Smiling_Joe
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Posts
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Quote:To quote myself from the other thread:Originally Posted by IronAlex
Nah just go rage.. it would increase human form dmg.. and go over into forms.. rage is soo much better for pb than build up
Buff the photon seekers, buff the archetype.Quote:Originally Posted by Smiling_Joe
Here's the thing: we could go rounds all day about changes to Build Up that could - and would - increase Peacebringer damage, but if you take away the pet damage Peacebringers hands-down outdamage Warshades.
That's right. I said it, and bolded it for emphasis. Even with the double mires on black dwarf, white dwarf is the loser in the damage department by only 3 dps. Human Peacebringers FAR AND AWAY outdamage human Warshades outside of the pets. Even the Bright Nova does more than the Dark Nova until large groups are accounted for in the mire. It's all right there in the spreadsheets linked in the first post. Build Up vs. Mire is not the problem. Photon Seekers vs. Dark Extraction IS.
So when seeking to bring some balance between the two archetypes, we'd be much better served, IMHO, to ask for Photon Seekers to be brought more in line with Dark Extraction, because otherwise you're just unbalancing Build Up to compensate for Dark Extraction. -
Quote:Sigh. There you go again making my peacebringer sad. I'm working on that offensive capabilities part, but quite frankly I'm apparently not so hot at rallying the peacebringer players, much less the devs.Originally Posted by Dechs Kaison
Calling a Peacebringer the "primary damage dealer" on a team of seven defenders/corruptors/MMs is extremely optimistic of a Peacebringer's offensive capabilities, but that was hardly my point.
*sniff!* I notice my peacebringer's enhanced damage capabilities, even if my teammates and the bad guys don't....
That's assuming you've got resistance/regen debuffers. Not every team has a kin or a rad, and lately I've not teamed with very many kins who know that transfusion carries a regen debuff component at all (separate rant).Quote:My point was, that with that much support on a team, everyone is likely riding at defense/resistance/damage caps with enemies at resistance/tohit/regen floors. Teams like that can rely on Brawl as the sole damage power to kill everything they face.
Point is, sometimes you have thermals, emps and bubblers. Everyone might be well-nigh unkillable, but that don't make the bad guys go flop.
Given the right team chemistry, anyone can excel, it's true. But for all the times when you don't have the right team chemistry, cosmic balance works great for peacebringers.
DON'T SAY IT OUT LOUD!! NEVER SAY IT OUT LOUD! To say that which shall not be said invites attention! POTENTIALLY UNWANTED attention. Warsahdes are AWESOME. For various vague and unspecified reasons. Let's stick to our story here, m'kay?Quote:The inherent is the one place Warshade's got the short end of the stick, but considering all the other benefits to the AT, I'll take it.
Peacebringer inherent statements:
"The team is lacking sturdy characters, I'll be more sturdy and fill the gap!"
"The team is lacking damage dealers, I'll gain more damage and fill the gap!"
Warshade inherent statements:
"The team is lacking sturdy characters, I get more damage even though I can cap it myself and we still lack sturdy characters except for me when I have eclipse running."
"The team is lacking damage dealers, so I'll get more resistance even though I can cap it myself and we still lack damage dealers except for me when I'm running at capped damage in nova."
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Good read! Always good to see another Peacebringer enthusiast.
Some feedback:
I'm a huge fan of supplementing my white dwarf with macros that activate human powers. Two that I can think of right off the top of my head that are really helpful:
macro heal "powexec_toggleoff white dwarf$$powexec name restore essence$$goto_tray 1"
macro flare "powexec_toggleoff white dwarf%%powexec_name solar flare$$goto_tray 1"
By executing a power command in the same string as you toggle off dwarf, you bypass server lag AND EVEN PERSISTENT MEZ EFFECTS, guaranteeing that the power will execute.
That's right. If a Rikti Magus throws a hold on your white dwarf and you need a second heal, you can hit the "heal" macro in complete confidence, because even though you will be held when you drop to human form the heal will still execute, leaving you free to hop back into dwarf and keep on pounding. The "flare" macro is the one I use as a general "get off me" tactic to buy time for some of the other mitigation powers (giving me time to benefit from essence boost's delayed heal, for example).
