...I don't give a rats _)@ about what you can do with an OP min maxxed build. nerfing globally like this will only hurt the majority of the playerbase. I daresay YOU are the one who is looking silly, by acting like everyone should take this this and this power.
You should care. The point of balance is to minimize the gap between top end min/maxed and everyone else. You *need* to look at the broken/exploitable things and fix them while minimizing the impact on everyone else.
So far the devs are trying to make top end things less broken on the top end. Then they can go back and adjust the low-middle end curves so the "average" player won't see much, if any, change in performance.
now that LR, WotW, and Night warrior are fixed, can we please get a buff to PFF to make the passive worthwhile? how about a 30% damage resist bonus like regen or something.
It will need a lot more than 30% to make it worthwhile, and will require interaction changes. If they do decide to discuss or consider PFF changes, I will dig up posts from a billion years ago and type so much my fingers may actually fall off.
EDIT: I have 18 pages on standby to post regarding PFF.
Thanks for that. What I'd really like to know though is whether or not those inflated numbers are intentional or a bug.
As I have come to believe they are intentional.
The gear itself provides lesser bonus than legion gear so it isn't a direct upgrade if they made it not give more than the regular level 40 mods. The set bonus is rather low seeing as how legion defense and utility gears would be widely superior if the mods in justice gear were the regular level 40 mods.
Agentnx5, I agree completely that R8 and R9 mods need a big boost to be worthwhile, but I think that change needs to be universal, not limited to their use in a specific set of gear.
For my money (around $30 a pop if I was so inclined), a R8 enhancement or armor mod should give +70 and a R9 +80 to stats.
__________________________________________________
The poster formerly known as Lightwave!
Agentnx5, I agree completely that R8 and R9 mods need a big boost to be worthwhile, but I think that change needs to be universal, not limited to their use in a specific set of gear.
For my money (around $30 a pop if I was so inclined), a R8 enhancement or armor mod should give +70 and a R9 +80 to stats.
Did you read my suggested changes? (includes a reason to care about crafting, and makes fusing more fair for most players)
R0 = no bonus, tutorial purposes only, can be fused into R1
R1 = +11 to a stat, 100% fusion chance from R0 @ 400 skill in that crafting type
R2 = +22 to a stat, 100% fusion chance from R1 @ 400 skill in that crafting type
R3 = +33 to a stat, 100% fusion chance from R2 @ 400 skill in that crafting type
R4 = +44 to a stat, 100% fusion chance from R3 @ 400 skill in that crafting type
R5 = +55 to a stat, 95% (5% failure) fusion chance from R4 @ 400 skill in that crafting type
R6 = +66 to a stat, 90% (10% failure) fusion chance from R5 @ 400 skill in that crafting type
R7 = +77 to a stat, 80% (20% failure) fusion chance from R6 @ 400 skill in that crafting type
R8 = +88 to a stat, 60% (40% failure) fusion chance from R7 @ 400 skill in that crafting type
R9 = +99 to a stat, 20% (80% failure) fusion chance from R8 @ 400 skill in that crafting type
* note: if not in that crafting type, the failure rate is increased by 20% across the board
So, that gives a potential
5 Base
+12 Innate Talent
+8 Talent
+5(x5) Talent
+80 Primary Super Stat
+99(x6) R9 mods
+44(x3) Vigilante Gear
=856 points in your Primary Superstat. Plus bonuses from Quarry or AoPM, if applicable.
That sounds far too exploitable.
_________________________________________________ @flamingbunnyman in game. Formerly @Roderick in City of Heroes.
5 Base
+12 Innate Talent
+8 Talent
+5(x5) Talent
+80 Primary Super Stat
+99(x6) R9 mods
+44(x3) Vigilante Gear
=856 points in your Primary Superstat. Plus bonuses from Quarry or AoPM, if applicable.
That sounds far too exploitable.
There is nothing exciting about 856 in any stat other than con.
Those were the first numbers that popped into my head too, but I was worried it would again make the combined dodge numbers excessive.
At 6% dodge chance, it would still be a 12% improvement over R3 LR's 50%, and a much larger percent improvement on Quarry and WoTW. If R3 WoTW grants 25% dodge, 6% is a 24% improvement in performance.
The specs need decent numbers to be worthwhile picks. As does the Avoidance one.
If people are looking to have more dodge chance on all their characters and planning to use Primary Stat Spec Trees to do it, they'd be limited to DEX and CON. And most who take DEX take it for the SEV increase.
Right now on test, the DEX Spec Tree at 2/3 gives less than +1% increase to Dodge.
I will say, I am disappointed with the current dodge/avoid numbers on PTS. Have they been touched since the last iteration? (dodge from gear that is).
If this was the way it is going to be I'd suggest two things:
1- At least three weeks in advance to such a nerf to gear, explain this to the general player base either through a blog post or a forum post, perhaps being on standby to answer -some- questions.
2- Do something sizeable to compensate the players who paid real money for these pieces of gear which weren't even upfront but based on chance.
Also something will need to be done about Personal Force Field if these changes are going to go through like this (something needs to be done about the passive full stop, this change just means it requires serious editing and has a higher priority than it already does, in terms of passives which need help).
Reason being that PFF relies on an array of powers and mechanics to make it behave like a normal defensive passive. Dodge/Avoid Mechanics is a key mechanic it relies on, such a nerf is detrimental to PFF in it's current form and will just mean it requires even MORE support and I don't think even I will have the time of day to rebuild around it.
I can see that the OP clearly states that derailing is not appreciated so I'll try to put my ideas into one post:
I will say, I am disappointed with the current dodge/avoid numbers on PTS. Have they been touched since the last iteration? (dodge from gear that is).
If this was the way it is going to be I'd suggest two things:
1- At least three weeks in advance to such a nerf to gear, explain this to the general player base either through a blog post or a forum post, perhaps being on standby to answer -some- questions.
2- Do something sizeable to compensate the players who paid real money for these pieces of gear which weren't even upfront but based on chance.
I think 2 is the biggest concern.
You don't go trying to make a profit by saying "Oh hey, buy these catalysts" then say "Oh hey, you know those mods you enhanced by paying all that money? Yeah, we nerfed them."
The specs need decent numbers to be worthwhile picks. As does the Avoidance one.
If people are looking to have more dodge chance on all their characters and planning to use Primary Stat Spec Trees to do it, they'd be limited to DEX and CON. And most who take DEX take it for the SEV increase.
Right now on test, the DEX Spec Tree at 2/3 gives less than +1% increase to Dodge.
I think the 2/4/6% numbers would be worthwhile, and I like that DEX offers a choice between a more offensive or defensive approach, just like STR with Overpower or Juggernaut.
I think there are enough spec trees offering ways to boost dodge and avoidance already, but it depends a lot on what numbers you can achieve. Too low and you'd need more ways to do it, but then I wouldn't be satisfied with how much investment would be required to get decent results. Too high or too many ways to stack it too high, and you end up with unkillable offensive builds.
__________________________________________________
The poster formerly known as Lightwave!
