teflonshugenja
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Posts
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Joined
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Things to get:
Pistols, Dual Wield, Swap Ammo (for Incendiary), Empty Clips, Bullet Rain, Hail of Bullets, and either Executioner's Shot or Piercing Rounds (whichever you prefer). Concentration, Drain Psyche, Psychic Shockwave.
Things to skip:
TK Thrust. It's pretty bad.
Personal preference:
Everything else. I like World of Confusion even though it's not really all that great. Suppressive Fire is solid but I can live without it. Mind Probe is great damage but is melee and causes redraw. You already said no to Psychic Scream and Scare so those are out too. Definitely get Hasten. -
Quote:Yep. My DP/Mental does virtually the same thing, and hitting a half-dozen or more enemies with Drain Psyche gives me all the regen I need. Getting mezzed suppresses all my defensive toggles, however, which virtually guarantees a quick death no matter what. So Clarion is the winner by a mile for me.Originally Posted by Void_Huntress
DP/Mental. -
I try very hard to make my characters varied, so there's not a lot of repetition. There are, however, some sets that I find myself gravitating toward naturally whenever I go to make a new one: Dark Armor, Gravity, Super Strength, Street Justice, Time Manipulation, Fire Blast, Storm Summoning, Electric Armor.
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I love my DP/MM blaster. That's purely subjective though - if you really dislike the animations, you'll probably not enjoy playing the set. I know that I really wanted to like Archery and gave up after several attempts because I just couldn't get into the thwip! thwip! thwip! effects at all.
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Quote:I don't think I would point to what is clearly aberrant behavior as proof of what the devs are or are not thinking.Originally Posted by Ultimus
The devs disagree with you as we stated earlier up the proc was changed to proc 7 fury. I was hitting full fury on test. It rocks now it can be like a 40% damage increase at times.
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Quote:This seems like an overstatement. There are currently four powers in the game that qualify as "crashless nukes": Full Auto (60s), Rain of Arrows (60s), Hail of Bullets (120s) and Overcharge (180s). Full Auto does noticeably less damage than the other three, and Overcharge has an additional stun component not shared by the others. Hail of Bullets actually does the most damage of the four once you factor in Incendiary Ammo. Rain of Arrows is the outlier of the bunch since it does the second highest damage while being tied for the fastest recharge, but this in no way makes HoB a bad power. It is an excellent power.Originally Posted by Miladys_Knight
Hail of Bullets is a PBAoE power so you'll have to be in melee/close range to use it. It also has an extremely long recharge for a crashless nuke.
For the OP: you aren't going to find anything with nearly as much AoE as Fire/Fire. It is the undisputed king of pain. That said, Dual Pistols is a perfectly capable set and (I think) quite fun to play. Just get the first five powers in it ASAP, use Incendiary Ammo for extra damage, pick your preference of Executioner's Shot or Piercing Rounds (don't bother getting both), and at 32 get Hail of Bullets. You'll be all set. -
Either would be good. My StJ/SD scrapper has been one of the strongest and most fun characters I've ever played. He's a stylish wrecking ball.
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Eh. I have a Pistols blaster who I love dearly, and I honestly don't think the set needs much.
1. Improve the animation times of Empty Clips, Bullet Rain and Executioner's Shot. They're all too long at the moment (note that this has been mentioned as something the devs are aware of already).
2. Give us a reason to use something other than Incendiary Ammunition. The debuffs are too minor to care about, and the necessity of using Incendiary rounds to bring damage output up to par means that there's no reason to ever use the others at all.
That's really all it would take. -
While leveling I would take all of the StJ attack powers (skipping Confront). It makes forging an attack chain much easier. After my StJ/SD hit 50 I switched to an IO build that let me drop both Initial Strike and Sweeping Cross. Most people seem to keep SC, but I don't miss it. This is the build, if you're curious. I think it's one of my better ones.
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Quote:Wasn't trying to say that the presence of knockback alone makes the player's contribution to a team negative, only that the inclusion of knockback in Wormhole is almost exclusively a detriment to the power. When I want to use Wormhole, I'm thinking "awesome, I get to reposition and stun these enemies!" I'm never thinking "awesome, I get to send these enemies flying every which-way" because that part of the power really doesn't help. It frequently (read: almost always) gets in the way and makes using the power more difficult. Sorry if I was unclear.Originally Posted by Arcanaville
The day I'm universally considered a detriment for using knockback on teams is probably the day I go looking for a game with a saner playerbase.
