Official Thread for Trick Arrow changes
By
Adamh_77,
Posted on: 2006-05-01 17:05 in Developers' Corner
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<nitpick>
It's only perma-able with Hasten and at least 2 recharge SOs, or multiple buffs from Kins and/or Rads. With 3 recharge SOs, and factoring in the animation time, there's at least 4-5 seconds lapse between applications. And we aren't all using Hasten, or being buffed by other defenders.
</nitpick>
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Ya, but for all practical purposes, considering it's not something that breaks (like a hold), it's pretty much perma.
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With all the sparks that go flying when BS, Claws, Katana, or even our own normal arrows hit things, it really is a wonder plain old Lethal damage can't ignite the slick. Just adding my two arrows worth to a reasonable suggestion.
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Well i wanna say both yes and no, but for practicality and balance i would say ignite it with lethal as well.
I can wish for aimed shot to change to electrical arrow all I want but it's not gonna happen lol.
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EMP does -recovery. Every spawn that I've used it on has had their endurance recovery halted for the entire duration of the hold (which, with PBU, is eternity+1!).
*sits back to wait for someone to mention that this commentary was unnecessary*
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Thanks for clarifying that. I just got a couple days ago and due to the long recharge and the higher lvls I have been facing i've not used it alot yet.
I thought the -recovery was on you.
I have had your scenario before castle, and thats because I got too close and aggro'd the mob, so the flash -perception is basically wasted.
The scenario others have described, flash arrow, another hero running in, hitting, then every enemy attacking the TA, I have never experienced this on live or on test. I will give it a few trials to see how things go, but from the looks of things it may be an intermittent bug.
Another thing Castle: is the description of flash arrow change regarding autohit pve, but tohit still required for pvp correct ? because I always thought autohit was an 'accuracy' thing, the tohit debuff just increases the mag of -perception and -acc debuffs, so really it should be an accuracy check for pvp, not a tohit ...
Last thing while i'm here ... the effects for Disruption arrow need to be toned down, and the sound needs to fade after about 3 seconds, like the sonic powers, disruption arrow gives me a headache and makes me feel sick to the point i don't use (well HARDLY use) it anymore ... does anyone else have this problem or am I just a headcase ...
CHAMPION!
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Flash Arrow (and Smoke and Smoke Grenade and a couple Temp Powers) is setup to not alert the AI when it is used on them.
Now, that isn't as simple or cut and dried as it sounds. It is still an attack. As such, it causes suppression on all powers that have such -- including stealth and related powers. It sounds like what is happening is something like the following:
1) Player clicks attack button; animation begins; suppression begins.
2) Target "sees" the player, and the critter is "aggroed"
3) Animation finishes and all attributes are applied.
In that example, if the player were outside the critters normal perception range, they would not have aggoed, even though they attacked. If, however, you are within normal aggro range, and using Stealth powers to offset that, then as soon as the stealth suppresses, you've already got aggro.
Now, all of that said, it is possible what I've outlined above is NOT what is happening and there is a bug involved. In testing this over the next few days, pay close attention to how this works, and keep the above sequence in mind. If that does not match what you are seeing, let me know.
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I never had Stealth on Dancing Hawk. Invisibility, from the Concealment pool, in the mid-20s, long after I started seeing aggro problems with Flash Arrow. Can't attack with Invisibility turned on, and I never use it in missions anyway (it's aggro mitigation for travel, since i don't have a travel power. i selected Invis instead of Stealth because there was no movement penalty). So stealth suppression was never a factor in my case.
Before I decided to drop Flash Arrow forever, I wanted to give it one last shot (no pun intended) and find out if it was just my imagination, or an actual, legitimate problem. I teamed with a tank, a scrapper, and a blaster (if ANYONE should've died first, it would've been one of those three). I think there might've been a controller there, too.
At maximum range, I fired FA two or three times into the first spawn.
The tank and scrapper went running in. Tank has an AoE taunt aura active, scrapper opens with a single-target attack.
The entire spawn turned around and shot me.
Still, willing to believe that this kind of behavior was a fluke, I rezzed and moved on with the team to the next spawn.
Same thing happened. I fired FA, meleers ran in, spawn took out their aggression on me.
On the third spawn, I waited until after the meleers were engaged, then fired FA. I still got aggro, but managed to survive long enough to run this time. I think three of the mobs stayed focused on the tank.
Fourth spawn, I fired FA first, and got smooshed like a gnat when the meleers went in.
At that point, even THEY were wondering what was going on.
After that, I stopped using it at all. Swapped it for Entangling Arrow on the next respec available. My debt collection rate dropped dramatically.