You totally lost me on Phase IV (the level 32+ part), I'm afraid. As the title says, the future's looking bright, but then pretty much the only powers you endorse are photon seekers and reform essence. Doesn't sound terribly bright. In fact, it sounds like I need to take restore essence so I can rez during the loooong downtime of photon seekers.
And using Photon Seekers as a mini-nuke in place of dawn strike is highly overrated, imho. Photon Seekers don't benefit from build up, so enhanced they're always going to do right around 400 points of damage. Built up and enhanced, Dawn Strike will do close to 900.
The most striking difference, however, is the area of effect. Dawn strike will do those 900 points to everyone in a 25 foot radius, while photon seekers only have a 10 foot radius.
The crash is the main reason people choose Photon Seekers and don't choose Dawn Strike, but these days fitness works in the forms, and a Performance Shifter proc in dwarf and stamina will fire pretty often. Dawn Strike's crash is also the main reason I took conserve power. Popping conserve power in anticipation of dawn strike means you don't have to wait to go into dwarf.
Whether you recommend skipping dawn strike or not, however, it would be good to let people know about the ten foot radius on photon seekers, so they can maximize the blast potential on tightly packed spawns.
Me? I'd say take'm both. Why choose between 900 and 400 points of damage when you can double nuke for 1300 (and reliably hit more than each power's target cap)? Even though photon seekers doesn't benefit from build up, hit build up before photon seekers as you're running into a spawn (or after dropping dwarf). Then hit photon seekers and cue up dawn strike while photon seekers is animating. Those immediately around you will be in the air and be flying away from you when dawn strike hits, but they'll still be in its area of effect, and the minions will likely be dead anyway, leaving you with that much more fodder for the target cap for dawn strike. Pop a blue (or hopefully you've already hit cp) and go dwarf or nova to finish off the stragglers, but I doubt there'll be many. That combination has gotten my teams through many a double-spawn aggro situation.
Now you do have a good point about light form locking out the forms, but there's one thing you might mention: when in light form your attacks don't root. This means that you can hit incandescent strike on the run and keep right on running past to the next guy while it's animating. Hitting photon seekers/dawn strike will hurt much less also, given the resistances you've got.
Hasten will no longer leave you wheezing, and if you've taken and slotted even four of the human attacks, you'll be almost out-damaging nova, because IS and RS are powerful enough to bring human form's dps within 3-4 dps points of nova's best chain. Light form gives you infinitely more survivability as you do so.
Light form is more than just a survival tool- it's combat on crack.
That's all I have time for for now; look forward to seeing your binds section. -
Quote:Not on a peacebringer you aren't. With 7 tankers/defenders/corruptors/masterminds on a team my peacebringer's contribution to the team is VERY noticeable, since he's the primary damage dealer.Originally Posted by Dechs Kaison
The real problem is that, with 7 corruptors or defenders on the team, you're well past noticing the effects of Cosmic Balance.
When you REALLY notice the benefits of the inherent, however, is on a damage heavy team. With 7 - hell, with 5 or 6 - scrappers/blasters/dominators/brutes on a team his resistances are setting at the 85% cap in human and dwarf form (dwarf only needs 3), and is damned close in nova, and he becomes the primary tank. Even in the rare team wipe conditions, my peacebringer is unkillable, provided they don't all 'port off to the hospital and consequently bring my resistance back down. Hate when that happens.
I can see how you'd say that with a warshade, though. capped damage isn't going to be much besides blatant overkill on a damage-heavy team. Same goes for capped resistance (to say nothing of eclipse making that completely irrelevant).
IMHO the way they benefit from the inherent is the one thing peacebringers get that I consider a boost over warshades, and it's nothing to sneeze at. -
Any SO'd warshade with Hasten can have two essences out perma, so it's not just something that's unreasonable to assume.
