FC.31.20130612.32 PTS Update

lordgar · August 2013

This build is scheduled to hit PTS at 11:15 pm, 8/21/13

Greetings!

We're updating PTS with this build to test stability, as well as the changes listed below:

Release Notes:

FATAL ERR0R: Cybermind:

Revised Cybermind Boss cutscene to show the Colored Buff dispenser zones.
Added a tooltip explanation to Cybermind's third phase empowerment buff.
The reward is now in Dr Silverback's Lab.
General cutscene polish.
Perks have been added: End of Line, Keyboard Cowboy.
SOCRATES now has a daily mission with an additional reward for completing the alert.

Telepathy:

Dependancy now properly heals allies again.
Empowered Mind Break (from Master of the Mind) now mentions that is only shatters Empowered Debuffs. This is just a tooltip change.
Some telepathy power short descriptions have been updated to better reflect the purpose of the powers.
Damage penetration on Congress of Selves should now properly affect all ticks of Damage over time powers.
Mental Weakness and Malaise now properly respect Manipulator stacks when calculating their duration.

Laser Sword:

Particle Smash now has FX.
All Laser Sword powers now have their proper icons.
Quantum Instability has been disabled for the live build because it needs more FX work.

Misc:

Custom Alerts now rotate every week instead of every other week.

Please format any bugs you find in the following format:
Bug
Where it happens
What happens

fudgemonsta · August 2013

All of this.

Is good.

sorceror01 · August 2013

lordgar wrote: »

Misc:
Custom Alerts now rotate every week instead of every other week.

Oh nice, every week? That's pretty good.

sistersilicon · August 2013

Isn't "End of Line" the 5,000 robot nemesis minion perk? (I'm at the office, so I can't check on my toon that has the 5k perk to confirm.)

fudgemonsta · August 2013

sistersilicon wrote: »

Isn't "End of Line" the 5,000 robot nemesis minion perk? (I'm at the office, so I can't check on my toon that has the 5k perk to confirm.)

http://www.champions-online-wiki.com/wiki/End_of_Line

1k, but pretty much the last one. The Nemesis minion ones require less for the total.

And yeah, it does seem to be. [Shrug.] Didn't know? Perhaps they thought 'End of Line' as in, end of the coding line. Cause digital and coding and whatnot.

lordgar · August 2013

sistersilicon wrote: »

Isn't "End of Line" the 5,000 robot nemesis minion perk? (I'm at the office, so I can't check on my toon that has the 5k perk to confirm.)

Nice catch! We're changing the new perk.

sistersilicon · August 2013

fudgemonsta wrote: »

http://www.champions-online-wiki.com/wiki/End_of_Line

1k, but pretty much the last one. The Nemesis minion ones require less for the total.

And yeah, it does seem to be. [Shrug.] Didn't know? Perhaps they thought 'End of Line' as in, end of the coding line. Cause digital and coding and whatnot.

It's another Tron reference. I guess they forgot that they already used some Tron phrases for the robot minions. The other two perks in that progression are "He's a User" and "Master Control Program".

LordGar, if you want to tie the whole series together, I humbly suggest "NO CARRIER". (Kids these days don't know from spit about modems or Hayes commands, so my brilliant idea of "+++ATH0" would go unappreciated. :biggrin:)

fudgemonsta · August 2013

sistersilicon wrote: »

It's another Tron reference. I guess they forgot that they already used some Tron phrases for the robot minions. The other two perks in that progression are "He's a User" and "Master Control Program".

Ahhh. Never actually watched or read Tron myself.

sistersilicon wrote: »

LordGar, if you want to tie the whole series together, I humbly suggest "NO CARRIER". (Kids these days don't know from spit about modems or Hayes commands, so my brilliant idea of "+++ATH0" would go unappreciated. :biggrin:)

/appreciatesasakid

cascadence · August 2013

Hold on... are you pushing the laser sword powers live?? or what did you mean with "live build" on the PTS patch notes bit concerning laser sword powers?

