or they could just keep the name and make it a maintain... which is needed in my opinion.
This.
LET ME BE VERY CLEAR
WE
DO
NOT
NEED
ANOTHER
TIER 0
RANGED
CHARGED
SINGLE TARGET
ATTACK
Put it as a maintain of small rocks flying from the ground to the enemy in and put the pose of the character model in Crushing Wave's stance.
Finally, my suggestion for Earth Form and how to make it not suck,
Earth Form:
You deal an extra +##% Physical Damage, and have +##% Damage resistance against all damage. You recieve Energy when you are dealth physical damage. When being attacked in melee range, Earth Form splinters off rock shards that deal 15-20 crushing damage every 1 sec. This counts as an energy form.
Waaaaaay too early to really get a good impression, especially with half the set unavailable atm. Personally I tend to judge a set by what kind of utility it offers, and Earth seems like another collection of reskins like Wind at this point. Overall it feels like you tried to turned Heavy Weapons into Telekinesis with the ranged/melee hybridization. Interesting, but ultimately it feels really forced, and the schism between Avenger and Brawler continues to penalize hybrids anyway. The whole thing feels like really, really clunky Earthbending right now (although part of that is the wierdness going on with animation sync, and some FX are just messed).
Earth Form is "just another Energy Form," which at this point is pretty uninspired. Considering Kinetic Manipulation does the exact same thing, I really question the mechanical worth of this power. We need more Offensive Passives like Quarry, not like (lol)Fireform.
Maybe Earth Form should give stacks of +Str/Con, with a damage boost in-line with Quarry. If AoPM and Quarry have taught me anything, it's the value of having passives boost your stats can equal or outstrip vanilla +damage%.
Also, the block? It's the most visually bizarre thing I've seen in CO, tbh. It's just not working. It feels like I have Coneheads protruding from every joint. Couldn't you have made something more like Ice Barrier? Actually, an Ice Barrier reskin would actually be appropriate for this set.
Misc. Issues:
So, with the advent of Dust Devil, this particular bug has been annoying me, so I thought I'd bring it up here. I use a "soft target" schema, so I can seemlessly activate powers without "locking on." Some Fire And Forget Pseudopets do not respect this targeting schema. I noticed Dust Devil does, so I picked up my favorite offenders and checked it out. Turns out Dust Devil and Ball Lightning both properly track targets without me having to pick a specific target.
Wall of Ice and Firesnake sit where they were summoned and do not track down a target unless you had a target selected when summoning them.
Wall of Ice has a very peculiar interaction with this behavior -- since it constantly pulses it's "damage + ice cage proc" while alive, if it doesn't move it will do MASSIVE damage over time to any targets unlucky to be next to it when it gets summoned. Oh, and the Frozen Footsteps advantage requires a target in order to activate it, which is completely counter-intuitive. I know not a lot of people play Ice, but that's mostly because it's buggy and gimpy. Making Wall of Ice a little more user-friendly would certainly help.
Here's an idea, switch Barrage with Rock Slam, just swap the names. Rock Slam can be the single rock shot and Barrage can be the charged ranged cone attack. I'd imagine that would work out perfectly.
WE
DO
NOT
NEED
ANOTHER
TIER 0
RANGED
CHARGED
SINGLE TARGET
ATTACK
Put it as a maintain of small rocks flying from the ground to the enemy in and put the pose of the character model in Crushing Wave's stance.
Finally, my suggestion for Earth Form and how to make it not suck,
Earth Form:
You deal an extra +##% Physical Damage, and have +##% Damage resistance against all damage. You recieve Energy when you are dealth physical damage. When being attacked in melee range, Earth Form splinters off rock shards that deal 15-20 crushing damage every 1 sec. This counts as an energy form.
I would recommend switching land slide and seismic smash's animation. Land slide looks like it'd be a bigger hit, so should go w/ the power that actually is. The shoulder check from seismic smash should be for the "plain" lunge.
Also, do my eyes deceive me, or is Wield Earth's animation different depending upon whether you're at range or in melee???
I'm not thrilled w/ the block power totally covering my character - perhaps have the rocky bits w/o the total rock skin effect?
I would suggest having your hand get covered by a big rock for onslaught - it'd make the power look like you're hitting harder.
The rock geo for upheaval should be more underneath your target - it seems odd that it would propel them upward w/ the current placing (seems like it should knock them away if it's at such a low angle).
Tremor is awesome!
I really like the concept and look of barrage, but the animation needs tweaked so it works when tapping the power.
OK, so this set is supposed to be a ranged +melee hybrid of sorts.
Is this a hint that roles are getting redone? Is there going to be an Aggressor that works with Ranged damage?
As for the graphics: Lots of dry rock and dust, not much sand and/or mud. Perhaps the other powers will remedy this. The set looks like the character is throwing a tantrum at times, which I can dig. I get the impression that all of the melee powers should have rock-fists.