One of my friends in Carl and Sons didn't believe me when I said Flash was causing massive aggro. After hearing me complain about it for months, he decided to go test it himself, with his /TA controller, already pretty much convinced that I was just being whiny. 5 minutes later, he says, "Huh. It does cause aggro. It never did it on the test server." His global is @mjd.
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Can you please address the possibility of TA ever getting a massive buff to its debuffing capabilities? Since it has absolutely NOTHING else to it?
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I understand your frustration but chill man.
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Goofy made a pretty good post making a case for the TA set a few posts up, you don't even have to respond to mine, instead address his :P
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He is searching up bugs, not balancing atm and the flash arrow bug is a big problem. Never once happened to me but it is happening to others.
On a side note though, any word of dev discussion over any of the proposed changes would be nice castle.
Several people are extremely passionate and rather jittery about the possiblity the set could be fixed. They NEED to hear that you guys are at least thinking about more fixes in the NEAR future.
Otherwise these recent changes just serve to tease them even though they are very benificial.
I know that making a comment about even 1 things yall are thinking about changing would be walking into a hornets nest of questions, but we really are hanging on to hope that the set will recieve more love. Love it deserves.
Since Trick Arrows is all targeted AoE, which requires skill to hit a large portion of the mob and limits their ability to hit all minions if they are spread out, in conjunction with the fact that their debuffs take a substantial amount of time to apply and keep applied, their their debuff values should be higher than that of their counterpart Defenders, Dark and Rad.
This, however, is simply not true. Not only are the debuff values fairly comparable, Dark and Rad have a heal which greatly increases their value and survivability as well as their debuffs are more concentrated in fewer powers, allowing them to debuff quicker and use other powers in the same time frame that Trick Arrows is still applying their similar value debuffs.
Simply buffing Trick Arrow debuff values beyond that of Dark Miasma and Radiation Emission should increase their value substantially and make it an even more fun set to play. As it stands right now, it is primarily used by "concept" and "RP" players and less adored by the masses, despite Manticore's popularity and the cool idea of it.
Member of:
Repeat Offenders Network - The Largest Coalition Network in the Game, across Virtue, Freedom, Justice and Exalted. Open to all, check us out.
Current Team Project: Pending
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I can wish for aimed shot to change to electrical arrow all I want but it's not gonna happen lol.
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O_O
ZAPPY ARROW! _CASTLE_! I WANT A ZAPPY ARROW!
*jumps up and down shrieking*
THIS WOULD BE THE COOLEST ARROW EVER! 
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EMP does -recovery. Every spawn that I've used it on has had their endurance recovery halted for the entire duration of the hold (which, with PBU, is eternity+1!).
*sits back to wait for someone to mention that this commentary was unnecessary*
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Thanks for clarifying that. I just got a couple days ago and due to the long recharge and the higher lvls I have been facing i've not used it alot yet.
I thought the -recovery was on you.
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You know what?
I was wrong.
It's an end drain on the target, but it doesn't apply -recovery. It just seemed like it to me because I originally tested it on -2 and -3 mobs. It DOES appear to do -recovery on mobs below your level (i've had several grey minions held forever and a day and not regain end), but not on things of the same level or higher.
Given the massive end drain and the incredibly long hold duration (ESPECIALLY with PBU... and 3 Endoplasms. >.> ), I honestly don't think it needs -recovery. It's not going to be useful versus EBs/AVs, and everything below that is sucking wind through a straw and locked down tighter than a cloister in Boystown.
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O_O
ZAPPY ARROW! _CASTLE_! I WANT A ZAPPY ARROW!
*jumps up and down shrieking*
THIS WOULD BE THE COOLEST ARROW EVER!
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Seriously though, this would solve the problem of having to use blazing arrow to light oil slick. Aimed Shot recharge is alot faster I believe. Just make it do split lethal/energy dmg.
Not only that it would work with the set conceptually it would add some more coolness factor.
Heck if they were feeling generous you could add a chance to overload a foes synapses, resulting in a short sleep or hold.
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It's an end drain on the target, but it doesn't apply -recovery. It just seemed like it to me because I originally tested it on -2 and -3 mobs. It DOES appear to do -recovery on mobs below your level (i've had several grey minions held forever and a day and not regain end), but not on things of the same level or higher.
Given the massive end drain and the incredibly long hold duration (ESPECIALLY with PBU... and 3 Endoplasms. >.> ), I honestly don't think it needs -recovery. It's not going to be useful versus EBs/AVs, and everything below that is sucking wind through a straw and locked down tighter than a cloister in Boystown.
