Mind_Over_Matter

As this discussion moves away more from the Removal of the "Alpha Slot" originally scheduled for release with Going Rogue, I wanted to actually comment on the topic at hand.

I'm okay with it.

After over five years of entertainment, I have come to appreciate this game more and more. By that same token, I have come to expect more from the Development team. My primary expectation is that they will both listen to their playerbase and strive to provide content with player suggestions in mind. I consider this recent decision to be an example of that covenant. While it is a delay in the introduction of a highly-anticipated system, the mere conceit that it needs work in order to better match player utility is indicative of a Devolopment team that seeks to improve the quality of the product they provide.

With that said, there are certainly areas of disappointment that have been noted around the community. Players seeking "x" and finding instead that "y" is the higher Dev priority certainly are entitled to be disappointed. The caveat is that there exists a mismatch of expectations that led to said disappoint. It may be healthier to critique the Devs based on what actually is a Dev priority and how they ultimately execute their plan. There are thousands of players with individual priorities for this game, but the Devs can only accomodate so many priorities at a time. Is it better to submit a project sooner, despite its status not meeting intended performance measures? Is it better to delay a lower-performing project during a time in which its immediate inclusion is critical to some customers? It depends. I only know where I stand on the issue. I measure their performance based on their choice of priority and the manner at which they meet their intended goals. Delays are but one metric in evaluating the success of a project.


Positron stated in his announcement that they still would like to provide an "Alpha Slot Preview." I'm uncertain what that would involve, but I look forward to the opportunity to judge the system for myself.

What You Asked For:
Although i've yet to roll a scrapper version, I leveled a Dark Melee/Electric Brute sometime after the buffs to Dark Melee. It's a strong combination even with SOs. As a Brute, I relied less on the soul drain saturation for Lightning Field because Fury kept the damage going. Additionally, I slotted for Lightning Field and Powersink for End. Mod. to help sap large groups to punch above my level. It helped me take on more enemies and reduce damage enough that Siphon Life could patch me up. Regardless, the impact of a saturated Soul Drain did provide a noticeable damage increase to Lightning Field. It didn't rival the AOEasiness of Footstomp on my SS/Elec, but it help take easier targets down a bit while I mopped up the tougher foes. By the time I finished their bosses, it only took a quick Smite or Shadow Punch to finish off the remaining minions. TMMV.

Lagniappe:
Eventually, I moved on to IO builds optimized for recharge. This was also during the "Dark Melee Proc Machinegun" craze where Smite and Shadow Punch with high recharge builds and daamge procs amounted to some interesting (albeit randomized) success stories. As an Electric Armor brute, however, I found trouble mainly in the sharp performance contrast between "moderate" resistance (40%+) sets like ELA and my "moderate" defense (30%+) from my Defense-based sets. I've heard that some of those concerns has been abated by the inclusion of Energize's heal. I've sadly not had the time to reinvest in the build, but the benefits of Energize would be a positive inidcator for a high-recharge build.

Night Widow: Smoke Grenade offers a base 3.75% Unresistable ToHit Debuff. Quite the handy boost to defense, especially when slotted up.

I'll have to up my guess a bit as well. I wager 911 million. An emergency of wealth. A fire sale.

I'll throw out a random guess of 580 million. I've recently begun my own experiment as well. I'm all for folks finding new ways to have fun and raise influence/infamy. Good show!

I think the inclusion of penalties is the most prominent example of why people disliked the Mystic Fortune buff. It went from being an opportunity for non-buffing characters to easily contribute helpful buffs to everyone with minor tradeoffs/penalties and has become a source for a vocal minority to complain about getting a buff they did not want because of the possibility of a minor debuff. I think many players fear debuffs so much that the mere chance of them incurring such a penalty through the use of an optional paid booster is something that steers attention from the benefits such powers can provide otherwise.

I'm a fan of a bit more randomness in our sometimes predictable gameplay. While i'm uncertain of the impact of the Secondary Mutation Buffs' at their current strength, I appreciate their ability to add something to a character in a way that provides minor helpful buffs but doesn't truly hinder gameplay by becoming a mechanic players can reliably build around.

