Plant Control

[Ukase]

Seeds of Confusion. Sure, why not slap the purple set in there? Nice recharge, and I could be remembering incorrectly, but I think the only very rare set that actually gives some defensive stats if you slot the 6th one. 

The thing is, having only played 43 levels so far...I've never used it. I figured I'd take it as an "oh crap" kind of power. I just don't see the utility. I thought, use it when clicking glowies. But, there are always too many mobs for that, unless I reduce the settings. For a squish, the character has no fight pool, no leadership...and at 38 got Charged Armor. Seems like that's enough for +1/8. Not quite enough for +2/8. And while the confuse did buy me a little time, (to be fair, there was only one slot in it) it really didn't help. 

Anyway, Spirit Tree...why is this a PBAoE? I cast this - it has a taunt...so I get splash damage? Who thought that was a good idea? What a turd power. If it were ranged AoE, it would make more sense. The regen isn't even that good. 

Now, I say these things because it's the first time I've played plant control. I can see some utility for spirit tree, but not as a PBAoE with taunt. Maybe ranged, but not PBAoE. If it didn't have taunt and followed me..then it would be good. But it won't even take a teleport. Makes sense. It is a tree after all. Albeit a "spirit" tree. 

Can some of you who like these powers provide some utility for them? Like, 6 slots for a "set mule"...that seems a bit much. Is the contagious confusion proc in the very rare set really that good? Do I need to copy to brainstorm to get a better look at it? 

And fold space...is there utility there? Fold space, Vines, Creepers and whittle them down from there...

Curious to know how others consider these two powers. 

 

[Doc Spectre]

Have you tried placing the tree amongst a group of enemies or a choke point?

When enemies clump around the tree you can hit them all with the seeds.

[Ukase]

Would you believe that I created the macro incorrectly? The description of it says 

 

I tend to copy macros and change the names of the powers. And I had the macro wrong and only just figured it out in the last mission! So, I now see more utility for this tree. User error. Darn it. 

I always thought the P stood for player, but in this case it stands for Plant, or Spirit Tree. My fault. 

[JediDave]

48 minutes ago, Ukase said:

Would you believe that I created the macro incorrectly? The description of it says 

 

I tend to copy macros and change the names of the powers. And I had the macro wrong and only just figured it out in the last mission! So, I now see more utility for this tree. User error. Darn it. 

I always thought the P stood for player, but in this case it stands for Plant, or Spirit Tree. My fault. 

The P stands for Point. It's Point Blank Area of Effect. Has been since '04. Do you instantly macro powers upon getting them? That sounds like it would get tedious very quickly.

Edited Thursday at 12:50 PM by JediDave

[Ukase]

2 hours ago, JediDave said:

Do you instantly macro powers upon getting them?

Only the ones that won't fit on the bottom tray - unless they're toggles; no need to macro those. And targeted AoEs. Having to select where to place the reticle takes a couple more seconds than I'd like. 

[Uun]

Seeds got its duration reduced significantly in p2, as well as picking up Adaptive Recharge. It's still an every spawn power for me. I have it 6-slotted with Coercive Persuasion (leveling up I slotted Malaise's Illusions) but it really benefits from enhancing the duration and recharge. The Contagious Confusion proc is excellent for picking up foes the initial application may have missed.

 

Prior to p2, Spirit Tree was just an AoE regen buff. Even fully slotted the buff was pretty marginal and had a long cooldown. Adding the taunt and reducing the recharge was a game changer. Even with a target cap of 5, I can drop it in the middle of a spawn and not receive return fire when I use Seeds. I have it 1-slotted with the absorb proc.

 

I don't see much point in getting Fold Space. 

[Riverdusk]

Seeds is used as the opener to pretty much every fight when I was playing plant.  Just like stalagmites or flashfire.  Especially if you are squishy and don't have your defenses IO'd up.  As a bonus since it is a confuse it also tends to actually clump the mobs together at least a bit as they like to move toward each other in order to attack each other.  I'm playing electric control more recently and synapatic overload there is also a common opener for me.

 

One key is to have some sort of stealth so that you can get close enough to the mob to use it without them alpha striking you first.  Unlike mind and electric control's confuse, seeds does notify mobs when you use it.  Along with seed's shorter range a definite disadvantage and why I especially like to pair it with a stealth power. 

 

My understanding is the contagious confusion proc is actually not that good anymore due to the power changing to adaptive recharge.  It now procs as though it has a very short recharge.  But haven't tested it for myself yet.  But yes, if you want the ranged defense the set gives you have to put it in there regardless.

 

Edit:  Also forgot to note, confuse tends to speed up xp/time as the mobs damaging each other means you are killing faster.  And it more than offsets any xp loss it causes. 

 

 

Edited Thursday at 05:39 PM by Riverdusk