Wield Earth: COMBINATION RANGED/MELEE ENERGY BUILDER! Hooray!
Makes me wish we had hunters shot. Also, your left hand in melee needs a rock like the right hand.
Onslaught: The Slap of Justice. I like this power, like allot. It's basically Chainsaw Gauntlet, in tap form, but with an added chance to stagger. Could stand to use more rock hands.
Barrage: A t0 "blast" power. I am unexcited about it. How about renaming it "Shot Put"?
Upheaval: Uppercut, but with a longer activation time. Also needs more Rock-fist.
Seismic Smash: The idea of creating a wall behind your opponent and then slamming them into said wall seems very Brick-Appropriate. It is, however, mechanically questionable. Long cool-down. Charge time, and 25' range lunge? Does this HAVE to be a lunge? Could this instead be "Seismic Sandwich"? Pinning the Badguys between one moving rock and the stationary one? And if it is a lunge, can it be tweaked for, lunging? This power is kind of a pain to use, and sometimes I couldn't tell if it was bugging out or not.
Tremor: I like this one. It could be one of the Iconic powers of the set. But it would be better if everything was knocked up. Or maybe if main target was knocked up, and the others were knocked down.
Landslide: A real lunge, with a nice visual touch.
Earth Form: Kind of ugly, Kind of "What are you guys doing here?" with the ranged/melee damage twinbuffing.
Stone Shroud: Visually overwhelming, and the shoulders clip on a female, with the other shoulder... What kind of gimmick is this block supposed to have? If it doesn't have one I wouldn't bother picking it up.
Wield Earth: COMBINATION RANGED/MELEE ENERGY BUILDER! Hooray!
Makes me wish we had hunters shot. Also, your left hand in melee needs a rock like the right hand.
Onslaught: The Slap of Justice. I like this power, like allot. It's basically Chainsaw Gauntlet, in tap form, but with an added chance to stagger. Could stand to use more rock hands.
All I'm going to say about this, is take a look at the first power in Stone Melee in CoX, examine the stone fists that game has and replicate them here in these two powers.
Also, if we aren't going to get big heavy stone mallets/axes/swords or whatever to swing around in the Earth set, can we at least have a giant friggin' stone mallet for heavy weapons? Preferably like the one in CoX, complete with crumbling graphics? I know the sounds wont quite sync up, but then again when has Heavy Weapons ever completely sounded right for everything.
Stone Melee in City of Heroes/Villains was just so incredibly satisfying... The sounds and FX for it were just... They just had such OOOMPPPFFF to them.
As for the actual set, I've had some distractions and didn't really get a chance to test and think over the powers as they are fully, so if I can find the time I'll do more thought provoking testing and provide more feedback later. Same with wind, since I actually did test that a little more.
At first glance however, mostly I agree with what people are saying here. Enrage needs to be hooked up in the powers, barrage could really use to be an actual barrage (I like the idea of using the crushing wave stance), etc. A few things I really like though: The block FX is AMAZING. Tremor is really awesome, I like how it knocks enemies apart the way it does, really feels like you're busting the earth up. Needs an advantage that stuns opponents. Both the lunges have solid ideas behind them, but honestly does the AoE one need a recharge if it's only going to be 25 feet and charged?
Oh, and just a random thought: Me and Zere were talking, why isn't the block FX a passive? I mean, seriously, this looks awesome, it puts the stone armor set from CoX to shame. IMO, Stone should AT LEAST get a defiance clone with a special advantage that gives the player extra hold resistance or something as they build stacks, and causes that armor to form on them bit by bit. Optional and in combat only, of course. Have the block just be the shield on the arm, so if that's all you want that's also an option.
Really consider doing more in terms of some skills having both Melee and Ranged functions. Onslaught could work as it does now in Melee and have a Shatter cone style ranged attack.
Upheavel needs to work at ranged, or once again why are not just using the new Updraft from Wind for basically the same function. Trust me I can justify it on an Earth build as being a Dust power.
Basically the power set needs to be a Ranged Damage build that can shift focus in Melee range. As it stands now, some skills dont work at one range, others dont work in another, and the skills get really confusing as to what works when.
Seismic Smash: The idea of creating a wall behind your opponent and then slamming them into said wall seems very Brick-Appropriate. It is, however, mechanically questionable. Long cool-down. Charge time, and 25' range lunge? Does this HAVE to be a lunge? Could this instead be "Seismic Sandwich"? Pinning the Badguys between one moving rock and the stationary one? And if it is a lunge, can it be tweaked for, lunging? This power is kind of a pain to use, and sometimes I couldn't tell if it was bugging out or not.
really? there were too many testers at 4PM so i the FX of crumbling rocks made it hard to see.. however the slamming them into a wall behind them.. MAN, i didn't see that. I really hoped this was just a shoulder thrust, lmao. Can we get the thrust w/o the rock added to the Might set? Also Making it available at 60 Ft (and probably removing the cooldown completely.. i just dont see how this power is so "good" compared to say Tiger Bite). Even Force Detonation is only 7 seconds. Why so long? for what reason?
