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

[Wavicle]

6 minutes ago, Mezmera said:

My biggest gripe would actually be from the Memento Mori specifically to Stalkers.  I think the +HP portion is a novel idea for the other ATs but on Stalkers with their 400 hp less cap than Scrappers for example I know I have to be getting much less out of the unique aspect of it.  The power feels like Parasitic Aura with a few nuanced alterations but at least with PA that extra +absorb feels like you're getting good use on all the ATs.  Maybe the Stalker version can get some small +absorb as well since at 1700 hp built in I never see myself less than the 2088 cap whenever I use Memento.  

Sentinel has the same issue.

[Mezmera]

Just now, Wavicle said:

Sentinel has the same issue.

 

Yeah I'd never play a Sentinel so I was kind of alluding to the Tanks, Brutes and Scrappers of the world.  But sure I'd advocate that small +absorb for Sents as well.  

[victusfate]

quick question about consume psyche and its variant, why a cone for scrappers & stalkers (and maybe even sentinels). My blasters & dominators have made good use out of the pbaoe.

[Koopak]

Worth keeping in mind that the +max hp between Stalker and Scrapper is the same relativistic value. The same is true for Parasitic Aura absorb just due to how they are valued, so any prefrence of one over the other SPECIFIC to an AT is placebo. (Not to say that isn't a valid point, one can argue stalkers feel like they need bigger buffs due to a lower starting point.)

Edited Saturday at 09:59 PM by Koopak

[Hamborgini]

I spent some time with a kinetic/psi/psi scrapper today. My testing routine is to do radio missions at +0/x1 with bosses on, upping the team size multiplier by 1 every time I finish a mission without being defeated, while only using basic IOs. On defeat, I increase my level by 5 and continue increasing the team size until I get defeated again, etc. For this particular character, I started the process at level 30, since I had already messed around with the set at lower levels on a brute. This approach isn't perfect, since it partly depends on what's available at any given time on the police scanner, but for what it's worth I maxed out at x5 at level 50, with Arachnos giving me my final defeat(s).

 

I'm not sure I really "get" the visuals of the first two powers, especially the little circles protecting our knees and elbows specifically from Psionic Shield. It all ended up blending together with my KM attacks into a whirlwind of pink energy at the end, so it didn't bother me once things started to get hectic. Having some alternate visuals available for the resist powers would still be nice. Maybe a simple glow similar to Energy Aura as others have suggested.

 

Aura of Insanity offers a surprising amount of mitigation, especially since it doesn't turn off when running out of endurance, which ended happening to me a lot until I was nearly fully slotted. Having nearby enemies occasionally attack each other also helped cover for KM's somewhat low damage. There are a lot of toggles, and a lot of clicks that need to be used frequently. I prefer the more active armors, so this isn't a complaint - more of a note that I didn't go into this expecting endurance issues on par with Dark Armor. In retrospect, changing one slot in Devour Psyche from healing to end mod might have saved me some trouble.

 

Overall, I really dig this armor set. I love Aura of Insanity. I don't know where this set lands compared to others numbers-wise, but it didn't feel either overpowered or underwhelming from the time I put into it. I had a lot of fun with this, so if it were to release in the exact state it's in now, I would definitely recreate my test character on live.

[High_Beam]

2 hours ago, victusfate said:

quick question about consume psyche and its variant, why a cone for scrappers & stalkers (and maybe even sentinels). My blasters & dominators have made good use out of the pbaoe.

Sentinels too.  In the case of Sentinels, its really good as a cone vie a PBAoE because you are often not up close.  Its bread and butter and allows me to clear and fire.

[Warspite]

I don't understand the dislike over this set.  I am having fun with it. As other's have noticed, this is similar to dark armor, just a newer, possibly improved, more well-rounded version of what Dark has currently on live.  Side note, glad to see Dark Armor finally getting some love!

 

Dark has an advantage on resistances. That's the downside for Psi as far as I can see it.   I don't see them giving DDR to any other resist bases sets either.

 

Everything else is basically pick your flavor.

 

Instead of taking Cloak of Fear & Oppressive Gloom on my Dark, (at .6/s base End Cost mind you), you get Aura of Insanity, which has multiple mez types but all at 2.5 mag instead of 2 and no end cost, somehow.  With the extra power pick, Psionics picks up an Absorb shield with slight boosts to regen/end.

 

Precognition has a slight advantage over Cloak of Darkness.  Equivalent Def totals and Auto power versus another toggle for Dark.  And I think if I understand it correctly, Positional + Psionic defense covers most everything that Def All covers?  Plus it looks like they are adding increased Psionic defense in the next build.

