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!
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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.
This message brought to you by the superhero:
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Break 20,000 perk points, check.
Complete all 5K perk points, stay tuned!
Can a dev please confirm whether those numbers are intentional? I don't have Rank 9s to check the numbers myself, but I'll take Bacon's word for it.
Compared to Rank 7 mods, Rank 9 mods on Live give only +4 stats... which has always been disappointingly low. But I was expecting something like a +10 difference, more in line with the rest of the mods' (admittedly uneven) rank progression. An overall stat difference of 60 for a full set seems like a reasonable gap.
A difference of +37 per mod sounds absurdly high, creating an overall gap of 222 stat points between Rank 7 in Heroic/Legion and Rank 9 in Justice. In terms of in-game currency, that's going to drive a much larger performance wedge between middle-class players and super-wealthy players.
If part of the purpose behind the legacy device and dodge nerfs is to limit the power of players who can afford the shiniest shinies, these new stat mod numbers seem counterintuitive.
Fluidity currently does not provide any damage resistance when blocking, removing even the base 200% resistance from a regular block. Is that intentional?
Oddly, getting the shiniest of shinies is kind of the point. Therefore there SHOULD be a large boost for getting the best of the best. Especially considering the amount of time and effort it takes to create a single R9, much less a full set.
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Well, bottom line here since we have the naysayers on one side and the fanboys on the other side (I'm not saying which is which.. I'm not judging)...
If we don't slow Cryptic's roll on these nerfs, they will run rampant. So, even if you believe a change is good, I'd recommend doing a little gut check when you want to troll the folks that believe that it's bad and listen to what they have to say.
You never know which of YOUR powers will be next on the chopping block.
And, for those that can't see the obvious: This is just the beginning.
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Oddly, getting the shiniest of shinies is kind of the point. Therefore there SHOULD be a large boost for getting the best of the best. Especially considering the amount of time and effort it takes to create a single R9, much less a full set.
I definitely respect the effort it takes to get the best of the best, and I do agree that there should be a noticeable benefit for doing so. I guess it's a matter of degrees: How much better should someone with an infinite bank account be compared to a casual player?
In my opinion, the way Legion gear (expensive) outperformed Heroic gear (affordable) was a reasonable difference. The way that modded Justice gear (new expensive) outperforms Heroic gear (affordable) seems like too significant of a gap with the new PTS mechanics. Though the price-to-performance ratio would depend on how the devs plan to implement Justice gear, and how a new gear set would impact the price and availability of Legion gear.
I think my original post focused too much on mod ranks, and not enough on the Justice gear mod-boost. Sorry if that was confusing.
I definitely respect the effort it takes to get the best of the best, and I do agree that there should be a noticeable benefit for doing so. I guess it's a matter of degrees: How much better should someone with an infinite bank account be compared to a casual player?
In my opinion, the way Legion gear (expensive) outperformed Heroic gear (affordable) was a reasonable difference. The way that modded Justice gear (new expensive) outperforms Heroic gear (affordable) seems like too significant of a gap with the new PTS mechanics. Though the price-to-performance ratio would depend on how the devs plan to implement Justice gear, and how a new gear set would impact the price and availability of Legion gear.
I think my original post focused too much on mod ranks, and not enough on the Justice gear mod-boost. Sorry if that was confusing.
If the Justice Gear is Questionite bought, I think the difference won't be that bad. We can then decide to work towards it or buy it outright. For those with free zen stipends, they can also convert to Questionite to speed it up.
Lockboxes...:/
Not sure I think R9 mods should do better in Justice Gear than any other gear, but a more noticable difference between R7 and R9 I do agree with. But I was only thinking R7 equals 62...R8 = 64...R9 = 66...which is terrible. I was thinking more R8 = 67/R9 = 72.
Hey guys, before anyone else gets jealous of R9 mods adding +99 stats, note that all ranks were buffed. An R7 gives 92 in Justice Gear. And cores are buffed up similarly.
What does this mean? Legion Gear is worthless. I've sold all my extras I had planned for new toons.
And don't fool yourselves, Justice Gear will be in lockboxes. Bait and switch online style so welcome to CO = Cows Online for the milking.
Hey guys, before anyone else gets jealous of R9 mods adding +99 stats, note that all ranks were buffed. An R7 gives 92 in Justice Gear. And cores are buffed up similarly.
