OneWhoBinds
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Quote:No... I admit I have not. That said, it will still be a Defense based set, that - with Energy Consumption - will likely also have 'unlimited endurance.' Which means it knocks out the only thing EA has going for it.Originally Posted by JuliusSeizure
Have you looked at the values of Ice Armor relative to EA when converted to the Brute's 0.75 AT modifier? Ice isn't really all that great at Scrapper/Brute values.
And again, I have to say - maintaining a full blue bar means very little if you can't keep your green bar full, too!
O_oQuote:Originally Posted by JuliusSeizure
I've played EA and Electic Armor quite heavily-- and EA is most certainly tougher than Electric Armor in most gameplay. It's also tougher than Fire, but Fire is a completely different beast that relies on offense.
I'll admit, I don't play my EA brute as much as I do my ElA... but still, Electric Armor has been VERY safe, and very fast. While my EA brute has to keep stopping and resting, or just seems to die when the RNG decides to hate me.
EA has been a slow and unfun experience for me so far.
Of course, this is based on them only using common IOs. I recently started frankenslotting my ElA brute, and have not been upset with the performance. But at this point, I think I'm shelving my EA until something gets changed. -
Quote:First, you obviously mean "for Brutes." And even then, that qualifier isn't likely to last forever. Ice Armor will knock it out of the ball park. Add Ice Armor to the list of defenses a Brute can have, and it ends with a nice tier 9, and stealth - an aspect many people still criticize it for having.Originally Posted by JuliusSeizure
EA has its niche; it's the only defense set with effectively unlimited endurance. It also has stealth that doesn't suppress when attacking.
So one set is wicked survivable with 95% DDR (an amount that is broken IMO): Super Reflexes. One set has the lowest survivability and highest offense: Shield Defense. And the other set grants unlimited endurance and unsuppressed stealth: Energy Armor. Energy Armor also has the best tier 9 in all three.
Unlimited Endurance does not compensate for the holes in its overall protection. Not having to stop and rest to recover your blue bar means nothing if you have to keep stopping to recover your green bar!
This is all a call back to how this set was originally designed, as a Stalker set. I had to be kludged together quick to replace Ice Armor for Brutes in the initial release, and has been festering ever since. This is especially painful with the realization that EA isn't all that great for Stalker, whom it was designed for.
The Devs really need to give both sets a very detailed once over. I'm pretty sure it could actually still be brought up to par without breaking the Cottage Rule... but it certainly isn't there now. -
Quote:I've obviously never figured out how to softcap defense when you start with 0.Originally Posted by plainguy
When you don't have the defenses to back it up..
If your not defense capped in S/L and ranged or at least Ranged. What is the point.. You will be a glass cannon.
Still, there's a point here, as I think I could squeeze out 20% Ranged defense on a build taking all the AoE available.
I'll see what I can do with it. I Have no idea how to calculate what kind of recharge I need for a chain, but I think I can work with Fireball/Fire Breath/Psychic Scream and one other. (Probably either a Patron AoE Immobilize, or just move in for Psychic Shockwave.) -
So, starting a new Blaster in Praetoria, I am once again compelled to use the combination of Fire Blast/Mental Manipulation.
But when looking through the new options for future building, I come across Soul Mastery... and am immediately struck by the detail that is has both Soul Tentacles (Tenebrous Tentacles by another name) and Nightfall - another cone AoE.
On a lark, I put them together, and yes, you can take and reasonable slot Fire Ball, Fire Breath, Rain of Fire, Inferno, Psychic Scream, Psychic Shockwave, Night Fall, and Soul Tentacles.
...
But really... would it be worth the effort? I mean, even ignoring Rain of Fire, Inferno, and Psychic Shockwave, I think it still goes over the bar of an AoE Attack Chain...
So when should you consider another AoE attack on a single character redundant? -
Instead of Life Drain, how about Life Leech?
Does moderate Negative Energy damage, and -Regen to the target hit, while boosting the Blaster's Regen rate.
And, instead of TT, another cone that does low Negative Energy damage, but has a higher -to hit component?
