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Quote:While you're considering the balance of offensive and defensive roles in other sets, also consider the balance of proactive and reactive defense in Empathy. Most other sets fill their defensive roll with a proactive buffing once every four minutes while Empathy must stagger its proactive buffs in the midst of blasting and controlling. Then toss in the reactive nature of healing, which further splits the players attention. I think it's fair to say that buffing/healing requires attention on par with buffing/debuffing.Originally Posted by Silas
That's it. That's all I said. I think FF is even easier to play well, if any FF enthusiasts want to jump down my throat too.
I didn't specify on some kind of arbitrary scale how much easier Emp is or how difficult individual powers are to use because I don't think it's meaningful.
I broke down support into the roles that you have to fill. I think sets that have an offensive and defensive role have an additional dimension to work with compared to sets that are purely defensive. I think that adds complexity.
I'm happy to agree to disagree on whether or not Emp is easier to play well than other sets, but I don't like what I said being misrepresented, blown out of proportion or totally misunderstood.
I find it far more important to know what each set does. Knowing that SR or Ice Armor are both defense let's me know Fort won't drastically alter their survivability like it may for someone that's relying on regen or resists. This is why we see emps that toss Fort on the scrapper and call it a day. People look at one aspect of the power or one aspect of another person's AT without thinking about where the buff will give the most benefit.Quote:Originally Posted by Fiery-Enforcer
Keeping Fort up on the right people is the main argument I'm seeing that makes Emps "hard to play." But, if you have the basic knowledge of what each AT does that is not an issue.
Quite the same as the Fortitude. I was on a team recently and I asked the other Emp to exchange AB. I got the reply "Your blue bar has been good and the blasters need the endurance." I tried to explain that with AB on both of us we could keep Recovery Aura up more often and provide more endurance to all of the blasters rather than 1 or 2. Two or three missions later when he realized how much faster his RA's were coming up, he finally started AB'ing me as well.Quote:Adrenalin Boost? You can keep it up one person, that's really hard to do.
Again, people get in the single aspect mind set. Through the bulk of the mish I may give AB to a blaster for happy-fun-nuke time, but when it comes to the AV I'll be tossing it to the Cold defender so he can toss out Benumb faster. It's a multi-aspect power and those different aspects carry weight dependent on the power set and situation.
So yes, keep it on one person, but who?
These are, admittedly, the easiest part about being an emp, even easier than trying to heal teammates.Quote:RA's? You jump in the middle of everyone while they're fighting to use them.
CM? You keep it up on those without mez protection.
There's the crux of the matter: other buffs require very little knowledge of your teammates' abilities or how they work. If you're using your shields on all of your teammates every 4 minutes, then you're doing the best buffing you can with some sets. That's not true of empathy. What superficially looks like a straight forward set (and that's why it hooks so many new-comers) requires the user to have knowledge of other AT's roles and the mechanics of each set. Once you acquire that knowledge, it's easy enough, but prior to that it's very difficult to play to its potential.Quote:Although you may say, some of this stuff may require to know the other players powersets. I know it may be tough to right click a name and click Info, but I believe with enough practice you'll be able to accomplish this task.
Now, there may be a lot of stuff you need to do as an Emp, but that doesn't necessarily mean it's hard to play. Now this isn't exclusive to Emps, but the only difficult part you may need to work on is anticipating when you need to heal somebody. Although, I think this is way more important in PvP because in PvE you'll have a little more leeway if you have a decent team. -
Quote:I'm not sure if you're tuned into otaku culture, but here's why it doesn't make sense to me...Originally Posted by Memphis_Bill
... or any other hobby?
How can people spend $10,000 on a gaming PC for 1-2 extra FPS?
How can people spend hundreds or thousands of dollars on *a* comic book? (Or a Magic card, for instance?)
Or shoes?
Or...
If that's the price they're at, and they enjoy it - *shrug*
These figures run in the general range of $80-$200 dollars. And a lot of the series are just a flash in the pan, to be replaced by next season's cuter, fresher model. So there's near constant consumption...
Then you've got people buying goods in bulk. As Konata from Lucky Star put it: you buy one to read/watch, one to lend, one to save, and a back up. Then when you find out maybe your favorite character isn't a virgin you destroy all the things you've sunk your money into.
I'm not saying Heart's that brand of crazy, but it's definitely out there amongst otaku. Once I've been bled for the prices of DVD's that's generally it for me. -
Quote:While Mio is faptastic, I never understood how people could spend so much on figures. Or daikimakura. Or other otaku goods.Originally Posted by Heartbreaker
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Quote:Pigg diving and poking around in the contents is for certain. That's not what he wants to do or obviously he could from his own copy.Originally Posted by Golden Girl
Isn't pigg stuff kinda illegal under the EULA?
