IanTheM1

To be fair, a thread simply titled "WST Suggestion" doesn't really explain itself, y'know?

Also, scooping your scooped.

The fact that it's meant to be run by characters who need a respec. So it actually is meant to be a bit of a cakewalk.

Unless I'm mistaken, you can't adjust the difficulty of a TF or Trial downward anymore, due to the option being abused to earn merits even faster. And you outright just said you could raise the difficulty to make the trial more challenging...so why don't you do that?

To be clear, I'm not 100% opposed to adding in an option to speed up the reactor phase in some fashion, but it has to be optional. I also wouldn't be opposed to fixing up the reactor waves a little bit. As I recall, they have a habit of spawning something like 0, 0, +1, +1, 0, -1, -2, which is a bit odd.

I'd bet that Sonic was specifically designed so as to not plug the psi-hole of armor sets.

Regen is stretching it, since there's plenty of -Recharge to be found in other powers as well. I wouldn't really count SR or Shield, either. Unless I'm sorely mistaken, the only non-positional powers in the game exist in Mind Control and Illusion, both of which are relatively rare to see in the hands of an enemy. Plus only two of those non-positional powers are outright attacks. The rest are all various mezzes.

I don't entirely disagree, but I'm not sure how "psi weakness is too common" somehow justifies removing Sonic Resonance's only outstanding weakness.

Dark Armor gets Obsidian Shield pretty early, too. And Dark Miasma with Shadow Fall, as well. Plus you're never obligated to fight Coralax bosses, AFAIK. And Seers are actually one of the few balanced enemy groups from Praetoria.

Though really that complaint falls apart since even with some early psionic enemies around, none of those sets are powerful to begin with yet, as you yourself say. To a low-level Invuln character, psionic is just about equally as dangerous as any form of elemental damage.


Also, another thing I forgot regarding Sonic Resonance: Can we please reduce the endurance cost on Disruption Field? It does half as much as Enervating Field, but with the same cost. While one could argue that the ability to cast DF on an ally somehow adds to its value over EF, I don't think "slightly more convenient (except when it drops all the time due to elevators/distance)" is equivalent to -25% Damage. Edit: Oh yeah, and I think DF also suffers from the clipping/saturation problem, since one target within its radius must the ally you cast it on, it potentially affects one less enemy than EF.

While I see what you're going for, I don't see why this needs to be addressed. It seems to me like knockback resistant enemies are a legitimate weakness of the set.

This on the other hand, I agree with to a degree. I think maybe only Dispersion Bubble should have the DDR, though. A full 75% across the set seems like a bit much, and I think there should be something to it rather than just being yet another spammable buff effect.

Perhaps a smaller amount in each shield (5-10%), with a higher amount in Dispersion Bubble (35-45%). That could work too.

Not strictly for or against. I'd rather see Sonic Siphon generally improved first - lower the recharge some and make it stackable.

This I don't like. There may be a legitimate numbers argument in there somewhere, but I don't see why Sonic should get something that Force Field should be specializing in already.

Slow protection feels wrong for some reason, but I'm not sure why. But considering Force Field gets similar exotic protections, I think I'm okay with this. Just move one of the debuff resistances to Sonic Barrier.

This on the other hand is going a bit too far. Dispersion Bubble gets nothing like this, and the justification is weak.

Outright no on the Psi resistance. Psychic damage is supposed to be Sonic's main weakness. This would be a huge, uncalled for buff to the set.

The ToHit Debuff resistance I could get behind. Anything to make it a more attractive power seeing as how Sonic Dispersion already does half of what Clarity can.


Not mentioned: Liquefy. Why why why why WHY is the Resistance-oriented set given a -ToHit, -Def power as its tier 9? Why not make it -Dmg, -Res? Please?

Do you really think your taunt aura is critical in an AV fight?

Attack one...with AoE attacks... Um. Is your build hyper AoE specialized?

And since you keep getting sequestered by using AoEs, maybe single target damage would be more efficient after all?

In this example you're the one triggering it by taunting. How is that not sufficient warning?