Just some quick thoughts... -
Has anyone else had this pop up?
You're doing the Praetoria Tutorial. You go ahead and choose beginner, just to read all the dialogue. You get to Reese, decide to help out against the Destroyers...
And realize that your Zombie minion - who is in Defensive/Follow - has decided to go hang out with Dr. Stafford the moment you get hit.
WTF?
For some reason, in that very first part of the mission, the Zombie seemed fixated on some point around Dr. Stafford. Unless I specifically ordered him to attack, it would instead head back to him and wander around.
I've already Bugged this, but I'm curious if anyone else has seen this bug? I don't remember my Demonling doing anything like this... -
...no. Just... no.
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EA isn't as bad as some say, but it isn't really good, either. It's one of those sets that you need to rely on IO bonuses to get more than a mediocre performance out of it.
The issues can be summed up as follows:
1 - rather like Super Reflexes, this is a Tissue Paper behind Armor Plating set. Which is to say, Defense is ALL that it has. (The piddling resist values from the Auto powers are meaningless.) Unlike SR, though... EA only gets 51% Defense Debuff resistance. It's still enough that you aren't going to get slaughtered after a few -Def attacks hit, but that is low enough that Cascade Failure is possible when such attacks become common place. But hey, Ice Armor and Invulnerability are in that boat to, aren't they?
Which leads to...
2 - Lack of useful utility. What else does this set offer, than defense? Um... Okay, Energy Drain means that you have no endurance worries (barring a Malta Sapper), and I suppose some will find the stealth useful... but that's it.
Sure, Energy Drain now also taunts and heals... which I still think was a completely bone headed decision on the Dev's parts. In my experience, the heal (even when maxed out) isn't enough to compensate for the incoming damage, unless you are at the soft cap. before that point, it generally just means you are getting enough health to recover what was lost during the Energy Drain animation time. Throwing the taunt in there as well just means they have now added too many things to reasonable enhance with 6 slots. Even frankenslotting, you are going to have to sacrifice some aspect.
There are no +HP powers, the resistance values are meaningless, and no debuffs or self buffs. When something gets through EA's defenses - or, like Psychic, EA simply has no defense to - EA can do nothing but fall, where most other sets still have something to bring to the table.
That's it, right there. And really, those are both the same way of saying the same thing: EA has incomplete Typed defense, unlimited endurance, and nothing else going for it. And unlimited endurance is a lot less useful than you'd think to your over all survival.
Eventually, EA's going to get another pass from the Devs. I only hope their next look at the set does a much better job than the LAST attempt to buff it. -
Quote:The gates of Hell are open!Originally Posted by JayboH
To each his own. I think they look great, although Ember Demons could be altered a little - make them thinner/shorter than the Prince. Their effects with particles cranked are wicked.
It gets nuts, even at level 12... -
Quote:Works for me - Although there aren't obvious choices for a set of Hero Patrons... or an in game reason why Heroes need to declare themselves behind character X or Y...Originally Posted by Genesis Man
I'm guessing the devs won't set out to do anything that will allow a player to "shortcut" content. Personally, I think the only thing we really need to balance out the epic sets system would be Heroic PPPs.
My 2 cents.
Hmm... much work would need to be done for these, I foresee.
That said, it still won't be the same pools. These Hero PPP would be in the themes of whatever characters are chosen to be the Patrons.
As such, anyone who wants to use the specific powers from existing PPPs will still need to suck it up and give their characters a walk on the dark side. -
Quote:I don't think the game can handle that. Ar, at least, it wouldn't work like that, since it would still require the same "Set up the destination" time that is one of the main problems with the system.Originally Posted by Kitsune9tails
"Flash Step" effects for teleportation, please.
I would like to use alternate animations for Teleport - I've always been fond of the "stepping into the darkness" and "stepping through a portal" concepts of teleportation. But Teleportation (as a primary mode of transportation) just doesn't feel smooth or well implemented in this game, and I don't think they could fix that with the current engine. -
My idea for a Heroic Necromancer and a Heroic Demon Summoner:
Necromancer - The six zombies are all under a curse - they were very evil men, and sentenced to a living death until they can redeem their crimes. The MM is simply the latest person acting as their parole officer, keeping these them on the straight and narrow.