Brick powers in general have longer activation times and that's that makes the "feel" strong. But when put side to side with martial artists who hit faster, the damage on these slow hitting powers is just not enough for the slowness of battle. I can be knocked and stabbed to death in minutes while trying to get in position and charging up one Demolish or Seismic Smash which has to have a full maintain (backhand chop will eat this set alive). Perhaps if you lowered damage from Martial arts (not a popular choice)? Otherwise giving these attacks some real base damage numbers to compensate is needed.
I was thinking more in teh lines of the swinging swords frmo dual blades but instead of damage it does a heal
Also just realizing what peple are saying about earth form's passive being KM but worse. Quarry increases Dodge/Avoid like LR. Unstoppable increases flat mitigation - like Invul. Perhaps Earthform should come with flat heal over time like Regeneration? or flat shield protection like personal force field?
Wield Earth FX: I love how this one turned out. It seems as though you took my melee/ranged suggestion to heart! One problem is that the animation isn't very fluid, as in it'll pause between throwing rocks from range. BUG: Rank 1 only punches unlike Ranks 2 & 3 (they scoop and punch). If Rank 1 is designed to only punch I think both hands should be covered in earth instead of just one. Function: This power seems to out damage all the other crushing damage energy builders. I'm assuming that is because it has a slower activation time. One thing I just realized I failed to do is test if the melee component has a taunt mechanic like all the others. Please don't leave this out.
Onslaught FX: I think the animation is fine actually. A good melee attack but the animation seems slow to me. I find myself wanting to hit faster with this attack. Function: This seems to be a copy of Cleave but doesn't quite live up to it. It's a but quicker but costs more so I have to use my energy builder more often to get several attacks in. It also does less damage than Cleave. And honestly, it doesn't feel that much faster. At first I thought this should be a ranged power but looking at the unavailable T3 powers coming later I realized there's a lot of ranged powers coming. BUG: Listed in the Close Attack category when it's actually a Close Area Attack.
Upheaval FX: Animation just doesn't look right that close up. It feels like this power should be ranged. It's on par with Uppercut but the graphics should be coming from underneath the bad guy if it's going to do knockup. When I think of this power I remember back to the Ice Column power back in beta. Function: Like I said previously, the knock doesn't seem right. Should probably knockback at the angle of the rock coming from the ground.
Barrage FX: I like this power. Again it looks like you took my Boulder example in my thread and put your twist on it. My only beef with the way it looks is that I think the rock chunked should be larger. Like 400-500% larger. Right now I can barely see it before and during launch. Function: I'm pretty much in agreement with the rest of the posters here. Name doesn't fit. To me Barrage would be more like the Pebble Blast power in my suggestions thread (think Two-Gun Mojo with rocks). A maintained Crippling Challenge power like that would be MUCH better. As it stands now this is just another starter charge power that no one will take, which is a shame because it looks neat.
Tremor FX: Awesome, awesome graphics!! I love it! I'm glad you used yet another example from my suggestions thread to base this off of (Faultline). Function: My only beef with this power is that it spreads groups like no other. I would rather the knocks operate more similarly to Havoc Stomp. Knockdown would even work well.
Seismic Smash FX: There's not much to say animation wise. It's perfectly awesome. I love the earth wall that you crash into to make it a cone attack. Brilliant!! Function: With this having both Stagger and Disorient on it, based on Gentle Mancrush's statement last night how will the Disorient be replaced if it already has Stagger? Will this be replaced with an extra application of Stagger? It would be nice if the range was extended some more. BUG: Listed in the wrong category; should be in Movement.
Landslide FX: Yay! A direct interpretation of the power suggested by Mumsie in my suggestions thread! The animation for this power is almost the same as Seismic Smash, though, except without the wall. It'd really be neat if this spewed rocks out from behind and on the sides while leaving a cracked trail on the ground. Function: Damage seems a lot higher than other lunges. Would it be possible to make this a cylinder attack? Where it damages everything in between you and your target? If it does already I forgot to test it. Also, I know y'all have said that the Disorient is going away on this one but I actually wish it would stay.
Earth Form FX: Kind of underwhelming if you ask me. Like others have said, this seems to be a Kinetic Manipulation clone. You get some cracks in your current costume but it looks a little weird when those are in the cape and you haven't really covered yourself in stone at all. The only graphic is a shiny cracked coating. I was hoping for dusty rubble falling from you. Function: For an offensive passive I was hoping more to see something closer to Pestilence (see my Dust Cloud example in suggestions thread) Right now the numbers are very similar to Kinetic Manipulation. I understand the need for higher numbers being in melee range...but still. I'd like to see something that makes this more unique. Such as a swirling dust cloud that causes damage to surrounding enemies.
