Trickshooter

While the set did lose AoE damage with the missing cone, the rest of the set's attacks weren't technically "gutted".

Blaster Psionic Dart uses the Defender Mental Blast damage scale.

Blaster Mental Blast uses the Defender TK Blast damage scale.

Blaster TK Blast uses the Defender Will Domination damage scale.

Blaster Will Domination uses just slightly less than the Defender Subdue damage scale (it would do I think 5 more points of damage if it used the same).

So, the damage was shifted around (most likely to keep the heavy hitter of the blaster version from being all Psi damage), the set really didn't lose damage from the other powers.

WD is definitely on too long of a recharge, but TK Blast does recharge faster than Defender WD (I believe), despite being on the same Damage scale.

But I've always been of the opinion that WD should have been put in /Ment (where most utility powers go) and Psy Scream should have stay in Psy Blast.

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Of all the places to find a new defender issue, I wasn't expecting it to be a popular power from one of the original launch sets! Yet here it is.

Kinetics

Balance issue: With Fulcrum Shift, only the single buff pet summoned at the user grants a higher damage buff for defenders (50% instead of 40%). The mass buff pets summoned at the targets grant the same damage buff (25% for all ATs).

Can someone double-check my numbers to confirm this?

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Well, I've only checked CoD so far, but it supports this.

It was definitely not always like this.

There's even a pet for the Controller AoE buff portion:

http://coh.redtomax.com/data/powers/...uff_Controller

Edit: Checked in-game and the power info displays also show it as giving +25%. Don't have a character to actually check to make sure that it is, though.

Sent a PM to Castle.

But Liquefy does cause -Recharge speed!

I see...

The Starfox jets in the upper left corner

Pac-Man ghosts in the maze

Link is in the maze, too

Pong to the right of the maze

Pokemon by the docks

Street Fighter dudes by the docks, too (Ken and um... square haired dude)

Parappa the Rappa on stage

Bomberman in one of the burned out buildings

The Mario castle with Yoshi on the roof

A moogle is on the castle roof, too

And Mega Man in the castle's backyard

Some houses to the right of the Mario Castle have the Sims green diamonds above them

And Sub-Zero is hanging out in the street in front of them

Tetris is going on in front of the building with the Massive Damage billboard

And... maybe someone from FF or KH standing by Mario?

I don't see anything from Monster Rancher, which makes me sad.

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Later, when it was announced that controllers weren't supposed to have the 1.25 modifier for Slows, it was in that thread that a developer said that Slows are debuffs.

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I don't remember there ever being a thread about it. We found out through a patch note. The only place I recall seeing it discussed was in the Official Trick Arrows Changes thread at the time, and despite posts from Castle in that thread (which still exists), he never commented on it.

I'm not disagreeing with you that it's officially written somewhere in the CoH bible that Slows are debuffs, I'm just saying I don't recall it ever being stated somewhere for everyone to see.

Personally, I just consider Slows and Knockback/Knock Up to exist outside traditional labels like "control" or "debuff".

And honestly, it's not that much of a stretch to think that Slows might be associated with controls.

I mean, think about it...

Slows were originally called "Snares," and still are in some places, which just sounds like a control.

They're the most associated with Ice sets in the game, which themselves are considered the most control-heavy sets.

And then there's the crafting badges: Blinding, Beguiler, Charming, Charismatic, & Mesmerizer. Which are earned by crafting Sleep, Hold, Disorient, Immobilize, Fear, and Slow Inventions.

Just for clarity, my point here is not that Slows aren't debuffs, just that it's easy to assume that they might be considered controls, even if they're officially not.

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-Speed and -Recharge are debuffs. The developers are on record stating that they're debuffs. They're debuffs. Period.

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Just to clear up some confusion, the Devs have never said that -speed and -recharge are debuffs.

In fact, Castle stated the exact opposite, I believe when he reviewed the original Defenders Issues List. This was back when the Defender Slow modifiers were -1.00 and the Controller modifiers were -1.25. Someone mentioned that they should be better for Defenders and he stated that -Speed and -Recharge were controls and would therefore be better for Controllers, but that he would review it.

Then, later, it was stated that their modifiers were reversed, but instead of weakening Controllers, they buffed Defender Slows to Controller levels.

