Madadh

I think that's a very smart idea.

I like how you assume from the little bit I suggested that it would make the set worse. Depending on the recharge, duration, and the +damage values, it could be a drastically OP improvement. IE: if it had a base duration of 4 hours, was stackable, had a base, unenhanceable recharge time of 1 minute and a damage bonus of +500% it's pretty hard to argue that the unenhanceable recharge automatically makes it worse. So therefore, we're just left with finding the area where such an unenhanceable recharge BU would be an improvement, yet not an overdone improvement.

Granted, it still may not be the best solution, and it may not be your preferred solution, but that doesn't equate to it being automatically a performance degradation just because you don't personally prefer it.

So, since it was tough to do, therefore it should be changed to easy to do, but hard to even get into on a lot of servers? Can't say as I'd agree with that reasoning.

I *liked* trying to do this with teams of 3-5. I really liked succeeding with such odds. But I loved being able to try solo if it pleased me, or as a duo, even if it was an utter wipeout. I'm definitely not thrilled to hear about the new format for it.

The incarnate rewards aren't bad, for the time investment. Especially since there are few (if any) ways to get threads and Astrals solo. The problem is, unlike Hero or Villain merits, the number of threads or Astrals needed to do anything significant with is huge. And since there are no other ways outside of the iTrials, and timer is so long, and the iTrials reward/time scale is a lot larger, these rewards seem meager. If the incarnate rewards each were repeatable, infinitely, or even say, 5 times each week, then these rewards would be a significant and viable alternate to the iTrials for those who prefer to solo, or, due to the hours of play perhaps, can't reliably find iTrials. The iTrials would still be more efficient but allowing more repeating for these two reward choices would make them a lot more appealing.

Hmm. Now that I think about it, maybe I vaguely recall that the threads are a repeatable reward option. I'm almost positive the Astrals are not, but maybe threads are. I'll have to check into this unless someone else knows for sure...

If the threads are repeatable, being able to solo and pick up 60 threads in about an hour isn't horrible..

Too true! I completely forgot to mention that factor, so I'm very glad you did, as it's quite significant.

You can, but to get capped to everything, or even just the biggies is a lot more expensive, both in terms of inf/time/assortedmerits and in terms of power slots that have to be dedicated to the goal, or powers that have to be slotted with X, or Y power only need 2 slots, but I'm six slotting it for set bonuses that I can't pick up elsewhere. Sure, you end up with as much def or close to as much def as the def based set, but the def based set just throws a few things at def, picks up tough, and he's about done with defense and resistance. Everything else can go toward regen, +HP, Recharge, +Dmg, or utility powers.

If you want absolute toughness, resistance based sets, then layer on a lot of defense. Defense based sets will not get as tough at the ultra high end, but get capped a lot easier, and if you have a ton of money afterward, can be made ridiculous in other ways.

Both ways have their merits, and their supporters and detractors.

Some people even like both, depending on their mood. Having a kitted out Resistance alt with def to boot, and a kitted out def based alt, now that's having your cake and eating it, too.

I've noticed that myself. I wasn't specifically looking for CoX cases, but have been considering a power supply, and thus have been watching Antec's web site, and have been slightly surprised to not see those cases ever mentioned.

So, sadly, I don't have any answers, but can tell you that it doesn't seem likely that you missed them somehow.

There is another way to spell SciFi???

That's awesome, and a perfect advertisement for the super tailor.

This may be wrong only in as much as it may not state the case strongly enough. The varieties available in tabletop games are limitless.

If you want that sort of fell, and effect, but not necessarily that theme, it sounds like what you're looking for here for this sort of feel is Energy Aura. You can play this as a Scrapper, Brute, or Stalker. The key reason I suggest this is Entropic Aura. It's slows the attacks of all the enemies near you, and increase your attack speed (well, recharge) for each enemy close to you. More enemies= more recharge. It's a fun mechanic. It's defense based, meaning it's all about evasion. It's got a stealth power built it. A self heal with some extra utility, and a drain effect from your enemies that not robs their end to replenish yours, but also boosts your defenses the more people you drain.

Sounds like a fun start to an SG... Which server? I might even want to join in the fun.

True, but there is no reason to be only tackling only one group at a time with that sort of mitigation available. And as awesome as an Elec troller is, they can't be on two ends of the map at the same time..

But, your point is valid. But keeping a concept group together is on occasion going to run the risk of over-capping an effect. Outside of the concept team scenario, the Elec Blaster does bring some nice sapping skills to a team (assuming that the role isn't already filled). I was mostly pointing out that what it loses in DPS, it does gain in mitigation quite nicely. Is it a totally fair trade-off? Probably not, in my opinion, but others may value the safety higher, and the DPS lower, so for them the set may be perfect.

Ah, thank you very much. I'd not taken power analyzers to lots of things, obviously. If most or even a big minority of NPCs have big gaps in their smashing v lethal, then these suggestions make a lot of sense.

Thanks for taking the time to point that out.

And thanks to EvilG, too, who answered moments after Hopeling, and gave another helpful link.

"Otherwise it probably won't be implemented," soon, I think you mean.

And there really is no guarantee that any fix we suggest is going to get implemented at all, let alone soon, so asking for fixes to everything that BS needs fixed isn't unreasonable. Heck, it's not like the devs can't figure out how to just drop any potential new animations from the slate or save them for later if they decide they do want the mechanical fixes sooner.

Well, it's not like they have Broadsword currently...

Any new BU like power could always be made to be unaffected by recharge, like WPs T9. Then it could start with a low-ish recharge time, but be impossible to perma.

I see a lot of talk about adding some smashing damage being better than just adding damage. Or adjusting it so that the current damage is now partially smashing, partially lethal. Is this a real mechanical change? Doesn't almost every single thing int eh game have the exact same numbers for smashing defense and resistance as they do for Lethal defense and resistance. Other than Broadsword and Katana Parry, I can't think of any other way to end up with a different numbers for smashing and lethal. If it's reasonable to assume most enemies are designed somewhat similarly, than adding weird splits between smashing and lethal would have almost zero actual game effect. And if broadswords performance really does need an adjustment, then it strikes me that this can't be a real solution.

Awesome. Glad to hear it's working out so well for you.

Gratz on the pylon and AV accomplishment. Well done!

I suspected that you may have assumed the need for a corpse. I'll admit I did, way back when I first looked at this powerset when I started. Thankfully, it doesn't work like that. Fire this puppy off every time it recharges and love the huge autohit AoE stun and the huge regen debuff.

Cheers

Ah, yes. You're right. I think that's exactly what happened.

I will get more feedback to ya, but got sucked in to some actual playtime when I fired up my TA for comparison.