Oedipus_Tex
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Posts
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Joined
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Super Speed is the only travel power I take anymore. I take it more for the stealth than anything else. You can even run Super Speed with the temp power jet pack and, with a Celerity IO, fly around invisible. Plus Hasten is the prereq. This pretty much seals the deal for me on which travel power is best for me.
Super Jump is my least favorite. Its ok on certain characters, but only if they can handle the aggro they are sure to pull from it. My squishies absolutely avoid this power. Add in how annoying it is indoors and it comes in last place for me. The only reason I'd take it on most characters is as a set mule in a situation where I had already taken Combat Jumping. If for some weird reason I wanted to Super Jump there is a temp power for it. Acrobatics might be an attraction if IOs hadnt handed knockback protection out like candy.
Teleport is ok but it annoys me to be forced to spend slots to make a travel power do what others could with no slotting. I take it for flavor or if I need lots of Defense from IOs (Recall Friend, Teleport Foe, Teleport, and Team Teleport all take Blessing of the Zephyr IOs).
Fly is something I'd pretty much never take. Air Superiority and Hover are ok, possibly. Fly itself is outdone simply because of the easy availability of jet packs.
My characters who don't end up with Super Speed end up with Ninja Run.
IMO the imbalance with travel powers comes from several changes made to the game over the years:
- The Celerity IO, which gives out almost the same stealth radius as the actual power named "Stealth". What's worse, it's slottable into a travel power, speeding you up, while Stealth itself slows you down. The Stealth radius on Celerity should really be something like 10ft or even 5ft. Also, the invisibility in Super Speed should really not stack with other sources of invisibility if the Stealth power itself doesn't stack.
- The temp power jet pack. I guess it was created to deal with the nightmare that is the shadow shard. If so, there should probably be a jet pack that only works there. The bank mission jet pack would be far more balanced if a) you couldn't keep Super Speed running while flying around (for the invisibility) and b) it had a longer recharge time after you turn it off, like the mini jet packs we start the game with.
- Anti-knockback IOs that provide 3 or 4 mag protection against knockback but should probably only offer about .2 resistance if we use other anti-mezz IOs as a guide. I assume the reason these were created was to address holes in certain armor types, but it really would have been more balanced to change those sets directly than allow every character to be immune to knockback. As it is, there is little reason to chase after Acrobatics on most characters who might otherwise have been attracted to Super Jump.
- Ninja Run, which allows a character to take no travel power at all.
All of this said, I don't think raising the flight cap speed would fix everything that's wrong with Fly. It would be a start, but Fly needs some serious advantages before I'd take it over Super Speed in the current game environment. -
That build is pretty slick. I may have to copy it some time.
One thing I noticed is you could drop one of the Recharges in Ice Slick. It's only buying you about 2 seconds of faster recharge.
I also tried playing around with a build, toying some with the Mind APP. I was able to come up with something a little weird that replaced Punch/Tough/Weave with Combat Jumping/Super Jump/Repulsion Bomb. AoE and Ranged are soft capped, but melee and slashing no longer are; however they have higher resistance than before. You also trade resistance to Cold for resistance to Mental. The build also uses slightly less endurance and recovers slightly more. Not sure how I feel about the build overall, but here you go if you want to play with it:
Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.601
http://www.cohplanner.com/
Click this DataLink to open the build!