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Quote:I agree Seeds is very much an opener, something that Electric control is lacking. As such Plant does not need to layer extra mitigation in most cases, but when it does it can also fall back on it's AoE hold or the distraction caused by Creepers. While I'm far more content with Seeds alone, Seeds and Creepers together provide far more mitigation than I've found Electric able to muster.Originally Posted by Oedipus_Tex
IMO it's a matter of opinion but the difference to me is Seeds an opening power, and not a "pre-tanking" one that you throw prior to starting the fight. The comparison is not Seeds versus Synaptic Overload, but Seeds versus Synaptic Overload plus whatever you layer on it that starts the fight. Plant Control is not at liberty to make this distinction.
The same holds when compared to Mind Control. SO does have a base 5% chance to miss. However, it also has a 100% chance to be active 4 times as often as Mass Confusion. The recharge is equivalent to Mind's sleep power. I think it's extremely competitive in that department, so much so that I'm not sure Mass Confusion doesn't need a recharge reduction to compensate.
As for a pre-tank power, SO, I feel falls far behind the single target confuses which can quickly and reliably dispatch problem mobs. Even if you miss, they're up soon enough to try again. If SO misses, pre-tanking is ruled out for that mob and it's on to plan B. Unfortunately, I don't think Electric has a very good plan B. Compare that with the options within Mind, the du jour pre-tank set. Mass Confusion and Mass Hypnosis+Total Dom both offer relatively 100% aggro free openings and when they're unavailable Mass Hypnosis + select single target mezzes fill the gap for taking out the most dangerous mobs.
This also ignores the additional complication that Electric has two very stupid pets. -
Quote:The problem I have with this approach is the unreliable control outside of the AoE Hold. Static Field worked well enough when solo. On a team, I suppose we fall back on Synaptic Overload, a power with which I have many problems. In either case, I found the enemies likely to get a shot or two off before they were sapped anyway. Also bear in mind as well, situations in which sapping becomes important are situations in which standard controls are less effective, such as the ITF.Originally Posted by Oedipus_Tex
True, but don't forget that -Recharge is meaningless unless the enemy uses the power (incidentally why I kind of hit the roof when folks suggest Arctic Air, with its confusion ability to force enemies to expend powers on each other instead of you, is not a vital Ice power). -Endurance, if you can pull it off, works on enemies even if you get the drop on them and mezz them straight away. With this set, I'd encourage a mezz-first-drain-later technique.
As for Synaptic Overload, I'm aware you like the power, but I find it much too unreliable and slow for my tastes. The 5% chance for a critical miss is much too high for a staple control. Compare that with a similar chance of absolute failure from Seeds, .05^16 or less than a millionth of a percent, and things don't look so great for SO. The slow propagation throughout a mob also means waiting and allowing the mob to do significant damage to itself before safely moving in or alerting them to your presence with Static Field. It may be aggro free, a trait I love in Mind Control's powers, and only have the endurance cost of a single target mez but I don't feel either of those offset the problems with the power. In my opinion, to better balance this power and bring Electric up to the level of control it needs the recharge to be reduced and the endurance cost increased. -
I'm tossing my support in for the breathe powers too. They're the ones I find the most off putting and difficult to fit in with a concept.
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Quote:Even if the proc worked, it would probably Placate for the pseudo-pet. I did my testing with a mind controller using Mass Hypnosis. That's why I feel pretty certain that it's not working at all in PVE.Originally Posted by saltyhero13
Even if the proc fired, isn't the expect behavior that the Static Field pseudo pet would placate the mob vice the summoner placating the mob? or is it expected that it will function similar to the proc when slotted in Poison Gas Arrow (which I believe also summons some type of pseudo pet) or other AoE sleeps?
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Quote:Then they definitely need to look at Gravity because Dimension Shift is broken. Broken how? To begin with, it is now a Phasing power. It will phase, without doubt, any target that it lands on. However, the visual effects are tied to the old Intangible status and as such are affected by level scaling. So when I phase a +2 boss the level scaled 2.8 mag Intangible doesn't trigger the visual effects. Another portion of the power, the 3.0 mag immobilize also scales. So that same boss is not immobilized when he's hit with a 2.8 mag immob. Basically, it appears the DS has done nothing when it actually has. The scaling immobilize and inconsistent visuals cause a great deal of confusion about when Dimension Shift is working because they are not working with the rest of the power. That sounds broken enough to me.Originally Posted by je_saist
Remember: there's only so many hours in the day, and fixing sets or powers that are legitimately broken, such as Shield Charge, is more important than revamping existing power-sets.
