John_Printemps

I generally like most of the effects I see, just...not the ones pertaining specifically to being an Ice Cube. The idea of "hiding" my own graphics doesn't really kill the fact that everyone else still sees me looking like walking slab out of the freezer.

Everyone needs to accept that there's always someone stronger than [you].

In Supes' case, Batman and Zod.

This.

I love Ice Armor statistically, but I immensely hate looking like a six year old drew my armor.

There's a significant difference between restructuring an entire AT to a new model, versus a mechanical change that might add a slight buff to the overall performance of it without changing the design. Tagging a Debuff into the PB's attack schematics and altering their Heals into PBAoE's is developing a malformed Defender, and that's not the idea. Kheldian's are basically from Launch, and changing their fundamental aspects this late in the game not only looks bad on the developers, but on the foundations of the game. As the game progresses in its lifespan, and new content is introduced, other areas of the game must be "modified" to grow with the game as well, otherwise you end up with "dead spots", like in a plant that doesn't receive sunlight slowly dies. Eventually you have to trim the excess to allow new growth.

No one's asking for a rebuild of the Kheldian concept, just improvement and better integration with the growth of the game. Khelds used to "work" before Inventions, and I9 gave the chance to grow areas of PB's, but they still weren't really "there." Incarnates came and create a new design balance, and PB's still really aren't "there." They're passable, capable of being played competently, but small things would help them function better.

Like Toggle Suppression, in time.

So I'm a bit more coherent now, I thought I'd come back and make a few notations/quips about */Time. In regards Time's Juncture and Distortion Field, I've never really seen much need in having both of the powers, and more on that found I spend more time outside of Melee then I ever do in making the toggle somewhat wasted as a power selection. Something I would suggest you reconsider is Temporal Selection. You may not feel apt towards keeping it up on multiple individuals, but in a team scenario the +Regen alone is a huge boon to Tanks/Brutes in particular.

--Fire Breathe...I personally like it, but I tried to keep to some build goals (the Snipe/Inferno) and slots became somewhat starved, so I pulled it from the build. With near-perma RoF and 4/s recharge on Fire Ball, your AoE isn't really hurting (and Inferno should be ~30/s post buff).

--The Snipe, I didn't much care for what was slotted in it, but there's little choice in taking what's there in order to balance Defenses (see further note, too). I know Farsight gives +To-Hit, but I'm of the boat that says "at some point you'll screw up and forget to hit Power Boost before Farsight." I threw Tactics in so that to-hit stays up consistently, even when you inevitably forget to cycle Farsight. The Confuse/Fear Resistance is also nice to have for small things like BAF's and avoiding the AoE confuses without thinking about Clarion.

--Defenses, you want to hit 20% before PB/Farsight, or a point or two above for good measure, on Psi/M/R/A (generally easier to do these four, than six types + psi). Build would have 48/48/47 M/R/A and 46 Psi. With the PvP +3% Res IO as well, you can get up to 52% S/L Resists making Cardiac less beneficial and Agility Core more impacting towards your whole build.

--Summon Mistress, at Perma and w/ Temporal Selection and all the defense you can feed it, makes for a useful and powerful pet. I wouldn't pass it up unless it really angsts your concept.

While that's an impressive list of changes, and interesting throw at adding a mechanic unique to PB's which has definitely been the "in" thing lately, but I think I have to agree with this:

Interesting quite quickly became "too much." While I don't personally take, say, Group Flight or Glowing Touch, they are important to the "Paladin Design" that PB's are indirectly built on. A pinch of support on a strong and burst-damage-style character. So in regards strictly to performance, backpedaling some areas like Light Form is counter-productive to the forward-process that has been established so far.

The reason I didn't reiterate something like "Toggle Suppression" is simply because that is a change I know will come when they've figured out how to implement it. That's why I've stuck to the straightforward basis of "Warshades = AoE & Soft Control, PB's [should] = ST & Soft Support."

Something for you to compare against. I'd explain choices, but it's a bit late, and I'm tired.

