test content
Logo
What is the Arc Client?
Install Arc
New power suggestion - Shield Power Shunt
jbmaverick
Member Posts: 935 Arc User
Wall of text TLDR: I'm suggesting Tactical Team lose shield distribution (new buff pending), EPtS lose shield resistance, and a new Ens/LT/LTC Engineering power inherit both of the lost effects.
We now know that Cryptic is capable of introducing new bridge officer powers with the inclusion of the new Intel powers in Season 10. Perhaps now's a good time to start looking at adding a few new powers to the existing careers as well.
Engineering in particular has long suffered from a lack of variance in its low-rank powers, with only 2 available systems at Ensign level. Cruisers with a third Engineering Ensign are often compared unfavorably with other ships because of the lack of choices. The most reasonable change therefore would be to add a new power on a different system to the Ensign level, with upgrades to the power at Lieutenant and Lieutenant Commander.
Additionally, Cryptic looked at altering the EPtX powers some time ago, but eventually decided against it due to the public outcry on the forums, and I believe rightly so. Even now, EPtS is the ONLY defensive power with a 100% uptime of resistance to damage. Altering it to what Cryptic had initially intended, Emergency Power abilities as true "emergency-use" powers, would have significantly reduced the effectiveness of all ships geared towards defense and tanking, especially Cruisers, while having minimal effect on ships with other defensive options, in particular Escorts with their high mobility and speed. I suggested at the time that perhaps a splitting in powers was necessary, but I doubt it got much recognition. Now that new powers are being added, I'm suggesting it again, and I believe it would allow Cryptic to properly consider changing the EPtX powers to be more "emergency-use" abilities rather than 100% uptime buffs.
My suggestion is Shield Power Shunt (if anyone can come up with a better name, please do), a power that uses some system other than Batteries and Teams (that is: on a different system cooldown than EPtX and Engineering Team) . Currently EPtS has a shield heal, shield power boost, and shield resistance buff, while the other EPtX powers only have 2 effects: a power boost and a single buff. I believe the shield resistance buff should be removed from EPtS and added to Shield Power Shunt. Additionally, I believe (and I'm sure there's going to be a lot of anger at this point) that the automatic shield transfer should be removed from Tactical Team, and Shield Power Shunt should drastically increase the rate of manual shield distribution. The damage resistance should have 100% uptime and the shield transfer rate buff should probably be between 67% and 75% uptime, keeping it inline with the current uptime of both EPtS and Tactical Team.
The outcome of this would likely be a reduction in defenses across the board (but honestly, ships are too tanky now anyway), but would most greatly impact Escorts. And I believe that's how it should be. Escorts are clearly designed to be glass cannons. Some have more access to defenses than others, but if you're flying an Escort your focus is likely on damage first. Removing their Tactical Team shield distributions and forcing them to have to make a choice between EPtS and Shield Shunt will put them back where they belong, using their speed and maneuverability to keep themselves alive.
This change would also help Cruisers with a third Engineering Ensign by giving them some other useful power that doesn't overlap with the other choices. It also places these ships on a potentially higher defensive tier than other Cruisers, allowing players who place a greater priority on tanking and personal defense a ship more in line with their preferences, while players who prefer a more hybrid approach will now be more-so hybridized.
As to Tactical Team, I recognize that each Team ability does 3 things: strips debuffs belonging to a particular career, provides a small skill boost related to a particular career, and provides a defensive buff or effect. With Engineering Team and Science Team, we get a burst heal effect, but Tactical Team has a prolonged defensive effect that has become heavily relied on in nearly all end-game builds. I know there are people out there who purposefully don't use it, and that's fine, but most people are probably using it. So in order to keep Tactical Team inline with the other Teams with the loss of the shield distribution effect, it would need some other form of defensive effect, preferably a burst effect in the same vein as Engineering and Science Team.
Unfortunately, I'm not really sure what to suggest. Hull and Shield heal effects don't make sense for Tactical Team, and are already used anyway, and there aren't very many other burst effects out there that would be worth anything. Giving Tactical Team an evasion buff seems like it would be stepping on the toes of EPtX and APO. A momentary cloaking effect would likely cause the Klingon and Romulan forces to start picketing ESD (again) and would probably allow for far too much abuse in PvP anyway because the Teams can be used on any friendly target. A significant drop in threat might be counter-productive for a tank who's dealing with boarding parties.
Perhaps Tactical Team's buff should be offensively designed rather than defensive, in addition to its skill boosts. A percentage bonus to damage would seem redundant, however, on top of the skill bonuses that already do exactly that anyway. In any event, part of the reason I'm even starting this thread is so others can voice their own opinions. I'm sure there will be more than enough people who will outright refuse my suggestion simply based on the change to Tactical Team. I will respect your opinion, but if that's ALL you're going to say, please don't. Offer constructive criticism, make additional suggestions. Shield Power Shunt would be too weak with just a shield resistance buff, and it makes sense (to me) that shield distribution be handled by something other than a Team ability. If you've got an alternative suggestion for a secondary buff that would allow TT to keep its distribution effect, go for it.