Demon Summoner - The "Demons" aren't demons, per se, but nature spirits that have been corrupted or simply been unbound from where they should be. The summoner is their medium, who's trying to help the spirits find peace.
I'm planning to use the second one... may indulge in the first, as well... -
Making Rangers... easy.
Making Freakin' Goldar? THAT was more impressive.
The only thing that would have been more Win would have been Rita or Zed themselves... -
I understand that the old arcs dealing with the Praetorians are getting an update for GR.
What happened if we are in the middle of one of them, though? I have a character who still needs to finish off the last four missions from Tina Macintyre, and I doubt I'll be able to do that tomorrow evening. So... what does happen to characters in the middle of an arc when the Devs swoop in and change it? -
Quote:Funny thing is...Originally Posted by JoeKent
Pet's running into melee when their ranged attacks are in cool down was a "feature" added for demons. Funny thing is, ALL pets, even pets with no melee attacks enter into melee range when their ranged attacks are on cool down, even phantasims and gun turrets.
I for one think the new "feature" is the stupidest thing ever added into the game. Why the Hell would I ever, ever, EVER want my merc, thug or bot to use BRAWL? F'ING BRAWL! WHY? "OH LOOK OUT! THE ASSBOT is going to BRAWL me to DEATH, with it's 5 points of damage! OH WAIT! I'll just fire off my PBOAE NUKE!!"
It's a waste on an attack and places my henchmen in harms way for no reason other than to buff ninjas, demons and zombies because their lazy *** masterminds can't figure out how to use the f'ing GOTO command.
And, by the way, GOTO is now broken due to the "feature" added in I17, because the pet's AI is HARDWIRED now to enter into melee.
I've pmed Castle several times now, and all I've gotten back at this point is "It's not a BUG, it's a feature, but oh, look, GOTO is broken now! Thanks for telling us!"
I will be happy if they fix the GOTO bug, but I still think it's beyond dumb for my bots to try and brawl people.
I haven't noticed a thing different on my Bots/Traps Mastermind.
When the bug of EVERYTHING going into melee was there, sure. Now? Same behavior as before - 2 Drones and 1 Prot stay at range. One Drone charges in, maybe followed by the other Prot. And the Assbot fires everything it has, then goes into melee - if something survives.
This is typical behavior. I saw it before the bug. I'm seeing it now.
It was only when everything seemed to forget that ranged attacks had range that this character was unplayable.
Maybe I should pull out a Thugs/ or Merc/ before the Beta shuts down, because I am just not seeing the kind of thing you are complaining about. *EDIT* Huh... seems they took out the auto level... and I don't have one of an appropriate level I can just transfer in. Sorry, can't test this, after all. -
Quote:A unilateral change to existing animations would probably just upset people, who may not WANT a different look.Originally Posted by Dromio
Agreed about Broadsword. I just don't think alternates should be really considered until all sets have unique animations.
Now, a new OPTION of how to look... say, a "Finesse" animation set for Broadsword (Stabbing/Swashbuckling style), "Berserk" for the Battle Axe (More aggressive appearance, bigger windup with faster blows), and... something else for the Mace (Some sort of combination of the two? The mace/club could be used with both finesse and precision, or wildly aggressive, so I'm not sure which to go for...) and people would be happy without anyone getting upset over something changing they didn't want to. -
Quote:...Originally Posted by GuyPerfect
Or you could use that mag-4 stun and 10 seconds of Untouchable to lose aggro, set up, and go back.
Hold it... An alternate idea? One that isn't yours? Something different from what you'd prefer? It may be some form of blasphemy, but I'm gonna stick with it!
Gee, you know what else I could do, if I want to drop the agro?
Go to the Hospital.
The only practical purpose of a Self Rez is to get you back into combat RIGHT NOW.
Masterminds can not set up again in 10 seconds, since all their pets died with them. And there is no guarantee that Rise hits everything that I would need stunned to escape.