Ocean Maid Redux: Level 50 Magic Controller
Primary Power Set: Ice Control
Secondary Power Set: Force Field
Power Pool: Speed
Power Pool: Fitness
Power Pool: Leaping
Power Pool: Leadership
Ancillary Pool: Psionic Mastery
Hero Profile:
Level 1: Block of Ice -- Lock-Acc/Hold:50(A), Lock-Acc/Rchg:50(3), Lock-Rchg/Hold:50(3), Lock-EndRdx/Rchg/Hold:50(11), Lock-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg/Hold:50(15), Lock-%Hold:50(15)
Level 1: Personal Force Field -- RechRdx-I:30(A)
Level 2: Frostbite -- Det'tn-Acc/Dmg:50(A), Det'tn-Dmg/EndRdx:50(5), Det'tn-Dmg/Rchg:50(5), Det'tn-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx:50(13), Acc-I:50(31), Det'tn-Dmg/EndRdx/Rng:50(40)
Level 4: Deflection Shield -- RedFtn-Def/EndRdx:50(A), RedFtn-Def:50(17), DefBuff-I:50(17)
Level 6: Arctic Air -- C'phny-Dam%:30(A), C'phny-EndRdx/Conf:30(7), Mlais-EndRdx/Conf:50(7), CoPers-Conf/EndRdx:50(9), CoPers-Conf%:50(9), Mlais-Dam%:50(31)
Level 8: Hasten -- RechRdx-I:50(A), RechRdx-I:50(11), RechRdx-I:50(25)
Level 10: Insulation Shield -- RedFtn-Def/EndRdx:50(A), RedFtn-Def:50(19), DefBuff-I:50(19)
Level 12: Ice Slick -- RechRdx-I:50(A), RechRdx-I:50(13)
Level 14: Super Speed -- Zephyr-Travel:50(A), Zephyr-Travel/EndRdx:50(43), Zephyr-ResKB:50(46)
Level 16: Hurdle -- Jump-I:50(A)
Level 18: Health -- Mrcl-Rcvry+:40(A)
Level 20: Stamina -- P'Shift-EndMod:50(A), P'Shift-EndMod/Acc:50(21), EndMod-I:50(21)
Level 22: Dispersion Bubble -- S'dpty-Def/EndRdx:40(A), GftotA-Def/EndRdx:40(23), RedFtn-Def/EndRdx:50(23), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx:50(25)
Level 24: Shiver -- TmpRdns-Acc/Slow:50(A), TmpRdns-Acc/EndRdx:50(40), TmpRdns-Rng/Slow:50(40)
Level 26: Glacier -- Lock-Acc/Hold:50(A), Lock-Acc/Rchg:50(27), Lock-Rchg/Hold:50(27), Lock-EndRdx/Rchg/Hold:50(29), Lock-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg/Hold:50(29), Lock-%Hold:50(34)
Level 28: Super Jump -- Zephyr-Travel:50(A), Zephyr-Travel/EndRdx:50(34), Zephyr-ResKB:50(36)
Level 30: Maneuvers -- S'dpty-Def/EndRdx:40(A), RedFtn-Def/EndRdx:50(31), EndRdx-I:50(39), LkGmblr-Rchg+:50(39)
Level 32: Jack Frost -- BldM'dt-Acc/Dmg:50(A), BldM'dt-Dmg/EndRdx:50(33), BldM'dt-Acc/EndRdx:50(33), BldM'dt-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx:50(33), BldM'dt-Acc:50(34), BldM'dt-Dmg:50(37)
Level 35: Repulsion Bomb -- Det'tn-Acc/Dmg:50(A), Det'tn-Dmg/EndRdx:50(36), Det'tn-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx:50(36), Det'tn-Dmg/Rng:50(37), Det'tn-Dmg/Rchg:50(37), RechRdx-I:50(39)
Level 38: Combat Jumping -- DefBuff-I:40(A)
Level 41: Mental Blast -- Thundr-Acc/Dmg:50(A), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx:50(42), Thundr-Dmg/Rchg:50(42), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/Rchg:50(42), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx:50(43), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg:50(43)
Level 44: World of Confusion -- Mlais-Acc/Rchg:50(A), Mlais-EndRdx/Conf:50(45), Mlais-Acc/EndRdx:50(45), Mlais-Conf/Rng:50(45), Mlais-Dam%:50(46), Mlais-Acc/Conf/Rchg:50(46)
Level 47: Mind Over Body -- Aegis-ResDam/EndRdx:50(A), Aegis-EndRdx/Rchg:50(48), Aegis-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg:50(48), Aegis-ResDam:50(48), Aegis-Psi/Status:50(50), S'fstPrt-ResDam/Def+:30(50)
Level 49: Psionic Tornado -- Posi-Acc/Dmg:50(A), Det'tn-Acc/Dmg:50(50)
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Level 1: Brawl -- Acc-I:50(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- ULeap-Stlth:50(A)
Level 2: Rest -- RechRdx-I:50(A)
Level 1: Containment -
I'd be up for it. I'm not available to play until next Tuesday, but I love Controller teams. Take your pick:
- 50 Ice/Therm
- 50 Mind/Cold
- 38 Ice/Radiation
- 36 Earth/Therm
- 34 Illusion/Trick Arrow
- 38 Fire/Sonic (ok please don't pick this one ;p)
Or I could create a totally new one. -
I don't think Defenders have anything to worry about from Corruptors. There are similarities between the archetypes, sure, and Corruptors do get buffs. However, the buffs Corruptors get are more or less the same as what's available to a Controller.
