Adeon Hawkwood
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Posts
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Quote:Arbiter Hawk was drunk when he made the changes? I like the changes (for the most part) so if that si the case then I think it's a trend we should encourage. How much booze do you think would be needed to get Time Bomb changed?Originally Posted by Arcanaville
You have that in reverse order. -
Quote:It does not stack (and the duration isn't that great anyway).Originally Posted by Madadh
Yeah, -100 isn't stellar. Does it stack, though? I seem to recall time doesn't have much -regen at all available to it. If the duration is long, and it self stacks, it might (might!!) be worth it. But yeah, prolly best to say, "Ciao!"
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Hard to say, things have gone up and down quite a bit since then. Overall I think prices have dropped since then. More merits (and new merit types) along with enhancement converters have helped even out the supply of items and drop the prices on the really high end stuff. Something have gone up in price (mostly due to converters) but they tended to be the less desirable stuff.
For example the popular Purple sets (mostly damage ones) hit about 500million per enhancement at the high end but have since dropped to about 200million while the less popular mez ones which were going for less than 100million are now up to 200million. -
Just a general what if thought. Devices (the set that can most easily perma-FastSnipe) lacks any melee attacks which tend to be a good source of single target damage for blasters.
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Quote:Premium accounts have limited access to IOs. In order to get automatic access to IO you need to be either Tier 7 in the Paragon Rewards (which you aren't) or a VIP subscriber.Originally Posted by Cinaed_EU
@StarGeek: Would you explain what you mean by that? Don't sound like it's good news... :P
In order to get access as a Premium account without being Tier 7 you need to purchase an invention license which unlocks IOs on your account for 30 days and costs 160 points. If you want IO access without subscribing it's not a bad deal, sort of like a mini-subscription. -
Quote:I'm a little concerned about AR/Anything-Except-Devices. I think it requires a bit to much slot investment to get FastSnipe with Build Up alone anyway.Originally Posted by Arcanaville
One combination gets dangerously close in my opinion: AR/Dark. AR has no Aim, Dark has no BU. AR has no 40 foot tier 3 single target attack. The only tohit in the combo is Soul Drain, which is a very good power if you're either a blapper or a hybrid blaster, but if you are primarily a ranged blaster, the ranged option for AR/Dark did not improve very much with the currently announced changes in I24.
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Quote:It has -100% regen which is not that great. It does stop the regeneration of normal enemies but that's rarely a major concern. Against an even level AV it's equivalent to about 14.14 DPS which isn't that useful (for comparison a Beam Rifle Blaster can toss out more -regen using Disintegrate and Single Shot than a Time Defender can with TC and Time Stop).Originally Posted by Madadh
In your spot, I'd be saying goodbye to Time Crawl. Only reservation I might have, is that I seem to recall it also has some -regen component. Not sure, but if it does, and if it's amount isn't tiny, I might be tempted to keep it. Otherwise, "Adios, TC."
So yeah adios Time Crawl, don't let the door hit you on the way out. -
Quote:There are no combos that get zero improvement. Every primary has either a short ranged T3 attack or a snipe so at an absolute minimum all Blasters will get one of those changes.Originally Posted by Another_Fan
There are combinations that are getting 0 boost from the changes. Logically if all blasters were underperforming and you get 0 improvement you will still be underperforming.
Now on a more serious note, Arbiter_Hawk said that he is going to review the sets without Snipes and make changes if necessary. So we know that he is aware of it and is looking into it.
As for Mental Manipulation, well it has long been considered one of the most powerful Blaster secondaries because it already has a very nice Regen/Recovery power and you know what? It will continue to have the ability to have more Regen than any other Blaster secondary. Based on the information presented Field Operative will give about 340% regen when slotted. Drain Psyche when slotted gives 146% per target so as long as it hits three targets it's a higher value than FO (and similar powers). So the change to secondaries is really about bringing them up to the performance of Mental.