You don't go trying to make a profit by saying "Oh hey, buy these catalysts" then say "Oh hey, you know those mods you enhanced by paying all that money? Yeah, we nerfed them."
That's just a bad idea.
My sentiments exactly.
"I suspect further balancing of gear will arrive soon, they just want to work out the impact on stuff before balancing everything out." - Says the optimistic player who waited over 10 months to play her main character...
@agentnx5
you are the one who isn't seeing things. not everyone USES pets and DoT. just because you CAN get something OP isnt a reason to screw everyone else. this is how we ended up with this disastrous nerf in the first place.
I don't give a rats _)@ about what you can do with an OP min maxxed build. nerfing globally like this will only hurt the majority of the playerbase. I daresay YOU are the one who is looking silly, by acting like everyone should take this this and this power.
Stacking dodge gear on top of an offensive passive is far more min-maxing in actual effect than choosing powers that let you deal damage while blocking.
It's just really easy to stack dodge from gear, so everyone who's defending it as a "theme" choice is fine with it.
It seems that "min/maxing" only becomes "theme-breaking" when it actually requires thinking about the way the game mechanics interact.
Unless you're telling me that your (names are generic here) Fire Guy, your Ice Girl, your Thunder Lad, your Storm Lass, Brick Man, Psionic Woman, Ninja Lady, Bestial Person...all of them have superhuman reflexes because they put on a vest?
And that's not theme-breaking to you?
And what, exactly, is so appealing about Gravitar that everyone seems to think that she's the only thing you can do in the game, and that you have to be able to face-tank all her hits in order to get any enjoyment out of said game?
Bug: When I was testing stuff with Lightning Reflexes, I would randomly start playing the dodge animation (the standard block) whenever someone with a passive effect like Sentinel Aura came by. Not sure if this is on Live or not.
And what, exactly, is so appealing about Gravitar that everyone seems to think that she's the only thing you can do in the game, and that you have to be able to face-tank all her hits in order to get any enjoyment out of said game?
People want minimal effort, maximum reward encounters so they can feel 'super'.
Unless you're telling me that your (names are generic here) Fire Guy, your Ice Girl, your Thunder Lad, your Storm Lass, Brick Man, Psionic Woman, Ninja Lady, Bestial Person...all of them have superhuman reflexes because they put on a vest?
Oh I agree that it shouldn't be a vest. That's why I advocated half value to dodge/crit gear and cores. But this nerf to the dodge/crit curves means you can't make a fire toon with inherent dodge due to specs choices. Utterly destroys dodge concept toons, Parry is worthless, whereas a gear nerf could have saved some.
And what, exactly, is so appealing about Gravitar that everyone seems to think that she's the only thing you can do in the game, and that you have to be able to face-tank all her hits in order to get any enjoyment out of said game?
Dude, in the sad state of content, it's the only fun thing to do.
Sadly with the new Justice gear and mechanics I predict everyone will just go for Defense and use Vindicator with Best Defense thanks to the 147 offense buff from Justice x3 and getting 30 defense per R7 Impact core. Testing with the new build shows everyone can get a minimum of 81% damage resistance. No one is a glass cannon anymore.
Stacking dodge gear on top of an offensive passive is far more min-maxing in actual effect than choosing powers that let you deal damage while blocking.
It's just really easy to stack dodge from gear, so everyone who's defending it as a "theme" choice is fine with it.
It seems that "min/maxing" only becomes "theme-breaking" when it actually requires thinking about the way the game mechanics interact.
Unless you're telling me that your (names are generic here) Fire Guy, your Ice Girl, your Thunder Lad, your Storm Lass, Brick Man, Psionic Woman, Ninja Lady, Bestial Person...all of them have superhuman reflexes because they put on a vest?
And that's not theme-breaking to you?
And what, exactly, is so appealing about Gravitar that everyone seems to think that she's the only thing you can do in the game, and that you have to be able to face-tank all her hits in order to get any enjoyment out of said game?
Actually...I always saw that vest as a non issue when it came to concepts. The gloves, vest, helmet, those were always seen by me as just places to hold more stats.
My Quarry/LR character was totally based around the idea of superhuman reflxes! Also superhero regeneration!
Why I have MD, EM, Resurgence, Conviction, and took the Passives I did.
If I was going to take CO's game mechanics as 100% concept, then there is no such thing as superhuman reflexes. CO's dodge mechanics aren't "You dodged it!" CO's dodge mechanics are "You always get hit! But look, not as bad!"
Just some numbers for consideration, but right now on PTS:
R3 Quarry + R3 EM + R2 Fluidity
90% dodge and 81% avoidance
R3 WoTW + R3 EM + R2 Fluidity
98% dodge and 82% avoidance
R3 LR + R3 EM + R2 Fluidity
128% dodge and 88% avoidance
R3 LR + R3 EM
88% dodge and 81% avoidance
This is with cheap gear, just heroic primaries and no Vigilante secondaries. It's worth mentioning that the dodge bonus from Fluidity does decay over 10 seconds, requiring you to block fairly often if you want to maintain those numbers. LR + EM + Fluidity + BCR/RR seems to perform about on par with Defiance + Retaliation + Conviction against a 5-man hard Demon room in the Powerhouse.
WoTW and Quarry feel pretty similar to their Live counterparts to me as well.
I'm going to recant on my earlier concerns about Fluidity's numbers. The decay is rapid enough that you begin to feel it right away.
I haven't done a TON of testing, but right now I like the numbers as they are. And relying a bit more on EM and Fluidity is similar to Monsterdaddy's suggestion of using holds to effectively debuff dodge, in that I can't always activate them when I need to, and you really see your health take a dive when that happens. That seems appropriate and largely avoidable with the right build.
__________________________________________________
The poster formerly known as Lightwave!
Stacking dodge gear on top of an offensive passive is far more min-maxing in actual effect than choosing powers that let you deal damage while blocking.
It's just really easy to stack dodge from gear, so everyone who's defending it as a "theme" choice is fine with it.
It seems that "min/maxing" only becomes "theme-breaking" when it actually requires thinking about the way the game mechanics interact.
Unless you're telling me that your (names are generic here) Fire Guy, your Ice Girl, your Thunder Lad, your Storm Lass, Brick Man, Psionic Woman, Ninja Lady, Bestial Person...all of them have superhuman reflexes because they put on a vest?
And that's not theme-breaking to you?
And what, exactly, is so appealing about Gravitar that everyone seems to think that she's the only thing you can do in the game, and that you have to be able to face-tank all her hits in order to get any enjoyment out of said game?
Actually...I always saw that vest as a non issue when it came to concepts. The gloves, vest, helmet, those were always seen by me as just places to hold more stats.
My Quarry/LR character was totally based around the idea of superhuman reflxes! Also superhero regeneration!
Why I have MD, EM, Resurgence, Conviction, and took the Passives I did.
See, I'd consider that as actually building to a theme, way more than some of the people complaining. You're taking the existing powers and using them to build something effective within the vision of the character you want. That's good, and that (IMO), is how things should work.
Not "I want to use an offensive passive and be as durable as some defensive passives", which some people seem to want. (And have now, with the current state of dodge gear).
But yeah.
