Nice to hear the changes are en route.
1 question though:
While cowering, will the affected mobs be hit with the acc debuff that often accompanies fear?
If so, will it be enhancable?
Good job Geko... Now if only something could be done about the Leadership pool...
I know, I know - we're never satisfied 
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Sorry off topic.. but YAY Tare Panda!!!!
*giggles*
Thanks Geko.
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Enhanced fear effects are all well and good... but I think you guys need to kick it up a notch. I wanna' see puddles. Villains wetting themselves. Crying twin waterfalls and confessing their deepest, most embarassing secrets.
Hellion Dave: I- I dream about makin' out with Bobby every night!
Hellion Bobby: Shut up, Dave! *stains his pants*
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Been doing some changes to the ST. This is how it should work soon:
Hopefully, this should reduce the scattering affect of ST.
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Geko,
I believe I speak for a plurality of Illusion controllers when I say that *any* scattering is going to be too much.
Why can't we have Spectral Terror set back to how it was when Issue 3 debuted? It was actually useful then. I'd be able to drop it around a corner to keep my team from having to engage two mobs at once. If the mobs scatter (especially on a map like Orenbega) it's just going to be a pain in the butt trying to track everyone down.
I know you're trying to make a power that's both fun and balanced. Chasing down mobs is not fun though, ever. I'd rather see the Fear duration substantially reduced than have the mobs scatter.
Thanks for posting though. Keep at it, tiger. 
Lady Deacon, 50 ill/ff
Cinder Imp, 50 fa/wm
and many more!
Maybe I don't understand. IS this the new ST?
ST will now have an aura that will affect lower ranked foes, but not +con foes. So white, blue, green, or grey minions, -1 lts, and -2 bosses will be affected. Or will it affect even level bosses?
Then ST has Terrify, that could affect any mob. This will make them run away, but not very far, and then they will cower.
That sounds better, but ST still sounds underwhelming. By L28, if you're worried about what even cons do, you're not playing your Illusionist right, and that sounds like about all it'll affect. I'm looking forward to testing it out.
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Enhanced fear effects are all well and good... but I think you guys need to kick it up a notch. I wanna' see puddles. Villains wetting themselves. Crying twin waterfalls and confessing their deepest, most embarassing secrets.
Hellion Dave: I- I dream about makin' out with Bobby every night!
Hellion Bobby: Shut up, Dave! *stains his pants*
[/ QUOTE ]
And when they run, they should run like scared little schoolgirls, just like the civilians do. And when they stop, 50% of them should, instead of cowering, scream and point at the ST like freddy kruger just showed up.
I don't even care if spectral terror works. Just make it cause freak tanks to run while waving their hands in the air for three seconds, and I'll be happy.
Oh, and can the spectral terror look like Martha Stewart? Just wondering.
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Woo hoo! Good to see that ST is being looked at, but are you saying that ST is going to be smart in its targeting? 'cause if the cone is meant to fear the tougher bad guys, I'd hope it does so and not attack randomly like PA.
But my main question is this: We are we keeping the running? Can't we just do away with it? ST was at its best right after I3 came out when there was nearly no running at all (up until the 1/18 patch). Can't we go back to that or was that considered too powerful?
It's bad enough we have our pets knocking everything back, but to have a second pet that makes things run is really annoying.
Thanks, Geko! Looks better.
But maybe I don't understand. It sounds like ST will now have an aura that will affect lower ranked foes, but not +con foes. So white, blue, green, or grey minions, -1 lts, and -2 bosses will be affected. Or will it affect even level bosses?
Then ST has Terrify, that could affect any mob. This will make them run away, but not very far, and then they will cower.
That sounds better, but ST still sounds underwhelming. By L28, if you're worried about what even cons do, you're not playing your Illusionist right, and that sounds like about all it'll affect. I'm looking forward to testing it out.
Can you make it so they don't run off ledges? That would lesson the chase.
Also, if it only affects even cons(the cloke of fear part) then it will never hold minions for me since I have the difficulty slider up.
Thanks for the update info.
I like those changes. Don't have a character with ST but they sound good.
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Thank's for the update geko. I'm looking forward to testing it out.
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Nice. Been thinking of picking it up for my Ill/Emp. The changes sound pretty good.
Thanks Geko!