What does this mean? Legion Gear is worthless. I've sold all my extras I had planned for new toons.
And don't fool yourselves, Justice Gear will be in lockboxes. Bait and switch online style so welcome to CO = Cows Online for the milking.
Feel so bad for someone who got Legion Gears from [Champions Online 4th Anniversary Lockbox].
The irony is, that's almost all (if not all) of us, yet there are folks who have no issue.
As a min maxer that still manages to spend just about as much time on ATs, some of the logic here seems... "lacking".
Freedom - undesired stat because it hasn't appeared to have worked since alert went live.
Growth - undesired stat because it offers no mitigation and not much over 44 con worth of hp,
Defense - undesired stat because of its lack of impact, a little extra defense barely adds any mitigation
Elusive-Agility - most desired because its impact is so much more blatant. Something that's been the case since On-Alert was released.
Offense - additive damage, usually well into DR having minimal impact
Precision - On-Alert allowed decent crit chance for everyone thanks to these. Not every setup can invest into dex heavily, particularly ATs whose supers are predefined. While that itself doesn't prevent the adding of dex, when you have multiple stats to balance aside from your superstats, critical strike became a welcome addition. Another factor has been that critical chance is a multiplicative boost, whereas anything else short of role (afaik) is additive.
Piercing - crit sev. Spec tree choices dictate crit sev, and its no surprise that str, dex and ego are more popular than any other trees for that reason. For those who can't or choose not to utilize those trees (like ATs) this is often your only source of boosting sev.
Growth - a minor stat boost can't compete with the potential of crit strike or bonus healing.
Healing - bonus healing is great, but freeforms in general are very likely to be self-sufficient. I wouldn't bother with these outside of a legion since the crit chance simply goes farther in both damage and critical heals, something I came to realize in running both a mind and rad to 40.
Efficiency - more of a niche item, to help compensate for expensive maintains/toggles. Otherwise, it only makes sense to invest in cd redux more.
Utility - a nice blend of the two extremes, I have several of these in legion form because they were at least half the cost of speed. Convenient and slightly more versatile than efficiency or speed.
Speed - the most popular utility. Before on-alert, we needed to stat heavy int to get any cost/cd redux. Speed not only supplements int setups, but allows those that cannot (ie most ATs) a huge bonus to cd redux. Sometimes I think people forget that active defenses once could take as long as a minute and a half to recharge.
Now, perhaps I'm biased, but it's pretty clear why certain stats are in more demand than others. If we're looking to diversify equipment - you'd need to address their weaknesses far more than the few that stand out.
If you nerf dodge/avoid to near uselessness as gear goes, the players that stay will simply gravitate towards defense since mitigation goes farther than a minor health increase, and CC protection will continue to hold no value until people actually can see it working.
If you nerf crit chance/sev, its the ATs who get punished most severely as their options are already limited and rely on equipment bonuses to help fill in gaps as needed. It also won't suddenly make any of the current options any more appealing short of making critical strike useless. Making something useless doesn't diversify, it simply forces players to choose the best of what's left.
Quick question about Lightning Reflexes: Do Superstats no longer have any influence on effectiveness? Thanks, I skimmed the thread but did not see this mentioned.
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I haven't got the latest patch on test yet, but I'm guessing that the Dodge now functions like the Avoid always has; a fixed base amount, plus a rating that scales with superstats.
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Quick question about Lightning Reflexes: Do Superstats no longer have any influence on effectiveness? Thanks, I skimmed the thread but did not see this mentioned.
The Avoidance Rating bonus and DoT resistance still scale with superstats. But the Dodge bonus is now a flat bonus, unaffected by superstats.
When I first heard the devs were tweaking crit chance, I expected them to hamstring Nimble Mind's scaling to stop it being "the new Imbue". That seems much more abusable than the diminishing returns curve.
On a related note, the amped-up stat bonuses from Justice gear make it much easier to reach 100% crit chance with Nimble Mind.
When I first heard the devs were tweaking crit chance, I expected them to hamstring Nimble Mind's scaling to stop it being "the new Imbue". That seems much more abusable than the diminishing returns curve.
On a related note, the amped-up stat bonuses from Justice gear make it much easier to reach 100% crit chance with Nimble Mind.
Well that would be limited to how much cooldown reduction you can get.
