So, Tunneling...

reaperwithnoname

I was thinking about using some recognition to unlock one of the tunneling variants for use as a second travel power (teleportation is my first, because it's supposed to be great for escapes).

Sure, it can't fly, but that's what free chariots are for. Tunneling allows for bypassing mobs and ~12% damage resistance going into a battle thanks to earthen embrace.

But then it hit me. Tunneling only takes 2 seconds to activate, and once you do, you become completely invisible and invulnerable (as opposed to teleportation, which doesn't make you invulnerable and only makes you nearly invisible, as I've learned the hard way getting killed by homing projectiles while teleporting away). So, given that, why wouldn't you use tunneling as an escape power? Or am I missing something?

eiledon

while tunnelling you are visible to exactly the same mobs as you are while using sneak.​​

roughbearmattach

Tunneling is slower to use than teleport, and gives you the same level of stealth. Neither makes you invulnerable.

Mobs in Alerts see you, as well as tough mobs, and Elite skill level mobs, plus all bosses.
They can all attack you, as well.

reaperwithnoname

Oh, I see. So any mob that can hit me while I try to teleport away can do so when I try to tunnel away, too, except that tunneling suffers all its mobility problems as well. Ok, thank you.

I still want it, of course, for earthen embrace, but I can now be safe in the knowledge that getting teleport all that time ago wasn't a mistake.

roughbearmattach

Tunneling is fun and thematic for many toons. I use it on several. Earthen Embrace is a fairly minor buff, though.

Teleport, on the other hand, is super useful, though very annoying for long travel. I use it on half of my fifty-something toons.

draogn

Is the normal version of tunneling available to silvers? If it is I'd suggest trying that one out first before spending 975 tokens only to find out you don't like how the tp works. (or isn't as good of fit for the theme you want)

ramthananax

Now try playing around with Bat Flight. All of the disadvantages of Tunneling, none of the advantages! You can't attack, you don't even get the directional mission arrow... and all of the mobs can see you and attack you.

reaperwithnoname

draogn said:

Is the normal version of tunneling available to silvers? If it is I'd suggest trying that one out first before spending 975 tokens only to find out you don't like how the tp works. (or isn't as good of fit for the theme you want)

Silvers don't get tunneling. The only way for me to get a tunneling power without zen is the ooze ones from recognition (and really, what else am I gonna spend MCPD or Primus recog on? 50 healing patches?). I know from youtube what the ooze tunneling powers look like.

roughbearmattach said:

Tunneling is fun and thematic for many toons. I use it on several. Earthen Embrace is a fairly minor buff, though.

Teleport, on the other hand, is super useful, though very annoying for long travel. I use it on half of my fifty-something toons.

Oh, I know Earthern Embrace is minor, but look at it from my perspective.

I have a vehicle, so that covers flight (and as I play an Unleashed, I can nail to the ground any flying thing with force geyser anyway, so I don't need combat flight). Teleport covers escape. I'm planning on getting Dark Speed at some point, so combat movement will be covered. What does that leave? Acrobatics doesn't do anything Teleport and Dark Speed together don't. Swinging is even more expensive than Tunneling and equally minor (and the advantage for it only works while swinging, which is probably very inconvenient). So really, that minor buff from Earthern Embrace is probably the best possible use of my second travel power.

Plus, it's more thematic for my character, as ooze tunneling is basically just a form of discorporation combined with movement, which is exactly what teleportation is (at least in the way CO depicts it).

roughbearmattach

reaperwithnoname#5949 said:

Silvers don't get tunneling. The only way for me to get a tunneling power without zen is the ooze ones from recognition (and really, what else am I gonna spend MCPD or Primus recog on? 50 healing patches?). I know from youtube what the ooze tunneling powers look like.

MCPD and PRIMUS now have many actually useful consummable devices, plus costume pieces that you might want.

reaperwithnoname#5949 said:

Oh, I know Earthern Embrace is minor, but look at it from my perspective.

I have a vehicle, so that covers flight (and as I play an Unleashed, I can nail to the ground any flying thing with force geyser anyway, so I don't need combat flight). Teleport covers escape. I'm planning on getting Dark Speed at some point, so combat movement will be covered. What does that leave? Acrobatics doesn't do anything Teleport and Dark Speed together don't. Swinging is even more expensive than Tunneling and equally minor (and the advantage for it only works while swinging, which is probably very inconvenient). So really, that minor buff from Earthern Embrace is probably the best possible use of my second travel power.

Plus, it's more thematic for my character, as ooze tunneling is basically just a form of discorporation combined with movement, which is exactly what teleportation is (at least in the way CO depicts it).

Dark Speed is non-trivial to get, either to farm or to buy. You could just take the lightning speed power.

Acrobatics has an excellent advantage, Versatility, that allows you to keep nearly full speed in combat. When you see folks zipping around in a PVP duel like crazy, that is what they are using.

Swinging advantage, Flippin', works as long as the travel power is turned on, regardless of whether or not you are moving at all.

Combat flight is not always needed, but some missions are much easier if you can fly, or at least hover. I use Teleport plus Vesperine cloak for that purpose.


Like I said, I use tunneling on some toons, plus ooze tunneling on a couple. It's fun and can be thematic. Just don't expect much from the Earthen Embrace advantage.

spinnytop

ramthananax said:

Now try playing around with Bat Flight. All of the disadvantages of Tunneling, none of the advantages! You can't attack, you don't even get the directional mission arrow... and all of the mobs can see you and attack you.

Well naturally that means that it's the faster travel power by a wide margin. Right? .....right? ....it's not even as fast as jet boots ._.

ninjapiff

spinnytop said:

ramthananax said:

Now try playing around with Bat Flight. All of the disadvantages of Tunneling, none of the advantages! You can't attack, you don't even get the directional mission arrow... and all of the mobs can see you and attack you.

Well naturally that means that it's the faster travel power by a wide margin. Right? .....right? ....it's not even as fast as jet boots ._.

Honestly, Bat Flight should just use the same (or at least similar) stats as Cape Flight. Then again, Cape Flight is the fastest flight TP in the game with the downside of being unable to stop (actually, you CAN stop by hitting the "down" and "up" keys at once, "X" and "space" by default). I could see Bat Flight being able to stop on demand, though, so I really don't know what to do with that TP. Same with Skull Flight.

Anyway, Teleportation is a pretty good TP. Remember that any flying TP can be outsped by a land TP (because balance) and Tunneling never cuts out on you unexpectedly. However, as a super-secret side note (tell no one!): After using Teleportation activate a land-based TP like Acrobatics (or, more effectively, start charging Acro while you're still phased out). Thanks to Teleportation's end effect of slow-fall, having Acrobatics or Superspeed or whatever will let you "glide" long distances fairly quickly. It's a fun thing to do to cover a lot of ground quickly.