We need more "boring" powers. The things that are the building blocks for a good build. Heals, active defenses, easily-usable energy unlocks, defensive toggles (yes, I know, blasphemy), stuff like that. Preferably stuff that's either thematically-variable or thematically-neutral. But that's been a pet peeve of mine since, oh, about launch, and I doubt it'll be fixed any time soon.
And while we're at it, dedicated slots to let you use those "boring" powers. Early on in a character's lifespan, preferably.
My biggest problem with the current AT builds (all of them) is that they get the powers that are important to making a workable build (energy unlocks, active offenses or defenses, block replacers for those that have good ones, staple attacks) far too late in their lifespan.
Stuff in tiny black text is a pipe dream that will never happen: If I were given infinite time, infinite resources and magical knowledge of how to manipulate Cryptic's codebase, characters would probably end up with more average survivability than they have now.
But it wouldn't be because they farmed lockboxes or picked the right gear option amongst all the wrong ones. Or because they knew to backflip every time EM came off cooldown.
It'd be because there were options, within thematically-neutral or thematically-appropriate powers, to grant them that durability.
ANYWAY.
My stance is: Gear should never be able to replace a passive power, and offensive powers shouldn't be able to meet, let alone exceed, the defensive ability of defensive passives.
That doesn't mean they shouldn't have a defensive component, and it doesn't mean that I think the current defensive components on all of them are sufficient (Stormbringer's good, Quarry's OP, Way of the Warrior's good unless you start stacking gear and flat dodge on top).
This turned into a bigger rant than I intended it to.
Sadly with the new Justice gear and mechanics I predict everyone will just go for Defense and use Vindicator with Best Defense thanks to the 147 offense buff from Justice x3 and getting 30 defense per R7 Impact core. Testing with the new build shows everyone can get a minimum of 81% damage resistance. No one is a glass cannon anymore.
Welcome to the new cookie cutter!
Guardicator/Wardicator are already prevalent enough to earn abbreviated nicknames; it's disappointing that the changes will make them even more desirable. Higher mod values (and a set superstat bonus) from Justice Gear will also fuel the loop with greater Defense returns from Juggernaut and Force of Will.
The changes dethrone the current cookie cutter king (Breastplate of Agility with Gambler's Lucky Gems), only to place a freshly polished crown on the next-in-line.
See, I'd consider that as actually building to a theme, way more than some of the people complaining. You're taking the existing powers and using them to build something effective within the vision of the character you want. That's good, and that (IMO), is how things should work.
Not "I want to use an offensive passive and be as durable as some defensive passives", which some people seem to want. (And have now, with the current state of dodge gear).
But yeah.
We need more "boring" powers. The things that are the building blocks for a good build. Heals, active defenses, easily-usable energy unlocks, defensive toggles (yes, I know, blasphemy), stuff like that. Preferably stuff that's either thematically-variable or thematically-neutral. But that's been a pet peeve of mine since, oh, about launch, and I doubt it'll be fixed any time soon.
And while we're at it, dedicated slots to let you use those "boring" powers. Early on in a character's lifespan, preferably.
My biggest problem with the current AT builds (all of them) is that they get the powers that are important to making a workable build (energy unlocks, active offenses or defenses, block replacers for those that have good ones, staple attacks) far too late in their lifespan.
Stuff in tiny black text is a pipe dream that will never happen: If I were given infinite time, infinite resources and magical knowledge of how to manipulate Cryptic's codebase, characters would probably end up with more average survivability than they have now.
But it wouldn't be because they farmed lockboxes or picked the right gear option amongst all the wrong ones. Or because they knew to backflip every time EM came off cooldown.
It'd be because there were options, within thematically-neutral or thematically-appropriate powers, to grant them that durability.
ANYWAY.
My stance is: Gear should never be able to replace a passive power, and offensive powers shouldn't be able to meet, let alone exceed, the defensive ability of defensive passives.
That doesn't mean they shouldn't have a defensive component, and it doesn't mean that I think the current defensive components on all of them are sufficient (Stormbringer's good, Quarry's OP, Way of the Warrior's good unless you start stacking gear and flat dodge on top).
This turned into a bigger rant than I intended it to.
You know, I don't know if I agree with need more easily usable energy unlocks. We just need one more that works with Combo Attacks or Charge Attacks or Knocks. Seriously, the only builds I've had problems with Energy Unlocks has been a few melee builds, usually ones that rely on charge up attacks.
When I have melee builds like that, I find I usually go looking for clickies to use to team up with MSA. Or have one that gives Energy on the last attack of a combo! Have it scale with REC or INT or CON or PRE or END. I'm a little against CON, as plenty of melee builds (no, not all) will use CON as a superstat anyways. One of the reasons I lean towards REC.
I do think we could use a new defensive toggle outside of IDF. I'm not sure if Compassion actually increases your own regen, or just enhances heal powers you may already have, but I nice mix of a form that changes it up maybe (just an example here...for all I know completely OPed as it's just spitballin' here)...
Berserker Rage:
Rank 1: +.5% Crit/+2% Sev/+20 HP a second Heal every second for every stack of buff.
(8 stacks max)
Rank2: +1% Crit/+4% Sev/+40 HP a second Heal every second for every stack of buff.
Rank3: +1.5% Crit/+6% Sev/+60 HP a second Heal every second for every stack of buff.
Scales +Crit/+Sev/+HP a sec off PRE (Suggesting PRE just because I'd like to see it be a more popular SS ^_^). Energy return scales with REC (maybe PRE and REC).
3 PT ADV - Share the Rage: Makes the +Crit/+Sev/+HP a sec into a team AOE effect.
...see! Something different! Not a purely defense or purely offense oriented Form, not a +DMG in the direct +DMG way. Maybe stacks trigger on every crit!
Still think LR could use a little boost in the Dodge Department. You don't get to actually avoid damage, and I don't think it's possible to even get 100% Avoid...so it would be nice.
on the bright side, LR tanks will now be even more powerful even with the changes to LR. in fact the changes to LR have the potential to make it even better, at least for freeforms. I imagine master AT's may take a hit though. or maybe not if they take elusive monk and all those tasty advantages.
I'm still 100% against these changes in the first place. but just in case, it cant hurt to find the bright spots in this debacle.
I don't know, I didn't think LR felt more powerful than on Live, but maybe it's a difference between Gear/Mods and No Gear/Mods?
Kinetic Reverberation - Never has knocking enemies been so rewarding! By focusing on Kinetic Capture, you can draw energy from your enemies in terms of the energy they produce whilst flying through the air.
+ Energy Return scales with EGO or STR whichever is higher. But is affected by your Recovery statistic.
+ Each time you knock or repel an enemy more than 10 feet or attempt to knock an enemy you gain a burst of Potential Energy.
I do like that LR is more useful, but its new worth is by proxy. Dodge/avoid from gear was a major source of damage mitigation for everything besides LR. Now that the dodge rating curve is crippled, LR looks a lot better because other passives lose a layer of mitigation. LR's numbers, with the new flat bonus and dodge/avoid curves, are still roughly comparable to Live.