Stone Shroud FX: Name is a little funny to me. Terra Plating or Stone Skin sounds more appropriate. I love the idea of covering yourself in stone. It's actually really awesome! However, the stone shoulders seem a bit awkward looking. I'm guessing you were trying to make it look like your character turned into a wall himself? Even if the graphics don't change I'll be happy with it! Function: This needs some kind of extra component. Whether it be higher defenses that lock you down or a way to utilize Stagger. I wonder if you could give higher resistances based of the number of targets that are staggering within a certain distance of you?
Overall, I'm liking the set so far. I'm really interested in testing out the Tier 3 powers once they're ready. I think my biggest disappointment so far is that I REALLY wanted to see a Pebble Blast power. I was also really hoping for some more control; like an AoE hold or even something similar to Eruption. Other than that I feel like you've definitely considered our suggestions on these forums when creating these powers. Very well done. I'm happy!
Well, that clinches it for me. I'll give you wind as being mostly a clone of existing things, like Force. I've always said that wind powers wouldn't really have much of a distinction. But earth... earth coulda been awesome. Both sets now are lame, copied powers with animations that seem like they were done on the back of napkins.
The energy builder looks silly, though most do. Reusing the exact same stomp animations for a power that entirely looks like it should be an arm slam, and without it the massive graphic effect looks absurd (though it would have been the saving grace of the set if the character animation was at all appropriate). An uppercut power that should be ranged, and looks obscenely stupid at melee. The block is just stupid, why you went for "random rocks on you and a rocky skin effect" instead of, oh, I dunno, a SPHERE of rocks around you, or a wall of rocks, is beyond me. The rock effects themselves look like you're throwing styrofoam TV rocks at them, and they explode fluffily.
Nothing unique or different in the set, no new mechanics, hell, the block for the EARTH set, which thematically should be the strongest, is completely a clone. No advantages/disadvantages. The new slotted passive is yet another in a long line of interchangeable offensive passives that just effect different damage types, rather than a sorely needed new defensive passive. That thread in Roxstar's sig contains dozens of excellent suggestions, from him, myself, and others. But none of them appeared.
I'm done, I'm out. The shoestring development budget doesn't seem to be translating to slower development, just lower quality development.
I love the Earth powerset however let me put the caveat that I tend to look at FX rather than game mechanic effect on any power. I know there are some really effective powers out there I just haven't used because their FX didn't catch my eye.
Wield Earth--Loved this! And beyond the FX of either casting dirt and rocks at range, or the stone fist in melee. What I like beyond that is that it switches depending on if one is in melee range or one is at range.
Barrage--agree the name should be something else given its a one click, one shot attack.
Tremor--Love, love, love the stump and fly effect.
Landslide, this one looked fine, but it seem to be too much like the other movement power. I like the look, and the effect, but it seems to similar to me.
Earth Form--love the FX look on this, going to test it out with a few other characters, but for my stone (stone and plant when/if plant ever comes up) character Kilimanjaro its a perfect look.
Stone Shroud--LOVED this block. I was sold on the look immediately. Again, curious how it will look with other characters, and should know later.
Onslaught, Upheaval, and Seismic Smash didn't stand out in memory, but this is lunch break the next day after last night's trying of the powers. Late last night, basically logged off went to sleep instead of going to log impressions. Overall I love this and Wind, both have what I look for in powersets, great FX that I don't have to sacrifice effect for look.
I'll give a more in-depth post on this next patch. It feel too early.
Of the things I don't like that I'll mention right now.. Stone Shroud's strange blocky shoulder things.... are strange blocky shoulder things. Earth form could use a lot of tweaking graphically tbh but the mechanics behind the form seem to hold a lot of potential. However, it should be resistant to all damage except for maybe fire and ice because of the erosive forces they present.
Okay first and foremost I must state the following: Tremor ROCKS! I know I know the terrible rock puns should be left to @Roxstar but I couldn't help it.
Tested out some of the powers and so far not too bad. Oh yea it needs a ton of work obviously to make it up to par with everything else, but it's not completely abysmal. Really I'm gonna reserve judgment until I see the majority of the powerset ready and available to be tested out with since half of the powers are not ready to be released just yet.
Also agree with the rest about opinion on Earth Form; It needs something even more unique to make it less of a copy cat of Kinetic Manipulation.
Barrage should be renamed "propel rock" and a new cone maintain should be created - call it 'barrage'.
I would like to see a secondary energy unlock added which returns energy whenever you apply stagger.
I am ok w/ the bits of rock going on your character when you use the block, but would eliminate the rock pattern going over the rest of the character model.
Or maybe 'boulder', though I'd really like it to be a bit larger.
Hm. There's an idea for a power: it creates a chunk of destructible debris in your hands, which you can then throw (like any other such object). I'd like to see the ability to create destructible debris on the ground, but that may have issues with coding.
