LadyMage

Just a snowball chucking emote would be kewl. No damage, just the fun of throwing snowballs at each other, villians, whatever we like.

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Here is an idea to fix AoEs. Just a suggestion but here goes.

Think of AoE dmg as a bomb or mine. Now everything in the bombs radius doesnt get completely destroyed some times u can be close unscathed if u were say right next to the bomb in rare cases (ears maybe ringing).

So.... Lets say u hit 100% of mobs with ur accuracy (which I think there is an accuracy cap of 90 or 95% not sure sorry)

Now we have some statistical weighted roll for each mob to take full or partial damage. so 75% to 95% of mobs take full dmg from the AoE and fall over and die.

The other 25% to 5% of MObs take 1/2 to 3/4s dmg.

What this does is annihilates a large portion of the Mobs as a lvl 32 Skill for a blaster is meant to do. But it leaves a mess for the Blaster to clean up. 2nd part of this fix is to make mobs chase the AoEr for a longer period of time. so that even if a SS blaster runs a mile away eventually that mob is going to chase him down. so the Blaster will either have to zone out / kill the mob / or tactically run away for health and come back for the mob b4 it gets him. This costs the blaster extra time and endurance which will slow down his progression by Alpha Strike AoEs.

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The problem with this idea is that the alpha strikes we are talking about cause the blaster to be disoriented for a little while after the attack and not recharge end. This means that unless I misunderstand the way things work. No blaster can speed away from anybody that survives his Alpha Strike. This is why some Blasters are wondering why people feel the alpha strikes are overpowered. Remember a blaster is a Glass Canon especially after using his alpha strike if mobs survive he is almost guartneed to be dying in the next few seconds.

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Actually you're wrong. The 32 Alpha strikes do not disorient. And the post you quoted is actually the way the alpha strikes work now. There are three ticks of damage on nova and Psychic wail that I've seen, each with their own to hit chance, that checks against all mobs in the area. Thus sometimes someone standing in the middle of it goes completely unscathed, and others are only somewhat hurt.

And while you don't naturally recover end, you can pop a blue and keep blasting. And any end regen powers that were on you will continue to work (recovery aura, Adrenaline Boost, Speed Boost, accelerate metabolism)

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This will probably garner me a big flaming response, but here it goes, (and if this is already implemented, I apologize):

Use the datamining and other records to see how quickly different AT's and builds are leveling. Based upon this, and a lot of playtesting, adjust the necessary XP to level accordingly.

Thus, a defender soloing blues and whites would level at approximately the same pace as a scrapper soloing, say, whites and yellows, (just as an example).

Now I see how this could be circumvented by having a scrapper/blaster kill reds, oranges, etc, could level defenders really quickly, so some grouping adjustment for XP would have to be taken into account.

What I am getting at is making it so that all the AT's can level at a similar rate, while not removing one AT's penchant for soloing, (i.e. what strength of enemy they can successfully fight)

Go ahead... comment, criticize, but make a suggestion that is better, not just an attack!

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You'd have to do it by build, and again by level. A radiation defender solos completely different mobs than an Empathy defender. A level 17 illusion controller hunts different cons than a 19 illusion controller and different cons than a 33 illusion controller. A 33 mind controller solos different things than a 33 fire controller. A fire/dev or fire/NRG blaster hunts completely different fodder to a electric blaster.

That would take hundreds of hours of play testing, and wouldn't take into account people who don't know what they're doing in building their toon, grouping, roleplayers who don't take potentially useful skills for concept reasons....what a pain in the ....

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The other large issue here is this: People need to spend less time worrying about what other peoples' heros can do. If you play an archetype and enjoy playing that archetype, all good. I don't care if a blaster can stealth his/her way into the middle of a dozen +10 bosses and alpha strike them into dust! If they can do that and are happy to be able to play that way, it's none of my concern. If the abilities of another archetype are somehow ruining your enjoyment of the game, that is your problem, not theirs. Concentrate on your character and your gameplay, and you'll enjoy it a lot more.

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Normally you'd be right, but since the devs obviously think it's a problem, they're implimenting changes that negatively effect us all. Several of my characters will not be able to solo at all once this goes live, and that bothers me. By implementing changes that effect every AT to solve the imbalance of one, they have made it my concern. Normally I wouldn't really care.

If Alpha strikes are the apparent problem, there are other ways to deal with them rather than nerfing us all. This is a concern of the Devs, not a concern of ours. Please spare us your contempt.

Actually the AoE fall off idea isn't mine, it's a SG mates, but as he's not as much of a Forums hound as I am, I'm championing it. I've always liked it, this isn't the first time I've posted it, and others of my SG have posted it as well. It's something I'd really like to see, and I think it is the solution we need here.

