[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Radiation can debuff defense to the point where accuracy enhancements are unneeded against purple-con mobs.
[/ QUOTE ] Right...right...and how many people do you know take out their acc enhancements because of it? Do you know any Rads that take out their acc enhancements because of it?
[/ QUOTE ]
I used to and did very well, until ED meant I had slots left over so I might as well slot accuracy. IIRC, RI has a -30 to DEF.
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
My general complaint isn't that Trick Arrow can't defend a team.
[/ QUOTE ] This is isn't true either. My TA provides more debuffs, on average than my Rad. My TA provides more debuffs, on average, than other Rads I've teamed with. We kill stuff faster than FF, we have more utility than Sonic, we offer far more debuffing than Kinetics with a few exceptions, and the set is less potentially detrimental than Storm.
TA can defender a team very well. Not like Dark...and it's not as diverse as Rad, but it can defend a team. You just have to get out of the teens and have a general clue.
[/ QUOTE ]
You're teaming with bad rads. Which is not necessarily suprising: most rads don't get anything remotely close to maximum benefit out of rad - they don't even get remotely close to the average benefit I get while talking on the phone. If you are getting higher debuff benefit out of TA than rad, that speaks more towards your skill with TA and rad than the balance between the sets.
There are a lot of good rads as well, but unlike trick arrow, the set allows for bad rads: bad rads are semi-decent, bad trick archers are worthless.
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[ QUOTE ]
Yes, there is exactly no way to keep the debuff from stacking, whether you dismiss the pet or not.
[/ QUOTE ]
True, but we are talking about glue arrow here, so unlike something that debuffs defense, say, we have an extra out: we can make the debuff last a very short time, and have the patch continuously pulse it back on. If the patch was debuffing something like accuracy, you'd have to be worried that either there would be a tiny overlap, and occasionally the critters would have a double accuracy penalty, or there would be an occasional gap, and the critters would get a momentary free shot. But because we're talking about a slow, there's no serious problem with having pulsed debuffs momentarily overlap, because a fraction of a second of double-strength slow doesn't suffer from the same problems (the overall slowing would be a tiny bit stronger than a continuous debuff is the only side effect).
Recasting glue arrow like the spectral terror would mean if you cast it again, at best you could get a one-time better overlap of a single pulse, which isn't very problematic. In fact, the spectral terror itself is more problematic.
The difference here would be that critters could run out of the patch, and suddenly free themselves from the slow. But balanced against that would be the flexibility to give trick archers the ability to reposition and reapply the patch at a faster rate, differentiating it in several ways from things like tar patch and lingering radiation. It would actually become a closer cousin to caltrops, minus the damage.
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[ QUOTE ]
Okay, Choking Cloud has a long recharge timer...
[/ QUOTE ] Uh yeah Goofy...nevermind AM, Mutation, and <can't remember the name of the Slow debuff atm> aren't avaialble "every fight."
[ QUOTE ]
I've introduced a fact, and I know you don't like those much at all.
[/ QUOTE ] What I don't like is your inability to recognize facts that undermine your position. That is what makes your posts contemptible. You give them ZERO weight or relevance.
[ QUOTE ]
Right. One rad defender's experience must logically cancel out everyone else's. Just like Trick Arrow, right?
[/ QUOTE ] <sigh>....This highlights the facts that other sets have problems. Problems which you act like don't exist. As Jynne points, your reference other set's abilities is done in a vacuum. You pretend every other set has 100% effectivenss 100% of the time.
[ QUOTE ]
Actually, I can play it to the best of its boundaries. It's still grossly underbalanced as a defender primary.
[/ QUOTE ] That's your opinion and you're welcome to it. And everytime I post my opinion, you come and try to shoot it down. What makes it egregious is your inability to concede your own ignorance.
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Radiation can debuff defense to the point where accuracy enhancements are unneeded against purple-con mobs.
[/ QUOTE ] Right...right...and how many people do you know take out their acc enhancements because of it? Do you know any Rads that take out their acc enhancements because of it?