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Valid point. Endurance drain on it basically just got boosted by the % fix. So quite nice.
Mighta got greedy on that one .
I might ask though.....power boost affects the end drain portion too right?
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O_O
ZAPPY ARROW! _CASTLE_! I WANT A ZAPPY ARROW!
*jumps up and down shrieking*
THIS WOULD BE THE COOLEST ARROW EVER!
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Seriously though, this would solve the problem of having to use blazing arrow to light oil slick.
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TO HECK WITH OIL SLICK!
*shoots zappy arrow*
*ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZAP!*
*wets self*
_CASTLE_! ZAPPY ARROW! HURRY! ZAPPY ARROW! PLEASE! ZAPPY ARROW! *goes back to running around PI pretending to shoot everything in sight with a zappy arrow and making ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZAP! noises*
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It's an end drain on the target, but it doesn't apply -recovery. It just seemed like it to me because I originally tested it on -2 and -3 mobs. It DOES appear to do -recovery on mobs below your level (i've had several grey minions held forever and a day and not regain end), but not on things of the same level or higher.
Given the massive end drain and the incredibly long hold duration (ESPECIALLY with PBU... and 3 Endoplasms. >.> ), I honestly don't think it needs -recovery. It's not going to be useful versus EBs/AVs, and everything below that is sucking wind through a straw and locked down tighter than a cloister in Boystown.
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Valid point. Endurance drain on it basically just got boosted by the % fix. So quite nice.
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>.>
<.<
This is on live. I haven't even managed to get on the test server to download the update yet. It's currently a complete end drain, though, so the change might negatively impact it (meaning, if it's at 100% now because it's more points than the mobs have, it might end up being less when changed to a percentage).
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I might ask though.....power boost affects the end drain portion too right?
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Absolutely no idea. I've never actually used EMP Arrow without hitting PBU first, or on anything that I could potentially only affect partially. I make it a point to avoid bosses and +# mobs whenever possible when I'm playing my defenders.
Well, except Electron Girl. Being a kinetics scrapper, she can tank monsters, so bosses aren't too much of a problem.
But, anyway, I'll try to remember to find a boss and/or some +# mobs to test EMP on tomorrow night. It's not like I have to worry about debt any more.
Just to note, if you don't have hamidon enhancements or happen to have Power Build-up it is more like 1/4 end drain. The power does have -regen, but no -recovery that I have seen.
Having Hammi enhancements does kinda spoil the experience. Kinda like a Post SO TA comparing himself to a TO TA. Big world of difference if you know what I mean.
This is one of the top threads I check on everyday since it was first started. Thank you Goofy_Parrot for starting it up.
And..a big THANKS to all who continue to post concerning this powerset. Please keep up the good work and passion you have.
With hope, the devs will find a way to improve this set so I might finally be comfortable using it with my MM.
(Surely they must datamine to see how often (or rarely) this set is used compared to other secondaries? With good reason??)
@Haiku
The thing is devs generally consider click powers more powerful then toggles. I remember people arguing during the whole croatoa patch about ice tanker's absorption vs the invuln tanker's invincibility. The initial responses were akin to "ice tanker's power is stronger because you fire it off once and you're good to go for a while."
The toggle debuffs on darkness and radiation are nice. I know my DD defender can make clusters of foes totally and completely ineffectual with darkest night, but only if they are in a tight cluster. I remember seeing a DD trying to work the Mary Macomber mission, all those ambushes, the tank could only lock down so many witches, darkest night only got half at best, team got slapped silly by undebuffed witches.
Stuns also screw over debuff toggles, the tide always dramatically turns in teams where I'm running a DD and I get smacked by a mez of some sort. And then I got to wait for the damn debuffs to recharge before I hit. Compound that with a fact that your anchor can get trashed prematurely and you can see that though those powers are nasty they are a hassle.
That is the one redeeming virtue of those flash arrows, you fire it into a cluster (hypothetically not getting pounded in the process), you got that cluster well debuffed for a good 60 seconds, no strings attatched, no endurance drain, no anchors. It recharges, you can hammer a different cluster, in fact you can keep as many as 3 clusters debuffed. I have done it in the past where a team is fighting group A and I notice another mob cluster is nearby, and I managed to squeeze off a flash arrow fast enough to keep the charging tank from agroing a second group. The benefit is you can hammer a lot of debuffing around, much more coverage then a toggle, even if the baddies run out of the area of affect, even if I'm mezzed. And it's cheap too, my archery barely breaks a sweat, my DD pre-20 was a game of micromanaging endurance.
That's my guess on why they have those flash arrows weaker on the debuff.
