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Posts
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Oh, here's a question:
Would you consider adding some sustain factors or greater values into Blaster APPs? Namely the armors?
I've been thinking about how I have Charged Armor on all the time and I'd love for it to have the new benefits (obviously, I understand we need the benefits at LOW LEVELS not just later on), but I was wondering if those Blaster APP armors could have further benefits along those lines? Or just higher values?
It'd be great if, somehow, those armors could just automatically turn on the new sustain benefits you've added. I imagine that is entirely unfeasible though. -
I don't think I have a question (that you can answer) right now, but I just wanted to chime in and say that your interests in buffing up Electric Blast's damage (and, eventually, the secondary effects) make me very happy.
I love the set, but I do recognize that it could be more powerful.
I do sometimes wish that we had another blast to choose from instead of VS, but I also recognize and appreciate having that unique variation among the Blaster sets.I guess I sometimes feel like the hold and the energy drain is enough of a variation, hehe.
I am also very excited to see you mention improving Build Up's potential for quicksnipes.
AND... I think increasing the range of the Tier 1 Secondary immobs would be fantastic!!
Thanks for the open dialog! -
Quote:That might also be a stretched ideal, in that VS has a target that it is focused on for that entire 60 seconds.I didn't see anyone else post this up. Apologies if I missed it somewhere.
Voltaic Sentinel- 60s recharge, 3.3 cast, 44.5 damage times 15 attacks is 667.5 damage, 202.3 DPA
It's actually an amazing single target "attack" assuming the fight lasts long enough and there's nothing distracting it. Biggest drawback (aside from the obvious distraction one) is that it can't stack. Having your best attack be on a forced 60 second recharge is really bad. Even if it were capable of stacking, a 30 second recharge with SOs would still be pretty bad. It has a 1.4 accuracy bonus on its attack though, so it would be pretty slot efficient if it didn't cost 26 endurance.
If you actually activate it while in combat, maybe...
If you activate it before combat, it may not pick up a target until you move to a closer range.
It certainly depends and I'm not attempting to discredit what you've said there. Just lamenting and pointing out a few of the factors that'd likely knock off a chunk of those nice looking numbers. -
Yeah, basically, the origin choice is just flavor (and they weaved that flavor into the game in a few places... but very few). Nothing for a new player to worry about at all. Just choose the origin you think fits OR choose the little ranged origin power you think the character should have (they're listed in the origin description).
Here's the super duper handy paragonwiki in action!
http://paragonwiki.com/wiki/Origin_power -
Welcome aboard! I hope you like it!
Here's the best advice I can give you...
Don't follow anyone's advice! (except for that)
Listen, sure... but, when people start telling you to start with this or that... they're only speaking for themselves.
Hey, I started as a Blaster... Loved it and never stopped playing.
We're all different... and this game, more than any out there today, recognizes that and gives us plenty to choose from and enjoy.
Again, don't just follow my advice, but I highly recommend just imagining a character and then trying to see if you can achieve it in game with the power choices... and go and play that.
This game is great when you have an interest in your character... Like a movie you're really in to, as opposed to just kinda watching it.
Of course, there are a ton of ways different people enjoy playing this game, so whatever your thing is... I hope you find it and enjoy it here. -
Quote:I don't disagree with you on this (other than it necessarily being "bad" design. It may just not be the way you or I would have dreamed it).This definitely pops up in other archetypes as well. This is unavoidable in many situations, like mez protection in defense sets, but some sets manage to do it in a unique way, like how fiery aura's status protection is spread among its shields instead of being in one specific power. It's far from the greatest of evils, but I think it's one worth avoiding when possible, and I think it's possible here. Every secondary having a designated "this is your overpowered regen/absorption power" is what I consider to be bad design. I feel that the secondaries should specialize in control, or self healing, or debuffing, to give examples.
Regardless, I do always love how different powersets can achieve the same performance levels through completely different approaches. It's always been one of my favorite aspects of this game.
I see this a bit more like how almost every Defender primary has a heal. I can certainly live with it.
Plus, we don't know that we won't be seeing additional improvements that may stem from varying approaches for each powerset.
This may just be a good baseline for each within the AT, that differing benefits can be added to.
(I know... I know... we may not see any of that... but we might!)