As for crit chance, with 35% Crit chance, things that trigger off crit still seem to do okay. Stacking forms and Killer Instinct aren't that ruined. Damage you will notice the hit too as you see less crits pop up.
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.
Right lets look at a few things:
Ego Placate is a CROWD CONTROL POWER at it's core level.
Ego Placate is a "Placate" which works on the following: Henchmen, Villains, Enforcers and Master Villains.
Ego Placate has an advantage "SVENGALI'S GUILE" which removes 10% of target's defenses, so your attacks (and everyone else's) deals a real 10% more damage.
Svengali's Guile works on EVERYTHING, including players and Cosmics, so when you apply Ego Placate with Svengali's Guile to a target what happens?
Gravitar + Ego Placate (+SG advantage) = 10% damage reduction (from CC effects not working on Anything over Super Villain) 10% defense penetration (from Svengali's Guile)
Adding a % chance to place in stealth is a flat out bad idea for this power. Why? Because it works fine as it is.
Crowd Control in CO is VERY limited in terms of what it can affect. Ego Placate is an example of this.
It has plenty of use in PvP/E if you use it correctly.
For example: Go and run PSS INT with Detect Vulnerability and Concentration or Manipulator form and grab something fairly damaging which deals crushing damage and then go and grab Demolish + Advantage Below The Belt. Apply Ego Placate + SG Advantage + Demolish + 8 stacks of your chosen form and hit target with a crushing damage (purely crushing damage because of Demolish, you can exclude demolish and still get good results) and see if Ego Placate's affect is not "effective".
In it's current form it is a spammable debuff which allows you to consistently increase the DPS of your team on a target (like a boss) without slowing your DPS too much, the advantage can always be re-applied instantly.
Such a proposed change would only serve to make this power useless. Anyway, a change to a CROWD CONTROL power would cause me to ask for a CROWD CONTROL review, which we all know would be a messy area to delve into.
yes, but the 35% you are getting is with 2 gambler gems in legion gear.... NOT EVERYONE HAS THAT.
I know that! Why do you keep bringing that up? The point of the game is still to build up your character. Is some player limited in building up their characters?
But because you keep saying that...with newly transfered to PST EGO/CON/INT spec, 2 Gamblers...39% Crit Chance. I took one out...35.8% Crit Chance. And Heroic Gear, last I knew, could take 1 Gambler.
the point was, until you build to that point, before you have heroic/legion gear, you may as well be screwed for crit chance.
So? Of course you are screwed, if you have lower gear you should not be as effective. It is like that in every game.
I am in support of all these changes now. I have spent hundreds of dollars on keys to get lock boxes so i could get Legion gear and mods for my toons and I have no problem anymore with what they want. The new Justice gears seems really good to me and I welcome them.
the point was, until you build to that point, before you have heroic/legion gear, you may as well be screwed for crit chance.
So, you mean like I already was as I leveled up before any PTS change? Also, you can grab a 1 slot gear, put a LG in it, and remove it as you get better gear.
Well that would be limited to how much cooldown reduction you can get.
That's a good point. I realize that balance decisions are probably made around the general population, rather than a niche group of power-builders. I guess I was hoping that the new changes would tone down some of the super-powerful synergies, rather than exacerbate them. For example:
The above numbers are achieved without any glitches or exploits; just the working-as-intended scaling for Nimble Mind and recharge reduction, and Justice gear's mod boosts. It can be achieved with multiple superstat combinations, and any passive.
Even if only a handful of players build for it, 100% crit half the time seems worthy of re-balancing... not unlike a certain cologne.
Not at all. I leveled up without a single Gambler's slotted in gear and no crit gear, just fine (I use the Heirloom +XP Gear I have and whatever random Secondary gear that drops).
Leveled just fine on all of my characters. I don't even worry about what my crit rate is until I'm level 40, then I work on the gear (most of the time just sticking with heroic...so far only my main...though I do have another I want to get it on...has Legion Gear).
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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.
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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.
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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)
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This! So Much This!
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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.
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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.
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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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Oddly, getting the shiniest of shinies is kind of the point. Therefore there SHOULD be a large boost for getting the best of the best. Especially considering the amount of time and effort it takes to create a single R9, much less a full set.
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If we don't slow Cryptic's roll on these nerfs, they will run rampant. So, even if you believe a change is good, I'd recommend doing a little gut check when you want to troll the folks that believe that it's bad and listen to what they have to say.