And I'm with you 1000 percent on lowering the recharge on Photon Seekers. The disparity between the pets is the crux of the disparity between the two archetypes. Save the Photon Seekers, save the Peacebringers. -
Quote:Ow.Originally Posted by Dechs Kaison
He should get used to it.
He is a peacebringer, after all.
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Quote:Aw... you just made my peacebringer sad.Originally Posted by Dechs Kaison
At the recharge cap you can summon one every 48 seconds. With a duration of 200 seconds, that means you can have a fifth one for 8 seconds. My memory must be off when I recalled seeing six, because it's not mechanically possible.
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Quote:You spend a lot more time in dwarf in the early twenties. Blasting from Nova is something best left to teaming.Originally Posted by EbonyPhoenix
Thanks for the help guys. It appears I'm not doing anything horribly wrong, so I'll just try to get on some teams and see how that goes.
And if you do start spending a lot of time in dwarf, the first thing to slot your dwarf form attacks with is accuracy, but the next thing is recharge. Nothing kills a dwarf quicker than standing around waiting for attacks to recharge, and you've got a pretty good damage boost from dwarf mire.
Also, once you pick up stygian circle, make this macro:
macro SC "powexec_toggleoff black dwarf$$goto_tray 1$$powexec_name stygian circle"
Put it in your dwarf tray, and whenever you're getting low on health, hit that macro. It will drop you to human form and fire off Stygian Circle EVEN IF YOU HAVE A PERSISTANT MEZ on you. From there, you can use dwarf form's break-free ability and get back in the fight at full health. OR, if you're not mezzed, it switches to your human form tray so you can fire off a gravity well while you're there. -
Quote:Just to be clear, I too was disagreeing with the OP's suggestion of making Build Up clickable in forms.Originally Posted by Dechs Kaison
I agree, but I'd like to mention this is a dangerous road to start down. If build up is accessible in nova, why not also in dwarf? And if build up works in forms, why not let warshades use Sunless Mire in forms? What other powers should be usable in forms? Heals? Shields? Stygian Circle? Light Form? Eclipse?
I've always been under the impression that - because it cast a costume shift of its own - it HAD to lock out the forms.Quote:I will say that I don't agree with light form locking you out of forms. I don't think you should be able to activate it while in a form, but it should bloody well carry over into them. Eclipse does, and that's not entirely game breaking...
So on the surface the alternatives would be to remove light form's costume shift and allow form shifting, or to unlock form powers in light form.
The first I wouldn't like because it removes one of the key side-benefits to light form - no rooting (which I THINK was because of the ball-of-light costume, as well) - plus, I LIKE being my own mini-mito.
The second would be problematic because so many of the human form powers are repeated in the forms. Bright Nova Detonation/Luminous Detonation, Proton Scatter/Bright Nova Scatter, Solar Flare, White Dwarf Flare, etc. etc.
Since Human Form wouldn't come with Nova's 45% damage buff, it wouldn't do any more damage with nova's attacks, and there would be too much redundancy.
Unlocking Dwarf Powers in Light form would be much less problematic. Since Human Form wouldn't come with Dwarf's hit point buff, it wouldn't benefit from being a tank form, BUT it would still have the third heal, and being able to swap Dwarf Flare for Solar Flare in an attack chain would be an appealing option. Dwarf Strike and Smite in combination with RS and IS would make for a dandy single target melee chain, and Light Form's costume would eliminate the need for new animations.
I don't see the point in unlocking nova's attacks without the damage boost to go with it, but I'd take dwarf form powers in light form any day.
On the other hand, if it were somehow possible to give human form's ranged powers a nova-like damage boost when in light form, I wouldn't say no to that, either.
But the raw power that would give light form on a tri-form shade would make me drool.