I'm glad you liked it too.

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If you really want to address the AoE problem you need to... nerf the AoE attacks .

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I think I speak for most players when I say this should NEVER be a suggestion.

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Why not?

If the AoE problem is the reason for the minion HP increase, then it's addressing the problem, AND it's creating new ones, or exacerbating existing ones.

It's been a long standing, existing problem that certain ATs or combinations of power sets have great difficulty soloing at all, or at least with any form of speed. Statesman himself has said that soloing should be an option for all heroes. The increase in mob hit points is going to simply deepen this problem. Combos that are good soloers are going to be slowed, but combos that were weak soloers are going to be neigh unsoloable.

While Statesman has not been overly concerned about a lot of characters taking Stamina, he has said that it's something that may have to changed, made inherant (IIRC). Fights with higher hit point mobs are going to last longer, and the limiting factor on how long a fight can last is how long your endurance can hold out. Builds that might not have needed stamina pre hit point increase may now find that they need it. Another problem exacerbated.

Tanks complain that they don't do enough damage. This increase in hit points makes the rift between tanker damage and scrapper defense seem even larger. Another problem made larger by this "fix".

Yet this increase does address the need to do something about AoE alpha strikes. But wouldn't it be more productive and better to address that problem directly than tripping over so many other problems on the way there? Now defender, controller and tanker damage will have to be increased, or their endurance tweaked downward, or both. But how much can you tweak it? You don't want tanks who become scrappers, and you don't want defenders who become blasters. The testing is going to be time consuming, problematic, and difficult. Or you could just make a sweeping change to AoE.

Consider a AoE damage fall off. Fire blaster goes in and pops inferno. Everything in melee range takes 100% damage. Just beyond melee, the damage falls off somewhat, everything just outside melee takes 85% damage. Shortly to the outside of that ring the final ring takes 70% damage. If the mobs were nicely gathered, they're all, or almost all taking full damage. If you were less careful, you're going to have some pissed off mobs who are pretty hurt, but still alive enough to take pot shots at you.

And this would be a sweeping change. To us, blasters and defenders alike, and to mobs. So those grenades that hit the tank and do full damage to him, might not kill you outright because you were a little too close (unless you were a lot too close). So you, the fire blaster who went in close for a fire breath won't get all of the alpha strike when the psychic clockwork king gets pissy at your melee-ers.

Yes, this too would require testing. But at least it would be adressing the problem directly, rather than prancing around it and creating havoc in it's wake.

What about defenders?

My empath defender is a marginal soloer at best, but since I respec-ed her, she's been able to. Since that respec, she's gotten several times more of the story arcs done than previously, and has levelled at a far more respectable rate. I'm actually getting to see the late game content. I won't tell you how many arcs I missed before her respec.

Even now on live she has to run for help if the boss happens to be +1, or something that can mez. Or worse, an AV. With an increase in mob HP without a similar increase in her damage, I fear she's going to be relegated back to unsoloable.

I'm not asking to solo reds or purples. If I have to continue as I have been and ask for help with mezzers and red bosses, so be it. But soloing whites shouldn't be beyond an empath defender with a build balanced for support and offense. And that's what I fear is coming.

Edit: Thanks Statesman. I'm glad to hear this is still on the radar.

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States,

Could you please tell us whether or not there are any Defender issues on the radar, either short or long term? Not so much about the AT as a whole, but rather about individual set balance/utility issues.

Specifically, could we please see at some point an analysis or explanation for the perceived weakness of Psi Blast with respect to the other defender blast sets? (4 out of 9 powers - "Mental Blast", "Subdue", "Psionic Tornado", "Scramble Thoughts" - rated poor to fair, a higher number, I conclude, than any other blast set. This is arguable of course.)

How about the lack of personal utility (notice I don't say soloability) of the FF and Empathy sets as opposed to the other primaries? Any thoughts on that?

Thank you kindly,

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This poster has touched on one of my favourite crusades (Psi Blast animations), but I have a few more questions.

Could you look into tweaking Absorb Pain? Right now the effects appear to be applied in such a way that by the time the heal is fired I often am healing a defeated hero, yet I suffer the hit point cost and the buffer. If the animation time was shortened, or the heal fired before those other effects came in, it would be more useful.

The clear mind animation is long enough to require that a toon be buffed with it before combat begins, instead of being useful as a rescue power. While the first does outweigh the second in usefulness, a shortened animation would be more useful in combat to break a status effect, or to reapply the buff.

Is the reclassification to untyped damage coming soon? Is a retrofit of the defensive sets coming with it?

