Biospark
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Or Maybe .. They are busy, busy, busy trying to get the next two levels of Alpha slot ready as soon as possible (based on player feedback) AND.... busy working on the next levels of the Incarnate system to get those ready as soon as possible (based on player feedback). Maybe even All this as a christmas present to the players.
Sheesh, its not like trying to meet player demands is a full-time job or anything
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Quote:Excellent point Garent !Originally Posted by Garent
Whether or not it's overpowered depends on how it was done. Being able to insulation shield yourself would be pretty overpowered. Giving yourself status resistance is not so much. Discussing where the proper balance lies is what is being done in this thread.
As for them not needing to team, they already don't need to team if properly built. Same with all archetypes. And them having 2-3 times the killing power of defenders is a controller problem that should be addressed as such.
To Steele,
No one here has suggested that every power not currently usable solo needs to be changed. We all know that would be overpowered to the extreme. What I have said twice (three times now) is that in order to achieve greater solo parity across all defender powersets it would only take ONE reasonably thought out change to the powersets with the worst solo performance metrics in order to bump them up closer to the solo "median".
Examples of these changes are being given and discussed rationally. And I have to admit my own surprise that this "balance" concern is so simple to achieve without making each powerset alot stronger while teaming, which was one of the "core" themes in my original suggestions.
If you don't believe this kind of "think-tank" is worth discussing, or that anything at all needs to be done, that's cool. But there is no harm in discussion is there ?
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Quote:I think this is a great Idea. I have suggested in the past having MORE villain group options for radio missions in Peregrine Island. I get kinda bored doing Carnies again, and again, aaaaaannnnndddd AGAIN. It would be nice to do these repeatable random missions and know that there could be dozens of Villain groups to choose from eventually.Originally Posted by TheJazMan
I don't think I made my intent overly clear here. The devs have contests every now and then for AE arcs etc. Why not make the prize having your story part of regular content. That is my intent.
I am not a dev or associated with Paragon Studios but I am pretty sure they would not make a farm a contest winner. I also don't think they would reward any arc this prize if it was filled with Marvel and DC characters. I thought these points were obvious but I guess not
Anyway, I feel this would be a way to encourage legit mission making and would also draw more people into making decent missions.
Personally, I like the AE stuff but there is too much 'junk' in it to play it often. I also notice a lot of people just say no to AE even if it is an actual mission. It's a great tool but is, somewhat, wasting away.
Another suggestion that I have seen, is the ability to set your preference to a specific Villain group as your Nemesis, and while that group is your chosen setting, EVERY radio mission would be that Villain group.
The biggest downside to your idea though (to the OP) is that the AE missions are not related to the in-game storyline, so they could be very good storylines that don't mesh well with existing "canon". So I suspect that this was the main reason they chose the current reward system for good story-arcs. -
Yes Please !
Both changes would make alot of sense for Forcefields. -
Alot of the reasons for slotting IOs prior to 50 have been covered so my 2 cents is going to just reinforce those opinions.
A) Franken-slotting early is better than straight SOs or even generic IOs
B) Exemplaring is much better, since you retain many set bonuses
C) Any IOs, whether they are sets or generic NEVER lose their bonus, so as long as you have at least level 25 or higher IOs, they are nearly as good as SOs in effect, but you NEVER need to replace them until you WANT to. No more SOs turning RED.
One last comment about IOs though. Those players running around with a bunch of set bonuses pre-50 are probably Alts. My first IOed toon did not have a single set bonus before level 37 iirc, but got lucky and had a Miracle +recovery recipe drop, which he sold and turned into 3 sets of Thunderstrike and 2 sets of red fortune. Basically I am saying that having a pile of influence to begin with makes IO-ing your characters at an earlier level much more possible. If you Have characters that ARE level 50, they can go out and get more influence and drops to support your lower level characters better. Its the "Rich Uncle Effect" as my friends and I call it. -
Quote:Cold Domination is an excellent support set, but maybe not as effective synergizing with Illusion as Storm or Rad. The big "turn-off" for me is turning everyone into blocks of ice. I have never really liked that effect and wish they would allow an option more like chilling embrace instead. That would be so much more appealing.Originally Posted by Bad_Dog
I had a friend tell me that illusion/cold was the big thing right now with perma PA, 200.5% recharge and damage over 400 dps where /rad is similar but only about 260 dps.