Sounds like a reasonable change, and one I would definitely get behind.Quote:Here's my idea for Group Fly: Call it Group Hover, remove the -tohit and make it so everyone near you gains flight at hover speeds and a defense bonus on the order of maneuvers. Make the radius a bit smaller than it is now. This will allow group fly users to set up a sphere of protection that doesn't fill the room. People who want to hover under the safety cushion can, while melee people (particularly footstomping ones) can stay on the ground. -
Quote:Fitness makes them overpowered? I wouldn't call a nova's 101-ish dps gimped, but fitness doesn't do anything for the forms that they couldn't already achieve before.Originally Posted by The_Coming_Storm
Unsigned. Forms are already too op now that Fitness affects them.
They're a little quicker, a little hardier, and Dwarf can jump a little higher. Nice? Yes. Overpowered? Hardly. -
Quote:Well, let's look at how much good it would do. In human form, the equation I've been using for weighting Build Up into the overall attack chain is this:Originally Posted by SoilentGreen
I can use accolade clicks while in Dwarf and Nova...this one little change would definitely help bring the PB up a notch...how about it devs--throw the PB a bone and let us click build up in the forms?
(((Duration/Recharge)*Build Up Mag)*Damage)+Damage
Assuming a Build Up that is slotted for recharge on an SO build (with Hasten running), that's 33.97 seconds recharge with an activation time of (arcanatime included) 1.32 seconds. So Incandescent Strike that ordinarily do 328.02 points of damage would - for the purposes of a Build Up-weighted attack chain, be listed as doing (((10/33.97)*.72) *328.02)+328.02=397.54 points of damage.
In other words, if you hit Incandescent Strike every time it was up, and hit Build Up every time it was up, 397.54 would loosely represent the average damage it would do if the damage it did when it was built-up was added to the damage it did all the times you used it when it wasn't built up.
Weight every attack in your attack chain that way and you can loosely approximate what your average dps would be with Build Up thrown in every 30 seconds or so.
With me so far? So for Bright Nova let's assume an attack chain of:
Bolt-Blast-Scatter-Bolt-Blast-Detonation
Which really isn't all that hard to pull off even without Hasten running.
Enhanced for damage, the powers look like:
Bolt: 113.2
Blast: 188.6
Scatter: 186.7
Detonation: 169.8
Now as it stands currently you use Build Up and switch to forms so the formula above must be modified accordingly:
((((Duration-Form Animation)/Recharge)*Build Up Mag)*Damage)+Damage
...to accommodate for the time lost to the form changing animation. This changes the damage figures to:
Bolt: 132.29
Blast: 220.48
Scatter: 218.27
Detonation: 198.43
So the Build Up-weighted dps for this attack chain is 101 dps (assuming Build Up in its current form).
If Novas could click Build Up in form, the numbers would change thus:
Bolt: 137.16
Blast: 228.59
Scatter: 226.31
Detonation: 205.73
....for a grand total of 104 dps for the same attack chain.
So no. It would not IMHO be worth asking for Build Up to be clicked in forms for nothing more than a 3 point increase in average dps.
WRT the Group Fly being replaced, the cottage rule pretty much forbids it, but I don't see how an Air Superiority clone would help all that much, as it would suffer from the same damage modifier as human form.
Group Fly - both the PB version and the pool version - are throwbacks to the times when they thought more people with non-fly travel powers would be in places like the Shadow Shard and Hami Raids, and wouldn't have day job flight packs, flight pack stores, recipes and temp powers earned by doing the Atlas Park Bank mission.
I would go so far as to say the ENTIRE CONCEPT of Group Fly is outdated and should be scrapped, or (because of that thrice-damned cottage rule) at least the penalties in accuracy, fly speed and endurance removed. -
Quote:Always ways around that. The US Navy, for example, cannot board a civilian ship for the purpose of law enforcement, yet ships commissioned in the US Navy do this all the time. Why? For purposes of law enforcement patrols the Coast Guard assigns a law enforcement detachment to a navy ship. When the time comes to perform law enforcement duties, the LE detachment takes operational command of the ship, which then effectively becomes a Coast Guard Cutter.Originally Posted by The Crom
As for Posse Commitatus.. Yes, it prevents traditional Military resources from participating in domestic -Policing-. An invasion of our home-soil from a foreign power, let alone Praetoria, would -require- an armed military response.