 

Dark has Death Shroud, which I will miss on Psionics (Aura of Insanity does include some Dot damage but maybe not the same steady numbers, instead picking up extra defense with Impose Presence.  Dark Regen is a massive heal and I'm glad it's getting an end redux, but I love Consume Psyche giving Heals and End.

 

Suggestions/requests?

I would like them to remove the unbalanced Lethal resistances or at least reduce the gap.   Also, It's weird to me that they are plugging the toxic hole for Electric but giving PSI one.  So can we plug that now instead of having to wait for a later date?

 

For Impose Presence, can we get a higher bump on the first critter without dropping the value for the remainder?  Also it's weird to have Ranged & Melee but no AOE defense.  As I see slotting this, a high priority is going to be bonuses that provide S/L resistances which are generally going to also have bonuses for Melee/Ranged and not AOE.

 

Also, for scrappers, how hard would it be to change the mechanics to allow them to choose Impose or Mask presence just like you are adding to Dark Regeneration/Obscure Sustenance?

 

 

 

[BrandX]

11 minutes ago, Warspite said:

I don't understand the dislike over this set.  I am having fun with it. As other's have noticed, this is similar to dark armor, just a newer, possibly improved, more well-rounded version of what Dark has currently on live.  Side note, glad to see Dark Armor finally getting some love!

 

Dark has an advantage on resistances. That's the downside for Psi as far as I can see it.   I don't see them giving DDR to any other resist bases sets either.

 

Everything else is basically pick your flavor.

 

Instead of taking Cloak of Fear & Oppressive Gloom on my Dark, (at .6/s base End Cost mind you), you get Aura of Insanity, which has multiple mez types but all at 2.5 mag instead of 2 and no end cost, somehow.  With the extra power pick, Psionics picks up an Absorb shield with slight boosts to regen/end.

 

Precognition has a slight advantage over Cloak of Darkness.  Equivalent Def totals and Auto power versus another toggle for Dark.  And I think if I understand it correctly, Positional + Psionic defense covers most everything that Def All covers?  Plus it looks like they are adding increased Psionic defense in the next build.

 

Dark has Death Shroud, which I will miss on Psionics (Aura of Insanity does include some Dot damage but maybe not the same steady numbers, instead picking up extra defense with Impose Presence.  Dark Regen is a massive heal and I'm glad it's getting an end redux, but I love Consume Psyche giving Heals and End.

 

Suggestions/requests?

I would like them to remove the unbalanced Lethal resistances or at least reduce the gap.   Also, It's weird to me that they are plugging the toxic hole for Electric but giving PSI one.  So can we plug that now instead of having to wait for a later date?

 

For Impose Presence, can we get a higher bump on the first critter without dropping the value for the remainder?  Also it's weird to have Ranged & Melee but no AOE defense.  As I see slotting this, a high priority is going to be bonuses that provide S/L resistances which are generally going to also have bonuses for Melee/Ranged and not AOE.

 

Also, for scrappers, how hard would it be to change the mechanics to allow them to choose Impose or Mask presence just like you are adding to Dark Regeneration/Obscure Sustenance?

 

 

 

 

Just to respond to some of this...

 

Cloak of Fear had it's end cost lowered to .26/s and Oppressive Gloom was always a free end cost that, like AoI, uses health instead.

 

I have wondered why Dark Armor, being similar, would have better resists, but I wasn't 100% sure on if the differences are really that big.

 

 

[Koopak]

Did some testing in an ITF on scrapper. Set definitely struggles, ironically not because of resistance of defense, but because of mez protection. Phalanx Fighting gives mag 3 protection and Shout of command 10. So even layering Support Core, Carion Radial, and Vangaurd Medal isn't able to punch through. If people are mainly testing on ITF thats probably why Aura of Insanity is being see as terrible by some players.

Personally i think the Cimeroran mobs being so over tuned vs mez is just an enemy group problem. They can literally tell Controllers and some Dominators to go reroll.

 

edit: at time of writing, the fear portion of Aura of Insanity appears to have incorrect mez strength. I suspect its that the wrong portion is tagged to allow enhancemnts

Edited Sunday at 03:41 AM by Koopak

[KaizenSoze]

7 hours ago, Koopak said:

Did some testing in an ITF on scrapper. Set definitely struggles, ironically not because of resistance of defense, but because of mez protection. Phalanx Fighting gives mag 3 protection and Shout of command 10. So even layering Support Core, Carion Radial, and Vangaurd Medal isn't able to punch through. If people are mainly testing on ITF thats probably why Aura of Insanity is being see as terrible by some players.