I'm not entirely convinced. I have played with tons of people over the years and dont recall ever meeting anyone that runs ill/cold. Nor has the thought crossed my mind to make one. Maybe I'm missing the big lure to /cold but I don't recall off hand anything that another powerset doesn't do better. That being said, if there is indeed merit to this claim then it might be ideal for a duo with an ill/rad if it indeed can power out over 400 dps.
So I posted this to see if anyone can confirm that ill/cold is actually worth investing in. Well, that, and to find out if it is as good as this guy was claiming. -
Quote:Energy Blast has excellent single target damage and alot of knockback, which provides some protection. Where Energy lacks is in AoE damage, or more specifically Stacking AoE effects FOR damage. Because of the Knockback, when using both your AoEs you need to "queue up" your second AoE while your first one is animating in order to have the maximum effect of both (for Damage). If you add a third AoE from pool powers, then that power must be first in the chain. Its a little "kludgy".Originally Posted by JanusFrs
Yaaay, the cute girl-avatar comments me ;P
So, basically I am still thinking alot about PD, but Sonic is getting more and more interesting, thanks to it's mez protection. Nonetheless, many of you are referring to EB as "lackluster" on Corruptors, what exactly are you referring to?
For me, the fun of shooting bad guys in the face and watching them "ragdoll" across a room, over balcony railings or even rooftops is worth every ounce of "kludgi-ness" though.
Its just plain FUN !
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Quote:Turning Sonic Repulsion into a power similar to Forcefields Repulsion Bomb would be a good alternative to the other suggestions for the set. Although, I am not sure about whether this would be the best choice, since it would make the set even more "like" Forcefields than it already is.Originally Posted by Gemini_2099
With the addition of tip missions, I find that I can make use of the team only powers now as a solo player depending on the tip mission.
I definitely am in favor of making it a minor radial AoE damage/-res effect with a knockdown component at an enemy target. Basically, if Liquefy recharge can't be lowered, this can fill the gap for Liquefy, and you can hold off using Liquefy at key moments.
FF's Repulsion bomb doesn't debuff, but rather has a chance for disorient. It also has a recharge of 30 seconds compared to what I am proposing with 60 seconds. Given what I am proposing (-res) I find 60 seconds reasonable. Surprisingly, it also only does smashing damage, while I propose a mix of smashing/energy damage. Finally, I think making it a knockdown would be better than a knock back like Repulsion bomb so it is friendly to use even on teams.
As for the Psi hole, I am leveling my AR/SON corruptor, and I face many enemies with Psi attacks villain side, but I don't feel weak going up against them to be honest. Most Psi enemies try to hold or immobilize, so I have that covered with the shield. Sleep is another hole, but since damage can break the sleep effect, and base line health in I19 helps with that a little bit, so it isn't a big deal either.
Clarity, given the presence of the shield, sneed to be re-examined though for Sonic Resonance, but I am not sure which direction to go.
As far as clarity, the only suggestion so far is to add Psi Resist to this power, making Sonic able to provide Resist to ALL damage types through the stacking of three powers. Clarity seems rather redundant considering that the set has a Dispersion Bubble to provide status protection as well.
And many folks here are suggesting adding Sleep protection to both Forcefields and Sonic. This makes sense to me since these two powersets cannot heal. They cannot recover damage received while their protections are "suppressed". Having more universal protection from Mezz effects would shore up solo performance a little (from a defensive perspective) without adding too much power. -
Having thought a little more about this, there are a few things that I would add/question;
A) I kind of assumed that this could be done on an IO that is already slotted. Essentially replacing a "socketed" IO with a new one. If they set it up to work with "unsocketed" IOs, then it would be a fairly useless feature IMO.
B) Thinking about the market, I am guessing that salvage values would go up, but that recipe prices would go down. Essentially, anyone seeking a recipe at a "specific" level would not bid and wait for it, they would just buy the most available one and "re-craft" it to the level they wanted. TBH, I am not sure that is really a problem, since they would still be purchasing MORE at the market than they would have before.