[/ QUOTE ]
What the hell? Try all of them, if they're knowledgeable and experienced. My Ill/Rad, for example, has exactly 2 accuracy enhancements, total - both in Flash.
[ QUOTE ]
Two effects are applied when you cast Glue Arrow (it helps if you know how the power works). One is that a debuff is applied to every mob in the AoE effect of the power on casting of the power and this is due to the TA defender. Then, a pet or spawn is created that casts it's own debuff every tic. These already do not stack. Obviously they can make non-stacking debuffs.
[/ QUOTE ] I don't believe this is correc.t The debuff is applied by the patch...not the defender...otherwise they would stack. I can stack debuffs with Dark Servant.
As you point out, Glue does two things. It applies a sticky debuff which is not dependent on its existance and it also reinfects anyone who enters the patch. This means that after the patch is gone, mobs are still affected by the debuff.
Now, I don't have a dev response saying this is how it works, but as you said, it helps to know how the power works, which appears to be different than your understanding.
[ QUOTE ]
So, removing the pet and applying the same mechanics of Smoke Grenade and other powers could work.
[/ QUOTE ] I've already addressed this. It's a question of making the power too good. Permanent anchorless, sticky, debuffs are very powerful. This is probably why FA is lower than DN and why PGA only debuffs one thing.
[ QUOTE ]
Permanent anchorless, sticky, debuffs are very powerful.
[/ QUOTE ]
Right.
Disrpuption Field! Oooh Noes! Too powerful!
Chilling Embrace? Ooooh Noes! Too powerful!
Cloak of Fear! Oooh Noes! Too powerful!
Or do you think a hero is an anchor, too?
Spectral Terror? Oooh Noes! Too powerful!
Caltrops! Oooh Noes! Too powerful!
Tornado! Oooh Noes! Too powerful!
*Brrrr! Take those bad, bad permadebuffs away! I'm skeeeeeeered!*
[ QUOTE ]
Uh yeah Goofy...nevermind AM, Mutation, and <can't remember the name of the Slow debuff atm> aren't avaialble "every fight."
[/ QUOTE ]
Just as an aside... when trick arrow's powers were released and "rebalanced" (circa the I4 to I5 gap), AM was available on a permanent basis, lingering radiation could be stacked by the same defender with sufficient +recharge, and even today, if you are doing your job right then your teammates would have to be a bunch of hopeless crackmonkeys to need mutation every fight.
If you need mutation every fight, find a new team.
But that is an aside... yes some of rad's previously perma and/or stackable powers non-perma and unstackable. The problem is, IIRC from that time period correctly, Trick Arrow's recharges were changed while it was on test to be too long to stack or be perma in the pre-ED with perma-hasten environment; post-ED the "coverage gaps" in power reapplication have simply been increased and extended from the set's early levels to its entire career.
Ie - the base recharges on TA powers were set up so that TA defenders with perma-hasten and multiple slots of recharge enhs couldn't stack them. I do not recall the recharges being lowered now that it's not possible to get as much +recharge as the powers were balanced for.
That's not to say that it isn't capable of defending a team - the truth is I haven't so much as teamed with a trick archery defender who was over level 10, and that one was in a team that didn't need a defender at all. So I don't know if TA can defend a team or not.
I do however seem to recall that its power recharge times were balanced against a macro-reality in the game (perma-hasten, 6-slotting the same enh type) that is no longer extant.
"Experience is the mother of good judgement. Bad judgement is the father of experience."
[ QUOTE ]
Which is exactly how they moderate the spectral terror
[/ QUOTE ] IIRCC, ST has a much shorter duration than the debuff of Glue. ST has also been nerfed, IIRCC because it's implementation was really powerful. And some other facts (which I haven't confirmed)...ST is not an PBAoE like Glue, it's a cone. Once you move out of ST's range, you're free from the effect. I beleive ST still has to hit. I've moved through it with my /SR and not been affected...no true with Glue.
So bottom line is that you are comparing incomparables.