My concerns are:
(1) As has long been the case, LR can still achieve 100% dodge and around 80% avoidance with one maintained application of Thundering Kicks and Evasive Maneuvers. This level of consistent damage mitigation far outperforms other defensive passives, especially when layered alongside the newly-buffed Guardicator/Wardicator loops.
A few people have suggested hard-capping dodge, and I agree. Setting a hard cap at around 80-90% dodge (even with Masterful Dodge active) would guarantee at least a little risk to dodge, which seems like an important factor that separates it from the guaranteed reduction from resistance.
As it stands, a player with the aforementioned 100% dodge setup can consistently reduce incoming damage to around 10% of its base value.
(2) I like that the new dodge rating curve cripples the easy-to-achieve survivability from dodge gear, but I don't like that Justice Gear opens the door for a surrogate survivability buff from offense/defense loops. It replaces the old "easy mode" with a new version that requires shiny new replacement gear for best effect.
I'm still 100% against these changes in the first place. but just in case, it cant hurt to find the bright spots in this debacle.
I think I'm looking more gloom-and-doom than I intended. Some things I do like about the new changes are:
- I like that many dodge sources are being converted to static values instead of dodge rating. This makes the math much less confusing. I've always felt that this game's mathematical obscurity is a major turn-off to new players, and I'm glad that the devs are starting to make the numbers perform at face-value. I do feel that some of those values (Thundering Kicks and especially Evasive Maneuvers) could use some adjusting.
- I like that dodge from gear is less effective. I wouldn't have dealt with the problem the same way, but I do like that a single piece of primary defense gear no longer grants an average 25% damage mitigation.
I do like that LR is more useful, but its new worth is by proxy. Dodge/avoid from gear was a major source of damage mitigation for everything besides LR. Now that the dodge rating curve is crippled, LR looks a lot better because other passives lose a layer of mitigation. LR's numbers, with the new flat bonus and dodge/avoid curves, are still roughly comparable to Live.
My concerns are:
(1) As has long been the case, LR can still achieve 100% dodge and around 80% avoidance with one maintained application of Thundering Kicks and Evasive Maneuvers. This level of consistent damage mitigation far outperforms other defensive passives, especially when layered alongside the newly-buffed Guardicator/Wardicator loops.
A few people have suggested hard-capping dodge, and I agree. Setting a hard cap at around 80-90% dodge (even with Masterful Dodge active) would guarantee at least a little risk to dodge, which seems like an important factor that separates it from the guaranteed reduction from resistance.
As it stands, a player with the aforementioned 100% dodge setup can consistently reduce incoming damage to around 10% of its base value.
(2) I like that the new dodge rating curve cripples the easy-to-achieve survivability from dodge gear, but I don't like that Justice Gear opens the door for a surrogate survivability buff from offense/defense loops. It replaces the old "easy mode" with a new version that requires shiny new replacement gear for best effect.
I think I'm looking more gloom-and-doom than I intended. Some things I do like about the new changes are:
- I like that many dodge sources are being converted to static values instead of dodge rating. This makes the math much less confusing. I've always felt that this game's mathematical obscurity is a major turn-off to new players, and I'm glad that the devs are starting to make the numbers perform at face-value. I do feel that some of those values (Thundering Kicks and especially Evasive Maneuvers) could use some adjusting.
- I like that dodge from gear is less effective. I wouldn't have dealt with the problem the same way, but I do like that a single piece of primary defense gear no longer grants an average 25% damage mitigation.
If we hard cap dodge, how about making it possible so a LR can achieve 100% Avoid and thusly REALLY DODGE.
If we hard cap dodge, how about making it possible so a LR can achieve 100% Avoid and thusly REALLY DODGE.
Hard Cap dodge @ 80% for non primary dodge passive users (So anyone without LR and possibly Quarry) which cannot be exceeded by anything apart from LR and MD (and perhaps Quarry)
kinetic Reverberation - Never Has Knocking Enemies Been So Rewarding! By Focusing On Kinetic Capture, You Can Draw Energy From Your Enemies In Terms Of The Energy They Produce Whilst Flying Through The Air.
+ Energy Return Scales With Ego Or Str Whichever Is Higher. But Is Affected By Your Recovery Statistic.
+ Each Time You Knock Or Repel An Enemy More Than 10 Feet Or Attempt To Knock An Enemy You Gain A Burst Of Potential Energy.
This! So Much This!
____________________________________
That Dork In The Suspenders, signing out.
OK! I finally got around to ACTUALLY testing this new Block of yours and I gotta say... I don't like it. Like at all.
1) It makes NO thematic Sense. How does one DODGE an attack while at the same time BLOCKING said attack? LMAO! Fluidity shows no consideration to concept, it's feels like a random power that uses dodge JUST to add more dodge(or at least that's how it feels to me.) Blocks are meant for blocking incoming damage, which means "Resistance!" Take Parry for example. The power reduces damage through resistance and parry's a portion of that damage back at the attacker. The Elusive Monk Adv is where you add in your dodge/avoidance which allows it to work thematically as your moving and attacking to increase your Dodge/Avoidance.
2) Being forced to hold your block down for 2 seconds every 10secs OR LESS to keep the dodge/avoidance buff up in combat is SUCH A CHORE!!! At the very least you should be able to tap your block to apply the buff(just like ALL other blocks with applied buffs. Minus blocks that require you to be hit in order to apply there ADV buffs.) As is, using this power to apply the buff DRASTICALLY reduces your overall DPS.
3) The "Flowing Like The River" buff reduces in effectiveness to quickly.
Now don't feel to bad, there IS an Up Side to this power. I believe we can MELD it into an existing power to get the same desired effect, and at the same time FIX not one... but TWO broken powers.
First up...
EVASIVE MANEUVERS(Showing NEW changes only, rest of the power works the same)
-Duration: 20secs up from 12secs
-Recharge: 20secs up from 15secs
-Effects: Rank 1: +15% Dodge/+10% Avoidance
Rank 2: +22.5% Dodge/+15% Avoidance
Rank 3: +30% Dodge/+20% Avoidance
Bonuses have 5% of their effect reduced every 1 sec. 20secs=100% reduction
-This power no longer stacks. Instead, you can use it to re-apply/refresh the Effects.
Advantage: Slight of Mind
-Removed
*Notes: Currently on Live EM is very much abused. Mainly because of it's Advantage, and the ability to reduce the cooldown to around 5 seconds. This means your able to spam stealth far to often and double stack the Dodge Bonus from base power. These improvements utilize what you were trying to do with Fluidity by adding them to a power that works thematically for them(Basically you backflip away making yourself harder to hit, you lose the effect overtime because it's not like your continuously flipping away. Makes complete sense.)
Increasing the Duration/Recharge to 20secs does two things. Allows the Dodge/Avoidance to reduce in effectiveness a little slower that what Fluidity uses now, and also keeps the EM from being over spammable. This power is found in Archery, Archery uses INT(which reduces cooldowns) as one if it's main stats(if not main stat.) So with High INT and Cooldown Gear you should be able to reduce that 20secs to a more manageable 8secs or so. Which allows you to refresh your buff sooner, thus keeping your Dodge/Avoidance from dropping to low.
