Luminara

Across the board? No. For a specific power? Present a reasonable case to the developers and they might consider it. But a global nerf to KB, not happening.

And slotting for KB would be pointless because the maximum possible KB one could get from a KD power would be mag 2.

Highest KD possible before it becomes KB: 0.74 or 0.75 (forget which, irrelevant in this instance because the end result is nearly identical).

Maximum +KB from enhancements: roughly 175%.

0.75 * (1 (base value) + 1.75 (enhancement value)) = 2.0625.

Mag 2 KB does little more than knock enemies back a couple of feet. In regard to damage mitigation, the extremely short distance enemies are knocked back at that magnitude means they won't be on their backs perceptibly longer than they would be if they'd been knocked down, thus the slight increase in magnitude translates to no effective improvement in damage mitigation. KB enhancements are rendered functionally moot at that point.

Additionally, locking all players at or below mag 2 KB completely and totally obviates one of the most fundamental reasons we have KB, that being to convey a sense of strength and power. KB is only partially intended as a "soft control", it's also partially intended as a "wow" factor, something which really puts the player in the mindset of that incredibly powerful comic book character. If all it does is scoot an enemy backward two or three feet, it's lost half of its purpose and is no longer a valid candidate for continued inclusion in the game. You might as well remove it entirely (which means giving up KD as well) and replace it with a more easily balanced and managed (from a developer standpoint) soft control.

So would Fear, or -Recharge, or a little more Defense... but punting an enemy into a wall so hard that you can almost feel bones breaking is fun. Just not getting hit a little more often, well, you can do that by standing under the globe in AP. It doesn't convey a feeling of being a super-powered comic book character very well, but it does mitigate damage.

Team with different people or tell your teammates to suck it. If they're too stupid or lazy to press the W key once in a while, they have more significant problems than KB. If they're just selfish maggots who believe they're the most important members of the team and their fun takes precedence, then they deserve to have every enemy they ever fight knocked all over the place.

It is effective. Being knocked back against a floor or a wall is functionally equivalent to being knocked down, all the enemies do is bounce a bit.

Push-back would be a workable system, but it would require push-back resistance to go hand in hand with it, otherwise you end up right back at square one with players avoiding powers with that effect because they're just too annoying to use in combat. Then you've got to change the animation flags to prevent them from canceling when the player is hit. And there would need to be a hard look at exactly what's allowed to interrupt powers (right now, someone can open an Ouroboros portal near you and interrupt your powers... and that's not even starting to address all of the things enemies can do to cause Interrupts, like simply debuffing you without dealing damage or knocking you down). So that's two brand new mechanics for the game, plus a sweep of all interruptible powers to set the correct flags to prevent characters from just standing with a stupid look on their faces while their powers are being pushed back, and potentially altering numerous powers which deliberately or inadvertently create interrupts.

Snipes vary from 3.67s to 4.67s. Your blaster's tier 1 attack is 1s, tier 2 is 1.67s... you can attack three or four times with just those two powers in the same time it takes for the snipe to animate, pass the Interrupt period and actually fire, and you typically deal equivalent or higher damage than you would with the snipe. Take Assault Rifle, for example. Burst has a 1s animation, Slug has a 1.67s animation, Sniper Rifle has a 3.67s animation. You can use Burst twice and Slug once in the same amount of time it takes to use Sniper Rifle once... and the combined base damage of Burst x2 plus Slug is 237.8, whereas the base damage of Sniper Rifle is only 172.7.

It's like that across the board, with a few notable exceptions like Archery and Radiation Blast for corruptors and defenders. Nearly every set with a snipe deals more damage with the first two attacks than the snipe deals in the same animation time. For the time you spend using snipes, they're less effective than simply ignoring them entirely and sticking with your first two attacks. So not only are you putting yourself at greater risk via standing still for the duration of the Interrupt period and waiting to see if you fire it off or get plastered, you're reducing your damage output at the same time, which further enhances the risk simply by slowing down your kill speed.