I realize that knockback is supposed to be cool and nifty and useful. I know that the dev team doesn't want to give up on that, so they're reluctant to just remove it from powers. I get that. But this is one case where it really needs to happen, because it works directly counter to the clearly-recognized purpose of an AoE control - Wormhole's knockback not only creates a less-controlled situation, it makes it more difficult for that same player to exert effective control after it is used. Now that is insane.
I'm all for standing on principle, but in this case it's the wrong thing to do. -
Quote:Well, I'd argue that dropping enemies into a Dimension Shift is at least as synergistic as hurling them into it (and maybe moreso, since with Wormhole's current KB magnitude it's entirely likely that you would hurl them clean through the DShift and right out the other end).Originally Posted by Arbiter Hawk
Right now we're not planning on changing the knockback to knockdown in Wormhole. The KB actually synergizes really well with the new Dimension Shift, since you can grab a bunch of enemies and throw them into your Shift's sphere. I also just think the power feels/looks a lot cooler as "throwing enemies around with gravity" rather than "dropping enemies somewhere else with teleport", which keeps it much more in Gravity's kit. The scatter effect of the KB is easy to contain with environment if the player desires to contain it, and if they don't, the stun duration is long enough such that it's still a very effective control power.
But if this is going to be the case, can I offer a different suggestion? Move the -kb from Gravity Distortion Field into Crushing Field instead, making it consistent with the AoE Immobilizes from other sets. That way the Gravity player has the option, at least, of opening with CF and then using Wormhole to stun/relocate them if they wish to negate the scatter, rather than being at the mercy of terrain to do so. Note that this obviously means that you don't get to initiate with Wormhole and must therefore expose yourself to counterattack in order to do so.
EDIT: Obviously I still think that just changing the knockback to knockdown is a better idea. It's simpler, almost certainly takes less effort, and doesn't muck with other powers or with mechanics like Impact. What it really comes down to for me is the idea that the primary control power in the set should not leave the player at the mercy of terrain features to manage what is almost universally considered an extremely detrimental side effect. This is the bread-and-butter control power in Gravity. Not using it cripples the set. I shouldn't have misgivings about using it on an open map, and I shouldn't have to leave myself open to scathing criticisms from justifiably irritated teammates when I do so. -
Quote:First let me say thank you! These changes are good and necessary.Originally Posted by Arbiter Hawk
Hey all,
We have some more changes coming for Gravity Control in i22 to help improve the sets control capabilities. In addition to the new Impact mechanic and the quickening of Propel (which helps soft-control from Knockback), weve made a major change to Dimension Shift and some minor tweaks to Wormhole.
Dimension Shift:- This power is now a Targeted AoE toggle. It will phase and immobilize everything within its sphere of influence, and can be sustained for up to 20 seconds. Enemies who move into the radius after the effect has begun become immobilized and phased. If the power is toggled off before its maximum duration, affected targets become un-phased shortly thereafter, allowing players to functionally control the duration of the phasing.
- This powers radius has been increased to 20 feet, up from 15 feet. It also no longer causes enemy NPCs to attack the user, assuming the user has not used any other attack powers on their opponents. This allows Gravity Control characters to use Wormhole as an initiation power without risking death during its attack animation.
You'll see these changes on the i22 VIP Beta soon after it goes up.
I'll stop short of calling them 'enough' though, because there is one more issue that needs to be addressed: Wormhole's knockback. This doesn't belong in the power for a number of reasons:
1) The primary effect of Wormhole is the disorient component. As a result, the mitigation/soft control benefit of the knockback is essentially irrelevant since any enemy hit by the power will already be stunned. This means that the only effects of the knockback are negative (i.e. scatter).
2) The knockback is sufficiently powerful as to scatter enemies to the four winds unless they are shot into convenient terrain. Scattering the spawn so dramatically will often make a fight slower and more dangerous by making it harder to control - meaning that using Wormhole this way runs directly counter to its own ostensible purpose.
3) Mitigating the knockback in order to prevent this problem typically depends on convenient nearby terrain features (which may not exist at all). This actually introduces a new problem. The teleportation feature of Wormhole looks on paper like a useful function, allowing you to place enemies where you want them. In practice, however, the player is limited to only placing enemies into corralling terrain, meaning that Wormhole's enemy-relocation feature is all but eliminated as a positive argument.