C) Is the re-crafting meant to be only 1-way ? In other words, can you only re-craft something at a lower level than the one you have currently socketed ? Or did you envision this going both ways. Personally, I think "re-crafting" it to a higher level is probably NOT a good idea. EDIT: Sorry, after re-reading the OP, I can see that the idea was two way, but I think it should be only able to lower the IO level, not to raise it, but the only real issue I can think of would be the possibility of a bug where a player could over-write an IO with one that they cannot actually use. For example, My level 35 character has level 30 IOs, but uses this system to attempt to upgrade his IOs to level 40. ooops, why are my IOs showing RED now.
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Quote:Hmm I looked at it again, and I only see 4 powers. Nullify Pain (AoE Heal), Soothing Aura (Healing Toggle), World of Pain (PBAoE buff), and Anguishing Cry (PBAoE debuff). The other powers require teammates, but a couple of them do provide benefits to the Corruptor, but if you cannot use them solo, I didn't count them.Originally Posted by Gilia
Well, I've played a Ice/Thermal Controller to 50 and a Necro/Pain Mastermind to 50. I just don't think they call for as much attention as Sonic Resonance :P.
I believe you forgot Suppress Pain/Soothing Aura on your count for Pain Domination. I base this on your number being one lower than my count and you didn't mention it when you talked about the level placement of solo powers.
For Pain, all I'd really like to see is a wider radius World of Pain. It's already pretty big, so why not? This is my personal taste of course. The other thing I'd like to see is Anguishing Cry get a slight reduction in recharge time. Without IOs, it can only be up half the time. That's a ways behind most other sets' -res. I agree Pain Bringer getting some +recharge would have been nice.
For Thermal, I really like how Forge works now. It's good off the bat and becomes awesome with more recharge. My only complaint for Thermal is similar to pain, which is that Heat Exhaustion and Melt Armor are so far from perma out of the box. Since Thermal has shields, heals, a rez, and some good buffs, I'm guessing the debuffs were given such high recharge intentionally to be a balance. "Fixing" Thermal would probably just make it too good.
My Pain Dom hasn't reached a level to get the Debuff, but I certainly like the Soothing Aura. I do think that Anguishing Cry would be the power to adjust for helping Pain out, but not having played it yet, I cannot for certain say that. One other idea was to give status resistance in Soothing Aura similar to Accelerate Metabolism, but I would hate to fix every set's problems with status protection of some kind. In actuality, Pain dom having some kind of control power seems very thematic and dichotomistic (is that even a word) to Empathy. Anguishing Cry just sounds like something that should cause damage, fear or something else like stun or hold.
Thermal is a set that I have no clue really, since I don't play it. I would have to take everyone else's opinions. My only interjections on it are the ones that I have already made; that it needs something more for solo before level 35, and that I would probably do something offensive with it. -
Quote:Hmmm, interesting Insight Dr.MikeOriginally Posted by DrMike2000
To look at it from another angle...
I've always defended the idea that some sets are better solo-ers than others. I believe in the perfect CoX I should be able to make an informed choice to pick a character who solos terribly but really shines on teams.
What could the four poorest solo sets to make them really shine on teams?
Your ideas would certainly be effective on the teaming front.
Here is my take on it though. Having played support characters in many MMOs and healers mostly, I know how it feels to be on both sides of the "looking for <insert Class/AT here> to join <insert raid/dungeon here>" In EQ I played a Ranger, and it would take me anywhere from 45 min to 2 hours, depending on zone, to find a team that would take me. This got to be a real aggravating aspect of the game. So much so that in EVERY MMO since 2001, I have chosen support roles, because it not only matches my preferred playstyle, but I NEVER want to be one of the "pity invites" EVER AGAIN.
So, I guess what I am trying to say is that when you make certain AT/Classes/Specs etc... too good for teaming, every other choice becomes secondary and makes their teaming experience less than satisfactory. It could also explain why so many people "figuratively spit-on" healing in this game.
Sorry if that made no sense at all. -
Hello Jade,
Welcome to the discussion !
you brought many comments in your post, so let me try to comment on the ones that I can. Sorry if I miss anything.
I mentioned in my OP that discussing other powersets besides the "basement" sets was definitely open to discuss, and you hit on the exact reason why with your comments about Forcefields. Solo parity is NOT just about how many powers you have that are useful. That was just the place I chose to start the discussion. Another powerset that I think falls into this category is Kinetics. This set is able to use 7 of 9 powers solo, but I think that we can all agree that it has some "issues" soloing. So I absolutely agree that Solo "Parity" is not as cut-and-dry as I may have presented it.