 Even my Night Widow, which has way more accuracy than most builds has accuracy issues against stacked Romans defense.

[Skyhawke]

I haven't jumped into the test server, but I am keeping eyes on these beta threads. I have a question that I don't think has been addressed (apologies if it has and Imissed it), but how does this set do just on straight SOs? No sets, no regular IOs,just SOs. I see lots of testing with sets used to try to fill holes, but has anyone taken it into higher levels with just SOs? Not everyone is a min/maxer. 

[StarkWhite]

3 hours ago, Skyhawke said:

I haven't jumped into the test server, but I am keeping eyes on these beta threads. I have a question that I don't think has been addressed (apologies if it has and Imissed it), but how does this set do just on straight SOs? No sets, no regular IOs,just SOs. I see lots of testing with sets used to try to fill holes, but has anyone taken it into higher levels with just SOs? Not everyone is a min/maxer. 

I habitually stick with SOs until I get a character into the 40s. As with any set, you just have to adjust your chosen difficulty modifiers according to how tricked out your character is.

[FupDup]

12 hours ago, BrandX said:

I have wondered why Dark Armor, being similar, would have better resists, but I wasn't 100% sure on if the differences are really that big.

The reason for this is that the devs actually intended Psi Armor to be a "regen set" rather than a resistance set. The resists are just there as a sort of secondary layer, but the way they designed it was for regeneration to do the heavy lifting. So basically, Psi Armor is Dark Armor trying really hard to be Regeneration. 

[Koopak]

6 hours ago, Skyhawke said:

I haven't jumped into the test server, but I am keeping eyes on these beta threads. I have a question that I don't think has been addressed (apologies if it has and Imissed it), but how does this set do just on straight SOs? No sets, no regular IOs,just SOs. I see lots of testing with sets used to try to fill holes, but has anyone taken it into higher levels with just SOs? Not everyone is a min/maxer. 

It holds up about as well as other armors on straight SOs. You aren't gonna be casually smashing +4x8 solo (+3 to the player with incarnates) with an SO only build, and that actually alleviates the slotting challenges of Aura of Insanity. The reason Aura in particular needs such aggressive mez slotting is because of purple patch, once you drop enemy levels down to +2 to the player or less, the required slotting gets pretty easy to do with just a few SOs, you could accomplish most of what you need with it with 1 SO for each mez type and 1 accuracy SO. Below +2 to the player you can just going without enhancements in AoI

I only highlight AoI because the rest of the set is pretty normal, and performs, as I said, largely on par with any other armor set provided you are using AoI as well.

Edited Sunday at 05:40 PM by Koopak

[Sigma7]

My perspective:

I primarily play Stalkers so I will be giving a stalker perspective on my testing only.

I'm not really an expert so my testing method was to run this armor in familiar content with a build similar to my other main stalker builds. For context, I am mainly comparing to ice armor and energy armor on Stalkers. After running similar builds between ice armor EA and Psi armor sigh armor definitely comes out last. 

This set relies heavily on regeneration and Stalkers lend themselves to defense based armors. It sounds like There are some mixed reviews for this armor and I suspect part of that is because it performs differently with different at's.

 

Specific power feedback:

 

Aura of Insanity: Energy aura disrupt feels more reliable for a similar power. For example when I'm using disrupt around enemies with toxic damage I can feel that it helps. Aura of insanity Just feels less reliable . Maybe the stunn duration of disrupt is longer and that's what makes it feel more useful. Maybe the Proc chance is higher i'm not sure I don't know the numbers behind these respective powers. The randomness of the mez may also be a problem. This ability is so random overall that it's hard to make plans around it. The fact that energy aura has a similar power that's more effective while also having overall higher survivability feels unjustified. Maybe this power could be made more stable and predictable if it didn't give so many random status effects. The Devs just added a new type of sleep status effect and maybe this would be an interesting place to leverage it.

 

Memento Mori: It's just not emotionally satisfying to have in "oh crap" power that implicitly assumes that you're going to die. These powers are more satisfying when they keep you from dying and or allow you to stand toe to toe with foes that would normally kill you otherwise.This game is about the superhero Power Fantasy and  Dying isn't part of that fantasy.  Also if I res then my body will likely be surrounded by tough enemies that may well just kill me again I died for a reason after all.This is what inspirations are for.  As a stalker with lower hit points it may be natural that I would be especially underwhelmed with this ability.  Yes you can use the power before you die but if I get in over my head Then using this power really just prolongs the inevitable. If there are multiple bosses around me doing high burst damage to my low hit points and meager defenses and resistance then the heel that comes from this power will buy me a little bit of time but it won't actually allow me to turn the tables which is what I would want from this type of power. I would be interested in sacrificing the rez of this power for something that would keep me alive longer so that I don't need to rez in the first place.