[ QUOTE ]
there is a devil's choice of burning time applying debuffs to gain their benefit
[/ QUOTE ] So first people argue that the debuffs aren't as good...we showed that some are as good and subjectively better.
Then they argued that the weren't available... [ QUOTE ]
While the limiting factor might no longer be debuff availability
[/ QUOTE ]
Now as the water level lowers, we are down to argueing that the activation time is substantantive.
[ QUOTE ]
This choice is not just the same choice everyone else has, because the high activation costs of archery in general make it a qualitatively different choice.
[/ QUOTE ] So you feel that there is qualitative issue here? Okay. IMO, there isn't. Yes, it takes as long as 10 or seconds or more to fire FA + GA + PGA + OS + DA, but the order in which I shoot them minimizes the penalty that all can't fire at once....and I have the same issue with my Rad. If I start with RI, there are a fair number of mobs not affected who blast me. It takes a comparatively equal time to get EF and <what is that slow power again?> If CC gets knocked off, it seem to take as long as FS to activate.
Every power set has some issue. Every power set should have some trade-offs which we do not all weigh equally. Activation time makes the set an issue for you? Fair enough. I actually find it acceptable because the animation is very real and immersive. Snap shot looks like a snap shot. The rest of the animations look like I'm really taking aim and drawing the bow. Whatever penalty I pay for in activation time seems trivial to me in terms of aesthetic value of playing the set. But that's my opinion.
I thnk the important thing here is you've acknowleded this...
[ QUOTE ]
While the limiting factor might no longer be debuff availability...
[/ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
If you need mutation every fight, find a new team.
[/ QUOTE ] I didn't mean to include Mutation. I think I was thinking of Fallout and Chocking Cloud and other things that have long recharge...which I didn't include beause it wasn't really about long recharge.
As I've said before, pre-ED, most of your remarks would be totally valid, even if I disagree with it's total effectiveness when stacked against other defender sets.
The recharge times, as was said earlier, were changed before the set went live. More importantly, before ED. They were timed without ED in mind. The recharge times were changed again, not literally, but because of ED. I played my TA/A up to lvl 47 pre-ED. With perma-Hasten and 6 slotting available the recharge times were, IMHO just about right. They were up just about every fight and if a fight went long, which usually means BADLY, I could help pull our fat out of the fire. Now... Not so. After the initial shoot-off of all the buffs, there's not much to do if somebody aggro's another group or an ambush jumps on us from a different direction. All of our major debuffs are just done. At that point I'm just a second-rate blaster with particularly bad damage output (but hey, I'm ACCURATE). With my current build I have Hasten 3 slotted for recharge and pretend I still have it perma (it's on auto-fire). I have all the powers that might need it like Glue, Oil SLick, DIsruption, EMP, etc, 3 slotted. And they are just a bit too long on the recharge for a set that does NOTHING else but debuff. I cannot add to a team if the crap hits the fan. A reason why Vigilance is worthless IMHO, but that's a whole different debate.
If I could ask for anything to fix the set up to be equal in utility, not actual debuff powers... utility, with the other sets it would be to lower the recharges on EMP, Glue, Disruption and Oil Slick to be what they were in the pre-ED, perma-Hasten days or maybe a tiny bit shorter. Make Acid Arrow's AoE the same as the size of the actually effect we see. Up the accuracy debuff on Flash Arrow so that hitting orange minions is the same as the current effect on hitting white minions, whatever number value that is, and make it auto-hit. And lastly, this is really an Archery change, but make Exploding Arrow do Smashing/Fire damge instead of Smashing/Lethal which would fit more with the effect we see and lighting the Oil Slick.
I personally don't think the set needs much but right now, other sets do what this one does generally speakign with less powers and more often. Generally speaking.
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Okay, Choking Cloud has a long recharge timer...
[/ QUOTE ] Uh yeah Goofy...nevermind AM, Mutation, and <can't remember the name of the Slow debuff atm> aren't avaialble "every fight."
[/ QUOTE ]
That point was in reference to my statement that a radiation defender has the option of using his toggles every fight. Since you couldn't deny this (since it was obvious I was talking about RI and EF), you leapt on Choking Cloud for some reason.
