Focused Feedback: Powerset - Electric Control

[Auroxis]

12 minutes ago, victusfate said:

Excited about the increased speed that jolting chain and synaptic are receiving. These feel more like solo (slow) powers on live, and more geared towards group play on beta although jolting chain will require new slotting. Haven't tried the most recent build yet but will try this morning.

The latest build basically doubles the number of jumps (with halved targets per jump), so it takes twice as long to complete and due to reduced damage per jump it also reduces the overall damage by half on a full pack.

Edited Tuesday at 07:15 AM by Auroxis

[WitchofDread]

This needs to be changed back, please.

[Captain Powerhouse]

The high-speed single jump behavior of the previous build chains was a bug. The chains will likely get further adjustments, but they won't be going back to that.

[WitchofDread]

 

1 hour ago, Captain Powerhouse said:

The high-speed single jump behavior of the previous build chains was a bug. The chains will likely get further adjustments, but they won't be going back to that.

They should go back, bug or not. Elec control was in a GREAT position. Please increase the speed of the jumps.

[victusfate]

12 hours ago, Auroxis said:

The latest build basically doubles the number of jumps (with halved targets per jump), so it takes twice as long to complete and due to reduced damage per jump it also reduces the overall damage by half on a full pack.

Ugh, yeah tried it when I got out of bed. Also procs were hitting for a small fraction of their damage, is that a chain logic thing (odd that aoe procs hit for full damage right?)

[WitchofDread]

 

4 hours ago, Captain Powerhouse said:

7 minutes ago, victusfate said:

Ugh, yeah tried it when I got out of bed. Also procs were hitting for a small fraction of their damage, is that a chain logic thing (odd that aoe procs hit for full damage right?)

 

Procs don't work with chains which is really annoying. They do affect the first target but that's it. It would be amazing if they did but that won't happen. The devs are pretty anti proc.

[Auroxis]

20 minutes ago, victusfate said:

Ugh, yeah tried it when I got out of bed. Also procs were hitting for a small fraction of their damage, is that a chain logic thing (odd that aoe procs hit for full damage right?)

There is a bug with damage procs on the latest beta build but that's being fixed soon. And yes proc damage is affected by the reduced damage multiplier per jump, though the power has minimal damage proc rate so i wouldn't use those regardless. Also the only one that can even proc on the chains is explosive strike.

Edited Tuesday at 08:02 PM by Auroxis

[Uun]

Just did another test run. The jumps on Synaptic Overload seem fine, plus with Adaptive Recharge you can reapply immediately if it dies after the initial hit. Jolting Chain jumps still seems wonky. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. It's hard to tell as there's no visual chain after the initial hit and you can only tell by the targets flopping.

[Vinceq98]

7 hours ago, Captain Powerhouse said:

The high-speed single jump behavior of the previous build chains was a bug. The chains will likely get further adjustments, but they won't be going back to that.

Excited to hear what adjustment you have planned. I love the feel of the chains now. Feels powerful and also unique. Took a new elec/poison controller and was having NO problems soloing 54x8 mobs.

[noogens2]

Has anyone else seen this with gremlins?  When there is one enemy left (maybe more), the pets stop attacking and you have to set them to aggressive for them to start attacking again.  I thought it was a fluke but I noticed this in multiple missions.  I'm not sure if they stay agressive throughout as they tend to die easily so I resummon often.  

[Uun]

2 minutes ago, noogens2 said:

Has anyone else seen this with gremlins?  When there is one enemy left (maybe more), the pets stop attacking and you have to set them to aggressive for them to start attacking again.  I thought it was a fluke but I noticed this in multiple missions.  I'm not sure if they stay agressive throughout as they tend to die easily so I resummon often.  

Not just Gremlins, all controller pets. Similar to MM henchmen, if the enemy is mezzed or otherwise not attacking you or them, the pets won't attack if they're set to Defensive. They need to be set to Aggressive or Attack My Target.

[MC333]

Devs, thank you very much for all the work done to improve Electric Control.  I've been looking forward to improvements in Electric Control for a long time.

 

THUMBS UP

Tesla Cage - shorter animation time is a small but welcome boost to control.

Chain Fences - 3 additional damage ticks (doubling the damage) are a nice small boost.

Conductive Aura - small boost is nice for fans of sapping.

Synaptic Overload - appears to be working as stated.

Gremlins - modest damage/level boost and small resistance boosts are very welcome.  Like Fire Imps, these pets are offensive and effective with buff/CC support.  Based on my testing it is clear Gremlins will continue to die more quickly than most pets (melee range fighters with low resistances).  My hope is for the Dev team to keep an eye on player feedback, and further boost resistances in the future if warranted.

 

ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT

Tesla Coil - not a fan of this change toward soft control.  Prefer the hard control Paralyzing Blast with Adaptive AOE treatment.

 

Dominator Tesla Coil: 

- NO upfront Domination resulting in return fire from Bosses.  Very un-Dominator like.  

