The_Generic

The problem with the new bosses isn't restricted to solo play. It affects all aspects of the game. Groups are more restricted in levels to include, and sidekicking is being turned into a rediculous feature.

Imagine being a -2 hero joining a group. You will be popping inspirations like mad and praying you don't get looked at funny by the many bosses that show up in group missions. I see group formation becoming more restrictive because of this. Why include a -2 tank in the group? The first boss he agro's will slap him to the dirt before we blink.

Sidekicking only guarantees that we'll have members that are at least -1. If your sidekick is over 10 levels below you, you'll be including a -2 hero in your group. The over 26 level difference break is now a joke. There's no reason to sk anyone into your group that will be -3 effective levels. They'll just be adding more bosses for the rest of the group to deal with.

boss = 1.5 heroes (but)
boss attack = .8 of a hero (not quite 1-shot kill but a close approximation to what I've seen)
2 shots= 1.6 heroes turfing it

I've yet to see an even-level boss being killed by 2 hits from any two heroes. These numbers don't quite add up. I'd actually like to see how many shots it takes to kill an even level boss. I'd bet that it would take around 4 heroes all firing to 2-shot any even-level boss.

This isn't hard values, but it's definitely what I've perceived in game. I'd be currious to see some of the more statistically inclined fix my generalizations with more hard numbers...

Thanks for the reminder, I haven't played my e/e blaster in ages.

With end recovery as it is and the fact that many mobs use marginal/no end for powers, how do you keep em at 0?

I could see you being able to keep 2 at 0 end, but unless there's a negative end value, I don't see being able to keep them standing around for long...

Still, one highly powerful power doesn't change the fact that the powerset relys on one power for any use out of its secondary effects and that it is further limited since that power requires a delivery system (stealth, etc.).

It's like dropping a nuclear bomb with a biplane. It's possible to do successfully, but needlessly dangerous...

So far, the only thing I've heard is that in higher levels, an e/e blaster might be able to pull off end drains and that the entire tactic requires a stealth power pulled from the pools and a single specific power, namely Short Circuit. That, and the fact that the tactic generally should be done with another electric.

Now, I don't dispute that Short Circuit might be the end-all be all of the endurance hosing game, but to justify the usefullness of an AT type on one specific power is silly.

The fact is that half of this discussion seems to be about whether the secondary effects have ANY effect on mobs in the game, and the other is about whether Short Circuit really is effective against AV's...

The fact is that the secondary effects are an interesting footnote to a battle and have marginal at best effects on what happens. The differences between secondary effects are so profound that it borders on absurd to even do the comparrison.

If I want to keep a mob standing around looking silly, I'd rather just make a mc controller.

Also, I'm currious about all the higher level e/e's here, how many mobs can you end-stun at a time? It seems to me like you're having to focus everything on one mob to keep it from being able to recoup end while it's minions are wailing on you...

Heh, with the mob regen rate, running a mob out of end is silly to rely on. It takes time to accomplish, only slightly slows a mob if it actually gets done, and requires slotting a power for the drain instead of things like damage...

It really goes hand-in-hand with a previous discussion about the 'other' enhancements that tend to get overlooked. The fact is, there will be few electricity users because it takes so long for any noticable effect of the secondary power to even be seen.

Who really wants to slog through low levels with a limited secondary effect, just so they may be able to create an 'optimum' build that may or may not actually perform as a few people claim.

Heck, the elec/elec blaster is starting to sound more like a mind controller with slow dominates...

I think that the whole issue here is that the secondary effect of electricity is not as good as any of the other secondary effects. I gave up playing an elec/elec blaster due to the fact that the secondary effect doesn't do anything noticable unless it's been multi-slotted for it.

For example, without slotting for knockback, an energy blaster can still have a secondary effect that modifies the battle. If the end drain was more severe, but happened about as frequently as knockback, then people might take it seriously.

Heck, I've started watching the end bar for bad guys more, just to see how things go on. I'm currious why the villains don't play by the hero's rules when it comes to end.

Watching 'controller' mobs fire off stun after stun without a noticable drain to their bar is frustrating. It almost seems like the devs designed mobs to only attack with a certain frequency to emulate end limitations, without fully encorporating end into their setup. That, or the bad guys have 6-slotted end reduction on most of their powers...

Two cents given, waiting for change.