I can sort of see what the Devs were thinking... but I have a problem as all I can come up for having this power is to rez, and immediately try to make a fighting retreat from anything that Rise didn't hit. That is a failure of the Self Rez concept, and probably be reconsidered.
I have a similar problem with the God Modes provided. What purpose will those provide? The ability to last a little longer in melee against powerful or numerous enemies?
That fails on several levels. What purpose does a Mastermind have in deliberately getting up in somethings face? They don't get any Melee attacks of value. Even Demon Summoners don't have to get right up next to enemies. If they enemies are too numerous, then the pets will die fast, and the Mastermind being strong won't help at that point.
These kind of powers made sense on the Blasters - near-suicidal damage dealers that they are, anyway. They do NOT mesh with the Masterminds. -
Quote:I don't know... I can easily see some Brutes taking a long look at Energy Mastery. And I've got at least one that I'm planning to go for Pyre Mastery for theme purposes.Originally Posted by RabidBrian
Im amazed heroes are complaining. The PPPs available to heroes are much better put together than most the APP's for villains. Most redside APPs dont offer much/anything that would make me want to go with them. Doms the major exception, what with all the aoe madness. Masterminds have some nice stuff too, but still. They should have focused more on providing equal desirability.
Brutes will only be missing the AoE Immobilize they are used to... which I think we can get over.
Corruptors shouldn't have any problems with their APPs... At least, no more than Defenders had with them. Heck, Corruptors may even be able to use the melee attacks to greater effect than the Defenders can.
Stalkers... okay, they got stuck with the Scrapper pools, which weren't very good or useful in the first place. Sucks.
Masterminds got... weird stuff. Not all sets have an armor, the armors are in different places in the pools that do have them... too many attacks, to many soft controls, and powers that induce scattering. Not to mention the god mode powers and the self rez... both of which are exceptionally poor fits on a Mastermind.
Dominators... well, they should be loving their APPs, and all the AoE they will now have access to. -
I have plans to start a Demon MM come GR release. I've already decided the names for her pets:
Fiery Demonling: Odqan (Origin - a Mongolian Fire Spirit.)
Cold Demonling: Agloolik (Origin - An Inuit spirit of ice and fishing)
Hellfire Demonling: Surgat (Origin - minor demon; called the 'Opener of locks')
Ember Demon: Ababinili (Origin - Chicksaw Fire spirit and 'Giver of Life')
Hellfire Gargoyle: Gresil (Origin - the name given to one of the demons of the Loudun possessions)
Demon Prince: Negafook (Origin - Inuit god of Cold weather)
I probably put far too much effort into coming up with these names, but it will at least be different than all the ones sticking with the default names... -
I'm sure most of these have been said ad nauseam, but hey... Castle brought it up!
Dual Pistols - anyone who has read my comments on these know I hate the gun-fu BS we've been given. I can deal with some gun spinning and posing (I love the look of Executioner's Shot), but having the character spaz out is not appealing.
Martial Arts - I can think of no reason why three powers were left without alternate animations. Finish the job, please.
Firey Melee and Ice Melee - I've never really cared for the sword animations. I would agree with removing the 'weapons' from these sets. Alternatively, I'd also like to see versions that either use all weapons (would be less awkward) or... perhaps even more... something other than Swords. An Ice Axe would be awesome.
The weaponless blast sets - I'd agree with a plan to include alternate animations with alternate points of origin on the caster. I'd especially like X-Ray beam to get something from the hand... but what I really want? Magic Wands. I want to pull out a CoT/Midnighter Club member style stick and throw my attacks through one of them. Maybe even make a few Tech-style "Wands" for those who want a 'weapon' without going to 'magic.'
Back flips and Chest Thumping - anything that involves either of these actions should get something less obnoxious.
The Bland Trio - by this, I mean Broad Sword, Battle Axe, and War Mace. These are not only bland, but painfully monotonous. I know there are only so many ways to swing a weapon, but using the same animations over and over is really annoying. And the worst offender in all these sets is the Head Splitter/Cleave/Shatter. I'm sorry, slowing own a downward swing of the weapon doesn't make it look stronger, it just makes it look ponderous.