- Domination rolls are occurring as shown by overhead text and effect working on Bosses, however Dominate does not appear in logs. 

- Can take 5-10+ seconds for Bosses to be Dominated (inconsistent, often takes 5-10+ seconds, sometimes <5 seconds).

- After initial period, most bosses are dominated, most of the time, for the remaining duration of the patch.

Note: my hold is enhanced 60%, testing was vs. Level 50 Bosses, not tested on +level Bosses who resist hold duration.

SUGGESTION:  add upfront Domination, add Domination to combat logs.

 

Controller Tesla Coil: 

- No Overpower logged/observed, but containment is working.
- Otherwise the power appears to be ok for Controllers.  After a couple seconds, Mag3 hold is in place for the duration (my hold is enhanced by 80%), DOT is working.

SUGGESTION:  add/fix Overpower, condense DoT to occur in first 30s.

 

IN PROGRESS / UPDATED PATCH NOTES?

Jolting Chain

- I welcome improving this powers chaining and damage… but it's tough to know where the power is at any given day with all the recent tweaks/fixes (keeps changing right after I test it).

- Did this power change today in RC1 vs Build 6?  I saw inconsistent knockdown a handful of times across a dozen groups (KD was consistent in Build 6).  

Would like to see updated patch notes re: number of jumps, damage, etc., before testing again.

Edited Thursday at 06:01 AM by MC333

[Midnight Mystique]

Currently Tesla Coil's power description says its a "Target (Location AoE)" just like static field but when clicked it acts like a standard targeted AOE - you don't get a targeting circle (unlike static field) and it won't fire off unless you have a mob currently targeted.

 

Its is a typo in the description or a bug in the power?

[MC333]

I am sad to see the changes to Static Field.  Please hear me out.  🙂

 

New Static Field

Now a Boss aggro magnet - lost most of its usefulness as a power for putting side groups "on ice" / out of the fight. 

• Controller version does not Sleep Bosses - Realistically only useful to control minions and lieutenants in solo/small team situations, and only when players show restraint to not wake them while fighting Bosses. 

• Dominator version is not Dominating Bosses upfront - With sleep enhancements at 90%, often takes 5-10s for Level 50 bosses to be Dominated.  In total, Level 50 Bosses were asleep for around 2/3 to 3/4 of the total time (and Field would perform considerably worse vs +level enemies).

SUGGESTION:  Please adjust new Static Field to perform at Mag 6 from start to end to regain unique usefulness for putting enemies on ice.  At a bare minimum the Dominator version should apply Domination from start to finish.

 

 

Following is my "justification" for improving the new Static Field. 

Please give it a quick read - I know I am not the only player who loves Static Field and doesn't want to see it become a "skip".

 

Old Static Field is unique!

• One of the most unique powers in the game, enabling both Controllers and Dominators to put a side group to sleep including the Bosses, and is able to re-sleep waken enemies within the patch.   (Sleep ticks occur every 4 seconds and stack with themselves, and both versions sleep Bosses on the second tick.)  
• Admittedly the power is "broken" in that the Controller version reliably applies Mag 6 Sleep after 4 seconds… but so what?  It's unique niche fun, and we're here to have fun.

Old Static Field is not overpowered / imbalancing:

- Notifies enemies - they attack when sleep ends.

- Relatively short duration 25s - requires effort to continue to keep enemies on ice.

- Medium size patch - 20' radius, majority of time Field cannot not cover an entire group.

- Self-policing

- Attacked Minions and Lieutenants get to return fire, then re-slept after one tick

- Attacked Bosses get to return fire at least twice, then re-slept after two ticks.

- It's been like this forever and yet the power is a very rare sight in the game.

- Old Static Fields performance/behavior fits with the effort to make Sleeps more useful (such as Deep Sleep).

 

Devs, thank you for taking the time to read and consider my feedback, and for all you do for the game we all love.

Edited yesterday at 01:13 AM by MC333
Typo

[LastHumanSoldier]

2 hours ago, MC333 said:

 

- It's been like this forever and yet the power is a very rare sight in the game.

- Old Static Fields performance/behavior fits with the effort to make Sleeps more useful (such as Deep Sleep).

 

 

Didn't really save Creepers, I don't think it will be very compelling here.

 

[Antarus]

I've only tested electrical control on a dominator, and so far I like the changes a lot, but I've noticed that the pseudo pet that is spawned by Tesla Coil does not appear to scale with incarnate levels. Testing in Dark Astoria, on a level 53 incarnate character, against level 50-51 mobs it practically holds the whole group to death, but if I use it on a pack of 54s, it basically does nothing but piss them off. There is a brief half second hold, and then they shrug it off and attack me.  Static field seems to work okay.

I honestly thought the power was completely broken, but didn't see anyone else having the same experience, so that's when I thought to test the level scaling.

