Particle accelerator: My thoughts and whatnot

captainsax · August 2013

So I tried the new laser sword powerset, and while it seemed like a fun system to work with, I felt particle accelerator was a bit... awkward to use.

First off, the animation. Its a tap move that has a chance of adding the vital buff needed to function, so more than likely you're gonna spam it. However, it just looks awkward repeatedly backhand swinging at the enemy. It wouldn't look so bad if it had a back and forth animation, like the onslaught power from Earth has.

Secondly, the chance to add accelerator feels completely random. Sometimes, I can get the buff easily, but other times... I counted having to swing 11 times before it finally gave me the buff. Also, the chance that it can reset Particle smash is almost non-existant. I've never had the cooldown reset for me...

Welp, thats my opinion.

ajanus · August 2013

I read the notes, and it seemed interesting...though not for laser swords as a whole...just for the +30% particle damage buff...I would Lightning Arc that face off. The setup for that, however, seems a bit far fetched and I would probably just be better off Arcing from the start

joebobber · August 2013

I quite liked the laser sword setup the way it was, and am looking forward to trying the new skills out tonight.
Not looking forward to all of the Jedi clones to come though.

iianor · August 2013

I second this Captain Sax.

I had a fairly well working laser sword-ish build before this, and I second the fact that it feels kinda ... Awkward.
Artificially complex absurdly random is another good way to put it.

jonesing4 · August 2013

ajanus wrote: »

I read the notes, and it seemed interesting...though not for laser swords as a whole...just for the +30% particle damage buff...I would Lightning Arc that face off. The setup for that, however, seems a bit far fetched and I would probably just be better off Arcing from the start

Does it buff energy damage or just particle damage?

fudgemonsta · August 2013

jonesing4 wrote: »

Does it buff energy damage or just particle damage?

Particle only.

ajanus · August 2013

Read some in-game tooltips, but haven't messed around with anything yet, but it appears that it only buffs the actual Particle Smash power, at least, in the tooltip anyways. It says at 3 stacks, it makes the next Particle Smash do double damage.

Update: I did find where Unified Theory stacks give 10% particle damage increase. However, after toying around the ph with these abilities, I can now say they are way to slow to build up. "Have a chance to" is where it ends for me. Particle Accelerator needs to put the buff up every time. Then at 3 stacks of Unified Theory, the cooldown for Particle Smash should reset every time.

Will continue to test, but initial thoughts: Not worth it.

kraylokch · August 2013

I've been trying this over the weekend, and while I like the idea of building up a pattern of moves to give a combo bonus the fact that the starter effect is very random (some folks are saying 30%) makes it pointless as the final bonus seems too small to be worth it. In the time it takes to do all the necessary I can kill most things with just the pre-patch powers. Against supervillains in alerts, again I can do more in the same time just not bothering.

Remember even if the accelerator was automatic to get the 30% max damage bonus takes 6 activations. With laser sword it takes three to decrease enemy resistance by 30%, same effect half the effort?

I say make the accelerator buff automatic on a hit and then it might be worth it, of the final bonus was big enough, otherwise why bother?

tdits · August 2013

It really sounds like Particle Accelerator should have been a passive or a toggle instead.

variatas · August 2013

Kinda hard to say. The laser sword mini-set is a lot better now with the AoE provided by Accelerator (Lightwave was a joke and still is.) The chance to proc doesn't feel unplayably low, but once in a while you do get a drought. The real problem is that the combo (Accelerator->Unified Theory->Particle Smash) pretty much has to be taken entirely to work, which does somewhat annoyingly deviate from the mantra of flexible powers and customization. If there were some other ways to get Acceleration (1pt. advantage on Laser Sword to apply it on 3rd hit?) or if Unified Theory wasn't TOTALLY useless without it, then it might feel better.

vashnknives · August 2013

variatas wrote: »

Kinda hard to say. The laser sword mini-set is a lot better now with the AoE provided by Accelerator (Lightwave was a joke and still is.) The chance to proc doesn't feel unplayably low, but once in a while you do get a drought. The real problem is that the combo (Accelerator->Unified Theory->Particle Smash) pretty much has to be taken entirely to work, which does somewhat annoyingly deviate from the mantra of flexible powers and customization. If there were some other ways to get Acceleration (1pt. advantage on Laser Sword to apply it on 3rd hit?) or if Unified Theory wasn't TOTALLY useless without it, then it might feel better.

I know from all your posts that you didn't like Lightwave, but my LS character loves the reliability of it vs the chance-to's of the new system. Laser Sword w/ Particle Acceleration + Guaranteed burn + cauterize works well. IMO they should have made Particle Acceleration (the power) an advantage to lightwave (it does very similar AoE) and then also made Unified Theory actually usable even if you don't take the advantage.

Also, why name a new power the same name as the advantage in the same set? That's super confusing for no reason.

One more thing... I'm having a really tough time with the look of particle smash. Why use the disc animation!!? I was looking forward to using it because I heard it was a range AoE and then I see that it's a really lame looking arm-throw in a set with lasers and miniguns coming out of armor...... Please, please let us choose between that animation and another!

Particle accelerator: My thoughts and whatnot

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