Reconstruction Circuits needs a Rework!

tilarta

On my primary character, this is their healing power:


But given that I'm using a custom framework, everytime I switch the power on, the majority of my attacks are disabled.

My powertray:


My power tray while RC is active:

RC Compatible Powers

As you can see, the majority of my combat powers are disabled, including my energy builder!
The combat power I use most is the one numbered 4.

So in essence, I'm completely unable to attack while healing.

Now. that might be understandable for non-Power Armor framework powers, but even some of those are disabled as well while RC is active:


For me, this is taking all the fun out of a making a custom build.
It's like the game is saying, do a traditional PA build or you can't use RC and fight at the same time.

They really need to change RC so it's not a slotted power, but a Toggle Passive.
So it's not disabling all your combat powers when you use it.

ajanus

RC counts as a chest slot for power armor...those same things get blacked out if you turn on Micro Munitions.

Uses for RC:

1. Turn on RC, hand slot, and shoulder slot for 2 attacks running and being healed at the same time. I do have 1 toon that uses this with Tactical Missiles with extra threat to tag agro, then block for the impending alpha strike...then re-tap TM to maintain agro.

2. Turn on RC and block for borderline god-like status. I have leveled a few toons using this as their primary heal through alerts, when they get agro, just turn it on and block until life gets back to attack status, or I lose agro.

I actually don't even use it on most of my power armor toons, just on toons that don't normally have a slot running for blocking purposes. However, I feel comfortable knowing it's there if my PA toons do need it at some point.

voodoopokey

tilarta wrote:

For me, this is taking all the fun out of a making a custom build.
It's like the game is saying, do a traditional PA build or you can't use RC and fight at the same time.

That's exactly what it's saying, actually. It is a Power Armor ability, and those abilities, like any others, act as "one at a time" usage powers. PA powers just have a special ability to run together without interference, with other PA powers of different slots, combining energy costs.

It's actually a very interesting design, PA - I don't think it needs the redesign you're talking about, since you can get basically the same thing for your builds by using Bountiful Chi Resurgence. If they rework the way PA stuff works, you'd be seeing people using low-cost PA toggles in conjunction with other non PA powers, making them a near-mandatory part of all minmax builds.

ajanus

The reason it works like that is so you don't have all 3 toggles going AND run your energy builder for a constant stream of damage with unlimited energy. You can do it now, but it takes A LOT more investment into your character than "just turning on your energy builder."

Of course, it would be neat to turn on Concussor Beams and tap spam Defile...or toggle Micro Munitions and Venomous Breath...etc. :biggrin:

voodoopokey

ajanus wrote:

The reason it works like that is so you don't have all 3 toggles going AND run your energy builder for a constant stream of damage with unlimited energy. You can do it now, but it takes A LOT more investment into your character than "just turning on your energy builder."

Well, technically with PA you can turn your energy builder into a hand slot toggle and be running it while you use two other toggles, but it doesn't build energy while you do it. It does trigger revitalize though, which makes PA a very nice set to use INT as primary on, in conjunction with as many long cooldown powers and devices as you can load up on.

Even with one point in Revitalize, you can, for example, have Necrullic Elixir up at all times with only one equipped (assuming you're fighting the whole time, of course... but you don't really need it up when you're not).

PA is a great set... its just too fidgety for me, as I am the world's laziest gamer. That's why I play minion/pet masters. If I have to regularly press more than one button, its a bit complicated for my liking.

thebuckeye

ajanus wrote: »

The reason it works like that is so you don't have all 3 toggles going AND run your energy builder for a constant stream of damage with unlimited energy. You can do it now, but it takes A LOT more investment into your character than "just turning on your energy builder."

Of course, it would be neat to turn on Concussor Beams and tap spam Defile...or toggle Micro Munitions and Venomous Breath...etc. :biggrin:

actually you can toggle Micro Munitions and Venomous Breath (Venomous Breath is a maintain) and you can get one good maintain out of it if you hit it just before the missiles lock it out....I do that with a PA/Munitions build....I toggle Mini-Gun and either 2GM for single target or Micro Munitions and Gatling Gun for Multiple threats...

tilarta

Well, to me, it's highly illogical.

Is BCR in your fist?
No, it's in your body!