You also mentioned "offense" in respect to solo-ing. I tend to lump offense with speed when talking about solo capabilities. When you model offensive boosts they reduce the length of combat, which reduces incoming damage. In this respect, I believe that having Offensive boosts are great in the "solo" theatre, but I actually kind of like that some choices would tend to be more, or less, Offensive.
So, with respect to Forcefields, having great defense, status protection and soft control with knockback but no "offensive" boosts is fine thematically, even if it doesn't make soloing faster. The fact that it can solo pretty darn well, albeit slower, says that it is not "hurting" for parity as some other powersets are.
Since you are not the first person to mention the issue of Sonic blast being too good as the possible reason for Sonic resonance's failings, It makes me wonder if the Devs actually tested these two sets seperately or not. My Sonic is Sonic/Energy and it was kind of a shock when playing him solo just how poorly the primary worked. It did one thing though, it made me REALLY appreciate how good Forcefields was/is.
As far as Empathy is concerned, I think it falls into the same "Thematic" issues as forcefields in that it's design is more "defensive" or "pacifistic" even. So getting Offensive boosts for solo play may be something that I would love to see, I am not holding my breath on it.
You also mentioned Pain Domination. Having finally tried that set during GR Beta, I am now completely convinced that the Devs have learned a great deal about balancing Team and Solo powers over the last 6 years. Pain has some noticeable improvements over Empathy without being better or worse, just different. That doesn't mean its a great solo-ing set, but I can tell that it would be better at level 50 than Empathy. -
Empathy/Electric --- Recharge/Healing (of course)
Forcefield/Energy --- is not level 50 yet, but certainly leaning towards Endurance
All my other characters are kind of on hold till I decide who gets to actually BE my Incarnate character. I cannot imagine "grinding" , errr.... I mean spending that much effort on multiple characters considering how much time I play each week. -
Quote:Yep. As I stated in my OP, it really would only take ONE reasonable and effective change to improve the solo Parity of these Defender powersets in the solo game.Originally Posted by Gilia
The more I think about it, just upping Dispersion's resists and making Siphon AoE would be a good enough fix for Sonic Resonance. It addresses the parity of solo to team slightly, though not by the same measure you used (the quantity of powers would remain the same). I imagine a Sonic/Sonic Corruptor would become solidly the highest damage straight blaster setup with just this change.
I am kinda hoping some players of Thermal and Pain stop by to add their thoughts to the mix. Since we are here on the Defender thread, it could explain why not much has been said. -
Quote:How does that improve their Solo performance ? This is the subject of discussion.Originally Posted by Gemini_2099
/Sonic resonance from a corruptor perspective. Please don't hurt me my fellow Defenders.
I like that I can put on an ally, and just blast away without worrying about the anchor dying. It is fine as is.
They need to make it unique, and not a clone of FF or Kinetics. Repulsion should do some smash/energy damage with a -res effect. Slap a decent lengthed recharge (eg 60s).
Unless you are recommending making it an AoE damage power (which I kinda like the sound of), but how would that be different than what they did for FF some time ago ?
Welcome to the discussion btw. -
Quote:Honestly, I made an assumption about Liquefy. My Bad.Originally Posted by Gilia
.....I get the impression that you might have been led to believe that Liquefy has a -res component. It doesn't. It's -def, -tohit, knockdown, hold, and slow.
So with that in mind, do you still think it's too much AoE -res? As DrMike pointed out, right now the AoE -res on Sonic is less than Trick Arrow's. Sonic only wins the -res game if you consider single targets, and even then it's not by much.
I'm still really keen on a solo-form of Disruption and Repulsion. This is an interesting take on it, however. It would take one of the team-only powers and make it in some regard solo only (most folks probably wouldn't like you doing PBAoE knockback in order to get the -res on there). It would maintain its "Controllers get more use out of it" with the -kb AoE immobilizes. In order not to heavily favor them, however, I would be inclined to say give it a smaller debuff with a long duration. Like -15% for 45 seconds or something like that.
I'm curious if you would still oppose Sonic Siphon as the AoE -res instead, knowing that Liquefy doesn't offer -res.