And that's not taking into account the damage you can deal if you include your "heavy hitter", if your powerset has one (not Dark Blast or Electrical Blast, for instance). Once you factor those in, there isn't a snipe in any set that doesn't underperform in comparison to simply using your standard attacks.

The only advantage that snipes have over any other ranged attack is greater range, and that hasn't been an advantage since they added "run away" code and increased enemy attack range several years ago.

Bottom line, even if you use Interrupt Reduction enhancements, you're still locked out of your other powers for the full animation time of the snipe, and for that same animation time, 3.67s to 4.67s, you could deal more damage without the snipe. That was why I suggested a scaling mechanic, something that would trigger the effect upon interrupt but still allow the power to do something useful.

I'd prefer to see a new mechanic added, one which leaves the Interrupt period intact, but scales the effect of the power over the duration of the Interrupt. If the power isn't interrupted, it goes off at 100% effect. If it is interrupted, then the effect of the power is scaled down by whatever percentage of the Interrupt was missed.

Example: I activate Moonbeam (3s Interrupt). 2s in, I'm hit by an enemy. Moonbeam fires at 66% damage (subject, of course, to the standard hit check).

Example: I activate Aid Other (1s Interrupt). I'm interrupted 0.1s later, Aid Other completes at 10% effectiveness.

Would make snipes (the most common powers with Interrupt periods) useful in standard combat and reward us with something in return for the endurance cost that we're forced to pay up front on Interruptible powers.

Already out on DVD.

http://www.amazon.com/Star-Wars-Tril...5749471&sr=1-1

The original theatrical releases are on the bonus discs, exactly as they were shown in theaters. Not even "A New Hope" added to the opening shot in the first film. They aren't anamorphic transfers, just straight letterbox (almost want to believe GL did it that way on purpose, just to irritate the fans who hated his changes), but they're the real thing.

http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?t=197316

It's intentionally weak. It's not supposed to be on par with controlling AT abilities, it's a pool power. It's there for utility and flavor, not to make scrappers and tanks competitive with controllers and dominators.

And it can be stacked with the other mag 2 Fear in the pool. There might be a reason they put two mag 2 Fears into the same pool. Maybe.

Also, note that the majority of foes we fight are minions or lower rank. Mag 2 is sufficient for that majority.

Accuracy is enhanceable.

Accuracy is enhanceable.

7.5s modified by AT and level. The actual duration varies from 6.66s (blaster, corruptor at level 20) to 13s (controller at level 50).

The duration is also enhanceable.

Recharge time can also be reduced. You didn't address the recharge time, but I figured I'd throw that out there anyway, just in case.

If the accuracy of a pool control "has to go up", then the accuracies of all of the 0.8 Acc controls in primaries and secondaries also "have to go up", given that the developers are on record stating that primaries should always be superior to secondaries, and secondaries always superior to pools. But they don't "have to go up", and won't. Those powers, including Invoke Panic, were purposely reduced in effectiveness in I5, to prevent players from using them to completely remove risk and challenge from the game.

Invoke Panic is the way it is for reasons. It's not intended or designed to be a substitute or replacement for hard controls or controls in primaries/secondaries. It's not supposed to be inherently accurate, fast and overwhelming, it's a flavor/fun/utility/panic button. It's not supposed to be easy and cheap to acquire, any more than Weave, Vengeance or Acrobatics are, because it can provide significant mitigation, just as those other powers can.

Given that it can be enhanced, buffed, improves when used on debuffed foes (Defense debuffs, for example, counter the lower base Acc quite well, whereas a power like World of Confusion has a static, fixed chance to Confuse and is just as unaffected by Defense debuffs as it is by +ToHit or +Acc) and stacks with Intimidate and the now freely available Vigilante alignment power (Fear Incarnate, PBAoE mag 2 Fear and -ToHit) in addition to the Fears available in certain primary and secondary powersets, it's very unlikely that the developers will drop it to the third power in the pool, make it a TAoE on par with powers like Terrify or Fearsome Stare and completely reverse all of the changes they made to the power in I5. There's reaching for the stars, and there's trying to grab the other side of the universe, and I think you're at the latter here.