Because honestly I just tested them out and they are still quite lacking, at least on the tooltip area, they def don't represent what the powers are actually doing. On everything else.... I am sure more versed players can elaborate. But hey at least particle smash FX is nice (at rank 3 of course, rank 1 looks a bit sad =p )

sethgamer · August 2013

I enjoy the new Particle Smash VFX, at least the rank 3 version. It looks pretty nice and hey, its essentially a ranged melee attack which is always cool.

Here's the -BIGGEST- issue I have with the current laser sword build though; it still feels very clunky.

I think the majority of people talking about this have already made the suggestion to combined Laser Sword and Particle Accelerator, and have each third hit apply plasma burn to the target and Accelerator to you, so we can not only cut down on the number of powers to make it more reasonable, but actually make Laser Sword (The power) useful again. Accelerator just feels like it would perform better as a combo attack and not a repetitive tap power.

I would also recommend this because it would make the whole powerset more consistent on applications of Accelerator, since you essentially can only make this powerset viable against large groups of mobs and not against single bosses.

I think if the P.Accelerator got combined with Laser Sword, and maybe even throw in some brand new animations for the powerset itself, then I think it would be far more well received on Live launch.

Also, just make L. Sword its own tab in the Tech Tree, I think at this point it doesn't really belong with Power Armor anymore; PA is getting far too crowded anyway. :P

sorceror01 · August 2013

sethgamer wrote: »

Also, just make L. Sword its own tab in the Tech Tree, I think at this point it doesn't really belong with Power Armor anymore; PA is getting far too crowded anyway. :P

No way! I want more PA powers!

... of course, I want more powers in general (which I think our gracious LordGar is all too happy to provide for us as quickly as he can conjure them up).

In any case, yeah, I am guessing that the new Laser Sword powers probably shouldn't go Live just yet (they probably won't anyways), but it sounds like they're being geared up for a release in the very immediate future. Like, what, next week? I dunno, I'm just getting that vibe.

Anyways, quick question: Are the Cybermind rewards hooked up yet? I am very curious to sneak a peek at what the costume pieces are. I mean, I guess I can assume that "Cybermind costume pieces" would be essentially his unique vest, helmet, and tubed gauntlets, but all that just seems too good to be true, haha. Anyone snagged any of these yet? Or can a dev maybe chime in and confirm or deny that those are, in fact, the pieces that are gonna drop?

fudgemonsta · August 2013

sorceror01 wrote: »

No way! I want more PA powers!

... of course, I want more powers in general (which I think our gracious Gentleman Crush is all too happy to provide for us as quickly as he can conjure them up).

Fixedededed.

sorceror01 wrote: »

Anyways, quick question: Are the Cybermind rewards hooked up yet? I am very curious to sneak a peek at what the costume pieces are. I mean, I guess I can assume that "Cybermind costume pieces" would be essentially his unique vest, helmet, and tubed gauntlets, but all that just seems too good to be true, haha. Anyone snagged any of these yet? Or can a dev maybe chime in and confirm or deny that those are, in fact, the pieces that are gonna drop?

They are hooked up currently, last I saw. I did a run with Kaiserin during the last patch, and they got the bracers, so it's likely that the other pieces are rigged up too.

theravenforce · August 2013

lordgar wrote: »

This build is scheduled to hit PTS at 11:15 pm, 8/21/13

Greetings!

We're updating PTS with this build to test stability, as well as the changes listed below:

Release Notes:

Telepathy:
Dependancy now properly heals allies again.

Empowered Mind Break (from Master of the Mind) now mentions that is only shatters Empowered Debuffs. This is just a tooltip change.

Some telepathy power short descriptions have been updated to better reflect the purpose of the powers.

Damage penetration on Congress of Selves should now properly affect all ticks of Damage over time powers.