Now that being said I think DP should also be changed. The new paradigm is that Blasters should get access to a strong sustainability power by level 20 at the latest and that this power should be useful to all Blasters. I'm not convinced that Drain Psyche fulfills that role. Using SOs along it's uptime is only has 50% uptime and it's the only sustainability power that requires the Blaster to get into melee range (since Touch of Fear is being made ranged).
In general I think it should get two changes. First the recharge reduced enough to make it easily permeable on SOs so I'd increase the duration to 60seconds to be inline with other sets and drop the recharge to about 100 seconds (I want to limit the ability of IO'd builds to double stack the variable part of the buff). Secondly like Lightning Clap I think it needs to work out of combat. If I were doing it I'd probably set it so that it has about 75% of the performance of FO with zero targets in range and matches FOs performance with 2 targets in range (so about 250% regen automatically plus 45% per target hit). In this way a Mental Blaster can use it out of combat for a decent buff or move into melee range to get more regen than other secondaries. Of course this would be a significant nerf to the power for high-IO builds who already have it perma since at 3 or more target they'll be getting less regen. -
Quote:Yes, but the endurance bar refill is being removed since it is OP on BlastersOriginally Posted by StratoNexus
Will my blaster get mez protection and longer mezzes too from Domination?
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Yeah, pretty stupid typo there
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To give a little more detail. If you subscribe (VIP Player) then you get exactly the same number of slots as you used to: 12 per server + a number of extra slots on single servers unlocked either through time played or purchased directly (in your case 5 slots).
As a premium player you don't get the 12 slots per server and only have the ones that you earned through veteran rewards or purchased (plus two extra everyone received when Freedom went live).
If you want to play all 10 characters you have two options. The first is to resubscribe which will, amongst other benefits, restore you to 12 slots per server. The second option is to buy 5 more character slots which will cost you 1600 Paragon Points if you buy them as a set (check here for Paragon Points costs in your local currency). -
Quote:That's a logical fallacy.Originally Posted by Another_Fan
I think you missed it. If you buy Arcanavile's line that all blasters were still significantly underperforming with defiance 2.0 then any change meant to help blasters that doesn't actually help all blasters is unfair.
It gets worse when you look at the fact, this actually helps defenders and corruptors even more than it does blasters.
Were Blasters underperforming? Yes
Were some Blasters underperforming more than others? Yes.
So while a fix to Blasters should aim to improve all Blasters it doesn't necessarily need to improve them all by the same amount. The Sustainability buff does aim to increase the performance of all Blasters by a relatively set amount which will (hopefully) fix the first problem. The other buffs (FastSnipe and longer range for T3s) are not going to be equally applicable for all Blasters but will (hopefully) decrease the performance spread between combos. Saying that all changes should beenfit all Blasters is illogical, Arbiter_Hawk said he is going to reduce animation times for Dual Pistols, should all Blasters sets get the same percentage reduction in animation times? Of course not, Dual Pistols has problems with long animation times but not all blast sets do.
So taken as a whole the changes being made do boost the performance of all Blasters but some combos get boosted more than others. To use an example one of the combos that is getting the largest benefit from the changes is AR/Dev but this is a combo that is widely considered to be under-performing even by the standards of Blasters.
Now I'm not saying that the changes as they are are perfect because I don't think they are but I also don't think that they need to boost all Blasters by the same amount. As long as the changes bring all Blasters up to a reasonable level of performance I'm fine if the relative order for which Blasters are "best" changes a bit.
There are suggestions that various people have made which make sense and I suspect we'll see further changes once I24 hits beta. In particular while I'm fine with not all Blasters getting perma-FastSnipe I do think that Build Up should be buffed to the point where it grants FastSnipe with, at most, one To Hit SO. I'd also be ok with a To Hit bonus being added to Defiance so that a Blaster who builds to take advantage of it can get reasonably permanent FastSnipe using Tactics, Kismet and Defiance. -
Quote:You may be right although it it could well be the other way around. At the moment Kismet holds more appeal for Defenders and Corruptors than Blasters (since they can perma-FastSnipe with Tactics + Kismet which currently only a few sets can for Blasters). However if people keep complaining the devs may end up instituting some way for Blasters to self buff up to FastSnipe outside Aim/BU which would make Kismet more popular.Originally Posted by Umber
My first thought was "go stock up on the Kismet +6% acc" IOs but I suspect there is another round of blaster changes that will lessen if not outright remove the large appeal of these items.