You're not stupid, Bill. I know that, and I'm not trying to be condescending or insulting, but you really should know by now that this power is working as intended and works well if you put anything at all into making it work.

TA/Sonic. 20% for Acid, 20% for Disruption, 20% per Sonic blast (discounting Shockwave and Siren's Song) and 20% for the Achilles' Heel proc, it's quite possible to hit 130%.

That's without stacking Disruption. Or the Warburg Chem nuke. Or the PvP PBAoE 20% -Res proc.

The theoretical maximum total -Res that a TA/Sonic with all of the bells and whistles could apply solo would be... roughly 220-240%. It's not sustainable, but it's achievable for brief periods (proc durations and chance to trigger being the primary limitations). A TA/Sonic with sufficient +Recharge to make animation times the limiting factor should easily maintain an average 145-160% -Res, and that's still without including the Chem nuke or PvP set -Res proc.

With enough global +Recharge, practically any combination of */Sonic should be able to peg or surpass 130%, as long as the defender's primary includes at least one -Res power of 30% or higher. It's just easiest to do with TA/Sonic due to the 40% base -Res available and the ability to stack Disruption.

Keyboard and mouse, together. I keep my left hand on the keyboard, right hand on the mouse. I can do somethings with the keyboard, such as close a fullscreen program (Alt + F4), switch between programs (Alt + Tab or Windows + Tab, depending on little more than which i feel like using at any given time), open a program (i keep certain ones in a Quick Tray and access them with Windows + # combinations, such as Windows + 2 for Dscalar, Windows + 4 for Notepad, Windows + 5 for Calculator, etc.) and similar functions. I use the mouse for scrolling, opening and closing tabs in Firefox, closing windowed programs, accessing programs which are minimized to a tray icon (Steam, for instance) and various other things.

I have two input devices, no reason to restrict myself to one or the other.

I prefer Logitech mice, specifically the ergonomically contoured ones. Given the choice, I'd still be using my old black PS/2 five button ball mouse, but after eight years, it died, so I started using optical mice a few years ago. I don't like optical mice, they offer no balance between precision and speed like ball mice do (with a ball mouse, you can simply flip the mouse and lift it off the surface to get the speed, then drop back down for pinpoint accuracy so you can make that headshot on the guy trying to sneak up on you in your favorite FPS. doesn't work like that with an optical mouse, you either go for speed via high acceleration, at the expense of precision, or you go for precision via low acceleration and sacrifice speed), but since no-one seems to be making them any longer and I can't find a supplier who carries the old Logitech ball mice that I prefer, I'm stuck with optical crap.

That said, I want quality crap, so I'm using a Logitech laser mouse. Right shape, double-click with my thumb, good enough.

Keyboard is less of an issue for me. The only keyboard that I ever really liked was an HP or Packard Bell keyboard that I had fifteen years ago. The keys were exactly the right size and distance from each other, the travel on the keys was exactly where it needed to be, everything was perfect with that keyboard. These days, as long as it's straight, has a volume control, the Enter and Backspace keys are the correct size (not a chiclet Backspace and double-sized Enter... i loathe those, passionately) and the arrow keys are properly positioned (not vertically aligned, thank you), I'll use it. Extra app keys are nice, as they minimize the clutter I'd accumulate with Quick Tray links, but not absolute necessary, nor do I care to use a keyboard with more app keys than regular keys.

"Wasted" is a loaded and misleading term. There isn't a finite number of proc chances in the game. They aren't temporary powers. They don't vanish after X proc triggers. They don't shut down for X cycles if they trigger without any targets in range. They don't impose an additional endurance cost, either, or carry recharge or accuracy penalties. There is no such thing as a "wasted" proc trigger.

Tenebrous Tentacles with the Clouded Senses, Positron's Blast and Trap of the Hunter procs, plus Night Fall with the Clouded Senses and Positron's Blast procs. Acid Arrow and Disruption Arrow in play, 40% -Res.

71.8 damage per proc.

(71.8 * 5) * 1.4 = 502.6

502.6 potential extra damage per target.

Alternatively, averaging out the damage to account for the 20% chance for each proc to trigger, you end up with 100.52 extra damage per target, per use of TT + NF.

