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

[Kai Moon]

Still working my way through the set...

 

Psychic Wall and Psionic Shield (all ATs) are basic resist toggles, so should have 2 second base recharges.

 

Devour Psyche (Scrapper/Sentinel/Stalker) is a ranged cone, so should accept range enhancements.

 

Aura of Insanity (all ATs) does damage sometimes, so should accept ATO sets.

 

Memento Mori (all ATs) doesn't do damage I don't think? So shouldn't accept damage enhancements or sets.

Edited June 7 by Kai Moon
retested June 6 17:30 PDT, some of these no longer apply

[Wavicle]

7 minutes ago, Kai Moon said:

Devour Psyche (Scrapper/Sentinel/Stalker) is a ranged cone, so should accept range enhancements.

 

There are, I think, other ranged abilities that are not range enhanceable...not sure what off the top of my head...but there are, aren't there?

[Kai Moon]

Checked through scrapper powerlistss. All cones over 10' (and one that's 10' exactly) were range enhanceable, as far as I saw. Devour Psyche is 40'. I'd guess copypaste error from Consume Psyche (pbaoe).

Repulsing Torrent 40'

Claws Shockwave 30'

Throw Spines 30'

Breath of Fire 15'

Frost 10'

[Wavicle]

Well, that's Scrapper primaries. A better comparison would be in Armor sets, since that's what we're talking about here.

So the comparable powers are really like Ninjitsu>Blinding Powder, which certainly is Range enhanceable, and Sentinel>Bio Armor>Parasitic Leech which is not Range enhanceable. Note that Parasitic Leech is actually far more comparable to Devour Psyche.

I'm not sure whether I think it should be Range enhanceable or not, but I would still like to know why these powers are cones on Scrappers and Stalkers, I don't recall seeing any dev explanation of that.

[StarkWhite]

1 minute ago, Wavicle said:

I'm not sure whether I think it should be Range enhanceable or not, but I would still like to know why these powers are cones on Scrappers and Stalkers, I don't recall seeing any dev explanation of that.

 

MPH gave her rationale at one point in the closed beta thread, but for the life of me I do not remember what it was and I'm not bothered enough to go search (I am both lazy and distracted at the moment!).

[Kai Moon]

2 hours ago, Wavicle said:

Note that Parasitic Leech is actually far more comparable to Devour Psyche.

Devour Psyche: looks like a copy-paste-from-pbaoe-version error

Parasitic Leech: hold my beer

Edited June 5 by Kai Moon

[BrandX]

57 minutes ago, Kai Moon said:

Devour Psyche: looks like a copy-paste-from-pbaoe-version error

Parasitic Leech: hold my beer

 

Don't all melee aoes say PBAOE now?

[Kai Moon]

46 minutes ago, BrandX said:

 

Don't all melee aoes say PBAOE now?

No

[Kai Moon]

Combat log stuff

 

Psychic Wall:

This is Dark Embrace's message. Psychic Wall is smashing, lethal, and psionic.

 

Psionic Shield:

This is Murky Cloud's message. Psionic Shield is fire, cold, energy, negative energy, toxic, psionic, and endurance drain.

 

Impenetrable Mind:

Missing protection types? Could include fear, confuse, and knockback.

 

Psychokinetic Barrier (fixed on some ATs but not all):

This is Energize's message. Psychokinetic Barrier is absorption, max hp, regen, and resistance to end drain/regen debuff/recovery debuff/recharge debuff.

Edited June 7 by Kai Moon
retested June 6 17:30 PDT, these are partly fixed

[csr]

On 6/3/2025 at 7:16 AM, The Curator said:

New Powerset: Psionic Armor (Brutes, Scrappers, Sentinels, Stalkers, Tankers)
 

 Psychokinetic Barrier

• Self, +Absorb, +Res(-Regeneration, +MaxHP, -Recovery, -Recharge, -Endurance)
• You can erect a temporary wall of crystalized psionic energy that will absorb a large amount of damage before breaking off. Psychokinetic Barrier will grant a moderate amount of absorption and reduce the effect debuffs have on you.
  • Power now applies a 10% max HP buff in addition to it's other effects.

 

I think this Patch Note is wrong.  The +MaxHP is inside the +Res parenthesis.  Shouldn't it be...

 

Self, +Absorb, +MaxHP, +Res(-Regeneration, -Recovery, -Recharge, -Endurance)

 

?

[Wavicle]

It DOES seem like if Memento Mori will really only be useable on the 300 second timer, then its effects shouldn't scale quite so much, so they can be a bit stronger with fewer mobs around.