Just guessing, could be wrong. -
Quote:http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?t=291665Originally Posted by Lohenien
Link to these changes?
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So Inventions are, at the end of the day, enhancements just like the ones you've been using so far only more powerful (at level 50 a damage invention boosts the power 42.4% as opposed to 33.3% for example). You slot them in a power and they enhance various aspects of that power. Now in addition to basic Inventions there are also Set Inventions. These still provide the enhancement values of regular Inventions (in fact they are slightly stronger) but in addition if you slot multiple inventions from the same set into a power you get a "Set Bonus". Set Bonuses can be thought of as a small global buff for your character, they come in a wide variety but some of the more popular types are:
Regeneration Boost
Recovery Boost
Max Hit Point Increase
Defense Boost
Recharge Boost
Damage Bonus
Some set bonuses (such as the Recharge Boost) will affect your other powers (similarly to if they had more enhancements slotted in them) while other bonuses (such as defense boosts) simply make your character stronger regardless of what powers you have.
You can find a full listing of Set IOs here:
http://wiki.cohtitan.com/wiki/Invent...hancement_Sets
And more information on set bonuses here:
http://wiki.cohtitan.com/wiki/Invent...nt_Set_Bonuses
Inventions can be used to make items other than enhancements. There are a small number of recipes that make Temporary Powers that you can use for an extra bonus. I like to carry a Resuscitator to help dead teammates and the Backup Radio can be useful for a bit of extra help when solo. You can find a full list here:
http://wiki.cohtitan.com/wiki/Invent...mporary_Powers
As for getting Inventions there are a lot of options. The simplest is of course Wentworths where you can buy and sell recipes and enhancements with other players. Now as for getting them yourself. For common non-set Inventions you can buy the recipes at a workbench (although you can sometimes find them cheaper at WWs) and will also get them through random drops. If you craft a lot of a common invention you can memorize the recipe and then you don't need to buy a new recipe each time and get a crafting cost reduction. For details on that check here:
http://wiki.cohtitan.com/wiki/Memorization
Now as for getting Set IO recipes there are a few options. Simply playing the game will get you some randomly. Every enemy you kill has a chance to drop a set IO recipe with Bosses and LTs having higher chances than minions. Different recipes have different rarities so most of the recipes you get will be of limited value, still you can get some very good ones this way. Teamed versus solo depends on your character. Teamed you have less chance per kill (since the reward is randomly distributed amongst the team) but you get a lot more kills.
There are also more guaranteed but slower ways to get recipes. You can earn Merits, Alignment Merits, AE Tickets, Astral Merits and Empyrean Merits through various types of content which can then be exchanged for recipes (either doing random rolls for more valuable recipes or doing direct purchases).
http://wiki.cohtitan.com/wiki/Merit_Rewards
http://wiki.cohtitan.com/wiki/Hero_Merit
http://wiki.cohtitan.com/wiki/Ticket_Vendor
http://wiki.cohtitan.com/wiki/Incarnate_Merit_Vendor -
Ok thinking about it more. I don't WANT to drop Voltaic Sentinel from my build. The power I want to drop is Thunderstike (it's a fun power but the animation is so long I'd rather just have Zapp) but if I drop that then I'd have to switch form Electricity Mastery to Mu Mastery and the colors would clash with my costume (plus Shocking Bolt is soooo much better than Electric Shackles).