I won't presume to speak for anyone else, but to me, that's plenty of reason to get hot and bothered over damage procs. I spend most of my time playing my TA/Dark, despite having hit 50 at least a year ago, because I can do things like that with damage procs. Extra Accuracy isn't going to give you an extra 100 damage per shot, much less put you anywhere near the neighborhood of 500 extra. Nor will you find it hiding in Endurance Reduction, or Recharge Reduction.

Hasn't affected the game for me at all. I've been focused on my TA characters, and Flash Arrow is the only changed power that I use. I'll get around to checking my Archery/Energy and Archery/Devices blasters eventually.

None. I haven't played Archery as a corruptor with any secondary yet. PM Rush_Bolt or Trickshooter, I'm pretty sure one of them has played A/TA, or check the corruptor forums.

I'll throw my hat into the ring for increasing the range of your cones. I've become an unrepentant range junkie since I first experimented with increasing the range of Tenebrous Tentacles to match Night Fall.

Another thing to consider for Fistful is skipping any of the Acc/* or Acc/*/* enhancements in favor of the Posi's proc, if you're slotting IO sets or making use of other sources of +Acc or +ToHit. This...

Fistful of Arrows -- Posi-Dmg/EndRdx:49(A), Posi-Dmg/Rchg:49(25), Posi-Dmg/Rng:49(25), Posi-Dam%:49(34), Det'tn-Dmg/EndRdx/Rng:49(37), Range-I:50(43)

is how I've slotted Fistful on my TA/A. You lose the accuracy and part of the endurance reduction and recharge reduction, but if you are building with IO sets, you've likely got enough global bonuses to compensate. In exchange, you gain that proc and a few percent more damage, and the total range is nearly the same (60.7').

Regardless of how you do it, having additional range for Fistful (or practically any cone) is definitely a worthwhile investment. It means less time spent trying to maneuver into range, or find the right spot to attack from, and more time spent enjoying the game.

The existing data chunk was either shot like a dirty dog by the forum migration, or it's just incompatible with the current version of Mids'. I spent almost an hour trying to get it to import, without success.

Here's a different leveling build for TA/A. As with the previous one, I left power selections at certain levels empty, to give you places to pick up pool powers, move powers around as you see fit or squeeze in more sharp, pointy sticks. Enhancements were also not included, but slots were placed as a recommendation based on power effects and, hopefully, a reasonable balance between soloing and teaming (i'm always a bit murky on what makes a good "team build", since i don't spend much time playing in teams). This build should give you plenty of leeway for pool powers and slotting early, mid and late in the game.

Also, this build assumes either standard SOs or generic common IOs will be used. Unused slots can be allocated to compensate for frankenslotting or IO set plans.

Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.803
http://www.cohplanner.com/

Click this DataLink to open the build!

Level 43 Magic Defender
Primary Power Set: Trick Arrow
Secondary Power Set: Archery

Hero Profile:
Level 1: Flash Arrow -- Empty(A), Empty(3), Empty(43)
Level 1: Snap Shot -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Aimed Shot -- Empty(A), Empty(3), Empty(5), Empty(9), Empty(37)
Level 4: Glue Arrow -- Empty(A), Empty(5)
Level 6: Ice Arrow -- Empty(A), Empty(7), Empty(7), Empty(9), Empty(40)
Level 8: [Empty] -- Empty(A)
Level 10: Blazing Arrow -- Empty(A), Empty(11), Empty(11), Empty(13), Empty(42)
Level 12: Acid Arrow -- Empty(A), Empty(42), Empty(42)
Level 14: [Empty]
Level 16: Poison Gas Arrow -- Empty(A), Empty(17)
Level 18: [Empty]
Level 20: [Empty]
Level 22: [Empty]
Level 24: Fistful of Arrows -- Empty(A), Empty(25), Empty(25), Empty(34), Empty(37)
Level 26: Oil Slick Arrow -- Empty(A), Empty(27), Empty(27), Empty(31), Empty(31), Empty(31)
Level 28: Explosive Arrow -- Empty(A), Empty(29), Empty(29), Empty(36), Empty(37)
Level 30: [Empty]
Level 32: EMP Arrow -- Empty(A), Empty(33), Empty(33), Empty(33), Empty(34), Empty(34)
Level 35: Disruption Arrow -- Empty(A), Empty(36), Empty(36)
Level 38: Rain of Arrows -- Empty(A), Empty(39), Empty(39), Empty(39), Empty(40), Empty(40)
Level 41: [Empty]
Level 44: [Empty]
Level 47: [Empty]
Level 49: [Empty]
------------
Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Vigilance
Level 4: Ninja Run