You never know which of YOUR powers will be next on the chopping block.
And, for those that can't see the obvious: This is just the beginning.
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I definitely respect the effort it takes to get the best of the best, and I do agree that there should be a noticeable benefit for doing so. I guess it's a matter of degrees: How much better should someone with an infinite bank account be compared to a casual player?
In my opinion, the way Legion gear (expensive) outperformed Heroic gear (affordable) was a reasonable difference. The way that modded Justice gear (new expensive) outperforms Heroic gear (affordable) seems like too significant of a gap with the new PTS mechanics. Though the price-to-performance ratio would depend on how the devs plan to implement Justice gear, and how a new gear set would impact the price and availability of Legion gear.
I think my original post focused too much on mod ranks, and not enough on the Justice gear mod-boost. Sorry if that was confusing.
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If the Justice Gear is Questionite bought, I think the difference won't be that bad. We can then decide to work towards it or buy it outright. For those with free zen stipends, they can also convert to Questionite to speed it up.
Lockboxes...:/
Not sure I think R9 mods should do better in Justice Gear than any other gear, but a more noticable difference between R7 and R9 I do agree with. But I was only thinking R7 equals 62...R8 = 64...R9 = 66...which is terrible. I was thinking more R8 = 67/R9 = 72.
Plus 5 over plus 2.
What does this mean? Legion Gear is worthless. I've sold all my extras I had planned for new toons.
And don't fool yourselves, Justice Gear will be in lockboxes. Bait and switch online style so welcome to CO = Cows Online for the milking.
Feel so bad for someone who got Legion Gears from [Champions Online 4th Anniversary Lockbox].
I feel bad for anyone with Legion Gear period.
39.something% Crit Chance
+124 to DEX (with mods) added just under 4% Crit Chance.
Yes, this is with Crit Belt and Legion Crit Gloves with 2 LGs.
Also, 2 points in the Ego Tree's Secondary SS increase crit chance spec.
The irony is, that's almost all (if not all) of us, yet there are folks who have no issue.
As a min maxer that still manages to spend just about as much time on ATs, some of the logic here seems... "lacking".
Freedom - undesired stat because it hasn't appeared to have worked since alert went live.
Growth - undesired stat because it offers no mitigation and not much over 44 con worth of hp,
Defense - undesired stat because of its lack of impact, a little extra defense barely adds any mitigation
Elusive-Agility - most desired because its impact is so much more blatant. Something that's been the case since On-Alert was released.
Offense - additive damage, usually well into DR having minimal impact
Precision - On-Alert allowed decent crit chance for everyone thanks to these. Not every setup can invest into dex heavily, particularly ATs whose supers are predefined. While that itself doesn't prevent the adding of dex, when you have multiple stats to balance aside from your superstats, critical strike became a welcome addition. Another factor has been that critical chance is a multiplicative boost, whereas anything else short of role (afaik) is additive.
Piercing - crit sev. Spec tree choices dictate crit sev, and its no surprise that str, dex and ego are more popular than any other trees for that reason. For those who can't or choose not to utilize those trees (like ATs) this is often your only source of boosting sev.
Growth - a minor stat boost can't compete with the potential of crit strike or bonus healing.
Healing - bonus healing is great, but freeforms in general are very likely to be self-sufficient. I wouldn't bother with these outside of a legion since the crit chance simply goes farther in both damage and critical heals, something I came to realize in running both a mind and rad to 40.
Efficiency - more of a niche item, to help compensate for expensive maintains/toggles. Otherwise, it only makes sense to invest in cd redux more.
Utility - a nice blend of the two extremes, I have several of these in legion form because they were at least half the cost of speed. Convenient and slightly more versatile than efficiency or speed.
Speed - the most popular utility. Before on-alert, we needed to stat heavy int to get any cost/cd redux. Speed not only supplements int setups, but allows those that cannot (ie most ATs) a huge bonus to cd redux. Sometimes I think people forget that active defenses once could take as long as a minute and a half to recharge.
Now, perhaps I'm biased, but it's pretty clear why certain stats are in more demand than others. If we're looking to diversify equipment - you'd need to address their weaknesses far more than the few that stand out.
If you nerf dodge/avoid to near uselessness as gear goes, the players that stay will simply gravitate towards defense since mitigation goes farther than a minor health increase, and CC protection will continue to hold no value until people actually can see it working.