I would say I like what I've tried so far, but it's not true for all the powers. Tremor is excellent in terms of animation and damage but it's a little annoying to actually use. Earth Form looks creepy on characters who are meant to be human, which I appreciate isn't particularly easy to get around, but... those cracks in the face >.>;
The biggest complaint I really have right now is that the powerset doesn't seem to know what it's meant to be. The animations that look like they should be ranged only work in melee, Seismic Smash has less than half the range of a good lunge and actually has to be charged to use. Yes, it hits like a train, but it takes as long to get started in the first place and it's such a short journey you might as well walk. Onslaught... It just feels wrong somehow. It's powerful but the animation looks weird in melee.
Barrage is especially irritating. Another relatively useless T0, which from the name sounds like it should be more TK Assault than Mind Blast. Heck, make it TK Assault in Crushing flavour and we've got a winner.
^Very much this. I agree to this, seems like a loss of potential.
No, I think they should add a half damage buff to fire on a new HW offensive passive.
Unless earth features fire damage, I'm already dipping into the wind passive anyway. I'd like passives to be useful to their set, and HW is the one that needs fire damage.
Comments
This.
LET ME BE VERY CLEAR
WE
DO
NOT
NEED
ANOTHER
TIER 0
RANGED
CHARGED
SINGLE TARGET
ATTACK
Put it as a maintain of small rocks flying from the ground to the enemy in and put the pose of the character model in Crushing Wave's stance.
Finally, my suggestion for Earth Form and how to make it not suck,
Earth Form:
You deal an extra +##% Physical Damage, and have +##% Damage resistance against all damage. You recieve Energy when you are dealth physical damage. When being attacked in melee range, Earth Form splinters off rock shards that deal 15-20 crushing damage every 1 sec. This counts as an energy form.
Waaaaaay too early to really get a good impression, especially with half the set unavailable atm. Personally I tend to judge a set by what kind of utility it offers, and Earth seems like another collection of reskins like Wind at this point. Overall it feels like you tried to turned Heavy Weapons into Telekinesis with the ranged/melee hybridization. Interesting, but ultimately it feels really forced, and the schism between Avenger and Brawler continues to penalize hybrids anyway. The whole thing feels like really, really clunky Earthbending right now (although part of that is the wierdness going on with animation sync, and some FX are just messed).
Earth Form is "just another Energy Form," which at this point is pretty uninspired. Considering Kinetic Manipulation does the exact same thing, I really question the mechanical worth of this power. We need more Offensive Passives like Quarry, not like (lol)Fireform.
Maybe Earth Form should give stacks of +Str/Con, with a damage boost in-line with Quarry. If AoPM and Quarry have taught me anything, it's the value of having passives boost your stats can equal or outstrip vanilla +damage%.
Also, the block? It's the most visually bizarre thing I've seen in CO, tbh. It's just not working. It feels like I have Coneheads protruding from every joint. Couldn't you have made something more like Ice Barrier? Actually, an Ice Barrier reskin would actually be appropriate for this set.
Misc. Issues:
So, with the advent of Dust Devil, this particular bug has been annoying me, so I thought I'd bring it up here. I use a "soft target" schema, so I can seemlessly activate powers without "locking on." Some Fire And Forget Pseudopets do not respect this targeting schema. I noticed Dust Devil does, so I picked up my favorite offenders and checked it out. Turns out Dust Devil and Ball Lightning both properly track targets without me having to pick a specific target.
Wall of Ice and Firesnake sit where they were summoned and do not track down a target unless you had a target selected when summoning them.
Wall of Ice has a very peculiar interaction with this behavior -- since it constantly pulses it's "damage + ice cage proc" while alive, if it doesn't move it will do MASSIVE damage over time to any targets unlucky to be next to it when it gets summoned. Oh, and the Frozen Footsteps advantage requires a target in order to activate it, which is completely counter-intuitive. I know not a lot of people play Ice, but that's mostly because it's buggy and gimpy. Making Wall of Ice a little more user-friendly would certainly help.
DO WANT
Also, do my eyes deceive me, or is Wield Earth's animation different depending upon whether you're at range or in melee???
I'm not thrilled w/ the block power totally covering my character - perhaps have the rocky bits w/o the total rock skin effect?
I would suggest having your hand get covered by a big rock for onslaught - it'd make the power look like you're hitting harder.
The rock geo for upheaval should be more underneath your target - it seems odd that it would propel them upward w/ the current placing (seems like it should knock them away if it's at such a low angle).
Tremor is awesome!
I really like the concept and look of barrage, but the animation needs tweaked so it works when tapping the power.
This set is gonna be sweet!
Is this a hint that roles are getting redone? Is there going to be an Aggressor that works with Ranged damage?
As for the graphics: Lots of dry rock and dust, not much sand and/or mud. Perhaps the other powers will remedy this. The set looks like the character is throwing a tantrum at times, which I can dig. I get the impression that all of the melee powers should have rock-fists.