Same deal as that, Reconstructive Circuits should be in your whole armor, not in one single part of your armor.

And I doubt you could run RC at the same time as your power builder, as they're both Hand Slots.


End of line, I want Power Armor's Healing power to be equal to any other kind of heal power, that you can activate it and keep fighting at the same time.
In any character that uses those heals, I can keep fighting while healing, regardless of what framework the attack powers come from.


And no, I have very little interest in other kinds of heals, not for a Technology based theme.
Odds are, I'm using them on another character who isn't using the technology theme.
I'd just like something that was pure technology.
Well, technically, this one isn't pure technology, seeing as 3 of the powers use fire, but that was the point of the theme!
FIRE!
It's technology that generates fire as a weapon.

jennymachx

RC allows you to self-heal without interrupting your PA toggled attacks firing off in unison. The inability to use other non-PA heals or powers while activating RC is supposed to be the trade-off for that advantage, which is why it's a PA toggle power. Making it possible to use powers outside of the PA framework that aren't toggles together with RC makes the power stupidly broken.

The argument that you can use BCR while fighting kind of falls flat when once you realize that hey, you can't use it while having a maintain power active, or if you're in the midst of charging a charged power. Yes, you can use BCR inbetween other powers in combat. You still have to interrupt your attacks even for a split second to activate BCR. RC gives you the benefit of not doing that when you're using it with PA toggle attacks. See the difference now?

RC doesn't need reworking. It's fine as it is.

thebuckeye wrote: »

actually you can toggle Micro Munitions and Venomous Breath (Venomous Breath is a maintain) and you can get one good maintain out of it if you hit it just before the missiles lock it out....I do that with a PA/Munitions build....I toggle Mini-Gun and either 2GM for single target or Micro Munitions and Gatling Gun for Multiple threats...

And that's actually unintended and considered an exploit. You're not supposed to be able to use PA toggles with non-PA powers. This actually has been around since launch, since I found out it was possible to start charging Fireball quickly after activating Micro Munitions.

thebuckeye

jennymachx wrote: »

And that's actually unintended and considered an exploit. You're not supposed to be able to use PA toggles with non-PA powers. This actually has been around since launch, since I found out it was possible to start charging Fireball quickly after activating Micro Munitions.

really...I figured it was how they got Plasma Beam {a copy of Lightning Arc/Heatwave's palm emanation} to work with the other PA slots, yes I realize they pretty much just flagged it, but what I mean is its a maintain not a fire and forget or charge up like the rest of the slotted powers, and was intended...huh learn something new everyday thanks.

jennymachx

thebuckeye wrote: »

really...I figured it was how they got Plasma Beam {a copy of Lightning Arc/Heatwave's palm emanation} to work with the other PA slots, yes I realize they pretty much just flagged it, but what I mean is its a maintain not a fire and forget or charge up like the rest of the slotted powers, and was intended...huh learn something new everyday thanks.

All of your other non-PA toggle powers on your power tray will be shadowed out when you activate a PA toggle. It's just that due to the mechanic being glitchy, there's actually a very short lag time before the powers get shadowed out during which you're able to start charging a charged power. When you've done so, there isn't a mechanic in place that detects that you've already charged it nor stop it.

That's how you manage to use Venom Breath quickly after hitting Micro Munitions.

jellycupsowbug

It doesn't work with charges any more. They gauge will fill, but the power won't fire. Maintains work, but hardly any of them are good enough to use in place of PA toggles. It's so clunky, that it shouldn't even be regarded as an exploit. In fact, if it weren't for powers like Lightning Arc, Two Gun Mojo, and Epidemic, I'd say they should just make the toggles completely compatible with all other powers.

Maybe they should just do it anyway. There isn't any balance between powers as thing are already. It might even help keep PA toggles from cancelling each other. It's a real pain to try to get your toggles running when you cancel you first slot by activating the second.

tilarta

jennymachx wrote: »

The argument that you can use BCR while fighting kind of falls flat when once you realize that hey, you can't use it while having a maintain power active, or if you're in the midst of charging a charged power. Yes, you can use BCR inbetween other powers in combat. You still have to interrupt your attacks even for a split second to activate BCR. RC gives you the benefit of not doing that when you're using it with PA toggle attacks. See the difference now?