This is something I find amusing, since you maintain that the 120- and 180-second recharge timers on Trick Arrow powers is adequate, yet a 90-second timer on Choking Cloud is "long."
Thanks for tangenting off of a tangent, we need more of that.
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Right. One rad defender's experience must logically cancel out everyone else's. Just like Trick Arrow, right?
[/ QUOTE ] <sigh>....This highlights the facts that other sets have problems. Problems which you act like don't exist. As Jynne points, your reference other set's abilities is done in a vacuum. You pretend every other set has 100% effectivenss 100% of the time.
[/ QUOTE ]
And basing a statement off of one Radiation defender you met clearly takes everything into consideration. Well done!
Anchor-related problems can easily be avoided by a sound anchor-choosing strategy and group communication. In regards to knockback and the potential problems it causes with anchors, that's not so much a problem with the set as it is with the player causing the havoc.
Best case, the bread-and-butter toggle debuffs are active the entire fight, every fight. Worst case, the anchor gets killed early and there's an 8-second lapse in the debuff.
You've stated several times that knockback-users can render anchor-based debuffs ineffective. While this is true, it's not an issue with the set, but with the people you are playing with. It is possible to educate people about anchors. I've done it. There are some people who insist on playing in a disruptive fashion; again I say this is a problem that has nothing to do with the set. I don't stay in bad groups. If you do, then knock yourself out.
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Actually, I can play it to the best of its boundaries. It's still grossly underbalanced as a defender primary.
[/ QUOTE ] That's your opinion and you're welcome to it. And everytime I post my opinion, you come and try to shoot it down. What makes it egregious is your inability to concede your own ignorance.
[/ QUOTE ]
Oh, this is grand!
When you spout such "opinions" as "If you are skilled in this game, you will find that TA is a great set once you get DO's,"
(implying, if not flat-out stating, that if you don't think TA is great, then you are unskilled) then, yes, you need to expect opposing opinions.
I particularly think this is funny, because you also say "TA is not the hardest set to play to its full extent. I'd put Storm and Kinetics as requiring more savvy...much more savvy." I play my Kinetics defender quite well, and have done amazing things with my stormie. I guess I'm both "unskilled" and "savvy" in The Book of Mieux! Go me!
You have personally told others that they suck at playing TA. These are people you do not know, and have never played with. And yet, you accuse others of making personal attacks on you for posting facts and opinions that you don't like. Oh, then you call other people ignorant, which I suppose isn't a personal attack in the Mieux Book of Logic. After all, you did claim that telling someone they suck isn't a personal attack.
But none of that is really relevant to the discussion, it's just feeding the troll that is Mieux.
If you want to believe that Trick Arrow is "great" then you will believe this. Everyone on the planet Sanity, however, acknowledges that it underperforms and needs help. But take heart! In the unlikely event that it does get some long-overdue love, you can always juggle slots around to maintain your current level of "greatness" and the rest of us will get to feel like actual Defenders. Everyone will be happy!
[ QUOTE ]
That point was in reference to my statement that a radiation defender has the option of using his toggles every fight. Since you couldn't deny this (since it was obvious I was talking about RI and EF), you leapt on Choking Cloud for some reason.
[/ QUOTE ] You made a broad statement. I countered that broadness with specifics. I can FA and PGA every fight. Every fight.
[ QUOTE ]
This is something I find amusing, since you maintain that the 120- and 180-second recharge timers on Trick Arrow powers is adequate, yet a 90-second timer on Choking Cloud is "long."
[/ QUOTE ] I made no contentions about comparative adequacy. I made statement about comparative availability. Get the discussion straight.
[ QUOTE ]
And basing a statement off of one Radiation defender you met clearly takes everything into consideration. Well done!
[/ QUOTE ] The statement is conclusive proof that other sets have problems. Something which you conveniently ignore in your own incessant whining.
[ QUOTE ]
In regards to knockback and the potential problems it causes with anchors, that's not so much a problem with the set as it is with the player causing the havoc.