Honestly, in my opinion however, I feel they SHOULD get a boost to the accuracy debuff. Those flash arrows only have one affect on them. Radiation infection not only knocks the acc down by 30%, it kicks the def down by that much too. Enervating field decreases the damage and resistance of the affected victims. Darkest night one of my favorites is roughly 35% debuff on to hit AND damage. (note: all these figure are when the powers are in the hands of a defender)
The thing is all those flashes have is 20% acc debuff, it's not like they are hammering out two affects at once like the toggles, so why not kick that debuff up a little, heck I'd be happy with a 25% at this rate even if it costs more endurance.
I am beginning to wonder if they are afraid of debuff stacking with net arrows however, they need SOMETHING to be more appealing however, as they are they just don't impress me. It's not like I need to lock things down in the debuff zone as much as I do with a dark defender.
So, in short:
A) Flashers auto-hitting is a start, and click and go debuffs DO have a definite advantage over toggle anchors, but they could use a little finaggling, it's not like they are dropping two affects at once.
B) Net arrows exactly fail to impress, I can get better containment taking darkness and tenebrous.
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Just to note, if you don't have hamidon enhancements or happen to have Power Build-up it is more like 1/4 end drain. The power does have -regen, but no -recovery that I have seen.
Having Hammi enhancements does kinda spoil the experience. Kinda like a Post SO TA comparing himself to a TO TA. Big world of difference if you know what I mean.
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Be careful with your wording, it has a -recovery on it for you, no -regen that I know of.
But yeah the end drain is not spectacular unslotted for it without power boost. It drains like 3/4 of a green (-2) minions endurance on test server.
I imagine bosses will take less of a hit especially your lvl or higher.
I do still think after testing (though I'm working on grabbing even cons) that a -recovery for foes would be a nice final addittion considering how seldom it's up and slotting issues. (IE either you take AIM or your can't slot for full hold/drain).
I don't think it would really make much differance in the Power Boost/EMP Arrow situation.
I wanna go outa my way to say that glue arrow debuffs stays after the graphic fades.
I had minions chasing me debuffed a good 20 seconds after the patch faded. So if they enter 2 sec before it fades they still suffer 20 sec of debuff.
These minions again are green, -2, so perhaps they got a longer duration. Against even cons it might only last 15 sec after patch but it still "sticks".
Glue arrow has gotton a really valueable fix along with disruption arrow which is down for about 5 secs in a normal battle as mentioned.
now if we could just get the -jump/fly, and the cycling minion disorient ticks...
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What happens is the mobs stay deaggroed after its applied, but when someone strikes them, they "remember" who debuffed and pound you into dust despites attempts to get them off.
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Actually, if it helps, I have noticed that, lately, mobs do this in general. For example, if I lay Fearsome Stare on a spawn, and then someone else lands a Fireball on the spawn, what seems to be every mob affected by both poweres immediately attacks me - the caster of the Fearsome Stare.
This is definitely not how things always worked in the past. I cannot really say when I noticed this behavior though. The last Issue or two at most, I think.
Blue
American Steele: 50 BS/Inv
Nightfall: 50 DDD
Sable Slayer: 50 DM/Rgn
Fortune's Shadow: 50 Dark/Psi
WinterStrike: 47 Ice/Dev
Quantum Well: 43 Inv/EM
Twilit Destiny: 43 MA/DA
Red
Shadowslip: 50 DDC
Final Rest: 50 MA/Rgn
Abyssal Frost: 50 Ice/Dark
Golden Ember: 50 SM/FA
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The thing is all those flashes have is 20% acc debuff, it's not like they are hammering out two affects at once like the toggles, so why not kick that debuff up a little, heck I'd be happy with a 25% at this rate even if it costs more endurance.
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I was under the impression that the actual base dbuff value is a piddly 5% or so.
The 20% would be the amount of decrease the enemy suffers from its total accuracy. IE the enemy lost 20% of it's overall accuracy.
NOT 20% acc period.
Correct me if i'm wrong here anyone, but I'm running off of the impression that the ACC debuff number for flash arrow is 10% fully enhanced (3 SO), 8% in I7.
Base being 5%, and 4% respectively.
Those numbers are horribly low for a defender accuracy debuff and i believe it's because of the synergy bewteen Flash Arrow and smoke.
EDIT: I might mention again that our debuffs need to last until they expire even if we die.
This was brought to mind when i decided to solo a mission tongiht.
Placed Oil slick and lit it but could not escape due to earth thorns quicksand and bit the dirt. (they were +1 and there was like 5 of em and a guide)
My oil slick was still there and on fire but no longer affected them. My glue disappeared too.