Even mine aren't entirely accurate now. Between the mangling done in the forum migration and the changes to the game over the last couple of years, my guides are sorely in need of revamps.

As good advice as any. Players can see most of the powers' information directly in the game now, and a player can always ask questions via the forums, PMs or in the game.

There's a world of difference between slapping a Mids' export in a post and telling people "This works for me", or copying City of Data entries and power descriptions, and a real guide for a powerset or combination of powersets. A guide discusses how the powers work, what they do and how they can be and are used, slotting options, tips and tactics and a conveyance of knowledge and experience from spending time playing and learning the set as thoroughly as possible.

Many players who write "guides"... don't. They share their builds and invite (or dissuade) discussion. A significant number of guides, primarily older ones, are little more than lists of available powers with copies of the in-game descriptions, frequently inaccurate or erroneous guesses on what the powers do and random suggestions which don't actually guide the player to do anything more than copy a specific build and play in a specific way.

Regurgitating existing information from other sources, with little or no commentary or observation, or plunking down a build and telling the reader that it's what you play, and then getting it listed as a guide doesn't actually make it a guide, any more than painting an elephant black and white and calling it a zebra actually makes it a zebra.

Okay. Realistically, you have three powers to help you keep yourself and/or your team alive against multiple enemies, prior to level 32. Flash Arrow, Glue Arrow and Poison Gas Arrow.

Realistically, Glue Arrow provides exactly 0% alpha mitigation.

Realistically, the sum total of protection that you can provide, when facing multiple enemies, is what you get from Flash Arrow and PGA, unless you're level 32 and selected EMP Arrow and it's available (not recharging) AND you're willing to use it (because, as i stated in my last post, this set teaches players to avoid using powers due to the excessive recharge times and how they correlate to the rapid pace of combat in this game).

Realistically, OSA doesn't actually offer any assurance of security, safety or protection, it might or might not knock any given enemy down and you might or might not end up with a face full of floor after using it.

So realistically, you're stuck with Flash Arrow and PGA. This is what you use to protect teams, to keep your skin from becoming some critter's new belt, to be a "defender". And this is confirmed by Castle as being the intended way the set should work, with these two powers providing the alpha mitigation.

And realistically, that's not enough. It hasn't been since TA went live years ago, it still isn't today. One or both of the powers needs to be stronger, or the set needs something to stack with one or both of the powers.

Still being realistic, an overwhelmingly enormous debuff which lasts 5s, in this game, is a waste of coding and time because 5s is simply too small a window. It would essentially be no different than what we have now with how PGA works in relation to aggro (exploiting AI limitations or bugs to gain a couple of seconds for someone else to grab aggro after you debuff a spawn), and frankly, that's neither a fix for TA's issues nor an acceptable workaround. Additionally, it would take us right back to the I5/I6 days of spamming Flash Arrow to debuff a spawn, a pointless irritation and ridiculous exercise in futility which should NEVER be inflicted upon us again.

The realistic conclusion is that if the developers designed this set to work this way, with two powers providing the alpha and primary means of mitigation, and it's not working well, then, realistically, they need to improve those powers. Not by dragging the set backward thirteen issues, but by increasing the debuff values on one or both powers, or adding a different mechanic to one or both powers to increase the defensive capability of the set (Confuse, Placate, guaranteed KB/KU, etc.), or tacking a debuff or control in another power to permit stacking with the two primary defensive powers.