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Quote:I can understand where you're coming from, but... How else would you go about fixing the powersets without outright revamping what has existed all this time?So I've decided that I have two big problems with the buff to secondaries. The first is that I feel this is just continuing the trend of "fixing" blasters by standardizing them and is leading to more homogenization. The second is that they've chosen to improve the secondaries by giving them one overpowered power. I was just talking to Diellan about it, and I think he put it best with "It's like deciding that every armor set should be like stone armor". The secondaries will still be full of a lot of useless powers and this is putting the design team in a corner because they won't be able to address that without doing something about the overpowered thing they did before. And you know how allergic the design team is to nerfing things.
If you're saying this from the perspective of someone that does not like the current Blaster secondaries and/or is in favor of completely redoing, scratching, revamping, greatly altering existing powers, then that would be the big problem here. They're not going to do that.
Honestly and sincerely, do you see another way of adding these bonuses without drastically revamping or removing existing powers?
I, personally, see this as a pretty good job of fitting improvements into long-existing powersets of an 8+ year old game.
And I say that as a diehard E3 Blaster that had no desire or intention of taking Lightning Clap... -
Yeah, I'm really believing in the Regen approach for Blasters.
After some of the Blaster discussions, I had gotten it in my (usually ignoring numbers, for the most part) mind that Health was somehow the bigger answer. For whatever reason, I just didn't make the leap to Regen (after I looked and saw the Health numbers for each AT).
From my experiences... Just having little greens keeps me alive. Mez does not tend to be my major issues. And, with higher difficulties, leaving each fight with lowered Health was the big factor. I think Regen is a great approach to giving the Blasters greater survivability without taking away their nature for all these years.
We'll get hit. We just hope to hit you harder and be standing at the end of it.
Let me leave a fight wounded... but give me the ability to heal it up without using Rest so I don't start the next fight at a greater disadvantage.
I am very optimistic about the Regen approaches Hawk seems to be aiming for.
And, who knows what else may be coming (if necessary). -
Quote:Quite right. In fact, I was thinking along those lines after I posted that and walked away for a bit. There's not really any particular constant with approaches (for my playstyles, anyway), rather different approaches to different scenarios.If you are doing that with AoEs, your play may be less focused on single target output anyway, and any improvements in single target attacks of any kind would be highly diluted. I'd stick to it if that's your thing. But the option will be there to start with the snipe, and then to follow up with the snipe in later combat at very high single target damage output.
Sure, my main approach for general content may be sapping, doubling up BU and Aim and AoEing, but... in a longer fight, against EBs and higher, that would absolutely lend toward leveraging the snipes this way.
One of my favorite things about the E3 Blaster is the versatility and different approaches I feel comfortable taking based on scenario and/or whim. If nothing else, and with no other changes, this will at least add another option to my bag of tricks.
We shall see... -
Quote:I find this aspect conceptually, and mechanically, interesting... However, I wonder if that single aspect is holding back what may be better (for most everything other than Devices).I don't get the impression that making the insta-snipe non-perma is due to Arbiter Hawk being concerned about players making it perma, because at least two blaster secondaries have a path to make it perma. I think its more the case that he wanted to differentiate /Dev from the other secondaries, and this was his way of doing that in a way he thought was conceptually interesting.
Again, all of this is in agreement with a wait and see it in test and see what else is possibly in store mindset. So, just idle pondering, for the most part.
Quote:As to whether its worth it or not, my back of the envelope calculations suggest that with just BU and Aim and SO slotting, with or without Hasten you can probably have about 80% of all sniper blast opportunities be insta-snipes. In other words, about as fast as snipe recharges, 80% of the time it will be in an insta-mode. 80% doesn't seem to be all that unusually situational to me, and that's for very low end builds.
I think the paper calculations won't convince most people, though, and people will just need to test drive it on beta to see how often sniper attacks are and are not in the insta mode.
I'm not saying that invalidates what you are saying, but I just wanted to get a clearer picture of this approach.
As I mentioned elsewhere (why did so many people create separate threads again? Don't answer that), I have been one who tended towards using BU and Aim together for a bigger burst. So, these changes will certainly shift my approach. -
I feel similarly, Airhammer, except for your refusal to take the snipe and Survivability power (although, I already generally take snipes).