Even still, under the provisions of the act.. The US Coast Guard is exempt. Not to mention the Dept. of Homeland Security.
So long as the Coast Guard Personnel conduct the actual enforcing of the law (ie - the boarding of a ship) everything is legal. The Coast Guard is just availing itself of another military branch's assets.
Back in the day, we often borrowed Air Force planes and Navy radar platforms to supplement our surveillance.
Point is, so long as a designated "Law Enforcement" official is in operational command, assets from any branch of the military can be used for law enforcement purposes. -
Quote:Even if it didn't violate the cottage rule six ways from Sunday I wouldn't endorse such a change. As much as I loves me some fluffies, I would hate to see Photon Seekers turned into a brightly-colored copy of them. I like the fact that they are unique from Dark Extraction, and I like the fact that they have much different uses in practice.Originally Posted by Redlynne
So clearly the answer is to reprogram Photon Seekers to instead be an emulation/variant of Extract Essence which doesn't require a corpse to summon.
Rig it so that it is "perma" out of the box (duration = recharge) without enhancement, and permit more than one to be summoned at a time. The summoned pets just shoot Gleaming Bolt (single target) and Gleaming Blast (single target) and Proton Scatter (cone) attacks, just like a Warshade's Fluffies, which have a Defense Debuff rather than a Slow Debuff effect and get white animations rather than purple/black.
Set the base recharge and duration for 240 seconds (ie. the same as Warshade Fluffies) and call it a day.
So instead of deploying self-destructing one-shot bombs ... you'd get White Fluffies that look an awful lot like Light Form (ie. reuse avatar for Photon Seekers).
S imple.
E asy.
E ffective.
Not being done ...
Nothing says their only use is emulating a small, crashless nuke, although I do like using them for that (hitting build up before photon seekers may not boost their damage, but it lets you get a built-up dawn strike off before any nearly dead victims of the seekers are knocked outside its radius).
No, you can also use them to keep flying melee'rs away from your nova while you blast, and since typically only one or two will peel off to go bang! in their face and knock them from the air, you've got one or two left for the next genius who decides to fly up.
They're absolutely phenomenal at protecting you while you back out of a fight and around the corner to recover from a light form crash.
Reduce their recharge so that they can be perma out of the box (and I'll throw in reducing their aggro range to about 15 feet) and you've got all that utility whenever you need it.
Give their self destruct power the fiery embrace treatment that adds energy damage to each of your attacks in the amount of 15% of those attacks' respective damage (as I believe Fiery Embrace does with fire damage) for the same duration as fiery embrace. If all three explode that's a 45% damage buff that lasts 30 seconds and can carry over into the forms. Combine that with strategic use of Build Up and you can either have a single ten seconds of 117% damage buff for a good massive burst, or you can alternate the two for a more persistent 45%~72% damage buff.
This brings Peacebringer damage much closer to a Warshades without equaling it (because like it or not Warshades SHOULD have more damage potential than Peacebringers, given the extra conditions that come with that damage. I just think Peacebringers pay too high of a price as it stands for the convenience of what they do) AND it gives Peacebringers strategic options for how and when that damage boost is applied.
The key problem I can see with that proposal is that Fiery Embrace is already a self-affecting power, so the boost that it gives is already coded to affect its primary target. Photon Seekers, because their self destruct power is targeted at enemies, may not be able to grant that buff in the same way to anyone but their enemies.
If that's the case, then I would suggest that a more generic aoe damage buff component be added to the power so that any allies in range of the power get the buff. The chance to give a fellow teammate or two a periodic 15-45% damage buff would be appealing to a team, no? Now, the radius of this buff might have to be small as a result, requiring Peacebringers and their allies to be almost in melee range to the photon seekers' explosions to get the buff, but I wouldn't have a problem with a little bit of required strategic positioning.