Making them fade if we die takes away a small advantage that clicks would have over toggles, not one you'd wanna try to abuse, but still a decent advantage.
Seeing as endurance issues for toggles can largely be wiped out, i see no problem in giving us this.
ON the flip side of the coin, this would also apply to enemy effects, though much less frequently.
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Correct me if i'm wrong here anyone, but I'm running off of the impression that the ACC debuff number for flash arrow is 10% fully enhanced (3 SO), 8% in I7.
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Player testing (done by myself and others) indicates the base -accuracy debuff is about 15%.
To clarify, since different terminology is used by different people, and the to-hit formula is not as simple as it could be... that 15% makes an even-con minion 7.5% less likely to hit (under the current system on the live servers).
Lacking any developer confirmation of this number (HINT HINT) this is the best we have to go on.
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Player testing (done by myself and others) indicates the base -accuracy debuff is about 15%.
To clarify, since different terminology is used by different people, and the to-hit formula is not as simple as it could be... that 15% makes an even-con minion 7.5% less likely to hit (under the current system on the live servers).
Lacking any developer confirmation of this number (HINT HINT) this is the best we have to go on.
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That still falls far short of other accuracy debuffs, Thats like half of other ACC debuffs if that.
On a different note, Solo'd some tonight (where i collected my death and glue arrow detail). I am a lvl 34 Trick Arrow/Archery
Solo I had a decent time of it vs even con and +1. Blazing Arrow/Ranged shot slotted up would two shot an acid arrow debuffed even con minion, with disuption added I could 2 shot a +1.
Generally though I have to lean heavily on oil slick for dmg because fistful is not fully slotted yet.
As far as survivability? Poison Gas Arrow really stepped up to the plate for solo. When I can respec I will prolly pop 3 sleep duration SO in it. Glue Arrow also added alot of survivability with the new changes. Ice Arrow helps but that animation time really needs to be fixed.
In a really bad situation I would fall back on my emp arrow and kill/run if it was apparent I was not gonna finish it before the remaining awoke.
All the same without Aid Self (1 recharge SO only) I woulda been pretty scroojed.
Flash Arrow/Combat Jumping combined only caused a very occasional miss but they did contribute.
Okay...
Oil Slick Arrow is most DEFINITELY not fixed. As with GP, I only spent a very limited amount of time testing it, only 3 attempts actually (because i need some sleep, darnit), but not only did it not light, the first two attempts were right in front of a police drone, which did the damage that defeated the target both times. No mixed damage type, no accuracy check to foul up the tests, it should've been an insta-barbeque.
Even more disturbing, though, is that the second time the drone defeated the target, it did it so fast that there was no Oil Slick. I had a little floaty graphic on the ground, like a mist, that blended perfectly with the grass, but the dark oil patch was non-existant.
I thanked the drone for its assistance and hopped up on the nearest embankment to give Oil Slick one more shot (pun intended). This time, I waited 5 seconds before attacking the target with Blazing Arrow, to rule out any possibility of time being a factor (well, to as much of a degree as is going to be typical in an average situation). Zero pretty flames.
Soul, I tested EMP on the test server with and without PBU. 50% end drain WITHOUT PBU. 100% end drain WITH PBU. So yes, PBU affects end drain.
The "shortened animations" for Fistful of Arrows and Rain of Arrows appear to be removal of the enforced "relaxed stance" after firing. The actual animations of firing arrows hasn't been shortened or changed, but I can now fire off Aimed Shot immediately after Fistful, whereas before, I would have between 1 and 2 seconds of "run around" time after Fistful completed and Aimed was recharged and queued but not firing. Positive change, definitely, and I'd very much like to see the same change applied to all of the powers in TA as well (several also have "relaxed stance" animations that prevent other powers from activating immediately following another power).
Glue and Disruption are, as far as I'm concerned, well balanced now. The recharge times were their biggest obstacle throughout the entire level range. Having them available more often should help enormously in lower level play, but more significantly, in actual team environments. Having them more available in the middle and higher levels gives TA a more complete toolbox to work with. Big thumbs up on these two. Thank you.
I haven't had enough time to test how the new Rain buffing ability works with Rain of Arrows, but I did notice that EMP Arrow got buffed by Assault and Tactics! After firing it at a small spawn of Rikti (2 Advanced Drones and a Consript), a little Assault graphic remained on the ground under the drone I had targetted, for the duration of the hold. Very nice! As a side note, Rikti drones are damaged by EMP Arrow. With PBU and Assault, it damaged both drones for approximately 1/3rd of their HP. An interesting bonus (i discovered the hard and painful way that Clockwork don't take damage from EMP Arrow... -_- ).