Wield Earth: COMBINATION RANGED/MELEE ENERGY BUILDER! Hooray!
Makes me wish we had hunters shot. Also, your left hand in melee needs a rock like the right hand.
Onslaught: The Slap of Justice. I like this power, like allot. It's basically Chainsaw Gauntlet, in tap form, but with an added chance to stagger. Could stand to use more rock hands.
Barrage: A t0 "blast" power. I am unexcited about it. How about renaming it "Shot Put"?
Upheaval: Uppercut, but with a longer activation time. Also needs more Rock-fist.
Seismic Smash: The idea of creating a wall behind your opponent and then slamming them into said wall seems very Brick-Appropriate. It is, however, mechanically questionable. Long cool-down. Charge time, and 25' range lunge? Does this HAVE to be a lunge? Could this instead be "Seismic Sandwich"? Pinning the Badguys between one moving rock and the stationary one? And if it is a lunge, can it be tweaked for, lunging? This power is kind of a pain to use, and sometimes I couldn't tell if it was bugging out or not.
Tremor: I like this one. It could be one of the Iconic powers of the set. But it would be better if everything was knocked up. Or maybe if main target was knocked up, and the others were knocked down.
Landslide: A real lunge, with a nice visual touch.
Earth Form: Kind of ugly, Kind of "What are you guys doing here?" with the ranged/melee damage twinbuffing.
Stone Shroud: Visually overwhelming, and the shoulders clip on a female, with the other shoulder... What kind of gimmick is this block supposed to have? If it doesn't have one I wouldn't bother picking it up.
I need to see the rest of the set.
All I'm going to say about this, is take a look at the first power in Stone Melee in CoX, examine the stone fists that game has and replicate them here in these two powers.
Also, if we aren't going to get big heavy stone mallets/axes/swords or whatever to swing around in the Earth set, can we at least have a giant friggin' stone mallet for heavy weapons? Preferably like the one in CoX, complete with crumbling graphics? I know the sounds wont quite sync up, but then again when has Heavy Weapons ever completely sounded right for everything.
Stone Melee in City of Heroes/Villains was just so incredibly satisfying... The sounds and FX for it were just... They just had such OOOMPPPFFF to them.
As for the actual set, I've had some distractions and didn't really get a chance to test and think over the powers as they are fully, so if I can find the time I'll do more thought provoking testing and provide more feedback later. Same with wind, since I actually did test that a little more.
At first glance however, mostly I agree with what people are saying here. Enrage needs to be hooked up in the powers, barrage could really use to be an actual barrage (I like the idea of using the crushing wave stance), etc. A few things I really like though: The block FX is AMAZING. Tremor is really awesome, I like how it knocks enemies apart the way it does, really feels like you're busting the earth up. Needs an advantage that stuns opponents. Both the lunges have solid ideas behind them, but honestly does the AoE one need a recharge if it's only going to be 25 feet and charged?
Oh, and just a random thought: Me and Zere were talking, why isn't the block FX a passive? I mean, seriously, this looks awesome, it puts the stone armor set from CoX to shame. IMO, Stone should AT LEAST get a defiance clone with a special advantage that gives the player extra hold resistance or something as they build stacks, and causes that armor to form on them bit by bit. Optional and in combat only, of course. Have the block just be the shield on the arm, so if that's all you want that's also an option.
Really consider doing more in terms of some skills having both Melee and Ranged functions. Onslaught could work as it does now in Melee and have a Shatter cone style ranged attack.
Upheavel needs to work at ranged, or once again why are not just using the new Updraft from Wind for basically the same function. Trust me I can justify it on an Earth build as being a Dust power.
Basically the power set needs to be a Ranged Damage build that can shift focus in Melee range. As it stands now, some skills dont work at one range, others dont work in another, and the skills get really confusing as to what works when.
really? there were too many testers at 4PM so i the FX of crumbling rocks made it hard to see.. however the slamming them into a wall behind them.. MAN, i didn't see that. I really hoped this was just a shoulder thrust, lmao. Can we get the thrust w/o the rock added to the Might set? Also Making it available at 60 Ft (and probably removing the cooldown completely.. i just dont see how this power is so "good" compared to say Tiger Bite). Even Force Detonation is only 7 seconds. Why so long? for what reason?
Brick powers in general have longer activation times and that's that makes the "feel" strong. But when put side to side with martial artists who hit faster, the damage on these slow hitting powers is just not enough for the slowness of battle. I can be knocked and stabbed to death in minutes while trying to get in position and charging up one Demolish or Seismic Smash which has to have a full maintain (backhand chop will eat this set alive). Perhaps if you lowered damage from Martial arts (not a popular choice)? Otherwise giving these attacks some real base damage numbers to compensate is needed.