[/ QUOTE ] High-larious. It's problem with the set because the set is designed in the context of the game. How daft can you be? By intentionally making the set rely on anchors, you introduce an intended hurdle for the set. Anchors don't just get killed as I've mentioned several times and which you completely ignore. You also get mezzed, anchors also leave the area.
[ QUOTE ]
It is possible to educate people about anchors.
[/ QUOTE ] It's possible to educate people about a whole lot of things. Whether they use that education, or whether they choose to follow your recommendations is another issue. Educating people takes time. Time I'm glad I don't have to waste.
[ QUOTE ]
yes, you need to expect opposing opinions.
[/ QUOTE ] I expect opinions...but I expec them to be informed and intelligent and delivered with integrity. Ignoring facts which weaken your position shows a lack of integrity.
[ QUOTE ]
I play my Kinetics defender quite well, and have done amazing things with my stormie. I guess I'm both "unskilled" and "savvy" in The Book of Mieux! Go me!
[/ QUOTE ] I have no specific knowledge about your comparative skill with the various sets. But considering your posts on TA my educated guess is you suck at it. I'd probably suck at Storms...I don't have the mindset to deal with a that set. If I played a Storm and complained about it constantly, as you do with TA, I would expect some people might be able to determine that I was not very good at it.
If I complained about problems in Storm and acted like every other set had no problems, like you do with TA, I'd expect posters to see me as having no integrity.
[ QUOTE ]
and have done amazing things with my stormie
[/ QUOTE ] Storm can do great things given ideal circumstances. The problem in game play is those circumstances don't generally arise. The rest of the time, Stormies are creating more problems than they are solving. And even if they "defend" the team with those methods, I generaly find teaming with Stormies can make battles last far long than necessary because Hurricane tends to separate mobs more than it groups them.
[ QUOTE ]
After all, you did claim that telling someone they suck isn't a personal attack.
[/ QUOTE ] I never said "you" suck, I said you suck at playing TA. I stand by that based on your posts.
[ QUOTE ]
Everyone on the planet Sanity, however, acknowledges that it underperforms and needs help
[/ QUOTE ] Too bad Sanity is just a figment of your imagination.
[ QUOTE ]
implying, if not flat-out stating, that if you don't think TA is great, then you are unskilled)
[/ QUOTE ] This is really the core of your tantrum against me.
Kinetics is a great set if you are skilled.
TA is a great set if you are skilled.
FF can be a good set if you are skilled
Dark and Rad are just plain great sets.
Are we done now?
EDIT:
And when I say "skilled" I am referring more to a large and comprehensive knowledge about the game i.e. slotting, mobs, other AT's and powers, AI, etc. etc.
[ QUOTE ]
I don't believe this is correc.t The debuff is applied by the patch...not the defender...otherwise they would stack. I can stack debuffs with Dark Servant.
As you point out, Glue does two things. It applies a sticky debuff which is not dependent on its existance and it also reinfects anyone who enters the patch. This means that after the patch is gone, mobs are still affected by the debuff.
Now, I don't have a dev response saying this is how it works, but as you said, it helps to know how the power works, which appears to be different than your understanding.
[/ QUOTE ]
Mieux, that would be one thing. You have basically said that the patch applies a debuff of a set duration to anything that enters the patch. That is only one thing. The more that you post about TA the more I get the feeling that you are telling people that they don't know what they are talking about yet don't even know what you yourself are talking about.
Check it out for yourself though Mieux. Fire at a moving target when other targets are around it. The spawned debuff will appear wherever the arrow hits the moving target. If the mobs outside the debuff spawn are slowed then you know that it also applies a debuff upon activation of the power by the defender and not just by the spawn itself.
[ QUOTE ]
Mieux, that would be one thing.
[/ QUOTE ] I'm not sure what you mean by that.
The debuff appears to be applied by the pet...not the defender.
[ QUOTE ]
Check it out for yourself though Mieux. Fire at a moving target when other targets are around it...
