep the recharge low while refreshing the duration of the maxed stacks, and a cone is better for hitting fewer targets than a PBAoE.

[ScarySai]

The main problem really is just the fact this is a very regen/resist heavy set that doesn't give you enough of either to be sustainable against anything that actually threatens you.

 

Low resists to common damage types certainly doesn't help. I get the theming behind giving it a lethal hole, but from a practical design standpoint, it's a pointless kneecapping of the set. Why does psi need to choose between lethal and psi when other resist sets have "holes" that still have a higher res value than this set does overall?

 

Like if you wanted to just design purely on theme, this shouldn't be a resist set in the first place.

Edited Wednesday at 04:14 AM by ScarySai

[Kaika]

1 hour ago, Vanden said:

 

As I understand it, the unique mechanics of this power make a cone desirable over a PBAoE. Since using this power resets the duration of ALL existing stacks, and since it has dynamic recharge, you basically want to hit as few targets as possible to keep the recharge low while refreshing the duration of the maxed stacks, and a cone is better for hitting fewer targets than a PBAoE.

Um what?

 

That's not how it works at all, have you even tested this? That would be TERRIBLE design, especially considering the size of the cone. The recharge caps at 10 targets, which is also the target cap, there is no hard limit to the number of stacks you can have. It's intended to punish you less for hitting less enemies, not to punish you more for hitting too many, that would be awful.

 

Edit: whoops it does cap at 11, really should be in the description of the power if the buff is capped, however it does not change my point, as there would be no reason to hit less targets with it, since you would still want to refresh the buff on all the stacks

Edited Wednesday at 04:50 AM by Kaika

[ScarySai]

Yeah, that's not how you play this set at all.

[Vanden]

1 hour ago, Kaika said:

That's not how it works at all, have you even tested this?

 

Yes, it works exactly as I described. Hitting even one target refreshes the duration of EVERY stack. Here's a recording of it (sped up 4x to save time):

 

 

You can see how, starting from 0 stacks and using Devour Psyche off cooldown, no stacks expire and I'm eventually able to reach the maximum number of stacks by just repeatedly hitting one target.

Edited Wednesday at 06:27 AM by Vanden

[BrandX]

Possible Bug or just overlooked:

 

Aura of Insanity takes Damage Sets but it's not accepting either of the Scrapper ATO Sets (Scrapper's Strike or Critical Strikes)

[rwmagpie]

no (listed) -defense resist on a set that can stack semi-meaningful def with a lethal hole

 

masterful gambit, homecoming. (i hope this is erroneous)

 

joking aside:

i like the concepts this set brings to the table! sliding scale cooldowns based on the number of targets hit, interesting layered protections, a variety of buttons that (in theory) do good defensive things for you.

 

but.

 

this set has a lot of big problems that i literally can not overlook. there was a suggestion earlier in the thread that mentioned turning it into a maxhp/absorb DEFENSE set with precognition being a resist auto, which i think is probably the only way to salvage this without giving the entire set a complete facelift or gutting that lethal hole in favor of a smashing hole.

 

there's a lot of cool ideas here but when i can confidently call a set the "ideas guy" set and not a set that's doing anything meaningful when compared to constituents like electric armor, dark armor, invuln, or even fiery aura? it's hard for me to justify using it from any standpoint that isn't a roleplaying perspective. psi armor needs a lot of love.

 

also to answer "wait why are you comparing this to fiery aura" both sets are very squishy, but fiery aura offers +damage. psi armor offers a small chunk of -regen. rad armor and bio armor both offer significant sources of -regen (psi armor's is comparable, if superior by volume), but there's just one small issue.

do you notice the -regen at all in general gameplay? during a PI radio does it come up? during a taskforce it can enable you to kill that AV 10 seconds faster. but as a "set gimmick" it's nothing really... impactful? it's not helping the set achieve a gameplan. i'm worried that this set will be forgotten about and ignored because it's technically usable in the same way that bean bag is technically a power you can take on assault rifle.