I'd be okay with doing both, I guess - opening the missions and offering the vouchers. But I still think it's very odd to make it a perk of being a level 50 to be able to skip content. Either it devalues the content, or you're basically admitting the thing you're allowing players to skip over was a pointless restriction, but have otherwise felt the need to attach a premium to.

I understand, as I pointed out thoroughly in my OP. Yes, this would take more work, but would be an update that would make things better for everyone, rather than just players with Incarnates on their account.


Also, another idea for a voucher: I know it's a little late, at least for most players, but how about a Vanguard membership voucher, to grant a character the ability to earn Vanguard merits prior to level 35? Again, I know, likely some code issues involved, but I thought it was a neat idea.

It's entirely possible to be all three - higher end, much longer recharge, and much lower effectiveness (compare World of Pain to Fortitude). And even then, you're looking at a pretty major altering of set balance, since it's still personal defense or resistance those sets didn't get before. And actually, for that matter, in the case of FF, debuff resistance as well.

Also do you really think it would be balanced for Kinetics to give itself Speed Boost on top of Siphon Speed?

Vouchers sound like a neat idea. I definitely see the potential there for something interesting.

But I do have some ideas about expanding the system, and trimming some fat.

1) Okay, we're now at a stage where we're allowed to skip the Cape Mission, at a cost. Cool. Level 1s with capes are okay, as long as you pay for it. ...But at that point, why add in another weird meta-game hoop to jump through? Why not allow characters of any level to access and complete the cape and aura missions?

I realize there's some complexities involved with this, primarily the hero aura mission, which is a hunt mission against three specific groups of level 30 enemies. This would necessitate either making several sets of hunt missions that are level appropriate...or tossing the old aura mission in the trash, since it wasn't very fun to begin with. There may be similar problems with the level scaling of Lost and Rikti in the new cape arc, but this should be somewhat easier to solve.

Another small problem is that right now villains gain these missions from their starting contacts once they reach the appropriate level range, and this could interfere with the normal flow of missions. Moving these missions to a new contact (perhaps another Facemaker type) would hopefully clear that up.

I also think that this cost is pretty fair due to the way these missions work. If you want a cape at level 1, the missions don't change: You still have to fight Lost, you still have to fight Circle of Thorns, etc. Now getting a cape at level 1 is perfectly possible, but it's a challenge to do so (one lessened by simply gaining a few levels, which won't be hard if you're attempting these arcs to begin with). And it doesn't involve locking it away as a somewhat out of place Incarnate bonus and avoids advocating outright skipping content. The devs just went through all that trouble to revamp the cape mission, and now they want you to skip it?

2) More vouchers! This one's simple and has already been suggested many times already, which is a testament to something. Give us vouchers to unlock Midnight Club access and perhaps Ouroboros access (I realize that Ouroboros works differently and this may also necessitate a code change). If an Incarnate character can apparently grant a boon to another in the form of allowing them to wear capes, then certainly they can put in a good word with the Midnight Squad or the Menders, can't they?

3) Add vouchers to the Alignment Merit reward table. This one's pretty simple. Alignment merits are fairly comparable to Incarnate merits, but actually are more valuable individually than Empyrean Merits. It certainly doesn't take the power of a god to vouch for another character, right? If my hero has proven himself to be a stand-up guy, shouldn't he be able to ask the city to go easy on his protege and let him have a cape?

I would disagree. Rares are not any more costly than the tiers that come before them. They are only hard to get insomuch that you need to invest in both prior levels of Incarnate power to then move up. They are very much an attainable goal. As said above, it takes about a week to get a guaranteed rare, and in that time it's reasonably likely to get one randomly.

However, I will agree that Very Rares are definitely not for casual players. They require more than twice the cost of getting a Rare - crafting the second Rare as well as procuring a Very Rare component.

This will simply never happen at any point, ever. And if through some miniscule, infinitesimal chance it did? That part where they didn't touch the endurance cost, or recharge time, or effectiveness of the power wouldn't be coming with.

What in the world does this have to do with the perceived level of challenge in each trial? Also, I would say it's not so much that BAF is easier, rather than it's far, far harder to screw up. People understand "kill enemies, fight AVs" but plenty of threads have proven that "use temp power" completely and utter throws some players.