The result is what I'm after, and I don't think buffing a teammate's damage by a maximum of 45% is a game-breaking side effect, either, given that most players don't stand shoulder-to-shoulder in battle, and the radius of such a buff would have to be small. -
Quote:I think there'd be no reason to leave a form once you were in it. If powers like Assault, Maneuvers, Stealth, Tactics, Invoke Panic, Tough, and Weave were available in form most people (myself included) would just build to max out one form and never, ever switch forms again.Originally Posted by IronAlex
What do you think of pools except for travel working in forms? so that when you switch back and forth you dont have to toggling on stuff in middle of battle.. also alow the shields to come back on once you detoggle forms..
Which - on a shapeshifting archetype - sort of defeats the point, don't you think? -
Quote:LOL! That's just funny, right there.Originally Posted by Guardien
Speaking of portals, you know those CoT missions with the portal to a random destination? Yeah...on the other side of one of those is bad too.
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Quote:I actually suggested that very thing back just prior to I13 when we were all going rounds with Castle about human-form Mez protection. I'd LOVE to see the shields changed to defense.Originally Posted by Microcosm
You know, I have always felt the human shields were redundant with Lightform and Eclipse. To me, it would be so much better to just keep Lightform and Eclipse, but change the human form shields to a defense equivalent, making it actually useful to stack them. It would also relieve some of the suckage of no mez protection, as deflecting attacks means you are also less frequently mezzed. I don't think that would ever happen though.
Mostly for the reasons you list than for any mez relief. -
Second mission of the Apex TF - spawned with one of the attack waves after Battle Maiden retreated the first time. We had nictus and swords tearing us to shreds while the halberds dropped RIGHT OVER THE CRYSTAL.
Good times. -
Quote:Okay, I've got your build up, and.... well, we'll cover that in a minute. First off let me ask: are you trying to PLAY this build as you level up? Because it's a really really really really bad build to level up on. No wonder you're miserable at level 18; none of your attacks are slotted for damage. And if you think it's going to get any more fun post level 20 then I'm sorry to tell you it isn't if you're leveling this build.Originally Posted by Silent_
Hey all,
Does / did anyone think that when designing their WS build that there are WAY to much stuff going on? Too many powers to pick from? not enough slots. my screen looks a mess!
I've got my WS to 18 now and kinda lost the love for him I have read that the fun starts around 20+ but I don't see how
I'm going though Mids trying to build a good dwarf build and i'm lost. Can I get some help so I can feel the love for my WS again?
Thanks in advance
.S
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Okay, here's some comments about the build, from low to high:
Take Gravimetric Snare. It doesn't seem like it does much, but that's because it's a dot. Those Galaxy Archons with the council that give you so much trouble? They're using a version of Gravimetric Snare. You use it too. Take it in place of either Ebon Eye or Shadow Bolt. I don't care which.
Don't slot Sunless Mire for damage. Slot in an accuracy and two or three recharge. Move the extra slots elsewhere.
Like damage in your attacks, for instance. You obviously took Gravity Well thinking it's only a hold, but IT'S YOUR HEAVIEST ATTACK! Slot it for damage. And that goes for your other attacks in human form. They need at least one or two damage slots.
Also, if you're going to be spending any time in human form at all - and I'm guessing you should - you'll definitely want to consider taking AND SLOTTING orbiting death. It can be put off until the later levels, but when you're running around with Inky Aspect and Gravitic Emanation keeping entire spawns perma-stunned, it will contribute significantly to your human form damage.
Oh wait. You didn't take. Gravitic Emanation. Sigh. Take and slot Gravitic Emanation. It might have knockback, but you can stealth and knock them back into a wall or corner. It's key to clumping groups together for a well-saturated mire and eclipse.
And for the love of large growling lobsters slot eclipse with Damage Resistance!! The more you slot, the fewer mobs you need to sap to reach the resistance cap.
Take Hasten. With hasten you can have two extracted essences out pretty much all the time, which will double your dps. And then you can take super speed and combine that with shadow cloak for true void-killing stealth. (Another reason to slot Gravity Well with damage is to KILL VOIDS as you hold them)
You probably don't need to slot stamina. Stygian Circle is THAT powerful.