Entangling Arrow is still taking up to a full second to apply the graphic, AND the immobilization. Not yaytastic. I can't get any assessment of the -speed debuff at this time (after 3 a.m. and i want to wrap this up so i can get some sleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep). I do see the new "webby light" graphic added to the original net graphic. Interesting.
Okay, Rain of Arrows IS getting the buff from Assault and Tactics. So it's buffable now, too. Another significant plus. I may respec into Aim just for this.
I finally got my slick to ignite a couple of times. Oil Slick does NOT appear to be receiving buffs. I didn't expect it to, actually, as solid as it is (when it works). Ignition is still very sporadic, though I still don't know why. Sometimes it lights, other times it doesn't. I also can't test the problem with missing right now (sleeeeeeeeeeeep), but it's on my list. With 2 Nucleolus, Tactics, and the 1.16 accuracy bonus, even a single instance of missing twice in a row will definitely be proof of a bug.
QoL request: Tesla Cage gives a small notification icon in the buff bar when it's activated and going to successfully hit. So does EMP Arrow (though, it's to indicate the recovery debuff on the player). Could we get icons for our debuffs and controls so we can use them more efficiently? Right now, we have to either guess, or just watch the recharge progress and re-apply powers as soon as they're available. It keeps some of the powers from being fully efficient, and with animation times being what they are in this set, we could use all of the efficiency we can muster. I'd very much like being able to time my use of Ice Arrow or Acid Arrow, for example, instead of having to simply use them every time they recharge. That would give us more control over where, when, and how our debuffs and controls are applied.
One last thing I'm seeing when using EMP Arrow. A graphic of green descending rings... -regen? If so, it's really the WORST place for it. It's not available even close to long enough to be useful in an AV/EB/GM/Monster fight, and that's when it's MOST necessary. Can we get that pulled out of there and placed in Acid, PGA, or Glue? Or, heck, even Entangling. Anywhere that gives it a chance to be used to a more reasonable effect when it's going to be vital.
Finally, a few off-topic bugs.
Tactics' little rotating ring of yellow lights is now circling my character instead of revolving around her. Not pleasing to the eye.
Many of the Nemesis mobs look... monotone. The bright blues and burnished golds of their uniforms and metallic bodies are washed out, almost poo-stained brown. I can't tell if it's because of a lighting change or a location (this is in PI, ranging from the Arena to the Hospital to the parking garage and over to the region under the Bayside Docks marker). Some of the Nemesis look perfectly normal, others look like they've been cast in carbonite. Maybe a shadowing issue?
Power Trays are BORKED. One tray is always present underneath the uppermost tray or default tray, making it impossible to monitor the recharge of a power if another power is in the same spot in a different tray (if i have Blazing Arrow in slot 2 on Tray 1, and Ice Arrow in slot 2 on Tray 2, when i fire Blazing Arrow, Ice Arrow's icon replaces Blazing Arrow's). The only way to maintain proper access to all 3 available trays is to keep them all open.
Is the Field Analyst's icon on the map supposed to be spinning? O_o
Accuracy enhancement values aren't being shown in the enhancement screen's popups. Neither are defense debuff values.
Opening enhancement purchasing windows still causes insane framerate losses.
Upon zoning from PI to Talos, I was told, "You may now access the costume part PreOrder_CrabSpider_Helm at the Tailor." Why did I have to zone for that? Shouldn't that message come up when I log in?
Did Luminary get a costume upgrade? She looks different for some reason...
Tram isn't working properly. It's taking 3-4 times as long to arrive, and to close the darned doors so it can be used once it does arrive.
VERY old costume bugs, like sleeves showing up on sleeveless jackets and faces changing or requiring 75k to reset to the same face are still there. Stealth and/or Invisibility still causes different costume layers to create varying degrees of opacity (yes, i know my bras are interesting to look at, but i expect them to turn invisible with the rest of my clothes and body, not stand out more!). Better get some more free costume tokens ready (and this time actually hand them out... still waiting for mine from the before/after anniversary party handout).
Many of the villain costume parts are still default-labeled for single-side access, so we now have two of nearly everything in the costume options. Two Face 1s, two Makeup 1s, etc.
Window scaling bug is still there. Above 100% at 1600x1200 causes progress bars to exceed badge placeholders and all of the Friends lists and global channel member lists to cut off. Also affects the team search window, as well as the costume window when talking to an Icon representative.