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Quote:The Placate proc isn't currently working at all from what I've seen. I've tested against some robot mobs where it doesn't seem to do a thing. I haven't seen it confirmed by anyone else yet though.Originally Posted by Liliaceae
Fortunata Hypnosis Chance for Placate isn't currently working in it. I didn't try any others.
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Quote:In my experience, it did feel a lot like a working with Ice. Because Electric relies on lots of ticks of -end and lacks a long -recovery power, it occasionally lets a shot or two get through even after the enemies are drained. Of course, the difference being that Ice can quickly drop Shiver on a mob and gain the benefit of -recharge, while Electric takes 10 seconds or so to reach that same result.Originally Posted by saltyhero13
Using your taxonomy I would classify Electric more akin to Ice mainly for the reason that -recovery and -end drain together behave more like slows IMO. Sapping basically allows the mobs to attack initially but can considerably reduce the rate of attack or even flat out halt attacks after the alpha.
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Quote:I disagree with your disagreement.Originally Posted by Silas
While I agree that FF is simple as hell to play, I disagree about Emp. Compared to other support sets its fairly straightforward to play well.
Which makes it all the more depressing that so many Emps are terribad
First other buffs are pretty straight forward. Everyone (mostly) benefits from cold, thermal, FF, and sonic shields, they're easy to keep going around, and there's no decision making involved. Empathy's buffs are a mixture of things and limited by recharge so you must be selective on who receives them.
Look at Fortitude, for example. With basic IO's and hasten it can be maintained on 3/4 people. So who gets it? Well, that depends on the AT, the situation, and the player. It's a fantastic defense buff for squishies and a nice damage buff. I tend to give it the blasters, but wait! This mish is against carnies and the tank is getting flattened! Looks, like he could use that Fort for the psi-defense. The same goes for Adrenalin Boost. I could just toss it on the tank so he can suck up more damage, or I could throw it on a blaster so they're free to nuke their little heart out, or I could toss it on the other emp (who had better return the favor) so both of our auras are up faster. In order to know what to do though, I need to check player's info, see what powers they have, and also see how they're going to play.
The amount of thought required to use Empathy's buffs well is at least equal to the the thought required to use the debuff side of cold, thermal and sonic. -
There have been changes made to Dominator's APP's so they aren't direct copies of Controller's APP's. Powerboost and Energy Blast are both replaced with, I believe, Energy Transfer and Explosive Blast. This information is on the closed beta boards, which I understand people may not have access to yet.
Controllers on the other hand do still have PFF available through Mace Mastery. I would guess that will be changed some time down the line and advise people to avoid taking it for the time being.
Here's the post from the beta boards that has compiled the list:
Quote:Originally Posted by Funk_X
Trying to compile a list of powers for the hero patrons. If you have a hero that has moved to red side, if you could run through the patron arc to see what powers are available it would be much appreciated.
For those of you new to red side, once your hero is 41 and in grandville, the contact is outside of the main tower. Black Scorpion's arc is fairly fast and easy.
Here's a thread with the epics available for villains, but haven't seen any info on the patron powers that heroes get.