[/ QUOTE ] I'm not sure this proves what you think it does. When I fire PGA at a Tsoo sorc...and he teleports before the arrow fires....the patch shows up on him...and in the location he was before he teleported. What happens graphically, is not necessarily what happens functionally.
From my use of the power...since I haven't seen a dev explain it....Glue lays down a glue patch. This immediately debuffs everyone in the area...and anyone who enters it after it's planted. After the patch itself disappears i.e. no longer able to debuff new targets...the debuff will remain on mobs who had been in the patch.
[ QUOTE ]
you are telling people that they don't know what they are talking about yet don't even know what you yourself are talking about.
[/ QUOTE ] That's almost right Concern. Except I admit that I don't "KNOW" what is going on technically. Goofy seems to think he knows exactly what the issue is with balancing Glue Arrow. He knows the underlying tech so well, he can malign the devs for the decision they've made. Before I pass judgement on the decisions make by Geko et al. I need to "know" how the power works. Goofy acknowledges no such constraints.
[ QUOTE ]
If you are getting higher debuff benefit out of TA than rad, that speaks more towards your skill with TA and rad than the balance between the sets
[/ QUOTE ] Not necessarily. It also requires that you look at the attendant conditions in the game. If the AI made all mobs in a spawn spread out after the group is aggro'd, then TA's who got off things like PGA and FA before aggro, would be getting a higher benefit. CoT Thorn Casters do not clump and will move to range. The spectral nights are constantly flying in and out of battle. Nuons do not clump without herding. Some Nemesis won't even herd. Sky Raiders are a real challenge to anchor. Porters..nah. Wing Raiders...nah. So you need to spend time making sure you spot the right mob to debuff. I actually prefer it when the FF Generators get dropped...they make great anchors.
If every set's AoE did knockback...then TA is going to debuff better on average. Etc...etc.
The game provides uncertainty. Sometimes anchor debuffs work great and your anchors are always the last to die and never run off because the controller keeps them single target held. Sometimes you play with an En blaster or /En defender or a Stormie who thinks Hurricane has to be used ALL the time...and you wish you'd taken two attacks instead. Sometimes, despite your macro's which call out who the anchor is...it still dies...repeatedly. Sometimes, you fight DE for 10 straight levels and the chain mezing of Harders makes toggle debufffing pointless.
I have already said that RI and EF provide better debuffing on paper. That isn't even debatable. What is debatable is the real benefit teams derive.
Tonight...I got SK'd by a lvl 40 to fight Jack of Irons. My lvl 27 TA/A with stale SO's (hadn't even gotten my level yet)...the lvl 40 Inv/? and two blasters...one En ...one Ice. No healer. No defeats. The tank said he was impressed that my debuffs were as effective as they were. I don't recall ever getting any such compliments on my Rad or Dark's debuffing (though this is more an example of expections and not effectiveness..lol).
Oil Slick actually provides a massive reduction in damage. I notice it continues to do knockdown the entire time it burns. Jack spent a significant portion of his health on his back. It was great when the En blaster used Nova and lit the Oil Slick without me having to tell him ...booyah!!!!
In fact, I had an Emp/Rad get pumped on the teamwork of me setting it down and her lighting it. At first she couldn't target it, and then I told her Irradiate baby...Irradiate. She kept asking me to use it...lol. Oil seems to light almost all the time when pure energy is used.
[ QUOTE ]
There are a lot of good rads as well, but unlike trick arrow, the set allows for bad rads: bad rads are semi-decent, bad trick archers are worthless.
[/ QUOTE ] This is fundamentally my exact point when I say TA is great if you are skilled.
[ QUOTE ]
a Stormie who thinks Hurricane has to be used ALL the time...
[/ QUOTE ]
You keep saying that like it's not true.
Sgt Liberty - 50 Martial Arts / Super Reflexes
Verdigris Eagle - 50 Archery / Energy Manipulation
Stormeye - 50 Storm Summoning / Electric Blast
I don't see how the total effect of it's debuffs matter that much when the animations are so freakin long by the time you applied half of them the fights over.
And hurricane is supposed to be used pretty much all the time. The trick is positioning with it.