Now if I strip the slots from Thunderstrike (or just switch it for Electric Fence which has some utility even unslotted) I could drop one of my other unslotted powers for Zapp. Ok options are Combat Jumping, Vengeance, Temporal Selection or Time Crawl. But I like all of those. Temporal Selection is the one I least care for mostly because I rarely remember to use it (and it always seems kinda meh on large leagues) but I'd feel bad skipping it. Vengeance is skippable but then something else gets moved to level 49. Combat Jumping isn't an option (I love the mobility it provides). Maybe I'll just drop Time Crawl, I don't use it a whole lot anyway (I tend to just stack Shocking Bolt and Time Stop to hold bosses). -
Quote:No it isn't. It is remotely possible that cone attacks will get their range boosted although personally I really, really doubt it but in any case the powers that we specifically KNOW are getting a range boost are the 40/50ft single target attacks. These are (somewhat confusingly) referred to collectively as "Tier 3 Blasts" because even though they aren't the third power in the set they are the third single target attack.Originally Posted by Derangedpolygot
Actually, Howl is the Tier 3 attack that will be boosted to 80 ft. Shout is Tier 5 and will stay unchanged.
As for why I doubt cones will get a boost, the devs use a formula for calculating the recharge and endurance costs for AoEs which factors in the size of the AoE. Increasing the range of the cones would increase their area by a significant amount so their recharge would go up and I don't think anyone wants that.
Personally I'm hoping that the various utility and mez powers in the blast sets also get their ranges normalized to 80ft but we shall see. -
Quote:For what it's worth I think Body Armor is the power in munitions that really needs buffing. It's an auto resistance power for an AT that has the lowest resistance modifiers and only gets one resistance power at all. It's 25% stronger than it should be and it's still to weak to bother taking. The simplest fix would be to replace it with a Temp Invulnerability clone.Originally Posted by Arbiter Hawk
LRM is awesome already. Instant LRM would just be ludicrous. If Munitions Mastery needs a boost, I would probably look to Sleep Grenade or Body Armor, not to LRM.
Sleep Grenade is ok (so far as sleep powers go anyway), the real problem is that it's a sleep power in an APP that is (thematically) meant to be paired with a AoE heavy primary. Still, I wouldn't object to getting it replaced with Stun Grenade.
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Quote:Please be careful with AR. Unless paired with Devices it has the least ability to leverage FastSnipe and at the moment it's insanely fast FastSnipe activation is sort of compensating for that (or at least Arcana says it is and while I'm unconvinced I still don't want to see it get worse).Originally Posted by Arbiter Hawk
They probably won't all be normalized, but AR, Archery, and Beam Rifle may change since right now they look kinda funky if you have to draw the weapon.
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Quote:I doubt it. Most Scrappers/Stalkers can only hit 22% by using Build Up so it's going to be a very limited period you can FastSnipe in. Now admittedly during that period it's a 2.3 damage scale with a 1.33s cast time (2s for Mace Beam) which does compare favorably to the heavy hitters in most sets so it may have some value there but it's going to be hard to make it a part of a regular attack chain.Originally Posted by BrandX
But now it will lose the terrible interrupt time if you can achieve the 22% ToHit.
Does this make it worthwhile to pick up now?
I guess some Stalkers might take it to give a strong opening by doing Build Up -> Assassin's Strike -> Snipe.
Claws Scrappers could as well but they'd have to deal with the redraw.Quote:Originally Posted by BrandX
Hmmm...looking it over. If Scrappers do lose the interrupt time, which I'm guessing is 6 seconds, only a KM/INV Scrapper would beable to perma it, and would still have Moonbeams 24 second recharge to deal with. -
Quote:I'm not sure I agree with the statement that "all ATs can use it equally". Yes all ATs get access to To Hit but not all ATs get access to it in the same amount. There are currently 6 ATs with Snipes: Blasters, Corruptors, Defenders, Dominators, Stalkers and Scrappers.Originally Posted by Arbiter Hawk
We kicked around a number of possible activation conditions before settling on To-Hit - High health enemies, low health enemies, enemies at long range, enemies at short range, Just used Aim, Just used Build-Up, Your last snipe was interruptible, etc. - but ultimately I do actually think To-Hit accomplishes our goal in a number of ways. This redirect condition is simple enough that all ATs can use it equally, and easy enough to understand that players shouldn't have a problem getting used to it. It also is increasingly more probable of being met as team size increases, which helps counteract the perception that snipes are less and less worth using as team size increases.