I was thinking more in teh lines of the swinging swords frmo dual blades but instead of damage it does a heal
Also just realizing what peple are saying about earth form's passive being KM but worse. Quarry increases Dodge/Avoid like LR. Unstoppable increases flat mitigation - like Invul. Perhaps Earthform should come with flat heal over time like Regeneration? or flat shield protection like personal force field?
Wield Earth
FX: I love how this one turned out. It seems as though you took my melee/ranged suggestion to heart! One problem is that the animation isn't very fluid, as in it'll pause between throwing rocks from range.
BUG: Rank 1 only punches unlike Ranks 2 & 3 (they scoop and punch). If Rank 1 is designed to only punch I think both hands should be covered in earth instead of just one.
Function: This power seems to out damage all the other crushing damage energy builders. I'm assuming that is because it has a slower activation time. One thing I just realized I failed to do is test if the melee component has a taunt mechanic like all the others. Please don't leave this out.
Onslaught
FX: I think the animation is fine actually. A good melee attack but the animation seems slow to me. I find myself wanting to hit faster with this attack.
Function: This seems to be a copy of Cleave but doesn't quite live up to it. It's a but quicker but costs more so I have to use my energy builder more often to get several attacks in. It also does less damage than Cleave. And honestly, it doesn't feel that much faster. At first I thought this should be a ranged power but looking at the unavailable T3 powers coming later I realized there's a lot of ranged powers coming.
BUG: Listed in the Close Attack category when it's actually a Close Area Attack.
Upheaval
FX: Animation just doesn't look right that close up. It feels like this power should be ranged. It's on par with Uppercut but the graphics should be coming from underneath the bad guy if it's going to do knockup. When I think of this power I remember back to the Ice Column power back in beta.
Function: Like I said previously, the knock doesn't seem right. Should probably knockback at the angle of the rock coming from the ground.
Barrage
FX: I like this power. Again it looks like you took my Boulder example in my thread and put your twist on it. My only beef with the way it looks is that I think the rock chunked should be larger. Like 400-500% larger. Right now I can barely see it before and during launch.
Function: I'm pretty much in agreement with the rest of the posters here. Name doesn't fit. To me Barrage would be more like the Pebble Blast power in my suggestions thread (think Two-Gun Mojo with rocks). A maintained Crippling Challenge power like that would be MUCH better. As it stands now this is just another starter charge power that no one will take, which is a shame because it looks neat.
Tremor
FX: Awesome, awesome graphics!! I love it! I'm glad you used yet another example from my suggestions thread to base this off of (Faultline).
Function: My only beef with this power is that it spreads groups like no other. I would rather the knocks operate more similarly to Havoc Stomp. Knockdown would even work well.
Seismic Smash
FX: There's not much to say animation wise. It's perfectly awesome. I love the earth wall that you crash into to make it a cone attack. Brilliant!!
Function: With this having both Stagger and Disorient on it, based on Gentle Mancrush's statement last night how will the Disorient be replaced if it already has Stagger? Will this be replaced with an extra application of Stagger? It would be nice if the range was extended some more.
BUG: Listed in the wrong category; should be in Movement.
Landslide
FX: Yay! A direct interpretation of the power suggested by Mumsie in my suggestions thread! The animation for this power is almost the same as Seismic Smash, though, except without the wall. It'd really be neat if this spewed rocks out from behind and on the sides while leaving a cracked trail on the ground.
Function: Damage seems a lot higher than other lunges. Would it be possible to make this a cylinder attack? Where it damages everything in between you and your target? If it does already I forgot to test it. Also, I know y'all have said that the Disorient is going away on this one but I actually wish it would stay.
Earth Form
FX: Kind of underwhelming if you ask me. Like others have said, this seems to be a Kinetic Manipulation clone. You get some cracks in your current costume but it looks a little weird when those are in the cape and you haven't really covered yourself in stone at all. The only graphic is a shiny cracked coating. I was hoping for dusty rubble falling from you.
Function: For an offensive passive I was hoping more to see something closer to Pestilence (see my Dust Cloud example in suggestions thread) Right now the numbers are very similar to Kinetic Manipulation. I understand the need for higher numbers being in melee range...but still. I'd like to see something that makes this more unique. Such as a swirling dust cloud that causes damage to surrounding enemies.
Stone Shroud
FX: Name is a little funny to me. Terra Plating or Stone Skin sounds more appropriate. I love the idea of covering yourself in stone. It's actually really awesome! However, the stone shoulders seem a bit awkward looking. I'm guessing you were trying to make it look like your character turned into a wall himself? Even if the graphics don't change I'll be happy with it!
Function: This needs some kind of extra component. Whether it be higher defenses that lock you down or a way to utilize Stagger. I wonder if you could give higher resistances based of the number of targets that are staggering within a certain distance of you?