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Quote:Maybe I'm bugged? I have only had the power a few weeks, and have never seen the buff icon.
This may have been true once, but now the buff icons show. -
If you want to slow down, an imperfect solution is to turn on the Raptor Pack you get from the Atlas Park bank mission. The max fly speed is lower than the max run speed, so turning on the pack will slow you down a lot. You can also keep the pack on while retaining Super Speed (for the stealth).
Hover also works well, but doesn't work with Super Speed, I don't think. -
Quote:Compared to other powers on a base 60 second recharge capable of buffing you and all minions to the point that Damage enhancers become useless. In the context of a set with an inherent ability to reduce Recharge times even further. And replinish endurance so that it is never necessary to halt. Combined with a Mastermind's already excellent survivability.
All i hear is TOO OP and FULCRUM NEEDS NERF but i haver never read a solid argument why Kinetics would be overpowered with Masterminds or why Fulcrum shift is overpowered.
Overpowered compared to what?
Or I could simply say, compared to the already bleeding-edge-of-overpowered Fire/Kin Controller, who the Mastermind/Kin would make a complete joke of. -
Quote:I'm not surprised negative knockback magnitude doesn't work. I AM a little surprised that knockback is so closely locked in to the location of a caster-object/pet, and there isn't a method of passing in a magnitude and direction directly. I have read before that some elements of the game exist at deeper code layers than others, so I guess knockback just happens to be one of the effects buried deeper. Kind of a shame, really, because you could create some interesting effects.
As I understand it, applying negative knockback magnitude currently provides knockback protection.
Most likely, the easiest (and this isn't saying much) way to provide a negative knockback effect would be to spawn psuedo-pets on the far side of every enemy in range and have them all do a knockback effect. Doable, but a hassle, and not obviously requiring that the way knockback effects are coded be completely rewritten at the game engine level. -
Some other little known secondary effects:
- Snow Storm auto-interupts interupible powers (e.g. Rikti Communicators, exploding Vaz corpses)
- So does Arctic Air
- Illusion's single target hold has a small AoE sleep built in
- Force Bolt slotted with 3 lvl 50 Knockback IOs is Mag 50 Knockback!
- Jack Frost has a slow aura that stacks with Ice's -Speed and -Recharge
- With enough Recharge you can cast Freezing Rain or Sleet on top of themselves, and the penalties stack
- Heat Loss can provide huge endurance recovery bonuses, but there is no icon to show you're under its effect
Also, lots of unexpected effects can be achieved via Confuse:
- Confusing a vaz zombie before it sees you causes it to immediately begin the animation to blow itself up while still standing in the middle of enemies, damaging the whole group when it blows
- Confusing a Rikti Protector (I think it's called) who hasnt yet seen you will often cause it to immediately use Accelerate Metabolism. You get the benefit if you are standing nearby. When many enemies of this type are around, you can manipulate it to stack multiple AMs.
- Confusing anything with a toggle (e.g. the FF and Sonic big bubbles) causes the bubble to protect you instead.
- Confusing CoT Earth mages makes their earthquakes reverse and hit their teammates even after the quake has been placed
- Confusing a Mastermind NPC (which mainly occurs in the AE) before he sees you makes his pets attack him and each other even if they are not independently confused. I am not sure if this works after they have been summoned.