Why did I suggest removing the Slight of Mind advantage though? Well besides the fact that I feel the power will be useful enough now without an advantage, the answer to this question can be found in my next suggestion. This time I'd like to suggest fixing a power that's broken by its COMPLETE INEFFECTIVENESS! That power being...
EGO PLACATE(Showing NEW changes only, rest of the power works the same)
-Recharge: 15secs up from No Recharge
-100% Threat Wipe to Target
Advantage: Slight Of Mind(even the name of this Adv fits this power better)
-50% Change to wipe all threat from yourself
-Places you in Stealth for 3 seconds.
*Notes: These changes are added on to what is already in the power now. You will now have 3 Ranks and 2 Advantages to this power all of which cost 2pts. The recharge was added to this power so that the stealth doesn't become overly abusive in PvP. Gave it the same recharge time that EM allows this Advantage to be used at now.
This one really is a no brainer, this change should have been made LONG ago. Ego Placate currently has NO effective use whatsoever, this simple change would make it MORE useful in PvE AND give it an actual use in PvP as well.
EDIT:
The changes I suggest to Evasive Maneuvers also help Melee stay more defensive than Ranged(which is how it should be.) Melee dodgers will be able to select a Dodge passive/Evasive maneuvers/Swinging Adv/Parry Adv. Ranged will have Dodge Passive/Evasive Maneuvers/Swinging Adv.
ego placate with advantage has a use... its an effective debuff.
LoL, I don't really see a 10% damage debuff as all that effective myself. And DEFINITELY not effective enough to be the ONLY thing the power CAN be used for in PvP. AND you have to spend 2 pts just to get that debuff.
The good news for you is that I indeed want to keep that debuff as an advantage to the power so it retains that... effectiveness.
Slight of Mind gives you another option to use this power in PvP. And if you put 4pts into the power to get BOTH advantages then it becomes a truly useful power, but at significant cost.
From the data players are putting out and their opinions on what is happening to dodge and offense, I have come to a conclusion.
We're basically replacing player options from being OP based on their gear choices, to becoming exclusively OP because they have a specific set of gear. We're pigeon-holing players by removing the options of favoring ridiculous crit chance or supreme dodge. Now its becoming a thing where everyone focuses entirely on the Offense Defense dynamic where they just boost each other to insane levels.
What's the point of diversified gear anymore? This will effectively make the whole On Alert revamp on gear pointless. Might as well make everything based on what powers you chose, their ranks and advantages, and what 5 devices you favor.
Crafting is officially dead. Gear diversity is dead. Push these changes to live, Cryptic. Because if you do, down the line you'll have to remove gear anyways because everyone will have the same combination and it will only get in the way of "balancing content for everyone".
You shouldn't just make a certain supreme, bland set of gear the only option for endgame, unless your intention is to make difficulty easy to produce by the numbers instead of being innovative with content.
What's troubling me is that crit chance is still very high from gear alone, so you really don't need to choose between high but unreliable damage from crits, or moderate but reliable damage from offense. I can still get about 30% crit chance just from gear, and with the current implementation of Justice gear I can get a severity of about 116% as well on a STR PSS. All that with about 120% damage resistance from Defense and 20-odd percent boost from Offense.
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The poster formerly known as Lightwave!
Kinetic Reverberation - Never has knocking enemies been so rewarding! By focusing on Kinetic Capture, you can draw energy from your enemies in terms of the energy they produce whilst flying through the air.
+ Energy Return scales with EGO or STR whichever is higher. But is affected by your Recovery statistic.
+ Each time you knock or repel an enemy more than 10 feet or attempt to knock an enemy you gain a burst of Potential Energy.
There's an energy unlock for when you attempt to repel. So why have the repel?
What's troubling me is that crit chance is still very high from gear alone, so you really don't need to choose between high but unreliable damage from crits, or moderate but reliable damage from offense. I can still get about 30% crit chance just from gear, and with the current implementation of Justice gear I can get a severity of about 116% as well on a STR PSS. All that with about 120% damage resistance from Defense and 20-odd percent boost from Offense.
That is not a problem with crit chance, that is a 'problem' with the strength specs. There is nothing wrong with unreliable damage or damage reduction to be better on average.
And strength is certainly not the only stat that has some pretty over to the top specs.
That is not a problem with crit chance, that is a 'problem' with the strength specs. There is nothing wrong with unreliable damage or damage reduction to be better on average.
And strength is certainly not the only stat that has some pretty over to the top specs.
I think getting 30% crit chance just from gear, regardless of your stats and without even getting into the spec trees, is pretty crazy. The STR tree is pretty well balanced, giving you solid offensive or defensive choices. It's only with Justice gear's current crazy high stat boosts that Juggernaut hits 120% and over resistance levels, which then feeds into Offense, which still is no match for crits...but since you don't have to choose, why not still have both? That just doesn't seem like a fix to me.
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The poster formerly known as Lightwave!
Remove Fluidity and Meld it into Evasive Maneuvers.
EVASIVE MANEUVERS(Showing NEW changes only, rest of the power works the same)
-Duration: 20secs up from 12secs
-Recharge: 20secs up from 15secs
-Effects: Rank 1: +15% Dodge/+10% Avoidance
Rank 2: +22.5% Dodge/+15% Avoidance
Rank 3: +30% Dodge/+20% Avoidance
Bonuses have 5% of their effect reduced every 1 sec. 20secs=100% reduction
-This power no longer stacks. Instead, you can use it to re-apply/refresh the Effects.
Advantage: Slight of Mind
-Removed
*Notes: Currently on Live EM is very much abused. Mainly because of it's Advantage, and the ability to reduce the cooldown to around 5 seconds. This means your able to spam stealth far to often and double stack the Dodge Bonus from base power. These improvements utilize what you were trying to do with Fluidity by adding them to a power that works thematically for them(Basically you backflip away making yourself harder to hit, you lose the effect overtime because it's not like your continuously flipping away. Makes complete sense.)
Increasing the Duration/Recharge to 20secs does two things. Allows the Dodge/Avoidance to reduce in effectiveness a little slower that what Fluidity uses now, and also keeps the EM from being over spammable. This power is found in Archery, Archery uses INT(which reduces cooldowns) as one if it's main stats(if not main stat.) So with High INT and Cooldown Gear you should be able to reduce that 20secs to a more manageable 8secs or so. Which allows you to refresh your buff sooner, thus keeping your Dodge/Avoidance from dropping to low.
Why did I suggest removing the Slight of Mind advantage though? Well besides the fact that I feel the power will be useful enough now without an advantage, the answer to this question can be found in my next suggestion. This time I'd like to suggest fixing a power that's broken by its COMPLETE INEFFECTIVENESS! That power being...
EGO PLACATE(Showing NEW changes only, rest of the power works the same)
-Recharge: 15secs up from No Recharge
-100% Threat Wipe to Target
Advantage: Slight Of Mind(even the name of this Adv fits this power better)
-50% Change to wipe all threat from yourself
-Places you in Stealth for 3 seconds.
