Issue 4 Changes for Gravity - Official Thread
I'm wondering how many of you use dimension shift regularly?
I'd love to have this power but question it's day to day usefulness.
I have a level 49 grav/rad and have never taken dimension shift. I used to team with a grav/storm when I played my blaster and he had it so I'm familiar with how it works in a team situation.
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I'm wondering how many of you use dimension shift regularly?
I'd love to have this power but question it's day to day usefulness.
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I used to use it alot more when the recharge and duration matched so you could keep mobs permaphased. Then pvp came and you got longer recharge shorter duration with enhancements that don't increase the duration...
It's really only use at this point is argo from a secondary group or using it when your party is getting killed and you need a moment to regroup. The insane recharge time just kills the power for any other practical use.
Howsabout we swap Gravity Distortion Field and Dimension Shift in the order of availability for Gravity Control powers? Having GDF a little earlier would help close the control gap and let us get some slots into it before Stamina pops up to hog slots.
Well, I know this is pretty much old news by now, but I wanted to wait until I'd had a chance to really try out the changes before forming an opinion.
I play a Grav/Kin. Through various respecs I've had all the grav powers at one time or another.
I got rid of Dimension Shift on my first respec because, while it was spectacularly useful on a couple of occasions (it helped me save a cape mission that was about to go down the drain), there were too many other powers I wanted to keep one that was useful so rarely. I have no plans to work it back into my build, and I can't really imagine any changes to it that would change my mind.
On my second respec I finally gave up on Propel. It is far and away the coolest looking power in the game, but it just wasn't doing enough for me (high end cost, low damage, long animation time). I would like to try it again with the new changes, but in my post I4 respec I just couldn't find a power I was willing to give up for it.
The biggest disappointment for me was Wormhole. When I first took wormhole in I3, it took me a little while to get the hang of it. But once I did I found it both fun and useful. It was great for shunting off DE buffers and Sky Raider force fields out of combat, and also for grabbing problem minions like sappers or Quantums out of a group to be dealt with individually.
With the I4 changes, however, I ultimately decided I didn't have a use for the AoE version, so I respeced it out in favor of the new improved Speed Boost (which I've so far been happy with).
At first I thought an AoE version of the power could be useful, but I found that the accuracy penalty introduced to balance the AoE made it ineffectie at grabbing an entire group. Even if I had teammates to draw the agro, it still just created a mess. Instead of grouping the mob closer together (for blaster AoEs or tanker control), it split the group apart, working against control.
I suppose I could have added another Acc enhancement or two and some disorient durations to make it work a little better, but ultimately the power was just too different from what I had gotten used to.
The change certainly didn't break my build, but I miss the unique kind of control that the single-target Wormhole gave me.
I've actually found wormhole to be pretty darn useful when teamed. It's knockback out of the end of the wormhole can be bad for precision placement, so I found myself GDFing a group, then wormholing them onto say a burn tank that was already toasting a separate group.
Or peeking around a corner of a malta mission using camera trickiness, and grabbing one pack of baddies into our room behind the wall, without being seen by the other three close packs. Delivering them nicely to my team to kill.
It has its uses, you just have to know when to use it.
Like many on this thread I didn't like the AoE Wormhole when I tried it out on test. I was losing the functionality that made me use it so much. Then when I4 went live and I started playing in large groups again, I gave it another shot. What I found is in a balanced team the tank and/or scrapper will be in the middle of a few baddies. (no, duh). A lot of times there are 2-3 stragglers off to the side shooting away. I'll WH them right next to the melee guys, then use Fulcrum Shift to give a nice damage boost . Of couse I then also have the option of Transfusion or Transference to help out also.
All in all, I have gotten used to the new WH and have been using it with great success. My current slotting is 1 acc and 2 disorients. I run 6-slottted tatics, so that helps out where others are seeing the power miss too much.
Now if only Propel had an AoE disorent added to it. :P
I think the point I've been trying to make has been demonstrated. The new wormhole is fine. You get out of it what you put into it. It's just training yourself to use a new tool. All in all, both are fine for me. I think my teammates prefer the new one though. Especially since they get to see it in action now. "Was that wormhole? Neat!"
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I found myself GDFing a group, then wormholing them onto say a burn tank that was already toasting a separate group.
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If I have to use GDF to make the new wormhole effective, then I certainly don't want it. GDF has a long recharge time, especially on a toon without Hasten. If the new Wormhole is supposed to be another form of group control, it should be something I can use while I'm waiting for GDF to recharge.
If Crushing Field was changed to have a -kb magnitude like GD/GDF, then that would make for a more useful combo I think. It would also fit thematically with the powerset - I'm keeping you from moving by weighing you down; that extra gravity also keeps you from being knocked back.
I'm curious to know if the devs have considered lowering the recharge time on Gravity Distortion Field. It seems to me that Gravs lean on their AoE hold more heavily than other sets with more AoE control options, and as a consequence the long AoE hold recharge time is more burdensome to Gravity than anyone else.