Mental Weakness and Malaise now properly respect Manipulator stacks when calculating their duration.

Please format any bugs you find in the following format:
Bug
Where it happens
What happens

This. Contains so much win I cannot even breathe right now. Please allow me to regain consciousness before testing.

sorceror01 · August 2013

fudgemonsta wrote: »

Fixedededed.

Ahhh that's right. Got my devs mixed up, haha. Thanks!

fudgemonsta wrote: »

They are hooked up currently, last I saw. I did a run with Kaiserin during the last patch, and they got the bracers, so it's likely that the other pieces are rigged up too.

That is GREAT NEWS, though I wouldn't also mind a picture, too!

underchicken · August 2013

lordgar wrote: »

This build is scheduled to hit PTS at 11:15 pm, 8/21/13

Greetings!

We're updating PTS with this build to test stability, as well as the changes listed below:

Laser Sword:
Particle Smash now has FX.

All Laser Sword powers now have their proper icons.

Quantum Instability has been disabled for the live build because it needs more FX work.

:mad: W T F :mad:

Ok, let me calm down and try to give some proper feedback. HERE WE GO!

NEW PARTICLE SMASH FX!!!
WHAT? WHY? WHO thought this was a good idea? A TRON DISK.... REALLY? First of all, WE DON'T NEED MORE TRON JUNK IN THIS GAME!!! Second of all why the hell would you completely ruin ALL laser sword concepts by taking the actual LASER SWORD away from the hardest hitting attack in the set? My mind is officially blown over this one guys! CONCEPT BUILDS are a thing! I hate it, I despise it, I pray for it to be swept under the rug and never talked about again. If you WANT TO use this Tron Disk THAT BAD, why don't you just make it a Device Drop from the Alert.

So... in conclusion to my feedback on Particle Smash. GIVE US BACK OUR LASER SWORD!!!

NEW ICONS look fine enough, EXCEPT FOR F'ING PARTICLE SMASH(see above^)
I believe you gave Particle Accelerator the same Icon as Lightwave Slash, but this doesn't matter because you need to completely remove Particle Accelerator as a power anyway and instead combine it with the Laser Sword Power.

WHAT DID YOU MEAN BY "LIVE BUILD" EXACTLY?
If you do in fact mean that the New Laser Sword powers will be rushed out to Live in this half finished state(just like the New Telepathy powers where) then I will completely give up on you guys.
NOBODY is asking for you to rush these new powers, we WANT you to take your time with them and get them where they feel right! PLEASE! Don't let us down. We want something that we will try out and LOVE playing for a long time, not something we will try out and soon realize is barely functional and give up on it in a few days. If things get released like they are now, I'm not even going to bother to retcon my Laser Sword character. I mean what's the point?

THINGS THAT NEED TO BE WORKED ON BEFORE GOING TO LIVE!!!
I'm just going to list my suggestion from yesterday again because that's what I believe needs to happen to make these new Powers Complete.

1) Power: Quantum Stability(RENAME to Plasma Drive)
-Give this power better defenses for melee users! Either Resist All Damage or Damage Absorption or something. ONLY Particle Dam Resist doesn't cut it for a melee passive!
-Keep Instability Stacking system.
-Quantum Instability AoE/Buff(RENAME to Plasma Discharge) Change this power from a Summon AoE/Buff to a PBAoE Buff. This makes it better for melee users and allows you to take full advantage of the short duration buff. (USE PLASMA BALL FX)
-NEW Advantage: Explosive Discharge. Your Plasma Discharge now Explodes from you with much greater force. This first strike of Plasma Discharge now does 3-4x the amount of the normal amount. Because of the added stress to your Plasma Drive you are unable to gain stacks of Instability for 10-15seconds after the effects wear off.