Blasters: Most Blasters are reliant on Aim/Build Up to get FastSnipe. Three sets can get it permanently with varying degrees of difficulty.
Corruptors and Defenders: Can always get it using Tactics and Kismet (easier for Defenders than Corruptors), some powersets have an easier time (i.e. Farsight or Focused Accuracy).
Dominators: Two secondaries can get it through Aim or Build Up and all doms can get a limited uptime through Soul drain in APP.
Scrappers/Stalkers: Mostly get it through Build Up. Claws and Invulnerability Scrappers can get Perma-FastSnipe through their powers (although I can't actually imagine them doing this due to the need for 3+ enemies in melee range for Invulnerability and the redraw for Claws I can't see it being worthwhile)
EDIT:
Good to know, thanksQuote:Originally Posted by Arbiter Hawk
We'll probably do something that makes Build Up better in the Snipe combination.
It's on our list of powersets to look at. That list is pretty long, though. But yes, we have a plan for something cool to do with Time Bomb to make it more useful in the future. No timeframe given for this, though!.
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Quote:Also Dominator secondaries have a few single target powers with 40ft ranges lifted from blast sets.Originally Posted by IAmTheRad
Will the changes in range for the 40ft ranged attacks happen across the board for the game, or is it solely for the blaster sets? Specifically speaking, will it also effect some powers for the Kheldian archetypes (especially for Warshades)?
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For Blasters using Build Up to FastSnipe requires it to be ED capped for To Hit or the use of a Kismet IO. While this isn't to bad for level 50s (and especially level 50s with IO access) it's not particularly good for mid-level Blasters on SOs (since you either have to 6-slot build up or choose either recharge or FastSnipe). Are you looking at making FastSnipe more easily attainable through Build Up in the mid-levels or is the intent that BU require significant effort to attain FastSnipe?
Is there any possibility of getting Devices looked at? I realize the perma-FastSnipe is a huge buff for it but it would still be nice to have Trip Mine and/or Time Bomb changed to be a bit faster to use. -
Quote:This makes me sad. Gaussian has an awesome 6-slot bonus, can't you find one more slot?Originally Posted by Starflier
5 slotted Gaussian
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http://tomax.cohtitan.com/data/power...hip&at=Blaster (the dropdown boxes are buggy, switch to another AT and then back to Blaster to see the actual values).
In any case Blasters get a base of 7% so even if you six-slotted Tactics with 50+5 To Hit IOs and took Kismet you will not hit 22%.
At the moment only three secondaries can do perma-FastSnipe
Devices can do it easily with Targeting Drone
Energy can do it by taking Tactics and Kismet and then rotating between Aim, Build Up and Power Boost (PB increases the To Hit from Tactics while it is up)
Dark Manipulation can do it with perma-Soul Drain (although this requires EXTREMELY high recharge). -
Quote:Yeah that seems like a very good idea to me. I was doing the math on using Build Up to trigger FastSnipe and I think it could use some help. In order to trigger FastSnipe Buildup needs to have three To Hit SOs which when combined with the need to slot for recharge means it has to be six slotted. Now there are alternative options that use fewer slots but these require either Inventions or Hamidon Enhancements. Assuming that the goal is to make this bonus reasonably accessible to all Players at all levels then I think buffing Build Up makes a lot of sense.Originally Posted by Arcanaville
I don't think that was necessarily 100% deliberate. The only thing I really think about TD is that Arbiter Hawk wanted /devices to be able to perma this effect a lot easier than most other blasters to give it an advantage.
If we increase the blaster melee tohit buff mod from 0.075 to 0.125, that would make them the undisputed King of Aiming (that's the same mod value Defenders use for the ranged modifier, making them King of Helping Other People Aim). Build Up would increase from +15% to +25% and be over the limit without tohit slotting. Targeting Drone would increase to 23.1% and be over the limit without even slotting it. Slotting it would make it protect against tohit debuffs better (and it has tohit debuff resistance). Soul Drain would increase to +15% for the first target and 2.5% for each additional target and be over the limit with four targets total. But Tactics would be unaffected.
To me, those all sound like good things to have happen.