Use sunscreen. Couldn't hurt.
Okay, with that list out of the way, let's look at Black Dwarf. By the look of your slotting, you're expecting to spend the majority of your time in Dwarf Mode.
Which is not necessarily a bad thing. Black Dwarf can be very fun, but the way you're slotted will make you absotively posilutely MISERABLE until you reach the higher levels.
First, slot the form with three damage resistance and call it a day. The endurance modification you get from Dwarf is only enough to pay for the toggle, and Stamina now works in forms, anyway. Slot the damage resistance early if you're going to be spending any time at all in dwarf.
Now, with the attacks - consider slotting for recharge much, much earlier than you have. As in- right after a single accuracy slot. Nothing kills a dwarf quicker than standing around not attacking. I don't care how much damage you're attacks do, you will die in dwarf ALOT if you're standing around in a spawn waiting for them to recharge. Hasten will also help with this.
Okay, start there. More experienced Warshade players than I will give you better advice than I. Read their guides. Check out the bind/strategy thread in my signature (and stickied at the top of the forum) - it will make your time on your kheld easier, I swear. -
Actually had someone complain last night that if the pylons were taken down before the mitos we would have to suffer through Hami aggro while we were taking down the mitos.
Complete and utter feldercarb, so far as I could tell. -
Quote:Here's the thing: we could go rounds all day about changes to Build Up that could - and would - increase Peacebringer damage, but if you take away the pet damage Peacebringers hands-down outdamage Warshades.Originally Posted by Redlynne
Smiling Joe ... have a look (if you can) at what would happen if PB Build Up were redone as a Power Siphon (Kinetic Melee) clone instead, and one that would work with ranged attacks and not just melee. Go ahead and ignore the damage debuff aspect and work instead only on the stacking damage buff side of the equation and see what comes out.
Photon Seekers are (currently) a Crashless Nuke power at the moment ... and a pretty crummy one at that. I wouldn't mind getting a (functional) clone of Assault Rifle's Full Auto in place of Photon Seekers, where you repeatedly bombard an AoE with little glowing balls of light that go kaboom. Heck, even redoing the power as a "rain" power would be a vast improvement on it at this stage.
That's right. I said it, and bolded it for emphasis. Even with the double mires on black dwarf, white dwarf is the loser in the damage department by only 3 dps. Human Peacebringers FAR AND AWAY outdamage human Warshades outside of the pets. Even the Bright Nova does more than the Dark Nova until large groups are accounted for in the mire. It's all right there in the spreadsheets linked in the first post. Build Up vs. Mire is not the problem. Photon Seekers vs. Dark Extraction IS.
So when seeking to bring some balance between the two archetypes, we'd be much better served, IMHO, to ask for Photon Seekers to be brought more in line with Dark Extraction, because otherwise you're just unbalancing Build Up to compensate for Dark Extraction.
However, it is kind of fun to play around with, so of course you know I'm going to look at it, just like I looked at rage. Assuming (quite generously, I might add) 5 targets stacked at 25% each, and taking into account a 20 second duration and a 45.29 second enhanced and hasted recharge, Human form Single Target dps comes to around 166.31. Bright Nova comes out to 182.72dps, and White Dwarf comes out to 125.69dps.
Now that's just fun with numbers; for Build Up to be a clone of Siphon Power would be impractical to the point of being a non-starter. The damage debuff would require every single power in the Peacebringer Primary to be re-coded to include a damage debuffing component that is set at zero percent until buffed by the casting of our Siphon Power clone. This, and the fact that Peacebringer attacks already have a secondary effect, pretty much kills this idea on the table.
Unless you'd like to disregard the damage debuff and go with a straight stackable damage buff, which would again require re-coding every single attack.
All to gain very little more than you could already have by buffing Photon Seekers.