[csr]

Testing on a Scrapper I noticed that once Devour Psyche's status bar icon starts blinking it doesn't stop even if refreshed.  It also doesn't expire until the last refreshed stack does.  I've got the "Grandpa's VCR" effect of having constantly blinking "11" until I zone or let it expire.

 

[Edit:] The number of stacks is wrong still, showing 11 when there are actually only 10.  I believe this is a known bug, but thought I'd mention it anyway.  The phantom stack doesn't appear until the power would exceed the cap.

Edited June 5 by csr

[ivioin]

14 hours ago, Lazarillo said:

In the AT's inherent.  A guaranteed crit (or an Assassin Strike) is still hella more damage than what Scrappers get.  

And if you want additional effects in general, Stalkers' version, like other sets versions of Hide, gets the "AoEs whiff past you on anything other than a Nat.20" Defense buff.

I’m still confused… both inherents are already factored in. Before you create the set right? They are neck and neck for damage with scrapper slightly ahead. So now the defense of the class is factored in; which from my understanding and practice, is way worse than scrappers defenses.

[Kai Moon]

Consume Psyche and Devour Psyche use Drain Psyche's combat logs for self and target

[BrandX]

1 hour ago, ivioin said:

I’m still confused… both inherents are already factored in. Before you create the set right? They are neck and neck for damage with scrapper slightly ahead. So now the defense of the class is factored in; which from my understanding and practice, is way worse than scrappers defenses.

 

Does the +DMG stay or fade after use?  I guess I'll have to check.

[ivioin]

5 hours ago, BrandX said:

 

Does the +DMG stay or fade after use?  I guess I'll have to check.

It fades, can only happen every 8 seconds of inactivity. The point is though l, the he inherent crits of the scrapper class already balance out the fact that a stalker has hide. Unless things have changed and I’m missing something. Now if they made this set make classes play a little bit like another class; that would be cool. The scrapper/sentinel one makes you more like a stalker. I feel the brute one made you feel more like a tanker. I think they should have the tanker play more like a brute with a mini scaling damage increase or like a dominator with a scaling CC boost. The stalker could have a power that makes them play a little like a defender or corrupter. It could be a buff that effects party members.

 

I’m not really asking for a damage increase, i just feel a creative opportunity is being missed here.

[Wavicle]

31 minutes ago, ivioin said:

It fades, can only happen every 8 seconds of inactivity. The point is though l, the he inherent crits of the scrapper class already balance out the fact that a stalker has hide. Unless things have changed and I’m missing something. Now if they made this set make classes play a little bit like another class; that would be cool. The scrapper/sentinel one makes you more like a stalker. I feel the brute one made you feel more like a tanker. I think they should have the tanker play more like a brute with a mini scaling damage increase or like a dominator with a scaling CC boost. The stalker could have a power that makes them play a little like a defender or corrupter. It could be a buff that effects party members.

 

I’m not really asking for a damage increase, i just feel a creative opportunity is being missed here.

That’s not really how archetypes are balanced against each other. It’s not One for One, the inherent against the inherent, etc. It’s total package vs total package. The Stalker inherent does more for the Stalker than the Scrapper inherent does for the Scrapper. A Stalker with no crits is worse then a Scrapper with no crits.

[Lazarillo]

1 hour ago, ivioin said:

The point is though l, the he inherent crits of the scrapper class already balance out the fact that a stalker has hide.

In that case, if you're looking for something that the Stalker power does that the Scrapper power doesn't, it's the "you (mostly) can't get hit while stealthed" that the Stalker gets and the Scrapper doesn't.

[BrandX]

Just now, Lazarillo said:

In that case, if you're looking for something that the Stalker power does that the Scrapper power doesn't, it's the "you (mostly) can't get hit while stealthed" that the Stalker gets and the Scrapper doesn't.

 

And it's a much better stealth power.

Oh and does Stalker get Hide to suppress AoI while hidden?  Scrappers do not suppress AoI while stealthed.

[FupDup]

I think there's a better way to phrase the concern about Stalkers getting left out of the stealth crit thing.

 

Let's look at the Ninjutsu armor as another example that has a similar mechanic. If you play the armor on a Scrapper (or Sent), you get a stealth crit effect that no other Scrapper or Sent armor currently has (Psi Armor will be added to the list) to make up for the fact that Nin is much squishier than its cousin Super Reflexes. But if you play Nin on a Stalker, you get the exact same inherent stealth crits that all armors get, which means you just end up with a shittier version of SR since Stalker SR gets that stealth crit too.