So in light of that, I think Sonic Siphon as a short duration AoE debuff would be great.
As a balancing effort, what if it was like Gale ? A nice Cone effect. Thematically it makes sense for the set, even though it is like a blast, it could be balanced in much the same way as Gale (lower accuracy, minor damage, and being a cone, of course).
That extra amount of damage for your aoe attacks would work well without creating too many stacking issues while on a team. Personally, making it unstackable with Sonic disruption would just be a way to avoid a re-balancing of the -res in Sonic Disruption. If the duration on Sonic Siphon were short enough, I wouldn't think that stacking would be that much of a problem. -
Quote:Pain Dom would pair well with Energy Blast, just as Empathy would. BUT... they suffer considerably while solo. Mezz effects are the bane of Empathy and (I assume) Pain Dom. I apologize if you were not concerned so much about solo performance, but for myself, solo and team capabilities are both important to me when I am making a new character, hence why I suggested Traps, Sonic and Forcefields.Originally Posted by JanusFrs
Ok, first off I'd like to thank for all the responses, I'm not used to so fast reaction, you see, so thanks ^^
Now, with the kind words done, I've taken a few mental notes: As I can understand, it might be optimal of me to aviud using a set with toggle debuffs, which doesn't really seem like a problem to me.
And then, I'd like to ask you about a set that you haven't mentioned, namely PD (Pain Domination). I myself have been thinking about that set, as it might not have so much synergical difficulty with EB's infamous KB-madness. Other than that, I might like the idea about Sonic Resonance, but can you tell me why you haven't mentioned PD??
As far as Energy Blast being bad for toggles and patches, it has to do with Energy's propensity to scatter a spawn around. At any given time you will have enemies near and far from where you are blasting. Powers which have anchored debuffs work much better when all the enemies are packed into as small of an area as possible, so that they can all recieve your debuffs. Does that make more sense ? -
/signed Totally Excellent Idea !
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Quote:I had actually thought about the idea of adding Mezz protection in Recovery Aura.Originally Posted by MonkeySpirit
Yes, but how to change CM to affect the caster without violating the cottage rule? As it is, it needs a target to cast and another poster has already stated that he likes being able to remove mezzes at range, probably through the targetting reticle. This is exactly the reason why the cottage rule exists. If it weren't for that fact, I would suggest to make it a PBAoE with the same range as Healing Aura, since the Defender is bound to try to keep as many allies within that range as possible. But that would require changing the recharge, which would in turn make it impossible for CM to free someone from Ghost Widow's clutches.
We could however, leave CM as it is and add mez protection to one of the other powers. Say, make each of the auras give the regular effects plus mez protection only to the caster when he uses them.
Although I agree with you that Recovery Aura needs to change somewhat. I remember the frustration of playing my Empath when RA wasn't up, as opposed to when it was. I'd make it something like the Pain Dom auto-heal but with endurance.
You could change it's recharge to 240sec, reduce the recovery to +60% and add mezz protection. This would be acceptible to me as well.
Edited to remove "snarky comments" Sorry -
Quote:Your counterpoint about changing Disruption Field is well-conceived. Great discussion so far.Originally Posted by Gilia
Like I implied before, I like this. There's many advantages which I feel more than outweigh this draw back and it accounts for the most unique part of Sonic Resonance.
If they incorporated some way of using the team anchored powers while solo, I'd be all for that. Each of them could unlock an enhanceable power with a 30 second recharge that disables the toggle for 30 seconds when used. The duration would be 30 seconds as well. I just wouldn't want to see the current mechanics removed. Being able to enhance the tank's ability to tank while increasing the survivability of the DPS squishy without ever dedicating animation time mid-battle is part of why I love S Resonance.
So, how do we get more AoE -res while solo without Sonic Disruption. This is one of the reasons why I feel Liquefy should be made more available. But since it is a Tier 9 power, waiting until 32 to become better solo seems...
deja vu (My first character to ever get to 32 was, yep, a controller).
I think having Sonic Siphon, Sonic Disruption AND Liquefy would be too much AoE -res.