2) Power: Laser Sword(Reworked to include Particle Accelerator into it.)
-Change to a 3 strike Combo Attack.
-Each strike of the combo has a 25% chance to apply Plasma Burn to the target. Plasma Burns are refreshed when applying new applications.
-The 3rd strike of the combo grants Acceleration. You can not have more than 1 stack of Acceleration, but the stack can be refreshed.
-1pt Advantage: Accelerated Metabolism.
-2pt Advantage: Particle Accelerator.
-2pt Advantage: (Needs Name.) Turns your Laser Sword into a 90degree Cone, 5 Targets Max. All Targets have a 25% chance to have Plasma Burn applied to them each strike. If also using the Particle Accelerator Advantage, the debuff is only applied to the primary target.

3) Power: Particle Smash
-Return this powers function to how it was before you went all TRON crazy with it. Which means returning the Laser Sword and making it a melee power again.
-ANIMATION CHANGE!!! I would like to request we use 1 of 2 animations.
1) Use the AoE animation where you jam the end of your blade into the ground sending out a shockwave of Plasma Energy.
2) Use the Reapers Embrace(From Single Blade Set) animation and change the cone to 10degrees.

4) Power: Unified Theory(Would LOVE to see a rename on this power also, just because it just sounds STRANGE -_-)
-This power remains exactly how it is now also!!! Except for one small addition that will help in a big way!
-Instead of having the Unified(whatever they're called) Stacks doing nothing for the set other then to buff Particle Smash. Let's have them buff act as a REAL BUFF, and also help increase Particle Smash's effectiveness.
-NEW Unified Stacks now increase your Critical Chance by 5% and Critical Severity by 2% per stack! This allow's for an total increase of 15% Critical Chance and 6% Severity. What does this do? Well....
1) It now buffs your overall damage output.
2) It gives players a choice to try to maintain the extra power OR unleash it with a big Particle Smash that will force them to spend time regaining that power.
3) It sticks to the Particle Ramping Up Damage Theme the game has in place. A good example would be how Particle Rifle increases your Critical Chance/Severity as it is maintained.
4) It is difficult to abuse, if not impossible. A lot of people would take a power if it increased Crits, but the fact that this power requires the use of Accelerator and takes a good amount of time to fully build up should hinder people from using it with outside powers. At most, you'd be seeing some slightly better hybrid builds with Particle Rifles and Ranged Power Armor attacks.
-ANIMATION CHANGE!!! I would like to see the animation changed to Dragon's Bite(from Single Blade Set)

underchicken · August 2013

I noticed Socrates hasn't seen any new improvements yet, is her NEW LOOK gonna be ready for Friday?

theravenforce · August 2013

Some telepathy power short descriptions have been updated to better reflect the purpose of the powers.

^ In the whole this is working GREAT! Only one tiny tiny bug to fix here:

Shadow of Doubt

-The second part of the power description is also wrong:

"When Mental Storm expires it applies Regret to the target."

This should be changed to:

"When Shadow of Doubt expires it applies Regret to the target."

Apart from this line of incorrect text everything is fixed tooltip wise!

Damage penetration on Congress of Selves should now properly affect all ticks of Damage over time powers.

^ Works wonderfully, I am so happy this has been fixed especially!

Mental Weakness and Malaise now properly respect Manipulator stacks when calculating their duration.

^ Another round of full win here, the durations are great!

Dependency Stacks should now properly heal allies

^ On top of this working great. It no longer heals foes in PvP!

fudgemonsta · August 2013

sorceror01 wrote: »

Ahhh that's right. Got my devs mixed up, haha. Thanks!

That is GREAT NEWS, though I wouldn't also mind a picture, too!

No problem. Love ya LordGar but you didn't make the swordy bits, as far as I know.

I'll see what I can do about a picture, although the Cybermind picture has the parts right there to see.

theravenforce · August 2013

fudgemonsta wrote: »

No problem. Love ya LordGar but you didn't make the swordy bits, as far as I know.