I'll chime in about Smoke Grenade since you're on the fence about it. While the power has a base ToHit Debuff of only 3.75%, you can approach 6% with some slotting. While this doesn't appear to be much, it's an unresistable debuff that can more reliably be considered a true +Defense since your targets don't get the benefit of Debuff Resistance that hinders other ToHit Debuffs. Also, it has a ridiculous base range and 35ft radius that allows you easily debuff large crowds with ease.

The Perception Debuff helps as well, but I tend to view the power as insurance against groups that carry Defense Debuffs. If i'm not mistaken though, only the Perception Debuff is autohit though. I'm still await confirmation on this and whether Accurate ToHit Debuff IOs aren't currently permitted for slotting.

Do I nuke?

Indeed. Especially with Blizzard, Rain of Arrows, and Hail of Bullets.

When do I use it?

Rain of Arrows and Hail of Bullets get used practically every time they are up. Blizzard is reserved for large rooms after i've layed down an Ice Storm for synergy.

Do I always take nukes?

I always grab nukes, although many suffer from either not recharging fast enough to make an impact regularly or from not recharging fast enough for me to remember to use them. Most crashless nukes tend to provide consistent utility.

How do I rank nukes?

1. Crashless nukes first (Rain of Arrows, Full Auto, Hail of Bullets, Psychic Wail for Fortunata)
2. Rise of the Phoenix (It's the nuke people are dying to use! /em rimshot "Tip your waitress. I'll be here all week.")
3. Blizzard (aka Frosted Flakes of Doom)
4. Nova (Crazy damage in a short period of time)
5. Nova/Quasar/Dawn Strike (A true Explosive Finale with knockback to boot)
6. Other Nukes (different secondary effects for flavor for the PBAOEs; Thunderous Blast shares one of my favorite animations...and then does middling damage)


Lagniappe:

PBAOE Nukes and Trip Mines (Toe-Bombing) make for the most fun I've ever had with nuking. The beauty of Dual Pistols combined with Devices/Traps means I can bomb a spawn and fire my sidearms maniacally from the epicenter almost every 30 seconds. It's double the nuke and -none- of the endurance crash. If I weren't a registered hero, it'd have to be illegal.*


*It probably is anyway.

After reading through most of the thread, I noticed one recent update to the game that has not been mentioned: The Endurance-free Brawl and Endurance-cost reduction of the origin power. These features provides low-level characters of all ATs an early attack chain with minimal endurance use. This can make a significant impact in early gameplay, particularly when AT damage modifiers have less of an impact and enemy hitpoints/resistances are mostly uniform.

In later gameplay, I think that the insistance upon endurance management is critical to balancing gameplay. Our most powerful abilities should be more taxing on our endurance as they require greater concentration/energy/effort/etc. to perform. While some individual powers may benefit from a review as to the endurance cost currently assigned versus the benefits of said power, endurance consumption as a concept is an integral part of gameplay. It forces players to careful consider the attributes of their powers and slot according to their goals. Sacrifices can be made to reduce endurance consumption rather than pursuing Stamina and increasing endurance recovery. Many players simply prefer to focus on other slotting goals such as max Damage, high Accuracy, and Recharge Reduction.
Such is the tradeoff. It's hard out here for a metahuman.

Welcome back!

I'm sure someone will come along to better brief you on the many changes of the past year, but I can point you to one of your new best friends for info www.paragonwiki.com From updates to user-created advice pages, you'll likely find something informative every time you visit.

When I see all the posts for pool powers and situational-at-best powers like Dimension Shift, I begin to wonder just how many people are aware of the steaming pile that is *Time Bomb.* I mean, honestly. Not only is there the 9 second, interruptible activation and the 15 additional seconds for detonation, but it also recharges in 360 seconds (base) as if to suggest it is an endurance-crash-free nuke that one might grow to love.

...and then they included Trip Mine. In the same set. With earlier access. With about 66% of its damage, only 5.5% of its recharge, and half the activation time.

A player can stack over a dozen unslotted-Trip Mines (without them detonating) in the time it takes for Time Bomb to recharge!

I feel like i'm taking crazy pills!

Seriously. Time Bomb must have been named for the power's ability to eventually induce an aneurysm for any player who stumbled upon what they thought might truly be a worthwhile addition to Traps/Devices. Please. Anybody. Find us a reason to take Time Bomb that couldn't be done by Trip Mine.