 

The argument is that they want some kind of offensive boost added to the Stalker version of Psi (and I think Nin deserves it too!) to make the armor contribute more damage than its competitors. If not an extra bonus stealth damage buff, then perhaps just a consistent Psi damage proc kind of like Offensive Adaptation or Brimstone (and maybe do this for all ATs instead of the stealth crit to keep Nin more unique). 

[BrandX]

13 minutes ago, FupDup said:

I think there's a better way to phrase the concern about Stalkers getting left out of the stealth crit thing.

 

Let's look at the Ninjutsu armor as another example that has a similar mechanic. If you play the armor on a Scrapper (or Sent), you get a stealth crit effect that no other Scrapper or Sent armor currently has (Psi Armor will be added to the list) to make up for the fact that Nin is much squishier than its cousin Super Reflexes. But if you play Nin on a Stalker, you get the exact same inherent stealth crits that all armors get, which means you just end up with a shittier version of SR since Stalker SR gets that stealth crit too.

 

The argument is that they want some kind of offensive boost added to the Stalker version of Psi (and I think Nin deserves it too!) to make the armor contribute more damage than its competitors. If not an extra bonus stealth damage buff, then perhaps just a consistent Psi damage proc kind of like Offensive Adaptation or Brimstone (and maybe do this for all ATs instead of the stealth crit to keep Nin more unique). 

 

I'm up for Mask Presence to just give standard Defense like Dark Armor's stealth and give the set a Psi Proc like Brimstone.  I'd say tack it on to Impenetrable Mind.  AoI isn't really a damage aura (don't even notice the little damage it does on uneffected foes).

 

 

[Sigma7]

This armor seems somewhat high maintenance for the level of mitigation it delivers.

 

I feel like I'm paying a cognitive tax to keep my defenses at their maximum. This tax is especially apparent when things aren't going well and I need to maintain my DPS while keeping defense clicks on cool-down. I also find that I'm more likely to panic and press the wrong button or forget to press a button at critical moments so stress can essentially lower the Mitigation that this armor provides for me. I don't have a problem with the idea of armors that require more attention however I need to feel rewarded for that additional maintenance.

 

Also, I don't like that I'm constantly manually maintaining my defenses but it's not giving me any options or strategies to think about. I'm just robotically recycling certain powers. I wish that this set gave me some interesting tactical decisions to make as I'm doing all of this extra clicking.

 

Bio armor is a good example of an armor that is high maintenance but there are choices in that maintenance that allow you to feel involved in the process and feel rewarded when you make good or unconventional decisions for your survivability.

[Lazarillo]

41 minutes ago, FupDup said:

The argument is that they want some kind of offensive boost added to the Stalker version of Psi (and I think Nin deserves it too!) to make the armor contribute more damage than its competitors.

I get that's the argument.  The counterpoint is "not everything has to be an offensive boost for overall parity to exist".  Ninjutsu is much the same.  It's pretty disingenuous to call it a lesser version of /SR for Stalkers just because it doesn't have the extra damage Scrappers and Sentinels get, when Ninjutsu also gets a frackton of active mitigation tools that can combine with things like set bonuses and the like to do what /SR can and more, in a lot of cases, as a defensive set.

 

Stalker Hide gets things that Scrapper Mask Presence does not.  The idea that inherently must also give an additional offensive buff, specifically, in that or some other power is missing the point that the sets remain equitable for their respective ATs.

Edited June 5 by Lazarillo

[BrandX]

6 minutes ago, Lazarillo said:

I get that's the argument.  The counterpoint is "not everything has to be an offensive boost for overall parity to exist".  Ninjutsu is much the same.  It's pretty disingenuous to call it a lesser version of /SR for Stalkers just because it doesn't have the extra damage Scrappers and Sentinels get, when Ninjutsu also gets a frackton of active mitigation tools that can combine with things like set bonuses and the like to do what /SR can and more, in a lot of cases, as a defensive set.

 

Stalker Hide gets things that Scrapper Mask Presence does not.  The idea that inherently must also give an additional offensive buff, specifically, in that or some other power is missing the point that the sets remain equitable for their respective ATs.

 

It's not much of an offensive boost either.  However, I may have left it to a Ninjitsu style ability?

Either or tho...I'm good either way.  I'd rather lose that and get back the adaptive recharge 🙂

[BrandX]

Oh, gonna suggest it again.  Not saying do it for every power in the set, but can Impenetrable Mind get the MinFX treatment, please?  Or a glowing eye alternate animation like Fade, if you must have an FX with it?