I'll see what I can do about a picture, although the Cybermind picture has the parts right there to see.

theravenforce wrote: »

His Helmet, Bracers and Chest Piece (Red) are the costume pieces up for grabs in this alert. Along side his little cute AF. Not sure about tights though..

Cybermind (and my own speculations of what may be included as costume drops)

I was thinking that VIRUS Process Costume (with binary aura) may be included

fudgemonsta · August 2013

underchicken wrote: »

I noticed Socrates hasn't seen any new improvements yet, is her NEW LOOK gonna be ready for Friday?

Why do you expect a new look? The current one is fine, really. Seems more organic then before, and the pose is back.

underchicken · August 2013

fudgemonsta wrote: »

Why do you expect a new look? The current one is fine, really. Seems more organic then before, and the pose is back.

Well, because I was told it wasn't quite finished.

And I gave some feedback on a few improvements that could be made to the overall look. So... /shrug.

I don't really know if she'll be getting further improvements or not.

underchicken · August 2013

The more I think about it the more I like it the idea...

Take that TRON DISC power and turn it into a Device that drops in the New Alert! Why?

1) It's a one off gimic power. Has Device written all over it! Just like the Lasso.

2) If you make a TRON DISC power then people will only cry for MOAR Tron Disc powers! I think LASER SWORD is a fine example there, or even Boomerangs.

3) Sticking this TRON DISC Fx on a Laser Sword power completely ruins the concept of a Laser Sword build! Not EVERY Laser Sword user is a TRON clone! I sure as hell don't want to be FORCED into using a TRON DISC.

4) If it's a Device you can push it out with the alert and gain the MUCH NEEDED time to keep working out the kinks/animations/fx/numbers of the New Laser Sword powers.

sorceror01 · August 2013

I kinda like the sound of this power staying an actual power, though, and NOT a device.

Maybe reclassify it as a general PA power, though.

But for the love of Glob, don't take it off the Player's power list.

theravenforce · August 2013

This is just my personal opinion:

I like the look of all the attacks.

Particle Smash's new FX look very groovy.

Damage wise: I think it is a respectably high amount of damage, no need for any changes I reckon, considering the build up.

Build: Sista Sonique - DEX/CON/INT - Melee DPS Role - Electric Form - FoTT

DEX : 335

CON : 183

INT : 183

Gear: Nemesis Heirloom Gear.

Severity : 112.8%

Targets: Training Dummies (lvl 40)

Notes: Built up 3 stacks of Unified Theory and 8 stacks of Form of the Tempest. I then Gained Perfect Understanding Buff and threw my Particle Disc Smash at them:

Non Crit = Your Particle Smash deals 9964 (10641) Particle Damage to Test Dummy.

Critical Hit = Your Particle Smash deals 21509 (20485) Particle Damage to Test Dummy.

I am glad to see Unified has taken a bow in damage so that Particle Smash can be the heavy hitter. (With this build Unified Theory hits for 2-3.4k non crit and 4-5.1k crit hits)

Overall: Pretty good, cannot wait to use these powers. (I love the icons for them as well, I hope this means New Telepathy will get icons to differentiate them from other telepathic and telekinetic powers! As well as SFX.)

EDIT: I forgot to add. Themeatically speaking Particle Smash, doesn't really fit with Laser Sword Melee. I was thinking however it could just be another ranged Particle Damage power? This could allow for synergy between Melee and Ranged Particle users.

underchicken · August 2013

sorceror01 wrote: »

I kinda like the sound of this power staying an actual power, though, and NOT a device.

Maybe reclassify it as a general PA power, though.

But for the love of Glob, don't take it off the Player's power list.

I wouldn't mind at all if they reclassify the TRON DISC as long as it doesn't interact with Laser Sword powers DIRECTLY!!

I mearly suggested it become a Device so that they could push the Disc out with this upcoming live patch. Because I'm sure that's what they are wanting to do.