Overall, I'm liking the set so far. I'm really interested in testing out the Tier 3 powers once they're ready. I think my biggest disappointment so far is that I REALLY wanted to see a Pebble Blast power. I was also really hoping for some more control; like an AoE hold or even something similar to Eruption. Other than that I feel like you've definitely considered our suggestions on these forums when creating these powers. Very well done. I'm happy!
The energy builder looks silly, though most do. Reusing the exact same stomp animations for a power that entirely looks like it should be an arm slam, and without it the massive graphic effect looks absurd (though it would have been the saving grace of the set if the character animation was at all appropriate). An uppercut power that should be ranged, and looks obscenely stupid at melee. The block is just stupid, why you went for "random rocks on you and a rocky skin effect" instead of, oh, I dunno, a SPHERE of rocks around you, or a wall of rocks, is beyond me. The rock effects themselves look like you're throwing styrofoam TV rocks at them, and they explode fluffily.
Nothing unique or different in the set, no new mechanics, hell, the block for the EARTH set, which thematically should be the strongest, is completely a clone. No advantages/disadvantages. The new slotted passive is yet another in a long line of interchangeable offensive passives that just effect different damage types, rather than a sorely needed new defensive passive. That thread in Roxstar's sig contains dozens of excellent suggestions, from him, myself, and others. But none of them appeared.
I'm done, I'm out. The shoestring development budget doesn't seem to be translating to slower development, just lower quality development.
Wield Earth--Loved this! And beyond the FX of either casting dirt and rocks at range, or the stone fist in melee. What I like beyond that is that it switches depending on if one is in melee range or one is at range.
Barrage--agree the name should be something else given its a one click, one shot attack.
Tremor--Love, love, love the stump and fly effect.
Landslide, this one looked fine, but it seem to be too much like the other movement power. I like the look, and the effect, but it seems to similar to me.
Earth Form--love the FX look on this, going to test it out with a few other characters, but for my stone (stone and plant when/if plant ever comes up) character Kilimanjaro its a perfect look.
Stone Shroud--LOVED this block. I was sold on the look immediately. Again, curious how it will look with other characters, and should know later.
Onslaught, Upheaval, and Seismic Smash didn't stand out in memory, but this is lunch break the next day after last night's trying of the powers. Late last night, basically logged off went to sleep instead of going to log impressions. Overall I love this and Wind, both have what I look for in powersets, great FX that I don't have to sacrifice effect for look.
Of the things I don't like that I'll mention right now.. Stone Shroud's strange blocky shoulder things.... are strange blocky shoulder things. Earth form could use a lot of tweaking graphically tbh but the mechanics behind the form seem to hold a lot of potential. However, it should be resistant to all damage except for maybe fire and ice because of the erosive forces they present.
I agree with Roxstar that barrage's boulder should be bigger.
Also i'm a bit disappointed to not see a buff to fire damage, it is a very nice occasion to add more synergy and is still thematic.
Tested out some of the powers and so far not too bad. Oh yea it needs a ton of work obviously to make it up to par with everything else, but it's not completely abysmal. Really I'm gonna reserve judgment until I see the majority of the powerset ready and available to be tested out with since half of the powers are not ready to be released just yet.
Also agree with the rest about opinion on Earth Form; It needs something even more unique to make it less of a copy cat of Kinetic Manipulation.
I would like to see a secondary energy unlock added which returns energy whenever you apply stagger.
I am ok w/ the bits of rock going on your character when you use the block, but would eliminate the rock pattern going over the rest of the character model.
Hm. There's an idea for a power: it creates a chunk of destructible debris in your hands, which you can then throw (like any other such object). I'd like to see the ability to create destructible debris on the ground, but that may have issues with coding.
Cleave does more damage per hit, but each hit is slower, and has a max cap of 3 targets VS Onslaughts 5 target cap.
The biggest complaint I really have right now is that the powerset doesn't seem to know what it's meant to be. The animations that look like they should be ranged only work in melee, Seismic Smash has less than half the range of a good lunge and actually has to be charged to use. Yes, it hits like a train, but it takes as long to get started in the first place and it's such a short journey you might as well walk. Onslaught... It just feels wrong somehow. It's powerful but the animation looks weird in melee.
Barrage is especially irritating. Another relatively useless T0, which from the name sounds like it should be more TK Assault than Mind Blast. Heck, make it TK Assault in Crushing flavour and we've got a winner.
This. Now some Enrage generation would be super. Thanks.
^Very much this. I agree to this, seems like a loss of potential.
Like I said in my post. It's very easy.
Turn tremor into a knock to, lower the knockback on the lunges, and lower the cost of onslaught, and we'll be set for a good set.
It's not that bad, but having the staple powers in the set be a little jarring, affects the whole set.
I'd also like stagger to increase knockup, but that's personal taste.
No, I think they should add a half damage buff to fire on a new HW offensive passive.
Unless earth features fire damage, I'm already dipping into the wind passive anyway. I'd like passives to be useful to their set, and HW is the one that needs fire damage.
It's sad when you see a HW user take fireform.