Something I've always wondered about ST though is why the heck does 'fear' cause a mob to hate you so much (aggro)? Fear should make someone defensive, not offensive. Any chance this could be reduced? I 'think' that ST has an acc. debuff, but is there any chance that if the aggro is not removed that the debuff could counteract the huge amount of aggro? I'm talking about the mobs right after I3 who cowered... after 1/18 they ran too far away to aggro. This is just a concern for me if they don't run too far away. Thanks again
Other worries include MOBs that get "stuck" when running away. Will the ST switch targets if a MOB runs into a corner? Or will the ST feel "gimped" because it's only focusing on a single minion? (for example)
Thank you for letting us know what is going on with ST. Maybe we could get an explaination as to why it took 3 weeks to post anything about it. And why it was changed with the 1/18 patch with no notes about it at all.
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Enhanced fear effects are all well and good... but I think you guys need to kick it up a notch. I wanna' see puddles. Villains wetting themselves. Crying twin waterfalls and confessing their deepest, most embarassing secrets.
Hellion Dave: I- I dream about makin' out with Bobby every night!
Hellion Bobby: Shut up, Dave! *stains his pants*
[/ QUOTE ]
And when they run, they should run like scared little schoolgirls, just like the civilians do. And when they stop, 50% of them should, instead of cowering, scream and point at the ST like freddy kruger just showed up.
I don't even care if spectral terror works. Just make it cause freak tanks to run while waving their hands in the air for three seconds, and I'll be happy.
Oh, and can the spectral terror look like Martha Stewart? Just wondering.
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All very good and valid ideas. I'm all for these ideas to "fix" ST!
Or at least make them die after falling off a very high ledge? Then no pursuit would be required.
When you say Terrify "attack", Gecko, do you mean a Terrify that does damage like the Mind Controller power, or one like it has now (that does no damage)?
I'd really love some minor damage from the thing!
I'm not high enough to try this power, yet. I would like to say thanks for giving us an update on what is being done. Thanks for looking into the power. After reading all the posts about the I3 change and then back to pre-I3, I was getting confused as to whether to take it.
I like what you are planning. I've always viewed Illusion as a form of "chaotic control," so I don't really have that much of a problem with the running part. Still wonder how the aggro will be once the effect wears off.
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I believe I speak for a plurality of Illusion controllers when I say that *any* scattering is going to be too much.
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Haha, well for one I do agree with you but on the other hand you're spoiled as you have the tools to deal with it.
Join the ice blaster and storm defender world for a while if you want to see the true face of scattering.
ALL SCATTERING IS BAD
It just made me laugh though as it would if a Ferrari owner were complaining that his car isn't fast enough while here I am on my rollerskates trying to keep up.
I don't like this change.
Unless ST becomes mobile or starts accepting accuracy debuff enhancements I forsee some possible problems. Like things being feared, running five steps, waiting seven seconds, and then shooting you. That and it sounds like at least half the stuff you fight is going to ignore the PBAoE effect.
Personally I liked the 'run away' ST and thought the 'all cower' ST was overpowered. I picked up ST after Issue 2 and learned to use it as a fear power, it was not always useful, but there were times when having things run so far away that they lost aggro was useful. After Issue 3 it offered easy, mindless control. Just spam out two or three and shortly everything was immobile and heavily debuffed, but you really had to throw about three to do it. So it took slotting to be good, but then it was almost too good.
Most of the complaints about ST came from it making things run away. I don't think this will change, I think people will whine about it making things run in any way, shape, or form. You see, I don't think people really want a situational fear power that you have to learn, no matter how effective it is. I think most of the people want an immboilize that they can just throw out every fight and not have to think about.
Since I'm not going to get what I want (a real fear power) and most people won't get what they want (an immobilize), how about a compromise that is so cool it won't really matter how effective ST is? Strip the Terrify-like cone attack and make ST mobile, make it slide so it can't stop moving and give it the PA AI scripts. Obviously the PBAoE would have to be upped to affect at least up to +4 minions since this would be the only effect left to it. A mobile ST without the cone would be cool enough to take no matter what, and the people who want it to just be another immobilize would get that too.
Been doing some changes to the ST. This is how it should work soon:
ST has a Cloak of Fear. Lower level/ranked foes will tremble in its presence.
It has a Terrify attack power. This power can affect more powerful foes (even those not affected by the Cloak of Fear) and should cause most foes to run in fear, but only for a very short distance, and it should only affect a couple of targets (narrowed the cone area significantly, and decreased the run away time). The affected foes should only run far enough as to get out of range of the ST Terrify attack, so ST will switch to another target.
Once the affected foes run out of range, they will tremble in Fear (even those not affected by the cloak of fear).
Hopefully, this should reduce the scattering affect of ST.