Madadh

Having one path, as opposed to having 3 or more like last time, isn't exactly the same thing. Granted, you did say, 'nearly identical' but I'd say that it isn't even close to identical, but I admit that that could be a problem of terminology.

Edit: I can see from the rest of Hopeling's post that we mostly agree on this topic, so I hope you'll not take my quibble on this matter as general disagreement.


I'd be much happier with at least having 2 iTrials to choose from to earn aPsyXP. Or being able to use threads to buy aPsyXP, or some other alternative. It's the only one path that irks me most.

For a perfectly fair test, it might be best to test def debuffing vs def debuffing, given the defenders higher level numbers.

That being said, though, from my experience, you'll have exactly the same results. My IOed to the gills rad def doesn't see running, bus sees exactly what your video shows. They charge the source of the debuffs almost 100% of the time.



Thanks on the wings, too. They look pretty neat. Might have to pick those up with my next token.

I wasn't actually speaking specifically about Nova. In fact, I'm specifically not speaking about Nova, as I just don't play energy blast as a set at all. Specifically, I was speaking about Rads t9, and sonics t9.

Also, when you say, "*reliably* kills even con minions at level 50 with 397% damage strength, which is essentially the damage cap for Defenders," I assume you're specifically talking about undamaged, undebuffed, even con enemeies, which I tried to specifically state wasn't what I was talking about. I can assure you, I don't need to be at the def damage cap to reliably kill damaged, res debuffed even con enemies..

I tried to indicate that the 30% number was an approximation. Or, most honestly, as best a guess I could make based on several factors, my lazy quick and dirty math in my head, based on my recollection of the numbers I'd recalled seeing in a write up of the proposed changes. I'll admit my recall may be off, my rough math almost certainly is, and perhaps my source wasn't even trustworthy, since I saw a write-up of the chat, and didn't listen to it myself. If 18% less damage on average is more the case, than that does reassure me some. However, it'll be much more reassured based on how it ends up playing, and I'll reserve judgement on that till I play it. But I do have less concern about it now. Thanks.

As an aside, since as I said, Energy Blast isn't a personally concern of mine at all, except as an illustration of example for what to expect for sets I do actually play, is this inconsistent damage you report for Nova, is this how other sets t9s work, too? Currently? Or is this how it will work in future? I'm not totally following this, so if you'd not mind a bit of clarification, I'd appreciate it.

I have many alts that would KILL for a taunt aura. And I totally agree, this seems like the place, for sure. Much better than a placate here.

You might be right. I had no problems with the crashing variety, between that it did wipe out minions reliable (of course, I slot it, and use Aim or BU, or an AOE buff/debuff first, and reds, etc), but a ~30% reduction in starting damage will hurt. Of course, I have a lot of practice on recovering from a nuke, too, which apparently not everyone bothered with much. And, I tended to use us when a fight started to slip away, not as an opening salvo, thus most things were already damaged, but....

I'm not saying that things might not get better, but I'm just not yet sold on losing more of the damage punch. If you were at blaster scale damage already, maybe you can afford to lose some punch in exchange for the repeat usage value, but I'm not sure defenders can. I guess all I can do is wait till it hits beta and test it.

Too bad, as I had been planning a respec with a crashing nuke in mind, but now I'll prolly hold off till I can see how the new crashless variety plays before committing to my new build. If it's bad, I may omit it, if it's a lot better, I may want it earlier in the build so I can use it exemplared further down.

Not sure how I feel about the End supercharging idea. I'd need time to think on it... I do agree with the last couple of bits, for sure, though.

Yup, gonna love this for my Sonic Res team oriented def. Res shields are nice. Res shields and healing are even better. My even drop Clarity for Stimulant after this change.

Pretty much what I was trying to say, but much more eloquently worded.

Totally agree. If a set was all identical, with the only difference being the damage numbers and all other factors being identical, I could agree with questioning the wisdom of making a new set that does less damage.

But all sets are a bit more complex than that. Water Blast seems significantly more complex than that.

Make one, and see how it suits ya.

But, if you're smart and creative, you can leverage what it can do well to get a lot more out of it that just the DPS numbers. But, if you aren't creative, and are on the slow side, I guess looking at the numbers is the only option. Of course, you probably had someone else do the math in that case. Hope you can trust their math skillz..

Snarky aside, it seems that many people that extol one set, or bemoan another, aren't playing the same game as I play, but some bizarro-simplified version of it.

So, Water Blast brings a lot to the table. Not everything. So it's not much different than all the other blast sets I guess.

Me too!

That's certainly my feel on 2 Gun. Change the animations, and I'd love the set. The curving bullets do annoy me, but it was lame in 'Wanted' too. I just skip that power, though, and problem solved. It's the over the top animations on every power that prevent me from wanting to play the set more often, though, and is the real problem from my perspective.

I don't think the snipe changes are as significant as people seem to think. Are they good? Yes. Will snipes finally be worth taking? Yes. Would I rework an effective build I'm happy with just to shoehorn in a snipe? No. Will it be totally game changing? Doubtful. Will it make Water Blast obsolete already? I seriously doubt it.

On a very high end, expensive build, they are beastly. It costs a lot to layer on the extra mitigation, but once you have, they are insane. If you spend less, you can still get a very effective alt.

If you like Regen, it's worth a go.

Mind you, I'm speaking of Regen in a vacuum. I don't know first hand how well Spines lends itself to really pushing Regen to the limit.

I'd suggest building for lots of def and recharge. Not sure if melee def or s/l/e/n would be the best way to go for a Spines type. I'd strongly consider the Dark or Soul APP/PPP, whichever one it is that has Shadow Meld. For your Destiny slot, give some though to the one that gives DDR. Alpha slot Agility or Spiritual stand out to me.

Happy to help!

Hope it turns out to be as much fun as it looks like it should be. I'd sure it will be nasty if you and your wife's Corrs ever team up...