You could even add the Disc throw to some of the tougher processes to make it fit better as a drop in the Alert.

lordgar · August 2013

We're updating PTS to FC.31.20130612.34 with the following changes:

Laser Sword tooltips are now more accurate.
The new perk "End of Line" has been renamed to "Alphanumeric!"
We've done some polish work on the Cybermind cut scenes.

kaiserin · August 2013

lordgar wrote: »

The new perk "End of Line" has been renamed to "Alphanumeric!"

-wipes a tear of joy from her eye-

thebuckeye · August 2013

lordgar wrote: »

The new perk "End of Line" has been renamed to "Alphanumeric!"

kaizerin wrote: »

-wipes a tear of joy from her eye-

Oh Enzo Matrix how we hardly knew ye :biggrin:

theravenforce · August 2013

How many New Perks are there associated with FATAL ERR0R's Viruses and Cyberlord's Robots?

theravenforce · August 2013

Err0r: Cybermind Alert has not been enabled...

crypticbuxom · August 2013

Custom Alerts on a weekly rotation. That makes me so happy.

Eventually you guys will have to make them change daily. Unless a new form of released content standards is put into place aside from Alerts.

underchicken · August 2013

New TRON powers are being pushed to live with the patch? *facepalm* I refuse to call them new Laser Sword powers as you can't use any of these new powers with a full Laser sword concept anymore. There's no point in taking Accelerator or Unified if your not taking Smash(and now Smash doesn't use a laser sword.)

Sooo... Bring on the next failure for us to give unwanted feedback for!:mad:

blademaster5121 · August 2013

I just got to testing the Laser Sword powers for the first time. Yeah. First Time. I know I know, it would've been helpful if I was helping with the testing but I wanted to try the near final version. I can tell you it met my expectations. My expectation were bad though, so that's not good.

Firstly, shame on you for making Particle Accelerator look so boring! I mean really....that's pretty sad, in fact that's barely worthy of being called a power. Other than the issue I have with removing Earth Form 2.0-- I mean Quantum Stability, I have Two major problems.

1) Particle Smash. Its a tap cooldown power. It does about 8k taps on crit and (for me) about 12 seconds to recharge. With 3 unified theory stacks it does up to 25k damage with Electric Form (Note I couldn't use Quantum Stability). Oh, and it has a 35 foot AoE. Not for nothing, but this is the cherry pick power of the day. I don't need any of the Laser Sword powers to make this useful. Not saying it should be weaker without Unified Theory. Because I like it the way it is. But really now. Why is it a Tap power? There's an issue with the fact that all other good damage powers require a charge up, although they don't have Cooldowns (Except Gigabolt

) Thats irrelevant to the point. Tap damage attacks aren't smart. Also OH MY GOD I HATE THAT ANIMATION. THIS IS LASER SWORDS NOT TRON LEGACY RIPOFFS. MAKE A LASER SWORD SET AND NOT A TRON SET FOR ****'S SAKE.

2) Unified Theory. It is the worst power in the set. How could I say that? It makes Particle Smash more than double its damage. I'll tell you why. Because its a completely railroaded, gutted power. You have absolutely no choice to take Particle Accelerator with this power or its absolutely useless. Not for nothing, but isn't an 8 second charge excessive? Why can't it just be a 2 second charge? At least then its MILDLY REASONABLE to use without Particle Smash. What happened to "Be the hero you want to be"? I would like an advantage for it that increases its damage significantly but removes prevents it from granting Unified Theory stacks, then at least it could be good as its own power if someone wanted to use it without Smash and accelerator. Again, It still needs a shorter charge time. Particle Accelerator doesn't justify that. Nothing does.

Beyond these two major issues I have another complaint. Why is Particle Accelerator its own power? It does nearly the same damage as Laser Sword but with an uglier animation. No combo (which means it doesn't benefit from combo bonuses through specs) and a slightly cheaper energy cost. Can you just remove this power and toss the buff application in with Laser Sword? Its not like Laser Sword has anything worthwhile other than slightly higher damage, don't argue the case of Plasma Burns. Those are crap.