But none of them have ever said "These are debuffs" and so the only thing we can assume is that they decided that they're either not controls or not just controls. I would just call it "mitigation" as it seems to exist outside traditional controls or debuffs, like Knockback.

After all, modifiers don't tell the whole story. For example, Defenders, Controllers and Tankers share the same value for the modifiers that determine how powerful self +resistance and +defense buffs are. You could say that Defenders and Controllers have that modifier because they're buffing ATs, but that doesn't make the Tanker a buffing AT. You could also argue that Tankers have that value because they're supposed to hold aggro and soak up damage, but that doesn't make Defenders and Controllers the meatshield ATs.

Edit: Reworded some stuff!

Edit 2: Found Castle's post waaay back in the depths of the Defender boards, and he does not actually state that Slows are Controls, just that they work better for Controllers, but he'd be reviewing it.

So, while I was wrong on that part, I still stand by my point that that doesn't necessarily mean that they are considered debuffs. Just that the devs decided that they shouldn't just be considered controls.

She might have personal stuff to take care off at the moment, but if you think she might have missed your email or didn't get it, you can probably send her a PM here on the boards, too. Her boardname is syrusb (the one that won the t-shirt contest!).

Not all of these are recent, but I've never shared them outside the Protector forums, but Liz!/syrusb is an awesome artist and I figured I'd submit them to the scoop.

Trickshooter and Pitfall by Liz/syrusb

Polpettino by Liz/syrusb

Heart-Break by Liz/syrusb

Tierce by Liz/syrusb

Bowhead by Liz/syrusb

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I am able to leave combustion on auto whenever I feel like it to build Domination on live. I could not do that on test.

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There's something missing from this equation.

Combustion's base endurance to recharge ratio only went up by ~0.07 points of endurance a second (Old: ~0.86/s, ~0.93/s).

Even if we assume both are 3-slotted for recharge, the difference in endurance per second is ~0.144 (Old: ~1.733/s, New: ~1.877/s).

Damage per endurance has gone down, but only by ~0.26 points.

Edit: Almost all the powers changed now work this way, where IF they increased in endurance per second or decreased in damage per endurance, it's such a tiny amount that it can't be causing as much a problem as people say it is.

What appears to be the problem in most people's cases (from what I've read on the boards) is that they have too many +Recharge sources (possibly left over from trying to bolster "Old Domination") that is artificially creating "end hog" issues by making powers that are now damage-heavy and endurance-heavy recharge much faster without anything to supplement the cost, such as slotting EndRedux or slotting for +Recovery bonuses.

Well, my test like others broke with yesterday's patch. I managed to fix it, but quitting and then trying to restart it broke it again.

But in between that time I played through 4 or 5 missions on my 24 Fire/Fire and it was crazy. I was taking things down to a sliver of health using flares, fire blast and either char or ring of fire, and then that sliver would get eaten by hotfeet. It was very fun!

I went back to Live to remind myself what playing him currently is like and his damage outside of Domination was just sad by comparison.

Fixed my Test game, and played my 24 Fire/Fire Dom for a bit, but then re-broke my Test.

But from playing, I definitely noticed that I was defeating things faster. I couldn't tell if I was using that much more endurance, since I was running Hot Feet while I was testing.

Countless people have already posted that very few (I think I saw mention of two or three) have had their actual DPE change much, if at all. Except now you'll be doing more damage at once, so you'll be using less endurance in the end.

My test was broken by the last patch, so I haven't tested yet, but just looking at the math I don't see what all the nerdrage is over.

Yes, once again I headed over to Liz at www.imaginatorcentral.com and got some art of my characters!

So here's Tierce and Bowhead

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FS originally buffed around the target only at a rate of 25% per mob hit, with no target cap. You could easily buff up to the 400% cap off one good pull.

This was changed, the target cap was put in place. The mob and mobs around were given the reduced buff of 15% per. In the same swing, a new buff originated around the caster of 25%. The caster buff was given so that blasters and other people at range could benefit from the buffage instead of just melee chars.

You have to jump in your "I remember 5 years ago" machine to get this.

I miss old FS and 3 sings.....

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Eh? This is not how Fulcrum Shift was changed.