 

Precognition: This power needs a buff to its defenses or it needs to provide resistance to defense debuffs really it could probably benefit from both.

Devour Psyche: I don't love that I have to spam this power but its effects are pretty decent. Fight drags on long enough The endurance drain can give significant mitigation. This is an ideal for a stalker but I can see how this could be useful for other ats.

 

Final thoughts:

I'm no expert on power balance but I sincerely hope that this armor gets some buffs before it goes live. It has potential and I think the ideas behind it are interesting and it's clear that a lot of thought went into making this set visually and mechanically unique. It would be a shame if some of that effort was wasted because the overall effectiveness of the armor was not exciting enough because it under-performs its peers.  I think the best chance for this set to get high levels of adoption is for it to Be powerful but not overpowered. Would like to see it be more competitive with the well respected armors. 

 

Sometimes when powers are unique with high potential they tend to get under-tuned by devs to the point where their potential is not expressed. A good example of this would be how Energy transfer with such a uniquely powerful attack. The Devs feared it being overpowered so it ended up being nerfed into oblivion for quite a while. At homecoming updates to energy transfer have allowed the power to shine while not being overpowered. It fulfills the power fantasy without being game-breaking. This kind of feeling that I would like to see for the armor set. I would like to feel powerful but not overpowered when using this.

 

[Hamborgini]

Went through the routine again of alternating between increasing my level by 5 when defeated, or the team size multiplier when succeeding without being defeated. This time I was on a savage/psi/psi stalker. All enhancements were level 30 basic IOs. I started at level 27 rather than 25 to make getting the IOs from the freebies menu less of a hassle. Initial difficulty settings were solo bosses on, level +0, team size x2. Got through the first mission no problems, as expected.

 

Then I bumped the team size up to x3 and went up against some Sky Raiders. This mission was a disaster. Psi armor's lower than average resistance to both lethal and fire, as well absolutely no debuff resistance of any kind, really made this a challenge. I eventually got through it, but only after several trips to the hospital.

 

After increasing my level to 30 and getting both Aura of Insanity and Memento Mori, it was like a switch was flipped on my survivability. I shot through missions on x3, x4, and x5 with almost no problems at all. Then I started running x6, and that seemed to be my limit for this particular character. Adding more powers and more slots wasn't enough to offset the increasingly difficult enemies. There was just too much nasty stuff at the higher levels for this character's meager health pool to deal with using basic slotting at x6 spawn size. Council enemies' habit of turning into werewolves and getting all their health back while also hitting way harder was a particular annoyance.

 

If I had one balance suggestion after my two test characters, it'd be to ask for a bit of -rech resistance somewhere. Psi damage typically does -rech as a secondary effect, so it would be thematically appropriate for psi armor to resist that effect. I somehow missed that this set already has this effect. Getting hit by 10 Galaxies at once and having my recharge floored is probably what led me to think it didn't.

Edited Sunday at 07:30 PM by Hamborgini

[BrandX]

Ran some KW missions at 3/5 (I did use Alpha, Interface and Hybrid for passive only...no Destiny or Judgement Use) difficulty 4/8 seemed to much solo for my build (Note: I'm not one worried about being able to solo 4/8 and it may be the enemy groups for people who do say they can do it :p)

 

Tried different slotting on AoI.  Have to say using Cupid's for the set bonus seem to do better than 2 Slot Cupid, 2 ACC/MEZ HOs, Purple Confuse Proc (should've tried 3 Slot Cupid perhaps) for over all performance, but AoI may have done a bit better with the non set slotting.  NOTE: Which btw...explains why I was wondering why I lost S/L Resist in a previous post *facepalm* forgot I had 3% S/L Resist from Cupid's.

 

Think I was enjoying Cognitive Radial over my normal Degenerative Core Interface with AoI (did not try this with the non Cupid's slotting).  Not sure I was feeling it was doing damage on the non mezzed targets, but maybe it's not supposed to if they're hit by the mez without being under it's effects?  Maybe I just wasn't paying enough attention?