*Notes: These changes are added on to what is already in the power now. You will now have 3 Ranks and 2 Advantages to this power all of which cost 2pts. The recharge was added to this power so that the stealth doesn't become overly abusive in PvP. Gave it the same recharge time that EM allows this Advantage to be used at now.
This one really is a no brainer, this change should have been made LONG ago. Ego Placate currently has NO effective use whatsoever, this simple change would make it MORE useful in PvE AND give it an actual use in PvP as well.
EDIT:
The changes I suggest to Evasive Maneuvers also help Melee stay more defensive than Ranged(which is how it should be.) Melee dodgers will be able to select a Dodge passive/Evasive maneuvers/Swinging Adv/Parry Adv. Ranged will have Dodge Passive/Evasive Maneuvers/Swinging Adv.
Just wanted to add this small bit...
If the suggestion for EM makes it to powerful, you can also try taking the Avoidance portion out of the base power and adding it as an Advantage. Maybe call it... BOUNDING RESILIENCE!
Going to guess we don't have any real moderation here still? Trolls still run the forum it appears.
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Comments
You should care. The point of balance is to minimize the gap between top end min/maxed and everyone else. You *need* to look at the broken/exploitable things and fix them while minimizing the impact on everyone else.
So far the devs are trying to make top end things less broken on the top end. Then they can go back and adjust the low-middle end curves so the "average" player won't see much, if any, change in performance.
It will need a lot more than 30% to make it worthwhile, and will require interaction changes. If they do decide to discuss or consider PFF changes, I will dig up posts from a billion years ago and type so much my fingers may actually fall off.
EDIT: I have 18 pages on standby to post regarding PFF.
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As I have come to believe they are intentional.
The gear itself provides lesser bonus than legion gear so it isn't a direct upgrade if they made it not give more than the regular level 40 mods. The set bonus is rather low seeing as how legion defense and utility gears would be widely superior if the mods in justice gear were the regular level 40 mods.
For my money (around $30 a pop if I was so inclined), a R8 enhancement or armor mod should give +70 and a R9 +80 to stats.
The poster formerly known as Lightwave!
Did you read my suggested changes? (includes a reason to care about crafting, and makes fusing more fair for most players)
Consolidate the currencies! (Please!)
Does your Champion have a theme song? (share it!)
Got a funny in-game screenshot? (share it!)
Please fix the Overdrive energy unlock! (Should help promote thematic build diversity!)
So, that gives a potential
5 Base
+12 Innate Talent
+8 Talent
+5(x5) Talent
+80 Primary Super Stat
+99(x6) R9 mods
+44(x3) Vigilante Gear
=856 points in your Primary Superstat. Plus bonuses from Quarry or AoPM, if applicable.
That sounds far too exploitable.
@flamingbunnyman in game. Formerly @Roderick in City of Heroes.
There is nothing exciting about 856 in any stat other than con.
856*15 = 12840
The specs need decent numbers to be worthwhile picks. As does the Avoidance one.
If people are looking to have more dodge chance on all their characters and planning to use Primary Stat Spec Trees to do it, they'd be limited to DEX and CON. And most who take DEX take it for the SEV increase.
Right now on test, the DEX Spec Tree at 2/3 gives less than +1% increase to Dodge.
If this was the way it is going to be I'd suggest two things:
1- At least three weeks in advance to such a nerf to gear, explain this to the general player base either through a blog post or a forum post, perhaps being on standby to answer -some- questions.
2- Do something sizeable to compensate the players who paid real money for these pieces of gear which weren't even upfront but based on chance.
Also something will need to be done about Personal Force Field if these changes are going to go through like this (something needs to be done about the passive full stop, this change just means it requires serious editing and has a higher priority than it already does, in terms of passives which need help).
Reason being that PFF relies on an array of powers and mechanics to make it behave like a normal defensive passive. Dodge/Avoid Mechanics is a key mechanic it relies on, such a nerf is detrimental to PFF in it's current form and will just mean it requires even MORE support and I don't think even I will have the time of day to rebuild around it.
I can see that the OP clearly states that derailing is not appreciated so I'll try to put my ideas into one post:
>>Here<<
>>Post about PFF and CC mechanics (non bug just a few points)<<
Should I be allowed to further discussion about PFF (or if you consider editing this dying passive to make it worthwhile) I have 18 pages on standby.
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I think 2 is the biggest concern.
You don't go trying to make a profit by saying "Oh hey, buy these catalysts" then say "Oh hey, you know those mods you enhanced by paying all that money? Yeah, we nerfed them."
That's just a bad idea.
Yep, I really like your suggestion.
The poster formerly known as Lightwave!
I think the 2/4/6% numbers would be worthwhile, and I like that DEX offers a choice between a more offensive or defensive approach, just like STR with Overpower or Juggernaut.
I think there are enough spec trees offering ways to boost dodge and avoidance already, but it depends a lot on what numbers you can achieve. Too low and you'd need more ways to do it, but then I wouldn't be satisfied with how much investment would be required to get decent results. Too high or too many ways to stack it too high, and you end up with unkillable offensive builds.
The poster formerly known as Lightwave!
My sentiments exactly.
"I suspect further balancing of gear will arrive soon, they just want to work out the impact on stuff before balancing everything out." - Says the optimistic player who waited over 10 months to play her main character...
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Stacking dodge gear on top of an offensive passive is far more min-maxing in actual effect than choosing powers that let you deal damage while blocking.
It's just really easy to stack dodge from gear, so everyone who's defending it as a "theme" choice is fine with it.
It seems that "min/maxing" only becomes "theme-breaking" when it actually requires thinking about the way the game mechanics interact.
Unless you're telling me that your (names are generic here) Fire Guy, your Ice Girl, your Thunder Lad, your Storm Lass, Brick Man, Psionic Woman, Ninja Lady, Bestial Person...all of them have superhuman reflexes because they put on a vest?
And that's not theme-breaking to you?
And what, exactly, is so appealing about Gravitar that everyone seems to think that she's the only thing you can do in the game, and that you have to be able to face-tank all her hits in order to get any enjoyment out of said game?
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
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The user formerly known as Dr. Sage.
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People want minimal effort, maximum reward encounters so they can feel 'super'.
Dude, in the sad state of content, it's the only fun thing to do.
Sadly with the new Justice gear and mechanics I predict everyone will just go for Defense and use Vindicator with Best Defense thanks to the 147 offense buff from Justice x3 and getting 30 defense per R7 Impact core. Testing with the new build shows everyone can get a minimum of 81% damage resistance. No one is a glass cannon anymore.
Welcome to the new cookie cutter!
Actually...I always saw that vest as a non issue when it came to concepts. The gloves, vest, helmet, those were always seen by me as just places to hold more stats.
My Quarry/LR character was totally based around the idea of superhuman reflxes! Also superhero regeneration!
Why I have MD, EM, Resurgence, Conviction, and took the Passives I did.
If I was going to take CO's game mechanics as 100% concept, then there is no such thing as superhuman reflexes. CO's dodge mechanics aren't "You dodged it!" CO's dodge mechanics are "You always get hit! But look, not as bad!"