Why does Freedom Corps want to capture me for doing PvP missions to help the Hero side? Agent Provocateur badge. The text for the Longbow Nullifier isn't quite fitting for heroes, either. And I want my Woman in Black back, please. Hero.Gender doesn't quite fit the bill. 
On a lighter note, I love the new rabble rousing text from mobs, the UI changes are very nice, and PWN Shop just had me cracking up. The charge/time counter for temp powers? MUCH appreciated. And I'm even happier about the ability to DELETE temp powers, since I had several from the Arena that were nibbling at a corner of my mind for quite some time now.
Bleh. 4:30 a.m. I'm going to bed.
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Just to note, if you don't have hamidon enhancements or happen to have Power Build-up it is more like 1/4 end drain. The power does have -regen, but no -recovery that I have seen.
Having Hammi enhancements does kinda spoil the experience. Kinda like a Post SO TA comparing himself to a TO TA. Big world of difference if you know what I mean.
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HOs affect endurance drain, too?
Goodness. I almost feel uber. O_O
I was going to throw this at you in personal, but it seemed so nifty I decided to toss it out here.
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also agree that Flash Arrow's -Acc component seems weak. They just got BLINDED, they should have serious trouble detecting much of anything. Maybe there's a way to make the -Acc penalty downgrade over time, as they regain their sight?
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I'm going to let you in on a little programming secret. This is REALLY freaking difficult to code.
I'm not a programming prodigy by any stretch of the imagination, but this requires percentage degrading math that is really not easy, no matter what language you're using.
Let's look at a power that does damage over time. We'll call it Dot punch. Dot punch is fairly simple. All you have to do is set a ticker. A ticker is something that activates every X number of "ticks". Seconds, minutes, hours. Damage over time is easy, just assign an amount of damage per "tick".
At initiation: 20 damage
15 secs after initiation: 20 damage
30 secs after initiation: 20 damage
The damage part stays the same, so only one variable is required.
Now, lowering acc over time is much trickier. You essentially double the calculations, and any doubling of calculations almost always more than doubles the lines of code required.
There's the straight linear percentage approach, which requires every moment the acc reduces to be monitored by the system and that moment to be applied to the ticker for the reduction in power which needs barricades of max and min on acc and time it is applied. Gets ugly real quick.
The easier approach is still difficult. You already know the min and max acc, and hard qualify the times involved:
at initiation: 30% reduction in acc
15 secs after initiation: 20 % reduction
30 secs after initiation: 10 % reduction
etc.
More difficult, lot more coding. Typing time costs money.
And while Castle and Positron are probably some of the most personable and interesting coders that I've had the pleasure of reading, there's a point where they have to hand things off to other people.
This might end up sounding like an excuse post, but frankly, I know of 3 people in 33 years of life who can explain programming in a way that most people can understand enough to have a clue as to what's going on. Even then, they can't get people to be able to actually /do/ it.
Luerim
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I wanna go outa my way to say that glue arrow debuffs stays after the graphic fades.
I had minions chasing me debuffed a good 20 seconds after the patch faded. So if they enter 2 sec before it fades they still suffer 20 sec of debuff.
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And I have screenshots of minions who still had the Glue graphic after I was defeated.
3 minutes after I was defeated.
It's a graphic bug.
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I was going to throw this at you in personal, but it seemed so nifty I decided to toss it out here.
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also agree that Flash Arrow's -Acc component seems weak. They just got BLINDED, they should have serious trouble detecting much of anything. Maybe there's a way to make the -Acc penalty downgrade over time, as they regain their sight?
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I'm going to let you in on a little programming secret. This is REALLY freaking difficult to code.
I'm not a programming prodigy by any stretch of the imagination, but this requires percentage degrading math that is really not easy, no matter what language you're using.
...
Luerim
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I call Penn and Teller's Show on you.
The programming to handle a degrading effect is the same basic code used to handle a fade, or any other linear-over-time effect. You don't explicitly store all the time-percentage combinations, you store two variables: Time power starts and/or ends, and the duration of the power.
Whenever you have to reference the power's actual effect: power.effectMultiplier = ((time.current - power.timeStart) / power.duration)
The same effect you're describing has been used for a couple decades mostly for visual-side effects like rocket trails, though in reality a linear-degredation effect paired with time is no more difficult to code than a linear-degredation effect paired with distance (rocket explosions in any Quake game) for example. Same relative math, same relative code.
But Castle, if it IS happening the way you describe, it's still broken.
AR/Dev - stealthed - moves up to debuff..
Chucks Smoke Grenade...
Get's mob Alpha Strike...
Then they ignore me - until the party starts.
That is indeed as 'cut and dry' as you describe it. Does that make it 'right' then? 