[ QUOTE ]
I actually prefer it when the FF Generators get dropped...they make great anchors.
[/ QUOTE ]
Aren't you supposed to kill those first?
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I actually prefer it when the FF Generators get dropped...they make great anchors.
[/ QUOTE ]
Aren't you supposed to kill those first?
[/ QUOTE ]
I don't know if they got nerfed along with players in the great defense buff reduction, but I have really not had a hard time at all hitting through one FF generator for quite a while.
Now if there are three or four of them, it's time to OD on insights and take out at least two.
But the forcefield generators are nowhere near as high a priority when fighting the sky raiders as the emanators can be for the DE.
"Experience is the mother of good judgement. Bad judgement is the father of experience."
Hey Mieux,
All this from a lvl 27 perspective? Really?
Let me ask what exactly you think you are doing with Flash arrow that compares to any other defender debuff 'every fight'? I mean, I have seen it useful to keep close spawns from aggro'ing when you pull another one, but really, in the upper levels where you are no longer fighting even level mobs and they tend to be +3 or so. What exact benefit do YOU think you are getting out of Flash Arrow? I've had it 6 SO slotted for debuff back before ED and it doesn't do a damn thing that is remotely noticable. Are you really comparing FA to any other set's debuff power that is up every fight? PGA is fine as far as the debuff goes and the recharge on it.
Read my last post, please. This set isn't unusable. I've used it to great effect. I get plenty of compliments when I play my TA/A. It's a fun set to use. Hell, I killed a Stalker in Siren's Call the other day (sorry, I have to beat my chest about that one!) 1v1 which is no small feat. But the set needs some work. Even the dev's have said so. Hell, Castle just came out and said that one of the powers that we all have been complaining about not working right was bugged and is being fixed, so there's proof that in it's current state the set is already slated for improvement.
It's fine for you, from your limited perspective, to think that the set is fine, but I can tell you that it's not. It's ok. It's passable, but it really does need work. Read my above post. I personally don't think much needs to be done with the set. But post-ED the set was even further gutted and that specifically needs to be addressed.
[ QUOTE ]
All this from a lvl 27 perspective? Really?
[/ QUOTE ] My TA is 27, I've a bunch of other toons that are much higher. More importantly, I have a strong fundamental understsanding of the game, the AI, the powers in other sets and AT's. Being able to tell that Emp/Rad to use Irradiate so as not to have to target Oil Slick makes a difference. Before that, I had her target me to set it off because in large groups she couldn't find it. This makes a difference. Using Entangle A to keep Hurricane using Shaman and Sorcs from advancing on you or your team....makes a difference. Rad can't do that. Kinetics can't do that. Ice Arrow (which should be renamed to Cryo Arrow) can turn off Hurricane and CoT Midgnight Chill debuff powers. Rad, Kin, FF, and Sonic can't do that (well, Kin can drain endo with Transference). TA has lots of tools. The trick (no pun intended) is knowing where and when to use them.
In one of my first replies to someone's TA question, I said that I would not recommend TA as your first or second defender. I also would not recommend TA as your first or second toon. Slotting is a thing a lot of people don't understand. Though TA's slotting is comparatively simple and straight forward, if you don't know slotting, you might not know that. You might waste slots on things like extra accuracy for Flash Arrow.
[ QUOTE ]
Read my last post, please.***Read my above post.
[/ QUOTE ] I read it...I think you want me to comment on it. Since you asked nicely...
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The recharge times, as was said earlier, were changed before the set went live. More importantly, before ED. They were timed without ED in mind.
[/ QUOTE ] First off, there have been many allegations that recharge times for various powers didn't take into account ED. My understanding from various dev posts is that this is not true on a general level. Recharge times were set with ED in mind, and more importantly, as I talked about previously, they were set with the max recharge buff in mind: Speed Boost + Acc Met + Hasten +Adre Boost + Six SO's. I can't say for certainty that some mistake wasn't made with some specific power in TA or otherwise, but on a general note, I think you are operating under false assumptions.