- Confusing a Malta Sapper... well it doesn't do anything special, except make you win. -
Quote:I'm not sure what part of "in my opinion" you interepreted as the prologue to an academic paper submitted to the scientific academy of video game physics. I don't think it's shocking that my opinion is an opinion. But perhaps you'd like to know that I am also "biased" against cabbage, sports movies, country music and anything starring Meg Ryan.Oops, your bias is showing.Quote:
Knockback IMO is just like any other power with a cool looking animation and lackluster game effect. Your opinion is different, but you haven't "proven" anything.
This is another way of saying "This statement is fact and the proof is that anyone who disagrees with me is an idiot." What we can agree on is that knockback moves enemies around. Whether it's effective is not an established fact; how COULD it be, when its effectiveness is the very thing being debated?Quote:When I can consistently juggle a boss on my Blaster using KB powers. I have just proven KB to be effective at mitigation.
The above example is basic common knowledge known by ANYONE playing this game and doesn't have such a myopic outlook on KB. -
Quote:Seconded.
The other power I have to give most underappreciated to is Arctic Air, the amount of damage mitigation it provides to protect meleers is astounding, it can be turned into a proc monster and yet so many Ice/ controllers skip not only this but shiver as well. -
The guy at the costume store. Just so I can say "No you will NOT leave these premises wearing nothing but cat ears and eye shadow."
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This is my response to the post that was linked.
Quote:I'm going to disagree. Looking at this situation in comic books as well as in real life, most people are just not going to fight to the death if they have any say in it. Villains, in particular, may have very valid RP reasons for getting the heck out of there once things turn sour. Heroes may simply feel that, since they failed to arrest you, getting out of there is the best option so that they don't die for the mistake.1.) The example I cited was a tanker attacking my brute when I came out of a mission in Bloody Bay. We started to fight, I started to win, so he ran away. This strikes me as being a poor sport. He PICKED the fight with me, and then refused to finish it. He's either afraid of losing or a bad sport and just refuses to let anyone else win. Either way, it's bad form. Once you start a fight, you finish it. It's disrespectful to your opponent to tip the board when the game doesn't go your way. Give them their well-earned victory.
I agree with you that this attitude is unwarranted. Anyone in a PVP zone is a potential target. I also think this applies to people who feel entitled to the special perks available in PVP zones by calling them "PVE content." That said, from a role playing perspective it's totally valid to me that a slain *character* would be upset about being attacked.Quote:2.) People who go to PVP zones to PVE and then feel entitled to NOT BE ATTACKED AT ALL and have a chip on their shoulder about people who attack them in the PVP zone. People who expect someone to ask them nicely if they'd like to fight or leave them alone and feel that they have a right to this. Anyone who attacks them in the PVP zone is a jerk, and they shouldn't be "forced" into PVP like that. -
Radiation would be fine.
Kinetics would be a mistake without a massive nerf to Fulcrum Shift. Actually, the fact that Fulcrum Shift has made it this long without a massive nerf is kind of surreal. -
I'm going to say Ice/Ice/Ice Blaster. It has good damage and using the powers slows enemies down so you wont have to worry about moving around as much yourself. You are important to the team but not so critical that your disappearance would wipe people. You can freeze enemies in place if you find chasing after them challenging.
A Scrapper is another good one. My only issue there is you may finding constantly moving to enemies difficult, depending on how severe your issues with manuevaribility are. -
I didn't read this whole thread.
I don't PVP. I have been playing online games for about 12 years and have never found PVP enjoyable.
What I do sometimes enjoy is being around PVPers, and just watching stuff go down. I also don't mind the thrill of being chased, as long as it feels substantially fair.
I think the complaints about people not wanting to fight you are kind of silly. There is nothing implicit in entering a zone in which it is *possible* to attack other players that says you must fight every person who takes a swing at you to the death. From a roleplay perspective, I don't attack every thing that takes a pot shot or I'd never get anywhere. From a gaming perspective, the game for me is simply surviving in the zone and not necessarily trying to kill anyone else. -
Quote:Knockback IMO is just like any other power with a cool looking animation and lackluster game effect. Your opinion is different, but you haven't "proven" anything.