http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?t=230716
*thx to family stone for this list*
Dominator
Ice Mastery
1) Sleet
2) Hibernate
3) Frozen Armor
4) Hoarfrost
5) Ice Storm
Fire mastery
1) Rain of Fire
2) Fireball
3) Fire Shield
4) Rise of the Phoenix
5) Melt Armor
Primal Forces Mastery
1) Energy Transfer
2) Conserve Power
3) Temp Invulnerability
4) Energy Torrent
5) Explosive Blast
Psionic Mastery
1) Link Minds
2) Indomitable Will
3) Mind over Body
4) World of Confusion
5) Psionic Tornado
Masterminds
Chill Mastery
1) Ice Blast
2) Flash Freeze
3) Hoarfrost
4) Frozen Armor
5) Hibernate
Charge Mastery
1) Static Discharge
2) Electric Shackles
3) Thunder Strike
4) Surge of Power
5) Em Pulse
Heat Mastery
1) Bonfire
2) Fireblast
3) Fireball
4) Char
5) Rise of the Phoenix
Field Mastery
1) Temp Invulnerability
2) Power Blast
3) Energy Torrent
4) Explosive Blast
5) Force of Nature
Stalkers
Blaze Mastery
1) Ring of Fire
2) Char
3) Fireblast
4) Melt Armor
5) Fireball
Body Mastery
1) Superior Conditioning
2) Focused Accuracy
3) Lazer Beam Eyes
4) Physical Perfection
5) Energy Torrent
Darkness Mastery
1) Torrent
2) Petrifying Gaze
3) Dark Blast
4) Night Fall
5) Tenebrous Tentacles
Weapon Mastery
1) Web Grenade
2) Physical Perfection
3) Shuriken
4) Targeting Drone
5) Exploding Shuriken
Corruptor
Dark Mastery
1) Oppressive Gloom
2) Dark Consumption
3) Dark Embrace
4) Soul Transfer
5) Soul Drain
Power Mastery
1) Conserve Power
2) Power Build up
3) Temp Invulnerability
4) Force of Nature
5) Total Focus
Psychic Mastery
1) Dominate
2) Mass Hypnosis
3) Mind over Body
4) World of Confusion
5) Telekinesis
Electricity Mastery
1) Electric Fence
2) Thunder Strike
3) Charged Armor
4) Shocking Bolt
5) Power Sink
Brutes
Energy Mastery
1) Superior Conditioning
2) Focused Accuracy
3) Lazer Beam Eyes
4) Physical Perfection
5) Energy Torrent
Pyre Mastery
1) Ring of Fire
2) Char
3) Fireblast
4) Melt Armor
5) Fireball
Arctic Mastery
1) Chilblain
2) Block of Ice
3) Ice blast
4) Shiver
5) Ice Storm
Earth Mastery
1) Stone Prison
2) Salt Crystals
3) Fossilize
4) Quick Sand
5) Stalagmites -
Quote:Let's see... two critiques were generally positive in their conclusions. Ms. Johanson's criticisms, I'll admit, are scathing and accurate. Then two more critiques by the same guy who didn't like the film. So what I'm seeing is a 50/50 split.Originally Posted by Agonus
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I'll pass on a single target blast for a Mu guardian. Or any of the other pets even. Really, I skip the single target in favor of AoE nearly every time.
At any rate, I'm surprised PFF is *still* in there. It's obviously a overlap problem and there are plenty of mace powers that could take it's place. I know the devs are busy, but c'mon... -
Quote:As noted in another thread, controller APP's will remain the same. However, a controller that goes over to the red side can unlock Patron Pools by completing a patron's arc. That means, in addition to our current APP's, controllers will have access to Dominator PPP's. Note that you cannot mix and match though, PPP's are treated as if you selected an APP. Currently, there is one conflict in Mace Mastery, duplicating PFF. I expect that will be changed shortly after GR goes live.Originally Posted by plainguy
Are you sure about the Mu Mastery part. I recall reading somewhere ( I believe it was the last Q&A ) that each AT is still stuck with the Epic pool they belong to. Pretty much similar to way the powers are the Epics are locked in also.
But if we can change that would be cool also. Maybe it was already established level 50 toons that can switch.
And yes, I'm certain of this information. I have taken my fire/ff'er redside on the beta server. -
Scott Pilgrim likes to rock and punch vegans. Has Sly ever punched a vegan? Probably, but you don't have proof.
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I suggest anyone that wants to be a sapper look into taking the Mu Mastery (yes, controllers that go redside will have access to dom PPP's). Power Sink is going to give some good AoE endurance drain when slotted and you've built up some recharge. The Mu Guardian is also going to drop some nice endurance drain along with some -recovery. I suspect that the single target end drain from Transference may be only a small part of the equation in the long run.
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I like the endurance drain this set can provide; to me, it met my expectations in that area. However, it's general control is pretty weak, weaker than the secondary effect justifies. The chaining powers are a huge let down. As the only solid AoE control outside of the standard hold, Synaptic Overload suffers greatly from a 5% failure rate. The Gremlins behave like the Imps with less damage.
Overall, I'd place the set ahead of gravity, but behind everything else. I'll play it, for certain. I may even learn to enjoy it, but my first impressions in the past month has been quite poor. -
Quote:I think we'll see a pretty big surge of dominators blueside because of this. I think there's been a skewed perspective on how strong doms are based on what they're forced to fight. Once they get blueside, where mez protection is more rare, they're going to have a field day.Originally Posted by Noxilicious
Ooooh yeah, now that actually does annoy the hell out of me. Now normally I don't care about perma-Domination at all and only really use it when I really feel I need it, which is to say when I run into bosses, but when I run into Arachnos it seems my entire Primary is being invalidated if I don't have perma-Domination to hold lieutenants, and $deity help you with bosses because even with Domination they take several applications of your power.