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Soul, I tested EMP on the test server with and without PBU. 50% end drain WITHOUT PBU. 100% end drain WITH PBU. So yes, PBU affects end drain.
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Suspected As much. With no Endurance Mod slotting mine does about 50% of even con foes.
Nothing to sneeze at but will only really affect bosses without PB or slots, would work well in conjunction with kinetics though.
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The "shortened animations" for Fistful of Arrows and Rain of Arrows appear to be removal of the enforced "relaxed stance" after firing. The actual animations of firing arrows hasn't been shortened or changed, but I can now fire off Aimed Shot immediately after Fistful, whereas before, I would have between 1 and 2 seconds of "run around" time after Fistful completed and Aimed was recharged and queued but not firing. Positive change, definitely, and I'd very much like to see the same change applied to all of the powers in TA as well (several also have "relaxed stance" animations that prevent other powers from activating immediately following another power).
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Aye, I noticed this heavily while soloing. Ranged shot got slighty quicker to fire and you can fire another attack immeadiately after it too. It's now a viable attack with slotting.
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Glue and Disruption are, as far as I'm concerned, well balanced now. The recharge times were their biggest obstacle throughout the entire level range. Having them available more often should help enormously in lower level play, but more significantly, in actual team environments. Having them more available in the middle and higher levels gives TA a more complete toolbox to work with. Big thumbs up on these two. Thank you.
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Aye they are definitely servicable as is. I was rather hoping for glue to get the -fly or -jump for pvp though.
Disruption Arrow? It's nice and always up. But I don't Think adding a constantly ticking yet small chance to disorient each minion individually would be too much. Other sets as mentioned get more toys in less powers.
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Sometimes it lights, other times it doesn't. I also can't test the problem with missing right now (sleeeeeeeeeeeep), but it's on my list. With 2 Nucleolus, Tactics, and the 1.16 accuracy bonus, even a single instance of missing twice in a row will definitely be proof of a bug.
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I used oil slick around 12 times tonight, failed twice missed twice.
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One last thing I'm seeing when using EMP Arrow. A graphic of green descending rings... -regen? If so, it's really the WORST place for it. It's not available even close to long enough to be useful in an AV/EB/GM/Monster fight, and that's when it's MOST necessary. Can we get that pulled out of there and placed in Acid, PGA, or Glue? Or, heck, even Entangling. Anywhere that gives it a chance to be used to a more reasonable effect when it's going to be vital.
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You knwo, I noticed it and considered the prospect rediculous. Then Zen said it and I immeadiately discounted it for no good reason.
But EMP might indeed have -regen. On our longest recharge power and short duration of the -regen :/.
Aye move it to poison gas arrow or acid arrow if it's there, add it to one of those if it isn't.
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Upon zoning from PI to Talos, I was told, "You may now access the costume part PreOrder_CrabSpider_Helm at the Tailor." Why did I have to zone for that? Shouldn't that message come up when I log in?
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I got that a few times on different characters for my COV collectors edition stuff.
Check out the costume options, heros can now choose COV items if you have both. I think that's why it pops up. To remind you.
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Tram isn't working properly. It's taking 3-4 times as long to arrive, and to close the darned doors so it can be used once it does arrive.
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I think that's all tied to server stability. It was jerky and unstable today while i was testing. Occasional jerks at evenly spaced times like every 5 or every 10 sec.
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On a lighter note, I love the new rabble rousing text from mobs, the UI changes are very nice, and PWN Shop just had me cracking up. The charge/time counter for temp powers? MUCH appreciated. And I'm even happier about the ability to DELETE temp powers, since I had several from the Arena that were nibbling at a corner of my mind for quite some time now.
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Aye, Aye, and AYE AYE captain .
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That is not all I have to say about Acid Arrow. Some sets have defense against AoE and ranged attacks, it just so happens that those are the sets that we actually need this arrow to hit. Yet, they defend against our debuff before it even applies. If you choose not to increase the AoE, give the Arrow negative regen, then it needs to be auto-hit in PvP and PvP.
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An autohitting unresistable defense debuff that sticks to the target and can't be escaped or detoggled? Err, no. Defense debuffs can be autohitting, and they can stick and be unescapable, but not both. Not for any cost, value, mechanic, or crash would I think that was balanced. If you want an unresistable, undefendable, inescapable defense-lowering capability, run tactics. Practically everyone else does, and I believe it has just about as strong a defense countering effect as Acid Arrow. Which actually says something interesting about Acid Arrow, Tactics, and Defense in PvP, all at once.
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Remember the debuff is only not resistable if you are hit by a defender. Defenders should get something shouldn't they?