I use a heal power (can't remember which one it is, most likely Resurgence), but when I hit it, I can go back to fighting with no interruption, throwing out attacks like nothing is happening.

RC on the other hand, disables most of my attacks.

So I don't buy your assertion that they are the same in terms of mechanics.

One allows you to keep fighting, the other stops you from fighting.

The difference is clear.

kallethen

tilarta wrote: »

One allows you to keep fighting, the other stops you from fighting.

No.

It only stops powers that are not Power Armor slotted powers. Like other Power Armor slotted powers do. As jennymachx wrote, that's the core mechanic behind the frameset. Power Armor's schtick is to be able to use multiple slots at the same time at the cost of some extra energy and locking out other powers while slots are in use (including Power Armor abilities that are not "slot" powers).

It really doesn't need to be changed, though I do sympathize with you about not wanting to use BCR because the animation doesn't fit your toon's style. I have a similar aversion to AoPM because I find it's aura annoying, despite it being a great passive.

agentnx5

tilarta wrote: »

Well, to me, it's highly illogical.

Is BCR in your fist?
No, it's in your body!

Same deal as that, Reconstructive Circuits should be in your whole armor, not in one single part of your armor.

You know... This is actually a great point. :biggrin:

I tend to favor arguments on the side of increasing build diversity, so I'm open to improvements if the devs want to make this into a better heal. But really, I'm not sure they have the time to even look into that from what TrailTurtle was getting at in a recent post of his. There are other priorities that need to be taken care of first...

jennymachx

tilarta wrote: »

I use a heal power (can't remember which one it is, most likely Resurgence), but when I hit it, I can go back to fighting with no interruption, throwing out attacks like nothing is happening.

RC on the other hand, disables most of my attacks.

So I don't buy your assertion that they are the same in terms of mechanics.

One allows you to keep fighting, the other stops you from fighting.

The difference is clear.

I suggest you re-read what I've posted previously because in no way did I say that they're the same in terms of mechanics.

RC was designed to be a heal that benefits anyone sticking to the PA framework by letting them heal up while they're bombarding enemies with multiple attacks. It simply just isn't designed as a freeform-friendly power. That's the trade-off for the advantage of using it with other PA toggles.

theravenforce

jennymachx wrote: »

I suggest you re-read what I've posted previously because in no way did I say that they're the same in terms of mechanics.

RC was designed to be a heal that benefits anyone sticking to the PA framework by letting them heal up while they're bombarding enemies with multiple attacks. It simply just isn't designed as a freeform-friendly power. That's the trade-off for the advantage of using it with other PA toggles.

^ This.

It's actually a decent heal, it doesn't have a recharge and can be turned off at will, you don't HAVE to allow it to run full duration, think about it like:

Reconstruction Circuits: "INITIATING RECOVERY MODE!" <- = Block and RC

Healed up? Yay!: "RECOVERY SYSTEM EFFECTIVE, RESUMING BATTLE MODE!" <- = Turn off RC and attack.

Whilst build diversity is nice and I am myself a theme builder, there are plenty alternatives to RC, either that or you could build in more PA attacks?

Since RC occupies Chest Slot, go for Mini Gun + Plasma Beam or Concussor Beam, that allows you to continue attacking.

As for energy issues, simply make sure you active MSA (provided that is your energy unlock) on a number of powers so that before hitting RC you have a surplus of energy to work with.

tilarta

Um, I have minigun and plasma beam already, so I don't need to put them in.

Concussor beam, I can't remember what that was, but I think I traded it for twin firebolts when the requirements for Ultimate power got less stringent.

And I'm not interested in some magic spell heal.

This character is mostly a technology theme, so I felt a technology based heal was best to use.
I'm just disappointed they didn't make it analogous to non-technology based heals.


Also, I've never solved the energy drain problem.
Firing plasma beam, minigun and micromunitions all at once drains my energy in seconds.
When using RC, it adds to the energy drain factor.
And my energy builder seems to be a pointless power, since it rarely returns any power.

Which is why I prefer to use singular attacks instead of emptying all my reserves.

kallethen

tilarta wrote: »

Also, I've never solved the energy drain problem.
Firing plasma beam, minigun and micromunitions all at once drains my energy in seconds.
When using RC, it adds to the energy drain factor.
And my energy builder seems to be a pointless power, since it rarely returns any power.