EBs you meet like once every ten missions are easily disposed off with inspirations, but when do you do a mission without lieutenants? It makes Arachnos-heavy story arcs a huge pain. -
Quote:For Gravity, I prefer Flight as my mode of transport. Hover is pretty handy for mitigating the knockback from Wormhole if you hover above your target area and aim Wormhole straight down. I find that helps a great deal on large open maps.Originally Posted by Local_Man
A travel power will take two powerpicks . . . Combat Jumping adds a little more defense, so it is common, but Hover does too. The Fitness Pool with Stamina is pretty much essential.
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Quote:Your damage sources for this sort of build will largely be coming from Levitate, Mesmerize, and Terrify before you reach the epics. Levitate is a good source of non-psi damage. (Psi is resisted pretty heavily by some later groups). Both Mesmerize and Terrify have long durations which allow you to slot them entirely for damage. You can also squeeze a bit of damage into Dominate if you go with 4 Basilisk's Gaze and fill it out with 2 pieces from a damage set or 2 Hami-O's. You'll also want Mass Hypnosis for setting up containment outside of your AoE hold.Originally Posted by thedarkeone
Honestly just looking for ideas in the direction to take her. Really was a toss up who will be utilizing GR when it comes out. I know a mind dom is more desirable for RSF but figured a mind/rad troller could come in handy.
Guess I am looking at perma hasten/perma RA for sure along with some damage bonuses.
When it comes to APP's, Fire is a good bet. You'll get some more nice AoE damage out of Fireball and some help maintaining your endurance with Consume. Fire Blast can take place of Mesmerize or Levitate, depending on your play style.
As for sets, recharge is what you should chase mostly. Decimation, Basilisk's Gaze, and Positron's Blast all offer some nice bonuses for regular sets. The purple sleep and confuse sets are both fairly cheap and each offers a whopping 10% recharge bonus.
Here's the datachunk for a build I did up for a friend, just to give you an idea of what you could get into.
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What direction do you want to take your Mind/rad in? I built mine for recharge (perma-AM and perma-Hasten), and control though it's not terribly difficult to alter it for a bit of damage as well. A lot of what I would recommend is dependent on what you want the character to do. For example, with control as my top priority, I find the Primal APP quite useful. If you want to be more damage oriented then perhaps the Fire APP is for you.
Perhaps, if you post up a sample build, we can work from there. -
Quote:I don't see the need for a debuff at all. Situationally useful and a heavy endurance cost already balance it out. That doesn't even cover the fact that uncontrolled Flight interferes with the activation of several powers: Stalagmites, Hot Feet, Foot Stomp, etc. But if a debuff is necessary, then I would make it function like Repel; for every additional target you affect you lose another tick of endurance.Originally Posted by Timeshadow
Flight: I don't think Group Fly needs to be replaced. The concept behind the power is sound, its the mechanics that need to be altered. The ability to grant flight to an entire team is fantastic and the aura that comes with it are great. The 60' radius and 25% ToHit debuff aren't. That debuff needs to either be removed or switched to an Accuracy debuff. Since just about everyone slots for Accuracy a -25% hit wouldn't be nearly as crippling. Group Fly just isn't anywhere good enough to have such a hefty penalty..
I think defense debuff resistance would be a bad idea, not in itself but due to the use of IO's to softcap.Quote:Originally Posted by Wiggz
The more I think about it, the more I like the idea of a defensive debuff resistance component being added to Acrobatics. Considering the endurance cost, it would actually make the power a worthwhile benefit for a lot of different power sets and archetypes, especially considering the availability of Epic level defensive shields. -
Quote:I'm not sure if Hamidon's striking intangibles is baked into the powers or baked into the entity itself.Originally Posted by Redlynne
Hamidon attacks can hit Intangibles.
Therefore, there is no reason why Dimension Shift couldn't be coded as a Toggle which hits both Tangibles (to make them Intangible in the first place) *and* Intangibles (to keep them Intangible) on every activation tick.
We do know, however, that phased characters can affect phased entities* i.e. hit the enemy with Dimensions Shift, use Ethereal Shift, and you can continue attacking them. I could see it working as a toggle power that phased the targets and caster at the same time.
*Master Illusionists inevitably come up in these discussions; however, they do not use the phase status. They become untouchable akin to Phantom Army. This allows them, like PA, to affect enemies without being affected.