Unknown · August 2013

This content has been removed.

itsbrou · August 2013

Love it. Acceleration needs FX so we don't have to stare at our buff bars.

theravenforce · August 2013

blademaster5121 wrote: »

I just got to testing the Laser Sword powers for the first time. Yeah. First Time. I know I know, it would've been helpful if I was helping with the testing but I wanted to try the near final version. I can tell you it met my expectations. My expectation were bad though, so that's not good.

Firstly, shame on you for making Particle Accelerator look so boring! I mean really....that's pretty sad, in fact that's barely worthy of being called a power. Other than the issue I have with removing Earth Form 2.0-- I mean Quantum Stability, I have Two major problems.

Agreed with the Particle Accelerator power, I was hoping it would have Single Blade FX (Reapers Caress type).

1) Particle Smash. Its a tap cooldown power. It does about 8k taps on crit and (for me) about 12 seconds to recharge. With 3 unified theory stacks it does up to 25k damage with Electric Form (Note I couldn't use Quantum Stability). Oh, and it has a 35 foot AoE. Not for nothing, but this is the cherry pick power of the day. I don't need any of the Laser Sword powers to make this useful. Not saying it should be weaker without Unified Theory. Because I like it the way it is. But really now. Why is it a Tap power? There's an issue with the fact that all other good damage powers require a charge up, although they don't have Cooldowns (Except Gigabolt ) Thats irrelevant to the point. Tap damage attacks aren't smart. Also OH MY GOD I HATE THAT ANIMATION. THIS IS LASER SWORDS NOT TRON LEGACY RIPOFFS. MAKE A LASER SWORD SET AND NOT A TRON SET FOR ****'S SAKE.

Particle Accelerator has a chance to reset CD on this power, so it is implied (at least to me) that they work in tandem.

I personally like the animation, maybe yes, it does not fit with Laser Sword, but could be seen as an opportunity for ranged and melee particle damage players (or people who want to combine the styles) to work together.

2) Unified Theory. It is the worst power in the set. How could I say that? It makes Particle Smash more than double its damage. I'll tell you why. Because its a completely railroaded, gutted power. You have absolutely no choice to take Particle Accelerator with this power or its absolutely useless. Not for nothing, but isn't an 8 second charge excessive? Why can't it just be a 2 second charge? At least then its MILDLY REASONABLE to use without Particle Smash. What happened to "Be the hero you want to be"? I would like an advantage for it that increases its damage significantly but removes prevents it from granting Unified Theory stacks, then at least it could be good as its own power if someone wanted to use it without Smash and accelerator. Again, It still needs a shorter charge time. Particle Accelerator doesn't justify that. Nothing does.

Ahem. Gaining Stack of Accelerator = instant charge on Unified. It used to be obscenely OP, like 70k damage on a Nemesis Heirloom build. It has been reduced quite significantly.

Beyond these two major issues I have another complaint. Why is Particle Accelerator its own power? It does nearly the same damage as Laser Sword but with an uglier animation. No combo (which means it doesn't benefit from combo bonuses through specs) and a slightly cheaper energy cost. Can you just remove this power and toss the buff application in with Laser Sword? Its not like Laser Sword has anything worthwhile other than slightly higher damage, don't argue the case of Plasma Burns. Those are crap.

I think the FX wise, yes PAccelerator could be better off using Single Blade (Reapers Caress) style animations.

I think in the spirit of New Telepathy (in the sense that they rely on each other/work together) the powers are meant to be used together rather than apart.

blademaster5121 · August 2013

theravenforce wrote: »

Particle Accelerator has a chance to reset CD on this power, so it is implied (at least to me) that they work in tandem.

Ok I did not know this, nor have I ever had this happen, so I'm incredulous. This also isn't mentioned anywhere in the power description, or at least that I can see.