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Looks good! The only thing I'd point out is in Icy Bastion, if you switch that Doctored Wounds Heal/Rech to a Numina's Heal/Rech you can get one more +HP bonus. And, your Hasten is going to have ~2/s downtime, but if you pull that second slot from Combat Jumping and put it into Hasten you can bring it down to 119/s. Since CJ doesn't really pump much, you probably wont notice the loss of that .5%

Dechs' and I hashed this out a bit in-game last night and both agreed that, from a numbers stand point, how do we prove that they under perform? PB's specifically, what do we con
pare them against? Currently their melee is equivalent to non-fury brute damage, and their ranged is equivalent to defenders; but their survivability is comparable to a tank. At what point does ranged ability outweigh damage against their level of survival?

We ultimately need to know how kheldians fit into the AT-verse and determine if they flat-out need a buff to damage, or would we have to sacrifice defense to balance. The scales?

The problem with "on the fly" is in the fact you still have to build stacks to use stacks, and one of your prime attacks (dehydrate) consumes stacks too. The chain I posted up a bit solves most issues.

Depending on your slotting and whether you're chasing set bonuses, it is actually possible to maximize most of your needs in Dehydrate and still sneak in a little +Heal. Just something to keep in mind. You might not need it, but it doesn't hurt, either.

This. Dehydrate is fundamentally Siphon Life with a shorter recharge timer and appropriately compensated damage. Is definitely worth using, and often at that.

Feel better now? Glad you got that out of your system. Now, for the third time: My Opinion vs. Your Opinion. Stalemate.

I fully understood from these same issues years ago that the developers defined the archetype by the poetic term Epic. But what you're missing is the fact that most of the playerbase does not know that. When they see "EPIC" AT, most don't Immediately Think Illiad. Comparatively, the entire game could be coined as an Epic and more justly deserve it. Yes, the devs claimed it was meant to be that, but it was misleading from the get-go. People see Epic and expect something Awesome. Not an outdated storyline that is outshined by the level of interactive story-telling and talent that is running the game now.

Kheldians [used to] unlock at 50, thus meaning you had to figuratively "get to the end" in order to play one. You'd get two choices (WS/PB) and a storyline to ride through all the way back through to 50. This is no different then beating a standard platformer on Hard Mode, getting your "Bonus Unlock" and replaying the entire game with all your "loot". That basically becomes an argument of semantics and isn't really worth it.

This has nothing to do with "omg moar power", it has to do with the fact that [Kheldians] story and AT's feel neglected and forgotten. We're being invaded from alternate universes, galactic races are pounding on our front door, Nemesis has 99 Plots, would it be so bad if a squad of Lobster showed up somewhere to say "Hey, we'll help." No, about all they got out of the deal was one obsessed Roman.

You say we almost got overtaken by Nictus?

Great, I'll throw the hardcover on my coffee table and worry about the War Work stomping my face first.

Which would be awesome (obviously) to see happen, and is as expected a code issue from the depths of Cryptic Past.

Reading Comprehension FTL. As I defined already, whether it was intended for the Kheldians to be "Epic" in the nature of their story alone, that is no longer the case. They were once the end-all of the game. One got to 50, got their Squid/Lobster, and rolled a new toon in the attempts to take their shot at Khelds.

They're not the only Aliens on the block, as it were, now. Rikti have come and done made a mess all over the place, zombies have horded the zones up, and Mot ate a couple people. We're on the verge of I24 and Khelds are so I4. Basically, they're the character the author killed off in chapter eight, and the fans are still complaining in chapter 30 that they should still be around.

Khelds really have a lack of Epic-ness all around. They might as well be open at the starting screen as another AT, because skipping to 20 and getting a "bonus" AT isn't much these days, and with Alignment Changes, as pointed out by others, people feel they generally lack story and integration into things these days.

So yes, I think I am arguing the same thing in relative game terms.

I'm not sure how much may or may not have been altered and/or if you've got a significant amount of Store Bought stuff, but with the intention of moving all Procs over to PPM, this may have started its progression on Beta. Achilles' on PPM is not nearly as big an impact versus how it is currently on Live.

I don't blame you for feeling "eh" about Blasters, as I do as well in most cases. That's why my alternative thoughts were towards a Water/Cold Corr.