Second, I play Trick Arrow. I've seen the avialability of my powers. It seems fine. Not only does it seem fine, I don't use Hasten but maybe 30% of the mission. I've frequently used Oil Slick back to back spawns at lvl 26.
The fact is, most teams don't sprint through missions. Someone is always pausing for one of fifty reasons. Maybe one spawn out of fifteen, we'll start the fight and PGA won't be immediately ready. Even when I do small teams and we blast through the mission, literally without pausing, I don't need to use every debuff every fight. I'm not going to use DA on three +1 or +2 minions when one of my teammates is a blaster. It's just a waste. In that situation, by the time my Rad got EF and RI down, one if not two of the minions would already be dead. And PGA recharges fast enough, I can use it every fight and multiple times in a fight. With Hasten, and +++ SO's, PGA is basically perma for things like AV fights (though obviously an anchor debuff is better for single targets).
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It's fine for you, from your limited perspective, to think that the set is fine
[/ QUOTE ] I'd be willing to argue my perspective is much broader than yours. Rather than bemoaning what I can't do and acting like everyone else can do what I can...I recognize what I can do that others can't. I've played the other sets. I've teamed with the other sets. If you want to feel worthless in a fight, go fight a Monster with FF. Unless you can find a corner to FB him into...you are going to annoy others if you push it into other mobs or out of location AoE's. Bubbles are very helpful, but you get very little direct feedback from their effectiveness. Players certaintly don't tell you.
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It's ok. It's passable, but it really does need work.
[/ QUOTE ] Show me a set that someone doesn't think needs work? Maybe you can...maybe there's one or two...maybe, but I doubt it. Like I2 /Regen, TA is not very good at low level. Because the recharge timers are balanced for at least three SO's each, TA feels really really weak at low level. I have stated that many many times. At level 27, I feel that I always have a "trick" up my sleeve and I honestly feel like I am more effective than anything but a D/D or a very well played and slotted Rad. Though, as I said before, given the right cirumstances, Storms can render mobs completely harmless.
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But post-ED the set was even further gutted and that specifically needs to be addressed.
[/ QUOTE ] It's your perrogative to pursue that agenda. In the meantime, I will continue to tell people who ask about TA/A that it's a great set if you have skill...once you get past the teens.
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I actually prefer it when the FF Generators get dropped...they make great anchors.
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Aren't you supposed to kill those first?
[/ QUOTE ]If you don't have a Rad? Yes. Otherwise, RI can genearlly neutralize their +DEF bonus, while at the same time sticking close to the Engineer who generally engages in melee.
In addition, I'm slapping EF on it as well. So I'm getting three debuffs and losing one in exchange for an anchor that won't flee the scene. It seems the majority of Sky Raider mobs are either Porters or Wing Raiders who do not make good anchors. In fact Porters and Wing Raiders, as anchors, will aggro other groups....and guess who they come and shoot first while your anchor is no longer debuffing them?
And lastly, if I have a controller on the group, RI on the FF Gen will allow the controller to reliably Hold the gen, which I believe stops the bubbles, but I haven't tested that.
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I think you're oversimplifying the problem. My understanding is that Location AoE's are pets. You can't stop pets from stacking. Glue Arrow is a pet. If you allow us to overlap lay it down twice, then it will apply twice and I don't think think the game has as simple way to prevent it...unless it kills the other Glue Arrow.
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Which is exactly how they moderate the spectral terror; it would have probably been trivially easy to perform similar manipulations if they kept TA debuffs Location AoEs.
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Following that, ED was introduced, causing the TA defender to spend inordinate amounts of time without the benefit of his debuffs.
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Once you get into the higher levels, this isn't true.
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Even at higher level there are problems. While the limiting factor might no longer be debuff availability there are other factors that create problems, especially endurance costs, and dps/activation time concerns. I'm finding that even with SOs, and even with hasten, sometimes there is a devil's choice of burning time applying debuffs to gain their benefit, or using offense. This choice is not just the same choice everyone else has, because the high activation costs of archery in general make it a qualitatively different choice.
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