I personally like the animation, maybe yes, it does not fit with Laser Sword, but could be seen as an opportunity for ranged and melee particle damage players (or people who want to combine the styles) to work together.

I don't like it on the basis its not a laser sword and these are supposed to be Laser Sword powers. It also feels like a cop out trying to rip off Tron.

Ahem. Gaining Stack of Accelerator = instant charge on Unified. It used to be obscenely OP, like 70k damage on a Nemesis Heirloom build. It has been reduced quite significantly.

Again, I made it clear that that means nothing. This instant charge is also unstable, Crush needs to take a step back and see how older powers handled multiple scenario powers and copy.
The point of my post however was that Unified Theory must be taken with Particle Accelerator. It is completely railroaded and not in the spirit of Champions. Making it less useful without PAccelerator is one thing, but an 8 second charge time is RIDICULOUS NO MATTER HOW YOU JUSTIFY IT. Also, its current damage is underpar. not mentioning that I still want an ADVANTAGE that increases damage at the cost of not stacking its buff. So then we DON'T have to take Particle Smash and Accelerator with it. And 2 second Charge time. It needs to be a 2 second charge time. Or less. I don't care what it did in past. Any good tester does not consider previous errors of a power other than to make referential comparisons.

I think in the spirit of New Telepathy (in the sense that they rely on each other/work together) the powers are meant to be used together rather than apart.

Ok on the point of Laser Sword and PAccelerator. They Are Not. In fact they works completely independently. If it wasn't for Plasma Cutter's vast and numerous Issues, I'd even say that Laser Sword/Plasma Cutter is simple superior to new Laser Sword in every way. PAccelerator and Laser Sword would be better off merged.

As to the comment about This being like New Telepathy.

Look around, how is Telpathy doing? Terribly. But there are some things it got right. Like how its debuffs can be used without having to suffer through the entire set. New Laser Sword can't take its powers out of set to benefit. New Laser Sword has no real buffs, just dummy buffs to create a railroaded power system, which is totally fine for WoW. Not CO. CO is ABOUT mix and matching. These new powers go completely against that rhythm and create their own screwed up unsynchronized, disharmonious, clunky beat.

flamingbunnyman · August 2013

lordgar wrote: »

Custom Alerts now rotate every week instead of every other week.

Bug
The calendar doesn't display properly.
Every second week has no event listed from Sunday to Thursday.

variatas · August 2013

If this version of Accelerator (chance on hit) has to stay, it'd be nice if it had some kind of visual effect so you could tell when you've got it. Finding it in the buff bar can be pretty hard, ESPECIALLY in Alerts. As long as it's colorable, just reuse one of the plasma-firey surge effects would work great, for example.

underchicken · August 2013

So, I've been playing ALL weekend long running Smash Alerts pretty much non-stop that entire time. I have seen only ONE player so far using the New Laser Sword powers. Only 3 players total using Laser Swords at all(which means the other 2 would rather use the old Laser Sword/Plasma Cutter combo instead of the new stuff.) When Telepathy's new stuff hit you could find 2 or 3 players using them in every other alert. I know this because the Mind Break ruptures were VERY ANNOYING when teaming.

I have created a new thread showcasing a calibration of player feedback on the subject, along with how we can still save these new powers. I urge you all to go take a look...

"LINK HERE"

variatas · August 2013

Having just finished levelling my Laser Sword character with the new powers... I actually kinda like them. The "you must take all the pieces to make this combo work" thing is a bit heavy-handed, but it's not too terrible.

If I really had a choice though, I think maybe moving the accelerator chance onto the passive ala Cold Snap, triggering off a chance normalized by cast speed when dealing particle damage, and making Unified Theory a bit more useable without it, might be a good way to go. That, or making multiple sources for Acceleration. Actually, really just multiple sources for acceleration.

FC.31.20130612.32 PTS Update

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