I wish you would stop stating this as fact when many of us have proven you wrong. -
Mass Confusion. For some reason a lot of bossy Tanker types dont realize I can throw it without pulling aggro before they they jump in (I have 100ft invisibility by combining Super Speed, mists, and a Celerity IO), and tell me constantly to get back behind them.
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Quote:This is something I've always puzzled over. I know the devs know their code, and I believe them when they say it doesn't work with the current mechanics. But it makes me wonder how the combat mechs actually work if this specific thing can't be added.
Because that's impossible with this game engine for now, according to the devs. Gravity has a power which teleports whole groups of enemies, knocks them back from that spot and disorients them instead.
Specifically, it always seemed to me that to calculate knockTo, you would use the current formula for knockback and just reverse the caster with the target when determining positioning. Perhaps it doesn't work because the game physics API only has a method like "applyEffect" with a parameter for which effect, what magnitude, and from what source (the caster)? Dry speculation only. Sometimes I wish I could (legally) pry the game open and look under the hood! -
Quote:This isn't necessarily true, especially if by "moving enemies around" you mean "moving enemies to a location which is intentional."
Actually, the Repel effect is much slower than KB at moving enemies around.
You are correct that Knockback is capable of throwing an enemy from a starting point to an end point at a high rate of speed. If the end point you're trying to throw an enemy to happens to be exactly the same distance as the knockback distance, then knockback will get the enemy there faster.
However, if the end point is closer than the knockback distance, you must have an obstacle nearby to throw enemy into or else you overshoot. If the end point is further than the knockback distance, it may actually slow you down, because enemies become immune to additional knockbacks while they are attempting to stand.
Knockback is also subject to peculiarities that make calculating distance difficult on the fly. When you are higher level than an enemy, knockback distance is increased in addition to speed. Using the same power on the same enemy and changing nothing but the level difference will effect how fast and how far the enemy moves. Level difference also effect Repel, but in practice only the speed is effected (technically distance is as well, since the effect is measured as distance over time, but most Repel powers can be shut off or moved when the enemy reaches the desired destination).
All of this is leaving out the fact that knockback used on a moving target frequently results in shooting the target *away* from the original end point altogether. I'm also leaving out situations where the desired end point is behind an obstacle that must be steered around.
None of this should be taken as a love song for Repel. The fact is, moving enemies from point A to point B is rarely critical in this game. It would be if we had a more direct method, like a knockIN or a knockTO or a reverse-Repel. But for what we have right now, knockback powers are not very practical, and that's why I feel they should impose a penalty beyond simply "you get moved from here to here." -
I've said this before but I think each Defender on the team should increase the effectiveness of inspirations. You'd get the most bang for the first Defender, with diminishing returns for each additional one. A lone Defender would keep the bonus solo.
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Quote:I think that 'discrimination' is maybe not the best word choice. There is a larger issue here.
I can't stop people from exercising playstyle discrimination. But I will not support any attempt to provide them with cover.
The fact is that teams strategize. Teaming is not (usually) about 8 people running around randomly on a map clicking buttons. It's about people trying to synergize their efforts to accomplish a common goal. Even the most disorganized teams come with basic expectations of behavior.
For example, if a player decides his 'playstyle' is charging ahead into un-aggroed groups and dragging them back to the unprepared team, he can't very well bemoan being "discriminated" against when the team objects.
Here's a sort of tongue in cheek example. A Fire, Ice, and Mind, Controller are in a mission with an Energy Blaster.
Ice: Fire, stop discriminating against my Ice Patches with your Fire Cages. It just lets enemies stand up and shoot at us. I'm here to protect the team and you're screwing it up!
Fire: Yeah well stop discriminating against the reason I'M here--to do damage. I need Containment to hurt stuff and once I kill them they won't get back up. It's not my problem that your mitigation sucks.