What if Sonic Repulsion became an PBAoE knockback with -Res? It is available at level 18, which is kinda late as a debuff power, but considering how nice Sonic Dispersion is, this would be Ok for a soloer. What Duration on the debuff ? How strong should it be ? Because now we have three stacking -Res effects (one ally toggle, one long recharge placeable, and one PBAoE). -
Quote:Solo Parity, as I am describing it here, would be improving the Powerset's ability to solo.Originally Posted by MonkeySpirit
I think we have to start by defining what solo parity is supposed to be here.
Is "it is unfair that my powers don't work on me solo despite already doing fine" the main complaint? Or are we trying to find solutions to certain problems?
If we're talking about having powers that work on oneself: A lot of the powers in the heavy buffing powersets are too strong for the caster to be able to use them on himself (for example, Force Fields is balanced around the fact that the Force Fielder remains the weakest link in a team of invulnerable demigods). Altering those powers to affect the caster would require them to be weakened considerably.
That's why I suggest a compromise in Clear Mind by making it a click ally AoE (not a toggle), so it keeps the functionality that it has now (cottage rule) while reducing the effort needed to buff the team and allowing for a chance that the Empath gets buffed, too. It would essentially allow you to have mez protection when solo if you have a pet and in any mission with an ally critter, of which there are a whole lot in Praetoria. I'm aware that it's a small step, but it's better than taking away my ability to protect a blaster with Fortify.
To level the playing field even more, we could get a temp craftable power that allows you to summn a PPD/RIP just to leech buffs from.
Powersets that bring more of their powers to the table solo typically get very strong debuffs and additional powers which make soloing easier. Take freezing rain as an example, soft control plus a debuff. I do agree that powers like Deflection Shield or Fortitude are very good powers and probably would be too good if allowed to stack with the defender's solo capability. But then again, Radiation has Acc metabolism and Dark has Fearsome stare.
It would be hard to present an argument that these powers don't provide as much offense or mitigation when you combine them with their own powersets additional powers of Radiation Infection, Enervating Field and Darkest Night.
The reality is that Debuffs, due to their nature in the game, act on enemies, while buffs act on friends. Which makes them naturally more available while solo. I have accepted that the checks and balances between buff sets and debuff sets (purple patch) make one type more solo friendly while the other is more team-friendly. But even stating that, debuffs ALSO help on teams, and while they tend to loose their effectiveness as enemy strength increases, the buffs also lose ground due to the fact that higher con enemies hit harder with higher accuracy and have more hit points. So its not a clear-cut victory on teams for Buff powers.
Getting back to your clear mind suggestion though, If a change were made to CM with the idea of improving solo parity (making Empathy solo better), your suggestion is not the way I would like to see it. Its too "kludgy" to take a half-step and force a player to "bring a friend anyway". Plus I hate pets. In the case of improving Empathy's solo capability, our choices are limited : Clear Mind, Fortitude, Adrenaline Boost. I think you can see why MY compromise is to stay within the "Pacifist" theme of the set and give it Clear Mind while solo and leave AB and Fort alone. They would be too powerful anyway. -
Quote:Interesting Idea. However, while Sonic Cage does help when solo, the effect actually lasts longer than you would like as you level up and improve your damage dealing. Many, Many times I have found myself "twiddling" my thumbs waiting for the cage to drop. In reality, it slows down your solo speed, so I only use it on very dangerous targets where I can afford the time-loss. Its better than a hospital trip in those cases.Originally Posted by MonkeySpirit
Lower the recharge of Sonic Cage so I can keep two targets caged while dealing with the third. Given the low damage of AoEs, I build my defenders to have good single target damage first (also helpful while "channeling" trhough an ally). If my sonic could reduce his encounters to one-on-one battles, he'd rarely have any troubles.
Ugh. Not sure if you are serious, but you may have missed the whole point of the thread.Quote:Originally Posted by MonkeySpirit
My solution to Clear Mind would be to make it an ally-targetted AoE with a small radius and maybe a target limit of four to six targets and a recharge of 10 seconds so that you can apply it to a couple of people at the same time if they're standing close. Similar to way the Mastermind pet buffs where changed to AoEs but with a lower recharge. This keeps CM pretty close to what it is right now, retains stackability and range, eases up on the buffing (I find the buff cycle for Fortify to be ok, but the buff cycle for CM absolutely horrible) and the Empath can buff himself if he stands next to his target when he casts the buff. A considerable improvement, even if it does squat for soloing without a pet or ally.