R3 Quarry + R3 EM + R2 Fluidity
90% dodge and 81% avoidance
R3 WoTW + R3 EM + R2 Fluidity
98% dodge and 82% avoidance
R3 LR + R3 EM + R2 Fluidity
128% dodge and 88% avoidance
R3 LR + R3 EM
88% dodge and 81% avoidance
This is with cheap gear, just heroic primaries and no Vigilante secondaries. It's worth mentioning that the dodge bonus from Fluidity does decay over 10 seconds, requiring you to block fairly often if you want to maintain those numbers. LR + EM + Fluidity + BCR/RR seems to perform about on par with Defiance + Retaliation + Conviction against a 5-man hard Demon room in the Powerhouse.
WoTW and Quarry feel pretty similar to their Live counterparts to me as well.
I'm going to recant on my earlier concerns about Fluidity's numbers. The decay is rapid enough that you begin to feel it right away.
I haven't done a TON of testing, but right now I like the numbers as they are. And relying a bit more on EM and Fluidity is similar to Monsterdaddy's suggestion of using holds to effectively debuff dodge, in that I can't always activate them when I need to, and you really see your health take a dive when that happens. That seems appropriate and largely avoidable with the right build.
The poster formerly known as Lightwave!
Precisely.
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See, I'd consider that as actually building to a theme, way more than some of the people complaining. You're taking the existing powers and using them to build something effective within the vision of the character you want. That's good, and that (IMO), is how things should work.
Not "I want to use an offensive passive and be as durable as some defensive passives", which some people seem to want. (And have now, with the current state of dodge gear).
But yeah.
We need more "boring" powers. The things that are the building blocks for a good build. Heals, active defenses, easily-usable energy unlocks, defensive toggles (yes, I know, blasphemy), stuff like that. Preferably stuff that's either thematically-variable or thematically-neutral. But that's been a pet peeve of mine since, oh, about launch, and I doubt it'll be fixed any time soon.
And while we're at it, dedicated slots to let you use those "boring" powers. Early on in a character's lifespan, preferably.
My biggest problem with the current AT builds (all of them) is that they get the powers that are important to making a workable build (energy unlocks, active offenses or defenses, block replacers for those that have good ones, staple attacks) far too late in their lifespan.
Stuff in tiny black text is a pipe dream that will never happen:
If I were given infinite time, infinite resources and magical knowledge of how to manipulate Cryptic's codebase, characters would probably end up with more average survivability than they have now.
But it wouldn't be because they farmed lockboxes or picked the right gear option amongst all the wrong ones. Or because they knew to backflip every time EM came off cooldown.
It'd be because there were options, within thematically-neutral or thematically-appropriate powers, to grant them that durability.
ANYWAY.
My stance is: Gear should never be able to replace a passive power, and offensive powers shouldn't be able to meet, let alone exceed, the defensive ability of defensive passives.
That doesn't mean they shouldn't have a defensive component, and it doesn't mean that I think the current defensive components on all of them are sufficient (Stormbringer's good, Quarry's OP, Way of the Warrior's good unless you start stacking gear and flat dodge on top).
This turned into a bigger rant than I intended it to.
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
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The user formerly known as Dr. Sage.
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Please ask them to look at it?? It's been fixed before, so they probably should know what to do...
Thanks!! :biggrin:
Guardicator/Wardicator are already prevalent enough to earn abbreviated nicknames; it's disappointing that the changes will make them even more desirable. Higher mod values (and a set superstat bonus) from Justice Gear will also fuel the loop with greater Defense returns from Juggernaut and Force of Will.
The changes dethrone the current cookie cutter king (Breastplate of Agility with Gambler's Lucky Gems), only to place a freshly polished crown on the next-in-line.
You know, I don't know if I agree with need more easily usable energy unlocks. We just need one more that works with Combo Attacks or Charge Attacks or Knocks. Seriously, the only builds I've had problems with Energy Unlocks has been a few melee builds, usually ones that rely on charge up attacks.
When I have melee builds like that, I find I usually go looking for clickies to use to team up with MSA. Or have one that gives Energy on the last attack of a combo! Have it scale with REC or INT or CON or PRE or END. I'm a little against CON, as plenty of melee builds (no, not all) will use CON as a superstat anyways. One of the reasons I lean towards REC.
I do think we could use a new defensive toggle outside of IDF. I'm not sure if Compassion actually increases your own regen, or just enhances heal powers you may already have, but I nice mix of a form that changes it up maybe (just an example here...for all I know completely OPed as it's just spitballin' here)...
Berserker Rage:
Rank 1: +.5% Crit/+2% Sev/+20 HP a second Heal every second for every stack of buff.
(8 stacks max)
Rank2: +1% Crit/+4% Sev/+40 HP a second Heal every second for every stack of buff.
Rank3: +1.5% Crit/+6% Sev/+60 HP a second Heal every second for every stack of buff.
Scales +Crit/+Sev/+HP a sec off PRE (Suggesting PRE just because I'd like to see it be a more popular SS ^_^). Energy return scales with REC (maybe PRE and REC).
3 PT ADV - Share the Rage: Makes the +Crit/+Sev/+HP a sec into a team AOE effect.
...see! Something different! Not a purely defense or purely offense oriented Form, not a +DMG in the direct +DMG way. Maybe stacks trigger on every crit!
Still think LR could use a little boost in the Dodge Department. You don't get to actually avoid damage, and I don't think it's possible to even get 100% Avoid...so it would be nice.
I don't know, I didn't think LR felt more powerful than on Live, but maybe it's a difference between Gear/Mods and No Gear/Mods?
+ Energy Return scales with EGO or STR whichever is higher. But is affected by your Recovery statistic.
+ Each time you knock or repel an enemy more than 10 feet or attempt to knock an enemy you gain a burst of Potential Energy.
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My concerns are:
(1) As has long been the case, LR can still achieve 100% dodge and around 80% avoidance with one maintained application of Thundering Kicks and Evasive Maneuvers. This level of consistent damage mitigation far outperforms other defensive passives, especially when layered alongside the newly-buffed Guardicator/Wardicator loops.
A few people have suggested hard-capping dodge, and I agree. Setting a hard cap at around 80-90% dodge (even with Masterful Dodge active) would guarantee at least a little risk to dodge, which seems like an important factor that separates it from the guaranteed reduction from resistance.
As it stands, a player with the aforementioned 100% dodge setup can consistently reduce incoming damage to around 10% of its base value.
(2) I like that the new dodge rating curve cripples the easy-to-achieve survivability from dodge gear, but I don't like that Justice Gear opens the door for a surrogate survivability buff from offense/defense loops. It replaces the old "easy mode" with a new version that requires shiny new replacement gear for best effect.
I think I'm looking more gloom-and-doom than I intended. Some things I do like about the new changes are:
- I like that many dodge sources are being converted to static values instead of dodge rating. This makes the math much less confusing. I've always felt that this game's mathematical obscurity is a major turn-off to new players, and I'm glad that the devs are starting to make the numbers perform at face-value. I do feel that some of those values (Thundering Kicks and especially Evasive Maneuvers) could use some adjusting.