Between server latency, lag, AI problems (such as the tendency for critters to react to player actions at the start of the player's animation) and player reaction time, 5s isn't enough. If 5s were sufficient, we wouldn't have this 20 page thread (which is... what, the sixth or seventh thread of this nature since I7?) discussing options and methods of improving TA, we'd be in the game exploiting that 5s "advantage" we can get from manipulating the AI.

And a 10-15' radius would only serve to enhance the problems with TA, by restricting how much of a spawn the player could affect. You have two powers to work with most of the time, they both need to affect as much of the spawn as possible, so cutting one of those powers down to such a degree that it could only tag portion of a spawn would certainly qualify as ineffective and underpowered. Again, TA has no +HP buffs, no heals, no +Regen, nothing to assist in recovering from incoming damage, it is solely and utterly reliant on preventing that damage from occurring. That 35' radius on Flash Arrow is critical to ensure that the power does just that, help prevent damage from occurring. Whether it's a 100% ToHit debuff or a 6.25% ToHit debuff, it has to be large in order to enable the power to fulfill it's intended function as one of the two primary mitigation tools in the set.

By being in a set with no health management resources. That's how.

Disclaimer: Personally, I don't support the suggestion for a 30% or higher debuff in Flash Arrow. TA doesn't need a ToHit debuff of that magnitude, nor should we be asking for a clone of Radiation Infection. It does need to be higher, but not overwhelming, otherwise it would render the majority of the other powers in the set pointless and useless.

Six of one, half a dozen of the other. An A/TA will deal more damage up front, or after Scourge kicks in, whereas a TA/A has sufficiently higher -Res and +Dam values to match it over time. End result isn't much difference between the two, as far as damage output goes.

Maybe Archery needs a better secondary effect.

No, none of the powers would have to be removed and replaced with new powers. Nor would any of the powers have to be changed so drastically that they essentially become new powers.

TA's most basic problems are as follows:

The overall effects of the defensive debuffs are set too low. They would be much closer to ideal if the set provided a heal, similar to other defensive debuff-heavy sets, but for a set without a heal, they're not even close to optimal. The solution to this problem is not to gut one of the powers and replace it with a heal. A moderate increase to the values of the defensive debuffs, the addition of another soft (KU/KB) or light (Sleep) control or a synergistic approach of tacking additional defensive debuffs in different powers (such as adding -ToHit to Disruption) would go a very long way toward alleviating this problem.

The recharge times are inane. I'm through mincing words on this point, the recharge times are just plain stupid. The recharge times on key powers such as Glue and PGA impose unnecessary restrictions on lower level players. Forcing players to withhold the use of powers due to excessive recharge times teaches them not to use those powers, rather than to use them tactically. Then, because they've learned to "save them for when they're really needed", they stop using them altogether, further enhancing the stereotype and stigma of TA being a "bad" defender set. Nothing has to be replaced to fix this, the recharge times just need to be trimmed to make the set more viable in low level play and less reliant on heavy use of +Recharge in higher level play.

The offensive debuffs also have issues. The radius of Acid Arrow is simply too small. It was too small when it went live and with the extension of melee range from 5' to 7', the functionality of that measly 8' radius became even poorer (fewer targets clustering together now because they don't have to move closer to use melee attacks). Disruption Arrow's endurance cost is insanely high for what it does in light of its recharge time and static location, and the fact that, for some inexplicable reason, it's limited to 10 targets (rather than 16, the standard for AoEs). Neither of these powers need to be removed or replaced to make them shine, they simply need to be tweaked. Acid would be much more appreciated with a 12' radius. Reducing the ridiculous endurance cost for Disruption, fixing the target limitation and slightly reducing the recharge time would perk up that power quite nicely.

So no, there will be no need to violate the Cottage Rule if the developers ever get around to fixing TA. Removing even the least of the powers is unnecessary because all of the problems can be addressed within the existing powers and using the existing mechanics. Increased defensive debuff values and/or proliferation of debuffs across more powers, slight changes to the offensive debuff powers (which do NOT alter their existing functions) and reductions to the recharge times to make the set viable across the level spread. Problems fixed, powerset intact.