Memphis_Bill

New bit from Taclobanon -



... I'm preparing something else for this character, as well, since everyone seems to be so focused on her "earth control" side. Something a bit more fun to deal with the force fields.

Not really - then again, most khelds are going to have a fair bit of experience behind them, and either wait for the mires, float at an angle/overhead if in Nova, or position themselves to "corral" the knockback.

(Not all, of course... but most seem to.)

You should have been sent an email requesting three alternate names. Reply to that.

If you didn't get one, start a support ticket, explain the situation (genericed, didn't get the email) and put in the requests - and go verify your email and that NCSoft's messages aren't going to the junk bin.

Also, you mention "a few months" but I see a forum date of 2005 - how old was the character? When was the last time they had their old name, and what level was it? It's been a few years, but there's been an "inactive name script" run twice (one around when COV was released, one later, IIRC.) First one affected anyone inactive for 90 days and level 35 or below - the name could be claimed by anyone (but not automatically renamed - if you came back and it wasn't claimed, you'd still have it,) the second time level 6 and below (or below 6... one of the two.) It's been some time since it's been run though.

Tossing this out for consideration:

Change photon seekers into a two part (or two stage) pet.

Part one maintains the "mini nuke" status. However, instead of three seekers, it's one. (Alternately, it's visually three, spreading out into a fixed area - I'm not sure how doable this is with the system.) What we'll basically have here... is the Omega Maneuver from Crab Spiders. It taunts things in an area, draws them in and explodes.

This fits a few points:
1. Still a pet. Current slotting is not invalidated.
2. Still a mini-nuke. Current use is not invalidated.
3. Draws aggro. As mentioned in the last post, dealing with EE, one of their benefits is that they CAN draw aggro away from the warshade as well as contribute damage. This is a survivability benefit.
4. Since it draws aggro to IT via taunt, it can ignore the often wonky pet AI. It doesn't have to find an enemy to float at and risk looking like outsize dandruff if it decides not to explode.

This handles several issues with photon seekers - but it misses one where the Warshade has a benefit. Namely, the ongoing damage of multiple seekers. This is where "part 2" comes in.

When the main Seeker body explodes, it spawns a new pet. This pet has (say) a minute to 90 second lifespan, and acts like an Extracted Essence, adding ranged damage. In addition (and as part of the tradeoff for the short life,) either as it exists or when it expires, it buffs the team (including the casing Peacebringer) - damage, defense, no I don't know what just yet, but it provides a buff.

Why the short life? Because we can cast it regardless of environment. I believe the Warshades deserve the longer-lived Essences as they can't just summon one on command (recharge aside) - they must use a defeated enemy. That seems to be a fair tradeoff, to me. Plus, of course, the Peacebringer *does* get the front-loaded "mini-nuke," which the Warshade does not (relying on another power which, again, needs a defeated enemy for that effect.)

I think this would cover the current issues with Photon Seekers rather well, making it a more desirable power (and also helping address some peoples complaints, with the "secondary pet buff," that PBs "don't bring anything to a team." While the buff would be on and off, as well as somewhat later level, it would still be a plus.)

Since I see two things - a mention of PBs being "looked at" and someone wondering about PS agressiveness (a "fix" that seems a side effect of AI... which might get "fixed" inadvertantly at any time,) I thought this might be a good time to start up this discussion and possibly see about getting a dev's eye pointed at it.

Photon Seekers take the "pet" slot for a Peacebringer. They have, I think we'll all agree, always been... *lacking* as a "pet." Wonky AI has followed them from issue 3 (well, I'll say issue 4, since I wasn't 50 yet in 3,) and they in general seem to be used solely as another mini-nuke.

Perfectly valid use, yes - but I would draw attention to a comment made in another thread (one of the many "PB vs WS" discussions, I believe) where it was mentioned part of the WS's "amazingness" comes from the damage output of Fluffy. Anyone who's had the mini-gunships blasting away while they sit in Dwarf and keep them alive (being a sort of mini-team of their own) would have to agree.

But - we don't want to lose that "mini nuke." Or do we?

The "Cottage rule," as is typically brought up when it comes to power modification/replacement suggestions, is this - the basic use of the power cannot be changed. Electric and Energy armors, for instance, are often brought up as "changed" powers that invalidate this rule - but those powers didn't lose their endurance management powers (conserve power/energy drain) to get a heal - the heal was layered on top of the existing power. The cottage rule, then, is preserved. There are perhaps two (one gets brought up that I can't recall) times that rule has been violated - only one I can recall is when Fold Space was removed from Gravity, Wormhole shuffled and Singularity added, and that was quite early in the game.

I don't think anyone that's seen me argue about power changes would disagree I'm a firm adherent of said cottage rule. It's sensible.

So one of the questions that has to be answered is - what is the "base purpose" of Photon Seekers that cannot be changed?

If we look at the use in game? It's a source of damage.
If we look at enhancements, especially set recipes, it's a pet (that has a knockback component) - it takes Pets, Recharge Intensive Pets, and Knockback sets.

This, if we use it as the basis, gives us a wide area to play in to improve the power.

The other questions, of course, are "What is wrong with the power/how can it be improved," and "How are people using it now?" I think we've answered the second - people don't seem, after short exposure, to use it as a "pet" but as a mini nuke. What's wrong with it, though, goes across many areas:

- Subject to AI, and AI is wonky, sometimes not seeking or detonating on a target.
- It's a one (or three) shot power. This is more "bad in comparison to Extracted Essence," which sticks around for some time, can (without anything past reasonable SO investment in recharge) be stacked and is an ongoing contributor of damage (and diverter of aggro.)


So, to me, this means we:
- Must have something distinctly a pet
- Must keep that frontloaded "mini-nuke" damage, as people use it for that, but
- should find a way to add an ongoing benefit (of damage or some other sort) for a reasonable amount of time.
- Shouldn't be reliant on the sometimes surprisingly-changed AI system to select a target, get into melee range and detonate. Prior AI fixes have been "improvements," but not enough to shake the bad reputation of Photon Seekers as "pets."

If anyone thinks I've missed something, do speak up. The suggestion that's started rattling around in my head is in the next post.

OK, so how to fix this? (Yes, I know, pick your jaw up from the floor, Memphis_bill is actually saying something about PBs needs fixing. Dwarf *has* been a sore point for me for a while.)

Simplest solution (to me, and this is ignoring all other powers in the other forms, etc.) -

- Add an attack to White Dwarf. White Dwarf *is* an attack down - and it's really noticable when subjected to a slow. My suggestion would be to give it something along the same theme as Follow Up. Respectable (equitable) damage, with a +tohit and +damage component. It gets to keep its independant heal because the +tohit/+damage is off a single target versus the Black Dwarf's Mire. And the reliable, self-contained heal is a Peacebringer thing.

Of course, the problem with that is that it's another power needing slots. Which starts into a whole chain of "start form powers with two slots instead of one," among other things.

(I'd also give *both* dwarves the Thermal Protection treatment - add some slow resist, specifically, to the form. With so few attacks on *either,* if you're in a situation where dropping out of form would be bad, slows can be murder.)