Yet another completey uncalled for nerf to add to the already large mass of people you as devolopers have left feeling alianated. 
Great job devs. Keep up the good work and please nerf me some more. (sarcasm)
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Given the massive drawbacks of EF, it should be stronger than TP or FR in effect.
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I never thought I'd see the day when a defender begins to believe that their defender powers should somehow be better than the next defender powers.
Ladies and Gentlemen, Elvis has left the building.
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Oh please, that is NOT what I said. I said it should be stronger "in effect". That means the drawbacks in end usage and application of the power are such that the actual effects (ie the -res debuff) should be more potent. Being weaker is some ways, it should be stronger in other ways. You know, that little thing called balance?
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Granny Gertrudes Grammar mantra...."I can Affect the Effect." 
What you intended to say was that you believe that EF should AFFECT you differently when you cast it right? As in take less END specifically.
All those who claim that EF is somehow now "inferior" to the other Defender/Controller debuffs should note that Rad also has a power in it's primary that increases base damage by 25% (?). So you have the ability to increase your base thanks to AM, then bump your TOTAL damage (which is already buffed from AM) by another 30%. Oh and AM also self-buffs END regen, thereby mitigating the END costs of the power.
After using EF for 50 levels on my controller, I'm pretty sure even this modest decrease in power is quite workable inside the Rad set.
CuppaJo, I know you're only the messenger. However, I have some questions and they may seem pointed or petulant depending on your point of view.
1) Why have we now had three different explainations for this change in this thread whenever after th playerbase punches holes the the logic of each one? Are the Devs really trying to pull a fast one on us here? Because at this point it really does seem like it. The same logic can easily be applied to all of the other debuff types, yet none of them were adjusted. Why is Enverating Field the one one that was a problem if all of the other defender debuff types remain at pre-I5 levels?
2) Why is it only now that the devs are responding to us about this change as being a change? The previous comment we had gotten had basically called the playerbase liars. The change was pointed out in mid-July. The devs said, "Shut up there was no change you ungrateful punks." Then they said nothing about it until today? Why did it take a concerted campaigne of several defenders PMing and e-mailing devs to get any kind of response? Why did it take you begging and pleading with them for a month to get this response? So, if this change was intentional, then does that means the devs did lie to us in mid-July when they told us we were wrong about it being different than it was on live? If it wasn't an intended change, why call it one now unless you just can't figure out what the problem is?
3) Why are they leaving this to you instead of have the guts to come to us themselves? Are they afraid of being caught with their pants down again?
The handling of this one change is a complete diaster on the part of the devs. In the end they are now saying the change was intentional, when in fact they told us it wasn't in mid-July. It sure sounds like they had intended to try to get a stealth nerf past the AT they were "most pleased with".
This is something I expect form certain other MMO companies, not from Cryptic. However, it seems that more and more, they Cryptic devs are making the same sorts of decisions and communication mistakes that those companies are infamous for.
I don't mind the nerf itself. I dislike how you as a company have treated the playerbase in regards to it. You owe the people that brought this to our and your attentions an appology for essentially calling them liars in mid-July.
All I ask from a company I give money to is honesty. Frankly, you have been less than honest as a company on this issue in particular and in your limited dealings with the defender community in general. Realize you have lost a lot of goodwill with this situation as well as your handling of the AT in I5.
this is sad, the one thing i liked about rad was its ability to debuff, other powersets have minimal debuff despite this being a debuff/buff at... i really hope CoV is good on release so i stay a bit longer cause CoH is startin ta annoy me... DDO here i come...
Dark Justice - Even in Darkness Justice Shall Prevail
if u cant stand the heat... Dont start the Flames!
Shouldn't EF at least have an endurance cost reduction to go with its reduced effectiveness? It already had the highest endurance cost of the -res powers and now with its reduced effectiveness it costs way too much.
when are we going to hear about how the missing clothing bug at character creation and icon never got fixed. But was said it was fixed by a red name before I5 I want my malaise on my character
Man, I tested EF in the arena yesterday against a spines/regen and got my [censored] whooped! Before the changes, the match could go either way or tie depending on the player, but combind the extra crits by scrappers and the nerf to Enervating field, Radiation infection, AND Lingering radiation, my whole build has fallen to pieces slowly but surely. Very sad, sad indeed. Honestly, I cant wait for CoV to come out so I can drop CoH like a bad habit. 
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Dev Note:
This power has always been very strong and easy to use, despite its high endurance cost. With the overall decrease in the power of defensive buffs, this power had to be weakened or Radiation would be too strong compared to other Defender primaries and Controller secondaries.
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You can stack both Tar Patch and Freezing Rain as they summon their affect, but you can't stack Enervatin gField. Moreover the effects of Tar Patch and Freezing Rain last their full duration, Enervating Field at any point might end due to anchor death.
What is most disgusting about this is the continuous change of statements before finally owning up to what was said to be going on in the first place--Enervating Field was being nerfed. And because the developers have danced for so long it is utterly impossible at this point to make an argument against the change because the change has gone live.
This is not a good example of being up front and forward with the playing community. The neft was stealthed in, and only after significant complaint did we get the first evasive claim that nothing had been changed, and then we were told all powers of its type were changed when in fact the final story--the one we knew all along--was that Enervating Field was changed.
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Stacking Tar patch is relatively a myth outside of AV encounters/Herding...
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[censored]. I have a Dark Defender and it stacks very well.
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I can only imagine how Concern, Erratic et. al. are feeling right now, after having been called liars by the devs on the EF issue.