Which is why I prefer to use singular attacks instead of emptying all my reserves.

What's your Energy Unlock? Seeing the three PA powers you want to fire at once, I'd recommend Overdrive. It triggers when you use Maintain or Toggle powers, which the PA powerset is full of. I'd also then recommend Rec as a secondary superstat since Overdrive seems to scale more on Rec than on Int (the description suggests Int scales it more, but experience says otherwise).

For another tech style heal, have you considered Bionic Shielding?

Or, if you don't mind a pistol power, Holdout Shot with Stim Pack advantage is a decent self heal (if the attack crits, the Stim Pack healing crit heals you too).

tilarta

Yes, it is Overdrive.

But it only kicks in when you fully maintain a power and my energy pool runs out at roughly 80% of maintaining any given power that qualifies.
That's why it's useless.


I tried Bionic Shielding once, but the results were lacking for some reason (I don't remember why, it was so long ago), so I dismissed it as impractical.


And I'm not interested in pistol powers for this character.

jennymachx

If I had my way, I'd put in an optional advantage to make RC no longer a PA toggle, but a standard heal that doesn't block out other powers when active. The trade-off would be adding in a recharge timer. That way the player can still use it in a non-PA focuses freeform build.

theravenforce

tilarta wrote: »

Um, I have minigun and plasma beam already, so I don't need to put them in.

Concussor beam, I can't remember what that was, but I think I traded it for twin firebolts when the requirements for Ultimate power got less stringent.

And I'm not interested in some magic spell heal.

This character is mostly a technology theme, so I felt a technology based heal was best to use.
I'm just disappointed they didn't make it analogous to non-technology based heals.


Also, I've never solved the energy drain problem.
Firing plasma beam, minigun and micromunitions all at once drains my energy in seconds.
When using RC, it adds to the energy drain factor.
And my energy builder seems to be a pointless power, since it rarely returns any power.

Which is why I prefer to use singular attacks instead of emptying all my reserves.

Have you tried investing in END primary? With INT and CON?

Not sure why you have fire energy builder attacks in the build if it is "Tech/PA" themed, you could have easily gone for Power Gauntlet and Power Bolts...

thebuckeye

Overdrive stacks proc when a PA Slotted or a Maintain power are allowed to run for at least HALF of their duration...and as stated before Reconstruction Circuits is a chest slot power so you wouldn't have to worry about firing off micro munitions with it running, activating the missiles will turn off the heal and it works the other way too activating the heal will turn off the missiles.

Okay Energy Management 101 for power armor. In a multi-toggle build You only really have 2 good options early on (before hitting 40). 1. Endurance Primary. or 2. Intelligence Primary. Then you take Recovery as a secondary. you can then take Constitution or Endurance/Intelligence (which ever you didn't take as your primary).

Then you talent for Recovery and Intelligence...and look for utility gear with the highest cost reduction on it.

And one more thing Reconstruction Circuits are working as intended. It is intended to be used within the Toggle Switch powers of the Power Armor framework.

tilarta

I'm not respeccing again just to change Stats or whatever.

I'm tired of having to go through all the nonsense of repurchasing powers, advantages and the passive tree.
I've done it too many times over too many characters (including this one) to want to change it yet again.


As for why I didn't go for pure power armor skills, that's boring.
I may as well have said, give me premade build and that wasn't what I wanted to do.
In addition, I didn't like those skills anyway.

Besides, Power Armor that throws fire, that's not so unusual that it couldn't happen.

This build is basically about inflicting heat based attacks, hence most of the power armor abilities revolve around plasma burn damage.

kallethen

thebuckeye wrote: »

Okay Energy Management 101 for power armor. In a multi-toggle build You only really have 2 good options early on (before hitting 40). 1. Endurance Primary. or 2. Intelligence Primary. Then you take Recovery as a secondary. you can then take Constitution or Endurance/Intelligence (which ever you didn't take as your primary).

Then you talent for Recovery and Intelligence...and look for utility gear with the highest cost reduction on it..

IMO, that is a good strategy.

I'm crazy though.

My PA toon has Rec primary and End secondary (plus Con). It works surprisingly well for energy management thanks to Efficiency from the Rec tree. I also took gear and mods that leaned on Cost Reduction.