I believe that's where " and " came into play. Conceptual to the idea that "Epic Archetype" was always something to look forward to in end-game play. I remember pre-I9 where getting to 50 was worth the value of opening Kheldians just to find out that you got something that was a little-less than sub-par and the ultimate challenge was trying to "make it work." There's currently nothing "Epic" about them. Their story can be all it wants, but compared to Incarnate content, they're not even on the same level of "zomg." The game has evolved beyond their purpose, heck, they open at level 20 now.

They're a bonus set that we're supposed to be excited to have unlocked and enjoy playing. I'm sure the reason no one's seen toggle suppression for form switching is due to a code-issue somewhere in the transformation setup. It is super old code at this point. But an animation tweak is something that can happen now. The VEATS have several levels of "Epic" to them outside of storylines, I think it's time Khelds could say the same.

I found */Time to be way too busy to keep pace with anything expecting to do DPS on any scale. I could see, maybe, focusing entirely on AoE capacity and teaming, but I'm partial to having some road to do my own damage as well. Without reliable pets somewhere in the equation, that's not likely. Besides that, I already have a Fire/Time Controller and I'm not much for repeating secondaries.

Amusingly enough, Scrappers are the ones who don't actually need Concentrated Strike.

With the way Procs are being changed to Proc-Per-Minute formulas, Achilles' Heel in Whirpool will most likely be a for-sure thing every time you drop it. Makes that power incredible awesome for a Blaster.

I've actually been weighing the idea of a Water/Dark myself as it or a Water/Cold Corr are the only two that have really interested me (haven't purchased Water yet, undecided). But Water/Dark can get a pretty nasty single-target chain going on with Smite > Dehydrate > Water Jet > Midnight Grasp > Water Jet (or something close to that). It cycles around the Tidal stacks nicely and as a straight-chain it work well with the added potential of Water Jet doubling up on occasion.


And for anyone interested, a Water/Dark build for Mids' I'm toying with.

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Brutes, do to their inherent need to be in-combat, suffer more incoming damage and thus require the larger window of HP just to survive. A Scrapper is in no different a condition than the Brute when dealing with incoming damage, but they have the ability to get out, if need be, and still be at the same level of performance. In a ratio of 2:1, a Brute's Dull Pain or Reconstruction might do twice the amount of a Scrappers, but they're also--generally speaking--taking twice the amount of damage in the process.

Just saying: Unless a Brute Kites like a Scrapper, their excess HP means very little; and in the case that a Brute does Kite, they're effectively lowering their damage output in Fury loss to do so, giving the edge to Scrappers wholly. Kind of like a toss up between Stalkers and Scrappers on Regen. Scrappers have a slightly better opening hand, but Stalkers can deliver meaningfully lethal blows in short bursts and excel at Kiting, even if they don't get the same level of performance that a Scrapper or Brute would.

No, I'm not pointing fingers at anyone but the Devs in regards to where PB's sit in single-target damage. Compared to their brethren Warshades, Peacebringers neither impress on AoE nor ST, and they should on one of those two scales. If Warshades got designed to do impressively well on the AoE front, then transversely Peacebringers should excel at ST. To be clear, I'm not saying they should be buffed to the gills on damage, but a simple review of--at the least--their animation times, would be a stellar improvement. I get they're supposed to be somewhat Jack of All Trades, but--to me--they've always felt like an insanely survivable Blapper with terrible damage and two neat graphics-powers to help level up with before they become obsolete.

Ultimately, the part that bugs me the most, is that their competition Epic AT outshines them on nearly every level. The lowest, most generic version of the Arachnos Soldiers is the Hunstman style build, and that on its own with the same Incarnate Metric of T4 Musculature and T4 Reactive starts its average paper-DPS in the 200-220 range. I'm looking at a chain right now that's 224 DPS not counting any pets or -Res debuffs that it gets in its own set. The chain doesn't even require a back-breaking amount of recharge either, just 70% Global that is easily achieved. Compare that to a PB who has to starve itself into the 150+% range to do anything higher than 120 DPS.