[Cheli]

Honestly it feels like "I would never play this outside of theme" is the balancing point they're going for with new sets.

 

A lethal hole might be mechanically 'different' or 'interesting' but it's the most common damage type in the game and you're going to be struggling from level 1 if your toggles don't cover lethal adequately. Very silly decision. 

[ScarySai]

Marine did not end the Homecoming set curse after all.

[beelzebub]

Couple of typos here in the descriptions of each power set:

Same here: should read, "your enemies' minds"

Thanks! Good luck ~

[Koopak]

I'll follow up when I can but if anyone hasn't, please try slotting general +mez into Aura of Insanity. D-Sync Binding is the optimal way, but there are alternatives, 3x 53s then use the other 3 slots for damage or procs, Sandman and Entomb especially. I also recommend trying the set with a controller or dominator friend.

[ScarySai]

I think if the power needs proc assistance at this stage with three Hamis boosting it, it's a trash power.

 

Pathetic for a t8 power.

Edited Thursday at 12:02 AM by ScarySai
Minor typo

[Psyonico]

24 minutes ago, Koopak said:

I'll follow up when I can but if anyone hasn't, please try slotting general +mez into Aura of Insanity. D-Sync Binding is the optimal way, but there are alternatives, 3x 53s then use the other 3 slots for damage or procs, Sandman and Entomb especially. I also recommend trying the set with a controller or dominator friend.

in my post in the first page, I stated that I used 3x acc/mez HOs in the power.  I was planning on using 2x acc/mez, 1 x damage/mez and 2x damage, not realizing when I was leveling up that there is an accuracy penalty in the power, so 3x acc/mez 2x damage had to suffice.

 

I’m sure it was better than if I had *not* slotted the power with acc/mez, but it was far from “good”

[Lazarillo]

2 hours ago, ScarySai said:

I think if the power needs proc assistance at this stage with three Hamis boosting it, it's a trash power.

 

Pathetic for a t9 power.

I don't disagree with the sentiment, but to be pedantic, it's t8, not t9. The t9 isn't bad at all (although IMO, the Adaptive Recharge should probably be much lower if used when not defeated, if that's possible).  Still a hard skip on the t8 though.

[Faelia]

How this made it out of closed beta in this iteration boggles(heh) my mind. Will have to test when I get home. 

Edited Wednesday at 07:08 PM by Faelia

[Ukase]

By no means a detailed look - I typically try a powerset as if I'm inexperienced. EDITED: I don't believe I mentioned this was a Psionic/Mace tank.

I set my level to 10, and did Shauna Stockwell's arc. I thought.. +1/3 ought to be okay. Not okay. But hey, level 10, only a few slots in the armors. That's kind of on me. 

Then, I set to level 20, and did the next mission, but buffed the difficulty to +2/3 because the arc caps at 19. Consume Psyche certainly doesn't seem as uber as Drain Psyche does on my blaster, but then again...I'm not looking at numbers for an apple/apple comparison. But still, I think the way it is, simply slotted with the Preventative Medicine Absorb Proc and an origin end mod...it was enough to keep me from needing to use inspirations to stay upright. Just enough. Mind you, I was solo, without the benefit of teammate buffs. So, I think this is probably good to go at these lower levels.

Then I set to level 30, opted for a DE mission. Stats that I monitored are: 

 

With the difficulty at +2/2, solo, it's fairly simple to tab out and type this with no concerns. 
To me, normally when I'm solo on a tank, unless it's a fire tank, I'm usually set to 0/4, or even 0/1, just for the sake of speed because a tanker's dps compared to a blaster isn't quite there. But, I would think 2/2 at level 30 should be a fair gauge. Maybe not. 

So, I set it to +4/4. I quickly got stomped in the ground after a few attack cycles. Take that for what it's worth. 