I could be wrong, but I'm not too keen on this idea. -
Quote:Just for fun, I decided to plug rage into the Peacebringer analysis. See the results by clicking this link.Originally Posted by Microcosm
Since they serve roughly the same functions, does this really break the rule? They could just alter the name to something like Essence Build Up or whatever. Admittedly, I'm a huge fan of rage, and since it should carry over to the forms I really like that idea. That alone would almost be enough to get me to play a pb
It was actually a bit harder than I thought it would be. It seems backwards, but first I had to weight the crash. This is because the 10 seconds of no damage occurs outside of "Essence Build Up's" up time. I ignored the end discount and assumed that you would not be crazy enough to keep attacking during the crash. So I ended up with a new column called "Crash Weighted Damage" which subtracted those ten seconds of nothing from the total damage.
THEN I weighted that result against the uptime of our new luminous Rage clone. The result brought Peacebringer human DPS up from around 112 dps to just under 134 dps. The other totals are all on the sheet on the other end of that link if anyone's interested.
I'd be on board for this, provided they also brought photon seekers' recharge down to make them perma out of the box (insert unique flag caveat here, of course).
It's not reflected in the spreadsheet, but that would bring human st dps up to 158 dps. What was the total single target human WS dps? Oh yeah. 189.
EDIT - I just went back and looked at my suggestion of adding a 30 second 15% damage buff per seeker per explosion (along with a lowering of the recharge) - the resulting single target human dps? 158 dps. Heh. Yeah, I'd be on board for either. -
Quote:Thanks! I am definitely on board with a lower recharge for seekers; I think it should be the cornerstone of any changes to the archetype. With reference to rage in place of build up, since the cottage rule forbids the retrofit of this now, I'm thinking that the seekers could give our attacks extra energy damage when they explode amounting to a 15% damage buff per seeker (You might see that suggestion a few posts up). Enough like rage for you?Originally Posted by IronAlex
Nice right up...
And i agree the fix for pb lies with light form and seekers and prob pulsar...
Light form Should be a more Strength of Will clone. Still have the resistance+ mez prot but shorter recharge.. And Recharge not enhanceable.
Seekers: keep same dmg but make recharge 60 sec enhanceable.
Pulsar Raise the mag to at least 3 extent the radius and raise the recharge 20 sec more.
And Lastly i always believe the build up should have been changed to Rage.. since most of the human form powers are Super Strength Clones.. Rage would match up nice plus it could easily carry into forms..
Also since the implementation of fitness carrying over into form, I definitely think the devs should make it possible for all pools to carry over except the travels. ie ss, sj, would be locked out.. but Hasten the leadership pool, tough weave, and all the pool attacks should work in forms...
EDIT - I plugged the tanker version of SoW into the spreadsheet, and I have to say you'd be mad to want SoW over Light Form. Since Light Form can be slotted for recharge, with SO's you can get the recharge down to 377 seconds. SoW cannot be slotted, so that leaves you stuck with a recharge time that's only 77 seconds shorter. And what do you get for this shorter recharge? Significantly smaller boosts to your resistance - so small that you'd be unable to cap your resistance even with the shields running! Light Form in its current incarnation might have an excessive recharge, but you can slot it enough to bring its recharge down to comparable levels and nearly cap your resistance without the shields. No way I'd get behind this as a straight port, and even if you left the resistance and brought the recharge down, making the recharge enhanceable would be such a small boost that it wouldn't be worth it. -
Quote:I did actually get around to pm'ing him - it's been about a week now. I think he might be a tad busy.Originally Posted by Zenyth
Smiling Joe, did you ever get hold of Black Scorpion? Any kind of response?
But truth be told, I'm not really expecting a response in either case. -
Quote:It's not supposed to be a problem, either. As I recall, Castle stated at the time that it was a bug, but - as with everything else concerning Kheldians - it wasn't on the list of things to fix any time soon.Originally Posted by Black_Aftermath
Ahh, finally an issue I can agree with. If Dwarf is going to be our source of mez protection, changing forms should NOT be interruptible.
Fortunately, Stygian Return means I miss maybe three seconds before I'm back to full strength. -
/Signed. *#^$!%$ng annoying.