We are discussing ideas to improve Solo parity of the low-powered sets. Changing CM to an ally toggle would not improve Empathy's position at all. -
Quote:Very good points Dr.MikeOriginally Posted by DrMike2000
Let's keep Sonic Blast and Sonic Resonance separate, since they aren't in any way linked in the game mechanics.
Sonic Blast is hands down the best Blast set for Defenders, capable of generating equivalent -Res to any primary on its own, without you having to spend one iota of endurance or animation time to do so.
I've always felt that some of Sonic Resonances problems may have been overlooked early on because it often got thematically paired with Sonic Blast, which made it feel better than it really is in testing.
To reply to one of Gilia's point, Sonic Resonance does potentially do more -Res than other sets, but it comes with caveats.
1) The peak values are for single targets. It's -60% to the boss, -30% to everyone else, compared to Trick Arrows -40% to several targets, or Storm/Cold's -35% from Freezing Rain/Sleet.
2) Both the -Res powers do absolutely nothing else. Some other -Res powers apply -Def too, or knockdown or damage or whatever. Sonic's don't - you're spending animation time and endurance to just get -Res.
3) The AoE -Res needs a teammate. This means solo you're stuck with just Sonic Siphon - a long animating attack that eats into your endurance and animation time, thus not always improving your DPE or DPS by applying the -Res like it should. If the -Res of Sonic Siphon lets you use one less attack to finish off an enemy, it wasn't worth using.
Sonic Siphon needs to do more than what it does. This is why I suggested adding another debuff to it. This would make it similar to powers in other sets that are single target debuffs. I cannot emphasize enough how reducing the CAST time (Not recharge, as someone thought I was saying) would help this power be more useful.
I kinda like the idea of making it an AoE, but realistically, changing Sonic Disruption to a standard enemy anchor debuff would do that and more. If just these two changes were made, Sonic resonance would be much better at soloing without increasing it's team strength one IOTA. -
Quote:I agree with you that from a parity standpoint you could say that sets over 5 of 9 solo usable powers could be considered too good, but here are reasons why I would approach the parity balance from the bottom instead of the top;Originally Posted by Gilia
I agree there's some disparity, but I think some of the changes are a little off the wall. I'm particularly focused on Sonic Resonance, which I have a love affair with.
I would actually argue the other support sets have too much self protection before I'd argue any are lacking. Self-protection and support aren't supposed to be the same thing.
I'm not sure if you accounted for the fact that Traps, FF, and Sonic are the only ones with self-mez protection. That's pretty significant, IMO.
A) When balancing, the developers can "tap-down" the nails sticking out of the board or they can "pull-up" the lower lying ones. Which one will generate more "nerdrage" and "hatemail" ? It makes more sense to boost the lower level performers and then make global changes to game difficulty that counter "power-creep" rather than nerf the top-performers down to some median level and cause considerably more amounts of "negativity" across a larger section of the fan-base.
B) We all joined this game to play super heroes. Yes, when you choose a support Archetype, this becomes your "role" while on a team, but shouldn't we all still perform like super heroes and be able to go it alone from time to time. All I ask is that the poor soloers be given a little more parity against their AT brothers, without being overpowered.
I appreciate your additional feedback, on Sonic in particular, but I have to ask what you feel would bring Sonic closer to solo Parity with other Defender Powersets ?
What I am hoping to discuss are those ideas, rather than the "why" or "why not".
-Bio- -
Quote:I think one of the improvements to Thermal (besides giving at least one more power usable while solo) is to get something earlier in their career. They get a heal at level 1 and then the next solo-useful powers are at level 35 and 38. Thats an awefull price to pay for team powers. My choice of targeting Forge was twofold. One, it seems to match more of the theme of fire as a Damage Buff and it would be available at level 28. Thats still an awefully long time to wait for your second solo power, but something could be shuffled around so that it could be level 20 perhaps?Originally Posted by Garent
I agree with you on forge and resurrections. Power of the phoenix actually costs almost twice as much as other rezzes do and recharges in almost twice the time. Power of the phoenix is definitely much better than most other rezzes, but 49 endurance is pretty serious (it costs even more for masterminds). It always seemed to me like thermal had purposefully nerfed later powers, under the rationale that resistance buffs + healing was a really good combo and the rest of the set's buffs/debuffs would need to be weaker to compensate.