Upped my level to 40. 
New enhancements, so stats are a bit different:

 

 

Figured I'd try the Pandora's Box 5/5, the jaeger contact. Set to +3/4, and fairly simple. Still had to pay attention to stats because of some of the debuffs, but manageable. 

Memento Mori - I'm not sure what I think of this power yet. It's really tough (for me) to tell what it's doing or how well/poorly it's doing it. Not helpful, I know. 
Right now I just have a token end mod slot in it, so I'm not expecting much until I slot it with more. 

Overall, this is to me, a fine set to play. Is it better than Shield? I don't think so. Is it better than fire? If it had burn, certainly. But I would put it on par with other armors as far as playability goes. None of the armors are the same; each has their differences. I think this is a well-thought out powerset. I'm sure if I spent more time playing it, I could come up with more things to adjust this way or that. And when I do, I'll revisit. 

So, level 50. 
Here's the stats just slapping a build together. 

 

The only enhancement in Psionic Shield is the steadfast protection 3% def/resist. So, clearly, this could hit the psionic 90% easy, I just didn't see the need. For end game, assuming MSRs and such, I'd probably slap an unbreakable guard set in there and call it a day. 

From an impromptu, play and slot what comes to mind, I think this set is pretty good. Of particular note are the adaptive recharge additions. I like that feature. 

I have no idea if this is helpful, but I figured why not? Folks that don't do brainstorm will certainly try it out, and I would think their experiences would only be better, as they're likely teamed up with buffs. Unless they join Snarky on a Posi 1 pug, then who knows. 

 

 

Edited Thursday at 01:11 PM by Ukase

[Mythcreatio]

First, I appreciate all of the hard work and time that went into everything with the new updates and features! Thanks to the team!!!

 

Random feedback notes from playing:

Aura of Insanity is a really cool concept imo, I'm curious if there is a reason for the 4secs before the psi damage tick?

 

Also is there a possibility of increasing the damage slightly on it? Not towards the "over tuned" dept, but to where the damage feels meaningful.

 

Right now, you jump into a spawn and hope your 3 upkeep buttons are keeping you up and recharge in time while popping inspirations, and then fighting lol.

 

I feel like I'm playing a damage-less scrapper as a tank with how quickly my health drops sometimes. If that's the way it's meant to feel, then I would like to ask for AOI to have MAG 3 up from 2.5, remove the 4sec pre-tick, and a boost in damage for it.

 

As for the upkeep powers, a slight boost to those so you're not struggling so much lol.

 

[Crimsanotic]

17 hours ago, ScarySai said:

The main problem really is just the fact this is a very regen/resist heavy set that doesn't give you enough of either to be sustainable against anything that actually threatens you.

 

Low resists to common damage types certainly doesn't help. I get the theming behind giving it a lethal hole, but from a practical design standpoint, it's a pointless kneecapping of the set. Why does psi need to choose between lethal and psi when other resist sets have "holes" that still have a higher res value than this set does overall?

 

Like if you wanted to just design purely on theme, this shouldn't be a resist set in the first place.

 

Why isn't this set's weakness dark?

[BrandX]

The -Regen of Devour Psyche, doesn't stack, right?

 

With sets, I was able to get close to 45% Melee Defense, the lethal Resist was lower than Smashing, but I'm not sure it was the much lower (this was on a scrapper) to be a difference.  I hit 75% Smashing Resist and just over 64% on Lethal Resist, and I doubt I had a great build in place.

 

 

[ScarySai]

1 hour ago, Crimsanotic said:

 

Why isn't this set's weakness dark?

 

Why is this set being sent to beta in such a clearly unplayable state? The world may never know.

 

Perhaps it's time to listen to feedback instead of trying to force a flawed vision on the playerbase and acting surprised when people hate it.

Edited Thursday at 12:05 AM by ScarySai

[StarkWhite]

I've been playing the hell out of it for ages and enjoying it, so it's clearly not unplayable.