 

That said, fun little bit of power.  Going to say again, it doesn't take the ATO Sets when it does take damage sets, but I'm not likely to slot the set in there, as I'm feeling Cupid's is perfect for it myself.  However, others may want those sets in there and they should be allowed I would think.

 

I did fine with Devour Psyche.  I'm sure, as I'm more likely to be in melee, to enjoy the PBAOE version over the cone version, I also think I was keeping the buffs up pretty well, so it's not like that was a big issue.

 

I would rely on Memento Mori for the Heal.

 

Other than wishing the set had some Toxic Resist (maybe in Devour Psyche) I've been enjoying the set.

[Wavicle]

1 minute ago, Hamborgini said:

If I had one balance suggestion after my two test characters, it'd be to ask for a bit of -rech resistance somewhere.

It already has it, in Psychokinetic Barrier.

[Wavicle]

3 minutes ago, BrandX said:

Other than wishing the set had some Toxic Resist (maybe in Devour Psyche) I've been enjoying the set.

I agree. I don't understand why the set has BOTH a Lethal penalty AND a hole to Toxic. Take the lesson that was just learned on Electric and Regen, no more giant holes. A little hole is ok, it doesn't have to be tons of toxic res, just a bit.

[Hamborgini]

3 minutes ago, Wavicle said:

It already has it, in Psychokinetic Barrier.

I somehow missed this. In my defense, the +25% recharge resistance is hard to notice when fighting a x6 spawn of nothing but Galaxies.

[BrandX]

6 minutes ago, Hamborgini said:

If I had one balance suggestion after my two test characters, it'd be to ask for a bit of -rech resistance somewhere. Psi damage typically does -rech as a secondary effect, so it would be thematically appropriate for psi armor to resist that effect. I somehow missed that this set already has this effect. Getting hit by 10 Galaxies at once and having my recharge floored is probably what led me to think it didn't.

 

Yeah, 55% Slow Resist (what I have on my EM/PSI) will only go so far.

[BrandX]

1 minute ago, Wavicle said:

I agree. I don't understand why the set has BOTH a Lethal penalty AND a hole to Toxic. Take the lesson that was just learned on Electric and Regen, no more giant holes. A little hole is ok, it doesn't have to be tons of toxic res, just a bit.

 

I will say, I didn't feel the lethal hole was as bad as others, but I do have the build with IOs (but I wasn't using any Destiny...so no Barrier).

2.5 - 3% Per Devour Psyche Buff (so Consume Psyche for the ATs I wasn't testing) could be enhanceable or not may be the way to do it as it wouldn't be just on one of the resist shield (not that I would be against it).  Could be a lower Resist value on Psionic Shield or equal value on Impenetrable Mind (as I believe this power gives a small resist to Psychic...and Psychic and Toxic share the same IO bonuses usually).

[ZEvalkyrie]

Infrequent poster here (but frequent dominator/brute player!) 

I've been testing out this set some on a dark melee brute and I've been having a blast with it.  I really love the adaptive recharge on the powers and would love for that to proliferate around to other powers (like soul drain!).  It's really exciting to see new design concepts like that.  The combination of the two sets work really well for stacking mez, especially when using the control hybrid incarnate (which makes me feel like i'm playing a melee dominator with an actual armour set). All the regen/buff powers that need frequent supervision really make me wish I could auto 2-3 powers but they're reasonable to manage during a fight so it doesn't feel too busy. In the testing I did with just a little bit of slotting to 'up the punch' from the auto slotting yielded a combination of powers that gave me a brute that was super sustainable (was testing on +1/8 and +3/8) but played with a very different feeling from other sets I've played on brutes with the emphasis on control.   This legit might end up being my favourite armour set when it hits live and I'm looking forward to more of a deep dive into it.

I don't know if it would change things a ton, but it feels like it would be pretty amazing if we could get the option to slot brute ATOs into Aura of Insanity and/or Mememto Mori.  I haven't ran any numbers on proc odds or anything but it *feels* like it'd be a fun option to have! Regardless, I'm loving this set and can't wait to see it on the live servers!

[golstat2003]

On 5/27/2025 at 12:55 PM, Super Atom said:

Is min/no-FX planned? Brain armor seems like it could be a set with min/no-FX

 

 

 

I am forever calling this set Brain Armor from now on. thanks for this. LMAOOOO

[golstat2003]

On 5/28/2025 at 11:30 AM, 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 t8 power.

 

Yeah we keep being told the game is balanced around SOs. I have significantly agree. the advice shouldn't be "slot it to the gills" with IOs to make it . . . decent. That's a balance problem on it's face. lol