If you nerf crit chance/sev, its the ATs who get punished most severely as their options are already limited and rely on equipment bonuses to help fill in gaps as needed. It also won't suddenly make any of the current options any more appealing short of making critical strike useless. Making something useless doesn't diversify, it simply forces players to choose the best of what's left.
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The Avoidance Rating bonus and DoT resistance still scale with superstats. But the Dodge bonus is now a flat bonus, unaffected by superstats.
On a related note, the amped-up stat bonuses from Justice gear make it much easier to reach 100% crit chance with Nimble Mind.
Well that would be limited to how much cooldown reduction you can get.
As for crit chance, with 35% Crit chance, things that trigger off crit still seem to do okay. Stacking forms and Killer Instinct aren't that ruined. Damage you will notice the hit too as you see less crits pop up.
Right lets look at a few things:
Ego Placate is a CROWD CONTROL POWER at it's core level.
Ego Placate is a "Placate" which works on the following: Henchmen, Villains, Enforcers and Master Villains.
Ego Placate has an advantage "SVENGALI'S GUILE" which removes 10% of target's defenses, so your attacks (and everyone else's) deals a real 10% more damage.
Svengali's Guile works on EVERYTHING, including players and Cosmics, so when you apply Ego Placate with Svengali's Guile to a target what happens?
Gravitar + Ego Placate (+SG advantage) = 10% damage reduction (from CC effects not working on Anything over Super Villain) 10% defense penetration (from Svengali's Guile)
Adding a % chance to place in stealth is a flat out bad idea for this power. Why? Because it works fine as it is.
Crowd Control in CO is VERY limited in terms of what it can affect. Ego Placate is an example of this.
It has plenty of use in PvP/E if you use it correctly.
For example: Go and run PSS INT with Detect Vulnerability and Concentration or Manipulator form and grab something fairly damaging which deals crushing damage and then go and grab Demolish + Advantage Below The Belt. Apply Ego Placate + SG Advantage + Demolish + 8 stacks of your chosen form and hit target with a crushing damage (purely crushing damage because of Demolish, you can exclude demolish and still get good results) and see if Ego Placate's affect is not "effective".
In it's current form it is a spammable debuff which allows you to consistently increase the DPS of your team on a target (like a boss) without slowing your DPS too much, the advantage can always be re-applied instantly.
Such a proposed change would only serve to make this power useless. Anyway, a change to a CROWD CONTROL power would cause me to ask for a CROWD CONTROL review, which we all know would be a messy area to delve into.
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I know that! Why do you keep bringing that up? The point of the game is still to build up your character. Is some player limited in building up their characters?
But because you keep saying that...with newly transfered to PST EGO/CON/INT spec, 2 Gamblers...39% Crit Chance. I took one out...35.8% Crit Chance. And Heroic Gear, last I knew, could take 1 Gambler.
So? Of course you are screwed, if you have lower gear you should not be as effective. It is like that in every game.
I am in support of all these changes now. I have spent hundreds of dollars on keys to get lock boxes so i could get Legion gear and mods for my toons and I have no problem anymore with what they want. The new Justice gears seems really good to me and I welcome them.
So, you mean like I already was as I leveled up before any PTS change? Also, you can grab a 1 slot gear, put a LG in it, and remove it as you get better gear.
Gambler's Lucky Gem.
Now your just getting ridiculous.
That's a good point. I realize that balance decisions are probably made around the general population, rather than a niche group of power-builders. I guess I was hoping that the new changes would tone down some of the super-powerful synergies, rather than exacerbate them. For example:
The above numbers are achieved without any glitches or exploits; just the working-as-intended scaling for Nimble Mind and recharge reduction, and Justice gear's mod boosts. It can be achieved with multiple superstat combinations, and any passive.
Even if only a handful of players build for it, 100% crit half the time seems worthy of re-balancing... not unlike a certain cologne.
Not at all. I leveled up without a single Gambler's slotted in gear and no crit gear, just fine (I use the Heirloom +XP Gear I have and whatever random Secondary gear that drops).
Leveled just fine on all of my characters. I don't even worry about what my crit rate is until I'm level 40, then I work on the gear (most of the time just sticking with heroic...so far only my main...though I do have another I want to get it on...has Legion Gear).