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Instead of lowering AoE damage, why not limit damage enhancements to say 4 instead as a cap?

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NOOOOO!!! SHHHHH!!!...

Blasters having no defense need all the damage we can get ...

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Well, we're not supposed to be giving ideas, but I think a suitable fix would be it dealing less damage the further it goes from the core of the blast. This would still ensure teh ubar damage, while making it not too ubar damage.

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Glad to see someone else suggest this. Members of my SG have suggested it also, and I think it's the most elegant solution. Things in the epicenter are still dead. Things to the fringes are hurt. This gives the single target guys some of their role back, and they can work on the baddies to the outside.

Also think about it this way. What ever happens to AoE damage for players will be happening to mobs as well. So the empath who got too close to the tank to catch him in RA just as he provokes a half dozen Freak tanks, and they all M30 him, might actually survive it. My debt should tell you that right now, thats not the case.

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Vahz puke is fire... not unclassified.

Niallo

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Then insulation sheild should provide defense to it. It doesn't. The close calls we had on the positron task force with my bubbler and a friend's bubble controller along all came from Vahz. That stuff cuts right through double stacked, well slotted insulation sheilds. Vahz puke is unclassified, as is hydra spit, protector spine damage, and Devoured spit, and possibly others that I havn't seen since my main hasn't quite hit 40 yet. All of the above cut through bubbles and invlunerability powers.

So my question is, when are we going to see a fix for unclassified damage? I recall seeing an age ago about typing it to poison and retrofitting defenses for it, but nothing since. An ETA? Please?

I am as some in my supergroup call me a d00d defender, or more recently a blastender. Make no mistake, I am first and foremost an emp defender. I dislike soloing, prefer grouping, and I know and fulfill my role in said group, but I deal damage. Plenty of it, both solo and in groups.

I figure if I have to take Mental Blast, I might as well make use of it. Sure, it's slow, but why pass up an attack? Currently three slotted with damage SOs. ( I use tactics as my accuracy. 5 slotted, 4 buffs and one end discount makes for more damage for me, and a nice buff when I group.)

I picked up subdue, and while an immob was nice to have, getting stuck in animation lock was not my idea of a good time, preticularily because I'm emp, and I can't exactly tell the scrapper that's hit red to wait for my animation to finish for me to heal them. It used to be 3 slotted, again only damage, until it got the axe in respec at 33.

Scream I picked up at 12. I still remember people in the first few weeks of release looking around trying to figure out what that sound was. Solid, long range AoE damage that keeps my main tank hopping with provokes. Good times for all. This is 4 slotted and at 35 does about 100 points to a white minion.

Telekinetic Blast is a power I almost passed on till I saw it used. Fast, high damage, knockback for a little single target cc and a different damage type for psy resistant mobs. Three slotted it does ~150 total between the two types.

Wondered where the damage slots from subdue went at respec? Will Domination. This power alone let me solo again after having given up on it for a dozen levels. A little crowd control with heavy damage goes a long, long way! Similar damage to TB, and a good long duration sleep. Night boys!!

And my newest toy at 35, Psionic Tornado. I have been told that with proper slotting the DoT can add up to similar to Scream, if not more. Moderate DoT, impressive animation, and 4 second knockup. I can't stop giggling over this power. I'm currently still playing with enhancers for this one.

I've heard nothing but good things about wail....27 bubs to go!

An attention span that gets you to 18th? Wow, you're better than me.

I've made dozens of characters, across most of the servers, and I get bored around 8th. I've been here since the last 2 months of beta and LadyMage is my highest level character ever at 16th, and I'm already thinking of creating an Alt on Triumph......

Only LM has a battlecry, and it's really more of a tagline.
Emp Defender who's the fourth in her family to take up the fight after one of them falls.
"Death doesn't stop a hero."

If it's bothering you, ask them to turn their operating system to non verbose mode. It'll either confuse those of them that are not actual geeks, or they'll appreciate you appealing to them in a RP fashion.

Just proving that one of my characters is named after me

Due to LadyMage's odd background, Hello by Evanescence springs to mind as her song.....It'll probably change as she matures, but who's doesn't? It's especially perfect considering she was a classical dancer before taking the hero path, and the piano background is gorgeous.

JustAGirl has to be Intuition by Jewel, the song I named her for.....she was sort of an accident in beta, but I had such fun with the idea I ran with it in retail. "I'm just a simple girl, in a high tech digital world....."

WinterWitch.....something electronic, fast and angry.....thus nothing I normally listen to...

Queen Geek, Clubbed to Death from the Matrix......don't know why, but it's one of my favorites, and it seems to fit.