Finally, one that isn't so much a request for an alternate animation, as it is for an animation fix. One Thousand Cuts. The final blow of this attack looks so awkward, I'm surprised the user didn't break his/her wrist holding the blade like that. And it looks particularly off with some of the large weapons - the new Bio-armor swords, for example. I don't suppose you could get that fixed, so I'm not wincing in sympathy pains every time I see it. -
Quote:They fixed the bug a while back. The bug was anything AI controlled (Pets and enemies) would move into melee rage, even to initiate a ranged attack.Originally Posted by Eat_Me
I just came to these forums looking for a Fix, didnt realize it was even a bug.
Then again I havent loaded up my Bots MM yet to test it out... hopefully they will fix that damn problem soon.
They fixed that.
The "running into melee" bit that plagues all ranged Masterminds is a quirk of the AI. A pet that has used all its ranged attacks will be inclined to use its melee attack - even if it doesn't have one. Furthermore, once the pet is in melee range, it doesn't feel a need to move out of melee to use its ranged attacks.
Strangely, this seems to be counteracted by the presence of a fellow pet of that tier in melee range already. At least, that's what I'm usually seeing. There's always that ONE stupid 1st tier that insists on getting into melee range, and about half the time, a dunce of 2nd tier runs in to join him.
Just how I see things. It's how my MMs have always played, so I suspect it's considered WAI. -
Quote:I hate this proliferation on principle - they replaced Conserve Power in this set with a throw away ability, rather than fixing the only set that Conserve Power conflicted with. Darn it! Devs, you know you're going to have to change that in Energy Aura sooner or later, why do you keep choosing 'later'?Originally Posted by mauk2
I see this is coming for Broots:
Brutes
Energy Mastery
1) Superior Conditioning
2) Focused Accuracy
3) Lazer Beam Eyes
4) Physical Perfection
5) Energy Torrent
YES!
The Energy Mastery Pool, made EVEN BETTER!
Oh, Physical Perfection, how I adore thee....
I see /Invuln brootage in my near future. MUAHAHAHAHA!
...
That said, Superior Conditioning (last I checked) just gave a boost to your maximum Endurance, in the form of 5 points (unslotted. I think you could get maybe 8 points by slotting it up, but that would be a waste.)
I know it takes basic Endurance Modification IOs. Does anyone know if it take sets? If so... then Dang, the devs left open a massive exploit. The ability for ANY brute to slot up to three Performance Shifter procs? Talk about no more Endurance issues, ever... -
Quote:KM will have a variety of Knockdown, Knockback, and stun effects. From playing it... the effects are only semi-reliable. I think a War Mace Brute will still have an edge in additional mitigation.Originally Posted by zprophet
But what about survivability? Brutes generally have better defenses than Scrappers.
Still, it should be enough to help out early on, when no characters defense is really all that secure.
The trick is, this isn't any better for Brutes than it is for other melee ATs. So yeah, Brutes will still have an edge of Scrappers in being able to last a little longer when fecal matter hits the rotary device. But KM will still perform a bit better on a Scrapper, than on a Brute. -
Quote:Nope. Not just you.Originally Posted by Demented
or are Demon Summoning Masterminds a HELL of a lot of FUN! (Pun intended!) I haven't had this much fun with a MM since my first, a Bots/FF. Maybe it's the Pain Domination secondary that is helping me have a blast, but in about a week I've gone from zero to 28, and it's been so much fun!
Just thought I'd share! -
Energy Aura still has some issues that need to be worked out before they would be able to move it to other ATs.
...
I had hoped that with the APP proliferation, they would work on one of the big problems with the set (Conserve Power on a set that has Energy Drain), but no, they decided to swap out the Conserve Power in Energy Mastery for 'Superior Conditioning' - which just adds 5 points to the Brutes total Endurance (read: It's useless.)
Oh well, they are going to have to work it over sooner or later. It just keeps looking later and later...