- I like that dodge from gear is less effective. I wouldn't have dealt with the problem the same way, but I do like that a single piece of primary defense gear no longer grants an average 25% damage mitigation.
If we hard cap dodge, how about making it possible so a LR can achieve 100% Avoid and thusly REALLY DODGE.
Hard Cap dodge @ 80% for non primary dodge passive users (So anyone without LR and possibly Quarry) which cannot be exceeded by anything apart from LR and MD (and perhaps Quarry)
Leave Gear alone (Or reduce gear values slightly)
Badabingbadaboom
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This! So Much This!
That Dork In The Suspenders, signing out.
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While 100% Dodge looks awesome, as always a high burst will be needed to defeat that defense and remember Fluidity provides zero damage resistance.
1) It makes NO thematic Sense. How does one DODGE an attack while at the same time BLOCKING said attack? LMAO! Fluidity shows no consideration to concept, it's feels like a random power that uses dodge JUST to add more dodge(or at least that's how it feels to me.) Blocks are meant for blocking incoming damage, which means "Resistance!" Take Parry for example. The power reduces damage through resistance and parry's a portion of that damage back at the attacker. The Elusive Monk Adv is where you add in your dodge/avoidance which allows it to work thematically as your moving and attacking to increase your Dodge/Avoidance.
2) Being forced to hold your block down for 2 seconds every 10secs OR LESS to keep the dodge/avoidance buff up in combat is SUCH A CHORE!!! At the very least you should be able to tap your block to apply the buff(just like ALL other blocks with applied buffs. Minus blocks that require you to be hit in order to apply there ADV buffs.) As is, using this power to apply the buff DRASTICALLY reduces your overall DPS.
3) The "Flowing Like The River" buff reduces in effectiveness to quickly.
Now don't feel to bad, there IS an Up Side to this power. I believe we can MELD it into an existing power to get the same desired effect, and at the same time FIX not one... but TWO broken powers.
First up...
EVASIVE MANEUVERS(Showing NEW changes only, rest of the power works the same)
-Duration: 20secs up from 12secs
-Recharge: 20secs up from 15secs
-Effects: Rank 1: +15% Dodge/+10% Avoidance
Rank 2: +22.5% Dodge/+15% Avoidance
Rank 3: +30% Dodge/+20% Avoidance
Bonuses have 5% of their effect reduced every 1 sec. 20secs=100% reduction
-This power no longer stacks. Instead, you can use it to re-apply/refresh the Effects.
Advantage: Slight of Mind
-Removed
*Notes: Currently on Live EM is very much abused. Mainly because of it's Advantage, and the ability to reduce the cooldown to around 5 seconds. This means your able to spam stealth far to often and double stack the Dodge Bonus from base power. These improvements utilize what you were trying to do with Fluidity by adding them to a power that works thematically for them(Basically you backflip away making yourself harder to hit, you lose the effect overtime because it's not like your continuously flipping away. Makes complete sense.)
Increasing the Duration/Recharge to 20secs does two things. Allows the Dodge/Avoidance to reduce in effectiveness a little slower that what Fluidity uses now, and also keeps the EM from being over spammable. This power is found in Archery, Archery uses INT(which reduces cooldowns) as one if it's main stats(if not main stat.) So with High INT and Cooldown Gear you should be able to reduce that 20secs to a more manageable 8secs or so. Which allows you to refresh your buff sooner, thus keeping your Dodge/Avoidance from dropping to low.
Why did I suggest removing the Slight of Mind advantage though? Well besides the fact that I feel the power will be useful enough now without an advantage, the answer to this question can be found in my next suggestion. This time I'd like to suggest fixing a power that's broken by its COMPLETE INEFFECTIVENESS! That power being...
EGO PLACATE(Showing NEW changes only, rest of the power works the same)
-Recharge: 15secs up from No Recharge
-100% Threat Wipe to Target
Advantage: Slight Of Mind(even the name of this Adv fits this power better)
-50% Change to wipe all threat from yourself
-Places you in Stealth for 3 seconds.
*Notes: These changes are added on to what is already in the power now. You will now have 3 Ranks and 2 Advantages to this power all of which cost 2pts. The recharge was added to this power so that the stealth doesn't become overly abusive in PvP. Gave it the same recharge time that EM allows this Advantage to be used at now.
This one really is a no brainer, this change should have been made LONG ago. Ego Placate currently has NO effective use whatsoever, this simple change would make it MORE useful in PvE AND give it an actual use in PvP as well.
EDIT:
The changes I suggest to Evasive Maneuvers also help Melee stay more defensive than Ranged(which is how it should be.) Melee dodgers will be able to select a Dodge passive/Evasive maneuvers/Swinging Adv/Parry Adv. Ranged will have Dodge Passive/Evasive Maneuvers/Swinging Adv.
LoL, I don't really see a 10% damage debuff as all that effective myself. And DEFINITELY not effective enough to be the ONLY thing the power CAN be used for in PvP. AND you have to spend 2 pts just to get that debuff.
The good news for you is that I indeed want to keep that debuff as an advantage to the power so it retains that... effectiveness.
Slight of Mind gives you another option to use this power in PvP. And if you put 4pts into the power to get BOTH advantages then it becomes a truly useful power, but at significant cost.
We're basically replacing player options from being OP based on their gear choices, to becoming exclusively OP because they have a specific set of gear. We're pigeon-holing players by removing the options of favoring ridiculous crit chance or supreme dodge. Now its becoming a thing where everyone focuses entirely on the Offense Defense dynamic where they just boost each other to insane levels.
What's the point of diversified gear anymore? This will effectively make the whole On Alert revamp on gear pointless. Might as well make everything based on what powers you chose, their ranks and advantages, and what 5 devices you favor.
Crafting is officially dead. Gear diversity is dead. Push these changes to live, Cryptic. Because if you do, down the line you'll have to remove gear anyways because everyone will have the same combination and it will only get in the way of "balancing content for everyone".
You shouldn't just make a certain supreme, bland set of gear the only option for endgame, unless your intention is to make difficulty easy to produce by the numbers instead of being innovative with content.
The poster formerly known as Lightwave!
There's an energy unlock for when you attempt to repel. So why have the repel?
That is not a problem with crit chance, that is a 'problem' with the strength specs. There is nothing wrong with unreliable damage or damage reduction to be better on average.
And strength is certainly not the only stat that has some pretty over to the top specs.
I think getting 30% crit chance just from gear, regardless of your stats and without even getting into the spec trees, is pretty crazy. The STR tree is pretty well balanced, giving you solid offensive or defensive choices. It's only with Justice gear's current crazy high stat boosts that Juggernaut hits 120% and over resistance levels, which then feeds into Offense, which still is no match for crits...but since you don't have to choose, why not still have both? That just doesn't seem like a fix to me.
The poster formerly known as Lightwave!
Just wanted to add this small bit...
If the suggestion for EM makes it to powerful, you can also try taking the Avoidance portion out of the base power and adding it as an Advantage. Maybe call it... BOUNDING RESILIENCE!
Going to guess we don't have any real moderation here still? Trolls still run the forum it appears.
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