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How I feel is best left to imagination, or more appropriately nightmares.
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Granny Gertrudes Grammar mantra...."I can Affect the Effect."
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I love you.
Prediction: Tar Patch and Freezing Rain get both duration and recharge nerfed rather than the devs admitting they made a mistake and fixing EF's balance with the other two in a positive manner.
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Prediction: Tar Patch and Freezing Rain get both duration and recharge nerfed rather than the devs admitting they made a mistake and fixing EF's balance with the other two in a positive manner.
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Prediction: I won't be around to see it.
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**edited yet again because they still were not happy with it - I will change the patch note page in the morning**
The Controller and Defender versions of Enervating Field debuff Resistance less than they did before Issue 5.
Dev Note:
This power has always been very strong and easy to use, despite its high endurance cost. With the overall decrease in the power of defensive buffs, this power had to be weakened or Radiation would be too strong compared to other Defender primaries and Controller secondaries.
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Now we should really pity cuppa
Having to re-edit because the previous version didn't spin things the way the devs want it.
Erratic if it is taking you longer than 20-25 seconds to kill what ever you are fighting on one tarpach and have the opportunity to use another.. then honestly I dunno what is wrong with your build.
I rarely outside of AV encounters every start a battle and have it go on long enough that I can throw down another tarpatch/Freezing rain, to finish the fight.
When something good happens to me, I can never enjoy it....
I am always too busy looking for the inevitable punchline...
BEHOLD THE POWER OF CHEESE!
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Having to re-edit because the previous version didn't spin things the way the devs want it.
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More like having to re-edit because the people she has to work with think the players are stupid. Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if she posted #2 without checking back with Cryptic. The players seem to generally have a better grasp of the game than the Devs after all.
"If you're going through hell, keep going."
Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill
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Erratic if it is taking you longer than 20-25 seconds to kill what ever you are fighting on one tarpach and have the opportunity to use another.. then honestly I dunno what is wrong with your build.
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There is nothing wrong with my build, oh so brilliant one. Its a matter of how I choose to fight--which involves multiple mobs at a time. Sorry you never learned to fight more than one mob at a time.
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I rarely outside of AV encounters every start a battle and have it go on long enough that I can throw down another tarpatch/Freezing rain, to finish the fight.
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I fight harder things than blue cons.
Now, do you want to try more the insinuated insult game? If so I'll continue giving the above.
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Man, I tested EF in the arena yesterday against a spines/regen and got my [censored] whooped! Before the changes, the match could go either way or tie depending on the player, but combind the extra crits by scrappers and the nerf to Enervating field, Radiation infection, AND Lingering radiation, my whole build has fallen to pieces slowly but surely. Very sad, sad indeed. Honestly, I cant wait for CoV to come out so I can drop CoH like a bad habit.
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Why would you even think about wasting your time with another Cryptic product ever again? They will make it great just like they did with CoH just to nerf the hell out of it down the road. History always has a way of repeating itself.
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Dev Note:
This power has always been very strong and easy to use, despite its high endurance cost. With the overall decrease in the power of defensive buffs, this power had to be weakened or Radiation would be too strong compared to other Defender primaries and Controller secondaries.
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So, is this the story you're sticking to?
Calling a anchor based toggle debuffs "easy to use" is a complete joke. Do you even play your own game? Your anchors will die many times during a fight requiring constant reapplication of the debuff. Status effects (to which defenders have no resistance) will also drop the toggle. You're lucky if the buff is up for 60-80% of any given fight. The slightly higher -res value somewhat compensated for this. Now you've gone and removed that. Yet the ridiculous end cost remains *sigh*
TP and FR are fire and forget and stay in effect for the whole duration. They are self stackable by the same caster. They dont' even require a mob to target. In "ease of use" they are far superior to EF. Using this as an excuse to nerf EF strains all logic.
I also fail to see what the overall decrease in defense has to do with -res debuffs. Did you mean to nerf the -dmg aspect of the power but nerfed the -res instead? I mean the -res has nothing to with defense per se. It is more of a team damage output buff. It would be analagous to nerfing siphon power because defense was lowered. Again, this just doesn't make any sense.
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Granny Gertrudes Grammar mantra...."I can Affect the Effect."
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I love you.
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He was also wrong, "in effect" is correct, if you want to get into it, we cant take it to PM.
Just got back after 4 hours of doing stuff and I see that the thread has degenerated to this...
All I can say is wow...just wow...
That, and Erratic will kill us all.
*cry* my emp/rad defender was my only character that came through the nerf fest unscathed...til now 
An excellent way of playing and building a dark defender is precisely to stack the debuffs and bring ALL the mobs there. If you don't know how to do that, or can't with your current build, then I suggest that there are more efficient builds/playstyles out there than yours.
Which is fine, but your post seems to imply tht your build is the best.
Bringing all the mobs there won't work since you can only debuff 16 of them.
I usually go about it group by group. Fearsome Stare, Tar Patch, Irradiate, Neutron Bomb, Electron Haze and then move on.
I love this game, but I have never felt so insulted by a game developer as I have when reading Cryptic's posts.
I can only imagine how Concern, Erratic et. al. are feeling right now, after having been called liars by the devs on the EF issue.
Really, Cryptic, stop insulting our intelligence. It's getting old. Missed patch notes? I maintain little faith in the developers' methods of data analysis when they flat out refuse to admit to a change, despite screenies and other evidence from players. To insist that nothing was changed, then post a "missed patch note" that declares the change, is insulting and unprofessional.