The ability to unlock auras at any level rather than 30 is one of the vouchers available, which means you could use them from the get go also, at a premium.

Of course, there's still confusion as to how the new auras work, thanks to that asterisk on the update page. If they really are Incarnate-exclusive, they're equally a bad idea. Offering what is essentially travel power customization in aura form, only to lock it away as an exclusive unlock is shooting themselves in the foot. And I'll take it as a personal insult, since my recently-created digital lifeform characters are perfect for the Binary and Pixel auras.

But the description is so contradictory and poorly phrased, I'm not sure if that's the intended design or not.

Just get some Incarnate powers!

:awesomeface:

Calling this new unlock the "solo" path is dubious, if not outright backwards and wrong.

The options now as presented to a solo-Incarnate are: Tough out Ramiel's arc or stop playing solo in order to earn merits...to go towards helping other characters gain access to the same tedious, penalizing grind your first character is stuck in. (Keep in mind that they're allowing you to trade merits in for something that normally takes more than 1 Trial to unlock, AFAIK. I doubt it will be as cheap as 1 Empyrean merit.)

Even the average, somewhat casual-ish Incarnate player (IE, me) has little use for this. They're unlikely to squander their flighty merit rewards on something they can achieve by just doing Ramiel's arc, teaming if necessary, or continuing to participate in raids they clearly have no qualm with.

In fact, who this system serves the most is the power gamer: The one who has access to the largest pool of merits and a long list of characters who are in need of a quick Alpha slot unlock. And even then a power gamer can just blitz Ramiel's arc.

If only one of the very first Incarnate slots featured a nuke power with unique graphics that was also a real whiz bang attack...that would be very visually distinct! Even better, there could be at least four major variations, meaning they would be even more distinct!

As I've said before: Then why keep them exclusive? If they're going to be unpopular, or only popular in a piecemeal fashion ("I love the gloves!" "The helmet's for me!") then why bother acting as though the set is somehow super special?

As was previously stated, every single one of these have been decried before. The precedent was there, but so was the precedent of a number of players disliking aesthetic unlocks.

I know, if only there was a system that rewarded level 50 characters with brand new, unique powers and bonuses that took them beyond the limits of normal level 50s. That would be a lot more interesting than a costume set.

No, it really won't. I don't feel like "working" for an arbitrarily special aesthetic doodad just because the devs feel I should have to before I deserve it, solely because it's special. Just like how I didn't work for the Vanguard parts. Because it was work.

I'm sorry that you apparently feel something is less valuable just because "every level 1 schmo" has access to it. That opinion right there is very, very telling. What if you still had to pay the merits, but they simply removed the level 50 lock on it, nothing else? Or would that offend your need to flaunt your superiority?

Holy contradiction, Aceman.

Considering they spelled out the mechanics of the raid, yes, it's not really hard to think of some griefing tactics. How effective they are remains to be seen, but I've immediately identified three possible ones, one of unknown difficulty, one of high difficulty, and one that sounds pathetically easy, but is sort-of policeable. Edit: Actually, four, another hard one, but with dire consequences.

At no point did I perceive it as a "hair trigger" fail. I'm sorry if you were led astray by my unclear wording.

Also, Anti-Matter's HP is not the only obvious grief point in the raid.

Yeah, but any damage done to Anti-Matter permanently increases the difficulty raid-wide. Even if you kick them before they kill AM, it will still negatively impact the raid.

While I'm not 100% on the mechanics, I believe that a Self -Endurance effect on a click buff power based on each target hit is either impossible or potentially server-lagging.

And as usual the rabble out on the streets can starve, eh?

I'm not even sure BAF is griefable (unless perhaps you knocked escapees toward the exits? Or somehow contributed enough DPS to kill one of the AVs early?), but Lambda is definitely griefable. They've mitigated most of the ways, but it's still possible. Such as taking the elevators before the team is ready. Plus there's plenty of things you can do outside of raw game mechanics to doom a raid.

In this case though, it looks like the fail condition is literally just "deal damage to Anti-Matter". Who doesn't regenerate his HP, note.