We now know that Cryptic is capable of introducing new bridge officer powers with the inclusion of the new Intel powers in Season 10. Perhaps now's a good time to start looking at adding a few new powers to the existing careers as well.
Engineering in particular has long suffered from a lack of variance in its low-rank powers, with only 2 available systems at Ensign level. Cruisers with a third Engineering Ensign are often compared unfavorably with other ships because of the lack of choices. The most reasonable change therefore would be to add a new power on a different system to the Ensign level, with upgrades to the power at Lieutenant and Lieutenant Commander.
Additionally, Cryptic looked at altering the EPtX powers some time ago, but eventually decided against it due to the public outcry on the forums, and I believe rightly so. Even now, EPtS is the ONLY defensive power with a 100% uptime of resistance to damage. Altering it to what Cryptic had initially intended, Emergency Power abilities as true "emergency-use" powers, would have significantly reduced the effectiveness of all ships geared towards defense and tanking, especially Cruisers, while having minimal effect on ships with other defensive options, in particular Escorts with their high mobility and speed. I suggested at the time that perhaps a splitting in powers was necessary, but I doubt it got much recognition. Now that new powers are being added, I'm suggesting it again, and I believe it would allow Cryptic to properly consider changing the EPtX powers to be more "emergency-use" abilities rather than 100% uptime buffs.
My suggestion is Shield Power Shunt (if anyone can come up with a better name, please do), a power that uses some system other than Batteries and Teams (that is: on a different system cooldown than EPtX and Engineering Team) . Currently EPtS has a shield heal, shield power boost, and shield resistance buff, while the other EPtX powers only have 2 effects: a power boost and a single buff. I believe the shield resistance buff should be removed from EPtS and added to Shield Power Shunt. Additionally, I believe (and I'm sure there's going to be a lot of anger at this point) that the automatic shield transfer should be removed from Tactical Team, and Shield Power Shunt should drastically increase the rate of manual shield distribution. The damage resistance should have 100% uptime and the shield transfer rate buff should probably be between 67% and 75% uptime, keeping it inline with the current uptime of both EPtS and Tactical Team.
The outcome of this would likely be a reduction in defenses across the board (but honestly, ships are too tanky now anyway), but would most greatly impact Escorts. And I believe that's how it should be. Escorts are clearly designed to be glass cannons. Some have more access to defenses than others, but if you're flying an Escort your focus is likely on damage first. Removing their Tactical Team shield distributions and forcing them to have to make a choice between EPtS and Shield Shunt will put them back where they belong, using their speed and maneuverability to keep themselves alive.
This change would also help Cruisers with a third Engineering Ensign by giving them some other useful power that doesn't overlap with the other choices. It also places these ships on a potentially higher defensive tier than other Cruisers, allowing players who place a greater priority on tanking and personal defense a ship more in line with their preferences, while players who prefer a more hybrid approach will now be more-so hybridized.
As to Tactical Team, I recognize that each Team ability does 3 things: strips debuffs belonging to a particular career, provides a small skill boost related to a particular career, and provides a defensive buff or effect. With Engineering Team and Science Team, we get a burst heal effect, but Tactical Team has a prolonged defensive effect that has become heavily relied on in nearly all end-game builds. I know there are people out there who purposefully don't use it, and that's fine, but most people are probably using it. So in order to keep Tactical Team inline with the other Teams with the loss of the shield distribution effect, it would need some other form of defensive effect, preferably a burst effect in the same vein as Engineering and Science Team.
Unfortunately, I'm not really sure what to suggest. Hull and Shield heal effects don't make sense for Tactical Team, and are already used anyway, and there aren't very many other burst effects out there that would be worth anything. Giving Tactical Team an evasion buff seems like it would be stepping on the toes of EPtX and APO. A momentary cloaking effect would likely cause the Klingon and Romulan forces to start picketing ESD (again) and would probably allow for far too much abuse in PvP anyway because the Teams can be used on any friendly target. A significant drop in threat might be counter-productive for a tank who's dealing with boarding parties.
Perhaps Tactical Team's buff should be offensively designed rather than defensive, in addition to its skill boosts. A percentage bonus to damage would seem redundant, however, on top of the skill bonuses that already do exactly that anyway. In any event, part of the reason I'm even starting this thread is so others can voice their own opinions. I'm sure there will be more than enough people who will outright refuse my suggestion simply based on the change to Tactical Team. I will respect your opinion, but if that's ALL you're going to say, please don't. Offer constructive criticism, make additional suggestions. Shield Power Shunt would be too weak with just a shield resistance buff, and it makes sense (to me) that shield distribution be handled by something other than a Team ability. If you've got an alternative suggestion for a secondary buff that would allow TT to keep its distribution effect, go for it.
The universe has a wonderful sense of humor. The trick is learning how to take a joke.
0