Some times there has to be a bit of a lock in a power that you're going to want (almost need) to take (within primaries and secondaries).
I think Assassin Strike is an excellent example.
However, I'd hope, if Snipes were turned into something more inherently worthwhile, you'd not be refusingto take them.
So, maybe that is the sensible reply to the questions about your comparison of the AT upgrades for Stalker and Blaster.
Although... I am also on the same page that this is entirely a wait and see point about all of this. This isn't really an AT upgrade for Blasters, as the Stalker upgrade was.
We'll see...
Still, I have been sitting and pondering the same frustration for my Elec/Elec Blaster. I am, honestly, hopeful that Electric Blast may be getting some love of its own, not yet mentioned.
I also like (and had thought the same thing) the idea about using our Defiance stacks to activate the quickfire snipe. -
Quote:This is one of my big concerns about this....
Aim and build up are typically used in order to enhance the blaster's initial area attack volley, so I don't see them being useful for activating the enhanced snipe unless you're in an AV fight.
Before having Alpha: Musculature, I pretty much always used Aim and Build Up together -Hit them as hard as possible to eliminate the threats as quickly as possible.
After Alpha, I have relaxed on that and tend to alternate (I'll still use both at once on occasion, as well).
Still... When I alternate them, it usually is in the form of hitting one at the beginning of a fight... and then hitting the other at the beginning of the next fight.
So, this obviously will not work with the new snipe design.
Whether or not this would improve my play/performance or hinder it, I'm not entirely sure, so I'm not jumping the gun that it is inherently bad.
I just know that it is something that's on my mind as well.
I've felt like Blasters need more damage at their disposal via some heavier hitters while in combat. This idea sort of accomplishes that... but only if you follow that one way to do it... and I'm not sure I'd be entirely thrilled by that, if that does end up to be true. -
Also, also, also... I started thinking that HEALTH was a key to greater Blaster parity/success (and more inline with my experiences and desires than defenses, mez protections and such), so I am pretty pleased to see the Regen aspect and I'm hopeful that works out well.
We'll see...
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Obviously, all of this is without seeing the numbers and testing and everything they have planned going into this first wave of changes...
I do wonder about the +ToHit requirement for the Snipes as well.
I love how it works for Devices (creating that boost for that secondary), but I'm unsure about it for most other sets.
I'm really not a fan of how it's going to make Tactics such a desirable choice.
I'm not so thrilled about the snipe's potential being kept behind powers and/or inspirations.
I'm not against it. That'd be rather close-minded of me. I'm curious to see how it plays out, just using Aim and Build Up on those sets that have them... But I'm not convinced it brings the change to Snipes, and Blaster attack chains, that I feel could be the right way to go.
Generally, I'll hit BU or AIM at the start of combat. So, okay, if we open up with that and Snipe, we're not really gaining the new benefit... and then, when the snipe has recharged, we don't have the ToHit to make it the quick fire variant. (I'm just thinking through typing here) So, we then hit AIM (if we have both BU and AIM) and bam, we've got the quickfire Snipe. I guess that's rather nice. I'm just not certain. And, I'm certainly unsure about sets/combos without the two ToHit powers to alternate.
I like the idea and I hope it works. However, if it doesn't seem to play out quite so well, I hope they might have, or be open to, another way to obtain the quick fire snipe. -
Quote:Yeah, that's not a perfect translation of what Zwill was saying there.Once again, I think Rejolt for the transcription.
2:14: No respec planned, powers work as is - name changed. Considering regen/recovery can be slotted... eh.
I'd be more comfortable if that "not planned" was changed to "obviously required."
He simply said that it hadn't been decided yet... I'm pretty sure, after a pause, he seemed to think that these changes made sense to include one. And then he made it clear that there was no decision to include one, but that could certainly change.
That's how I recall it, anyway.
I'd be very surprised if there were not freespecs with these changes, hehe. I'm certainly not worrying about there not being any (and not just because I have a ton of freespecs still anyway).
Basically, as far as I understood, there just was no decisive plan or information on a freespec this issue. That doesn't mean that there won't be, when the time comes. -
Yeah, I've always felt like the Blaster could use a "Tier 9" power at a lower tier... and keep the true Tier 9 as Nukes.