Fulcrum Shift used to hit, with no target cap, a group of enemies for -25% each and each enemy hit would also buff allies nearby for +25%.

In addition to that, it would also give +25% damage for each enemy hit, but this buff happened around the caster.

It was set up this way originally to, ideally, buff melee and ranged characters equally.

But people didn't use it that way (and still don't). People using Fulcrum Shift often ran in to melee to use it, to soak up every buff.

So in Issue 2, in order to tone this down, they left the melee-buffs alone, and instead of a buff coming from the Defender for each enemy hit, they made the buff around the caster be a single +50% damage buff.

The target cap wasn't added until Issue 5.

The buff values for Defenders still are +25% for each foe, and +50% automatically around the caster. For Controllers and Corruptors it is +20% for each foe and +40% around the caster.

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The proper solution, and the one I hope Castle eventually pursues, is to make the Resistance portions of all such powers Unenhanceable (and maybe slightly increase their base values to make up for losses to people who were enhancing them), and allow the rest of the power to be buffed.

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That is sure as freaking hell not a proper solution. I happen want the DR in my affected powers to be enhancable.

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Not to mention, there's no way Castle is going to open that can of worms to accommodate +Special powers. Not only would it upset a lot of people with Inventions in these powers, it would also potentially require rebalancing of certain powers, or possibly even powersets. And Castle has already stated that he doesn't like +Special powers, specifically for the balance problems they create.

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Ice Shields are Immune to Benumb? Are they immune to Sleet? How about Radiation Infection? Acid Arrow?

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No, they're immune to -DefenseEnhancement, not -Defense.

A Cold Defender hit with Benumb or Weaken will still put out his shields with 15% to ~23% Defense (depending on slotting), while a FF Defender hit with Benumb or Weaken would have the amount of +Def offered by their bubbles reduced by quite a bit (I don't know the exact value right now, because I'm at work).

I don't see why there would be any rush to fix it. They've been that way since Cold was introduced. And it's not like Cold needs any help in Defending.

Besides, there is some benefit to them not being affected by +Special; they're also immune to -Special.

Gratz Liz!

Well, Doms are what we needed most last time. If I had one, I'd bring it, but I just have Corruptors and Stalkers, and I'm not ready to bring a Stalker again.

From comics, there is also:

Dani Moonstar from New Mutants
Shaman from Alpha Flight
Talisman from Alpha Flight

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Power Boost w/EndMod got nerfed? Aw, crap, there goes my main...

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It got caught in the Issue 12 Power Boost nerf. Short Circuit + 3 x level 50 IOs + Power Boost now equals 97.2% end drain on an even level opponent (PVE only).

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But it's not as if you can't immediately follow up with Ball Lightning and finish draining them.

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It doesn't do enough damage to get the target in trouble, and it only does damage if the target was at full health when you cast EM.

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Let me clear up some confusion here.

Enforced Morale does NO damage to a Hidden Stalker and will not unhide them.

And it only does damage to allies if they're above 90% Health, and I believe even then, it will never take them below 90%.

And just for clarity, that does not mean it will take you from 100% to 90% in one application, just that it will continue to do a trivial amount of damage, with each application doing less and less damage, until your target is at 90%.

I'll be there with my pain and my thermal corrs, yo.

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2) Blaster Power Boost in Energy Manipulation, one of the three other sets that make End Drain a viable levelling tactic (along with Defender Kinetics and Blaster Electrical Manipulation), has recently had its End Modification boost lowered so that power Boost + Short Circuit no longer drains a group of even cons, let alone the +1's and +2s commonly fought in most missions.

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Hm? I've heard nothing about this. Do you have a source?

The only things that have been documented as changing in Power Boost are the removal of the KB boost and the lowering of the MM version.

It's important to remember that the +Special scales with level, and that a Blaster at 28 will see a smaller benefit than one at 50. CoD also shows all aspects of PB to be functioning the same, so I think you might have gotten confused or misread a patch note somewhere.

Edit: Wait, you're probably talking about when they lowered them all by like 33% around the time they removed the KB. I forgot about that. *placates thread* I was thinking you were saying the EndDrain portion was lowered seperately.

Happeh Birt'day, mon!