4) Reliance on convenient terrain features may result in Wormhole being relegated to a 'situational' power, since using it without them may make things worse and elicit negative and sometimes harsh reactions from teammates (and for good reason). For a power that is obviously intended to be the primary aoe control in the set, this is clearly wrong.
THE FIX:
Reduce the knockback magnitude to 0.67. This effectively eliminates scatter (and therefore also eliminates reliance on terrain) and restores enemy-placement as a feature of Wormhole. Since knockback is not the primary source of mitigation for Wormhole this change does not increase the degree of enemy attack/damage mitigation provided by the power; it merely ensures that it can be used for the purposes it was clearly created to perform, without having to rely on convenient geometries to negate the excessive knockback. By reducing the magnitude rather than removing the knockback effect entirely, existing enhancement slotting is unaffected; players who wish to retain the "at speed" Wormhole exit retain the option of slotting knockback enhancers to do so. -
I have to agree. These changes might be nice, but they in no way correct the fundamental problems with Gravity as a control set. Wormhole has to be fixed: change KB to KD so that reasonable positioning is possible, increase the radius to match other area stuns, and apply the stun at the beginning of the animation so that the player doesn't get instantly slaughtered during the cast. Anything less is simply inadequate.
Until this (or something similar) happens, the set will remain crippled. The above-average single target damage that Gravity will offer needs to come in place of the additional, supplementary soft control that most other sets offer with those extra powers. It should not come at the expense of the basic, ground-level funcitonality that is expected of every other control primary. -
No. Or more to the point, this is already just a recolor of things already available in game.
1) Want a resist-based radiation tanker? Fiery Aura or Electric Armor or Dark Armor and color it green.
2) Want a defense-based radiation tanker? Reflexes or Invuln or even Ice and color it green. Brutes can add Energy Aura, which is so close thematically that a straight port would work fine.
3) Want fumes/bubbles/curlycues around yourself? Cosmetic auras fit the bill.
4) Want radiation attacks? You know what's coming. Energy or Fiery or whatever + green.
Seriously. This is completely unnecessary. I'd rather the programmers spent their time creating things that are 1) actually new, 2) thematically broad instead of narrow or niche, and 3) not easily duplicated through the existing power customization system. Rad Armor/Rad Melee are none of those things. -
You are correct, Crushing Field does not have -KB. Instead, Gravity Distortion and GDF both have -KB.
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Quote:QFMFTOriginally Posted by UberGuy
There aren't many attack powersets that aren't crippled by that situation. Especially if the Spectrals are over-level.
In that situation you do what literally every other set in the game does: you pop a yellow inspiration and shred those jerks. What you don't do is complain about how unfair it is that you have to hit enemies to do damage as though the same isn't true for everyone else. -
Quote:Those problems are common to both Kheldian ATs, meaning that PBs suffer them too. Noting that Nova AOE seems lackluster in comparison to WS humanform AOE just reinforces that there is still a significant gap between the two.Originally Posted by TwoHeadedBoy
This is the only thing I take issue with. Along with the form shift animations, the biggest issue (and it's a big one) that Warshades have is (lack of) TOGGLE SUPPRESSION. You can find more broad info on the issue in an earlier thread that I started (lurk away
) but in a nutshell, Nova AOE's are only slightly better than the AOE provided by Orbiting Death/Unchain Essence/Judgement at the high end (purple procs, FOTG -res) and Dwarf form is only good for the extra Mire (softcapped human form is much more survivable.)
If discussions of Kheldian AT concerns tend to disproportionately focus on PB stuff, it's only because they are still far more in need of work than their shadowy cousins. -
Honestly I'm not sure what you are asking for.
Of the set bonuses available to a top-end Brute in meaningful quantity, Recharge and Defense are the most valuable. Recharge improves your offense by giving you access to your best attacks more often and stacked Rage, and it improves your durability by letting you use Dull Pain more liberally; it is literally "more of what you already do".
Defense bonuses dramatically improve your survivability by stacking with Invuln's existing Defense from Invincibility and Tough Hide, and improves your offense by letting you take on larger spawns and maintain higher Fury; it lets you do more of what you already do and survive. Accuracy is largely unnecessary because of Rage, and Damage bonuses will have little impact because of the low Brute base damage scale. Endurance bonuses are nice but would be largely redundant once you pick up Cardiac (which you should). So...why not pick up defense when the other options are unnecessary or vastly worse?
