Lightless

I've succeeded 7 times out of 8.. and the only time I failed was the first time because I hadn't learned the tactics. I'll give you a hint: 5 person well balanced teams where everyone is, or is SK'able, to around the same level.

Well all I can say is that I do hope Issue 3 will blow us all away. 75% of my supergroup is talking about loot, epic quests and trade skills a-la World of Warcraft.

I love this game... and I need all the help I can get to keep everyone here.

Help me out devs. See my Top 10 list!

In a perfect world, we would all have unlimited time and the desire to lose our cool powers and hunt with lowbies again, and not care about XP or getting more cool powers.

In reality, we have limited time to play, we like our cool powers, and much as though we like hunting with lowbie friends we still want to gain access to more cool powers.

That's why we play, remember?

Cool powers + Cool capes + Cool effects + new content + hunt with friends = desire to play.

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Like it or not, people want XP... and if you are going to strip them off their hard-earned cool powers and new content you'd better give them a very good incentive to give it all up.

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If I'm going to get hit with 20 seconds of zero endurance gain...

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10-20 seconds of no natural endurance recovery... RA and Catch a Breathes would still work (as they do with Psychic Wail... except Psychic Wail knocks out the toggles too which is why I think a reduction to base 10 Endurance is better than 0 Endurance - gives you a few seconds for RA or CaBs to work).

And in regard to using AB as a battle starter only... well it's not just 30 seconds of disorient and toggle re-enables, but also impact on your other buffs that are running (invis, Fort). I suppose it's do-able in a way... but it's kinda of whacko to have an empath knock themselves out trying to buff up a team member.

Now that I know about the Disciplines workaround I'm tempted to just shut up and go that way (!) but it just seems wrong!

Ah pleased to set the right example

In reflection I do see how losing all your toggles is in itself bad enough... so zero endurance with no natural recovery (without RA or inspirations) is harsh.

However, the workaround (stocking up on Disicpline inspirations) is kind of a let down for what should be the best power in the empathy set (I never knew this was possible but I wonder why we need to go to this length to use a power?)

If the 9th powers need to have a drawback, perhaps making AB reduce your endurance to 10 and prevent natural recovery for 10-20 seconds) is better?

This way, toggles don't drop.. but there is less reason to slot it for recharge and spam it. And since Catch a Breaths are more common than Luck inspirations... the requirement to purposely stock up on Lucks is removed.... rather, you can carry 2-3 Catch a Breathes.

At this point anything is better than what it currently is.

SHORT VERSION

Please replace the 20 second disorient with a 20 second no endurance recovery (similar to Psychic Wail) or slow effect.
The only time AB is really needed, the disorient renders it catastrophic to the team because the empath is out of action.
Devs... please consider making this power a viable end-power.

LONG VERSION

I took AB since Issue 2 hoping that it was no longer useless... and IMHO it's still not a very good power..

The disorient effect makes it so situational that you can pretty much only use it when:

a) teamed up with another defender who can Clear Mind you immediately
b) can afford to stagger around disorientated for 20 seconds (e.g. you never needed it to begin with)
c) making lowbies in Steel Canyon feel like gods for 90 seconds

In practise, I will normally buff my teams defense with 5 slotted Maneuvers, Grant Invis and Fortitude... and they will go pretty well. When I threw AB on top, I saw no defensive benefit at all because AB knocks out my Maneuvers and makes me unable to heal/support the rest of the team.

As it turns out, team members had to chew on inspirations while I "recovered" and staggered in their general direction waiting for Heal Other to fire off.

In normal combat, AB is not needed.
In intense combat, AB is too dangerous to use.

As mentioned, AB knocks off my 5 slotted Leadership powers AND my stealth. Which affects the whole team and makes me ultra vulnerable to random aggro.

The disorient needs to go, and be replaced with no endurance recovery (or something similar... maybe slow effect).

Looking forward to some more positive changes