Mind: Hold on a second. Everyone can see who's really being discriminated against, and it's ME! I keep trying to sleep them and you two keep waking them up.
Fire: Well then confuse them instead.
Ice: Or fear them.
Mind: I said I wanted to SLEEP them, and that's what I'll do.
Energy Blaster: Don't worry you guys, I'll just keep knocking them back.
Mind, Fire, and Ice: NO!
Energy Blaster: Now, look who is REALLY being discriminated against. -
No slotting, but here's how I'd do it. I assumed you have the Ninja pack for Ninja Run. By using this power you instead of Super Speed you can buy yourself an extra power pick, and on Illusion Control the invisibility aura from SS isn't missed.
The main thing to notice here is that I delayed Cauterize until later and took the shields early. That's because, in my experience with low levels, most of the damage isn't directed at a single person so much as the whole team, and you're better off reducing how fast it's incoming and hitting the whole group with Warmth than trying to target individuals.
Depending on how much you solo, you may want to drop something for Air Superiority and spec out of it later.
Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.601
http://www.cohplanner.com/
Click this DataLink to open the build!
Level 37 Magic Controller
Primary Power Set: Illusion Control
Secondary Power Set: Thermal Radiation
Power Pool: Speed
Power Pool: Fitness
Hero Profile:
Level 1: Blind -- (A)
Level 1: Warmth -- (A)
Level 2: Deceive -- (A)
Level 4: Spectral Wounds -- (A)
Level 6: Thermal Shield -- (A)
Level 8: Hasten -- (A)
Level 10: Plasma Shield -- (A)
Level 12: Group Invisibility -- (A)
Level 14: Hurdle -- (A)
Level 16: Health -- (A)
Level 18: Phantom Army -- (A)
Level 20: Stamina -- (A)
Level 22: Cauterize -- (A)
Level 24: Flash -- (A)
Level 26: Spectral Terror -- (A)
Level 28: Forge -- (A)
Level 30: Thaw -- (A)
Level 32: Phantasm -- (A)
Level 35: Heat Exhaustion -- (A)
Level 38: Melt Armor -- (A)
Level 41: [Empty]
Level 44: [Empty]
Level 47: [Empty]
Level 49: [Empty]
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Level 1: Brawl -- (A)
Level 1: Sprint -- (A)
Level 2: Rest -- (A)
Level 1: Containment -
Quote:
It's not always about you. There are 7 other players on your team that may benefit from the KB. IF the mobs are still alive after some of them are knocked away from you, then they'll stand up and come running right back since Mudpots has a very taunt aura.
In other words, the mitigation from KB might not help your Stone Armor Brute/Tank but it might just give that squishy a little bit of breathing room.
Scattering things away from a tank is almost always counterproductive. When it happens on teams my usual reaction is something like "Oh he did that because he's stuck with knockback on all his attacks and can't help it," not "I'm glad he did that because it makes things more survivable." Scattering enemies--especially scattering them away from the tank--is almost always to be avoided. It's something I tolerate on Energy Blasters because they are stuck with it. Anyone else will be asked not to do it again. -
I don't like being called "anti-knockback." I think knockback is cool and we should be encouraged to do more of it.
The problem, though, is that the majority of the time in a team setting knockback is bad strategy. There is just not a lot of reason to send mobs moving along a trajectory. There is rarely anything to knock them into that's particularly tactical, and even the most skilled knockback users mess up as a matter of course. (Hilariously, the easiest way to mess up a kb user is to use kb yourself.)
Frankly, it kind of annoys me when people say the only reason people don't like knockback is that they want to treat the game like a farm. The reason I don't like knockback is that it is not very good at its intended purpose. It looks awesome and I don't want to see it removed. I do, however, want to see a reason to use it that makes up for the fact that in many, if not most team situations, it is an undesirable and unstrategic effect that is at best marginally useful and at worst completely debilitating to a team. It should really be telling that the vast majority of strategizing around knockback, both among its supporters and defenders, centers around how to minimize its impact.