So I'm confused, and I'm willing to bet other people are too. Invuln is a defense/resist secondary, but IO bonuses don't do resist well and they do do defense well (and Cardiac will boost your resists anyway). You say you want to enhance what you already do well, and building inventions for Recharge/Defense does exactly that. -
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Quote:This. My first character was Grav/Storm. Loved him, loved Grav. Then I leveled a Grav/Energy Dominator, and saw very clearly how much Gravity underperforms as a control set when its flaws aren't being masked by a secondary that covers the gaps. It has no effect rider worth mentioning, its core control powers are delayed in the leveling sequence for no discernable reason, it has several powers that are entirely skippable, and its core AoE control suffers from a long animation time and a knockback that is entirely detrimental. Until those things are fixed it will remain the weakest control set in the game, even below some sets that are not Controller/Dominator primaries.Originally Posted by Oathbound
Basically Agree with everything already posted, but I'll add this:
Gravity is "fine" when combined with control heavy secondaries. Time is one of those. Those secondaries serve to mask how poorly Gravity specifically performs.
Thing is, while those secondary sets can make Gravity "Fine" as a control set, those same secondaries paired with any other control set makes them "Better."
I love Gravity. I really do. But it is in desperate need of an overhaul. -
Quote:The way I read it was more like this:Originally Posted by Rangle M. Down
Trouble is, you're not asking for a car in a new color. We can do that now with color customization.
What you're asking is for the auto dealer to talk to the car manufacturer into making a Hummer into a Formula One Race car, while still keeping it as sturdy as a Hummer of course. This way you can go as fast as the other Formula One cars, but you can also drive over them if they get in your way. Heck, why bother with taking the turns when you can drive right over the barriers...
Of course you want it in Twilight Blue Mica.
Salesman: Based on what you say you'd like from a car, I recommend this sedan.
Eldagore: Well, that's not bad. But it's red.
Salesman: Yes, it comes in red.
Eldagore: Well, I don't like red. Does it come in Twilight Blue Mica?
Salesman: I'm afraid not. It does come in Midnight Blue, though, which is very close, and our in-house body shop can customize the trim in a variety of ways for you. Would that be okay?
Eldagore: No, that's not Twilight Blue Mica. Got anything else?
Salesman: As a matter of fact we do. These eight other fine automobiles are all capable of performing according to your specifications.
Eldagore: But they're not what I want. That one is a manual transmission and none of them come in Twilight Blue Mica.
Salesman: You are correct. I'm afraid that we don't have any vehicles that fit all of your criteria, but we have several that come close.
Eldagore: Well...why don't you call the factory and have them make a custom car just for me, then? In Twilight Blue Mica. I even brought these blueprints that I sketched out on the back of a napkin during lunch.
Salesman: ...
Eldagore: What? That's a perfectly reasonable suggestion!
Salesman: No. No, it's really not. Have a nice day, sir.
Eldagore: What the heck?! -
Are you actually using CU with just the base slot? It costs a ton. I wouldn't push the button at all until you can put some EndRedux into it, the base cost is around 1/6 your maximum endurance. It's a great attack, but way too expensive until it's heavily slotted.
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Here's my SS/DA/Soul build if you want another one to look at. I haven't changed it in a while. Note that this is constructed w/o either of the control auras and with the assumption that you have Cardiac Alpha. No PvP IOs, no Purples, softcapped S/L.
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You know, as soon as I hit Play on the video my first thought was, "There is a 100% chance that some twit will complain about Claws propping up Dark Armor." And lo and behold, I was not disappointed.
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Post-IOs and Cardiac Alpha my StJ/Shield Scrapper has functionally unlimited endurance. Willpower should be far easier. So no, at 50 you will have zero problems.
To be honest, with WP secondary I'm stunned that you have any problems now - I assume it's because you haven't slotted any EndRedux into your attacks. As a general rule, attack powers use far more endurance over time than most toggle powers; this is even more true for quick-animating sets like Street Justice, which can fit more attacks (and therefore spend more endurance) into a given timeframe than other sets are capable of. For StJ on SOs you'll want to slot 1-2 Endurance Reduction SOs into each of your attacks and make sure Stamina and QR are both 3-slotted. Anything less is going to be unsustainable for long.
The real truth is that the days of slotting up Stamina and ignoring EndRedux in attack powers are long, long gone. Putting 1-2 EndRedux in your most-used attacks is the norm now. Brutes in particular benefit far more from early EndRedux slotting than from early Damage slotting, due to the mechanics of Fury.