I just checked with gravity distortion field, and it is exhibiting the same behavior.

[WitchofDread]

Jolting chain is back to a great place, thank you. 

 

But I have to agree with Tesla Coil, against enemies above lvl 50 it seems to have no affect.

[MC333]

RC1 Testing of the powers we currently have...

 

Controller - Tesla Coil RC1 -  4 tests versus L50 -1 Lieutenants and Minions

Tesla Coil continues to work well, as do Controller Vines and GDF.  With 60% hold enhanced, all 3 powers hold Lt.&Minions for the full 60s and do damage over 60s. 

Tesla Coil does more damage than GDF and Vines.

 

Dominator - Tesla Coil RC1 - 11 tests versus Level 50 (-1) Bosses, against pairs of Bosses

Mag 3 Hold works well, Lieutenants and Minions are held for the 60s duration.

Damage is more than GDF and Vines.  Noticable damage on a Dominator w/ Musculature, Interface, and 12% Dam set bonus.

Overall Dominator Tesla Coil is soft-ish control vs L50 (-1) Bosses - significantly less effective Domination compared to GDF and Vines.

Not seeing upfront Domination (like was added to GDF and Vines).

Spoiler

0s - 15s  Boss aggro magnet. 

- Bosses are dominated eventually, apparently by Dom ticks at 4s, 8s, 12s, 16s.  

- From dozens of uses with observations + timestamps I'd say on average a Boss is dom'd @4s occasionally, @8s fairly often, @12s usually, @16s almost always.  

- Observation roughly corresponds to a 25% chance of Dom every 4s.

- I just ran 4 more 2 Boss tests and 2 out of 4, no Bosses were Dominated in first 8 seconds.  In only 1 of 4 was a Boss Dom'd at 4s.  In 1 test 2nd Boss Dom'd at 20s.

45s - 60s  Soft-ish control

- Bosses often held, but fairly often not. Domination fades noticably more often than GDF and Vines.   

- I just ran 4 more 2 Boss tests and from 15s - 60s, at least 1 of 2 bosses was attacking me around 40% of the time.  Both bosses were attacking me 6 times in 4 tests.

 

Question:  Are Domination rolls missing more often than they should due to chain mechanic?  (Accuracy is far above 95%.)

 

Note:  Domination doesn't show up in combat logs, making observation/investigation difficult.

[MC333]

Damage Tested Tesla Coil, Vines, Gravity Distortion Field.  I noticed variance in the damage done by the 3 new AoE hold patches, so I did some digging.  Any innacuracies are mine.  See reults below.  

 

• Controllers need the damage boost, but Dominators get a lot more damage (73%, 73%, 91% more).  Shouldn't that be reversed to address the lack of Controller damage?

• Damage varies greatly between the three Powers and AT's.  

-------------------------------------------------

Notes: 

Damage numbers are Base, unenhanced, versus a single Level 50 target (+0)

Damage takes 60 seconds to be fully realized.

No Incarnate Alpha & Interface, unslotted.

The two tables are the same data, just sorted differently for viewing.

Source "Info Screen" means not tested for actual numbers.  I'll update if someone wants to confirm the Controller Vines and Dominator GDF numbers from combat logs.

 

 Damage versus (1) Target - SORTED BY ARCHETYPE

	Archetype	Damage over 60s	Dam/tick	Interval	# Ticks	Source
Vines	Controller	91	3.06	2 sec	30	Info Screen
Gravity Distortion Field	Controller	176	12.62	4 sec	14	Tested
Tesla Coil	Controller	214	15.29	4 sec	14	Tested
Vines	Dominator	168	5.27	2 sec	30	Tested
Gravity Distortion Field	Dominator	305	21.79	4 sec	14	Info Screen
Tesla Coil	Dominator	408	29.20	4 sec	14	Tested

 

 Damage versus (1) Target - SORTED BY POWER 

	Archetype	Damage over 60s	Dam/tick	Interval	# Ticks	Source
Vines	Controller	91	3.06	2 sec	30	Info Screen
Vines	Dominator	168	5.27	2 sec	30	Tested
Gravity Distortion Field	Controller	176	12.62	4 sec	14	Tested
Gravity Distortion Field	Dominator	305	21.79	4 sec	14	Info Screen
Tesla Coil	Controller	214	15.29	4 sec	14	Tested
Tesla Coil *	Dominator	408	29.20	4 sec	14	Tested

 

Edited 10 hours ago by MC333

[Auroxis]

@MC333

Tesla Coil's AoE damage is different, as it chains and has reduced effectiveness per chain.

 

It currently hits 7 targets over a few seconds of chaining:

First target takes 100% damage

Second target takes 75% damage

Third target takes 50% damage

Fourth through seven targets take 25% damage

 

So if you adjust your numbers to Tesla Coil dealing about 60% AoE damage, while keeping in mind the single target edge, it comes down to roughly the same damage as Gravity Distortion Field.