Think of the children.

“I don’t care if all the Eochai get to spawn more times than you. None of you are going to the Halloween Event this year until you take a shower!”


If I am a winner, I permit NC Interactive, Inc. and NCsoft Europe Limited to use my name, likeness, photograph, hometown, and any comments that I may make about myself or this contest that I provide for advertising and promotional activities. I also certify that I am at least 13 years of age and am eligible to participate in this contest.

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If I am a winner, I permit NC Interactive, Inc. and NCsoft Europe Limited to use my name, likeness, photograph, hometown, and any comments that I may make about myself or this contest that I provide for advertising and promotional activities. I also certify that I am at least 13 years of age and am eligible to participate in this contest.

I meant to include the foundation for my inquiry. The unresistable information is from the in-game power details.

Patch Notes - 16 June 2009
________________________________________
Release Notes for 19.20090612.0
Night Widow Training / Smoke Grenade should no longer accept Accuracy enhancements.

Patch Notes - 12 June 2009
________________________________________
Release Notes for 19.20090610.1
Training/Smoke Grenade: This power no longer accepts accuracy enhancements as it no longer has a To-Hit check.

Patch Notes - 9 June 2009
________________________________________
Release Notes for 19.20090605. 2
Night Widow/Smoke Grenade:

This power will now auto-hit foes.
________


The in-game stats lists an *enhanceable* Base 3.75% ToHit *unresistable* Debuff. With all that said, i'm wondering if the power is working as the above information states. If so, i'm all for the power. It's just that it becomes a much more potent power than Fire Control/ Smoke or Devices/Smoke Grenade.

For PvE Comparison: (From City of Data)

Power: Dominator/Fire Control/Smoke
Cast: 1.17 sec
Recharge: 15 sec
Endurance: 7.8
Range: 80ft
Max Targets: 16

Perception -0.9 for 60s (auto-hit)
ToHit -3.75% for 60s (auto-hit)

Power: Devices/Smoke Grenade
Cast: 1.37 sec
Recharge: 15 sec
Endurance: 7.8
Range: 80ft
Max Targets: 10

Perception -0.9 for 60s (auto-hit)
ToHit -4.9% for 60s (Not Auto-hit )

Power: Night Widow Training/Smoke Grenade
Cast: 1.37 sec
Recharge: 15
Endurance: 7.8
Range: 110
Max Targets:16

Perception -0.9 for 60s
ToHit -3.75% for 60s (unresistable)

There are clearly some similarities between the powers, however i'm not certain if the Night Widow mirrors the Devices/Smoke grenade in only having the perception debuff autohit or if it follows the Fire Control/Smoke method of applying both Debuffs as auto-hit in PvE. Yep. There's a lot of searching and reposting involved to get to the bottom of this. Can any one help test the above information for accuracy?

I've been customizing and rebuilding my Night Widow for some time now, but i've been having trouble evaluating Smoke Grenade. There have been some changes to the manner in which the power functions, but i'd like to know what others have gathered through their testing.

It was my understanding that originally, Smoke Grenade required a ToHit Check to apply *both* its Perception and ToHit Debuffs. Patch notes indicated that the ToHit Check was removed from PvE for the -Perception, but the power still required a ToHit Check for both effects in PvP and for the ToHit Debuff in PvE. The problem here is that the in-game ToHit Check details specify something to the effect that upon using Smoke Grenade in PvE, one applies both the ToHit and Perception Debuffs automatically upon use.

Additionally, the in-game power information states that the -ToHit Debuff is unresistable. If the in-game description is accurate, there is no ToHit Check for either debuff in PvE and Smoke Grenade is a decently powerful unresistable debuffing tool. My main question is this: "What really happens when I use Smoke Grenade now?"

Is the ToHit Debuff really unresistable? Is it possible that it truly is autohit in PvE at least? And if so, are people *overwhelming* undervaluing the potential of a relatively fast-recharging, fast-activating, unresistable ToHit Debuff? Is Better Off Ted yet another comedic joy gone too soon from this world? Any thoughts out there?

Looks like they just spent 9 hours in Quarterhell.

"Portal Smasher" tipped me off.