Anyway... I want to see if there are further plans for some specific powersets.
I know that Ice Blast was mentioned (and I think any set that doesn't have a snipe).
However, I am extremely curious about Electric Blast, because... well, no one else (other than a few of us diehard fans of it) ever mentions Electric except when they want to say that it sucks.Of course, it doesn't suck, but it could possibly use a bit of propping up.
However, the changes being made may somewhat put Electric Blast further behind, if nothing else is done to it, because it doesn't have the 3rd Blast that other sets are gaining extended range on. Not that this is a huge difference maker (and perhaps Voltaic Sentinel simply already having range is seen as the balancing factor).
Still... Since other sets may be getting some special attention, I'd be remiss if I didn't bring up the notion that, perhaps, Electric Blast could use a little attention of its own.
(That and I'm still trying to wrap my head around needing Lightning Clap for the new survivability gains...) -
So, it was mentioned that some powersets would be getting some other adjustments (I think this was focused on whether they have a Snipe or not).
However, I wonder if some sets that do not have that 3rd Tier Blast power will be getting some additional love as well.
I admit, my mind is pretty centered on how this will all apply to Electric/Electric.
No 3rd tier blast (I was hoping maybe Ball Of Lightning would get the range increase, but I understand if they didn't want to give it to an AoE). And then, with the secondary, we get the click survival power (Lightning Clap - Force Of Thunder) and I am so very curious as to what those numbers will be and how it will play out.
Am I mistake in hearing them say that it'd include Absorb?
It is just funny to me, because Lightning Clap is the only power from the Electric Primary and Secondary that I've never once taken on my Blaster. -
So, my initial question (after coming to terms with Electric getting their new benefits from Lightning Clap/Force Of Thunder):
How will the numbers on Click versions and Toggle versions compare? I would assume it'll be similar to the general rule of all toggle vs. click powers...
I suppose I am just trying to find joy in Electric getting it in click form... -
Maybe they're just adding alternate animations of magic staff, wands, rods and guns firing the attacks...
Okay, I know Arcana is in the know already. And, yes... this is what my psychic readings have told me.
Tsk, tsk, the developers should not place information in such a weakly defended mind...
Hmm... why do I feel the need to say pygmy pajama penguin plebians?
Oh, I think I will use the rest of my time to run these calculations that suddenly appeared in my mind... -
It's not a matter of it being sunshine...
It's a matter of it having zero significance to (I'll only speak for myself) me whatsoever.
The market refreshes 3AM Tuesday for me... The market refreshes some time in the afternoon on Tuesday.
It makes zero difference in my world.
The same people do not walk by my house at the same times at regular intervals. It doesn't bother me.
My dinner doesn't arrive at the same exact time every evening. It's okay. It's not a failing of a master plan.
Paragon Studios and NCSoft's grand master plan does not include maintaining an exact, specific and constant arrangement of when their market gets new things.
It's not a problem. It's not indicative of larger problems.
It's just a... change.
A simple, understandable, acceptable change.
HUGE difference between that mindset and "the sun shines out of the dev's collective holes and this wasn't a mistake but part of a genius masterplan".
Seriously, you occasionally sound reasonable and then you sound very... unreasonable. based on this, I suspect that you are likely human. -
Ooooh!
As a Blaster, first and foremost, I'm eager to hear this stuff... and trust you guys to do good without ruining my big time fun!No pressure!
Seriously excited and optimistic! -
From the sound of things, it is quite possible that the person responsible for doing that job (I'm going to go along with it being Ghost Falcon) was also the person responsible (or heavily influential) for making the decision of when.
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Quote:Haha, I hear you on that. And I hope the humor in my reply was appreciated, even if it was jokingly at your expense.Nah I start off by reading the threads I enjoy, then eventually when people stop posting replies in them I move on and eventually get to threads about problems and get more and more annoyed
In this case, I just think it is an understandable business/employee-consideration decision. It seems like it is a job for a high-up producer/developer, so it's not something they're leaving to any old employee. And they changed it so that the person responsible doesn't have to do it at midnight, their time.
I also enjoyed it being the old way, but it really makes zero difference to us in the end. I'm sure it makes a difference for the person having to flip the switch though.